Swats and Marching and the "P's"

The last couple of days Adi has started a little bit of potty training, not at all by my prodding but mostly just randomly.  The last couple of times she has pooed in the bathtub, I showed her how it needs to go in the potty and I've been showing it to her in the diaper.  Then I bought a potty seat and put her on it the other day and told her she needs to do her "P's" in there.  So yesterday she said the "p" word so I went with her and decided to put her on the toilet.  Her diaper was dry when she said that and by the time we made it to the toilet to take off her diaper, she had a "lump" in her diaper.  That was cool.  And then today she told Mike the "p" word and then proceeded to go in her diaper.  So that's exciting, she knows what it is, we just need to get her to be a little quicker on the draw.  And my apologies if this is TMI for some of you. 

Adi has also discovered some new dance moves.  She does side stretch (ballet style) which I'm not sure where she picked it up.  She also started lifting one leg up like a grand battement in ballet.  So I figured I would teach her to march since she had the knee lifting down.  She got it right away.  Then I tried to teach her to jump.  It is SO cute.  She bends her knees, flails her body back and goes up on her tippy toes.  And sometimes she loses her balance.  It's hilarious!

And I'm sad to report that Adi had her first official spanking today.  Though it was more like a swat, on the diaper.  She throws things when she has a tantrum and gets upset and watches us as she does it and as we tell her not to.  So we broke out the wooden spoon.  I did a couple of swats that obviously did not do the trick, but then daddy got in on the action and his was much more effective.  She was a doll the rest of the day!  How it broke my heart though. 

She also learned to blow kisses with her Oma in Cali last week.  

And that's a wrap (hee hee, I've always wanted to say that ;-P).

The 18th month

First of all, I confess, I'm terrible at this blogging thing.  Why did I think I could actually blog several times a week?!?!  I should know myself better than that.  So all my grandiose blogging plans have been put on the back burner at this time.  I am going to keep doing Adi updates for the fam and anyone else interested though.  

I must say that Adi's 18th month of life has been one of the most enjoyable and exciting for me.  Though the first few weeks involved a good bit of top molar teething fussiness and general trying "toddlerness," I still say it's been a great month.  She is hard to discipline when she doesn't feel good but I found out that even though she doesn't seem very responsive to it when she is feeling bad, she's still getting the message.  I tried to be more understanding and patient, while still holding the line though.  So the week or two that she was actually not having teething pain after those trying weeks, she was such a joy to train and work with.  She knew what was expected and I just had to threaten "crib time" (her current punishment for fits, whining and bad attitudes) and she would straighten up.  That was so awesome!  She is becoming so playful and communication is getting better all the time too, though I still can't wait til she can straight out tell me what she wants!!


A few cool little milestones that have happened: 

She started saying "Thank You!"  It comes out like "daydew" but you can definitely tell it's thank you.  She has also gotten better about saying "please" when she wants something.  That sounds like "deace." 

She is rockin' the spoon now.  She can eat soup, oatmeal, and most other things that require a spoon pretty well, though it is still a very messy business.  And she's pretty good with her fork.  She has a fetish (as do Mike and I) for hummus and has become quite the double dipper.  She likes to dip her carrot in the hummus, lick it off and get more hummus.  After four or five double dips she may finally decide to take an actual bite of the carrot. 

Adi also learned to blow her nose.  Goodbye blue suction thing (what are those called?).  Just in time for the ones we've had since she was born to start really stinking inside as we were totally disgusted to find out last month when she had a cold.

We were at some friends house in San Antonio for the weekend and their daughter gave Adi a little stuffed pig and a baby doll's bottle.  She quickly became attached to and starting mothering that pig like I've never seen her do.  She would feed the pig the bottle, hold the pig to her chest and go, "sh sh sh sh sh."  Talk about the mothering instinct being innate, b/c I don't know where she would have seen that unless she just remembers me doing it to her when she was tiny!  Oh, and we can't forget the beads.  She has these little silver beads that she loves to wear around her neck or put around the pig's neck.  And she enjoys looking at clothes in the store.  She'll carry a dress on a hanger all around the store and put it up to her to see if it fits and how it looks.  She's 101% girl!!

She has also figured out her shape ball.  All of a sudden one day the color and shape connection just clicked in and she doesn't really need my help to play with that toy anymore, other than to get the shapes out of the ball. 

