Realisations.

Ever wondered whether you married the right person? This week I've attended the Stampin' Up! convention. I've travelled by train each morning to the convention centre in Brisbane and I've watched these mothers rush to work (I've overheard them talk of their children because essentially I'm a sticky beak) and I've felt very blessed to be able to be the one who stays home with the kids and have a husband who actually wants this lifestyle for his family.
I have realised how tough these women have it. On the first morning of the convention I left home at 6:50am and didn't get home until 7pm. The kids were already in bed when I got home. I'd seen them briefly in the morning before I left. That was really tough for me. I missed them so much. Don't get me wrong, I had a wonderfully inspiring and fun time at convention and I didn't think of them that often but it broke my heart to see so little of them all day and I wonder how hard it is for working mothers to only see their kids at those horribly rushed times of the day.
I am fortunate we bought a house which we could afford to pay off on one wage. I don't have to work unless I want to or it fits in with the lifestyle we want for our family.
Kevin and I are massively different. Gosh, who knew. We are polar opposites in so many ways but when it comes to what we want for our family and what we believe is best for them we are so similar. I married someone with my family belief system and I am truly grateful for that. I know I married the right man for me. My heart still swells and skips a beat when I see him and didn't expect to.
For everything you have done for us this week, my love, I am grateful. For what you do day in day out to support our family I am eternally grateful. I'm glad it is you who leaves the house each day to miss out on the kids lives and earn the money. Thank you.

Gifted children

We have thought for a while our lovely little Jessica is a gifted child. She has spoken well from a very young age, speaking in full sentences since she was 18 months old and singing nursery rhymes from an even earlier age. Last term we attended Jessica's prep interview.  We have been tossing up the idea of early entry to year 1 for a while now but the cost of the tests and the process seemed a little too much for us considering it isn't up to the school to approve the early entry but the district director who will never actually meet her. I took a school library book of Hollie's the interview and Jessica read it while we waited. Hollie, year 1, borrows from the year 3 section of the library at her teacher's request. The deputy principal doing the interview wasn't so impressed with a nearly 5 year old reading at an 8 year old level as it is quite common for girls especially to read early but she was impressed when we showed her Jessica's writing and spelling. She sat up and was visibly shocked by what she saw. Couple her literacy level with her numeracy levels there is no way she will cope with prep. She will be bored out of her brains. The deputy was the one who suggested we do an early entry. We didn't have to say anything. I didn't want to be one of those parents marching in there and telling the school how amazing my kid was.

This is Jessica's story about going to the football in May. At the time she was 3& 1/2 months shy of 5. I had to help her spell Giants and fence. She did the rest herself. She even remembers the colours of the seats we sat in.

I know almost every parent thinks their kid is very bright or skilled with a particular thing. I have many friends who insist their kids are very bright, above average, gifted even. When I look at Jessica who was reading Hollie's prep readers when she was 3 and reading them with the top readers in prep I know Jessica is gifted. This was confirmed last week when the school's Guidance Officer did an intelligence test on Jessica to support our application to early entry to year 1. Jessica was tested and came out as having "Superior intelligence" as her results were in the 95 percentile which means only 5% of children her age are smarter than her. 

Then I think about Hannah who is 3.5 years old and created her own perfectly stamped and punched birthday card for her cousin and wrote the entire card by herself and I wonder about Hannah too. Hannah's card to Gemma read, "To Gemma love and hugs Hannah" which she needed help spelling "love" and "hugs" but was able to work out the letters when I sounded them out except the e on love. She was most proud that she could now write a G all by herself. I have not taught her to write. I have written a lot with her, labelling pictures, writing on the fridge, just general mum stuff. We have read a lot and she picks up words all the time. Tonight we had a book that had "we" on every page and by the end she knew which word was we. I'll see if she remembers it tomorrow. She is so curious about writing and reading and spelling at the moment that we just explore together. I don't teach her. I don't think I do anything special with them. I give them my time. We share and have fun together (most of the time, I'm not a perfect Mum- far from it. Yes, I yell at my kids, I'm not angel.) The children have learnt through example, time and exposure. Maybe this is what mums did in a previous era. Is it possible that the time I spend with them and not the money I spend on gadgets or educational toys that has made the difference? I really don't know. What I do know though is they have a love of learning. Hopefully I can continue to foster that in them and they carry that into their adult lives.

This story is amazing to me because at 5 she knew the difference between slid and slide all by herself. 

Hopefully we'll find out at the end of this week whether the district director has approved the application. I know that if he doesn't she is going to be a huge strain on the teachers next year. I think even if she is advanced her teachers will have to modify their work to be able to cater for her ability. It will be just the same as having a child with a disability in the classroom. Let's hope there is someone else of similar ability to be able to work with her.

