Ambassador of Health

Hi All! Just popping in quick to say hello today. We're pretty much back to our "new normal" routine.  My parents came to visit for about 3 weeks and left to go home yesterday. We were BEYOND appreciative for their help. It was nice to have extra hands to keep Connor occupied during my last week of pregnancy and when we initially brought Declan home. My parents live in New Jersey and we are so fortunate to be able to see them often but they aren't exactly around the corner so it was awesome to get to see them have such quality time with their grandson's. We actually call their visits Nana and Pop-pops bootcamp since it seems like Connor's skills EXPLODE every time they are around. It's funny actually...you'd think I never read to my kid or had enriching interactions...I recently messaged a friend who is a peds SLP since I felt like I needed to check in on Connor's speech-language development. Yes, he's only 18 months but in my paranoia I just felt like he wasn't quite doing a few things I expected. Anyway, a mere week later, Nana gets here and now he's saying "cookie", "baby", "moo", and some other "half words" for foods, drinks, etc. Little show-off. Needless to say, I'm relieved and it's so fun to hear his little voice express himself.

Andrew is back to work and will go on paternity leave for two months starting in June. We will be sending Connor to the sitter a couple of times per week as well. A while back, I wrote a post regarding my desire to have more flexibility in my work/home life. The way I wrote about sitters and daycare came across as if I thought this was a terrible idea. I wanted to clarify that this isn't the case at all. I don't think for an instant that myself, or others, are trying to have someone else raise their kids. That was more of a tongue in cheek way of expressing my personal feeling about wanting to be more involved. On the contrary, we love our sitter and refer to her and her husband almost as Connor third set of grandparents. They care for other kiddos as well and Connor has several little friends. It's such a positive experience for him and we couldn't have survived the last 18 months without them. I'm just happy to have the flexibility to have some extra time in my schedule to spend a full day here and there myself with the kids. A luxury for sure...and probably not something I'll do long term for years on end, but for now, it's working.

Anyway, just settling in with Declan and getting a little one on one time with our new addition. It's actually nice to have it just be he and I for a little while. I can sort of get the house in order, get used to his wants/needs and get us on a bit of a schedule. In a few short weeks I'll return to teaching my classes at the gym and then by June I'll start picking up per diem hours. I'll also be focusing on some health coaching on the side through Beach Body and I've been toying with the idea of revisiting my Stella & Dot business. I get interest in Trunk Shows here and there and typically turn them down since I just didn't have an extra ounce of time...but now my schedule may allow me to fulfill those Trunk Show requests so if you've been interested let me know and we'll see what we can do!

Before I sign off for the day, I wanted to share that I'm excited to announce that I've been accepted as an ambassador for FitFluential and SweatPink!

It's an honor to join these communities. As I discussed in a previous post regarding my ambassadorship with Girls Gone Sporty, being a member of these groups allows me to help further the discussion and mission of a health and fitness based lifestyle. I love being able to contribute to positive discussions and hopefully be a source of info and motivation for your own health journey. These groups are also a gateway to possible brand partnerships etc. I am looking forward to opportunities to partner with brands to spread the word and mission of a healthy lifestyle and bring readers info on services, products, and communities to enhance your lifestyle and journey. If you're on social media (who isn't) be sure to seek out hashtags like #fitfluential and #sweatpink to become part of the discussion and see what's going on around these communities! Also, visit each link above to link over to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and other social media channels to follow!