Now that the weather is nice, she has learned how to say "go outside."  Though it sounds like "gice?"  She says with a question when she wants to go outside.  And then when she's done, she will come back in and close the door behind her.  And she's figured out how to open the screen door to the back which is nice b/c I just leave it open and she can come and go as she pleases.  Today, I was in the kitchen and I thought she was watching the movie in the living room.  I heard the grass rustling in the backyard and looked to see if someone was in our yard.  I didn't see anything so I assumed it was someone walking in the grass in the yard behind our house.  A few minutes later I hear Adi step in and close the screen door behind her.  She had been running around out there and I didni't even hear or see her open the back door!! 

It's been a fun month! 

Should I do it?

Today three people asked me how to eat and what they recommend for their particular fitness/weight loss dilemma. And it's funny b/c I'd say at least once or twice a month, someone asks me for help.  The other day at the gym, a total stranger asked me if I was a runner and when I told her know, she wanted to know what I do as my fitness routine.  I've been thinking a lot about starting my own in home personal training studio/business but we don't have the house to do it in right now and I really need to get my actual personal training credential I suppose to be legal!!  I guess I've always fought the fitness industry's money hungryness.  It drives me nuts b/c even thoughI have a degree in Kinesiology, they always want you to get the certs.  And I think it's kind of lame b/c a person that has had no college degree in Kines can study and take an exam and become a personal trainer, or take a one or two day course and become a fitness instructor.  I see their point, b/c I totally agree with being excellent and knowledgeable in what you are doing, but I would think a degree would say enough.  I learned pretty much all of the stuff you learn when you take a personal trainer and fitness instructor exam.  Maybe not so concentrated and focused , but that's why I've never wanted to get the certs and pay all that money.  But I really love to help people with this and I'm thinking I should probably just bite the bullet and do it so I can be more marketable.  We don't have the space for it now and I wouldn't try it until Adi was a little older, but I think I will plan to start doing it when we get to our next base.

And on that note, let's do a fitness tip ;-D  Once a month, change up your routine take a fitness class that you've never taken before.  Try it two or three times and you'll shock your body out of its comfort zone and wake up some muscles you might have forgotten about or it may just work on a different part of a muscle that your normal exercises don't hit.  Though I haven't done the research to be sure, I believe it'll kick your metabolism into high gear for a while too since it's something it's not used to.  I'm reminded of this b/c I'm still feeling a few of the muscles I awoke from the circuit class I took last Friday that I can hardly ever make it to (It is SO rare for me to make it to the gym by 8:30 am which is when it starts!!).

What's with this Bieber kid anyway?!?!

So we went for our quadriweekly (is that a word?????) trip to Walmart this evening.  Mike took Adi to the music/dvd section while I was shopping for food.  When we were in the checkout line, Mike mentioned to me that Adi was looking at all the cd's and then she spotted the Justin Bieber album.  She picked it up and ran off with it!  As you can imagine, Mike was pretty disturbed by this.  And shortly after he told me this, while we were still waiting in the check out line, she pointed to one particular magazine in the rack (out of all 10 of them).  Who's face was plastered all over the front cover?!?!?  The Bieb!!!  What's with that kid anyway!?!?!?!  His magnetic personality is starting to disturb me now that my 1 and a half year old is being drawn in....

Our vocal Vogel

 Adi has been talking up a storm!  She says a new word daily it seems.  She tried to say "mango" the other day, and the same day said "cow."  Then she learned the word "Bible" b/c she likes to read from her kids Bible at night.  So I said something to her about reading the Bible and she copied what I said.  "Read the Bible" came out of her mouth, clear as day.  Mike and I were shocked!!  That is her first sentence.  And at 17.5 months!  I never expected that!  And then today she said "A Little Ball."  She had two balls out and I was comparing the little ball and the big ball!  It's so cool to hear her talking.  And I am extremely happy to say that after MONTHS of trying to get her to say "please" instead of moaning or fussing when she wants more food, she finally did it this morning!!  That was exciting! 

The Adi report

Today Adi said 2 and 3 without my prompting or even knowing she knew those words.  I always say 1, 2, 3 and then proceed to toss her on the bed into a pile of pillows.  This is her favorite game and we've done it for a long time.  Today she tried to plop herself onto the pillows but before she did it, she said "two, hee."  SO CUTE!! 