Exercise that body

As promised I have actually taken photos of my body, clothed, to hopefully document the HUGE changes which are about to occur. The photos don't actually look that bad. I think the tight clothing hides a great deal. You know that post baby belly with it's wrinkled, stretched marked skins and the fatty saggy bits. Who said motherhood wasn't glamorous? Glamorous.  I wear my marks with pride because I know without them I wouldn’t have what I have and I wouldn’t give it up for the world. I am so grateful for what I have and even if that means I’m not able to reach my goal of 10kms by my birthday, mid January, then I’m ok with that too. I think it is better to have a goal than to plod along and hope everything will be ok and work itself out.

Here are the photos. I know it will take at least 3 months to notice a significant difference in photos. Possibly in real life you may be able to notice a difference. I can usually tell when I start to decrease the size of my double chin. I’m hoping I notice my arms beginning to strengthen too. I’m aiming to be able to do a 200m medley by January. At the moment I’m doing only 100m with flippers because I’m too much of a chicken to try one without. I also know that my backstroke doesn’t hold up. I'd just like to thank Hollie for taking the photos this morning. 

Two goals and just under three months. Let’s see what I can do.

On a family note, my sister in law gave my mother in law a large canvas photo of their first born at approx 6 weeks old. Kevin and I decided it would be nice if she could hang all the kids together so we made up canvases of the kids at approx 6 weeks old too. We have been trying since Kevin Joshua was 5 weeks old to get a photo of him smiling. We have managed to capture a few blurred ones on our phones but nothing we could print. Every time we bring out the camera he stops smiling even with tickles. Over the last 3 weeks we have taken 100s of photos trying to get a good print. He always turns away from the camera. Is this a sign of things to come? I’m going to post some of those attempts at smiling shots.

Measurements and weight loss

The diet plan hasn't really worked. I'm not sticking to my rules. I have eaten outside of the set times. I have broken my treat days. See my rules here to get an idea of what I mean.  In fact I've developed a love of white bread which is really bad. I have never really eaten white bread and during this pregnancy I just loved it and craved it. Now it is a habit that is hard to kick. Instead of just having one sandwich for lunch I've been having two. Naughty however I have managed to continue exercising every day, except this morning. I will have to make sure I go for a run tonight. Buddy's going to get lucky tonight. He'll get to go twice. Once with me and then with Kevin. I am very grateful to Sarah who has kept me motivated and on track. Tomorrow is walking day and I'm planning lunges and squats on the walk too. 

I am entering the 3rd week of my exercise routine. Swimming or walking every day for those 2 weeks except the day I was very sick. I'm pretty happy with that. It feels good. Kevin always says I need to get up early and get going. It's very difficult when it's cold in winter or when you're pregnant and have very little energy but I agree with him, hear that Honey you are right!, I do operate mush better when I get up and have some time alone or time to wake up before I deal with 4 or 5 nagging children. I've always been a morning person, as in I like being up in the morning. I don't necessarily like communicating early in the morning. I don't like questions being constantly asked and my attention required constantly. I like the mornings. I'm glad I'm doing the early morning exercise. 

I've finally got around to measuring myself. See my measurements below. Last week at the doctors I had lost weight since Kevin's 10 day check up. In 4 weeks I'd lost 1.6kgs. I'm pretty happy with that. I've read a lot that says a breastfeeding mother shouldn't shed more than half a kg a week so I'm happy with the loss I've had.

Measurements 15th October

All measurements are in cms.

right arm               13.2

left arm                 14

bust                      43

belly button          41.5

hips                      42.5

bottom                 46

left thigh               26.7

right thigh             27.1

Before we moved I had all of my measurements written on the mirror in our bedroom. I tracked them for 8 months. It was great to see the measurements decrease over time and then increase with muscle gain. Unfortunately I cleaned the mirror without taking a photo. I remember my dear friend, Leesa, did but I don't know whether she deleted the photo or not. I'll have to check with her.

I still haven't been organised enough to take a photo. I'm a little scared to be honest. I was very keen to start with. Now I'm not so sure. 

Until Friday my dear friends and family.

Amity

10 on the 10th Getting fit post baby

I wrote a blog post here about my desire to get fit and healthy. I didn’t, as I promised I would do, measure myself and post my results here. I will endeavour to find the measuring tape to do that this week. For some reason the measuring tape is not in the sewing box. I might have to bite the bullet and buy a new one. I know measuring myself is a far better way to measure my results than by standing on the scales. More of those measurements later.

Here is my plan to eat well and get fit.

Rules.

1.1.      Have a support person. For me that is actually two people. Firstly Kevin, who will kick me out of bed if necessary or like this week when he smsed my 2^nd support person to say I was too sick to exercise (I must have been very sick for him to insist I don’t attend.) and secondly my exercise buddy. She is someone who I know won’t miss our sessions, won’t find an excuse like it’s too cold or the kids have been up all night. She will commit 100% which is why I didn’t want to miss this morning’s walk because I don’t want to break the cycle and cause the commitment to lessen.

