Banana Milk :)

I love Milo, but I can't keep drinking Milo because it's 'junk food', sigh.  But I keep craving milk (or Christian does, and I have to drink more to make more!), and not wanting to waste my treat for the week on a Milo (oh did I mention I find it hard drinking plain milk? - ew!), I asked James (who was on his way to the shops) if he could see if there was any yummy but not junk food milk.  He paid me out for a second and then he suggested I just blend a banana in some milk.  Genius.  I blended milk, a banana, a little cinnamon and a little vanilla essence (it is sugar free!) and it was delicious!!  I don't like ice cream, so it was like the yummiest version of a smoothie for me, ever!!  Loved it - weight loss win!! :)  Honestly I think it might be fattier than a Milo - but less addictive for me, because it doesn't taste at all like chocolate ;)

"I'll tell you what, you've got your hands full!"

Every time I go anywhere, people stop me and say this.  Like, LOTS of people.  There's a lady who sits on her front porch every morning when we walk to school, who says it every time we pass.  People stop me at the shops and say it.  Everyone I bump into at school says it.  I know they just want to say something - to comment on the fact that we have 2.35 more children in our family than the average Australian household these days.  I think they want to empathise - to let me know they know it must be busy having 4 young children.  Generally it's a friendly comment, but often it's a little incredulous, and like they think I'm a little nuts.  A bit of me is worried about what they'll all be thinking and saying when we have more kids! It's not like 4 is that unusual after all - I know heaps of families with way more!!

I don't really know how to respond to this.  

"Oh my word you're right!" 

"Oh these aren't mine - kids are just drawn to me.."

 "Yeah.. hey what do you say about lightening my load a little and carrying these two through Coles for me?"

I pretty much just laugh awkwardly and say "Yes...".  

I just saw a much better response quoted under a random painting of a mother and baby:

"If you think my hands are full, you should see my heart."

Much better.

Fitness Challenge! Week 4

So as of today I've lost 3kgs.  It's exciting, especially considering I haven't been able to work out a great deal, since I keep injuring myself!  It's been soooo frustrating on that front! - I still feel super unfit and weak, but I'm stoked that I'm managing to lose some weight just by the eating part of the challenge, yay!

Walking, running, weights, everything else seems to be out of reach though, so I've pulled out a 'Mumalates' DVD a friend gave me a couple of years ago - it's specialised pilates for post pregnancy, so hopefully I'll have something good to report before long?!  I'm hoping that if I build up strength slowly, I'll be able to move into more active and rigorous exercise soon!  Netball is still going - I'm completely useless, cause I've hurt a ligament in my left leg and as soon as I start moving into a jog/run it pulls again or something and I can barely move! :s  But hopefully I build up a little more fitness through that once a week, since I'm not really able to treadmill :P

I am sooo tired all the time with these 4 childrens, it's hard to keep up with anything at all that means taking a great deal of time out of my day that doesn't involve them, so blogging about the challenge is at least as hard as fitting in exercise!!! lol.. But I'm still going!!

Oh and my 'treat for the week'-s have been getting less awesome, because I can't 'take my chocolate' the way I used to be able to, sigh.  It's partly good cause it means my body is used to healthy stuff and not junk anymore, but partly sad, cause I love eating chocolate!!! lol.

Anyway I'm not thinking straight so I'd better go to sleep, hopefully this made sense :p

xox

Fitness Challenge Again! Day 2

So sore.

So, soooooooooo sore!

Hardest part of my day has definitely been the process of sitting down.  So sore - !  Those squats!  That bridge!  I didn't even do that much and they're killing me today!!  And I was so much sicker with my silly cold that I didn't do much in the way of my workout today - just light cardio, I skipped the weights altogether (James said I could!), so hopefully it doesn't make it a lot longer for my body to get used to it.

Dreading my first game of netball tomorow morning - I've been walking around all day like there is a pole stuck up my back - how will I run?!!  My poor teammates!!

Also, not eating after 7pm can get boring, but also empowering.  I can almost hear my body saying "Yesss! - That's a bunch more calories we don't have to burn off!" when I turn away from treats!  It's making me want to make a cute weight loss chart so I can tick off the kg's I think I can feel myself losing ;)

Also also, aside from waking up to feed a LOT (baby Christian has been SUPER unsettled the last few days :( ), I slept in until 8:30 today, and I felt like high fiving myself for leaving out the 'get up by.....' rule I was talking about yesterday - there's that WIN I was talking about!! Bless James being on holidays and looking after the other 3!! :)

