Workouts, Modified….

by shabana9886

This used to be my workout before I got pregnant:

Not so much anymore. I had big dreams of being a bad-ass mommy-to-be and continue my aerial training. I went to class once during my first trimester and completely whimped out during practice. I was so out of breath, tired, and had really intense tummy cramps for a good week after. Also, I couldn’t do many moves I used to before…like twists and inversions. After that I haven’t had the motivation to go back. I really miss my training and definitely want to stay active during my pregnancy, but it’s been hard when everyday I just feel exhausted.

Now that I’m in my 2nd trimester, I’ve had a little extra energy and have been getting back into regular workout regimen. Since I still feel a little tired at times, I opt for at-home workouts….DVDs!

I wouldn’t say I was an expert aerialist before, but I was in pretty good shape. I trained weekly for aerial silks and rope, did yoga, ran on the treadmill, and did Jillian Michaels and P90X videos. I wanted find challenging workouts that would only slightly kick my butt! A lot of pregnancy DVDs out there seem a little too “gentle” for my taste. Again, I’m not an athlete at all, but I like to feel the burn when I workout, else I feel like I’ve just wasted my time. Also, from the horror stories I hear about giving birth, I want to make sure I’m physically conditioned to have stamina during labor and have a fast recovery.

Pre-pregnancy conditioning

I decided to try out a few DVDs that were rated high on Amazon.com to see if anything interested me.

First up, Kristin McGee’s Prenatal Yoga & Pilates. I own all of Kristin’s yoga and pilates DVDs, so I was excited when I found out she had a prenatal version! She is an amazing instructor. I’m not a fan of yoga videos that feature yogi’s practicing in exotic locations and not speaking at all. It just feels a little too “fake” for me. Kristin practices and instructs in real-time. Her DVD set offers 2 yoga workouts (about 20-25 minutes each) which you can fuse for a longer full practice, a 24 minute pilates workout, a 20 minutes gentle yoga workout, and a 9 minute express workout. It also has a segment on modifications so you can adjust your yoga practice as your pregnancy progresses and a meditation/labor breathing segment. You will need a resistance band for the pilates segment. I felt challenged enough by the yoga workout to stay interested which was what I needed! She features a lot of moves to open up the hips and stretch your back…so helpful since that’s where I felt really stiff. I do wish she had a few more moves to really tone my legs in addition to upward chair pose and mild squats. I haven’t tried the pilates portion yet since I’m not too into pilates (no reason…just prefer yoga). The meditation/breathing portion was great too…I always feel a little self-conscious doing yoga breathing so I try to do this while the husband is out of the house…lol!

The next DVD set disappointed me a little. I was excited to use Tracy Anderson: The Pregnancy Project. It featured 9 months of DVDs…one for each month of pregnancy. I had heard really good reviews about Tracy’s other DVDs, so I decided to give it a go. It just wasn’t for me. I felt like she rushed through the instruction portion of each move so I felt like I was doing each move incorrectly (form is everything in pregnancy to prevent injury). She barely focused on breathing, too. I like videos that remind you when to exhale and inhale, especially in pregnancy to make sure you aren’t holding any tension in. I also didn’t feel the burn at all it the video…probably because I was doing everything wrong due to lack of proper instruction. I really had high hopes for this DVD set!

My next find was surprising. Joy Southworth’s Body by Trimester seemed like it would be a low-budget, underwhelming DVD based on the packaging. Never a judge a book by its cover though….I was wrong! It was pretty challenging for me. I feel sore (the good kind of sore) after I do her workouts. She has 3 DVDs for each trimester and they each feature 2 workouts that are about 20-30 minutes each. She also has a warm-up segment and segments with modifications for diastasis. She teaches in real-time but in an exotic location, however I didn’t mind the rocky beach background. She does circuit training with some cardio and it is more like a traditional Jillian Michael’s DVD workout. My favorite thing about the DVDs is that she ends with pelvic tilts, abdominal stretches, kegels….a lot of them! I really love that because it helps prepare you for labor. You will need hand weights and a workout ball for some of her exercise, though. Exactly what I wanted! I also saw she has a post-natal workout and I’m so excited to try that out after Baby Masu comes!

My workout regimen is still in progress….I’m hoping to be able to get back to the gym to do a little extra cardio to maintain some balance. If anyone has any other recommendations for prenatal workouts, I’d love to hear them!

