A new routine

Being home with my two kiddos has been a crazy switch up to the routine that I'm used to but I love it! There are definitely days where I don't know how I'll make it to nap time, or how we'll all survive until Daddy gets home but overall we're learning to settle into our new routines without work, daycare and having Cora home with us. Our Little Miss is two months old now and a smiley little thing, but of course she's very coy around the camera.

Our day starts early, with Cora and I up around 5 for her to nurse and I start the coffee. Usually, I try to have her back down in our room by 5:45 so that I can be at the gym by 6 am and get the bulk of my workout done. Ryker gets up around 7 and will play in his room until Vic frees our little monster for breakfast! I get back to the house around 8 and help Vic get out the door while trying to clean up after the tornado mess that the boys create in the morning. Cora usually nurses again around then and Ryker and I settle in for the Today show on the TV and either Mickey Mouse or Dinosaur Train on my computer for him.

Ryker, Cora and I play in their room until nap time, unless I'm brave enough to take everyone out for an adventure. I generally try to make sure that any out of the house excursions are planned to get the kids home by noon so that Ryker can get his nap in. This also gives me time in the afternoon to get the stuff around the house done since he usually sleeps for close to three hours. We've gone to the aquarium, the big park nearby and made many trips to Target for our adventures lately, learning to successfully get out of the house with both kids without forgetting anything has been a huge feat for me and I'm proud to say that I haven't forgotten diapers in the last week, haha.

I made myself a schedule, being the planner that I am, to organize my day and week around the house while the kids nap so I don't get stuck sitting on the couch and watching HGTV all day. Every day I tackle vacuuming the living areas, cleaning the kitchen, making our bed and doing one load of laundry. Then, each day has it's own assignment. For instance, Monday is master bathroom day, Tuesday is the kid's bathroom, and so on. It helps me feel like I'm getting something accomplished outside of our errands and has really helped my transition to being at home while I'm on the job hunt.

Usually while the kids are down I'll also hop on my treadmill and knock out a few miles. I decided to start training for the Shamrock Marathon this Spring on top of my training with Ashley Horner, so needless to say I'm always sore! That outlet has also really helped with staying sane! Recently, I signed the kids and I up at Vic's gym so that I can drop them off in their daycare and Ryker can play with other kids while I work out.

Once Ryker is up, we all play outside with his water table or with chalk or if the weather is super horrible, it's been way too hot some days, we hang out inside and work on his letters and numbers and such in his room and then watch Planes, the kid loves that movie.

By the time that's all done Vic is usually home and he takes the kids so I can get a few minutes alone before I start dinner. This is all very different than waking up and putting on my steel toe boots and being in a building with no windows all day, surrounded by computers and I love it. Of course, the fact that I can wear yoga pants all day contributes to that and I love having my hair down, it's crazy how long it got after all those years of having it back in a tight bun!

There's a little peek into our daily routine, I'm off to prepare some iced coffee and get on my treadmill for an active rest day. Our little lady has her two month check up today and I can't wait to find out how much she weighs now!

A peek into our week

After hearing about it from Ryker's daycare teacher every day, we finally got the little man's haircut! He gets a haircut about once every two or three months, I just love his long little boy hair so much. Every time we cut it he grows up, I swear. I had them give him a cut that makes me style it, that way he looks a tad bit more put together instead of always having "impossible to manage, Harry Potter" hair all the time. He's super wiggly for pictures, so here's the best one I could get for you...

He's getting better about sitting still for hair cuts, places like Pigtails and Crewcuts are such a great concept! I remember going somewhere like that when I was a kid, hopefully he looks back on these and thinks they were fun experiences too. 

A while back, Vic and I were watching Jurassic Park and I made him a pizza. That night Jurassic Park Pizza was born! It's basically just a combo of sausage, chicken, tomatoes, onions and balsamic. I started making my own pizza sauce, I'll share that in a post of its own! We got the pizza crust from Target, it's the Market Panty Ultra Thin and Crispy and it made the perfect cracker crisp thin crust, which I love.

I've been all about the easiest lunches lately, otherwise I'll just forget and be starving at night. The other day I threw together about two cups of steamed broccoli, two eggs and ALL the hot sauce. Pair that with Boom Chicka Pop Sea Salt popcorn and I am one happy girl. I'm obsessed with that popcorn! 140 calories for 4 cups? Done.

I've been doing a lot more running lately, a lot of which is done at a pretty hefty incline so it was time for new, comfy shoes. I tried to switch to shoes that were lighter, but I've run in Nike LunarGlides for years. I went back to my roots and found the cutest pair and my run today was amazing in them! It feels great to be getting my stride back.

And finally, my littlest cutie has decided that she is only happy if we are holding hands. I decided to just start riding in the back with her if Vic is riding because it's easier than reaching back to continuously pop her pacifier back in. She's a handful but she's amazing, so it all balances out!

I hope you're having a great week so far, we're almost to the weekend!

