Workouts Around the Holidays

Okay, I know that the title of this blog is beauty, brains and biceps and that I haven’t been all that great with giving you much content for working out and that kind of stuff. To tell you the truth ever since I stopped competing I have found it incredibly difficult to stick with any sort of workout plan at all. Throw in getting pregnant and having a baby and I am still very unsure of how to juggle all of it. But with the spirit of having more time on my hands now, and the holidays coming up I think that it is necessary to come up with some little stuff that you can do in order to keep feeling your best through all of those parties and outings.

Recently I have been wondering if any of those pinterest 30 day challenges really work. So I have started a 30 day squat and push up challenge that you will see my feedback and results from once I am done with it. Right now it is at least giving me something active that I must do every day and a lot of times I am doing it when little man and I are having our nightly dance party in the dining room so it is quick and easy to knock out and I usually do a few more things to cause I am already moving.

So, what are some quick easy ways to get in a little exercise throughout these crazy times?
1. Stretching,Abs and Pushup Play Time: Since I have a toddler we are usually spending a lot of time on the floor playing so I am able to get in some stretching, abs and pushups when we are playing. It is a win, win because I am spending some quality time with him and I am also getting my muscles moving as well.
2. Baking Leg Lifts: Usually when I am baking cookies and waiting for the oven to get done I am able to listen to music and do some leg lifts, kick backs, etc. Think, ballet style where you can hold onto the counter. Since I used to dance a lot of my old lessons start coming back to me and I can usually kick it up a notch.
3. Dance Party Cardio: Like I said before, spending time listening to music and dancing around in our dining room has started to become an after dinner thing. Ever since the time change and it getting darker out sooner I have had to come up with some creative ways to get little mans energy out before bed. It is also a great time for me to get a little crazy and not care about what I look like. Usually the crazier we dance around the more I get my heart rate up and he just thinks I’m hilarious.
4. Outdoor Chore HITT: Doing things like raking leaves and shoveling snow is definitely going to give you bursts of cardio along with using you muscles. A lot of times you are using muscles a lot differently than you use them on a day to day basis as well. Fresh air does the body good and can really help to break up your day as well. Take the kids outside, let them run off some energy and show them that it can be fun as well. Who knows, you might even wind up jumping in the leaf pile yourself or having a snowball fight with each other. All of which is just an added bonus.

Over all throughout the holiday season instead of trying to focus on making a bunch of gains and staying super strict with your diet and workout maybe try to relax a bit and make it fun. The holidays are stressful enough without the added stress to trying to stick with some insane plan (trust me I’ve done that and was miserable). For me this holiday season I am just trying to get back to doing a little bit of something each day that gets my body moving and my heart rate up a bit. That way once I reach the new year if I want to kick it back up and get into a little bit more of a steady workout routine it is not such a shock to my system.

If you have any other fun activities that you do to keep yourself moving that don’t require a lot of space or time I would love to hear about them!!!

Changing Seasons

I have finally come to a point in my life where I am finally getting the change that I have wanted for so long. By the end of this next week I am going to officially be a stay at home mom. (Now that I have finally put in my two weeks I can post it publicly). Making this decision is something I know that I have wanted for a long time. Pretty much since I had to go back to work from maternity leave about two years ago. However, wanting this for so long does not lessen the fact that it is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. There is definitely some major fears, like hopefully we can pay all of our bills on just one income, will I completely lose my ability to socialize, will I become resentful of the people that are able to speak to adults everyday, etc? But when I really think about it all I keep thinking is that my little guy is only little once and I have definitely put in my time working since I was 17 so a little bit of a break is probably going to be a good thing. I have worked in retail for the past 12 years and I am so sick of cranky and angry customers and stores staffing less and less people that I am just worn out with the whole thing. I am ready for a change. I am ready to spend time with my family and spend time enjoying the holidays again. Retail tends to take the joys out of holidays. From listening to the non-stop awful Christmas music to having to work on Thanksgiving, last year the only holiday spirit that I could muster up was to only manage to get our tree standing. (At least it was pre lit so it looked a little festive)

My plan for this holiday season is to really get into it again. It also helps that my little guys is two and  a half is has been completely obsessed with Santa and snowmen since June. I cannot wait to see his face when we put the tree up and when we go to see Santa. He is definitely the reason that being a stay at home mom is going to be worth it. He is worth me pushing aside my fears of everything going wrong because deep down I know that this is the right decision.

