Moon in June 2013 ~ Multi Tasking Mama!!!

So this is our 4th year running in the Moon in June Race. This is a very special race for me because it was the first race I ever did and my oldest son ever did and the kids 1K Meredith's Fun Run is named after my trainer Meredith Hagan who died while out on her bike training. So this year I was not able to run in the race but I still signed up the big kids for the 1K. My hubby was going to run the 5K by himself this year, last year we ran it together (his first race ever). But he got sick and injured at the start of the week so he couldn't. So the night was just about the kids and we had a blast. When the kids were lining up to start their race OF COURSE that was when the baby starts crying and wants to eat!!! So what do I end up doing!? I am nursing the baby (with one of my new fancy nursing tops where no one has to see anything but the baby can still eat) while sitting on the side of the road cheering on the kids racing and taking pictures!! LOL! At one point I race across the street to get a good picture on the other side and everyone was watching me...not sure if they could tell I was carrying and nursing the baby at the same time or that I was just a crazy woman running around with a baby! LOL! OH man!...but I didn't even care...I just wanted my kids to see and hear me cheering them on at the side and to get a good picture. In the end we got a few good pictures and the kids had fun, got there medals and freezes and we had another successful night as a healthy active family together. Hope you are living in YOUR awesome today!

Cooking up a storm!!

Ok so I am definitely feeling better as I am now trying out a new dinner recipe :) The baking didn't go so well! But I think the dinner did :)...now my goal is to try a new dinner each week. But really due to cost and time and my energy it adds up being more like once a month. The reason being is that the new recipes take so much prep time cause it's of course a healthy meal and a lot of fresh food in it that needs to be prepped. So how do I get that done on my own with the 3 kids you ask?!!! Like this! I sling the baby to me and prep the food while the big kids are eating their snack and prep all the food into different bowels so it's good to go when I have to cook it and I can just throw everything in...I feel like I'm on a cooking show! LOL! This is the recipe that I tried out tonight ** I used Quinoa instead of couscous, SO much better for you ** So of course things never go as planned around here. As I was cooking this up it smelled SO good and yummy and it tasted really good to. However I am the only one that is able to tell you that and you will just have to take my word on it!....My hubby who is NEVER sick came home tonight throwing up...ewww...as he went up stairs to the bathroom he asked me to turn on the stove fan cause the food smell was making him feel sicker! LOL!!!...well then. Poor guy didn't have a chance to eat it. But I loved it and will be making it again :) Hope you are living in your awesome today!

The summer clothes swap!

Ok so I finally switched over my own clothes today to the summer ones. I had done all 3 kids but didn't get to mine yet so I pretty much have been wearing the same 3 outfits! LOL! It was an interesting experience with this post baby body...I'm in a new place once again. I am not obese like I was 3yrs ago and I'm not fit like I was 1 yr ago and I'm not pregnant like I was 3 months ago. I had a bit of the same experiences and a few new ones. First of all, the all to familiar feeling of trying on some pants that I am too big for and before I even get them half way up my thigh they are too tight and I know that I am not going to fit them! LOL! Now at least I have learned my lesson over the years to NOT keep trying to pull those pants up and fit them around my 'to big for these pants' ass and then try and do them up because...just maybe... if I can get them done up... they will fit!....yeah know! Next with the tops, some I could get over my head but they got stuck on these breast feeding milk jugs. I remember that when I was big. One time I got stuck in a top in the change room. I got the top over the boobs put I couldn't get them back up as I tried to take it off...took me about 15min to get out of THAT top and I was sweating after!! LOL!.....Now the new experiences that I had was that some of the clothes did fit me.. WOW! That made me feel a bit better about this marshmallow post baby body. So the good news is that I will have clothes to wear this summer :D...and it was actually kinda fun seeing all my old tops that say, "Awesome" and "I tried being good but I got bored" again and the one that says, "Punish me" made me laugh. Just another thing to help me reach my goal of getting to a healthier weight and being able to wear them again. For now they are packed back in the closet waiting......

