The Joys of Parenthood

I'm having deja vu; I feel like the mother of a newborn. Sleep deprived, distracted, trying to adjust to the new routines.

The puppies wake up and cry for us about every two hours. We've been taking turns getting up and letting them out to relieve themselves, but we're torn about it. It's nice having a clean floor in the morning, but we're not getting a decent night's sleep. They're small and don't have a lot of bladder control yet but do their best. I'd like to get them taught that night time is down time, but they are really just babies and sleep off and on throughout the day.

But if we don't go downstairs to let them out, wow are they loud! Even with the doors all shut it still takes earplugs to shut them out. So even if we don't get up and let them out, we're still going to be awoken by the noise. As I told Hubby this morning, "Welcome to the joys of parenthood."

On top of the interrupted sleep, I'm also getting up 10-15 minutes earlier now to give myself extra time to let them out and go potty before I go to the gym. I'm continuing with 30 minutes each of treadmill and stationary bike. The toning has slumped, and I need to find the time for that. However, lifting and lugging around those puppies (Pearl is 11.8 pounds and Bruno is 10.6 pounds) is giving me some upper body work.

I will give Mabel and Hubby credit and say they are pitching in with the puppy chores. But let's face it; I'm the one who is doing the majority of the clean-up work (mopping, sweeping, vacuuming, picking up poop), and most of their help is taking them outside and entertaining them. And in the afternoons I'm there alone with them. We're bonding, which is nice, but it is an additional responsibility I didn't have before.

I was afraid the stress and chaos of new "babies" would send me to overeating. Yesterday was not the case; during the afternoon I was either too distracted or tired to eat. By supper time I was pretty hungry, but I stayed mindful and in the evening I was again too tired to even think about eating a snack. And I'm definitely outside walking around more getting the puppies to run around and burn off some energy. Once they're a little older we'll start working on using the leash, and one day I hope they'll be my walking companions.

Over the weekend I told my friend SS about this blog. He then told our other friend JH, who emailed me to give me hell because I hadn't told her about it! I guess I have been a little secretive about this blog with my friends. But I don't want to be one of those "one track mind" friends who obsesses about one certain thing (their kids, their job, a cause they support, or in my case, my weight loss). Just because it's on my mind every day doesn't mean everyone wants to hear about it ad nauseum.

I think it also comes down to that "fraud" feeling that so many of us weight loss bloggers talk about it. Yes, I've had some major accomplishments, but because I'm nowhere near an "ideal" goal weight (BMI, height-weight charts, etc.), I don't feel like I'm a real success.

For example, while I'm really enjoying the book "Thin For Life", I find myself focusing on what the masters weigh instead of concentrating on how they do it. Almost all of the women mentioned in the book are maintaining weights between 110-140, and even most of the men are maintaining between 135-200 pounds. A lot of them had all-time highest weights that were less than my goal weight! Then I tell myself there's no point in comparing myself to the "masters." I have to set my own goals and not worry about how much bigger I'll be than other people.

I better get on with my day. My goal is to fit a nap in somewhere. Wish me luck!