Project 10: I Got Way Off Track

I fell off the weight-loss wagon. In fact, I'm so far off it that I can't even see the wagon anymore. Sigh.

I went camping and had every intention of eating well and tracking my food. That ended the second I spotted the cookies. And the chips. And the s'mores. And the dough-boys. And the ice-cream. But I walked a lot and figured that might help. Until I got home after 3 days and saw the scale had jumped by 1.5lbs.

I decided not to fret. I was off to NYC, and figured I'd be too busy to over-eat and would be doing a lot of walking.

Well, I got to NYC. There was definitely a lot of walking. And I did not eat nearly enough food. But what I did eat? Was all carbs and sugar and alcohol. I was always starving and all the booths had cake-pops. What a quick and easy thing to eat while I was dashing here and there. And of course every party, every gathering, every meal had alcohol of some sort. Needless to say, I did not track my food intake. I also felt bloated and icky from the food & beverage choices I made.

Then I came home. I'm back to tracking my food, but i'm eating everything in sight. My brother-in-law and his girlfriend are staying with us for a few days, and they brought all sorts of goodies. Which of course I can't stay away from. It's pathetic. I need to figure out a way to get back on track. To not eat everything in sight, to not over-indulge.

I know this post is complain-y. And I also know it's my own fault and only I have the power to make the change.

I do have a plan, which is to start over tomorrow. (I could start today, but since I've already eaten so much i'm just saying forget it. Which I know is not a good thing. But it's the way it is right now.)

Starting tomorrow I will track everything that I eat, using My Fitness Pal. I will make the same healthy choices and normal sized portion choices that I did a week and a half ago. I will fit some form of exercise into each day. I will not weigh myself until next Tuesday, which is when I do my Project 10 weigh-ins. (I know if I see higher numbers I will get bummed out and say forget it and over-indulge all over again.)

My goal is to be at the same weight I was before I left to go camping. That may or may not be realistic, since I have no idea what my weight is right now. But it's my goal, and with that in mind I will do my best to get healthy again!

*As always, feel free to link up your health or fitness posts. And check out all the other awesome bloggers who are participating in Project 10 with me!

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The Call Of (Motherhood) Duty

I've learned that being a Mom is all about expecting the unexpected. If you keep that in the back of your mind, you can learn to merely laugh when parenthood throws a wrench in your carefully laid plans. (And really, the only other option you have is to curl up in a ball and cry. Which doesn't really help the problem.)

The kids and I are off on a camping trip tomorrow. We're meeting my parents at a campsite about half an hour from our house. We'll be there until Wednesday afternoon. I'm leaving at 9am on Thursday to go to NYC for BlogHer12. I had everything carefully planned out. Lists written, schedules for packing, errands I needed to squeeze in. We were even going to my cousin's graduation party today, an hour away. I knew that if I could accomplish everything on my list this morning and tomorrow morning it would all get done and I wouldn't have to worry about it. Both trips would be executed without a hitch.

Then last night Stephanie seemed stuffy. When we put her to bed we noticed she was having a lot of trouble breathing out of her nose. When I went to bed at 11:30, she had already cried out for me a few times. At 1:30 I heard her again. I went in and laid with her. She was very restless, and seemed warm. I took her temp. 100.2. Gave her some motrin, laid with her for a while longer, and left her room around 3. At 4:30 I heard her again, and ended up spending the rest of the night holding her as she tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable.

At 8:30 in the morning, as she was standing in the middle of the living room, she threw up her entire cup of juice. (Sorry if you have a weak stomach. This is parenthood for you...uncensored!)

 For the briefest of minutes, as I stood staring at her standing in the middle of her own puke, sobbing her heart out, thoughts of my to-do list and our plans for the day flitted through my head. Then the thoughts left, as quickly as they came.

I sprang into action, scooping up my sick child and putting her in a warm bath. I called the host of the party we were attending to explain why we wouldn't be there. I spent the rest of the day alternating between giving her lots of TLC and crossing items off my to-do list. (Thanks goodness it was a Saturday that Dan didn't have to work.) Everything got done, but most importantly I was able to give my little one the attention she deserved during her time of need.

Motherhood is a balancing act. It requires the flexibilty to alter your plans at a moments notice in order to tend to the needs of your child. It isn't always easy, and it can be extremely challenging to let go of all the other stuff that you need and want to do.

But in the end, these trips will come and go. All the hard work and planning will soon be forgotten. But years from now, as Stephanie cares for her own sick child, she will (hopefully) remember how her mother reacted when she was sick. How it seemed like nothing else in the world mattered except her needs. How she spent the day in cozy clothes, and rocking in the glider, and eating "sick" foods like saltines and chicken soup. How her mother dropped her endless lists the second she said, in her sad, plaintive voice "Mommy, I need you." I know these things are what I remember from my own childhood.

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Project 10: Upcoming Vacations

I'm still on a losing streak, down another pound! I've also finally figured out how to stay within my calorie range on My Fitness Pal. For one thing, I've been eating healthier food. Also, I've trained my body to not eat all day long. I used to eat constantly. Not because I was hungry, but because I wanted to. Now I snack when i'm hungry, and I eat one reasonable snack at a time. I also eat meals until I'm full, and then stop. It's been a big challenge, but I haven't binged on food in a long time. My water consumption is up, but not quite where I want it to be. This will be another week of working on that goal!

