Sup.

This is a draft of the blog post that I have been working on since February, which serves as a good report on what's been going on:


Time has FLOWN since last Fall.  Now that Pickle is here, it's a non-stop parade of celebrations and planning from October through February:

Halloween...

Thanksgiving...

 Christmas...

New Years (2nd Christmas in this family)...

Pickle's First Birthday on January 31st...

...and lots of fun and games in between:

 and then family birthdays and Valentine's Day and.....

And then I stopped.  In May, I tried picking up where I left off with this:

That's a draft of what I wrote in February, with the intention of finishing and posting in February.  And then I got caught up in the mommy/career girl/dutiful wife tornado again and before I knew what was happening, I have now landed in mid-May with barely 5 minutes left before I have to close this laptop and load up on sleep for this busy Mother's Day weekend.  Mother...wow.

So, now Vince (who I no longer call Pickle because he has outgrown that nickname) is walking, talking, clowning, asserting himself and relying upon me and Daddy to teach and guide and protect him, mostly from his own ill-advised course of conduct.  But, oh is he a happy, funny, smart, confident boy. 

On the mornings where he decides to get the party started while I am still doing 6 a.m. workouts, he comes over to give me hugs while I (try to) bike in the morning, and might sometimes need a dance partner or reading buddy, so my workouts have kind of stretched-out a bit in the mornings.  But I'm still in the game, eating healthy (90 % of the time, of course.  Unless Cheerios count, in which case, 80% of the time) and staying active.  I'm wearing my size 10 and some size 8 clothes from pre-pregnancy, although my sexy little size 6 power courtroom suit might have to wait for me until next season.  And that is a-ok. 

Sometimes I look back on my life over the last 15 months and have to pause at how transforming these changes have been, and give myself praise for keeping my health and fitness shit together under the various pressures of being the sold-breadwinner, Mommy, BFF & devoted wife to baby daddy, dog walker and kitty chin-scratcher.  And frankly, sometimes nothing else matters except the sing-song sounds of my son emanating from the baby monitor as he wakes up in the morning.  Nothing.  I sit and stare at my blog and try to come up with a creative way to say the same thing again.  But it's not always the same.  Life is just happening to quickly for me to stop and document it.

Except with pictures. 

And then I stopped again.  And then my laptop died a slow death.  And then *bam*.  Here I am almost a YEAR since my last blog post.

Still maintaining 150 lbs, still in size 8 & 10 clothing.  My arms are stronger and more toned than they have ever been.  Strength training + carrying around a 25-30 lb. toddler will do that. I am happy to see that the belly is losing flab.  But I don't think about it much anymore.  I don't have the time.

What is really worth the time reflecting and discussing, though, is the positive impact healthy living is having on my son.  

During our most recent stroll along a local park's fitness trail, Vince stopped at the push-up station, his favorite spot.  He repeatedly went up to the sign, touched the cartoon woman doing push-ups and called it "Mommy!" There are certainly worse associations he could make!

By keeping him active, he keeps us active.  Even Daddy lost 10 pounds by merely being Daddy.  We swam, walked, danced at weekly music classes, ran and practiced going up and down stairs.  Again and again and again.

He has a near-zero palate for sweets (except fruit) and fast food.  He considers broccoli a treat.

Oh, that will change, if even a little.  For example, he likes chips.  He likes tomatoes.  He likes spicy food.  When he learned to dip chips in salsa, the sky practically opened up with the sound of singing angels. 

So here I am, a year later since the last blog post.  We're nearing Vince's second Halloween.  This parenting thing doesn't give you a chance to stop and pause before getting on the ride again.  And that ride is moving so fast.

Well, that's that for now.  I'm just going to post this without any more blather and hope that by finally catching up, I'll have the incentive to at least stop by occasionally and say "Sup" without a magnum opus of a blog post draft keeping me down.

 And the answer to last year's costume question is:  Splicers from the video game Bioshock.  Was that a long drum roll or what?

Happy Halloween!

On this most sacred of holidays (and Pickle's 9 month birthday), wishing ya'll a Happy Halloween.

