.Really

It's a very Dianne thing to get random injuries that make people go "Really?!" when you tell them what happened. Insert a new one this past week - random arm injury from running.

Let's back it up a bit. In the last month I've been leading an indoor stairs club at work one or two times a week for 35-40 minutes of stairs. It's been very positive, and it's been nice to get back into the groove of working out again. Last weekend I started running again and OH did it ever feel good. I'm very much a seasonal runner as I absolutely love running outside but won't when it's too cold, there's too much snow or it's too icy. I guess that makes me a whimp. But it also makes me incredibly anxious all winter and I look forward to the spring so I can get the legs moving again! That day was this past Sunday.

My pace was slow, even a bit slower than my usual half marathon pace, but I felt really good. Damn did it ever feel good to get back out there! I was feeling really good and woke up the next morning a little sore, but chalked it up to the fact that I haven't run in awhile and was working out some new muscles. When I noticed my shoulders were a little sore, I figured it was because I kept them too tight when I ran. So Monday night, I went for another run. This one I wasn't feeling quite as great and even a bit sluggish but I thought that was probably because it was after work and I'm usually a morning runner. That night though the pain got worse, and as Tuesday went on it got to the point where I was having trouble picking up Kendrick (who's only 24 pounds) so I knew I had to go see the doctor.

My doctor wasn't in so I saw someone else. They had me do some physical testing (seeing how high I could lift my arm, reaching, etc) and said that they didn't think it was anything serious, but they'd set me up for an ultrasound and to take some Advil and the pain should subside in a few days. They thought it likely was the bicep muscle. I went to book the ultrasound and they said only a specialist can do it, there's only one location in the city and the earliest they can get me in is May 5. Seriously. So I went for a second opinion, and they told me that there's a possibility that it could be tendonitis, and if it's happening now it could happen again. He told me to try my best to pinpoint what I did last Sunday that could have caused it and I said honestly all I did was run, and was confused because I used that same motion to run stairs in the month prior. I asked if I should run (since on Friday I was feeling better) and he said yes, and if it hurt again to come back and see him. So I went for a run yesterday.

I went 7.5 KM and even though it was still at a slower than I would like I was feeling absolutely fantastic. So you can imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning and started to feel more pain in my shoulder. Grrr. Back to the doctor I go.

That being said, I will not let this stop me! I've noticed in the past month that the days that I'm physically active for more than 30 minutes, I feel a lot better overall. So I definitely plan to keep this up as often as possible and sign up for the MEC 10KM in May. I still have passes at Blitz that I need to utilize and I'd like to continue doing some yoga at Moksha too! I also signed up for an adult gymnastics class. Gymnastics was my passion almost all of my life, and it's been a long time since I've done any sort of training, so I'm really excited. Work is going to get busy again but I'm determined to keep that work/life balance that I've been keeping for the last few months when it comes to getting fit again. I admit that seeing my posts from last year at this time make me a little jealous and sad, because I'm pretty sure I've gained 10-15 pounds between then. That being said, this month was the year mark of being back to work after maternity leave and I think I'm slowly finally starting to get into a groove. This makes me happy!

Until next time...

xo

-Dianne

PS: As I was listening to my playlist at the end of my run, "Wasted Time" by Keith Urban came over my headphones. I admit I sang along to some parts but had never really listened to the words before. One line caught my eye...

Although I certainly don't consider running "Wasted Time", I do know a lot of people who are not a fan of running at all and may consider it as such. I just loved this line of the song because it reminded me of why I like running so much. I love running outside as it allows me to clear my head, de-stress, and set the tone for a really good day (especially running in the morning). As I was singing along to this song I just had to laugh - my hope for everyone is that they find something in their lives that they can be passionate about!

PPS: I really want to get back to writing once a month! I finish school in a few weeks and don't start up again until September (I'm taking two classes right now while I'm working full time) and I'm hoping that frees up a little more of my time. I also do have a re-brand in the works and am hoping it will be all good to go by the summer. Stay tuned!

Struggle

Happy New Year!

Do you remember the last time you felt completely relieved of stress? A time where there was absolutely nothing weighing you down? No matter what life threw at you, you felt fantastic and ready to tackle the world?

