The scale gods were not with me today

I was so excited to get up this morning and check the scale.  Last night, our Booty Camp class was cancelled due to the muddy field but that didn’t stop me from exercising.  I actually did the cardio session of my older version of P90.  I felt so good and completely thought I would wake up this morning, weigh in and see a loss.  Even a half pound, and I would have been happy but no – not a loss in sight, a gain!  Up 2.2 pounds.  How could that be?  I’ve been eating really healthy this week, not skipping meals, eating fruits and veggies.  I just don’t understand.  Anyway, we’ll see if this Booty Camp stuff is really working for my body tomorrow when we get our measurements taken at the make-up class.

Well back to positive stuff.  I went to Fantasy Fair at Woodbine Centre with some of the moms’ from the baby group on Wednesday.  We had so much fun.  We even went on the carousel with the babies.  Unfortunately since they are so young, we couldn’t go on too many rides but it gave me a glimpse into the future.  I can’t wait to take Nikhil there again when he’s walking.

This weekend, we’ll be attending our second garba with Nikhil.  We even bought a cute little sherwani for him.  He looks like such a big boy.  He’s growing up way to fast.

I probably won’t get to write again till next week.  Hope everyone has a good weekend.

There’s just not enough time in a day …

to sleep, eat, play with my son, relax with my hubby, exercise and blog!  I can’t believe that it’s been over two weeks since I’ve last posted. 

When I was getting ready to go on maternity leave, I thought to myself – what on earth am I gonna do for an entire year at home.  Won’t I get bored?  YEAH RIGHT!  Along came Nikhil, and my whole world was turned upside down.  Now on top of the regular social engagements that we have (the million weddings, engagements, birthdays and religous days), I get to add sleepless nights thanks to my teething 7 1/2 month old.  I’m actually scared to go back to work in a few months, wondering how am I going to handle all of this plus work!  EEKS!

Anyway – enough of my rambling about time.  Here’s an update of whats been going on the past few weeks.

Booty Camp – We’re on Week 4, Class 1.  Tonight was “bring your friend” night and boy did she kill us.  If you’re trying to get more people to sign up – she sure scared people away tonight because they will definately be in pain tomorrow.  I’m kinda looking forward to Thursday since it’s the halfway mark and she’ll be taking measurements.  Finally get to see what the progress is.  As for weight, I’ve been going up and down the ladder which quite honestly sucks!  During the week I’m fine, but as soon as the weekend hits it’s all over.  I really hope I hit my 17 pound goal by December.  I think I might just have to get serious about this weight watchers thing.

Nikhil – He’s so ready to crawl!  He’s been doing the army crawl for a while but now he is rocking on all fours.  I’ve taken out the video camera on numerous occasions but little Nik doesn’t want to show the camera what he can do.

We went swimming too!  How can I forget??  Nikhil absolutely loves the pool, which is more than I can say for me.  Mukesh has been the one taking him in.  I thought it would be nice since I’m always taking Nikhil to the OEYC’s during the week – this way it’s a moment for father/son bonding (plus I don’t know how to swim).  He looks so cute in his little swim trunks.  I can’t wait till we’re allowed to take pictures but we have to wait till the halfway mark class due to privacy reasons.

Unfortunately though, Nikhil also caught the cold bug that’s been going around last week.  It’s so hard to watch them when they are sick.  I think I already wrote about the first time, but I don’t think it will ever get easier.  Hubby and I need to place an order for this Nose Frida thing asap but just haven’t gotten around to it.  We found another one too called Baby Vac.  It actually hooks up to a vacumn cleaner.  Scary, YES! but does it work – check out the demo on YouTube, it’s hilarious.  Found a funny video for Nose Frida as well.

Other Stuff

We went to the Samko & Miko Warehouse Toy Sale two weekends ago.  This sale is amazing.  I felt like a kid in a candy store.  They’ve got toys for so many different age groups and tons of books too.  You don’t even want to know how much money was spent.  Thankfully my in-laws were with us, and they wanted to buy Nikhil stuff   I think I’m going to try and get organized and buy all my birthday/christmas gifts or at least stocking stuffers from here every year from now on. 

We’re trying to find a place to go on a beach vacation.  Everyone recommends Breezes for families but it’s just too expensive on my maternity leave salary.  I think we’ve narrowed it down to two places:  Catalonia Yucatan, Mayan or Grand Oasis Bavaro, Punta Cana.  I can’t wait to head down south for some R&R before I go back to work and for Nikhil to show off his skills in the water.

Anyway – I’m sure there’s more stuff that happened.  It’s midnight though and Booty Camp has finally caught up to me and is telling me to go to bed.  G’night all.

