Fun Day!

Yesterday was a really fun day... 

My sister Rachel and her son, Kendall came over to play with us (Me and Wes). Weston and Kendall are 13 weeks apart (about 3 months).

Soon after cousin Kenny and Auntie Rach arrived, Weston needed to get some shut eye, so while Wes took a nap...we all got to go workout in the garage!

Rach and I did a modified Tabata drill:

We set up 2 stations: 

1)box jumps 

2)dumbbell renegade rows

What we did was: Rachel did the box jumps and I did the dumbbell station, and then we alternated after the full 4 minutes were complete. We did 20 seconds on, and took a 10 second break. 

Are you getting the picture? 

(we failed to take any REAL pictures, so I'm trying my best to describe)

Rach did as many box jumps as she could in 20 seconds, then took a 10 second rest, and continued this cycle for a total of 8 intervals, while I did as many of the renegade rows for 2o seconds with 10 second breaks.  It last only 4 minutes. Then we switched stations, and repeated the 8 intervals.

[Too bad we didn't take pictures, 

it was hilarious watching Kendall try to mimic us while we exercised!]

After our workout, Weston was still napping away, so we all headed outside (Griz too!) and played some soccer and did some stretching. We threw in a couple of cheers and toe touches in there too, just for fun!

Lunch time!

Rach made a fresh wild caught salmon dish, with olive oil and garlic and onions...paired with some kind of crazy vegetable called a parsnip. She said it's from the carrot family.

Hi, I'm a Parsnip!

 I created a yummy mix of starches (Sweet potato fries), a wild caught fish patty, some delicious asparagus made on a skillet with Coconut oil, and lastly paired an avocado with rice cakes for me and Weston to enjoy. 

We also made some more coffee. 

Yum.

Next it was Kendall's turn for a nap, so Rachel put him down in the office, where we keep our Pack n' Play. He didn't even put up a fight! He must have gotten a great workout in the garage :P

While Weston entertained himself with his toys, and musical "keyboard", Rachel and I discussed our favorite topics: 

paleo, exercise, politics and the like...

If you get a chance, I'd HIGHLY recommend looking up the Paleo Summit presentations. It's an 8 day series of videos with pictures/slides/notes to accompany the guest speakers.

Just go check it out :)

Lastly, I just wanted to post a picture of my stomach. After becoming pregnant, during my last month of pregnancy, my belly buttoned "popped out".

Can you SEE the belly poking through??

 Well, after Weston was born, my belly never did go back to normal. I thought I even might have a hernia, because my belly button feels "gooey" haha. Sorry if this is too much information, but I just wanted to see if any other Momma's have had a similar experience? 

I went and had an ultrasound and they said that some surgeons would argue that I DO have a hernia, only by the notion that if I didn't have an "outie" belly button before, and I do now...by definition, yes I have a hernia.

However, the ultrasound showed no movement of fluid. And the doc said if it isn't painful, then don't have the surgery to fix the "broken abdominal wall" because the scarring would be horrendous and the surgery has the potential to make the hernia worse??

Weird.

So, I've focused a lot on my core, because if I truly did/do have a weakened abdominal wall, I want to be sufficient and strong, as best as I can...given my situation.

I can't help but think that my abdominal wall is super separated though. 

Can you see the outie I have now?
...and then do you see the  ~ 2inch wide gap going down the center?

A gal at work had to have surgery after her first two kids (years after...) because her abdomen had separated so severely during both pregnancies, that she didn't HAVE any abs. She was able to put her fist inside her stomach cavity, and feel her organs....and while my abs aren't THAT separated, you can still see like an inch or two of width down the middle of my core. 

I know some separation is normal, but damn pregnancies, they really do a number on women's BODIES!!

Anywho, take care and DO YOUR CORE WORK so you can have a strong powerhouse. Everything we do stems from that central location: our abs!

I'll be busy watching the Paleo Summit...so if I don't post for a while, it's because I'm preoccupied with that :)

Cheers!