Happy Mothers Day!

I would like to wish all the moms out there a very Happy Mother’s Day!  New moms and experienced moms; young moms and seasoned moms; moms-to-be and moms-in-waiting, may you all enjoy this day and relish in the moment you became a mother.

For me, it was a typical chilly February day in Chicago just over two years ago.  I was two weeks overdue.  After struggling for many years to conceive, I was ready for my daughter to make her entrance into the world.  I had started having mild contractions the night before.  After calling the doctor in the middle of the night, my husband and I decided to go into the hospital the following morning, since I was still having contractions.  He sent us home though, since I was still in very early labor.  I had my weekly doctor’s appointment that afternoon and he would see how I was progressing then. 

In the meantime, I was to go home and labor at home.  To help my labor progress, I walked the treadmill, rolled on my stability ball and walked on the treadmill some more.  My efforts were futile though.  At the appointment, my labor was still progressing slowly so, the doctor performed a “procedure” to speed it up.  That evening I went back to the hospital and was admitted.  My labor was finally progressing, slowly but surely.     

After four years of waiting, nine months gestation, two weeks for good measure and 36 hours of labor, February 8th 2008 my daughter was born.  The frist time I held her in my arms was everything I expected it to be.  As someone, who also struggled with infertilty explained it once, it was like that first sip of ice cold lemonade on a hot summer day, refreshing and quenching.  All my joys, dreams, wants and needs were encapsulated in that moment.  That was the day I became a mother.  That is the day my daughter came into the world.  That is my Mother’s Day.

  

Do You Know What Today Is?

Not long ago was a time when I would get obnoxiously excited about my approaching birthday. And I mean obnoxiously excited.  I would talk about it for several days leading up to it.  I would make my way around the office at work, skipping and singing “Happy Birthday to Me.”  Seriously, I did. 

But somewhere along the way, the excitement waned.  Not sure how or when it happened.  Was it when I hit my thirties?  Was it when my daughter was born?  At some point, I grew up.  I realized everything isn’t only about me anymore.

And so, while I had planned on waiting before publicizing my blog, I thought now is as good a time as any to launch it, in the interest of give something back. I would like to invite you to follow my blog and see where the journey takes us. Sign up to follow my blog, share it on Facebook, Tweet it, and leave a comment, and you will be entered into a drawing to win an exercise video – Cathe Friedrich’s Travel Fit workout.



As stated on Cathe’s website, Travel Fit is a 51 minute low impact cardio and total body stretch band workout designed to keep you fit anytime you are on the road or just wanting to enjoy a workout that doesn’t require a lot of equipment. If you think this workout is easy, think again. The only easy thing about Travel Fit is the fact that you only need a resistance band to do it. This workout incorporates challenging and effective isolation exercises, along with compound exercises, and brief cardio bursts, to maximize your muscle toning and fat burning benefits. Travel Fit is a total body conditioning workout and even includes Abs.

Entries for the contest will be taken until Friday, May 14th.  Please check back to see if you are a winner.  Thank you for your interest and thank you for visiting my blog, I hope you enjoy what you see and stick around.  As for me, today I will be celebrating my birthday with my wonderful husband and darling little girl. My birthday present to myself, you guessed it an exercise DVD. What can I say, old habits, die hard. After all, I am a vidiot.*

*term coined at Video Fitness to refer to an exercise video aficionado.

Just a little bit more...

Finally, I had my little miracle baby.  And she brought about everything I expected, joy, happiness, smiles, cooing, giggles and more.  Motherhood also brought about a few things I wasn't ready for sleepless nights, colic and an additional 30 pounds to lose.  Once I got clearance from the doctor, I started to gradually add exercise back into my life.  My workouts consisted mostly of walking on the treadmill, while my daughter was soothed to sleep in her papasan chair by the hum of the belt whirring as I walked at a 3.0 mph pace.  I couldn't do any abdominal exercise for a very long time as my ab muscles had gotten very weak.

Well, this all worked out fine and well for the first three months but then it was time to go back to work.  At this point I still had about fifteen pounds to lose.  But with working full-time, breastfeeding, night feedings, I had no energy or time to work out.  My only saving grace - which I hate to admit - was my daughter had a dairy and soy intolerance.  Doctors orders were. "If I wanted to breastfeed, I would have to cut out all soy and dairy from my diet."  So I did.  And off came the fifteen pounds, and an additional ten that I had wanted to lose pre-pregnancy.

After nearly fourteen months of breastfeeding, my daughter weaned herself.  And I added dairy and soy back to my diet - and an additional ten pounds.  But my body was my own again and I started exercising on a regular basis again.  Slow and steady, I gradually worked back up to exercising six days a week.  But I had to adapt, I had to make the transition from being a morning exerciser to becoming an evening exerciser.  This has been by far the hardest transition.  I enjoyed morning exercise because you get it done, over with and out of the way.  Evening exercise lends itself to so many excuses and obstacles for fitting it in.  Which brings me to the purpose of this blog - motivation and accountability.  Now all I need is some readers...

A little more about me...

So, in my first post I gave you a little information about me. Since the main focus of this blog will be about fitness, I thought I would give you a little information about my fitness history. As I said, I wasn't physically active my entire life. I wasn't involved in any sports in high school or college. I never worried about what I ate. I was one of those people "blessed" with good genetics.

Well, fast forward a few years, and the lack of exercise and poor nutrition caught up with me.  I found myself in a music and video store perusing the sports and fitness section. I bought my first workout video. Well, one thing led to another and I bought another and another. In early 2000, I found a website Video Fitness (reader beware) and my workout library grew exponentially.

I had developed a consistent workout routine which amounted to about forty-five minutes to an hour in the morning, six days a week. I dabbled here and there at the gym but nothing compared to being able to exercise in the comfort of your own home. I had developed such a love for fitness, in 2004, I sat for my ACE personal trainer license (that has since expired - but I plan to re-sit for it in the near future).

In 2004, my husband and I decided it was time to start a family but we hit a roadblock. Three years into the infertility process, I decided I would sit again to renew my PT license - when I found out HOORAY! I WAS PREGNANT! While I remained active for the first five months of the pregnancy, I didn't fare as well during the second half due to back problems the pregnancy was causing.  After gaining nearly 40 pounds during the pregnancy, on February 8, 2008 I gave birth to my daughter.

So, who am I?

I am a thirty-something happily married mother of a beautiful little girl. I created this blog to discuss my passion for fitness and striking a balance to fit it all in.

I have been married for 13 years. I haven’t always been physically active but my passion for fitness began shortly after getting married. I bought my first exercise video in 1997 and never looked back. Thirteen years later my video library consists of over 100 workouts from over 20 different instructors.

After five years of marriage, my husband and I decided to start a family. Unfortunately we struggled with infertility. After several procedures, two surgeries and numerous cycles later, we were finally blessed with a little girl. Now over two years later, it seems we are dealing with secondary infertility. The one thing that has kept me sane during these times is exercise.

What I hope for from this blog is to instill a passion for fitness and health in others. I also hope you come to realize that your goals can be met and a healthy balance can be achieved in life .