A Day of Relief!!!

A huge sigh of relief came out of me when the Genetisis told us that the ultrasound looks normal.  The list of things they look at, and how in depth they go, everything is perfectly normal!!  Thank you!!!

I had blood test done at 16 weeks to check for down syndrome, spinal bifida, and a couple other things they look for.  This is done for women 35 and over.  I had this done with the first pregnancy too.  Well, the blood test came back in the red zone for Spinal Bifida.  My numbers this time were worse then the first pregnancy.  3.2 (which is 1in 124).  First pregnancy was 2.4 (which is 1 in 362).  How is it that AGAIN, my levels for spinal bifida are red zoned??  Even the ultrasound doc asked me "makes no sense how you had this situation in the first pregnancy and everything normal and again this time and everything normal).  So the ultrasound doc even told me right there that everything was normal, which was a fast relief instead of waiting and waiting for an answer.    Now this makes me wonder and I HAVE to find out.....why are my blood test coming back red zone?!!!  And I WILL find out....the research has already begun and I've already made phone calls to head departments.  lol..  I ALWAYS need answers.

But at least things are perfect and all is ok!  PHEW!!! 

We wanted to find out the sex of the baby today, but the other ultrasound lady who did a bit of the ultrasound was a student still.  So she wasnt 100% certain.  Plus baby was moving too much.  She thought she could kinda see but told us to confirm in 2 weeks at our 20 week ultrasound.  Then things start going through my head and I'm having feelings.....I would LOVE another girl!!  BUT is it  cause I want another Aspen??  Yes!!  I do!  But I have to realize I wont have another "Aspen".  And if I have a boy, will I be upset because its not another girl?  Maybe??  But then I thought to myself that no I wont be upset because I will never have another Aspen.  Aspen is Aspen.  There will only be one.  Each child we have will have their own personalities and character.  Aspen was SUCH a good baby, no problems, and her character now is incredible!!  But each child will have their own unique character that I will LOVE!  But I must say there was a moment that I felt sad.  Sad that I couldnt have another Aspen. 

Have any moms out there felt this way?  How did you feel when you wanted all boys or all girls or maybe one of each, and you didnt get that?  Were you sad?  How long did it take to get over it? 

People should warn you ahead of time of what feeling you might feel.  I had a client that said she wished they warned her or prepared her of how she was going to feel when she was pregnant with her second child....she felt guilty!!!  Everyone will have different feelings over different things.  I didnt feel guilty at all....I jsut wanted another Aspen.  But quickly realized that I can't. 

Wow the feelings you can feel as a mother!!

But all in all ...... as long as baby is healthy!

Nina xo

4 Months Now!

4 months now and everything is EXACTLY  the same as the first pregnancy!  My husband is SOOOO FREAKIN EXCITED!!  I love it!!  He is SUCH  a fantastic dad (and husband of course)!!  I know everyone will always say that about their man, but I am dead serious!!  He is one in a million!!  My daughter and I are VERY lucky girls!! 
We will be finding out the sex of the baby in the the next few weeks!  I need to know so I can be prepared.  Vince wants to know REAL bad.....its actually funny to hear his excitment.  lol..   He's so cute.

I started back to working out again....feels great.  I will be posting workouts/exercises during the pregnancy and after pregnancy  (getting body back into shape).  This is great for Aspen to see mommy working out, as she will likely do the same.  She already comes to my bootcamp classes when vince works late and I dont have anyone to watch her, and she does what the ladies do,,....so cute and funny.  She even rolls out her yoga mat to do abs on!  She sets it up in between the ladies mats.  I'll have to videotape or take pics sometime.  She's asking to go again this week, but it is kinda late for her as shes in bed by 7:30pm, and I dont get home till 8pm.  But those days where my neice cant watch her cause she has class, and my sisterinlaw cant as she does live a half hour away, our only other option is that I have to take her to bootcamp.  Its late but she does love it......its a lot of work for me though!,,,,,