I'm very happy with the progress I've made, but I'm getting nervous about the fact that I have two vacations coming up. This weekend I'm taking the kids camping with my parents. There will be a lot of food. Snacks, homemade (elaborate) breakfasts, smores, ice-cream, etc. My hope is to continue tracking, so that I'm aware of what i'm eating. But i'm not going to deprive myself. I go camping once a year, so I'm going to eat what I want, in moderation.

Then as soon as I come home i'm heading to NYC for BlogHer12. I have no idea what the food is going to be like there, and to be honest I have no intention of tracking what I eat. I'm there to learn, network and have fun, so I don't want to stress out about what i'm eating. I'm just hoping that I'll be so busy I won't have time to pig out, and that there will be a lot of walking for exercise.

I'd love for you to share some of your tips on how to stay healthy on vacation! Because although I refuse to stress out about my food intake while I'm away, I don't want to come home 5 pounds heavier. I've worked hard losing these 6! :)

As always, thanks to Stephanie from Stephanie's Mommy Brain for putting this project together. And feel free to link up your own health/fitness post! I love to read them all. Gives me extra motivation. ;) 3 hours ago · Like

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Story Land Adventure!

Our trip to Story Land in New Hampshire last week was our very first vacation as a family of four. (We have traveled to visit family, but since that is typically for an occasion, we don't really consider it a vacation.) We weren't sure how the kids would do, so we decided to keep it short, only staying 2 nights. The whole trip turned out to be a huge success, and we can't wait to take more trips like it with our little family!

The drive up took us about 5 hours, including a 30 minute stop for lunch. (I brought bread, peanut butter, fruit, snacks and water bottles so we wouldn't have to buy food on the road.) Stephanie chatted with us, sang songs, and looked out the window for most of the trip. When she started to get antsy we pulled out the bag of fun that I had prepared ahead of time. (It contained books, Crayola Color Wonder coloring books,  and some leap frog electronic toys.) This kept her entertained until we reached Story Land. (Joseph slept for most of the ride.)

Our Lunch Break

One of the best parts about Story Land is that if you arrive and purchase tickets within the last 3 hours of the day, you can use the same tickets for a full-day pass any other day of the season. So for the price of 1 ticket, we got almost a day and a half of park time.

When you enter Story Land, you're entering a story book world. There are plenty of rides, but you can also visit Cinderella's Castle, Mother Goose's house, the home of the 3 little bears, and much more.

Entering a Story Book World

Both children were in awe of the park, and had a blast that first afternoon. All of the rides are child-friendly, and some are even infant-friendly. Stephanie got to visit with Cinderella at her castle, ride on the polar coaster and flying shoes, and play a giant piano. We took a family ride on a big swan boat, where we saw "butterfly island." 

Stephanie & I on the Polar Coaster

Dan & Stephanie riding on the Dutch Shoe ride

We made it through about half of the park before it closed for the day and we headed to our hotel to check-in. We stayed at the North Conway Grand Hotel which is loaded with family friendly amenities. There are life-size animals in the lobby (including this moose that Joseph befriended), an indoor pool, heated outdoor pool, kids pool (which wasn't open for the season yet while we were there) and a huge playground. It's situated right in an outlet center, which is great if you need to do some shopping while you're on vacation too.

We ate in the hotel restaurant, and then headed up to our room. Joseph fell asleep right away, and slept the entire night. Stephanie watched some Baby Einstein in the King size bed, and fell asleep when we turned off the TV. (I slept with her while poor Dan was banished to the couch.)

Here they are in front of the ride that Stephanie detested!

The next day we returned to Story Land for another day of fun. Stephanie continued to enjoy every ride except for the water ride that Dan took her on. As soon as she got hit in the face with water, she started screaming and continued to do so through-out the entire ride. She loved everything else though, even the Turtle Tilt-a-Whirl that made Dan feel sick. (Somehow I lucked out and didn't wind up on any of those drama-filled rides!)





We left before closing that day, since we felt we had seen and done everything that we wanted to. We stopped off at a scenic viewing station on our way back to the hotel, and took in the breathtaking views of the gorgeous White Mountains.

When we arrived at the hotel we made use of the pools. Both kids love the water and had so much fun swimming.

Once we showered off the chlorine we headed to one of the outlet restaurants for an Italian dinner. We capped off the night with a quick stop at the hotel playground. Both children slept just as well that night as they did the night before. I joked to Dan that we should just stay there forever, since they never sleep that well at home!

On our final morning we went to a local diner for breakfast, and hit the road to head home. We made a quick stop to visit some friends who live in New Hampshire whom we hadn't seen in almost 2 years. When we left them we got stuck in some traffic, but both kids did amazingly well. (It was only during the last hour of the trip that we had to resort to letting Stephanie watch TV on my phone because she was getting truly antsy.)

All in all, it was a fabulous trip, and we loved seeing how excited the kids were to experience their first vacation.

*I was not compensated in any way to write this review of Story Land or the North Conway Grand Hotel. However, I do highly recommend both of them if you're looking for a New England trip to take with young children.

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