Monday, May 9, 2011

.. A year is a long time

Ok.. so just on a year since my last post. I was just reading it now. Such excitement and enthusiasm in my words. Wow. Although a lot of things have changed, things are still pretty much the same. I am continuing along my journey of weight loss, building muscle and generally getting fitter. I have completed my first ever Duathlon and I am feeling pretty good.

My gym training has not yet happened, due to a bit of a comedy of errors really. Each time i was booked into do my training, something happened. First time, there was not enough participants so they canned it. 2nd time I was at my best friends wedding. 3rd time I had an important singing gig on. 4th time, and the most funniest, I broke my wrist in a cyling fall 2 weeks before. Now I am booked in my 5th attempt, coming up in August. fingers crossed hey!

Right at this moment though, I am doubting my self big time. Its not my tecnique or cuing I am worried about, I still have a big hurdle in front of me about my body image and what people will think of me. Part of me tells me to shut up becuase I look great (not perfect) but acceptable enough to be on stage. The other half says no way, as I hold fitness and fit looking pretty high up there when I judge other instructors. That is the problem, i am always judging myself and others. I am always wondering, what do they think of me, and I am always looking at other people and assesing their bodies and their flaws, or good things. Wow I am such a shallow person! Talk about superficial! I am seriously contemplating talking to a professional about this, and getting some tools to deal with it. .. as I really feel it is holding me back.

Also my relationship with food comes into question many a time. It is much harder to get your mind into shape than your body. I striuggle everyday with my food choices. It is not that I don't know what is good and bad, I just tend to try to justify having a treat or a naughty snack. Eyes on the prize! I tell you what I am such a cocoffany of conflicting and confusing thoughts!!

On one hand I am so pleased with how I am going, lost 25kgs, dropped from a size 20 to a size 10. Wowee. Thats great. That is also all in the past. Right now, I have been stuck on losing the last 5kgs for about, oh I dunno, 6 months!!! And in the last few weeks without altering my food or exercise all that much, the scales have actually GONE UP! Crazy. My clothes still fit the same though. So I guess I am losing my muscle store and replacing them with fat. Sheesh! Too much cardio we think. We is me and the trainer.

Today I found out I have put on 2% body fat since December. Thats bad. That sucks!

I shall see how I deal with this.

Monday, May 3, 2010

A new lease on life

After being on my weight loss and exercise 'journey' for a year and a half now, I have taken what could be considered the scariest move so far. Not that deciding to change my life wasn't scary from the outset, or going to a gym and being the biggest person there, or going shopping for gym shoes and conveying to the salesperson that yes I am a big fat person but I am doing something about my weight.

No all that pales into insignificance next to this one....I am going to train to become a gym instructor!!! Les Mills BodyStep to be more precise!

A few months ago the group fitness manager at my gym asked me if I would like to be an instructor. At the time I was getting ready for a big fitness assesment, so admittadly my mind was elsewhere, and i was quite jittery and nervous. So it didn't really sink in. Later I thought about it and realised the enormouty of what she had asked me. She (and others) thought I was good enough at the classes technically, and thought that I would be capable of standing up in front of a group of others and leading them through the workout. WOW!! On realising this, it totally blew me away! ME!!?? Little old me. Who 2 years ago was at my heaviest weight, even heavier than when I was pregnant. Me who can't speak in front of people to save myself! (i am a singer so I get aroud it that way :)

There are so many reasons why I should not do this. I am not fit enough. I am not thin enough. I may not be very good at talking. I might get the moves muffed up. People might not like me. People may not think I am good enough.
But there are too many reasons why I should give this a go. I am almost 32. I am getting older. I really many not get another chance like this. I would really love to inspire and share my knowledge with others. I think people would look up to me for that reason.
So I decided just to go for it.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Must be that time of the month...

Today I feel really wierd. I am not sure if it is just that time of the months, or I am in the beginnings of a mid life crisis of sorts!!

I just had the realisation that - this is my life. What I have now, my child, my husband, our home, my cats, everything - this is it. When I was a kid and thinking about how my life would turn out and what I would do when I grew up, this is it!

And I can't help feel a little bit ripped off. Regrets, well not really. Just a bit of a scare to think that this is it!

I had been feeling like this for a little while, well not exactly like this, just some underlying wierd feeling that I could never quite put my finger on. It was not that I was unhappy as such, just something was there niggling away.

I think it really came to a head this weekend, when we had a couple of young riders stay at our place. When I say young, well younger, only 28 and 29 which is only 2 years younger than me. But it made me realise how much they have achieved in their lives, how much they have done and seen, and also how much they have left to do. Living in Europe for 9 years, travelling heaps, seeing the world, meeting lots of people. Then when they are done with that they will settle down and start a family and have all that part of their lives left ahead of them.

I am not saying that I want to give up this life for another, it had just made me realise that this is it! I will probably have another baby, watch them grow up, then retire and die. That's it.

