We Love the Orioles

Happy Opening Day!!!!

GO O’s!!!!

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Our Weekend in Maryland

Good Morning!

We had such a wonderful weekend! Remember how our trip to Maryland ALMOST didn’t happen?! Well, we worried for no reason. Gabriella did PERFECT on the plane! I could not believe it…well, I should clarify- Craig couldn’t believe it 😉 I had faith in my girl & she totally pulled it off.

She ended up falling asleep almost for the whole plane ride BOTH ways. I kept saying that we need to get a plane engine sound machine in her room. 🙂 She didn’t even wake up when the plane LANDED, hello BUMP! And BOTH flights were pretty turbulent at some points- the drink service was even suspended! But my girl just slept through it all- I would swear she’s a world traveler!

One REALLY nice part of the trip is that we were able to use my nephew, Nathan’s, old car seat & various toys/swing/ bouncer/ etc. My sister in law, Stephanie & brother in law, Mike, brought everything over to Craig’s parents before we got there.

Hope you are ready for picture overload!

She LOVED the nice & cozy car seat.

She’s a Florida girl through & through, so she wasn’t used to the cold weather. But when she got in the car seat with the extra warm fleece insert she fell right to sleep.

Once we got to Craig’s parent’s house, Mike, Steph & Nathan were already there.  The cousins FINALLY got to meet!

We just spent the day with them and Craig’s parents. We just talked a lot & enjoyed seeing the babies together! Craig’s Mom even made us crab cakes for dinner with NO filler ;)…SO darn good! I can never get enough crab while I’m there. I even ate the two leftover crab cakes one day for lunch cold, I didn’t even care, I just love crab so much!

The next day was the big day- Nathan’s FIRST birthday & we were also celebrating Mike & Steph’s 30th birthdays. (Mike’s birthday is February 24th & Steph’s is March 9th) So it was a HUGE day & LOTS to celebrate!!

Of course the best part of first birthday parties is the SMASH cake!

Nathan went from this:

to this:

In a matter of minutes. It was hilarious! & he definitely enjoyed his cake. 🙂

The birthday boy is also a PRO at walking! I was seriously impressed.

How cute is he?! Those big blues steal your heart.

I would say little Nate Dogg had a pretty awesome first birthday!! 🙂

The other cool part was that a lot of Craig’s family got to meet Gabriella for the first time. She showed everyone how much she LOVED being held & how she is not fond of being put down. 😉

Luckily for her she had a TON of people who were more than happy to hold her!

Someone enjoys eating her clothes. We won’t name names. 🙂

On Sunday G got to meet her boyfriend Smith. They are only a DAY apart! G was born November 5th & Smith was November 6th. She’s a little cougar 😉

They even held hands. Oh boy, we’re in trouble!

I know you aren’t supposed to call a boy beautiful, but isn’t he BEAUTIFUL!? And he was just SO sweet!

Once Gabriella said goodbye to Smith, we spent the rest of the day with Mike, Steph & Nathan and we also got a few family pictures.

Cousins ❤

Craig, me & G$

The whole Notarange family! Craig, me, Steph, Mike, Grandma & G, Papanote & Nate

It was such a fun weekend! Times like that when you wish we were all closer together! The good thing is that we will be seeing them soon- Gabriella’s baptism will be in June or July, so they are all headed down for that & I am counting the days! 😀

It Almost Didn’t Happen

Today is the day.

Today is the day that ALMOST didn’t happen. I mean it was literally this close to not happening.

You have NO idea how many times this was almost canceled.

Today we, as in all THREE of us, are going to Maryland.

As you read this Craig, Gabriella & I will be on our way to the airport. We booked an early flight- 7:55am, because it’s usually G’s ‘happy time.’

Are we nervous? Yes, very. More so Craig than me…but he has me worrying more now too.

I mean a 3 and 1/2 month old on a plane…that probably says enough in itself 😉

Craig didn’t even take the day off from work until YESTERDAY because he was sure he was going to cancel it. I worked my magic though, and convinced him that we can do it! (& who knows, I may have thrown a little vodka in his orange juice this morning 😉 I’ll never tell.)

I just pray that our little lady will look something like this on the flight…

If you have a minute, please say a little prayer for us. And since I will be reading comments before we take off, please tell me something funny. I might just need a good laugh.

I have a few tricks up my sleeve & I’m hoping they will work. Her doctor told me to just feed her on the way up & on the way down to help with the pressure on her ears. And I have my Ipad loaded with some good little things to entertain her, if needed. – lots of bright colors, animals & shapes.