16Apr2015

Puppy Grooming

by shabana9886

I’m in no way a professional dog trainer or groomer, however, I do have some experience dealing with 2 puppies. Grooming perhaps was one of the most challenging obstacles (after potty-training). I have 2 pomeranians which require a lot of grooming in order to keep their coats tangle-free. Here’s a couple of tips I learned along the way and products I use for my fur-babies.

Wet dog!

The first bath was always a challenge. This where you see how your puppy reacts to water, touch/prodding, and the dreaded hair-dryer. My first pommie, Moru (now almost 3 years old), wouldn’t sit still during his bath and kept trying to leap out of the sink. He hated his first blow-dry and would try to gnaw on my fingers to get away. I got so frustrated that I ended up taking him to the groomers every month. However, I found that with a puppy, you never know when they’ll make a mess and you’ll need to bathe them at home. So, it really was necessary to learn ways to make bath time less traumatic.

A friend recommended slathering some peanut butter on the side of the sink/tub to occupy the pup while you bathe them. This worked wonders! Moru was so distracted and stayed put while I washed him! Yoki, (now almost 2 years), wasn’t a huge fan of peanut butter at the time, so I had to sing to her and use a calm soothing voice. I also made sure to have everything handy before bathing him. You don’t want to be running around trying to find a towel to dry them up while they’re soaking wet on your floors. I would line up my shampoo & conditioner (a must for long-haired dogs), wash cloth (to clean their face and eyes), towel, and small cup (to wash their bodies). Also, make sure they get in a good potty break before the bath. It wasn’t too fun when Moru decided he had to go right after his bath while he was sopping wet! Just like prepping a bath for a baby you have to test the water before putting them in. Dogs have sensitive skin too and you can burn their skin if the water is too hot.

After a good wash, I’d wrap them up in the towel for a minute or so to soak up the water. My brother uses a warm towel from the dryer to comfort his dog. I also had my supplies ready for post-bath grooming….brush, blowdryer, and doggie bed…yes doggie bed. I used to try to blow dry Moru on the floor and he hated it! One day, I tried blow drying him in his doggie bed and he was so calm! He even fell asleep! He loves to burrow his head into the nooks of the bed and lets me dry him. You want to use the coolest setting for your dog, especially if you use it on the “high” setting. If at anytime you feel their fur get warm/hot in one spot, stop! You don’t want to burn their skin! Yoki still isn’t a fan of the dryer but she’ll let me dry her if I use slow movements with the dryer. She hates when I wave it around over her fur quickly. You want to dry behind their ears well, but not for a long period of time to avoid burns. Aim the blowdryer behind the ears for a 30 seconds at a time to avoid overheating. I never really need to use a brush after I dry them because I brush them daily and they don’t have many mattes, but I always keep it nearby just in case I run into any. The only way to get your dog to somewhat like a bath is to keep bathing them at home. They’ll come around eventually. I find that the more you take them to groomers, the more skiddish they become during bath time (at least for my 2).

My 2 favorite brands for dog grooming products are Tropiclean and Viva La Dog Spa. They both do not interact with topical flea treatments. Some shampoos out there can deactivate flea treatments. I find that Tropiclean can be a little drying to my poms’ coats, but Viva La Dog Spa does a great job at moisturizing their fur and it smells amazing! I love their Oatmeal Shampoo and Pink Potion Conditioner. I also use their French Moroccan Oil Treatment with Argan Oil to add a little more shine to their fur after drying.

Bad hair day! Yoki needs a bath!

Viva La Dog Spa products

Since my pommies have thick coats, I use a slicker brush to brush their coats everyday. It really helps get down to the undercoat and prevent mattes.

For nail cutting, I use cat nail clippers for my small dogs since they have smaller nails.

Every so often I use an electric trimmer to trim up the hair under their paws and under their tails to keep it sanitary.

What are your tips for dog grooming?

15Apr2015

Food, Lately

by shabana9886

During my 1st trimester, I could barely stomach the smell if I cooked at home and I was way too tired to prepare any meals. I relied a lot on take-out and prepared meals from PCC. Now a days I have way more energy to cook meals. I’ve been hankering for foods and flavors of Indian/Trinidadian food that I grew up on. Here are a couple of my recent dinners:

Paneer Tikka Masala with rice and salad

Aloo jeera (Potatoes with cumin), tindora, karela, rice and salad with chilies

Aloo jeera (Potatoes with cumin), tindora, karela (bitter melon), rice and salad with chilies

Okra, rice, chilies, lime

Pigeon peas, browned seitan, rice, salad

Black eyed peas, browned seitan, rice, salad

As you can tell I’m loving the rice-salad-lime-chili combination!