I do. It was in February & March of 2014. We went on our honeymoon for two weeks of wedded bliss on the beautiful island of St. Maarten. We got a free trip courtesy of Westjet when I won a raffle at a Mother's Day fundraiser for Wings of Providence which offers help & shelter to women who have suffered from family violence. I literally picked one of the farthest places that Westjet traveled at the time. We didn't really have a budget after the wedding for a honeymoon, so this was definitely an unexpected bonus trip. I hadn't really heard much about the island so going there was a surprise for both of us, and it was nothing short of amazing. Clear white sand, crystal clear blue water, two different countries on one little island, a spot to watch planes literally fly right over your head, and two weeks of pure relaxation. Although we booked some excursions, we had a lot of days where we flew by the seat of our pants and spent the day on the beach or in the pool. We didn't party like crazy and got a good night's sleep every night and besides excursion days we slept in every morning. I came back to work after two and a half weeks off feeling refreshed, clear headed and ready to tackle anything.

As you can see by that date, that was almost three years ago. This isn't to say I've been a stress case for almost three years, but I certainly haven't felt that that feeling of complete freedom and clearheadedness in a very long time.

I knew being a working Mom would be tough. But I guess I never realized how tough! I give props to all of the Moms in my life who've been doing this for years and to those I've met since I've had Kendrick! I always appreciated that it was a challenge but I definitely have a new found respect.

I was scrolling through Facebook yesterday and came across an article called "This is What Every Working Mom Needs To Hear From Her Partner". I admit I was intrigued, so I clicked on it and read the article. Although I get a ton of support from my husband and didn't agree with the entire article, there were a few sentences that really stood out at me.

"I have too much on my plate and feel like a failure. Every area of my life gets 60% of my best. That's a D. I'm failing. Wouldn't you look ragged and old if you were coasting through life with a D?"

"That's all I can muster and I know it sucks, but I will gregariously tackle tomorrow and shoot for an A. Maybe I'll fall short (again), but could you please tell me I'm doing a good job?" 

- Melanie Okana, "This Is What Every Working Mom Needs To Hear From Her Partner"

Bingo.

This pretty much nailed exactly how I was feeling for especially the last few months, but I was unable to put it into words. I've known myself for almost 35 years now and have a pretty good idea of what makes me tick, how I work, and what I can handle. I suffer from major Mommy Guilt - which is essentially every time I miss out on a moment with my son or feel like I need a little time to myself, I feel guilty. I've been a multi-tasker all my life and never had an issue juggling my schedule until I had my son. Neither my husband or I work 9-5 jobs and although we like that type of atmosphere it certainly got a little more complicated to organize when Kendrick came into the world.

Don't get me wrong, having Kendrick was one of the best things that ever happened to me! And I am so, so happy that I became a Mom. But I'm starting to realize that having a family, a full time job, a part time side gig, completing my degree, running, working out, blogging and organizing multiple events can be a little much for one person. I'm a terrible delegator. I like to do everything myself because I have an expectation on how I want things done. I have a prioritizing problem. I like to make To Do lists but never know where to start! I'm one of those people who doesn't like the little number bubbles beside apps on her iPhone, so I'm sure you can imagine how I feel when I look at my iPhone looking like this:

This number was at 0 before I went on maternity leave. Because I wasn't on my computer as often once I had my little guy, I started getting behind on reading my personal inboxes. Note that 95% of these emails are likely from companies that I've signed up for their mailing lists, but this little red number bubble bugs me EVERY DAY! It's just another box on my never ending To Do list that I need to check off. Because of this, I also have problems sleeping and staying asleep at night which leads to being very tired during the day.

One of my goals for 2017 is to simplify my life. I'm still the same sparkly, bubbly, positive person I've always been, but unfortunately it's only about 60-70% of the time. I'm looking to improve that number to about 80%. I am very lucky I have a great husband, a great family, great friends and an overall great support system so I know I can get through this! I started to use some of my Moksha Yoga passes on my week off at Christmas, and felt amazing afterward! I need to get back to going in the mornings and starting the day off right. I still have some time before my girls trip to Vegas, so I want to get back on track and start eating better, doing yoga & maybe even doing some treadmill running to get back into shape and improve my well being.

Do me a favour, will you? If you see another Mom that looks flustered, whether she's with her kids her or not, tell her she's doing a good job. I am 100% sure she'll appreciate it. I know, I would! We'll never get tired of hearing it and you just never know - at that moment she may be suffering from mom guilt, been a victim of mom shaming or may be having an "I'm a terrible Mom" moment. Something small like that could make her day!

xo
-Dianne

PS: I didn't write this post to get pity and I certainly have no regrets. I thought it was good timing to be real about my feelings as it coincides with #BellLetsTalk day. Our mental health is important, and talking about it is the first step!

