This Week’s Menu

Prepping the filling for Summer Veggie Penne Bake

After dropping the ball entirely last week in the menu department (and scrambling to throw something together on a nightly basis), I decided to be on the top of my game heading into this week. I hit up the farmer’s market and got some gorgeous produce. Fresh kale (for our smoothies), tomatoes, green beans, corn, green peppers, eggplants plus I still have some squash and zucchini from our friends. This, my friends, is my favorite thing about summer. Our menu for this week is centered around all that glorious produce. Here’s what’s on tap this week:

Monday: Mexican bar (fajitas, burritos, or tacos)
Tuesday: Summer veggies penne bake (recipe will be posted this week)
Wednesday: Grilled chicken and veggies (zucchini, eggplants, onions)
Thursday: Fasolakia (Greek green beans and potatoes)
Friday: Build your own pizza

For lunch this week, I’m going with my go-to 3 things to keep it easy:

Tuna salad
Egg salad
3-bean salad

One thing I did differently this past week (which resulted in a 1.5 lb. weight loss!) was that I started adding smoothies to my morning routine instead of just after dinner. Every day this week, I made one large smoothie and drank half of it around 8am and the other half around noon. I had my coffee and a Greek yogurt with honey in between and bumped back my lunch time until 1:30 or 2pm. This way, I wasn’t starving heading into dinner so I ate a smaller portion. Oh and I increased the size of my dinner salad as well. The smoothies I’ve been making for breakfast are generally as follows:

Parker sucking down The Hulk

1 large handful spinach
1 kale leaf
1 handful of frozen strawberries
1 handful of frozen blueberries
1 banana
1 Tbs. flax seed
12 oz. soy milk (or almond milk)

Trust me, as long as your smoothie is thoroughly blended (I let mine go for about 60 seconds), you won’t even taste the spinach or kale. It tastes good, it’s filling and it really works towards balancing the Ph in your system (I’ll talk more about this later in the month).

Our “dessert” smoothie, aptly named The Hulk, has been spinach, kale, mangoes, pineapple, banana, a whole orange and enough OJ to blend it smoothly.

Now for the best news – everything is already prepped for pretty much the entire week! The summer veggies penne bake is already assembled in a casserole dish and just waiting to be popped in the oven. The green peppers, onions and flank steak are already sliced into strips for the fajitas and the taco meat is already made. As a bonus, I froze half of the taco meat so that I’ll have it ready to go for another week since beef burritos are one of Parker’s favorite foods. The green beans are cleaned and prepped and for grilled chicken and veggies night, everything is washed and ready to slap on the grill.

I can’t tell you how great it feels heading into the week with everything ready to go. This prep will allow me to make sure that I have time to get in my workouts! I’m going to optimistically set my weight loss goal for the 30 day challenge to 5 lbs. I’m not sure if I can make it, but I’m definitely going to give it my best shot.

Zucchini Angel Hair Pancake

One thing that we’ve become much more attuned to since moving to a rural area is knowing which vegetables are in season. That’s attributed to two things: (1) our weekly trek to the farmer’s market, and (2) having friends with gardens. Even though we didn’t plant anything other than herbs this year, I have zucchini coming out of my ears thanks to our friends’ generosity. Since zucchini don’t keep longer than a week once picked, I got to work looking for a recipe that both boys would eat.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Cooking Light recipes have never failed me and as luck would have it, their issues tend to coincide with what’s in season. So, I perused the latest issue, found exactly what I was looking for and got to work. Here’s what you need for this Zucchini Angel Hair Pancake or as I told Parker, “Medusa’s Hair on a Plate.” Hey, whatever works, right?

3 cups shredded zucchini (I grated mine)
8 oz. angel hair pasta, cooked (I used about 6 oz.)
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
2 Tbs. diced onions (they called for shallots, but I didn’t have any)
1 Tbs. chopped fresh basil
1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano (I’m sure dried would be fine)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs, beaten (I only used 1 egg)
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Marinara sauce

After you grate your zucchini, squeeze all the liquid out and dry it between paper towels to get rid of the excess moisture. Put the zucchini in a large bowl and add in the rest of the ingredients.

Get your marinara sauce simmering on the stove just to heat it up.

