Black Daiquiri and her Superkid!

[imjustarogue]

Baby Steps!

 

I’m going to reiterate a bit of what I wrote in my wrap up from last challenge to start this off.

 

I am finally starting to (physically) feel like a human being again. I can easily squat down, I can get back off the ground with minimal issues (wrists are still a little temperamental), and I can walk at a reasonable pace. When I remind myself of this, I feel relieved. (It sucks feeling like a weak mushmellow.)

 

I am finding that I struggle with the whole “you need to exercise, so do this boring stuff! It’s good for you!” The stuff that I find enjoyable, I’m not really at the point to do yet (like running while listening to Zombies), and I really end up fighting myself when it’s hot to even go out for a walk. >.<

 

So, I’m going to do some simple exercises that, while I don’t specifically enjoy, are easy to fit into my new routine of full-time baby.

 

 

Baby Overhead Presses

My little baby monster is big enough now that I can use him as an excited, squirmy weight. Seeing his little grin as I lift and lower him is just amazing.

 

At least one set of 5 per day. This will progress as he gains weight through the challenge.

 

 

Baby Grin Squats

I am really proud of my squat participation in the last mini, so I’m going to continue to squat and make my baby grin.

 

At least two sets of 10 per day. Right now, I’m just doing regular shoulder-width squats, but as the challenge progresses, I may try some variations - so long as I can do them and still earn my baby grins.

 

 

Home Focus

To steal from, I think it was @raptron last challenge, I will do one thing I don’t like (or don’t want) to do, though for my challenge, it will relate to household care. Between the pregnancy and post-partum, my husband has been wonderfully taking care of just about everything around the house - dishes, laundry, cooking. I will pick something each day that I’m not all that thrilled about doing and take care of it - step up to caring for the house.

 

One complete task per day to be decided in the morning.

 

***

 

I am also continuing with PT. My hands and wrist have been feeling better, but with the relaxin and hypermobility, I have now tweaked my left elbow. >.< Lots of focus on proper joint position when picking up my cutie now.

 

In addition to that, I’ve been struggling with some serious tooth pain (on the right side) that’s not actual tooth problems. Muscles in my right shoulder/neck are my tension containers and hold in everything that they can - and probably more. This has been messing with my occipital nerve (causing headaches) and my jaw and cheek muscles (causing tooth pain).

 

So, I have PT appointments to deal with both of these issues since they cause me complications when trying to care for my little one. (Even though the baby cost a lot to arrive, I am super grateful for having met my deductible for insurance because I’m pretty sure that I’d literally figuratively die without PT these past few months…..)

[Manarelle]

Ok, you win the "Adorable challenges" award, hands-down (just don't tell @Fenyx I said that!). Sorry to hear you're having problems with arms and tension, here's to met deductibles and PT appointments! How are things going so far? 

 

And seriously, if you ever feel like taking videos of baby-lifting and grin-squats.... feel free to share! No pressure, just if you ever feel so inclined.  

[imjustarogue]

Thanks @Manarelle! This is from my favorite episode of Justice League Unlimited.

 

Things are going ok this week, aside from the fact that it never really feels like the week starts until Tuesday, so I almost always end up missing the first couple of days of the actual challenge - despite posting before the challenge starts. XD

 

Yesterday, my task of the day was washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen counters. We've had rains the past few days and apparently the tiny, annoying, little ants decided that it was cool to hang out in around my sink. >.< This involved also washing all of our silverware because we store them in mugs on the counters and the ants thought they could play parkour or something all over them.... /sigh

 

I had PT this morning which involved some dry needling and then lots of stretching and massage on the muscles around the occipital area of my head/neck. Things feel ok right now, though I may have a rebound headache tomorrow. PT suggests a compression sleeve to give some stability to my elbow without reducing my mobility (any more than it already is from the strain). Hoping to get a few minutes this evening to run and grab one.

 

For exercises this week, I missed Sun/Mon because of my lame brain, but today, I've done my baby-lifts, grin-squats, and 3 rounds for the mini. Go me!

 

@tourennatrix You may be called upon to video baby-lifting and grin-squats!  

[Alexandrite]

Following! I am married to a PT but dont get the cool benefits as frequently as I want. I told my aunt the other day the massages I get are lackluster at best because he is my husband first before my PT, and plain massage is not his idea of fun, haha. Though the footrub he gave me the other night was so great I fell asleep drooling while he was doing it!

