Welcome back, Bob!

Tonight I did something I had not done in 15 months. I worked out. Hard. I did walk while I was pregnant, but wobbling around does not really count as exercise when you are trying to get stomach muscles back. Not that I really had good stomach muscles. But I have zero muscles right now.

The stars were aligned I guess because Emily fell asleep at 6:15 p.m. By 7:15 p.m. I was actually getting antsy to workout. I think I was actually craving exercise. Can this even be possible?

I got my full hour in and I'm feeling good. I'm going to be very sore tomorrow I just know it. I can already feel the muscles ripping. But, I'm quite pleased. I'm going to aim for five days a week, but if I get at least three, that'll be very good.

This is the Biggest Loser DVD, volume 1. Only Bob Harper is the trainer on it. I really like it. Some might say this is too fluffy, but it's great for those who haven't worked out in a long time. It also includes a weight lifting segment and a boot camp. Tonight I did the aerobic workouts. They are difficult for me.

Before I was pregnant, I worked out sporadically. Some weeks I exercised once or twice. Others, I exercised three or four times. I was not really consistent enough and I never saw results.

I gained 12 pounds with Emily. I ended up losing a lot more than that because of the c-section and baby blues, I wasn't hungry for two weeks. But thank goodness my appetite came back. I'm still down a good 13 pounds from before I was pregnant. I'd like to lose 20 more.

Feeling like a big blob all day everyday is not a good feeling. Emily is close to crawling and my energy level right now is very low. I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up with her. My cholesterol is high. And if we want to have another baby, which we would need to do in the next two years, I need to be in better shape than I am right now.

I also signed up on Livestrong.com to count my calories. Today is the first day and I thought it went well. Hopefully I can keep it up.

This Little Mommy Stayed Home

This was another free book! Ta daaaa! It was a nice find. This was a quick read written by Samantha Wilde. It is fictional and follows a new mom through the first 8 months of her son's life. It starts off hilarious with tales of her not showering for days, dealing with the post partum physical effects (gross), being in a complete fog, craving adult conversation, going stir crazy in the house.

Oh how I remember those days. Feeling like a wild banshee in the outback is how I would describe it. But it's worth it!

The story does take a bit of a turn when we find that her and her husband do not communicate well, he works a lot, she is raising the baby pretty much by herself. There were parts of it I found a bit unbelievable. But I could relate to a lot of her feelings.

Thumbs up!

Free book pile - Diamonds in the rough

I work at a newspaper, in the library. Newspaper libraries are fading away as newspapers are cutting costs. But, I like what I do a lot. And there are a few perks here and there.

One is the free book pile. Yes, FREE! The books editor likes to display his books that he's ready to get rid of and we help ourselves. Most are crap books. A lot of nonfiction. But, every now and then you find a diamond in the rough.



I discovered a new good author. Well, she's not real new because she's had a few books out, but she started a new mystery series. And I got a free copy of the first one from...you guessed it...the free book pile.

The book is Truly, Madly by Heather Webber. This series is about Lucy Valentine whose father is famous due to his matchmaking business. She inherits the business for a while and discovers that she has "talents" that help her solve mysteries.

I'm really itching to go buy the second book, Deeply, Desperately, but I'm trying to wait until I get my Nook. Not sure I can wait that long though!

Nancy Drew, I love you

When I was a young girl wayyyy back in the day, I read a lot of Nancy Drew books. We always got them from the library, and our library, well, sucked. So I had to read them out of order. But it was the series that introduced me to mysteries.

I've got a little tradition started with Emily where we will read all the Nancy Drew books. There are 64 books or so. So far, we read The Secret of the Old Clock and now we are reading The Hidden Staircase. It may not be the best material for a baby. We do read baby books and Dr. Seuss and those type of books also. I'm not sure she understands what I'm reading. She'll either sleep or coo the entire time.

Interesting tidbit: The series named Carolyn Keene as the author. But there were actually many writers of the series. Carolyn Keene was just the name they used to publish the books.

My favorite Nancy Drew phrase: "I'm starving!" Yea, I hear that sista!

What I've been up to

I want to use the blog as sort of a journal of what goes on with my family. I'm going to try to include pictures whenever I can because I find when I read other people's blogs, I love their pictures!

Emily is five months old now. It's hard to believe time has really flown. I've packed four boxes of her clothes already. I sure hate to do that because some are cute and I like the way she looks in them! haha. But it is true, they do grow up fast.

So far we have figured out the following about Emily: she likes watching football and baseball (we assume she likes the colors on the tv), she is a nosy rosy at daycare, she likes her baths, she likes her hair to be brushed and she sleeps like she is getting a tan at the beach.

She still has not quite mastered rolling over. We bought this mat to help her get more tummy time. It is one that is like a puzzle. It has pieces that spell out the alphabet. My only complaint about it is the letters can pop out, so we are going to have to watch those pieces carefully that she does not put them in her mouth. But for now, while she's learning to turn over and crawl, it's perfect.



We did buy that mat, but we received so many toys and other items like this walker from our friends. This looks like a walker, but I guess it's really an activity set. My sister's friend gave this to us. She used it for her daughter and Emily seems to really have fun with it. And it wears her out! haha!