Taking a Leap

After much pondering and discussion, I've decided to make a bloggy leap of sorts.

This blog has been a place to stay in touch with friends and to chatter about things on my mind, but over the past months and years I've found the tone to be shifting. As of late, I've been feeling more drawn to writing about the things in my heart and sharing my thoughts on the things I feel passionate about.

The logical path for my writing seems to be to put my time and energy into my previously neglected business blog. I want to accomplish more with my writing than just getting my thoughts out. I also want to devote attention into developing a resource for my business. These two things combined have brought me here.

I've transferred a number of posts from this blog to the Nature Baby Blogging, the ones I feel reflect the ideas and personal background I want to bring to my clients. I'm not entirely sure of the fate of this blog, whether this will be the last ever entry or if I'll pop on here to share more personal things, but if you follow me over here please do join me over at Nature Baby Bloggings.

Here's to appreciating the past and welcoming the potential of the future!
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Post-publishing note: My editor (aka Liam) has just pointed out that I didn't actually include a link to my new blog. Huh. That might be useful. Here it is! Nature Baby Bloggings

Doing the 'do

As the mom of 3, and in particular as the mom of a mom-centric toddler, I tend not to spend a whole lot of time doing things for me. The result of this ended up looking something like this:

(In a small bit of my defense, my hair wasn't always this terrible. I'd been wearing a bandanna all day so it was gross and flat.)

My hair was boring. It was shaggy and the style that it had from my last hair cut 5 months ago was looong gone. I was resorting to pony tails, braids, and of course my handy dandy friend the bandanna.

I wanted something different from the shoulder-ish length hair I'd been sporting for a few years. I wanted something fun. I wanted something different. And I really didn't want something dyed because I'm refusing to go down that road despite the growing numbers of gray hair making an appearance on my head these days.

I spent some time perusing the Googles. I threw in phrases like "curly bob", "asymmetrical curly", and "curly undercut". I found some hairstyles that were ok, some that were outright frightening, and then some that totally rocked. In the end, the two pictures that seemed closest to what I was aiming for were these.

Awesome undercut:

Amazing Mia hair:

I ended up bringing these photos to my hairdresser and we spent some time figuring out what would be most realistic for me. Before long, she hacked off a bunch of length, got my hair washed, and started cutting pieces out. Her approach was to take bits out at a time until all the parts came together in a way that my curls wanted.

In the end, I wound up with this:

From the front. (I tried to crop out the messy house in the background but Picasa is being a jerk today.)

The short side. I love this little straggly dude that keeps hopping over.

The back. I love how it turned out!

The straight version, today.

From the back. You can see the longest point in this shot. The whole style is set as a triangle.

I'm really, really thrilled with my hair. It's fun, it's easy to do, and I can think of about 7 different ways to style it so I don't think I'll ever get bored. I was worried that the asymmetry would bug me, but it feels balanced on my body. Which is kind of amusing to me as I've had long-standing issues with right-side left-side balance. Maybe this is just off-center enough to balance out my imbalances?

One way or another, it works. Yay for hair that's not frumpy and shaggy and all sorts of boring!

Game On! wrap-up

I blogged a few weeks ago about the Game On! challenge I joined and I was buzzing right along in week 2 last time I checked in. I had big plans to do a final re-cap on the last day but life happened and I'm getting to this a few days later.

First off, I survived!! During the first week when I was hungry and grumpy and seriously missing sugar I really wondered what I'd got myself into. And then I got the hang on spacing out my meals and making choices that would help keep me feeling balanced, and the good buzzy hormones from exercising daily kicked in. By the time I was through the second week time was sailing by and I finished out the challenge with (relative) ease.

By the end of the four weeks I dropped 10.8 lbs, a number that I'm really happy with. Jeans that barely fit at the start are now ridiculously baggy (hey look, I made my own boyfriend jeans!) and I'm fitting back into a lot of pre-pregnancy clothing I really missed. I've gained a lot of muscle tone as well, thanks to doing 30 Day Shred, and it' left me feeling stronger and more comfortable in my body.

On the topic of 30 Day Shred, I was zipping along through it and getting quite used to getting my butt kicked on a daily basis. I went from level 1 to level 2 quite quickly and then I made the mostly mental leap to level 3. A few days into doing level 3 I had to stop, though, as the large amount of push-up and plank work was causing some nerve pain in my shoulders. I've worked my way through my fair share of pain while training for half marathons but this felt like the kind of pain not to mess with. I was disappointed not to finish off the exercise program but I ended up being quite happy with switching to running. I hadn't been out for a run in a few months and it was really fantastic to see what a huge impact the cross-training and weight loss had on my running. On my last couple of runs I did a 5k in under 35 minutes and then the next day in under 34 minutes, which is quite quick for me right now.