Then I was reading her a book and one page had an apple on it.  She said "bappo."  And then said it over and over again!

She's started sniffing things a lot!  I was making a return at Bath and Bodyworks today, which turned out to be a big ordeal b/c the girl did it wrong the first time, had to call a manager and void it, and then do it again.  When I got back to Mike and Adi, she had apparently been sniffing the same bottle of body spray over and over and over again and then handing it to Mike to sniff every now and then!  She would stick the bottle practically in her nose, take a big whiff and tilt her head all the way back with the bottle, like she was drinking it!  It was SO funny!!

 This morning she had my powder and brush and was brushing her face with it over and over like she was putting on makeup.  Then she grabbed Mike's watch and put it around her neck like a necklace.

She is too funny!!!







 

My disclaimer

I have a B.S. in Kinesiology.  What does that mean?  It means I know just enough to make some theories and understand the research :-D.  But I have learned how to eat what I like, lose weight when necessary, and keep it off so that's actually a lot of where my ideas on fitness and diet came from - personal experience.  That being said, this is all just my opinion from what I've experienced and learned.  Some stuff may not work for you, and some stuff could be wrong.  Science is always changing what it knows to be true about our bodies and every body is different.  Because our body's were created by the infinite Genius, we can't begin to figure it all out.  So just take my advice with a grain of salt.  Try it and if it works, stick with it!  I'm just trying to help :-D

Healthy eating and exercise isn't the sole answer to weight loss in my opinion.......

The other day I put together this desperate measures workout/eating plan for this guy at Mike's work that has one week to lose an inch or two in his waist to pass his fitness test (he's failed it the last two times), so he's DONE if he can't pass this one.  It made me start thinking.  Because it's not like this guy didn't have the resources to lose the weight.  The Air Force has dietitians and personal trainers available for them, usually for free at that.  So I wondered why he wasn't able to lose the weight even though he had supposedly gone to see them. 

I've seen a lot of the literature they put out at gyms and in health centers, and most of them are either about how to cut calories unnatural ways (i.e. chemical sugar substitutes, etc; not the best in my opinion) or by just eating healthier.  So I'm gonna examine the latter method on this blog and I'll hit the unnatural topic next time. 

Usually they will encourage lower fat, whole grains, lean meats.  And of course 6-9 servings of fruit and veggies per day.  I think when people see that, it might slightly overwhelm them at the idea of eating 9 vegetables in one day so theey hone in on the whole grains and meat since that seems easier.

  While I'm all about whole grain everything, any time you have something whole grain, you're talking a lot of calories for a decent amount.  For example 3/4 cup of whole grain pasta has like 210 calories.  The average person would look at that serving and take twice that so we're talking like a fifth of your daily calorie intake with pasta alone, no sauce or anything extra.  Same with rice.  A cup of cooked brown rice is almost 200 calories.  Not to say that whole grains aren't AWESOME sources of iron, B vitamins, fiber and other good for you stuff.  You just have to understand that a little goes a long way.  That may be one of the reasons that, although people may switch to whole grains, they don't drop the weight. 

And what about the lean meats.  Meat is great, but we really don't need that much.  USDA recommends 56 grams of protein for men per day, and 46 for women.  An ounce of meat has about 7 grams of protein in it.  The average weight of chicken breasts in my freezer are about 10 ounces each.  And they aren't the steroid fed, huge kind either.  So that means that's like 70 grams of protein.  And LOTS of extra, obviously unneeded calories in my opinion.  And if you think that most people have meat at both lunch and dinner, and some even have extra protein with eggs and bacon in the mornings, that's a LOT of protein that the average person doesn't need.  (Side note: I do think you need a little extra protein if you exercise and lift weights, but most of us aren't working out hard enough that we need TONS of it and additional supplements in shakes....though I know there are many weight lifters that would beg to differ but that's not really my point in this article so I'll leave my opinion at that ;-D)  So though chicken and turkey are lean and certainly lower in calories than a big ol' rib eye, people should try cutting those portions  in half, and even less if they consume beans and eggs (which in my opinion are some of the more desirable ways to get protein without adding too many calories). 

