Inversions, teething and vacation

Sweet Rina,

As I’m trying to practice yoga a bit more (I’m aiming for a short 20-30 mins/day), I ventured in the world of inversions yesterday. Thanks to free podcasts from YogaJournal.com, I’ve found one that fits just that window of time. Let me tell you, inversions are not easy! I can balance on my head (tripod) and on my forearms, gently placing my knees on my elbows, but when the time comes to lift my legs up in the air, NOTHING! I think my core is just not strong enough right now, but it won’t stop me from trying every other day. Right now, I’m alternating between my Yoga Tune Up and inversions.

Today, you’re pretty crabby… You’re teething and there’s nothing I can do to help you out. I’ve tried giving you Camelia, an ice-cube in a net soother, acetaminophen and nothing will do. You’ve been crying for the past 2hrs with only a 30mins break to wolf down your bottle. You won’t nap although you’re exhausted and I’m trying to relax as your cries are slowly scratching my brain. I can’t wait for your Dad to come home from work.

Speaking of your Dad, he had a 3-day weekend this past weekend and it almost felt like we were on vacation. We were all relaxed and it was nice to share the chores with him. He even offered to get up with you to feed you in the morning, but my internal clock is firmly set to be wide awake at 0630 thanks to you! We even went hiking yesterday and it felt weird not having to push the stroller or carry you in the ERGO. I felt (literally) 20lbs lighter! Hopefully, we’ll get many more little vacations over the summer. For now, I’ll try to make you as comfortable as I can and hopefully, you’ll nap a little before dinnertime.

Love,

Mom & Dad Xxo

I did it!

Sweet Rina,

I have been debating for quite some time now if I should order a serie of yoga DVDs and I have finally decided to go ahead and order the program. After talking about it with SuperMama today, she raised some valid points: it is cheaper than a gym / yoga studio membership and yet, it offers the versatility of allowing me to chose the time of day that is convenient for me to do my practice. The way the program works is it evaluates your physical condition and then sends you a set of DVDs to begin with. Then, every 4 weeks, it sends you a new DVD suited to your practice and designed to help you evolve in your practice. I will give a more thorough review of the program once I receive it and have been practicing for a few weeks to see how it is and how I like it.

I’ve also bought 2 more Vegan cookbooks today: The Everyday Vegan by Dreena Burton and How it all Vegan by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. I just started reading The Everyday Vegan so I will let you know what my thoughts are on the books once I’m done flipping through them!

Sleep well, my love! You’re being such a delightful baby girl and as time passes, I find myself falling in love with you everyday, all over again!

Love,

Mom & Dad Xxo

Walk along the golf course

Little darling,

As it was sunny this morning and there was a 30% chance of showers in the afternoon, I decided to pack you up early in your stroller and go for a good workout around the golf course. We went around most of the course before stopping at the Rec Center to put some food in your belly as well as mine. We also met up with your dad as he was coming in to work. It was a beautiful sunny day, the birds were chirping and I happened to walk by your Dad and I’s tree:

Our tree

This is the tree under which we got married last year, just before leaving for our wedding ceremony in Mexico… It made me remember how happy I was on that special day. I was also pregnant with you then, but we had kept it a secret as we hadn’t yet announced it to our family! 🙂

Here’s how I found you once I came home:

Sleeping angel, cute as a button

You were fast asleep in your stroller. Jenn also stopped by for a visit and then, it was time for your bedtime routine. I had planned on doing some yoga tonight so I will get to it before I change my mind and it gets too late.

Sleep well little angel,

Love,

Mom & Dad Xxo

4 months immunizations and complete turn around!

My gorgeous Rina,

You will never cease to surprise me. When I think you’ll be a happy giggling girl, you cry until you’re purple in the face and when I expect you to be crabby, you prove me wrong and are the easiest baby to care for!

After all the crying you did yesterday, I managed to do a Pilates workout and it really helped me relax and let go of all the stress I was feeling. I’ll be honest and tell you that I wasn’t looking forward to today as I knew you were going to get your shots in the late afternoon and I was expecting you to be a crying mess. That’s why, when SuperMama texted me and asked me to meet her and the SuperGirls at a nice little cupcake café near the beach (the café is a total mommy-baby hangout, so much fun!) You and I got there first and we walked around the neighborhood.

