30 day shred, day 3

OUCH!!  It's been a long time since I've been sore.

Level:  1

Weights: 4 lbs

Date: November 16, 2011 (Happy Birthday Eli!)

Time of exercise: 7:50pm 

Qty (each strength is done twice):

pushups: (girl)     10*, 9*

squat and press:  8*, 5*

dumbbell row:    15  , 15

static lung w/ 

bicep curl**:       26 , 25

chest Y's:            completed all (didn't count these because I knew I could finish them)

anterior raises w/

static lunge**:        15*, 5* 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't be doing the lunges

Notes:  First of all, working out last night at 9:30 was not a good idea.  I looked at the clock the last time at 12:19am.  So, of course, 6:20 came too early this morning.  I could also feel my chest being sore while lying in bed.  There will definitely be an early bed time tonight!

Picture a tube top with cap sleeves on it.  That is where I'm sore.  I barely made it past the warm up today!  Jillian says "If you feel like you are doing to die, follow Anita."  I followed Anita the whole session.  I think tomorrow I may do it without any weights to give my muscles a little rest.  I love feeling my abs sore though!  I'm kind of considering taking a before and after picture of my mid section to see if I can tell a difference.  I'm scared I'll be disappointed if I don't see any results though. 

Unfortunately, I could feel more pain in my knees, so I took out all the lunges.  I need to find a way to work my butt now.  Any suggestions?

Before shredding today, I had to get in a weekly run (I usually try for 3 times a week to run).  I ran 4 miles in 36:34, ate dinner, helped put the kids to bed, and then started the shred. 

Thank you all for following me!  I wouldn't have done this workout today if it wasn't for you! So THANK YOU!

30 day shred, day 2

Day 2:  A little sore in my pecs. Guess even  a few pushups count!  Decided to let my stomach rest after dinner by watching Glee and then shredding afterwards. When I told my husband about this, he says "That should be easy."  Easy never crossed my mind!

Let's get this official!  Here's my template for the next 30 days.

Level: (Jillian has three levels) 1

Date: November 15, 2011

Time of exercise: 9:30pm - this was way to late, cuz now I'm wide awake; started running at 9pm

(there's probably some way to put a table in here, but I can't find it real quick right now)

Qty (each strength is done twice):

pushups: (girl)     15*, 13*

squat and press:  15*, 10*

dumbbell row:    15  , 15

static lung w/ 

bicep curl:           26 , 25

chest Y's:            completed all (didn't count these because I knew I could finish them)

anterior raises w/

static lunge**:        15*, 10* 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I can't do the lunge.  This is the exercise that was the straw that broke the camels back, but in this case, the lunge that broke my knee and sent me to physical therapy for 6 weeks.

Notes:  All weights today were done with a 2 - 4 lb weights (one for each hand).  I know!  I'm a weakling!  I hadn't felt my abs at all today, but when I started doing the crunches, they felt a little sore.  Good for me!  Before doing the shred today, I walked 5 minutes, ran 15, and then walked 5 for a total of 2.2 miles.  Felt a little sore when doing the push ups and maybe that was the reason I let myself stop.

Background:  I'm a runner, and have always been a runner.  Occasionally I have done kickboxing or step aerobics, or some other hot-off-the-press aerobics fad (P90x), but have never stuck with it.  I've stuck with running (for most of the time anyways).  About 2 years after my third son was born, I had to go to physical therapy for my knee (see Notes above).  I took some time off of running, and my knee stopped crackling when I walked up and down the stairs.  As soon as I started up again, the crackling came back.  Now, within the last 2 months, my knee kind of pops when it's extended (think walking stairs, but not running because I must not fully extend my leg when I run).  This doesn't hurt at all when all of these noises are going on, but today I noticed a little bit of a very, very slight pain.  I didn't think much of it, but when I started doing the lunges again today, it made me wonder if that little, slight pain was from the lunges that I did yesterday.  When I was doing the lunges again today, I felt that slight pain again, so I may have to take lunges out of the mix all together.  I'd rather save my knees for the few years of running that I have left :(

Anything you want to do for 30 days?  Tell me about it and let's do it together!

