Day 11 of the 30 Day Shred: Not too shabby!

Found this image on Google. Here is the source.

Hi, folks! I'm still here! Jillian hasn't killed me yet!

People weren't lying when they said this workout was tough. You have to do jumping jacks, people! Do you know how long it has been since I've done a jumping jack?!

I am on day 11 of the 30 day shred. The first couple of days were torture. My muscles ached SO BADLY. I could barely walk. Thankfully we have a bath tub so I could take a nice hot steamy bath to soothe my muscles that were punishing me for making them work harder than they had in a gajillion months.

I skipped day 5 because I was out of town. I was very nervous about the next day. I was afraid that Jillian would make me pay, but I conquered her and her giant nostrils and athletic smirk!

Each day gets a little easier, except level 1 is getting a tad bit boring. Yesterday would have been my last day on level 1 but I was traveling to my mother's house, so I skipped again. Sure, I could go ahead and start level 2, but I have such a big guilt complex that I would feel like I'm cheating if I continued without doing the full 10 days of the first level. Plus, I don't think I'm quite ready for level. 2 Tomorrow will probably be my last day on level 1 and a whole new kind of torture will begin!

So, you might be wondering if I've seen any results. I didn't think I would at this point, but surprisingly- I have seen a difference! I haven't lost any weight really, but I think a small amount of fat has melted away. My pants seem a little bit looser. And today I noticed in the full-length mirror at my mom's house that I can see a part of my c-section scar peeking through my "apron" of tummy fat. I never was able to see it before unless I lifted my apron up. So I am assuming that some of my tummy fat is going away since I can see my scar now. Now I am kind of worried that I am imagining things, like my mom has some sort of special, different mirror than the full-length mirror at my house.

My hunka-hunka-burnin' love of a baby boy gets very heavy to hold after awhile. When I was at Mass this last weekend and holding Joe, my arms didn't start trembling after 5 minutes like they usually do! It's such a great feeling to be able to hold my son for much longer!

One of the biggest changes is the amount of energy I have now. I think I would take that over sculpted abs and small numbers on the scale! I feel so much better nowadays! It's great!

I am trying to eat healthier- more fruits and veggies and eating smaller portions. My only problem is that I just had Girl Scout cookies delivered to me.... so... I'm sure you can guess how that is going! Stashing them in the freezer is helping a little bit.

So that's how it's going so far! Jillian is still evil, but I can conquer her!

March for Life, Prayers for Courage

Today marks the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Writing about abortion is difficult for me. Why? One reason is because I am a huge coward. I have been praying to God to give me the courage to proclaim the truth. I wish I was more courageous like Marc Barnes at the blog Bad Catholic. He has a great pro-life post with a YouTube video that gives me Holy Ghost goosebumps!

The second reason is because I know two women who have had abortions. They don't know that I know. I know the reasons behind the abortions, but don't know how they feel about the decision they have made. My heart breaks for them. I still stand 100% behind the teaching of the Church on abortion, but my my heart is heavy when I think about all that I know.

I still don't know how to write about how I feel about abortion. Someday I will find the courage and the words. But for now I'd like to share an amazing video. It is a 3-D version of the conception of a baby and her journey of growing in the womb. It is scientific, spiritual, miraculous, and simply beautiful. It's kind of long, but I encourage you to watch the whole thing.



It seem pretty clear to me that life starts from the very beginning.

I am praying for the pilgrims at the March for Life, all women who have been affected by abortion, and most importantly, for the souls of all those lives that have tragically been cut short.

Wondering Wednesdays Vol. 20: Reading Blogs

Here's a late Wondering Wednesday post.

How many blogs do you follow and how many of them do you actually read?

I'm finding it harder and harder to keep up with peoples' blogs. I keep finding great new ones to read! I find them in other people's blog rolls, and through commenters on my posts.

There are some blogs that I always read because I consider them dear blogging friends and they always have something interesting to say. I will admit that there are some blogs in my reader that I just skim over. I mean, my goodness.... just look at my profile and you will see how many blogs I follow. Granted, not all of them post frequently, and some of them don't post at all, but still!

I feel like my days are so busy with Joe, which I'm not complaining about! It's just I feel like I really have no time for myself. I can read blogs and have me-time when he goes to sleep, but honestly, I'm ready to go to bed myself. I don't understand how some women who have like eight kids find time to even write their own blog posts! How do you do it?!

I know that this may seem like a strange dilemma. It's not really a problem, just more of a minute frustration. It's not the end of the world if I don't get caught up on my blogs. Spending time with my husband and son is waaaaaaaaay more important than reading a blog post. I get that. But I enjoy reading blogs. I enjoy reading Faith and Family Live. I want to get more involved with the online NFP community at LivingTheSacrament.com. I just think I'm just bad at managing my blog reading time. Maybe it's that evil facebook that sucks me away!

So, how do you go about reading your favorite blogs and websites?

D'OH!

Jillian is killing my brain cells.

I see that I've been typing "shread" instead of "shred." I hate it when I realize later that I didn't spell something correctly!

I could go and fix it... but I have a cute little baby boy that wants to play!

Day One of 30 Day Shread: Kill Me Now.

Day One of Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shread complete.

I'm still alive, but barely.

