Losing IT

Pregnancy is usually the time in your life where you look forward to seeing your belly get bigger.  I can remember when I first found out I was pregnant with Pauly, the excitment and joy took over.  And with that came the frequent checking to see if I was "showing" yet.  As the weeks and months passed, my bump got bigger...and so did everything else.

Shopping for maternity clothes was fun. And as always, there were those few pieces that I loved wearing. Then at about 30 weeks things got a little complicated. My favourite pair of jeans started getting a little too snug around the hips and thighs. Shirts were now too short and I had to start buying bras in specialty shops.  I really thought the clothes I bought at the beginning would get me through to the end.  So, reluctantly I headed back out to buy enough clothes to last me 10 more weeks.

After Pauly was born I lost some weight. Then after about a month I gained some of it back.  It was only a few pounds but of course I could only blame myself.  I choose napping for an hour over preparing a meal. So I found myself eating caned and boxed food most of the time.  Not to mention the shamefully frequent junk food binge.  I think Pauly was about 4 months old when I decided I'd had enough.  I slowly stared using the elliptical and started cutting out the junk food. It took a while before the first few pounds came off but I was headed in the right direction.

When Paul and I decided to have another baby, I kinda gave up on the elliptical. It all happened way sooner than we thought but before I knew it, my baby bump (and the weight) were back. I can proudly say that I didn't gain as much weight while pregnant with Riley. But since I had started out bigger, I was exactly where I'd left off when Riley was born.

There was a period of adjustment for me. Caring for two children was a lot different than just one. But after that, I was back into my old routine of quick fixes for food. As the new year came and went I tried to find ways to exercise but there was just no time or I was just too tired. It was a vicious circle; the extra weight was making me lazy but I had no energy to do anything about it.

Once the warm wether showed up I'd had enough (again!). Riley was finally sleeping through the night and I was feeling a little more like myself. I wanted out of this rut and had made up my mind to just get moving. The best time for me was after breakfast. The kids were happy and I had energy to waste. Instead of cleaning up the breakfast dishes and toys that had been tossed around the house that morning, I stuck the kids in the double stroller and started walking.

This wasn't an every day routine but I had to start somewhere. It felt good to get out but at the same time I knew it wasn't going to be enough. I found myself constantly thinking about my health, and life in general. It's not that I was unhappy, but I just wanted to get as much out of life that I could. This was when I adopted the Carpe Diem philosophy.

So I set some goals and reevaluated my eating and activity habits. I started looking for ways to cut fat and refined sugar from my diet. Then I came across an app that I can no longer live without. My Fitness Pal has really helped me make better food choices and keep my portion sizes in check. It took some getting used to and I still have a long way to go but, I think I'm doing well. I still indulge in the sweet and savory every now and again but not like I used to.

It's been 5 weeks using My Fitness Pal, and 2 months since I started my "lifestyle change" and you're probably wondering exactly how well I'm doing. I'm very happy to announce (insert drum roll here) I've lost 10 lbs. A small step but at least I'm getting there, slowly and steadily. My ultimate goal is to be back to my prepregnancy weight by next summer or sooner. And now that I've put it to (cyber) paper, I'll hopefully stick with it.

Joyous July

This past month has really tested my newly adapted Carpe Diem philosophy. And in my opinion, I've kicked ass. There's always room for improvement but so far we've played in sandboxes, watched the train while enjoying watermelon (always an outside snack in my house!), traveled to Wasaga and Midland, gone fishing, swam in a pool and enjoyed the beach, and of course there's the classic play place, the park. What's next on the agenda? I'm thinking the Toronto zoo, the Streetcar Museum, and possibly Sandbanks Park.

So as the summer continues I'm sure our tans will get darker, which I guess is why they call it sunscreen, and not sunblock. But what's cuter than a 2 year old running naked through the house with a pale bum? Not much in my opinion.

Car Seat Safety & Extended Rear Facing

Car seats are one of those baby items that you absolutely can not do without. And like every parent, I wanted to keep my little ones as safe as possible. I quickly became passionate about car seat safety while researching for a replacement for Pauly's infant carrier. At the time I knew nothing about convertible car seats which led me to countless hours of on-line learning. I can't remember exactly when I stumbled upon extended rear facing but, I do remember wondering why I'd never heard of it before. I had been certain that Pauly's first birthday would mark the milestone where he would ride facing forward but I quickly decided against it. Here's why:

Keeping children rear facing passed the recommended 20lbs. and one year of age keeps them five times safer then when they are forward facing. FIVE TIMES SAFER! I couldn't believe it at first. Then I went digging even further and found that the American Academy of Pediratics published a new policy in March of 2011 that recommends children be rear facing until the age of two or even longer, if they are still within the weight and height of the seat. I started wondering why it was only a recommendation and not part of the child seat laws. Then came the question of "what exactly are they testing for and how are they doing it?". I was a little surprised at what I found but you can read about Transport Canada's rear facing infant seat testing and research here.

Now, how exactly does a rear facing seat keep a child safer? Physics.
Newton's first law of motion states that "An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force". This external force is what causes the occupants to be thrown towards the front of the vehicle in a head-on collision.
When a child is rear facing, he will move towards the back of the seat and gently slide up. This keeps the child's head, neck and spine in a straight line and lets the chair absorb most of the force.
In a forward facing seat, the child (or adult) is held in place by the safety belt but the head whips forward until it touches the chin then back again. As an adult you can endure this whiplash motion because the weight of your head is only 6% of your body mass. A child's head is 25% of it's body mass which means it will pull away from the body with a force 4 times greater than that of an adults. Science has shown that even though a childs' spinal colum can stretch up to 2 inches, the spinal cord will only stretch a 1/4 of an inch, causing it to snap.  This violent movement could internally decapitate a child leaving them paralyzed.
This video will help put things a little more into perspective.

