MHB- Week Twenty-Positivity

 This week was good. The weather was awesome, Alina has improved so much at daycare and my workouts have been reduced to three days a week. So I've had a great, positive experience and I can only look forward to more of these.

MONDAY-

Day 1- Full Body and Strength Conditioning. This is one of those 'once a month' workouts and it is always kicking my butt. I only managed to get one picture and that was at the very end, when I was laying on my mat ready to die. I also wanted to capture the sweat dripping on my upper lip! We also ended up having a bit of a fun day, as I mentioned on my post A Bonus Day. I dropped Alina at daycare and Rob and I hit the city for the day. (A fun filled Costco trip ensued.)

TUESDAY-

 Day 2- Rest Day! Alina is doing much better at daycare, each and every day that she goes. I received that little note last week from her daycare provider. It's hard to describe the feeling I would get knowing that she was sad and crying every day. I shared in her dread, every time that I'd buckle her up to take her there. But now I feel like a ray of sunshine is beaming on all of our moods, cheering us up every day.

WEDNESDAY-

Isn't that the best view a girl could ask for, after an eight hour day of work? (Top right picture.)

Day 3- Fight Conditioning. Another tough workout, but like my friend Lisa put it in my last e-mail;  

"You don't need to kill yourself 5 days a week to be fit - especially when you have a few months of a strong training base under your belt, which you do. I also think the less workouts I do per week, the harder I work at each one, since I know it's limited and I don't have to leave any gas in the tank."

 Anything Lisa says, I take very seriously. (She's a Canfitpro certified Personal Trainer, Pre/Postnatal fitness specialist, Agatsu certified Kettlebell and Joint Mobility&Movement instructor and a Precision Nutrition Trainer.. Need I say more?) The main thing that I took away from that message was that I can now afford to work harder with each workout that I do. Needless to say; I was pooped out when I finished!

THURSDAY-

 Day 4- Rest Day! Another daycare day for Alina. We hung out in the morning. She cruised around the living room, still holding onto furniture as she clumsily stumbled around. She was busy making 'funny faces' and pushing buttons on the keyboard while I checked blogs this morning. (Sound familiar Amanda..?)

FRIDAY-

  Day 5- Explosive Power Training. My goodness! I knew this workout was coming all week and I am always surprised by how explosive it is. It was a great way to end the week but, I am glad that it isn't a common workout because it does kick my butt.

 To check out my progress over the weeks; check out the links below: 

MHB- Week 1     MHB-Week 2     MHB-Week 3     MHB-Week 4     MHB-Week 5                                                                                                                                                         
MHB-Week 6     MHB-Week 7     MHB-Week 8     MHB-Week 9     MHB-Week 10    

MHB-Week 11     MHB-Week 12   MHB- Week 13   MHB-Week 14  MHB-Week15

MHB-Week 16     MHB- Week 17   MHB- Week 18  MHB-Week 19

Happy Friday everyone. I have some exciting news to share next week but I have a few things to do first before I want to spill.. No, I'm not pregnant! Exciting, challenging prospects ahead for me...

A Bonus Day

 Who would have thought that Rob having a procedure done at the hospital would be so enjoyable for me!? It's not a big deal, just a throat scope but he gets crazy drugs that make him forget the whole ordeal. So I have to be his designated driver for when he finishes. They say that the entire procedure takes three hours from when you sign in to when you sign out.

 Of course, the hospital is in a city, thirty minutes away, so I had to take the day off of work. Alina couldn't join us because once we're in the city, there isn't much of a point in me driving all the way home. So I get a few free hours to myself! Rob had the brilliant suggestion of bringing our Westfalia camper van. So I'm literally just laying on the pull out bed, with my lap top on me, checking blogs uninterrupted and now, writing my own post for the week. I packed myself my kindle, journal, lap top, tablet, a full on lunch and there's also a t.v. in here that I could hook up if I wanted to, but I don't think I'll need it! This is seriously the nicest, most chill hour and a half I've spent in a long time. Sadly, the nurse said I had to return by 11:30 and now, it is 11:27. So my little time to myself is over. Now I'm off to pick up Rob and see what he wants to do for the rest of the day!

Turns out, he wanted to go to none other than Costco! If there is one thing that Rob loves to do it's shop and then it's shopping at Costco. He manages to turn a fifteen minute trip into a full on hour plus. He has to go up and down each non-food aisle and stop and discuss why he needs whatever it is that he's found. I decided, for fun and because we didn't have anything else to do today, to take a picture each time he stopped to look at something. (In all honesty, I missed a couple because he stops to check everything out! But I think I got the best ones..)

