Fighting The Flab

So for the second time, I'm trying to loose my post baby belly.

Just to remind you of what I'm working with here's a picture of me preggo with Kendall literally the day before she was born.

That's right ... my belly was somehow defying gravity. I carried both kids like this. ALL out front. There wasn't a maternity shirt out there that could cover that thing! From popular opinion 50 percent were convinced that my ultrasounds were wrong, and that I was carrying twins. Of course unless you saw me from the back ... then I didn't look pregnant at all.

You'd think a pregnant lady who was all baby without an inch of extra flab anywhere else would have it easy afterwards right? Not so much. Yes, I was back into normal pants a week or two after delivery, but my stomach ... well let's just say it wasn't defying gravity anymore, and the maternity shirts weren't covering it for another reason.

So here I am almost 10 months later and still wearing my maternity shirts. Until last week my pre-maternity clothes were still packed in the boxes from the move (now they're just in storage bins in my closet). Summer is coming! The time of year where I can no longer hide under a jacket or baggy sweatshirt in public. It's time to get serious!

I pulled out the Abs of Steel DVD again but the pounds just aren't dropping and the bulge is definitely not deflating. So on a family outing to Best Buy the other night I bought a Jillian Michaels DVD. The 6 Week 6 Pack. Now I'm being realistic. I by no means expect a 6 pack in 6 weeks. Nor do I expect that I will be able to find the time to work out the 5 days a week that this DVD expects for the results in this time. I was just looking for something that was going to target my problem area. All this preamble to say, that I've now done 2 days and BOY DO I HURT!

Here I am, in my basement doing burpees. I don't think I can remember doing a burpee since they probably forced me to in grade 9 Phys. Ed. After becoming reacquainted with this exercise move, I am truly convinced that burpees are a cruel form of torture and punishment. Since we don't have a very clear picture of Hell, I'm going to guess that there may be a small portion of it that includes doing burpees for eternity. These things seriously make me wheeze, pant and combined with some of the other moves on the video, make it almost impossible to move from the waist down. Ironically the only part of my body that probably doesn't hurt is my abs. I'm taking a guess that its because I was already working these muscles (even if they weren't abs of steel yet).

This post is about telling you all that I AM going to do this. I'm sticking with it. I'm giving Jillian and her burpee torture a chance. I've got to ... T-shirt weather is coming and I only own winter maternity clothes!

Absence Does Not Necessarily Make the Heart Grow Fonder

It's been rather a long time since I've posted anything on the jelly donut front. Donuts haven't really been a treat we've indulged in lately.

My hubby brought home a half dozen the other night. It was the first time I've had a donut in our new hometown. Blueberry filled fritters are a favourite and there were 2. You'd think by now I would just expect the worst, but I'm always kept hopeful and somehow caught off guard. All I found inside was a small air pocket devoid of any filling.

Thank you Tim Hortons for delivering the familiar in a new city, and making me feel right at home.

It's All in The Beans ... I mean Genes -- a.k.a. Attack of the Picky Eaters

Is picky eating genetic? Cole has always been a picky eater, despite all my efforts. I've come to accept that his very limited diet is somewhat to do with some of his sensory issues. So when Kendall started solids I was determined that this would be the kid who would eat any and everything. Apparently she didn't get the memo, because when it comes to food - she definitely knows what she does and does not want to eat.

Cereal and fruit are delicious, but vegetables are suspect and anything in a jar labeled "casserole or stew" is enough to snub her nose at (literally, she scrunches up her nose and waves it in the air while whining and smushing most of the spoonful back out). Pured is also preferable to anything with chunks. I guess I can't blame her since she has no teeth at almost 9 months.

However, her absolute favourite food is Cheerios. I seriously think she has an addiction problem. Now whenever I go to the pantry (where I keep the distinctive large yellow box) I can look over my shoulder and see her sitting up in her seat at full attention. Her need for a fix is so bad that she will no longer eat rusks (a favourite until the introduction of the fore mentioned cereal), I'm sure in mere protest. For 2 short days she would eat peas by hand. First alone, then only if scattered amongst Cheerios and now she will deliberately pick around them for the Os. I've begun to limit her intake in hopes that she'll be willing to try other finger foods again.

