Category Archives: Journal

A day in the life.

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One child is easier than 2. Look at how happy my baby was when he was the one and only.

Here is a rant I posted on my facebook the other day. Thought I would share:

I’m so tired! I had last week off with the kids, but it felt like more work than work itself.
Here is the run down:
You wake up
Feed the kids breakfast (with Katy this requires lots of prep having to chop everything)
Pester the big kid to get dressed and brush his teeth
Keep the little kid for climbing on the dining room table and killing herself.
Wash the dishes (or throw them in the dishwasher while the little kid is trying to climb into the dishwasher in a futile attempt to grab the knives)
Get little kid down for a nap
Get big kid off of the Wii so he can clean his room and see the sun.
Prep for lunch
Have one of the neighbor kids come over right as you are about to serve lunch
Have the big kid eat like crap because he’s mad that he has to eat lunch and not play RIGHT THEN.
Have little kid start throwing cut up mango all over the floor.
Clean up floor with steam mop while little kid is trying to scald herself with the steam.
Give up trying to mop the floor because the little kid is climbing on your computer chair and changing all your file names to “////////]]]]{kjki”
Big Kid is playing with his friend in his room and you are picturing the mess that is being made.
Little kid is screaming at his door because she wants to play too.
You send all the kids outside because you think it’s easier.
Little kid picks up clods of dirt to taste them.
Big Kids start playing “football” and being a bit too rough and they start whining telling on each other.
Little kid starts ripping out the flowers in the planter.
You send everyone back inside.
Neighbor kid goes home. You are kind of relieved, but then your big kid gets bored and seeking attention from you.
You realize that you didn’t clean up dishes after lunch and kitchen is going to be super messy once you are done with dinner
You prep for dinner.
Little kid starts pulling on your pant leg and pointing to the bag of M&M’s
You start to wonder if you are a good parent if you feed your 13 month old M&M’s.
Your big kid starts whining that his dinner is too “spicey” even though it is the most bland spaghetti dinner ever made. Also the strawberry lemonade tastes like it’s “too ripe.” You threaten to give the kid water instead of juice. He drinks the lemonade. The spaghetti also becomes palatable once it’s covered with about 2 inches of parmesan cheese.
Little kids starts dropping cauliflower on the floor and pointing at the goldfish crackers.
You wonder why you left the goldfish crackers on the counter.
You get all the dishes in the sink and forget trying to wash them for the time being.
You get little kid bathed and in pajamas.
You fight off the big kid’s excuses to not take a bath and brush his teeth.
You get little kid down for bed.
You hang out with the big kid for a little bit and play Mario Kart.
You and the big kid take turns reading a bed time story. Big kid goes to bed.
You don’t know what to do with yourself and sit down on the couch with your iPad.
You fall asleep on the couch using your iPad as a pillow. You her your husband come home, but that iPad is just so comfortable.
You wake up just enough to change into sleepwear and a half ass attempt to brush your teeth. You wonder if maybe you should read, but your neck hurts from sleeping weird… Maybe you should take a shower? This might be your best chance.
The baby wakes up. You fall asleep rocking the baby.
Good Morning! Rinse. Repeat.

the Maria Kang phenonmenon

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I was avoiding posting about Maria Kang. I had mixed feelings.  I think we should all strive to be healthy, but what is the real meaning of healthy? All I know is that if Maria Kang could see me now, she would disapprove. Fitness is most definitely on the back burner. Last night I had a blueberry muffin for dinner. My tummy has a jiggle to it due to loose skin and weight I haven’t lost yet.

I’m not worried about it though. Right now, my main focus is to get enough sleep. I can’t function without proper sleep and my 1 year old is still not sleeping through the night. My next priority is establishing a day-to-day routine for the kids. I think that we finally have this squared away, but it took awhile to us to adjust to the new house. Both of these will establish an opportunity for workout time in the near future. Right now, when I’m alone, I just want to meditate, read a book or get extra sleep. I feel that this is necessary to establish a healthy me, just as important as getting on treadmill or picking up a kettle bell.

My eating habits need to get better. This is an area where I have slacked and  I have no excuse for this. I can take time to put together a salad instead of cramming a muffin down my throat. I have to find the will, during the middle of dinner with my kids or my “work lunch”  to eat a little bit better. Both these times have their struggles…getting my kids to eat or working at my desk. I just need to carry healthy options. I’ll feel better once I do.

Getting “fit” is really about the whole picture – making sure that you physically and emotionally prepared to take on the next challenge. I wouldn’t worry about your excuses for not looking like a fitness professional less than 1 year postpartum. I would make sure that you are emotionally ready to begin your journey into becoming a healthier you.

When do you become emotionally ready? It’s really up to you. This can start with eating right. Maybe start eating a healthy breakfast and once this has become routine, add on a healthy lunch….baby steps. Once you have established good eating habits, try to start walking daily….or 3 times a week. The point is to do what you can and to feel comfortable with it.

Good for Maria Kang for looking so great postpartum, but this isn’t the norm. Don’t let this discourage you. If this inspires you to get fit, don’t take your regime to the extreme since there is a greater likelihood for failure. Remember. Baby Steps.

