Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  WOW, Thursday’s meal was great…I thoroughly enjoyed the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pies, ice cream, etc…you name it and I likely had some ☺.  But, now that the big day and feast are mere memories it’s time to move those legs and exercise through it.  What our family is going to do is go on a hike.  As I’ve mentioned before, we live in San Diego, so thankfully the weather is letting us enjoy the outdoors.  We are going to all enjoy a hike together with some new friends.  I just recently joined a mommy’s group and a hike has been planned for everyone.  So, with our 2 year old strapped in the BOB and our 8 week old in the Baby Bjorn, my husband, dog and brother-in-law will join the rest of the group for the hike.  If you are able to do something similar, please remember to:
-    Pack plenty of water and a protein snack for you and the kids;
-    Apply sun screen and wear a hat (because even on the cloudy days the nasty UV rays are coming through, and to take it easy;
-    Exercise caution.  If you feel winded or pain of any sort take a break, sit down or stretch and when you’ve recovered give it another go;
-    Have fun and enjoy the time together as a family.

How did you burn off your Thanksgiving day feast?

Happy hiking,
Kim

As someone who’s always lived a very active lifestyle, I’m continually looking for fun and creative ways to exercise, so working out with my baby became a fun way to hang out and bond. As I mentioned in my last blog, over a year ago my friend, a physical therapist, and I launched fit+giggles where we developed a postnatal exercise DVD to do just that. In the coming weeks and months I’ll be sharing with you how I’m easing back into exercise together with my baby.

Getting started…

The first few weeks – For the first 3 days I was still in the hospital with my baby. Nurses were around constantly helping me with all that I needed to do. I found that I was sitting a lot and since I couldn’t leave the hospital quite yet, my husband and I walked the halls doing lap after lap after lap pushing Wyatt in the bassinet to get some movement in our legs. We had a serious case of cabin fever. As someone who is used to moving, walking, biking, running and exercising every day, sitting in a hospital bed for hour upon hour didn’t sit well with me. I needed to move. Walking was the safest and most comfortable exercise that I could do right off the bat with Wyatt. Walking is something that, once cleared by your doctor, you can likely do as much as comfortably possible. As with any exercise program, please get the approval of your doctor before you begin right away. Not all bodies are created equal; some can do far more than others without pain, so caution and common sense should always be used when starting a new exercise program. What I’ll be chronicling in the coming weeks and months is what my body is ready for.

Once we were home we quickly got a taste of what life is like with a newborn and a 2-year old, and the word “WOW” would be an understatement. I’m finding that I’m chasing my 2 year old around while holding my baby all at the same time. This sounds like an ultra simple task, but I’m finding that a lot of balance and coordination are needed to make sure everyone is safe. I quickly experienced a number of pains and issues that I knew I could work through by exercising together.

PROBLEM: Cabin fever.
SOLUTION: Walk, walk, walk. To get out of the house, my husband and I walked a lot. We would load the 2 kids each into their own stroller, leash up the dog and head out. We would walk for about 45 minutes at a time to get the heart rate up and to make sure we weren’t overdoing it. When Wyatt gets a little older and bigger, I plan to walk with him in a Baby Bjorn or sling so that I can swing my arms, thereby loosening up my tight upper back.

PROBLEM: Tight upper back from holding the baby for hours at a time.
SOLUTION: A quick, safe and super effective exercise I do is one that I actually demonstrate in my “fit+giggles Postnatal Exercise DVD” called “tummy toning stretches”. This stretch is simple…with alternating hands; I reach up to the sky as high as possible keeping my spine straight. Alternating my hands for each reach I complete 12 reaches. For the first set I reach straight up as if I’m trying to reach the highest point in the sky. For the second set of 12 reaches, I reach up and slightly out. And for the last set of 12 reaches, I reach up and slightly across my body twisting slightly at the torso. These simple movements loosen my upper back, reducing tension in my upper back and neck.