 

Look at all those cherry trees in bloom!

I then waited for the girls to arrive. There was a woman sitting at the table next to ours who couldn’t get over how cute you are. We talked for a bit, she told me her daughter used to look just like you as a baby, no hair and all, and then she asked me your name. When I told her you were named Rina, she asked me how we spell it and then told me it was exactly how her sister spelled her own name! What a coincidence! You see, Rina is not a common name and to find someone with the same name as yours will probably be a rare happening in your life! After a delicious vegetarian Panini, we did some shopping for toys for you and the SuperGirls, then, we all headed out for a walk along the beach. We were having such a good time, I almost lost track of time and was surprised when I looked at the time as we had to hurry to your immunization appointment.

We were lucky enough that I had asked a friend from the NICU who now works at the health unit we go to for your shots if she would do yours today. She agreed and I’m glad she did as it was quick and you only cried for a few minutes. Everywhere we go, people give me compliments on how beautiful you are with your big blue eyes and your cute little hats knitted by Mamie! 🙂 I think you’re starting to know how cute you are as you just bring on the smiles for everyone and anyone who pays any attention to you! 😉 Your dad and I may just be in over our heads and not know it yet!

I’m off to do some yoga in the living room (although I had the great idea of doing yoga on the beach today, I’ll have to plan to do it eventually!)

Sleep well my love,

Mom & Dad Xxo

Finally some sun!

Sweet Rina,

The sun finally made an appearance today and although it was a bit windy and on the cold side, I propped you in your stroller and we met up with Jillian to run (more like walk very slowly as Jill is 24 weeks pregnant!) some errands. It felt so nice to finally be out of the house and enjoy the sun. To top it all off, you slept for about 1hr straight in the stroller! Bonus! Although it took us 2hrs to walk a 5km, I really wanted to do it for the Worldwide WP 5k – the 5k blogged around the world.

I’ve also kept up with my yoga and Pilates practice and I’ve finally received Sage Rountree’s The Athlete’s Guide to Yoga DVD. I only did one session so far, therefore, a review will follow once I’ve done it a few more times.

I’ve been feeling good about my vegetarian/vegan eating and although I am a bit hungry, I think it’s also because I’m counting my calories (to lose my goal of 30 lbs!), I feel good overall and therefore, will stick to it for now! Stay tuned through the following week as I plan on attempting making homemade almond milk. I’ve also attempted to make the Croquettes recipe from The Kind Diet book, but that was a total fail as the only food processor I have is one that I have to operate manually like this one. Mmmyeah, not so much! I couldn’t get the consistency of the beans right, but I managed to modify the recipe and eat my black-eyed peas anyway! I’ll see what I can do about a decent food processor once I hear about what the damage will be on my income taxes. We just dropped off our papers this morning with the accountant and she said she would get back to us sometime in the next week!

You are now sleeping and your dad is home so I will go enjoy his company! 🙂

Sweet dreams!,
Mom & Dad Xxo

Weigh-in Monday, vegan attempt and Camel Pose

Sweet Rina,

Today was weigh-in day and although I did lose a bit this week, it wasn’t even a pound (again!) It’s a bit disappointing, but I’ll look at it as being a loss in any case. I am now down 3lbs in 4 weeks. Slow wins the race right?!? I also wanted to weigh you tonight, but I had lent our scale to Jess. She is flying to visit her parents tomorrow and wanted to weigh her suitcase! Oh well, I can always do it tomorrow and see how much you’ve grown!

 

I love that smile!

What's that???

Come here you!

Let's see... How many things can I fit in my mouth at the same time?

