This week has been all about getting back to normal, trying to once again get into some sort of routine. Last week me and my two girls visited my sister for a few days. We had a great time but of course after being away for any length of time our schedule was all out of whack. Samantha being so young still we did not have that regular of a routine to begin with but I made that the goal for this week.
Samantha is finally eating somewhat regularly - until the next growth spurt at least which will creep up right as we have gotten comfortable with this schedule. She is also sleeping really well at night and has been going to bed around 8:00 for a while now. In addition to getting on a regular feeding schedule I needed to get her on a regular bath schedule. With Gabrielle I always made sure she was bathed and slathered in lotion so she always had that sweet baby smell. I realized when I got home from my sister's, poor Samantha had not had a bath in a week!!
Gabrielle's schedule has not really changed too much for a while now except for our night time routine. We created a bad habit of not bathing her at a regular time every night which then led to not putting her to bed at a regular time every night which of course meant many nights of Gabrielle being up way too late. As of this week that has all changed. Every night bath time is at 7:30 and bedtime is always by 8:30. By the time we get through our whole bedtime routine - reading, tucking in, bedtime prayer, turning on the music and turning off the lights - then it is typically 9:00. She has been going to bed much easier this week and getting up at a more reasonable time each morning as well. She also has been in a much better mood - as good as can be expected for a two year old anyway.
For myself I was determined to finally after almost 3 months do something about this baby weight I'm still carrying. I have 15 lbs. to lose before I am at my pre-Samantha weight. Unfortunately I never lost the last 10 lbs. of Gabrielle weight and had also gained a few pounds between the two pregnancies. This all adds up to 30 lbs. to lose!! It is a bit overwhelming. I've never had this much weight to lose and I think the reason I waited so long to do anything about it is fear of failure. If I never tried to lose the weight then I could not fail at it, right? But now I'm tired of none of my clothes fitting and I'm really unhappy how I look in the clothes that do fit. Plus I know the added weight is not good on my health or energy level and with two young children I need all the energy I can get!
We can not afford a gym membership at the moment although I do hope in the fall we will be able to get a family membership to the Y but for now I need to find a way to exercise at home. I needed to find something easy to squeeze into my mornings and something I would commit to doing. We have digital cable and one of the channels we receive is the Exercise On-Demand. For anyone who might not know what On-Demand is, basically you can choose to watch any number of programs and movies for free at the press of a button as if you have this huge library of dvds. There are some movies that you have to pay for of course but there are many On-Demand channels of free programs and the Exercise channel is one of them. There are some really great workouts to choose from as well - anything from yoga to dancing to walking. There are even some family/kid workouts. On Monday I did a 10 minute dance workout, Tuesday a 20 minute/1 mile walking workout and yesterday a 30 minute/2 mile walking workout. My plan is to do the 30 minute/2 mile walking on Monday-Wednesday-Friday and a dance and a stretching workout on Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday or maybe the 1 mile walking workout on those days.
I know exercise is not going to be enough so I am trying to be more conscious of everything I am eating. I am adding more salads, veggies and fruit to my diet and cutting out the majority of the salty snacks and sweets I oh so love. I strongly dislike the word "diet" and refuse to be on a so called "diet" for the rest of my life. I simply want to eat healthier and be more aware of portion sizes and moderation. My goal is not to be unrealistically thin. I want to be at a healthy weight for my height, feel comfortable in my clothes, and feel more energetic.
The week has been going relatively smoothly but I will be packing up myself and the girls again in just over a week. We are going to my mom's for almost a full week for Gabrielle to go to Vacation Bible School at my mom's church. Hopefully we can stay relatively close to our routine while we are there. But I am definitely aware with young children it is next to impossible to strictly stay on a routine unless you are willing to give up having an actual life! There will always be growth spurts that change feeding and sleeping schedules, appointments and outings that interfere with naps and plans in the evening to disrupt bath and bed times. But what fun would it be if we never did anything different and even spontaneous all for the sake of staying on schedule!