PPS: Winter is my favourite season. I have an amazing spot in my new office where my desk is right beside floor to ceiling windows that overlook downtown and I love all the sunshine that beams down on my desk. As much as I love the winter and the snow, my workouts also tend to slow down. I love running but I hate the treadmill and I'm too much of a wimp to run in the cold (not to mention I'm worried about injuring my klutzy self by tripping on the ice & snow). It's about this time of year that I start to get antsy and want to start running again. I came across the Jasper Canadian Rockies Half Marathon which takes place on April 8th & I think I might sign up.  This leaves me with just over two months to get training (usually I start three months prior, give or take a few days) and to be quite honest I haven't run since September. But maybe it's time to take a plunge and have something to look forward to! I plan to make the decision in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned!

.Hello

Oh hey blog, it's me Dianne. Do you remember me?

The last time there was a long pause between blog posts I announced I was pregnant...

I'm not pregnant.

I don't really have any other explanation than life happened. In the last six months I ran a half marathon, moved houses, moved offices, helped open Rogers Place, watched my baby really turn into a toddler, got two viral infections and one bad cold in a 2.5 month span and had a cough that lasted over three months, stopped working out, unpacked a lot of boxes, ramped up my Stella & Dot business, left Kendrick for the very first time for over 24 hours, planned a trip to Vegas with my girlfriends to see the Backstreet Boys in March 2017, had minor surgery, and raised money for the Mazankowski Heart Institute - in no particular order. Needless to say, it's been a little busy.

Let's rewind back to August. I didn't feel as prepared as I wanted to be for the Edmonton Half, however I was feeling pretty good. I ended up investing in some new runners a little over a month before the race (Nike Air Zoom Pegasus), and so far they have been very comfy! While I was at the start line I was still trying to decide whether I use the run/walk method or just run it out, and I ended up deciding to run it out. I was feeling ok for most of the race but started to get tired during the last 5K. At 18.5KM the 2:30 pace bunny ran by me and I decided that that I was way too close to hitting my goal to give up now...so I blew by them and almost sprinted the last 2.5KM. I ended up beating my personal best time and have a new PB of 2:28:33. 

Although I was happy, I KNOW I can do better and look forward to next year! I'm still not 100% sure when I'll be ready for baby #2, but for now I'm going to plan to run the Edmonton Half again, and possibly do some of the MEC races again although I was disappointed with their 15K's (aka they didn't have enough race marshals and I got lost on a couple of the routes) so hopefully they do get better in that department.

September and October were a bit of a blur! It was very busy at work and I admit that I let myself fall off the work out wagon. I ate out more, was lazy at night and didn't cook as often, and didn't have the energy to get up in the mornings to work out. I wanted to get back on track in November however that's when I started to get sick. It was viral infection after viral infection, and many trips to the doctor for them to tell me that there was nothing they could really do and it was very frustrating! Thankfully all that Kendrick ended up with was a runny nose for a few days. I did end up going to see my Naturopath who gave me some tips and now that I'm finished the meds for my cough I look forward to getting back on track and feeling better really soon! I also found out that I have 29 leftover passes at Moksha Yoga! 29!!!! It's been...oh I don't know...four or so years since I've been? I think I'm going to try and go this week and see if I can get it back into my routine again. 

We hosted Christmas dinner for the very first time ever at our new home! We moved at the end of August and I absolutely love it. Better neighbourhood, bigger and better house, and we couldn't be happier. We have an awesome bonus room now that is used as Kendrick's playroom and it's fantastic. Not to mention I swear our bedroom is twice the size and has an ensuite bathroom! It was so nice to be able to host Christmas dinner for our immediate families at our place, and we are pumped that the turkey and stuffing turned out and we didn't have to order pizza! :) 

Saw this quote on Facebook today and felt like it really spoke to me. 

