5K Santa Shuffle Race Post-Partum

It's now 9 and 1/2 months since I had my little guy and if anyone had said to me that I would run a 5K in under an hour with extra weight on my body I would have choked them.

Well there it is I did, and I'm still a bit oblivious to the fact that I ran it in 37mins 37secs. So proud of myself for doing this and I'm so pumped up that I'm planning on doing the resolution run at the end of December to keep myself honest and motivated to continue running during the cold months....

Below are a few snap shots of the race

Me, Judy, Cheryl

Cheryl & I

Cheryl & I....again

Tons of Santa's everywhere...LOL

Group shot before the start of the Race

Left to Right: Tracey, Cheryl, Arman, Judy, Elemer, Me & Ted

Cheryl, Ted & I we all finished at the same time

Cheryl, Elmer, Arman & I

What an AWESOME run...Woot, Woot

9 1/2 months post-partum & I'm running a 5K

Ryan is 9 and 1/2 months old and he is the most fascinating little guy on this planet. He is so delightful to be around and I feel very blessed to be his mother. It's been a while since I blogged and I guess Ryan keeps me busy during the day that I don't have time to blog away during the day.

To get back into shape I decided to join a Running Clinic 10 weeks ago and VOILA the last class was this past Monday. How did I do...........I did terrific I think, well I'm now running 10 minutes straight without stopping and walking 1 minute. I feel awesome while I'm running and I'm not huffing and puffing for air like I used to.

I followed the program to the letter and it's amazing the results that you get when you do exactly as what you are being told. My goal at the beginning of the race was to complete a 5K without walking and also if possible to complete it in 30 mins or less. I feel strong that I will be able to do it as long as I keep a good pace I should be able to finish within the timeline that I have set for myself.

The weight-loss on the other hand has been slowly but surely coming down, I was hoping to see a huge loss however I have lost 10lbs in 10 weeks so that's  averaging 1lb a week. That's TERRIFIC and if I keep up with the running and the good food habits I will see huge results by the summer 2014.

I'm running my first 5K post-partum on Saturday December 7th, 2013. I'm excited and really looking forward to it. I'm not as nervous as I thought I would be. I guess it's all mind over matter and the results on Saturday will say it all.

I will post results on Saturday......December 7th after the race.......

Thanks for reading

Ryan Georg Simon

It's been a very long time since my last post and yes I did give birth to a beautiful baby boy Ryan Georg Simon. We named him Ryan....as that was the name that the German and I agreed on and we both loved the name and Georg is after his paternal grandfather.

I had yet another c-section due to the size of my pelvic bone and Ryan's estimated size in Utero. I guess the saying that I have child bearing hips totally went out of the window at 6:00am on February 18, 2013. I had long bearable labour which I enjoyed and the student midwife (Jill) was there for me.

I was sad when the decision came that I had to have a c-section however I wanted to leave the hospital with a healthy baby and I signed on the dotted line for the c-section. Within minutes Ryan was born and I was holding our beautiful baby boy in my arms.....He came out weighing 10lbs and just gorgeous.

Stayed 2 days in the hospital and we were discharged on day 3. Got home and the first thing I did was get my little guy settled and I made dinner. I guess it must have been the adrenaline of being back home to familiar things that I just needed to be active.....plus the hospital food sucked..

5 months later, my little guy is growing and he is such an easy baby. He eats, sleeps and poops well. He is a huger eater in comparison to our daughter Emma. He knows when its time to eat he truly chows down until he is full and he lets go of the boob. Keeping fingers crossed that he stays that way when it comes to solid food as well.

We are currently in Germany visiting the other "German's". We went to a Simon Family reunion when we first got here and it was incredible, I will write about that on Finding Susan. 

Well that's all for now, and I will try to blog at least once a week to keep you all posted on what's going on.....

Thank you for reading....:-)

Estimated Due Date

So what is an Estimated Due Date..well the way I define it is "it's an Estimated day that science looks at as to when you will deliver your baby". Is science always right..........NO......Well people have been checking on me on a regular basis to see if I have given birth. It's a lovely gesture by them and I greatly do appreciate it.

So I'm off to my midwives for my second membrane sweep. I'm aiming to have a natural birth with this baby so everything that I have done this far has been drug free and it feels good that I'm allowing my body to do what it has to do. I'm NOT KEEN at all at getting a medical induced induction as that will just change the dynamics of how my body is supposed to work.

I should mention that I had my first membrane sweep on Tuesday and it got things moving. I have had mild contractions since then and I'm also losing my mucus plug gradually. My midwives are very happy about that as that tells them that my cervix is ripe and it's getting down to business.