  I think Rob is going to spend the rest of his life convincing me that he/we need everything that Costco has to offer. The first stop; shorts. "These are my kind of shorts, Haley!" Or when we walked passed the tiles for the back splash in a kitchen. He calculates carefully with his phone how much it would take for us to do our kitchen, so we can sell it. Suddenly we are selling our house? He shows me the tiles for our kitchen floors and then lastly he is absolutely tired of shaving with his regular razor and will one day definitely need a 50 piece razor kit. We went outside to check out the garden center so that Rob could show me all of the plants and trees that he will one day be planting in our future yard. "I want a banana tree! They just look so tropical." "Everything is so cheap here!"

 We sat on yard furniture, we went inside of sheds and checked out surf boards. Rob found swimming shorts and then he managed to find 'work' shorts. "Now these are rugged." He was very tempted to buy the 'work' shorts but I had to remind him that we were sticking to a budget and only came for two items.

 He looked at life jackets for Alina and then finally, finally he was ready to grab the two items we needed; toilet paper and diapers. Yup, I know.. we're pretty exciting people. We ended our little Costco date with Costco hotdogs and pops for $3.15. What can I say; I'm a cheap date! We ate our dogs in the back of our Westy; very romantic. Then we went over to Superstore for swimming diapers and Alina's rice cereal. There was a toy sale going on and I practically had to drag Rob away from the baby clearance racks. We had ourselves a nice day out, minus the little one and even though it wasn't your typical 'date'.. it was still nice to just laugh and goof around just the two of us.

 We cruised home and picked up our third stooge and goofed around in the van for a little bit before heading inside. It was a really nice 'bonus' day and I'm glad we made the most of it. Rob mentioned that it was a good day and I reminded him that he was 'throat raped' as he so gently described it as this morning..! Oh well, he already put it behind him... (Aka- the drugs worked!)

If you were granted a bonus day; what would you do with your extra time!?

Warning: Some People Aren't As They Seem

 Let's get real.. I mean really real. I've decided that it's been awhile since I've been vulnerable on this blog. I think the most vulnerable I've been was when I posted those awful photos of myself right before I decided to start working out again in a post called, "Mommy Haley Wants To Be Wedding Haley Again." I was reading through an old diary the other day and I came across some pretty funny and more shocking entries from when I was a kid. It inspired me to write about this one time.. that I'm definitely not proud of.
 

Perhaps I should have come with that warning...

 I'm ashamed of myself for being such a nasty, little kid. I was sweet as pie on the outside and a complete asshole in the inside. Seriously. I could be so mean and I have no idea what made me this way. I could blame my siblings for my bad language, sure. But other than that; I have no idea why I used to be such a brat. This awful story I'm about to share is one I am completely ashamed of, but I already said I was going to get really real, so I guess I'm hooped and have to spill..

 I'm riding the bus and there's this girl in my grade three class that no one likes. She's disruptive, immature and overall a real pain to be around. She wears her mom's cream coloured, silk nighties over top of her clothes. She clearly has a lot going on in her life and I so wonderfully added to her misery one morning on the school bus. She was curled up on the seat crying and  I remember walking by her and feeling a bit of pity for her and as quickly as the pity came, the down right cruel and nasty took over and I spit on her. My bus driver twisted her body around and told me that she was going to write me up for such disgusting behaviour. I was completely mortified and ashamed.
 That day after lunch, my grade three teacher asked me to stay for a minute during recess. I was horrified. I was totally busted, she knew, she must have known! She sat me down and told me that I was her nomination for The Christian Leadership Award that year. Say whaaa???

 Oh yeah, I mentioned earlier that I was sweet as pie on the outside because I was. I was polite, a model student and a total teacher's pet. Nothing mattered more to me than being the first  Student of the Day in September and the first to be called to 'watch the class' when the teacher stepped out for a minute. I was little miss prissy perfect. I actually hate that that was who I was back then, but that's who I was. To make matters worse; I could be really mean and nasty when I wanted to be and I hate that quality about my nine year old self much more.

 The following day my vice principal approaches me and asks if I 'spat' ( I still hate the use of that word.. lol.) on Jade Winters. I tried out my best acting skills (which still do not exist) and denied that this happened. I told him that I did remember sneezing towards her and that it was possible that spit may or may not have come out of my mouth... resulting in this horrible act I've been accused of.

