Henry: Three Months

Lesson learned: Enjoy every moment! There are so many developmental things happening so fast! One day we would catch a fleeting smile, and suddenly he smiles 24/7! It's truly amazing in three months how this guy has grown.Here are some highlights:

Hi, I'm three months old! 

This was taken on 9/11/14, I chose his shirt on a day when NYC is remembered. Amazing how on a day of solemn remembrance, a little one can innocently brighten it.

• Henry is smiling nonstop! He wakes up in the morning smiling, despite being hungry. I don't have that much self control! He's the best.
• Henry has a dairy allergy/sensitivity. Although there is no test for this, his stool culture showed blood in the stool. After a week of no dairy for me, there was no blood in the new culture. Verdict: no dairy for mom! Wahhhh. But anything for my baby.
• He is on a new reflux med. He distracted doctors by being a happy baby and gaining weight, but I persisted with evaluations concerning his spitting up nonstop (Oh the laundry....burp cloths on burp cloths on burp cloths!). We finally got an ENT consult and hope this new medicine will calm his reflux. Again, despite pain, he's a happy go lucky babe.
• He is in his crib! We had him in the rock and play because of the reflux (upright sleeping helped tremendously), but now he's moving a ton and seems to be too constricted in the rock and play.
• He loves to bicycle kick! Get this kid to a spin class STAT! 
• We vacationed at Annapolis and Virginia Beach! Unfortunately it was raining 3 out of 6 days, but fortunately this guy roles with the punches!
• He's a great jogging stroller baby! We go everywhere together, whether walking or running!
• Henry weighs in at 13lbs 7oz, I'm getting a great arm workout!!!

Just in case he seems perfect...this post was written one handed! We had a whining/cranky fest on the night when Mr. Miller is at a Mets game! I currently have a sleeping Henry in my left arm. It served to remind me that he is so good even when tired. We are so thankful for a healthy baby boy who continues to exude joy.

Happy Three Months Little Lion Man!

Some fantastic outtakes!

Postpartum Workouts: 12 Weeks

It's vacation week! Sadly we're experiencing some rain, so I'm blogging. This past week marked 12 weeks since I had Henry via C-Section, so that means the beginning of lifting and abs! I haven't broken out the kettle bells just yet, I stuck with 4lb weights to ease my way back into lifting. I was so scared to start ab work, and rightfully so: after my first "real" moves targeting my abs, it hurt when I laughed and coughed! (Full circle from when they hurt post surgery I guess?) Doesn't matter, I'm back to full body workouts and I'm excited! 

Weekly Workouts: 12 Weeks Postpartum

• Sunday: Nothing, spent the day with my family, visiting friends, and lazying about.
• Monday: Repeat of Sunday, but this was spent mainly lounging by the pool.
• Tuesday: Fitzala workout! It didn't seem hard at the time, but the crossfit type workout left me SORRRRRRRRRE. First time actively engaging my abs in an ab focused move, and it was difficult. The 'ol stomach has plenty of rehabbing ahead of it!
• Wednesday: Rest day. Visited another cute Henry so I walked about 2 miles total "wearing" the baby.
• Thursday: 1.5 mile run on the "first day of school". It was my first time in six years not helping kindergarteners separate from their parents and not lose their new class. Seeing kids walking to school gave me minor anxiety. Also did the Fitzala workout! Boy was I sore from the first one, and this one was much more difficult. I had to modify the ab work because my abs simply could not do the assigned exercise.
• Friday: Rest day: driving to vacation! We stopped overnight in Annapolis and enjoyed a day of eating, drinking, and visiting with friends.

Kings of the castle! A pirate pup and his first mate.

At our favorite dockside spot in Annapolis, MD

• Saturday: Rest day: driving again! We drove the rest of the way to VA Beach and went to a BBQ event. It was disgustingly hot and humid, so nothing happened besides more pool lounging.

After a successful swim in the pool! It was so hot the pool was like bathwater! 

Summary: Only two days of "real" workouts. It was a busy week filled with traveling with an infant! It was definitely the kind of week where I felt like all I was doing was packing, unpacking, then repacking. It was also extremely hot at the beginning of the week, so I backed off from any stroller running. It's not worth it to get some miles in to have a hot baby! It made me extremely thankful for the cool summer we've had.

How was your week? Do you feel like it's "fall"? Did you or your kids start school? How is fall race training going? TELL ME ABOUT IT!

Postpartum Workouts: 11 Weeks

Hello, September! I can't believe I'm not reporting to work today. I will be taking a year off from teaching to take care of little Henry, but reality still hasn't hit me. Seeing kids going to school on Thursday will definitely made it feel more "real". This past week was filled with fun, travel, and HEAT! It made me thankful that we have had a relatively cool summer. 