I am also hoping to really get some more projects going as well. This way I will be able to share them with all of you, so definitely be on the look out for that in the next couple of months. There have been a lot of projects and stuff that I just haven’t really had the time for that I should have the time for now. It just might take us a little bit to get used to a new routine to where I have that extra time.

And for those mom’s out there that are really trying to figure out whether this is something that you want to do, make out a pros and cons list and really weigh the options. All mine had in the cons list dealt with a fear of money and having to cut back on extra stuff. None of that seemed to compare to spending the time that I will never get back with my son. We can always make more money. We cannot, however, get more time.

“Me time” and Mom Guilt

Sometimes you just need to get away. Especially as a parent it is very easy to get caught up in what you have to do everyday that you forget to really step back and spend the quailty time with your kids that you want to. This past weekend my hubby and I went away for a long weekend while my mom (grandma) watched little Ray. It was so nice to just get away and be able to relax as just the two of us again. And it was our 5 year qedding anniversary and the anniversary of when we first met 11 years ago. The last time we were alone was really before Ray was born about 2 years ago. I know I really just needed the time away after this past years craziness. Especially when I am the one that is solely caring for our little man during the week since Don is only home on weekends usually.

On the Ski Lift at the Resort

Now part of me felt like an awful mom because I was so excited to get away. But I began to realize that sometimes it makes us better moms when we are able to get away and have time to only focus on ourselves and our needs. Being away really made me think about needing to spend quality time with Ray and not worry so much about everything that I need to do. He is more focused on how we are having fun and how I make him feel instead of what I am saying or doing. Sometimes as parents we need to remember that. Things are always so crazy and people today are more stressed out than ever that maybe we all need to take a break and focus on the now instead the next best thing. One thing that I did notice after we got back is how much anxiety that I actually have when I am around my son. Now if I notice it he surely is picking up on that feeling. And if you think about it that is probably very stressful for him.

So I am challenging anyone who is a parent to really think about what they are going through and how they are feeling and see if changing the way you feel about a situation helps changing how your kids react to you in general. Maybe being mindful of this might help out everyone that is involved. I also think that everyone needs to create some “me” time. Before this weekend I thought that all these moms that did things for themselves were kind of selfish but now I see that it is something that we desperately need but never have enough time to do it or we don’t feel like a good mom if we do schedule it in. It has been too long since I have felt like myself and I don’t want to lose that feeling again.

Here are some things you can do for your “me” time when you don’t have the time or the funds to take a long weekend away without your kids:

• Plan a girls night once a month to just hang out with other women your own age. (I just started this with my friends and we usually just hang out at my house and watch movies and cook dinner)
• Pick one day a week at really go to bed early and read a good book
• On the same day each week when getting ready for bed give yourself a facial, mani/pedi, etc. really just pamper yourself so you feel hot and sexy even when you do have a baby on your hip
• Plan a movie night with the hubby after the kids are asleep. Pop up popcorn and have a nice drink and just enjoy each other’s company
• Pick the amount of days you would like to work out and do your workouts as your me time. Sometimes just spending 30 minutes 3 days a week really helps.
• Do something you used to like before you had kids. Even if you think it is stupid or awful now. It will help you get back into the mindset of the pre-mom you.

Just doing something that really makes you feel good about yourself, where you don’t have a second agenda (like needing to make money off of what you are doing) can really help with your stress levels and your overall outlook of your life. Try something’s and let me know how they work!!! I am definitely trying to take a step back as well.

