drive a momma crazy

Let me start this post by saying that my daughter (now 21 months old) has never been a great napper.  She arrived in our lives very alert and didn't sleep as often as most newborn babies.  We spent the first 6 or so months of her life getting used to the fact that she only slept about 30 minutes at a time. She went through a period where she would sleep about an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, but shortly after we got used to that, when she was about 15 months old, she dropped her morning nap.  We struggled back and forth with the time she spent sleeping in the afternoon; sometimes she would sleep 30-45 minutes, other times she would sleep over an hour.

For the past several months, however, she has been sleeping about 75-90 minutes in the afternoons, and sometimes will play for another 30 minutes after waking up.  Until about 4 days ago. She has been throwing her blanky (the one she can't go to sleep without) out of her crib the instant she stands up.  She started doing it on wednesday.  She woke up after about an hour and instantly threw her blanket out of her crib.  And of course she cried.  So I got her up.  The next day, same thing.  On Friday, she slept for maybe 30 minutes, then got up, tossed the blanky, and started crying.  I left her in there for about 20 minutes, then I got her up.  Yesterday and today have been the worst.  She tells us she's tired, I put her to bed, then within 5 minutes, she is up and crying.  Yesterday she threw her blanket out, I gave her about 25 minutes, then I went in and gave it to her again.  I knelt by the crib, handed her the blanky and said "Don't throw it out again. It's time to go ni-night." and I left the room.  Screaming ensued, of course, and after about 10 minutes, my husband went in and got her up.  Today is an exact repeat, however we put both of her blankies in her crib with her.  SO far, she has only tossed the one.  We are trying very hard to stick to our guns here and not go in to get her up.  First of all, I WANT HER TO GET SOME REST, for crying out loud.   Second, we are both fans of sleep training.  It worked so great with her at bedtime - she has slept 12+ straight hours at night since she was 6 months old (minus one or two nights when she was sick) and goes to bed willingly since we started sleep training.  And we think the same principles apply at naptime.  If we keep going in to give her a blanky or let her get up or whatever, she quickly learns what to do to get what she wants.  But uugghhh, I'm really struggling here!  I'm not sure what has flipped the switch in her but I'm just so frustrated.  I will say that she has had a bit of a cold this past week, so that may play a part.  And she seems to go through small spurts where her daytime sleep gets severely out of whack for a week or so, then she gets back to normal.  So maybe this is a similar out-of-whack situation and I will be back to singing her praises next week.  But geesh.  Drive a momma crazy.  I will keep you posted on her sleeping patterns (or lack thereof) in the upcoming days.  In the meantime, let us remind ourselves how cute this sometimes frustrating little being really is.....

the stairs are one of her favorite hangouts

wearing her snow coat inside and posing for pictures with her cousin

cuddled in daddy's chair with her "big blanky" and some juice

even with stickers all over her face and disheveled hair, this stinker is one of my favorite things.

Clean Eating Day 2 & Cross Fit Day 8

Last night was my husband's SECOND night trying Cross Fit!  Wahoo!!!  I thought for sure he would want the night off, but to my surprise, he met me at the stairs after I put our daughter to bed and said, ok what workout are we doing tonight?  Which is saying a lot because was super tired when he came home from work yesterday.  Bless his little heart.  And he is even attempting this clean eating deal with me, to some extent.  I know, I know, he's a keeper.

So here was my workout last night:

4 rounds each of
10 step ups
10 kettle swings
10 squats
10 sit-ups

My time was 5:13 (although I switched to just kettle swings and no squats half way through...my thighs were screamin'!)

Hubby's workout:

10 burpees
15 push-ups
15 sit-ups

His time was 10:01

Now....as far as the new diet.  Yesterday was ok, until after dinner time. (here is the meal plan if you missed it in my earlier post)  I attempted breakfast, but it was just so much food for 7:30 in the morning, so I only ate half of it.  I did not eat the first snack since we were running errands and I didn't get too hungry.  But I ate the snack with my lunch since I did not have any chicken to put on my salad.  Lunch kept me surprisingly full.  I didn't really get hungry again until around 3pm, when I ate the second snack.  Dinner was delicious, but my husband was still hungry after it and I ended up hungry by bedtime.  But neither of us did any snacking. Hubs said one thing he is working on with this health movement effort is knowing how much to eat and when to stop eating.  He claims he always eats until he feels full, then continues to get stuffed since your brain is always catching up to your tummy.  So he says it is doing him some good to experience real hunger pains.

Today I am trying to really hit the water hard.  Drinking more water will make you feel full, which is something I struggled with yesterday.  Hopefully this does the trick.  I'm a little more excited about today's meals though.  Here is a sneak peek of my delicious breakfast....

Yumm!! I'm so excited for the rest of my day!!

I think I can eat clean....

