Weight and Fitness

I don't mention my weight much anymore in this blog. Mainly because even I am bored with hearing myself whinge about how the post-baby fat Just. Doesn't. Go. Away!

I haven't given up. I'm still attempting weightwatchers during the week (although we're on a diet holiday right now because Sis is visiting) and still going to the gym regularly (2 to 3 times a week).

I'm getting back into jogging on top of the spin classes I usually do. At the gym, because I just don't have that sort of time when I'm home...

2 weeks ago I ran 5km in 42 minutes.
1 week ago I ran 5km in 41 minutes.
Today I ran 5km in 39 minutes.

My goal is to run 5km in 30 minutes. That's 6 min/km, and that's how fast I used to be able to run 5km before I had kids. When I was a dress size smaller. Surely that level of fitness will bring me back to that dress size? Surely?!

*sigh*

A couple of weeks ago I went through all my boxes and pulled out all my size 12s (If you are an American reader that's like an 8). I'm currently size 16. I can't believe I used to fit in those clothes - they're tiny! I haven't fitted in them since my first year of being in Australia - a husband who loves food and wine and a less active lifestyle blew me into size 14 quite quickly. That was 7 years ago and those clothes have followed me in boxes from house to house...

I have given up on seeing size 12 again. I sent most items to charity and gave a box of really lovely things to a skinny woman at work. I think she is shocked to have my old clothes fit her so well!

I have not given up on size 14. I will not give up! One of these days the exercise has to start making a difference, and the other 90% of my wardrobe will be wearable again.

Oh, and I'm currently 76kg.

A Day in the Life of the Saffa Chick

2am. Something wakes me. Maybe Milord snoring, maybe a squawk through the baby monitor. I yawn, visit the loo, and walk the length of the house to check on the kids. In our next house I hope the master bedroom is closer to the other bedrooms - this would be perfect if I had teens, but it doesn't work for toddlers! I tuck both kids back under their covers and go back to bed. Luckily I am good at going back to sleep.

6:31am. Princess has a special clock in her room that shows a sun when she is allowed to get up. The sun shows at 6:30am on a work day. If she has been waiting for it then she arrives at my bedside within moments! I either hear her coming or jump out of my skin when she says "Good morning, Mummy!" right next to my head. I remove her nappy (she is not night trained yet, although we keep trying) and she climbs into bed between Milord and me for a cuddle.

7am. My alarm goes off and I go to have a shower. Mom has a shower at about the same time in the other bathroom, which generally disturbs King so Milord gets him up too.

7:30am. I am showered, dressed and have done my makeup with a little help from Princess. King has usually visited carrying his bunnies to say "Goo morni, Mummy!" and wandered off again. I tidy the bedroom then head to the living room for a coffee while Milord hits the shower. Mum is dressed too and has a cup of tea. We give the kids water, turn on iPads, select the kiddie TV channel and discuss groceries and dinner menus.

7:50am. Milord is dressed and ready to go. We gather up laptops and lunches and head to the door. Mom and both kids see us off with kisses and waves, which is very nice. Some days Milord rides a bicycle to work (then comes home with me with the bike in the back of the car) and some days we drive in together and he drops me off on the way to his office.

8:20am. I walk into my office. There are usually a couple of folk in before me - we are slightly flexible on working hours. I make another coffee, check my email, and settle into the work day. I have a muesli bar for breakfast, and there is a huge bowl of fruit on my desk for snacking throughout the day.

12pm. I walk briskly to the gym, change, do a workout, shower and walk back to the office. This all takes more than an hour but I work more hours than I am paid for so I don't care. Heat up a low-calorie microwave meal and eat it at my desk.

6pm. Let me out of here! The aircon goes off at 5pm in the office so by the time I leave the room is warm and stuffy and I have had enough. Step outside in the fresh air to find Milord waiting for me.

6:30pm. Home. Big greetings from the kids who are in the middle of bathtime with Mom. Pour a glass of wine.

7pm. The mad bedtime ritual of teeth cleaning, last wees, nappies on and bedtime stories. Lullabies. Last kisses, last sips of water, last hunt for a toy wanted in bed. At least one tantrum.

7:30pm. The kids are playing in their room. Another glass of wine. Either pitch in with cooking dinner or chat with the cook or watch the evening news.

8pm. Dinnertime. We watch something on TV. More wine. Maybe some fruit after the meal.

9pm. Stop the wine! Switch to water.

9:45pm. Get the kids up for a wee. Change nappies if necessary. Tuck them back in and remove any hard toys from their beds.

10pm. Clean teeth, wash face, into bed. Read my Kindle for a little while then switch it off and snuggle down...

Catchup

Where does the time go?!

1. I had a birthday! Mom and Milord gave me a new Kindle, which is practically an iPad these days. All I wanted was a book that glowed in the dark so that I could read in bed without my bloke moaning... now a have a very sexy tablet too.


2. I love being able to read in bed again.


3. My birthday fell on a public holiday that only exists in my new state. Awesome.


4. Several friends have made the trip to see us lately. We have great friends.


5. My raise kicked in at the end of Feb - woohoo! Our improved circumstances mean that we get less childcare benefit and the increase in daycare costs just swallowed my whole raise. Fuckit.


6. My sister is here from South Africa for a visit. It is her first overseas trip since she was 9. It has rained for all but 3 days of her trip so far.


7. The kids think their Aunty is great because she is happy to play for hours.


8. Princess has definitely emerged from the Terrible stage and is a sweet, polite, chatty little lady again. King has taken her place in Terrible-land. We look forward to getting him back in about a year.


