My healthy lifestyle plan!

Oh this forever journey of trying to lose weight... 

I go through three different phases:  sometimes, I'm obsessed with eating clean, exercising regularly, hopping on the scale, etc.  This can last anything from a few days to a few weeks.  The next phase is when life gets in the way, and I let things slide a bit, become a bit less obsessed, still eating *mostly* clean, still exercising although not as regularly as I would have liked to.  This phase will be quite okay for when I want to maintain weight, because usually, that's what happens - I don't lose any weight but thankfully don't pick up either. 

But then... I have a self-sabotaging phase, where I stop exercising, eat chocolate slabs daily, and just feel uninspired and blagh.  And then this phase tends to last the longest of all 3.  Which, obviously, is not good!

I am still 2kg away from getting to pre-pregnancy weight, and then after that I would love to lose another 5kg.

I'm busy getting my mojo back, and the next week Monday is the perfect date to kickstart my mission and get rid of these last couple of kilo's for good.  It's the first of June.  And it's a Monday.  What better day to get started?  It suits my OCD tendencies. ;-)

I don't want to follow a specific set "diet" as such, this must be a lifestyle, a way of eating. 

I must use common sense, and find a healthy balance between all aspects of this journey!

Here's my plan:

• Do Kayla Itsines strength training workouts 3 times a week
• Do 45 minute cardio workouts twice a week - either at the gym or a brisk walk
• Do kettlebell exercises at home, aim for 5 minutes every day, or 10 minutes every second day
• Do stretching exercises daily
• Eat as clean as possible! Follow paleo guidelines 90% of the time
• Eat smaller portions
• Chew food slowly and thoroughly
• Stop buying chocolates!
• Drink 8 glasses of water daily
• Drink green tea every day
• Do dry body brushing to stimulate circulation
• Use anti-cellulite cream on body
• Pamper myself and invest in me-time: doing mini-pedicures and mini-manicures for self, tinting and waxing eyebrows for self
• Weigh myself once a week, evaluate what I'm doing right or what I'm doing wrong
• Keep track of progress

Some pics that have inspired me recently:

Whoop whoop, let's do this! :-) xx

Mother's Day Questionnaire 2015

2015 Mother’s Day Questionnaire

My Mom’s name is _____Jessica Viljoen____

She is __maybe 3 and 16______ years old.

She has ____brown____ hair and ____green____ eyes.

My mom’s favourite colour is ___purple_______ and her favourite flower is ____a daisy______

Her favourite food is ____stinky fishy and chicken pops_______ and her favourite pudding is ____one berry mixed with icecream___

My mom’s favourite thing to do is ___sleep!____

My mom likes to go to __the sweetie shop_____

When I am at school, she ___leaves me___

My mom makes me laugh when she __tickles me!______

She always says: ___I love you my darling______

I love to ___paint and draw____ with my mom.

My mom is very good at __drawing stars_____

I want to buy her ___new colourful pajamas_____

My mom looks beautiful when she ___is having a party_____

 

I love her because __she is my mommy and she is my darling!____

 

Love from

Mia

xx

A note to self: Why two kids is enough for me

I am feeling this need to write a letter to myself, listing the reasons why two kids is enough for me.  Just the other night, while watching Mia playing quietly by herself, a game with her dolls that had kept her busy for most of the afternoon, I said to hubby, I can understand why people have a third child. In three years from now, when Ella also keeps herself occupied and doesn't need me to entertain her all the time, what am I going to do with myself?! I'm going to want another baby!

Also, recently, two friends have said to me that they think I'll have a third baby. Hearing that triggered a rollercoaster of emotions in me, ranging from, "aaaw another tiny body" to "oh shit please no!"

So, I need to put it down on paper, the reasons why I'm done having babies. So that, three years from now, when I'm having a moment of wondering whether I should put the mirena back in or not, I can read this, be reminded, and go on and keep the mirena!