In a medium sized skillet, heat either 1 tablespoon of butter or olive oil. Add in 1/3 of the zucchini mixture to the skillet, making sure to spread it evenly across the pan. Cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Carefully flip the pancake and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve with a healthy serving of marinara sauce and enjoy! I made 2 pancakes last night for dinner and I have enough to make one last one for lunch today. I’ll let you know how the mixture did sitting for one day.

Are. You. Ready?!?

Alright everyone, August 1 is almost here, which means that we’re about to embark on our first 30 Day Challenge. The purpose of these challenges is to do something that’s fun, good for you and to do it with others who are making the choice to improve their lives. The first challenge sounds simple in theory, but it’s going to take a firm commitment on all of our parts to make it to the end.

August Challenge: 30 Days of Exercise

I thought this was a good one to help us all get used to the idea of committing to something for 30 days straight. The beauty of this is that exercise can take so many forms. The goal should be to get in at least 25-30 minutes of movement, but that can be done in one chunk or broken up into three 10 minute workouts during the day. Also, please don’t be intimidated or put off by the word “workout.” If it gets your heart rate up, it counts!

Here are some ideas to help get you started and to give you some variety:

• Walking
• Dancing
• Jump roping
• Running
• Elliptical
• Yoga
• Cycling
• Swimming
• Any workout DVDs
• Med Ball 200 or 400

I’ll be posting various workouts of all skill levels throughout the month on Daily Cynema’s Facebook page (which just launched today) and you’ll be able to do almost all of them at home. With that said, here are just some friendly reminders:

1. Start out slowly. If it’s been a while since you’ve exercised (or if you aren’t used to exercising daily), please start out slowly. Otherwise, you may end up with an injury, feeling defeated or just plain burned out. The key here is to make exercise and fitness part of your daily life, kind of like brushing your teeth.

2. Build in rest days. Walking is great for both exercise AND recovery. If you wake up feeling sore, make your next day’s exercise a long walk to help loosen those muscles. Or, walk for the first 10 days and slowly build up to lifting weights or jumping rope.

3. Have fun. Chasing your kids at the park or going for an evening bike ride is a great form of exercise. Whether you’re running 10 miles or playing a pick-up game of soccer with your 4 year old, make sure that it’s something that you enjoy doing.

4. Stay hydrated. Man, it is hot this summer! Regardless of what your daily exercise looks like, bump up your water intake. It’s good for you and it’s a great way to cool your system down.

5. Remind yourself why you are making this commitment. Whether it’s to feel better about yourself, to improve your health, to keep up with your kids or simply to maintain your current level of fitness, the WHY is a very important component in reaching your goals.

6. Check in often! Whether you are looking for support or just want to share your progress, let’s all connect on the Daily Cynema Facebook page to keep each other motivated throughout the month. If you need a boost to help get yourself moving, just think of how amazing you’re going to feel come August 31st when you’ve reached your goal.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready to rumble and knock the last of this baby weight out of the park!

Lasagna, Two Ways

For years, I had been making a spinach lasagna the way that my mother used to. It was a recipe staple around here and I thought that we were set for life in the lasagna department. And then, a dear friend of ours brought us a frozen tray of her lasagna to eat after Lexi’s birth. When we got around to eating it, the Irishman and I looked at each other and we had a shared moment of veggie lasagna bliss, at which point he said to me, “Please learn how to make this. And add meat. Thank you.” I was happy to oblige him.

As an aside, let me clarify that he doesn’t make these requests because he thinks that women should be in the kitchen and all that other nonsense. It’s much simpler (and less insulting) than that. Frankly, he isn’t allowed in my kitchen when I’m home and if he does cook something, I need all evidence of his presence completely erased. I mean, it’s not an actual house rule (like don’t put your shoes on the couch and never eat the last Girl Scout cookie), but whenever he goes into the kitchen, I hover like a mother hen. The kitchen is my sacred place. It’s my happy place. Does this sound militant? Yes. Does it work for us? Yes. Now that I’ve confirmed my wackiness, let’s get back to the lasagna.

So, I found out that the difference between her lasagna and mine wasn’t necessarily in the specific ingredients, but in the fact that she used whole slices of mozzarella while I had been using the grated stuff. Seriously, that one switch made such a big difference. But, I figured that while I was at it, I might as well tweak the whole recipe to suit our tastes, so here is the Daily Cynema’s lasagna, take two. One last point, I’m going to give you two different ingredient lists – one is for meat lasagna and one is for veggie. The assembly steps are the same for both.

