back on the train..

well life gets in the way of the best laid plans sometimes.  Here I was thinking I would try to post daily, and here I go a whole month between posts....Lillian got the GI bug, my husband got the nasty cold, and I got both.  Hard few weeks.  Still not 100% better, but did manage a decent run tonight.  I was so tired after work I almost bailed and went home.  But I did not give up, I went to the gym and got it DONE :)
Of course then I made chocolate chip cookies for dessert (while catching up on the Biggest Loser no less).  Baby steps

snowy january and sick days

Now that the excitement of new years is waning and the reality of a cold dark winter is setting in, how are your fitness goals coming along? It is so easy to curl up at home on the coach with a warm cup of cocoa and start skipping workouts.  Hiding behind baggy sweaters and not wanting to venture out into the dark and cold for those early morning (or late evening) workouts can also sidetrack us.  Throw in that fabulous winter cold many of us are fighting and it becomes a real challenge.  I'm hanging in there.  Had to miss the gym last week because my daughter had a cold and couldn't go to the gym daycare, and this weekend because now I have said cold.  But, getting things in when I can (pushups, situps, jumping around and dancing with the baby, etc) and will hopefully get back to the gym soon.
Excited by the latest kickoff episode for Biggest Loser-No Excuses.
So NO EXCUSES :)

monday, monday

How I love Mondays...not.
My current schedule has me working overnights Sunday and Monday.  So I leave work sometime between 7-7:30am Monday morning and get to be back at work by 5pm Monday night.  Makes it tough to sleep, let alone get a work out in.  Today, no such luck on working out.  Got an hour of sleep before munchkin woke up.....Decided to go get a much needed haircut rather than try to cram in gym time today.  But tomorrow, gym time will happen.  Trying to make up for it by having grilled fish tacos for dinner tonight at work.

Resolutions? Good idea or waste of time?

Ah New Years day... a time for a fresh start.  Lofty goals usually follow.  The gym gets REALLY crowded, but within 5-6 weeks, its back to the old regulars again.  Why do so many people make huge resolutions that are bound to fail? I am not a fan of sweeping and broad resolutions.  Don't get me wrong, setting goals is important to achieving any form of change in your life.  Change comes from the little things we do every day, not huge changes in lifestyle that are difficult to stick with.  Most people try to make too many big changes at once, and as soon as they slip up they just quit at all of it.  I prefer the bite size goal approach.  For example, this week I want to write in my blog daily.  Next week, maybe I will add another small goal (drink one more glass of water a day) ON TOP OF this weeks goal.  Sure I will mess up and skip a day.  Heck, sometimes I have a whole week that is not healthy.  But the important thing is to get back on that horse and keep on trucking.  This is the only way I have been able to make any changes in my life that last.  How about you?

Happy first birthday baby girl :)

1 year post partum photos

Here's the photos we took today 1 year and 80 lbs later :)

Labor day reminiscing...

This day last year, I woke up in labor (again) at 4am.  After contractions continued for many hours and weren't progressing, we opted to go hang out at the mall and walk (even climbed a bunch of stairs).  Things gradually got more intense and my water broke at around 7:30pm.  That is when the fun really started. I remember the midwife saying "happy new years" to me while I was standing in the shower.  I had vomited in the bathtub and they were filling the birthing pool for me.  Transition at midnight was kinda surreal.  Transition from active labor to pushing.  Transition into motherhood.  Transition from 2010 to 2011.  Of course a few more wrenches were thrown in and she wasn't actually born until 2:07pm 1/1/11 at the hospital.  But she was perfect (and still is).  2011 was an adventure from the first hours to the last.  As we get ready to say goodbye to 2011 and welcome 2012, we celebrate my daughter's first birthday and my first year as a parent.  A year of having to relearn to make myself a priority too.  A year to get my health and fitness goals back on track after the stressors of infertility and IVF to conceive and the changes that pregnancy brings.  2011 saw me lose not only the 70 lbs I gained during the pregnancy, but found me 15 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight.  In 2011, I ran the Baltimore marathon, my 10th full marathon.  I have learned that my health is important, both for me and to set an example for my daughter.  And, I am learning how to balance fitness, life, work and motherhood.  As we welcome 2012, I hope to help others find their balance and get healthy.  To stop wishing there were more hours in the day and to start prioritizing and getting things done. To realize you cannot have it all or do it all perfectly, but you can do and have what really matters. Here's to more adventure in 2012!