Not so weight watchers friendly …

I never said I was back on Weight Watchers.  I just said that I was going to watch what I was eating more closely and it’s bad to go to someone’s house empty handed, right? (this is me trying to make excuses).  Well yesterday – I caved and made Peanut Butter Chip cookies.  We had a play date set up with a few of the mommies and babies that I’ve met from Mother Goose and Nikhil was actually taking a nap in the morning so I decided to BAKE!

The cookies were a hit, and I’ll definately make them again.  Here is the recipe (courtesy of Hershey’s Chipits).

ORIGINAL REESE® PEANUT BUTTER CHIP COOKIES

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (250 mL) golden shortening
• 1 cup (250 mL) packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons (10 mL) vanilla
• 2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) baking soda
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) salt
• 1 package (300 g) CHIPITS® REESE® Peanut Butter Chips
• 1 cup (250 mL) chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F (190°C).
2. In large bowl, beat shortening, brown sugar and granulated sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until creamy.
3. In medium bowl mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually blend into butter mixture.
4. Stir in peanut butter chips and chopped nuts, if using. Drop from small spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.
5. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until golden. Let cool 1 minute; remove to wire rack. Cool completely.
Makes 6 dozen cookies.

 

To the right of the peanut butter cookies, are some Indian Jeera Biscuits I made last week.  There were a few leftover so I just added them to the plate.  It was my first time making them so I’ll have to make a few adjustments to make them look prettier but they tasted great.

Indian Jeera (Cumin Seeds) Biscuits

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 ghee (clarified butter)
• 3/4 crisco
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp whole cumin seeds (jeeru)
• 1 1/2 cups milk (I used skim, but 2% is also fine)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Mix all ingredients in the order they appear above.  Dough will seem very loose, but this is just how it supposed to be.
3. Using your hands, form mellon size balls with the dough and place on baking sheet.
4. Place in oven for 30 mins.
5. Reduce heat to 250F and bake for another 30 mins.
6. Reduce heat to 180F and bake until done.  Check by lifting a cookie and testing the bottom for softness.  The top of the cookie will appear hard but the inside may still not be cooked through.  This usually takes another 15-20 minutes. 

Enjoy

I’m in Booty Camp Fitness H-E-L-L

Ok, so first night at Booty Camp Fitness and I’m wondering what I was thinking.  I don’t think I’ve exercised for more than two years (except for Salsa Babies) and I’ve never taken part in aerobics classes – mainly because of my lack of coordination and inability to keep up with the cardio.  NOW I KNOW WHY!

Boy, was tonight hard.  My sister-in-law and I got to the class a bit early and watched the prior class wind down.  We’re standing there watching, and thinking – hummm this isn’t so bad.  Maybe even mom can join us.  LOL – yeah right!  The next hour passed and we could barely lift our legs to do the final stretches.  Natasha, our instructor, said she went easy on us since it was the first day.  If today was easy, I don’t know what the next eight weeks will be like.

Anyway – I’m sitting here after taking a long nice hot shower (which has never felt so good) surprised that I haven’t passed out yet.  I am totally looking forward to Thursday’s class (but ask me again tomorrow if I feel the same).

Here is to 17 pounds in 17 weeks!

A new start …

I think September is a new beginning for a lot of people.  The end of summer, the start of a new school year.  Well for me, I’m 5 months away from going back to work and what better time to start getting active again.

Since I was young, I’ve always struggled with my weight.  Through high school, I was never really overweight but I found that I always weighed more than my girlfriends.  Then came university and the freshman 15 ended up being the freshman 20.  Then came Softchoice (my first full-time employer) where I think I gained another 30.  It was a social thing – you’d go for dinner, than drinks, then dessert, then more drinks again.  It was never ending.  Buying clothes became depressing as I would walk into stores asking what their largest size was and even then sometimes they wouldn’t fit.

So last April, I decided to join Weight Watchers.  I wanted to get into the habit of eating healthy because I knew one day soon I would become pregnant and I wanted to be able to teach my kids the same.  I couldn’t believe how easy WW was.  I was eating healthier and enjoying myself.  I was even able to continue eating Indian food and dessert to satisfy my sweet tooth.  I lost 10 pounds in 5 weeks and then boom – I was pregnant.  So that was the end of that.  I went from 158 (after WW) to 180 (which isn’t too bad) over the 9 months, but it was happy weight for sure as my little bundle of joy was growing inside.  Almost 7 months after Nikhil has arrived, I’m back to 157 which I attribute solely to breastfeeding.  I mean, how active can you be when you are waking up at all hours of the night and barely getting any sleep.  And we all know you technically should be dieting while nursing because now you really are eating for two.

