Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Legs

Ouch, ouch, ouch - thats all I can say...

Yesterday morning I did my first proper leg session in a LONG while, and I think I might have gone a little too hard. I knew I was in trouble during the first set of walking lunges when my quads starting to scream at me LOL :)

Elke, our border collie cross, saw me put my gym shoes on. Now since I've been at home, me putting my gym shoes on means only one thing: shes going for a walk. But NOT anymore! She started racing around the house expecting me to grab her lead and head out the door... poor puppy! She was not impressed by me exercising on the patio - in fact, during my walking lunges (which were done around and around our outdoor table) she followed me the entire time, swatting at my ankles as if to say "What are you DOING mum? Stop mucking around and lets GO!!"

She soon gave up, and she left me to continue in peace :)

Monday, July 26, 2010

Changes

Its amazing how things change when a little baby comes into your life.

For one thing, I never realised how precious “spare” time could be, until I had another little human being to look after, who depends on me for EVERYTHING, and how easy it is to waste time when she’s asleep, when I should be doing important things!

One really big change in my life since having Skye is my body shape. I’ve always been prone to being a “pear” shape, always storing the majority of my bodyfat on my hips and thighs. I’m still storing it there, but I’m noticing a lot more rolls around the middle – the dreaded muffin top!

At first I made excuses for myself. Hubby keeps saying to me “But you’ve just had a baby!!”… and I’m like “ummm… that was over 6 months ago!” (Bless him for loving me just the way I am, I’m very lucky to have him…)

Anyway, I've been looking at myself critically in the mirror lately, and realised that its time to get a bit more serious about my health again. The realization has been slowly creeping up on me for weeks… and now that Skye has settled down from the reflux and colic, I feel that I finally have the energy (without resorting to sugar!) to get back on track.

I’m ready to feel fit and healthy again. I’m taking it one day at a time, and being reasonable with my expectations. I'm 3kgs over my pre-pregnancy weight, however I've lost a lot of muscle so I'm not really using kilos as a goal. I need to build a bit of muscle and lose some bodyfat, so I'll be monitoring skinfolds and measurements as my main guide.

Back when I was heavily pregnant, I only suspended my gym membership until July, because I didn’t really know what the future was going to be like, so I wanted to give myself the option of going back.

I went to the gym last week and cancelled my membership. I really loved my gym – I was a constant gym-goer, almost every weekday for the last 5 years, I would be there at 5.30am ready and raring to go – it was a huge part of my life. I much prefer to train in public, because I usually push myself harder when there are other people around!

So yes I was a bit sad to cancel it, but the facts are this: we have a complete weights station at home, dumbbells, barbells, squat rack, leg extension etc, plus a cross trainer, and the benefit of living in a quiet, hilly area, perfect for outside cardio with baby + dog. We’re on one income now too, so it just makes more sense for us. I'll just have to make sure I push myself hard now that I'm training in private.

I've taken my starting measurements and drawn up a plan, –I need to be flexible, and reasonable – babies seem to have a way of throwing a spanner in the works! – but I’m feeling the fire in the belly again. I wasted no time on the weekend and did a "proper" weights session - supersets and everything, and boy am I feeling it now!

I also bought a new training diary from Ada Street Supplements in Brissie a few weeks ago (and a big plug for them – I ordered it online around lunchtime, and they delivered it to me by courier at around 5pm – THE SAME DAY!! Now that’s what I call service! They've always been good like that) - so I'm raring to go!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Teething!

Poor Skye is teething at the moment. Ok, I should actually say she's been teething for bloody months - I wish this first tooth would hurry up!

Doctors and child health nurses have been telling me for ages that she's teething - swollen gums, red cheeks, tugging at her ears, excessive drooling and fingers in the mouth etc...

In the last week she's gotten worse and has been quite grizzly with it. I read Alicia's blog the other week and got some teething tablets to try, fingers crossed!

So because she's not sleeping for long stretches at the moment, I cant train when she's asleep because I usually only have time to eat, or shower or whatever before she wakes and demands attention. So yesterdays training session involved putting Skye in the walker out on the patio, and letting her watch me train. I kept her amused by asking her to help me count out the reps... so picture me in my trakkie daks and ugg boots, lifting weights and counting out my reps in that annoying high-pitched voice that we seem to use when talking to babies! And then singing songs in between to keep her smiling :)

I can only hope that the neighbours didn't see or hear me!!

Needless to say it only kept her entertained for a short amount of time and then she started to whinge, so I didn't get a full session in :(

I LOVE this cooler weather we're having overnight at the moment. We have a fireplace at our house, and its so lovely to get it cranking and watch the flames - just need to add a good book and a glass of wine and it would be a perfect way to spend the day - oh well I can dream!

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Neglected

Eeek - my poor old blog has been a bit neglected lately!

Partly because of not really having huge amounts of spare time these days, and partly because of not really having anything interesting to say :-)

Things have really settled down here in the last month - finally we have a happy baby! After months of stress and unsettled-ness, and me surviving on 2 hours of sleep every day for months, the doc diagnosed Skye with silent reflux and put her on some medication called Probitor. Within a day she was a different baby and we thought "Awesome!" She started sleeping longer, and was happy, and a pleasure to be around.

But then two days later the side effects kicked in - she was screaming in pain, doing these crampy sort of stomach movements, constipated, grizzly, waking up multiple times in the night with blood-curdling screams... and over a week it just got worse. So I took her back to the doc who recommended some MORE medication to treat the side effects of the first medication... WTF???

Tried that for 2 days, and she was no better, so gut-instinct was to stop all medication, which I did. Poor little poppet was so distressed, and worse than before the meds.

Then I was at my chiropractor for my own monthly adjustment, and told him my woes... he had a look at her then and there (her hips, neck and back were out) did a few little adjustments on her, and the difference since then has been amazing!

Chiropractic for babies is actually extremely safe - they dont do big "bone cracks" like they do on adults, they use a little clicker thing that really just massages the joints, its like gentle manoeuvring, rather than manipulation.

Anyway, it had such an amazing affect - she is just so happy now, and is sleeping nearly 12 hours a night again - woohoo! Hubby is not a believer in chiropractic though, he thinks maybe she was going to get better anyway. And I also think that moving on to 3 solid meals a day has helped a lot too - whatever it was, I dont care, she's happy and content, and that is the main thing.

I didn't realise just how hard it is to have a reflux and colicky baby, and now that she seems to be past that, its like I can finally enjoy being a mum. She no longer wakes after 30 minutes, she's not screaming during feeds anymore, she's not grizzly now unless she's tired... she's a joy!

She has started babbling this week... here's a little bit of one of her 'conversations'...




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Other news... we're changing cars... again... Today I said goodbye to my beautiful Ford G6ET, and I'll be getting my replacment car on the weekend - a V8... ahh I cant wait, I loved my old V8! Hubby has also now got a V8 ute, so we're an all Ford, all V8 family now LOL! We change cars like we change our underwear around here hehehe!

I've returned to feedback coaching for IBO again for the last 8 weeks too, and its nice to be able to do a bit of work from home.

So this week, without a car for a few days I'm house-bound (well, I can walk to the local shops)... so I've got a "to-do" list as long as your arm - better get cracking! I'm hoping to teach myself how to use MYOB this week... dont like my chances!

TTFN!