  Needless to say; I didn't win the Christian Leadership Award that year, or any year after that.

 Jade Winters asked to be my friend on Facebook about five years ago. I added her. Then about a year later, I decided that I hadn't seen her in over fifteen years and having her as a friend on Facebook was just because I felt bad about spitting on her all of those years ago. Before I deleted her, I wrote a private message, apologizing for what I had done. She said that she didn't remember me ever spitting on her. I'm not sure if she did or didn't. But it doesn't matter. I learned that doing something like that was not acceptable. It doesn't matter how annoying or immature a person is, it is never okay to treat a person so badly.

 Now that I'm 28, with a child of my own I am completely horrified with my nine year old self. What the hell was wrong with me? What was going on in my life that was leading me to be so nasty? Why didn't I feel compassion for someone that was going through pain in her own personal life? Instead I just jumped onto the Mean Train and proceeded to help everyone else make her life hell. But it's silly to try and figure out the 'whys' in life... I'm not sure why I did what I did, but luckily I didn't continue with that kind of behaviour. I can say that I'm a pretty good person. I do have a tendency to talk behind backs a bit. I agree with people when I don't always want to because -
1. I don't understand the content and agreeing is easier and less embarrassing than admitting that I don't understand..
2. I have a hard time with conflict. I don't care enough to disagree because getting into a debate is the very last thing I'm up for.... ever.

 I think everyone has qualities that they don't like about themselves. I don't like that I agree with people when I don't always want to. I hate that I find myself talking about people I care about because I know all about the golden rule and am aware of when I am breaking it! I also don't like that I don't have the guts to disagree with someone, or that I find it physically painful to tell someone that what they are doing is bothering me. I don't like to make others feel uncomfortable, so I avoid the conflict because let's face it; I don't like to be uncomfortable either!

 Oh and I managed to dig up the diary entry about this very story ... it's pretty humorous to read me squirm. I even prayed to God.. in written diary form! I deserved it.. all of it!

Suddenly it's becoming clear the why behind my shitty little behaviour. I didn't mention; I grew up in a trailer park for ten  years and... I can see that the other kids in the neighbourhood maaaaay or may not have been influencing my behaviour...

Sounds like I really, really, really didn't want Mr. Kloster to find out!! LOL

I still wonder what this 'one club' was all about.... I thought I'd add in a little funny for everyone... !!

  Is there a story that stands out in your mind that you are ashamed of yourself for? 

What quality do you dislike about yourself, but have a hard time fixing?! 

MHB- Week Nineteen- Compromise

 This week I've come to the conclusion that I can't handle doing five days a week of working out. I may cut back on the cardio work outs and just see how that goes for a little bit. It feels a lot like when you first start out, you don't want to overdo it and discourage yourself. Well I'm feeling dangerously close to wanting to stop and I know I can't do that. So, I'm going to compromise with myself and do three days a week. That way, I won't be setting myself up to feel guilty when I don't end up doing five days of working out. I think its a good solution and I believe that it will help me out.

MONDAY-

 Day 1- Strength and Endurance. I wanted to take some pictures of my progress. My stomach muscles are tightening and my biceps have a nice tone to them. I'm at a place where I'd like to maintain my fitness. I'm not in a position to challenge myself right now because of life in general. I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew, but I think I may have. As long as I don't quit altogether, then I should be okay!

TUESDAY-

Alina playing with her toys and then a picture of her right outside of her daycare.

 Day 2- Rest day! Alina is doing a lot better at daycare. The lady that watches her took some of Rob's advice and it worked like a hot damn. Tuesday was her second good day in a row. Hurray Alina!

WEDNESDAY- 

Day 3- Fight Conditioning. This workout kicked my butt up and down the living room, the entire time. I'm not sure what's happening to me. I'm either losing my drive or I'm just busier than I used to be and my body is not used to all of this action. It was a Baba Day and Alina was quite happy to see her face when she woke up. Baba came with clothes, 'sticky' socks (so she won't slip when she's cruising around) and I had a farm with farm figurines set up for her when she woke. I got the farm from a work friend and Alina was pretty pumped to be greeted with it in the morning!