And last, the low fat option.  True, low fat often times means lower calorie.  But not always.  Often times, especially in processed foods, to compensate for the lack of flavor from the loss of fat in the food, they add extra sugar.  For example, even my healthy organic yogurt that I eat, the fat free kind will have more sugar than the low fat kind.  And increased sugar in your blood can create it's own weight loss problems.  Though I will say low fat dressings are a GREAT option b/c they do significantly cut the calories of a salad, and most aren't too high in sugar. 

So what's the answer?  It's the basic calories in calories out mantra.  You gotta watch how many calories you are putting in and look at portion sizes.  You have to PLAN!!  You have to be AWARE!  You have to exercise some DISCIPLINE in your portions and GIVE and TAKE.  You have to decide if you want the thick juicy steak, the bread basket, or the dessert.  And only choose ONE!!  And then cut that one choice you've had in HALF and eat the rest the next day (or as I often do instead, just work like a beast the next day at the gym and add extra time)!!!  You just gotta think and be aware of what is going into your body.  Know how many calories you've consumed so you know how much you gotta work to burn any extra off.  I know it's a pain to keep track of what you are eating, but after about three weeks, it's a habit and you start to get good at knowing how many calories are in most foods and how much you can eat of it.  You can start to eye ball your serving sizes instead of having to get measuring cups dirty all of the time.  And once you've lost the weight, you don't have to be so meticulous about serving sizes and calories eaten, though still be mindful of it.  So, yes, in the beginning, it's a BIG inconvenience.  But then, how bad do you wanna lose the weight?  Food journals (keeping track of calories and food eaten) have been proven over and over to be the best and most effective way to lose weight.  That's the whole premise with Weight Watchers and why they are such a success! 

So if you've decided to start eating healthier, hoping that'll help you lose the weight, beware.  It's not enough just to start eating whole grains, lower fat, and lean meats.  However, the one trick that is full proof, is loading up on fruits and veggies and just eating a couple of servings of the others.  Bring on the nutrition facts, they will become your best friends, especially when your pants start to fall down. 

 Tomorrow I'm gonna hammer on eating unnatural food to lose weight. 

Quick abs

Fitness tip: If you're thinking of cutting abs out of your workout if you're short on time, do these two exercises..  They'll get all the muscles and don't take too long.

Grab a body ball (those big balls laying around the gym).  Lay on top of it on your belly and walk your body out over it with you arms until just your shins and ankles are on the top of the ball.  Stick your butt up and pike your body (into a V shape) while bringing the ball in underneath you.  To make it harder, while in the pike, bend your knees and bring the ball all the way into your chest if you can.  Roll the ball back to starting position with your legs.  Try this 10 or 20 times.  For obliques, grab a 5 or 10 lb weight.  Do a side plank (lay on your side, stack your legs and feet, and push up onto your elbow or all the way up on your hands with a straight arms.  Put the weight on the oblique that is facing up (your between your ribs and hips).  Low your body to the ground and then push it up using your obliques as high as it will go.  Lower back to the ground and repeat 15 to 20 times on each side til it's burning!! 

My first workout tip and more Adi happenings

I heard through the grapevine that my bro was disappointed with my blog when it didn't have any fitness stuff on it yesterday.  So I decided to incorporate one fitness tip/thought a day to the other randomness I record each day.  But first, my Adi news!


Adi stuff: Adi learns random words and will say them over and over for several days and then get on a new kick and forget about the new ones.  Then she'll randomly bring the old word up again.  Today she brought up the word, "eyes."  I asked her where her eyes were and she pointed to her eye, then touched her nose!!  LOL!!  She's never pointed in response to my questions before - super exciting! 


Fitness Tip: Lifting weights is essential to weight loss b/c the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism is.  This means you can eat more food and not gain weight ;-D.  But if you're looking to lose weight, you gotta rev up your metabolism.  One way to do that is by doing interval workouts.  Means you alternate between high intensity exercise (your heart is beating out of your chest) and moderate intensity exercise (your heart is fast, but you're still able to keep up a conversation if necessary).  Best way to do that while lifting weights is by adding LEGS to all your upper body movements.  You can do a squat or lunge when you do any of these basic exercises: bicep curls, tricep overhead press, lat or frontal raise, military press).  As you pull or push, bend your knees and do lunge or squat.  You'll notice your workout is ten times harder and your heart rate gets up QUICK!  Then take a breather.  For lunge/bicep curls for example, I try and do 20 curls with my right leg back, and twenty curls with my left leg back.  When I bend my arm and lift the weight, I lower into a lunge.  As I straighten my arm, I straighten my knees.  And then if my bicep still feels like it needs some work, as my heart rate is recovering, I'll just do bicep curls without legs.  Obviously, there are some exercises where it's not safe to do legs with them, particularly if you're lifting heavy weight with upper body.  Alternate those exercises with exercises that you can use your legs on.  Use the non leg exercise as the moderate intensity portion of your workout!  You'll burn at least 100 more calories like that (in say a 30 minute weight lifting session) and you'll give your metabolism a boost! 

