Who Knew

If you told me two years ago that I'd build a global business from inside our little kid friendly office, I would have laughed out loud. It would have actually been an idea I'd run from.

Through the ups and downs of my journey I pray that I am teaching my girls, by example, that they can do ANYTHING they set their mind to. That they are mighty warriors capable of achieving great things in this world!

Baby Lennox

What a joy and honor to support my dear friend Brenna and her husband Dan throughout the birth of their baby yesterday. She was a mighty Mama rockstar throughout the entire process, from start to finish! The experience brought back many wonderful memories from my career as a Birth and Postpartum Doula.

Supporting women as they do incredible things is my passion and yesterday was a gift. Being able to hug this sweet mother as she snuggled her precious son for the first time was priceless. Welcome to the world baby Lennox! You and your family will always hold a special place in my heart

Going against the GRAIN!

I was NINE in this picture, biking with my siblings and “my baby.” I was NINE when I participated in my first live childbirth. From the time I could talk I loved babies. As I grew that love developed into a passion for helping them come into the world. That passion drove me to walk away from college and move to San Fransisco, then Los Angeles and even N.Y.C. 

It was a completely “against the grain” move.

I completed training courses and became a licensed brith and postpartum Doula. I worked with an incredible variety of people, including A-list Hollywood stars. For months on end I lived in top notch hotels, flew on private jets and even had a limo driver at my service for a time. Above all this, I basked in my passion as I learned to serve, love and guide couples through the most sacred and pivotal experience of their lives.

NO ONE else I knew walked away from college to become a birth and postpartum Doula. NO ONE else I knew experienced the adventures, the growth or the travels I did. Those years changed me. My decision to “go against the grain” led me to Cody - the love of my life. That decision was everything. At first, it was the scariest and most uncertain thing I’d ever done, yet making that one and sticking with it ultimately offered me the journey of a lifetime!

Baby #4

I thought it was finally time to announce that we are having another

GIRL!

We found out oh about 4.5 months ago, but this mama has failed to blog about it.

We are just thrilled to welcome our newest addition soon,

 Cody is especially looking forward to being surrounded 

by 5 females for quite some time!

Good thing he listens and lives the advice from great talks like THIS  

so that he can be the 

best darn dad to our little flock of females.

(Belly size as of 8:15pm last night!)

And now a mini recap of pregnancy #4.

After the nausea calmed down I was surprised with an early diagnosis of placenta previa and at about 4 months was forced to drop teaching my cardio classes and had to take a leave of absence from all of my classes and working out in general for a couple of weeks.

Fortunately I was able to get back to teaching my Body Pump classes shortly thereafter and am still teaching today. I'm actually scheduled to teach up until my due date, which is Dec. 30th.

Aside from that early hiccup I've enjoyed constant contractions since about 5.5 months gestation, which have become stronger and more regular with each passing week it seems.

When I was pregnant with Brinley I was under the impression that the feeling I had like I would surely explode if my stomach expanded one more tiny inch would lessen with future pregnancies, 

I've now learned x4, that for me it doesn't. 

This morning after my class I had a member say I looked like I was ready to explode.

I just looked at her, smiled and said "well that's exactly how I feel."

I'm measuring right on target, which means this will surely be our biggest baby yet.

Since Aspen was the biggest at 7lbs. 2 or so oz. I'm guessing baby will be in the high 7lb. range.

Even in light of the fun pregnancy aches and pains I've loved and tried my best to relish this sweet experience of having a little human growing inside of me. Feeling her kick and punch and hiccup all the livelong day and night is special and so cool.

What an amazing and miraculous opportunity 

it's been to grow each of our wee ones inside me.

When I hear about the NICU babies Dr. Young treats with numerous mental and physical abnormalities it further drives home the precious gift of a healthy baby.
Ultrasounds seem to indicate that this baby will not have a club foot!

SO, with this in mind I gird up my loins for a fabulous last month of pregnancy!

Group X

As a new instructor almost 10 years ago

 kickboxing and step were intimidating formats to me.