THURSDAY-

Day 4- Rest Day! Again, I really appreciated being able to sleep an extra little bit. Alina was a happy little squirrel this morning. It's always when I put her in her car seat, or when we arrive at the daycare that she gets this look on her face that something smells bad. She's uneasy going in, but once she's there; she's a happy camper. She's been doing really well and I couldn't be happier! That's a picture of me walking to work and I ended up having to walk home at lunch to put some chicken I left out in the fridge and then I walked back. SO! I walked to work, walked home, walked back to work and once my eight hours on my feet, running around was all done; I walked home again. So.. basically cardio...

FRIDAY- 

Day 5- Abdominal Strength and Core Conditioning. It feels like it's been awhile, since I did this workout. It went well. I felt like I had a bit more energy than I did on Wednesday. I've been getting up earlier and Rob has been sleeping in a bit later, so he hasn't been able to take my workout pictures. Sorry for the terrible quality of the photos! The last picture I just took of Alina, drinking her morning milk. She has some pretty sweet bed head..!

 To check out my progress over the weeks; check out the links below: 

MHB- Week 1     MHB-Week 2     MHB-Week 3     MHB-Week 4     MHB-Week 5                                                                                                                                                         
MHB-Week 6     MHB-Week 7     MHB-Week 8     MHB-Week 9     MHB-Week 10    

MHB-Week 11     MHB-Week 12   MHB- Week 13   MHB-Week 14  MHB-Week15

MHB-Week 16     MHB- Week 17   MHB- Week 18

Wanna Read My Journal? Vol. 1

 Taylor from the Daily Tay completely inspired me to take an old journal entry and share it on my blog. She does a series called "Limited Too Tuesdays" every once in awhile. So I've decided to make a little series of it, like Taylor. I will take an entry or two to share from each year that I've been writing in my journal. This volume is a special one because I had a diary first that I started writing in when I was nine. Once I turned twelve I started the journal that I still write in every single day.

Ummm.. I feel like I didn't learn my lesson at all. I feel like I was just pissed off that I wasn't smart enough to keep my mouth shut. "Boy did I learn my lesson; if you're going to steal from your grade four teacher.. don't tell anyone about it!"

The next journal entry is shocking for two reasons. I was throwing around a lot of f-bombs for a child my age. But please understand that my brother and sister were four and and nearly six years older than me. My siblings were teenagers and I am under the assumption that the f word was said... a lot. Plus, I clearly did not like being called Grease Ball. The second entry seems a bit personal to share, but the loss was a miscarriage and my mom must have let it slip that she had one once and I asked what it was. As you can see; I wasn't all that concerned. I was more interested in universAty.

 Well, isn't that sad news that our bird Percy died. The way he died was extremely comical. He was found head first.. ass up deep in his bird feeder. " I guess he just couldn't take it any longer..." Take what!?! Sitting on his perching chirping, eating and sleeping all day!?  I'm also glad that I got a pair of shorts with a top that can't come off. That might get awkward if I had one that would come off.... Ohh Nine Year Old Me; you are something else..

Did you keep a diary as a kid?

Have you looked back at them lately!? If so- you should totally do it, it's so much fun! (And embarrassing..!)

Alina's Friends Turn 1

 Apologies all around for my lack of creative posts. I'm just going to go along with a recap post this Monday. I've had no time to do the things I really want done, never mind finding the time to write posts or think up ideas for good ones for the week. I think this is the part where I fall behind on replying to emails and commenting on my favourite blogs.

We were busy this weekend. We went to 'the city' this Saturday, to get some kid's birthday shopping done. Alina's two little buddies turned one this weekend and had a joint birthday party to celebrate on Sunday.

 Saturday.

 We went shopping for the little ones and ended up taking our usual Alina photos. If there's a knight's mask, a knitted crab or elephant cap Alina will be wearing them and there will always be pictures. Shopping has become fun for me because I just put stuff on my kid. She's a good sport, for the most part and endures us. Although she was getting really, really noisy and then finally in Wal*Mart I made a point that it wasn't even five yet. Rob corrected me that it was in fact, after six. I gasped, because it was waaay past Alina's supper. I bought blueberries and we took her to the McDonald's in the store. We bought her a carrot muffin and had a cup of water poured for her. The carrots may or may not have made her mouth a bit red (possible allergy?) the blueberries were not washed and the water in the McDonald's cup looked suspiciously not as clear as I would have liked. We joked that we were terrible parents feeding our child dirty water and blueberries and a muffin she was possibly allergic to. Sorry Alina!

