I'm baaaccckk

Surgery went well. Only 4 days later, I am almost completely recovered. The body is an amazing thing! Without the help of my mama, I don't think I would have healed so well. We spent 2 days at my parents' place and then she came home with us for 2 days and she took care of all the baby lifting, which incidentally included about 4 poopy diaper changes a day (!), all the feedings, playing, everything really. As a result, I was able to rest, take naps and allow my body the time it needed to make a speedy and healthy recovery. I have the best mama in the world!

Now that I am on the mend, I can concentrate on bigger and better things...planning a certain someone's 1st birthday! I have 5 weeks left and haven't done anything, other than send the invites, and start discussing the menu. Tomorrow X-man and I will head out and start picking things up and making things, hopefully he will be in the mood to play independently a lot of the next few weeks! I mean, only when I need to accomplish something, otherwise, I'm all his!

P.S. Now, I don't know if it's because they took out a body part that had stones in it, or if it was my 2 day soup and jello diet, but I've lost over 5 pounds! This should be my push to continue my healthy lifestyle and give me that extra  determination. So far, it's working, I hope it lasts. I think I will incorporate jello into my daily routine because it obviously had a hand in all this!

Snack for baby and mummy

Edamame. Possibly the most loved food to date in our house by X-man. He devours it at every opportunity.  Although grapes could be a strong rival.

Edamame is a green vegetable better known as a soybean, harvested at the peak of ripening right before it reaches the "hardening" time.

It is so easy to prepare, it's filling and it definitely keeps him producing poopies, granted they tend to be full of edamame, they are still good ones (sorry, was that gross? Most mummies spend hours upon hours discussing their child's output and what it means).

You'll find edamame in the frozen section of most grocery stores. Sometimes it will come in the pod, but you don't want the pods for the baby. For you, you can buy it that way. You just boil it for a few minutes and you are good to go. For the little one,  put salt in the water its boiled in, but for me I put the salt directly on beans. 

I take containers of it with us every time we leave the house and have one container on the go at home at all times. And for myself, I use it as a snack too. It's very good for someone who is trying to watch their food intake. It's a high protein snack which is great for both of us. Try it out!

Spring into Shape: All done

Although Spring into Shape was a 2 week activity organised by a fellow blogger, it has given me a certain amount of focus which I needed. I am going to work hard to continue this healthier lifestyle I have tried to create. It's not perfect, but it's much better than before. 

I will continue to post recipes I enjoy because that also keeps it more interesting for me to have to find new meal ideas.

I don't actually own a scale so I don't know how much I've lost. I've been considering buying one, but I'm not convinced that I need one. I've always just used my clothes to gauge a weight loss or gain.

Thanks to all the others who participated! I hope that these past 2 weeks were a healthy journey for all of you.

Spring into Shape Day 11: Fresh recipe

With the heat doing it's hot thing, I thought we'd go for a bit of a refreshing recipe this evening. I headed over to the Chatelaine website to see if anything would catch my eye and other than the fact that I spent way too much time on the site and bookmarked about 50 recipes, I did end up picking one for tonight. 

I chose to to with a taco salad. Light, yet filling. At least, I hope it will be. Here is the link to Chatelaine's taco salad.

From the Chatelaine website: Taco salad

Spring into Shape Day 10: How can you not love stroller fit?

1) my son

2) friends

3) heat

4) the thought of shedding some weight

5) knowing that there will be watermelon and frozen grapes to be eaten at the end 

What more could I ask for?

This idea to run our own stroller fit sessions has been an amazing idea. We all suggest things, we interact non-stop with our babies...it's wonderful. I feel really good after we do it. Although during some of the exercises I really feel the burn and I curse a bit, at the end I'm not dreading coming back for the next one. This has to be a good sign.

I definitely suggest that if you are trying to get moving and shaking to shed some of that baby weight, that you should really consider trying to do your own stroller fit class. Ideally with friends, or you can do it alone and be that weird person doing funny moves in the park. Look up some videos or just do things spur of the moment, as long as you're moving, that's what matters at the end of the day. 

TAKE YOUR BABY AND GET MOVING!

Spring into Shape Day 9: Sweating to...

THE HEAT!!!! I love it, but I hate!

I'm sweating off the pounds, sweating out the toxins, getting a tan and it's making me venture outside on a daily basis.

I've stuffed my face with fruit today. Sweet, juicy, cold fruit. So yummy! OK, so I had a bagel for breakfast and some pasta for dinner, but lunch and everything in between was fruit. 

