Cheryl, Author at Toddler Blues

Baby has croup

May 19, 2013 by Cheryl Leave a Comment

Just a short post today to say that my baby has croup. It is so heartbreaking to see her struggling so hard to breathe. The poor thing has been up coughing all night, and poor mum and dad did not get any sleep either.

Every time I picked her up she would fall asleep in my arms. As soon as I put her down she would cough and start wailing. Around 1am I realised that the only way she was going to sleep was if I held her somewhat upright for the rest of the night.

So I did. We snuggled on the recliner for the whole night. I woke up sore and feeling like I didn’t sleep. Audrey woke up sniffly but somewhat happy. I am now getting her cold. Fun times.

No workouts this week. Boo!

Week 1 of 12WBT

May 18, 2013 by Cheryl Leave a Comment

Week 1 almost done and dusted! Here’s how I did:

Week 1 stats:

START WEIGHT: 88.9 kg

WEDNESDAY WEIGH-IN: 88.4 kg

LOSS: 0.5 kg (only 3 days this week)

BMI: 32.9

OUTLOOK: Happy!! (but sick: cough! cough!)

Nutrition Plan Review

I didn’t necessarily follow the same order of the nutrition plan as was written. This worked really well for me, especially for the breakfasts. I just look at the weekly overview, decide what I feel like from that, and make it. I made sure to log all my calories, so I think I did well with that. I went way over on my treat meal. I actually didn’t log my calories on that one even when I know I should have. We went to Hog’s Breath for dinner and I had chocolate mud cake for dessert. Other than that though, I had a very good week on the nutrition plan and am patting myself on the back. Way to go!!

Exercise Review

Wow, really not a good week for exercising. Before this week I have actually been doing pretty well. I have a 5k fun run coming up on June 2 that I have been training for. Unfortunately my baby has been VERY sick this week, so I couldn’t take her to the creche at the gym. Now I am sick too, so I can’t exercise at all (or at least, I won’t other than walking). As soon as I feel better I’m going to get right back into it.

Trouble ahead

I’m a bit worried about this coming week because I am traveling. I am super excited at the same time because the reason I am traveling is: we bought a house (yay!!) and I have to do an entry condition report for the tenant. Every time I travel I gain weight, so this is trouble! I will have to do my exercising outside, and I will have the baby with me. I really wish I had a pram suitable for running – it would make it so much easier! Since for 3 days I will be staying with my mother in law, I sent her the meal plan and shopping list. She is incredibly picky, so I have doubts as to whether she will actually follow it. For the day I am staying in Brisbane I am considering bringing a couple of my frozen meals with me. The only problem with that is that they need to make it to Bundaberg first (after a day of traveling) and then to Brisbane 3 days later. Any ideas on how to make it happen? Maybe someone out there has some tips on following the 12WBT while traveling?

Lessons learned from Round 1 of Michelle Bridges’ 12 Week Body Transformation

May 18, 2013 by Cheryl Leave a Comment

In January I signed up for the Michelle Bridges’ 12 week body transformation. I was super gung-ho, completed all the pre-season tasks, and was very diligent… for the first 3 weeks. I was just starting to see some pretty cool changes and a couple of other people even noticed too! I suppose “life” got in the way after that though, and I fell off the wagon. Here and there I would get back on but it just didn’t stick. I had discussed with my husband that I wouldn’t be signing up for Round 2. I’m not sure what happened, but I signed up for Round 2 anyways. I just love having meal plans all ready to go, and a shopping list that I can just print out and go. I HATE making shopping lists and deciding what I’m going to eat… so for me, it’s totally worth it to pay the money.

Now, since I did pay the money I also want to get my money’s worth. In the last challenge, without doing it wholeheartedly I went from 93.8 kg in pre-season to 90.6 kg. That’s not too bad for a half-ass attempt. I really want to break down what I did wrong so that I can get it right this time and (hopefully) lose the post-caesar belly.