As I was doing yoga tonight, I did a few backbends and ended up doing the Camel Pose:

 

Camel pose

Source

About a year ago, when I attempted to do Bikram Yoga (I know people rave about it, but I tried it 4 times and hated every second of it!) and we had to do Camel pose, I would always end up feeling this immense sadness. I swear, I teared up once. I went and asked the yoga instructor at the end of the class what was up with that and he said: Camel pose really opens up your chest and your heart. It makes you vulnerable to any emotion you have inside, whether it’s sadness or happiness. Now, I never found out what I was so sad about a year ago, but tonight, when I did Camel Pose I felt 2 things:

1. Amazement that I could still get in that position

2. No sadness whatsoever, just an ease in breathing!

 

I am also trying to incorporate more vegan/vegetarian meals in my diet to set a good example for you: eating well and exercising are important. I thought I had an entirely vegan day today food-wise, but your dad pinpointed that there is cheese on the lasagna I had for dinner. At least, everything was vegetarian! Yay for being vegetarian today, for me not being sad and for yoga. I gotta go now as your dad is waiting for me to watch Castle.

Love,

Mom & Dad Xxo

Mommy group!

Darling Rina,

The nice thing about having so many preggos at work at the same time is that we can all get together with our little ones. Today, we managed to get 4 mommies with their little ones as well as some co-workers who came by for a visit and a cuddles! You also got to hang out with your “soul brother” Myles (who was born 2hrs after you)! Below are a few pictures I took of the whole thing:

 

Myles' little harem... (From the left: Sophia, Alexis, Myles and Rina)

Myles and Rina, soul babies

You are trying to leave with the bumper pad and looking all innocent

Myles slept through the whole thing

On another note, yesterday we took a super long walk (2hrs, 10Km!) You fell asleep very easily and managed to sleep in this morning until 8:30am, after we moved to the living room futon. I guess the fresh air tired you as much as it tired me! When I was done with putting you down for the night, my hip-flexors were screaming for a good stretch so I did some yoga and felt much better. However, I was still a bit tight in the hip-flexors and the quads area. Nothing a bit of rest won’t cure. Because I had some carrot cake and a smoked meat sandwich for dinner, I HAD to do some Pilates tonight. I ended up choosing Pilates Method: Precision Pilates by Jennifer Kries. It wasn’t fun, but it had to be done and I managed to do most of all the poses. I particularly liked the stretching routine as it is more based on stretches I was familiar with from my days of dancing. I was happy to see I still retain a lot of my leg flexibility! I have also registered for yogavibes.com and received a free coupon valid for 1 full-length workout for a month. I’m pretty sure I will pick one by Sage Rountree. I love her yoga style. I’ve been doing her free podcasts and thoroughly enjoy the simplicity of her yoga routines, yet I can feel the benefits from it all. I will get to it once we come back from our little birthday weekend getaway!

Love,

Mom & Dad Xxo

We are in sync!

Sweet Rina,

Last night, as I was giving you your nighttime bath, something happened with the landlord’s daughter (they live upstairs) and it got me really upset. When I was done bathing you, I went upstairs to talk to the landlord and her daughter. It ended up being a misunderstanding on my part, but I got all emotional because it had something to do with you and I was all teary when I talked to them. I then noticed that you were giving them your pouty-I’m-about-to-cry face and was whimpering at the same time. I thought you looked so sad and tried to calm you down by saying: “It’s ok, Shhhh!”, but it made me realize how in tune you are to how I feel. I never noticed before because you are usually a happy-go-lucky kind of girl (I guess that means I am too??) unless you need to be changed, fed or are tired! Oh well, what matters is that we have talked things through and things are good again.

In other news, I got you a used Bumbo yesterday with the little tray that goes with it. When I sit you in it, you look so tiny, it makes me laugh! Here’s a visual for you!

Hello from your new (to you) Bumbo!

Look at how tiny you look in there!

Eating your toy...

Yesterday was Weight Day in this household and I’m glad to say I’ve lost another pound! Only 28 to go! I was a bit afraid of stepping on the scale as I can’t run anymore, but I’ve kept up with the yoga and Pilates and I’ve figured that if I walk for 2hrs, I’d lose about the same as if I would jog for 30 mins. So yesterday, we set out on foot for some errands and a walk in the rain that was 1hr-long before you demanded to be fed and went back out for another hour with Jessica and Alexis a bit later on.