I admit, I've been having a lot more "nothing" days lately simply because I've been so exhausted, mostly I think from being sick. Sometimes this working Mom thing is hard! But now that I'm starting to feel better and have a week off after Christmas to recharge, I'm looking forward to getting back into it and starting my New Year's resolutions early this year! My goal is to tone up and lose a bit around the belly before I head to Vegas in March, and I want to accomplish that by doing Yoga, going back to Blitz HIIT training (which I think is what helped me lose the last bit of baby weight at the beginning of 2016), doing stairs and running on some of my lunch breaks and doing some home work outs as well. I'm feeling good about 2017, are you?

It will not be six months before I write again! I promise!

xo

-Dianne

PS: After taking a bit of a break, I really ramped up my Stella & Dot business in November and it reminded me of how much fun it was (and how easy it was to make a little extra cash on the side!) If you are interested in beating the after Christmas blues and want to earn yourself some free jewelry to start the new year off right, email me at DianneCK39@gmail.com or tweet me @StyleByDianne and we'll set up a date! The new spring collection launches really soon and I'm looking for debut hostesses to show off the new line!

PPS: I went Boxing Day shopping today and it was awesome. I know some people don't understand why - but honestly, if you suck it up and go when the mall first opens first thing in the morning, it's not so bad! Maybe I saw that because all the stores I went to had no crazy lines, and I found a parking spot close to the door so I didn't have to bring in my jacket. All the clothes I bought today were 50-70% off! You can't go wrong with that! :)

.Confusing

Let's talk about bowels.

Yup, it's uncomfortable. Even discussing this in this blog gives me the heebie geebies, but maybe more people should be talking about it because I bet I'm not the only one with issues.

Back on May 21, I blogged about how good I was feeling. I keep thinking about this post because that doesn't seem that long ago yet I felt so different. I was feeling confident with my weight, feeling good about my work out routine, and happy with my training for the Edmonton half. Then, something happened.

Every time I ate I felt gross, I ended up gaining 7-8 pounds and some of my pants started feeling tight. I felt myself getting bloated and crampy a lot. For some reason my training started suffering because I would cramp up and be too fatigued. I was feeling tired (to be clear, I always feel tired but this seemed a little more than normal). I had a serious lack of motivation for everything. Then I would get random symptoms that would resemble a urinary tract infection, or random pains that resembled what you could feel with a kidney stone, that were to the point where we debated getting someone to come over and be with Kendrick so that Brian could take me to the hospital. I saw my doctor a couple of times and in the last couple months I've done two urine tests, two blood tests, two ultrasounds, an x-ray and three pregnancy tests. No urinary tract infection, no kidney stones (which is what they thought the night I almost went to the hospital) and the pregnancy tests were negative. So WHAT was going on?

This started to feel eerily familiar to about four years ago when I went to my doctor with stomach issues. I had been suffering for almost a year and they had done every test they could think of and they all came out negative. I insisted that something was still off, which is when my doctor sent me to a naturopath. After doing an elimination diet (no gluten, dairy, eggs, corn and soy) for a month I slowly added each item back in and found out that it was soy that was the problem. When I didn't eat soy I felt a million times better! It was a long journey because even eliminating all those things I didn't actually start to feel better for about two and a half weeks, but when I did it was amazing how much of a difference it made! I was vigilant for quite awhile when going out to eat but when I got pregnant I fell off the bandwagon. I was already feeling gross so I figured it didn't really matter. My home has been soy-free for quite awhile but I stopped asking at restaurants and when I went out for dinner. I really hate being "that annoying person" at restaurants too that's asking to alter or change certain dishes, so that really bugged me. 

They ended up finding something on the x-ray and told me that it looked like I had a severe case of constipation. I found this very odd because I didn't feel constipated? Turns out my body just isn't processing things properly and it makes me sad because Kendrick goes through major constipation every few weeks and I feel like he may have inherited that from me. I also started to think that maybe the soy was starting to bother me again and it was all just combining to make up one big mess. 

So I made a change. My doctor recommended some stuff that's not a laxative that I can mix with water 1-2 times a day to help things move along. I decided to give up soy completely for a month and completely cleanse my system. So far I'm on day six and although I still feel bloated and gross I'm trying to be patient because I know it will likely take 2-2.5 weeks to get it completely out of my system. My training this week has felt slightly better and I even conquered 19K on Sunday with no cramping! I've started emailing some of my favourite restaurants to find out what items have soy in them, so I can be prepared and know what to order if we end up going out for lunch or dinner.

