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That Much I Know

April 7, 2013 //
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I did a really great thing for myself yesterday. I got back into the swing of things with Pilates. Not practicing Pilates on my own. I haven’t missed a beat with that. No, I am talking about student teaching to get all of my hours for my certification. I had been on a break of sorts. I was just dealing with so much in my personal life that something had to give. With the home buying nonsense, my grandpa passing away, having a toddler, my IBS flaring up from all the stress, and injuring my neck, I was constantly spent.

The last thing I wanted to do was stand up in front of a room of people, not feeling confident at all, and try to safely guide them through physically demanding moves. No. I was not up for that. I spent all day giving my best to my son. I couldn’t put him on the back burner. No matter how depressed I was over my grandpa, I couldn’t mope around all day not caring for my child. So, by the time my husband got home at night I was just exhausted. There was nothing left to give.

I started to feel better last week, slowly but surely. Then, the weather started to warm up. We went to the park about 3 times in a week’s time! Ah, glorious sunshine and fresh air will do anyone some good. I went back in yesterday to student teach a private session with my amazing teacher. It felt ah-maze-ing to get in there and do this. I felt so great afterward. I am ready to get back into this. I am ready to finish what I started. I am ready for life to continue on.

I needed my mourning period. I am by no means over it. I never will be. Grandpa randomly crosses my mind regularly. I will be doing the most simple thing and suddenly some memory will flood back. I also got very attached to being around Jack. I have barely let him out of my sight since this time last month, actually. Other than one sleepover at my mom’s home. I think she needed that as much as I needed to take a break from student teaching. Clinging to this life that I created just felt right and safe. Looking at his cute little toddler feet, watching the way he plays with his toys, listening to his HUGE vocabulary, and just taking in his face, were the places I wanted and needed to be. The thought of being away from him several nights a week was just not something I wanted to actually go through with. Even if some days I felt like he was driving me crazy. I just didn’t want to miss a thing.

Death is a funny thing. Dealing with it and trying to put your own life back together can be tricky. I have been to a good share of wakes and funerals. This was by no means my first. But they were always more distant relatives. Not what I consider an immediate relative. It was different this time. It has been hard. Bottom line. How long should one mourn? There is no definitive answer to that. I cringe at the thought that if I ever have another child my grandpa will not have met that baby or even know about his/her existence. I hate that. A baby is not a big priority on my list, but I have thought about that scenario. Does that mean if I actually decide to have a 2nd that I shouldn’t? No. Because life does go on. The living have to keep living. Keep loving the loved ones we have with us while remembering the ones we have lost. I just squeeze my little man a little tighter and rub his hair a little more and kiss his toes just one more time.

It was time to get back to my life that I worked really hard to achieve. I put so much time and effort into training to teach and to be derailed much longer would just be a waste. My grandpa would not have wanted me to waste my talents. That much I know.

Categories Childhood, Exercise, family, Healthy Living, Jack, Loss, love, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, Motivation, Moving, parenthood, parenting, pilates, Pilates Mat, Reformer, Teaching, toddler, toddlerhood, weather, working out, Wunda Chair

I am back!

November 13, 2012 //
1

I am back! My new laptop arrived today. It had quite the journey. My husband ordered it on Friday on Amazon.He paid the 8.99 shipping for overnight. Amazon is usually always reliable. We are Amazon addicts. I seriously had the UPS guy say this to me:

Him: “You really love Amazon, don’t you?”

Me: ::laughs uncomfortably:: “Yeah…”

Him: “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

So yeah, even he has pointed our our Amazon addiction. They have great prices, bulk options, great shipping, reliable, lightning deals (just scored my first Christmas gift deal last night!), and they are great. So imagine our surprise when Saturday came and went and no laptop. The tracking info had one scan. Sunday and Monday also came and went. Jason contacted Amazon Saturday night. They said it was UPS’ problem and refunded the 8.99 shipping. He then contacted UPS yesterday. They said it was Amazon’s problem. Sigh…I assumed that my laptop was never coming.

But it arrived earlier this morning. I had to get us to Gymnastics and later a trip to Target, so I didn’t get to play with it until after 1pm. The keys are different feeling than my old one, which was several years old. In the life of laptops it was a senior citizen! My typing is a little awkward feeling still, but I will get used to that. Other than that, I think it is great. It is very sleek looking. What kind is it you ask? I couldn’t tell you much more than an HP Envy 6 or something to that affect. Jason totally picked it out on his own. I just wanted to be able to store my photos and get online for blogging, research, articles, Pilates videos,  Facebook, and email. I don’t need something super fancy. This is one of the few areas in my life where I am rather low maintenance. In all honesty, I usually just get Jason’s hand me down laptops. He is the techie in the family. With Jack already pulling in a close second. He wanted to buy some robot bug at target today. I had no idea what the heck it was and I made him put it back!

