WHAT I WANT TO TEACH MY DAUGHTER ABOUT BODY IMAGE

A SWIMSUIT BODY IS A BODY WITH A SWIMSUIT ON IT.

Wear the suit. Rock the bikini. Have fun at the beach this summer.

Because little eyes are watching. Little ears are listening and tuning in to not only what we say to other but what we say to ourselves.

I grew up hating my body. At 11 years old, some kid called me fat and I never looked at my body the same. I hated my body for years- through my teens, early twenties and a few years into my marriage.

Finally one day my husband called me out on it. I was speaking truth and love to many women and girls yet I spoke nothing of the sort over my own body.

After many months of fighting lies and speaking truth over myself, the self loathing went away and I finally started to love and was kind to the body I was in.
In more recent years, my body has stretched, shrunk and stretched again and if I'm not careful, those old lies try to make their way back into my mind. So I have to FIGHT back because I'm determined to teach this little lady to love her body.

And sometimes fighting means taking off the baggy shirt and rocking the swimsuit. So let's be brave together. Because London needs you, I need you and a whole world of little girls watching needs you too.

32 + SOME FAMILY PHOTOS

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Today I am 32. I don't know what it is but I look at that picture above and I feel that I look 32...which is odd to me because I feel like I've been 29 for the past 5 years...and will say I'm 29 for at least five more. 

My 31st year (or was last year my 32nd year? I can't remember how that works...I'm pretty sure it's my 32nd come to think of it because this fall London will turn 1 but this whole year was her first year so scratch that, it was my 32nd year!) was a crazy one. It went by in an instant.

With us getting pregnant January 2017, I went back to work one month early so by my birthday last year, I had one month left of working and had a 14 month old little lion. It seems so surreal that one year later, I go back to work in just over a month, have a TWO year old and a baby girl who is turning ONE in less than two months!! INSANE.

31 went by waaaay too quickly! I started out by finishing work, then waiting for London to come and between that my beloved Nana Rosa passed away.

And then London came on October 19th, 2017 and we had TWO children under the age of 16 months. It was pure insanity. So so special but such a blur. I can remember certain moments from those early days but it breaks my heart with how much was a whirlwind. 

2018 came and I felt like I could finally take a breath. I slowly got the hang of taking care of two kiddos and I sloooooowed down. I neglected this space for awhile...I'm sorry but I can only do so much.

We went to Mexico and NYC and had some good times with family. But there were also LOTS of hard times. Hard times where I got mad at the kids or mad at James or mad at something. Remember instagram often shows the highlight reel. There is sooo much more behind the scenes that isn't shared.

But God was always there, giving me new mercy after new mercy. I've come to know His grace for this season in a huge way. My devotions look different than they once did and I know one day they'll be that again but He knows I need sleep in this season...and I'm learning to give myself a bit more grace.

Things I learned this past year:

• It's ok to not have it all together. 
  I'm a bit of a control freak and this whole past year was out of my control and you know what, I survived. It's ok to not be at your goal weight. It's ok to put your career on hold. It's ok for your house to be a mess. It's ok.
• Slow down and enjoy the season.
  This summer was one of sloooowing down. We went to lots of parks and lots of playdates. We didn't accomplish a whole lot but that's ok. I made memories with my favourite people and that's what counts.
• God's grace is always there.
  Like I said before, I felt his grace more than ever. I made mistakes, said things I shouldn't and yelled at my kids. My devotions were nothing like they've been in the past but God was so gracious to me. He loves me because I am his child not because of my efforts. He gave me strength to be a mama and a wife and he will continue to do so. He gave me peace in those early postpartum days and hope when things were tough. He is a faithful God.
• Kindness is important.
  I didn't talk much about my word for 2018 but it was KINDNESS. Kindness is something I need to work on and I'm still working on it but what I do know is that it is dang important. 

Goals for 32:

I have a few goals which I'll be working on but in a nutshell my main plan is to focus on:

• JESUS. Get back to consistent daily devotions. I'm about to order a 40 day prayer devotional. London sleeps through the night so I really have no excuse. I can go to bed earlier and wake up early.
• FAMILY. When I return to work, I'll be going down to four days a week. My plan is to be very intentional on those Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays. I signed Luca up for gymnastics so I'm excited to have some dates with him there!
• HEALTH. I have totally neglected my health and I am feeling it. My goal is to get signed up to a gym in September and commit to working out/running/walking 3x a week.
• WORK. I have a new role at work and it freaks me out in the best of ways! I get to do what I'm passionate about but I'm going to reallly need Jesus' strength!