I'm telling you, it's the way to go. 

Spring into Shape Day 4: Slowly but surely

Not a very busy day today. Grandma came over so X-man and I took advantage and took Grandma on a nice long walk around the lake. Weather was very sunny and still very windy, but we couldn't miss the opportunity to get outside so that was our exercise for the day.

Dinner was soft tacos with lots of veggies to make up for the lack of rice, which we would normally have had.

One for inspiration

Here is one video off youtube you can use for stroller fit ideas.

Spring into Shape Day 3: A Different Kind of Fit

Today I participated in a stroller fit session run mainly by one of my mummy friends. She watched a lot of youtube videos for her research! It was great! It involved a lot of movement, a lot of interacting with our babies and lots of different exercises. I even had to draw out a hopscotch with chalk! We finished off with stretches in the shade while the babies played on a bunch of blankets in the middle. I felt really good, not tired like I usually do after exercising. Does that mean I didn't get as much out of it? I don't think so. I really felt the workout as I was doing, and I'm sure I will feel it more tomorrow.

For any new mummies out there, if you can't afford or don't have the time to join a stroller fit class, get a few friends together and create your own, it's lots of fun. Or do it on your own even if it's just 20 minutes around the block. Throw in some lunges as you walk, stop and do some squats, count of jumping jacks to entertain your baby, don't hold back. Get fit with stroller fit!

P.S. Don't forget the sunscreen, not just for the baby, but for you too.

Spring into Shape Day 2: It's too hot to write

The laptop is emitting a lot of heat, it's 9L00pm and 27 degrees Celcius and I am sweating. Do I really have to turn the AC on already?

Let's rewind to the beginning of the day. We had a get together in the park with about 20 mummies and we came prepared with lots of yummy healthy treats to eat. For instance, the frozen grapes. I'm addicted! I can't believe that I've never tried those before. And talk about a good treat. Forget needing to go for ice cream everyday. Wait- maybe not that good, but super duper good. We ate a lot of fruit, and had a big salad. Very refreshing.

As I predicted with all the sweat that came off of me today, I must have lost at least 1 pound! Or could it be 2? Nonetheless, getting all the toxins out through sweat is good for the body, right? Enough talk about sweat though!

X-man and I took a walk after the park which only enhanced the burning feeling in my legs from yesterday's stroller fit. We also spent time in the backyard playing around. Not a super active day, but realistically, I am not about to exercise everyday.

Dinner was barbecue 'mititei'. This is a Romanian combo meat of pork and beef. Doesn't sound good? But it is, especially done on the barbecue and with sides of coleslaw and potato salad. And for dessert, plain yogurt with frozen berries. Ok, I admit, I threw in some chocolate chips...hey, a girl can't deprive herself of everything!

On to stroller fit tomorrow. Can't say I'm looking forward to it with the heat, but I will give it a go. 

How do you keep cool when exercising on super hot days?

1st day of Spring into Shape: Stroller Fit

Today I attended a Stroller Fit class run by a fellow mummy who is actually a fitness trainer. 

Prior to signing up to this class, a friend and I had already decided to set-up our own. It came about one day when she was asking a bunch of us if we'd like to sign-up for some stroller fit classes. I said that I'd rather not pay for something like that and why don't we set-up our own. She agreed whole heartedly and I haven't done a thing for it since then, however, she has dedicated time to looking up some youtube videos for ideas and even typed up a list of exercises we can work our way through. How awesome is she for doing this?!

Back to today though. Mummies and babies met by the lake, ready to become fit. Let's talk about how hot it was for a second. It was pretty darn hot! I was already sweating from the walk to our exercise spot! How pathetic is that? X-man was pretty co-operative for the most part. I did take him out and put him on the mat and he entertained himself with Cheerios and my water bottle. As for the exercise, there were a lot of squats involved! We also did lunges, pushing and pulling the stroller or holding the babies. A few push ups were attempted, I mean real ones, not girly on your knee ones. I actually managed to complete a few, and by a few, I think I mean 4. These bicep muscles must be from carrying around the baby all the time! Then we were instructed to do the plank. Well my friends, I am not friends with the plank. Lets leave it at that. All in all, it was a good experience. Tiring because of the heat, and it makes it harder having to attend to a baby the entire time, but I'm glad I went out and did it, and it will all help in the long run. Next Spring into Shape activity is a picnic in the park tomorrow. You may be asking yourself, how is a picnic equivalent to exercise? My answer to you is that I have a 9.5 month old who is very active. Although not walking yet, he goes anywhere and everywhere and wants to see and touch everything. Not that at any age he sat still anywhere, but now he is mobile. So tomorrow, in the predicted 41 degree Celcius heat, I will be sweating off the pounds while chasing my baby in the park. Wednesday will be another stroller fit class, but this one will be lead by my friend and I who have no experience whatsoever!
As for my food regimen today...it was touch and go. Had a good breakfast, no lunch, went to the Romanian store and bought Cremsnit. I know, I know, I shouldn't have. For those who don't know what Cremsnit is, it's a pastry made of flour, powder sugar, milk, yolks, vanilla and butter. It's basically a custard filling inside of phyllo dough. Here's a picture of it before I ate it. I'm drooling just looking at it.