The other big impact Game On! made on me was to show me just how diligent I could be in keeping my eating in line. The five sanctioned meals each day were quite strict but the meal off and the food day off each week gave me some breathing room. Knowing that certain foods and certain times were totally off-limits really eliminated a lot of eating temptations. I also attribute the ease in this area to the flower essence work I was doing to support my moving away from coping by eating food and downshifting my energy. Eating was about taking care of and fueling my body, not about treats or rewards or distraction.

Overall I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to take part in this challenge. The return to losing weight has been fantastic and I'm another 10 lbs closer to my goal weight. It was also a really good opportunity to see how good and balanced I feel when I actually eat only good foods and exercise and sleep enough. My better health also impacted my family in my ability to parent more fully in the way I want to and in the creation of opportunities to discuss personal health with the kids. I'm looking forward to seeing the ripple effects of my efforts during the following weeks and months to come!

Week 2 Game On check-in

Today I've completed the 12th day of the Game On challenge. Just about at the half point, I feel like I'm really settling into a groove with it and reaping some great results.

I feel really good. Between the good food, the exercise, the copious amounts of water, the vitamins, and the flower essences, I'm doing good things to my body and it's being good to me in return. Weight-wise, I'm down something like 7 lbs (my scale is finicky) and a pant size. It's significant enough that I can see a difference and I'm totally stoked as I close in on those last few pounds that will put me at pre-pregnancy weight.

The biggest chunk of effort has definitely been my eating. It's not the avoiding temptation or feeling I'm depriving myself because I'm really not feeling that way at all. The effort is in making sure that my 5 daily meals meet the carb/protein/fat/veggies requirements and that I use my portions wisely in order to hold me through to the next meal. I've spent many minutes chomping at the bit, waiting for my next meal with a growling belly. A few afternoons I've made really good use of my 100 free daily calories by eating some fruit to hold me over until supper.

Exercise is the next area where I've been putting in the most effort. I've mostly been doing Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred video, which is awesome because of its intensity and because it only takes 20 minutes. My time is limited and I quite often work out at 9 pm because it's when I have free time, so I really need something short and intense. I've moved up into Level 2 out of 3 and I think by next week I'll be ready to venture into Level 3. I'm finding a huge difference in my strength during all the plank work and static squats/lunges and I'm really enjoying seeing how much more I can do each night.

I thought that drinking 3L of water daily was going to be a real push, and for the first days it was, but now that I'm used to it I find myself passing the 3L mark around suppertime and often finishing the day off at 4L. Taking vitamins as my new habit has been super simple, as has been including using flower essences. For the flower essences, I made myself a dosage bottle with some essences that are helping me with transition, energy level, and addictive behaviors, and I either take it directly from the bottle or add some to my water.

All in all I'm currently really enjoying the challenge. It's been tough pushing myself out of my comfort zone and I know that I won't continue the really strict eating once my 4 weeks are up but it's got me in a great place for now!

Day One Recap

As I wrote yesterday, I've joined in a Game On challenge for the next four weeks. Today was my first day and while I promise I won't do recaps of my day each day I wanted to take a look back at my first day.

My first impression is that the drinking 3L of water isn't quite as difficult as I thought it might be. I have a tumbler that's 591 mL so I've been keeping tally so that I drink 5 tumblers worth of water. It's currently 10 PM and I've got about 1/3 of my last tumbler to go, so polishing it off will be pretty easy. The one lesson I learned was to not chug back a full tumbler of water just before putting Olivia to bed since by the time she'd finally finished nursing I was in serious fear of my bladder exploding. Ka-pow!

The biggest area of effort was predictably my foods. In keeping with the requirements I ate 5 small meals which were:

1) Oatmeal with honey and kefir and a nectarine

2) Two yellow peppers filled with last night's spaghetti sauce leftovers

3) A spinach salad with tuna, strawberries, sunflower seeds, and balsamic vinegar

4) Chicken breast, rice, asparagus, zucchini, carrot sticks

5) A nectarine, some grapes, a piece of cheese

I had a hard time between meals one and two because I got hungry. I thought the kefir combined with the oatmeal would be enough protein to keep me going, but my stomach was growling and I was pissy when I got morning snacks for the kids. It's frustrating enough to feel like I'm spending my day preparing foods and feeding everyone else on days when I eat frequently, but when I'm still handling all this food and not getting much myself it's rather annoying.