Only time will tell! I hope that before the half I start to feel a lot better and that I'll run strong. The plan is still to try and get a personal best and beat 2:33. I'm hoping once I completely eliminate soy from my diet again (and actually do my best to stay on track) and continue following the doctor's orders that I'll get back to my May 21 confidence in no time. Those 7-8 pounds can also disappear anytime now!

Wish me luck!

xo

-Dianne

PS: I found an old picture of me in a bikini from 2008. WOW that was 8 years ago! Is it wrong to want to go back to looking like that? 

Yes, I know my body has changed since having Kendrick and I have embraced it BUT I don't think anyone should have to settle if they are not completely satisfied. I proved earlier this year that you can get back to your pre-baby weight with hard work, even if it takes awhile! Once my half is over I'm going to take a bit of time off, then continue running and head back to HIIT training at Blitz so that I can get stronger! I aim to look like this again!

PPS: Random story time. Yesterday while doing the River Valley Stairs I passed by a father and his young old son. His son wanted to go down the stairs and the father was like "no way, I don't want to climb back up". I was really turned off and thought to myself WHY wouldn't he be encouraging his son to do the stairs and get some exercise. I admit, I went through a judgemental moment. Personally, I want to be active and be able to chase after my own son and if he wants to walk up 203 stairs one day then I'm going to let him! One round of stairs later I passed by them again and they were going back up the stairs. The father was urging his son on and telling him what a good job he was doing and encouraging him to keep going. This just goes to show you can't judge a book by it's cover! It was actually really sweet. 

.Delicious

I felt I needed to blog strictly because I wanted to share an amazing recipe that I tried tonight. Italian sausage stroganoff. OMG. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was because it wouldn't do it justice. More on that later...

I had to head to physio last week because my back was bothering me. In all honesty it's been bothering me for awhile but it hasn't been bad enough for me to actually stop training - until two weeks ago. I actually had to cut a run short because I was in so much pain, which was incredibly frustrating. After going to physio it seems like I had this same muscle injury last year (which I honestly didn't remember at all - baby brain IS still kicking 16 months later), but this time he decided to treat it a little differently. He actually did some acupuncture which I admit, scared me a little. I'm not a very big fan of needles so I guess it was a good thing that I couldn't see them getting inserted in my back. Turns out the treatment worked pretty well as I felt really good for the next three days! I ran my second 15K last weekend and although my back flared up a little bit I managed to get a new personal best of 1:41:45. The best part is that I know I can do better. I wasn't feeling 100% so the fact that I got a new personal best despite that makes me feel really good. I have one more 15K training run this weekend with MEC so we'll see how it goes. I went back to physio today to get some more acupuncture done, so I'm hoping that I'm in really good shape for the weekend. 

The Edmonton Half is fast approaching and I'm still undecided on how I'm going to run the race. I'm either going to run it like normal and go for a new personal best, or I'm going to try the run/walk method and follow the 2:15 pace bunny. I just don't know what I should do! It also happens that leading up to that day we'll be moving out of our house and into a new house AND moving offices. August is going to be slightly busy! This will make lunch time runs all that more important as I feel like it's going to be hard to get up early and I'm not going to have the energy when I get home from work (not to mention that I really enjoy spending evenings with Kendrick!) Bootcamp runs out in the next two weeks so after that I'm going to try heading back to Blitz for morning HIIT training at least once a week. I'm finding that my extra strength training is helping me feel less sore after races so I definitely want to keep it up. I'm going to continue with running 2-3 times a week with a longer run on Friday or Saturday, and also continue with stairs on Wednesdays. I feel like my training is paying off because I've done a few personal bests already this year so I'm really hoping it continues!

I ordered new SHOES! I also ordered new shoes for Kendrick - but in fairness he's gotten just over seven months out of his last pair of baby Nikes so I'm pretty impressed. I had bought Kendrick baby Nikes in the next size up awhile ago but they have been packed away for a few months as we were anticipating moving sooner, so I ordered him a pair of baby Pumas and a pair of baby Asics. I may have a baby shoe problem. For myself, I decided to go with the Nike Air Zoom Pegasus. After my last 15K it was clear to me that my shoes were close to being done, so it was time to bite the bullet and try something new. I thought I noticed my shin splints creeping back up on me the last few months on occasion, so I'm hoping a change of shoe will do the trick. Nike has a great return policy where you can return them within 30 days for any reason, so if they aren't perfect I'll send them back and try a new pair. I'm hoping they will be great and they arrive soon so I have time to break them in before the big race.

