weaver

Nice work!!!

Friday, February 3 (week 4 | day 6) 1. Everything! Don't remember the fruit and vegetable details, though. Walked to go to labor-prep class and, later, to get groceries. 3. Got groceries and read (finished another book: Wild Women Don't Wear No Blues) but didn't do a third thing. KCZ: yes! Saturday, February 4 (week 4 | day 7) 1. One round of exercises. Walked around a mall looking for a birthday present and, later, to and from a birthday dinner. Ended up having no fruit but three servings of vegetables, partly because I had eggs and spinach for breakfast (well...brunch) instead of my usual oatmeal and then later forgot. Vegetables: spinach with eggs for breakfast; vegetable soup and a side of sautéed cabbage at dinner. 3. Didn't get much done, including KCZ—just needed to have a relaxing day. Did a load of laundry, though! === Overall, this challenge was...average? I started out really strong the first week, had a bit of a two-week slump (although without giving up entirely, and some of it could be blamed on being sick), and rallied a bit, although not completely, the last week. Through it all, though, I got a good amount of walking in (even if most of it was in order to run errands rather than for the pure purpose of going for a walk), ate a decent amount of fruit and vegetables, and did something to help prepare my body for labor. Also got several other non-daily tasks done and even managed to finish two books—since my goal is 1 1/2 books per month this year, I'm doing alright so far there! Also made some major baby progress: started a cloth diaper stash, rearranged the bedroom and set up the crib, got a lot of the hospital bag together (hoping the hand-me-downs we get tomorrow will take care of most of the baby's stuff that's still missing), washed all the baby clothes we currently have, and generally bought bits and bobs here and there. There's still a lot to do, but if the baby came tomorrow, we'd pretty much at least have the bare minimum. No more challenges for me for a bit, while I'm getting used to taking care of another human being (and also recovering!), but I'm already thinking about options for improving my diet and getting back into exercise once I'm ready, so I hope I can come back in a couple months or so! Thanks, everyone!

Aaaaaaamazing!

Wednesday, February 1 (week 4 | day 4) 1. Only one round of exercises and one vegetable. Walked a little to/from date night. Fruit: 1/2 apple (with oatmeal for breakfast), clementine (snack). Vegetable: leftover sautéed cabbage with lunch. 3. Made and sent an invoice; sent thank you messages to people who wished me a happy birthday (and left some birthday messages of my own); prepped baby laundry (gathered stuff together, cut tags, checked care labels to make sure everything could be machine washed around the same temperature). And date night! We have a bad habit of putting date night off, especially when the weather isn't great (like last night), but since we don't know how many more nights we have when we can just go out to dinner without putting too much thought into it, we went. KCZ: yes! Thursday, February 2 (week 4 | day 5) 1. Forgot one of my meds (too late to take it now) and didn't get out of the house today or do a video to make up for it. But I got two rounds of labor-prep exercise in! Fruit: 1/2 apple (with oatmeal for breakfast), kiwi (after dinner). Vegetables: bell pepper (with eggs for lunch), zucchini (with pasta for dinner). The former was probably more like half a serving, but the latter was more like 1 1/2 servings, so I'll call it good. 2. Washed and hung a load of baby laundry (with a few nursing tanks and a nursing bra thrown in, too) so the cleaning lady can iron it all tomorrow and we can have some basics ready for wearing. The other day we got another drying rack because the one we had won't be enough once we're washing baby clothes and/or diapers pretty much every day, along with our own stuff occasionally. A new drying rack! Our life is so exciting! (We're still waiting for a coworker of J's to drop off a pile of hand-me-downs—it was supposed to be tomorrow but has been postponed to Tuesday. I'm getting pretty anxious about it all—I really want to see what all is in the haul, start laundering it all, put stuff in the hospital bag, figure out what we still need to get on our own...ahhhh! So little time left!) 3. Baby laundry; changed sheets; organized / pre-cleaned for the cleaning lady tomorrow; will probably read a bit in bed. KCZ: yesssss!

Best wishes to your grandparents, congratulations on finishing the yoga program (I had that same "you want me to do it all alone on the last day? I don't think so!" problem with the one I did), and glad to hear that you've already moved on to and are excited about a new program! And I'm also a fan of YNAB and of throwing hair up in a butterfly clilp.