I got no swag to offer as part of a give-away contest except for leftover Trick or Treat "fun-size" calorie bombs, but mad geek props go out to anyone who can guess the our costumes:

Gotta run.  Pickle's first Trick or Treat outing is in 6 hours!

I'm Not Fat Yet.

I didn't get fat again, despite popular assumptions about prolonged absences of bloggers in this particular community.  *lolz*  Current stats are on the sidebar  (155.6 lbs).

My blog was looking pretty wrecked and it took me a while to figure out how to fix it so that the sidebar appeared where it should and whatnot.  But I'z smart and I eventually figured it out.  Go me.

Pickle turned SIX MONTHS old recently.  Holy shit.  Half a year.  Seems like a lifetime, but what an amazing half year it has been.  I can devote a whole blog to poop and boobs alone.  Which I may do.  But not now.

One thing about raising an infant is that time is limited and precious.  "Thank you, Captain Obvious," right?  It's not that I have no time, but I do have to spend it wisely.  I have 90 minutes or so in the morning to get my daily shit together before I go into full on Working Mama Mode.  That means I have two options:

1.  Blog about how I don't have time to work out; or
2.  Work out.

I chose Option 2.  And the Work Out option works out.  Even when Pickle gets up early in the morning, I have found ways to incorporate Mommyhood into my fitness regimen:

See?  He works out (tummy time, rolling, playing) while I work out.

He is also useful as an extra set of weights.

I have so much more to blog about, but I don't have time.  And these veggies and hummus sitting on my desk aren't going to eat themselves.  I will still be popping in from time to time (who knows, maybe even more frequently than once every 4-5 months), but for now, ciao!

P.S. --I also had to change my side-bar "about me" to reflect the fact that I am no longer "30-something."  Hello middle age, nice to meet ya!

P.S.S. (or is it P.P.S.?)--Hang in there, Lacey.  He's in good hands and you'll be with him soon.

So, About My Resistance Bands....

It turns out that the near-fatal encounter with my resistance bands wasn't so unusual or a result of user error.

The brand of resistance bands that I used, Fitness Gear purchased from Dick's Sporting Goods, has been recalled due to reports of the bands breaking and causing lacerations, amongst other things.

Figures.

Back in the Saddle

This week, I returned to work from maternity leave. It was TUFF.

First of all, the Saturday before coming back, we found out that Pickle has a pretty severe milk protein allergy. I had reintroduced dairy into my diet, thinking that the Zantac was taking care of his reflux. That was a dumb mistake on my part. Now, for the next two weeks, he has to be on soy formula until the dairy clears my system and I can breastfeed him again. Soy formula is evil. It is mostly "corn syrup solids" and oil.

In the meantime, baby boy suffered from bad tummy distress. His normal newborn acne turned into angry red patches on his cheeks and neck. His poops...ick. Up through the night before returning for work, he was miserable. And so was I. I had a bad meltdown, worse than the normal hormonal baby blues, punishing myself for returning to work too early.

But we survived. I was a sad mess on Monday, calling home to Bobzilla every hour or so. He handled his new role as Stay at Home Dad ("SAHD") like a champ. The baby didn't break. And life went on.

There is one thing that hasn't been difficult: Working out.

Amazingly, Pickle has what closely resembles a feeding and sleeping schedule. He gets my ass out of bed by 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. He feeds and goes back down to sleep for another two hours. During the second morning snooze, I've been able to get my usual 60 minutes on the bike, walk the dog, feed the cats, take a shower, do my hair and makeup and pack things up for work. By the time he stirs from his sleep, I'm able and ready to focus on him until I leave and pass him off to Daddy. Hopefully, this will continue. I haven't been able to do my pre-pregnancy workout schedule of 90 minutes by including strength training. Still haven't touched the weights. Next week, I will try to fit the strength training in during the late afternoon/evening. I'm not going to kill myself, though. At least I'm getting some cardio in.

Since I've "sorta" returned to normal, I'll be posting and tracking my progress again.

My current weight is 157.4 pounds. I was 142 pounds pre-pregnancy, amounting to an approximate weight gain of 15 lbs.