Anyway – now that I’m back down to pre-pregnancy weight I thought it would be the perfect time to start back on WW and incorporate some type of regular exercise into my routine (no – not running after Nikhil as he learns how to crawl).  My sister-in-law told me about this boot camp program called “Booty Camp Fitness“.  It’s an outdoor boot camp specially designed for women to target our problem areas.  She’s starting tomorrow – so I’ve decided to join her.  I’m really nervous because I’ve never been one for exercise.  I know my strengt and endurance isn’t where it should be and I’m am totally not coordinated but hey – I’ve got to do this for Nikhil and for any other kids I have (especially the girls – notice the plural) .  I want to be a role model and teach them what a healthy lifestyle is.

For those of you that know me, the only way I stick to things is by telling people.  So here it is – I’m starting Booty Camp fitness tomorrow for 8 weeks (16 sessions) and I plan to start watching what I’m eating to make an easier transition back to WW once I stop nursing.  I have 17 weeks until my 30th birthday and by then I hope to lose at least 17 pounds (goal weight of 140).  Shouldn’t be too hard right?  A pound a week.  Well stay tuned to see how I do.

A tribute to my girlfriends

Girlfriends are the best. I have to admit, I’ve never had many girlfriends for reasons I’d rather not go into but for those girlfriends I do have – they are amazing.

Last night, I went out with two of the girls. We were able to leave the kids at home and have a true girls night out. No no, we didn’t hit the clubs or get hammered. All we did was have a nice dinner, and talk. And boy did we talk. We talked about family, married life, kids, careers, shopping and just about anything else girls talk about.

It’s so therapeutic getting together with the girls. You can bear your soul without being judged, you’ll always have a shoulder to cry on (and Kleenex in someones purse to wipe the tears), and of course, laugh about the silliest things. Every time I get together with the girls, I end up feeling rejuvenated and as one of the girls said “it reminds us of what our priorities in life should be”. It’s hard being a new mom and trying to make time for yourself. This was only the second time I’ve left Nikhil at home with my husband and mother-in-law to go do something for myself and it was definitely worth it.

Sometimes I wish we could all live closer like the days in university but I know that as we grow older, relationships drift apart but I’m glad I’ve managed to keep the ones I have. I do miss having my best friend living in the same building and going out for coffee or the late night trip to Dominion for Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream but I am happy though that we have the Internet and the phone to keep in touch because I would hate to lose someone who knows me so well just because of physical distance.

To my girlfriends, you know who you are – thank you for being there for me, and sharing with me. Without you, I don’t know where and who I would be today.

Ahhh Sleep …. continued

Well last night, Nikhil slept ALL NIGHT for the first time!  I don’t know what did it.  He even napped during the day which was unusual but yes, he slept from 9:30 PM to 6:30 AM!  We couldn’t believe it!  Unfortunately, this did not equate to sleep for us, because I was awake with terrible indigestion from 2AM to 4PM!!!!  Murphy’s Law eh?

Ahhh Sleep …

Going for a drive or a walk is magic for parents.  If your baby isn’t sleeping and you are sleep deprived, muster up the energy for a walk.  We were pooped from an exhausting weekend and all we wanted to do was relax and watch the Olympics but dear ol’ Nikhil was getting fussy.  It was a little chilly last night, so we bundled Nikhil up and out we went for a walk.  I swear these strollers are magic, because by the time we got home – our little boy was passed out in his stroller

He looked so cute, we couldn’t resist but take a picture.

YAY! For Solids

So upon our family doctor’s advice, we waited until 6 months to starts solids with Nikhil.  I wanted to make sure everyone was home to enjoy his first taste of real (if you can call it that) food, so hubby and I decided today would be the day – being the weekend and all. 

Nikhil absolutely loved it!  He was reaching for the bowl (see picture below) before I was even ready to give him his first spoonful.  I made the rice cereal a bit runny (per the directions) but man was he gobbling it down.  I had scratches on my hand from him pulling my hand towards him to put the spoon in his mouth.  After weeks of him watching us eat, and giving us the sad puppy dog face – I’m so glad we waited because I think he understood that we were finally giving him food.

For any mom’s of infants or toddlers out there, I found a great website if you are planning on making your own baby food:  http://wholesomebabyfood.com/.  The site is great.  It gives you menu tips, food choices that are age appropriate and tons of nutritional information.

I can’t wait to get past the boring cereal’s and start on the real food. 

Let the fun begin

The Tooth

We finally got a good shot of “the tooth” this morning. 

Hubby created this page for Nikhil’s 1st Year Shutterfly album.