Parenting…It’s hard!

I feel like the internet has been in the trenches of Mommy Wars lately. Who has the tougher job, a stay at home mom or a working mom? One blog post sways one way and another blogger states another opinion. Well, here’s my take. PARENTING is hard. Yes, for both mommy and daddy.

My husband and I have two beautiful (most of the time) children, a 7 year old boy and and a 1 year old girl. We both work. We do what we can to manage. This kind of teamwork takes balance. My husband is home in the morning, He gets breakfast ready, takes our son to school, Has daddy-daughter bonding time, gets her to nap and then hand her over to the sitter for a couple of hours. In the afternoon, I pick up our kids, make sure our son does his homework, have play time with the kids, get dinner ready and then bedtime. We are constantly texting each other with chores (Can you pick up some fruit on the way home?) When my husband has a day off, he makes sure to get bonding time in with our son as much as possible. My father also helps at times when the sitter is there. Sometimes I recruit my friends and family, because it really takes a village to raise our family. lol.

My husband and I do the best we can in our given situation to raise our children. That is what parenting is about. It’s a very individual experience. Every child is different, every family is different. Having a stay at home parent may work for some families, it might not for others for various reasons, whether financial or emotional. There are times, when we struggle or when our friends/family struggle with parenting – we experienced this recently when my mom suffered a stroke. We do what we can to help one another. What ultimately matters is that the children are growing up happy, healthy and getting a proper education.

We don’t have to be an internet hero for our kids, we just have to be present…supplying hugs and kisses as necessary…or saying NO when we need to.

I’m sure I’m missing an important point somewhere in this post, but that is how I feel at this moment….eta: Main point. LOL. Let’s stop trying to one up each other  or cut each other down. Let’s help each other out….as I’ve already said, it takes a village.

Adapting to change

I haven’t posted here in a long while, mainly because I’ve been exhausted. Work has also kept me busy. Suffice to say, it’s been a life-altering time for me.

Last month, I was feeling quite good about myself. I was figuring out my body, lost approximately 7 pounds despite my inability to lose weight for a number of years. I still struggled with IBS, but I finally felt like I had control. Then I found out I was pregnant.

This didn’t take me completely by surprise. My husband and I were trying for another child. I felt I was mentally prepared for this, but I wasn’t. I went from feeling in control of my body to not having any control at all. My daily workout routine fell apart due to morning sickness and dizziness and dwindled down to nothing. Instead of losing weight, I had to feel comfortable with gaining weight. My diet also took hit, since many of the foods I had been eating started causing me to be sick. This really made me feel down, still does, but I know my hormones are running haywire.

I’m still in the early stages of pregnancy, almost 10 weeks along. In the last week, I’ve been able to walk daily for about 20 minutes. My IBS exasperates my “morning sickness,” but I’ll need to stick to my diet as best as I can to manage it. I’m happy to be pregnant, but I need to come to terms with it. I’m not fully in control anymore and that’s okay.

Drink review: GT’s Kombucha Cherry Chia

GT's Kombucha Cherry Chia and my desk clutter 😉

Kombucha is a drink that I heard about, but flew under my radar fro some reason. I just happened upon this bottle of kombucha whilst scoping out my local Whole Foods for lunch options. I was think about picking up a can of green tea when this bottle containing chia seeds caught my eye. I had to have it. There was a choice between Raspberry, Grape and Cherry. I chose the cherry obviously.

I glanced at the Nutrition Facts

1 bottle contains 150 calories. Not bad. I was purchasing a low cal tofu salad, so I could handle the extra 150 kcal. What I LOVED was that the whole bottle contained 8g of fiber. Hello! Welcome to my life. In addition to this, was added the probiotics and antioxidants.This is an IBSer’s dream drink. lol.

Kombucha is a fermented tea that is, from what I’ve read, an acquired taste. What GT has done here is mixed the kombucha with juice to mellow the flavor – the ratio is 95% tea to 5% juice and the addition of chia seeds. Also of note is that this is a raw drink, so most of the nutrients should be alive and well. 🙂

When opening the bottle, you get a bit of a vinegary smell from the fermentation, don’t let that sway you. The taste is tart with a bit of fizz from the fermentation and crunch from the seeds. I really enjoyed this. It’s kind of like candy, but good for you. 🙂

If you see this drink at your local health food store, give it a try.

Learn more about Synergy drinks here: http://www.synergydrinks.com/

 

 

Angelina’s arms

I hate to write this because I like Angelina Jolie. I used to have the biggest girl crush on her about 10 years ago. I’m just alarmed by the current lack of muscle in her upper body. She used to have arms and over the last few years, she her muscle mass has take a nose dive. What happened? Could be one of a number of reasons:

  • Undisclosed medical condition
  • Eating disorder
  • lack of exercise
  • stress

I’m not sure why she looks the way she looks currently, I just know that it isn’t a good look for her. I suspect that it is not a medical issue, so adding a few more calories to her diet and starting a weight training program might help. Personally, I think she needs to add Zuzka Light into her life. 😉

When your arms have their own twitter account. You know you have a problem.