Get this one,.....last week, Vince didnt find out till 4pm that there was NO WAY he was going to be home on time ( i leave the house, latest, 5:45pm to get to Port Perry for 6:30pm).  My neice has class late that night, and my sisterinlaw had plans.  So we are stuck!!  Aspen only had a 20 min nap and was up early so that means she would be going to sleep around 7pm and NOW i have to take her to bootcamp which is WAY past her bedtime.  We jsut finished swimming, got in the truck and thats wehn vince called.  Its now 4:30pm, and if Aspen is coming to bootcamp I need to HURRY and get home and pack everything!!  So i rush home but its 4;30 and now its traffic and the roads are slow ( the storm just left but roads are messy).  I get home from swimming by 5pm and HAVE to have her changed, extra clothes packedm so food packed, a couple toys, AND feed her dinner all in 20 mins!!  Well, I was running behind, got food into her (left over pasta), and left the house by 5:45 which is late as i have to unpack everything when i get there plus unpack and get Aspen settled.
YOU MOMS THAT DO IT ALLwill appreciate this......and understand how hard it is......heres the quick breakdown......leave the house late after packing everything; jsut leave our street; I'm STARVING as i didnt have time to eat, AND im preggo so I NEED to eat; then Aspen needs to pee!!; we stop (which i DONT have time for) at A&W; I rush her in and she doesnt want to go!; I grab a sirlion burger (which is SO bad for the normal person nevermind a preggo- but had to eat); get to bootcamp right at 6:30pm; doors are locked; have to go find superintendent (at the hockey arena) running around looking for the superintendent, with a 2 year old in my arms; get inside finally; set up; girls warm up and start exercises and Aspen has to go to the bathroom; she ends up messing her pants abit; Im running back and forth from the bathroom to the gym room (right across the hall) and tell the girls when to switch exerices; Then Aspen finished on the toilet (poop) and now have to change her dirty pants WHILE i'm teaching class!;  End of class she is tired and cranky (poor little thing); on the way home she doesnt fall alseep but keeps asking to lay down.......I then break down into tears as this was all so stressful,.... running my own business, AND being a full time mom, and not a lot of help......thats when I wish my mom was still here!!!  SHE WOULD BE ALL OVER ASPEN AND THERE TO HELP ALL THE TIME!!!!  Aspen would have had a wonderful grandma.  Of course my dad is FANTASTIC with her (and calls almost everyday to see how things are) but wouldnt really know what to do.(old european - women did everything) 

PHEW....what a hectic 4 hours!  lol

But Vince and I manage with jsut the two of us!  Its VERY hard and hectic but we manage with the cards we were dealt. 

Nina xo

Pregnancy and Starving!!!

K I am now 3.5 months prego!  I am going through everything EXACTLY the same as the first pregnancy!  Now I dont mind the tiredness, or the exhaustion.  The nausea, wow....but the WORST is that some days and most evenings I am STARVING!!!!!!!!  STARVING like you wouldnt believe!! 

You that starving feeling you get when you have missed a meal and its been HOURS since you ate last and you could eat your arm you are SO FREAKIN hungry!!  Thats how I feel!!  And no matter WHAT I eat, it DOESNT fill the void!  Thats the worst part.  So I have to watch I dont over eat.  Its like a bottemless pit!  lol  Actually its not that funny. 

Now I know some of you will say "but you have to feed baby".  Yes you need a couple extra hundred calories, which is something small.  But when I can eat a bowl of pasta, toast with PB and honey, shake, drink more water, etc, and NOTHING fills that void, thats a little too much food for your body.  Just a little. lol  So i make sure I get enough food in for my body and baby, and then eat a couple hours later (sometimes closer cause i cant handle the hunger pains!).

Crazy!  Not sure if anyone else has experienced this.  This happened with the first pregnancy!! 
So you wil probably be seeing me posting more recipes as I will be experimenting with foods....cause im so hungry.

......it should pass soon though .....if its like the first pregnancy.

Nina xox

New Years Resolutions....Why Do They Fail?

After working many years in a gym and seeing the gyms get PACKED in January and start to die off in February, and basically back to normal in March, I've come to a conclusion.....THERE'S NO BALANCE

People will start at the gym, not really knowing where to start or what to do, they have this focus everyday of their Resolution and how they NEED to go everyday!  So their whole focus is on the gym and working out....their New Years Resolution!  Then there will be a day they cant fit it in.  Life got in the way.  They miss a day.  They get down on themselves.  They are not seeing results.  Its been a month.  And they give up! 

Why not, instead of making a resolution on getting fit, and all your FOCUS is on 'getting fit', have your resolution be "BALANCE"?!  Dont be hard on yourself.  Fit in some sort of exercise a few days to every day of the week.  If you dont make it to the gym, no worries.  Get out and go for a walk!  Enjoy some time outside playing with your kids.  Get them involved and then will follow your lead and become active!  Dont have all your focus on 'getting fit'.  Enjoy life and have some balance.....go to yoga/go to the gym/get outside, play with your kids/your animals, make some healthy meals, work good hours, get some reasonable sleep, find time to read/listen to music/journal.