Im glad to hear that dry needling helps! And you conquered the kitchen! Yah!

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

[V for Vetinari]

On 7/16/2016 at 8:38 PM, black_daquiri said:

 

Baby Overhead Presses

My little baby monster is big enough now that I can use him as an excited, squirmy weight. Seeing his little grin as I lift and lower him is just amazing.

 

At least one set of 5 per day. This will progress as he gains weight through the challenge.

Oh my gosh, the perfect adjustable free weights. Almost makes me want a kid!

 

Almost. I'll settle for the eventual videos of yours.

 

Have you ever watched American Ninja Warrior? There were recent featured videos of contestants training with their children doing exactly that.

 

Good luck with your goals!

[raptron]

Awww, babies are great props.  

[imjustarogue]

5 hours ago, Alexandrite said:

Following! I am married to a PT but dont get the cool benefits as frequently as I want. I told my aunt the other day the massages I get are lackluster at best because he is my husband first before my PT, and plain massage is not his idea of fun, haha. Though the footrub he gave me the other night was so great I fell asleep drooling while he was doing it!

Im glad to hear that dry needling helps! And you conquered the kitchen! Yah!

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Today, I'm hoping to get at least 15 minutes in my office. We'll see how that goes!

 

4 hours ago, M_J said:

Oh my gosh, the perfect adjustable free weights. Almost makes me want a kid!

 

Almost. I'll settle for the eventual videos of yours.

 

Have you ever watched American Ninja Warrior? There were recent featured videos of contestants training with their children doing exactly that.

 

Good luck with your goals!

My sis agreed to video even though I'm sure I'm going to watch it and go "ugh... I look like that??" but, if she can post pictures of her capoeira practicing, I can surely post pictures of me making my baby grin and giggle.

 

1 hour ago, raptron said:

Awww, babies are great props.  

And their smiles are just amazing. <3

[V for Vetinari]

On 20/7/2016 at 11:43 AM, black_daquiri said:

My sis agreed to video even though I'm sure I'm going to watch it and go "ugh... I look like that??" but, if she can post pictures of her capoeira practicing, I can surely post pictures of me making my baby grin and giggle.

 

 

You can do it! Shut that inner critic up and focus on the giggling babee..

[Alexandrite]

Baby workouts are great! Lots of fun to see how much they enjoy being with us, right? And I always laugh because they feel heavier as they fall asleep so it's a better weight system than any actual gear!

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

[imjustarogue]

Week one wrap-up:

 

I did better than I expected, though, still not as good as I'd like. Probably about an 80% in each category. Some days I didn't feel like doing much, so I tried to make it a point to get a point in at least one category and I managed that, at least.

 

Saturday, I helped my mom and her husband move into their new house. Well, I attempted to. I had my left elbow taped from PT to keep me from over-extending it (the tape ended up doing *too* good a job because last night/today, I could hardly straighten it to normal extension!) But anyway, most of my helping was monitoring mom (who has severely bruised knees from a fall last weekend) while she monitored baby in the bajillion degree heat. I helped my brother a bit with trimming some of the bed frame for mom's bed and learned that I can't handsaw a 2x6 in a straightline to save my life. Pretty sure my cut was at this angle: /  Ended up bringing baby back home to air conditioning after a couple hours because it was just too much for him and I couldn't really help much either.

 

It's not a video and it's really jumpy, but here's "me" doing grin-squats today! (it's remarkably difficult to hold your phone while taking photos and squatting at the same time....)

 

 

[Manarelle]

Yeah, this heat is doing no one any favors. Keep you and baby safe! 

 

Could you possibly repost? The video doesn't want to play.  Sounds like making the video was a workout in itself!

[imjustarogue]

Let's try this:

 

Animation is me taking photos of him as I stood and squatted.  

 

I use Google Photos to store everything and it doesn't give me a good share option when I want the image to show rather than just a link.

 

Oh, and tonight was nice out, so husband, bebe, and I went out for a walk. Still pretty humid, so I got all gross slicksweaty. But it was still a nice walk.  

[Manarelle]

That is adorable! What a grin!

