Mom Up!

We've all heard the saying, "man up". However, I believe no living creature is tougher than a mom. No, not even our beloved Chuck Norris. I used to believe that a woman in labor was the most fearsome creature. At that point, I had never had to pin down my daughter while someone injected medicine into her legs, or shoved a catheter 3 inches up each nostril. I now believe a mom going into 'mama bear' mode is truly the most fearsome creature.

Imagine it. A mom turning into mama bear. As if the extra upper body strength from hauling around her young (which probably hulks out during the mama bear transformation) and the crazy eyes from months of sleep deprivation aren't enough. Add in a pair of high heels and a diaper bag and you best be running in the opposite direction as fast as you can.

There are so many experiences a mom has to watch, while helpless, unable to do anything. Guess how much fun that is. I'm actually really grateful though. This little lady is prepping me for a couple trouble making boys. I'm feeling so tough, I might just kill my own spiders and everything!

P90-What?

I finished the first phase of P90X, and decided I really wasn't getting the kind of results I really wanted. That, and I had a hard time finding the energy and time to commit to the workouts.

But it's ok. Ross got me an incredible Valentine's present.

Don't worry, I ASKED for it, so it's not a secret message from Ross or anything. The book is truly inspiring and comes with a fitness plan that's 30 minutes, 4 days a week, for 6 weeks. THAT I can commit to, and I can use the 2 extra days to run for fun, and do something for ME. What I really love about this book, is that is teaches self confidence. It teaches you to love your body in whatever shape it is right now, and helps you feel even sexier RIGHT NOW. The lessons in the diet (which really isn't a diet at all), fitness, and beauty sections are all just an added bonus on how to fine tune and take care of yourself. The title is a little embarrassing, but so far, I am loving it!

Also, Claire and I just got back from a week and a half trip to Oregon for my brother's wedding! I'll update with another post later this week.

Ode to Size 6 Jeans

Since having a baby, I feel like the more I workout, the rounder I look. I know, I know, I need to be patient and I'm not going to be skinny and fit in one day or even one week, but seriously? SOME results or even a smidge of a hint that all my efforts are working would be great.

If you recall, my 2nd trimester MUST HAVE or I'm going to DIE craving, was burgers. And Fries. No wonder I put on weight. I really hope with the next baby, my craving is more like water, and celery or something.

Last night our home teacher came over. His wife is 8 months pregnant. And she is STILL doing P90X with him. At least, she does what she can. I was talking to Ross about that later and he goes, "So how do you feel about that babe?" -Fat. That's how I feel. Thanks.

I suppose he was thinking he was going to hear that I found a new heightened motivation and "Can Do" attitude. His motivational pep talk backfired.

I love going places with Claire. Strangers stop me to comment on how cute she is and ask how old she is. When I say to months, they look shocked and tell me I look great for having a baby. But you see, that's the thing. I don't want to look great- for having a baby. I want to look great for looking great. I'd even settle for looking good. I almost feel like I HAVE to have Claire with me to justify my extra baggage.

Ode to Size 6 Jeans

Oh Jeans, how I adore thee.

Some day I will be able to squeeze into

Without the added muffin top.

Without the elastic around the button.

Some day I will zip the zippers on my skirts

And were the skirts without the elastic.

Some day

But not today!

At least Claire still thinks I'm beautiful.

2 Months

Almost a week ago, Claire turned 2 months. First things first, here are her stats.

weight: 13.01 pounds-95th percentile

height: 24.25 inches- 97th percentile.

We pride ourselves on our little fat girl. For Claire, eating is not only her favorite hobby, it's serious business. A nurse showed Ross and I an eating chart a month ago. Apparently at 1 month, Claire was eating as much as an 8 month old. Yikes.

Claire has discovered her tongue. She loves to roll it around her mouth and stick it out. Especially when she smiles. Recently, she's discovered her hands. It's pretty funny to watch her sit and stare at her hand, slowly moving her fingers.

Claire likes to spend the day

-eating

-watching mom clean and workout

-talk to dad when he gets home

-play on her playmat

-stare at the Family Home Evening board.

-tooting in the bath tub and drinking as much bath water as she can get

She doesn't like:

-tummy time

-naps well, sleeping at all really.

-being tickled.

Claire is really ticklish, and it's really funny. She's not really sure what is going on so she makes a really funny face while her body is flailing around.

That's pretty much it. She's a really good happy baby, except when she's hungry. It's really fun watching her see and experience all these new things. She's so much fun to have around and we're so grateful for her. I can't believe how fast she's growing! Most of you are probably on facebook, and I'm always putting pictures up there, so I won't worry about posting pictures you've probably already seen on here. She doesn't go back to the doctor till 4 months, so I'll see how fat I can get her in 2 months!

P90X-Week 2.

