Fresh New Art At Joe "Upstate" (Upper West Side)

Come check out the new photography exhibit by Sophie Harris at Joe Upper West! The energy and color are remarkable. Sophie's art is for sale through her website. http://sophieaphotography.com/

Perfect Running Weather!

I'm inspired to run every day, though 3 times a week is all I've been able to manage in my current state. I know these last few months of blog entries have been boring, and I wish I had more interesting news to report, but I don't. I promise to beg my running associates to do some writing..

In the meantime, I'll tell you what it's like to be running at 37+ weeks..

Great!! The only issue I am having is my poor, tiny paws feel the immense weight gain after about 10 minutes and need a short break before I can resume.

I am desperate not to give birth early because of work stuff at Joe, so yesterday, I asked my Dr. if running would possible start labor, and he said no! Phew! My dream is to be running the day before I go into labor at 40 weeks. Except I hear that in these last couple of weeks the hips start to loosen. I felt that happen today, and almost went down just standing!

Anyway, I will be out there Saturday for what could be the last Team Joe run..come run with me one last time!

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I thought after all those posts about running pregnant, it would be fun to see what that actually looks like. We actually had already finished the Team Joe run for the day, so these are a little staged..plus, my friend shown, Kristine, is actually an elite athlete. No way in hell I could actually keep up with her.

NYC Is My Backyard!

Betsy Chairman is a fast runner, a great storyteller; truly one of my personal favorite Team Joe "members" and now close friends. Betsy is a NYC public school teacher and also a writer. I can imagine how beloved she must be to her students. I wish my teachers had all been like her. I would have fallen under her spell of warmth, humor and inspiration to learn.

Lucky for your kids, if you have kids, Betsy and another NYC PS teacher have begun, last year, an educational and fun Summer day camp open to all kids 5-11.

http://mommypoppins.com/newyorkcitykids/nyc-summer-day-camps-new-2012-kids

In the above link, to Mommy Poppins blog for NYC moms, Betsy's program,

NYC Is My Backyard is considered one of the 10 best NYC Summer camps for kids.

Each week explores a different neighborhood of New York, empowering the children to own their city, to learn it's culture and history, and at the end of the week, each child creates his or her own book about the experience.

For more information, click on the sites above, or come to the next Team Joe run and get it from Betsy herself!

NYC Is My Backyard is a unique program for children in grades K-5, designed to improve their writing skills while honoring their adventurous spirits. Join us as we learn and play in the best backyard and classroom there is, New York City!

Birth Prep Class

This past weekend, we had 10 fun-filled hours of everything that could go wrong in childbirth, why not to do an epidural and bodily-fluids 101. Great class. I was a bit stunned. Still not ready to go there, though I sure hope I will be in T minus 7 weeks. I will be using my marathon mantras to get through. Those include good old standards like "one more step, one more step", and "I can do this". If you have any other inspiring ones, please comment below.

I realized very quickly in the class that Anthony and I have done more reading and baby prep classes than, well, pretty much anyone we have ever met. If only I was so keen on studying in High School! We have taken a baby cpr class, a baby sleep class, now a 10 hour prep class.

Besides this, we have read 3 books on sleep, 3 books on daily and weekly pregnancy changes, Bringing Up Bebe, a book about how kids are brought up in France, and have all of our What to Expect the First Year, No Cry Discipline Solution, countless magazines, etc. I really shouldn't even admit all this.

From what I have heard, as soon as the baby is born, one forgets pretty much everything and goes into emergency mode. As long as it's filed away somewhere, I am hoping it will be retrieveable in the long run.

Speaking of running, of course, my first question to the midwife at the Birth Prep class was, when can I start running again after birth. For me, as with probably all of you, being a runner is more than about exercize. It's a part of us as needing certain friends and family around, having a bedtime routine...Luckily I am still able to enjoy my mind-clearing jogs at this stage.

With all the extra weight, I am surely feeling it in my feet when I run. Poor little things. To thank them for their extra hard work, I have ordered new Asics! It's the least I can do.

Please comment with some of your inspiring mantras for long runs, cuz that's what giving birth really is all about. Stamina, mind over matter, and gatorade.

32 weeks. Still running.

I swear I am not doing it just to show off. Well, maybe part of me is pretty proud of myself, but the other half just wants to not have to "get back in shape" after Baby Cheongstein is born. If I run till the bitter end, I'll already be in shape! Except for the abs, of course.

Am I insane? Obsessed? Selfish? I don't think so. Running is still keeping my mood up, not allowing me to gain more weight than is healthy, and Baby TBA seems to find it soothing! Plus my husband Anthony and I have a tradition of running together. We met running, we travel with Asics, and have already been eyeing the running strollers for the 6 month mark!

My belly is getting pretty large..kind of looks like the Human Torpedo. How does it not bounce around? It helps to be doing gentle ab work. I got these exercizes from a PT, and they have helped keep me from back pain, but also I can still feel my abs. The abs keep my baby from bouncing around. As best of all, hopefully the muscles will remember their purpose soon after birth.

Exercize 1: Sit in a firm chair with good straight posture. Breathe in fully, letting belly extend and relax. As you breathe out, pull your belly not quite fully in toward your spine. If 1 is relaxed belly and 6 is fully pulled in, go to 5 on an exhale, then hold it there for 30 seconds, breathing, but not relaxing the belly.

Exercize 2: Sit in a firm chair with good straight posture. Breathe in fully, letting belly extend and relax. As you breathe out, pull your belly not quite fully in toward your spine. If 1 is relaxed belly and 6 is fully pulled in, go to 5 on an exhale, then to 3 on an inhale. Counting out loud helps you remember to breathe..you will do 100, or work up to 100, 3 times a day!

Before I started doing these simple exercizes, I have terrible back pain, but now I never do. I highly recommend theses!

Anyway, that's my update. 7 1/2 weeks to go.

Today's Run

29 weeks. Looking large, but feeling good!

Ran for 48 minutes with my employee/friend Charrow. It was cold but beautiful outside.

Definitely running Saturday AM with Team Joe from Waverly at 10 AM if anyone wants to join. Who's out there reading this anyway? If you have never run with Team Joe, come on by! We are the least intimidating, friendliest team in the world.

Free coffee after the run!