PROBLEM: Sore lower back from rocking side-to-side over and over to soothe Wyatt.
SOLUTION: Another exercise that I find completely helpful at this point are hip sways. This is another exercise that we demonstrate in the DVD in a section called “rock-a-baby.” This is a twist or an extension on a movement that all Moms, Dads, Grandmas, Grandpas or any caregiver does. The problem with the way most do them is that an over use injury will quickly rear its ugly head. To get a fussy baby to calm down we typically hold them and swing our hips side to side in a gentle rocking motion. As with anything, if it’s down over and over day after day an over use injury will arise. So, to help alleviate this I do it in 3 different directions. First, the traditional side to side fashion that we all do in our sleep. Next I do this by rocking front to back and then lastly I calm the baby by gently twisting at my hips. I find that Wyatt likes the variety in movement and I enjoy that break in monotony by doing all 3 positions to calm and sooth my new bundle of joy.

Week 3-4 post delivery – My body was starting to feel more “normal”, however I was still taking it easy. I did more of the above but added time and distance onto my walks and incorporated some slight hills into the course. To calm my baby in a new and fun way, in addition to the three moves talked about above; I incorporated bouncing on my exercise ball. My son LOVES the up and down motion and it also challenges my sense of balance. This exercise needs a lot of focus because my arms are busy cradling my baby so any slight tipping on the ball needs to be corrected with my feet and core alone since my arms are occupied. After I started to feel confident sitting on the ball with my baby, I incorporated a slight bounce. This rhythmic up and down motion is so fun for me and very calming and soothing for the baby. I find that it works my thighs, gluts, abdominals, back and arms. I also started rolling my hips on the ball while sitting as this helps loosen and relax my now shrinking hips and pelvis.

As I mentioned before, my family and I live in San Diego, California and our county was recently devastated by wildfires forcing us to stay indoors for a few days to escape the horrible air quality. Given these circumstances we had to eliminate our walks and do more and more of the reaching, swaying and slight squats indoors to get a nice exercise program accomplished. The reaches and sways are the same as described above, however I added slight squats to the mix.

The squats again are moves taken straight from the fit+giggles Postnatal Exercise DVD (www.fitandgiggles.com) in the section called “Mommy Squats”. These moves are great not only for slightly working the thighs and engaging balance but they also engage the pelvic floor to work on tightening the muscles stretched out during labor and delivery. These muscles, when worked in a multi-directional fashion, will help improve incontinence symptoms you might be currently experiencing. To do “Mommy Squats” I squat in 2 different directions, to the side and front, with each foot for a count of 5 squats per leg in each direction. I start in a stance that has my feet shoulder width apart. To change up a basic squat, I turn my toes in different directions for each set, once to the front, out slightly and then in slightly. I do all of this again with my feet in a narrow stance, almost touching, and then in a wide stance, that has my feet out past my shoulder width. This exercise works my gluts and inner and outer thighs. To do this exercise with my baby, I sometimes hold him in my arms or I place him in a Baby Bjorn or a sling.

As the weeks go on, I’ll keep adding descriptions of what I’m doing to not only get back to my pre-pregnancy shape and comfort level but to also bond in fun, creative and active ways with my new son.

Do you have fun exercises that you and your baby are doing?

Happy bonding!

In health,
Kim

This is a challenge I’m faced with on a daily basis.  I started off well…made her everything when her doctor gave me the green light to give her solid foods.  I followed the ways of “Super Baby Food” to a T and had so much fun pureeing all kinds of great fruits and veges and she gobbled them up.  Now that she’s in pre-pre-school and surrounded with what other kids have in their lunches I’m struggling with how to make her “healthy” lunches (and now dinners for that matter) look fun to eat.  So, today I was at Border’s and I came across “Deceptively Delicious” and bought it.  These recipes look like they are going to help me accomplish my goals.  The idea is you sneak healthy pureed foods into everyday food…getting your child to eat healthy without them knowing they are necessarily doing so.  Sounds like a winner of an idea to me.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Has anyone else tried these recipes? If so, did they work for your family?