And dinner was a yummy steak made on the barbecue, so no oil involved, but I added 2 spoonfuls of teriyaki sauce and a simple salad of greens, tomato, red onion, celery and cucumber, with lime juice dressing. And it looked something like this.

And this is what I popped in the freezer this evening in preparation for tomorrow's heat. This will be my first time trying frozen grapes and I have no doubt that I will enjoy them very much. And the little man will have to settle for regular non-frozen ones.

Check out the rest of the ladies involved in Spring into Shape:

My Little Review Corner

Kidsumers

Jenn's RAQ

Elegantly Said

Two Children and a Migraine

The Knit Wit by Shair

Tales of a Ranting Ginger

Happily Blended

Grandma's Guide to Life

WAHM BAHM

MoscatoMom

In light of...

my Spring into Shape Challenge, I encourage you to visit some of my previous posts where I have included a variety of recipes with healthy meals.

Healthy mind, healthy body

The Biggest Loser Challenge I was in and has come to an end. I was one of the winners, tying with another mummy. I'm proud of the weight loss, and people are definitely noticing, however I am still a good 20 pounds from the weight I would like to be at and where I would feel healthy.

I have now vowed to make a much bigger effort with the continuation of my healthy lifestyle, in part because of a health problem that has now arisen. 

I'd had the pain a number of times, but never though twice about it. I'm not the type of person to complain to others about pains I have, so I'd never mentioned it. I tended to blame it on the under wire in my bra digging into me or on carrying the baby around too much and figuring it was just muscle pain. However, one night last week, I couldn't take it. I was so close to waking my husband to say that I was going to drive myself to the ER, but I didn't bother. I was moaning and groaning, something I never do, I always keep that sort of thing to myself, but I just could not take the pain anymore. I didn't know what to do with myself. I took deep breaths, I walked around, I lay in every position possible, but to no avail. Nothing alleviated the pain. I finally put a wet cloth soaked in hot water on the affected area and that seemed to soothe the pain slightly. Of course, the heat lasts about 30 seconds and then disappears. I know we have a hot water bottle and I can picture it in the basement, somewhere. I didn't have the energy to go look for it, so I decided to wet the towel again and try to go to sleep. It worked. The pain lessened enough for me to be able to fall asleep. After 2 hours of intense pain, I was asleep. I told my father about it the next day and suggested I go have an ultrasound just to make sure nothing was wrong. I had it done a few days later and found out the next day that I have gallstones. At home, I spent some time reading up on them on the internet and I find the whole thing really icky. Bile deposits forming stones. Gross. Really gross. Although not totally proven, diet is said to be a big factor in their formation, and it definitely affects their movement. Whether they try to pass through to the pancreas or not.  So, that's what I had, pancreatitis due to a stone trying to pass from my gallbladder to my pancreas. I don't know why I find it gross, my mom thinks that's funny, but I do. I've been eating such crap that it made stones, pebbles, rocks! Inside my body! That is outrageous! So, after having some blood work done to confirm everything, it has been decided that I need to have surgery to have my gallbladder removed. Oh joy. It will be a laparoscopic surgery, done with a small incision and a camera inserted, so as long as everything goes well, I will leave the hospital a few hours later. A friend of the family will be performing the surgery, and I have full faith in him and am not worried at all. The only thing is the anesthesia. You never know what will happen when you get put under. I will think positive, but am going to have my will done up regardless!

