It’s been a hot second! Wow! To be honest, in the past few months, I felt uninspired. I didn’t want to post “just to post” so I just did when I genuinely wanted to and laid low! But I’m back and ready to chat with you all (: There is a lot to talk about my friends!
I never officially announced on here so here it goes – I am 27 weeks pregnant! Well…almost 28! We are not finding out the gender. The baby is healthy and active in my belly so we just feel extremely thankful. Currently, we are setting up the nursery and getting as prepared as we possibly can – although I have a feeling it is going to be straight chaos having three kids under two and a half…but hey! We like a challenge!
Page Update:
It was on my mind for the last year on whether I should remove my kids from social media, meaning not posting photos of them except maybe on a rare occasion. Nothing ever happened and there were no creepy people being weird. It was just something I wanted to do! At first, it was extremely fun to show them but eventually, it felt strange to me. Why I am documenting their every movement/milestone for the world to see? Why can’t I just soak it in as the mom and be happy with simply that. As their momma, I take all the photos, I promise you! My poor phone barely has storage due to my excessive photo taking/video recording. I am just not posting it for the world to see. It was beginning to bug me that I was taking all these nice photos simply to put online. Why wasn’t I making more effort at getting these photos actually printed and hung up on walls. Why wasn’t I focusing more on their baby books and yearly photo albums? The list of reasons for why I decided this piled up…anyways I don’t want to bore you guys! This particular blog post really stuck with me and I related to a lot of what this momma of six had to say about not putting her littles on social media. It’s definitely worth the read if you are in the middle and trying to decide…or just gain perspective! Anywho, I feel I’ve addressed this topic enough! Let’s dive into a little bit of budgeting and where we are at!
Budgeting:
I told you all I would start documenting more of our budgeting journey and the little changes we are making. Never in a million years did I think I would share our budgeting journey on this platform, which was originally purely fitness posts! My viewpoint has changed though which is that being fit goes way beyond physicality. Part of being healthy is knowing how to handle finances appropriately and responsibly. Is it hard budgeting and not purchasing every little thing I want? YES! But it also makes me feel mentally and emotionally at peace because I know exactly where every dollar is going! A little reason why I feel such a calling to share our budgeting journey and kind of my own personal role in it is for this reason. Money…numbers…math I use to FEAR IT. Gradeschool I slid by getting B’s in math class but that is because I would come home and my mom would tutor me in everything we had learned that day. I tried so hard to get that B. In High School, I was a D student when it came to math. To be frank, I convinced myself I was terrible at it so what was the point in trying? I convinced myself that I was just plain dumb. Well my friends, let me just say that is no way to live or to THINK. You can be good at whatever you want to be good at. I did not want to be in my marriage and feel incapable of handling our incomes properly. I HAD to take action to lead a healthy life for my family! I’m retraining my mind right now. I can be good at whatever I want (: Any of you have a similar hatred for math? It is holding you back? I hope you know you are not alone and it’s never too late to change that! Chaning my fear of numbers in the past two years has dramatically bettered my life, and my familys.
To catch you all up we paid off our student loans and are moving on to attacking our car payment. The goal is to double the car payment every month, It will be a challenge but we are soo ready to be debt free – it’s worth it to us. For those that have not followed my journey so much on Instagram (which is where I talk consistently about our journey to being debt free) here is a little recap. My husband and I decided to take the Dave Ramseys Financial Peace course when I was newly pregnant with our twins. We were living in Madison WI at the time. The cost of living was higher and we were not making as much money! Not only that, but we were newly married and not on the same page when it came to budgeting. This course completely changed our lives! We paid off over $50,000 in student loan payments and are now attacking our car payment. I’ll be starting a separate budgeting tab on here so you guys can stay updated on what we are currently working on and how we are getting from point A to point B (: Stay tuned!
Mom Life:
In the past year, we have done a lot of play dates, activities, and I have even participated in several mom groups that have been enjoyable! However, lately something has been missing and I feel there is a void as if a piece of me I am not keeping as alive as I would like. I see all over Instagram/Facebook these fun mom fitness groups where mommas get together with their littles to workout! I always feel left out because I would love to join one! Honestly, I assumed there just weren’t any in the area but as I did my research I realized – there was! I’ll be attending this week or next so I’ll let you know what I think. I’m super excited! Motherhood is beautiful but at times it can feel lonely. I find it harder at times when you cross paths with another momma and realize you do things completely differently. It makes you second guess yourself. I was having a casual conversation with this mom at the park the other day. We talked about postpartum anxiety and I just flat out said I need exercise daily to help relieve anxiety/stress I feel, especially the first six months of my twins’ life! She replied: “Yes exercise can be good…but as a mom, I don’t think it should be glorified or much ofa priority. Millennial moms are focusing too much on just bouncing back and physically looking good.” My mouth kind of dropped! I felt like that comment was directed at me and I wish she knew just how much I rely on it emotionally and mentally. I did not mention anything about physical appearance but now that we are on that topic…why is it so bad to still want to feel attractive and physically fit as a mom? Why is that a thing we pick on other mommas for? It makes me sad and frankly a little cautious to telling any other moms I run a blog/social media page based off living a healthy fit lifestyle…as a mom! Goodness, being a mom and finding the people you really vibe with can be hard, it sometimes feels like high school all over again, any of you all feel me?! Anyways, enough venting! Let’s chat about what I have been doing to lead a healthy (ish) pregnancy!
My Personal Health/Wellness Journey:
I have been consistently swimming every other day during the second trimester of this pregnancy! Swimming is amazing and I love feeling weightless in the water. However, in the past few weeks, I started incorporating more treadmill workouts with light weight training and it has been just what I needed. I wanted to provide you guys with a week’s worth of my workout routine so you could kind of get the idea, or join along with me!
Monday:
Swim laps
Tuesday:
30 minutes of walking/jogging
Bird Dog Crunch (10 reps each side)
Standing Side Crunch (10 reps each side)
Incline Heel Slides (10 reps each side)
Pelvic tilt ( 15 reps) 3 sets of everything!
Wednesday:
Swim laps
Thursday:
3o minutes of walking/jogging Shoulder
T-Lifts (I use 5-pound weights- 12 reps)
Tricep Overhead Extensions (12 reps)
Bicep Curls ( I use 8 pounds – 12 reps)
Tricep Kickbacks ( I use 5-pounds – 12 reps)
3 sets of everything!
Friday:
Swim laps
Saturday:
3o minutes of walking/jogging Squats – ( I hold a 5-pound weight – 15 reps)
Donkey Kicks – ( 15 reps per side)
Single leg deadlifts ( I hold onto the wall with one hand and in the other, I’m holding a 5-pound weight- 12 reps per side!)
3 sets of everything!
Sunday:
Swim laps or I take the day off! I just base it off how I feel!
I’m in the process of getting pre/post natal certified through Knocked-up Fitness (what a name – hahaha) and so excited to start showing my exercises safe for pregnancy and postpartum! It’s a niche I have been wanting to get involved with for a very long time (: The exercises I listed above are pregnancy approved!
However, I am still in the process of getting certified so I would just like to say I’m not recommending anything…yet (; I’m simply just sharing what I have been doing! Always, always check with your doctor to see what is safe during pregnancy!
Thanks for stopping by the blog today my friends – I missed our chats! Stay Lively!