One more Adi thing

I know I already blogged today and I'm pretty sure it's a blogging faux pas to blog twice in a day, but this is just for me to remember, and my parents might be interested also.

Pretty much since she was born, Adi is not the easiest to get to relax and go to sleep.  About six or seven months ago, decided to start taking her on short 10 minutes walks before each bed time (nap or night time) b/c we noticed it made the pre bedtime soothing time a lot more productive and she usually would fall asleep.  At that time, she was taking two naps still also.  So it would get pretty old at times, taking three walks a day.  Especially when it was like 99 degrees out.  Anyway, the other day Adi rediscovered a bunny she got from her oma that warms up in the microwave.  I started warming it for her to go to bed with.  She likes it now instead of Piglet and Pooh (her bedtime companions since she was 11 months old).  While she still loves them, she likes to cuddle the bunny for bed now, probably cuz she watches it warm up in the microwave for a minute and a half and I'm sure it makes her want it that much more.  The other day I gave her the bunny to hold while I was preparing to take her for her pre nap walk, and she cuddled it and put her head on my shoulder.  So I braved it and tried to put her to sleep without a walk (which I have tried before always to my regret, she was always wired and often would fuss or cry, flailing her legs and arms when I would try and rock her).  She did great.  So today, the same thing happened.  She did a nap without a walk and tonight the same thing.  Granted, she has been in her crib for about an hour and is still hanging out (I hear the occasional chatter or music from her glow worm), she didn't make a big stink about it when I tried to rock her and told her it was bed time.  This is BIG!! 

It is a toss up though b/c after a walk, she is often very relaxed and it's super easy to put her down (though sometimes it's still hard), so it was a lot more work getting her to relax on my own without a walk.  We'll see how it goes.  But I do think we need to stick to it if possible...I mean...we can't be taking her on walks when she's five, and I KNOW the kindergarten teacher would balk at me expecting her to take Adi on a walk before nap time ;-P

Selfish Punks

So I decided to start a blog.  Not necessarily that I think that many people care what I think or have to say, but mostly as a way to look back at where I've come from and where God's brought our family, and so I can remember the little things along the way.  Like all the milestones and cute stuff Adi does (I've learned from my parents that I HAVE to write these things down, they only seem to remember stuff my brothers did ;-P....Ah, se la vi of a middle child!!  Love you mom and dad!!) and the random things I've learned from the places I've lived, people I've known, struggles as a mommy, and life on planet earth.  And per a few requests, I will write on fitness stuff too, mostly just cuz I love it so much that I always end up saying something about it without trying.  But if you want me to blog my opinions on a certain fitness/health subject, just let me know! 

Today:

Adi tried to say "shirt" when I was digging through my drawers asking her which shirt I should wear.  It sounded like shu.

I was praying for our pastor and it occurred to me after I said it that I prayed God would protect he and his family from "selfish punks."  When I pray, I always try to be honest with God since He knows it all anyway, but it still kind of surprised me that those words came into my prayer.  I am so thankful that I can be myself and pray in complete honesty to God without fear of judgment or a look of disbelief at how I act (or pray)!

We broke the news to our church family today about Mike's upcoming six month deployment (9 if you count the training).  I've decided to spend the six months of his deployment in Corpus with my fam but we were still a little concerned about the house being vacant for so long, even though we have great neighbors.  Mike will begin his training in April and when we announced that, our youth ministers mentioned that their lease is up in April.  A blessing for us both, they can stay in our house rent free and keep it up and we have the security of them taking care of things ;-D  I hope it works out!

And since this is my blog, I'm not going to worry about coming up with some fantastic summarizing paragraph to close out with....though the draw to do so is very strong within me!!!  I'm forever haunted by the excellent composition teachers I've had!