Ingredients for meat lasagna:  
3/4 lb. ground beef or turkey
3/4 lb. bulk sausage
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jumbo container pasta sauce (like Ragu)
1 large container ricotta cheese
1 package sliced mozzarella
1 egg
1 tsp. of each oregano, parsely, salt and pepper
parmesan cheese
9 lasagna noodles

Ingredients for vegetarian lasagna:  
2 cups diced veggies (squash, zucchini, broccoli, mushrooms)
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jumbo container pasta sauce (like Ragu)
1 large container ricotta cheese
1 package sliced mozzarella
1 egg
1 tsp. of each oregano, parsely, salt and pepper
parmesan cheese
9 lasagna noodles

(Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.) For the meat lasagna filling, go ahead and brown your meat. When it’s almost cooked all the way through, add in the onions and garlic and cook for an additional 5 minutes or so. For the veggie lasagna filling, saute all of the vegetables together in a bit of olive oil for about 10 minutes or until they are soft. For both fillings, you’re going to add in the pasta sauce to either the veggies or the meat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes or so.

While the sauce is simmering, we’re going to boil the lasagna noodles. Once the water comes up to a boil, cook the noodles for about 7 minutes so that they are still very al dente.

While you’re waiting for the sauce and the noodles to cook, go ahead and mix together 1 beaten egg, 1 container ricotta cheese and your seasonings (parsley, oregano, salt, pepper).

Then it’s time to assemble the lasagna! Here’s the order of layering.

1. A small amount of the sauce mixture
2. three lasagna noodles
3. 1/2 the ricotta mixture
4. sliced of mozzarella cheese
5. 1/3 the remaining sauce mixture
6. three lasagna noodles
7. 1/2 ricotta mixture
8. slices of mozzarella cheese
9. 1/3 sauce mixture
10. Final three lasagna noodles
11. Remaining sauce mixture

Once the lasagna is assembled, you can top it with some shredded mozzarella (if you have it on hand) and some grated Parmesan cheese. Bake it for 45 minutes (covered for the first 30 minutes) or until all the cheese is melted throughout. Then, allow it to set for 10-15 minutes so that it somewhat holds together when you serve it. Trust me, this one is definitely worth the wait.

PS – I wish I had a picture to show you, but I made it last weekend when we had company and there was none left. I’ll add in a photo as soon as I make it again, which will be very soon!

Odds and Ends

Do you ever feel like something big is about to happen, but you don’t know what it is? It’s a sense of building anticipation and it almost feels like the jitters I used to get before a big race back in my swimming days. The night before the race, I would always feel a preternatural calm as if every cell in my being was conserving energy. And then, on the morning of the race, a slow burn would build in my body until the moment that I would burst off of the blocks with an explosion of energy that was the physical equivalent of screaming on the top of my lungs.

I’m not sure what’s coming, but I know it’s going to be good. I feel like a kid in the weeks before Christmas. Waiting. Anticipating. Savoring that feeling of good will. When I find out what “it” is, I’ll be sure to let you know, but at the moment, I’m scrambling to regain my focus for the week. Alas, I have no menu for you today. That’s partly due to my scatterbrained-ness and partly due to the fact that I’m driving into Asheville tomorrow to do my shopping at my favorite organic market. Once I get home, I’ll build my menu around the goodies that I find.

I’m also getting organized with the series of 30 Day Challenges that we’re going to do. I’m thinking we should start in August. Which is next Monday (!!). I keep waffling between whether I want to start with a food challenge or an exercise challenge, and I think that exercise is winning. To get our feet wet, I thought that we could start off with a general one like the “30 Days of Exercise” challenge. Then, we’ll move on to more structured/disciplined things. I’m loving this idea and it will feel good to take control and make changes towards well-being.

While I ponder these organizational issues for the next week, here are some sweet shots of Lexi, who decided to play coy for most of the impromptu photo shoot.

See what I mean? Still, look at her perfectly round little head.

I have to say that I’m really enjoying her current butterball state since Parker was (from the day on his birth) built like a string bean.