TOP TIPS FOR GETTING THE BEST RESULTS ON THE 12WBT

You will probably, at some point, go over your calorie allowance for the day. Maybe more than once. GET OVER IT AND DO BETTER TOMORROW. This is NOT an excuse to make your husband get in the car and drive straight to Baskin Robbins to bring you home a pint of peanut butter chocolate ice cream. Everyone messes up sometimes, and you don’t have to throw in the towel. Just try again.
Stop weighing yourself every day. Make it a surprise on a Wednesday.
When your husband comes home with Hungry Jacks breakfast of champions for you, don’t feel bad saying “no thanks.” That stuff is disgusting anyways and you always think to yourself afterwards that it wasn’t as good as you remembered.
Your husband is not on the program so stop using him as an excuse. He will NEVER get up with you and the baby at 6am and he will NOT go to the gym with you. Who cares? This is about YOU, not him! Drop the baby off at the gym’s creche and get your workout done! He will come around when he is good and ready.
Make sure to eat your snacks. Remember that you need to eat every 3 hours or so, so that your blood sugar doesn’t drop too much. If your insulin is kicking in too much it means your body will be tricking itself to store fat on the next meal(s). You’re not doing yourself any favours by skipping the snacks. Keep a stack of yogurt cups in the fridge for the times when you just can’t be bothered to cut up veggies or make something else.
If the baby is sick, or you are sick don’t feel bad about skipping a workout. I know everyone is all “JFDI” and all… but let’s be real for a moment. Sometimes it’s not going to happen and that’s ok. It doesn’t mean “skip exercising altogether for the rest of the program.” It means, when you feel better get back into it and in the meantime stay on the meal plan! Nutrition is probably 80% of weight loss and exercise is 20%. Having said that, skipping exercising shouldn’t be happening all the time. I’m talking about special circumstances.
Don’t make anything that hubby really dislikes because he will go out and buy something naughty that will tempt you. There is an awesome new feature in the 12wbt meal plan. You can “customize” the meal plan to change any meals you (or your partner) don’t like. This automatically updates the shopping list! Too easy!
Stop obsessing. This is not your life. It is only one small part of your life, and you’re planning on continuing eating and exercising for the rest of your life. Don’t stress, just make it happen.

I think that about sums it up. I just need to stay relaxed about it. I tend to obsess over everything which throws me in to a tailspin if I mess up at all which prompts me to throw in the towel. I don’t have to do that. I actually LOVE the meal plans because it takes the stress out of it. This program is totally do-able. I am going to… well… JFDI

How I became a mum sooner than expected and this all started

May 14, 2013 by Cheryl Leave a Comment

I became a mum (mom?) in July of last year. I knew it was coming but I didn’t expect it to come so fast! Audrey was born at 31 weeks gestation to the surprise of us all.

premature baby caesarean section — At 1.4 kg (around 3lbs), Audrey was the littlest baby I had ever seen.

Now, I had all these ideas in my head about what motherhood would be like. I subscribed to blogs of moms who made clothes and toys and all kinds of homespun goodies for their babies. Moms who made everything from scratch and photographed everything beautifully and still had time to write blog posts that were interesting and insightful. At the time it didn’t impress me much. My mom was pretty clever herself, and did all those things (minus the blogging) so I just assumed that’s what good moms do and that I would be that kind of mom. I kept adding to my Pinterest board all the beautiful things I was going to make.

baby boots — One of the many pretty things that I planned on making when I was at home with a baby. Oh, I wish! From Joyfolieblog.com

Boy, was I in for a shock. The first 2 months I spent in the hospital getting fat on hospital food. When we finally were able to bring Audrey home I was exhausted all the time. I didn’t even have time to read a blog let alone write one! The thought of all the clever moms out there doing all the right things oddly made me angry. I considered it a good day if I had managed to squeeze in a shower at some point.

premature baby in special care nursery — This was the first 2 weeks of Audrey’s life in the special care nursery in Darwin. Absolutely heartbreaking. Can’t say enough good things about the amazing nursing staff there. They took really good care of her and their calm confidence reassured me.

Audrey was a newborn for 6 months. She didn’t even crack a smile that whole time. I think that was what made it the hardest. You wouldn’t even know it now. Audrey is the happiest baby I have ever seen, now. She smiles at everyone – strangers even. Mostly, she smiles at her dad. He knows just how to get her really giggling.

I’ve really digressed here. I meant to tell you about why I chose to write this blog. Well, it seems that I actually have some time now. (Not a lot, mind you, but Audrey actually takes naps for longer than 20 minutes now! Yippee!).

Audrey at 9 monthI reckon blogging will be therapeutic. A chance to get my thoughts down and actually remember them later. It is really for me… but if someone reads this and can relate and might find some comfort in knowing that I’ve been there too… well that’s good too.

Other topics that will be included at some point: 12 Week Body Transformation (Michelle Bridges) – I’m on round 2 baby! Babies (as the name implies!) My Thermomix and possibly some recipes, crafting (some wins and some fails) and living with kidney disease. I’m sure some other topics will come up here and there, but those are the biggies. Enjoy!

Week 1 stats:

Nutrition Plan Review

Exercise Review

Trouble ahead

TOP TIPS FOR GETTING THE BEST RESULTS ON THE 12WBT

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