So what have we been up to other than incessantly checking Amazon order tracking?

Last Wednesday I was practicing some Pilates stuff and Jack decided to help train me!

Then  later than night, after a long day of practicing Pilates at the studio while Uncle Matt babysat Jack, we made dinner. Here we are whipping up some Quinoa tortillas! They were tasty. Jack is a great assistant. I love that he enjoys helping me prepare food. He even says “cook!”

I discovered my son can make the “Elvis Lip”, as my family called it. I can do the same thing. I remember growing up my mom always asking me to do it. Jack was watching a show and thought something was weird or silly and suddenly started making this face, unprompted by me. Somethings are genetic!

Saturday night the hubby and I had a date night. We went downtown to see Louis CK! It was a blast. He was hilarious, as expected.

Sunday we went to look at a home with our Realtor. We have started the home buying process. By that I mean narrowing down the neighborhoods we are focusing in and starting to look at homes in person! I even went in my Trulia account and deleted all of the neighborhoods we have decided against. Afterwards we did some fall cleaning. I took down every single Halloween decoration that was still up. Jason headed outside to clean the patio and prepare things for winter a bit. Jack wanted to help Dad. It was a perfect day for it because the weather was unseasonably warm! Which promptly ended on Monday.

Yesterday was swim class and some other errands. Nothing crazy. Kind of low key. Jack was a bit cranky. He has a 3rd molar coming in.

Today he is feeling better and we have been having a wonderful day! We had Gymnastics this morning. He was a ham, as usual. During the warmup they have the kids stretch and do a few other things. The other little kids sat nicely on their mom’s laps. Jack wanted to be in the middle dancing and doing the stretches. She told them to open their legs wide, and I caught him doing it perfectly. He needed zero prompting from me. He listened to the teacher and did as she instructed the whole warmup! It is safe to say, the boy has my athleticism!

When the temps started to drop as summer ended we had some battles getting him used to wearing a coat. That has ended. He understands he has to wear it now. We are still working on a hat. Today I wore a hat. Then I had him wear one. He let me put it on him on the way into class and the way out. That was it for the whole day, but it is a small victory. Doesn’t he look cute?

So that is a small summary of our week. There are a million other tiny things and probably a hundred other photos. But I won’t cram every detail into this post. This new laptop is not happy with the WordPress page. It is jittery and delayed in the typing and frankly, it is starting to annoy me! Ha! Husband will look at it tonight and clean up some things. He is a techie genius! I am not exaggerating either.

I am happy to be back! I can’t wait to start finding articles to share. I have been reading them like crazy lately.

Categories Articles, Exercise, family, fitness, Healthy Living, Holidays, Jack, love, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, Moving, parenthood, parenting, pilates, Pilates Mat, playtime, preschool activities, Teaching, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood, weather, working out

Sunday, wonderful, warm, and family filled.

October 22, 2012 //
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Yesterday was such a great day. I ended up taking a fitness day off. I was a little hungover I think. Ok I had TWO and a half drinks spread out from 7:30-1:30am. So normal people wouldn’t have been hungover, but I was. I just was exhausted and dehydrated no matter how much water I drank. I did feel better after my big rice bowl lunch. But regardless, we kept busy on Sunday.

We went to visit my grandparents for my grandpa’s birthday. It was a nice family Sunday. Jackson was a riot. In a GREAT mood and was hamming it up for everyone. He even danced. His dance moves are legendary. People love to watch him dance. It is requested when we go places. I am not exaggerating either. I have posted a couple videos of him dancing on Facebook and since then people love to see it in person. He is so funny and has awesome rhythm. Which he does not get from either me or his dad.

flips with Auntie Melissa

Upside down with Uncle Dan. Notice his pants are falling off!! It was hilarious!

The weather was also perfect. Where was it last Sunday at the Buddy Walk??? But we had a lovely visit. I made them a 30 page photo book. We didn’t see my grandma for her birthday in September. So I made them a gift to share. They are always wanting more photos of Jack, and what is better than a 30 page photobook for that? That is more than 30 photos because many had 2-4 photos on them.I started with photos from April. I then put them all in exact chronological order and I captioned all the photos or events. They got to see a bunch of our fun activities and life from spring to early fall! I ended with our Pumpkin Farm trip.

My brother Matt told me I was getting lazy. I made it on Walgreens.com. I am big scrapbooker. He said this is lazy scrapbooking! HA! It made me laugh, but after making this I can see the appeal of digital scrapping. I DID finish a real page last night after we got home. So I feel a little better.

The book was a hit! I am so happy I could give that to them. We even got some photos with them.

