The Restart Button

I can't believe it's been over 3 weeks since I last added to the blog!!! Since Manel left for Melbourne my life has turned upside down and the steady nice pace at which I was going, with time for all things important, has turned to chaos. During the first 2 weeks I think we were managing ok (can't quite remember as it's all a bit of a blur), and I was still fitting in 3 sessions of exercise by dropping the kids at my parent's or my neighbours' place while I went for a quick run, as well as getting to training in the park with Jen. But in the past week I've gotten sick again, the kids have caught colds & we've been stuck climbing the living room walls with all the rain. Alex is also waking up for a good 3 hour smile &/or cry session in the middle of the night each night so I'm severely sleep deprived. I feel like my position in this household has taken a nose dive and that I'm not getting a single second for myself & my sanity. My original plan to fit in exercise regardless of what was going on around me isn't going to plan at all at the moment!

SO, time to get some control back. Jen came to visit yesterday and helped me get back on track. She's put together cardio & resitance training plans that I can do at home if there is no way for me to leave the house & kids. We went over my original goals, which was great to remind me of what I was trying to achieve and to see that I'm actually almost there. Doing that in itself made me feel happier and that not all was lost! As for where I'm at, I'm now 2kg's under where I was when I got pregnant with Alex, I'm at the same weight I was when I got pregnant with Jack, and 2kg's off my "ideal weight" according to the body composition scan. I have been working hard, and enjoying doing so, but I also know I'm lucky that my body is cooperating and the fat isn't stubbornly hanging around. I feel fit & healthy (despite the aforementioned cold & woeful sleep deprivation), but would still like to get a lot fitter so I can run for a good amount of time and perhaps do the 10km bridge run in September (a new goal I've set for myself). My other main goal was for the family to get back to a fit & healthy lifestyle, eliminating the chips & biscuits snacks and have exercise as a normal & regualr part of our week. This is happening and I even see Jack moving around the house doing an oddly looking lunge walk. When I ask what he's doing, he replies "I'm doing exercise mummy!" Woohoo - an excellent new word in his vocabulary.

We have a big black board wall in our hallway, so Jen wrote down my goals plus a daily checklist to keep me on track: exercise, good regular food, a 5 minute break for myself, more water & a reminder to breathe. These few simple things went out the window for a week and it was amazing to see how in that short amount of time I felt miserable & unable to cope. It's not a huge & unachievable "To Do" list, and so by doing these few things each day, hopefully I'll get through the next 2 months until Manel gets back. I've come to the realisation that it's not worth it for me to constantly wish for "normality" as "normality" won't come back until at least September. With a husband in the film industry, this, right now, is our family's "normality" and I'm much better off accepting that, being flexible and working with it.

The mind frame I've woken up with today is a WHOLE lot happier & more positive than over the past week and I put this down to getting refocused with Jen, and then calling my brother to drop in after work last night so I could get out for a quick gentle run, the first time out in a week. Those 2 things have definitely saved me!!! When I feel myself getting flat or unnecessarily snappy at poor undeserving Jack, it's time for me to hit the restart button by getting out and getting exercise, in some way or form.