Tag Archives: Random

…From the Week

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Monday was our last full day home in New York. Ugh face. But hey, I got a whole month there! Not too shabby. We tried to make the most of the last day and took a family drive to the mall. SO EXCITING, HUH?!! Ha, well I had to return some things I bought for Wes (kid doesn’t fit in 18 month jeans! What the hellllllll) Afterwards, we drove to Grant Cottage only to find out it was closed. Womp. In case you’re wondering, Grant Cottage is the cottage where General Ulysses S. Grant died. See, those are the types of attractions near home. Thrilling.

We picked up my aunt for lunch at Panera and it was delicious. Half of me NEEDS one here in Calgary and the other half of me doesn’t want it because it would take all my money. Wes ate mangoes and flirted with the entire 70+ year-old population. Small baby boomer town = lots of places filled with gray hairs. Everywhere.

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Oh, and I tried that limited edition pumpkin quest bar! I thought it was gonna be yucky but it was SO GOOD. I should probably buy a box. (no jen, no. you have no money.)

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I packed. And I packed. And then there was more packing. It was a tight squeeze. I’m glad I won’t be flying for a while. PHEW.

Wes was in his carseat for a good part of the day, so I put him in the Ergo and went for a long walk. I would love it if somebody would strap me to them and walk around so I could nap. Could you even imagine?

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The night ended with a weenie roast! It was on the small scale. Like, micro-mini.

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Tuesday. Ahhhhh Tuesday. I am SO glad Tuesday is over. Let’s bullet point Tuesday, shall we?

  • 2:45am wake up. Except my alarm wasn’t until 3:15. Can someone say anxious?
  • TSA lost my laptop. I had about 3592730293 bins to go through security (camera, laptop, stroller, car seat, breastmilk, toiletries, jacket, shoes, diaper bag, backpack…..) I had a minor anxiety attack before they finally recovered it.
  • The first flight was pretty uneventful. I got the row of three seats to myself, so it was easier to feed and change Wes.
  • RAN from arrival gate to departure gate of second flight. Made it just in time. Wes starts screaming profusely as I got to our seat so I started to feed him. No sooner did that happen, the flight attendant told me I needed to move seats to be on a side that had extra of those pig-nose bag thingies that drop from the ceiling in case of emergency (who cares what they’re really called). Cue MORE SCREAMING. And there was no changing table on the flight…I’m just going to end this bullet point because: RAGE.
  • I unpacked everything once we got home because I wanted to make sure there were no foods in my luggage that Reggie would get into. We went to run some errands and came back to find Reggie had gotten an ENTIRE box of Quest bars from the counter. 7 were among the wreckage (unharmed), 3 were recovered from various hiding spots and 2 are MIA. PLEASE NOTE: He buried one in the pillows of the guest bed and got so ferocious with his nose-burying, that his nose bled…..ALL OVER THE WHITE DUVET. Cue more rage.
  • Frozen breastmilk thawed en route and leaked all over my laptop. You know the end result because I’m typing from said laptop, so that’s good.

No pictures from Tuesday because: see above.

Wednesday

This was a total get-our-lives-back-in-order day. I was stressed x infinity about the number of things that needed to get done around the house- reorganizing Wes’s stuff, laundry, cleaning the dang house, groceries…….

Wes woke up nice and early, but I didn’t mind since I actually got in a good night’s sleep! I quickly got started on the eleven thousand shows that were recorded while I was gone, while Wes went through the usual eat/poop/lay/jump morning routine. We then went to the store to get some essential groceries. There was approximately ZERO perishable items in the house and one cannot survive on boxed goods alone.

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PS: notice it’s the same jumperoo as the one I bought in NY? The kid is obsessed with it, so I had to find another one!

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I set up Wes’s compact high chair and he got right to it and ate SO MUCH. High five for that thing.

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And some stuff I won in a giveaway arrived! Yesssss

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The weather was SO NICE that I put Wes in the stroller and walked to the bank to deposit some stuff, then continued on a nice long walk. It was hilly too, which felt good since all my walks back home were completely flat. By the time we got back home, I was drenched in sweat. LOVE.

I put together a dinner of turkey burgers and roasted veggies, then took the dogs for a walk and got in my workout. It was nice to have a little me time, but I did feel bad for putting Tyler right back to serious baby-duty (Ok no, I don’t feel bad).

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Also: posted my extremely in-depth review on the latest pumpkin beers. If you missed it, you can read it here.

Thursday 

In the morning, I did my pilates workout while Wes was in the jumperoo. As luck would have it, he fell asleep just as I finished so I put him in the stroller and went for a nice long walk. It felt really good to get some fresh air and quiet time.