Yum, yum,
Kim

Wow, it’s simply amazing how you forget, no matter how many children you have, how all consuming a newborn is. They are full of wonder and amazement and you find your wondering how you’re going to get anything done (for yourself) now that they’re a part of your life. My husband and I welcomed our new son into our lives just over a month ago and we are so in love with him. He’s our second child, we also have two-year old daughter who loves being a “big sista” and is already very helpful. Yet with all the help in the world I still find that my “to do” list doesn’t shorten, rather with each passing day I have more I want to do yet no time.

By way of a quick introduction, my name is Kim Evans, I’m the co-founder of fit+giggles, a mom of 2 (as you now know). I’m married to a wonderfully supportive husband and we have a 6-year old Vizsla/Weimaraner dog with boundless energy. My family and I are California natives and we live in San Diego. Exercise is my passion and with everything I do I try to incorporate fun and creativity into it.

Growing up I always had one sport or another that I was involved in. My love for exercise was formalized just over a year ago when a friend of mine and I officially opened the “doors” to this health and wellness company we call fit+giggle. The mission of fit+giggles is to reduce the aches, pains and injuries of new Moms while increasing their strength, agility and balance through improved function to achieve a healthier mind, body and spirit. Our first product is a postnatal exercise DVD that allows Mom’s to exercise with their babies…and I must add that the idea for the company was born from necessity. This business was developed when, as a brand new Mom, I simply couldn’t find the time to exercise and I was experiencing all sorts of “new Mom” aches and pains. My friend, a physical therapist, helped me exercise my way away from those pains. With that, we set out to educate anyone and everyone we could reach on how they to could rid their body of these same pains.

My hope is that together through moves taken from our DVD and others we can all get back into our pre-baby shape, learn safe and functional ways to do everyday activities like squatting to pick up dropped items, lunging to reach for the binky that’s rolled behind a chair or stretching to alleviate tension in the upper back, etc. all while bonding with our new babies. My goal is to share with you what I’m doing on a regular basis to get my body back to feeling happy. So with the intros out of the way, here we go.

October 1, 2007 – This is the long anticipated day that we welcomed Wyatt into this world. My doctors advised me that exercise was something I shouldn’t be focusing on and that I need to allow my body to heal. Hmmm, sounds like a fine idea but we all know that as soon as you have your new baby, your back to using your muscles in ways that they haven’t been used during the past 9 months or so. You might not be officially exercising (I’m sure I can speak for all of us when I say “who has the energy for that anyway”), but we are all rocking side to side for hours on end soothing our baby, bending over and squatting in funny ways to pick up dropped blankets, burp cloths, and binkys, and doing the oh so awkward and straining reach to get the car seat in and out of the car without waking the baby. These are just a few of the things we do that, without a good night’s sleep, will likely cause you to break a small sweat or start to pant. We quickly find that we’re using our muscles right away just to do everyday activities with the baby safely cradled in one arm. Life doesn’t give us the 6 weeks window that doctors want us to take without “strenuous” exercise.

With that being said, please join me on the journey of getting our bodies ready to tackle everyday activities safely…let’s take it together.

How did you start your journey back to your pre-baby body and comfort level, I’d love to hear about it?

Happy Bonding,
Kim

I just learned the greatest trick. My daughter’s nursery was not smelling like a sweet little baby lately (the diaper pail has been in overdrive lately) so I asked my friend how to get rid of the cause. She said that a combo of baking soda and essential oil would do the trick. So off I went in search of the ingredients. Today at Whole Foods I found a great smelling oil from Aura Cacia called the Organic calming Nursery Blend. I picked up a package of baking soda and found a votive holder in the candle section (you can use any glass jar you have, an old jelly jar would be great) and I was ready for some fun mixing. I filled the glass jar 2/3 full with Baking Soda and then added about 10-12 drops of the oil (you can add more or less based on your preference). I placed it out of reach from my daughter on her dresser and within minutes the offending oder was gone. AMAZING!!

You can try this trick in any room of the house. If you start getting a lot of scents going, use a labeled popsicle stick to identify the essential oil added for easy refill.

