Dukan Diet – Days 9 & 10 – A baby and an update on Tiff

Eating strict Dukan, feeling groovy! Feeling very good about the diet and the exercise. I set a goal to do 25 miles by July 1st, I surpassed that this afternoon! It’s the 11th! Woot!!!

The support I’ve had for Tiffany from family and friends, local and afar, has been amazing. I feel so blessed. Tiffany is feeling overwhelmed by the generosity. A reply yesterday from her had me in tears… My love, Tiffany, you DO deserve the love and support of all these people. TIFF had her heel set and she’s now in a cast up to her knee, no weight bearing for 6 weeks. Hard with four kids, but she’ll be able to do it with continued support. She had pain relief initially we the cast, but now that her swelling is going down, she’s actually having pain again. The doc will put on a smaller cast Monday, to support it more.

And…. A baby. A lovely wee boy slipped into my hands yesterday afternoon. This is my 2nd of the two babies I came to China to assist earthside. I’ve said it a few thousand times and will continue saying, I am so blessed to be present and in service to families at their births. I came home, had dinner and did 5K, faster than I had in a long time (which is slow for most, but fast for me… At least I’m out there, lol). A birth high… Feels so good!

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During this run I also restarted C25K because Jenni and Sadie are doing it (my oldest daughter and my granddaughter). They started yesterday, too. So when I get home, we’ll be up to speed with each other and can run together. We’re doing the virtual kilomathon together this month and a 5K near home together in September. Three generations running together… How cool is that?!?!

Dukan Diet Redo – Day 4 & 5 – PP/PV

I’ve had a busy first few days in Shanghai getting settled in, meeting new people, finding the grocery stores, etc. I am staying with friends of the couple I am here to assist and they are all lovely. On Wednesday I got to hang out with the awesome kids at Amy’s house and then came back to the flat I am staying in and met a pretty awesome 5 1/2 year old… she thought I came to Shanghai to be a “wife” for Amy, too stinkin’ cute.

Day 4 Food:
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: salami (yes, I know that the fat is too high for Dukan, but it’s what was available, lol) and 2 ounces of low fat cheese
Dinner: Beef stir fry
Snack: FF Greek yogurt with flax seed
Water: 1300mL
Exercise: Walked around all day and didn’t calculate that, but did an intentional interval walk: 1.9 miles

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View from the balcony of the flat I’m staying in. It’s been around 70 degrees and hazy since I got here Tuesday evening. The sun peeks through the haze every once in a while 🙂

Thursday was Day 5:
Breakfast: 2 fried eggs and a sausage link
Lunch: Iced coffee and FF Greek yogurt
Dinner: Cauliflower stir fried with ginger and spicy something!! Yum and some beef stir fry, as well. So yummy!
Snack: FF Greek yogurt
Water: 1500mL
Exercise: 2.2 interval walk + walking around all day.

I have my blue tooth keyboard hooked up to my iPad so typing is so much faster and easier!

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It’s Friday afternoon here, just found out the Miami Heat lost to the Spurs… argh… they need to get it together!!! I’m off to explore the streets!

Ciao!

BUSY WEEK!

Wow! So, Merry Christmas! It’s been a few weeks. I really miss blogging!!! I have so little time to do it, but I must get better at posting.

I have 3 jobs… yes THREE! So I have very little time to do much else but work and squeeze in some exercise!

I’ve fun two 5Ks this month and begun doing Galloway Half-marathon training. This week we ran 6.34 miles so 10K +!!! I actually did it. I’m definitely feeling it today, lol, but the joy of actually finishing surpasses all of that!!!

6.37 miles which is a little more than 10 kms!

6.37 miles which is a little more than 10 kms!

This morning at church, my friend Natalie took photos of the families… this is the one she took of my clan…

Front: Jose, Sofia, Shane & Sadie Back: Joey, Tiffany, Sydnie, Me & Nick

Front: Jose, Sofia, Shane & Sadie
Back: Joey, Tiffany, Sydnie, Me & Nick

After church my son and I decided to take a bike ride to breakfast….

On the way to breakfast!

On the way to breakfast!

And then a different route home…

Bike ride home from breakfast.

Bike ride home from breakfast.

And a few pics to round things out…

Color Vibe earlier this month!

Color Vibe earlier this month! Elizabeth, Linnea, Me and Michele!

 

My new bike!

My new bike!

Saw 50 Shades the Musical (which was HYSTERICAL!!!!) with my girlies!

Saw 50 Shades the Musical (which was HYSTERICAL!!!!) with my girlies!

And a night out with friends that turned out to be quite profitable for Sadie and her rubberband bracelet sales!!!