 Rob made a remark earlier in the day that I should just make Tommie and Abigail's birthday cards. I disagreed because making my own cards always takes up my entire evening. I was sure that a card from the dollar store would do. But no, the seed was planted and I had to make my own, personalized cards. Lucky for me; Thomas and Abby have names that go along with famous characters on t.v. right now. Besides, I do love making my own cards because I'm a kid at heart and I love drawing and colouring. Rob made us burgers with old white cheddar and I added bacon from the morning's breakfast, a dill pickle, spicy mayo and to top everything off a handful of ripple, all dressed chips. Best. Burger. Ever.

Sunday.

 Sunday morning, Alina slept in way late. We hurried around and had ourselves ready and at the dual b'day party ten minutes late aka- not bad! The party was busy and there were lots of kids and parents to fill the space. Alina and I did well. She popped her first balloon and didn't even care, other than the fact that her balloon disappeared and she wanted it back.. Abby and Tommie had a nice get together with friends. Later on, Abby's folks invited us over for pizza. Kimberly had this great idea to put a piece of cake in between Alina and Abby and to snap photos of the two of them. It was super cute and then they got to have their FIRST bath with another baby. I mean, who doesn't have bath pictures with other babies?! It was a total moment and I'm glad Alina got to share her's with her best bud Abigail.

 All in all we had a good weekend. It was after nine in the evening once I was finished prepping meals for Alina's week and a supper for tomorrow. I'm pooped and feel like I had a pretty good break and a nice weekend with my little family.

  Oh! It's also a great weekend when we can take our Westy out for a 2014 spin! 

Again, my sincerest apologies for not being able to comment on my favourite blog posts! I just can't keep up with the demand these days but I will do what I can when I can!

MHB- Week Eighteen- Struggling

 Another week has completely zoooooomed by. I'm still sick and I can hardly believe it! But I did my best and worked out three of the five days. This week could be totally described as a bit of a struggle, emotionally and physically. I'm emotionally feeling down because my sweet girl is having a hard time adjusting to daycare life. I'm physically defeated because of this damn cold. I feel so tuckered out by the end of the work day but I am staying positive and pushing through. That's all I can really do, right!?

MONDAY-

 Day 1- Fight Conditioning. The first set of pictures are of me striking, the second ones are of me shooting. I was still pretty stuffed up on Monday so after this workout I was feeling so, so, so tuckered. I laid on my workout mat and just caught my breath before I dragged my butt into the shower to get on with the rest of my day.. Big heavy sigh.

TUESDAY-

Day 2- Cardio. Well I finally got back into the gym. I felt alright. Energized would be a bit of a stretch with this cold lingering. But I went and that's what counts. I did the infamous Cardio Machine Workout but will have some different cardio ideas from my good friend Lisa at Happy Fit . She offered to help me out and I am taking her on that offer as soon as this cold gets the hell out of here and I have more energy and a little more time!

WEDNESDAY- 

 Day 3- I skipped the Fight Conditioning workout. I slept in a little bit and it felt a-mazing! Alina had an equally a-mazing day with her Baba. She's been pretty upset at daycare everyday this week and then her day with Baba was incredible. We took some pictures before I went to work and then I took a shot of my walk to work! A good day and I feel like not working out was a good idea. This cold is brutal and lingering and a day off of working out is just what I needed.

THURSDAY-

Day 4- Cardio. I did go to the gym this morning. It was the usual cardio machine workout but I decided to incorporate some different exercises in between the running. Rob had a terrible sinus headache this morning and he stayed home from school today. We decided to walk Alina to daycare together this morning. On the way to work, I quickly snapped an early morning picture of us. Then in the evening I took a selfie with Alina and a glass of wine. Why not, right!?

FRIDAY-

Day 5- It was Strength and Endurance. I woke up feeling like the first picture in my collage; like crap! My head was really stuffy and I just knew that working out as hard as I do, wouldn't help me feel better today. Next week MUST be better. I think it's possible that I have been working myself a wee bit too hard and that's partially why my cold is sticking around. I need to focus this weekend on getting better and then I can back into the full time working out! I dropped an egg on the kitchen floor when I was rushing around and had to take a picture because it's the first time I've ever done that, surprisingly. It's jeans day at the store today, so I straightened my hair and put some puuurdy earrings in to make this dreary, wet spring day a happier one!

Happy Friday all- I have no new tunes that I've been listening to, so I'm going to skip out of Yoga Pants' Friday link up today. Have a happy weekend!

