Background

Monday, February 4, 2013

Lemon Water and Football

Doesn't quite have the same ring to it does it? Actually the game was pretty good, I was happy about that. What sucked was being at a bar w/ friends not drinking and having to listen to and put up with drunk idiots. Kb and I went to my in-laws bar which is actually clean, non smoking and wasn't crowded. All the makings of a decent night. *Cue cold beer, lots of shots and a 35 minute delay due to the lights being out that made everyone lose interest and drink faster. All that mess equals drunk, loud dumbass-ery. I think my husband is taking this "Sweet! I have a designated driver for the next 9 months" a little too seriously.

I'm not a designated driver by CHOICE! I love nothing more than to drink cold beer and watch sports with my man. It was tough to sip my lemon water and eat bar-b-que. Ya know things just don't sound as good if you can't put beer with it. Like, no one ever says "Hey, want to watch the game a grab some pizza and sweet tea?" or "How 'bout some lemon water and wings?" Whoo-boy!

That's the one thing I can say I miss most, being able to enjoy the golden nectar of my Miller Lite. I know it's all worth it and people even say.. "When you haven't had it for 9 months it really doesn't sound good any more" Yeah, right! All I can say to my husband right now is drink up son, in 6 months it'll be my turn and it will be ugly.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Get a Grip

I'm really taking this time to get a handle on my eating habits. I know, taking this on while pregnant may not be the best idea but just hear me out... Here's a week in my life normally, ie not pregnant. Monday - Thursday I'm on... for the most part. Eating right, working out, maybe meeting the girls for dinner or drinks 1 night. If I do that I'll probably think I've blown it for the week and end up picking up fast food  for lunch the next day. Friday the hubs and I may go out, have a few drinks, dinner, Saturday we get up and go to our favorite little burrito place, that afternoon we'll wind up having beers somewhere watching sports of some kind. Sunday is Funday Sunday, a day of mimosas, or irish coffee and eating a big Sunday breakfast of eggs benedict or waffles then dinner cooked at home. I'll start to realize the damage I've done and vow to get back on the preverbial horse on Monday. Then the cycle continues.

Now, I'm drinking tons of water insead of beer and really trying to think about what goes into my body. I'm terrified of gaining too much weight. I'm really trying to stay on my workouts and making a goal of at least 3 times a week. But most of all I'm really trying to listen to my body. If it needs rest, I'm giving it rest. If I feel good and want to get a good sweat on, I do it. If I'm craving something sweet, which isn't out of the norm pregnant or not, I really try to think about it and decide weather to give in and head to the vending machine or if I can curb it with something somewhat healthy. Maybe a chocolate chip 90 calorie granola bar or some fruit instead of a few mini Twix or Snickers. Today I needed something sweet and cured it with a packet of sugar-free cherry limeade I found. It's the little things.

Also, I've really been trying to make dinner at home. Something healthy and somewhat light. We eat mostly organic meats at home. (Read: deer meat and fresh caught fish of some kind). The deer meat is low in fat and I know the fish wasn't fed some kind of  protein injected chicken shit at a farm in China. So I feel good about that.

Don't get me wrong...I give in and indulge sometimes but I'm really trying to keep things in check and hope this leads to a healthy pregnancy, and baby. I also hope this will make a somewhat easy transition after the baby gets here to help me lose baby weight and then some.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Workin it Out

So, I'm really trying to stay in shape during my pregnancy. I really do enjoy working out. I'm not the smallest person out there, in fact I'm pretty, um... solid? I consider myself strong and in shape but am no string bean. The first few weeks I was so tired I didn't feel like working out but after about 8-9 weeks I got my energy back and now I do. I used to go to boot camp workouts and loved it. I felt like it was pretty extreme and thought I should dial it back a bit. Now I go to Zumba, a toning class, make up my own circuit workouts or just go for walk intervals at home.

My friends and family give me mixed vibes on working out though. The doc said I could do anything I was doing before. Some are saying "Jenn, take this time to be lazy and take it easy" "You know you shouldn't get your heart rate up too much" "Don't get too hot" "Be careful, you need to make sure everything is situated where it should be" Like something might come loose? The people giving me this "advice" aren't actually reaping the benefits from some cardiovascular activities themselves so I don't know where they have room to talk.

The doc also said I should expect to gain anywhere from 25-30 pounds, anything else is going to go straight to my ass. No one  wants anything going straight to their ass. So I'm trying to stay ahead of the game and hope the more I do now the longer I can do it and the faster I can get back to it.

Some of the best advice I've received came from my GYN. He said "You're pregnant. Not stupid. Listen to your body and use common sense" Works for me!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

2nd OB Appt and Bday FAIL

Last week we had our 2nd OB appointment. I went in, peed in a cup, they took my blood pressure I saw the Dr for a total of 3 minutes. In that 3 minutes we heard the heartbeat for 2.5 seconds. Wow, really? The Dr said, "I'm not going to stay on it for long. There it is, we heard it that's good. Don't read too much into it." Ummmm ok? WTH is that supposed to mean? I felt so rushed! I mean I don't know what I really expected or what he needed to do but.. really? I can't say he didn't answer my questions since I really didn't have any. I just thought that maybe it would have lasted a little longer. I guess these first few appointments are just to make sure I'm stilll pregannt. Who knows, but if I don't get a better feeling about this doc I may switch..