I remember thinking it would take some real growth for me to competently teach those formats.

About two years ago I was certified in and began teaching kickboxing.

Then just a few weeks ago I tackled my other format hurdle and taught my first full length step class.

 I utilize a variety of step drills in other formats, like Triple Fit, 

but never before had I taught a strictly step class.

My justification for not pursuing these formats earlier on, especially step, was because I had little interest in utilizing my precious teaching time to teach those formats.

Surprisingly however, I LOVED teaching both formats!

I always say that the gym is my "happy place." 

When I am teaching I feel ALIVE!

I have a core group of regulars who come day after day, 

week after week and year after year...

members who become friends and inspire me to keep going!

I LOVE my job!

Check out THIS article about chemicals and cancer.

Doing What I Love and Loving What I Do

Every time I enter the Group X room at my gym to start a class I feel happy!

Even when it's been a train wreck of a morning with the children,
perhaps especially when it's been a difficult morning,
I delight in escaping to my happy teaching place.

I LOVE my job!

 I thrive on getting to know my members by name and learning bits and pieces of their
lives when they come chat with me after class.

My classes are composed mostly of regular participants,
many who have been consistently attending my classes for years now.
I've grown to love 'em and depend on their smiling faces in class.

Part of my job description includes encouraging and motivating members
to help them achieve their goals, how cool is that?

I can still clearly recall advice given at a training event I attended back in Utah.
The master instructor said:

"Members should ALWAYS feel better when they walk 
out of your class then they did when they walked into it."


And so my goal is for each member to leave feeling
happy, accomplished, successful, encouraged and with a renewed determination 
to come back again, and again and again!

Studies have been conducted indicating that consistent challenging exercise is
just as effective as prozac and I can testify to that!

 

This is Ellen, Group X Director (my boss) for THREE of our clubs.

She may look tiny, but boy does she pack a powerful punch in all of her

high energy spinning classes!

Ellen is the women who keeps our Group X world spinning too.

Her job title is quite extensive and as I see it, very overwhelming,

but she handles the chaos with great character...and a lot of patience!

Patience as in when I called her in the wee hours of the morning 

once when I was sicker than sick and she got my classes covered for the day...

and patience as in when 

I kept needing more and more classes covered because my leg would not heal...

or patience as in when any one of the many instructors has a last minute emergency 

and she scrambles 

to help them get a class covered. 

Thank you Ellen for keeping it all organized running smoothly!

A message about patience found HERE.

And now I am off to memorize choreography for tomorrow's class.

Full Disclosure

 In the spirit of full disclosure and with a desire to be transparent  

 in my blogging life

I must confess that the very same night I composed 

the previous post I ate these!

When Cody called to tell me he was on his way home from work at 10pm 

I insisted he stop at the golden arches on my behalf.

The fries were actually pretty yucky, certainly not fresh, and I paid for it with a stomach ache 

that night

which lasted until I taught my class the following morning. 

So there you go. 

When I really want to eat something I do...even if it's terrible for me, 

and then I don't punish myself for it.

The key being that my "good food cravings" far surpass the "bad" ones.

The end

For a much more inspiring message than what I just wrote go HERE.

K.I.S.S.

I participated in a phenomenal class at Santa Monica College in 2001.

The instructor was Vivian Rosenberg, the course was Media Communications.

Lame course description, far from a lame class.

During the course of this class I came to utterly respect and admire Mrs. Rosenberg.

She lead us through a journey of discovery which forever changed the way I experience advertisement, television programing, news reporting, politics and education systems.

In that class 10 years ago she made specific predictions about how these already corrupt institutions and corporations would continue to deteriorate as money,
power and lack for the greater good

took precedence over morality and integrity.

As these predictions have become realities my mind rewinds back to that class in 2001.
This is exactly what happened dear friends when I uploaded these pictures to post!

One media motto is K.I.S.S. standing for Keep It Super Simple OR Keep It Simple Stupid. 

Often times media content is catered to the lowest common denominator, intellectually speaking.

