The Mouse

Warning: This post has nothing to do with CrossFit, unless you count being able to get rid of the new guest in our house as athletic.

Well, being a new homeowner can bring some challenges with it.  For us that came in the form of finding a mouse. 

Michael and I were sitting on our couch after the kids were in bed when out of the corner of my eye I saw something move by our back door.  When I told Michael I thought there was a mouse he told me he had already thought he'd seen one earlier.  Which means, guys, that he let me walk around the house for the evening while there was also a mouse running around AND DIDN'T TELL ME!

Michael came up with a brilliant plan to get rid of the mouse that involved tipping our dining room table on it's side to create a barrier to force it out our back door.  Michael entrusted me with making sure the sliver of space between the table and the wall was closed so the mouse couldn't go that way.  Of course, when we lifted the towel the mouse was hiding under to try and get it out the door it ran right towards where I was and instead of making sure it didn't go that way I jumped out of the way, screamed, and let it run right by.

Seriously, what is wrong with me. I'm a 30 year old woman that is apparently scared of mice.  Logically I know that's ridiculous but when faced with the mouse all logic went out the window.

So, the mouse got away and ran underneath our oven.  Luckily Michael came up with another plan that involved getting it to run along the wall and then trapping it in a Tupperware container.  It took him less than a minute to come up with the plan, execute it and give me a look that clued me into the fact that he didn't want my 'help' again.

We're pretty sure the mouse came in at some point earlier in the evening when our front door become a revolving door as the kids tried to help Michael change the tires on the car.   However, I can't help but keep thinking I see mice around every corner.

I keep thinking about what I would have done in the situation if Michael had been away and all I keep thinking about are things that probably would have made the situation worse - like getting the dog to come downstairs to get rid of it - thank goodness that didn't happen.

The funny thing about military life is that I often have to handle situations like that on my own and  when they come up I always find a way to handle them.   It's crazy what you can do when you're forced to.  I even find myself thankful sometimes that Michael's job has taught me how to be independent.  Of course, I'm more thankful that for this particular situation I wasn't on my own and I had a quick-thinking husband who could handle it for me.

Update

We've been in Kingston for just over 3 months now.  When we arrived I planned on starting this blog up again so that people could stay up to date with what we were doing but unfortunately life got in the way and I fell short of that plan.

Moving across the country has been both more and less challenging than I thought it would be and always in the most unexpected ways.

With Christmas coming up as well as a new year I figured I would start my New Years resolution early and start working on this blog.

I can't promise it will be exciting but I can promise it will be real.

Goodbye CFE

It's hard to put into words how it feels to be leaving Edmonton.  It doesn't help that I hate goodbyes.   Since starting CrossFit I've been lucky enough to call three different boxes my home and leaving every single one of them has been hard.   Leaving CFE will be harder though because it has also been my kids home.  I've watched them grow up inside the four walls there- from doing workouts with them still inside my belly on the day they were born to taking some of their first steps across the gym floor.   This time it's not just me saying goodbye to the friends I've met but them saying goodbye to the first friends they ever made. The people we’ve met at CFE have become part of our village and have helped me raise them. How do you even begin finding a way to say goodbye to that?

Becoming a mom (and then becoming a mom again…and again…) has been one of the most rewarding but toughest transitions of my life.  CFE helped me become comfortable and confident in my new role and to find appreciation and love for my new body and the things I could do because of CrossFit.  I no longer considered myself a CrossFitter but instead I look at CrossFit as my outlet - the activity that allows me to thrive in the other areas of my life.

I cannot count the number of times I have walked into the gym after a particularly rough and defeating morning.  Often I would grumble melodramatically about having “the worst day ever” and somehow just being surrounded by the other moms at the CFE Mamas class, or any class for that matter, would allow me to forget about what had happened that morning and move forward in my day. 

As I looked around CFE on Saturday before I left I found myself reliving all the amazing things that have happened there since I started - the first time I walked in the building(Suz can fill you in on that gem of a story), Nathaniel’s first CrossFit Kids class, all of the classes I’ve coached, all of the parties, multiple babies, multiple PRs by all of you, not so multiple PR’s by me, and most importantly each and every one of you that makes CFE what it is – home.

Of course, with social media now, it's never really goodbye and for that I am grateful.  Even though I won’t be there to coach you in person I’ll still be able to check in on what all of you are up to and to see the progress you make in the future.  So keeping working hard, keep leaning on each other, and start counting down the days until we possibly (hopefully) make a grand reappearance in 3-5 years.