Many things went through my head while I was doing this 20 minute workout:

"This isn't so bad."

(15 seconds later...) "OK, I was wrong."

"My muscles! They... hurt! They.... ache!"

"MOMMY!"

"Jillian, you're a devil woman."

"How long will it take for Ryan to discover my body?"

It didn't help that we have a loose floor board so every time I did a jumping jack I was fearful of crashing into the basement below. Nothing like hearing "creak, boom, creak, boom" when jumping up and down. Oh yeah, I also had to take down the pictures and breakables from the top of the entertainment center because they were shaking. Let me tell you, that made me feel SUPER AWESOME.

At least Joe was entertained for awhile watching me jump around and pant like a fool. Well.. about 10 minutes into it he had a look on his face that said, "Mommy, why is the mean man-lady hurting you?"

My legs and arms feel like jell-0. Tomorrow will probably be pure torture. Thank goodness I took a picture of my belly to remind me what I'm trying to accomplish, otherwise I would probably throw in the towel.

I'll keep you updated on this new, budding relationship between me and Miss Michaels.

Oh yeah, is there a patron saint of exercise? Or maybe I should pray to St. Michael the Archangel since Jillian is certain to be in league with the devil! :-) I mean seriously, look at her!

Losin' the Preggo Fat!

It. is. time.

It's time to get back in shape after having a baby! (Wait a minute... I was never in shape to begin with!)

I'd like to join Weight Watchers because the program was a great success for me when I wanted to lose weight for my wedding. Unfortunately the funds aren't there, so I'm starting to keep a food diary and making plans to start exercising.

Yesterday I wrote down everything I ate and figured how many calories I had consumed. It seemed like a lot, but it was actually in the high end of the normal range for a breastfeeding mother. (In other words, if I wasn't breastfeeding and eating this many calories, I'd be a blobby monster.) However, I need to replace some of the food I eat with healthier alternatives. I'm OK with that- I don't have to cut out calories, which is good for this gal who loooooves to eat!

Exercise... ugh. I know I'd be a lot happier with my body image if I just got off my duff and got active! It is so hard for me to get motivated. I feel like I never have time and/or energy. If I ever do get motivated then I usually lose dedication. Well, hopefully I can stick with it this time. I asked for suggestions on a good workout for post-baby, and many people suggested Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shread. To be honest, I don't like Jillian Michaels. I complained about her during my pregnancy. But so many people I know tell me how awesome her workout is. They also tell me how it can be very difficult. Will exercising a brutal workout to a woman I don't like work for me? I don't know. But I already bought the DVD (it was on sale!) and opened the packaging. I watched some of it to see what I was getting myself into. I'll admit I'm a tad bit afraid, but I'm not backing down from this challenge!

Weight-wise, I'm satisfied. I've been back to my pre-pregnancy weight for a long time now (thank you, breastfeeding!) I just have this flabby "apron" where my stomach used to be. And I was a little overweight before I got pregnant, so I want to go even lower than my pre-pregnancy weight!

I'm not concerned about what I look like. There are days I look down at my ankles and think, "Damn, those are sexy!" after what they looked like when I was pregnant. (They were NOT pretty.) I relish in the fact that I can see my knee caps again. I'm at peace with the stretch marks. I know I'm not ever going to wear a bikini. I don't want rock hard abs or buns of steel.

I want to be healthy.

I want to be the very best I can be for my husband, son and future children. I want to be able to run and jump and dance and be silly for years to come. I am blessed that my pregnancy was fairy easy until the very end, but I want to be even healthier for my next pregnancy. If I ever want to consider a VBAC I want to be in great shape.

I'm starting Jillian on Monday. I'll keep you updated! In the meantime, if any of you ladies out there have good tips for sticking with a exercise program or how to maintain a healthy lifestyle while busy with children, please, feel free to share!

Wondering Wednesdays Vol. 19: The News

Today I am wondering why I bother watching the news. It's so depressing.

I never really grew up watching the news, except for maybe the morning news shows before I went to school. But the last couple of years Ryan and I watch the news nearly every night. Before I had Joe I would spend the day writing or reading with CNN Headline News on in the background.

Whenever the local news comes on and they say "Breaking News" Ryan always says, "It's either a house fire, a car accident, or a shooting." He's usually right. There is rarely ever breaking news that a child was cured of cancer or that a father of 4 finally returned home after a 15 month tour of Iraq.

There are chilling mugshots of murderers flashed on the screen. (Have you seen the mugshot of the alleged shooter of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords? That smirk, those eyes- it's pure evil.) There are stories of people losing their homes to fires or natural disasters, getting scammed, abusing animals, killing infants, abusing children and elderly folk. There are stories of wars, bombings, big companies screwing over common people. It makes me wonder why news shows are still on. Why do people keep turning on their TV sets to see these sad stories? It makes me think we are on the verge of the end of the world. I know there is evil in this world, but it just seems like that is all the news reports.

So why do Ryan and I watch it? Mostly for the weather and sports. Plus we live out in the sticks, so we like to know what is going on in the world. I also like hearing the heart-warming human interest stories. They give me some hope for humanity!

Maybe I will stop watching the news and stick to getting my info from the Internet- at least I can skip the headlines that will give me nightmares.

Do you watch the news or do you stay away? What do you think of all the sadness?