Toast 2 Mom

MommyWii

As you can tell by the clock, it is late and I'm just sitting down to the computer. On top of planning birthday parties. On top of painting room(s) in my house for the arrival of my parents this week. On top of thoroughly cleaning my house. I got our new Nintendo Wii today in the mail!! :) I've been earningsome points from my credit card for about the past three years. When I noticed how many I had, I looked online at my gift options, and a Wii was one of them.  I hooked up my new gift after the girlies went to sleep, and I've been playing for over two hours now.

OK, to preface this, I am not a game nerd. I grew up wishing I had Atari - but I did not have it. I would go to sleep-overs and swipe my friend's hand-held Donkey Kong. I also did love Pac-Man and Frogger. And in college I had occasionally sore thumbs from Super Mario Kart challenges with my friend (she knows who she is!). But following these times in my life, I don't consider myself a video nerd. I AM however totally stoked at the possibilities of the Wii Fit.

When I heard about all of the options this new system had, I couldn't resist the temptation anymore to distract myself with some new technology. After getting it set up and figured out tonight, I am quite impressed. I set up my "Mii" status. I got my BMI measured. I determined my fitness and fitness age level (eek, glad I've got the Wii now...I need to get in shape).

I've lost weight over time, but my posture, balance and strength (aka - tone) is so very poor. As I am approaching the half-way to 40 mark, I'm finding myself getting more and more vain. That's not a good thing. I catch myself in the mirror and say, "man, I'm looking old today." The impact of aging is starting to become more and more noticable. There's not a whole lot I can do for the wrinkles that I have already made their mark on my face. However I'm hoping I can change the way I hold myself up - and therefore give myself a younger appearance and feeling.

I don't know, we'll see how this goes. I'm not sure how to track my progress from my blog. But I'll try to keep you posted on whether I get beyond "novice" and "beginner," two words that kept flashing on my television screen tonight - ouch!

Now, I'm going to take my Wii self to bed...

Another Active Hot Weekend

I bet I am beginning to sound like a broken record about our hot summer. Beyond the fact that it is August and summer, when they said, "it's hot down there," before we moved to the south, they meant it. What we did not expect was that we would move to Texas during the hottest, driest summer on record. We are over 60 days of 100+ temperatures. Along with that, we're under a severe drought that is also nearing the worst drought in history for many of the counties around us. I geared myself up for heat before we moved here, but I don't think anyone expected this.

However despite the dry, hot days, we've managed to not let it beat us. We had another active outdoor weekend. Yesterday Sydney did her first outdoor rock climb with Daddio (while Mommy over-dosed on Pepto Bismol). Sydney was a trooper, climbed up about twelve feet.

Today we got up and took off to the greenbelt area down the road from our house for a woodsy hike. We've found a few spots to hit the trail around here, but the convenience to this trail cannot be beat.

And tonight during dinner we were greeted in our backyard by roughly fifteen of our deer friends. Natalie kept shouting "deah, deah, deah". We were somehow not catching on to what she was spotting from her chair out the window. We tend to get maybe three or four deer at a time out snacking by our grass, but not fifteen.

It was an eventful weekend, albeit toasty! Here are a few pics...

Sydney gearing up. We didn't get any pictures of her on the rocks as I was belaying her.

 

Starting our trail hike.
 

Daddy turning over rocks in a dry (drought) creek bed to look for snakes, lizards and craw-dads. Today we found all the above and toads. (These girls are more brave than I... I'm a city mouse.) 

 

Giving the minnows something to eat...The fishies once large swimming pool was a twenty foot across creek is now a five foot small puddle. So sad...
 

Our dinner friends...there were more friends to the left and the right.

Fitness, Then and Now

A year ago today I began my Mommy's Summer Fitness Challenge. The purpose of my fitness challenge was to lose the baby weight I had gained from two pregnancies, get energy, look better to ultimately feel better.

When I hit the scale publicly for my challenge, it looked like this:

(Oh heavens I can't believe I'm displaying those horrible looking toes again!)

A typical day in my life a year ago went like this... I woke up around 5:45 a.m. I got dressed, woke my daughters up, got them dressed. We piled up all of our bags and headed out the door. I dropped off my girls at daycare and arrived at my job around 7:30 a.m. I sat all day long in my cubicle working on a computer (usually daydreaming of ways to escape). Occasionally I would get up to visit the vending machine. Around 4 o'clock, I collected my gear and drove fast to pick up my daughters. We usually walked through the door at home by 4:45 p.m. I spent the first half-hour playing with them, books, toys, unwinding. By 5:30 p.m some form of dinner began. I prepared something out of a box. Following a quick chow of din-din, the bedtime process began. Because I had a five month old at the time, her bedtime was around 7:00 p.m. I gathered the girls, jammies and bubble bath and they hit the tub. By 6:45 p.m. it was time for books, then bed. After both of my girls were asleep, I spent time picking up stuff, doing laundry and gathering things for the next day.