I've lost a couple pounds so I'm starting to feel a little bit better. I'm still struggling a bit with work/life balance and getting organized in the few hours I have before Kendrick goes to bed, but it's going not too badly. I'm very thankful! My baby is also 16 months old in a few days. He got his first hair cut last weekend and is truly starting to really look like a little boy. It's a bittersweet time for this mama.

xo

-Dianne

PS: The more running I do the more I wish there was some sort of app that I could have on my phone to alert someone if I was ever involved in an emergency. Not to say that I'm super paranoid as I usually run in very populated areas but if something did happen and someone tried to grab me or steal from me while I was running, it would be nice to be able to press a button and alert someone of my whereabouts. Or, if I say I'm going to be an hour and it's been an hour and 10 minutes, someone would be able to check the app to find out where I am. Is there such a thing? If not, I feel like someone should invent one! It's better to be safe than sorry.

PPS: Ok, I need to share this amazing recipe I tried tonight. Bonus points that it's a one pot recipe, as that makes clean up oh-so-easy! I love beef stroganoff so when I came across this on Pinterest I knew I had to try it. The original recipe is here, however here my adapted recipe with Italian sausage:

1 teaspoon of olive oil

3 cups of fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup of sliced onion

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 package of ground Italian sausage

1 tablespoon of smoked paprika

4 cups organic mushroom broth

2 cups of rotini pasta

3 pickles, diced

1/2 a cup of low fat sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a big pot on medium high heat and cook the mushrooms until soft and tender. Remove and place in a small bowl. Cook the onions and the garlic in the same pot for a few minutes until translucent and fragrant. Add the Italian sausage and cook until tender and browned, breaking up with a wooden spoon. Add the paprika and stir. Then add the mushroom broth and pasta and bring to soft boil. Continue to cook until the pasta is soft. Add in the diced pickles and stir. Remove from heat and add the mushrooms back in along with the sour cream. Serve, and enjoy! Seriously, I feel like I could eat the whole four servings it's THAT good!

.Guilty

2. More. Weeks.

I'm finding that the closer I get to going back to work, the more my "mommy guilt" is starting to set in because I'm looking forward to it. I still very much feel mixed emotions as maternity leave has been a blast, but I'm finding myself really starting to get excited about going back to the office and seeing my co-workers again. As much as I love flying by the seat of my pants during maternity leave, we are still fairly structured as I have things planned almost every day this week! I'm having so much fun but I'm definitely feeling guilty about going back to work and leaving him at daycare. This is normal, right?

Even though I'm looking forward to going back, I will miss all of Kendrick's play dates! I never really visualized myself being a "mom's group" type of person, but I am so thankful for the group I found and the people I've met over the past year! For someone who never really had a lot of close female friends, I am so grateful for this network of new moms to be able to bounce ideas off of, vent to, and learn together as our little ones grow up. Although I have found some great friends that I've become close with, I've also found that I don't agree with some people's parenting styles. There are lots of memes and blogs about how we shouldn't be judge-y of other mom's choices as we are all doing what's best for our children and I think that's absolutely true! However...sometimes it's very difficult NOT to judge when someone talks about something that you feel is very wrong or unsafe.  However, I keep it to myself. I've learned to start to take things with a grain of salt and just go with the flow. I felt very judged a few weeks ago when I felt like a woman at Sobey's was judging me for buying Kendrick organic milk. I didn't like that feeling and because I'm not usually very confrontational I chose not to make a big deal of the situation, but I thought it was slightly rude and my reasons for choosing organic milk for my son is none of her business.

On another note, I finally took some time during nap time yesterday to plan my dinners for the rest of the week. Here's what I have planned:

Yesterday: Pasta with tomato sauce and turkey & apple meatballs - a WIN!

Today: Tacos with lean ground beef

Tomorrow: We're eating out so no dinner planned

Thursday: Coconut chicken salad

Friday: Slo-cooker mongolian beef over coconut rice

Saturday: Chicken fingers & fries

I've included links to the recipes that I plan to try. I'm also trying to incorporate some meals that I can share with Kendrick! He's starting to eat more finger foods and less purees, so I've been trying to brainstorm some meals that he can easily eat that can double as dinner for us. The turkey & apple meatballs turned out fantastic and Kendrick loved them! If you haven't already, check out my board on Pinterest specifically for recipes that I've tried and that have worked really well! I usually put in the comments if I've changed anything in the recipe - which is almost all the time because one of my quirks is not being able to follow a recipe. I always have to add something of my own! I also started a board for kids food recipes that Kendrick & I have tried and loved which will hopefully get bigger as the weeks go on!

