#MomLife

postpartum fitness // wishes + plans

January 17, 2016 by Rachel 1 Comment

I know I’m not postpartum yet, but gosh, I cannot wait to get back to feeling like myself. Don’t get me wrong, I’m giving myself as much time as necessary to heal, postpartum. However, this warmer than usual winter has had me in a bit of a jealous fit from time to time. Especially since it’s been absolutely perfect running weather up until recently. And here I am, barely able to walk up the stairs without peeing myself. Ha!

Postpartum, however, I will not let a little pee stop me from getting my workout on! Thank goodness for Depend Silhouette Active Fit womens briefs. Trust me, I know I will need them after this child is born (heck, I need them now!). And I totally know that I’m not alone! In fact, more people have bladder leakage in their 20s than people in their 80s! And if you’re a mom, you probably know what I mean!

Barre Fly. This studio opened up in Canton a while back and I’ve been dying to try out their aerial yoga! And I’m sure it will feel awesome on my postpartum hips! And perhaps I can even (finally) check out a barre class!
Balance + Brews. Basically, yoga in a brewery. Umm, yes please! Again, these started like right around the time I found out I was pregnant. I’ve been itching to get to one of these classes, because, beer… and stretching!
PureMvmnt. I’ve always wanted to try pole classes. However, I have zero rhythm and absolutely no core strength nowadays. This space was created to empower women! And what better way than by building core strength.
Believe In CLE. I missed the last couple of Believe in CLE yoga events and I’m dying to get back to a huge practice!
GrooveRyde. Dying to try out this new cycling and yoga studio!

Luckily when I head out on my new fitness adventures, no one will have a clue that I’m struggling with some light bladder leakage. And I’ll be spreading #underwareness because they are SO discreet! With a lower rise, Depend Silhouette Active Fit briefs both fit and feel like real underwear — so I don’t have to worry about something embarrassing happening while I’m doing aerial yoga. Ha!

You can try them out for yourself for FREE! Get a free sample here and check out how Depend is entering year three of #Underwareness, a social movement and charitable cause to break down the bladder leakage stigma! And most of all, don’t let a little bladder leakage hold you back from getting out there and moving!!

Many thanks to Depend for sponsoring today’s story and spread #underwareness cause.

farewell to three.

January 12, 2016 by Rachel Leave a Comment

I’ve been clinging to some Moosh time as of late. Big time. I know our time is coming to a close as a family of three. And it’s making me super emotional. Super emotional for my first baby. And for what bringing a second baby into the family means.

It means less one-on-one time with Moosh.

It means less undivided Moosh attention.

It means I can no longer drop everything and just stare at Moosh.

OK, you get it. It means less ‘just Moosh.’ And it’s heartbreaking for me. Absolutely heartbreaking.

YES, I’m excited for Baby Girl to make her arrival. But I’m also sad that I no longer have just my baby boy to wrap his arms around me. And even as I type this out, I keep having conflicting feelings, which consist mostly of “OK, I don’t want this one-on-one time to end,” to “GET this CHILD out of me NOW so I can meet her!”

The pregnancy struggle (and hormones) are super real, y’all. Real real.

So, for now, I’ll soak up the extra snuggles and all the extra kisses he’s willing to give me; I’ll soak up the nap times where he spoons me (yes, HE spoons ME); I’ll soak up the early bedtimes and the indulgences of sleeping in ‘mommies bed;’ and I’ll give him all the extra attention he so wants and deserves! ♥

‘Cause nothing lasts forever.

