April 21, 2015 by Stephanie

Fit for Me 16/52

What I did last week:

Wednesday-20 minutes of Ab stuff.

Thursday-I did an at-home workout for my legs. I held George while I did 5 sets of squats, lunges, and calf raises.

Saturday-1 hour of BodyPump. I got through every song except triceps and shoulders (no surprise there). Triceps I am usually good at, but I tried to up my weight to soon. Note taken body.

Sunday-This day was interesting workout wise. I set out early in the morning to walk the dogs, but it started pouring so we circled the block and maybe completed a quarter of a mile. It looked like it was going to rain all day so I planned to do two rounds of stairs for 10 minutes. I completed my first set during George’s first nap. Then the weather cleared up so I figured I would take the dogs out again. We ended up doing around 30 minutes of walking. My calves still hurt from those stairs though.

Tuesday-30 minutes on a treadmill. I did the trail workout, which is basically a hill workout but it randomly changes for you.

Impressed by:

Attempting my workout in so many ways on Sunday. You really do have to make the time.

Struggled with:

I forgot to work out on Monday which is usually a short ab day. I was too excited about looking at kid’s book for a book party I was part of on Facebook. So I struggled with that distraction and also not buying all the books. (I didn’t buy all the books, but I wanted to!)

Did I meet my goal from last week?

I did meet my goal. I actually really liked the preset workout on the treadmill. I wasn’t able to run all of it because I thought I would fall of the treadmill at an incline any higher than a 5, but it was still a great workout. It was nice to just let the incline change randomly instead of having to worry about changing it myself.

What is my goal for next week?

I want to add planks to my ab workouts. Ugh I always feel like a wimp at BodyPump because I wobble like crazy even just on my knees. I want to get better at this.

Fitness Thoughts:

I know I talked about treadmills last week, but does anyone else look at the person next to them to see how they measure up on a treadmill. I hate when someone gets on the machine next to me because I feel like I am in competition with them. I rarely win though…

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Advice on adding planks to my regiment? How do you find time when you workout plans go sour?

April 20, 2015 by Stephanie

Discover New Favorites Box

I did receive these products complimentary for the review from Influenster, and these thoughts are my own.

I am always excited to get products from Influenster, but it is even better when they are products that you actually will use and continue buying.

The Dove Go Fresh Body Wash is a brand I have been using for the last year. However, I have never bought this scent. I have never really been drawn to buy scents that are orangey. Something about that scent turns me off. So I have always bought this body wash in a different scent. I really do love the actual brand. It lathers up nicely, and I am one that judges my soap on the amount of suds produced. It also feels pretty silky on your skin. I used this all during my pregnancy, and I feel that it helped keep my skin moisturized. As for this scent, Tom says it smells good, so maybe I shouldn’t stay away from the citrus smells.

I really wish I would have gotten this box earlier in the winter to really test out the Vaseline Intensive Care lotion. I get ridiculously dry hands in the winter months, so bad in fact that they crack and bleed. I have not been able to find a lotion that helps completely. So I am interested to see if this “healing serum” would do the trick. With trying it now, I would still recommend this lotion. I have to wash my hands a lot with a baby and two dogs, and this is helpful to keep them moisturized even though the dry winter has left us. You can tell that it has vaseline in it though. It is a little thick when you first put it on, but it does soak into your skin within a few minutes. Again, I am anxious to try this 10x deep healing power in the winter time.

These were two great products for me to get, and I recommend them both for continued purchase!

If you are interested in getting an Influenster box (you don’t have to be a blogger), just let me know, and I can send you an invite. They are a fun surprise! The community is also really easy to navigate. The more you interact, the more they will be able to find boxes that fit your style and needs. It is really versatile, and you can use it a lot or hardly at all. I have really enjoyed it so far!

Have you tried these products? Do you get dry winter skin too?

April 16, 2015 by Stephanie

I Must Confess

In an effort to show the realness of my life and let others share in my not-so-perfectness, there are just a few things I must confess.

I must confess that I buy XL Kids jackets and fleeces from Northface. I can get fleeces for half the price by buying in the kid’s section. And props that there is a place designated for me to write my name inside the jacket–in case I loose it before recess.

I must confess that I still wear the pregnancy belly band when I wear a certain pair of dress pants. (George is almost 8 months old.) I really should just buy a new pair of pants that fit. All the rest have transferred well to my post-pregnancy hips, but just this last pair is being stubborn and refusing to button. And I refuse to buy a new pair at this point because everything else about these pants are perfect (pocket placement and size, leg width, etc.), and I hate having to look for a new pair that fits all my specifications. Anyone with me?

I must confess that I have TWO food drawers at work. I am seriously hungry all the time. There is a little bit of healthy like nuts and granola, but a whole lot of not healthy like donuts and airheads. Maybe this is why that black pair of pants eludes me and not my birthing hips…

I must confess that when I wear a skirt or a dress it is pretty much a guarantee at this stage of my momhood that I am going to flash someone with my undies. George doesn’t wait for ladylike behavior.