Looking forward to the second one this afternoon and we will see what happens then. I still have one or two things that I need to get, so hopefully I will be able to get them today and tomorrow will be another relaxing day or maybe NOT. Either way I will be prepared and ready to tackle whatever is thrown my way.

I just finished baking a Pound Cake courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa and the house smells delicious. I guess I must be going through some Nesting Phase. I just had a feeling when I woke up this morning that I needed to have some cakes and stuff in the house for when people come over to visit the baby and they can have some tea with some home-made baked treats.

Thanks for reading.....

38 Weeks Preggo

OMG I'm 38 weeks pregnant and I feel like I'm 45 weeks pregnant.........Aaaarrggghh. The honeymoon phase is over people. I want this "boy" out so I can enjoy being out and about with him. The whole family is also anxious to have the little "boy" out.

I went to my last Aqua Bellies swimming session last week on Thursday and found that the other Mom-to-be that was due around the same time as me went into Labor on January 29 and delivered a healthy baby girl. I was like Whaaaaaaat? As soon as I got back home I went into panic mode as I had NOT packed my bag for the hospital.

So low and behold I went into over drive this weekend and packed the bag(s) so if anything happens between now and my estimated due date we are ready to go. Everything is looking very neat and tidy accept for the car that needs major interior clean-up before we install the car seat.

It's so disgusting in the back seat and I honestly don't know how we manage to drive around with such dirt around us. Well once that car is squeaky clean there will be NO EATING OR DRINKING of any sorts in the car.

Weekend was BUSY and once again big sister Emma was sick again........OMG my poor child she seems to be a victim to some silly bug that seems to be hitting all the kids in the city. It started on Friday and I just thought it would go away until we were up all night with her and I knew it at that point that she was in pain.

Rolling over to Sunday she seems to be recuperating well and I will be sending her to school tomorrow as I have tons of stuff to do this week including a minor project that I'm working on for Thursday. I can't say much right now until later in the year.

Below is me at 38 weeks.........ooh my goodness gracious I'm HUGE.....

Thanks for reading

36 Weeks and Meal Preparation Galore

Well I should start off by saying Congrats to President Obama for being sworn in today for a second term as the American President.........Woot, Woot more power to him and wishing him all the best in his second term. 

Now to all the Naysayers out there, shame on you, the guy is doing the best that he can considering what he inherited when he was sworn into that position 5 years ago. OMG his daughters are taller now and the first lady is totally leaving a mark at that white house.....Go Michelle Go.

Enough of American news and stuff, back to me and my pregnancy well that's what this blog is all about isn't it. Yup I'm now 36 weeks pregnant and I have to say the honeymoon phase is over and I just want this "boy" out. Ooh gawd it's getting more and more difficult to do the basic things.

Tying my shoe-laces, turning over in bed, applying body cream on my body is hell. It's such a huge CHORE and it's beyond work. And this brings me to discuss a topic that's a bit sensitive, anyways I will give it my best shot without crossing that fine line.

I'm ONLY carrying the additional weight for a few more weeks, and I know that once baby is OUT things will be back to normal and I will be able to do all the stuff that I'm currently having difficulties doing right now. There is lots of people out there that are over-weight and walking around with additional weight out there.......why would they let themselves struggle like this.

OMG it's work carrying additional weight, why would anyone do that to themselves. It's difficult in every single situation you can think of. I used to run up and down the stairs in our house and now I'm dragging my ARSE going up and down the same freaking stairs.

In other news one of the Mommy Friends that I met a year ago is throwing some sort of a baby shower for me.........ooh gawd why or why do people do this. If people ONLY knew me WELL then they would click in that I'm SO NOT INTO stuff like this WTF?

I don't like attention and especially when it's a second baby for me. The German and I struggled getting pregnant this time around and we have been so low key about this pregnancy. Not saying that we don't want to honor this baby, we truly do however we wanted to do it after the "boy" arrives.

So now I'm going to be bringing in more stuff into the house when I have spent the past couple of weeks getting rid of stuff.....LOL. Ooh man please don't get me wrong......I'm grateful for the gesture however I just wish this was a really low key no gift giving event just shooting the breeze with lots of laughter. Ooh well I guess I should just SHUT THE HELL up and let it be.

Well I have started my meal planning for when baby is here and I'm on a roll, with what we will be eating after baby comes. I'm trying to make life easy for the German so that he just comes home puts the already prepared meals into the oven and bake. 

We are a good team and we both function well when we both know what needs to be done and of course my organized self will be putting labels and cooking instructions on all the stuff in the freezer so there is no guessing what needs to be done or how long it needs to be baked for.