When you are feeling down and out do you push yourself to do more or do you let your body rest?

Would you participate in jeans day even if you got to wear comfy scrubs all week?

 If you want to check out how I started this entire Mission Hot Bod- check out my progress from the very beginning;

MHB- Week 1     MHB-Week 2     MHB-Week 3     MHB-Week 4     MHB-Week 5                                                                                                                                                         
MHB-Week 6     MHB-Week 7     MHB-Week 8     MHB-Week 9     MHB-Week 10    

MHB-Week 11     MHB-Week 12   MHB- Week 13   MHB-Week 14  MHB-Week15

MHB-Week 16     MHB- Week 17

Want To Have A Drink With Me?

 It's the middle of the week! I can now officially comment on days of the week because I am part of the working world now. I have a Monday to Friday, nine to five gig and it hasn't been so bad.

 With my return to work, I'm already looking forward to weekends. I have always liked having a few drinks on a Friday and Saturday. Obviously I don't drink every weekend or every day of the weekend. But, when I do drink, there are a few of my favourite go-to drinkies.

//1 Strongbow. Strongbows are a really nice dry cider. They aren't too sweet but they aren't like beer either. I always feel like they're the perfect combination between a beer and a cooler. But if you're getting ready for a girl's night out and you want something with a little more kick than a Strongbow but not too much of a kick like a glass of red wine, try putting a shot of Sour Puss in. I would say that the raspberry flavour would be the best match for a Strongbow.

//2  My usual go-to drink; beer! I'm not too picky about beer. Although, I don't like dark beers like Guiness or super cheap beers like Pacific Pilsner or Lucky. I like all regular kinds; Keiths, Kokanee, Corona, whatever. To give your Corona a little kick in the summer, no one is going to judge you for throwing in that shot of Sour Puss just for a little extra buzzy buzz. There's nothing like the taste of the first drink of a cold beer on a hot day, or after a busy, shit day at work!

//3  Another great drink that I was recently introduced to by a friend, was one shot of Amaretto, one shot of Gin with San Pelegrino Lemonade. It is one of those tasty treats that you can probably only have one or two of and then you have to stop before you get a sweet headache hangover right there on the spot. I would like to name this drink The Kimberly because my good friend Kim introduced it to me. (She'd be so proud.)

//4  I also love on a summer day, a flavoured beer. The Grandville Island Brewery makes a delicious raspberry flavoured beer that just hits the spot! Coors Light also makes an iced tea beer that I really enjoy. There's nothing like a chilled, flavoured beer in the heat of the summer.

Drinking the raspberry beer on my b'day.

//5  Let's go back to a time when I knew nothing about drinking, a time when I would drink whatever our 'boot' would buy for us. Seagram's Wild Berry cooler was the very first drink I ever bought. (Or had someone of age buy for me.) I took it to an AGT party (which consisted of a fire pit in the woods near an AGT telephone tower) and I ended up giving it away. I felt guilty because I just couldn't bring myself to drink it knowing that my best friend was frowning at me for doing something so bad. I quickly got over that and started to experiment with different drinks. Other favourites were Schmirnoff Ice coolers and peach schnapps with vodka and pop.  Another drink we would drink was Malibu Rum and Cream Soda... something I would never drink now. Too sweet! It's funny how much my drink of choice has changed over the years. I think I used to drink the sweet stuff way back when because that's what girls I knew drank and it was the easiest thing to 'order' from whoever was buying it for us!

My bestie in 2010 at the river enjoying an old fav. together.

   I'm not sure if any of these drinks would suit any of my readers out there. But if you want to try something new, give one of these a go!

What is your go-to drink of choice after a busy day at work or on a Friday evening!?

Are you the type of person to try something new or do you like to stick with the drinks that you know?

This Post Sucks

 My first weekend is over and it was a nice one. On Friday Rob and Alina picked me up from work. Rob ordered sushi for pick up and we ate sushi when we got home. Alina was in really great spirits all weekend. I think she was just so happy to have us both there with her for two whole days. Friday night, we had a couple of beers and sang some songs that I had been wanting to see if I could sing. Rob's really good for asking me if I'd like to sing a song and then he plays and we harmonize a bit together. It's fun and not something we do all of the time.

 

(That was the song that Rob really wanted to hear me sing. It went well and we sounded pretty good!)