Weekly Workouts: 11 Weeks Postpartum

• Sunday: FANTASTIC 3 mile run! It is the best I have felt running with the BOB, and even averaged in the high 10's! 

PRISTINE morning on the West Side Highway! Henry slept through the whole thing.

• Monday: I made it all four circuits of my at home workout. 
• Tuesday: 1000m swim. I wasn't feeling this swim, especially knowing that my boys were walking around the park enjoying the sunset, but I kept going and made it just as the whistle was blown to stop. It was, after all, my last swim of the season there.

And just like that, the sun sets on my (abbreviated) summer swimming.

• Wednesday: 1 mile run (It was HOT) and two rounds of my strength routine.
• Thursday: 3.75 mile run! BOB PDR! I FINALLY ran to the park and back. This is my old running route, and it felt like I was finally "running again", instead of driving my car to the park, running a mile or two, then driving home. It was definitely a slower pace since I was dealing with going slow/walking over uneven sidewalks, but it was totally worth it!

He's in there, I promise!

• Friday: Rest day: I got a full body workout packing the car though! We drove to CT for the weekend!
• Saturday: Unplanned rest day. You know when you feel tired and everything in you wants to work out, but you're just TIRED?! That was me. And you know what? My body was screaming for rest and relaxation, and that's what I gave it. I'm not going to sacrifice my body's need for rest to try to exercise on fumes. 

Sleepy weekend by the pool. We all enjoyed some much needed rest and relaxation! Related: rolls on rolls on rolls on rolls!

Summary: I'm seeing progress and staying positive. Before my vow to avoid negative self talk, I would have been beating myself up over skipping my workouts Saturday and, spoiler alert, Sunday and Monday. However, spending time with family, floating in a pool, and visiting with friends made this weekend a healthy dose of much need decompression. Next up: full on working out! 12 weeks means weights and abs. I'm nervous and excited, stay tuned for the progress! We are going on vacation this Friday, so I'm hoping to maintain a healthy balance of working out and continued relaxation.

How was your week? Do you plow through exhaustion to get a workout in? When was the last time you jumped off a diving board? (I did it Monday! So weird but so fun!) Do you think the benefits of exercising outweigh the benefits of resting? TELL ME ABOUT IT!

The Weight of Attitude

I must start this blog post with a disclaimer. I have an 11 week old son. I had an (emergency) c-section, which was difficult (for this active third floor walk up dweller) to recover from. Henry is still not "sleeping through the night", so mommy is tired and not sleeping through the night.  I am a goal oriented person; once I set a plan in motion, I assume things are going to exactly according to plan (Not the best mindset, more often than not). Okay, with that said, let's talk about attitude.

I can't resist this little lion man!

I have had a bad attitude recently. Last week I basically had a breakdown. Was it the hormones? Maybe. Was it my unrealistic expectations? Possibly. But it happened. I did my usual once a week weigh in, after having lost 2 pounds in 2 weeks, with high expectations. I had eaten well, exercised, and felt good. What was translated to me by a numbers board was not what I was expecting: 1 pound gained. Now I know what you all are thinking: It's just a scale, it doesn't determine your happiness. Please, think back to a time when you were expecting a good time only to see it was significantly slower pace than your expectation, or even your own weight struggle. We've all been there: feeling disappointed in the lack of progress. I was there Friday. I was mad at the scale, mad at my body, mad that I'm still carrying around 18 extra pounds. Can I say that? Well, I will. 

Via 

Before we go on, know this: I wouldn't trade my son for the world. I know this extra weight is temporary. I KNOW lots of things. But I had one of "those" days where things started off rocky and went downhill from there; nothing major, just little annoyances magnified by the initial annoyance of the day.

Via

This is my reality: I'm no where close to my pre-baby weight nearly three months later. I know it's not an overnight occurrence, but I assumed I would be further along than this by now. I assumed that everyone was right when they told me "The weight will fall off when you're breastfeeding!" I assumed that three weeks of clean(er) eating and healthy amounts of exercise would yield more than a net of 1 pound lost. I assumed it wouldn't be this hard. And you know what? It's been eating away at me, and that attitude is like an added weight. 

