I've found a new love

This week post I'm inspired by a young mom that I met yesterday at Heavenly Hold. Her name is Amber and she has an online shop that specializes in cloth diapers, mommywear and babywear. And I realized just how much I love love wearing my new little baby pumpkin, Mikey. So I wanted to talk about it and spread the wisdom of it. It's such a great spacial thing to do I feel and I'll tell you why a little later.

For those of you that don't know, babywearing has been around for centuries, thousands of years even. People wore there babies in other couturiers like Africa, Asia, Russia...well before slavery, the civil war, etc...As a way to get around and still be able to provide for their families. Babywearing is the practice of carrying a child in either a sling or some other form of carrier. It was solely used as a form of baby transport. To still be able to move on to everyday necessities. Here, in America it was coined the term babywearing and hasn't been taken on like that of other countries. I guess mostly because we are supposed to be one of the richest countries so there is no need for it. I mean why do something when you don't really have to right?! Well, at least that is how most people feel about it. But babywearing has its benefits!!!


1. Sling babies get "humanized" earlier. It promotes a special bond between mother and child. Infants develop socially at a faster rate than other children because they are able to see the world through your eyes and not from the floor by being in a carseat or stroller. They are often able to learn and be able to study facial expressions, voices, rhythms and scents earlier.

2. Sling babies often cry about 43% less than those babies that are not carried. So they are often calmer babies. For instance, I noticed that with Mikey if he is fussy and I carry him (I'll wrap him at home) then he immediately calms down and begins to take the world in. Study it! So he forgets to cry. He loves to see the world as I do.

3. Sling babies are more organized.

Me carrying Mikey on my back in a stretch wrap:

Me carrying Mikey in an asian styled carrier:

4. AND the relationship you build with your child from babywearing has to be one of the best things ever. It really does feel like an everlasting bond between mother and child. Its something that we have together.

For more information and products on babywearing I'd recommend one of my favorite people. Amber over @ www.heavenlyhold.com

And YES, I LOVE to wear my baby! :-D

Yes, we Can and HAVE been surviving....

Today I wanted to touch on some things that I've been givin' some lip about here lately. About how I raise my son. And how I decide what is best for him! For centuries women have breastfeeding, EC'ing (potty learning) their infants, wearing (carrying their babies kangaroo style or on their backs) and nourishing their babies long before there was ever any gerber rice cereal, any carseats, any disposable diapers, etc...

The things I've chosen to do and will choose to do for my child is MY choice. Most things I decide to try because I want to be able to communicate with my babe. I want him to be able to communicate with me. I mean long after the proven statistics and pro's of breastfeeding people still insist I should feed him out of a bottle or give him formula because he will be 'spoiled' and no one will be able to watch him. People insist that I give my son rice cereal. WHY? WHY I ask? And yet none of them that has offered that specific suggestion can tell me one single benefit of why I should start feeding my baby gerber at only 3 months of age when he is being completely nourished by breastmilk. Babies survived and thrived long before gerber was ever even thought off.

And sometimes, in just the blink of an eye, things can can be over. Can be different. Different from how you've ever envisioned anything in your life before. Suddenly, life happens and nature takes over. This brings me to a very special photo that I also want to share with you guys. I know what it means to me. It says everything I've been trying to say. It sums up how I feel about letting nature do its work and just takin' it back old school, to old some old school methods when it comes to raising your child. It shows us through even the worst of situations that we can survive on what was naturally given to us.

Now let's be clear. I absolutely believe that its a personal choice to either breastfeed or formula feed your child. I'm all for formula feeding if that is what you feel is best and I can respect that. Now I just wish people would respect the fact that YES, I am still nursing and YES, my child is only on breast milk and that NO, my child cannot have any water now and that NO, I will not be giving my child any gerber until he has communicated with me in some form that he IS ready. We are a simple being. We are meant to survive and to be able to survive with only what has been given to us. So I ask, why is it such a big deal that if this is the philosophy I want to choose when rearing my little one's? If civilizations flourished under nature's meek concept, then it still can.