I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to deal with my diet, if I make any changes at all. Breastfeeding has caused my appetite to go through the roof. I am ALWAYS hungry (and thirsty), and I eat obscene amounts of foods. About 80% of the food is healthy, thanks mostly to Bobzilla's homecooking. But I ain't gonna lie...I can tear a whole bag of tortilla chips up. And there were some milkshake and cheese binges that most likely triggered Pickle's bad dairy reaction last weekend. Since I need to be REALLY careful about making sure I'm eating enough to sustain breastfeeding, I'm not going to be too concerned about it for now and will just wing it until the scale sets off alarm bells.

There is no doubt that eating healthy pre- and post-pregnancy, and staying physically fit, has helped us create and grow a healthy, thriving spawn. Pickle started smiling and cooing at 4 weeks, which is considered an advanced development. 

Pickle is also holding up his head for long periods at a stretch, and is growing like a mo fo. He is alert and intensely observant during the day hours. This week, he's learned to play face games by copying faces we make at him.

He still hates baths, though. It's like a horror show when his toes even graze the bath water.

Still cannot believe we grew this thing:

Post-Partum Goings On

Cannot believe it's been two and a half weeks since the baby bomb. It has been a blur of sleepless nights, crying (mom and baby), breastfeeding woes, doctor's appointments, nursing moms meetings, snuggles, baby kisses, book readings, tummy time, projectile pooping and golden showers.

Breastfeeding did NOT get off to a good start. During Vincent's first week home, my milk did not come in. Within 2 days, baby was down more than 10% of his body weight and dehydrated. A lactation specialist hooked us up with a feeding tube that, while well-intended, undermined the breastfeeding process and caused Vincent bad reactions to formula (first milk, then soy) and then gas from binge-feeding off the tube. It was hell for him, especially.

Thankfully, things turned around beginning mid-last week. My milk came in, thanks to daily oatmeal and copious amounts of fenugreek pills that I take, which makes me smell like maple syrup all the time and gives me a constant dull headache. He hasn't had formula supplements since Sunday. *whew*

He's been colicky, but we noticed that he's crying less and settling down more now that he's off the formula and strictly on breastmilk. I don't think this is a coincidence, given Bobzilla's family history of soy, corn and wheat allergies.

Now, his weight is back up. He's gained over a pound and grew over an inch during the last two weeks. And he is doing better every day. Filling out and chunking up. Looking more adorable. He's vocalizing more and can almost lift his head more consistently.

We haven't had visitors yet because of the instability. The lack of social contact is giving me a complex. I actually got excited to go with Bob to get the car's oil changed. Even wore earrings.

Yesterday, we took Vincent out for a run on the jogging stroller, along with the dog. It was beautiful out (read: gray, windy and 60 degrees) and I was chomping at the bit to get my running shoes and MOVE. Well as soon as we started running on the jogging trail, my rushed return to physical fitness was poorly thought out. My uterus felt like it was going to drop out and I peed myself. Ok then. I guess there's some truth to the whole 6 week post-partum recovery period.

Weight wise, I just weighed myself for the first time the other day and saw that I'm 13 pounds heavier than I was pre-pregnancy. I cannot fit in my size 6 jeans, but am comfortably hanging in my size 10 Levis and yoga pants. I ain't complaining. As it is, I think I'm losing weight from the breastfeeding alone. Plus, I think half of that gain is boob weight. I am practically Tura Satana proportions at the moment (RIP, Tura). I am ravenous and thirsty constantly. But, man, do I miss my workouts. Six weeks cannot get here soon enough.

Still, in spite of all of this, I would not change a thing. Not. A. Single. Thing.

Our little parasite is worth it all. Every day I look forward to new experiences with him, to giving him kisses, washing his face, changing his clothes, singing to him, wearing him in the Moby around the house, and watching him at his 6:oo a.m. feeding (it's the funniest thing ever....he throws both of his hands back like claws, bugs out his eyes, opens his mouth wide and then dives face-first into the boob).

He's my everything.

Introducing.....

Vincent William Christopher.


He was born on January 31st, 2011 at 12:39 p.m. after over 20 hours of a long, difficult labor and 10 minutes of a kickass, sweet delivery. He came out fast and hard into his Daddy's arms, just 20 minutes before a C-section deadline.