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I picked up some stuff at the grocery store for dinner..mind you, it took two trips because I forgot my wallet the first time. WOMP. And somehow this pint of gloriousness made its way into my cart..

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Dinner was Crock Pot Sweet Potato and Quinoa Turkey Chili (I used beef instead since we had turkey the night before). I highly recommend it, it’s SO good!

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Wes had a couple of friends during/after his own dinner.

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Poor Wes, the stupid eczema is back on his neck and chest. This dry weather is taking its toll and I’ve been slathering him with CeraVe every two seconds.

So that’s this week in a rather long nutshell! Back to the same-old same-old routine at home!

Three Things Thursday

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WHOA- I’m doing a post that doesn’t start with a ‘W’ (Winesday Wednesday, Weekend Update, Wes’s monthly updates..) I just felt like blabbing a bit here while we are hanging out on the floor watching all the Pope action on TV. So here goes!

1) Let’s talk about mat leave. Or rather, 52 weeks of less pay. I am NOT complaining in the slightest because HOLY CRAP a whole year of paid leave to stay home with my baby is pretty much the best thing ever. GO CANADA! But the cut in pay makes it a bit limiting, especially now that there is another human in the household. With that, I was thinking of potentially getting involved in an online business like Beachbody as a means of generating a little bit of extra $$

200Only problem is, I absolutely cannot stand how my social media feeds are now bombarded with all the entrepreneurial (<–spelled that right on the first try!) posts. No offence to anyone! I don’t want to be a hypocrite and end up doing the same. I know, I know, it’s the best way to reach others. Only, I feel that I might do well with that type of business because I am already a very active, health-minded, and fit person. I would love to share that with others….but not annoy everyone else in the process. It’s a toughie. Please let me know your thoughts!!!!

2) I have been drinking Polar seltzer water LIKE IT’S MY JOB. (If only that were a real job which would easily help me out. See #1)

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In the two weeks I’ve been home, I think I’ve consumed 8 cases. Cases. Then there’s the regular water. And the fizzy water I’ve bought while out. And the beer. Haha, the beer. (not as much as you’d think.) I do miss my sodastream at home since it’s more cost efficient, but I can’t hate that my parents have been keeping the fridge stocked with this stuff for me!

3) I am planning on a solo shopping trip for myself before leaving New York. I NEED CLOTHES. No, it’s legit you guys. First, I only brought 3 outfits + a dress with me for this trip. That’s three outfits to repeat for a month. WOOF. Plus, most of the clothes I do have don’t fit me anymore. I was out with Wes yesterday and saw so many cute things I could incorporate into my fall/winter stay-at-home-with-the-baby-but-not-look-like-a-hobo wardrobe.

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I’m keeping the budget small, but I think I can do it! So long as I steer clear of the Oreo aisle in Target.

Tell me something random!