I've been continuing to work out at Blitz Conditioning twice a week for the past month. I'm feeling pretty good! I'm hoping to continue when I go back to work, I'm just debating on whether I go super early or go right after work. "Mommy guilt" creeps in again here because if I go I won't see Kendrick either in the morning or much before he goes to bed, but I know that I'll schedule to make sure that I won't be missing him for an entire day. I'm going to also take the plunge and buy the monthly pass instead of the 10 pass punch card, which means I'll have to go at least nine times to make it worthwhile so that will help me keep motivated!

xo
-Dianne

PS: I also found a recipe for no bake banana bread bites that I'm attempting to alter a bit to become little pieces of heaven. They are also pretty healthy, and don't take long to prepare which is even better! As soon as I figure out the perfect blend, I'll post it!

PPS: I gave up pop for lent (four days late because I missed the start date). For some reason since I was pregnant with Kendrick I've been craving it and drinking it way more often, and it didn't stop when I had him! I felt like something sweet so I picked up some banana milk instead. I knew it had some sugar in it, but it turns out it actually has a very similar amount of sugar to pop (although some pop has slightly more). How depressing! Oh well. Time to go to Planet Organic and pick up some sugar-free sparkling juice! 

.Productive

Due to the unseasonably warm weather and the snow melting, the spring running bug has caught me a little earlier than normal this year. It's still too icy for my wimpy self to get out there quite yet, but every time I'm driving I think about getting back into it. I need to pick myself up a membership to a gym with an indoor track in the next week so I can start prepping for my first MEC race on March 6th! It's only 5K but it will be nice to get the legs in gear!

Kendrick starts daycare in three weeks and I head back to work! Like I mentioned last blog, I'm feeling very mixed about everything. One thing that I'm trying to figure out is balance. I'm quite enjoying working out twice a week at Blitz Conditioning as a "Morning Warrior," and it allows me to get my work out in before the little dude wakes up. However, when Kendrick starts daycare if I go work out in the morning it means that my hubby will be the one taking him to daycare and I'll miss seeing him in the morning. If I work out after work, there's a chance I may not make it home to see him before I go to bed. This bothers me! But at the same time, since I've started working out regularly I've been feeling really good and don't want to stop. I'm hoping this will get easier once I settle into working 9-5 again and Kendrick has spent some time at daycare. It's just hard for me to imagine going from seeing him pretty much 24/7 to only seeing him for an hour some days!

I'm also quite proud to say I've almost got nap time down to a science! For the first 10 months of Kendrick's life we didn't really have a scheduled nap time. We'd be out and about and he'd nap in the car or sometimes at home and life was good! Then at 10 months I decided to see if I could try and get him down to one nap a day so that he could start to prep for daycare. It took almost the whole month (as he did NOT like going down for naps in the crib), but for the last little while he's been going down like a champ and sleeping for two to three hours! This being said if he has a busy morning and falls asleep in the car at some point, I usually drive around for a bit to let him get at least an hour of steady nap, but for the most part I've just been planning my activities in the morning and late afternoon so we can be home around lunch time and he can go down for his nap. I know this type of thing might not work for everyone, but it's really worked for us! I wouldn't change the first 10 months for the world, as we were able to do a lot of things and I definitely made the most of my maternity leave! I'm very thankful we live in a country that gives us moms a year off after the baby comes!

There's a lot happening this month! In the next 31 days Kendrick turns 11 months, I turn 34, hubby and I celebrate our second wedding anniversary, we're going on a small mini family vacation before I go back to work, and then Kendrick turns 1. ONE! We decided to do a cake smash photo shoot with him in a few weeks and I am uber excited for it! We also decided we didn't want to rent a big space for Kendrick's birthday but had a lot of people special to him we wanted to invite! So he's having 3 three mini parties instead - one for family, one for friends, and one playdate with his baby friends before most of us go back to work. I bought some AMAZING decorations from a shop on Etsy so it just means that I get to use them three times! I know he won't remember his first birthday but we all will, so I'm hoping we can videotape some memories (like Ross & Rachel did on Friends) to show him on his 18th birthday.

xo,

-Dianne

PS: This week I'm going to start prepping for meal planning! I'm going to look at the week ahead, make a grocery list of what we need, and try to go shopping on Sunday. While I'm still home, I'm going to also try utilizing my slow cooker more often so it's less prep work later on in the day. I'm looking forward to this! Hubby and I are both making an effort to work out more so it will be great to compliment that with healthy eating.