Nesting and Post-Partum Paleo

From what I've been told nesting is a common occurrence near the end of pregnancy. I assume for most women this means cleaning their homes from top to bottom.  While I have definitely succumb to the cleaning part of nesting I have also taken another spin on it.  I am determined to eat paleo/primal after the baby comes and from what I've been told by a friend (who had a similar desire and had her baby in February) a huge part of that is making sure you have some paleo meals prepared and ready to go in the freezer. So, in between scrubbing the floor and organizing boxes I have been cooking like a mad woman.

So far I have managed to make variations of the following:

Paleo Chili

Paleo Sausage Pumpkin Soup

Coconut Curry Chicken Soup

Thai Green Curry

For each of the dishes I froze some in a larger container to take out weekly for lunches and I also portioned some into paper cups which I then froze and popped out and put into a Ziploc bag so that if I'm ever in a pinch I can grab one and defrost it.  I plan on making a few more dishes as time allows before the arrival of 'little boy blue.'

On Kim's suggestion(my previously referenced paleo mama) I pre-mixed some of my favorite spice combinations into little baggies so that Michael will be able to easily find them when he does the cooking(by cooking I mean BBQing some sort of meat).  I also plan on hard-boiling eggs once a week when the baby comes so that I will always have a source of protein on hand.  Lastly, I bought some Lara Bars(which I normally try and avoid), dried fruit and nuts and stashed them all over the house so that I have something easy to grab if I get hungry.

I will make sure to keep everyone updated post-baby on how the meal planning works out.

Goals Post-Pregnancy

I've posted in the past about the importance of setting goals.  Well, many of my goals had to be delayed after I found out I was pregnant - but I have not given up on them.  There are a few things I plan on working towards after the whole labour and delivery thing.  Many of my goals are CrossFit related but there are a few other things thrown in the mix as well.  So, here is my list:

• Compete, and do well, at CFW's FrostFit 2013 in January. I will be about 4 months post-baby at this point(depending on when my little man decides to make his grand entrance into the world).
• Be more diligent about what foods I am putting in my body after the baby.  Since finding out about my bundle of joy I haven't been as strict as I normally am.  I probably eat about 90% paleo/primal right now and I would like to get that back up to 100%.  I don't have big cheats because sugar hangovers are much worse while pregnant than they normally are but I still would like to cut them out completely. 
• I don't want to make a post-baby weight-loss goal because before getting pregnant I had decided that the number on the scale no longer mattered.  So, instead my goal is to be able to see my ab muscles again by the end of December.
• Save money.  I have promised myself to not go overboard spending money on useless baby items.  We are saving up right now to buy a house when we get to our next posting so I also plan on learning to budget better (something I have never been great at).
• By far my scariest and biggest goal is to compete in the CrossFit Open and to finish in the top 60 females in Canada West.  I know that I have my work cut out for me but I am up to the challenge.

There are a few smaller goals that I have written down in terms of my training(numbers I want to hit on my lifts and times I want to hit on my workouts) but the list above contains my big goals for right now.

I feel inclined to point out, because of recent conversations, that my number one goal is to raise a happy and healthy baby(but I think that should go without needing to be said).  I know that recovering from having a baby takes time and that sometimes not everything goes according to plan but I don't think that should keep me from having goals to work towards.

Since you are already reading I might as well give a quick pregnancy update.  I am at 36 weeks and so far I have gained about 21-22 pounds.  Today I did my own variation of the 'filthy fifty' that I decided to call the 'filthy 36'.  Essentially it was 36 reps of everything insetad of 50 and I had to scale the box jumps to step-ups, knees-to-elbows to hanging leg raises, and I had to use a contraption built out of bumper plates for the burpees to make room for my belly.  I am feeling fantastic at this point but sleeping has become pretty uncomfortable.  I have been needing to take a nap during the day, which is unusual for me (those of you that know me well know that I hate naps), but I am trying to listen to my body. I cannot believe how little time is left before I get to meet little boy blue!

Plus One

I've been away for a while, and a lot has changed in that time.  After my last post I was ramping up my training and feeling confident about my abilities to do well in the Open and possibly making it to Regionals.  However, life threw me a curveball(the best possible kind) and my plans changed.

When discussing our lives one of the constants that Michael and I always agreed upon was that we both wanted a big family.  In fact, a few months after getting married we had a baby on our radar.  So, we decided to "stop trying not to have a baby" and I went off the pill- oddly enough it was the same month I started CrossFit.