If you'd still like to read more about car seat safety, here's a great article I found on parenting.com

So, armed with the above information, I set out to buy a car seat that would allow me to rear face as long as possible. My choice was a Britax.
Since the 1970's they have been recognized as the top selling car seat in Europe, England and Australlia. Now in the USA, Britax has been the top rated car seat for safety, durability and reliability. Enough said...but I still had to know more. So if you would also like to know about Britax's integrated steel bars, SafeCell Technology, Versa Tether or other features that make this seat an awesome choice, you can read about it here.

Riley is now 9 months old, but most importantly, she is reaching the 22 lbs. limit of her infant carrier. That means it's time for me to start putting some extra money aside so I can buy my absolute fave Britax seat. The only question is, do I buy it in pink?

Boring to Busy

Life has been quite busy these last couple weeks. There have been a few noteworthy events and I've also been trying to catch up on a few loose ends.

As I've stated before, I tend to procrastinate. So it won't be a surprise when I tell you I spent an hour on the phone with three different customer service reps for three different reasons. I'll have to admit that two of the three calls went fairly well, but the third left me scratching my head.

The first call was to Phillips. We bought a Phillips Avent monitor when Pauly was born and I loved it but, after 9 or 10 months of use the rechargeable battery wouldn't keep a charge for more than 3 hours. The low battery beeping would wake me in the middle of the night so I stopped using it. I wanted to purchase a replacement but every store I went to didn't sell one. They all advised me to contact Phillips to get it. I had every intention of doing it but after a week this task was left on the back burner. Then Riley was born and when she started sleeping in her own crib it was just easier to borrow my sisters. Here's where things get frustrating. No matter where I plugged in her monitor, there was always static. Apparently she never had a problem with it so I took it as a sign to get off my ass and get mine fixed. Competing with static when your trying to sleep or watch TV is nerve wracking. So I finally called Phillips and told them what I needed. They didn't have any batteries in stock but my monitor was still under warranty so they went and shipped me a whole new monitor! It's just as good as the last and now I can watch Grey's Anatomy without background noise :)

The second call was made to Bell. It was an easy fix to my bill but one that shouldn't have happened. We'll see how things go next month.

The third was a call to Apple. I've only had my phone for 2 months but for some reason my USB cable stopped working. They were going to replace it at no cost but it took them three attempts to get it right. The first part was the wall adapter that the cable plugs into. The second was a USB video cable. Then finally after a third phone call I got the regular USB. Now I don't have to share one cable between my iPhone and iPad.

When I was about 8 months pregnant with Riley I was having my usual dental check up. My Hygenist noticed something peculiar and asked me to come back ASAP after the baby was born so she could take some x-rays. I did and the culpurate was two impacted wisdom teeth (I only had two btw). Since I wasn't in any discomfort and there were no cavities, we both agreed to wait a while before proceeding. So about a month ago I had my consult and two weeks after that I went in for the surgery. I was a little nervous since I'd never been under general anesthesia but it went surprisingly well. I think the worst part of it was getting the IV. When I woke up I wasn't in any pain. I wasn't groggy, sleepy or quezzy in any way. I was sent home with antibiotics and Tylenol #3. I took the Tylenol for the rest of that day since I wasn't able to nurse for 8 hours following. The next day my face was swollen but the pain was minimal. I resorted to ibuprofen twice a day for two days then didn't need anything after that. As of now my jaw is a little tender but I'm able to eat and drink normally without pain.

The second event that deserves recognition is the fact that Riley has started crawling. She was exactly 9 months old when it happened. Unlike her brother, she started on her hands and knees but you can tell she just wants to get up and walk. In the last five days she's learned to move around on her hands and feet which is amusing to watch.

And finally...Pauly turned 2!  On his actual birthday we took him to Chuck e Cheese but this past weekend we celebrated with family and friends and it was a blast. We started off at the splash pad and then made our way back home for lunch, presents and cake. There wasn't a rain cloud in the sky and it wasn't too hot. Just perfect.

Fun at Chuck E Cheese

     

Riley getting ready to party 

Splash pad fun 

  

  

   

      

 

 

 

      

Maternity Leave Gone Boring

For the last two weeks I've been wanting to blog but, I've got nothing. Don't get me wrong, I'm very busy with the usual day to day chores. It's everything else that's non-existent. Or almost non-existent.

Now that the summer weather has appeared I feel like I should be doing more. Specifically, outdoor stuff. What kind of "stuff" is where I'm stuck. Sure the daily walks, trips to the park and such things are wonderful but I'm craving more. Every so often an event comes along (the opening of the splah pad for instance) and my excitement perks up, I get there, have a great time, the kids have a blast and it's over. Then I'm left with that hole to fill.

Cabin fever? Boredom? Whatever it is I think the solution is Carpe Diem, which is easier said than done. Epically when you've got a boy who's almost 2 and an 8 month old who is trying so hard to be mobile.

Then there's the infinite to do list. And it's conjoined twin, procrastination. Instead of inventing smart phones (don't get me wrong I love my iPhone), why can't someone invent smart laundry rooms. Ones where all you need to do is toss your dirty laundry in them and that's it. The sorting, loading and folding will all be done for you? Or how about a lawn and garden that chews up weeds the second they begin to germinate? And I could really use a Rosie around the house. Or at the very least...an iRobot. But I really can't see myself paying $200+ for that fancy thing.

So onwards and upwards. Carpe Diem. Seize every oppertunity that you can. Leave the housework and daily chores for rainy days. And if you happen to stop by my place this summer, forgive me for the dust, dirty dishes, and weeds growing around every corner. It's because I've chosen to enjoy the finer things in life.