• Pregnancy first time round was great, second time, not so much - and I can just imagine that third time around even less.  First time pregnancy, I had time to sleep late in the mornings and have an afternoon nap often. Second time around, some afternoon naps with Mia, which was great. But third time around, I imagine there will be none of that.  Preggy aches and pains were more pronounced second time around, like leg cramps, restless leg syndrome, I can just imagine as one gets older these are harder to handle.
• Birth.  Enough said!
• Breastfeeding is hard. It's not as easy to do as one would think it is.  Cried many tears of frustration with both my babies.
• I am not a tiny baby mommy.  The first year of having a baby is hard!!  It's all-consuming, it's a daze of sleep deprivation, milk spit-up, poo nappies, crying (from baby and from mommy!) and just a general state of zombified  ups and downs.
• I love to sleep.  With a baby in the house, well, sleep becomes a distant memory...  And I know this lack of sleep will one day become the distant memory... but for now, at night, when the baby sound monitor goes on, it feels like a frozen finger touching my brain.  And when I can't get baby back to sleep and she just stands up crying in her cot, and it's 2am... oh gosh, it's hard.
• Nappies are not fun! Not the explosive nappies that newborns have, or the way that you have to try every trick up your sleeve when baby gets older, to keep them lying still for nappy changes and getting dressed.
• Everyone said, "the second baby is much easier!" Yes, yes the second baby is easier.  What nobody says though, is, "having two children is much harder!!" Truth. Because it means that constantly, someone needs you. Keeping them both happy at mealtimes. Bathing two bodies, getting two bodies to bed, loading and unloading two bodies in and out of the car...
• It took me a year to get my body feeling like my own again!  Pregnancy, well, your body is busy building a miracle. After pregnancy, everything is swollen, or saggy, or "just not quite right."  I gained 15kg in 2010 when I was pregnant with Mia. I lost some of them during the first couple of months.  Then I stopped breastfeeding, and gained like 5kg in a month, and carried on with the struggle until I was below pre-preggy weight in May 2013.  Then I fell pregnant, had a miscarriage, fell pregnant again - and proceeded to pick up 20kgs.  Of which I've lost 18 so far.  What a forever struggle!
• I have worn the same, small, stud earrings for a year now, as I'm too scared my hoop earrings or long dangly earrings cause baby to grab them!
• The baby proofed house isn't much fun. Dustbins on counter tops, toilet paper can't be on it's dispenser, it has to be out of reach. Tables are without tablecloths.  Everywhere is a potential hazard - watch that baby doesn't climb the stairs, watch her outside so that she doesn't fall off the patio step or crawl into thorns in the garden.
• Mia watched Lollos over and over and over.  Now we're headed the same way with Ella.  Oh gosh, I love how Lollos keeps them entertained for half an hour, hence the reason why I continue to switch it on every day... But, please, I'm done with Lollos after this!
• Having to plan things around baby nap times make things difficult... Some people don't struggle with this, they just take their kids wherever they want to go whenever they want to go, and their kids just sleep wherever. Neither of my two did this. Mess with their nap times, and their whole day is messed up...
• Babies and kids get sick. Often. And it's stressful! Handling two sick kiddies is tough enough, cannot imagine then dealing with a third.
• A third child would mean having to get a bigger car. I like my car that I have right now, thank you very much!
• Baby's day naps are so unpredictable.  One day she'll have a two-hour nap, the next day, just half an hour.  It makes it difficult to plan things, it often happens just as I start a specific task, that she wakes up.
• I have two arms - one to put around each girly. I have enough space on my lap for two of them to sit.  I would hate one child to be feeling left out!
• Schools are expensive... As are extra-mural activities. Enough said.
• The week that Ella turned one, I felt a literal feeling of fog lifting... As fast as the baby stage goes, and as many precious and awesome moments as there were... as much as I mourn packing away the 6-12 months clothes... That much I'm also glad we're through it!

Well, that's all I've got right off the top of my head, but I'm sure I'll be back to edit this post and add things in!