However, if we simply apply that acronym to food consumption, suddenly it 

becomes a 

beacon of much need common sense! 

Just Keep It Super Simple. 

Pictured above is my girls lunch. Brinley's was packed with her at school.

A very typical looking lunch in our home 

minus green or orange colors, which I like to include most days.

Below is dinner cooking later in the day,

vegetable stir-fry served atop long grain brown rice and pomegranate seeds as a side.

A Simple and Smart Switch to make is to use this:

instead of white sugar, when you can. It's a delicious organic nectar from an Agave plant. 

It has a low glycemic index and is gluten free.

My Mom actually started using it several years ago. 

I'd have to admit that at the time I thought she was a wee bit overboard with her health ambitions, 

but now Mom I applaud you and we follow in your foot steps!

Instead of having to order it from some random carrier online like Mom had to in the dark ages of Agave, 

you can buy it at virtually any grocery store!

Go HERE to see why you may want to make the switch...

compliments of Duane's online research.

We are impressed by your LESS SUGAR movement Duane!

My cutie pie who delights in her 2 big bowls of oatmeal sweetened with 

Agave every morning...and who is also screaming in her her crib right now 

due to the death of her binki days.

Liberation

Here is my new fall color.

Here is an old blow dryer contraption that made me crack up.

Here is one of the many air dry hair do's I've been sporting since I tucked my blow dryer
away several months ago. It's liberating ladies!

HERE is something much more inspiring than my hair...

AND

here is my mother at age 18 in London.

 What a babe and I'm confident that she did NOT use a blow dryer!

Happy Sunday!

Kentucky

I was in HERE during the two days prior to our Disney vacation for the
annual 
Innovative Instructor Weekend.

Instructors traveled from 6 states, where our clubs are located,

to attend this intense 3 day training.

It's a time for instructors to improve, to learn from the presenting master instructors, 

to get new ideas and to be inspired.

Our Bellevue location is inspiring in itself. 

Glass walls encircle the group X room and the club is located right 

above a beautiful flowing river.

This year I was able to be a presenter! 

I had a blast, although I'll admit that 

teaching 45 experienced instructors feels just a tad nerve racking.

I certainly do not qualify to be numbered as one of the "master instructors," 

but I am looking forward to presenting again next year!

Courses were offered in the spinning studio, pool, yoga studio,  

group X room 

and classroom locations simultaneously.

It was a sweaty, sore and satisfying time for all!

29

Happy Birthday
to this little munchkin, who is now a big munchkin
and mother of three.

Wonder where Avery get's her
face pulling addiction from?

GENETICS I guess!

Welcome Home Gift

We are home from a fun week long trip in Utah.
Below, the welcome home gift presented to me the morning after
our arrival by my Sports Medicine Doctor.

My fracture is not healed.

The Doctor recommended crutches for two weeks.
After my tearful explanation of how mothering three young children and living in a home with two flights of stairs might make that idea close to impossible, we settled on this beauty.

Plus = I can walk without crutches.

Minus = Longer recovery.

Minus = Can't teach high impact classes for 2-3 months now.

Minus = Suppose to be off my feet as much as possible still.

Plus = I can think of about 55465.6 things that could be much more devastating than this.

No time to blog about our trip yet,
but here is a great post on Grandma Ginger's blog!

Accessory #2, not a brace!

Dear Jill,

Thank you for the handmade flower accessories which arrived
in my mailbox last week. You are so talented!

I wore this one yesterday and as you know, the children love them as also!

Tomorrow I am off to Virginia for a long past due visit to see my
grandma Lewis.

On Monday I will attend 2 of her aerobics classes.

Yes, she is still an avid instructor and it's been one of
my dreams to see her in action teaching class.

Happy Moms Day

Here is what I know about Motherhood:

I have a much yet to learn from wise women like her...

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels
from taking kids to scout camp.

I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from
mowing Sister Schenk's lawn.

I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children.

I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping
to weed someone's garden.

I want to be there with the children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.