So this is my thought of the day. What does this picture say to you?

Hmmm, Se What's cookin'

So after a few days of not following plan I did manage to jump right back on track. Really I think I needed it and it really served as a refeed for me. In regard to that, just like most refeeds, it allowed me to drop a pound. Woohooot! So Mikey and I hit the store and boy oh boy, have I never had so many people ask me if I wanted cake in one day. haha! Before doing that we stopped at starbucks to get a coffee that I was really truly craving. However, instead of my usual I opted for a skinny latte. Although not as good without 55g sugar, it served its purpose and took the craving away. And for only 90 cals who can beat that. So my suggestion, for you coffee lovers....GO SKINNY!

Mikey and I also got some different items from the store. Got some sweet Italian chicken sausage that we haven't had in a long while. Also, some of that flavored greek yogurt, blueberry. I tried the vanilla initially and well....let's just say it tasted like arse, so low and behold I was a little skeptical to try this one. But surprisingly, it was okay. Not like my typical yoplait light but it was decent. And at 15g pro and 16g carb, you get more bang for you buck in macronutritients. Downfall to this is that the sugar is still relatively high at around 14g if I remember correctly. That does have almost the same amount of sugar as the yoplait light. I guess the biggest thing for me with this is that I'm able to get a few more grams of protein out of it.

Now on for dinner: Mike made this fab Jamaican chicken style dish. It's so so good and very healthy as well. Especially for those people not on a contest diet (you don't have to worry about sodium intake) and those just looking to eat relatively well and drop a few pounds in the process. To make it even healthier we added skinless chicken breast and some skinless chicken thighs, which if you keep the fat on only has 7g fat per 4oz. Not bad, right?! We topped it off with lots of carrots, some potatoes and green pepper and onion. This dish roasts for about 2hrs and you're left with some tender juicy goodness. Yumm, I especially love the carrots. Now, I would like to find a healthy good dish to make for next week. Something like this one that will last a few days. Any ideas?

Oh NO you didn't?!

Well, Umm....yes I did!

I feel off track the past couple days. Something so innocent (well kind of) turned into a mental battlefield for me the past 2 days and led me to two whole days of eat whatever the crap you want! Hmmph.... I was feeling a bit down about how slow my progress is. I have to keep in mind that it is going to be slower than usual because I am still nursing, which unfortunately, means I cannot diet the way I am used to. I'm just so so ready to get back to looking fit with rounded muscle bellies, something I've lacked as of far late. Again, hmmmph! And I realize it would probably be really, well extremely, selfish of me to stop nursing in order to diet. I know that. I want to do whats best for my child obviously but I am not loving my post baby body at all. I mean don't get me wrong I am extremely happy with my progress but when I did a 360 in the gym mirror and saw myself REALLY different for the first time EVER, it really struck a cord with me.

So back on track today. No more crying. Just doing. I was really craving a coffee today so instead of my usual all out fatty fest of white chocoloate mocha grande, I settled for a skinny vanilly latte, just 90 calories. Whhhooo go me! Mikey and I also made some errands and went to the grocery store and I stocked up some some nice clean- ER eats. So I'm ready to go. Gym tonight at 6pm and I'm ready to rip this full upper body. Gonna actually make an attempt to do some isolation on my arms too (bi's and tri's, anyone?! Hmmmph). haha....so I'm ready.

I guess I just realize again we all have our ups and downs, BUT what matters most is that you get right back UP!

It's all about progress....