He weighs 7 lbs, 6 oz. and is 21 inches long. He is a tall drink 'o baby!


He is lovely and amazing. No?

Home Stretch: Bring on the Chocolate and Bacon

I have the best excuse in the world for not blogging for 8 weeks. Really, this pregnancy card gives me a free pass to do (or not do) anything, short of a 2nd degree felony. So why not play it, right?

This baby is going to make his entrance in less than a month. Less than a month. Am I ready? Probably not, but Bobzilla and I have sure worked hard to get ready. Multiple childbirth and childcare classes. Furniture set up. Clothes and bedding washed. Baby gear acquired and in place.

It helps that we have been the recipients of such overwhelming generosity by family, friends, clients, associates, even strangers. Otherwise, we'd be less than broke.

The baby shower was...wow:

This remains a very healthy pregnancy. Perfect blood pressure and weigh gain. Baby Vincent is strong, healthy and active. He's developing at the rate he should be. I'm kind of annoyed that my "advanced maternal age" is the reason I have to be strapped to a monitor for an hour every week, but Vincent's strong and healthy heartbeat is the sweetest "fuck you" that this old lady can give to those over-zealous geezer haters at the midwifery department.

I'm eating healthy, well, ok, probably 70% of the time. But give me a friggin' break. I have to eat more carbs and, well, when baby wants chocolate and cheese, he gets chocolate and cheese.

Still staying active. Here's what an 8+ month pregnant woman of "advance maternal age" looks like doing cardio:

...OK, you know how I was talking about how generous everyone's been? Just now, a friend showed up at our front door bearing bags of baby clothes. Sweet! I swear, when you become a first time parent, it's like you're automatically initiated into this elite club that you never knew existed before spawning. I likey.

I'm now at 36 weeks, about 9 months knocked up.



Final countdown!

Current craving: Spicy hot cocoa. Thankfully, the generosity of a friend has come through once more.

Happy New Year!

28 Weeks Later

It's been, what, 6 weeks since my last blog post? Despite my plan to slow down in October, things have been everything but slow and casual.

Here's the breakdown:

1. I lost my mom. It's ok, tho. We knew it was coming. She was elderly, suffered from dementia and had been sick for a while. I said goodbye to her two years ago.
   
   
2. I lost a good friend suddenly. That was not so easy to take.
   
   
3. Stupid gestational diabetes screening threatened to derail my natural childbirth plans. I blew a 180 on the first sugar test. 180!! So I had to carb load for 3 days, (150 grams a day!), fast for 12 hours and do the 3 hour blood sugar test. And, go figure, I passed the 3 hour test. I no has diabeetus! But that time period in between the first and second blood test put me in an emotional tizzy, as I was worried that I was diabetic and would be put on the C-section train.
   
   
   
   While I'm relieved things turned out ok, what a flawed testing system! It demonstrates how eating healthy will actually result in a false high blood sugar reading, causing unnecessary follow up work, unrealistic dietary changes and anxiety. After all, how else is the body supposed to react when it's forced to ingest 50 grams of glucose in one shot, when it is not used to even half of that amount of carbs/sugar in any 12 hour period? And how ironic that one way to pass the sugar test is to ingest an assload of carbs/sugar. Kind of calls into question the whole "low carb" way of eating.
   
   
   
4. Bobzilla started his own film blog. This means that we've been going to movie screenings about twice a week, usually at 7:30 at night on a school night.
   
   
5. Marathon shopping for maternity & baby room stuff. It took a week of driving all over Cleveland just to find the right dresser. We could probably stand to be less picky.
   
   
   
6. Speaking of the baby room, we spent 3-4 days moving around furniture, baby proofing, packing and hauling stuff in the attic to make room for baby.
   
   
   
7. Sis had her baby!
   
   Xavier arrived after only, like, 5 minutes of push time. I hope I have a super vag like her come delivery time.
   
   
8. Bob and I went on our last "babymoon," staying an extended weekend with my BFF in the Pen Mar blue ridge mountains. Le sigh. We all entered the annual Pumpkin Cooking Contest, using recipes we were perfecting since late summer.
   