Jack and me with my grandma. Jack’s great-grandma!

Jack and me with my grandpa, Jack’s great-grandpa!

My grandparents have a basement I used to LOVE to spend hours and hours in. I took Jack down there. It was a hit for him too. My grandpa brought out a couple boxes of little toys and said I could take them. Jack loves little tchtochkes ! He was in heaven on the floor looking through the boxes. I almost took them all home. Then Jason said could we leave them here and every time we visit he can take a couple and play with them all? My hubby is always the thinker! My grandpa agreed. Now I don’t have to drag a ton of toys with me!  I was very excited. It was nice to see him interested in an area and toys I used to play with. Ah, memories.

When we got home around 6 we had a nice relaxing evening. Jack and I cuddled on the couch and watched ALL of Madagascar 3! Jason watched it with us too. Jack laid on me. Which is new for him. He always likes being held but now he has started to understand that sprawling out and getting comfy is wonderful. We had a pillow and blanket and all. I rubbed his face and hair. At one point we shared a bowl of my cereal/almond milk/bananas. That was our dinner. When the movie was over we all went upstairs and played for a while. I finished up my scrapbook page, Jack played with his “treasure”. Let me explain what his treasure is. Buttons! My scrapbooking buttons! He loves them and I told him they were treasure, which he now calls them that, then will say “pirate” Since he knows pirates have treasure. It is adorable to see his imagination grow. I love fostering his imagination. I have always had a big imagination and to see that my son also has one makes my heart so warm and happy.

That was our Sunday. It was wonderful, warm, and family filled. I couldn’t ask for a better day, tired or not. I wish all Sundays were that perfect.

 

 

 

Categories Crafts, family, Jack, love, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, playtime, toddler, Toddler activities, weather

Workouts, memberships, and stickers

September 6, 2012 //
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I have been a little quiet on here. I just seem to always have something to do. I have not been quiet in real life though. I have been busy with Jackson, who is 19 months old now! He definitely keeps my days action packed. I have been working out, cooking, going to family events etc. I have slowed down on running a bit. I actually took this weekend off from my run. It has been a bit humid and warm and the thought of running in that kind of weather made me want to crawl under the covers. I figured I deserve a break once in a while so I stayed inside and did workouts in my house.

I have two new videos. Both Jillian. I love that woman. She is the best. I have done my share of at home videos and she is still hands down my favorite instructor. Instead of buying the DVD I have started to use my amazon instant option. Jack has been getting his sweet little hands on DVDS and BluRay discs and managing to scratch them. The kicker was when he broke our BluRay player last week. So oh well!

I bought Kickbox Fast Fix and 6 Week Six Pack. Ok so I have to admit I am not looking for a fast fix in either case. I am a maintenance person at this stage. All of the baby weight is gone, I am mostly toned all over. I weigh about 120lbs. I wear a size 0 or a size 2. Extra small shirts. So I am not using these programs to drop or shed quickly. I cannot give a response on if they do any fast or 6 week fixes. I am going to assume if you are looking for that and you are honest and stick with these workouts as part of your regular routine that a difference will be seen. As with any workout. You have to be honest with yourself though, no cheating!

I am just looking for ways to shake up my routine so I stay involved and not bored. I love learning new moves and finding ways to challenge myself. The kickboxing is something I have always been curious about. I am not very coordinated. I am incredibly clumsy and I have a hard time learning coordinated moves. So for me kickboxing is a new challenge. I have to learn how to punch and kick in step. I am sure I look ridiculous but it is fun to try! Maybe soon I can take a kickboxing class out of the lovely shrouded privacy of my own home.

Speaking of workouts not at home we are thinking about joining L A Fitness. There is new one being built right down the street. I want a place for the winter. I am also now comfortable with having Jack in a babysitting program at a facility I choose. We went to an amazing place about 20 minutes away. We thought of joining there but the distance and the price differences in the new L A Fitness are tantalizing us! So has anyone been a member of L A? Any tips, any reviews? I know this place is new, not even done being built so we can’t think about location specific reviews. Also I tend to take reviews with a grain of salt, remembering that sometimes only negative people tend to review places. However the historian in me instantly gravitates towards doing my research on a topic. Any advice is appreciated so that I can make as informed of a decision as possible.

So my little man is now 19 months as I mentioned. I am baffled as to how this has happened. But I do relish in his growth and development every day. I love that boy so much. It is ridiculous. I love how much he communicates with me. I could listen to him talk all day. He has so many words. He is great at figuring out how to tell me what he wants. Yesterday morning I was getting us ready to visit my grandpa. I was making our breakfast and told Jack we were going to visit great grandpa! He said GA? GA?!?!?! And got very excited. He calls my mom Ga. He calls my dad Pa. So I think he thought I was saying we were seeing my mom, maybe because I threw the great in front of grandpa. Anyway I called my mom to tell her because it was so cute how excited he got at the thought of seeing her. She talked to him on the phone and his reaction was equally sweet. He got rather excited. He didn’t get to see her yesterday but I love how happy he gets when he thinks about her.

