littles, links, + loves // may 2016

Here's what is happening in my world this past month and things I am LOVING lately...LittlesWell, MacKenna has officially finished her first year of preschool.  I cannot believe just how far she has come in 9 months!  She has grown a ton and has definitely learned a lot from her teacher this past year.  We absolutely LOVED her teacher this year and she has set the bar high for her future teachers.  MacKenna improved in every aspect this year - she was behind and fine + gross motor skills but has improved immensely in her fine motor, but is still a bit behind in her gross motor skills.  I think mostly it's because she's scared to death of everything (apple doesn't fall far from the tree...) and maybe because we helicopter, just a little.  Ha!  But, I'm so proud of her and can't believe a year from now we will have a preschool graduate!My other little, Miles, is also growing like a weed lately!  He is picking up so many new skills, mostly words though.  He's a little parrot and will try to repeat anything we say.  It is so much fun being able to communicate with him more!  Cutest thing he's done lately?  We were over at the neighbors a few days ago playing with their water table, and he leaned over to the little girl next door who is about 6 months younger than him and gave her a big ol' kiss on the lips.  Love at first sight, people... He's seriously the sweetest!LinksSo, I posted this on my Facebook page the other night, but I've totally gotten into Snapchat lately!  I mean, Instagram is by far my favorite social media platform, but I try not to overshare on there.  Um, I'm all about the oversharing on Snapchat, especially since I have the summer off and can spend my time flooding my "story" with pictures and videos of my kiddos!  If you're on Snapchat, my username is concrete_runner - I follow back!  I love connecting with people on there - it is so much fun!And a little more self-promotion... I am in the process of really stepping in to the Run Coaching business.  Because of this, I decided to partner up with the creators of P90X and PiYo (which if you've been following for awhile, you know I have LOVED), and have jumped on board with Team INSPIRE to begin building my coaching business.  I am hoping to be able to start offering training programs for beginner runners to seasoned marathoners in the near future, as well as 1-on-1 customized training for those people who need a little more coaching.  I am so excited for the opportunity and cannot WAIT to begin helping people reach their running, fitness, and nutrition goals![Tweet "Join @fitteaminspire to help build your run coaching business!"]LovesLet's start with something that I have been hating lately.  I'll be real with you guys - I have not been taking very good care of my body and have been overindulging and just eating plain crappy - because I feel like I can since I run.  Um, WRONG.  It doesn't work that people, and I, of all people, know this.  So, when I saw the scale continue to creep up and would completely hate my body when looking in the mirror, I knew I needed to do something.I've been following Amanda, Jasmin, and Jess for awhile now and have been totally intrigued by intermittent fasting and carb cycling.  After reading Jess's blog about getting back her post-baby body, I decided to order The All-Day Fat Burning Diet and read it pretty quickly.  Actually, I listened to it daily on my way home from work.  I immediately put the system into place following the half marathon in April, and have been following it ever since.  In the first 3 weeks, I lost 4 pounds and got back down to my pre-pregnancy weight.  Not only that, but it was the best I have felt about my body in a LONG time (not counting pregnancy - I LOVED my pregnant body).Following the first 3 weeks, I hopped on to Jasmin's 3-Week Carb Cycling Program for Runners for a little extra accountability, and to get a better idea of how to put the program into place as a runner.  It was so nice to have the extra accountability and to really learn how my body responds to the different eating days with my running.  I'm still sitting at my pre-pregnancy weight, I don't feel deprived at all (I followed the program pretty loosely too), and I'm finally happy with my body again.Oh, and stay tuned, because I'm hoping to lead my own little carb cycling bootcamp in a few weeks and I'd love to have you on board![Tweet "Losing weight + feeling confident with carb cycling + intermittent fasting."]