Happy odor eliminating to you all! Have another eco friendly and baby friendly trick, I’d love to hear about it.

All the best,
Kim

Now that Easter has come and gone, what are you to do with all your old plastic Easter Eggs? My daughter was over the hunting of these plastic jems (truth be told, I ran out of hiding spots) and I couldn’t get myself to just toss them or pack them away until next year, so voila, they became wading pool toys and they were a hit! Mia was throwing them around the pool, dunking them and watching them float back to the top (ohhhh an early science experiment) and filling them up and pouring the water down over her heard. Oh the fun of an old easter egg never ends.

Another fun use for plastic Easter Eggs is to put rice in them, tape them up or secure them in the fashion you prefer (very important) and they can be used as a fun rattle. The amount of rice placed in the egg will change the tone made, so make a few and your baby will be the star of the Easter Egg band.

If you have another use for old plastic Easter Eggs, let me know!

Have fun!!
Kim

Greetings -
This entry is a little more technical in nature. So you have a web site and a place to host your picts of your friends and family… or perhaps your baby (imagine that!). As it turns out your host uses Active Server Pages (ASP) for scripting. The following script is a free that we wrote for just that purpose, the ASP Photo Album. It also contains a couple ImageReady Droplets so that you can automate the process of re-sizing images and creating thumbnail versions of your images.

See the photo album example…

Here’s how it works
Place the files in the directory that contains your images. By default the scripts looks for images ending in -01.jpg and displays those as thumbnails (e.g. Family-01.jpg). When you click on the image it looks for the file it will display the full size image (e.g. Family.jpg). Why the -01.jpg you ask? Because it is easy to batch process a directory full of images in ImageReady or Photoshop to make thumbnails. Batch processing scripts are included in the download, so if you have ImageReady you are set.

For more information on ImageReady batch processing see the included Readme.txt. ImageReady not included (sorry!).

Download Free ASP Photo Album (.zip)

Exercise during Pregnancy

As always, you should check with your personal physician as to whether exercise is appropriate for you. There are absolute contraindications to exercise, so make sure you consult your physician before starting any exercise program.

That being said, studies indicate that certain sensible exercises are recommended for pregnant women. In general, these can be broken down into cardiovascular exercises, strengthening exercises, and stretching or flexibility exercises. There are specific benefits to each of these categories and why they can help your pregnancy.

As for cardiovascular exercise, I know some women who have run until late into their 3^rd trimester. Personally, running didn’t feel good even early in my pregnancy. I stopped after 8 weeks. Besides, due to previous pregnancy complications, my doctor discouraged high impact exercises. Although there are no studies that indicate running can cause a miscarriage, I didn’t want to bother with the guilt or stress of possibly putting my baby at risk for anything. So, when I was pregnant, I did a lot of stairclimbing, stationary bike, and elliptical trainer. Walking and swimming can also be great exercises, however, for me it was harder to get the intensity I wanted, also I liked having a convenient bathroom near by.

In the 1^st trimester, cardiovascular exercise would help with my morning sickness. I would look forward to alleviation of my nausea. During the 2^nd trimester, it would give me energy and an “adrenaline high”. I would workout before a party or beach gathering, to give me more energy. Now, in my 3^rd trimester, I find that it loosens up my body, improves my circulation, managing any bloating, even in the hot weather we are having. I’m still waiting to out grow my wedding ring.

As for duration, it all depended on how I felt each day. My goal was 40-60 minutes/day, for 4 to 6 times a week. I tried to respect my growing belly, constantly adjusting both duration and intensity. I always had cold water with me. I would fill my water bottles ½ way and freeze it. I would than fill the rest with water on my way out the door. A good rule of thumb with intensity is you want to be able to carry on a conversation. If it takes more than a little effort, you may be working too hard.

I found using a heartrate monitor to be beneficial, as it helped me monitor my level of exertion. It was funny, some days I felt great, so I could workout harder while staying in my target heartrate zone. Yet other days I felt tired, and I had to back off. Speaking of target rate, I used the formula of 220-age to get my estimated maximum heartrate, then I exercised at 60-75% of my max HR. Again, check with your doctor for specific recommendations.

