Welcome Steph!

Yay, Steph’s in the building!  So glad you could join.  It was so great seeing you in November when you made your trip to Seattle.  I always wish we could have more time together though.  It sounds like you guys had a pretty busy holiday but a fun one.  Ours was pretty laid back with family over on Christmas day and a nice dinner with my family on New Years.  I loved just getting to spend so much time with my boys.  Going back to work was tough!

I agree on the getting back to better eating.  I hear you on the whole feeling puffy, but I can’t say I regret all the food I ate.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t come without consequences.  But my diet is mostly cleaned up again and I’m back to my lifting schedule.  I’ve learned that I need to have a set schedule for working out because if I have to put any thought into it, I won’t do it.  So, Monday, Wednesday and Friday are workout days, at a minimum.  Sometimes I’ll throw in a little cardio on Tuesday if I’m feeling motivated. 

The diet, I find, is often the toughest part of getting back on track.  I am quite lucky though because my husband is interested in nutrition and he makes sure that we’re eating healthy meals.  He also does all the shopping and cooking.  I know, I’m really lucky.  The main thing I have to worry about is my snacking habit.  Since I don’t do any cooking, I don’t really have any recipes to share but I can tell you some of Matt’s favorite cookbooks and chefs.  The Complete America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook is one we both use because all of their recipes are tested, so there’s a fairly high level of confidence that it will turn out good.  We eat Mexican a fair amount and Rick Bayless is one of his favorites.  Matt does a lot of grilling as well and Steve Raichlen has some good books for that.  We’re still trying to do the whole Paleo thing so I think that helps with healthy options.  I’ll try to get you some of the better cookbooks for those types of recipes. 

That’s great that Chace is getting speech therapy through the school system.  You may or may not remember that Chris went through speech therapy and we went through an independent therapist.  He also used the binky a bit longer than he probably should have, so don’t feel guilty.  It’s tough to know when it’s time to ween them off, especially since it is a form of comfort.  I think subconsciously we want our kids to stay babies so we’re not always in a hurry to get them to grow up.  I struggle with that all the time.

I love your resolution to be gentler on yourself and being mindful of self-care.  That’s something I need to work on more.  Perhaps you can share some tips on how you are working towards that goal.  I think we all function better and are kinder to each other when we take care of ourselves first.  It seems like a simple idea but putting it into practice is another story.  I definitely hope we talk again about how the resolutions are going because self-improvement is always on my mind.  I’m so glad we’re doing this too!

Love and miss you too!
Michelle