So we are eating our breakfast and he is quiet. Then decides to start saying “bye bye” and waving. I said yes we are going to go bye bye in a bit! Very good. I had said we were going bye bye to visit great grandpa. So he remembered our previous conversation. Then after I encouraged him he was right he said “bye bye! Park!” I was astonished. It was the first time he asked me to go to the park! It was amazing. I explained that we weren’t going there but we were going to visit grandpa and that was fun too. (he had a blast on our visit) I just love how he can tell me what is on his mind. I know people say I will get tired of that but for now I am not. I love it and I am excited for him.

Stickers have been a hot item this week. He has finally discovered their awesomeness. He used to think they were weird, probably because they were sticky. But this week he is obsessed and I love it. You should see the laptop I am typing on. The front of it was his white canvas and is covered in layers of stickers. I mean, I put any hipster to shame at this point!

He also has started to decorate us and himself. His feet and mine were covered in stickers last night. Then he started decorating his forehead. He managed to do this all himself without a mirror.

I have been enjoying these kinds of moments a lot lately and I hope they keep coming. He is such a sweet loving boy. I am so excited each day to see what he is going to learn, say, or show me he now knows. I look forward to his bear hugs and sloppy kisses. Being so consumed with love for my child is not a new sensation, in the least bit! I have known how overpowering that love is from the moment I held him in my arms, right after I pushed him out. Yet I am still blown away at times at how much love I have for him. Sometimes it knocks me off of my feet and I stop what I am doing and just think WOW I LOVE THIS KID SO MUCH! HE IS AWESOME. HE IS MINE! I hope that never changes. I hope that I can always be aware that my love for him is so grand it stops me in my tracks. I think that is a happy life. Being aware that there is love inside of you that is greater than everything and that trumps any bad moments or days!

Toddlerhood is challenging at times. It is not always a walk in the park. We won’t get into his separation issues with his cars and naptime/bedtime. So when you can relish in how amazing your love is for this amazing child, it makes those stressful small moments nearly vanish. It overpowers them and knocks them out. At least for me, and I truly hope that all parents can be in the place I am with that. It keeps my patience in check. I have more patience when I remember that he is a toddler and I could kiss those squishy cheeks and toddler toes all day long.

That is my update. Please if you do have any thoughts on L A Fitness let me know. We have never done a membership at a fitness center. This is the first time for me so I am a little unsure what to expect.

Categories Crafts, Exercise, family, fitness, Healthy Living, Jack, love, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, pilates, playtime, preschool activities, Running, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood, weather, weight loss, weightloss, working out

Your crib is SO cool Jack!

July 27, 2012 //
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When you’re a parent it is your job to help your child through difficult parts of their life. Jack will be 18 months on August 4th, so the difficult things in his life aren’t overly tough to handle. For him they are, but as an adult they really are just small bumps.

I love to be creative. I am a creative person by nature. I have been my whole life. I march to my own beat. I have embraced that. Jack is a lot like me. I try to remember that when trying to overcome certain bumps in the road.

Most recently he went from going to bed quietly and peacefully to full on hour long scream sessions. He was tired. He goes to bed very late. 9-10pm some nights. But suddenly he was acting terrified of his crib. Clinging to me like he was terrified for his life as I tried to lay him down. His face would break my heart. I knew he wasn’t just being a brat. He was upset about something. It was like he was genuinely scared. We have crib toys that light up for him. Two of them actually. We turned them on for him, as night lights. He also knows how to turn both on himself. So he had a light night on a timer. But the problem wasn’t so much in the middle of the night as really when it was bedtime. We read stories before, we have those night lights. What is going on here? I can’t listen to this sad crying anymore! My poor poor baby! But I am also not going to rock him all night long and sleep in a chair. He is almost a year and a half, close to 30lbs and closer and closer to 40inches. He is a big kid and not a newborn!

Then we decided to step up our game. By nature, he is not a scaredy cat. Not at all. In fact he is incredibly brave and usually has no problem jumping right into trying something new out. So we decided to make bed time a little more fun. We started pointing out all the amazing things about his room and his crib. He is very bright and understands everything we say. He responds to requests and questions. He has a lot of words for a 17 month old. So we know he understands as we explain this. He has glow in the dark stars on his walls and ceiling. He can say star. So we reminded him of those and how at night if he is upset to look at them because they glow and THAT is awesome! We pointed out his Cars bedding, his sheets, big blanket, and pillow. Mater and Lightning are all over them. Then we point out his stuffed Lightning and Mater. We remind him that he can bring his books to bed with him, if he feels like reading. Finally we point out his amazing crib toys that light up and all he has to do is press the button!!!! He started to get so excited and smiled and REACHED for his crib. We have done this a couple nights in a row now. Bedtime has been going much more peacefully.