2.2 .  Don’t buy treats in the shopping. If it’s not there you can’t eat it. I’m not a bit buyer of food for outside the home so the temptation to eat unhealthily outside the home is rare.

3.3.     Meal plan. Set out meals for a week or two weeks. Only buy for set meals. Not only does this mean you don’t have to think about what to cook it also means you save money because food doesn’t go to waste.

4.4.     Have set meal times. Only eat at these times. Have breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner at the set times and not to snack in between.

5.5.      Drink at least 2 litres of water a day. Drinking water keeps my hunger at bay and doesn't allow me to eat more than I need to.

6.6.     Follow the 4 Ds. These are quit smoking technique which I found very helpful when quitting smoking and I guess the love of food is also an addiction and so helps me quit that need to eat. The 4 Ds are; Deep breath, Delay, Drink water, Do something else.  These are the steps to take if you are feeling like food but know it is only a short time to your set eating time.

7.7.   Plan for naughty days. For me I know that Thursdays will involve yummy food as we have playgroup and the Mums always provide nice food. I also know that during Friday night scrapbooking it is good to eat chocolate or something sweet and yummy. I also know that by totally banning a food group you only seem to crave it more, well I do anyway. I know that by giving myself the freedom to indulge I am more likely to eat well the rest of the time. It also means I can put in more effort during exercise on those days and plan to skip say morning or afternoon tea on those days to make up for it.

8.8.     Commit to an exercise for 2 weeks. It is the hardest to start with but it ALWAYS feels good afterwards. I have found that after 2 weeks you are in the habit of getting up early or leaving the dishes so you can exercise. After that you’ll actually enjoy it and it’ll be part of your life.

9.9.       Make healthy food choices you know you really like to start with. You can always introduce new recipes or less enjoyable foods once the need for sugar or fat has gone from your system. Things taste better once they are out of your system and you don’t depend on them so much.

1.10.   Have attainable goals. Don’t think I’m going to lose 1 kg a week if you know you realistically can’t. I know for me, being a breastfeeding mother, it is not something that is recommended. Similarly don’t think you can eat a salad for dinner every night if you know your kids are going to fight you all the way. Make choices which are family friendly and are realistic.

TThese are the steps I’m planning on taking to take control of my health. What do you do? What else could I incorporate to improve my strategy?

Returning to exercise post baby

I’m going to publically announce my weight. The reason for doing this is twofold. Firstly I want a record of where I’ve come from when I get to my goal weight and my first fitness goal. Secondly, having almost reached my pre-first pregnancy weight prior to my most recent pregnancy I want you to know it can be done. In November last year, 2011, I got down to 75kgs which was 2kgs off my pre-pregnancy weight of my first child in 2005. My goal weight is actually 70kgs as that was my constant weight for years prior to my first pregnancy. Fast forward 7 years and I now have 5 children and I am now, wait for it ....... 89kgs. Prior to giving birth 5 weeks ago I was 97kgs. So you can see I have a long way to go however I have already started exercising and now the weather has warmed up I am hoping my exercise regime is easier to maintain.

Unlike after my last pregnancy I don’t have the resources; a wonderful bootcamp instructor, an impressive walking partner (who walked with me rain, hail or shine) or the money to invest in my health. However, unlike last time I have more motivation. This time I know I can do it. Last time I was very unsure of my ability to lose weight. I’ve done it before so I know it can be done. I also know it will take time. It took me from January to November to lose my pregnancy weight but I almost did it.

For me, it’s not necessarily about losing weight, it’s about feeling good about myself and setting a great example for my kids, my girls in particular. I was always a very fit person before having children. My Mum set a great example to my siblings and myself and we were always very sporty, in fact my sister and I still hold records in swimming and athletics at our primary school. My own children are very academic and very competitive so when they don’t measure up physically to other children they get disheartened. I want to show them it is ok to not be amazing to start with, or ever but you should give it a ago and that having a healthy lifestyle is one of the most important things in life.

Tomorrow when the weather is a bit better, it’s currently raining and cold, I will get my darling husband to take some photos and measure me. I will also upload these to show you what I’m starting at. Over the next week I’ll post some of my intended strategies. It’s all pretty simple.

So until tomorrow, stay healthy.

Moments in time

I have to take time with my newest addition at night. During the day life is very hectic with four other children and I don't get as much time as I'd like to sit and cuddle and adore my little darling Kevin. Night times for me are very special. Day time often involves fighting the kids off Kevin. I'll often find Lisa has shoved a teddy right next to him or tucked a blanket over him. Hollie wants to cuddle him constantly and when it's a school day she walks in the door and it's not, "Hello Mum," it's, "Can I hold Kevin?"

I adore the new baby smell. The soft skin. The cute little noises they make. Babies are just the sweetest things. I could have hundreds of them but I hate being pregnant and babies don't stay babies for long at all.

I'm off to comfort and cuddle and kiss my darling little Kevin.