My favorite breakfast right now

People who don't like oatmeal freak me out, but then again, I don't like cheesecake for it's weird texture and a lot of people don't get that...I guess we all have our thing, right? I love oatmeal for how quickly it can be prepared and how much you can mix into it. When I'm home I'm all about the hot oatmeal, which of course is super quick with my tea kettle. When I was taking oatmeal to work I would do the overnight oats in a mason jar. Just add all of your ingredients, including the liquid (water or milk) and pop it in the fridge. I loved that option when mixing in berries, everything just tastes so great cold.

Right now, I'm obsessed with  my new protein powder. I've been using two different kinds, Vega protein and greens and peanut butter Quest protein powder. The protein and greens tastes like it has greens in it, so watch out, but it's not bad. I usually have that one post workout. If I'm looking to curb the desire for a treat I'm all about the Quest peanut butter protein. It's out of this world and amazing in oatmeal. Oatmeal is supposed to have lactogenic properties (it's supposed to help make more breastmilk), as well as some other spices and seeds. As soon as I had Cora I bought some of Mrs. Patel's lactation products to try and curb the supply issues I had with Ryker. I add the munch crunch to my oatmeal. To round out my favorite breakfast I add some Great Lakes Collagen Hydrolysate and Kerrygold butter so that I have a bowl full of protein, good fats and carbs that will keep me going until I remember to eat when the baby gives me a break! 

Let me know if you give this a shot, it tastes amazing and really helps give me some energy to get through the day! 

Why I don't want my pre-baby body

If you type "Body after Baby" into Google you get 484,000,000 results. The second article that popped up had a tag line about looking "like your pre-baby self in no time!" That's silly. It's not easy, especially the first time around, to get used to the changes that happen to your body after you have the baby. They tell you that you'll still look pregnant, you hear "it takes 9 months to put it on, it'll take about that to get it off" and yet I'm sure I can't be the only one that walked away from the hospital a little pissed about not being closer to "normal".

If there is one thing that I have learned about parenting it is that you should never try to settle into a normal, because things are always changing. You are always adapting to new milestones, new tantrums, new foods that they love/hate and so on. So, instead of getting worked up about trying to look like I did a year ago, I'd like to know that I'm doing everything I can to look and feel the best I can after having grown and birthed two children.

Getting back into shape and feeling strong and comfortable in my body can't be accomplished the same way it did before Ryker or after Ryker, because now there is Ryker and Cora. They have both left their marks on my body and now he tries to steal my water bottle and headphones while she sets the timetable for the next time I need to breastfeed her. I get to the gym and I use that as my motivation. I know that I have a certain amount of time that I can be gone, so I better be killing it at the gym while I'm there. I want my kids to see that Mom has goals and she's going to work hard to meet them. There will be times when they come with me so that I can work with/around them and others where it's just not going to happen. As long as I don't give up, I feel like I'm teaching them something.  

I'll be six weeks postpartum on Thursday. I still have nearly 20 pounds to lose, which is saying something considering that I gained 30. I'm not that woman that drops majority of the weight upon giving birth, I hold on to almost all of it for the first few months (which is super frustrating!). So, I'm trying to focus on getting my 5k time back to sub-25 minutes and trying to make sure I'm lifting as heavy as I can. I also have to remember to eat and to rest, because all this work will be for nothing if a) my body is too tired and hungry to heal and prepare itself and b) I turn into a giant grouch and am no fun for my family.

Make your family a priority, but make yourself one too. You wouldn't expect your two year old to potty train in one day, so don't expect your body to bounce back that quickly either. Be forgiving. Of course, this is all easier said than done, but I'm hoping this reminder to myself may help someone else go a little easier on themselves when trying to settle into being a new mom of two little ones!

A little meal prep action

In an effort to work on our nutrition and fitness goals while saving money, we make sure to prep food for lunches as often as possible. I can't blame Vic for being sick of choking down grilled chicken every day, when it's plain there just isn't a whole lot that even seasonings can do, eventually you have to spice it up! 

 

Vic likes saucy chicken, so I started making chicken salad for him. It keeps better throughout the week and the chicken doesn't seem to dry out while it waits to be eaten on Friday. Tonight, I took 25 ounces of grilled chicken breasts, 11 ounces of Greek yogurt, half a cup of our favorite wing sauce and about a pound each of chopped celery and carrots. I really hate Greek yogurt, but I gave this a shot and it is so good! I might actually steal some of his chicken salad this week. 

I joined a transformation challenge with Ashley Horner last week that runs for the next 10 weeks and it has been a great kick start to get me back in the gym and eating right. Because it's a competition, my competitive side has really kicked in and I've been doing pretty great with my nutrition. I haven't had the most exciting meals, but tonight I absolutely loved this mixture. I can't stand to eat cottage cheese on it's own so I mix in a little bit of strawberry jelly. I'm basically surviving off of Ezekiel toast since it's easy to eat with one hand while I'm nursing Cora. I topped my toast with my cottage cheese mixture and oh man, it was amazing! 

I'll be sharing more information about the #TransformYou challenge that I'm doing coming soon! I hope you had a great weekend, are you meal prepping tonight?