I've been meeting up with some ladies from church at 9:00 every morning to work out to a Sweatin' to the Oldies video. Don't laugh :)

Okay, I just started, so I've only done it 2 days in a row so far - but I plan on doing it 5 days a week. Surprisingly, it's a pretty good little workout. I take Scout and her borrowed walker, and she has a great time scooting around the smooth cement floors of our church's youth building. We have that gorgeous fluffy green variegated carpet from the 70's all through our house (I know you've seen it in all of my pics and admired it), so being able to glide along in the walker is a fun novelty for Scout. I know, I know, walkers put pressure on the spine, yada, yada. But it's really the only place I can put her while I work out and I doubt that any harm will come of her playing in it for the length of an exercise video. My guess is that there is more of a chance of her being permanently damaged by watching Richard Simmons shake his thang on a giant projector screen every single morning than there is of her spine getting irreparably subluxated.

Sometimes she gets a little fussy and I have to pick her up while I'm Sweatin'. That's okay, though. It just adds to the challenge. Those other ladies are wimps. While they toss their little arms up in the air willy-nilly, I am working my guns with an 18 lb sack of 'taters.

My favorite part of working out to Sweatin' to the Oldies is seeing all of the great 80's clothes. It does make me thankful that I am a fat girl now and not a fat girl in the 80's, though. There are some pretty decent styles that flatter big gals nowadays. Not in the 80's. No. Whew! Poor large ladies had to put up with stretch leggings and jeans that were high-waisted and tapered at the leg. Big neon polka dot prints and shirts with elastic waist bands didn't help matters either. Yikes.

Labels: exercise, weight loss

I am in desperate need of some exercise! Since the weather got cold, I stopped my nightly walk with Scout in the sling. I miss that so much. I'm sure there have been some brisk but not TOO cold days here and there when I could've bundled her up and taken her out, but it just feels weird to me to tote a baby around outside in the cold. I bet it would've done us both some good, though.

We have a recumbent exercise bike collecting dust out in the garage that I should probably drag into the house and use at least a few times a week while Scout is napping. I'm just so selfish with my alone time. It seems like a waste to spend it doing something that I don't really enjoy. I NEVER get to escape the house alone (except for my Weight Watchers meetings). I am with Scout 24/7 and her naps are the only time I have to do chores that can't be done while she is asleep, bathe, and just relax. I'm not sure how to fit exercise in there.

Labels: exercise, general complaining, health

I am determined to take a brisk 30 minute walk EVERY DAY. I'm mad at myself for being so complacent about exercise up to this point in the pregnancy. I wish I would've been taking it seriously from day one. Maybe my blood pressure wouldn't have been elevated at my appointment the other day, and maybe my butt wouldn't be the size of Texas.

Yesterday, after Bob got picked up, I threw on my comfy walking shoes, a winter hat (it was windy!!), and my favorite hoodie (I can't believe it still fits). I made sure to use the bathroom before leaving the house because last time, I was miserable halfway through the walk because my bladder was screaming at me.

It felt great to get my heart rate up and walk against the chilly refreshing wind. But not long into my little excursion, my bladder or something in that general area was feeling very sore and irritated. It sort of felt like ligament pain maybe? I'm sure my big uterus isn't accustomed to being jostled around like that, so maybe things were just stretching out in there......OR it was simply my angry bladder again. Whatever it was, it made the walk pretty tough. My lower back was aching most of the time too. I'm sure it's just because I'm not used to much motion these days.

My shoe came untied toward the end of the walk, but I couldn't stop to tie it. By this time, I was certain I needed to pee. BADLY. I was too afraid I would pee my pants if I bent over that far. From now on, I should take someone with me for the specific purpose of tying my shoe and carrying a bucket for me to pee in.

Labels: exercise, health

I'm at 25w2d.

I am HUNGRY ALL THE TIME! If I skip a couple hours of snacking, my tummy gets an empty feeling that starts to resemble heartburn. As soon as I eat, it goes away. I get CRANKY if I don't have a snack at my disposal at all times.

