Stronger, Better, Faster, Happier page 15

[Kakes]

Ha! Sometimes it seems like MORE.
I buy a ton of food and never get to eat half of it because they tasmanian devil through it before I have a chance to!

Tasmanian devil through it... that's an appropriate description!


Confession: I haven't done plank and mayurasana every day. I skipped a day or two I think. But I did it today! I've also done some handstand practice including some handstand pushups. I'm sure I'm not done for the day. I found this cool tutorial on how to improve and strengthen your stride as a runner. I may try some of those today too. Maybe after I finish folding laundry and clean some bathrooms. I've started losing weight again I think (150 this morning). I'm determined to just keep being good and working hard on the physical feats and just see where my body wants to be.
Last night's run was fahabulous. Even as we packed the cars to head up the canyon we all wondered aloud whether we weren't being completely stupid trying to run in the 103 degree heat. We had decided to take the whole crew up to the camp/picnic spots and have dinner up there after the run. The canyon was pretty shady and a little breezy and it turned out to be a marvelous choice! The kids had a blast playing in the creek (that is usually a river in years when we have proper moisture amounts), getting muddy and collecting rocks. Matt had set up to do a big run with his buddy later in the night, so he stayed back with the munchkins and let the rest of us go at it. WLB led the pack and we quickly spread out to our different abilities and paces. He wandered off on side trails and back to let me catch up, and Alicia was a little behind me. Ben and Misha stuck together in the rear and we didn't see them again until we got back to the campsite. Runkeeper read me in at about 4.35 miles. It felt great. I love that trail! We had grilled chicken and salad and homemade apricot orange ice cream made from Ben and Misha's homegrown apricots. So delish!
I succeeded in getting to bed by midnight! I definitely felt a difference this morning. I hope to make a habit out of 11:30 or earlier, but we'll see. I like my "me time" when the kids are in bed far too much.

[namelesswonder]

You just reminded me to go do planks. I can hold for about 15 seconds at a time now =P Gotta start somewhere!

When I got blood work done earlier this year and found that my cortisol levels were a bit off in the morning, I had to work REALLY hard to get myself to go to bed earlier. I ended up doing it in 1/2 hr increments after quitting my evening gaming. Back to 11:30, then 11, now 10:30. I can go to bed anywhere between 9:30 and 10:30 now and usually fall asleep pretty easily (as long as it's not too hot, sad to say I can't sleep without the AC now) and wake up 8-9 hours later. I imagine with kids this gets a bit more difficult, but you will feel better!

[Kakes]

Yay for planks! I hate them so much that I love them. I'm up to 2:20 now!

Half hour increments is just the approach I was thinking of taking. Great minds my friend... great minds.

[Kakes]

I have developed an ice cream addiction. The first step is admitting you have a problem, right? It started as an every once in a while thing, and lately it's become an every night thing. I don't eat massive amounts, and it's always quality ice cream with few and whole ingredients. It's not unraveling my hard work- in fact I'm down to 152 on the new scale and 149 on the old scale again, and my measurements haven't changed (a few have gone down some). I just think it's becoming too much of a habit and less of a treat/indulgence. (Though I can guarantee that I enjoy every sweet, creamy bite.) We are currently out of ice cream. I promised my friends that I'd make homemade ice cream for a baby shower I'm hosting this weekend, but I'm going to try to do so without sugar. After that, I will try to space things out more.

My garden is starting to produce!!! I have baby tomatoes on my plants! I'm SO excited!!!

Bed at 11:40 last night. Woke up feeling pretty good!

[namelesswonder]

Ice cream is usually my addiction. It happens from time to time. usually I run out and it's fine again for a couple months. Sometimes I think I fall to it because I'm not getting enough carbs, so I have yogurt or a sweet potato instead and there's less upset stomach

[Kakes]

Kid growth report time.

Boy Child 1
Age: 10
Weight: 52 lbs (<1st percentile) *no gain since March
Height: 55 inches (52nd percentile) *1 inch growth

Boy Child 2
Age: 7
Weight: 41.4 lbs (<3rd percentile) *up 1.4 lbs
Height: 46 inches (9th percentile) *1 inch growth

Girl Child 1
Age: 4
Weight: 34.6 lbs (34th percentile) *up 2.6 lbs
Height: 41.5 inches (67th percentile) * 1.5 inch growth

Girl Child 2
Age: 2
Weight: 25.2 lbs (13th percentile) *up 2.2 lbs
Height: 35 inches (42nd percentile) *up 2 inches

They are growing and that's good, but I CANNOT get oldest boy to put on weight!! It's frustrating. He looks like a skeleton. He eats a ton. My girls are growing like weeds and my boys are so skinny. I know some of it's genetics. I think some of it has to do with me not breastfeeding them as long (10 months each for the boys vs about 16 months for my girls), my pregnancy nutrition and their nutrition as very young ones. I have no clue whether it has anything to do with anything, but my boys were vaccinated "on schedule" whereas Girl 1 was only partially vaccinated in a slightly delayed manner until 1 year, and Girl 2 was not immunized at all. My girls also get sick far less often and almost never had ear infections. I am giving myself a stern internal talking to not to feel guilty about any of what is in the past. I did the best I could with what I knew then, and I'm doing the best I can with what I know now. All my kids are crazy smart, loved madly, well cared for, healthy and happy. I will tweak where I can for them. Puberty is only going to throw them on a wild growth loop anyway in a few more years. All I can do is try to keep up and guide where I can. Anxiety, be gone.

[justyouraveragecavemen]

They are growing and that's good, but I CANNOT get oldest boy to put on weight!! It's frustrating. He looks like a skeleton.

Buy him a video game.

[Kakes]

Buy him a video game.

Hahaha!
Too many of those in this house for my taste already. Believe me, he gets his game time. I'm thinking the only way to put weight on this kid is to pack him full of protein and fat and get him building some muscle. He's been long and skinny from day one. So much so that as a baby when I'd lay him out for tummy time, he'd try to lift his head to look up and he'd face plant with his legs in the air. His head outweighed his body! I'm dang proud of how much more capable he's become over the past year. He was such a limp noodle! Now he's climbing trees, learning to swim, shoving and rolling tires around, running, jumping and hanging. But he has a long way to go.

[Kakes]

Honey Mango Ice Cream
Yes.
I didn't measure very well, but here's the approximate recipe.
4ish large mangoes, peeled, pitted, and cubed (ended up being about 7-8 cups of cubed flesh)
a dash of vanilla
about 1/2 lemon's worth of juice
1 to 1 1/2ish cups of honey
about 3 cups whole milk
about 2 cups heavy whipping cream

I pureed the mangoes with the warmed honey, lemon juice and vanilla. Then I beat the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl with a hand mixer (not too much). Let the mixture cool in the fridge and then pour it in the ice cream maker and use according to instructions.
Easy peasy.
The hard part will be saving it for the baby shower tomorrow.

Now Kakes... get off the interwebz and go clean some stuff!

[Mshathvri]

I'm having a problem with craving ice cream. There's some double fudge brownie ice cream in my freezer and I WANTS it. I'm trying to get by with whipped frozen banana and cream.