With Jack we are lucky to be able to put a positive spin on things, distract from the negative (most times, not always like a tantrum at the grocery store where he is DONE running errands! ha!)

We also recently did this with an amazing thunder and lightening storm. It was loud and bright. He is older now so I thought he might get frightened if this is going on when he is sleeping. We all went upstairs, to our bedroom. Opened our big blinds. We have huge windows that overlook the lake. I turned off all the lights inside and we watched the lightening like a fireworks show. Jason and I ooooo’d and ahhhhh’d. Jack LOVED it. Stood on the window ledge (we held him still) and tapped the windows, smiling, making noise himself. That night we didn’t hear a peep from him.

So we keep trying out these “making things cool trick.” It works for now. It is a great trick to have under my belt. It helps that his personality is more tuned into responding to this kind of spin. No doubt about that.

What do you do to help your child(ren) through a tough time or stage? Are yours easily frightened? Or do they tend to barrel through life and think after, like Jack. How do you handle bedtime protests?

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Categories family, Jack, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, playtime, preschool activities, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood, weather

The joy of fireworks

July 5, 2012 //
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Yesterday we spent the day celebrating the 4th of July. As did most of America. I couldn’t help but think back to where we were a year before. Jack was just 5 months old. He was starting to get fun. I am pretty honest about the fact that I didn’t LOVE the newborn phase. I found it really exhausting and I just didn’t love it. I won’t lie. It is a big reason why I don’t want to have another baby. He wasn’t quite out of that phase a year ago but he was getting there. I thought last year’s 4th was pretty fun. Sort of. I was tired from being up all night with my boy though.

When I think about yesterday it blows and I mean BLOWS the previous year out of the water. As a matter of fact it blows every single 4th of July of my entire 27 years out of the water. I had the best time. Jack was filled with such joy. Especially watching the fireworks. He had never really seen them before.

cooling off the American way!!! mmmm

Momma and ice cream, two of my favorite things

We started out the day heading down the street to our big park that was having a little festival. We played some games and Jack and Jason ate some food. It was a little too hot though. There were duck games in baby pools and my son kept wanting to crawl into the baby pool. So we headed home to our little water park set up in the back yard.

get dada!!!!

He LOVED playing with the hose

He loved loved loved playing in our yard. It made his day. He had such a blast. It was so hot out though. 100 degrees felt like 105! The ice cold water from the hose actually felt good, that is how hot it was!

He took a nice long nap once we were done outside. My family came over. My parents, one of my brothers and my sister in law. The 4 youngens went on our boat while my mom and dad hung out inside in the cool air conditioning. We did a lot of wakeboarding and swimming in the lake. My brother and I were even working on some tricks on the wakeboard. Trying some jumps! My goal by the end of summer is to be able to get some decent air and land without a wipe out. I have been able to do smaller jumps/hops without falling but bigger air is great until I hit the water again! HA!

After we were wiped out and exhausted from all our activity we headed back to land to eat. Then we were all so tired we lounged around for a while. We were able to catch the fireworks. From our boat! We casually meandered out onto the lake, with Jack. It was dark so we drove nice and slow. Most of the boats on our lake were out there to watch the show. We weren’t going to do this at first. We thought Jack might be too tired etc. But last minute we decided to just give it a shot. I am so thankful we did! Thank goodness for spontaneity! HE LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT!!!!!!!! He loved the fireworks. He was cheering, ooooing, ahhhhing, and making this happy growl sound that only he can make. We got it on “video.” I write it that way because it was too dark to see us but you could hear all of his reactions.  The joy he had for the fireworks was so wonderful. It made my heart swell with joy. THIS is why it was the best 4th ever. I just couldn’t get over how much he loved it. He sat so well on my lap on the boat. In his life jacket. Even with the heat. He was just so taken by the boat, the water, and the fireworks. We even had to sit there for a while before the show began. He was an angel.

enjoying the show

It is incredible to see things through your child’s eyes. I never thought experiencing something through someone’s perspective could make YOU so happy. But it is possible with your child. I have been learning that since he turned 1. He grows daily in so many ways. The way he looks at the world and the things that bring him joy are just so innocent and pure. I love being able to see all of that. Sure his tantrums grow weekly. He had a few mini meltdowns throughout the day. The heat is hard on everyone. But that was all erased by the moment above. All I will remember about this 4th of July, 2012, is this night on the boat. The happiness at each exploding firework. His reactions and cheering and laughter. The way he would grab on to my hand or leg and squeeze very hard each time he got excited. I didn’t get to see his face much but I got to feel that. The way he went rigid with excitement and then would squeal so loud! It made my heart so happy. I look forward to what joy we can find in today when he wakes up!

