1. I woke up early today! And surprisingly, I feel like a million bucks. When Tom gets up for work in the mornings, the sound of him getting ready always wakes me up a little. But usually just enough for me to be semi-conscious while he kisses me goodbye. And then I roll over and fall back asleep. But this morning, for some reason, we struck up a conversation about something or other. And then I realized that I needed to use the bathroom. And then once I was out of bed, I felt pretty awake, and decided I should just stay up. This was 7:00am, by the way. A respectable time to wake up!
2. I managed, this morning, to get work done for my cyber school job, shower, eat a leisurely breakfast while reading a book, tend to Sly's needs (feeding, changing, entertainment), do some laundry, go to Mass, take a walk, get a cup of coffee at a coffee shop, pick up a card for my cousin's bridal shower....all before noon! This needs to happen more often!!
3. I've come to an unpleasant realization recently: that I have definitely put on weight since Sly was born. I know, I know - it's to be expected that your body changes after you have a baby. But that's not what I mean. I mean I've been putting on weight since his birth. At my 2-week checkup after he was born, I was already back to pre-pregnancy weight. By one month, I was fitting back in all my old pants and skirts (dresses are a different issue. I still can't get most of them zipped past the chest!). But in the months since then, I've felt myself slowly putting on more and more weight. It didn't make sense at first. Everyone always talks about how breastfeeding is this *magical* way to lose the weight after having a baby. But then it hit me: it's because, while caring for Sly inside the house all day, I have become MUCH more sedentary than I used to be. I've been hardly walking anywhere ("Where would I go with the baby?", "Too cold to have him outside!"), and I definitely never go running anymore.
4. Now that the weather is finally improving, I've been trying to go out for a walk with Sly as often as possible. Even if it's just 20 minutes. It's nice enough just to get some fresh air, and sunlight. Vitamin D!
5. And Tom and I made a plan for these upcoming Spring weekends. We're going to drive to a different park around town each week, and take a long walk (and maybe picnics when it's nice enough).
From last weekend's walk in Highland Park6. I've also noticed that I've been feeling tired and sapped of energy a lot. I know that's probably how moms feel most of the time (haha), but this was pretty bad. I'd been finding it difficult to get out of bed before 10! I brought it up at the La Leche League meeting I attended the other day, assuming the women would tell me that breastfeeding had that effect on people. But they all shook their heads, and explained to me that I shouldn't be experiencing the energy lack to such an extent. What it comes down to is, I haven't been taking great care of myself.
7. So to that end, I'm starting to pay more attention to my health. I'm trying to drink more water (especially important when you're breastfeeding). Also, I started taking the prenatal vitatmins again which I should have been taking all this time (the bottle says "for pregnant and lactating women"). Oops. The extent of my fruit/veggie consumption recently has been something like one glass of juice in the morning, and one serving of vegetables at dinner. Not enough for me, even. But - and I'm not sure if this is actually true, but it makes sense that it would be - I think my body might give priority of the the vitamins and nutrients to the milk for the baby. And when I don't eat enough of them, I'm left with hardly anything for myself! Which explains why I've been so tired. So, I'm trying to do better with that - eating more of the good, less of the bad. And I've been drinking homemade carrot-apple-parsley juice in the afternoons. It actually tastes pretty good, and is very good for you. It's energizing...and Sly loves it too!
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It's nice that this urge to make some positive changes has come upon me right before Lent. I always find it rewarding to be able to connect such sacrifices to the Passion of Christ, and have the extra Lenten spirit helping you to examine your faults and give you the motivation to correct them.
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Hurray for #1 and #2! I've found that if I can get the morning routine done, well, in the actual morning (haha), it pretty much guarantees a good day.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think getting up early can make such a difference! And I hear you on the no exercising thing. It's so tough with a new baby, but I really miss it!
ReplyDeleteAnd we have the same stroller!