Desperate

You know I'm really jonesing for exercise when you find me shoveling snow in 25 degree weather, and 45 mph winds.

Does shoveling for 75 minutes make up for 2 slices of cake with pink frosting and heart shaped sprinkles?

No, you say?

Darn it.

Will you be his Valentine?

I bought these cool valentine's from Etsy. Cool Mom Picks (one of my all-time favorite blogs) hosted a competition a few weeks back and the 12 winners' designs are included in a printable pdf for just 3.99--every penny goes straight to the Children's Heart Foundation. True love, all around.

I printed the designs on cardstock and colored them, Roscoe added a few crayon strokes and used his feet to "paint" them with watercolors, and we finished them off with some strategically placed glitter.

There couldn't be a better day to pull out the art supplies because IT'S SNOWING again.

While Roscoe did take his art very seriously (at times), in truth their was more crayon chewing, sucking, and throwing than anything else! The Splat Mat was a huge help.

Roscoe's very first art project was a sweet one. Now we're all set for Saturday's Baby's First Valentine's Day party (I'll be sure to post pictures!). A few other special people can look forward to receiving a little art love from Roscoe as well.

McFatty Monday V: C

Another week down.

It probably wasn't my best, but following a week of no sugar and 4 days of gyming, I think I was feeling entitled to a little complacency. Toward the end of the week (beginning with a delicious breakfast delivery) I stopped counting points, and I'm pretty confident that I consumed all those earned through exercise, and probably more.

I'm reconsidering whether weighing in every four weeks is the best approach because I find it's easy to let myself off the hook in the first two weeks, knowing I can make it up in the last two. Owning up to the scale can sometimes be a great motivator--a chance to start fresh. Often the damage isn't nearly as bad as first imagined.

As I've mentioned, my weeks run Friday to Friday...so I've really completed half of the week already. We had a snowstorm that began Friday morning, lasted through Saturday night, and held us hostage through Sunday. We failed to make a grocery run before the snow began to stick, and bare cupboards are no way to start the week out.

As a consequence, I think I may have to weigh-in at the end of this week just to set myself straight. Looking forward to it. Ew.

Best Treat: Smooze!

Best Breakfast: 2 slices sprouted wheat bread spread with 2 tsp peanut butter, layered with 1 banana (sliced), and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Best workout moment: learning a new method of wrapping my hands to prevent raw knuckles--sweet relief!

This week's score: C

Cardio: A

Strength Training: A

Weight Watchers: D

Just because

When will my cycle return?

I hope not to jinx the three of us by writing this post, but I do believe we've solved all but two of Roscoe's sleep challenges.

The two items still up for resolution include our reliance on the swing for sleep, and Roscoe's shifted circadian rhythm that compels him to fall asleep for the night at 4:00 pm and wake for the day at 4:00 am.

Otherwise, Roscoe takes roughly three 1-hour naps, falls asleep on cue, and most exciting he's sleeping through the night! And not in a "5-hours = sleeping through the night" sort of way reserved only for babies. He wakes once around 11:00 pm for a diaper change, and once around 1:00 am for a meal.

With an ecological nurser*, I've recently become anxious curious about when my cycles will return. Within the next 4 months would be ideal--a February or March baby would make me very happy! I've had no interest in manipulating Roscoe's nursing routine before he turns 1 year, but I do welcome this natural progression of cutting out the nighttime nursing sessions as it brings us one step closer to baby #2.

*nursing on cue, keeping baby close, providing all nourishment and liquids at the breast for the first five to eight months, and nursing to comfort the baby. It does not include the use of bottles or pacifiers, mother-baby separation, parent-imposed feeding schedules or restriction of night nursings.

I guess you're just what I needed

My passion for cooking has taken a back burner to Life, and with very little free time for anything at all, I've not kept up with my wifely duty of preparing and presenting hot meals on a nightly basis. When hunger strikes, Andy and I subsist on whatever we can forage for and assemble quickly, and with minimal effort. I muster enough energy to replenish Roscoe's freezer stash, and Andy is left to fend for himself. Every now and then I manage to cook some form of protein early in the week, and to boil a pot of rice. Otherwise, it's catch as catch can.

With the exception of a few days a year, if I'm not cooking it, we're not eating it.

So you'll understand then, what a treat it was when I opened my front door this morning to find a girlfriend of mine bearing all the components needed to assemble (just for me!!!) a full on breakfast of blueberry pancakes, sausage, eggs with cheese, bananas and pineapple, and fresh pressed OJ...no one has cooked much of anything for me in months, and her effort was as nourishing to my belly as it was to my soul. Sometimes a new mom (can I still call myself that!?) just needs to feel pampered. Mission accomplished.

& diet derailed. But if I was going to blow it, I'm glad I went out with a bang.

If there's one way to my heart, it's through something tasty. I'll be sure to pass on the love to someone else in need of a pick-me-up.

Teeth!

McFatty Monday Week IV: A

I've been very good to my body over the past four weeks, and as my reward I lost 7 pounds!!

Last weeks' gyming was my best so far; I made it to four boxing classes, one of which was really 60 minutes of intense circuit training--I think we put on our boxing gloves only once. Instead of pounding the bags, we pushup'd, sprinted, hopped, shadow boxed, and squatted through 12 stations (twice!) until we were beat. It was invigorating, and fondly reminded me of my boot camp style workouts circa freshman year of college. Those were the BEST!

Roscoe's sleep was a little less predictable this week as he's been fighting a cold, so at the end of every boxing class I ended up rushing through my strength training sessions in order to race home. Moving forward, I think I'll leave the house early and lift the half hour before my boxing class, that way I can leave right after the class ends and make it home before Roscoe needs to nurse.

Surprisingly, eating a diet void of added sugar did not involve the suffering I had imagined. In part, I was really motivated by the anticipation of the BIG weigh-in, but I also quenched my sweet tooth with individual servings of Whole Foods brand unsweetened applesauce--applesauce? you say. Yes. applesauce. and sprinkled with cinnamon they were a suitable substitute for dessert. As an added bonus, not wasting any points on extraneous empty foods allowed me to meet my third goal of the week, which was to not eat any of the points I earned through exercise.

In addition to the weight I've lost so far, I have also lost almost 9 inches--most of which came from my stomach and hips. Seriously, I went down two pant sizes (one benefit to being only 5 feet tall) and I now have only 3 pounds left to lose before I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight! On the fitness front there has been tremendous improvement all around, but for now I'll just share that I increased the number of full pushups I can complete in one minute from 9 (PATHETIC!!) to 24 (not as pathetic!)--I'm working my way back up to the 36+ that I used to be able to crank out.

I feel like I've finally found a nice routine that's realistic and not overly demanding. Physically, I'm ready to increase my cardio workouts to four times a week but I may defer the goal another month--considering Andy's work schedule, Roscoe's sleep routine, and our collective social calendar, the logistics involved may still be too ambitious. If the weather were warmer, I would make my fourth workout a run, but for now I can only hope to squeeze in an extra day when possible. I'm definitely ready to incorporate more challenging moves into my strength training routine--so that will get an overhaul for the upcoming week. I'm also committing to three boxing sessions, three weight sessions, and to not eating my exercise points!

I'm hopeful that this week (or next) I will cross the pregnancy weight threshold and be able to move on to my larger weight loss goal of reaching 135 lbs.

I really liked the way that it felt not to focus on the scale for the past 4 weeks (way less pressure!). So, here's to the next four weeks of feeding myself well, and bein' up in the gym just workin' on my fitness!

This week's score: A

Cardio: A+

Strength Training: B+

Weight Watchers: A

Oh, and Blair's on a roll too, check her out!