The same friend of mine who turned me on to Cross Fit has been on a kick this year with clean eating.  You know, organic, healthy, no additive, whole foods.  Another friend of ours even claims that this clean eating has solved the eczema problem she has been dealing with her entire life. (Wow!) I was very, very skeptical at first, but when I heard about that fact, I started paying attention.  And I started wondering how "fake" foods may be affecting my life as well.

I have dealt with chronic headaches for just about my entire life.  It started in high school and has been a battle ever since.  I wake up with them, get them in the middle of the day, go to bed with them, everything.  They range from tension headaches to almost migraines to pain that starts in my neck and moves to my head.  I even can get a headache from holding my head in a certain position for too long. It is quite frustrating, to say the least. So when my friends started saying how eating clean helped some of the body problems they've had all their lives, I began to wonder if it could help me.

So, starting tomorrow, I am doing a detox and clean eating diet for 3-5 days.  The meal plan I found gives a 3 day breakdown of breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks in-between meals.  It focuses on drinking plenty of water and eating real, whole, natural foods.  I'm going to try it (although I am allowing myself black coffee in the mornings) for 3, possibly 5 days.  The author claims that you will feel results within the first day. So we will see how I am feeling and I might continue the rest of the week.  It is very uncommon for me to go without a headache for 5 days, so I would think that, if I don't have any headaches, there may be some validity to this whole idea that clean eating can affect how your body feels. I mean, after all, you are what you eat, right?  I'm not saying it will be easy.  In fact, I have a cabinet full of Reese's Eggs and Kit-Kats that will be taunting me and eventually become the bane of my existence over the next 3 days.  But I am willing to try anything for a few days if it means I may find a cure for my incessant headaches. Stay tuned!!

day 6!

Today's WOD:

For time:
10 burpees
20 squats
30 push-ups
20 squats
10 burpees

My time was 3:05.  My husband is going to join me tonight for his very first round!  I really hope he likes it so that I will have a workout partner again. :)

Day 4

Yeatredy was my rest day. It was nice to nurse my sore kettlebell swingin' legs! Holy ouch. They were easy at the time but they must be very effective because I was definitely sore later.

Today I did 4 rounds of the following for time:
10 step ups
10 kettle swings
10 push ups
10 sit ups

My time was 5:10 and my heart was pumpin' like crazy!

I have really been wanting to try knees to elbows but I do not have a pull up bar. But I DO have a friend that is willing to lend me theirs. Stay tuned to see if I fall and can't get up!!

Crossfit Day 2

My arms and legs are sore today from yesterday's workout. My abs tingle a little but not too bad. I wanted to do a little different workout today so that I wouldn't work all the same muscles again. Here is what I did:

4 rounds for time
10 step ups
10 dumbell swings (my variation of kettle swings)
10 squats

The dumbell swings turned out being a lot like a wide stance squat, but it works your arms and shoulders since you have to swing the weight. To my surprise, my heart rate was pretty up there. See, these workouts are deceiving: they sound so easy but they actually get your heart pumping and really work your muscles.

My time was 3:48. 3:48!! For a workout! Can't beat that.

I was telling my husband (who has the same thought process as me when it comes to exercise) about these workouts and he was very intrigued. He is even going to start doing some with me tomorrow - added bonus! Stay tuned for his thoughts on Cross Fit!!

Cross Fit Challenge!

A friend of mine recently turned me on to Cross Fit.  She and her family started doing it and have had some pretty fantastic results.  I just thought it was another passing workout fad at first, so I didn't pay too much attention to her many facebook updates about it.  Then she told me it was a workout of an average of TEN minutes a day.  I stopped dead in my tracks.  So I talked more with her about it and did a little googling of my own and have decided to give it a go for one month.  Even I have ten minutes a day to devote to a workout.  Hard for me to wiggle my way out of that short amount of time.  And with a tropical bikini-wearing vacation in my not too distant future, I thought I should at least see what kind of results it gives me.

So today is day one.  I found this Cross Fit beginner's website that gives a bunch of WODs (workout of the day) for beginners and a whole slew of others to go off of as you advance.  Here is what I started with:


As many rounds in 10min:
10 Squat Thrusts with broomstick
10 Push ups on Knees
10 Sit ups


I thought things were going smashingly as I completed my third round.  Then I made the mistake of checking my timer.  Only FIVE minutes had gone by!! I thought for sure something was wrong with my clock.  Anyway, I pushed through and completed 8 rounds.  The squats were fine for me, as well as the sit ups (apparently my quads and abs are actually kind of strong??) but the push-ups...man oh man! I thought my arms were going to fall off.  And even as I write, 30 minutes post workout, my arms are still shaking.  I always knew they were my weak point.n as I write, 30 minutes post workout, my arms are still shaking.  I always knew they were my weak point.

Working out is not something that is in the forefront of my brain everyday, but since this is only ten minutes each day (with a rest day or so each week), I will continue on! And I will let you all know how it progresses for this weak-armed lady.