For about a year following that I fell more and more in love with CrossFit and the fact that I wasn't pregnant yet didn't seem like a big of a deal.  In an odd twist of events I actually started to think that maybe we should hold off because being competitive at CrossFit was becoming more important to me and I didn't want to 'throw it all away' by getting pregnant. I also didn't tell many people about wanting to have a baby as it was something personal between Michael and I(I am sure he is thrilled that I am now sharing this with everyone over the internet).

However, after competing on the CFW Team last year at CrossFit Regionals and seeing how many athletes had their kids cheering them on I realized that I could still compete and have a baby.  I began to tell more people about my desire to have children and then a scary thought hit me. What if I can't have children? So, I went to see a doctor and I consulted the owner of our gym.  All the while I had a nagging voice in the back of my mind: Maybe my body fat was too low? Maybe eating Paleo was making my body lack something? Maybe being on birth control for 5 years had wrecked my body?

The doctor was useless but Tania, a Biosignature Practitioner, had a lot of great insights.  To make a long story short we tried a lot of different things and then eventually I tried Charles Poloquin's Estrogenomics Cleanse(more to come on this at another time).  It worked and 4 months after doing the cleanse I was pregnant! The moment I saw the positive sign it hit me that I was finally going to be a mom-my absolute dream job-and I was overjoyed!

I am now 8 months along and despite an initial 3 month reprieve from CrossFit due to morning sickness I have been getting to the gym regularly.  In all honesty I have been enjoying working out while pregnant and I have come to realize that being pregnant doesn't mean you need to put your life on hold or change your goals completely.  I plan on blogging for the last few weeks of pregnancy to share my thoughts on working out while pregnant(and pregnancy in general).  After that I will be using it as a way to document my progress post-baby.  I have set myself a few goals that I will share in my next post and I am hoping to use the blog as a way of keeping myself honest in attaining those goals.

36-26-37

It's one of the first cold days this fall and I have goosebumps on my arms. Not only because I'm a bit chilly but also because I'm about to whip off my shirt so that I can get my measurements taken for a bridesmaid dress.  Those of you that know me know that I take my shirt off all the time at the gym.  I do it because it makes me feel powerful and proud of my muscles(and also because I'm not a fan of sweaty shirts).  This is different though.  In fact, I am dreading the feeling of the tape measure against my skin and seeing the numbers- bust, waist, hips- written down on paper.  I find myself having to concentrate on not sucking in because it used to be like second nature to me.

I keep telling myself that numbers don't matter unless they represent weight being lifted at the gym. I promised myself I wouldn't step on a scale or take my measurements because they were no longer important.  However, I suppose that sometimes(like when ordering a bridesmaid dress) you need to.  Before I have a chance to put my shirt back on I hastily grab at the paper worried that someone else will see my measurements before me.  As soon as the paper is in my hands I, almost instinctively, start to analyze the numbers.  My eyes focus on the waist measurement- 26inches? All I can remember is measuring myself before my wedding almost 2 years ago and having a 24inch waist.  Frantically I look at Michael and ask him how it is possible that my waist has grown (the wheels already spinning in my head with ideas about how I can get it to go back down in size).  He laughs and points out the fact that if I didn't have ab muscles that it would probably be smaller.  Suddenly the wheels stop turning and I snap out of what I will refer to as 'skinny vision.'   What does he mean no muscles? I've worked hard for this body! I love catching a glimpse of my muscles in the mirror, being able to throw heavy weight over my head and hoist my body up a 20ft rope.  You see it all over the crossfit community - "strong is the new skinny."  While I know now that statement is true for me personally I'm not so sure it is has become mainstream...yet(give it time)!

There have been numerous blog posts written by female crossfitters about body image. In fact, it is something I have written about in the past more than a few times.  In part the reason for that is because so much of our culture as females revolves around it. What is ironic is that we do it to ourselves. If you can believe it I was once part of a group that sat for an hour at dinner discussing body parts we weren't happy with.  By the time we were done I didn't even want to eat my salad. I look back on that now and think ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

While being image conscious isn't necessarily a bad thing the image that is currently being put forward as 'ideal' is not good. I am a firm believer though that with every CrossFit affiliate that opens and every company that chooses a female athlete to be their spokesperson that image is changing.  The below Nike Ad made the rounds about a year ago, but it is actually from 2005.  For some reason it still hasn't caught on which is why I thought it was worth bringing back for a peak.  My butt is big(37 inches big in fact), so are my shoulders, and my lats.....and I am proud of them.