This past week has been really busy and productive! I am 18 weeks along, feeling good. Baby girl is the size of a sweet potato…~5.6inches! You can check her progress here: Sweet Potato

We had a Gillam get together last Thursday through Saturday in CO Springs. We were all there celebrating my brother’s change of command (Army). I think it is the first time that we were all together since ML and I got married in 2004. Here are a few pics from the weekend:

After my brother’s ceremony, we spent some time at the CO Springs Zoo. This is probably one of the coolest and most beautiful zoos that I have ever been to! We even got to feed the giraffes!

After we departed CO Springs, my mother came to Boulder to check in and to help shop for baby girl Lovato. She outdid herself, buying a new dresser, crib, baby monitor, blankets, clothing, stroller, etc. This is one lucky girl who is probably going to be very spoiled by her grandparents!

Michael putting the new dresser together:

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My new favorite phone app is “the Bump” app. Every Thursday, I get pinged as a reminder to tell me what week I am of pregnancy. And I love that it tells me the size of our baby in terms of  fruit or vegetable.

This week is 17 weeks. Baby Girl is about 5.1 inches, the size of an onion. She looks something like this, although I hope she is much prettier. :)

In the mornings, my stomach is sort of flat. I do have a slight bump…but by mid afternoon I can see something more significant. The abs are all gone by this point.

I have not exercised for four weeks and I have to wait another two weeks until I see my doctor again for approval to do something other than walking around the ‘hood.

Because boredom had gotten the best of me, I asked my friend Courtenay to go for a walk/slow hike near Sinitas on Saturday. My energy was much higher and my health had taken a turn for the better. I needed some outside time. It was so awesome to hang with her for a while, chat, and catch up! The weather has finally become reasonable and I am loving the 80 plus degree days. That hike was the first time that I emotionally felt “alive” in a long time.

Needless to say, while it felt great at the time, and even…

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Baby girl is about 4.7 inches, the size of an avocado. In the next few weeks she will double in size.

I don’t really think that I have much of  a baby bump yet, but I am starting to get wider. I swear my hips are spreading and my buttons on my jeans have been getting more difficult to close. I have been wearing running tights and capris a lot lately. But by mid afternoon, the pressure against my stomach gets to be a little much. My drawstring sweatpants by TYR seem to be my favorite “go to” item this week!

My sports bras become more and more uncomfortable throughout the day. But thanks to my friend Angela, I found a good one that separates and lifts by Lulu lemon call the ta-ta tamer. I can wear it all day long without discomfort.

Cool things that happened this week: While I am still on exercise restriction, I am able to walk around our neighborhood. YES! It’s better than nothing!

My brother, his girlfriend Laura, and my friend Angela all came into town this past weekend to hang with me. Michael was out of town for a race in St. Croix and I was so happy to have the love and company from my family and friends.

My friend Angela seems to know a lot more about having a…

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Things to note this week:

Size of our baby: I don’t know how our baby can go from  the size of a peach(12 weeks) to the size of a pear (13 weeks) to the size of a  lemon (14 weeks)! Isn’t a lemon smaller than both a pear and a peach? In any case, week 14 is behind me and I don’t have to think about it anymore. Our baby is now the size of a LARGE APPLE~4.5 inches BIG!! Michael likes to call our little girl “honeycrisp” after his favorite apple.

Our 15 week Ultrasound was this past Tuesday. We could see her giving me karate chops! Some days I don’t feel pregnant and I don’t look pregnant. I just look like I have gained some weight. It’s hard for me to believe that I am really carrying around this little apple. Every time I get an ultrasound, it makes it all so much more real and I become really excited. I love my 4-week check ups!

Thankfully I am off bed rest. However, I am still not allowed to do housework, exercise, get massage, pick up laundry, or get stressed out. ML has been amazing by helping take care of some of the chores around the house. I have read enough books to make my eyes hurt and I have watched enough TV to make me depressed. I am ready to go outside again even if it is only for a…

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I am 14 weeks pregnant and our baby girl is the size of a lemon.

All is good on the Lovato front. I am one week away from being off of bed rest, which is great news for me. I had a bit of a health scare last week, and my doctor is just being extra cautious by prescribing no exercise, including laundry, house cleaning, swimming, biking, running, walking, and even massage! I am lucky because I have an very helpful husband who has picked up all the slack:

While I have been sitting around, I have had a lot of time to think and reflect the past week.

Here are five random facts that I have figured out in the past 14 weeks of being pregnant:

1. 40 is the average age of a new mother in Boulder. I will be 41 when I have this baby, but according to my doctor this is the new normal! Whenever I go to the doctors office (every 4 weeks), I am surrounded by other 38-43 year old new moms-to-be.

