Healthy Tipping Point

Time for another pregnancy brain dump!

Physically, I am…

…Meh.  I came down with a really bad ear, nose, and throat infection over the weekend (I have a double ear infection!).  A terrible cold + being 9 months pregnant is kind of the ultimate EFF YOU to my body.  I’m on antibiotics to kick this thing ASAP – my big fear is that I’ll go into labor sick.  I can’t IMAGINE laboring like this.

…Up 40 pounds, getting sciatica in my right leg, and hate the stairs with all my might.

…Blowing off exercise.  MomHTP heard I was sick and said, “Oh, honey, make sure you don’t try to push yourself too hard with your workouts!” and I actually LOLed.  The only ‘workouts’ I’ve been doing are 1 mile walks around the neighborhood with James.  I really, really wanted to hold out on sweat-inducing workouts longer, but it’s just not going to happen.

Emotionally, I am…

…SUPER FREAKING EXCITED.  Oh man.  We are so pumped to have this baby!  We have no plans to have more children, so Little One’s arrival feels extra special because we will be ‘complete.’ Kristien and I are just really overjoyed to meet him or her and to experience the baby phase again.

…Not ready quite yet.  My prediction is that I will go before my due date (December 1) because I went into labor with Henry at 39 weeks + 5 days.  But I hope and pray that I will last as long as possible because I feel like I have a ton to do still!  It’s all silly, small stuff – like raising the crib and installing the carseat and making freezer meals – but I’d like to have everything DONE DONE before the baby comes.

…Feeling good about labor.  I was NOT feeling so good about labor, but I re-read some of my favorite Bradley Method / natural birth books, attended a Bradley Method refresher class, and just did some chatting with Kristien.  Reading and talking it out made me feel much more on top of my game – less freaked out and more prepared.  I am hopeful for another great experience!

Henry is…

…Aware of what is happening.  He knows the baby is coming soon, but he also thinks that he also has a baby in his belly that is coming out soon, too (he keeps asking me to “poke it, mommy, poke the baby!” and lifting up his shirt!).  However, he is more excited that MomHTP is coming to stay with us when the baby is born – I honestly think her visit will have a bigger impact on him than me bringing home a newborn.

I am really excited that…

…Under my ACA healthcare plan, I get a free Medala breastpump! All I had to do was call my insurance provider and it’s being delivered in the mail. Pretty awesome – it’s a nice double electric one, too!

I am busy…

…Packing!  Here are the things that I’m packing in my hospital bag…

Did I forget anything?!  I overpacked with Henry (as I’m sure most first-time moms do) and recognize that I don’t really need THAT much stuff.

Let’s compare my first pregnancy to my second…

I’m standing at a different angle, but I think this baby is higher (and the bump is way bigger!).

My official sex prediction is that this baby is a…

…GIRL!  No, BOY!  No, GIRL!  Heck, I have no clue.  This is, of course, the question that everyone asks me when they find out that we’re “Team Green” and the truth is that I have no idea what we are having.  I try to close my eyes and really focus on the baby and get a sense of whether it’s a girl or boy, and sometimes, I get girl vibes… and then at other times, I get boy vibes.  Hah. 

I have been wanting to write a little “Public Service Announcement” for things NOT to say to Team Green moms, but I haven’t figured out exactly how to word it as a stand-alone post… So I’ll just say that if you know a mom who doesn’t know the sex of her baby, pleeeeease don’t say, “I hope you’re having a XXX!”  I’ve been getting a lot of “I hope it’s a girl!” and that comment crushes me (FYI I straight-up tell this to the people in real life, so this isn’t a passive aggressive dig via blog post – LOL!).  I truly don’t mind, “I think it’s a girl!” – it’s just someone saying they hope it’s a girl.  It makes me so sad (for obvious reasons!).

Personally, I think two boys would be a heck of a lot of fun.  A boy and a girl would be a cool experience, too.  But I always wonder about the fascination with the baby’s sex – it’s not like the sex is the end-all, be-all of who that person will become… you know?  It’s just one characteristic of many.  I’m just praying hard – every single night – for a healthy and happy kid!

Can’t wait to meet you, Little One!

Other Little One posts:

In the Oven {Again} (Announcement Post)

First Trimester Recap

17 weeks

22 weeks

27 weeks

30 weeks

Things I Learned About Having a Newborn

Panic-Free Pregnancy: Round Two

And all my Henry weekly updates.

The other night, I was in bed and struggling to sleep (damn you, pregnancy insomnia!), when I thought of this half-ass cookie recipe.  I call it a half-ass recipe because there is no actual baking involved.  The result is anything but half-ass – it’s amazing! 

This would be a perfect small gift for the holidays – wrap these Nutella-Stuffed Chocolate-Covered Oreos in a pretty clear bag, tie with a colorful bow, and you’ve got an awesome homemade gift.  It looks gourmet, and your friends will be too busy stuffing their faces to notice the half-assedness. 

The only problem with this recipe is that you will be tempted to individually eat each ingredient as you put the cookies together!  Hah.  The struggle is real, let me tell you.

This recipe can easily be made gluten-free with Glutino chocolate cream cookies.  I found these in the store the other day and was so pleasantly surprised by how much they taste like Oreos.  The only difference is they have a tad more cream in comparison to the real deal (fun fact: Oreos are actually vegan).

Okay – enough blabbering.  Onto the cookies!

