Monday, March 11, 2013

Saving Time & Getting Fit

After spending 3 hours in the Urgent Care on Saturday due to a sudden onset of ear infection hell (Jacob's not mine), I made the most of what was left of the day running across the county like a mad woman. After Urgent Care, a dashed to the pharmacy for anti-biotics. Then I met a lady from Craigslist and purchased a double jogging stroller. I've been wanting one ever since Ryan was born and after scouring Craiglist for weeks I decided to pull the trigger and do it. BEST PURCHASE OF THE DECADE. Man I love this thing. LOVE. It's amazing how easily I can push 60 pounds of children with this thing!

We barely even noticed the rain


Saturday was my husband's birthday and it appeared that I had given him the gift of my awful cold and two sick children for his birthday. I decided to top those gifts with something he actually wanted, a Soda Stream. So I stopped at Staples and picked one. I made a couple other stops before pulling into the driveway and hastily wrapping my husband's gift outside the front door with Christmas paper and white labels (oops, forgot to buy tape!). It was a sad looking gift but I could tell he liked it when he pulled his sickly self out of bed and immediately gave it a try.

On Sunday, I tried out my new amazing jogger. I loved being able to see my kids while I jogged. And I loved that I could run and spend quality time with them. Ryan loved chilling in his seat (5 point harness!) and looking at the scenery. Jacob and I had some funny conversations ("Mommy, do daddy dragons lay egss?" "Mommy, are flamingos dangerous?"). We did one of my favorite runs. It felt amazing to get back out and run. Next Saturday the kids and I are running in a St. Patrick's Day fun run and I can't wait to give the gogger the ultimate test. If it works out, I plan on signing up for many more 5Ks this spring and summer!


Moving forward with the theme of being healthy and fit, I finally did another thing that I had been wanting to do for so long. During my pregnany with Ryan, my abdomen muscles stretched to the max and eventually separated. It was horrible. I could feel them tearing constantly from weeks 20-40. Sure enough, after Ryan was born I discovered that I could fit two full fingers between my abs right near my belly button. My c-section and pregnany left my core demolished. I haven't been able to do sit ups or crunches since then (crunches can make the separation worse). I felt stuck. It was a Catch-22. I couldn't work out my abs because of my separation, and I continued to have a separation because I couldn't do core work.

Last week I tried physical therapy but I did not click with the therapist. He wans't interested in working out my core and getting my muscles back on track. I tried his method for a couple days but finally decided that it wasn't for me. Today I met with a personal trainer and former physical therapist with experience in abdominal separation. She was amazing! We hit it off right away. We had each other joking and laughing by the end of the session. Twelve hours later and I'm as sore as hell! I'm so excited to get some core strength back! It isn't cheap but I'm so happy to spend the money on this. I'm worth it right?!

The Freakishly Happy Baby
 

After putting in a full day of work today, I decided to take advantage of the extra hour of daylight (I LOVE daylight savings!) and took the kids to my favorite park and where I used to run cross country in highschool. We did a rough (very rough!) 3 miles. And despite the fact that it was rainy and cold, I gave in to Jacob's whinning and let my kids enjoy the playground and sandbox.
 
Ryan loved touching the sand
 

Frog Rock
 


 
More sand touching
 


It was awesome to enjoy this time with my kids outdoors. Spring has not sprung by any means but forcing myself outside with the kids brings back wonderful memories of playing outside with my siblings as a kid. I'm finally feeling as if I'm living up to the parenting yardstick my parents set by their example. I feel more present and active with my kids. Lately, they have both been very challenging but I've still been finding myself happy and content at the end of long, frustrating, hard days. I'm pretty sure that is exactly how it's supposed to be :)

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