Again, this is mostly for myself, but you are more than welcome to come along for the ride.

I think after this last week, I'm a little discouraged. All of the extra fat I gained from the pregnancy decided to get together and have a party in the front of my stomach. I've never had my fat group together like that, and I look like I'm pregnant again. So, in case you were wondering: Ross and I are NOT expecting another addition already.

As a result, I decided to not eat sweets for a month, and add 30 minutes of running each day to the workout schedule. We'll see how that goes. By sweets, I mean full on desserts. I have no problem eating a piece of candy every now and then, but it's the 5 brownies, 6 cookies, and 3 popsicles that I'm talking about. So far it hasn't been difficult at all. I just tell the folks we're hanging out with that day that I'm not eating sweets and we come up with a different dessert or snack. I love everyone. Everyone was so supportive of me not having chocolate last year, and now everyone is even ok with me nixing sweets altogether for a while. Thanks for putting up with me and supporting me! Really, it helps SO much. Hopefully the improved eating habits and extra cardio will boost my spirits.

I've started cooking better and I'm surprised at how easy and how much less expensive it really is. Lots of chicken dishes at our house lately. Chicken soup, chicken and dumplings, chicken and salad, chicken sandwiches... you get the picture. I'm loving the flavor and the grocery bill. It's probably helping with the attitude, too-which is a plus for everyone, I'm sure!

Well, let's get to it. This is P90X-Week 2:

Day 8: Chest and Back.This was the day of the Championship game. I was so occupied with cleaning my house and cooking food for some friends, that I missed the workout. Whoops.

Day 9: Plyometrics. I decided to do BOTH of the workouts today. I started with the lifts, and then went to Plyo. I'm surprised at how much easier the pushups and pull ups were already. I'm still using the chair, and I'm still on my knees, but I'm proud of myself. I worked hard and did more reps for each exercise. I only did half of Plyo because Claire woke up, but I still gave myself credit for doing that much on the 2nd workout.

Day 10: Shoulders and Arms. I was sore from the day before. It was hard at first to do all of the lifts, but I tried really hard to use more weight and do more reps for each exercise. For the most part, I could do more reps and use more weight, but the tricep exercises were still hard. I increased the weight on 2 of those, but I did do more reps. This next week is the last week before the rest week, so I'm going to work hard to improve this week.

Day 11: Yoga. Not gonna lie, I was actually really looking forward to Yoga all week. This was the day Claire got her shots, so I only managed to get through half of it before I had to go help Claire. I did all of the strength ones, but none of the balance postures. Those are my favorite, so I was bummed. I'm looking forward to doing the whole thing this week.

Day 12: Legs and Back. The night I did yoga, Ross took care of Claire the WHOLE night, so I was well rested and ready to go in the morning. It was nice to get the workout done before Ross left for work, but I wasn't really focused on what I was doing. My mind kept wandering to everything I needed to get done that day before the weekend and what we would do that night. I could have worked a lot harder, especially on the pull ups.

Day 13: Kenpo. Since Kenpo is a cardio workout, I decided to run for 30 minutes instead. I got running shoes for Christmas and have been itching to use them for what they're actually for. It actually felt really good and I really really enjoyed it. I hadn't run since April or May, and I've missed it. This is when I decided I wanted to add running to each of my workouts.

Well, it's Monday night and I still haven't done my workout. I'm using "my shorts are in the dryer" as my excuse for not doing it yet, but the dryer's almost done and then I'll get busy. This is my last week of phase 1 before the rest week so I'm going to work hard and see what I can do.

Finding the Positives.

Claire is an active baby. And although those big gummy smiles melt my heart, there are mornings where after getting only 2 hours of sleep, I'll roll over and tell her I want to box her up and UPS her to Grandma's house for a while. Then she'll look at me wide-eyed with the same gummy smile that somehow helps me make it through another day. Either she thinks I'm funny, or she knows it's a good idea, too.

I knew I wouldn't be sleeping a whole lot with a baby. I guess I just didn't realize how long it would last, how little sleep I'd really be getting, and how much things would really change. Don't get me wrong, I love Claire, just I find the real truths of having a baby humorous. There are days where I don't feel like a person. I shower two MAYBE three times a week, and just make sure I'm out of jammies before Ross gets home. Shave my legs? Funny. I'm married. Plus it's cold outside so I wear pants anyway. That happens like twice a month. As long as Claire looks cute and I have my wedding ring on, I'm okay going outside looking like a hobo.

So here's how I see this playing out. She'll be so grumpy from her shots, that it'll set her schedule right. She won't feel well and won't be happy for a few hours, and then she'll tire herself out and go to bed at a reasonable time. And she'll actually sleep. None of this pretend she's asleep until she's in her crib and then start shrieking. It's probably not very likely, but I'm all about hope. She has to get poked anyway, so I might as well try to find something positive about it, even if it's not very likely. This smidge of hope for at least 4 hours of sleep in one day has made me almost excited.

