I Went a Walkin....

As you all know, I participated in the Winners Walk of Hope this past sunday. I'll start this post with the positives...

I did it! I raised more than my fundraising goal of $500, and I walked 6km...

IN 45 MINUTES!

I had set a goal of 5km in 48minutes as per what the monitor on the treadmill tells me at the gym, and was so happy to have squashed that time....with an additional km, and two bathroom breaks!

Now to the negative...

The event was most definitely the worst organized event that I've ever participated in. Here's the rundown of the inefficiencies...

- Registration was to begin at 9:00am, the walk at 10:00am. I showed up at about 9:20am to register, at a table with no signage, no organization and was given no information as to how the event was going to work (starting line, finish line, route markers etc.)

- Tshirts for the mini-walks were in limited supply, so if you wanted one (which I did...) you had to come early. There was no mention of tshirts at registration, and while I was walking I noticed a plethora of dogs and small children (like I'm talking under the age of 5) with adult Winners Walk of Hope tshirts on...

- By about 9:30am, I was wondering what the heck was going on and wandered over to the registration table to ask. Apparently...people were already out on the course, and were almost finished! You're supposed to register and just start walking..."Go left and then left at the balloons, and then right at the Pool..." Uhm...thanks?

- There were no balloons! There were no route markers, no defined start and finish line with a banner, no volunteers out of the course...no nothing!

- At around 9:35, I received a bbm from C saying that a cheque presentation had just occurred...$4, 000 was raised in total online. I raised about $600 of that, and certainly would have liked to have seen the cheque presentation

- While I was out on the course, I noticed teams that were walking for someone that they lost, walking with a survivor and others like me, who were just walking for the cause as a whole. My heart fell heavy when I saw the teams...knowing that they missed the cheque presentation, and that they received no recognition for their own personal reasons for being there. A moment of silence before everyone went out walking would have been nice...

- After the first loop, I met up with C and Owen, who came out for the second loop. It was a disheartening sight when I came back in...the volunteers had cleared up the registration table...and were leaving! There were still two teams out on the course, and about 20 individual walkers who'd yet to finish, and some who had just started!

Needless to say, it was incredibly poorly run. I felt horrible for those who were walking for someone they lost, or with a survivor who beat this disease.

Given how poorly it was run, I'm hesitant to do the walk next year...which really sucks considering the amazing cause that I was walking for, and I'm be shocked if I wasn't the only one who was reconsidering their involvement. And you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be making my disappointment known...I don't want the cause to suffer in the future because of poor organization!

Owen waiting for Mommy to finish her walk

Finishing the first loop...then we went out as a family

Happy Anniversary!

Today is going to be a picture post of sorts...celebrating 2 years of marriage, and 6 total years with the (first) love of my life, C.

Happy Anniversary babe!

Dating - in NYC, September 2007

Engaged - October 2007

Married - September 13, 2008

Expecting - September 2009-June2010

Parents - June 16, 2010 (photo taken when Owen was 3weeks old)

September 2009 vs. September 2010

Sarah's comment got me thinking...and looking for pre-pregnancy pictures to see what exactly the changes have been.

This time last year, C and I were in New York for a little...pre-babymoon. A chance to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, relax in the whole stressful babymaking process, and really to spend time together before what we knew was going to be the craziest time of our lives.

Wow. I knew that I've changed, but it really hit me this morning just how much. Here are a few of our New York pictures, and then a few pictures from after Owen was born (and yesterday)

After picking out my birthday present!

By the lake in Cooperstown

After breakfast at H&H Bagels


Anniversary dinner at Del Frisco's (this is the picture that really hit me)

7 days post-delivery

2 months post-delivery

3 months post-delivery

Holy moly...it's even more emotional and overwhelming to see the difference right there in front of me!

Progress Report!

Today I was going to blog this ridiculously cute video that I took yesterday morning while Owen and I were playing peek-a-boo, but...it seems that something wonky is going on with my camera's memory card. I'll hopefully get that fixed and show off my Monster soon :)

In other news, I had training session #3 last night...and did it ALL! I was incredibly proud of myself because Todd doesn't really like the word "no"...therefore I just keep saying "yes!" when he asks if I can do it, or have anymore in me.

Our routine last night:

5 minute treadmill warmup, 15incline, 3 speed (4.6 yesterday almost made me fall off!)

4 sets of:

- 10 squats with 12.5lbs weights in each hand
- 10 burpies
- 2 minutes on the rowing machine, keeping the speed above 30

20 minutes on the treadmill for cardio at the end

First and foremost, let me just say that burpies are the single hardest exercise I've ever done in my life. The up and down really messes with your balance and blood pressure, and it took me a while to get through them (my resting bp is 90/50 and I have vasovagal syncope...so Todd and I had to have a little chat last night...)

Secondly...I almost burst out in tears last night from sheer exhaustion. I know that this routine and going to the trainer is worth it...but damn am I tired!

However, at the end of it all he rewarded me with a high-five (about the 6th one for the day...he's all about the high-five) and...a weigh in!