So, to answer my own question as to what I'm going to do with myself three years from now, when both my daughters are old enough to keep themselves occupied for hours on end, I will be:

• Reading. Oh, how I miss to read!
• Having wonderful conversations with my two girls, instead of having to constantly say, "I'll be with you in a moment, the baby needs me..."
• Be able to go places at whatever time of day and not wait for a baby to first have a nap or have to wake up.
• Hopefully have more time to work in my salon and earn a bit more of an income than I'm currently managing
• Be able to just get in the car and go somewhere and not have to take nappies, snacks, juice, toys...
• Drive in the car without listening to or singing nursery rhymes
• Wear hoop earrings or long earrings as I wish!
• Revel in not having to buy nappies or formula milk.
• Use both hands to do things and not have to struggle with only one hand, as I'm holding baby on the hip with the other!

I love my two girlies with my whole heart.  More than I can express in words. They fill my world with colour, love and laughter and happiness. There's nothing I love more than being with them, cuddling them, kissing them, staring at their beautiful faces.

My family is perfect and complete. ♥
xx

Such a fun wedding this weekend!

On Friday, hubby and I went to my cousin's wedding.  Sonja our domestic worker stayed at home with the girlies.  What fun to dress up and have a night out!

The wedding venue, Memoire was absolutely beautiful.  Everything looked stunning and perfect.

After the service, we had some fun in the photo booth, even Wyn was a good sport and donned a prop or two!

It was special being with my family, and we enjoyed the evening of good food, dancing, laughing and happy togetherness.

Sonja sent me regular updates on how the girls were doing - they were just fine and she managed perfectly with bath and bedtime routine.

I always enjoy weddings, the happiness and love shining through the bride and groom always inspires me.

Good times, good times indeed!
xx

A visit to the homeopath

I took both girls for a consultation at a homeopath two weeks ago.  We have literally been struggling with their sinuses now, non-stop, for two months. It's crazy. We've been to a GP and to the paed, so I wanted to try something different.  Here's a nice link with more info on homeopathy.

It's the first time I ever try the homeopathy route.  I've always had an interest in alternative therapies, but at the same time, a lil bit sceptical and unsure.

The consultation was super interesting. He used electro-dermal acupuncture point measurement - where the patient holds on end of an electrode, and he uses another electrode on acupressure points to find imbalances, and he could even pinpoint allergies using this method! Not painful at all, literally just holding onto an electrode, and he used acupressure points in hands, feet and face. It was a bit tricky getting Ella to hold the electrode all the time, but we managed!

Both girls he picked up sinus, allergies, bladder imbalance (prone to bladder infection) lymph imbalance (due to infection in body) and bronchi imbalance (not lungs specifically, but bronchi inside the lungs - associated then with sinus and allergies.

When he tested the allergies, it was super interesting how he could pinpoint specific allergens.  For Mia, it was Marmite and Bovril, artificial sweeteners, and sorghum (like Maltabella porridge.)  For Ella it was instant coffee (haha!) and bananas.  Really bummed to hear this, as Mia eats Marmite every day on her sandwiches to school, and Ella loves bananas, it's such a great fruit to fill her up with if she doesn't eat enough at a mealtime.

The homeopath then mixed them each their own personalised drops of homeopathic medicine, of which for the first 4 days they had to have 10 drops every two hours, and thereafter 10 drops three times a day.  It was difficult for me to stick to the two-hour interval one, didn't quite manage that!!

Now, two weeks later, unfortunately, both girls are still unwell.  Ella cleared up for about a week after the homeopath visit, but started with a snotty nose and bit of a cough again this weekend.  And Mia, well, unfortunately, she just hasn't gotten better. She coughs coughs coughs terribly, especially at night. Like 5 nights per week, for the last two months, I've needed to get up and assist her, either giving Pholtex syrup to try and suppress the cough (doesn't always help), give her a drink of water, rub some Vicks on her, elevate her pillow, etc etc.

I'm feeling quite at my wits end!
I've decided to do an experiment on Mia, and not give her any dairy for a couple of days and see if that doesn't help the coughing...  even tho the homeopath didn't pick up a dairy allergy, it's one of the most common triggers of sinus, so let's give it a shot, before we use more money on doctors...

I was very keen to make appointments for myself and Wyn at the homeopath too, to also get tested for allergies, but will postpone that for now. Unfortunately, homeopathy wasn't the big miracle cure I was hoping for to get my two girlies healthy!

My bathroom counter looks like a pharmacy...
It's terrible when they're sick, I feel so sorry for them. Argh!
xx