She Blinded Me With......

Many of you will have sung "science" in your best Thomas Dolby voice but the fill in the blank is........white thighs!  Yes, Ma'am!  Spring is sprung!  The weather is warmer.  Trees are blooming.  Flowers are poking their heads out of the ground.  My husband no longer looks like a candidate for Duck Dynasty.  His no shave November turned into no shave March. 

But, I digress.  I went for a run in my running shorts today!  I apologize to the neighbors for the absence of color that is my thigh times 2!  I could see drivers shielding their eyes!  The whiteness that emerges from a long winter covered by jeans and cords and boots is a color not on the color wheel.  It is the absence of all color at all.  And I exposed them to the world yesterday.  There was no gradual ease into it.  There was a just a cold turkey approach to the process.  That is just how I roll! 

1 bit of good news!  Because of the exercises that I have been doing this winter, at least wasn't jiggling as I ran.  Some people have asked what I do so I am going to publish my workout routine.  I do this 3-4 times per week mixed with cardio.  Apparently,I am at the age where talking about bone density is a necessity.  Weight bearing exercises help your bone density.  When did I get so old?  This will help that!

My workout:
Jumping jacks.  Start with 25-50.  I am now up to 100

Traditional squats.  I use dumbbells at 5# each to add to resistance.  Start with feet shoulder width apart. Hold weights by your side.  Stick your behind out and sit down until your thighs are parallel to the floor.  Stand back up.  That is 1.  Start with 15 in a set.

Around the worlds.  I use the aforementioned dumbbells and hold them in front of me by my legs palms facing out.  Circle your arms around until they meet over your head. Return them to starting position. That is 1 set.  Start with 12 in a set.  You can do this lying down but I do it in a standing position.   

Plie squats.  Dumbbells. Feet shoulder width apart toes pointing out.  Lower yourself down until your thighs are parallel to the ground.  Raise up into the starting position.  That is 1 rep.  Begin with 15 in a set.

Push ups.  I alternate these incline and traditional.  Start with as many as you can do.  I could only do 5 when I began.  Now, I do about 25 per set.

Secret squats.  My friend, K, showed me these and boy, howdy do they work.  I call them stripper squats as I don't know what else to call them.  Dumbbells.  Feet shoulder width apart.  Lower yourself into a squat and remain in the static squat and raise yourself up onto your toes.  Lower your heels back to the ground all while remaining in the squat.  I wouldn't do too many of these on your 1st day because the next day you won't be able to walk.  12 reps in a set.
(I will sometimes alternate these with cross over lunges which also work the inner thighs.  Feet together.  Dumbbells. Right foot forward cross it over your left leg and lower into a lunge.)

Go back to jumping jacks and begin again.  3 sets of each in all.  I, now, do 60 squats, plies, and secret squats in each set with 25 around the worlds and 25 push ups.  Not easy but my behind and thighs thank me for it.  Yours will, too!  Leave a comment and let me know if you tried it.

Wordless Wednesday-Spring has sprung!

Guest Post Monday

Losing a baby is not easy no matter what part of the pregnancy you are in. My guest post today is from Cool Mama who blogs on TheCoolestFamilyontheBlock. She has a great wit about her and is an amazing story teller. She also has great ideas for many different things. So just click on the link and enjoy her easy manner and wonderful sense of humor! Her post today is called Spring Ahead:Reflections on Miscarriage. She talks about how to take something devastating and make it into something beautiful!

I wrote and posted this article last year on 3/14/2009 on a personal blog that I decided not to continue. Since I never did anything with that blog and no one got to read it I decided to repost it here. I edited a few things to reflect the passage of time, otherwise the text is unaltered.

March 14, 2009 was the due date for our first baby. I had a miscarriage on August 28, 2008 at 11 weeks and 5 days. During the pregnancy we called the baby Biddle. In 2009 on the baby’s due date I wanted to give the baby a name, just as we would have if he/she would’ve been born that day. We named our baby Jordan Shiloh. If he/she had survived Jordan would be two years old now (although likely with a different name). These “anniversaries” are difficult for me. They are marked with sadness for obvious reasons…but they are also very lonely. No one else remembers Jordan’s due date or miscarriage date or the date we found out that I was pregnant (July 5, 2008). I do. These dates are set apart for me now and I will never forget them. I believe I have a right to be sad. I believe I have a right to grieve our baby that we never got to know. However, I don’t want these dates to always be sad and depressing to me. I want to honor our baby.

It’s fitting that last year Jordan’s due date fell on “Spring Ahead”. It’s so symbolic of what I need to do. When going through a miscarriage (especially after following a season of infertility) it’s so easy to “fall back”. Falling back looks so inviting. Fall is a time when the trees go through an amazing transformation. Their colors change but then they shed their old leaves. They prepare for a season that they will spend cold and bare. When I lost my baby I cried more than I had ever cried in my life. My womb felt even more empty and barren then it had during my infertility. The physical pain paled in comparison to the emotional pain that I felt as my baby was leaving my body. I felt alone, empty, and as bare as the naked trees entering winter. Although the trees are left bare for the winter, they are not dead. The leaves are dead but the trees are not dead. The leaves that they have shed are gone now, but the tree is still alive! I couldn’t bury myself, although I often felt like I wanted to. I couldn’t give up. Although I felt sadness, although I felt bare…I was still alive. I had my emotional fall. I had my emotional winter. But it can’t stay winter forever. It won’t stay winter just because I want it to. Just because I pull the covers over my head and refuse to be part of the world doesn’t make it stop spinning. When I finally get out of bed and look outside I can see that spring has come and life is still going on. Life is going on. Life. Life. LIFE. It’s out there. It’s all around. Spring is all about life, renewal, growth. I need to live life. I need to spring ahead.

This spring to honor Jordan my husband and I want to give life. Between now and the baby’s miscarriage date in August here are some of the things that we hope to do to give life: plant a tree in the baby’s memory, donate blood, and donate food/supplies to the Humane Society. In doing these things we can help the environment, help people, and help animals.