Eat This Not That...

We've been filming most mornings this week (its really up to our "actors" how long each time lasts). Lola & I have been doing the video & I've been practicing different baby moves as I'm putting them in our Fitness Babies e-book...needless to say my muscles are sore!

However, my appetite has yet to slow down...and the girl scout cookies that have been coming in aren't helping anything (tagalongs I love you - why not just finish the whole row?!) So in my attempt to watch what I eat I found this book, its called Eat This Not That, it's great! It gives you alternatives to some of your favorite foods...I became obsessed with finding the "right" food options. For example, if you love ice cream...Breyers has WAY less grams of fat than Haagen Dazs. They have a book for kids, one for the super market & the original one (a lot of fast food info)...I haven't checked them all out yet, but I will! If you're looking for somewhere to start cutting calories without cutting any of your favorites this book is a great place to start!

Our First Swim

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Originally uploaded by mommy-central

We shot some photos for the website this weekend. Since swimsuit season is quickly sneaking up on us, one of the site's first focuses is activities to get swimsuit ready. We're putting together some fun activites to do with your baby in the pool or lake this Summer, as well as working on some great exercises for Mom!

So we put on some suits and hit the pool (for research of course!). We had never been swimming, but she loved it! And who can resist a chubby baby in a pink swimsuit!

Laying Down Tracks for the DVD

Today was exciting, we met with Mogul Music about tracks for the DVD. Writing music is a talent that amazes me, while we were there they made a song as a potential background for the DVD in a matter of minutes. Amazing! We're still going back and between doing beats or memorable children's songs without lyrics...thoughts anyone?

There's a lot more to producing this DVD than I originally thought, but it's all coming together and I'm learning so much every day. A year ago I didn't have a clue about buy song licenses, html coding, DVD production, but if I were to update my dusty old resume it would have quite the collection of different skills.

This weekend we're shooting majoring of the video & some photos for the website. I think we're moving forward with doing a VO(voice over) on the video, just seems to make the most sense. All week I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to count the reps in my head, explain the moves, talk about how to add resistance to a move, actually be doing the moves, continually engage the babies, look in the camera, and not lose my place ~ VO might be the answer to my prayers!

We Started Rice Cereal

Before becoming moms Colleen & I would read tons of articles and spent a good portion of our afternoons googling the answers to all our baby questions. While on our Google search for answers to our baby questions we'd read do NOT put cereal in baby's bottle. I laughed and thought why would you put cereal (thinking frosted flakes) in a baby's bottle?! Well I've come a long way from then...

We started rice cereal this weekend, making the cereal by mixing enough milk with the cereal so it just runs off the spoon. I was surprised how well it went. She still doesn't have complete tongue control to swallow, but she's opening her mouth and getting excited when I bring the spoon to her mouth (and upset if I'm not going fast enough!) My pediatrician said once you start rice cereal if she's interested...you need to stay committed to it on a daily basis. So it looks like I've just added meal time to my list a many daily tasks! I've been incorporating it into her evening routine while we're having dinner, so we have dinner as a family. This way we top the rice cereal off with a bottle and then about an hour later she's down for the night on a full belly. Hopefully this will help her move back into sleeping through the night =)

How to save a quick $364!

I was reading an article recently about money saving tips for families. The author talked about buying sale items, looking for "lost leaders" in ads, and most of all clipping coupons. The article stated that if a person spent 10 minutes a week clipping coupons on average they'll save $364! I try you what , I can make 10 minutes a week to do that, $364 is a plane ticket to Florida (I'm about done with this MN winter).

So I spent not even ten minutes this evening printing off a few coupons online and off to the grocery store I went. My coupon savings for today...just over $25! At this rate I'll save well more than $364 this year...time well spent!

My Healthy Pizzas!

So with the launch of Fitness Babies coming up, eating healthy is suppose to be part of the training! At first I was real strict, one pop, no desserts, lo-cal foods only...well that lasted a short while and then I crashed and wanted sweets, dessert, pop, pizza, and everything I couldn't have! So now I'm in the mindset of replacing foods with healthier options. There's tons of websites out there with recipes, so I started finding healthy recipes and shopping smarter. We'll see if it helps produce some results on the old bod! In the meantime, I'll share the great recipes I find!

