YMCA

Tuesday Elise and I finally signed up for the Y. Now we just have to try to work the Y into our schedules. Tricky, that. Even though I seem to have all sorts of time, I need to coordinate with Blake for babysitting, or put Hera in the daycare at the Y. Which is probably fine, but I don't know that we are quite ready for that. I also have Elise's schedule to think about. We want to work out together at least a couple of times a week. We can either go on her lunch hour, or wait till after she is done with work. Today we went during her lunch, and that was ok. We will have to get ourselves organized in order to make the best of the 1 hour we have before she has to get back to her desk. The good thing about going at 11 was that there were plenty of parking spaces. We were able to do 20 minutes on the Eliptical machines, and that was ok. If we were just walking around my neighbor hood we would have done longer, but today was a good day to workout indoors. It got pretty hot, and there were fires nearby, so the air quality was not good. I am glad that we got the memberships, and I hope we use them well.

New Schedule

Last week school started for my boys. My schedule is all off because of it. I am still staying up too late, so I am having a hard time getting going in the morning. I am bound to miss the alarm clock soon and make everyone late! Also, I got sick last weekend because I guess I haven't been drinking enough water. I tried to cut out Diet Cola, but didn't replace it with anything. I thought I lost a bit of weight, but it was probably just water that I lost. I ended up getting a UTI on Friday night that would not go away. Saturday, after pounding down at least 12 cups of liquid- oj, soymilk, cranberry juice, and water- I went to the doctor. She said I was a little dehydrated! So now I am really trying to make sure I drink enough all day. I was pretty wiped out all weekend. Meds seem to be doing the trick, though, and I am feeling pretty normal now.

Elise and I finally went to the YMCA and signed up. I hope we get to use it enough to get our money's worth. That is sort of the point, though. Gotta use it if we paid for it. Also, it should give us some variety, as well as an air conditioned place to work out. Now we just have to find the time to go together!

Ice Skating with Malcolm

Today I got to go Ice Skating with Malcolm. It was a summer scout activity--the final event of the summer. I haven't been skating since High School. I actually hung onto my skates for a long time--I only gave them up after one of our moves here in California. It just didn't seem right to hang onto them and never use them. Wish I had them today, though. I would have felt that much cooler with my own skates. As it was, I was happy that I could still skate. Malcolm was pretty hesitant to go. I just had to really insist. He was great! He went around the rink 2 or 3 times, hugging the side, and didn't fall once. He had fun, although he thought it was freezing cold. He was amazed that they could keep the rink so cold when it was so hot outside. (I actually thought the rink was a little too warm for good ice!)

I think I will be sore tomorrow from the skating. I don't think I got my heart rate up too much, but I did get going pretty good and could see ice skating as a possible exercise activity. I wonder if Elise would like to join me?

Walking.

I have been walking quite a bit this week, both with Elise and on my own. I actually walked long enough and fast enough that I got all sweaty and needed a cool down. I forgot how sweaty you can get when you have been working hard and then stop. The heart races on, while the body rests. I have to remind myself to keep moving until my heart slows down. I think that needing a cool down shows me that I am actually pushing myself. And it feels pretty good after the sweating and heart pumping stops.

Social Life

I was talking to my mom yesterday and she asked how my social life was. I didn't have much of an answer. I spend pretty much all of my time with my kids. I do walk with Elise, and we have gone out shopping and had our hair done together, so I guess that counts. We even have plans to go to a movie soon. And today I got to have lunch with Priscilla and friends.

Priscilla is the first friend I met in California, and one of the most social people I have ever met. 2 weeks after moving here, the boys and I were going stir crazy in our little apartment, so we ran away to a park. Priscilla was there. She was supposed to be meeting someone, but the other party did not show. So she made friends with me. She has two boys, one Roman's age and another a year younger. She invited me to join their Friday playdates. Each Friday, I found my way over to The Boat Park so that Roman could play with these great kids- Elijah, Baba, Bryce and Quinn, Ethan, and others. Of course I got to have grownup mommy talk while the kids played. It was fun in the California sun! So we did that for a while, and then we started going out as moms once a month just for fun. We became good friends, but then Priscillia moved away. Now whenever she comes to town, she gets a group of girls together for dinner. We go to this nice little Italian place downtown to eat, and then usually close down a coffee shop nearby. It takes a lot of talking to catch up. We talk about our kids, and our husbands, and our friends, and our selves. We talk plans, and fears, and old adventures. We talk and laugh until we almost lose our voices, and then we talk and laugh some more. It's very therapeutic.