I've been looking forward to introducing homogenized milk this month and the freedom it will give me from nursing. I hope Kendall received that memo.

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What is Practical?!

In the last week I ordered, paid for and received a Nintendo Wii. Normally Dave and I are very practically people when it comes to spending our money. There is always something we're saving for, paying off, or needing and that's where the money goes ... or to the kids of course! So a video game system is a totally out-of-the box type of purchase.

Thanks to a number of Chapters gift certificates, some of my birthday money, the return of my bread maker and some extra cash ... I now own a shiny new red Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary Edition Wii. Don't get me wrong - I loved the new bread maker I got for Christmas - but that would have required the extra time to make my own bread. Let's not bring up the fact I will be replacing this unobtainable free time with video games instead. In my head I'm justifying my guilt of its impracticality and time in front of the TV, with the theory that I can buy games to supplement my workouts with a little fun exercise (not that all the crunches I currently do are not a lot of fun :) ).

Now the challenge is to determine which TV to hook up the Wii to? We own 2 TVs. A 13" in our basement/playroom/family room, and a 27" temperamental garage sale find that replaced the old 27" we bought when we got married (which had died a slow painful death as our picture progressively got smaller and smaller from the top down). We opted not to move the latter with us across the country. The replacement, which resides in the upstairs living room, decides to turn on or not turn on at random. On more than one occasion I've dragged a crying, devastated 2 year old downstairs to watch a promised movie. With all this said, its been really tempting to buy a new television with the saved money that's been allotted else where. However, we're much too practical for that.

P.S:

When we finally get the Wii set up, I'll write a review and let you know what I think ... and if I ever actually use it to work out!

Kendall Update

Just reading back over a few of my most recent posts. Since they have been so sporadic, I've realized that I've been terrible on keeping you all up to date on Kendall. She is of course a baby and therefore accomplishing new feats every day.

Kendall has been sitting up on her own for quite a while (6 months). She is very strong. She can roll over and keep her balance on her hands and knees but WON'T. That's right ... she's somewhat lazy. Not because she's content to just sit, but because she wants to be where the action is. She wants to walk like her big brother and the rest of us. She has no interest in crawling - she wants to simply go straight to walking and is happiest being supported under her arms and allowed to "walk" wherever she fancies. She also wants to be up where the action is ... none of this laying on the floor stuff. She is always happy up in the arms of someone who will carry her wherever they go (believe me, she is very demanding of this). I think the church nursery workers take shifts carrying her around all morning.

Kendall is quite vocal. She has a great set of lungs. She has expanded her vocabulary from "ma ma" to include "gran-ma", "uh-oh", "O" (Cole) and "Elmo". She definitely knows the latter. She can spot Elmo from the other side of the room, pick out his voice on a CD and recognize his likeness anywhere. Pretty sure his 2 biggest fans live at our house.

Kendall has also picked up some dance moves. Her big brother loves music, dancing and singing. Kendall has acquired a side to side sway and a head bop (I'm pretty sure those are not official terms in choreography). She breaks out spontaneously to any tune that motivates her. I'm trying very hard to capture this on video.

Monkey see, monkey do would definitely describe our little girl. She is definitely good a mimicking gestures and sounds. You should hear her and her daddy growl at each other. She waves hello with or without visual or verbal prompting and for a short stint clapped her hands.

At almost 8 and a half months, Kendall still has no teeth. She still eats mush. She loves cereal and fruit, but vegetables ... not so much. I usually sneak bites of veggies in between spoonfuls of the stuff she likes. I need to keep it random though or she catches on. She's one smart cookie. She had her first rice crackers this week in the nursery. She eats them so systematically and with hardly any mess that its almost fancinating to watch.

This is no achievement, but I'm pretty sure she has the longest tongue ever. She can stick it out with a perfect point and lick the bottom of her chin.

I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting but I think that gets you caught up.

She's a pretty cool kid. I'm in love.