This weekend was pizza, I'm a huge pizza fan and a sucker for its advertising! Every time I see a pizza commercial I have to have one. So this time I made my own, it was REALLY good and not nearly as unhealthy! I bought the reduced fat (these have no trans fat) Grands biscuits, and rolled them out into mini pizzas, poked some holes in them with a fork, brushed on some olive oil, popped them in the oven for 7 minutes, and bam! I had 8 mini pizzas to top! Then I took some spaghetti sauce and spread it on the pizzas. Then it was time for toppings; I made several different pizzas: broccoli tomatoes and chicken(this was my fav!), bell peppers and chicken, veggie, etc. anything I could think of I made into a pizza topping and then topped the pizzas off with some reduced fat mozzarella cheese. Back in the oven they went for 8 minutes and then I had a selection of great personal pan pizzas that were WAY healthier than the pizza I was going to order!

These pizzas also work great with kids because they can pick their own toppings (they're more likely to try something new if they made it!) I got a new cookbook the other day, I'll let you know if I find any other great recipes!

The Script is due...

Lola and I have been practicing our moves for the fitness video, and we're loving it! Now it's a matter of laying out the script, which is much harder than I thought. I started to layout a logical sequence for all the different exercise moves, but now I have to get the words and descriptions written into the script. It's a lot of work to write out the steps of what to be doing with yourself and your baby, and then give tips and bonuses to switch things up AND I have to remember that while I'm doing all this I'm exercising on camera with Lola! We start shooting next week, so I HAVE to get my butt in gear!

In other news, working out is going good...eating healthy is going better. I've been supplementing my Fitness Babies workout (yes the DVD has a name now!) with a run on Saturday mornings. Colleen and I thought it was important to try our program out and make sure it really works...how embarrassing would it be to sell a product that wasn't any good! I've cut out most pop (I may have 1 or 2 a week max) and my Caribou Campfire Mochas are a thing of the past! I've switched to making iced lattes with skim milk at home ~ saving money and still enjoying the coffee ~ thanks Liv! My minor changes are starting to work, I'm starting to notice my abs tighten up and my arms can handle holding Lola or a fair amount of weight for longer periods of time.

Well like I said I've got a script to write!!!

Break Out the Coupons!

When I used to grocery shop, I'd throw anything in the cart that sounded good - sale or no sale, coupon or no coupon! But, with the economy the way it is and the added expenses of our new little one, I've become much more of a sale shopper! I was watching Good Morning America awhile back and the challenge was how much food contestants could buy with $100. The woman who won, didn't shop at several stores she simply when online checked some ads, made her list, and headed for the store. So while I don't have time to compare all the area grocery stores' online ads, I have found that Cub Foods regularly has great deals and their ads are online. Each week I visit the Cub Foods ad online and see what they're big sale items of the week are, and then create a shopping list accordingly. My life has become so much easier and my grocery bills MUCH less! I have my list of everything I need and can zip through the store grabbing what's on the list and knowing I'm getting a good deal. Plus, my shopping trips are much shorter (a huge plus when I'm taking a 4 month along!). These days a lot of retailers are posting their weekly sales/coupons on their website; Target even has extra coupons/sales notices posted online that aren't in their print ad!

My challenge to everyone this week is to find a good deal - shop a sale or use a coupon, it's like free money! If you heart Cub (as the bumper stickers say) I believe the deal of the week is everything you need to make BLTs is 68 cents each, bacon, tomato, bread, mayo, and lettuce - one dinner is done for me!

Where Does the Time Go?!

Last week I kept telling myself I NEED to get some cardio in today, yet each day it seemed 10pm (yes that's my bedtime these days) came way too fast and I'd go to bed instead of workout! It's my cardio that's really failing; I made it for the first time to the gym to run on Saturday. It felt great to get on the treadmill, but I pushed it too much and my hip joints started to ache...I'll have to find some strengthening exercises to fix that issue!

Lola and I are doing great with our baby exercises; it's so easy to do the exercises when I'm already holding her. A few reps here and there every day and I've really started to feel it in some of my muscles. She gets so excited when we do the lift-up exercise, so my arms tend to burn the most these days! Her smiles are the best type of motivation!

One of my big problems is I work at the computer ALL the time. Between researching different items for work, checking emails, and designing a website...I'm logging a lot of sitting hours! I decided tonight to switch out my chair for an exercise ball. Research says it's great for toning the abdomen cavity, we'll see!