This morning was one big flashback to 2 1/2 years ago.  I should say it was lots of little flashbacks to 2 1/2 years ago.  You know, when I was all round and glowy, maybe a little sleepy too.  Ah!  Here she is…

FLASHBACK! September 2010, about 34 weeks pregnant

I joined a group of round, glowy and sleepy gals this morning at Rapid Fitness in Raleigh.  I have been to lots of gyms, but I seriously love this one.  I like fitness classes because I’m an uber-extrovert who can’t stand the solidarity and monotony of running.  (Let’s be honest.  I hate running in general.  If that’s your thing, they have plenty of treadmills and ellipticals with fancy TVs.) What I really love is that they have specialty prenatal exercise classes.

No.  I’m not pregnant.  Thanks for asking, though.

Now that we have that cleared up, I have an explanation for my attendance to this class.  Rapid Fitness’ prenatal class was being featured on NBC 17’s local morning newscast.  As part of my Public Relations job, I do Media Training to prepare clients for interviews.  After helping Brandy, a Personal Trainer for Rapid Fitness, they asked me to use my baby blogging skills to tell all my darling readers more about what they offer.  I was there to observe and tell you all about the prenatal class.

Disclaimer: Rapid Fitness gives me free classes that I don’t attend like I should.  My opinions, however, come up more than they should.  They are totally free and totally honest.

Being with the TV news crew gave me flashbacks to all my early morning hours as a news reporter.  I was all busy and harried, maybe a little stressed too.  Ah!  Here she is… (Really cold and miserable on this day, apparently.)

FLASHBACK!  No joke. EXACTLY 3 years ago today January 29, 2010 (Found it on Facebook.)

This morning Brandy discussed the importance of prenatal fitness.  As a personal trainer and mother of a 2 1/2 year old, she works with moms-to-be to stay fit before pregnancy.  She explained to Page Crawford from NBC 17 that exercise while you’re pregnant can help with the following…

• More energy
• Less moody
• Better sleep
• Easier labor and delivery
• Decreased chance of Gestational Diabetes

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking.  “Ha!  Sounds good Amy, let’s go workout when I’m already more tired then I have ever been in my entire life.  Did someone poison my food?  Seriously.”  I hear you.  These recommendations come with a caveat.  Do what your doctor says is okay.  Don’t push it.  That is something they really stress at Rapid Fitness.  Let me tell you, these were some seriously dedicated pregnant chicks.

You see the blond on the left?  That’s Jennifer.  She is my sweet, adorable coworker whom I love working with.  You want to talk about a tough cookie?  This poor girl has had an awful pregnancy!  She has been sick EVERY DAY.  If you have questions about Zofram and extreme exhaustion, Jennifer can answer them.  She is expecting a boy in May, and I think she will be glad to not be pregnant.  Yet here she was this morning, toning muscles and keeping her body strong.  She is my new hero.

All the exercises they offer in the class are modified and lower impact to make them safe for pregnancy.  They did lunges and squats to prepare your legs and booty for the big pushes of labor.  The class then used small free weights to tone arms.  I know I’m not the only one whose arms were seriously sore after labor. It’s hard work to pull yourself up by your legs like that.  Bouncing and sitting on the exercise ball while lifting the weights was encouraged.  Of course breathing, stretching, and water breaks were a huge priority.  (Wait, not those kind of water breaks!)  

I’m making it a personal goal to do more low-impact exercise the next time I get pregnant. (Whenever that is. Again, I’m not pregnant.)  I did a lot of walking the first go-around, but I want more overall tone this time.

Were you/are you able to exercise during pregnancy? What kind of exercise did you do/are you doing while pregnant?  Did you take a class?  Did it help you feel better during pregnancy or labor and delivery?  

Watch the NBC 17 segments and here so you can see some of the exercises.  (The second link is longer and you can hear more interviews!)

Hey there!  I was a little quiet on the blog this week, but believe me when I say I had blogging on the brain.  I had been wanting a makeover for awhile.  Thanks to Sarah at One Starry Night, things are freshened up quite a bit.  She came up with this fabulous design that I hope all you darling readers like.

I’m working to stretch my writing and make my site even better.  I can’t do it without the help of people like Sarah.  Poor Kelly has the arduous task of being my blog host.  She is with the amazing Twenty 70 Hosting  and has to hear my Widget whines and HTML blunders.  Both Kelly and Sarah are so kind and patient with me and my Internet ineptitude.

Thank you with all my heart for reading my blog.  Please comment and email.  I always want to know what you’re thinking, good and bad.  It blows my mind sometimes that people read the words I write.  This blog has been an outlet, a community, a recorder and a soapbox.  Above all, it’s been a happy blessing.

If you don’t already read my friend Erin’s blog, you totally should.  She came up with a fun idea for a link up and I’m all about it.  Why?  Because it has to do with sparkly stickers.  Let’s face it, I love sparkly stickers about as much as my two-year-old loves them.

Her idea?  Parents should get gold stars for being awesome, or simply for doing things that aren’t terrible.  Agreed.