Monday, January 30 (week 4 | day 2) 1. Only one round of exercises and didn't go for a walk or anything. Otherwise, did everything, although I don't remember what fruits and vegetables I ate. But rest assured that I ate them! 3. Read and signed my new work contract; requested reimbursement for some customs charges; dealt with a bunch of paperwork—this last one took a lot of time and also cleared up some desk space, so it makes up for the other two tasks being pretty small things. KCZ: nope. Boo. Tuesday, January 31 (week 4 | day 3) 1. Only one round of exercises and one vegetable. Walked to/from the German conversation group. Fruit: banana (with oatmeal for breakfast), kiwi (with yogurt as a snack). Vegetable: sautéed cabbage with dinner. 3. Made a bank transfer; figured out some other bank stuff that wasn't easy—I even needed to call them for help; went to the German conversation group. KCZ: no.

Sunday, January 29 (week 4 | day 1) 1. Did two rounds of labor-prep exercises (finally!). Walked to get to brunch and back. Fruit: fruit salad at brunch; kiwi after dinner. Vegetables: vegetable soup at brunch; cauliflower with dinner. 3. Planned the week ahead, read a little before bed, and...I'm going to go ahead and count birthday brunch as the third thing, because it took up a large chunk of my day and being social is important, too. KCZ: yes!

Friday, January 27 (week 3 | day 6) 1. Walked to the grocery store and back. Got two fruits and two vegetables in but no longer remember what they were. Only did one round of exercises. 3. Got groceries and hung a load of laundry that J started but didn't do a third thing. Got to KCZ (again, thanks largely to also clearing the counters earlier in the day, so there were only a few dishes to take care of at night—and that's why KCZ every day is important!)! Saturday, January 28 (week 3 | day 7) It was supposed to be a productive day—or afternoon, at least—but then J convinced me to take a nap with him and our plans to go to Ikea to scope out some stuff went out the window. Even our cat got in on the nap action and snuggled in contentedly between us underneath the sheet, duvet, and extra blanket—I think he wouldn't mind it if the house were a bit warmer (neither would I, cat). That meant I didn't do one of the three tasks (Ikea) and didn't get out of the house for any kind of walk...but it was nice to have some lazy afternoon nap time before the craziness comes. I still did two tasks (answered several outstanding e-mails and figured out birthday stuff—a little last minute, since my birthday is today [Sunday]). I didn't keep track of the other daily stuff. === In honor of today being both my birthday and the first day of the last week of the challenge, I'm planning on getting back into the groove of the first week and kicking some challenge ass going forward. Okay? Okay.

@Violetta Oops, yes—when I wrote "a return of some of pregnancy" up there, it was supposed to be "a return of some rhinitis of pregnancy"...left out the most important word of that phrase! It's been really annoying because the runny nose makes it so hard to sleep on my side. I've been sleeping mostly on my back but with a pillow under one of my hips and one side of my back so I'm not completely flat on my back—it feels a little like cheating, but I've never felt uncomfortable, and I hear that you'll feel uncomfortable before anything could possibly affect the baby. Good call on the tubs! I'll have to see what sizes are even included in the haul and then go from there. I have no idea what to expect!

Monday, January 23 (week 3 | day 2), to Thursday, January 26 (week 3 | day 5) More up-and-down days. Still haven't managed to totally shake the cold, and I think it's also combining with a return of some of pregnancy—so, a lot of sneezing and sniffling along with occasional coughing (mostly when I'm on the phone for work, which is inconvenient). I've spent pretty much every minute of the last few days either working, doing baby stuff, or trying to get other productive stuff done despite low energy. Not much chill time, but I did manage to do a couple social things, at least—went to a new German conversation group and met a visiting friend and his girlfriend for dinner. Fruits and vegetables have been decent but far from perfect; labor-prep exercises have been pretty much non-existent (but that changes starting today!). Baby classes and social things got me out walking most of the days, although I think I might've been a home-bound slug on Monday. KCZ mostly hasn't happened, but I was forced to take care of it this morning before the cleaning lady came (I actually don't mind doing dishes and would rather she spend her time on tasks that I don't enjoy at all, like...pretty much everything else about cleaning), so I have a good basis to start over from. I've made good progress on the hospital bag, though! We're expecting a haul of hand-me-downs next weekend, which hopefully will have some of the baby clothes we're missing, so I won't be completely done any earlier than then, but it's reassuring to have a lot of the stuff taken care of and in the bag(s). Still a little more I can do this weekend, though. I didn't manage to make it to bed by midnight most nights, but I've at least been going to bed earlier than the previous weeks. I'll try again next week!