You are now napping and later on, we’ll meet with your fairy Godmother (Yennie, who has spoiled you rotten with tons of clothes, gear, books and toys hand-me-downs from her children since you were born) for a birthday lunch for this Babymama!

—————

UPDATE:

Our landlord has just brought us a bouquet of daffodils and just wanted to make sure there wasn’t any tension left from last night. I explained to her that I got very emotional because it had to do with you and I understand that having a baby in the house changes a lot of things, for us as well as for them. She reassured me that she loved having a baby in the house, that it put a different kind of vibe in the house and that she likes having you here. I re-stated that we loved living here and that we understand that we are all sharing a house and sometimes, things happen and you have no control over it. She said she felt the same way and wanted us to feel at home and not feel like we have to walk on eggshells. All’s well that ends well!

Love,

Mom & Dad Xxo

Down 1lb and you are giggling at 3 months!

Sweet Rina,

Today was my weigh-in and I’ve lost 1.2lbs (to be precise!) Nothing dramatic, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. Only 28.8 left to go! I woke up this morning to the lovely sound of Timmy-the-cat puking. It was dark in the living room (where you and I were cuddling on the futon) and I only realized too late that he had puked on the couch and carpet. Well, good morning to you too! Once I was done with cleaning up the mess, I opened up the curtains to find out there was frost on the ground. Ugh! I texted Jess and we decided to wait until it warmed up a bit before heading out for W2D1 of the C25K. Because of that, I went to meet Jess without you as you were falling asleep for a nap as I left. You stayed behind to spend some quality time with Babydaddy while I was on the trail with Jess.

To be honest, I really didn’t feel like it and it’s AMAZINGLY nice to have Jess as a partner in this. She will be leaving for 4 weeks (I think) at the end of the month and I need to work on my motivation until then, if not, it’ll be unbearable when she’s gone! I don’t know what happened to me, I used to love running. I missed it all the time when I wasn’t doing it and now, it’s a struggle to get out and hit the trail. Once I’ve started, it’s fine, but it’s to get my butt outside that’s the real challenge! Whatever, it’s done, even though the Garmin stopped working mid-workout, Jess and I timed ourselves manually.

It turned out to be a super sunny day and I really didn’t feel like being stuck outside, so I dressed you up and we went to cuddle outside on the front porch, basking in the sun!

Pursed lips...

I see dimples!!!

When we got back inside, we played a bit together (tummy-time and all) and then, I managed to capture your 1st “giggles” on camera. They are quite subdued, but they are giggles to me! (Sorry about my crazy laughter, but it worked to get you to giggle!)

I just have to do some yoga and stretches and then I can relax for the night!
Sweet dreams gorgeous girl, I can’t believe you are 3 months old already!,

Love,

Mom & Dad Xxo

The afternoon and evening after…

Darling Rina,

This is my second post today, but I feel the need to write. You have been a challenge today as you were completely exhausted, but refused to sleep. Actually, you wanted to sleep… only in my arms and it’s not something I normally do except in the afternoon, when you get to your witching hour before bath time. I tried lying next to you on the futon to put you to sleep which worked for about 5 mins. Then, I tried putting you to sleep in my arms and putting you down after, only to have you waking up as soon as you touched your mattress and start crying. We pretty much spent the entire day playing that game, with me trying to put you down and you being overtired all day.

Needless to say I haven’t had time to do any workout today. Add to it that my cold is worst today (I’m praying for a good night of rest so I can do my 2nd run/walk tomorrow). I barely had time to do laundry and still have to fold 2 baskets worth of clothes. As I was eating dinner, I took the opportunity to watch some TV and fell on The Biggest Loser and as sappy as it sounds, I was bawling my tired/sick eyes out when Arthur got on the scale. It inspired me to at least attempt some yoga targeted at runners and repeat the stretches for my shins. Depending on how things go, I may do the Challenges too.

Trying to tire you out so you'll sleep

Doing some crunches in the meantime!

So I’ll get to it now and the baskets of laundry folding will just have to wait a bit longer. I’m taking some well-deserved time for me right now!

Hopefully, you’ll get a restful night and will be better tomorrow!

Love,

Mom & Dad Xxo