I did pull out some celery part way through the day (I can eat as much celery and cucumber as I want but I'd rather go hungry than eat cucumber) and all I can say is: there's a reason why you can eat as much of it as you want. Poor celery. I'd like you if you didn't taste so bad. Or feel so bad. By the end of this month I'm either going to love you or never speak to you again.

On the exercise front, I grabbed my iPod and the doggy and went for a 20 minute walk when Liam was home. It was nice to walk at an adult speed. Anyone who has walked with toddlers or flighty-brained kids on bikes knows what I'm talking about.

I took my vitamins this morning to get my good habit points, and on such a cold gloomy day it seemed especially wise to be popping some B complex and vitamin D. I still need to get my flower essence blend made up tonight.

Overall, I'm really glad to be doing the challenge. I think that it's just enough pressure to keep me on track and to see some nice results on the scale, but flexible enough that it's not going to put me into a crash and burn by day three. I've got a kind of love-hate relationship going on with the whole Game On thing today, so here's hoping that as the days go on I spend more time on the love side of things than on the hate side!

Game On!

A friend of mine invited me to join in a challenge based on a book called The Game On Diet. The background of the book is that the authors are friends who came up with the game outlined in the book in order to help the female author to lose her pregnancy weight.

What I'll be participating in is a 4 week challenge from August 30 - September 19 with a group of people. We'll be divided up into teams of four, each person will kick $50 into the pot, and at the end the winning team will divvy up the money.

Personally, I'm joining in for the fun of the challenge and the kick in the pants I need in the motivation department. The weight-loss roll I was on tapered out in the spring and I've gone from a plateau to picking up 5 lbs, and since I'm still at least 40 lbs from my goal weight I need to get going again.

So what exactly is this game? The objective is to score as many points as possible. Each day you can score points by eating 5 meals consisting of approved foods, by exercising at least 20 minutes, by drinking 3 liters of water, by sleeping at least 7 hours, by picking up one good habit, by dropping one bad habit, and by keeping in touch with a team member and an opposing team member. There are also bonus points for things like losing 1% of your starting weight if your overall goal is weight loss or for meeting your fitness goal if your overall goal is improved fitness. There's also some wiggle room in taking breaks, so you can take a day off from each aspect either together or spread out over the week (i.e. one day I can ignore getting 5 hours of sleep and the next I can skip exercising).

I'm both totally excited and totally intimidated by this challenge. I'm looking forward to trying a new approach to smart weight loss and I know that being accountable for my choices is going to be a huge motivator. I'm also slightly panicky at the thought of being accountable to my teammates and being tied in to a "diet" ("lifestyle"?) for four weeks.

I think that my first hurdle is going to be making the time to plan out my eating while getting used to what falls into and approved meal (a meal needs to include a portion of carbs or fruits, of protein, and of fats and two of them have to include two servings of veggies). The other area where I might struggle is in my tendency to an all-or-nothing attitude. I'll need to remind myself that making a poor choice once during the day doesn't mean I need to make other poor choices after that.

I'm still trying to figure out what I should chose as my healthy habit to build and my unhealthy habit to quit. I might make taking my vitamins daily my healthy habit to keep things simple since building in 20 minutes of exercise 6 days a week is already going to take a bit of dedication for a Mom who rarely gets any personal time at all.

So anyhow, that's what's rattling around in my brain tonight. I've got one more day til things kick off and I'm really excited to see where it takes me. I'll make sure that I update along the way!

I'm having one of those weeks where I feel like motherhood is swallowing me whole. It's inevitable, this losing of myself from time to time, in the land of little people and their intense needs. Olivia's illness has meant that I've only had one evening in the past week where I haven't held/nursed her all evening or fallen asleep putting her to bed. This has meant practically zero personal time in a week and that's just not good for the brain.

Sitting here trying to think of a blog entry for tonight I keep coming up with ideas about homeschooling or breastfeeding or babywearing and I want nothing to do with any of those things right now. And so I'm going to write about the things I love that have nothing to do with my kids. (Sending mental "Nya nya"s to Olivia as she sleeps in bed right now)

I love to read. My love of books took root early in my childhood. I went through the Black Stallion series, the various Sweet Valley books, and everything about Ramona Quimby. I moved on through Piers Anthony, Mercedes Lackey, and Jean M. Auel. I've also spent some significant time with Belva Plain and Rosamunde Pilcher along with Marion Zimmer Bradley, Nora Roberts, and Morgan Llywen. I've delved into some really fantastic non-fiction along the way, but there's something so truly satisfying in being swept away in a great story line.