 On Saturday Alina slept until 8:30 - thank you child! We ended up having a very lazy day. But that was fine because in the evening, I got together with my girlfriend Kim and we went out for a couple of drinks. There's a fancy restaurant just down the street from where I live and they have a lounge connected to it. It was pretty pathetic because there were only a few people there and the atmosphere was a bit awkward. But we made it work and we were grateful for the escape from mommy-hood to have a couple of drinks and to gab together.

 Sunday afternoon, we took Alina swimming. Then we went over to my mom's for dinner. She ordered chinese food. There is nothing better than getting chinese for supper and not having to pay! It was a real treat. Plus, I always feel all warm and fuzzy when we have dinner with my mom at her place. It just feels right. I suck because I only ended up taking pictures of Alina all weekend and nothing else. But there really wasn't anything else worth taking pictures of. It's nine on Sunday evening as I write this. I prepped a bunch of future 'Alina Meals' for the week. I went grocery shopping for all of our meals so that I won't have to buy or think up anything for dinner. My laundry is all done and my house is in some kind of order. I'm ready for the week ahead, even though I'm feeling super exhausted. My cold feels like it's at the end and I'm ready to attack a full week of workouts including the cardio this week. I'm feeling pretty beat, so I hope to get to bed early-ish tonight.

 Yes, this post sucks. I'm sorry. I'm working on balancing my new routine and keeping up with my blog posting. I'll do better next time. I actually have one written for Wednesday already, that should be a bit more entertaining/educational.. (That all depends on if you drink..!) 

How was your weekend?

Oh and Amanda's boyfriend Sam (from her Rhyme and Ribbons blog) asked a really cool question on his Boys Behind The Blog post the other day; Who would play YOU in a movie of your life? 

Or- who do you think would play ME in a movie of my life?

 Amanda, I thought about who would star in your movie the other night and I couldn't come up with a good answer. I thought of Zooey Deschanel, but that was too obvious and easy. So I slept on it and Emily Blunt seemed like the perfect match for you. Besides, you are an english girl at heart.

 

MHB- Week Seventeen- With A Cold

It was my first week of working a full time job and working out in the mornings before. It went well. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be. I did skip my cardio days again but I had good reason to. This week was full of  adjustments in every way and I think I did a good job of getting into the groove of our new routine. Plus, I caught Alina's horrid cold on Tuesday. Darn it- bad timing!

MONDAY-

Day 1- Strength and Endurance. My first morning before my first day of work. I was up at 6 am and I was working out by 6:12. I was cutting some corners, as in quitting a few seconds before I was supposed to. I struggled a bit with this workout because my mind was distracted. I'm sure next week will be better.

TUESDAY-

Day 2- Abdominal Strength and Core Conditioning. I am demonstrating round five in all of the pictures that Rob took of me on Tuesday. I start with a Back Bend and end the round with the Mountain Climber and I'm showing those exercises in the top photo.

  I do the Nevasana for 5 seconds and then transition into a Hindu Push-Up for about 3 seconds and then repeat. I enjoy this as my fifth round because it's challenging but it's not explosive, but more of a rhythmic exercise.

WEDNESDAY-

 Day 3- Cardio. But guess what.. yeah, you guessed it; I didn't do it. I'm sick! It seems like another excuse, but it is what it is. I got a cold on Tuesday and I did not feeling like getting up and dragging my butt to the gym. So I slept in an extra forty five minutes! It was wonderful. Wednesday is also the day that Alina stayed home and had my mom watch her. It poured and rained on my walk home from work and then there was a cute bunny in our front yard that we were tossing carrots at. I just love bunnies- they're so cuuute!

THURSDAY-

Day 4- Strength and Endurance. This was a repeat exercise and Rob decided to have a little sleep in because he is also sick with this cold, so my pictures are pretty limited. I was slow moving, but I did the workout anyway. It was more challenging and I worked up a sweat much quicker. But I didn't want to skip a RushFit workout because I know that I'm skipping my cardio again this week.

FRIDAY-

 Day 5- I skipped my cardio again. I decided on Thursday morning to skip it because I knew I would appreciate the sleep in. Plus cardio can be much more challenging when my body is run down. It's important for me to be healthy so that I can work and take care of Alina. Plus- it's also important to say no every once in awhile. It's kind of liberating. (As long as I don't make a habit out of it!) Take note that I haven't skipped an actual RushFit workout yet and I don't plan on it! Friday is jeans day at work- so I was sporting my denim. It's already looking like a gorgeous day out there- bonus! Alina and I got our little snuggle in with a bottle feed before I set off to work. Have a great Friday everybody!

