God Bless America, football, MSG and Healthy Choices

It's a wordy day!!

I find my church-going Sundays to be enjoyable. Not only because everyone "oohs" and "ahhs" over Quinn because she's so adorable, but because each mass ends with the congregation singing "God Bless America". It's something I find touching as they are very supportive to the troops and (since it's NYC) they're still very emotional when it comes to 9/11. Just a touch to the day that I enjoy.

It was as if the parishoners don't see too many newborns. Maybe they just don't see them at the 11am mass?? She was very well behaved. I was nervous as I woke he up to take her with me. However, she was wide-eyed, quiet, smiling and loving the new scenery of statues and blue flowers on the ceiling awning-things. It's a gorgeous church and grounds as it's a shrine to st. Bernadette. She's the calmest she's been in a really long time. Church does good things for her, maybe???

As we left, Monseignor (spelling????) 'scolded' me for brining her out "in such cold weather". IT'S 29 DEGREES!! I responded, "at least it's not Green Bay weather, go Packers" and he said, "oh no! A Packer baby too??" So, they all think she's adorable but seemed bummed to find out she's a Packer's fan. I was wishing it would have been about 10 degrees warmer as I could have gotten away with her wearing her Packer sweatshirt instead of her snow suit.

My BIL and sister have been inspiration for me to change some little things in my life to make me healthier. I did gain a lot of weight with the pregnancy and thought it was more fluid than it ended up being. I am not overweight, I'm actually still at the low end of "ideal" body weight for age/gender/height, but it's not where I was before Quinn. I've always wanted to be more tone, and this is God's way of challenging me to reach that goal!! Even if I never fit into my size 2 again, I'm okay with that. AS LONG AS I have tone abs, arms and legs to show for the size. If I stay flabby, I won't be happy with myself. I realize it took me 9 months to gain the weight, so it's been 2 months, I've got 7 more to prove I can be tone, fit, energetic, and a great role model for my daughter.

First off, I was disappointed to discover that my "Wheat Thins" contain MSG. Mike tasted them last night (Sundried Tomato & Basil flavored and yummy!) and said...hmm, tastes like MSG. I guess I don't know what MSG tastes like, but there it is on the label!! The front of the box states "sensible snacking w/5 g whole grain and no trans fat and no cholesterol". Hmmm...would've thought I'd know better with my nutrition background!!! I'm bummed...time to find a new cracker to satisfy my cracker cravings! Suggestions??

I have tried to eat better and have a more regular work-out routine this week. I'm taking Nikki's approach of adding fruits and veggies in places you wouldn't look for them (I want that recipe book!!). As we speak, pumpkin, carrot, applesauce bars are baking...we'll see if the twist on Mom's pumpkin bar recipe is as good as the original!! I love the beta carotene that could be involved here!!! Also, I went to the produce stand 3 times this week. I just have to learn to get outside the box of my pan-fried (just in a little olive oil) zucchini w/tomatoes as variety is the spice to life, right?!?! I also had fresh peapods and green beans. I tried some VERY BITTER greens that I can't make taste good w/o tons of butter and salt...so it's not worth it to make them tolerable. I usually eat mostly frozen veggies, but with the produce so close and decent, it's nice to get fresh in every now and then. I'd love to find a farmer's market to get local produce...I'll probably have more luck with that next summer, though. Fruits that taste good are harder to find at this time of year, so I've gone to canned. Still fruit, but with their naturally high sugar content, I'm trying for more veggies!

I've also started walking AT LEAST 1/2 mile on the treadmill every day. That's in addition to any trips to stores, church, the stairs in the house a million times a day, etc. Each day I go a little longer. The first day and first 1/2 mile were awful. Didn't realize how out of shape I was. Since that day, I've gone up to a 5% incline, relatively fast walking pace (3.4 in treadmill terms/about a 18 minute mile) and while carrying 3# weights (doing arm curls/etc during the warm-up/cool down and just walking with them otherwise). When I can do that for a whole mile, I'm going to change to 5# weights at a 6% incline. I'd change to a running pace, but I've tried to run in the past and I've never stuck to it and stopped it altogether. So, to keep with the routine, I'm going to change the resistance instead of the speed. I've discovered it's all been easier as my food choices change. The treadmill has been my saving grace during some crabby Quinn moments this week too. Not to mention I'm bonding with Eggo, as I'm teaching him how to walk with me at slow speeds as he could stand weight loss too!!

I've been doing more research into local playgroups. Most of what I'm finding involves actually going into someone else's home/apartment. I'm a little leary of that, but we'll see if anything else comes up. I still think she's a little young to go to playgroups as it's iffy as to if she's awake, sleeping, or fussy. I'm hoping to get more involved in late February when toys and faces entertain her more. Right now her only interest while awake seems to be eating!

No new photos, sorry. Mike made it back from his trip safely Friday night/Saturday morning (by the time we got back home). He had a good time and put faces with voices he's talked to the past few months. Since this is wordy, I'll try to get some cute ones later. We had some good video chats with both sets of Grandparents this week. They enjoy seeing Quinn "live". It's a pretty remarkable invention, really. And it will get to be even more fun when she can interact!! It will be important to find a routine for that as she gets older so she recognizes the faces and voices that go with the faces for any visits in the future.

Off to do some more housework and enjoy football games that start soon!!!!

GO PACKERS and CHARGERS!!!!