I've been trying to keep her awake today so she'll be sleepy for her appointment. I'm not sure if it's working, but I do know she's pretty irritated with me. This idea probably doesn't even make sense, but with only 15 hours of sleep a week, I'll believe anything! I am excited to find out what her stats are, so I'll do a real post later about how big she is, how she is growing, and what she likes to do later. Here's to hoping her appointment goes well. Cheers!

P90X-Week 1.

This is mostly for my own personal use, but what the heck? I'll share my struggles, triumphs, and moments of 'pass the barf bag' for everyone to see.

The first time I started P90X was Feb 2010. I was just about half way through when we found out we were expecting a little miss now known as baby Claire. I decided to press on for as long as I could. There was a family mono epidemic that broke out before Ross and I were married. I remember a dinner where Ross' brother, Jake, said that he wouldn't get sick because illness is mental. (Or something like that.) So I decided to do him proud and take on that mindset so I could finish P90X and have a rocking pregnant bod. No stretch marks for me!

Morning, or rather ALL DAY, sickness is NOT mental. Towards the end of March I had to stop, which is probably a good thing. For the few weeks that I did do the program, I felt great, ate well, and had awesome results.

Claire is now 2 months old and I decided to give it a go again. For real this time. She's usully pretty good. Though I can hardly get her to take a nap, she likes sitting on the couch or swinging while she watches me. On water breaks I just pop in a binki or adjust her bottle and she's usually pretty content.

At the beginning of each week I will be posting about the previous week. Maybe towards the end I will post pictures, but for now I have the common courtesy to NOT post pictures. Again, this is mostly for my benefit. Hopefully reflecting on the previous week will get me motivated for the current week and help me think of things I can improve on. Also, by reporting my progress and struggles, I'll probably be more likely to keep going and finish. So here we go.

Week 1:

We got back from our trip late Sunday night. Monday was Day 1. Chest and Back.It was difficult start a groove not just from being on vacation, but from going MONTHS with very little real exercise. Ross was on the couch tending to Claire while I was doing pushups and pull ups. On my knees and with a chair. I think having him in the room made me work a little harder and sweat a little more. I was feeling sore just a few minutes after completing the workout. Instead of jumping right into Ab Ripper X, I decided that I'd just do 100 sit ups a day. Not much to report on that other than I had to take a couple breaks to do all 100, but I did them.

Day 2: Plyometrics. All I can say is Holy Plyo! I had never done this one before because I was doing the lean program instead of the classic. I understand why Tony says to not eat at least 1 hour before doing the work out and on water breaks to only sip a little. Usually during my workouts, I go through a liter. It was hard and by the end I was moving a lot slower and not doing as many reps, but I did it. For my 100 sit ups, I did 20. I was so sore. This is when I was rethinking my 100 sit ups every day idea and cut is back to 50. By the end of the day, I felt as if I had been thrown down the stairs.

Day 3: Shoulders and Arms. This is one of my favorite workouts. I used really light weights, but did around 15 reps for each of the exercises. With this workout, you do each exercise twice. On the second round, I upped the weight a little, but kept the reps the same. I'm excited to do this one this week and increase the weight. Shoulders were a little more difficult because I was STILL sore from Monday. Sit ups? forget it.

Day 4: Yoga. I almost didn't do the workout that day. I really really REALLY don't like this workout. Or so I thought. It was getting late and Ross kept asking me if I was going to workout. My response each time? I should, but I don't want to. Good thing my husband knows how to motivate me. After all my whining and all my excuses, he got me to commit and DO it. By the end I felt great and was glad I did it. The first half of the workout is HARD and no fun. By the end, my poses were lazy though I was still sweating like crazy. I really like the balance postures and actually did pretty well. For Yoga Belly X, I was lazy. Not gonna lie. This week I'm going to put on my big girl panties and work harder. I realized I really do like the yoga workout, I just don't like how long it is.

Day 5: Legs and Back. Another one of my favorites. I used light weights again, and even no weights for some of the exercises. On the second round, I upped the weight and/or reps depending on the exercise. Towards the end of the back exercises, my pull ups were getting lazy and sloppy. Hopefully this week I won't be as sore and and do better.

Day 6: Kenpo: This is just fun. I did the workout in the afternoon when I was thinking about the other things I needed to get done still. I think I really could have worked harder throughout the whole workout. I tried harder on some exercises, but I think I didn't really 'Bring it'. I'm looking forward to improving this week and will probably do it earlier so I can focus on it.

Well there ya go. I'm pretty lucky, my mom is doing the program as well, and started the same day so I have someone to check in on! I have my new goals for this week, and will report next Monday!