Links to my MHB posts from the past to check out my progress:

MHB- Week 1     MHB-Week 2     MHB-Week 3     MHB-Week 4     MHB-Week 5                                                                                                                                                         
MHB-Week 6     MHB-Week 7     MHB-Week 8     MHB-Week 9     MHB-Week 10    

MHB-Week 11     MHB-Week 12   MHB- Week 13   MHB-Week 14  MHB-Week15

MHB-Week 16

A Couple Of Firsts

 Well I have to say that I received a lot of really encouraging and thoughtful messages from friends through texts and facebook messages on Monday for my return to work. I had an inbox full of e-mails from my blogging friends letting me know that they were thinking of me. A surprising number of people reached out to me in one form or another and I feel incredibly lucky to have so many great friends in my life. It doesn't matter if I don't know you blogging girls in real life, you are there through writing, letting me know that you care and that is a pretty special thing.

Monday, March 17th- also known as St. Patrick's Day was my first day back in the real world! It was also the day that Rob's folks went back to Ontario. So our morning was a busy one. The in laws left with Rob before 8 am. Alina and I were left to eat our breakfast together and to get ready for our big 'first' days side by side! I went onto facebook to find a bunch of messages from friends and family wishing me a good day. I saw a message from my mom and I decided that I could brave phoning her. I knew that if I talked to her I might burst into tears at any moment. But the conversation was good and brief. It was true, I had a hard time talking without getting teary. As the clock ticked closer to 'that time', the more upset I was feeling. I was trying to tell Alina in a cheerful voice that she was going to daycare and that she was going to have so much fun. But I'm sure I didn't sound too convincing. The drop off ended up being just fine. Alina was happy to go in and play with the toys and I made my goodbyes quick.

Once I dropped off Stinky, I realized that I was headed back to work for the first time in over a year!! It was insane to think that I hadn't worked since last year on March 1st. I have never been lucky enough to have that much time off of work since the day I started working over ten years ago. I rushed up to the door and met up with one of my colleagues. She's pregnant with her first and I couldn't help but feel a bit envious that her adventure is just about to begin and my first year is already behind me. I stepped through the doors and she asked me if she could give me a hug and welcomed me back. It was just what I needed. I put my things away and the phone rang and I ran to answer it. After my first phone call, I felt confident that everything would come back to me and I relaxed. It was a great day. The weather was gorgeous, the customers greeted me with big smiles, most of them asking me how Alina was and making me feel really welcome.

Before work, during and after- with my green beer that I feel like I earned!!

 Rob ended up picking Alina up fairly early and the two of them had a great afternoon. I was so happy to hear that he was going to get her early. He got a full report from our daycare provider. Alina got upset about fifteen minutes after I left and later on when someone else was picked up by his daddy, she cried. When Rob got to the door he could hear her crying. When she saw him she said, "Daddy! Daaaaddy!" and crawled right over to him. Even though it was sad, Rob was thrilled. He explained that he understands why I'm so sad to not be around her all of the time, he's so happy because he gets to be the one that picks her up and spends extra time with her after school and before I get home from work. It's nice and I think Alina is very lucky that she gets to spend extra time with him. It's a special thing spending one on one time with each other.

Rob and Alina walked to the pharmacy and strolled in five minutes before five. I was so excited to see her smiling face. She was pretty happy to see me and that made my heart all warm and fuzzy. Rob snapped a few pictures of her in the store, watching me work.

 Then we all walked home together. I held her in my arms the entire time and Rob pushed the empty stroller. It felt so good to see her and she was content playing with the buttons on my coat for our sunny, evening stroll home. Once we got home, Rob fed her supper, while we drank our green beers. We ended up facetiming with Rob's parents who were stuck at the Winnipeg airport. (They didn't end up getting home until 4 am. Thanks a lot Air Canada.) We had a really great first day and I hope that the rest of the week is as good!

 Thanks for all of the support from everyone. I promise I won't go on and on about being back at work anymore. It was just such a big deal in my life and now that I've gone through the first couple of days, I feel confident that we can all do this. (When I got home from work Tuesday, Alina was bathed, in her pj's and Rob was heating up her dinner. I was so impressed! If this is how it's going to be, then I have nothing to worry about!)

2013-2014

 So here's to one full year with the coolest, happiest little baby human I've ever met! It goes by so fast, yet I can hardly remember when she was that small!!