Feeling lighter

Of the mind and of the spirit.
X-man and I have been busy entertaining ourselves since his great grandma left and we're doing just fine. We have no routine whatsoever, it's fantastic! He never rises earlier than 8am so that works for moi.
However, after that one attempt with letting him cry it out, I haven't had the guts to try again. I know that you don't see adults sleeping in their parents' beds, but I get NOTHING done because it seems to be extending to also when he is awake sometimes. He'll spend max 10 minutes in his exersaucer, so far doesn't like the Jolly Jumper, his mats on the ground are a guess from day to day, more recently he starts to cry within minutes of being put down, my only saving grace that lets me run a load of laundry or get the dishes done is his high chair. This just means constantly picking up the toys he pitches on the ground, which is fine. However, I don't want him spending all his time in a sitting position in there. 
He scoffs at shushing and patting him when he is upset, he basically tells me to f-off when I try that. So, I think it's going to have be tough love with this guy, my own fault. My mum told me from the beginning to lay him in his crib to sleep, but I didn't want to be apart, and couldn't get up out of bed anyway for the first week and I loved so much being with him that I resisted. Now I and he are paying the price. I just keep thinking that we will be going away in a couple of months and he will have to sleep separate from me so I have to start at some point...

Who could resist spending every minute of the day with this squishy face?!

On a healthy note, eating is more or less going in a positive direction. As opposed to indulging in the Hershey Kisses that I have already bought for Valentine's Day (why so early you ask...I have no idea), I had some yummy cherries that my maman brought me yesterday. 

Also made a huge pot of tomato and veggies soup with lentils. Just had some now for the first time and it's not too bad.

Sunday late lunch: Tabouleh burgers, salad, tzaziki

Today I tried something I've never made before. Saw a friend's post on Facebook about couscous burgers and although I didn't have plain couscous, I used tabouleh instead. This is actually couscous with dried parsley, garlic and a couple of other things so in a sense it's better than straight up couscous. 

Although I would have loved to have some fries or yam fries, I was hesitant because I had to use more oil than I would have liked to to avoid burning the "patties". So I relied on my trusted friend, the salad to get us through the meal.

Ingredients:

Serves 6

- 3/4 cup tabouleh

- 1/2 cup water  

- 2 tbsp lemon juice

- 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed

- 1 can of chick peas

- 2 tbsp flour

- bread crumbs (optional)

- multi grain sandwich buns 

- salad greens

- cherry tomatoes

- goat cheese

- radishes, sliced

- cucumbers, chopped

- 1 cup non-fat plain yoghurt

Tabouleh burger

In a bowl, combine water, lemon juice and tabouleh. Let sit until water has been soaked up.

Place chick peas and garlic in food processor and pulse until smooth. 

Mix together chick peas with tabouleh. Add flour. (I ended up adding more cause mixture was still too liquidy.) At this point you can choose to roll patties in bread crumbs if desired. 

Make pattie sized formations. Place oil in pan, let it get very hot and place patties in pan.

Toast the buns and pop pattie in the middle.

Extra: my husband added hot peppers and hot sauce to his, perhaps you like your food spicy too?

Salad

Mix together greens, radishes, cherry tomato. Squeeze lime juice on top.

Tzaziki

Mix together cucumbers, yoghurt, dill. Chill until meal is ready. Can be used either on burger or as salad dressing.

Plate, serve and enjoy!

Tonight's menu

 I went to Bulk Barn on the weekend and got a few things, among which was red quinoa and decided that today would be the day to showcase it at dinner.

On the menu for this evening was:
Turkey sausage
Red quinoa
Goat cheese salad


Ingredients:


- turkey sausage
- canola high
- 1 cup red quinoa
- 2 cups water (for soaking)
- 1 1/2 cup water (for cooking)
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- mixed greens
- handful of cherry tomatoes
- 6 almonds, chopped
- 1 lime
- 2 tbsp goat cheese
- radishes, slices
- salt


Directions:


Quinoa
Soak quinoa in a bowl in water for 15 minutes. Rinse. Place quinoa small pot in water and bring to a boil. Cover with a lid, and turn the heat down to simmer. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove quinoa from heat and allow to sit five minutes with the lid on. Put quinoa in strainer to drain water. Place a few drops of oil in the pot, throw in garlic and onion. Add quinoa back and mix when onion and garlic have reached state you are happy with.


Turkey sausage
Make a few slits in turkey on a diagonal. Place a few drops of oil in pan. Fry sausages for approximately 10 minutes.


Salad
Wash all veggies. Mix together greens, cherry tomatoes, almonds and radishes. Sprinkle on goat cheese. Squeeze lime onto salad and mix everything up.


Serve and enjoy!