Glad that it sounds like the relationship ending was a good thing. Hope you're back to 100% soon!

How are your goals going this week?

More happiness is good! (I use a Passion Planner, more for the "planner" part than the "passion" aspect—the layout really works for me.)

I mostly make variations on some kind of sautéed vegetable (zucchini is a favorite), some protein (mostly chicken or tuna, sometimes ground beef), and pasta. We also make a lot of homemade pizza. Otherwise, I tend to only get more adventurous and/or do things that are more labor-intensive (lasagna, etc.) when we have people over. But I need to get more adventurous on a day-to-day basis, too!

What kinds of meals did you make? I often get stuck in a rut making the same basic things over and over, so it's always fun to hear what other people are making! It's seven hours later—should I start getting after you about posting goals yet?!?

Way to work out your muscles and your constitutional right to assemble!

Much love.

Hooray, vaccines!!! === Thursday, January 19 (week 2 | day 5) to Sunday, January 22 (week 3 | day 1) These days were mostly write-offs because I was either fairly sick (took a half-day off of work on Thursday, even) or still recovering. Still managed some successes, though! On Thursday, I went for an ultrasound (baby officially no longer breech and not nearly as big as they thought before)—it's a pretty short walk from our place to the hospital, but it was still something—and finished Bad Feminist. On Saturday, I got out of the house to not just walk but march! Baby's first protest! Also met friends for lunch (vegan burgers—I got one made out of tofu and spinach) beforehand and another friend for dinner (real burgers) afterwards. I haven't been very social lately because of trying to dedicate so much time to baby prep, so that was nice! Need to hang out with people more while it's still pretty easy to do so spontaneously. Today, I got out of the house to run a couple of errands and meet J for lunch after he finished playing soccer. In fact, yesterday (Saturday) and Sunday I hit 10,000+ steps each day. Now my legs are sore like they used to be the day after a good run—oh, physical fitness, one day I'll have you again... Fruits and vegetables have been up and down, but I haven't been completely ignoring them. Even brought a clementine with me as a snack for during or after the march yesterday, so I wouldn't be tempted to pop into a café and get a pastry. I've also managed to get at least one or two tasks done each day, and today I'm hoping to complete all three (already wrote to my parents with baby updates and compiled a list of questions to ask the nurse running the baby/labor-prep classes [including some questions about things on the list for the hospital bag, so this task was relevant to this next week's baby-related focus!], and planning to read a little before bed). My baby-related focus for this next week will be the hospital bag. Yesterday during the march, someone mentioned that their daughter was born at 35 weeks, and I was exactly 35 weeks that day, so...that only freaked me out a little! Really need to be ready for things to happen at any time. I'm also going to try my best to be in bed my midnight every night (before a weekday, at least) this week. That'll give me enough time to get a full night's sleep before starting the workday at a reasonable time and/or before morning appointments.

Wednesday, January 18 (week 2 | day 4) The day started out optimistically enough, as evidenced by my promises to achieve KCZ and generally be all kinds of productive in the evening. Then, about an hour before the end of the day-job workday, my nose just turned into a nonstop snot faucet. Unfortunately, after work, I still had to finish the proofreading, since it was due today (Thursday), but that's all I had the time and energy for. 1. No walk—was hoping to go out after work to get some grocery staples, but, well, snot faucet. Also prevented me from doing a second round of exercises. I did get my fruit and vegetables in: 1/2 an apple with oatmeal for breakfast and a banana with cereal as a snack later in the day; spinach with eggs for lunch and sautéed bell peppers with chicken and pasta for dinner (okay, yes, bell peppers are technically fruit, but come on). 3. I finished the proofreading, but that's it. No KCZ. But that's okay—it was more important to get into bed right after finishing the proofreading and get some sleep.

Violetta and Sylvaa, scary stories about pertussis! Strangely, the nurse who gave me the vaccination made a bigger deal out of close relatives making sure their tetanus shots are up to date...even though...tetanus isn't contagious?!? I didn't really get it. @Violetta Had another ultrasound today (the kid is no longer breech, hooray!) and the doctor said that the baby actually seems to be pretty average sized. So maybe we will have to look into a few more options for regular-sized-newborn diapers... I think our water is pretty hard here, so good to know about microfiber. And yes, the multifunctionality of the prefolds is a big benefit! @Sylvaa Very good point! It's fine for now—partly because J has been sleeping on the couch because he's sick, so I haven't had to try maneuvering around him yet—but if it gets more difficult, it shouldn't be hard to temporarily move it.