I'm not missing chocolate too much, cause I've been delightedly planning my treat for the week.  James bought me a chocolate milk cause he knows I love them, and he thought he'd tempt me into having that for my treat for the week "instead of going crazy and eating a platter of massive amounts of cakes and things" - ahh he knows me too well!  But I haven't drunk the milk yet - I think I'll hang on to my options for now ;)

Sweet dreams, fingers crossed I manage to move my limbs tomorow! ;)

xo

Fitness Challenge again! Day 1

This morning I got up before my children, which seems against nature!!  I weighed in at 13kg's more than I want to weigh in at, sigh! - so I know I've got a lot of work to do! :)  I have put on some weight again since losing it post-baby - I think the last 2 weeks being on holiday and eating an awful lot of Nutellas and hot chocolates (all of which I can comfortably blame Jonny for - he and Jessima bought me a giant jar of Nutella (YUM!  Whoever invented Nutella deserves a crown...and their very own island... which they can prooobably afford now...!) and he fixed my teeth so I can eat hot stuff again :) SUCH an awesome brother!! :) :) But I digress...) has helped me become plump and lovely.  But it's time to get it all off!!!

I'm aiming to get down to a more comfortable weight within 12 weeks - in time for my birthday, yay!! :)

Until then I'll be...
Working out 5 days a week
Not eating after 7pm each day (except for special occassions/outings - I mean everyday eating)
Drinking at least 2.5L per day
Eating only 1 dessert/treat (I'll miss chocolate, sigh..) per week
Trying to reduce my portion sizes a little and not replacing chocolate with bread as I have a tendancy to do... mmmmm... bread... ;)

I'm trying to remember if there's anything else I'm doing, but at the moment I can't think of anything?!  I want this to be a lifestyle thing for forever though, so I don't want to be so rigid I can't wait "till it's over".  Also I want to get strong and healthy so I'm not scared to have another bub, cause at the moment I feel like a bit of a wreck!

Usually when I'm doing a fitness challenge I have a 'get up by...' time, but at the moment if I ever manage to sleep in I'm going to call it a WIN lol :)

But anyway, I got up and worked out.  It was miserable, as it always is at first!! My left knee was 'clicking' when I was doing squats and stuff and ended up really hurting so I focused on my arms for a bit, and then I did my 40mins on the treadmill, which I don't have enough endorphines to enjoy yet!! ;)  All day I've been eating sultana biscuits instead of the pack of Tim Tams in the cupboard.  I'm exhausted and can't wait to drop into bed later!!  But I'm kind of enjoying how much it all sucks cause I know it'll be awesome soon, and it'll only get easier as I keep going!! :)   And I'll be able to fit into all the cute clothes in a box in my wardrobe.  YAY! :)

Bub wants me so I'd better go, but I wanted to write about this so I don't let myself drop the ball on it (also, sometimes Claire gets bored at work - 'shout out' for Claire! ;))!  On Wednesday I have my first netball game of the new season (I think I'll finally get to play a whole season this time between babies, fun! :)) and I'm confident I'll be awful and unfit, but I'm looking forward to improving on that front too!!

Wish me luck!!! :)

xo

PS:  I just read back on this and I realise I didn't complain nearly enough!!!  I didn't mention the head cold I have and that I was coughing along the treadmill like a sad but determined unwell, unfit little blob!!  (Don't worry - at the time I enjoyed a good whimper and felt appropriately sorry for myself.) Also, I weighed like, 4kg's less last time I weighed myself a couple of weeks ago!  How much does that suck?!!!  Sigh...

(I think that was better, yeah? :))

Maggie's Future...

Maggie's Piano Lessons 1 & 2

Last Saturday (the first of this year!) I started teaching Maggie the piano.

I'm not actually very proficient at the piano myself, but I did learn when I was younger and although I didn't keep it up much, I know the basics.

Our plan is to teach her until I am in over my head, and then pass her on to Tammy to become amazing :)  Like Tammy :)

I just wanted to write up what I do each week with her, for my own reference next time I'm teaching the piano to someone from scratch (like Ana, starting the first day of next year...) and so Tammy can come on and tell me if I'm doing stuff way wrong! :)

So Week 1:

Learnt that the notes correspond with letters A-G.  Learned how to find middle C, and place both thumbs on middle C and the rest of the fingers on the other notes in basic piano position.

Week 2:

Learnt a basic scale just with the right hand - singing 1-2-3-4-5 as she went up.  When she had mastered up, learnt down.  Had some trouble and tears - said it was too hard.  I got on and played some Disney songs she recognised (like, one handed lol) to show her how fun piano can be when you learn it, then sat with her to have another go, and helped place her fingers a few times.  By the end of the lesson she got it, and was very excitedly playing her 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 over and over.  If she masters it this week I plan on teaching her to do it with her left hand next lesson, and start introducing the notes on paper afterwards.