Healthy Life Lessons

Sherma started babysitting Little A this week and it's going great. As long as she doesn't see me (I usually hide in our bedroom to do my school work), she is perfectly happy to hang out with Sherma. But I don't understand why I suddenly feel like I have LESS time. The days are just flying by and I feel like I can never get as much work done as I would like. My new course called Psychological Assessment is not as interesting, so far, as Theories of Personality was. It's very technical and methodological. This one has weekly assignments plus three additional papers. It always seems completely overwhelming at the beginning. Of course, it doesn't help that I have scheduled a million appointments for the next few weeks. Now that I have Sherma I can finally do things like go to the dentist! Adam and I are also exhausted. Big A has woken us up repeatedly the past 2 nights. I don't know what's going on. Last night she just said she couldn't sleep an...

One thing that has been clear in my studies so far is the interconnectedness of the body and the mind. In my first course on human development, all the research we did demonstrated how virtually everything about us, including our personalities and physical and mental health, is determined by the interaction between biology and the environment. I am not a hypochondriac, but I have always been terrified of getting cancer. This is probably because there is a strong history of cancer in my family, but also because most cancers don't seem to be all that preventable. In other words, we have little control of whether we get them...and that is terrifying to me! Things like heart disease, assuming you don't have a strong genetic predisposition, can be avoided through lifestyle factors, so it is something I rarely worry about. We have no family history and I probably exercise more, and eat a healthier diet, than most North Americans. Adam's big worry has always been Alzheimer...

I did a yoga class today at a neighbourhood studio. It was the first class I've done in about 3 years. Even though it wasn't the best class ever (the teacher wasn't all that experienced), it was wonderful to have an hour to myself and it reminded me how much I love yoga. I used to do yoga once a week religiously for years. I started doing ashtanga (power yoga) because I was young and stupid and thought that an activity wasn't worthwhile unless it burned calories. But eventually I got tired of it and found I really wanted more of a restorative experience, especially since I already do so much cardio and high intensity exercise. I also got sick of the competitive attitude I was finding in some power yoga classes. I'm definitely not extraordinarily flexible and never really got to a super advanced level in yoga. I once accidently showed up to an advanced class at my old yoga studio and I was not made to feel welcome. So anyways, I switched to hatha yoga, a muc...

So I'm working on making piece with my family's eating habits (hard right now since Little A has decided she pretty much won't eat anything except watermelon and rice cakes now!)and trying to appreciate the fact that Big A will generally eat her veggies. Unfortunately, I feel like, aside from modelling a fairly healthy lifestyle, I'm failing her as a parent. In fact, I'm thinking when I finally have my counselling practice, I should put a disclaimer on my business cards and website stating that I help people having difficulties bringing a child into the world but that I can't help with difficulties of raising that child once he or she is here, because I have NO expertise in that area. With Little A turning one yesterday, Big A's jealousy has become overwhelming. And while I suppose that, as well as her resultant petulance, is normal 3 year old behaviour, the truth is, she has been an incredibly difficult child since she was 18 months old. But only for Ad...

The anxiety over what your children eat begins the day they are born. To breastfeed or not to breastfeed? I know so many women who chose not to breastfeed, or were not able to breastfeed and spend far too much time beating themselves up and feeling guilty about it. I feel very fortunate that I have been able to breastfeed both my girls, but whether it will really make a significant difference to their future health and well-being is debateable. Once your kids start eating solid foods, the stress and guilt only increases. I was so smug with Big A because I had her eating only organic, whole foods for the first year with absolutely NO added sugars or salt. I hand made everything. She ate squash, brown rice and white kidney bean casserole, mexican black bean, corn and brown rice casserole, organic chicken and sweet potatoes, brown rice pasta with tomato sauce and pureed veggies, organic spelt bread with organic apple butter, unsweetened organic yogurt, sugar-free organic spelt blue...

P1: I can't believe next week is my last week of mat leave. Little A will be one year old on April 22nd (Earth Day!). Actually, what I can't believe is that I survived this year. I think I had some degree of post-partum depression/anxiety for at least the first 6 months of her life. So it's kind of ironic that she is such a happy baby...much more low maintenance and easy going than Big A ever was. I'm glad at least that my misery didn't affect her. I am so excited to really begin focusing on my studies and career transition now. On April 28th I have a 3 hour volunteer orientation at Mount Sinai and I meet with Dr. M on May 14th...I so hope I can get started volunteering ASAP. I really think I can make a difference for women who have experienced a pregnancy loss, at least I hope I can. I know I could really have used the type of emotional support I will be offering when I went through my miscarriage. P2: There is nothing worse than whining. Anyone with a ch...

P1: I team taught the Brazilian Butt Lift class with the Group Ex director yesterday at the Toronto Athletic Club (TAC). Wow, this woman is like 38 weeks pregnant and she is still going strong. I feel like the fact that I taught spinning right up until a few days before having both girls is nothing compared to what she's been doing! The class definitely kicks your butt (mine's a bit sore today), so I'm going to have to come up with lots of different ways of challenging these enthusiastic folks. I am so excited to have a new class to teach! P2: I really don't get the preschool psyche. After being fairly well behaved the whole time Adam was away, it all fell apart with Big A at bedtime last night. She kept calling us back up to her room after we put her to bed and then would scream each time we left her. She ended up screaming until she fell asleep. I can only guess that she was overwrought with emotion about having daddy home finally and just doesn't know ho...