Happy Mom = Happy Family................ZERO DRAMA



Thanks for reading

Last Pregnancy Ultrasound and Anesthesia Consultation

OK let's start off by saying I had one heck of a freaking busy day today....Phew am I glad that the day is over...yes I surely am. For starters the whole house woke up early, well 9:30am is early....yes I know to some people it's late however to me it's freaking bloody early.

I needed to get myself organized and ready to head out to my two back to back appointments at Mt.Sinai Hospital. Plus I needed to get Emma & Jeremie lunch before dropping them off at High Park Family Fun Centre. Well let's just say it was a bit chaotic getting out of the house.

We finally made it and headed to Bloor West Village for a quick lunch and drop off so I could jump on the subway to head over to my appointments. Everything was smooth sailing until I got to that darn hospital, ooh gawd I honestly believe that these places intentionally set-up appointments and they like to see people just sitting there and waiting.

My first appointment was scheduled for 1:00pm and the ultrasound technician called me in at 1:50pm............Aaaaarrrggghh WTF? Seriously who are they freaking kidding about being busy. I played 2 scrabble games on my iPhone and sent endless text messages to my friends who were wondering why I was still texting when I should be having an ultrasound.

Finally I had the ultrasound that only took 20mins this time and everything is OK with "the boy" which by the way the technician intentionally showed me the "penis" as she is NOT allowed to discuss the gender with me. That was pretty funny but anyways I'm grateful that she did that and I'm now 100% convinced that I'm carrying a "boy".

She also did another pretty cool thing and that was turning her machine to show me the "boy's" clear face.............OMG he looks like Emma, he has the same mouth and nose just like Emma. When I saw it I was so emotional that my kids will look alike and hopefully they will be there for each other no matter what.

Then I had to headed off to what I call the dreaded Anesthesia Department to have a little consult with the Doctor. Ooh gawd what a freaking waste of my time.......with the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He made me roll my eyes at him when he said "So are you going to go full term with this pregnancy?" I'm like dude are you on CRACK, of course I'm going to go full term why wouldn't I?

What a twisted Moron, I honestly just wanted to punch him in the face and then I thought that would be a waste of the front page news for Saturday's paper....LOL Where do they get off asking women if they want to go full term with the pregnancy, isn't that the norm of being pregnant UNLESS of course they are unforeseen complications then absolutely let's NOT go full term.

What a freaking JERK. Anyways so there went my other 45 minutes listening to this Medical Moron talking about Epidural and how it relieves pain and all. Well I listened and said OK, I thanked him for his time and his knowledge and I ran out of there as fast as my pregnant self could run away.

Feeling great and looking forward to meeting the "boy" now more than ever. It will be a superb addition to our family and I feel blessed every day that I'm carrying this healthy baby to full term..............Now BITE THAT Dr. Epidural..:-)

Thanks for reading

34 weeks preggo and technically 6 weeks to go

Happy New Year and as subject line states I'm 34 weeks pregnant and technically I have 6 more weeks to go before "the boy" makes his grand entrance into this beautiful world. 

So back to the Happy New Year bit, it was a mellow New Year's for us like it always is very year. I made braised brisket and baked baby potatoes for dinner and of course the endless "sarcastic" remarks from the "stepson"....Aaarrgghhh so annoying I tell ya.

Well for starters the plan was to have Italian Antipasto until the German made me realize that I bought all the Greek Antipasto stuff.........LOL. Damn you Sobeys why would you pass on Greek stuff as Italian. I should blame myself, I should know better considering that I worked for an Italian Family company for a few years.

If I had invited Frankie to our house for that Greek Antipasto passing it off as Italian he would have literally sworn his head off at me and reminded me once again that Greek's should NOT be passed off as Italians....LOL

Anyways back to the Greek Antipasto, it was a freaking disaster, all the stuff we had was terrible, the artichokes were dry, the olives were who knows what the heck and the seafood mix was just plain awful. What served the day was the savory Baked Brie that I made with garlic and roasted red peppers. Thank goodness for that otherwise it would have been nothing...:-)

Jumped on the scale this morning and I gained 5 lbs over the holiday season, well since the last time I saw my midwife which was December 12, 2012. Ooh gawd those freaking nibbles here and there really added up plus zero Acqufit for the past 2 weeks is also making me hold on to the Christmas lbs.

Hopefully once Emma goes back to school and I'm back on my eating clean schedule I should be able to shed off the pounds without blinking an eye even though I'm NOT supposed to be losing weight while pregnant but alas, I could do without those darn extra 5lbs...Yay for me!