Prior to my fitness challenge, my day ended around 8:00 or 8:15, as that's when my bottom hit the couch. After the fitness challenge began, after my chores were done, after the girls went to the sleep, that is when I incorporated a workout into the day. I went for a walk or had a yoga session. My bottom didn't see the couch until after 9:00 p.m.

So that was then...and this is now. A LOT (a lot, a lot) has happened since a year ago. Today I have a different job, a different home, live in a different state and definitely have a different schedule every day.

During my summer fitness challenge last year, changes started to take place in our lives. My husband was in the process of accepting a new job. We were deciding whether we wanted to leave our home, our state and take our family to a whole new world.

Today my job is one of a stay-at-home-mom. My day begins around 6:45 a.m. By 7:00 a.m. I am dressed in my workout clothes for a 3.4 mile walk/run. My husband doesn't need to be to work until 8:00 a.m., so he looks after the girls until I return home from my morning sweat. At 8:00 a.m. the girls and I get dressed for the day. These days, each day is different. Some days we run errands in the mornings. Other days there is a class to get to. We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together. (This is still a rather scattered process!) Instead of spending a half-hour playing with my girls, I spend most of the day interacting with them.  And along with play comes managing the messy house - a result for spending all that extra time in the house.

You would think my couch time would begin earlier these days than it used to, but it's actually later. I have later sleepers now. And despite the fact that I am home all day, I still manage to have chores going ALL DAY LONG!

When my 12-week challenge ended last summer, I ended up losing six pounds. It was a good achievement for me at that time. I found it challenging to promote my health publicly and even more challenging to keep it up during our life transition. I mentioned at the end of my last fitness post that I would do a follow-up in the future. I mentioned maybe a Thanksgiving post or a Christmas post...but that didn't happen.

So what better than a year follow up? I have worked hard since that time to continue fitness, balanced eating and smart habits into my life. As a result I'm managed to have some more success. Without further ado...

 

I feel like I'm at a pretty good weight now. I certain am pleased to be back into my pre-pregnancy clothes. Though any mom out there can understand that no matter how much weight you might work hard to lose, there is still change to the body. I'm still not quite so eager as those Hollywood moms to hit the cover of People in my bikini - yikes! However, I am trying to talk the Hubby (beg) into a Hawaii trip. Maybe that would give me incentive to do the dreaded sit-ups?!

P.S. I think another contributor to weight loss is the sweat from the heat of the south. Did I mention how hot it gets down here?!

Will she be a runner or a climber?

Daddio is the most eager to know which one it'll be... Sydney is a very fast runner, we believe, for her age. She's not really into the climbing thing. (That may be more Natty's gig?) If you asked Syd her preference sport, she'd say dance. Though she's kind of making a close second out of swimming these days. We'll see... Or the girls will be like Mommy, in no sport, in the band and work on the yearbook committee! :)

 

Weigh In Wednesday - Week 12, The Finale

Mommy’s Summer Fitness Challenge is officially coming to a close. For the past twelve weeks, I have attempted to alter my lifestyle by watching my diet, improving my food habits, increasing my activity, adding more sleep, decreasing my caffeine and keeping a positive attitude all in order to have more energy, feel better, look better and set a good example to my girls.

In my twelve week challenge, I managed to lose six pounds and be at the weight I was roughly before getting pregnant with Cheekers. I am now able to wear several more items in my closet too. My evenings are more occupied with activity now than the lethargy that was so present twelve weeks ago. I also feel a wee bit more rested….but Cheekers has to help me out a bit more in that category!

 

Over the past twelve weeks, there were many peaks and valleys. In the beginning, I was all over this new challenge of mine. I was focused, engaged and motivated. Probably around the time that we took our summer vacation, my mentality shifted a bit. Unfortunately since then I haven’t had the pep I had and have only remained to hold steady week to week. Some additional change has entered our lives that has taken away some of my time to keep up with all this. I plan to elaborate more on that in the near future. With that, though, I am pleased I’ve remained steady but still hope to lose a few more pounds and keep up with the routine I had initially established for myself.

 

Thank you to those that encouraged me along the way to be the best I can be. While my twelve weeks is over, this by no means should be interpreted that I’ll revert to old ways. I intend to “keep it up!” Maybe there will be a pre-holidays weigh in down the road??

Weigh In Wednesday - Week 11

With just one more week of Mommy's Summer Fitness Challenge, the progress is still slow going...but a little bit.

What I did good - didn't gain any weight! :)

What I did not so good - well, ummm, I didn't workout at all this week. Except I did walk up and down my stairs a million times bringing up "junk" for our garage sale.

Weigh In Wednesday - Week 10

What I did good - tried to get back into a workout routine - a bit. This is a challenging time of year for me because I have dreadful allergies....And going outside to sweat with the ragweed itching me all up is not so fun. But I'm trying...

What I did not so good - focusing - it's just been hard to keep the focus like I had been.

With only two more weeks to Mommy's Summer Fitness Challenge, I'd like to lose a couple more pounds to keep my energy going and momentum to get to my ultimate goal. We'll see how I do...Meanwhile I had a loss...and that's still a good thing.