Change Up

This week was nuts.  I feel like a bundle of stress because of it but at least its over as of this afternoon.  My Sister’s wedding went off without any complications at all and was very low key and beautiful which is just what she was going for.  My family stayed with me which was considerably more of a hassle than I was expecting.  It is super annoying to have some one completely try and disregard what you say in how you want your children treated.  My Nanny actually argued with me over allowing Claire to have cake when she hadn’t eaten a good lunch or dinner.  That was really the only thing to set me off but honestly, if the child hasn’t eaten a satisfactory meal why would I let her just have cake (or let her eat it in the living room after begging for it, but that’s a whole other issue)?

So now I’m back to trying to get on a regular routine which will just get screwed up again in about two and a half weeks when we go on vacation, oh well.  I had put turbofire on hold for my ankle to try and heal up from whatever I had done to it.  It feels better in general but when I move it a certain way it still hurts.  I’m just going to say its not going to get better from rest and just go forth and not do anything high impact.  I’m have ridiculous amounts of shoulder/back pain which after talking to my Nanny and Mom about they agree that I’m probably developing fibromyalgia.  This realization is bothersome for me because I’ve been in constant chronic pain for longer than I’d like now.  However, I refuse to take pain meds and I don’t have time to go to therapy so I’m going to just continue with what I’ve been doing and ignore it til it goes away…that’s working really well for me so far (sarcasm).

The only time it did seem to feel better at all was when I was working out that week so I’ve decided to continue with turbofire starting today and just skip all the higher impact stuff for now since my joints protest it so much.  Once I get the pain under control I’m going to slowly add in the more impacting cardio work outs.  In changing up the plan I hope to still be able to get in shape, just probably not as fast as if I followed it as it is laid out.

I was doing what again…?

About that working out I was doing.  Hah.  Claire and Miranda have a different plan for me and that does not involve doing turbofire at all.  Claire is currently cutting about 5 teeth and I’m pretty sure the baby is working on a growth spurt of some sort which is causing her to be a little crank monster the majority of her days awake.  The oldest is still working out some jealousy issues and doesn’t fully understand why I have to hold the baby and can’t hold her at the same time.  It makes it all ok though when I ask Claire if she loves her sister and she leans over and kisses the baby.  It is literally the cutest thing ever.

I had hoped to be on week three of turbofire this week but the girls had other plans and so did my ankle.  I have no idea what I did to it but for several weeks now, possibly longer, my left ankle has given me serious issues when I step certain ways or straighten it all the way out.  Apparently the workouts were aggravating it because it randomly started to hurt when moved in other ways as well.  I took that along with the girls sudden constant fussiness as a sign I should just wait and try it again another time.

My Mom gets in town tomorrow evening for my Sister’s wedding on Friday.  So, I’m going to take that opportunity to spend some quality time learning the moves for turbofire while she and Erik have the girls and I don’t feel like I have to help with anything.  When he’s watching them I feel compelled to help him out with things, I have no idea why because he’s fully capable and does an excellent job, I just have this guilt that I’m being selfish by working out.  I need to get over this in a bad way.  I’ve not been taking any time for myself, stopped working out, and I can tell how it is affecting my mood.  I also went back to eating poorly because the more stressed I am over the girls the less I remember to eat/take care of myself during the day.

So, tomorrow I’m finishing cleaning up the house and when Erik gets home I’m taking some time for myself.  I’ll eventually get this routine down, I hope anyway.

Cloth Diapers

I was going to write an excuse filled post about how I hurt my ankle and had to stop working out for a week but decided instead to review our cloth diapers since we’ve been using them two weeks now.

We originally bought cloth diapers to use with Claire.  I got the 12 pack, the detergent, the wet bag, and the sprayer a couple of months before I was due and was super excited to use them.  I was all about how since I was a stay at home Mom there was no reason I couldn’t use them to save money.  Then Erik was sent to a school in Maryland that was close enough we could go stay with him at the hotel and come home on weekends.  You might wonder why we did that, but when deployment was looming and he wasn’t going to see his daughter for the next six (haha right) months we wanted to have as much family bonding as possible.  So the cloth diapers didn’t happen.

After he deployed I went to FL to stay with my Mom and had planned on using them there but that didn’t happen either because I was pregnant and lazy.  There really is no getting around that one, just pure lazy.  Then he came back and we went back to VA and are now living in military housing.  And of course the toilet hook up thing wasn’t the right one for the sprayer so things got delayed even more.

But NOW, now things are working and we’ve been happily using them for two weeks with little to no issue on Miranda.  We use the bumGenius all in ones.  I did only order 12 and she goes through about 6-8 a day so I wash them as soon as she only has two diapers left.  Its about every other day so it isn’t too bad.  I bought their brand detergent and I don’t honestly like the smell of it but that’s the only thing.  We have a HE washer and it  hasn’t had any issue getting them sparkling clean.  I’ve heard some people say their washers don’t fill enough with the cloth diapers to get them clean but I’m guessing its a case by case basis, ours hasn’t had an issue.