Scrapbooking is also something I greatly enjoy. I'm not sure if I love poring over old photos or coming up with new layouts more. There's something very satisfying in pulling papers, pictures, and embellishments together to make a piece of art. I don't consider myself to be artistic, but when I scrapbook I feel like an artist.

Running is another "me" activity that I love. I love the aloneness of it, the quiet space that it carves out in my day where all I hear is my breath and the music coming from the headphones. The repetition of my footsteps is like a moving meditation and somewhere along my route my life all seems to fall into place.

Looking at these things and remembering how they make me feel leaves me feeling sad at how little they've been a part of my life these days. I've been reading very little, mostly picking away at The 7 Habits and reading short things online. I don't think I've scrapbooked in at least 6 months and I've only gone for a handful of runs so far this summer. It's so easy to let it all slide, to let the never ending work in the house take over during the days and then to have some brain-dead screen time once the kids are in bed and I'm too tired to do much of anything.

For someone who talks about balance and health I'm doing a darned poor job of living it lately! Sounds like I'd better do something about that...

How I dropped a Lily-sized amount of weight

This morning I was thrilled to see that I've hit a nice number of 30 lbs of weight loss since I first weighed myself after Olivia's birth. With the help of a handy dandy online calculator thingy, I've learned that I've lost 30 lbs in 29 weeks. (For anyone who's trying to count up on their fingers, I weighed myself at 6 weeks postpartum because nothing other than making it though the day really counted before then.)

And because I like lists of things, I thought it might be fun to look at what I've been doing that has helped me to lose weight. Maybe it'll help me reach some new realizations, maybe it'll give someone else some ideas of things to try, or maybe it'll just entertain me for the short bit of time I have until Olivia realizes I've snuck out of the bedroom.

So here I give you my top ten!

1. Eating homemade foods. Seriously, this is the biggest one by far. Eating out made up for a lot of the pregnancy weight (well, that and a ridiculous amount of yummy cheese) and eating foods that I have prepared at home is helping me to drop those pounds. The stuff I cook is never as salty, greasy, sauce-covered, or outright enormous as the things that are usually found on plates at restaurants.

2. Using my brain while eating out. Those times when we do eat out, I make a huge effort to choose wisely. I often choose salads with yummy toppings, grilled chicken, and no salad dressing. I omit things - bacon bits are good but not really my friend. I work to make what's on the menu fit my needs instead of just ordering the first thing that makes me salivate.

3. Running. Oh my goodness, have I ever been happy to get back into running! I reap so many benefits from running. I burn calories. I'm inspired to make better eating choices. I get hugely encouraged by the quicker changes on the scale. I feel more completely me. I'm happy during the run to be running, after the run to be buzzy, and the next day to be full of energy as a result of working out. Have I mentioned that I love running?

4. Cleaner eating. One of the biggest shifts in mindsets for me has been to stop looking at crappy foods as a deserved treat. Eating foods that are good for me leave me feeling good in my body, a bigger reward by far.

5. Acknowledging emotions. Yeah, this one goes hand in hand with the previous one. Emotional eating is a lot easier to avoid when you actually deal with your emotions. Shocking, hey? This area is a work in progress but I'm human so I'm ok with that.

6. Oatmeal! I've learned to love the mush. Most mornings, the kids and I eat oatmeal for breakfast. We've all learned our favourite doctorings (I like honey, ground flax seeds, and chopped up strawberries if we have them). With that bowl of oatmeal in my belly I not only avoiding eating cold cereal but I often coast straight on through til lunch before I get hungry again.

7. Smarter lunches. I like sandwiches for lunch but they really don't do much for me in the "get some veggies in there and stay full for a while" category. I try to keep cooked rice or quinoa in the fridge so I can do a Kim-sized (ok, Kim and Olivia-sized) stir fry to toss on top. Much yum, no peanut butter.

8. Snacking on fruits and veggies. Eating a banana or a mango for a snack serves me a lot better than eating muffins or salty trail mix. I try to keep a bag of sugar peas in the fridge for evening munchings because they're sweet enough to taste like an indulgence.