I really wish Priscilla hadn't moved. As I said, she is the most social person I have ever met. I would love to recreate that energy. I have learned a lot from her about how to be a friend. I need to try to put more of that into practice. She has lots of friends at once, and seems to manage them all. I am more like my boys--One friend at at time. I think that is something I can work on.

Tired

Didn't do much in the way of exercise today. Too tired from staying up too late. I did get a few things done around the house, though. (Found my high school diploma, and my college transcript--I need both to apply for jobs.) And I took Hera and the boys over to the Library park after dinner. We walked over and played a bit and walked back. It was something, at least. And now I am up late again for no good reason.

Work? Or not?

Work is an area of concern for me right now. This last year I was employed by the Burbank School District as an Instructional Assistant. I worked with kids in 4th and 5th grade who needed help learning English. I really enjoyed it, and decided to continue with it after Hera was born. Blake rearranged his work schedule so that he could babysit Hera, and we made it work. The schedule was a bit challenging, but it was fulfilling for me, and the money helped out.

This summer I received notice that I would not be returning to that job as I had been "Bumped". There were many layoffs happening in Burbank this year, and basically, someone higher on the ladder was offered my job. OK timing in a way. Since Blake is working so much overtime, I was having second thoughts about going back and asking him to babysit again. Plus, I know Hera will only be little for a little while, and it would be good to stay home with her. She is very clingy with mommy right now, and would probably notice if I was gone for 3+ hours each day. So I got myself thinking I would just stay home and maybe in a year I could go back. I am on the rehire list with BUSD for almost 3 years--something is sure to come up in that time.

Then I found out that there is a position open in the district that I qualify for on paper pretty well. It is the Environmental Science Park Instructional Aide. Basically I would be running the garden program at an elementary school. It is 3 hours a day and pays slightly more than my last job. I wouldn't be teaching reading or helping kids with their English, but I would be doing the science and plant stuff. I actually used to dream up this job for myself before I knew it existed. I still regret that I didn't take over the Kindergarten garden at Disney. I had plans! They involved pumpkins, nasturtiums, and butterfly plants--corn even. I offered to help at the Disney Garden, but never actually found my way over to do it. And that is just it. I always have plans and ideas, but rarely follow through on them. That is just exactly the part of me I am trying to change. I need MOTION! Not stagnation.

And is it really so bad that Hera learn to rely on someone other than me? I imagine her crying and looking for me for hours, but it would probably only be minutes, and she really loves her daddy, too. And hopefully Blake could get enough sleep and do his long runs and writing sessions on the weekends. It could be a great experience for me, even if I only do it for a year. And if I do it for a year, I might just really love it and keep doing it for a few years. Or I might love it and get bumped again. Which might also be good, since it would kick my butt to school or something like that.

Of course, I will have to apply. I think I have "blogged" myself into it. And I might not even get the job, in which case I can stay home with Hera till something comes up. Not so bad, really.

Before Picture

This is me, now. Sydney. Here. At this point in time, this is the shape I am in. My baby, Hera, is almost 8 months old now. I wasn't in great shape before I had her, and since then, I have gained 2 full sizes. My resting heart rate is about 80 bpm, and I am totally weak. I'm almost 35 and I ain't gettin' any younger!

I have a plan.

I have been walking with my friend, Elise, for most of the summer. She works right around the corner from my new apartment. I throw Hera into the stroller and we walk for about a half hour either on Elise's lunch break or after she finishes for the day. We talk a lot, and we motivate each other. Hera seems to like it. We have also decide that we will join a gym. YMCA-probably this week. That way we can do something other than just walk in the hot summer sun.

I also want to run. When Elise was gone a couple of weeks ago, I took Hera in the stroller to the high school track and did a mile+. I walked the curves and ran the straights. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, and I wasn't in pain for the rest of the week. Then last Sunday, I did another mile the same way, only this time Malcolm raced me. He won, easily. But I did run just a little more of the track, and I felt great. I even walked another mile just for fun afterwords. My goal is to be able to run a mile. Then, we'll see.