I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

Marjorie Pay Hinckley

...and I have much to learn from women my age like Stephanie.
We were high school friends on the same cheer team. One of the things I remember about Stephanie was how she always wanted to be a mother.

I am also learning from sources like THIS,

which provide great resources to:

Strengthen Your Family
AND
Nurture Yourself

and from blog posts like THIS.


And finally, the more I mother the more I realize how much
my young children are capable of teaching me.

These are some of the most challenging days of my life...
and many of the best!

Me with my lovely Mother in 1982.

Fun With Friends

***If you guessed AVERY on the last post you win!***


Two weeks ago our Resident Spouse Support group had a
fun girls weekend.

Cody was on call, but thanks to Leslie (who cared for the girls part of the day),
Angie and I joined our group for a half day on Saturday.

We had fun hiking, eating, hot-tubing and laughing together.
What wonderful support this group of women has brought into my life as we have been on this residency journey for 4 years and counting!

On the way home Ang and I had a Discovery Channel experience as we witnessed an opossum (looks like a cat sized rat) waddle into the middle of the road and snatch an innocent frog for it's midnight snack.
You ought to have been there to see our reactions!

Thanks to Mary (more pictures here) for planning this gathering!



On Saturday evening I headed to Sanae's art show with some friends.
Wowie is she talented!
She does not consider herself an "artist," but anyone else who sees her work does. No doubt about it, she is amazingly talented!

Afterward we went to the delicious Z Pizza for dinner.
Good food, good friends, good conversation.
The streets were alive with musicians and crowds out for the "Gallery Hop,"
but alas Cody's pager sounded beckoning me home.

We ended off our evening with a thrilling little chase instigated by a crazy man who was being harsh to a young child.
Perhaps it was due to our stares as we wondered if we should call authorities.
Just as he got close to us we ran, hearts racing,
back into the gallery where Sanae
was and then he vanished.

Amy affectionately gave us the title of
"Mothers Against Harmful Acts Upon Children."

Stamp Much?

Yes, I am still stamping...however,
I find myself morphing into a new me with less time for crafting.
I DO continue to enjoy creating little stamped birthday ensembles and teacher treats.




As you can see, my sidebar "Links I Love" section has now been updated to reflect my current areas of focus.


Last night after a family night lesson about our February Character Quality focus, Charity & Love,
we made THIS for activity time. It was a hit!

Pictures and Places

From our home of Bathing Beauties to yours...

and recently I spent time with my fantastic friends HERE and HERE!
To see some irresistible pictures of baby Bexley taken by her OWN MOMMY go HERE.

Pee Your Pants Funny

Tonight I went to check on our girls before going to bed, because I have every night since the day Brinley was born. I love to see our children sleeping.

Typically I have tender feelings of love.
Sometimes I just stand over them watching them sleep, adoringly.

Tonight when my eyes adjusted to the dark I had a different reaction....




I busted up laughing, as quietly as I could.
Then I grabbed Cody who had the same reaction.

We unanimously decided that a picture was in order.
Thank goodness for flashes, which did not wake the girls since they were masked.



It was so funny to us that they would decide to wear the masks and
actually fall asleep with them on.

Oh, these are the days folks. These are the days!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This morning marked the launch of Urban Iron #8. One more release memorized, check.
Have I mentioned that I LOVE teaching in January?
Classes are packed to overflowing, oh so much fun!

Making Merry

On Tuesday we attended Avery's musical performance at her preschool.
Her teachers always comment that she remembers ALL the words to the songs they learn at school and loves to sing with exuberance.
She sure did sing with vigor up on stage!

I was able to attend Brinley's musical performance and classroom
party at school this week as well.
Brinley was right on cue with all of her hand motions while singing the songs!
She introduced me to the magic elf that has made mischief in her classroom for the past month.

Aspen, Avery and I participated in our weekly playgroup on Wednesday.
We had a party and gift exchange at Angie's house. Fun & crazy!

This year we ventured of the traditional graham cracker gingerbread house making and tried it with rice krispie treats. I am a fan!
Fun, quick and the kids actually enjoyed eating it for a few days.