On to Kb's bday. It was Sunday. He had fishing tournaments on Saturday and Sunday. I decided to make dinner for him. I made a bourbon marinated pork tenderloin. It was awesome! I also made his favorite, a chocolate pie. It was terrible. I don't know what I did wrong but geez. Kb tried it and told me it was good then I tasted it and almost spit it out. I said "this is awful!" He was trying to be sweet and would have choked it down rather than tell his pregnant wife that he left home alone all weekend that the pie she surprised him with tasted like ass. He's sweet like that.

I managed to squeak in  3 workouts last week. Zumba on Monday, an at home circuit on Friday and a toning class on Saturday that was much harder than I expected. I'm feeling pretty good. Days are getting longer so I can start getting in some walking/intervals outside which I love.

That's it for now...

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Figure it out

This was one of the BEST weekends we've had in a while. It was just me and Kb hanging out all weekend. At home, with a fire in the fireplace, watching football and movies. It seriously couldn't have been better. We rarely have weekends where we don't have anything going on and can just laze around like that so they're a special treat. I love that we can hang out together and really enjoy each other with no one else around. I thank God everyday for our relationship. I thank Him for the ins and outs and ups and downs that have brought us to where we are today.

We're in such a good place together, so I can't help but wonder why we're scared. We're scared to start this journey to becoming parents. Timing couldn't be any more perfect, though. We're married, we both have jobs, we have a great house, we came to the conclusion to become parents together, so what are we worried about? Some of our friends had their kids when they were much younger, hadn't figured out their relationship yet, or just one of them had the real desire to have kids so it happened. We're starting out much better off than them, even though for most, everything worked out ok. I know God has a plan for everyone, I'm just glad He made us feel like we were in control.

Kb and I are hardworking, determined, independent individuals. We know if we want something out of life we have to work for it. We've always worked toward a measureable, attainable, realistic end goals and more often than not, attained the end goal. Just saying you want to be "good parents" and raise a "good kid" isn't really measureable so how are we supposed to know if we're going to be good at it or do a good job? and honestly the things we're worried about don't need worrying for a few years. Should we build a bigger house? What school district do we need to be in? Will they like sports? Will they unfortunately have my coordination?

Other things are more immediate, how will we afford this kid? Daycare is expensive? I really haven't been around kids that much? How am I supposed to know what to do? How will our relationship change when time is taken away from each other to care for a little one?

We have a great support system (which I am very thankful for) and most of my friends and family say the same thing...You'll figure it out.

So upon entering this journey called parenthood, striving to be the "best" may not be a measureable or attainable goal and something we shouldn't worry ourselves about. We'll just have to be the best we can be. Along the way we'll just figure it out.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Baby Steps

So, I'm still getting used to this pregnancy thing. Fortunately I haven't had any real symptoms. In fact, I don't "feel" pregnant at all. I'm a little tired and my energy level isn't where is usually is but other than that I feel pretty good.

Before Pregnancy, I was working out with Camp Gladiator Boot Camp and really working on my calories with My Fitness Pal. I love boot camp style workouts. I love working out outside and using my own weight to push my self to limits I never thought possible. I even moved up to real pushups! I was on a roll! Then BAM! so here's my problem, I still kinda have that mindset but I have a little one to worry about now. I worry about getting my heartrate up too much, I worry I'm not eating enough or eating too much, I'm worried I'm going to crunch or pull or stretch the wrong way and hurt myself or my expanding womb. Fortunately and unfortunately I am like a sponge and want to read and learn everything I can about whatever new adventure I'm into. Here's what I've found: for every pregnancy piece of advice you find,  you can find somewhere that will tell you the opposite.

I don't want to let myself go but I want to be smart. I know I'm not really "eating for two" but I want to make sure I'm getting enough calories for a healthy baby. I know that doing an hour bootcamp style may be a little overkill with all the jumping, sprinting, sit-ups and whatever other crazy combos they come up with, I can modify and come up with my own circuits at home and still feel like I'm getting a workout in. I can maybe substitute all the high impact, heart pumping cardio with some Zumba. That gets my heartrate up but is easy on the joints. (and it goes by fast)

I've just felt kinda out of control since I don't know what to expect or how to expect to feel or what this does to my body or my baby. I need a plan and something that makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere.

I've done lots of training, been to tons of differnt workouts and I know I can stick to something I put my mind to. I'm going to take this week by week and try to come up with some goals. I'll try to log how I feel here so I can measure my progress. Here goes for next week:
  1. Work out at least 30 minutes 3x
  2. Add in fruits and veggies to meals and snacks
  3. Track what I eat and how I feel.
I'm pretty in tune with my body so I'm going to just try and do what feels good.
    Baby steps, let's see what this does to me.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

A New Beginning...

Hey there, it's been a while since I posted on this here blog. I haven't had really that much to say. Running was de-railed due to injuries. Running and I had a tumultous relationship anyway. I liked running a lot more than it liked me so we broke up.

My life has changed a bit since I last fired up the Van.
  • I got married to my best friend. The BEST day of my life.
  • We lost our 2 sweet furbabies within 3 days of each other. A few of the most DEVESTATING days of my life.
  • We now have 2 more, Ranger, a rescued mini Austrailian Shepherd and Rio, a soon to be "World Class" bird hunting Lab. These 2 have fit perfectly into our lives and have made our house whole again.
 
 
And on to our latest and most exciting news.... The Van's gonna need a car seat. WE'RE HAVING A BABY!! ACK! CRAZY HUH? I'm due August 9, I've had one OB appointment and so far all is well. I go again next Thursday, January 17. We're really excited. Well, KB is really excited, I'm still in the EXCITED/nervous/EXCITED/scared/EXCITED phase. Ya know, all the regular mom-to-be feelings.
 
So that's what's been going on with me. Looking forward to keeping the Van running in 2013!