I thought of Dr. Seuss's Oh the Places You'll Go Via

My attitude has weighed me down. My husband, God bless him, has been beyond supportive and positive. I, on the other hand, have been focused on how nothing fits, my visible "rolls", and lack of results. It's so easy to be caught in this rut. I tiptoed the line of this rut, but fell in it on Friday. There were tears. There were "never" statements. My attitude was like an anchor and I was stuck. I went for an "angry run". You know the kind, where you just need to burn off steam...only it's hard to burn off steam when you're pushing 50lbs of stroller/baby/puppy. I felt slow, like this process I'm in. I had tons of fun plans for the weekend, but I wasn't excited about them. I was sabotaging myself because things weren't working out the way I thought they should be. Thankfully, I woke up Saturday a bit calmer, a bit happier, and a bit more sane. I spent time with some pretty great people. On Sunday I went for a "cleansing run", one where the day was beautiful, things felt good, and the end feeling was satisfaction with my effort.

Mr. Miller played tennis with Nike while I ran 3 miles with Henry

NYC Family. Enough said.

So, how will I be different? I was watching The Today Show and saw a series about giving things up for 30 days; whether it be technology, sweets, whatever is "weighing you down". I saw a mom featured who gave up negative talk (Read her story here). So, starting today, I will be following in her footsteps. I will give up negative talk about myself as a mom, my appearance, and (trivial) circumstances. I'm going to lighten the weight of my attitude. 

Via

If you have made it this far, congratulations! I wrote this post over the weekend, and took time to think about if I really wanted to publish it. I had really encouraging conversations with other moms who gave me a healthy dose of tough love, personal experiences and encouragement. I'm published it because there may be others having a tough day, week, month, or year in their weight loss journey (Whether postpartum or otherwise), and I wanted you to know that other people have those trying times too. I have not said anything negative in the past few days, and I already feel more accomplished, lighter, and relaxed. I'm shedding the weight of my attitude, and honestly, it feels good.

How about you? Have you ever gotten into an attitude rut? How do you escape falling into a negative pattern? TELL ME ABOUT IT!

Postpartum Workouts: 10 weeks

How is it the end of August?! Time has been flying by! This was a decent fitness week, getting VERY close  to full throttle fitness, aka 12 weeks! This week was definitely busy, filled with tons of social plans that slightly hampered my workout plans. Here's how it went: 

Weekly Workouts: 10 Weeks Postpartum

• Sunday: 4 circuits of my postpartum workout! I made it the full 4! Then took a two mile walk...to a brewery. At least we burned calories before and after?! 
• Monday: Two mile run around the neighborhood. Brought Lamby and baby (24 extra pounds!) It went a lot better, I'm getting the hang of this BOB Stroller + Running thing.
• Tuesday: 1000m swim. This was an AMAZING swim and I felt fantastic. I found that the later I get to the pool the less people are there, allowing me to swim without stopping...but dusk is coming earlier and that's when the pool closes!
• Wednesday: This was a semi rest day. I had a "sore day"; if you've had a c-section you know what I mean. I was randomly sore in my incision, like little stabs once in a while. I abstained from any serious workouts and visited some pretty great people in Manhattan for lunch (This entailed  about 2 miles of walking)

Can we please talk about the gun show? Seriously Henry, you make fitness look easy. Getting some love from Aunty S and Uncle N and Ashley!

• Thursday: Another rest day. Didn't want to overdo it. Also walked two miles to my running partner's initial going away party. WAHHHHHHH. 

This is typical us. Note: I'm totally pregnant drinking club soda and lime at a lounge. #momoftheyear

• Friday: 2 mile run at the park with the babe and the pup. It was not a happy run. Dare I say I "ran angry"? Lots of things going on in my head. More on that later.
• Saturday: Saturday morning family walk. We probably went a mile. We had ANOTHER going away party to go to in New Jersey, so this was technically an "off day". 

I kind of like cloudy days

Summary: Things could have gone better. Or could they have? Even though some parties won over workouts, I wouldn't trade the good times I had with good friends. In retrospect, workouts will always be available, but spending time with friends (Especially those leaving NYC sob heave sob) is priceless.

How was your week? Do you opt to relax socially instead of getting in a workout? Do you make sure to get in a workout no matter what? Any awesome end of summer plans? TELL ME ABOUT IT!

Coordinating Workouts as New Parents

It's been three weeks since I was cleared to work out. At first, my workouts were SHORT (15 minutes short). It was important to me to build up my workouts SAFELY. I didn't want to get injured right out of the gate (minus accidentally stubbing my toe...), so creating time wasn't as difficult. However, we knew that we needed to coordinate so neither one of us was left without a workout. It was a hard thing to wrap my mind around: I couldn't just lace up and walk out the door to run, I had to coordinate with my husband to ensure Henry was fed and he was ready to care for him while I exercised. It has made my workouts intentional. No longer am I taking my time to leave, finding things to distract me from getting out the door. When it's time to leave, I'm gone, and make the most out of my time! Here are some ways we have found time to fit in our workouts:

1. Assigned "baby free" workout days. We have separated days in the week as "Mr. & Mrs." days to ensure each of us gets two days to exercise responsibility (stroller) free. Will this always work? Probably not, especially with weather etc, but while Henry is young (And I'm building up jogging stroller stamina), we have our days that we can count on to be fitness focused.