PPS: So I'll share with you a little secret... I may be opening up an Etsy shop! I found a decoration I wanted to use for Kendrick's cake smash that was going to cost me $100+ to get it here, so I decided I may try making them myself. I'm going to keep the details sparse for now as I'm not 100% sure how this new adventure is going to go, but I'm excited nonetheless! The picture below is a hint. :)

.Planning

I miss running.

I really need a winter activity! Every year I say that, and every year I don't find one. I guess this year is a little different because my little man is keeping me pretty busy!

I've recently starting going to Blitz Conditioning for their early morning 6AM HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) work outs and they have been great! I've gone once a week three weeks in a row now and this week I stepped it up a notch and went twice. I'm scheduled to go twice next week too! I'm thankful to have my cousin Adriana who's been coming with me in the mornings and motivating me to show up (because my goodness is it hard to get up at 4:50AM!)

It occurred to me the other day that my first run of the year is on March 6. That's like... six weeks away. AH! Since I'm a whimp and don't run in the snow, I'm going to have to find an indoor running track in the next week or two. Thankfully this one is a 5K so I'm going to slowly start back into training again in early February.

I've recently started taking Kendrick to gymnastics drop in at North Edmonton Gymnastics Club and he is loving it! He likes to hang on the bars, jump with Mommy into the foam pit, bounce on the trampoline, and pretty much climb anything he can. I've actually had to barricade my fireplace off because he's a climbing machine! He figured out stairs last month too. I can't wait to enroll him in classes when he's 18 months old!

My maternity leave is over in five weeks. I am feeling very conflicted! On one hand I am excited to go back to work and catch up on what I've missed this past year. I've brought Kendrick to visit my co-workers quite a few times this year, but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again on a regular basis. I'm also excited to wear all the new work clothes I bought on Boxing Day! :) On the other hand, I am going to miss seeing Kendrick all day, every day! Maternity leave has been an absolute blast! I've made new mommy friends (which is pretty awesome considering I'm one of those girls that doesn't have a ton of close female friends) and Kendrick and I have gone on quite a few adventures! Most weeks we are out and about doing something fun at least 4-5 times and I'm loving every minute of it! Even though I know it means life is going to change drastically, I'm silently hoping that he takes his first steps before I go back so I don't feel like I missed out on that milestone. He's pretty close right now as he cruises along the furniture, so you never know!

After putting Kendrick to bed at 7:15PM tonight, I did some cleaning and straightening out of my house. Usually I put away all the toys (as usually my living room looks like a toy tornado hit it during the day) and get some cleaning done before I relax and de-stress before heading to bed. I realized today though when I go back to work, that doesn't leave me a lot of time with the little guy between the time I get home from work and the time he goes to bed! So I've decided to really start looking into meal planning. It may be time to start a new Pinterest board! I want to plan my meals for the week in advance, get the groceries each weekend, and then get them ready in freezer bags so that when I get home from work, it's as easy as putting everything in a pot or taking it out of the slow cooker! This will allow more family time and some healthier meals too! Although it doesn't seem like a tough task, it does seem a little daunting to be that organized every week. Does anyone out there meal plan and have any tips?

xo

-Dianne

PS: Stella & Dot is giving us Stylists a chance to earn a trip to Costa Rica! Considering we don't have a big vacation planned this year, I'd really LOVE to go! You can help me get there by shopping my website, hosting a trunk show, or joining my team and becoming a Stylist! Feel free to comment below or tweet me if any of these interest you! :)

PPS: I'm starting to make a dent on some of my 2016 goals! My new hobby is HIIT training, and I'm quite enjoying it! I haven't really made a dent on my debt yet, but will start that as soon as I start making a regular pay cheque again back at work! We did do a date night this January while Kendrick had a sleepover, and have one planned for February already which is exciting! I'm also 24 days in to #365DaysOfGratitude, and it's also going well! I'm not sure if I'll get to blog three times this month, but I shall certainly strive for February! Overall, I think it's a good start!