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Categories family, Jack, love, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, playtime, preschool activities, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood, weather

My little addition

June 27, 2012 //
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I don’t have a solid reason to write a post. No new recipe. Last night was Barre class. I had stuff for the boys to whip up some healthy breakfast burritos. After class I made myself the left over saffron chicken. (excellent leftover dish btw. I heated it up in the pan, not a microwave though. I hate microwaved chicken. It tastes weird)

I don’t have a new workout dvd I love. I didn’t join a new class. I didn’t run a race. There was no big Jack or family milestone.

Wait. Yes there was. I have a new love in my life. A brand shiny new love.

Introducing……

My new PINK BROOKS RUNNING SHOES!!!!!!!! It is time for a new pair plus I am running the mud run. The old ones will be trashed as of Saturday morning. I decided to quick stop before class and see if Dick’s Sporting Goods had anything. Imagine my shock and surprise when my eyes meandered across these angels. I nearly fainted in the store. I think the store guy had been trying to get my attention a few times but I wasn’t really hearing anything. A glorious sound was humming in my ears, “ahhhhhhhh ahhhh ahhhhhhhh”

They are lightweight. That is my favorite kind. My last pair were lightweight. These gorgeous beatus were made for me. I am certain of it.

If you don’t know this about me you will now. I love colors. I love pink, purple, etc. I love shiny things. Things with glitter. I love polka dots and stripes. I love girly things, flowers in my hair, braids, and waves. I love ribbons.

Have you seen the show New Girl? I love Zooey. LOVE her. She has this one scene/quote in this last season. It describes me to a T.

I brake for birds. I rock a lot of polka dots. I have touched glitter in the last 24 hours. I spend my entire day talking to children. And I find it fundamentally strange that you’re not a dessert person. It freaks me out. I’m sorry that I don’t talk like Murphy Brown. And I hate your pants suit. I wish it had ribbons on it or something just to make it slightly cuter but that doesn’t mean I’m not smart and tough and strong.

So you can see why these shoes were made for me. They are my very essence. A more perfect pair of running shoes couldn’t have been made for me. So now you know that about me.

This morning I don’t think we have time for a run before Jack’s class. So I will have to be happy with the elliptical. Tomorrow we are class free but it is supposed to reach 101 degrees here! That is pretty hot. I have ran in that kind of weather before. I did a 5k in the very upper 90’s a few years ago. I just know that since I am a mom now I have a few things to consider.

I shouldn’t be pushing Jack in the stroller that long in that heat. The stroller slows down my time significantly. My child is pushing 30lbs, that stroller is about 25 or 30lbs. Plus any things he has with him, food, water, cars, wipes, diapers, my water, etc. That all adds up weight wise! It gets heavy to push. Plus with that heat those 3.3 miles could easily take into 40 minutes. And I am a MOM which means a small human being needs me. I have to remember that and not push myself to total extremes, so I still probably should not run when Jason gets home.

When we move I want to add a treadmill to our workout room. For winters and super hot summer days. I don’t care for treadmill running so when it is good weather I will still hit the pavement, but the option to stay inside would be nice.

I have a feeling I won’t get to run in my new sweeties until next week. Maybe Sunday morning? It says low 90s. So maybe if I get up super early it will still be in the 70s and I can manage.

 

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Categories Crafts, Exercise, family, fitness, Healthy Living, Jack, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, Running, toddler, weather, working out

You have abs!!!!

June 12, 2012 //
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Sunday we had a little shindig at our home. It was hot hot hot, in the 90s. We went tubing, wakeboarding, grilled out, swam in the lake. It was a fantastic day with my family! There was no reason to get together other than the wonderful summer weather!

My grandma even made it over. She really cracked me up yesterday. I was running around in my bikini. At one point when I walked into my living room she stopped me and told me the following:

“You don’t even look like you had a baby! Not at all. You have abs!!!!” She then turned to my hubby and said “you are one lucky man!”

On Saturday we were at another family party. She told me I was too skinny and that she liked me with a little meat on my bones. Then smacked my butt!

HAAAAA

It really made me smile.  The abs comment especially. I mean I know it was my grandma saying these things. When it comes to grandchildren grandmas can be biased. But knowing that my abs are visible to other people made me feel like my hard work has been worth it.