Subway Queen!!

So I went to this totally awesome event yesterday at Subway. It was just so ment to be as I LOVE Subway and eat there often. It's one of the switches that my family made too, instead of having a pizza night, the family now walks down to the Subway by our house. The staff there knows us and our orders LOL! It's our 'Cheers'...when I was unable to go out and was recovering from all the medical issue after having the baby. My hubby went to get us a Sub for lunch one day and the new girl heard the wrong meat (ham) and when he got to the cash the guy there who knows us said, "Sir are you sure this is right? She always gets turkey" how awesome is that!!! So I wrote into the Subway head office to let them know how awesome that staff is at that location. The event I went to yesterday was at a Subway and they were introducing us to two new toppings. Spinach and avocado, both I of which I eat and love. But what I also like about that is that those foods are able to be fresh. There's nothing that needs to be done to spinach and I even asked about what was 'in'the avocado spread. The Executive Chef of Subway was there and explained to me in great detail how they made and kept fresh the avocado spread. So without going into the dry details of it, I'll just say that I was very happy with the answer and it tasted good AND I will be putting it on my sub from now on.......and NO they are not paying me to say that! LOL!...and NO this blog post is not sponsored by Subway. I'm just a big Subway fan and want others to pick a fresh alternative to eat while out there! It was pretty fun as we got to go behind the counter this time and make our own Sub and then we named our Sub...mine was the Awesome Turkey rainbow LOL!....I was then set home with a way cute goodie basket of stuff...some avocado's,spinach seeds, t-shirt, gift card to Subway AWESOME!!! Hope you are living in your awesome today!!!

Healthy baking.....WIN! & FAIL!!!

Ok so! As I work to get myself back on track by doing my physio on Monday, having a rest day yesterday so I could use my energy to go Coach in the evening. I also realize that I need to focus on the food part too. More so this nasty sweet tooth that I seem to have right now because of the fact that I am nursing.....everyday right after I eat a yummy healthy lunch it shows it face! So I went on the search for something that would help satisfy that sweet tooth while not doing too much damage to my body. I came up with two things that my 4yr helped me make. The first was Chocolate Chip Cookies made with chickpeas. I know! I know! sounds gross eh? but they were good! and I don't mean, good in a 'it's good for healthy food' kinda way. I went out and tested it on the neighbourhood kids asking them to honesty tell me if they worked out or not because I don't bake much and wanted to see it they are ok. I even said I wouldn't take offence if they had anything bad to say about them. They all said they loved them!....then one of the Moms asked me what was in them, I whispered to her "Just wait for them to go away and then I'll tell you!" LOL! They got eaten up so fast I wasn't able to get a picture! So here is the VERY easy and simple recipe: In a food processor combine, 1 1/4cup chickpeas (well rinsed and patted dry), 2tsp vanilla extract, 1/2cup + 2tbsp Natural peanut butter (I used Almond butter), 1/4cup honey, 1tsp baking powder. Blend until smooth then add in 1/2cup chocolate chips and plus. Bake 350 for 15min ** They taste best after being in the fridge overnight** So here is my fail LOL! The next day I did brownies made with Black Beans. They smelled so good baking and truthfully they taste fine when you eat them...that is after you struggle to get them out of the pan!! LOL!!...They won't come out! and when you pry them out they fall apart and crumble....so I'm no baker so I have no idea why this is happening or how to fix it. But my husband thought to put them in the fridge to help them get hard and cool then maybe they will come out. Well I came down this morning to find the whole tray in the freezer! LOL! (that's what the picture above is) I guess the fridge didn't work and we are now going to freeze them out HA HA HA!! So I'll take a picture once we get them out of the pan!....guess that's what you call a baking FAIL!!! But at least I'm back to doing things and having some laughs along the way right?! Hope you are living in YOUR awesome today!

Awesome!.......not so much.