   
   Bob's pumpkin pizza took third place!
   
   
   My pumpkin & cream cheese baklava took second place!
   
   
   Bridgie's pumpkin & mango curry was delicious, but did not place. She got skunked.
   
   
   
9. Two Halloween weddings in one day. Whew! One of them was a costume reception. Here we are, as Rosemary (and her baby) and the Devil (proud papa):
   
   
   
10. Reconnecting with lots of good friends. Ben. Alan and Margie and their uber babies. Christie and Tony. And LOTS of visits with Vincent's grandparents, who are probably more excited than we are. However, Bob suspects they are just using us to have some one-on-one time with Goji, who is really their favorite grandchild.
    
    
    
11. Zombie walk. Again.
    
    
    
    And it doesn't look like things are going to let up this month, either. Just this week alone, we are busy every day. We start our first weekly childbirth class tomorrow night. They're 3-hour sessions after work. Ugh. More movie screenings. Funeral on Friday, followed by a memorial on Saturday. I also have to find time to cook some GF desserts for the baby shower/Hell-has-frozen-over party, which--holy shit--is this coming Sunday!
    
    Sure glad we did absentee voting this election.
    
    And after that? Bi-weekly prenatal appointments, more baby classes (CPR, breastfeeding, daddy bootcamp, etc.), the holidays and BAM! Baby.
    
    

    BABY UPDATE:
    
    

    I am now in my third trimester, at 28 weeks. I can't believe we're almost 7 months along now! So far, this has been a healthy pregnancy. Vincent's growth is right on target, and his heart rate is going strong. Blood pressure is excellent, as are the bodily fluid tests and misc. prenatal checkups. No edema/swelling or bloat. I've now gained around 18 pounds and am steadily gaining a pound a week.
    
    
    

    
    

    I still maintain 90 minutes of fitness every morning, one hour of cardio + 30 minutes of strength/core exercises. In fact, I think the regular exercising has really helped during this pregnancy. While I definitely poop out at times, my energy level has been pretty good. The special prenatal core exercises I follow on Babyfit will, hopefully, prime this body for some effective and efficient baby popping in a couple months.
    
    My mood is strong, and I actually *like* carrying this parasite around. The belly and its jerky, jumpy, squirmy contents are an endless source of fascination for me.
    

    
    
    

    Downsides? My hair is growing wacky and fast. I've given up on regular haircuts and have accepted bad hairdays as the norm. I pee a LOT. Especially at night, so straight 7-8 hour sleep is a distant memory. Heartburn is practically constant, with the baby pushing up against my stomach. Gum and Tums help some. I just can't eat a full meal except on a few occasions. Instead, I nosh here and there constantly.
    
    I'd like to say I will get on top of all my blog following, but I just don't know if that's being realistic. While I still read many fitness and health blogs (waves at Shelley, Cammy, Trish, TJ, Patrick, Ariel, Fat Daddy, Bobbie) I am spending most of what little free time is left hanging out at Babyfit and reading baby books (4 of them are currently stacked on the toilet tank).
    
    Current food craving(s): Peanut butter with anything.
    

Oh yeah, about that ultrasound from 3 weeks ago...

We're having a boy.

His name is Vincent Christopher. Just don't call him "Vinnie." That's too Jersey Shore for my tastes. *shudders*

All genetic screening tests came back about as good as they could get, with like a 1 in a gazillion probability that he has an abnormality. His heart is strong, over 145 bpm. He is extremely active--I started feeling him kick and squirm from the outside of my tummy at 19 weeks. Bobzilla felt him move last night. *gushes*

He has both brain hemispheres, all organs and is growing ahead of his gestational age. So despite my initial concerns about not gaining enough weight, he's getting what he needs and is thriving.

Speaking of weight...I am now 10 pounds heavier! About friggin' time. Had a growth spurt over the last 10 days or so. In just the last 3 weeks, I gained over 5 pounds!