So today I finally found the courage to test my bf%. It is not 100% accurate I know but will give me a good gauge point to start off with. I have to say I am relieved and happy with my current readings for a number of reasons. The main one being when I first started working out at 127lbs my bf% was almost the same as it is now and my current weight is almost 30lbs more than that. Secondly, this means that I've added quite a bit of muscle in the last 4 years! Third, this means that when I do get down to around 12% that I should be rather ripped. Definitely a lot more lean and vascular since I'm already starting at a much higher weight and lower bodyfat than I had been in the past. And forth, I mean come on... I did just have a baby and was expecting to see my bodyfat in the mid 30's. So yes, I am happy with my progress. Ok on to numbers:

Scale: 24.6% bf
Omron: 26.3%

And truthfully I've become quite good at eyeballing bf% so I think this is about right. So these are the numbers I am using to gauge my progress. It isn't in the teens like most of you but again, I am so so happy with where I am starting at considering the above. My goal is to get this number to 15% BF and maintain that until its time for me to compete. I'd like to compete at around 10%bf, which I've never been before. The lowest I've ever gotten is around 12%. So thats my challenge... To transform my body into the best condition I've ever had AFTER baby.

Weight wise I am still holding around 155ish. My scale says about 2lbs light but its just a number really. I feel great and I feel like I'm looking slimmer and slimmer so I am happy.

What else can I say?! I feel like life is good right now! I haven't been able to say that in forever but really I do have everything I could want and need at the moment. I have a healthy thriving baby boy, wonderful and supportive husband, I am healthy and getting in the best shape of my life fitness wise! That is what its about. Watch out now... More to come! ;)

Everyday is so NOT Peachy?!

Most days I wake up to my beautiful sweet boy and I am in the bestest of spirits when he smiles at me. Today, however, not so much! I'm tired, feeling stressed and a bit overwhelmed. I feel like I need a break and all I want to do is cuddle up in my bed without him. I'm feeling so run down today, sluggish and every bit of ansy I could muster up. Part of the problem is me being sleep deprived. The other part of the problem is probably the fact that I started intensely training again all the while trying to nurse, take care of a newborn, run a household and sleep where I can get in to fit in.

Yes, my child is like the Prince of all brats. He was brattier than I could handle yesterday. Always wanting me to hold him, crying and whinning for me to play with him and not taking any naps. Dayum...did this baby not get the memo. Mama thinks she is running things but apparently not because I'm on baby schedule. I really just want a break and the 2hr break I had after dropping him off downstairs to his daddy does not suffice! lol

I love my boy, I do. You all know I do. I just want him to be a good little boy today and do what Mommy tells him to do. Think that will happen? Anyone? HA!

Everything gets BIGGER!

Sometimes I have to remind myself of what I used to be in order to get back to what I used to be. It only takes looking at some prior photo's of yourself and then comparing them to the current ones to get me going. EVERYTHING GETS BIGGER this year! Yep, I going for gold from here:

Yes, it's the start of a new year and new decade. I know we all have so much to look forward too which is very exciting in itself. Today I wanted to talk about goals. What type of goals have you set for yourself for 2010 and what plan of attack do you have set in place to help you reach those goals? So many of us get caught up in resolutions that we initially forget to plan. Failing to plan is planning to Fail!!

So I'll go first. Here is my initial plan of attack. My goal is to:

1. Increase my strength- Get my squat up to 195lbs; Bench 105lbs; DB Shoulder Press 40's and start deadlifting again

2. LOSE THE FREAKIN' WEIGHT ALREADY!!!- Goal for this month is to hit 150lbs.

3. Do cardio 2x a week

Today I hit a new low that I haven't seen since Jan 2009. WOW!! I'm now finally at 155.5lbs and I see it only getting better from here. It did take me awhile to get out of my rut. I was stuck at 158-160 for the past 6 wks ago and then POW... I finally got the break I had been looking for. Wwhhooooo!

I took some time coming up with a new training split to help me meet these goals:

My new training split:

Day 1/Monday: OFF

Day 2/Tuesday: Chest/shoulders/back (Heavy)

Day 3/Wednesday: OFF

Day 4/Thursday: Quads/Hams/Calves (Heavy)

Day 5/Friday: OFF

Day 6/Saturday: Shoulders/Arms/Abs (Light/High reps)

Day 7/Sunday: Back w/ low back emphasis/Hams (light back/heavy Deads)

So this is my plan to help me reach my goals. I WILL make it back to the stage. I hope you have a plan too! ;)