We’ve had two leaks and they were user error because I didn’t put it on well enough but otherwise no issues.  Miranda is a big baby and at two months was already in size three diapers so I don’t know how well they would have fit on a newborn but the brand has specific sizes for that.  Since she was so big we had no issue putting them on her and sizing them for her with all those snaps.  She is totally comfortable in them and is a lot happier than with disposables since they make her feel more dry I suppose.

The wet bag is great, no issues there and no smell either.  Once we put the diapers in I still leave it open for quick access, its hanging in the bathroom next to the sprayer, and I’ve never once smelled anything.  The sprayer is a little on the strong side and it was tricky to manage not getting water all over the bathroom on the first couple of poo diapers but now I’ve mastered it and its no big deal.

I did buy cloth wipes but haven’t used them yet.  We don’t have a designated changing table, we just use the couch in the living room and have everything sitting on the back so I didn’t want to leave wet wipes on the back.  I’m not entirely sure how they work but honestly that part seemed a little bit of a hassle to me so I just use the pampers sensitive wipes we buy in bulk.  We keep a plastic grocery bag on the back of the couch as well for Claire’s disposable diapers so we just throw the wipes in there when we’re done with them from Miranda.

I would like to try cloth on Claire, we just haven’t yet.  I’m planning on trying them out on her and if they work well then ordering six more diapers.  I’m already positive we’ll still have to use disposables on her at night because she sleeps the whole night through and the disposables are filled and sometimes leak by the morning and I just don’t see a cloth diaper holding that much.  With Miranda though they work fine because she still wakes up in the middle of the night to eat and I change her then.

The all in one diapers are a little pricy at about 25$ each but I feel they even out in the end.  I have no idea how much it would impact your electric or water bill because as I mentioned we live in military housing so its all included in our rent which is a flat rate.  There has been discussion for a while of changing that but right now it doesn’t matter how many times I run my washer hence why we don’t have more diapers.  I think I’d still use the cloth even so because the possible extra on the bills is still far less than what I’d pay for disposable diapers.

End of Turbofire week 1

I started last Tuesday even though the program is set out to start on a Monday.  I figured it didn’t matter and I still don’t really think it does, but I did decide to tweak my dates a bit.   I did the workouts Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Sunday.  Wednesday was a rest day already but life kind of got in the way Friday and Saturday.  Friday I honestly couldn’t tell you what happened because I just can’t remember.  I know I meal planned and my Husband got home from work at a normal time but beyond that, no clue.  I think time just got away from me and before I knew it it was time to give the girls a bath and eat dinner and the workout just didn’t happen.  Saturday though is an entirely different story, I consider that I worked out, just not to turbofire.  I cleaned the house all morning, then went grocery shopping for two hours (while wearing a 15 pound baby), and then prepped all the food we got for meals for the next two weeks.  I was beat at the end of the day and decided to take another rest day.  I’ve been consistently sore every day in various part of my body and I needed it.  I didn’t really have any delusions that I was going to just hop into working out six days a week on top of taking care of two babies just two and a half months after having a baby and not working out for basically two years.

I consider the first week  a success even though I didn’t work out two of the days according to the plan.  But since I deviated from it I decided to just start the weeks on Monday since I’d already messed up the plan so Sunday I did the actual Sunday routine from the plan and now all my workouts will jive accordingly.  I did do two of the same stretch classes and did notice that I was able to do the moves much better the second time, so even though it hurt I am in fact increasing my flexibility already which is a great thing.

I’ll be taking my measurements again this evening to see if there have been any changes in the first week.  I’m excited to see if there are but won’t be too shocked if there aren’t since I strayed a bit from the plan.  I’m also still working on my eats, but this week (since we had a new shopping trip anticipating cleaner eats) is much much better.  I actually got my Husband to try my green protein smoothie even after he saw me putting loads of spinach in the blender and he admitted it was tasty!

Life as I know it

Things got a little crazy in the new year.  My Husband came back from an almost 9 month deployment in January the same week I relocated back to VA with our 10 month old.  That was all kinds of fun and not at all stressful considering I was also due in three weeks.  I also realize that math with the kid and deployment and pregnancy is all kinds of wacky but we like to get things over with.  Two kids back to back and we’re done!  I’m sure I’m going to regret that again come time to potty train them.

Once we had Miranda things again were rather insane for a bit.  She had hip dysplasia and had to wear a pavlik harness for two months which was super fun.  She did really well with it and was able to have it off at the two month mark but we still have to monitor it every year to make sure it doesn’t come back.  I was spoiled with Claire because nothing was wrong with her and when you have children sometimes you get into that “it can’t happen to us” mentality.  I know that wearing a harness to some people would seem a silly thing and not a big deal, in fact if it had happened to someone else I probably would have been judging them for freaking out in my head, but once it happens to you it really does change your attitude.  I always thought I was one of those people that could deal with things and when I had a hard time dealing with the fact that my baby could possibly have to have a major surgery before she was even one and had to in the mean time wear that uncomfortable harness I had some issues.

