Working out with baby

Ricky is so much more active these days I barely have a moment to rest and sometimes I am too tired to make it to the gym by the time he goes to bed so..I figured I could start doing some at home work outs the days I miss the gym.

Getting a stair workout, with that weight I just go up and down while I watch Ricky 

 Carrying Ricky around the house with me while I do my everyday chores, I mean the laundry, vacuuming and such still have to get done and he loves the carrier.

Excuse my messy room, we were cleaning :)


Found this awesome workout video I will be trying. New exercise is going good thus far, made it to the gym today, good luck with your fitness goals
http://www.youtube.com/v/GfQRD8O_Uo4?autohide=1&version=3&autohide=1&feature=share&attribution_tag=nRZUd1FmwExsfq5K9gQ3wA&showinfo=1&autoplay=1



AND

Me and the little man

Happy Friday everyone! I got to put my little one in his costume tonight and I am so excited to take him to his first birthday party tomorrow. I just wanted to share some pictures that we did last week, I wanted to wear my uniform and have him with me at least once. He's too young to know his mom wears this uniform but I want him to look at this one day and be proud of his mommy. Special thanks to Erin Pate of EP photography for taking the pictures. If you live in Hawaii you can find her on Facebook, she does great work at reasonable prices :) 

Lately

Lately I have been neglecting all sources of social media and concentrating more on getting things done. Like resuming my quest for a six pack and amazing arms...psssh all joking aside I am totally inspired by this girl go here for amazing post-baby workouts. I have been reading her blog for a while and aside from being a Marine Corps wife, she is also a mom, lawyer, and she is pregnant again and looking amazing! seriously go check her out. Because of her inspiring blog I am getting back on the grind. I went to the gym today and ran like a maniac, seriously I think my lady parts might fall out (sorry for that reference). Since I had a c-section, I feel like a stabbing little pain in that area every time I run too far ( more than 2miles) or I do any kind of heavy abdominal work out. I think it's normal from talking to other moms who have been through the same thing, they say it can take about a year to feel 100% again. I am about to start a new work-out routine so hopefully it starts getting less sore, for everyone out here in Hawaii I highly recommend going to the new Pearl Harbor-Hickam gym. There is also a child care center near it and you can drop off your baby for $4 an hour, there is a pre-registartion packet you fill out and your baby has to have his shots. I am also considering getting a tread mill, nothing fancy just a craiglist purchase, Ricky is on the move but he will sit in his exersaucer while I work out. Not confident in the jogging stroller yet, we didn't get a real nice one and it wobbles all over the place (Paul is in the "process" of fixing it). By the way I do realize that I never let you guys in on what happened with the Paleo diet, well its over! and I am back to 142lbs, which is my pre-baby weight but I am still not happy with that so I am aiming for a 10lbs loss. Just so you guys know, my final weight during pregnancy was 160lbs! judge me hard. 

Oh the memories 

A letter to myself about letting go

With so many things about to change for our family right now and our busy schedule I decided tonight while putting Ricky to bed that I need to let things go. I need to stop doing random chores (vacuuming at 9pm) doing laundry at 6 in the morning and just relax. I cannot be perfect, that admission  to myself is a hard one to make. I cannot breast feed, cloth diaper, make organic baby food, work-out and have a pinterest perfect house without being a complete mess in some area of my life. It's just not possible, I have to stop stressing about dirty dishes and dirty laundry and watch my baby grow. If by some random chance you are doing ALL of the above mentioned kudos to you! also know, you have the envy of every mother I know and you deserve some sort of award. I'm not saying that I am just going to let my house become a dump, but I have to face the facts, raising a child is a damn hard job. And I've been doing two jobs in fact I have been doing three because I am also a wife. If I am quitting my Army job that means all my energy and time is now dedicated to my other two jobs and that means only one thing, I need to put all my energy into turning Ricky into a decent human being with deep self respect for himself and others. I am responsible for teaching him about life and molding his character, that is my job and that means I have to let go. It's okay if we eat out sometimes, if we use paper plates once in a while and if the laundry just stacks up as long as my priority is to enjoy my son every day and tell him I love him before bed. That is all that matters. 