Nutella-Stuffed Chocolate-Covered Oreos

Ingredients (makes 20 cookies):

• 20 Oreos
• Jar of Nutella
• 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Sprinkles for decoration

Directions:

• Twist apart oreos and scrap out the cream.
• Make oreos back up with a big glob of Nutella in the middle.
• Once all the cookies are reassembled, pop into the freezer for a few minutes (an unnecessary step, but it does make handling the cookies in the melted chocolate a lot easier).
• Melt the chocolate chips using a double boiler or make your own. 
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
• Drop a cookie into the chocolate and use a fork to make sure it’s thoroughly coated before lifting out and placing on the paper. Sprinkle with sprinkles.  Repeat for all the cookies.
• Set in fridge to firmly set (takes a few hours).  I think these cookies actually taste best coming straight out of the fridge, but they are good at room temp, too!

Recipe alternatives: use peanut butter instead of Nutella or white chocolate instead of semi-sweet. 

Enjoy!  And try not to eat all at once…

Good morning!

Homemade pumpkin yogurt – so easy.  Just combine equal parts vanilla Greek yogurt and pureed pumpkin with a little DIY Pumpkin Spice. Tada!  Instant pumpkin yogurt. 

I got my hair cut yesterday… Two cuts in like three months, after not getting it cut at all for nine months.  I feel so pulled together, hah. 

And today, since we were up at the crack of dawn (Daylight Savings is really messing up my universe, y’all), we went on a walk with DadHTP.  There is a huge construction project going on near his house, and it has provided endless entertainment over the last few months.  The digger trucks are in serious action these days – even I was entertained. 

#ThingsYouDoWhenYouHaveaToddler

Another thing: Throwing rocks over… and over… and over… into a lake.  So relaxing.  Especially when you have a kiddo who is more than willing to do the rock hunting for you!

Thought of the Day:

Best thing I’ve seen on the Internet all week… This pretty much sums up my life philosophy, actually.

Have a good one!

I wanted to write a post about my post-baby fitness hopes for a few reasons.  First, I’ve found that putting it out there really helps me stay motivated and excited.  Second, I’m pretty pumped to get back into the swing of things; I really love exercise as “me time” and have truly missed that physical release and mental break. 

I’m not going to allow myself to chase some ideal of “before.”  I may never get back to my before-before or even my before-Little One-before.  And I’m totally okay with that because I’m exactly where I want to be at this point in my life.  Still – it’s really important to find ways to maintain your identify when your kids are young, even when they are very little.  Taking care of yourself is a huge sanity-saver. So my post-partum goals have a lot more to do with how I feel than anything else.

My plan after Little One is to simply be focused on surviving feeling healthy, strong, and capable.  I want to focus on feeling balanced and nourished. I want to recover from pregnancy and childbirth and sustain my body throughout breastfeeding.  I want to focus on carving out small slices of “me time” and maintaining my sense of self amongst the diapers and feedings and craziness.  I think have a pretty balanced idea of what this will look like.

It takes a long time to truly “get over” childbirth and adjust to the emotional and physical challenges of caring for another person.  For my first pregnancy, I did a Mind and Body After Baby post series, which I liked because it allowed me to document both the subjective emotional and objective physical changes that I went through on a month-to-month basis.  Maybe I’ll do that again?  I’ve also just done less pregnancy documenting this time around, so maybe an official documentation is not necessary?  Thoughts?  I’m open to suggestions!

Here are some of the practical ways I hope to reach that balanced, happy state – at least when it comes to my health – after Little One’s birth. 

Goal #1:  Walk as soon as possible.

This was something that I did with Henry, and I really think it helped my immediate recovery.  I was walking to the end of the block fairly quickly, and within two weeks or so, I’d do two (slow) blocks.  That was all I was up for, but it was enough – it helped with blood circulation, made me feel less exhausted, aided in digestion, etc.  I know that I’ll be tempted to spend my post-partum period on the couch watching TV or on the floor playing with the kids, but I know that I’ll need to move a little, too.

Goal #2: Do PiYo {once I’m cleared by my doctor, of course}.

I’ve mentioned this a few times, but I’m planning to buy the PiYo workout DVD series.  I’m not a huge fan of workout DVDs, but I know it’s going to be hard to get out of the house for outdoor workouts with a newborn born in December.  I can’t wait to write more about PiYo – I think it’s going to be really fun!

Goal #3: Do a {relatively fast} 5K.

I did a triathlon when I was 11 weeks post-partum with Henry, and it makes me feel SO proud to look at the pictures from the event.  Training for a race made me feel like “myself” when I was so otherwise so consumed with the newborn period.

So… I signed up for a 5K at the end of March! It’ll be about 4 months after I give birth to Little One and probably 10 weeks or so after I’m given the clearance to really exercise again.  I think a 5K is realistic, and I’m pretty excited to train for it.  I’m going to use the Couch to 5K method again, and I’m definitely going to set some time goals for myself, although I won’t know what that will look like until I start training.

Other Goals…

I would LOVE. LOVE. LOVE to do triathlons in Summer 2015.  I’m hoping to at least do a sprint and an Olympic, but I’m really not sure how I can possibly fit in training with two kids under 2.5 years.  I know other moms do it, so hopefully I can figure it out!

My other (more immediate) goals include eating really clean, minimal sugar, not relying too much on coffee, and drinking enough water.  I had a moment a few weeks after Henry’s birth when I realized I was eating crap to power through the newborn sleeplessness, and it was wrecking havoc on my body.  I *really* want to avoid making that mistake again.  It takes effort to eat healthy post-baby, but I want to focus on that just so I can be the best (most awake and least irritable) mom/wife/worker I can be.  Hah!

I’d love to hear your stories on balancing new motherhood with fitness and health.  How did you find balance? What goals did you have?  Did having goals help motivate you?  Or did setting expectations simply stress you out?