[Alexandrite]

Oh my so cute! Looks like he's packing on the pounds like my little man too. I once thought with my first child that he would get a bit lighter when he started crawling, which garnered a sympathetic laugh from my best friend, haha.

Glad to hear week 1 went well overall. Keep at it!

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

[raptron]

The animation is adorableee!

[imjustarogue]

Thanks guys! He's a charmer for sure! 

[imjustarogue]

Since I have a few minutes!

 

Baby's currently practicing his rolling technique. He may rival @tourennatrix some day!

 

This week's been ok. Monday I had PT and that night, the worst "toothache" since it started (ok, probably not the worst, but the worst since we started trying to fix it). It turned into occipital nerve crap too. And it since it hurt so much I wanted to cry, I kept trying to not cry because I knew crying wouldn't help anything and would only give me a headache on top, the act and tension of not crying just aggravated everything else. Tuesday was a recovery day of sorts - everything just had that "after ache."

 

Yesterday, I had PT again. Therapist suggested I go back to the doc, possibly a neurologist, for this and maybe try a trigger point injection to see if we can get the muscle to stop mucking around with the nerves. /sigh

 

Despite all of that and my dumb joint pain elsewhere, I've been trying to keep up with entertaining baby with squats and lifts. I've even managed to get into my office and start cleaning it up. Which involved taking winter stuff upstairs (yes, it's been that long since I've done much of anything in here), throwing away a lot of trash that's just sitting on my desk, and starting on a box of CDs that I've been meaning to rip and upload to Google - which then meant I needed to go through my music library and clean it up before uploading my music (the main reason I haven't done it before. seriously. this box of cds has been sitting in my office since last spring........ like 2015 last spring...). But I made it through my library and I'm about halfway done ripping the discs.

 

And now baby needs some attention, so hopefully I'll have the energy to finish this up later instead of leaving the discs just sitting all over my slightly cleaner desk.

 

Tally-ho!

[Alexandrite]

Since I have a few minutes! [emoji4]

 

Baby's currently practicing his rolling technique. He may rival @tourennatrix some day! [emoji6]

 

This week's been ok. Monday I had PT and that night, the worst "toothache" since it started (ok, probably not the worst, but the worst since we started trying to fix it). It turned into occipital nerve crap too. And it since it hurt so much I wanted to cry, I kept trying to not cry because I knew crying wouldn't help anything and would only give me a headache on top, the act and tension of not crying just aggravated everything else. Tuesday was a recovery day of sorts - everything just had that "after ache."

 

Yesterday, I had PT again. Therapist suggested I go back to the doc, possibly a neurologist, for this and maybe try a trigger point injection to see if we can get the muscle to stop mucking around with the nerves. /sigh

 

Despite all of that and my dumb joint pain elsewhere, I've been trying to keep up with entertaining baby with squats and lifts. I've even managed to get into my office and start cleaning it up. Which involved taking winter stuff upstairs (yes, it's been that long since I've done much of anything in here), throwing away a lot of trash that's just sitting on my desk, and starting on a box of CDs that I've been meaning to rip and upload to Google - which then meant I needed to go through my music library and clean it up before uploading my music (the main reason I haven't done it before. seriously. this box of cds has been sitting in my office since last spring........ like 2015 last spring...). But I made it through my library and I'm about halfway done ripping the discs.

 

And now baby needs some attention, so hopefully I'll have the energy to finish this up later instead of leaving the discs just sitting all over my slightly cleaner desk.

 

Tally-ho!

This sounds so much like my office! A lot of boxes piled up that need attention, mail, shred stuff, all the things that take time and concentration that usually get interrupted as soon as one sits down. Good for you on tackling it!

Hope the last week has treated you well!

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

[imjustarogue]

Geez. Has it really been a week since I updated? Oops.

 

Things are going ok, though I don't really remember much of this week. >.>  Tuesday, I know I went back to the doctor for the shoulder/neck/nerve crap that's been going on and also talked to her about the various joint pains that I've been dealing with since February (which is still primarily my left elbow, but is also still fingers, thumbs, and now knees and ankles... -_-). She had me go ahead and have blood drawn for a bunch of different tests to see if we can determine what's going on rather than just relying on the theory that it's relaxin messing with the joints. 8 vials later... Still waiting for the test results, but here's hoping that if any come back positive for whatever, that it's something that's easy to fix/manage.