Oh look! She finally looked at the camera….

aaaand there’s my smile. I had to work for it (it’s a good thing that this camera doesn’t have audio), but any amount of me looking silly is worth it when I get one of those sweet, toothless smiles.

Barbecue Meatballs

My husband is obsessed with this recipe, which we got from his grandmother. He’s taken a large crockpot full of them twice to work functions in the last month and until two days ago, I hadn’t gotten around to tasting the barbecue sauce. To put it bluntly, it rocked my socks off. So, I scrambled to get permission to share it and now I lovingly give it to all of you. Happy day!

Sauce Ingredients:
1.5 cups ketchup
1 cup water
3 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons mustard
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 drops of Tabasco sauce
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons chopped onions
4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Combine all of the ingredients together in a large saucepan. Once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2-3 hours. You can add either frozen or fresh meatballs, but if they’re fresh, saute them in a separate pan first since the frozen ones are generally fully cooked. I usually add the meatballs in during the last hour of the cooking process. I generally refrigerate the sautepan overnight and then transfer the meatballs (and all of the sauce) to a crockpot the next morning so that the Irishman could take it to work and keep the meatballs warm all day long. Needless to say, he didn’t have any left to bring home.

How Parenting Made A Liar Out Of Me

Before you have kids, knowing how you’ll parent is kind of like knowing what you’d do if you came upon a bear in the woods. Hypothetically, you’d like to think that you know how you’ll react (play dead), but when confronted with the reality of the situation, only time will tell what you really end up doing (scream and run like hell…in both situations). As I think about the last 5 years of our parenting journey, these are just a few of the ways that parenting made a total liar out of me.

1. “My kid is going to learn to nap where ever we are and if that happens to be home, (s)he better get used to the regular noise level of the house.” This was the absolute first time I had to eat my words. Parker was such a horrible sleeper that if I had to dance the Macarena while wearing a tutu to get him to sleep, I would have gladly done it. On National TV. Thankfully, he was fine sleeping while out and about (in a car seat, stroller, etc…), but at home, all the conditions had to be just right in order for him to get some shut eye. Lexi is the same way. I go directly to “ninja stealth mode” the second she falls asleep so that I can maximize nap time. It’s the only way that I’d get anything done around here.

2. “I would never leash my child. Seriously, can’t people control their kids without treating them like dogs?” Man, oh man, did I judge people who used those
leash backpacks on their kids. They looked so demeaning and unnatural that my pre-parent instinct was to label parents who used them as either lazy (not wanting to chase after their kids) or paranoid. That was, of course, until we took Parker to Paris when he was 2-years-old. Someone had bought the monkey-leash-backpack thing for us as a gift and I took it with us to use as a backpack. And then Parker almost got flatted by a Parisian cab because he decided to start playing this new game called “Let’s wait until mommy relaxes to try and break her grip and run straight into the street near the Notre Dame cathedral.” Two hours (and a massive parental heart attack) later, the backpack WITH the adjoining leash were out in full effect. I have to admit, I was definitely embarrassed to be using the thing and my face burned in shame when a playground full of Parisian middle schoolers pointed and laughed at Parker (I had to seriously refrain from giving them the finger), but my son was safe. At the end of the day, judgment doesn’t matter, but his safety does.

3. “My child will eat whatever s(he) is served. End of story.” It goes without saying that food has become our biggest battle with Parker. While we have finally gotten firm with him in the last year (he must try something at least once and no desserts or treats without finishing dinner first), he is the typical chicken nugget/mac and cheese/plain spaghetti eating kid. Again, this is an embarrassment to me because I am quite an adventurous eater and pride myself on trying new and exotic recipes. To be honest with you, I don’t even know how this one happened. Well, that’s not necessarily true. I mean, I know HOW it happened (we made him something different to eat than what we were eating). What I meant was that I don’t really know why we started this. The first year of Parker’s life is such a sleep-deprived blur to me that I can’t for the life of me remember the dynamics of when he started eating solids. I can tell you that I’ll be vigilant with Lexi to at least start her on the right track in the food department. With that said, I can’t promise that I won’t eat my words on this one a second time.