9. Not bringing crap in the house. Really, you'd think this would be a no-brainer hey? If I buy the bag of yummy cookies, I may think I'm going to leave them for the kids but truly I know that I'm just going to take a few here and there until they're all firmly living in my thighs instead of making it anywhere near the kids' snack plates.

10. Keeping the momentum going. If I've had two or three good runs during the week and four or five days of clean eating, I'm a lot less likely to make bad choices. If I've had a few days of eating for the sake of eating and eating foods that don't serve me well, I make a conscious effort to get my ass back in gear. Once I'm back on track the coasting is much easier.

And so there you have a snapshot of what I've been doing and how it's been working for me. I've got quite a ways to go until I make it to my goal weight, but I'm going to focus only on the success I've achieved so far. Well, that and all the running I plan to do this summer. Have I mentioned that I love running?

Trade-offs

The other day I was talking with a friend about how sometimes the various things I like are mutually exclusive and I was just reading a blog post that's got me pondering the idea again.

My life, these days, is a very full thing. There are three children in my family. And we have three animals. And we homeschool. And Liam works both a full-time and a part-time job. And I do volunteer work. And I like to read. And scrapbook. And write. And spend time with my friends.

I could go on and on about all the things the people of my family require and enjoy, but my point is that there comes a time where things get pushed out. Trade-offs are made and I feel myself constantly trying to prioritize what should get bumped and what should remain front and center.

Should we go to the science center for the day or should we enjoy some quiet time at home? Should I do laundry or dishes first? Should I sleep like my body wants or stay up and decompress like my brain wants? Should I focus on cleaning the house or sit and play with the kids?

There are days when I feel as if I'm constantly balancing and juggling, trying to make sure as many people get as many of their most important needs met first. As much as I would love to say that I'm working as hard to meet my needs as I am to meet those of my children, the reality is that at this stage in my family it's not often the case.

But then, there are pay-off to certain trade-offs as well. (Ooh, that sounds like a good chant: Pay-offs to trade-offs!) Letting Lily help with baking might lead to eggshells in the batter, but watching her sense of pride as she does a job all by herself is immensely rewarding. Wearing Olivia while doing housework makes some tasks more difficult, but the joy of having her close and happy is very satisfying. Stopping everything to listen to Nick recount in painful detail the scene from a TV show might make me want to pull my hair out, but listening sends him the important message that his interests matter to me.

Hopefully in the long run I'll have mostly made the best choices most of the time and have many years of happy memories to look back upon.

Body After Baby Challenge 2010

Annie over at PhD In Parenting wrote about getting her body back and losing weight, and in the comments section a reader linked to the Body After Baby Challenge 2010 over on Mama Notes. I went, I read, and I had two thoughts: "Hey, I have an after-baby body going on right now!" and "Oooh, weight-loss challenge! I need a kick in the pants to keep me on track!".

And so...I'm jumping in.

My friend Raelynn and I have recently decided that we will put BlackBerry Chat to good use and we've become weight-loss buddies, so I've already got my first sort-term goal in place. My 30th birthday is in 22 days and I wanted to have lost 10 lbs by that point. I'm 5 lbs away right now (I was 4 lbs away but some Christmas indulgences nixed that last pound), so I've got 22 days to lose 5 lbs. Easy peasy.

My next goal is at the next 25 lb mark. With some quick mental calculations, reality and big plans come together to give me a goal date of June 1, 2010. When I've hit that goal, I'll set a goal date for the last 30ish lbs.

Next up: The Why Question! Why am I doing this? Well, the joining the challenge part is to help with motivation and staying focused. The road to losing 60 lbs isn't going to be a short stroll through the park. It'll be more like running a half marathon in 33 degree weather and getting heat stroke. Been there, done that. Hated the process, loved the ending! Having some folks along for the ride will make it easier to keep trudging along.

There are many reasons why I'm getting back on the road to weight loss. I want to wear something other than yoga pants and wrap skirts. I want to have more energy. I want to enjoy shopping for clothes. I want to improve my health. I want to stop wondering why it looks like I'm still pregnant when I can clearly see that the fetus has long since exited my uterus.

Oh yeah, and I want to not die when I get back into running in the spring. Have I mentioned how much I miss running? It's been 13 months since I ran my last 10K run, with Olivia dancing a happy little dance on my uterus with such vigor that I'll be eternally grateful to that dirty little bathroom at the 7-eleven. I. Miss. Running. I miss the quiet alone time. I miss the after-run buzz. I miss how good those walk breaks felt. I miss the elation of dropping minutes off my time and pounds off my hips. Le sigh.