I guess that sounds really selifish on one level, that in watching them grow I will get so much joy and love and laughter. And when we retire, we will travel and have fun and enjoy our grandchildren. But all I can see now is the next few years where my husband will work his ass off at work, and we will raise the children and I will be stuck at home. I think that's it really, feeling trapped. I thought it might have been wanting to reclaim my youth, after the night out I had on Saturday, and had to go home early coz of the baby. Selfishness has always been a strong point of mine. Jealousy maybe too, that I can't have the life that others have. But I wanted to have a family, I did a lot of living before Alex and there is much to come after wards.

Just a different sort of living.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Mother's Group 1st Birthday Party

Today my Mother's Group held our joint 1st Birthday party for the babies.

Here in Australia, when you have a baby the fantastic South Australian government set you up with a Mothers's Group of babies born around the same time. You have 6 weeks of structured learning at the local Child and Youth Health Centre, then you can do what you like. We have met every week since then, and it has been an amazing journey of sharing and friendship. We only have 9 in our group, most have over 12 mums.

I have loved hearing other people's stories, and I am not ashamed to admit that I like hearing other people's problems because it helps to put yours into perspective. Everyone goes through hard times, and it helps to hear how others have dealt with it.


And it amazes me how all the babies can develop at so many varied rates. Some are walking at 10 months, some don't have teeth at 11 month, others slept through the night at 3 months and some still aren't. Yet they are all classed as perfectly normal!!

After a year, 3 mums have returned to full time work, and everyone else is working at least some time. So we are going to miss out on seeing some of the babies grow up. Even today we saw Evan and him mum after not seeing him for 3 months. And he has really changed.

So here are a few choice pics of our Mother's Group, from day one, to 1 year on!!





Alex playing with Ahlia
The fabulous big bird cake!

The babies 1 year on - minus Brodie





Tuesday, February 3, 2009

One year on..


I can't believe that in just a few weeks we will be celebrating Pappy's 1st Birthday!!


It really does seem like only a few months ago we were bringing him home, working out how to get him to sleep, sorting out the dramas of breastfeeding and not getting much sleep at all!!


How time has just flown by. Now my little man is communicating, crawling, eating like a trooper and sleeping blissfully through the night! Wow, maybe I will consider having another one after all!!


So i have sent out the invitations, after much discussion about who/where/what we would do. I am pretty happy with the outcome, I don't feel like I have left anyone out who would be offended. After all, it is really a party for us adults its't it! A bit of a celebration for us to say 'we made it!" He is still alive! Let's reward outselves for that!


I have had a practice of his lion birthday cake, as you can see it is a good thing I practiced it as it does need a little work! The icing just wasn't thick enough when I started. Also I am not 100% happy with the colours. But I have some time to perfect that!


Along with the slab for the lion cake, I have ordered some cupcakes from the Women's Work Depot, so that I can decorate them with the fabulous designs I found in the Women's Weekly 'Easy Cupcakes by Colours' book I was given for Christmas. I am not a baker, really I'm not, so I have taken half the hard work out for myself... just don't tell the guests!!!


Also I have checked out some co-ordinating decorations, in yellow and orange, to match the lion. But I haven't found anything I really like so I think we won't worry about that.


But I have soooooo much work to do in the garden and around the house to tidy up. Since late Feb should be pretty warm here, we are planning to have the party outside under the pergola and let the kids go nuts in the garden. Just got to make it weed free and kid friendly in 3 weeks! UGH! I have let everything go except my roses over the Summer so there is a lot of work to do.


Anyhow I will keep you posted.. may end up hiring a gardener to clean up for me!


Sunday, December 7, 2008

Pappy's 1st Christmas




I felt a little creative the other day and decided to do some photos to commemorate Pappy's 1st Chrissy. Then it dawned on me that they would be a fabulous gift for my folks, inlaws and sister, so in the same breath knocked 3 pressies off my list! Phew!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

My new best friend

When I was pregant, I found it really hard to imagine a real live baby inside my tummy. Looking back, I sort of imagined a ‘thing’, or a little soul, without making the connection that it was the same thing I was looking at on the ultrasound screen. It really did feel like a part of me, not a separate little entity.

Now that my child is born and is definately his own little entity, I still can’t make the connection - I cannot imagine him swanning around in my belly. Very strange.

If the first few months were about hanging in there and just getting through, from week 16 I have really felt we have come into our own. My little team - me and my bubba. We do everything together. In the early days I would relish getting out of the house, just for half hour to pick up take out food or get the paper, but now, oh now I can’t bear to be away from him!!! I will find any excuse to make sure I am the one staying home and playing with him while DH gets the take out!!

Even now as I write this I am looking forward to the moment he wakes up so I can spend time with him, cuddle and love him and teach him about the world. Show him new things and make sure he gets a little bit of everything in his day. A bit of love, a bit of stimlation, new things and playing with his familiar toys. I just cannot get enough!

I love it that he is able to stay up for 2 hours now after each feed, so that I can bundle him up and take him into town, for a walk or go do the shopping. I take him out to my mum’s so she can spend some quality time with him. It is just great!

This is what being a mother is all about! And is what I thought it should be like from day one, little did I know you have to go through some tough times to get to the reward!!