Lbs lost: 7
Inches gone: 10.5

Who knew I would actually be excited for a weigh in!? That means I have lost 7lbs in one week. ONE! Craziness! And I was kind of shocked when he did the measurements. I've lost 3" on both my abdomen and waist (individually, not combined!), 2.5" from my hips/booty, .5" from each thigh, and .5" from each bicep...all the while building lean muscle.

Today, I've walked 10km and am not in near as much pain as I was last week at this time. Well...until I went to bend to pick something up. Oi! I pulled something back by my booty and hamstring...it does not feel good.

Me...12wks post-delivery

The Belly Crawl

For the past few weeks, Owen has been making some great strides...well, squirms...with his motor skills. He's getting ridiculously strong, and within a week of his first roll-over, he was trying to scoot his way across his playmat to get to Mom or Dad on the other side.

Last night was amazing. We were over at Nana and Papi's for dinner, and after we were all done, I put Owen on the floor on a blanket (about the size of a crib quilt), on his tummy. Really, I was hoping that he would just roll over and show up his amazing head-holding-up skills.

What happened was really amazing. He started about 3/4 of the way down the blanket, and would pull his knees up under his chest, inch forward, lie on his belly then look up at me. His arms sort of stayed where they were under his chest, but he'd work them out and slide them forward ever so slightly then move his knees up under his chest again. He was belly crawling his way over to me!

I really wish I had the video camera there to catch it. He started trying to crawl and pulling his knees up under his chest last week, and we sort of resigned ourselves to the fact that we have an early developer on our hands...but I really didn't anticipate that it meant within a week he would be figuring out how to crawl. We were placing bets on if he'd be full out crawling by Halloween, and I think it's safe to say...YES!

Training Session #2 and Baby Development #1

Last night marked training session #2 with Todd, and I went in with a little hesitation. I totally bailed on him last thursday when I couldn't even lift Owen to feed him (thank goodness Nan is only 3 minutes away and took care of Owen for me for the afternoon so I could soak my weary body and rest for a while)...and I definitely thought he was going to kick my booty for bailing on him.

Well...he did, but it felt awesome! Our routine last night consisted of:

- 5 minute warm up on the treadmill, 15 incline, 4.6 speed

4 sets of:
- 20 squats/stepups (squat, stepup onto a 2.5ft bench, step down, repeat)
- 10 pushups
- 20 lunges

rest for 2 minutes

4 sets of:
- 10 pullups (like a reverse pushup)
- 10 chinups
- 2, 30sec. planks

End with 20 minutes of cardio on the treadmill, 9 incline 4.6 speed until my legs felt like jello and I went down to 3 speed and 4 incline so I didn't fall on the floor.

Yes, he kicked my booty and that is the exact spot in my body that I'm feeling the burn today.

But it's good! I took preventative measures last night - epsom salt soak for about 30minutes or so, RubA535 on my quads, traps and butt, and 2 advil. It definitely helped as I can move and lift Owen today with no problem...even though my legs are a little bit stiff.

We had our first visit today with Sue, the home care visitor who travels around our city to show new parents how to stimulate their kiddos and understand brain development at the different stages of the first 6 months of their lives. She'll bring DVD's with her for Owen, we'll get on the floor and play with his toys and figure out what works best for him in terms of stimulation and brain development. She said that it looks like we've got all the right toys and gear, and that she'll also focus on keeping our house safe (cords, outlets etc.) for when he starts really moving and shaking.

It was kind of nice, and she'll be coming once a week on fridays at 9:30am for the next 8 weeks. Then, she and Gaetane (my health nurse/lactation consultant) will be coming for the 9th week to debrief and get my feedback about the program.

Oh! and he was weighed today!! Chunker, I think not!

13lbs13oz

Lean, mean, pooping machine!

My Kid is NOT a "Chunker"

Time for a little rant and rave.

Last week, Owen and I met C, Nana and Papi out at the Club after their round of golf for a little dinner. As always, there seemed to be a never ending flow of well wishers and baby watchers coming our way, most of whom were awesome and fell in love with our little Monster pretty immediately.

Well...then there was a lady, we'll call her Mrs. Too-Outspoken for our purposes (plus I don't even know her name), who came over all excited to see the new Szem. I kid you not, her words were...

Oh my! He's a real chunker!

Excuse me? Did you just call my kiddo fat?! He's 2 1/2 months old, about 26"-30" at this point, and probably about 15lbs. He's a big kid, but by no means is he a chunker.

Everyone at our table chuckled and made it seem like no big deal. I tried very hard to bite my tongue, but I'm getting really tired of everyone saying how big he is, insinuating that he's fat.

She didn't stop there, though. Somehow the topic of sleeping through the night came up, and we said that he's not quite there yet, he usually wakes up at about 3am. We did not in any way insinuate that he wakes up for a bottle.

That's because he's a chunker and he's used to his food!

Okay...enough lady.

a) my kid is NOT a chunker, and I said as much when she was going back to her own table
b) he wakes up out of habit, not to be fed necessarily as he only drinks 3oz. at most in the middle of the night
c) you're a jerk