I think with Claire I had so much going on with my Father passing away and Erik’s impending deployment and of course the new baby that I didn’t have time to process anything so depression just didn’t happen over much.  This time for some reason it hit me a lot harder.  I wasn’t expecting something to be “wrong” with the baby and just a multitude of things caused me to become really really depressed.  I was overwhelmed the majority of my days by both girls and it was just really really hard on me.  Erik did everything he could and has been really amazing throughout this entire experience of having two babies so close together as well as readjusting to being back and suddenly having said babies.  I really am so thankful I have him.

Now though I am coming out of it.  I still have my days, like yesterday (Claire had her well baby appt and had like 6 shots!) where something throws me totally off, but I’m getting a lot better.  One thing that helped with the whole depression issue was meal planning.  I pretty much only cook something if its in the crock pot.  Not having to worry about cooking dinner for everyone really took a lot of pressure off of me.  I am able to have dinner cooking within 20 minutes while Claire is eating or they’re both napping and I don’t have to worry about food the rest of the day.  Erik comes home and we all get to relax and spend family time together without one of us going into the kitchen away from the girls and making something.  It has also cut down on our grocery expenses and trips since I can meal plan out the two weeks and know what we need in advance we only have one big trip.  I’m still getting the hang of it since we just started doing it last month so I’ll wait to post actual plans until I make sure its down but so far I’m excited and amazed by how better just that one little thing makes me feel.

The other thing is this workout thing I’ve started.  Knowing I have a set program and will see results from it and that its something I can stick with has also helped.  Erik is very supportive and watches the girls while I work out when he’s home and today he said he’d like to work out with me.  Its nice to have these goals set up and have something to look forward to.  Plus the workouts have really perked me up emotionally.

So while life is still pretty crazy and a learning experience every day as Miranda grows quickly and Claire adapts to having a sister, we’re slowly getting into the hang of things and making it work.

TF Day 2-3

Yesterday was just stretch and I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I got to use the weirdo looking elastic type band thing that I had no idea what to do with.  It wasn’t bad, in fact all the moves pretty much were the same as I had done in hot yoga classes.  Although that didn’t really help me do them any better since my flexibility is gone, but it did make me feel a bit more confident because I could keep up.  I had to stop a couple times and I lost my balance more than once but I made it through the whole thing.

I didn’t feel overly sore after the whole thing either.  I have trouble spots from prior injuries that flared up but nothing new.  I’m hoping that by continuing to work out with the program it will help these issues and I’m going to keep at it because it isn’t making things any worse.  I can’t live my life in pain constantly anymore is really the thing.  By the end of the day and on into today I am sore, but it isn’t the kind of pain that I can’t function.  The soreness is more that I just did more working out in two days than I have in a very very absurdly long amount of time and I’m pretty shocked I’m not more sore.

I’ve been upping my water intake and its almost where it should be, but I’m generally a dehydrated person so I should probably be getting a little more.  I still need to work on my eating right, I’ve cut out a LOT of processed foods and given up soda entirely.  I just need to make sure I eat enough and more veggies.  Its a work in progress, hence why I choose to start the prep program rather than just jumping into the 90 day one.

Today is a rest day and I’m feeling it.  I’m also very excited about tomorrows class and working out, which is something I’d never have said before.

Turbofire Day 1

Wow.  It has been a long time since I’ve had to learn choreography of any kind and yesterday kind of showed that I no longer have that talent.  I watched the video first about a week ago and thought at the time it wasn’t so hard…yea I was wrong.  It also doesn’t help that I apparently can’t tell my left from right half the time, ok like all the time, when watching work out dvds.  Although that problem also happens when I play DDR so this really shouldn’t come as a shock to me.

Either way, I did day one and am not all that sore.  That’s probably thanks to the fact I stood there gawking and punching rather than bouncing around like you’re supposed to but again, the left and right issues.  I plan on watching it in slow motion tomorrow on my rest day and trying to get the moves down that way.  I figure if its in slow motion it won’t really be as much of a work out so it’ll mostly still be resting.

I’m just happy that I stuck to my guns and did the workout even though I had plenty of excuses not to start yesterday.  Erik got home late from work which threw my entire work out schedule off and thus messed up Claire’s dinner/bath/bed routine.  We made it work though.  Today is going to be tricky because he has work for a full 24 hours so I won’t actually have anyone else to help with the girls until tomorrow evening and there is a 40 minute workout on the schedule.  I was going to originally do my rest days when he has duty but decided that I’ll just make it work.  If I have to pause the dvds and just work out when the girls are napping I’ll just do that and have to be happy.

I also took before pictures and measurements which did not please me at all.  I have to keep reminding myself I had two babies back to back and not freak out.  I have to be positive and look forward to seeing the difference in the pictures and numbers.