Oh, Hobnobs. I went through a shamefully large number of packages of Hobnobs while staying with a friend in Norwich many years ago, so I understand what an accomplishment it can be to put them down and walk away. Good work! On a different note, I'll contribute to the song challenge for the first time! I've heard this song live twice. The first time was in a tiny little club in Zurich, far smaller than any venue they would've played in the US at the time, which meant we could get up close to the stage without much trouble. For the repeating "I need you so much closer" at the end, Ben Gibbard climbed up on speakers, grabbed the ceiling scaffolding, and leaned out over the crowd. It was intense. The second time was at a music festival in a big park in Portugal that butts up right against the Atlantic. It wasn't nearly as intense, but it was still a little magical to look at the Atlantic while he sang "The Atlantic was born today..."

When I did a YWA 30-day challenge a while ago, I also noticed that the daily practice made me think about and improve my posture at other times throughout the day. Definitely a nice side benefit! Love to hear that your teenagers are still into family activities. Gives me hope for my (far-off) future! Have fun!

Nice challenge! How far ahead are you going to plan your workouts? Are you going to get the workout thing down pretty well before focusing on your food goal? Curious to hear how the barcode scanner alarm goes for you, too! Might be something I need to look into...

Tuesday, January 17 (week 2 | day 3) We gave in and ordered pizza for dinner last night—after setting up the crib and rearranging furniture in our room a few different ways, it was late and we were tired. Not great, but...it happens! 1. Only did one round of exercises and got one vegetable in. Walked back from baby prep class—it was all about breastfeeding this time, and my favorite part was when the male student doctor helping give the presentation pulled out a fake nipple and demonstrated proper supporting of the breast. Fruit: 1/2 an apple with oatmeal for breakfast; kiwi for a snack. Vegetable: I think combining the zucchini in the leftover bolognese I had for lunch and the spinach and other vegetables we got on the pizza would put me at about one serving total. 2. As previously mentioned, we rearranged our bedroom and set up the crib as a sidecar right next to the bed. Still a little over five weeks to go until the due date, but people keep freaking out when we tell them we don't have the crib set up yet, and babies don't actually care about due dates, so it was crib time. It makes it more awkward for me to get out of bed, which will only get harder as I keep getting bigger, but it still feels good to have another thing checked off the list. 3. Dealt with crib stuff, sent in a tax deposit, did some proofreading that's due this week, and read a little. No KCZ, but J (boyfriend) did a load of dishes, so the kitchen is looking more approachable, anyway. Today (Wednesday) I plan to really get to KCZ again, finally! === Something I'd like to get better at for the rest of this challenge is going to bed at a reasonable time. Part of the reason I haven't been great at the labor-prep exercises and KCZ is that I focus on other things and put them off until right before bed—but by the time I'm about to go to bed, it's late and I'm tired and sleep is more important. If I make sure to finish other stuff earlier, I'll have more time and energy to take care of those pre-bed things. It's also making it hard to wake up at a reasonable time, which means that my work day starts later and/or I'm not always on time to morning appointments. I was going to go to a German conversation event tonight (I really miss speaking German), but I think I need the evening to make some good progress on things like finishing up the proofreading job and wrapping up stuff to pass on to the new "leader" of my running group. That'll take some stress off my plate, help free up the following days for other tasks, and hopefully also help with being able to get to bed earlier! Next week, though, I'd really like to go!

@Violetta We're planning on doing mostly prefolds+covers but are also getting a few one-size, all-in-one diapers (I think right now we just have one from Bumkins and one from Bum Genius) as back-ups and to be able to try a few different options. Thanks for the advice! At our last ultrasound, the tech said that the kid is "chubby" (something like 85th percentile), so on track to be on the larger side, anyway, and hopefully the small prefolds will do the trick at first either way. And good call on not investing too much in larger sizes yet—I'm definitely getting the impression that cloth diapering is much easier to do when it's milk poop! And yes, vaccine! It's making it hard to sleep on my left side, but otherwise, I was more than happy to do it—especially since here, they only recommend it for the mom (to pass on to the baby) and don't make a big deal out of the dad and other relatives getting it.