4. “My kids will not watch television for the first two years and after that, all screens will only be available in very limited doses.” I will say that Parker did not watch TV for about the first year. But then on one fateful day, I was flipping through channels and passed by Curious George on PBS. For the 5 seconds that Curious George was on the television, Parker sat stock still, staring at the little monkey. As any parents of a new walker knows, chasing after a newly-minted toddler is relentless. So, you can imagine my surprise (and secret glee) over the fact that my child could be entertained for even a precious 15 minutes while I cooked/folded laundry/sat still. Now, there is a secret to the “screens to entertain my child” equation. Screen time really does need to be allowed in small doses or it loses it’s appeal. If we’re going on a long car trip, we’ll buy a new DVD or two to help keep Parker quiet and now that we have an iPad, he’s allowed to play with it for 30 minutes on weekdays and 1 hour on the weekends (unless we’re at the doctor’s office, on a long car ride, etc…). The rest of the time, it’s up to us to play good old fashioned games like Memory and Yatzee or to head outdoors to run or bike (which Parker prefers anyways). Still, it’s nice to have the TV and iPad as a backup for when we need a bit of help in the entertainment department.

5. “I’m not going to bribe my children. I expect them to listen to me.” If I had a dollar for each time I heard myself offer up a bribe in exchange for Parker to eat/sleep/sit quietly, my fortune would rival that of Bill Gates. Bribes come in the form of dessert, special trips and toys. I sometimes like to lie to myself and say that this is a form of positive reinforcement, but let’s be real here. It’s a bribe, pure and simple. The fact of the matter is that parents need to use whatever tools are in their arsenal to keep from going insane.

So there you have it, proof of my childless self-righteousness turned humble parent of two. What’s more is that I’m sure this list will be 43 pages long by the time that the kids are grown and out of the house. Are any of these good parenting practices? Probably not. I’m sure that the experts would say that I’m compromising my authority and instilling bad habits. With that said, in my experience, parenting doesn’t happen in a clinical setting. It happens in the real world, which (in our case) more closely resembles the main tent of a large and unruly circus.

So tell me, has parenting made a liar out of you too? Please say yes and keep me company in my mommy guilt!

Tervis Tumblers! My New Favorite Cups

A couple of weeks ago, I was at a friend’s house having a glass of water after our morning walk. The first thing I noticed about the cup was that, even though it had ice in it, there was no condensation on the outside. When I commented on that fact, my friend, Kim, couldn’t believe that I didn’t own any myself. Apparently, the cups are called Tervis Tumblers and every self-respecting Floridian should own one since they’re manufactured there. How I went 32 years without knowing about these cups is beyond me, but as soon as I got home, I ordered some for our house. It’s safe to say that now, I’m a little bit obsessed and here’s why.

1. As I mentioned above, they do not sweat. Like, at all. Considering the number of glass rings I have on half the furniture in our house, this is definitely a good thing.

2. They have a lifetime warranty. If they ever break or start collecting condensation, just send in the broken cups and they’ll ship you new ones. For real! The cups aren’t cheap, but with little ones around the house, I’m happy to pay for something that is guaranteed to be virtually indestructible.

3. They can be used for hot and cold liquids. Stop the presses! As soon as I saw that, I bought the largest size they had (24 oz.) to use as a coffee mug while I’m teaching. I have been lamenting for years that I couldn’t find a travel coffee mug bigger than 16 oz. that fit in my car cup holder. My plight is over and my caffeine addiction remains sustained. I don’t need to tell you how happy this makes me.

4. They have lids and straws that fit. I could lie and say that I’m happy about this for Parker’s sake, but the truth is that I’ve sent no fewer than three cups (filled to the brim with water) flying across the table in the last month.

5. They’re cute! They have more design options than you could imagine. As you can see in the picture at the top, we went with monogrammed cups so that each family member has their own. Parker picked the black font for the Irishman and I (in the 16 oz. cup size) and he picked the pink font for himself and Lexi (in the 10 oz. cup size) since pink is still his favorite color. Not surprisingly, he also selected the pink straw in our multi-color straw package. I’m curious to see how long he claims pink as his favorite color in the face of society’s dogmatic feelings about boys and pink. More power to my little guy! Okay, back to the cups. I’m seriously considering buying some customized tumblers specifically for the grandparents to use when they’re here since we’re constantly playing the game of “Who’s Cup Is This Anyways?” whenever they’re in town.