PS. My bags are packed. my house is clean. the nesting is complete. let’s do this, little lady. ♥

Life Lately | January 2016

January 5, 2016 by Rachel 2 Comments

Life has been crazy busy lately. But we haven’t actually done anything lately. Seriously. Here’s the long + short of what we’ve been up to as of late:

Nesting. I’ve been mega-nesting as of late. Like, when I’m not nesting, and I’m trying to do something else productive (like sleep), I’m THINKING about nesting. It’s fantastic. But also, I’m not able to tackle the things I want to accomplish as quickly as I would like (because, belly). But I’ve successfully gotten a ton done.
Food, food, food. I’m not eating a lot (because, belly), but I’ve been eating well! And I’ve been keeping it down! Hooray! And, obviously, at this point I’m enjoying every second of it. And I’m not eating crappy like I did with Ari, either. I’m eating really delicious, mostly healthy foods!
My sister-in-law had an impromptu visit from Colorado last week and we ended up spending a really awesome 24-hours with her, including a trip out to our fave local Chinese spot for some dinner. It’s the little things in life, like food and family, that make life interesting! LOL!
My SIL visited! Well, I kinda let you know about that in the last bulletpoint, but leave me alone! LOL. But seriously, it was a great visit. She ended up getting stranded at Cleveland-Hopkins airport in an effort to get back to Denver from Florida, and she just decided to stay for a couple of days, sans kiddos! Moosh seriously loved every single second of having her here. He completely manipulated her time and attention – Ha! When he woke up and she wasn’t here, he said, “where’s my friend Ashy?” ♥

Fire trucks. Ari got to meet up with his friend Kayden (and my close friend Kristi) to see some fire trucks up-close and personal! In a “private showing,” of sorts, these kids climbed in and out of the fire trucks and even got to go on a quick ‘ride’ around the block! Moosh. was. ECSTATIC. Seriously. I’ve never seen this kid happier than riding in this fire truck.

Pregnancy. Guys, I’m over it. Like big time over it. I’m so over it that I can’t even put together a “pregnancy update” post. Cause here’s what’s new with this pregnancy:
- I’m about ready to pop. Nope, still not as big as I was with Ari; but more uncomfortable than I was with him pregnant at 41 weeks.
- My boobs leak everywhere, always. I think I’ve gone through an entire package of nursing pads before this child has even come. Having pumped nonstop for 12 months with Moosh, I feel awfully guilty that this colostrum cannot be ‘saved’ for Baby Girl.
- Heartburn. I had heartburn, like, twice when I was pregnant with Moosh. With this child I seem to have it all day every day. If you’ve never had heartburn it feels like your chest is on fire and you may vomit at any moment. Every burp you feel coming leaves you to wonder if it’s going to come back up. For me, it doesn’t seem to matter what I eat, when I eat, or how little I eat; I will have heartburn. Suuuuper.
- Lots of movement. I thought Moosh moved a lot in the womb; but that was nothing compared to what this girl is putting me through!
- Contractions. They are coming and going, infrequently. I’m nearly 38 weeks (Thursday), so it’s bound to happen eventually, right?? Only a couple of times have I actually thought “Oh, this might be it.” But nope.
Staying on the homefront. I’m too miserable and too uneasy to ‘go’ far from home. If it’s not Target, a trip to see Kristi, or the doctor, I’m not doing it. Sorry, friends! You can blame me for being antisocial, but to be honest, even if you were around me, you wouldn’t want to be. I’m just not fun. In fact, we skipped out on seeing my favorite comedian of all time, Tommy Johnagin, because I don’t really want to travel too far from home. I know. Lame.

Until this new baby comes, this will be our life. Nesting, resting, and staying close to home.

… and I wouldn’t have it any other way! ♥ ♥ ♥

Christmas 2015 // that’s a wrap!

December 30, 2015 by Rachel Leave a Comment

Guys – my holiday hangover is still in full-force. … and I didn’t even partake in any ‘party’ festivities, so to speak! Ha! But seriously, something about celebrating Christmas leaves everyone in a post-Christmas lull. For me, it’s a mix between that and pregnancy exhaustion. But I’ll blame it on the holidays. 😉

Christmas Eve-Eve //

Well thanks to my ‘schedule clearing up,’ we were able to attend Chad’s families Christmas Eve-Eve party! Unfortunately, Chad was still working, so Ari and I went at it alone. And let me tell you… any shyness that Moosh use to have? it’s GONE. Big time. GONE. He was the life of the party… and he knew it. And he loved it! And for once, I didn’t have to chase him around, because he was a “big boy” enough to play semi-independently with the other kiddo!