And a night out with friends that turned out to be quite profitable for Sadie and her rubberband bracelet sales!!!

We had Christmas dinner at GOLDEN CORRAL! Can I tell you how much fun it was not having to cook and clean?!?!? And it was WAY cheaper than Thanksgiving! We had a fantastic waitress named Natasha who took very good care of us and we got to eat all we wanted to!!

I also had 2 out of town business trips this month! One to San Antonio, TX and one to Tallahassee, FL (which even though it’s in my state, it’s a 7 hour drive!) And assisted on a couple births, one a water birth 🙂

 

So that’s my December wrap up! It’ll probably be next year before I get another blog post in! LOL

Ciao!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Get Paid to Do This!

Birth is in my blood. It permeates my life. It makes me whole. I feel immense joy in assisting others in the birth of their babies. I got to do that in the wee early hours today. In paradise. I witnessed a family of 4 become a family of 5. A gorgeous, quick, blessed water birth here in St. John, USVI.

Cassie & Ethan about 30 seconds after he was born into his mommy's hands in the water.

Cassie & Ethan about 30 seconds after he was born into his mommy’s hands in the water.

Birth is about intuition. About listening to the mother and listening within you to make the best choices. This birth was all about intuition. Going with the gut. Knowing all was well. And it was. A juicy 7 lb baby boy, a full pound bigger than his sisters!

Me & Ethan after I completed his newborn exam.

Me & Ethan after I completed his newborn exam.

I still have 6 days in paradise… I see some beach time in my immediate future!

Life.Is.Good

Ciao 🙂

 

Australia Wrap Up & a Dukan Update

So, we’ll start out with my wild adventure down under 🙂

I stayed 3 full days after the baby was born. On Saturday I went snorkeling with a group from MeetUp.com. And had an awesome time. Great way to wrap up 4 weeks in Adelaide.

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I then rented a car and started out on the Great Ocean Road from Adelaide to Melbourne. It was a long, but lovely 700 mile drive.

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Fun things to see…

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Then I got to Melbourne and stayed a few nights with Kay. A Scottish midwife I met in Abu Dhabi. We went for a long walk and lunch down by the water…

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The second night we met Melissa a Kiwi midwife I met in Abu Dhabi and Jax, a friend of a friend for a Thai fusion dinner…

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Then it was off to Malua Bay to see Gen, Dean and Gracie. I met this lovely family in Abu Dhabi, as well…

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We hiked, went to the zoo, BBQd breakfast at the sea, hiked some more, burned a bonfire, FUN!

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Then off to Sydney to meet up with Gail. Gail was my trainer in Abu Dhabi and my neighbor. And she is one of the funniest people I know. She invited me up for “tea” one night and so I ate dinner and went up to her flat only to find that “tea” is dinner. She’s called me Dickie since then… I’m sure it’s derogatory, but she says it with sarcasm and love at the same time 😀

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We drove from Sydney to The Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane, in 16 hours… Long ass day, but wonderful company! She lives about 30 minutes from Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo!! We went with Gail’s daughter Olivia and her wee little man, Angus. What a fun day!

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And after cuddles and see ya laters, it was time for my 6 week Australia Adventure to come to a close. I flew out of Brisbane with ZZ Top, no kidding. On my second favorite plane…

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And, no, I didn’t get pics of ZZ Top, I try to think how I’d feel if people were interrupting me for pics.

And now I’m home a week. It’s Easter. I had a lovely day with my mom and Tiff, Joey and ALL the grandkids at church and then a wonderful dinner at Jenni and Chris’ house.

Now my update. I’ve gained 18 pounds since I’ve come back to the States in September. 9 of them in Australia. The first 9 creeped up. I’m freaked out. My clothes still fit, but are snug. I noticed my undies were snug last week and couldn’t imagine what was up. Then I got on the scale. I have stayed gluten free. In Australia I logged more miles on my RunKeeper app than any other 6 weeks in the past year. I hiked almost every single day! i swam and snorkeled. I climbed a freaking mountain!!!

I’ve done a few things that I need to rein in… 1. Too much full fat cheese. 2. Replacement foods (in Australia I splurged on GF pretzels, muffins, crackers… One night I ate GF crackers with organic honey!!!) 3. Wine. I’ve had a couple glasses a week, which is a lot for me. Moscato… Damn you, Cathy Cook! LOL

So, starting tomorrow, I’m doing 4 days of attack and then alternating PP (Pure Protein) and PV (Protein Veggie) days until it’s off. And I’m going to blog EVERY.SINGLE.DAY… To hold myself accountable and to get the support I need from all of you.

So, I’m back… Daily posts. Looking forward to getting back on track!

Ciao!