What I REALLY Ate on Wednesday

July 31, 2013July 30, 2013 / Anna @ Piper's Run / Leave a comment

I’ve never actually manage to photograph everything I eat on a Wednesday. It’s true! Usually I can pull off lunch, a snack and if I am lucky dinner too. When I posted last weeks’ WIAW, I thought I should keep the camera handy and take a picture of EVERYTHING I eat….yup, everything. So here you go………..

What I REALLY Ate last Wednesday:

What I’ve been eating….

Kellogg’s Muslix with lactose free skim milk and a banana.

(I have to admit I won’t be buying this cereal again, thumbs down)

Wednesday is Farmer’s Market Day: Local blueberries and spring rolls – yum.

It’s hard to pass up going to the Market especially when you get to hang out with friends and their babies.

CHEESE! Smile for the camera:

Love cheese

A friend of mine introduced me to Balderson 5 Year Canadian Heritage Cheddar from Costco. *drooling mouth*

Which then turned into eating it with crackers and cheese bread (not as good) for lunch.

And I ate a plum:

Mine and Lilly’s new favourite snack.

New favourite snack.

And then some “smoked” almonds:

delish!

Then it was supper time:

Roasted peppers with garlic olive oil, pork strips mixed with pasta.

Hilary eating her “rusk” mid bite.

And of course, Lilly’s photo contribution with a little cheese over top!

Look at that cutie!

And I may have eaten a few of these:

…. my weakness…..

Dark Chocolate Peppermint heaven!

That is EVERYTHING I ate last Wednesday.

Oh, and water…water and more water at each meal and in between.

This breastfeeding mama’s gotta keep hydrated.

Don’t forget to Hydrate!

What did you eat today or yesterday?

Ever photographed everything you ate….I mean everything?

Do you keep a food journal?

Where can you find Piper’s Run?

Piper’s Run on Twitter

Piper’s Run on Facebook

Piper’s Run on Pinterest

Piper’s Run on TOTS Family

and

It’s true, I take on too much.

July 29, 2013 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 5 Comments

Ever have one of those days when you feel you’ve taken on too much; you thought you could pull it all together; you thought you’ve done it before why can’t I do it again? Well, I’ve been having lots of those days….recently. And I keep tell myself I will slow down, I won’t commit to anything next month….I.WILL.RELAX. Ha! That hasn’t happened.

Source

It doesn’t help that I only get 5-6 hours of sleep a night…oh and that’s not clumped all together. That’s 1.5 hours here, 2 hours there and maybe, just MAYBE if I am lucky 3 hours in a row. The girls have me up lots 😦 With my husband working in another Province now, I am on my own with both girls for most of the week. Granted, Lilly goes to Day Care 3-4 days of the week but those other 3-4 days of the week are by far the hardest for me. I’m totally fine being with both, cooking meals and bed time. It’s the 3-year-old tantrums and constant not listening to me that’s challenging.

During all of this over the last few months I’ve been balanced being a mom, wife, bridesmaid; had Lilly’s birthday party; attended 3 birthday parties for Lilly’s friends; traveled to my parents an hour away just for the day and over night; participated in the Mud Hero Run, hit up the Zoo once; driven Lilly to Day Care and picked her up almost every day – all with poor Hilary in tow. I’ve tried to blog and contribute to TOTS Family Blog once a month. Thanks goodness my parents and sister love taking care of our dog for long periods of time.

I’ve tried really hard to workout 4-5 days of the week until two weeks ago when I just had to cut something out to “get by”. Clearly but cutting out my workouts/running, it has taken a tole on me physically and mentally. Bad decision Anna, bad decision, I need that shit in my life!

Photo from: http://www.fitforexpecting.com/2012/10/04/5-tips-for-stressed-out-moms/

Source

And that’s why I signed up for the Mud Hero (July) and Run or Dye (Sept) because I need an outlet and I need to be active. Leading up to these events I get stressed out and think WHY? WHY, did I do this again? Why am I dragging my kids around so I can be active. Thank GAWD I have some amazing family and friends who help me out and a husband who encourages me to get out for a run when he is home.

Then an awesome email came into my inbox on my birthday! I had won two entries to the Run for Women run in Halifax on August 10th, yeah, pretty awesome birthday score! I knew right away that I wanted to be apart of it but my heart was also telling me to slow down and think about it. Can I really pull off a 5k or 10k at 8:30am in the morning with both girls in tow (babysitter needed) and all while traveling to Halifax???

I registered anyway with a good friend of mine I don’t see very often (double bonus). I’ve have mixed emotions about this run and feeling like I’m taking on too much and then I think I’ll rest later this month! WHO AM I KIDDING? I won’t.

Running with Hilary early Spring ’13.