If worse comes to worse, we will just buy everyone around us a round of drinks! That will hopefully lighten the mood 😉

So we are off for a fun weekend in Maryland. It’s our nephew’s FIRST birthday & my brother in law & sister in law’s 30th birthdays! This is HUGE & I did NOT want to miss it.

On that note, I’ll see ya from Maryland! I’m going to try to do at least one post from up there, but if not, enjoy your weekend!

Just because they are cute, I leave you with a pair of G’s feet.

SUPERBOWL XLVII CHAMPS

Guys,

I don’t even know what to say. THEY.DID.IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, last night was better than Christmas. I am still in shock. Seriously, it has NOT hit what so ever.

Other than that…back to regular scheduled blogging tomorrow. I was up WAY.TOO.LATE last night! 😀

(I promise a FANTASTIC recipe tomorrow…something involving Pear Chobani 😉 )

Ravens Obsession

HAPPY SUPER BOWL WEEKEND!!

I’m SURE by now you know we are a little bit obsessed with the Ravens. But why are we so Ravens obsessed???

Well, here’s a few reasons why.

1. The BIG milestone in our relationship was when Craig let me watch a Ravens football game with him. Let me explain. Craig doesn’t like to watch Ravens games with anyone. He likes to be by himself, only because he gets SO into the game. The boy can’t sit down. He paces (like when I was giving birth to Gabriella), he screams, he punches the couch, he runs up & down the stairs, he tears up (when they beat the Broncos & when they were heading to the SuperBowl!), he throws his jersey on & off, he does ‘the worm’ on the floor, and he’s just absolutely insane. It’s HILARIOUS. I WISH I could make a video of it, but he would kill me! Haha!

The first game I ever watched with Craig ended up being a Ravens/ Steelers game. & if you are a football fan, you KNOW how big the Ravens/ Steeler rivalry is.

It’s no joke, and usually VERY instense games. So I was VERY surprised he asked me if I wanted to watch THAT one with him.

December 14th, 2008 was the game I watched. And that’s the night he told me he loved me. No, I’m totally kidding 😉

2. Our engagement.

August 12th, 2010. Before the first game of the season. ON RAVEN’S FIELD!

I thought I was surprising Craig by getting tickets to the game. Well, he had talked to his brother a few months before about it, when he told Mike (his brother) that he wanted to propose to me on Raven’s field. Mike was the one who was able to get us on the field, which I just thought was a surprise to Craig & I. (because while we were tailgating he ‘surprised’ us by saying we were going on the field before the game to watch the players warm up. I was in SHOCK!) Little did I know this was all a plan that Mike & Craig had worked on months before. 😀

3. Our wedding.

Our colors were black & purple…of course. 😉

Groom’s cake

(The Ray Lewis dance was part of our intro)

4. The games we have been to.

(Ravens v. Jax. Embarrassing loss)

(Ravens v. 49ers- first ‘Har-bowl’- Ravens won! Let’s hope for a repeat tomorrow 😀 )

John & Jim hug after the game.

5. Gabriella’s Introduction to the Ravens

We’re raising this girl RIGHT…a Ravens fan from the very beginning 😀

Me at 29 weeks pregnant. She was a Raven’s fan even in my belly 🙂

Her first dress! (before she was even born)

G at a DAY old!

Newborn photo session- she was 10 days old! 🙂

Before a Ravens game, 2 weeks old, sleeping on Daddy.

And you know all of these photos, from her Ravens photo shoot 😉

A more recent one, in her Ravens dress! (from this week- 12 weeks old)

Thank you Aunt Char for my bow 🙂 – another 12 weeks photo.

Ever wonder why we went in on Sunday NIGHT to be induced rather than Sunday MORNING?! 😉 Here’s a hint: The Ravens game was at 1pm.

This little girl has been the Raven’s good luck charm, I swear by it! 😀

You all know who this family will be rooting for this weekend!!!! & if you aren’t sure, or don’t have a preference on who wins, I would kindly like to ask you to root for the RAVENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have to do it for Ray 😀

 

G in Ray’s Doo-Rag 😉

Now before I let you go, you HAVE to watch this video of Craig doing the Ray Lewis dance when he was in college. Now, you have to keep in mind this video is about 10 years old, so it’s not the best quality…but it’s still pretty funny. 😀

BEST YEAR EVER.

Our daughter is born….absolute BEST day of my life. EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the Ravens are going to the SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think G had something to do with it 😀

Funny thing, Craig just said ‘Our daughter is going to think this is normal. The Ravens go to the SuperBowl & the Orioles make the playoffs.’ Haha! 😀

Two weeks BABY! Harbaugh Bowl!!!!!!!

Circuit Workout & A Purple and Black Weekend

Good FRIDAY Morning!!! 😀

I CANNOT wait for this weekend…it’s the BIG weekend. Ravens vs. Patriots…again 😉 But this time I hope we have a different outcome.