Can't bring the baby to the pool! These are my baby free workouts. When the pool closes I'll most likely increase my (Stroller free) runs!

2. At home workouts. Neither one of us has a gym membership, so at home strength routines have become a staple in our house. Mr. Miller does T25 or NTC, while I am doing my own thing until 12 weeks when I will unleash the beast of lifting weights and annihilating my abs (cue laughter). I do my strength routine during the day while Henry naps on Mr. Miller's scheduled after work workout days.

Old picture 26 weeks pregnant. I'm a bit different, but Lamby is still in my grill during any and all home workouts, ready to play fetch or lick my face!

3. Workout together. We're trying to get the hang of the jogging stroller (Doctor approved it as long as we are mindful of Henry, which we always are). We actually used to workout together often, and it's something I definitely missed towards the end of my pregnancy when my options were walking, walking and walking. Oh, and squats! We had a great time at Summer Streets and look forward to more family runs in the future.

The good old days of Nike events. We always had so much fun! Circa September 2013

The first of many family runs!

4. Support each other. On days when the other doesn't feel like working out, we often encourage each other to make it happen. Being healthy and active is important to both of us. Although some days it's hard to get out there, especially after rough nights of sleep, knowing that I'm supported by Mr. Miller makes all the difference. 

My number one fan. Love this guy. Missing marathons. 

How about you? Do you have a schedule that you follow religiously? Do you check in with your significant other to coordinate? Do you workout despite a bad night's sleep? TELL ME ABOUT IT!

Postpartum Workouts: 9 Weeks

Oh what a difference a week makes. I'm finally getting past the "sore after every workout" phase. I'm slowly finding my rhythm with my workouts, building some strength, and enjoying the challenge of trying to a little bit harder. I'm still adhering to my key principles: Respecting my body, Building Strength, and Resting.

Weekly Workouts: 9 Weeks Postpartum

• Sunday: 2 mile run in Connecticut. I felt GREAT during this run despite it being CRAZY hot at 9am. Coming home to this jammy clad guy was the best!

The watch was merely for distance/time management, though I did average a slightly better pace than my first mile a week earlier!

• Monday: Strength Routine and a pool workout from Fitness Magazine. I was able to do the exercises and used a small tube float instead of a beach ball (Work what your momma gave you...it's all my mom's pool had!)
• Tuesday: Drove Henry and I back from CT, Mr. Miller had a baseball game that night, so we relaxed.
• Wednesday: Nothing. I was going to go for a run since I missed my chance Tuesday, but decided spending time with my guys (especially Mr. Miller, who I hadn't really seen in three days) was more important.
• Thursday: .65 for my first BOB stroller run! I was going to just run, then ran into a friend, then made new mom friends...it was a fun morning. Also: Stroller running is HARRRRRRRD. Building up slowly and safely. I also got a 700m swim in at night, closed down the pool. I love night swimming now! 

• Friday: 1 mile run with the BOB! I DID IT! It was hard. Henry was comfy cozy the whole time. I also did a new postpartum workout! FYI Dips were hard before the baby, and dips are hard after the baby! Challenge accepted.

He hates his feet under blankets...like his mommy!

I only did 3 circuits, I learned my lesson by overdoing it on my first postpartum workout! With the squats, I challenged myself by squatting in three levels (High medium low within one squat) before standing up again. OUCHIES. Pin it here

• Saturday: We went to Summer Streets! The Millers took Manhattan. We walk/ran 4 miles round trip (More like ran 1-1.5 miles and walked the rest!) It was so fun, we ran into many friends and enjoyed NYC at its finest.

Henry is all "That's just how I stroll..."

TWO HENRYS! The bffs finally met. These guys are three days apart and their mommies text all through the night because they're identical sleepers. 

Summary: It was a great week! I think I balanced spending time with my guys and taking care of me. It's feeling more and more natural to workout while Henry is napping. Note on my postpartum workouts: I am NOT a personal trainer. I have endless tools at my fingertips (Amazing Fitzala workouts, T25, Insanity, NTC App) but I'm following the no lifting rule until 12 weeks and slowly doing things to wake up my abs. These workouts are to ease me into strength training to pick things up in two weeks (EEK!)

How was your week? Did you check out summer streets? Can you believe it's the middle of August?! Any great grilling/summer recipes happening? TELL ME ABOUT IT!