As an aside, here’s an email exchange between the Irishman and me that I initiated when the tumblers were delivered:

Me: “Our Tervis tumblers arrived!! Parker is going to LOVE his cup and now you don’t have to drink out of the crappy plastic ones anymore. Plus my new 24 ounce coffee cup is INSANE!! Yippee! PS – Is it weird that I’m so excited about cups?”

Him: “A little weird.”

What’s comical about the above is that this is a typical exchange between us. I’m like a Jack Russell terrier of excitement (about cups, trips, new recipes) and he is like Droopy the dog – completely unfazed. How he can sit there so stoically in the face of such excitement boggles the mind.

Moving That Scale, One Pound At A Time

I’m not going to lie, this pregnancy weight has been much harder to shed than I had initially imagined. For whatever reason, I had blocked from my mind the blood, sweat, tears and 12 months (!!) that it took me to lose all 50 lbs. that I gained with Parker. While I didn’t gain quite as much with Lexi (total gain was 43 lbs.), I’m decidedly more impatient to lose the weight this time. So far, I’ve lost 30 lbs. since her birth 12 weeks ago and I’m hoping to knock out the last 13 lbs. by Christmas. On average, I’ve been dropping between .5 to 1 lb. a week, so Christmas should be very doable.

The Food Plan
While most people who want to lose weight initially focus on their lack of exercise, diet is definitely about 70% of the equation. I mean, I could run 3 miles every day, but if I come home from that run and eat Fettuccine Alfredo and chocolate cake, all that hard work was wasted. On the flip side, I need to make sure that I’m consuming enough calories since I’m nourishing both myself and Lexi. This is part of what’s keeping the scale moving slowly. While I selfishly want to go into “Caloric Nazi” mode, I can’t. Obviously, my milk supply takes priority over the speed with which I’d like to lose the weight, so I will myself to have patience (not my strong suit) and try to focus on the big picture.

I start off my nutrition plan by building my meals around protein. My favorite breakfast these days has been 2 hard-boiled eggs and an apple (cut into slices) topped with 1 Tbs. of peanut butter. Lunch is usually either egg salad, tuna salad or 3-bean salad and then dinner is some combination of protein, veggies and carbs. For snacks, I’ll have a palmful of almonds or walnuts and I’ll munch on fresh fruits and raw veggies throughout the day. Speaking of menus, he’s what we’re doing for dinner this week:

Monday – Black beans and rice
Tuesday- Spaghetti and a turkey Bolognese sauce
Wednesday- Zucchini fritters
Thursday- Sausage and Peppers
Friday- Turkey burgers
Saturday- Benihana style fried rice and beef stir fry

The hardest thing for me right now is limiting my sweets (since I got in the habit of indulging during my pregnancy), but I just keep the focus on how good it will feel to finally drop the rest of this weight. For me, losing the weight is more about how I feel than how I look. When I’m fit, I actually spend far less time paying attention to how I look in my clothes and focus instead on how fast I’m running or how far I’m cycling. In other words, it’s easier for me to maintain my level of fitness because my goals are often centered around training for events instead of on losing the weight.

The Exercise Plan
As a work from home mom, this is where things get tricky. Just a year ago, I could happily jaunt to the gym for hours on end without a problem. This year? Not so much. The gym doesn’t have childcare and Lexi is still too small for the jogging stroller, so I have to get a bit more creative to get my workouts in. First things first – I need to set realistic goals, at least for the next year. There is no way that I’m currently able to get in 90 minutes of exercise, 6 days a week (my pre-pregnancy routine). With that said, even though I’m completely pressed for time and snowed under by obligations, working out has to be a priority or it will take a backseat to the 1,000 other things that also need my attention. Here’s how I’ve been doing things:

• 2 nights a week (Monday and Wednesday), I leave the kids home with the Irishman and I head to the gym for cardio (Mondays) and to yoga (a 90-minute class on Wednesdays). This is my official “alone” time and I am grateful that my husband understands the value of me needing to clear my head when I’ve been on baby duty at least 20 hours a day (since I cosleep with her too).
•  3 days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday), I do a workout from the Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred DVD followed by the Med Ball 200 routine. Both things together take me about 40 minutes. I have the DVD, dumbbells, a medicine ball and floor mat all ready to go in my living room and I usually just knock it out of the way first thing in the morning (while the Irishman is getting ready for work and Lexi is kicking away in her Pack-n-Play). I find that once I sit down at the computer for the day, my motivation to workout goes right out the window, so I must get it done before that. The first two weeks of doing this were really challenging due to all of the distractions at home, but once it became a habit, it was as part of my morning routine as brushing my teeth. Oh and another thing, I do this three days a week regardless of how well I sleep. If I waited until I felt well-rested to squeeze in a workout, I’d still be carting around this weight on Lexi’s 18th birthday!
• On Saturdays, we head out together as a family. Whether it’s to the park (where I can push the stroller around while the boys play) or hiking on of the local trails, our outdoor activity is always focused on exercising. This is partly due to the fact that Parker needs to burn off energy or he’s bouncing off of the walls. We have a large, flat side yard so we usually wrap up the day by throwing the football or kicking around a soccer ball. All in all, we’re moving for a large part of the day.

The one thing that has been grossly lacking at the moment has been running. This was primarily due to 2 things – (1) the lack of a functional sports bra, which I just remedied last week; and (2) the inability to slip out of bed without Lexi noticing. Normally, I would wake up at 5:30am and squeeze in a run before anyone else woke up for the day (at 7am), but little Miss Lexi has a homing device that let’s her know the second that I’m no longer next to her. I suspect this will cease to be a problem in the next handful of months (when she isn’t nursing as frequently at night), but in the meantime, I’m getting a treadmill for my birthday (YAY!) so that I’ll be able to slip downstairs and rack on the miles either in the morning or in the evenings. While I’m not a huge fan of the treadmill, it’s better than not running at all and it’s going to be a huge savior in the winter when we hit the single digits and snow. Between that and my bike trainer, I should be able to get all of the cardio I need.

I should add that I try and stack as much cleaning and laundry on the weekends as I can (when the Irishman is home) so that I’m free during the week to focus on workouts (in the mornings) and getting dinner ready (in the evenings). While the house isn’t nearly as clean as I’d like, it’s a sacrifice that I’m willing to make for the sake of my mental health. Finally, I remind myself on a daily basis that she will not be an infant forever and before I know it, my workout schedule will once again get to be as manageable or as insane as I want it to be.

Being a ‘Work From Home Mom’: Why It’s the Best and Worst of Both Worlds

One of the reasons that I chose my current profession (being a college professor) is because I loved the schedule. Sure, I’m a researching freak who loves interacting with those pesky students, but not-so-secretly, I chose this path for the 9-month academic year and the flexible weekly hours. Then, I took things one step further and I found a university that perfectly aligned with my work habits, which mainly consist of spending huge blocks of time sequestered in my home office, happily working on data and articles. My teaching and research are equally valued here and I have the freedom to structure my classes as I see fit. In other words, this job is pretty close to perfect for a hermit like me.

It’s also the type of job that adapts well to having small children (if you are a self motivated person). During the school year, I’m only on campus 10 hours a week and my husband has the ability to flex his schedule so that we only need a sitter for Lexi for 4 hours a week. With all that said, being a ‘work from home’ parent is kind of like burning the candle at both ends. It’s a hard balance to manage and Lord knows there are days when I want to pull my hair out and either quit my job (not going to happen) or flee to the office full-time (also not going to happen). Here’s the breakdown of the good, the bad and the ugly of trying to be both a great parent and a great worker.

The Good:
1. I am solely in charge of the raising of this child for the first 2 years of life. Even with Parker (when I had a traditional 40-hour a week job), I worked from home until he was 18 months old. While there are some absolutely amazing nannies, sitters and daycares out there, no one loves my child like I do. Plus, it’s a 1:1 ratio here – if she has a need (dirty diaper, hunger, cuddling), I’m readily available.

2. Compared to the astronomical cost of having a child in full-time daycare, this way is much easier on our finances. Needing a sitter just 4 hours a week will allow us to only have one child in a paid pre-school at a time. We will get a one year reprieve in 2012 (when Parker starts kindergarten and Lexi is still home with me), and then she will be the one in pre-school.

