New Year's Resolutions

I'm not a fan of New Year's Resolutions because why start tomorrow what you can start today? Sometimes, though, it can be a good starting point and when you set a date it becomes more of a commitment, which is motivating (for me). Something I had started to do in December was get in shape. During my 14+ weeks of pregnancy, I gained about a pound, which is normal. A pound doesn't seem like a lot but my stomach had been expanding, muscles loosening and all that, to make room for the baby. I didn't have a super flat stomach before I got pregnant but I wasn't embarrassed to wear a tight fitting shirt. Since we lost the baby I gained an additional 3-4 pounds from eating lots of comfort food and being very inactive. My weight isn't unhealthy (at 124 pounds) but it's the most I've weighed and I'm the least toned I've ever been. After I eat or when I'm bloated I look like I'm 3 and a half months pregnant again. It's so embarrassing to me that I went out and bought a few looser fitting shirts. Then I decided to try and take charge and get my body back as best I can. I started with Wii Fit, which can actually be quite challenging and tiring! I figured if anything I would use it as a stepping stone to something harder where I would be able to tone more and burn more calories.

As of last week I started Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred after reading about it on someone else's blog. It's insane! I felt like I was going to die after the first workout and I couldn't even do all the exercises for the full time (like pushups...ugh). I have done 5 days of it so far and I've lost a pound. Not much, but I've noticed my body is starting to tone up, even my abs a little bit, and my endurance has gone up quite a bit from day one. It's only 20 minutes a day so I can do it after I get home from work and then I'm done for the day! I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to lose weight and tone up but is short on time. Andrew and I have also started to eat much healthier and lower the calorie intake. I would ideally like to get back to 120 pounds and really tone up my abs before I get pregnant again.

That may conflict a little with my second New Year's resolution which is to get pregnant and have a baby. I'm going to continue working out for as long as possible but if everything works out the way we want it to, I'll be pregnant in February. Maybe I'll be setting enough of a tone that I can still keep working out after I'm pregnant, though I probably won't be able to continue with the 30 Day Shred since the rule of thumb is that while you're working out you should still be able to carry on a normal conversation without becoming out of breath. I can't do that now and I don't know if I'll be in good enough shape in a couple weeks to still be able to do it.

As for trying again, the doctor said wait two cycles, and I'm on cycle number two! Waiting has been really hard, but I know that I have to because it's really important to have accurate dates. Now that we're a week away from being able to try again, the waiting is even harder. The last couple of months have gone by pretty fast, to my surprise, but I know I have done a lot of healing, both physically and emotionally. Dealing with the loss of our son was a really depressing time, but I had an amazing support system. I still think about the miscarriage every single day and, of course, I'm scared that it could happen again, possibly for completely different reasons than the first time, but I'm also so excited. I seriously can't wait to be pregnant again! I am also very lucky to have such an amazingly patient husband, who is really excited for the baby-making part of the whole process. ;)

We have already booked a room at the Armstrong Hotel in Old Town for January 30th, for a relaxing night away from everything. We haven't had a romantic night/getaway since our honeymoon so this is going to be a special night for both of us! From the pictures, the hotel is really nice. It has a bed and breakfast appeal but in a hotel type setting. If that doesn't make any sense then check it out for yourself! http://www.thearmstronghotel.com/

Wish us luck for a rainbow baby in 2010!

Happy New Year's

Nothing especially eventful happened in the 7 days from Christmas to New Years Eve. Andrew and I discussed birthday plans trying to decide between staying home to eat or going out. We ended up deciding on going out to Hibachi's. We had a coupon, which we didn't end up using, but it's super close to our house, which was a plus. We had planned on just relaxing all day and then going out to dinner early, before the crowds were out. That didn't end up happening.

Andrew and I have been talking about buying a new car for a long time. His car has continued to fall apart throughout the years (though it ran fine) and was not exactly the most comfortable and reliable car. When I was pregnant we knew it wasn't a "family" car. My car is fine but if something ever came up and we needed to use Andrew's car, I wouldn't feel safe, especially if we had to put a baby in the back seat. We had sort of started looking at cars online for the last week or so to buy in January, but I hadn't taken it too seriously yet because we still had a month, plus we had been looking at newer used cars (2009) and I hadn't found exactly what I was wanting in a car. Well, on the 30th Andrew told me he had talked to his cars.com rep at the Coloradoan who had referred him to Pederson Toyota. He contacted them and ended up finding exactly what we wanted.

The afternoon of my birthday we bought a new 2010 Toyota Corolla. Our first new car! We didn't think we were going to buy a brand new car when we started, but it was such a good deal that we couldn't pass it up. It had a whopping 9 miles on it when we took it home. It gets 26mpg city and 35mpg highway. It's very safe and pretty snazzy looking if I do say so myself. When we get pregnant again and have a baby, I will have peace of mind knowing we have such a reliable and dependable car that is going to save us money in the long run. I also don't need to worry about Andrew driving around that old clunker with its bald tires in winter.

This is our new car, minus the tinted windows.

That was a pseudo birthday present, even though it's really Andrew's car. The 4 hours we spent at the car dealership, was not. It was super busy and we ended up not leaving until 6:00, after we had planned on going to dinner at 5:00. We still had to run home and change before dinner. We arrived at Hibachi's around 6:45 to find the parking lot packed. We contemplated going somewhere else, but where wasn't going to be busy on New Year's Eve? We were both pretty tired from the dealership and the 45 minute wait for dinner, when we were both starving, didn't help. Sometimes it can be pretty depressing when you have expectations that don't get met. I deal with it every year. It's not my birthday; it's New Year's Eve. Sure, I could celebrate it on a different night, but it's not the same. I really wish I just had a normal birthday where that's all it was, nothing else.

Once we got seated our moods picked up and we were a little more awake. Dinner was pretty good. There is a part where the chef tosses food at you (shrimp in our case) and most of the people at the table declined the opportunity to look like fools, including me. Andrew would not let that happen and had to explain it was my birthday so I had to do it. Betrayer. The chef told me to close my eyes and open my mouth. I did as he said, terrified that something horrible was about to happen. It seemed like I had my eyes closed forever, so finally I decide to open them and I see a shrimp being flung at me with extreme speed. It smacked the back of my throat and I luckily didn't choke on it. All in all it was an enjoyable dinner and an enjoyable evening out with my husband.

Unfortunately, though Andrew had been the exhausted one before, as soon as we got home I felt so ridiculously tired and he was more awake. I started nodding off on the couch still holding my glass of champagne. I decided to get ready for bed, thinking that would help wake me up, which it did. That didn't last long, though, as I fell asleep for good at 11:30. I had been so determined to stay up until midnight, thinking it would be so easy. Andrew was sweet and still woke me up at midnight for a kiss. It was the best birthday and New Year's Eve I've had in a long time.

Here's to 2010 and all that it may bring! *Cheers*