Next time, I’ll talk about strengthening exercises that has helped me.

Sandra VanGilder, DPT

Oh my gosh, what a great discovery for me this week. Mia’s nanny saw a huge banana stain on her tank top (yes, from eating sans bib…woops!) and told be that Zote was the cure. I’d never heard of it but I guess it’s been around for eons in Mexico. Anyhow, the next day she brought me a bar (these bars are HUGE and only $1.35) so I gave it a shot. She said you just wet the shirt, rub the stain with Zote and toss it into the laundry basket like you would with Spray n’ Wash or something similar. I did the wash and like magic the stuborn stain is gone. She said it would also work it’s wonders on other stains that won’t budge like mango. It gets stains out that Spray n’ Wash would not.

While looking up Zote on the Internet tonight, I came across some other random uses for it and the most unusual of them all had to be catfish bait, yes that’s not a typo, catfish bait. A couple other fun uses are mosquito repellant, homemade laundry soap (you can add fun scents to grated Zote like rosemary or lavender), dog shampoo, and oh so much more.

Allergy note: Some of the websites I came across tonight say that folks who are allergic to Ivory soap might also be allergic to Zote. As for your baby, I would say just spot wash with it and use your normal gentle soap like Method Baby, Seventh Generation, Dreft or the like.

Have you ever tried Zote? What did you think?
:) Kim

Staying home with your baby for as long as possible while still getting paid and without risking losing your job while doing so is top of mind for all new working Moms. I know it was one of my top priorities while I was planning to leave work to welcome my new daughter into this amazing world.

There weren’t many people at work in my “circle” that had already had a baby so I had to do a ton of research to see what I was entitled to receive. I talked to our HR department at length about what the state allowed on top of what the company allowed (luckily the person who answered the phone when I called was extremely helpful and offered me a ton of amazing advice). I soon realized I had a few things working in my favor, namely that my manager was amazingly receptive to my desire to maximize my time out; I had racked up quite a bit of vacation being at my company for 5 years; and my company had over 50 employees. I’ll expand on why these were huge benefits one-by-one. The process seems daunting however with a little preperation you should have smooth sailing. First I’ll explain how you might want to go about planning for your time off and then I’ll list out exactly how I was able to secure an 8 month leave of absence.

It’s funny, I was able to take advantage of all the options available and now folks at work who are preparing for leave are setting up times to chat with me about how they can get the same “package”.

WORKING WITH THE CORPORATE HR DEPARTMENT
- Start discussion 2-3 months before heading out for leave
So, as I set out to learn about what I was entitled to I first called the company HR department. It was about 2-3 months before I was to go out on my maternity leave that I started this discussion. I think it’s a good idea to start early so that you don’t find yourself so time strapped that you can’t explore all of your options.

Ask a million questions. I sure did, starting with what the company-alloted time for leave was. I found out that my company, as with most large companies, give new Mom’s about 4 weeks off prior to delivery to “nest” and another 6-8 weeks off post delivery for bonding (6 weeks for vaginal birth and 8 weeks for cesarean). I was told that I couldn’t take the 4 weeks prior to delivery and apply then to the 6-8 weeks given after, however some managers will likely work with you to make this option possible. Next, ask how you go about scheduling the time you want off. I was having an induced delivery so I knew the exact date that I would be heading out, however with most due dates you can likely estimate what your last day in the office will be. If your company is small this is all likely handeled in house, however with most large companies there is a third party company who handles all “long term disability”. Maternity leave is considered long term disability. Ask your HR rep. for all the phone numbers that you will need while setting up your leave and for contact numbers while you’re out. In addition, find out all the deadline you CAN’T afford to miss, for example, there is a window when you need to inform your employer of the exact date your child was born, also, for insurance purposes you need to let them know you’re adding a child to your policy. In my case I had 60 days to inform them of my daughter’s birth and to add her as a dependant otherwise all procedures would then retroactively be billed to me out-of-pocket. Another key deadline to be aware of is making sure your corporate insurance coverage doesn’t lapse while you’re on leave, and if so you might need to return to work for 1 day to start the clock over again. In my case I had to return to work for 1 day after being gone for 60 days, after that I was again covered. I worked with my manager on this. I recommend having a calendar handy when you’re chatting with your leave of absence coordinator to be sure you record all these super important deadlines.