Thursday night we had so much fun at my Resident Spouse Survivors Club Christmas party. The venue was a historic wine cellar in German Village.
Love getting together with my survivor buddies...this time we included our hubbies.

Friday night was a girls only ornament exchange party at Lacy's. Good food, friends and a porcelain doll head (which Ellie is holding in the picture) made for a fun night!

Saturday night Cody and I hit the road for some quick last minute gift shopping before we headed north to one of his attendings home's for yet another Christmas party.
The food was exquisite and delicious.
We enjoyed mingling with other resident's and attendings.

Apparently the physician who's home we were in has "an incredible and extensive" wine collection in his in home wine cellar.
We just thought it looked really cool...so we took a picture.

Last night we hopped in the car for our traditional drive through the Parade of Lights. When we arrived Aspen squealed with pure delight as she jumped up and down on
my lap in the front seat. It was so cute and we all laughed.
The older girls got to take turns driving the car with Daddy in the drivers seat.

All in all it's been quite the Christmas week!

Boston

We packed a LOT into our quick trip including:

* A candle light dinner at an authentic Italian restaurant in the "North End"
or "Little Italy" section of the city. After dinner we had to make a stop off at Mike's Pastries (thanks Nollie) to try their Ricotta Canolli. We could not pass up the colorful selection of Gelato at one of the many Gelateria's so we simply had to get some coconut gelato as well.

* We walked around "China town" and although we ate and ate and ate on our trip, we went ahead and passed on the hanging dead ducks, heads intact, which littered restaurant window's in China Town.

* A beautiful walk across the river lead us to the USS Constitution Museum where we pretended to be really interested in history.

* We watched "Fiddler on the Roof" on Broadway at the Boston Opera House...only the most exquisite theater I have ever been in.

* I discovered and devoured the best crab cake since my life in N.Y. at Legalls Seafood in the Copley Plaza downtown (thanks Megann).

* Lots of riding on the T, Boston's underground metro system.

* We toured The Harvard University Campus and ate lunch a Wagamama's.
Yes Kristi, it was delicious!

* We sipped HOT white and milk Chocolate from Burdick's while peeking in the quaint surrounding shops, like this flower shop below that was so darling that I wanted to live close by just to be a local customer.



* We walked around the Boston Common where happy fat squirrels scurried alongside our feet and up the trees.

* Ate lunch at the historical Quincy Market in Faneuil Hall where
45963458767 other people were eating as well.


And now I will tell you why on earth we went to Boston...

because my Better Half was extended an interview for his Pediatric Fellowship at
Boston Children's, a Harvard hospital.

Fellowship is an optional sub-specialization year after residency wherein we will have the opportunity to make Cody's post-graduate work add up to an even 10 years!
He will begin his fellowship in July of 2011.

Word on the street is that Boston Children's is #1 in the nation if not the world.
This is reflected in the number of fellowships applications they receive each year.

(home of Paul Revere)
While Cody attended an early morning lecture, 5 interviews by heads of the department, lunch with the fellows and observations all day Friday I walked the
Freedom Trail Tour!

With a costumed and theatrical guide leading the way I was able to see 16 historical, like really historically significant, landmarks. If you were into history this would have been thrilling for you. I am no history buff, but it was still quite thrilling for me.

No strollers to maneuver, binki's being thrown, diapers to change, runny noses to wipe, tired moans attend to, hungry mouths to feed, sibling wars to mediate, nap times to arrange, bottles to warm, etc. Even though it was as freezing as could me I was so very happy, happy for the free moments, happy to be walking through the beautiful city, happy to have time to think my own thoughts, talk to the locals, eat lunch all by myself without have to make it or clean it up and get on and off of the metro with ease.

Here are a few of the freedom tour stops.

(Park Street Church & The State House)
A BIG huge thanks to Leslie for being so willing to take on our 3 monkeys in addition
to her 2 which made this trip possible. Five little girls for three days is no easy task!