 

Yesterday wavered between awesome and frustrating. I finally finished cleaning my office (awesome!) and I rearranged a few things so there's room for baby to hang out when I'm working. I also had a migraine (frustrating!). Took some medicine for it last night which usually helps, but it's still here today. Stupid migraine. 

 

Today, I walked up to the farmer's market as is becoming tradition. Hoped that the walk would help with the migraine. It did not. Neither did the shower afterwards. Taking one of the muscle relaxants I have for my shoulder, plus some ibuprofen, so let's all cross our fingers.

 

As far as fitness challenges go, I'm still sitting at 3-4 sets of squats/lifts during the week. I can do more of them at a time, but still not more frequently, so I guess that's an improvement. Baby now weighs 16lbs, so that's a nice weight to lift!

 

And now it's lunchtime for baby. Hehe

[Manarelle]

"You're tired and aching? Let's pull a bunch of blood out of you!" Hope you get good news from the doc, and soon. 

 

On 8/6/2016 at 2:39 PM, black_daquiri said:

As far as fitness challenges go, I'm still sitting at 3-4 sets of squats/lifts during the week. I can do more of them at a time, but still not more frequently, so I guess that's an improvement. Baby now weighs 16lbs, so that's a nice weight to lift!

 

Doing more squats with a heavier weight? Sounds like progress to me.  Here's to this next week being less painful all around!

[imjustarogue]

Me too - though I think it'll be mid-next week before I get any results. :/

 

Starting to contemplate my next challenge. I think I'm ready to add yoga back into my routine. I'm mentally ready to start restrengthening my core muscles, so now I need to physically do it, and I have a good routine to use (and that's easy to modify, if needed). Plus, I'm ready to get my 1/2 hr to myself a few days a week.  And if I can't yoga by myself, babe's 5mo now, so he can be entertained while I exercise.  

[Alexandrite]

Me too - though I think it'll be mid-next week before I get any results. :/

 

Starting to contemplate my next challenge. I think I'm ready to add yoga back into my routine. I'm mentally ready to start restrengthening my core muscles, so now I need to physically do it, and I have a good routine to use (and that's easy to modify, if needed). Plus, I'm ready to get my 1/2 hr to myself a few days a week. [emoji14] And if I can't yoga by myself, babe's 5mo now, so he can be entertained while I exercise. [emoji5] 

Yoga is definitely something I look forward to more than squats. Glad we are finally reaching that point! Great work so far, let's finish out the challenge strong!

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

[imjustarogue]

Wrap-up!

 

I think my challenge ended up ok. I'm much more consistent with baby lifts - those grins! And I kind of fell off the spreadsheet with logging my squats because I'd do a small set, but then I squat all. the. time. what with squatting to pick him up, squatting to tickle his belly, squatting to sometimes change his diaper, etc. and so on and so much squatting.

 

Last week husband was gone, so I did more household stuff than I logged just because it needed to be done and I was the only one to do it. So there's that.

 

Decided to join NF Academy because I have a lot of things I want to be able to do next year, but I need some sort of structure to get started. I *feel* like I'm in worse shape than I was a couple years ago before I started running and with all of the stupid aches and pains I've been having since pregnancy, I'm struggling to get moving again because I feel like I can't do anything. For example, last night, I went for a walk with my husband and baby and around the 2-block mark, I took a step and twinged my knee. I could feel what happened - the hypermobility in my knee struck and instead of my knee staying just slightly bent as I landed on my heel, my knee thought it'd be fun to lock/bend back a bit. After three times of that, I handed the reigns over to husband for the stroller and started walking slower with tiny steps so I'd land flat-footed instead of roll heel-to-toe. Completely made me feel like I wasn't getting a decent walk (though the logic part of me realizes that I was working out the best I could).

 

Things like that. So, I signed up so I could have a bit of structure. Figure out what I can do and use that as my starting point. Today's supposed to be my "take photos" day, but lack of sleep has me in a mood of grumps, so I'm holding off a bit - I don't really want my photos to be full of resting bitch face. >.>

 

Instead of photos, I'll go work on my next challenge.  

[tourennatrix]

But resting bitch face is great for 'before' photos?

[tourennatrix]

So where's the next challenge?  BlackDaiquiri Joins the Academy for Gifted Youngsters?