9. Being at work all day means I hardly see my kids. But it also means I don't see many tantrums either!


10. Autumn is here. The trees are turning colour, the mornings are crisp, and our heating has started coming on automatically in the early hours.


11. My recently-returned-from-maternity-leave co-worker has nowhere to go to express breastmilk except a toilet cubicle. I feel bad for her, and I absolutely cannot use the other cubicle while she's at it!


12. We are about to consolidate our credit card debt into our mortgage. We are so lucky to still have our Sydney house! Thank you to Milord's Mum whose bequest let us buy it in the first place, my Dad's bequest which let us hang onto it, and my most generous Aunt who covered a few payments.


13. This coming Friday is my 6th wedding anniversary.


14. Next week I write the test to become an Australian citizen!

Taking Charge

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned I work for a cowboy outfit.

Minimal specs, insane deadlines, and no project management. Pretty normal for a starter job - I had several like this in my 20s - but a real annoyance once you've reached a certain level of seniority and experience. My last job before having the kids was at a big Bank working on a sharetrading system, and I got very spoiled by the amount of structure and communication and decent management.

Recently the boss decided to take a better approach to our development cycles. We actually break our work into tasks, prioritise, and commit to delivering certain functionality to the test team each week. This helps the testers prepare in advance, and therefore the testing happens faster too.

It's not ideal - the boss has tasked the business analysts to manage what really ought to be handled by a project manager, and we still don't have a team leader to keep people on track and to be the voice of the project.

Until now.

I have appointed myself the unofficial Team Leader for my project. I assign bugs, review tasks, and raise concerns for my team. I schedule our releases to Testing and chase the team to have their tasks completed, and I chase our deployment guys to get the release out in a timely fashion.

It was a role that needed filling and I think I am making things easier for my team, and of course for the boss.

I guess I'm earning that pay rise!

Princess' First Dental Checkup

All is well, she has great teeth and was a real trouper.

Sadly I couldn't take Princess myself - this working nonsense really gets in the way of important stuff - so Mom took her. Mom said the dentist was lovely and gave Princess a chance to examine all the tools first and they even did a little bit of polishing so Princess could get used to things going on in her mouth.

Here's hoping all Princess' checkups forever are as uneventful!

Unlike mine - I am in the middle of getting a crown on a tooth that has disintegrated for the third and final time. *sigh*

6 Months into the New Job

...and they lurve me.

I had my end of probation meeting the other day, and I'm not sure I've ever had such a glowing review!

They love my positive attitude and the way I am prepared to give 110% to the job. They really appreciate the long hours I sometimes work to solve issues or hit deadlines without complaining. And they even like the quality of my code.

I hit them up for a substantial pay increase and they've agreed to half now and possibly half at the end of the financial year in June.

I'm happy.

I still think the place is a cowboy outfit and the job is sucky and the money is (still) not good enough, but it is nice to be appreciated.

Milord's employer is also thrilled with him and has promised him a huge payrise in April, so we are slowly clawing our way up out of our hole.

Go Team!

Grooming

It is funny having a little girl who watches you all the time and wants to know "why" about everything you do.

Since going back to work 6 months ago I have started wearing makeup again, and in the mornings after my shower Princess loves to hand me my makeup items one by one. Foundation, powder, blush, eyeshadow... For this Christmas just past I got her a set of cheap makeup to play with and she is thrilled, although the results tend to be somewhat startling!

Coming up for a reason for wearing makeup though... it's odd having to think about why I wear makeup (I was determined not to say "to look pretty"!):
"To look less tired."
"To make my skin look more pale and smooth (and then blush to put some colour back)."
"To make my eyes more interesting."

I consider my look fairly "natural" and my grooming routine quite low-maintenance, but even so here is what I do to myself:

• Wash and condition my hair daily.
• Style my hair with a touch of wax after every wash.
• Colour my hair monthly.
• Have my hair cut regularly.
• Pluck my eyebrows into shape monthly.
• Floss and scrub my teeth twice daily.
• Wash my face with special facewash nightly.
• Moisturise my face with night cream every night, and with lighter stuff after every shower.
• Wear makeup out of the house.
• Trim, file and buff my nails as required.
• Moisturise my hands and cuticles with special handcream as required.
• Shave my armpits a couple of times a week.
• Use deodorant after every shower.
• Trim and tidy my pubic hair occasionally.
• Shave my legs a couple of times a week.
• Pumice my heels as required.
• Trim and file and buff my toenails as required.
• Moisturise my feet with special footcream nightly.
• Moisturise everywhere as required.

Phew!

Did I say natural and low maintenance? What do the unnatural and high-maintenance chicks have to do?!

Splashpark!

We've had some very hot weather lately, where we pretty much just shelter indoors. Last weekend it finally cooled down enough for us to go out, so we took the kids to the pool. They have an awesome splashpark which Princess adored. King didn't care for it much, but he was in a funny mood that day.

Your Royal Fix

I just don't do these any more, do I? I miss Dad looking out for them.

Getting Healthier

I've just come back from the doctor, and my blood results are all back in the normal ranges! Hooray for less stress, less booze, more exercise and better diet.

Especially the less stress part.

We're having a bit of a heatwave here and so are living on salads and steak/chops/chicken. This coupled with us all doing a teetotal January has got to be good! If a bit boring...

After January I have decided that I will have a drinking weekend, and then no booze until I lose 1kg. At which point I will have a drinking weekend and then no booze again until I lose the next 1kg. And so on. Until I drop a dress size and get back into my pre-baby wardrobe.

That's about 5kg. Should be easy, right?

Right?

..................tumbleweed................