I have some more things I want to work on but I'm trying to simplify it! 

31, you were one for the books....crazy amazing, but also crazy hard. 32, I'm coming for you!

XOXO,
Laura

All photos by Rachael Alexandra Co

LONDON'S ROSE GOLD NURSERY

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London's nursery is finally finished and it is my most favourite room in the house. Because she came fashionably late (you can read her birth story here!) I had lots of time to put finishing touches on it.....but it wasn't finally complete until months later of course!

If you're wondering why we look a bit glistening in these photos, it's because the shoot was done on the hottest day of the year!! HA! The lighting is perfect RIGHT at London's bedtime so she was a bit of a sweaty mess but a good sport.

ROOM DETAILS:

Rug: The amazing rug is by Lorena Canals. All of their rugs are MACHINE WASHABLE. Yes, you heard me. When your baby poops or cat pukes or vice versa you can pop it into your washing machine. They also have a beautiful social mission. For every purchase of one of their rugs, you help a child in India attend school.

Unicorn Head: We purchased this one here while we were in NYC! So glad we got it.

Wall Bookshelf & Arm Chair: Ikea.

Wall Art Above Crib: DIY

Heart Decals: From Walmart but these ones are similar!

Changing Pad Cover: You can find it here.

Somebody donated the crib and dresser to us and we picked up the change table on a buy + sell site!

OUTFIT DETAILS:

ME: My shirt is from Pink Blush. I wore a ton of their clothes during maternity and was so happy to find out that they make non-maternity as well! I've been eyeing up more of their tops because I'm in need of some back to work clothes and I have so many in my shopping basket, ha! Here is the link to my shirt I'm wearing!

Jeans are COH.

London: Still squeezing into this romper!

Her room is one of my favourites in the house. It's so peaceful and I can't wait to see it transform as my little girl grows up. I can't believe she'll be one in two short months!!!

Huge thanks to Rachael Alexandra for shooting these photos in the crazy heat!!

XO,

Laura

POSTPARTUM FITNESS JOURNEY: STARTING BBG

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Okay, guys, if we're friends on instagram, you will have seen that I started the first week of BBG (aka Bikini Body Guide by Kayla Itsines) A lot of you had some questions, so I thought it would be easier if I did a post about it!

But before that here's a little back story on my fitness journey....for the past 10 years, running has been my main form of fitness (you can read more about it here) Back in 2014, I ran a half marathon and I'm hoping to do another one in a couple years but back in 2015 when we were trying to get pregnant, I wasn't as diligent with my running..I still worked out, I just was about 5lbs from my goal weight (135lbs...and I know I shouldn't get caught up in just weight but for me, I know that is a healthy weight with muscle, so I use it as a guide!) We then got pregnant with Luca and I continued to workout/run/walk up until I delivered him! In that pregnancy I gained 45lbs and got up to 185lbs. 

I didn't lose a whole lot breastfeeding so at about 5 months pp I got a bit more serious and joined a gym and made a few diet changes...I got down to 150lbs with 10lbs to go until my pre-Luca weight but then we got pregnant again! With London, I was not as diligent with exercise but I guess I ate a bit better because I only gained 35lbs instead of 45! In the fall and winter, I was superrrr lazy with working out but I managed to lose most of my pre-London weight so I'm now currently hovering around 160...so that being said, 20lbs to lose and a whole lot of muscle to gain!

So this time around I wanted to try something a bit more programmed. I had done a bunch of Bikini Body Mommy videos on youtube but I wanted something more challenging so I decided to do BBG! There is an app that looks amazing but it costs about $25cad/month soooo I'd rather save that money and just figure it out with the PDF!

Here's what a week of the program looks like:

• Day 1: Legs + Cardio. 2 circuits that you do twice. Each circuit is 7 minutes long so the workout will take roughly 35 mins with warm up + cool down.
• Day 2 + 4: Cardio. 35-45 minutes. She suggests power walking
• Day 3: Same jam as day 1.
• Day 5: Full Body Workout. Same jam as day 1.
• Day 6: Sprints (15 minutes of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off) + Stretching.
• Day 7: Rest

Here's how my first week went:

• Day 1: did it! sooo challenging but so good!
• Day 2: I ran/walked the golf course near my house. It's super hilly but felt good to do!
• Day 3: So many ab exercises...which killed me because I haven't touched my abs since pre-Luca lols
• Day 4: Didn't have time to run/walk :(
• Day 5: It was an optional one so I didn't do it because I was super sore from previous days
• Day 6: Did the sprints and almost puked, ha!! I only did 10 too but man, they killlled me. I didn't do the stretching, whoops.