Samantha is finally eating somewhat regularly - until the next growth spurt at least which will creep up right as we have gotten comfortable with this schedule. She is also sleeping really well at night and has been going to bed around 8:00 for a while now. In addition to getting on a regular feeding schedule I needed to get her on a regular bath schedule. With Gabrielle I always made sure she was bathed and slathered in lotion so she always had that sweet baby smell. I realized when I got home from my sister's, poor Samantha had not had a bath in a week!!
Gabrielle's schedule has not really changed too much for a while now except for our night time routine. We created a bad habit of not bathing her at a regular time every night which then led to not putting her to bed at a regular time every night which of course meant many nights of Gabrielle being up way too late. As of this week that has all changed. Every night bath time is at 7:30 and bedtime is always by 8:30. By the time we get through our whole bedtime routine - reading, tucking in, bedtime prayer, turning on the music and turning off the lights - then it is typically 9:00. She has been going to bed much easier this week and getting up at a more reasonable time each morning as well. She also has been in a much better mood - as good as can be expected for a two year old anyway.
For myself I was determined to finally after almost 3 months do something about this baby weight I'm still carrying. I have 15 lbs. to lose before I am at my pre-Samantha weight. Unfortunately I never lost the last 10 lbs. of Gabrielle weight and had also gained a few pounds between the two pregnancies. This all adds up to 30 lbs. to lose!! It is a bit overwhelming. I've never had this much weight to lose and I think the reason I waited so long to do anything about it is fear of failure. If I never tried to lose the weight then I could not fail at it, right? But now I'm tired of none of my clothes fitting and I'm really unhappy how I look in the clothes that do fit. Plus I know the added weight is not good on my health or energy level and with two young children I need all the energy I can get!
We can not afford a gym membership at the moment although I do hope in the fall we will be able to get a family membership to the Y but for now I need to find a way to exercise at home. I needed to find something easy to squeeze into my mornings and something I would commit to doing. We have digital cable and one of the channels we receive is the Exercise On-Demand. For anyone who might not know what On-Demand is, basically you can choose to watch any number of programs and movies for free at the press of a button as if you have this huge library of dvds. There are some movies that you have to pay for of course but there are many On-Demand channels of free programs and the Exercise channel is one of them. There are some really great workouts to choose from as well - anything from yoga to dancing to walking. There are even some family/kid workouts. On Monday I did a 10 minute dance workout, Tuesday a 20 minute/1 mile walking workout and yesterday a 30 minute/2 mile walking workout. My plan is to do the 30 minute/2 mile walking on Monday-Wednesday-Friday and a dance and a stretching workout on Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday or maybe the 1 mile walking workout on those days.
I know exercise is not going to be enough so I am trying to be more conscious of everything I am eating. I am adding more salads, veggies and fruit to my diet and cutting out the majority of the salty snacks and sweets I oh so love. I strongly dislike the word "diet" and refuse to be on a so called "diet" for the rest of my life. I simply want to eat healthier and be more aware of portion sizes and moderation. My goal is not to be unrealistically thin. I want to be at a healthy weight for my height, feel comfortable in my clothes, and feel more energetic.
The week has been going relatively smoothly but I will be packing up myself and the girls again in just over a week. We are going to my mom's for almost a full week for Gabrielle to go to Vacation Bible School at my mom's church. Hopefully we can stay relatively close to our routine while we are there. But I am definitely aware with young children it is next to impossible to strictly stay on a routine unless you are willing to give up having an actual life! There will always be growth spurts that change feeding and sleeping schedules, appointments and outings that interfere with naps and plans in the evening to disrupt bath and bed times. But what fun would it be if we never did anything different and even spontaneous all for the sake of staying on schedule!
1 comment:
oh goodness....
you look amazing!
and at least you can say you have a reason to have gained weight....me
i just say...i've gained sympathy wait for friends who have gotten pregnant!
.....so ..... the last time i was at the doctor, i asked him what weight i needed to be at to be in the median of the "healthy" bmi....
yeah, he did the calculations and said about 75 pounds
so, screw that!
i've decided that i just need to be healthy....no matter what weight i am!
so that is exactly what i am trying to do!
:)
and....oh....are you living in raleigh? or close to raleigh??
if you are....you should find out when fleet feet is starting their next no boundaries program....
i do it here in winston, and they train you for a 5k....LOVE IT!
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