February Update Back to Work, Fitness and some Meal Planning

I’ve been back to work from maternity leave for about three weeks now and it’s still an adjustment. Both financially and emotionally. I hate leaving my child in daycare but I have no choice in the matter since my family lives in PA. I like the fact that I only work four days a week (I have Wednesdays off) so I can concentrate on housework and blogging. And get to cuddle an extra day with my Little Face.

I’ve also resumed my writing on the ConXion website and have started writing for Parent Society. Very excited to go deeper into motherhood and parenting on that site!

With going back to work, our weeknights have been rough. I hate that the boys always have food on the brain. So I’ve decided to try meal planning since I’ve got the emeals subscription for that reason. I was inspired by Modern Mami to start meal planning and because I never know what to cook I’ve downloaded a few apps on my phone. I’m ALWAYS looking for new apps so if you have any to share please do!

I just downloaded the All Recipes app which is cute because you can shake it to get random meals. The food spinner is nice. You can choose from type of meal (dinner, breakfast appetizer) to ingredients (vegetable, pork, chicken) and how many minutes you have to prepare it. You can save meals as favorites to go back to. I also downloaded Grocery Pal so basically I use the All Recipes app to meal plan and then the Grocery Pal to make my grocery list for the week and check for any sales based on what I’m making that week. It’s pretty sweet because it pulls sales from the nearest grocery stores and shows you how much they are. Even though we only shop at one store. I never venture outside of Wegmans! And they have an app!

I’ve been extremely anxious to return to my baby weight since the baby’s been born. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I’m competitive with myself and my last two pregnancies were so different. I carried Booba longer and was 30 pounds lighter at birth than I was AFTER BIRTH with Little Face. Those are the same 30 pounds I am trying to lose. Another small peice of it is that since I’m an apple shape it’s concentrated around my middle which is the WORST weight to have. Add to that my serious family history of high blood pressure, diabetes and strokes, both my parents had strokes in their 40′s, my late brother passed away from a heart attack when he was 43 and my other brother suffers from high blood pressure as well. Add to that I had gestational diabetes with Booba and preeclampsia with Little Face it just makes things so complicated. Once I hit a certain number, everything takes a turn for the worse. My cholesterol starts creeping up, my asthma gets noticeably worse. It’s just plain annoying. But my body went through a lot with the complications I had at birth and after birth so I’m trying to give myself a break.

I’ve been looking into some sites for weight loss and I love Skinny Mom’s blog. I’m subscribed to that and I love to check out Back on Pointe. It’s a tumblr page where she posts some great excersizes you can do at home without equipment. I don’t have time to go to the gym right now so this is the next best thing. I save her workouts as pictures on my phone. I have a bunch of workouts in my fitness album. I also save the monthly calendar as my wallpaper on my phone. Some weeks are better than others but I’m trying! I follow a great Latina Fitness Blogger on FB called Fit Latina. Hoping she gets her site up soon! I also have a Pinterest album called Werk! where I save my fitness pins.

On a shopping freeze. You’ve heard of a hiring freeze right? This is the same but for shopping. Companies decide there’s no money in the budget for new hires when there’s a hiring freeze and I’ve decided there’s no room in my closet, dresser drawers and bathroom. I’ve also called it a beauty time out in the past, but this time it’s both fashion and beauty. My closet has gotten so bad I had to add a shelf so I can move my jeans and fold them on the shelf to make room for more clothes. I’m not joking. And I have a pretty decent sized closet. My shoe game is out of control too. That includes accessories (belts, jewelry, hair stuff) and cosmetics. I wish spring was already here so I can do spring cleaning but in the meantime I’m done shopping for the season. My dresser drawers are crying. I have started selling my maternity clothes on ebay to make space and use the money to decorate the house. So instead of shopping for fashion I’m shopping for design. Style is style right?

Instagraming!

Here are some my fave pics of the month:  

Sharing a mini haul from Sephora. Loving my pen they gifted me at work. My Little Face growing up. My HK gym bag. Trying to get it in!

My weekend outfit. Changing my fave perfume into a prettier locket. My favorite workout song, DY’s Pasarela. My HK neon sweater.

Trying to keep up the blogging this month, expect some product reviews, a few giveaways and some date and outfit ideas for Valentine’s Day! Including some great makeup looks! Stay tuned!