Hot Body Part Deux

It turns out, not “grazing” and just making a decision to eat something reasonable if I am hungry isn’t so bad.  I wrote down what I was eating using the app “Spark People”.  It is pretty neat and the best part…its FREE!  Not eating after dinner also ins’t too hard when I actually think about what I am doing.  These are such basic changes, but I bet they make a HUGE difference in my life.  When I looked at how many calories I actually ate today (just under 1,550), I realized exactly how much I usually eat, a few goldfish here, a veggie stick there, the rest of a PB&J, my own PB&J, 2 skinny cows because I am bored…you get the idea.  Mindless eating.  

Part deux is actually something I mostly started doing in August.  I joined a gym that has childcare.  I enjoy running outside, but I now have 3 kids. Pushing a 3-child jogging stroller is just insanity.  Not to mention the 3 year olds would hate it.  So, better to go to a gym that has nice child care.  My goal is to exercise 5x a week.  Recognizing I may not be able to do it every week, I will say never less than 3x, because that is doable no matter what is going on, but at least 3x, shoot for 5.  Easy peasy:-)  We shall see what happens.

I am thinking about how best to track these “changes”.  A massive spreadsheet?  If I do that, it will seem like work, but at least will be documented…hummm.  Maybe that will be my “change” for tomorrow.

until then…I am signing off a better Morgan

Grazing & Hot Body

A new hot body is what I have thought about all evening after dinner and just drinking water.  Step 1 was to make it through tonight and quit eating after dinner.  I mean, for heavens sakes, I did just have a full meal.  How can I still need food! Anyway, I am glad I made it tonight.  One small change a day could really add up.  Tomorrow I would like to cut out between meal “grazing”.  I am a grazer.  Always have been.  Problem is, after you have kids it basically means you eat 3 meals a day plus all the time in between meals.  I bet I am eating 2500 calories a day, easy.  So, if I feel the urge to graze, I am going to stop, go get an apple, slice it up and sit down to eat it and drink a glass of water.  If I still feel the need to eat the crust off of Mercer Anne’s PB&J or have 5 veggie sticks or Woodson’s leftover “bar”, then I can sit down and eat it with my apple.  Somehow, I think if I treated every snack like I do a meal, I will probably quit doing it.  What do you think?  It is definitely worth giving it a try.  I have my eye on the Hot Body prize!

Regressing? Body

Can it be normal that only a few days into this, I am consistently not making the changes I set out to make?  I thought, by writing it, I would commit to it.  I want to commit to changing every day, but then life happens and I feel like I am at square 1 again.  I did NOT get up at 6 this morning.  I heard my baby alarm go off at about 430am and I was so tired I just put baby alarm (actual baby ) in the bed with me and nodded in and out of sleep until 7 when I realized I must get out of bed because the twins would be up in about 2.2 seconds.

And ironically, tonight, I am sitting at my computer writing, not even bothering to do it from my bed #1 because it is easier and #2 because I am already so far past my “bedtime” that I am just going with it.  But this is the last thing I have to do besides brush my teeth and use the potty (too much?).

Here is what I would like to change next (MY WHOLE ENTIRE MOM BODY!) eating after dinner.  I don’t know what happens, but after the kids go to bed, I go straight to the pantry.  And I eat.  And eat.  And eat.  Why?  No reason…because I can.  But I hate it.  And often, I think, why am I doing this, I shouldn’t do this, but I do it anyway.  So just stop already Morgan!  I am doing it.  No more eating after dinner.  Nuff said.

Laters….

 

Update & work routine

Up at 5:15 for coffee with husband. In the bed, not asleep, by 10. Check. Husband may have to go back to hospital tonight so probably no coffee date. Must be flexible. Life is not linear. Must remember there are ebbs and flows, ups and downs. Type A over here wants black and white linear world which does not exist. Oh well, I’m on track.

Stella and Dot is my part time gig outside of being a mom. I have a goal: I want to sell 12,000 worth of jewelry by the end of the year and sponsor two new stylists! If I do, I win an iPad. I really want an iPad and would never spend the money on it. So it seems this is a great motivator for me. How to do it….I will spend my new found hour contacting a minimum of 2 people a day. If i do that, i will add at least one new trunk show to my calendar a week. I’m going to have to reach far- but I can do it! Brand new iPad here I come!

AND GO!

Routine-time with husband!

The title “routine” is going to get old pretty quick, especially because I can tell it is going to take me a while to get there! Bedtime- check! I am in bed writing this post with the lights out. Not sure if that really counts, but I can’t remember the last time my body was in bed at 10 pm. Next thing on the routine to-do list? Spend time with husband! We are going to spend 10 minutes having coffee before he leaves in the morning. That means my wakey-wakey time (twin speak) is 515am. Ugh. At least ill make 6am:-). See you tomorrow!

Routine

So, waking up at 6 didn’t work out this morning. But it is Saturday, does that mean it is ok? Routine Monday through Friday but on Saturday and Sunday my routine is flexible? Hummm. Well, the second half is to set a bed time. I would like to say 10 on weeknights and 11 on weekends but I’m pretty sure ill break that tonight. It’s date night with the hubs. We are bowling. Yep, that’s right. Bowling and cheap beer. Nothing better! They just turned the lights out and I can see the lint on my black shirt (or dandruff which I didn’t know I had?) which is gross bit other than that I’d do this again any day. See you tomorrow. Still liking the idea of changing my life and telling the world (or no one actually) about it. See you tommorrow friend.