For my paneer, I opt to bake the cubes before simmering them in sauce. Usually, it’s fried in a lot of oil before simmering. I never have much luck frying paneer…oil splatters everywhere, I’m racing to turn the cubes before they burn, and the house just smells smokey. Instead, I massage the cubes in some olive oil and pop them into the oven at 350 degF for about 10 minutes, then flip the cubes over once and bake for another 10 minutes. You want both sides to be a little golden brown. They come out perfectly and I don’t get oil burns all over my arm!

My okra, tindora, and karela are all cooked pretty much the same way…sauteed or fried in some olive oil until browned with onions, garlic, salt, black pepper, chilies, a little turmeric and LIME! I find that the lime really helps get rid of the sliminess from the okra and cuts the bitter taste of the karela. You will also have to fry them for a bit to really fix those problems. The more raw they are, the more slime and bitter taste you get. A friend also suggested soaking the karela in some salt water before cooking to diminish the strong taste. (Note: Some say that karela can induce early labor in pregnancy and cause uterine bleeding. You would really have to eat a large quantity of bitter melon for this to happen. I only had a small amount and was completely fine afterwords. However, I wouldn’t recommend eating it all-day, every-day during your pregnancy. Think of it like caffeine….a little is ok in moderation.)

For the peas, I just sauteed some onion, garlic, and chilis together, then added tomatoes, black eyed peas, paprika, turmeric, cilantro, salt and black pepper. I simmered everything in water together until there was a minimal amount of gravy/sauce with the peas.

What dishes are you all craving these days?

15Apr2015

2nd Chances!

by shabana9886

We did it again! We’re having a baby!

18 week bump!

My husband and I unfortunately lost our first baby around Thanksgiving last year. So, we are thrilled to be given a 2nd chance and are definitely not taking this time for granted.

We just made our big reveal on Facebook. Every week since I was 6 weeks pregnant (minus week 12 because I was just too sick to do anything) I’ve been taking photos of fruits and veggies and grains to show the size of our baby…only barely anyone caught onto what I was doing. Then finally for our 18 week photo (DRAGONFRUIT-SIZED BABY!), we did a photo of me holding the dragonfruit in front of my bump. I thought it was a cute surprise for our friends.

The big reveal!

Weeks 6-17

Dress: Target

Rings: Forever 21 (sold out but similar here)

This pregnancy has been pretty similar to the last one except for a few differences. With both pregnancies I had crazy nausea and was too tired function during the 1st trimester. This time my doctor recommended I try a combo of Unisom + Vitamin B6 to help with the nausea. It worked but made me even more tired, especially since Unisom is used for sleep. I ended up losing a total of 7 pounds during this pregnancy even with the help of meds. However, this time I got the gift of ACNE! I never had an acne problem in my life until now! All the hormones are wreaking havoc on my face. There aren’t many products out there that are pregnancy-safe and that actually work. I even invested in a cleansing brush which didn’t do much to help my situation. Recently, my acne has been clearing up a little. I think I found my magic cocktail. I cleanse with Belli brand (obsessed with their pregnancy-friendly products!) Anti-Blemish Face Wash. It doesn’t have a strong smell (kind of smells like Sprite or 7-up soda) which is a plus when every smell seems to make you gag during pregnancy. Then I use witch-hazel as an astringent. I’ve found that it really helps reduce any inflammation I have and get rid of the red-coloring of blemishes. Then I use Belli’s Acne Control Spot Treatment on my problem zones. And finally, I top it off with Kiehl’s Ultra Face Cream as my moisturizer.

So far sleep hasn’t been a problem for me as long as I have my trusty Snoogle by my side! I haven’t had many intense cravings either. I just really like iced tea…not sure if it’s strong enough to be a craving. I wish I could say I’m indulging in cupcakes and ice cream but too much sugar just always makes me feel icky. Same for anything overly salty like chips.

I’ve just started feeling movement from baby Masu (our nickname for the baby until we chose an official name). I feel little, soft kicks at night, usually after dinner, or when I play songs with guitar solos…lol.

I haven’t had to invest in maternity clothes yet. I did have to go up a size for my pants but that’s about it. I need to start getting my maternity wardrobe together because I’ll need it very soon with how fast my bump is growing.

The next time I get to see baby Masu is in 2 weeks for our 20 week ultrasound. Hoping all goes well during that appointment!