The weekend

Hope everyone had a great weekend! We spent our Saturday at the pumpkin patch and it was awesome. If you live in Hawaii you must go to the Waimanalo family farm they have a great set-up with really good mason jar lemonade, sweet tea, and corn bread! It was tons of fun and very family oriented. On Sunday the weather was a bit overcast so after church and football we hung out at home. All in all a great weekend, I was reminded that I need to take time off once in a while. I love Ricky but sometimes I just need a break to do things like shampoo my hair! seriously I got a shampoo, haircut and blow dry and it was like a mini vacation. You guys should try it sometime :) I also recommend what I call "girl dates" basically the girls get together (after Ricky is down for the night) and we eat junk and talk about everything going on. NO boys allowed! we have french fries, soda, pie, you know just the good stuff and then we make a gym date for the next day. It's pretty much perfect :) Have a good week everyone! 

Oh my,Pineapple!

Pictures from our trip to the Dole plantation. 

So far

 We just had a four day weekend, I got to sleep in for two days in a row and it was glorious! My wonderful husband got up with the baby and I actually slept until 11 one day. I had no idea I could sleep for that long.

Rough but, I am trying 

We enjoyed a hike and some Halloween decorating. We also decided to start some puzzles and it has become my favorite thing to do at the end of the day. I tired my hand at making caramel apples, I am one of those people that see something on pinterest and then just go for it myself. Well I tried real caramel candies, needless to say it was a Pinterest FAIL! I burned the whole thing and in frustration tossed it in the trash. I am not one to be defeated so easily so I totally cheated and bought the Pillsbury caramel frosting, easy melt in the microwave add some chocolate sprinkles and you have yourself a Pinterest win! ;) I would LOVE to decorate the outside of our home, but having pumpkins outside in Hawaii weather is a big no no :( One of the big things I miss about cool weather. 

The puzzle in the works. We don't have a puzzle table so we used a hard poster for a surface

The one that was just completed 

Fall decorations in the living room 

 After church on Sunday we went to get lunch at Subway and just out of curiosity we put Ricky in a high chair. Wouldn't you know it, he can sit in one! That prompted a quick Amazon search (by far the best place to buy baby crap)and now we have these beauties on the way.

This is going with us to the beach 

Matches our current dinning room table perfectly and it folds 

This looks like something you get issued as Army gear, so of course I got it

 

Looking forward to using these and writing a little review. Also look out for our next blog post! We had a photo session with EP photography today and I have a feeling it turned out AMAZING.

More about the uniform

The other day my husband was reading my blog (thanks hunny!) and he made a comment " why do you just talk about the baby?" I have no idea! what about me? so here it is; a post all about me and what I don't talk about a lot, my actual job, for now.  In the About Me page I talk about myself, but in case you missed it here is a recap:

I am 27, married with one child (baby boy Ricky) a dog and a cat we all live in Hawaii. I joined the Army back in 2006 and I happen to be a medic. Currently I work in an office doing nothing that pertains to my medical skills but I do love to tell my coworkers to watch their diets, check their cholesterol and on and on....they love me( sometimes). My husband just had shoulder surgery and even though it was hard to take care of him and the baby, I enjoy taking care of them.

The most humbling experience of my life was taking care of the elderly while I was in LPN school. People who are sick need compassion and I loved being able to offer just a little bit of that to them. They were the sweetest patients ever,  I am going back to nursing school to get my registered nurse degree. People always ask me why I don't just go to medical school ( like I could! ) but even if I had the chance, I would rather take care of people and thats what nurses do. I am terrified of going back to school by the way, taking online classes and stepping back into the classroom are not the same thing.

So there it is a little more about me and what I do, I think it's always better to see it in pictures :)

Great friends and awesome women 

Dont' worry it was just training 

Ricky's fall photo shoot (by me!)

Ever since Ricky was born I am obsessed with pictures, cameras and all that jazz. I am not trying to become a professional photographer I am just trying to be good enough to capture our little family and our everyday life, just because I enjoy it so much and it's beautiful I want pictures that show that.

Paul had to hold the pumpkin the whole time 

 He was trying to eat the pumpkin the whole time 

I love this smile! 

I used a bench that sits right when you walk in my front door, several small pumpkins and some orange lights. I made the ribbon garland using this tutorial here it is. The best part about this whole thing was having Paul help with the shoot, he is such a good sport and he just got me photography classes!