If you’re interested in using your vacation time to extend your time out, ask your HR dept. how much time you’ve accumulated so you can plan accordingly.

At this time you might want to also have your husband look into the peternity leave package his employer offers and get that time off scheduled and approved.

WORKING WITH YOUR MANAGER
- Start this discussion as soon as your feel like you know what your “dream plan” is

Starting this discussion after you know what your “dream plan” is will help you keep focused and will help keep you from straying from what you really want to do. My manager was so open minded that she acutally helped me find a way to extend my leave beyond what I was originally planning. As I mentioned above, I tacked on my vacation time to extend my leave. My manager knew that I was a couple hours away from maxing out my vacation time so she suggested that after the corporate maternity leave was gone I use my vacation time so that I could continue accruing hours vs. losing them. Smart! Many managers want to make sure you come back after leave so they are willing to work with you to make your leave as enjoyable as possible. Don’t be afraid to ask…the worse thing that could happen is that they say no and you’re no worse off than if you hadn’t asked at all.

FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT (FMLA) AND PAID FAMILY LEAVE (PFL)
- For Companies In California With Over 50 Employees

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) - IT’S THE LAW. The legal speak is enough to make you dizzy, however the Cliff Notes’ version is: your employer has the right to a 30-day advance notice of your intention to use FMLA, your benefits continue at the same level that they were prior to your leave, eligable employees are etitled to 12 work weeks of time off before your baby turns 1, this time off is unpaid and your job is protected while out. Generally speaking, if you work for a company that employs 50 or more people, you are eligable and the 12 weeks allowed doesn’t need to be used consecutively…it can be started and stopped at any time.
Most likely, you will need your OB/GYN to fax in a compled FMLA document (provided to your from your company or your leave of absence coordinator) stating that you had a child on such and such date to prove that you are eligable.

If you live in California, you’re entitled to Paid Family Leave (PFL). Again there are a lot of details but in a nut shell, you’re entitled to 6 weeks of partial pay to bond with/care for your new baby (approximately 55% of your pre-taxed weekly wage, up to a maximum of $840 - what you earned during the 5-17 months prior to when PFL starts will be the wage this calculation is based on). This 6 weeks can’t be tacked on to the 12 weeks of FMLA, however instead of not being paid for the 12 week period you can be partially paid for 6 of them. This helps out tremendously if your working within a household budget. Just as with FMLA, the PFL portion doesn’t need to be take consecutively, you can start and stop it at any time, it just must be used before your baby is 1 year old.

In some cases, your husband is eligable for FMLA/PFL, be sure to look into that if you’re interested.

HOW I RECEIVED 8 MONTHS OF JOB PROTECTED (PARTIALLY PAID) LEAVE
- The plan…I took the following:

• 4 weeks prior to the birth of my dauther
• 6 weeks after she was born
• I returned to work for 1 day to ensure my benefits continue (going off leave for 1 day)
• I made sure that if there was a company paid holiday (Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Christmas, New Years…to name a few) that I stoped my leave and used the company time off.
• 6 weeks of paid vacation (again, stopping my vacation if there was a paid holiday that feel within that window)
• 6 weeks of FMLA
• 6 weeks of PFL
• I used any floating/personal days off that the company allows

As with anything, everyone’s experience is different, however this is the plan I used to get as much bonding time with my new daughter as legally allowed. To the best of my knowledge, the laws are still the same, however please read all links and talk to your HR depatment to ensure your “dream plan” can be achieved.

I’d love to hear your “leave preperation” experience.

Happy planning,
:) kim