And on to the next section: The How! The simple answer is move more and eat less. But that's too simple, too vague for me when faced with chocolates and the opportunity to sit my rear on the couch.

I recently downloaded a calorie tracking app for my BlackBerry which is linked to My Daily Plate, and on the days I actually enter in all my foods all day it serves me really well (as in I dropped 3 lbs in the first 2 days!). But I've been slacking since Christmas Eve. Bad Kim. Just because you don't enter the chocolates and pie into the calorie tracker doesn't mean your thighs don't notice them. Hence that last pound coming back to visit.

On the other side of the coin, the moving more part, I'm going to make good use of my Walking Away The Pounds DVD since it eliminates the excuse of not wanting to go out in the cold. It's also an exercise video I've been doing with Olivia on my back and the big kids joining in, so no excuses of the kids getting in the way either! I'm also going to create more opportunities to move more such as going for walks when it's nice out, creating a set of strength exercises I can do daily at home, and the all-important kitchen dancing with the small folks. As the weather improves and my pelvis remembers that it's not woobly and pregnant anymore, I'll pick running back up again with the goal of doing a 5K race early in the summer. I would secretly love to get a 10K trail race in by the time fall hits, but we'll see how training for that works alongside parenting the three hooligans.

And so...there we have it. The plan. The commitment. The hopes. I'll hit publish now before I think about it too much.

Updates updates updates!

So since I've harassed Erron about not reading my blog I feel like I should actually post an update. Then it might actually be worth checking in!

First news, since I left things hanging in my May post, is about running. I'm still running and I'm running lots. I usually get in 5 runs each week and my long run this weekend is up to 16K. The enormous distance of 21K is almost within reach! The problems I was having with my right leg faded away with a lot of thanks given to the break I took in Chicago. Running only one 2K run in 12 days wasn't lazy, it was recovery time. Really!

Now I've moved on to a different leg and different pain. I've had a nagging ache in my left calf that some days keeps me from running or even walking normally but on other days seems to be non-existent. After getting really frustrated with dealing with this and wondering if I'd ever make it to my half-marathon next month I decided that it's mostly just a mental thing and I need to tell it to stop. It's another roadblock to my goal and I don't want it in my way. So, when I run I tell it to relax and loosen. When I'm sitting on the couch and it spasms I tell it to be quiet because it's not getting in my way. When I walk and it makes me want to limp I tell it that walking straight will stretch it out. And so far it seems to be working, in conjunction with ice baths after each run. Let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've sat in a tub full of icy water.

Going hand-in-hand with the running is the continuation of my weight loss. I'm down 20 lbs since this winter and it's really quite nice. These past four weeks I've actually hit a plateau on the scale but I'm seeing a drop in inches so I know I'm still losing. Liam keeps telling me I'm gaining muscle and I just pout that my mental health needs to see the scale budge. I've been wearing clothing I haven't been able to fit into in quite some time though so there are definitely some perks to literally running my butt off.

My other running-related news is the recent acquisition of a Garmin Forerunner 305 with a heart rate monitor. I'd provide a link but I'm too lazy but you can Google it if you want to see a picture. Basically, it's a GPS wristwatch device that I strap on at the start of a run and it tells me how I'm doing. When I get home from my run I plug it into the computer and I get a fantastic readout of my heart rate, my distance, my pace, my elevation, and some other things I'm forgetting right now. There are lots of nifty features I haven't used yet such as programming in constructed workouts (like intervals or tempo runs) and the racing a virtual buddy thing. It's been really encouraging to have the instant feedback on my runs and to monitor my pace and heartrate as I'm exercising.

And in other news...we're finally spending time at home! Between a trip to Chicago, spring camp, camping in B.C., soccer season, rugby season, and my running we haven't been spending a whole lot of time in this building. I've really missed home. I've missed those spring evenings of playing with the kids in the backyard until they're covered in dirt and too tired to argue about bedtime snack. I've missed the sitting in the kitchen and doing crafts and the playing games with the kids instead of keeping them occupied while I get stuff done. Spring is always busy for our family but it seems like this one was even more so than normal, which is odd to think about when you consider our unschooling lifestyle. Or then again, maybe it's not.

I'm sure there are a million other little updates to post but I won't bore everyone with the details about moving furniture or trying out new recipes. Suffice to say that I am indeed still alive, still doing well, and still not blogging regularly.