Christmas Eve //

Chad worked Christmas Eve until about 3:30PM or so, so Ari and I met up with my friend Kristi and her kids at Chick-Fil-A for lunch.

It was amazing to see Ari ‘ooh‘ and ‘ahh‘ over Kristi’s baby girl. He’s been around her since she was born, but he has never ever taken interest in any babies. Well, perhaps it’s because he’s finally come to terms with the fact that Baby Girl will be here before he knows it!

After that little playdate we honestly did nada! We had zero plans, so PJs at 5pm was absolutely in order. In fact, Ari and I may have actually been in PJs before Chad got home! Ha!

And we finally had our first experience with the “Santa is coming!” jitters! I know this is the first of many years to come, but it was so funny trying to get him to relax and go to bed knowing Santa was ‘looming’ around the corner! Eventually, we all fell asleep. [thank goodness!]

Christmas Day //

We woke up at about 7:30-8ish. I was exhausted, but totally excited to see the look on Ari’s face! He came downstairs slowly and exclaimed “Santa came!”

It took a while to open presents because he would rip the paper off the present and then he would beg us to open it and to start playing with it right away! Ha! So it was a process of “open this,” “no, we’ll play with that when we get through all the presents,” to “OK Ari next present.” Tear it open and repeat!

After assessing the Santa/presents situation, we tried to take a nap — Ha! That was a short-lived dream. 🙂 We ‘awoke’ to my father-in-laws visit with us to celebrate Christmas! We relaxed until it was time to go to dinner. See? We were doing a mega-ultra-relaxed Christmas celebration.

And a sorry to my Jewish friends, but we totally had plans to steal your Christmas and go to our favorite local Chinese restaurant. In our defense, though, I’m fairly certain that NONE of the people that were eating at this restaurant were Jewish; but the restaurant was very busy. We ate and ate and ate. Went home and played some more. A pretty perfect Christmas day!

December 26th //

We. slept. in! Thank goodness. We all needed it. And after breakfast, we took Moosh to Cafe O’Play for their 1-Year Anniversary celebration!

Chad, my father-in-law, Moosh, and I met up with Ari’s girlfriend, Veronique, and her mommy for a fun playdate! And they totally soaked up every second together!

And before we knew it, it was time to go home and all take a big family nap! We seriously did SO much of this over the holiday break. Naps, naps, naps. You would think we would all be extremely well-rested, but that’s definitely not the case!

unintended lessons for my toddler // AKA thanks, random stranger

December 22, 2015 by Rachel 2 Comments

Dear Old Cranky Woman at the Cable Store:

I wanted to say thank you for reminding me that while everyone else I ran into yesterday was sweet and kind, there are still people who will be bitchy to strangers for absolutely no reason.

While Ari and I were minding our business, waiting our turn, you decided to ask my shy toddler a series of questions. Easy questions, yes. Like, “How old are you?” to which, he responded, “free.” Which is shy toddler speak for “three.” After he politely said hello to you and answered your serious of questions, I repeated what he said, for clarity purposes (I recognize that young parents are generally the only people who can properly translate toddler speak… plus he was being shy so it was a near whisper).

After you asked a series of other questions, you said “Maybe you can answer instead of MOMMY doing everything for you.” I ignored you. ‘Cause ain’t nobody got time for that. And? See above.

But when my very well-behaved toddler asked to watch a movie on Mommies phone (after waiting patiently in his stroller for 15 minutes without so much as a peep), I decided to abide. I pulled up the sweetest and most educational show on Netflix, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. Another patron noted that her niece loves Daniel Tiger! I told her that we’re watching the episode about Daniel getting a new baby sister, in hopes to prep him for ‘the big change.’