…& so does G 😉

Anyways, a lot of people have asked how I was able to get back to my pre- pregnancy body so quickly.

(that was about 4 weeks post G…funny because I wore this outfit yesterday to the gym. I’m now addicted to Luluemon, thanks to my best friend Lea. My wallet is not as happy.)

The main reason was that I stayed active my entire pregnancy. I actually ran the day before I gave birth to Gabriella. I worked out six days a week- weights & running. Of course no HIIT because that is too intense for pregnancy, but I was still lifting heavy & logging some pretty good mileage. Call me crazy, but working out has always been my ‘thing.’ Completely a stress reliever, and just ‘me time.’

After a workout I always feel refreshed, and ready to take on the day. I also LOVE the saying ‘You are one workout away from a good mood.’ How true is that?!

…and, like I’ve said before, I now realize HOW thankful I am to be able to workout.

Now that I have Gabriella, most days we run. We are high mileage girls now 🙂 I used to be more of a weights girl, but that’s because I was able to go to the gym. Now I can’t really go to the gym because I can’t take G there. She’s not quite ready to pump iron yet 😉

But look, she tries. Do you see her little hand weights? 🙂 And don’t you make fun of her high waters. 😉 It was her last time wearing this outfit, it was newborn size. She is now in 3 months, but she had to get one more wear out of it since her Grandma & PapaNote (Grandpa) are in town.

Monday through Thursday I don’t go to the gym, those are the days G & I run in the morning (we try to do 5-6 miles each day), and then afterwards I try to do a weight workout while G naps. She likes to take her long nap in her swing.

(pretend her eyes are closed 🙂 )

When she takes her “long-ish” morning or afternoon nap I break out the weights & get started. I have a small collection of weights, along with an exercise ball, yoga mat & a bunch of exercise DVDs…although I really only use the Jillian Michaels ones, on occasion. I prefer to do my own workouts.

But now when I do get the chance to go to the gym, I take FULL advantage of my time. I used to do workouts for each body part- like back/ biceps, legs, chest/ triceps – but now I don’t have enough days in the week to do that. So most of my workouts are now usually full body, upper body or lower body. I kind of had to break it into chunks now.

I can’t lie, I do enjoy doing full body workouts, I always have. Some of my favorite types of workouts are circuit style. I like the non stop style, and the constant change in the body part being worked.

The workout below is one that I did the other day & I loved it!! I ended with 15 minutes on the stairmaster- alternating running the stairs (level 20- the highest) & walking the steps at a pretty good pace (level 8- 10) for recovery.

Here is the circuit that I did three times through, followed by the stairmaster.

15 Step Ups (each leg)10- 12 Bicep Curls (HEAVY- I used 20lbs. in each hand)
20 incline situps holding weight
10 oblique crunches on incline with weight(each side)
20 plie squats
10 pushups (I did them on an incline, using the bench)
20 cable tricep pressdowns
15 dumbbell chest presses
20 lateral raises
15 lunges (each leg)
20 tricep dips
20 upright rows
20 deadlifts
12 lat pulldowns
25 crunches on Bosu balls (weighted)
10 burpees with jump (using a medicine ball for the jump up)

If you have any questions regarding any of the moves above, just let me know 🙂

Also please let me know if you try this workout, I’d love to know what you think! I have a LOT of workouts to share, if you guys are interested.

Well, I really hope you guys enjoy your weekend! …and if you need someone to cheer for, the Ravens would love another fan. 😀

G will send you kisses if you root for them.

My Ravens Baby!

Goooooooood Morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know a lot of you are friends with me on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram, so you have already seen these pictures, but I wanted to share them with those who have not seen them yet.

I have to say, I do believe that we have the CUTEST little Ravens fan in the world.

Not going to lie, I really think she was our good luck charm for the game yesterday!

Now we have to do the EXACT same thing next weekend. My husband is VERY superstitious regarding Ravens games, even down to what he was drinking during the game. So now we are pretty much going to have deju vu next Sunday! Which means I will have to be talking to my dear friend Janae during the game….since I was during the Broncos game. I told her she was definitely part of why they won!

I’m hoping for a Harbaugh brothers Super Bowl…which means Ravens v. 49ers! That would be pretty awesome!!

Anyways I KNOW I’ve been talking doing an update on my Crohn’s disease post pregnancy, and I promise I am going to write it today…so look for it tomorrow Right now little G is taking a nap, which is prime time to get things done…top of the list is my Crohn’s post!

Enjoy your day, I know we will! We are still celebrating the win yesterday. Little G is all decked out in Ravens gear.