This is further proof to me that a healthy lifestyle > losing weight to get skinny.

Still chugging along…

I’m still here. Miraculously. 😉

My condition has not improved on the Amitiza. Somehow it has actually gotten worse, most likely do to stress and the side effects of the medication. So all this treatment has given me is added nausea. 😦 My GI doctor is perplexed, but he wants me to continue on a higher dosage on Amitiza. I’ve been on a higher dosage for the last couple of days, but still not getting complete bowel movements.The next phase of testing for me is to explore a pelvic floor dysfunction diagnosis. I have a hunch that this might be the root of my problem.

My son this week has been sick and his cough was worrisome enough for me to take him to the doctor. He was diagnosed with walking pneumonia today. My little man is in good spirits and happy to not be in school. I just have to keep my cool and not let this stress me out, especially when I have lots to do in the office and I can’t be there.

Still getting my workouts in! I’ve done a rotation of running/jogging 3 miles, going to the gym and doing a cardio/sculpt or Zumba class and doing Zumba Workout II on the Wii. Today I did Zuzka Light’s ZWOW #4

I did great! I was able to keep up with Zuzana and was a little faster than her on the burpees. I struggled with push-up twists – I had to do push ups on my knees during the last round, but I did it. 🙂 My son commented that she just better than me at jumping rope, but I told him that that just makes me try harder in order to get better. 😉

I think I mentioned a few posts ago that have been wearing a bodymedia fit armband. This little gizmo has been great. I bought an older model off of eBay and saved myself a ton of money. A new one costs $180+. The sensor keeps track of your calories burned, step taken and your sleep. I was really curious about the sleep part. Here you can see my graph for the day.I have not uploaded any data since I woke up this morning, so the rest of the data is incomplete. However, I want you to look the “Sleep Duration” row. I got 5:46 minutes of sleep last night. My son was coughing and hacking most of the night, but between 5-6 hours is what I have been averaging since I started tracking with the armband. That is horrible. Not not sure why I am a giant FAIL when it comes to sleep. I know part of it is that my husband works nights and I think subliminally I want to stay up to see him (He gets home around midnight usually). It’s tough when you work a different schedule from your partner. Another part of my problem is my couch potato tendencies. Once I get my son to bed, I don’t feel right just getting a yoga or Zumba session in and going to bed. I have to fart around on Pinterest or Facebook and then catch up on my DVR. By the time I do all that, my husband is home and then I’m chatting with him and my sleep is ruined. I will need to actively work to fix this.

 

Struggling

I am still struggling with very severe constipation. My usual cocktail of laxatives is not helping and neither is the added exercise and water. There is nothing more uncomfortable than working out or running while constipated.

I paid a visit to my Gastroenterologist on Thursday and he decided to prescribe me Amitiza. It is a drug that helps to coat your intestines so that you can go. I’ve been taking it for 2 days and the only change is that I have nausea. That makes me eat less, which means less stool. Lol.

So my regiment is:
-probiotic daily
-psyllium husk mixed with water and lemon daily
-peppermint tea daily
-1 capful of Miralax daily (2 capfuls once a week
– 1 tablet of Amitiza daily
-dulcolax once a week, on the weekend.

Hopefully the Amitiza will start to work soon.

Mud Run!

I’ve been “training” for the Irvine Lake Mud Run which is coming up this March. My training so far  has consisted in running at the beach for 3 miles the last couple of Saturdays and running 3 miles during the week at least once a week. Suffice to say, I’m slow. It takes me about 35-40 minutes to run three miles, but I’m doing it. One of my friends is a regular runner, so I try to keep pace with her as best as I can when we train on Saturday.

All I can say right now is that I’m tired. I slept like 9 hours yesterday. And I’m hungry, so I have to make sure I don’t make bad choices. I had to run to the mall for lunch today and I got myself a bowl of Chicken Pho instead of all the other junky choices there are at the mall.  I just had to restrain myself with the sriracha. I love that stuff, but I don’t think my stomach loves it as much as my taste buds.

Very proud of myself.

Trying to find my Digestive Zen

*Poop Talk Warning*

This week has been one of those weeks where my insides just seem freaking bi-polar. At the beginning of the week, I just couldn’t. go number two. Not at all. Then out of the blue, while driving my son & I home for the day, I had to go. BAD. Thankfully, for some miraculous reason, the 405 freeway was open during rush hour. I was able to channel my inner yogi enough to relax myself while simultaneously thinking about where the nearest restroom was (and driving too). I actually made it home without sharting myself, which I thought was a real possibility, and was able to use the toilet at home. That was such a relief.

Now I’m back to my first problem. Since that explosive incident, I can’t go. I drink water, I eat fiber, I work out, I take Miralax, but I can’t go to the bathroom. Instead of stressing out about this, I’m trying to take it easy. I’m hoping that peppermint tea will help alleviate the problem.

It sucks that my bodymedia fit armband is telling me that I have had 800+ calorie deficits everyday this week and I’ve actually gained weight on the scale. I know that it’s not “fat” and the scale lies, but it’s still a bummer. Nevertheless, I have to focus on the positive and keep up with my goals (my sleeping is a disaster).