I wasn’t fishing for a compliment. I was simply running around being a momma and trying to get Jack ready for his nap before we headed back on the boat. (don’t worry my grandma, mom, dad, etc stayed behind. There were land babysitters around! We had a lot of people over.)

Then yesterday I came across this little gem of a meme! It really made me giggle because it is so true. In my life at least.

It is how I felt yesterday. I am a little crispy from all the sun. A little sore from being thrown from the tube and I had at least one kinda rough wipeout on the wake board. Jack’s sleep patterns have been rocky at best the past few days. So I am just tired in general. I took it easy today but I did workout.

It isn’t easy. I do not sit around eating boxes of cookies doing nothing. I workout, I eat pretty healthy and clean, and I am active in general. It is not something that just happens. I had to lose about 35lbs of baby weight to get back to what I was. A good 15 of it came off right after having Jack but the rest of it took a while.

I now weigh between 118-120lbs depending on the day. I have had to eliminate dairy as much as possible. It has made a world of difference in my life. It is sad and amazing at the same time. I wish I could tolerate cheese! MMMM

I have even been finding alternatives to decadent desserts (a weakness of mine) I recently made a frozen black grape dessert. I came across it last week and I whipped it up. I am sorry but when I saw how easy it was to make I couldn’t pass it up. It probably took me less time to make than it takes someone to make a lovely ice cream sundae with all the fixings. It is fantastic! I still have some frozen. I did not use walnuts. I also added some water to get it smoother. My food processor wasn’t making it as smooth as I wanted without a little liquid. And a little extra water never hurt anyone. Hydration hydration hydration!

I highly recommend this. You can really do it with any grape. I have been freezing grapes and eating them for about 8 or 9 years. I never thought to puree them though, how silly of me! I actually introduced my hubby to frozen grapes. Initially he thought me bananas until he tried them! Then he was hooked.

So like I said, it isn’t something that just falls on my stomach, these abs. They didn’t just appear one morning. I looked down and was like oooo hey there hot stuff, where did you come from? You’re welcome to stay. No, I bust my ass daily in my workout room, at the barre, and in the kitchen.

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Categories Baby Weight, Exercise, fitness, Healthy Living, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, pilates, Recipes, Running, weather, weight loss, working out

Much needed family time!

May 28, 2012 //
1

This weekend, Memorial Day weekend, has been fantastic. The weather has been phenomenal! Yesterday we had a “day off.” No parties, no visitors, no obligations. Just the three of us enjoying a family day together!

It was much needed. We are always so busy we rarely have time for days like yesterday. Sometimes I really hate that. I mean Jack is barely 16 months old (he is officially 16 months in a week from today). It is kind of insane how busy we get with obligations and activities. It will only get worse the older he gets.

So sometimes it is nice to just take some time to spend together and ignore the rest of the world. We had a very outside day!

The morning and early after noon consisted of a trip the the spray park/beach down the street.

woo hoo spray park!

We took him a bit last year. He was still a little blob though. Mostly not even able to sit up on his own. He liked sitting in the water but couldn’t do much. I don’t think he remembered this place. It took him a second to warm up. It was kind of funny watching him walk around looking like he was thinking what the heck is this place! Then he had a blast!

We haven’t had time to do one of these pics in a while!

We used to always take photos like this. It seemed to have stopped after Jack was born. Too busy taking care of him or taking photos of him! But I made us stop for 2 seconds yesterday and take one. Ahhh the good old days!

Dad this is so fun

My boys were soaked! We were all having a blast. Jack is squealing with joy in this photo, not crying. He would just run around squealing. It was adorable. He cracks me up!

We hung out there for a quite a while. Then Jack spotted the beach….and pointed to it…..soooo….

first bikini photo of the year….

sand!

He thought the lake was TOO cold! But he loved the sand! I am hoping he likes the water a bit more as it warms up over the summer. But he really enjoyed the sand. We have a small beach in our backyard but I think it is a bit dirty. I don’t know who of our neighbors thinks it is ok to smoke there and toss their cigarettes but if I ever see them they will hear it from me. I think I have to get him a sandbox. This beach was pristine, it is paid to get in to. Mostly families. I didn’t notice any trash on the beach. But sometimes it would be easier to just walk out our door and play in a sandbox. Instead of hiking it up to the park.

dinner on the boat

After a very very very long nap on Jack’s part, we decided to have dinner on our boat. He LOVED the boat!He even kept pointing to other boats exclaiming “boat!!!!!”

no big deal just eating on the boat

It was like he was born and raised on the boat. No big deal to him. Walking around perfectly. Just eating the whole time. Playing with some toys. His hat even blew off and one point. Into the water. We had to turn around and Jason was able to grab it. Didn’t even phase him when I put the wet hat back on his head. This kid is a little boy through and through.