I want both my girls to come to this event. Even though Hilary will only be 8 months old and Lilly 3-years-old – I want them to see this event, I want them to see me run, I want them to see all the other women and girls running. I want to be a role model for them and that overpowers the feelings of “I take on too much”. Some day, I want to run with my daughters (maybe I’ll even start a mother-daughter run with my job when I return….). I want to watch them run….I want to see their faces when they’ve crossed the finish line and realize that they accomplished something awesome.

I’ll rest next month………….. 🙂

Do you take on too much?

What do you “give up” first when things are too busy or stressful?

What do you turn to when things are too busy or stressful?

What I Ate Wednesday: The Good, Bad and Yummy. #wiaw

July 24, 2013July 23, 2013 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 6 Comments

Some days we eat really good and some days we eat really bad….and that’s my life.

I do my best to make healthy meals for my family but sometimes I fail …. and I’m okay with that. I’m not perfect.

After looking through two of our camera’s, I realised I never take pictures of our “bad food days”. This could be anything from grilled cheese sandwich (which I love) to chicken fingers and fries…sometimes sweet potato fries if I’m on top of things and for me LOTS of chocolate. (Plus other foods I can’t think of right now). For more info on What I Ate Wednesday check out Jenn’s blog here, she’s the mastermind behind all this great stuff.

The Good / Bad / Yummy:

First time eating a biscuit – not a lover but that’s cool.

Farley’s Banana Biscuits (instant cereal)

My weakness / my love:

Dark Chocolate Peppermint heaven!

We had birthday cake for a few days…yum.

A few days later at my parents place, I had DQ Ice Cream Cake. No photo because my brother had “Happy Birthday Paul” on it, instead of my name. Each year he pulls a different prank on me with my cake – not cool Paul, not cool.

Birthday Cake

Salmon, peas, carrots, parsnips and baked sweet potatoes.

I love Salmon!

Lilly’s dinner (same as mine) – she insists that I take a picture of hers too!

Lilly’s meal

Hilary’s dinner:

Carrots/Parsnips, Zucchini, Lean Ground Beef, Peas, Apricots.

Hilary’s dinner

We tried Sprout Foods recently … and loved them (blog post to come).

Sprout Foods – Yum

I really like writing “What I Ate Wednesday” but half the time I forget to take a picture or I’ve taken so many I don’t know which one to use. I’m so glad I haven’t come across a blog that shares what their house looks like each week because my house is a disaster and I’m confident no one wants to read about that. Laundry here, dirty dishes in the sink, random crap here and there……..you get the picture…I don’t need to put up one for you.

Piper’s Run – a few WIAW posts:

Running against the wind and WIAW

Modified workout and WIAW

May 30th WIAW

April 24th WIAW

Pregnant WIAW

Ever have a day when you don’t feel like making a healthy meal?

What’s your go to quick meal?

What’s your food weakness/love?

Piper: trying to balance it ALL

July 21, 2013 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 2 Comments

That’s the main point of this blog…trying to balance being a mom to a 3-year-old and a 7 month old; work full-time when not on maternity leave; keep the house clean (ha ha ha); cook vegan meals for my husband that is away more than he is home because of work; semi single parent; find time to workout and lead a healthy lifestyle; maybe run and share it on this blog.

Life sure has been getting in the way of blogging and I’m okay with that because my little family comes first. We’ve been busy:

Beach with two Aunts and an Uncle

Testing the water

Learning to Swim in a big pool:

New Swimming “pfd”

I also hit up the emergency department at the hospital last week with both girls in tow on my own…at 10:30 at night. Thank goodness for Grandparents that can drive an hour to help us out. Four hours later we thought Lilly had an allergic reaction to something but turns out our family Doctor confirmed it was just a virus after going to the clinic the following day. That was a fun 36 hours for us, said no one ever! Benadryl, rest, hugs and cuddles to the rescue (and Daddy coming home early).

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…………..

We’ve been struggling with nap time with Lilly who is just 3-year-old. She is so grumpy and exhausted by the time it’s bedtime we know she’s not ready to give up her naps. What’s a parent to do?

We’ve also had many birthday parties, making baby food, tested out Sprout Foods (yum) and I’ve barely worked out in 2 weeks. Yes folks, it’s been at least 2 weeks since I did a decent workout.

Birthday Cake

That’s life.

Blogging has been the bare minimum lately because I’m just trying to get by and balance it ALL. This week, we have friends visiting, a small family gathering from my Dad’s side that I’m super excited about and another 3-year-old birthday party. Fun yet busy time ahead!

I’m hoping to knock out a few post this week if I have the time. I will have something going up on TOTS Family later in the week, so keep an eye out there for Piper’s Run.

How do you balance it ALL?

Kids, work, running, dogs, family?

What do you give up/put on hold when you get busy?