I must confess that I have a five minute video of George staring at me because I was convinced that he was going to start crawling. He didn’t.

But I do have this gem.

I must confess that some nights I let Grace or Crosby help “clean” (lick) George after he eats because it suppresses the meltdown that ensues when I try to wipe his face with a baby wipe and signal that meal time is over. So instead of screaming at me, he is laughing at the dogs. Judge away if you must, but everyone in our house is happy. You may think #momfail but I think #momwin.

I must confess that our kitchen looks like this 6 days out of the week. Ok I must confess, it looks like this every day of the week. It only gets clean when we know people are coming over.

But my office looks like this every day of the week. And no I didn’t straighten this up, I promise. I clean up after every appointment, and this was right before I headed out one day. Everything has it’s place and stays in it’s place. I don’t like students coming into my clutter.

I am not really sure why we can’t keep a handle on things cleaning wise at home. I am in constant shock on how fast dishes, clothes, and mail pile up in places. I digress though. I would much rather sit on the floor (which probably needs to be vacuumed) playing with my kid or catch up on Ellen than spend an hour cleaning every day. But just know that if you make a surprise visit, my house will not be clean, and I will be mortified.

What are your confessions? How do you keep your house clean? (It’s by magic isn’t it?)

April 15, 2015 by Stephanie

Fit For Me 15/52

Just a recap since I am 15 weeks in. I started this journey of documenting my weekly workouts to keep myself accountable to being healthy for myself. After giving birth to George in August, I really wanted my workouts to be a time to refocus on myself and be healthy for me. In turn, I am hoping that it creates balance in other areas of my life.

I do feel stronger and better about myself just after a few months. I may not be where I want to be physically but I am definitely better than I was when I started. This has also been a process of giving myself grace as well and remembering this is an adventure to be healthy for me and not healthy for some athlete model.

What I did last week:

Thursday-30 minutes on the treadmill. This one was a real struggle. I ended up doing a walking hill climb because I couldn’t catch my breath running.

Saturday-30 minutes walking with the family. Pushing a stroller is a surprisingly good workout.

Sunday-30 minutes run/walk with the dogs. We managed to get it in before the downpour that day! (Hence the running part…)

Monday-20 minute ab workout.

Tuesday-30 minutes on a bike.

Impressed by:

I started thinking about it on our walk in the sprinkle on Sunday that I am pretty proud of myself for being able to walk two 75lb dogs simultaneously while alone. We have a pretty good rhythm as a trio, and I can get them to follow my lead 95% of the time while we are on our walks. Professional dog walker is in my future! (Only if I have a professional poop picker upper tagging along.)

Struggled with:

I was really upset with myself that I couldn’t run on the treadmill on Thursday. It’s not like I can blame the changing weather for my breathing issues because I was inside. But instead of quitting like I have been known to do before when my breathing becomes an issue, I kept myself going on a moderate level doing a hill workout instead. I still managed to get my legs working without compromising my lungs.

Did I meet my goal from last week?

So my goal was to walk at least 10,000 steps each day, again. After epically failing the week before, I really tried to make a better effort of getting off my tush more at work. I was about 50/50 on it, which is a vast improvement over my one day last week. Either I completely sailed it out of the park exceeding my goal by a thousand or more, or I missed it by a couple thousand. Monday was my worst day missing it by 3…whoops. Parking farther away and making more trips around my office when my alarm went off every half hour definitely helped. I need one of those treadmill desks I have decided.

What is my goal for next week?

Doing that hill workout manually on the treadmill this week made me realize that I have never done one of those preset workouts on the treadmill. I want to try one of those this week.

Fitness Thoughts:

I try to cover up my workouts stats when I am on the treadmill because it can be really distracting to just watch the minutes not go by. I think you also start to dread the workout when you are just watching it there on the screen. I really need to invest in some new headphones so I can watch the TV. I would love to walk the dogs everyday, but that isn’t always feasible with Tom’s schedule. Either all five of us go or someone has to stay at home with George. While I may feel confident walking both dogs at the same time, I do not feel comfortable with a baby and two dogs by myself. So to the gym on the treadmill I go since there is a daycare there for when Tom isn’t home. Oh those treadmill minutes…

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Have you ever done one of the preset workouts on a treadmill?

April 14, 2015 by Stephanie

What Do You Want To Know?

I have pondered doing a Q&A post for a while now, but I have always chickened out scared that no one would actually ask any questions.

Awkward.

But I am in a lull with getting some quality posts out (#workingmomprobs), so I figured this was as good a time as ever.

If you have any questions for me or for Tom (or for George), feel free to ask them! I try to be fairly transparent here on the blog, so ask away.

So what would you like to know?

Questions about working in Higher Education, being a new mom, being married to a cop, the dogs, blogging, crafts, my love for the Royals, to how I take my coffee are all fair game. If you need any Netflix recommendations, I can answer that too!