Okay, so it was a pretty good week 1. I ate waaaayyyy too much Easter chocolate which probably made me almost puke during the sprints, ha. It sure feels great to have my muscles sore again!! I feel like my body was saying THANK YOU for working out again, ha.

If you do the PDF, I'd suggest getting an interval timer app to walk you through the workouts. Here is what I set up:

So all in all, I am sooo happy I started it. I planned this week out and don't know how I'm going to fit in the cardio (I have some night commitments this week, and James is out the two nights I don't have commitments, ha....I wish we had a treadmill!!) but I'll try!

Have you done BBG? I'd love to hear how it worked out for you!!

XO, 
Laura

POSTPARTUM FITNESS GUIDE PART 2 (WORKOUT PLAN)

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Hola! While I'm away, I am soooo stoked to have Emily from The Mom Grind share about getting your body back postpartum! This is something I plan on doing once I get back from Mexico!! Thank you so much Emily for sharing!

Hi I’m Emily from @themomgrind, and I’m so excited to be guest posting here for Laura’s blog! I’ve read her blog for a while now, and couldn’t be more thrilled to be talking about one of my favourite subjects- getting your body back after having a baby!

I’m excited to share with you all of my tips & tricks that helped me achieve and maintain a healthy relationship with food & exercise. I’m going to give you the literal guide book for how to lose that baby weight (healthily) while still finding balance in your life as a Mama.

CHECK OUT PART ONE (THE MEAL PLAN) HERE!

 

Working Out

This is where I’m also going to ask you to change your mindset, this time about exercise. Working out is meant to be hard, the reason we get stronger and leaner is because we’re putting our muscles under stress- making them rip and tear to form bigger ones, challenging our bodies to keep up to what we’re demanding from them.

Once I accepted that I was going to be uncomfortable in a workout- I kind of enjoyed it. I even noticed that my mindset changed in other situations of my life to being able to handle hard and stressful things outside of working out. So when you exercise, choose to make it a challenge (don’t hurt yourself, or puke) but make it difficult. How I know it’s a tough workout for example: when I get halfway or 3/4 of the way and my mind is telling me to shave down the number of reps, fudge the amount of reps I’ve actually done, or tell myself “ah, that’s good enough”. This is where the magic happens, where you prove to yourself how badass you are & this is where you will see results from- so push through to the end!

**unless you’re in actual physical pain, don’t do that! Know when it’s injury pain vs. tough mentally.**

Another thing I’ve noticed that as a Mom there’s no way to measure your success- so I take weekly pictures, weekly fitness tests, I see results (not always huge) but it’s nice to see my efforts rewarded. So remember to measure yourself in either capacity so you can see progress that isn’t a number on a scale.

I’ve gone ahead and actually given you two workouts to do at home below. However, I’m going to challenge you to find an activity, class, or workout that you love! Carve that time out of your schedule, get a sitter, coordinate daycare, get hubby to do kid duty. You time is incredibly important, and if you’re wanting to see results from working out you’re going to need to commit to a minimum of 2-3 times a  week of working up a really, really good sweat!

The Workouts

W/O 1 - Test Yourself
AMRAP 10 minutes
10 burpees
10 incline push ups (off couch or coffee table)
20 Jumping jacks
20 Russian twists

Count how many rounds + reps you can complete in ten minutes.

W/O 2 - Booty Burner

4 Rounds
20 good mornings
20 squats
20 glute bridges
20 step ups onto chair or sturdy coffee table

These workouts are ones you can re-do to see improvement. 

Putting it all Together

Meal Plan: Do this for at least 2 months, you will start to notice a big difference! Even better if you can do 3 or 4- but make it realistic for your life! I don’t meal plan so much anymore but I eat a diet that’s 80/20. When it starts to fall out of whack, I kickstart it with a strict meal prep cycle again!

Workout: find something you enjoy, commit to it. Make it your passion, your hobby, be consistent with it and most of all let it challenge you. Commit to doing this activity 2-3 a week!

Most importantly: find balance in your nutrition & exercise. It has to be realistic for your life- this is why so many New Years resolutions fail. They just aren’t maintainable year round, especially for us Mamas who have a pretty demanding lifestyle.

If you have any questions I’d love to answer them! Feel free to check out my Instagram @themomgrind for workout inspiration & Mom life!

Wishing you a successful, nutritious, and rewarding journey of weight loss.

You got this! 

XO

Emily