12 Days of Fitmas day 6: Healthy Families

Healthy Mom = Healthy Families

My life motto

My Saturday / Sunday routines

The weekend is for family.

It doesn't always go as planned, but we always try to get in one workout and go on an adventure. When I say "we", I mean me and my four year old son. Instead of watching cartoons, he loves to workout with me in the morning. Instead of asking him to leave me alone, we I let him lead the workout. It usually looks something like this. 

Depending on weather, and our schedule, we ALWAYS go on an adventure on the weekend. Sometimes it's saturday, sometimes SUnday, but it always gets done. This is usually just a hike in the woods, but the moments we have together in the woods are truly amazing. Why do I like hiking in the forest so much? This is why I benefit from it, but read on below to find out how it benefits the whole family. 

Why encouraging your kids to be active with you is important

Our kids watch everything we do. They learn from everything we do. Why wouldn't you want them to see you having a healthy relationship with exercise, your body, and nutrition. These observances are what form the foundation for becoming healthy adults. 

Active Kids 

All moms want the best for their children. This, of course, applies to health too. Families can be active together anywhere; indoors or out. I prefer outdoors, but we've made memories indoors too. Being active together only enhances and strengthens our family bonds. 

Some ideas for being an active family indoors: inflatable house, trampoline park, indoor swimming, indoor playground, and more. The key to these activities though is THAT YOU DO THEM AS WELL. GET UP, GET MOVING, AND HAVE FUN.

One of my biggest pet peeves is the mom at the park who tells me she wished she had a body like mine after having kids, then sits at the park while her kid plays and sits on her phone. I'm not saying I NEVER do this, but a playground is really just workout equipment designed to look like fun. Here's a link to a blog post I wrote about getting a full body workout whilt at the park. Get kiddy with it

Why do I love taking my son on hikes?

Besides the great workout I get when we walk three miles together, it is truly magical to see him explore.  This photo below pretty much sums up what I see when I watch him go off the trail and climb a tree or whatever. I see it all, everyday. There is nothing more magical than that. 

Raising healthy eaters

This is the hard part. I'm not always successful, but I've got a few tricks up my sleeve that I think are my secret weapons.

1. Hiding veggies in EVERYTHING! 

1. Spinach hidden in smoothies. J thinks it's his special "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shake" cause it's green. I told him it probably will turn him into a ninja
2. Hidden veggie noodles. Enough said. Barilla has two good kinds. 
3. This is my favorite trick. I call it the Cauliflower Cheese Switcheroo. I have an old parmeseasn cheese shaker I save. Once a week, I steam cualiflower then run it through the food processor, and put it in the shaker. My son thinks it's his special cheese. He adds it to everything. He has no idea. 

2. Family Dinner

These are so important. You can call me old fashioned, but I don't care. Having a time when we all prepare a meal, then sit down to eat and talk together was huge for me growing up and I love that I can do that for my son. It doesn't happen every night, and he doesn't always like what we have, but we all sit and talk about our day. I believe that this encourages even healthier habits in our children.

 

The day mommy got a time out

J and I had a wonderful weekend. We drove down to Missouri on Friday to visit family / see his dad. Despite J puking twice on the way down, all over his carseat and himself, then again while we were sleeping, it was a marvelous trip. He was happy and up beat all of Friday, even with the puking. The only negative was at the very end when I accidently squished his toe in the car door. It wasn't bad. It was red for ten minutes. 

We spent Saturday with my family, went to the park and had lunch with my cousin and his two toddlers, J was even a good boy at a Church service remembering my grandparents Saturday afternoon. After Church, we drove the back roads to his father's work. He works in a farm supply/hardware store. We were early so we walked around a bit. Dealing with his dad was even a nice encounter. I headed back to my grandparent's house, took myself out to dinner, watched a sunset, and listened to audiobooks I had downloaded. It was a beautiful Saturday. 

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day in Southeast Missouri. Sun shining, a few random clouds, seventy degrees. I woke up early, worked out, went for a walk to Main St. in their small town, then went to a Church lunch my aunt was working at. After the lunch, my aunt and I went shopping. She has two sons, a husband, and two grandsons, so she needs girl time every once in a while. We got back from shopping, I packed up my stuff, went through some of my grandparent's stuff that was boxed up. I picked out some books I wanted to keep, and learned my grandparents were apparently VERY into bird watching, who knew?! hahaha I went to sleep early. It was another beautiful day. 

Monday started great. I woke up early and met J and his dad back at his work. I was early, J seemed happy, his dad was decent, "This is going to be a nice 7 hour drive home," I thought to myself. After about a half hour of driving, J fell asleep for about 45 minutes. Again, I thought this is going to be one of our best trips back ever. 

For the next six hours, we had the same conversation 12 times an hour, for six hours.

J: Mommy?

Me: Yes?

J: Are we home yet?

Me: No

J: -crying hysterically, out of nowhere- OMG WE'RE LOST! WE'RE NEVER GOING TO GET HOME!

Me: I promise you we are not lost

J: Mommy?

Me: Yes?

J: Can I watch on your phone?

Me: No. It's not working

J: -crying hysterically- OMG MY TOE HURTS! YOU SMASHED IN THE DOOR! YOU ARE THE WORST MOMMY! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!