And the belly keeps expanding. I now use it as a laptop rest. The laptop sometimes jiggles from the baby kicks. *lolz*

My sister, who is due in THREE DAYS, tells me that her boy is so fidgety and powerful that he can steer the car. Yikes!

Physically, I feel better than I have since early May. I am less tired overall and am more mentally focused.

On the other hand, my stamina for physical activity has gone down. I still work the bike an hour every morning, but not at the same speed or intensity because I overheat quicker. Bobzilla and I go to at least one show a week, and standing for more than 30 minutes or so is now a real drain. We often leave early, or I pace the club looking for a place to sit and sip my club soda and lime. We went to see an old band of his last Thursday, where I sat on the barstool all night and kept watching the clock wanting to go home. I like seeing our friends, but I feel less sociable because of this. Don't think I can keep doing that sort of thing and may be staying home a lot more beginning October. Which is fine. It'll give me time to engage in wacky nesting behavior that all the mommy friends tell us will hit this trimester. And catch up on Breaking Bad--I really want to watch that show!

I can't wait for my nephew Xavier to make his introduction early next week! My sis has an induction scheduled for the 21st. Wow. An appointment to have a baby. Craziness.

This week's food craving: Watermelon. Still.

Baking This Baby Takes FOREVER!

See this?

That's my second breakfast* I eat every morning. It's mixed fruit (cantaloupe, strawberry and red grapes), low fat yogurt and *gulp* wheat bran and wheat germ. Yeah, looks yummy, don't it? This concoction, while certainly not visually appealing, is pure baby fuel. And the added hippie dippy grains have saved my ass. Literally. These pregnancy hormones + the iron in the prenatal vitamins will plug me up for days if I don't increase my daily fiber at least triple fold.

Now that I'm 4 & 1/2 months preggers, I'm happy to report I have GAINED some poundage. I'm now 3-4 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. Weee! And who'da thought I'd be happy about gaining weight? Being pregnant is perverse.

There was some minor baby drama when I got a call from my doctor's office Tuesday, telling me that they took the wrong blood test last week and needed another blood draw stat! Little background: Because of my "advanced maternal age," I'm doing the whole genetic sequential screening, which requires two rounds of blood tests. The blood must be drawn during certain stages of the pregnancy. In this case, the test that they should have done was supposed to occur before the end of my 17th week for optimal accuracy. We were now past that. FUCK! The call came while I was at a client's house. Great timing. I had to rush from the meeting to get to the hospital lab before it closed so that they could get the blood draw in time to ship off, testing done and results back in advance of the next ultrasound. Do I have to tell you that I was a raging, hormonal, blubbering, mess by the time they jabbed me with the needle? Somebody will pay for this emotional fire drill. Oh yes.

So, about that next ultrasound....it's scheduled for next Tuesday, at which time we will find out whether the parasite is going to be a boy or girl. The Chinese gender test I took indicated it's a girl. We'll see.

Exercise is still the same. Well, except for the fact that another resistance band snapped on me, this time almost taking out the TV. I get it now. I don't need to be told a third time. I'm back to the free weights.

I have this insatiable craving for hummus, hot sauce and grass. Mixed together.


*First breakfast is a power smoothie comprised of carrot juice, orange juice, more low fat yogurt, low fat milk, and pineapple. Followed by a handful of almonds. Zing!

Gratuitous Belly Pics: Fifteen Weeks

Isn't it funny how I would die from embarrassment to show my belly just a few months ago, but now I'm sticking it out like a diamond engagement ring?

Anyway, here I am at fifteen weeks:





Of course, Goji got in on the action. Total camera whore.



I swear, this belly popped out overnight Sunday. Last week, I was wearing size 6. Now, my old size 10 dress slacks are snuggish. This parasite is undoing almost a year's worth of Jillian Shred and ab work in a matter of days.




Kinda cool, tho.

Babyfying This Body

This pregnancy is causing me to relearn eating and fitness habits, and I ain't liking it!

The workout changes aren't so bad. Dr. Giddy (a definite misnomer) told me to nix all the ab/core workouts and weight lifting anything over 10 lbs. Ok. Fine. That buys me about 15 minutes each day. I can deal.