2. There is so much new technology out there these days. I did a genetic test at nine weeks with a sequential ultra sound at 13 weeks that is only offered in ten states, Colorado being one of them. My doctors knew at the 11 week mark that our baby was 100% healthy and…

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Last night we celebrated with cake. Pink on the inside meant girl, Blue on the inside meant Boy.

The inside of the cake was PINK. We have a little girl baking away in my belly due in October.

I look forward to sharing my journey with you from Professional Athlete to MOM.

Stay tuned. :)

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A few weeks ago Michael was tweeting about his favorite homemade coffee drink. There were lots of tweets back to him asking for the recipe so I thought I would share.

It’s pretty easy and quick…not to mention Yummy!!!

I usually do 1 shot of espresso from our trusty Nespresso Machine (Best Kitchen Appliance Ever!). ML does two shots.

2 shots water depending on taste (you don’t even have to use water if you like the taste of strong coffee)

1 cup of vanilla coconut milk

1 scoop of Cappuccino Ultragen by First Endurance. (Ultragen is rich in nutrients, including 20g of protein from whey protein isolate, glutamine, & hydrolyzed whey protein. It also has essential vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes). Check it out here:

http://www.firstendurance.com/nutrition/ultragen.html

The last thing that I pop in our cup is a tbsp of chocolate covered coffee beans…or 5-10. (DELICIOUS!)

Drink and enjoy! And try not to get too much of a buzz! :)

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If you follow my twitter feed or Facebook page, then you have seen this picture of my canine companion, Blue and his chiropractor, Jason.

Blue is two months shy of fifteen years old. Blue was a ring bearer at our wedding and he is the canine love of my life. He has inspired many of my friends to adopt a whippet and if you have ever met him, you would know why.

A few months ago, Blue started to feel under the weather. He started to have more “bad” days than “good” days. He wouldn’t eat. He wouldn’t stretch. He didn’t like being touched. He couldn’t go up or down stairs. I feared the worst, but hoped for the best. We took him to the vet who diagnosed him with a bulging disc in his neck. Oddly enough I was relieved that it wasn’t an incurable disease. She warned us that Blue didn’t know why he felt bad, but he just did, and that it was important for us to continue to encourage him to eat and stretch because if he stopped doing either of these things then he would steadily decline, and end up passing away. She prescribed some anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, and wished us luck.

That night I told my massage therapist, Maia, about him and about what our vet had told us. She kindly offered to come…

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Want a tropical twist to your favorite nutrient rich health food?

Try this easy recipe out post-workout or ANY time! It has become a weekly staple in the Lovato household, as it’s a great recovery food, but it’s made up to taste great.

You need:

1 Sweet Potato

Aluminum Foil

Coconut Butter

Coconut flakes

1 handful of Pomegranate seeds

1/4-1/2  of a lime…it just depends on your taste.

a pinch of Sea Salt.

1. Pre Heat your oven to 425 degrees.

2. Wrap your sweet potato in Aluminum Foil. I like to prick my potatoes with a fork before I wrap them.

3. After the oven is warmed up and ready to go, place your potato in the oven. It usually takes 45′ to an hour for my potato to get fully cooked. If you are in a hurry, put the the potato (sans aluminum foil) in the microwave for 10-12 minutes,depending on the size of the potato.

4. Place the jar of coconut butter above/ near the oven, so the heat will help to soften it a bit.

5. After the potato is fully cooked, remove the aluminum foil and place on a plate. Split the potato in half with a sharp knife and add 1 dollop of coconut butter.

6. Squeeze the lime wedges over the potato, add salt to taste, and finish by adding the coconut flakes and pomegranate seeds.

Voila! Pure deliciousness!!

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I got the “ok” from Dr. Oza a few weeks ago to start adding intensity into my training regime. He told me that it was time to stop being conservative and to start testing myself. I was a little nervous upon hearing this, but felt ready and excited with his “OK”…that is until I got the dreaded flu…which turned into a horrific cough and chest infection. YIKES! It knocked me out for a total of twelve days. The moral of the story is that you need to respect the flu.

After feeling fully recovered I decided to take Dr. Oza’s advice to moderately test myself.

This morning I did a little treadmill workout. And I have a feeling it is going to become one of my favorites as I progress. I started off with a 15′ warm up. I  started at 7mph building until my legs and breathing felt  good at 8.0MPH.

The main set is as follows: Incline at 1%. 10 minutes as 1′@8.5 mph/ 1′@9.0 mph. Keep in mind that my threshold heart rate is around 164. By the end of this little ten minute session, my heart rate was around the 157 range. I took 5′ easy at 8.0 mph. Then I did another 5′ as 1′@8.5/ 1′@9.0. Again, my heart rate was around the 155-157 range. I did another 5′ at 8.0, then cooled down for 10′ which totaled 45′ of total running time and 15…

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