I have outgrown 3 out of 4 of the maternity pants I was wearing (well, one of those were just a pair of "fat pants" left over from my chunkier days).....so I had to buy 3 pair of $10 stretchy sweatpant-type bottoms to last me (hopefully) for the rest of the pregnancy. XL maternity jeans from Old Navy and Target don't fit very well anymore (I can sort of wear them comfortably standing up, but they cut into me and give me "muffin tops" in the back if I sit down....I have to leave them unzipped if in the car and around the house) ....which means my only option is plus-size maternity from Motherhood. And I am NOT spending $45-$50 on 1 pair of pants this late in the game. Stretchy pants will have to do. At least they don't have elastic around the ankles :)

I haven't been getting very much exercise at all up to this point in the pregnancy. I was doing so well to walk for 30 minutes 5 days a week in the beginning. Then came the nausea for several weeks and I got out of the habit of walking. Then it got cold, so that became my excuse. I went for a 30 minute walk with my dog yesterday and it felt good. I want to keep it up, but it might be hard on the days I am watching Bob. His momma didn't dress him warm enough today for me to be able to wheel him around outside for an extended period of time....and even if he had a heavier coat on, I might feel bad to make a toddler endure the cold so I can get my excercise. Ha. More excuses.

It's getting tougher to sleep comfortably. It's awkward to roll over when I want to shift sides, but I have to do it quite often or my hips will hurt. Each time I wake up to pee (about 2 or 3 times) my bladder hurts and feels like it's about to explode. I'm dying for a good back rub, but I don't feel right asking DH to give me one, since he works all day and I don't. Besides, if I asked for one, I'd get called a whiner and end up with a half-assed little 5 second massage. (hey, it's true :) I don't think he's aware, but I'm pretty sure that massage is an integral part of the Bradley Method and will be one of his duties during labor.

Those are my only gripes/observations. Pretty good, eh? Oh yeah, and my nipples feel like they have needles in them today. Okay, now I'm done.

Labels: clothes, exercise, pregnancy, pregnancy whining

I went and exercised with a couple friends of mine today because I didn't have to babysit. It was the first time I've done anything remotely physical in forever and it felt great! I didn't over-do it, though. In fact, I sat out during the whole last half of the pilates video because they were doing some intense stomach crunch type things and push-ups. Since I haven't been exercising and I really didn't exercise that often before I was pregnant (aside from walking and riding the exercise bike), I decided it would be a bad idea to suddenly start doing crazy contortionist moves at this stage of the game.

These two friends that I worked out with just had babies a few weeks ago. Well, one was 7 weeks ago and the other was 5 or 6 weeks ago, I think. They had their tiny little babies with them and they were so precious! One of the gals breastfed for the first 6 weeks and then decided to stop because it was really inconvenient. That made me sort of sad. But it also made me feel very blessed that I will have all the time in the world to establish a good breastfeeding relationship with my baby and give it the best shot I can. The reason it was inconvenient for her is because she owns her own business and went back to work a couple weeks ago. I'm certainly no expert, but it sounds like where she may have gone wrong is when she started feeding the baby bottles pretty early on. She would pump breastmilk so her husband and MIL could feed the baby and I think that may have messed up her supply a little. I've read that if you don't breastfeed the baby on demand, your supply can get whacked out and you may not end up producing as much that way. She said that she felt like she was pumping all day long and he ate so much that she could barely keep up. She gave up and went to formula last week. It does seem like it would be extremely difficult to breastfeed and work at the same time. I guess that's nature's way of saying that it's best for momma to stay home. Well, at least her baby did get those important momma-milk nutrients for the first several weeks of his life, so that's good. My other friend went straight to formula and didn't even take a shot at breastfeeding. Oh well. To each, their own. I need to get a bunch of crunchy hippy momma friends IRL!

It's super nice and cold here today....and cloudy...mmmm...it feels like Fall! I love it. My Autumn mood made me buy ingredients to make a couple pumpkin pies to take over to a friends house tomorrow. We live like a block away from this lady we go to church with and we never visit eachother, so we decided it would be nice to finally get together for dinner since we're neighbors and all.

As for the rest of the day, I think I'm going to sew, read a little, and maybe....just MAYBE, if I feel especially motivated, I might go out and rake some leaves. Maybe.

Labels: breastfeeding, exercise, friends