But the eating. Shit. That has been the major ass pain. Granted, when a pregnant woman is eating for two, she should not literally "eat for two." Rather, she should be ingesting an extra 300-500 calories a day. That's not a lot, really. But for me, I'm just having a hella time with regular food intake. Including the extra calories seems a task requiring herculean efforts (and a strong stomach).

There have been no puke parties, but I'm definitely doing this strange love/hate tango with food. I'll want to eat, then after a few bites I get the sudden urge to leave the table and lie down from the perceived lead ball I just put in my belly. I'll raid Bobzilla's ice cream, but then put the pint back in the freezer before my tongue turns cold.

Consequently, I've gained zero weight. In fact, I lost about 5 pounds the first trimester. The baby bump is getting bigger and the milk jugs are swelling. This baby is being FED. Unfortunately, I'm kinda wasting away here. Now, there have been some days where I could actually eat like a food pervert. For instance, Bobzilla and I did our annual trip to Geneva-On-The-Lake. I ate greasy carnival fries, a cheeseburger, a DOUGHNUT, and some tacos. Yet, I lost almost a pound the following day. So friggin' surreal.

My doc said this is normal and not to worry and that I'll start putting on weight now that I'm in the second trimester. Really, I should be lucky, since friends have had hellish morning sickness that makes my experience pale by comparison. But do they have freaky dreams about giving birth to cats and breastfeeding them? Maybe I should just switch my prenatal vitamins.

My Biggest Fear Came True Again!

Well, it finally happened. My resistance band snapped while I was doing strength training. This pretty much sucks, because I've gotten used to the convenience and freedom of the bands.



It also sucks cuz it hurt! The band whipped across my arm while I was doing military presses:


This is the second time I had a resistance band mishap, the first time being slapped in the face when it came undone from my feet. While I'm lucky I didn't lose an eye, I'm not sure there should be a third accident, so I may have to retire the bands.

Fitness can be a dangerous activity. Stay safe out there, kids!

Update...Yowza.

Wednesday Weigh In 6/...oh, wait. Nevermind.

Not having to report weekly weigh-in results has un-tethered me to this blog. I haven't posted in, what, 3 weeks?

I've been leading a pretty intense jury trial which finally concluded today with the verdict, which took the jurors 2 days to deliberate. The result? A King Solomon where both sides got something. Now, I have about 3 weeks worth of backed-up work piled on my desk that I had to put aside while doing the trial gig. No big thang.

Staying fit and eating right during these hectic last few weeks was a bit of a challenge, but doable. Had to cut back my workouts to an hour each morning (hello, five a.m.!) and stuck with less-than-perfect cafeteria fare offered at the courthouse for lunch. All in all, I did pretty well. I'm actually below 138 pounds, which was a bit of a shocker to me.

Getting new suits in appropriate sizes was the bigger challenge. I hate spending money on clothes. Hate it. Most suits retailed at about $150 on clearance and I just couldn't cave. The single size 10 jacket I have hanging on my office coat rack wasn't going to get me through each day and it was looking pretty sad on me. I did have to buy a new jacket for $70 on clearance, and it brought tears to my eyes. Thankfully, Bobzilla took me to some consignment shops later and I scored a never-worn Ann Taylor suit, dress blouse and 2 jackets for about what I paid for that damn $70 dollar coat. Oh, and they're all size 6's. Yay me.

In between all the trial work, Bob and I snuck away for a 3-day retreat at my BFF's fabulous estate in the Maryland Blue Ridge Mountains. We tried Ethiopian cuisine for the first time. Loved it. As leftovers the next morning? Not so much. Miz BFF and I share a passion for vintage clothes and we spent Saturday night modeling some crazy 60's and 70's fashion, acting the fools.

Bobzilla got me this outrageous dress as a (23rd!) anniversary present earlier this month. The hippie chick in the bodice? She's showing nip. Both of 'em. No lie. I swear, this pattern must've also been used as wallpaper:


I need the perfect shoes to go with this dress. Preferably some shiny white babies with a chunky heel. Or maybe white boots.