30 day shred

Jillian Michaels promises "dramatic weight loss and body definition in only 30 days" with her 30 Day Shred DVD  (http://30dayshreddvd.com).  Jillian Michaels and I have a love/hate relationship.  Pretty much I hate her DVD.  I love that it is only 20 minutes.  I dusted off the DVD case yesterday and wondered if I could really do it 30 days in a row.
Her DVD consists of warm up, then 3-2-1 intervals (3 minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio, and 1 minute abs, repeated 3 times), finally cool down.

I decided why not give it a try and blog about it while I'm doing it!
I've got my weight measured, so let's see how "dramatic" this is.

Day 1:  Fit in 20 minutes while Bryson was napping.  Hud joined me for awhile.  It was actually fun.  I did 15 push ups (on my knees!) the first round and only 8 the next (pretended that Hudson needed help with something).

Conference #1

Since we had Carson's conference first, I'll dedicate this blog to the start of his 2nd grade year.  Next week, we'll see about Hudson!

Carson started off the school year a little resistant.  He had told me all year how he wanted Mrs. R for 2nd grade.  After talking with a few parents, I was told all 2nd grade teachers were wonderful this year, so I left it up to the school to decide.  His two best friends were in Mrs. R's class, as well as a ton of other names I recognized.  After reading him his class list, he quietly went and sat back in the car.  From that moment on (this was about 2 weeks before school started), he never talked about school (and for Carson not to talk, you know that's odd!).  We went and met his teacher, which ended up being kind of quick because she was talking with a talkative parent.
Why in the world was I worried?  After the first week, he had stories about all of the kids that he was playing with, and he was able to see his two BFFs at recess.
It got me thinking to his 1st grade year and how we had his teacher look up her recess schedule to see if theirs overlapped with his BFF from kindergarten who was in another class.  He ended up with different BFFs in his class at the end of the year and it couldn't have gone any smoother.
How could I forget what an easy going, play with everyone type of boy I am raising? And based on his conference a couple of days ago, his teacher couldn't agree more!

Here's C with his best class friend who, coincidentally, had the same costume!

Mrs. N said that Carson is always the first one done with his work, always keeps his desk clean (they take time out on Fridays to clean their desks, if they are clean, they get to go play), and has the highest points in the reading comprehension tests (the kids take tests after reading the books and you get .5 - 1 point for each book).  My conclusion?  Carson likes to play.  Why not learn the material so you can get done faster?  Why not keep your desk clean all of the time so you can play for the time that is allotted for others to clean their desk?  Why not read little kid books so you can get more points?  Oh. Wait.  He's a little sneaky too!  At the beginning of the year, he started reading kindergarten & first grade level books, which he could read a couple during library time and take the tests to get the points (it made me wonder why he had checked out a book that we already had at home).  The teacher caught on quickly enough and made him take a week off of the tests and is making him read grade level or higher books.  He now enjoys reading chapter books ("MOM!  The hamster was in the closet!") which is wonderful.

His kryptonite?  Music class.  Not so good of a review.  How do you not even get satisfactory in music class?  Ta ta tee tee ta.  The teacher even said that all you had to do was move your lips and pretend to sing.  So I've got to follow up with her.

I've very proud of my oldest son and the young man he is becoming.  I'd totally buy him a "Plays Well with Others" shirt and maybe a "Mom is so Proud of Me" shirt.  :)

Ten

Ten things you may not know about me (in no particular order):