In between these discussions, he'd throw shit at me or kick my seat, and he'd get a time out. We've been doing 1-2-3-Magic program for discipline, and it's been going great. How the hell are you supposed to give a 4 year old a time out while you're driving down the highway? Seriously, I'm open for ideas. I ended up pulling over every time, taking whatever toys he had found, turning off music, and ignore him for four minutes. 

While ignoring him for four minutes helped, by the time we got home I was spent. I don't remember what I had done to piss him off at that point, but in our first 20 minutes home, he spent 15 in timeout. I did something else, Lord knows what, and he told me, "You're a mean mommy. You're not listening. You need a timeout!" I. WAS. LIVID. 

To keep both of us safe, I said ok. I turned on the alarm and went in my room for 28 minutes. I told him he couldn't talk to me while I was up there. IT WAS AMAZING!

I think every toddler mom should make a regular "mommy time out" part of their routine. The kids will survive, you will keep your sanity, it's really a win-win. After my nap, he said sorry for not listening, I said sorry for yelling, and we watched a movie together. 

A leap of faith

When the consequences of taking a leap of faith, and failing, are diminished by the consequences of not taking the leap, your minds already made up. TAKE THAT LEAP. 

I met my son's father while we were both in college in Missouri. I'm from Chicago. I left him when my son was a year old. My parents, "stayed together for the kids," and I respect them so much for that. At the same time though, their unhappiness has caused emotional issues for me, and my siblings, into adulthood. I never wanted my son to deal with that. The house is full of love 75% of the time, but there are moments. A year after I left, I graduated and I had a lease ending, plus no job lined up, so we moved in with my parents back in chicago. That was my only choice. 

Three years later, and we're still living with them. I was offered the opportunity to return to my alma mater to study for my master's degree. I keep telling everyone that's the plan. "Moving back to Missouri. Going to grad school." I haven't submitted the paperwork though. I was terrified, until today. 

What if I fail and have to move back to Chicago? What will that do to my son? Will he hate me forever? Will he be emotionally scarred cause of my failure? Can I even do this without my parents? 

I noticed something today though while my mom was yelling at my dad cause he put coffee in her cup before the creamer, which is ~obviously~ incorrect. I noticed my son's whole body language change. He had woken up happy, full of energy. As this went down he kind of curled up in his seat; head down, shoulders in, eyes on the table. I knew right then and there that we were moving. At that moment, my failure didnt mean shit if it stopped his emotional wreckage from happening. 

Some things still amaze me about becoming a parent, and how quickly my feeling change based on his well being, will always be one of them. I saw his reaction and knew that I wasn't going to fail because of him. All of my selfish fears disappeared cause he needed this opportunity just as much as i did. If, by some weird fluke, I totally bomb, at least he'll know mommy tried. I'm not saying that I won't hit a bump or two, or that I won't emotionally damage him in other ways, but at least they'll be my own, different ways. Hahahaha

So, my message today is that I wish you inner peace with your decisions. Don't stress yourself too much about making the right decision. If you work hard, and make the most of every speed bump you hit, you'll be just fine.  

Why my neighbors love Winter

With Fall officially upon us, I thought I would write an open letter to all my neighbors, but especially, the young family who just moved in to one of the houses that backs up to my backyard. This is an apology in advance for them because they won't experience my "mommy-rath" until next Summer. I would like to apologize for all the shit you hear me yell at my son and my dog. I know you can't see me through the bushes, but know that I am cringing at the ridiculous sentences I say.


Ok, a little backstory here. I live with my parents and we have a pretty sweet backyard. It's not huge, but we have a pool, a swing set, a sandbox, a little pool, a big dog, a small dog, a garden, and my four year old son. Our beautiful landscaping has grown so big that our backyard is like an escape. You can almost forget you even have neighbors. These bushes help me believe I'm hiding my crazy, but I'm clearly not. Here's pictures of the backyard:

And here's how it would look from the air. My yard is the polaroid with the "social problems" sticker. All the other ones are backyards that are affected by this. The new family just moved into the house with the star. Although, they have what appears to be a young son, so this could just be a warning of what's to come. All the other affected neighbors have been there for years, or have kids around J's age, so they don't mind and have told us they love the random comments they hear through the fence.
*I know it's not the best collage, but I had to work with what I got. *

So, that's the yard, these are the characters responsible for my crazy:

Lucy & Thor

Top ten phrases I have actually said that make my neighbors love Winter

During the Winter, we're all rarely in our backyards at the same time, but on a beautiful summer day, you can expect to hear one of the following come from my backyard. 

1. Where did your clothes go? / Why are you naked? / Can you at least put underwear on?

2. Don't pee in/on/off of that

3. Stop throwing your toys in the big pool

4. Stop throwing sand in the little pool

5. Lucy, don't eat Thor's poo

6. Lucy, don't eat Thor

7.Be careful. Going down that slide naked is going to hurt. 

8. No. I'm not kissing your butt cause the slide was hot. I told you put clothes back on 5 minutes ago.

9. Don't go near that pool. I told you we can't go swimming till your have clothes on. We don't swim naked. / Don't sit in the sandbox naked

10. Where the hell did you find that paint?! No don't paint that, or that, or the dogs. get back here!