When you think about it we need Balance in ALL aspects of our life....Money for example.  When there is no balance what happens....you spend more then what you make which then equals debt!.  And look at nutrition.....you eat more junk or too much fruit or too much carbs and that equals weight gain. 

Balance is Key! 

I see many competitors in the fitness industry with all their focus on getting ready for the shows!  TRAIN, EAT, TRAIN, SLEEP, TRAIN, EAT, etc.  And what happens, they lose friends, lose family, lose themselves....it becomes very lonely.  Trust me cause I've been there!

I started to compete in 2001.  All my focus was on was training and the show.  What else did i have?  Everything revolved around me.  Parties, wedding showers, baby showers, weddings would all come up and I didnt go cause I was 'TRAINING' for a show!  It was until 2005 when I was going for my pro card, I really started to realize things.....I missed out on my cousins wedding which would have been jsut beautiful, and for WHAT!!!  Because I was training for a show??  Come on!!  So I did some soul searching, read some GREAT books and came to a conclusion.....this journey would be a much more enjoyable one if I had BALANCE!!!  And the funny thing was when I realized I needed the balance, show prep became easier and less stressfull, and the show I did (olympia) was the BEST I ever looked!  My training was just as intense but once I was done, My focus wasnt on the training or the show.  I now had balance.

Another part of my life where I lost myself was when I had my little girl!  All my energy and time is with her.  Nothing for me.  No workouts, no enjoying some nice shopping at the mall, or tea with friends, etc.  I was with her 24/7, and if I wasnt, I was teaching my bootcamp class.  So again I feel as though I lost myself again.  Im not grounded.  I dont feel at ease.  Since then I've Signed up for yoga, signing up for a few 5k runs, etc.  BUT IM BACK and I feel like me again!!!!

So there it is, start off the year right....dont focus on ONE thing and ONE THING only!  Find balance in all that you do.  You will have much more enjoyment this way and you will feel more accomplishment!

Nina xo

Here's the Post!

K, so I said there is a long overdue post.....FINALLY here it is.

Its been awhile since I've blogged, Tweeted, Facebooked, etc....but my first update will be the Santa Claus Parade!  I put a float in the Port Perry Santa Claus Parade and it was FANTASTIC!!!!  Thanks to Canadian Tint (Scott Primo) for doing the signs!!  A HUGE thanks to Marie Turner and Cindy Primo (both fellow bootcampers), for helping handing out candy canes and flyers!  I truly appreciate everyones help!!  Next year I have BIG ideas for it!!  SO much fun.

Second Update .....Thanksgiving weekend was a beautiful!  We had our closest friends over for dinner and I absolutely LOVED every minute of it. Such a GREAT time!

Third Update....Halloween was too cute!!  Aspen went to her first Halloween party!! (gotta get pics still from that!).  The kids were SOOOO cute!  Our friend Tanya and Marc and Daughter "C", hosted a Halloween Brunch.....it was fantastic!!!  Aspen wanted to dress up in her tinkerbell costume that she had gotten for her birthday!  ADORABLE!  And for Halloween night we dressed her up as a cat....the costume was a warm one, plus she LOVES cats!  She went trick or treating with her friend Rayleigh....She LOVED every minute!!!  LOL.  Saying trick or treat and then Thank you!!!  My little sweetie!

Fourth update.... Christmas was fantastic!!  Aspen was LOVING it this year.  Such a fun age!!  It was nice that we got together with everyone over the holidays....as it is hard as everyone has other family to see too, so to coordinate it all can get a bit hectic.  But I really enjoyed the holidays!  We also got in a photoshoot with the GREAT Adam Belnap!!  I LOVE his work.  A Play in Whitby, Snow White.  Skating.  And we got to play in the snow for the little while we had it!  Great times and beautiful memories!

Aspen just LOVED what Santa brought her.....Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald, Daisy, and Pluto plush toys!!!!  lol!!  Along with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!!  She STILL hasnt gotten tired of them.

And my Fifth update.....I am 14 weeks Prego!  This is why i have not been on FB, Twitter, Blogging, etc.  I have been so nausea in the evenings and thats when I get on the computer!  But my energy is coming back slowly, Nausea is almost all gone, and I am feeling ME again!  Phew!!  This pregnancy is EXACTLY like the first one!!!  Vince and i are soooo excited!!!!  And Aspen says Mommy has baby in bellybutton!!  Too cute!! 

I have a couple more updates to do but it has to wait jsut a little bit....until they finalize! ;)

keep checking back.....2012 is going to be ONE EXCITING YEAR!!!!

Nina xo