If you want a slice of what being a SAHD is like...my son has been up since 4am. Three hours of that was him laying in bed playing with me occasionally walking in to tell him to "go back to sleep" but at 7am I finally gave up. I figured he needed breakfast and it was mean to confine him to one space if he really couldn't sleep. He was obviously tired by the look on his face, but no luck.
Leda, on the other hand, has been up since 4:30am...I think...Kelly got up with her. Tried to put her back in her crib, no go. So Kelly brought her in to me eventually in our bedroom because Kelly needed to get to the gym before work.
Then, we've been watching Thomas Christmas since Thanksgiving so why not add a little A Charlie Brown Christmas to the mix? I tried to get Cole interested back in December and he wanted none of it. Now, suddenly, like a lightbulb went off he's demanding "more Charlie Brown." Both kids are now wandering the house like zombies and ready for nap time.
Yesterday, it was voraciously eating "raspberries" (Cole savors the word like it tastes as good as the fruit) followed by my 1980's He-Man with the multi-slash chestplate turning to Thomas The Tank Engine saying "pleased to meet you!" There's a conversation I never imagined. But the day ended with Cole pushing Leda and her getting a huge purple goose egg on her head. This was AFTER about 5 times of me telling him to leave her alone.
* * *
Interesting study about how low-fat diets may hurt weight maintenance. The basics are that after losing weight, the subjects were given 3 different diets including low-carb, and low-glycemic index diets. The low-fat diet did worse at helping the subjects eat less after meals and left less fuel available for their body to use.
I've been arguing for awhile about balanced diets, eating in moderation, and the benefits of not spiking your hormone and other chemical levels during the day. I believe in eating healthy, not eating trendy...so I'm always suspicous about new diet claims. Humans need to eat a variety of sources--athletes even more so, if you ask me.
Don't even get me started about us griping about the dairy aisle, specifically, with all the "low fat" options. Kelly and I usually turn to each other at some point and say "just eat the full fat." It's not going to kill you. And, science may be pointing towards that skim milk doing you more harm than good.
* * *
Well, the first week of my triathlon training is coming to a close with a long swim tonight and a long bike tomorrow. Technically, my long swim was supposed to be Wednesday, but I decided to bump it to tonight when the pool is likely to be less crowded...I ran on the indoor running track Wednesday instead.
It's been months since I was on a bike so that was a little sore. And I'm not used to the more training on several fronts. I'm a minimalist giving myself plenty of time to rest and adapt to the workload usually. So it's been rare in my running to do 3 straight days. But I need to get used to it as I go forward.
By last night, my body was ready for a day off though. None of the workouts was especially "hard" so far and I did all of them to the letter. I tend to orient myself towards longer endurance work though and we'll see how a shift goes.
My plan is to stick mostly to interval work in the pool building up my stamina slowly. The bike it's just annoying to try to do an hour or two indoors and I have no doubt that I can do the Olympic distance. It's more about perhaps spinning work early in the season then being able to go long as the spring temps rise.
That's the one benefit I can see to Ironman Wisconsin is a late season race next year will allow me to go outside right away and do less of this annoying indoor-outdoor combo workout stuff. Though, to be fair to the treadmill, my fastest marathon time before I PRed in Oct was at a spring race where I did most of my training at the gym. So there is more than one way to skin a cat, as they say. I just prefer the outdoors.
* * *
And I couldn't sign off today without commenting on this article about the White House reporter trying to balance journalism and no place to breastfeed.
The piece is interesting as her personal account of work/family balance...but I don't enjoy the tone that the White House is under an obligation to provide her special accommodations as a mother and is somehow at fault.
My take is she has a fairly intense, off-site gig (her employer is not the WH) and is a new mom. Sometimes, we make hard choices as parents. Not that she can't try to do both...more power to her! But sacrifices may need to be made--including not breastfeeding your baby because you're White House press.
I'm a veteran of the social media "breastfeeding wars" so I'm sure I've stirred a hornet's nest here, but I'll say once again that I think there is a moderation (today's blog theme?) necessary. If you choose to take your new baby to the White House, bring a breastfeeding cover to throw over yourself and call it done.
As a parent, you're not a victim. I feel for your ordeal, Rachel Rose Hartman. But it's just that--an ordeal. I fight for space for strollers on the L here in Chicago. I don't want a specific area set aside for parents with strollers. I just want direction from the CTA and open space for anyone--carts, bikes, and, yes, strollers.
Rather than try to spin this as "parent-as-victim" maybe we should be fighting harder for our rights as just a valid user of space? (See the fight for cyclist rights.) Then again, I've also been a critic of the SAHD crowd who wants to play us as forgotten or picked on. I don't want sympathy. I want you to not think twice at seeing a dad with his kids.