3. Speaking of finances, I’m still bringing in my full salary, which is an obvious bonus.

4. I don’t have to miss any milestones. Her first babbles, words, steps, etc… are all done with me here. That’s a pretty big deal to me since, as you guys know, they go from toddling to running in like 3 days!

5. If she’s sick, I’m already home to deal with it. The Irishman and I don’t need to juggle who will stay home with her and as an added bonus, she will probably be sick a lot less than if she went straight to daycare.

6. She is no farther than 10 feet from me at all times, which means that I can focus on work because I know she is okay. This might sound silly, but I have moments of irrational panic when Parker is at school, like what if he’s choking on a carrot right now or what if he flies off the swing! For a paranoid and protective parent like myself, it is much harder to allow the kiddos to roam freely in the world without my watchful eye. Seriously, I’m getting panicky just typing this!

The Bad:
1. I am guaranteed to be interrupted at a minimum of every two hours. This is definitely not good for my productivity because when I’m writing, I get into the zone and sometimes can stay focused and productive for 6 hours at a time. This is guaranteed to not happen at home.

2. I feel guilty. Constantly. I don’t have the freedom to be a true stay at home mom and do whatever needs doing around the house or taking a full hour to just cuddle the baby as I’d like to. At the same time, when I do take time for that hour-long cuddle, I feel guilty that I’m not finishing up revisions on an article or looking up projects for my students to do. When you work from home, the lines are blurred and it’s virtually impossible to separate the time you spend working from the time you spend parenting. This will be so much worse when Lexi is walking and talking. I will probably start going into the office one weekend day when that happens because toddlers need more of your hands-on time and undivided attention.

3. There is a definite lack of adult interaction that I crave. I’m not a social person by nature, but I definitely need the intellectual stimulation that I get at work. Working from home is incredibly isolating because I can’t join the mommy groups that would fill that need nor can I take the baby into the office on a regular basis.

4. I can’t snooze on the job. Some days, I would head into the office and literally get nothing done. Either I wasn’t motivated or I had writers block or I was just tired and nothing would get done. And you know what? It was okay to have days like that. Working from home, I have to be productive when the baby naps and when the baby isn’t napping, I can’t just kick up my legs and call it a day. As all parents can attest, having a kiddo is exhausting regardless of whether you work as a stay at home mom, a work from home mom, or a work out of the home mom.

5. When something needs doing (taking kids to the doctor’s office, mailing a package, meeting the pest control guy at the house), it always falls on me simply because I don’t need to take sick days or vacation days to get things done. The problem with this is that I still have deadlines and course preps and meetings regardless of my apparent availability to pick up the slack. That’s to say nothing of having dinner ready for the boys, letting the dogs out to potty and doing the 30 other things that keep a house running. Frankly, this is a difficult concept to explain to a spouse who works outside of the house in a suit and tie. Just because I’m in yoga pants and barefoot, doesn’t mean that I’m not working. It just means that I’m more comfortable than you.

6. There is no margin for error and my entire schedule is like a house of cards. If the baby doesn’t nap or takes an abbreviated nap, I’m screwed in the work department because at the end of the day, she will always take priority over whatever else needs to get done. Period. This just means that I will probably spend a couple of the wee hours of the morning playing catch up and I’ve gotten pretty good at building in a cushion for my deadlines to allow for these things. Still, it’s a precarious balance and once I think I’ve mastered it, I’m again challenged to “get it all done” without turning into a lunatic. As the Irishman told Parker last night (as they were playing a game of monster chase), “You should have your mommy play the monster next. She is very convincing.” Ha! He’s absolutely right.

With all that said, I feel like the luckiest mom in the world. I have my work to fulfill me intellectually and I have my family to fill my heart. It’s safe to say that I never feel empty and I never feel bored. When work feels overwhelming, I just pick up that sweet girl and remind myself that as long as everyone is safe and healthy, all is right in the world. It’s also worth mentioning that the Irishman is a very hands-on dad and he appreciates my need to disappear for a two-hour run on a Saturday morning when I feel a bit too “full” of life.  As I gear up for the upcoming school year that starts in just over 4 weeks, I know that it’s going to be a crazy couple of years, filled with joy and sorrow, stress and elation, but I also know that they will go by so incredibly fast. And in the event that I disappear for a while, you’ll be able to find me curled under my desk in the fetal position, singing kumbaya.