Step 2: Create a Routine

One way to “de-stress” or even figure out what “things” are causing stress and clutter in ones life is to create a routine.  My life coach told me that.  Yes, I said life coach.  I met with him a few times last year when I had my early mid life crisis:-).  I am sure we will hit on the pieces that led to this little meltdown of mine as we go, but for now, lets settle on the fact I have know I needed to create a “routine” for about a year.

This little gem might take a few smaller changes to achieve.  Step 1 of Step 2 is to get up at the same time every day.  I say 6 am is reasonable.  My children routinely get up around 7.  (We are talking about the twins.).

I read somewhere recently the most productive (and successful) people do anything they consider “important” in the morning.  That gives me give or take 15 minutes, one hour.  I can do A LOT in one hour.   Or I can just sit and meditate.  Or write my blog.  Or drink coffee in silence.  If my 7 month old joins me (not nearly as predictable as the twins), I will enjoy the baby days…and they are days.  There is no such thing as baby years.  Baby days are limited to 365.  Then they become toddlers.  And they start talking.  And talking back.  And hitting and biting.  But they can also hug and tell you they love you.  I digress.  The point is=start getting up at 6 am.  Every. Single. Day.

About progress on Step 1. Already back tracking.  Junior League wants to scale back my duties so I will stay with the league.  I still feel I need a break.  I still feel it is unnecessary and adding stress where there needs to be calm.  They want me to Skype in on meetings.  The point is that I don’t want meetings.  I have meetings all day and they are called, Mercer Anne, Woodson and Elizabeth Grace.  They pretty much fill up my life between 7am and 8pm.   Which is why I am now getting up at 6am.  I think I have decided upon my response.

Still feeling good.  And already thinking about what happens after I create my new life routine.

Step 1: Strip down

Today I decided to strip down.  Not physically strip down, but write down all the “things” that are on my plate and then simply delete a few things.  Simple.  I can add back later if I feel like it.  If I am happier without all the extras then good for me.

Step 1:  Strip down my life.

• Care for family  (must do and want to do)
• Mow lawn (must do – have tried not doing it, but neighbors complain and husband will never do)
• Laundry (must do – if don’t kids, will be smelly and so will I)
• Grocery (must do – no one wants to starve, least of all my children. DSS people!)
• Pay bills (duh)
• Coach Soccer (roped into this one, glad to do it, set aside “fun” time with twins)
• Junior League Member (totally unnecessary, a lot of time, very expensive for me to go)
• Book Club (Resident Spouse Group) (Hit or miss books, I see these people at playgroup)
• Resident Play Group (kids love it, I love the parents because we are all in the same NO MONEY boat)
• Book Club Junior League (can’t be in the book club if not in the league, I don’t have time to read 3 books a month anyway)
• Book Club Friends (Just invited to this, have wanted to be invited for a year, maybe I should re-think since it took a year of living in Durham before invitation was extended?)
• Stella & Dot (Need the extra cash, plus love the jewels)
• Ortho Wife Wine Club (I co-founded, this month ironically, no rules on attendance)
• Chi-Omega Advisor (totally unnecessary)

I feel better already.

Who AM I….

I’m just a mom.  Or that is what I tell people I do.  But really, I am a healer of small animals, an organizer, an encourager, a huger, a singer, a drawer, a painter, a warrior that kills things that go bump in the night, a paci finder, a soccer coach, a check book balancer, a chauffeur and the list goes on…

SAHM was never going to be on my resume (Stay-at-home-mom for those of you who aren’t on the mommy blog network), but circumstances brought me here and I am so glad they did.  I have been “just a mom” for about a year now (a year  exactly next week).  Truth is, I love my new job, but I am currently in a “me” crisis.  Very selfish indeed.  I have three little somethings that come before me and will come before me for many years.  But it is hard to take care of them, when the “me” is struggling.

My mom recently gave me a few shekels, “do something for my soul.”  She said that.  She really said that.  She also meant it because she told me not to spend it on groceries.  Laugh now, but all I could think was THANK GOD.  Moms (working and non-working – I know because I have done both) often forget to take care of themselves.  We are so often thinking about how to stay under our budget, pay the bills, get to soccer on time, get to swim on time, not miss the next “sign-up deadline” for whatever “thing” you need to have your kids in and how we can finish today so we can just. get. to. tomorrow. that we skip caring for ourselves.  Is it strange to anyone else I need a budget outside of my actual budget and permission from my mom (I’m 31, by the way) to do for myself?

Today, I started my second blog.  This one.  Big Bad Word.  This is MY journal.  Love it. Hate it. Read it.  Whatever.  My opinions and thoughts will be here.  Yours are welcome.

Big Bad Word is the story of how I am feeding my soul, changing my life one day at a time.  To make me a better person so I can be a better wife, mom, daughter and friend.  Along the way I hope to inspire my family, love a little deeper, listen a little better and appreciate my life a little more.

This blog will last one year.  One post, one small change every single day.  And….GO!