Maybe the better tactic here would have been to make a breastfeeding woman a non-issue when seen around the press? Being normalized is a lot better than asking for special treatment and being marginalized. But that's just my opinion. It was interesting to read your story.
Leda, on the other hand, has been up since 4:30am...I think...Kelly got up with her. Tried to put her back in her crib, no go. So Kelly brought her in to me eventually in our bedroom because Kelly needed to get to the gym before work.
Then, we've been watching Thomas Christmas since Thanksgiving so why not add a little A Charlie Brown Christmas to the mix? I tried to get Cole interested back in December and he wanted none of it. Now, suddenly, like a lightbulb went off he's demanding "more Charlie Brown." Both kids are now wandering the house like zombies and ready for nap time.
Yesterday, it was voraciously eating "raspberries" (Cole savors the word like it tastes as good as the fruit) followed by my 1980's He-Man with the multi-slash chestplate turning to Thomas The Tank Engine saying "pleased to meet you!" There's a conversation I never imagined. But the day ended with Cole pushing Leda and her getting a huge purple goose egg on her head. This was AFTER about 5 times of me telling him to leave her alone.
* * *
Interesting study about how low-fat diets may hurt weight maintenance. The basics are that after losing weight, the subjects were given 3 different diets including low-carb, and low-glycemic index diets. The low-fat diet did worse at helping the subjects eat less after meals and left less fuel available for their body to use.
I've been arguing for awhile about balanced diets, eating in moderation, and the benefits of not spiking your hormone and other chemical levels during the day. I believe in eating healthy, not eating trendy...so I'm always suspicous about new diet claims. Humans need to eat a variety of sources--athletes even more so, if you ask me.
Don't even get me started about us griping about the dairy aisle, specifically, with all the "low fat" options. Kelly and I usually turn to each other at some point and say "just eat the full fat." It's not going to kill you. And, science may be pointing towards that skim milk doing you more harm than good.
* * *
Well, the first week of my triathlon training is coming to a close with a long swim tonight and a long bike tomorrow. Technically, my long swim was supposed to be Wednesday, but I decided to bump it to tonight when the pool is likely to be less crowded...I ran on the indoor running track Wednesday instead.
It's been months since I was on a bike so that was a little sore. And I'm not used to the more training on several fronts. I'm a minimalist giving myself plenty of time to rest and adapt to the workload usually. So it's been rare in my running to do 3 straight days. But I need to get used to it as I go forward.
By last night, my body was ready for a day off though. None of the workouts was especially "hard" so far and I did all of them to the letter. I tend to orient myself towards longer endurance work though and we'll see how a shift goes.
My plan is to stick mostly to interval work in the pool building up my stamina slowly. The bike it's just annoying to try to do an hour or two indoors and I have no doubt that I can do the Olympic distance. It's more about perhaps spinning work early in the season then being able to go long as the spring temps rise.
That's the one benefit I can see to Ironman Wisconsin is a late season race next year will allow me to go outside right away and do less of this annoying indoor-outdoor combo workout stuff. Though, to be fair to the treadmill, my fastest marathon time before I PRed in Oct was at a spring race where I did most of my training at the gym. So there is more than one way to skin a cat, as they say. I just prefer the outdoors.
* * *
And I couldn't sign off today without commenting on this article about the White House reporter trying to balance journalism and no place to breastfeed.
The piece is interesting as her personal account of work/family balance...but I don't enjoy the tone that the White House is under an obligation to provide her special accommodations as a mother and is somehow at fault.
My take is she has a fairly intense, off-site gig (her employer is not the WH) and is a new mom. Sometimes, we make hard choices as parents. Not that she can't try to do both...more power to her! But sacrifices may need to be made--including not breastfeeding your baby because you're White House press.
I'm a veteran of the social media "breastfeeding wars" so I'm sure I've stirred a hornet's nest here, but I'll say once again that I think there is a moderation (today's blog theme?) necessary. If you choose to take your new baby to the White House, bring a breastfeeding cover to throw over yourself and call it done.
As a parent, you're not a victim. I feel for your ordeal, Rachel Rose Hartman. But it's just that--an ordeal. I fight for space for strollers on the L here in Chicago. I don't want a specific area set aside for parents with strollers. I just want direction from the CTA and open space for anyone--carts, bikes, and, yes, strollers.
Rather than try to spin this as "parent-as-victim" maybe we should be fighting harder for our rights as just a valid user of space? (See the fight for cyclist rights.) Then again, I've also been a critic of the SAHD crowd who wants to play us as forgotten or picked on. I don't want sympathy. I want you to not think twice at seeing a dad with his kids.
Maybe the better tactic here would have been to make a breastfeeding woman a non-issue when seen around the press? Being normalized is a lot better than asking for special treatment and being marginalized. But that's just my opinion. It was interesting to read your story.