After our boat dinner we headed BACK to the spray park! I didn’t take any pics there because at that point I mean, they would look about the same as the morning. But we went and it was fun. We have a season pass. That is nice because we can come and go if we please. Without a season pass it is a bit expensive every day for adults. 8 dollars an adult each day! After a handful of visits the pass will have paid for itself.

Then Jackman stayed up until a bit after 9pm! We played in the living room. At one point all 3 of us started doing our own thing. Jack was in some other world playing with and arranging his toys. Happily playing on his own. Jason was on the floor playing a video game, and I was relaxing on the couch reading. So we ended the day of togetherness each doing an activity of our own choosing.

All in all it was a great family day. Today we have a birthday party to attend. Later this afternoon. I am going for a run after this. Gotta keep that bikini body looking acceptable! 🙂

Happy Memorial Day and thank you to all our troops past and present!

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Categories Exercise, fitness, Healthy Living, Jack, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, Running, toddler, toddlerhood, weather, working out

Average Mile

April 10, 2012 //
1

I have gotten my average mile time to well under 10 minutes. Depending on the day it has been from about 9:15-9:34ish.

Yesterday I ran 3 miles with an average of a 9:24 mile. It was (and still is today) incredibly windy out. It has been sounding like Santa has been landing on my roof for two days now.

When Jason got home I went for a run. I didn’t really want to run. I had a million reasons why I could skip it. How incredibly windy it was outside was on that list. But I finally decided that I should just do it.

I won’t be running today because I have my ballet class. Tomorrow I have an eyebrow appointment at 6. I can go after but it all depends on how hungry my boys are. (For some unknown reason they expect dinner every single day. 😉 Crazy dudes!) Thursday I will run. Friday possibly in the morning, if I have time. I am being picked up around 11 to head to my friend’s wedding for the weekend. I am a Bridesmaid. Saturday who knows. I am still not sure how early hair and makeup will start. Sunday, well I will likely be a bit hungover and I am sure it will be a total no workout day. So I knew I had few chances to definitely get a good run in this week. I had to just do it, regardless of how lazy I was feeling. I did a Core Power Boost workout in the morning before Jack woke up. So this was my 2nd work out of the day.

Like I stated, it was windy! I had some Naked juice shortly before running. I was starving and needed something in my system. So during this run I was fighting the wind and I cramped up pretty quickly since I had drank that juice. As I ran across the boardwalk area that gets very close to the lake I run around, I was hit by a wave of water! YES! The wind was so strong it picked the water up and hit me with it. My left side was pretty wet. My ear phone wouldn’t stay in right because even the inside of my ear got wet. It was nuts.

Despite all of the obstacles I had going against me I managed a 9:24 pace. Not too bad. I was certain I would have a 10 minute pace when I was almost home.

I am working on getting it down closer to 9 flat. I would LOVE to break into the 8 minute pace. But one thing at a time. I am sure I can drop 15 seconds soon enough. I hope to have done that by the end of the summer.

I have no reason to want to do this other than for myself. I am not trying to lead any of the races I run. There is no one pushing me to run faster. I just want to. Plain and simple. I feel like it is this battle against myself. I can run over 3 miles without stopping or walking. I know I can run 5 miles without stopping as well. I did that at the 8k. I know I am strong enough to do these things. I keep telling myself that, even with a stabbing cramp in my left side. Hell, I gave birth with my epidural only working on half of my body. I didn’t scream once. I barely complained. I calmly said once “I don’t like this at all.” I just focused and did it. I can run faster and I can run longer each time I run.

I used to classify myself as a runner. Then I got knocked up and around 7 months I had to stop because his head made my bladder go nutso when I ran. Then I gave birth and nursed for a year. I ran a bit over the summer and into the fall but not like I used to. I had given up the idea that I was a runner. I didn’t do it enough to feel I deserved that title any longer. I did other workouts, mostly at home. So I stayed fit and in shape, but I was missing the running. I am so happy to have gotten back my self appointed title. I have found time for myself. I have remembered that it is ok to be who I am, even though I have a new title (momma). It is good to have time for myself doing something I love to do. I got lost there for a little while. So consumed with my infant. But once toddlerhood began I woke up a little. It is ok to have time apart from him. Even if it is just 28 minutes of a run at 6 in the evening. Yesterday when I walked in the door, and had been gone only about 29 minutes, his face lit up! Being missed is a good feeling and so is running nonstop until you get home to that chubby little face that missed you so.

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Categories Breastfeeding, Exercise, fitness, Healthy Living, Jack, Momommahood, motherhood, nursing, parenthood, parenting, Running, toddler, toddlerhood, weather, working out
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