My garden is growing out of control. Sadly, due to the unseasonably warm weather, the broccoli bolted before it even grew full size. On the upside, the tomatillos, lettuce and the prized jolokia pepper plant are thriving. There's gonna be some good eatin' in the house pretty soon.

My other BFF just ran her first 4k last weekend and I'm proud as a mama. It was freakin' hot that day, but she still pulled it off in 45 minutes. A-may-zing!

And Bob? Holy shit, he's been hitting the bike and weights practically every morning, on top of his runs with the dog after he takes me to work. What's significant about this is that he just does it without making a big announcement about it, like it's a noteworthy event. He's treating it like an everyday routine now. Kick. Ass.

In totally unrelated fit 'n healthy news, we've been watching the TV series The IT Crowd on Netlix Instant View. It may just be better than The Office. Perhaps it's because we relate much more intimately to the show given our own geek backgrounds.

Best Friggin' Contest. Ever.

Wanna suck Altoids through crazy straws? If so, click here.

Wednesday Weigh-In 6/2/2010: The Final Edition

I never set an official "goal" for myself when I first set my mind to lose weight 3 or so years ago. I liked the idea of 140 pounds, but never put a target on that number. At around 250 pounds, I was happy at the idea of just going down to a size 16, ideally a size 14. 140 pounds has been a magical number for me. There's no logical reason for it. I just remember weighing 14o in jr. high/early high school and that I kept getting heavier ever since. And 140 seems reasonable. It's not, like, an anorexic size for someone of my 5'7" body. It's a solid, healthy zone. Yeah, 140 was pretty much the golden grail for me.

So, I finally made it to 140.0 on the beloved Tanita scale. Finally.

Now what?

Well, not much will be changing. I'm still going to work out 6 days a week, the usual program of 1 hour cardio/30 minutes strength training (different muscles on alternating days). As I head into my 40th year, this amount of exercise is about right for maintenance.

I don't think my eating is going to change. For so long now, I've been eating what I want in reasonable portions. And what I want happens to be lots of home-cooked meals made from whole foods, lean meats, veggies, nuts, cheese and fruits. I also have a serving of gelato every night. Of course, I still eat out and don't really fuss too much about what's on the menu because I only eat half of what I order anyway. I don't count calories anymore. I got this. It's ingrained.

I'm not worried about losing weight anymore, and I doubt I'm going to lose any more pounds, although I promised myself I would cut back a little on the workouts if I still lost weight. That's not likely to happen though. Getting to 140 has been a slow and easy landing. This is a comfortable place for my body to settle down.

Just to make sure that all departments in my brain are on the same page in terms of maintenance, I'm going to stop posting my weekly weigh-ins. I do still weigh myself every day, but the concept of "reporting" a weight every week places undue emphasis on weight-loss, which is not the mode I'm in anymore. If, in the future, I start noticing gains or losses of 5 pounds or more, then I'll record it and adjust the food and fitness accordingly.

And so, that's that.

I've been a bad blogger lately in that I'm rarely posting comments on anyone else's blog and just being an overall lazy bitch. I could blame work and hectic real life, but really, I do that enough already. So, I'll just acknowledge my lameness and leave it at that.

Wednesday Weigh-In: 5/26/2010 & Crazy Train

140.6.

I'm hanging on to this blog by my fingernails while the weight of real life is strapped firmly around my ankles, pulling me the other direction.

Work, work, work is driving me insane and sapping all of my free time. Well, except for the exercise. Gotta always make time for that. For example:

I'm supposed to be leaving for an appointment at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. To accomplish this, I initially resigned myself to missing my first weekday workout in months. *gasp* But I came to my senses and have instead decided to just get up at 5:00 a.m. and fit the workout in that way. Yup, I'm totally sane here.

Wednesday Weigh-In 5/19/2010 and BRB

140.4 pounds.

Bob had dental surgery Monday to get a new implant to replace the broken one. They gave him 12 shots of novocain (no shit!) and had to graft some skin from the roof of his mouth. Poor Bob! But he hasn't taken even one vicodin. What a manly man.

Still working out per usual. Still eating and drinking what I want, but with common sense.

I heart the new laptop now. Just need time to actually enjoy it.

Back to depositions after lunch.

Bye for now!