• My little potty-trainer said she needed to drop a deuce.  Yes!  We’ve been working on that.  I hurried her to the commode.  I helped her pull down her pants and a turd fell out and rolled on to the bathroom floor.  I did not groan and grimace.  Nope.  I plastered a shit eating grin on my face and said, “Uh oh!  That’s okay!  You got really close to the potty!”  I helped her do her business and cleaned up.  My little one then reminded me “You no eat poo poo, Mama!  Is yucky!”  I had my shit eating grin on for nothing.

Yes, this is a resolution post.  It’s January 2nd for pete’s sake!  It was either write this blog post or go to the gym where I would have to wait an hour for an elliptical machine.  “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”  So let’s just go with it, shall we?

I heard it said recently that “goals not written down are just wishes.” So true!  Some of my goals for 2013 are very personal, others mundane.  I won’t bother you with them here, but I wrote them down elsewhere.  I’m not wishing 2013 away.  “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”  (Wait, I’m starting to think that reference too 2012.  You think?)

Anyway, I read a lot of blogs today about resolutions, or choosing a single word that describes a theme for the year 2013.  I’ve come up with my word.

Question

Yep, as in asking questions.  Instead of resolutions, I’m asking questions.  Everyday I will ask myself this series of questions.  I made most of them open ended.  For example, I’m not going to ask myself, “Did you eat healthy today?’  But, instead I will ask, “What healthy food choices did you make today.”  It forces me to think about my decisions.  Here is my list of daily questions for 2013.

• What did you thank God for in your prayers today?
• What did you do today to show Greyson and Charlotte you love and appreciate them?
• When did you pet the dog?
• What did you do at work that accomplished a task or showed leadership?
• What step did you take to make your blog better?
• How many blogs did you comment on today?
• What healthy foods did you eat?
• How did you get exercise today?
• What junk did you get out of your car?

Is this a good idea?  Do you think I can do it?  Should I add to this list?  What questions are you asking  yourself in 2013?

I haven’t written since Christmas, and even then I didn’t really write.  I’ve just enjoyed my vacation.  It was a week of uninterrupted time with family and friends and exactly what our little family needed.  No work, no blogging.  It was really fantastic.  Do it if you can.

It could be the excitement of having Christmas with a 2-year-old that made this year special, but that’s not all of it.  I can’t put my finger on one thing that made it fantastic.  It was every little moment.  I think we have to go back before our actual vacation, to the week before Thanksgiving.

• That is when we took Charlotte to her first Christmas parade and the Santa mania began.  She didn’t even want to sit in her wagon.  Nope, only our shoulders would do.  She wanted to see everything.

• During Thanksgiving she watched her first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  She couldn’t wait for the Sesame Street float while she sat on her Sesame Street potty.  Greyson and I laughed and laughed at our little naked baby.

• Charlotte ran to Santa and gave him a hug.  She asked him for a baby doll.

• One night in December, Greyson and I had a date night to see Raleigh’s famous version of “A Christmas Carol.”  My former colleague and great friend, Mark played Nephew Fred.  I was so proud I teared up.  When the cast ran into the audience as part of the performance, he found us and hugged us.
• Another night I had a girls night at “The Nutcracker” I told all of you about.
• We got an extra special treat when Greyson’s parents surprised us and flew in from Colorado the weekend before Christmas.  They got to give Charlotte her new kitchen set.
• I got together with my friends from my old dance company growing up since everyone was in town for the holidays.  Some still dance.  For others like me, competitions, recitals, bleeding toes and tutus are all part of a past life.  It was exciting to catch up with them and plan dance days for our own daughters.  

• I also got to meet up with friends from high school.  It was like herding cats for Meagan, Megan and myself to keep track of our two-year-olds.  I love seeing old friends from the past and seeing their life successes.  It does my heart good.  For me, when I look at old friends I see the 17-year-old me, forever preserved in them.

• Santa came!  Her beloved baby doll was in her arms.

• We traveled to my Grandparents houses for a little extended-family time.  Charlotte has not stopped talking about her second cousins Lana, Emma, and Willow.

• New Years Eve we went downtown to Raleigh’s First Night celebration.  We drop an acorn because we’re the City of Oaks.  It’s silly, we know, but it’s our thing here in the Capital City.  We went to the 7:00pm Acorn Drop for children.  This was Charlotte’s first and she couldn’t have been more delightful.  If she kissed us once, it was a million times.  I teared up singing Auld Lang Syne at 7:01pm.  I was that ridiculously happy with my bundled-up little family.

 

Quick sidenote:  This holiday I realized how often I use my Instagram.  (Duh! See above post.  Half these pics are IG.) Seriously.  It’s as much as I use Twitter and Facebook.  I’ve had my account for about 1 1/2 years.  I was shocked at BlogHer ’12 how many bloggers I recognized from Instagram.  Therefore, I’m keeping my account even though many are jumping ship because of all the drama.  I’m considering watermarking my pics.  I dunno.  I just don’t want to worry about it.  Anyway, let me know what you decided.  Let me know if I’m not following you!