I Think We Bought A House!

Wow! It's been a whirlwind week. The sale of our condo almost fell through and then did finally firm up, and we now have an accepted offer in on a new house! Very exciting, but it's also bittersweet as we adore our condo and will miss it a lot. Honestly, buying the condo and moving into the city could very well have saved our marriage.

The house we're hoping to buy is an older house in the city's west end. It's within walking distance to my work and close to all the city's amenities. It's a house with a lot of potential, too. It has a very cool finished attic space that is divided into two rooms. My plan is to eventually move Hunter up to the back bedroom and have the front room as a play room and then hang-out space when he's older. There are lots of things we can do to improve on the house but nothing that we *have* to do before we move in (at least, not as far as we know right now... inspection's on Wednesday!) Over time, we'd like to refinish the floors, update the kitchen and upstairs bathroom, update some of the older windows, etc. Lots of little projects we can do slowly and then do some of the bigger ones when we're ready. All very exciting, but also a bit nerve-wracking. The bigger house will mean a bigger mortgage payment, bigger heat and electrical bill, etc. We're going to have to be really careful with our budgeting and change our lifestyle to curb some of our more frivolous spending habits. I'll have to write a budgeting post at some point... That's always been one of our biggest challenges.

In other news, I've been hitting the gym four days a week for two weeks now, and I can already see a difference in my body. I noticed tonight before I got into the shower that my tummy was looking more firm (still not firm... but more firm...) than it did before, and I'm getting some definition back around my hips. I love seeing progress! I've also lost 3lbs! I'm sure the honeymoon will wear off soon, though. I'm still finding the eating bit challenging and go over my calorie goal most days. It's going to be hard to keep that in check over time. But still! Progress!!

The Gym

This week's big accomplishment has been re-joining the gym. I was always a regular gym-goer before I had Hunter, but I cancelled my membership when I went on maternity leave, largely because my gym is right across the street from my office, so I knew it was unlikely that I'd make it there much while I was off. While I was off, most of my physical activity consisted of going for walks with Hunter and Miley (our dog).

I made the decision to re-join the gym this month and go on my lunch hour at work 3-4 days a week. This was a difficult decision for a couple of reasons:

1. I'm really anal about my gym time. If I'm going to run, I feel like I need to run at least 5km. I can't make it to the gym, change, run 5km, change, and make it back to the office in an hour. I might be able to some day, but not currently. If I'm going to do a class, I feel like I need to attend the full (hour-long) class, which again means I'm extending my lunch break. I've been spending the last few months (seriously) changing my thinking on this. Considering that my current physical activity level is almost zero, going to the gym and exercising for even half an hour is better than what I'm doing now. And something is better than nothing. Am I going to get in super killer shape doing a half-hour of exercise each day? No, probably not... but let's face it... I probably wasn't going to get in super killer shape anyway. So, this week, I started back it. So far, I've completed a 30 minute run on the treadmill and 40 minutes of weights. It's a start! I'm taking tomorrow off but will be back at it on Thursday with some more cardio.

2. I enjoy my lunch breaks. I like sitting in the lunch room at work, socializing with my colleagues, and relaxing for an hour. It's hard to give this up completely, which is why I'm only planning on doing 3-4 days a week at the gym. It will still give me 1-2 days in the lunch room. I will say, though, that I usually go back to my office after these types of lunch breaks feeling a lot more lethargic than when I left. When I come back from the gym, I have more energy and a sharper mind to get through the rest of the work day. That's a big perk!

3. I don't particularly enjoy coming back to work post-gym with a bright red face, feeling sweaty, and having messy hair. Well, I have messy hair half the time anyway (I have a toddler, what can I say!), so I think I may as well just give up on that. But the bright red face and the sweat can be nasty. There's nothing I can really do about this. I'm one of those people who just has to look at the gym to start sweating. I'm just accepting it in the name of fitness and living with it... and packing a towel, some baby wipes, face powder, and a stick of deodorant.

Overall, even though I'm only two days in, I feel better. I'm glad I'm getting active again, and I'm okay with the level that I'm at. A big part of becoming a mother, and more recently a working mother, has been to figure out balance. I can't do it all, so I need to do what's practical and achievable. This is it.

New Year's Resolutions

Every year, I make resolutions. Sometimes I keep them, a lot of times I don't, but still I make them. Why? I think it's good to set goals, good to make fresh starts, and good to take a moment to evaluate the past year and think about how you want the next year to go. One of my resolutions this year is to start a blog. And I have! So there! One resolution accomplished! I wished I had blogged through my pregnancy with Hunter and my first year of motherhood, but better late than never. What else am I hoping to achieve this year? Here's my list:

1. Learn to live on a budget. My husband, Peter, and I have budgeted before. It usually results in huge arguments that leave us both feeling terrible. My mother refers to them as congressional budgetary hearings. That's pretty accurate! We always end up giving up because we can't handle the fights, but we also really need to make and stick with a budget, so I'm going to try leading the charge this time and see how it goes. Basically, it all boils down to shopping less and saving more. Easier said than done.

2. Get back on track with my health and fitness. I was really good with exercise (most of the time) before I had a baby, but now, it's a bit more challenging. Good health and fitness is always twofold - exercise and food. I'm going to start with exercise because, quite frankly, I find it easier. My plan is to rejoin the gym and go on my lunch hour 2-3 days per week and also exercise from home in the evenings 2-3 days per week. Once I get that down, I'll work on the food side of things - better planning so that my family can eat healthy and nutritious meals made from whole foods.

3. Be more present when I'm with my son. Let's face it... Rolling a ball back and forth for hours and hours can be a little... monotonous. I've fallen into the trap of letting him play while I catch up on Facebook or try to get things done around the house while yelling "No!" every 30 seconds or so when he tries to unload the garbage can, play with electrical cords, or pull all the Kleenex out of the box. Don't get me wrong. I fully support independent play, and I think it's a really important skill. At the same time, though, I also know that time and attention with me (and my husband) are important for Hunter. I need to sit down on the floor and just fully focus on him more - no phone, no TV in the background, no laundry to fold.

And really, I think that's it. Those are pretty big goals. I'm sure I'll fail often, but I'm hoping to continuously remind myself this year that this is what I'm working towards. Of course, there are lots of little things I'd like to accomplish, too... read more, knit more, etc. but they're less important than these three big ones. Oh, and of course, I'd like to keep up on my blog! I'll be back soon with a progress report.