1. I hate removing fingernail polish, so...
2. ...my toes are almost always painted.  My pedicures last MONTHS!
3. I wholeheartedly enjoy having only boys.  I can't even figure out how to do my own hair most days.
4. I sleep with my comforter over my head.  I sometimes only have a small spot opening for my mouth/nose to breath.
5. I am SO jealous of the average height women who can go to almost any department store and buy a fabulous outfit.  Even corporations that have tall sizes, don't have them in the store!  Apparently they think tall women are hermits and not allowed out of their houses.
6. My favorite color used to be blue.  But now that my house is overflowing with blue (and testosterone), it has switched to purple.  In the past, I never liked to wear purple, only admired it, but now I even have some purple shirts.
7. (this may not surprise you) I grew up as a tomboy: riding motorcycles, sprees, lawn mowers, go carts, building forts in the woods, flinging kids off the back of snowmobiles, washing cars, doing oil changes, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  The first time I went to an oil change place was when I started my job at Consumers and bought my Grand Prix GTP (yes, I paid extra for the bigger horsepower!).
8. I LOVE dancing!!
9. I despise gardening.
10. I don't have Facebook on my phone. 

Basford Lake and other summer fun

Mike and I realize that our children are small and don't want to be running from one attraction to another, so, each year, we like to take a week on a lake and just relax.  This summer we took the family to Basford Lake, a non-motorized lake in Baldwin.  Across the road was Big Star Lake, which is a motorized lake, so we had the best of both worlds.
We spent the week going on bike rides, eating ice cream, fishing, sea dooing, rowing, paddle boating...

Not a dock that I would want to walk out onto!  

Lots of hooks flying.

The kids had a blast.  Carson wanted to stay there forever, until I reminded him that he would still need to go to school, we would still need to work, etc.  Then he was ok with leaving at the end of the trip.  The hardest part of the week for me was no cell service!  I managed  tho :)

Let's see.  What else have we done this summer.

Most recently I brought the boys to the Coast Guard Festival in Grand Haven.  It was my sister's birthday and she likes to do this each year.  This year we didn't last long.  After the picture above was taken and after we ate our corn dogs, it started POURING!  Mom, dad, and Rachelle decided to stay and check out the sale goods, while I booked it back to the car with the kids.
Later that week, we spent the day with Rachelle at a waterpark in Madison Heights. It was cloudy and sprinkle filled day, but the kids didn't notice (Rachelle and I were freezing at times).

We went to the Jackson Hot Air Jubilee, caught fireflies, and had sack races.  It has been a very eventful summer!!  While I'm sad that the dog days of summer have ended, I'm excited for the start of the school year and the kids meeting their teachers.  I'm excited for the new opportunities!

Chi town, here we come!

I have a few friends in Chicago, but this visit was dedicated to seeing Jessica!  Jessica was my favorite college roommate.  We roomed (with 4 other girls!) for 2 years together.  We did all sorts of fun stuff, including dancing to music in front of our apartment to celebrate the end of school, hysterically baking a cake for another roommate, and making tacos once a week.  About a year and a half ago, she moved to Chicago (used to live on East side of Michigan so it was a lot easier to get together), and I was over due for a visit.  Carson had never been on a train before, so I decided to take him with me on the Amtrak. Theoretically it sounded good.

Jessica and I at Navy Pier (great picture taken by Carson)

Carson doesn't need a car seat any more; doesn't throw fits (much) when he's tired or hungry; and is a great listener.  Exactly what I needed for a traveling companion.  We left Friday afternoon, thinking we were going to arrive in Chicago around 4pm.  For some reasons or another, we ended up in Chicago at 6:15 (Chicago time).  It was a LONG train ride.  We were stopped multiple times and there are apparently new speed restrictions on part of the track.  We then boarded the Metra train (Carson was adamant about sitting on top of this double decker train, so a lot of passengers got their legs hit by our luggage) and ended up in our finally destination at 7:30.

My traveling buddy Carson

We spent Saturday site seeing Chicago (Millennium Park, Lego store, Hershey store, Cheesecake factory, Navy Pier, McDonalds!) and getting plenty of exercise (so, of course, we had to counteract the exercise with ice cream and cheesecake).  Jessica and Brian were great tour guides.  James, their toddler, had plenty of play time with Carson.
I'm definitely not going to let another year and a half go by before I see Jessica again.  This weekend reminded me again about what a great friend she is and how fun she is to be around.