Dear, dear, old lady… this is where you piped in, “I don’t think he’s going to care about his sister when he has all the TV to watch!”

Dare I say it, but oh-so-typical, old lady judgy talk… just days before Christmas, at that! YOU, dear lady, are the exact opposite of the person I try to be everyday.

And although I owe you ZERO explanation, here is what you DID NOT see:

My 3-year old has a cough from his Reactive Airway Disease (aka toddler asthma). He’s not been sleeping well; thus, his parents have not been sleeping well.
Despite his cough (and his Mommy getting only 2 hours of sleep), we both awoke at 7am to tackle the day.
The very well-behaved toddler you saw had already endured a trip to the grocery store and a doctors appointment without so much as a peep! That was two hours before our encounter.
This was the single errand I was dreading, since it was to my former employer (albeit, not the location I worked) and I had just been “let go” several days prior, at 35 weeks pregnant.

So thank you, mean old lady. You served as an example for my child; an example of how rude and condescending a person can be; an example of how NOT to behave to strangers.

Lucky for you, I just brushed our encounter off without a word. Because, let’s face it, you would have thought my behavior to be “typical” if I had said anything rude to YOU. Right? “Typical young person being rude to the elderly.” But no. No, that’s not the case. Let’s just call it the Christmas spirit. Or lack of fight. Regardless, I hope whatever miserable existence you have for this week is nothing like our encounter. If it is, I feel very sorry that that’s the kind of life you lead.

Sincerely,

A stranger with a lot to be sad about, but the one you see with a smile. Also known as The Mom who is doing a damn good job.

the power of “NO.”

December 18, 2015 by Rachel Leave a Comment

It’s taken me a long time, and a lot of years, to realize that I had the power to say “no.” A few years ago I had a goal of saying “yes” to everything I was asked to participate in for two weeks or something like that. But that was pre-kids, pre-marriage, etc. Life was much more… flexible. I felt an urge to get out and get involved. And to, well, people please, to put it frankly.

So what’s changed, besides the obvious? Well, having a family means we are pretty much ‘automatically’ signed up for a bunch of things. Sure, we want to do these things; but it also leaves me craving time where I’m not doing a darn thing! We are just plain ol’ burned out from life.

Enter: the great NO challenge.

It’s not that I’m giving myself a timeframe to say no to everything I’m asked to socially commit to; but I’m giving myself permission to say “no” as needed — without an excuse.

“No” really shouldn’t need an excuse. Sometimes, just, no.

I love all of my friends, I truly do. I love seeing them and hanging out. But when life is super busy, sometimes the healthiest thing you can do for yourself is to schedule time to be “busy doing nothing” in your planner. I’ve done this before and it’s helped tremendously. I’ll black out a weekend on the calendar and tell Chad that we’re “busy doing nothing” all weekend so we can’t make plans.

Do you feel like you could say “no” if you truly just don’t want to engage in something? I suggest looking at it differently: Know your priorities and the value of your time. When a friend or relative asks something of us, we have to decide where our time is best suited.

It’s taken me a while to know where my time is valuable. For me, it’s with my husband and son. Or heck, even by myself! It’s hard to juggle time with young kids in the home; but knowing when you need a few minutes to yourself can be life-saving to you and your relationships.

For example, this co-sleeping thing has had me at my wits end at times. I feel like Moosh is constantly attached to me. One night, after 3.5 hours trying to get him to sleep, he just wouldn’t. I was tied to him. The next day I had one request: I asked Chad if he would handle bedtime solo so I could have a few minutes alone, even if it was just to check my email/blog/twitter and watch one episode of trashy TV from the DVR. I’m so grateful that I asked him for help. I like to pretend I’m super mom and can do it all, but sometimes we need to just step back and ask. And because of this two hours I had, I ended up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated!

Seriously. Because sometimes the act of saying “no” is truly empowering you to say “yes” in other aspects of your life.

So by all means, this holiday season or this New Year, feel empowered to say NO when you need it — sans guilt!