Growing Up Already

So this week I moved little man from his crib into a big boy bed. I seriously do not think that I have ever seen him this excited in his entire life. I cannot believe that he is already sleeping in a big boy bed. It seems like just yesterday we were switching him from his bassinet to his crib. Now the crib is gone and a twin sized bed is in its place. It is such a bitter sweet moment and as a mom I know there are going to be many, many more of these moments.

Now, we have been talking about switching him out of his crib for a little while because he is just getting too big for his crib. We were even to the point with the crib that we put the mattress right on the floor inside the crib sides because he was climbing out of it and he was not cautious at all when he dropped to the floor. He is about three feet tall now and throughout the night we would hear him move and hit the sides so it is definitely time. I tried to plan it out so he would have an easier time adjusting to the move. I did not want to do it before a weekend that we were going away since he was sleeping in a pack-and-play while we were visiting the in laws. Which brings us to this week. I kind of jumped the gun and switched his bed on Monday instead of doing it when I planned to on Thursday.

Luckily my good sleeper has stayed a good sleeper!!! The first night did take about an hour and a half to get him to stay in bed and finally fall asleep. Then each night after has been getting easier and easier. This last night he did not even try to get out of bed at all. I am so happy that he is doing so well with this transition. I have found that as long as I stick to my word and make him realize that when it is time to go to bed that is it he is now really getting the hang of it. When I was trying to figure out how to transition him I read different things that said to sit next to him the first night and slowly move myself out of his room (which I might add could take forever). I guess I am just not that kind of mom because I know that he is little, however, he is smart enough to open the refrigerator and tell me what he wants to eat so he should definitely be smart enough to go to sleep on his own in his own bed in his own room. He is just so excited that getting up to roam his room is fun but we are instilling good habits and when it is time to sleep you stay in your bed. 

All I know is that now he has his big boy bed he thinks he is a big boy. He has even stopped calling me mama and has started calling me mom. Lets hope that this is all the growing up he is going to do right now for a while. I was not ready for him changing what he called me which has really thrown me for a loop. We will have to just wait and see what more growing up he has in store for me in the near future.

Isn’t this bedding super cute too!!! I searched and searched for something with trains that was not super expensive and that was a whole bedding set. This we found at Target and he loves it. 

Train Track Bookshelf

My husband and I got an idea to make a new bookshelf for our son. I kept finding that he has a hard time trying to put books back on a bookshelf and he thinks it is way too much fun pulling them off the shelf and watching them fall. So no matter what I seem to do there is always a pile of books on the floor.

Now, since my husband works for the railroad and my son is completely into the “choo, choos” we find it only fitting to make a bookshelf that looks like a train track. Plus it is bitter sweet for me since his room when he was a baby was a train and elephant theme. Now that he is almost 2 we seem to be transitioning him to more of a “big boy” room but still get to keep some of the original theme.

With all the books in it

From the Front

We used all pine boards because when stained those look the most like railroad tracks. Make sure to get some that are a little bit more expensive so the grain will show through once they are stained.

For the boxes:
Two 1 x 6 x 8 foot pine boards
Two 1 x 4 x 8 foot pine boards
One 2 x 4 x 4 foot pine board

For the rails:
One 8 foot handrail that is curved on the side

 

Stain and Varnish:
1 coat of stain (Or until desired color) and 3 coats of varnish. Do all coats of stain first and then all coats of varnish second. We used the Minwax brand for both.

Paint (for the rails):
2 coats of any type of gray paint. We used some extra that we had from one of our rooms.

 

Our final boxes measure 28in x 3.5in (opening) x 4.5in. You can always adjust these measurements depending on your space. We spaced each box 8 inches apart which seems to be enough to fit some of the larger books and gives our little guy enough room to get books in and out.

Over all the project turned out great!!! It only took us about 3 days to finish it up and cost just under $100. Now hopefully little man will have fun keeping his books picked up. I have even put a big blanket on the floor and some pillows to make a little reading corner just for him.