Pregnancy/Post Pregnancy Fitness Thoughts

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I didn’t originally plan on typing up anything on my pregnancy/post pregnancy fitness-y ‘stuff’, but I typed up a quick email about it to a friend and thought it might be a good idea to post just in case anyone else is interested. Here goes (it’s pretty abbreviated. if you want me to elaborate, let me know!! I think I have WAY too many thoughts about my experience, and I don’t know if I could even begin to properly discuss it!)
Pre-pregnancy:
I worked out 6 days a week for about 60-90 minutes. It was a combination of treadmill work, HIIT, tabatas, strength intervals, spin, hot yoga, you name it- I did it. I was sore and exhausted most days- because that’s how I loved to be! I was still indulging in drinks/sweets- just balancing them much better than I had in the past. I was in the best physical/mental shape of my life before pregnancy.
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While I was pregnant:
So my workouts pretty much stayed the same as pre-pregnancy until around week 23-25. For the most part, the intensity and the same exercises were there, but some days I was more fatigued than others and would go for a walk instead.
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Here’s the crazy part- I got weighed at all my appointments and even though I knew I was going to gain weight (duh, there’s a baby in there) I still didn’t want to see the numbers. So even on those appointment days, I would drink less water so the number wouldn’t be so high. TERRIBLE.–> don’t judge. (I think it was about 27 lbs I wound up gaining?) I normally don’t care about the numbers, but now that I had to actually see them every few weeks, it was just….bleck.
From 25-30ish weeks, I started to modify all my workouts. Plus, my gym membership ended so all my workouts were done at home. I was doing some WODs, circuits, HIIT, prenatal yoga, Tracy Anderson prenatal workout DVDs and modified T25 (it’s high impact, but there were several ways to modify and still get a great cardiovascular workout). I wasn’t walking the dogs anymore because crazy dogs + snow/ice + pregnant lady= no bueno. I made sure to take long walks on my lunch break at work (about 3ish miles).
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30ish-end of pregnancy: this is when I started to get pinched nerves and had a real mobility problem. But I knew I still needed to move to stay healthy (docs said me/baby were both perfect, so it was really where I was mentally). I was still eating as healthy as possible, but not neglecting my sweet tooth! Some days were TERRIBLE. I literally could not get up from the couch, but knew I needed to move in some way, so I would attempt some workouts…mostly just standing up was my workout. Or just going up and down the stairs for laundry would do the trick. Can someone say winded?!! Doctors advised to only do what made me comfortable; PT advised the same after an assessment. PS: I worked out until the day before Wes was born! I probably would have worked out the day of, but he was born at 3:30am
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Lucky for me, the birth went great and my body handled it really well. To be honest, it was still EXHAUSTING to even walk around the block pushing the stroller the first two weeks. I even ventured to the mall a few times and was extremely fatigued afterwards (pelvic floor muscles are shot and it feels like your insides might fall out).
I knew I’d have to wait 6 weeks to workout, and in those first weeks I didn’t even THINK about working out because I was EXHAUSTED and trying to figure out this whole baby thing. Breastfeeding probably helped with the post baby weight loss, and my appetite was pretty low. It’s weird because I am one of those people who hate going more than 2 days in a row of no workouts, but for 4 weeks I didn’t even break a sweat! (Is it weird that I wouldn’t mind going back to those days already? Yup, probably)
I really can’t stress enough how much it didn’t even bother me..which I still think is so weird! The doctor cleared me to workout at 4 weeks so I decided to do the entire T25 program from start to finish (currently halfway through it). The first week was TOUGH and I modified it just about as much as I did when I was 39 weeks. After the first week, I noticed improvement in my strength and endurance and was gradually able to transition from modified to full-intensity workouts.
I even dared to step on the scale and was shocked to see the number be less than my pre-preg weight! (I am more than sure that there is some muscle loss that caused this..my butt is pretty flat lately! although my guns? NEVER BETTER. That’s what will happen when you hold a 15lb baby in a precarious position because that’s how he fell asleep and you DARE.NOT.WAKE.HIM.)
So now, I’m still very in tune with my activity level (and conscious of making sure I eat a good balance of fruits/veggies/protein/dairy/carbs—especially since what I eat goes directly to what Wes eats!) but it’s not my main focus anymore. Which I think is a pretty good thing because my more relaxed approach to it has allowed me my SANITY, allowed me to enjoy Wes, and to just enjoy the time I have off to be with him and NOT worry about logging hours of sweating. Plus, I’m still not drinking a lot like I was pre-pregnancy, so I’m not consuming all these crazy calories!
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I think my biggest fear was stretch marks (let me rephrase that: more stretch marks. I already had a lot on my hips and inner thighs) and not being able to shed the weight, but even after he was born my stomach flattened out after only a couple days and my hips/thighs and everything in between seemed to be exactly how I *left* them pre-pregnancy! And those days after birth when your tummy is still big is honestly not as big of a deal because not only do you have a baby to look after but it’s still way better than a 40 week belly and the fatigue that comes with it! I still have my mental fat days and they’re a struggle to get over but it’s nothing some fresh air/bowl of veggies/baby snuggles can’t fix!!
So there you have it…some of my briefest thoughts on how I tackled fitness during my pregnancy, and how my approach has changed!

Dogs

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I love my dogs so much and I cried this morning because I realized that pretty soon there’s gonna be a baby in the mix and I won’t have as much time to give these guys puppy snuggles.

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In other news,

  • I’m now on season 4 of Parenthood (yes, holy shit I did watch an entire season yesterday)
  • The guy cutting my blinds to size at Home Depot this morning was getting a little too chatty about my pregnancy. Awkward.
  • OJ is really expensive but so so so worth it
  • The ‘barista’ at Starbucks this morning had the HARDEST time understanding someone’s iced coffee order. It was painful to witness. And if you don’t understand how to pour coffee in a cup with ice, you probably shouldn’t be working at Starbucks
  • My parents get here in 2 days!!!! And my mom and I have pedicures on Friday because y’all know a gal’s gotta have decent toes when giving birth. I kid, I kid…I’m only in it for the massage chair and potential Five Guys burger for lunch.
  • Anyone in upstate NY need a large unused dog crate? I bought one for Layla 5 years ago and she never used it and it has been sitting in my parent’s house since I moved to Calgary and I need to get rid of it. Let me know!
  • Calgary has the worst drivers ever. Like the WORST. I’ve subjected my poor unborn child to entirely too much swearing when I’ve gotten behind the wheel. No one knows how to back out of a parking spot. Or merge. Or use their turn signals. Or just the freaking speed limit. Gahh, I’m getting worked up just thinking about it!

What’s something random you’d like to share?