Someone once said to me, "So everyday is awesome for you?!"......my answer was, "No, not everyday. But each day is what you make it" So these days I am struggling with living the reality of my situation of not even being able to do normal life things, never mind trying to get active again. The process is going very slow and I am getting frustrated with it and my patience and positive outlook seems to be wearing out. I'm writing this blog after spending a day on the couch because my body (feet, knees, hips and back) were so sore I couldn't fall asleep until after 2am last night. I woke up this morning and my husband had to get me Advil, I was just able to get out, "I over did it, and I am so sore. I'm sorry hun but you are on your own today" before I fell back into the pillow asleep. That ment that I missed out on a day with my family as they went to the in-laws farm, and instead had to lay here on the couch all day by myself resting. I know that normally that's a dream day for a mother, having the house to yourself and not have to care for the kids. But when you are forced to do it.....not so fun. Recently I have seen a shift in my thoughts, attitude and actions and it's not in the direction of anything awesome. Although I love going out each Tues night and Coaching the Mommy's/Babe's in Motion team I found myself feeling a little down that I can't do what they are doing or that I can't get out to meet other people for walks and I'm feeling a bit lonely because of it. It's no one else's fault because everyone is so supportive and encouraging, it's just my attitude about things right now....I feel left behind since I have to stay behind while others go out and do what I so desperately want to do right now. For the last 2 weeks I also haven't been doing my physio exercises, another reason why the process has become slower (my own fault I know). I have done what many do, I have let other things like work, kids, home get in the way of me taking proper care of myself and the end results is a day like this where I am truly 'left behind' don't get to be with my family and have to spend the day alone and lonely....funny how we spin our own patterns like that yeah!? So although I know what I should be doing and I see all the things I am doing wrong I am still human and it doesn't always go 'awesome'. However, after having a day to reflect and not liking where I have ended up I have a plan and I will write it out here in order to commit to it. I will go back to doing the physio daily I have 3 chance in the day to get this done, in the morning while the baby sleeps, in the afternoon while the baby sleeps and before the big boys get home and in the evening when hubby is home. So I WILL in the day pick one of theses times to stop and do my physio. I will also call a trainer that I know who works with Pre and Post natal woman to come out in a few weeks (I'll set a date) to show me what the next step in exercise is for me to do. I don't know about this and she does and I want to make sure that I will do it right. This will help me to keep doing the physio daily in order to be stronger and ready to move to the next step of building back up. The good news is that the pity party hasn't lasted long and the awesome news is that I feel my days will be going back to being awesome again as I will be making the most of them :) Hope you are living in YOUR Awesome today! :)

Star struck!?

Ok so I guess I wouldn't really say that I was star struck but it was defiantly cool to go from seeing Jillian Michaels on TV to seeing her in real life. She has been a big part of my journey and she doesn't even know it. It was her and Bob that I was watching on the Biggest Loser that night I decided to slide off the couch and start getting in motion by doing sit ups. It was her voice I would hear yelling at the contestants on the show as I did my workout right along with them. It's her Podcasts that I listen to as I would go for a run. I like her! I like that she use to be big too and found the path of healthy living and I like that she gets there is more to weight loss and healthy living then just food and exercise....there is a matter of the brain as well :) Her show was 3hrs long with a 15min break and the 3hrs flew by because she was very fun and easy to listen too. She gave information on calorie in take and best exercise practises along with talking about your inner self and how you process things, if it's a positive way that helps you do it or if you need to change things up in order to 'Maximize Your Life' What I found most awesome about this experience is that I knew a lot of the stuff that she was talking about. I had either learned it or experienced it myself. So although I did learn a few new interesting things what I learned most is that I am on the right path and I'm doing well and that was awesome! So they are sneaky at the show because I tried to get a picture of Jillian on the stage but because she had a spot light on her, she just ended up looking like a glowing figure in the pictures LOL!, So this is the best picture I could get of her! Oh well! At one point I will meet her in person and then THAT will be an awesome picture!! LOL!