But overall, I don't swim. I wouldn't say that I'm afraid of the water. I know that if I venture out in still water, I can most likely get back to whichever surface I came from. Be it a boat, dock or pool side.
However, I am not confident in my ability to take care of small children in a water environment. But really, that is not the point of my post.
The point is, that kids love the pool. Since kids love the pool, we have joined a pool this summer. This basically melds together three things I don't like - 1) Water with small children, 2) Sun exposure (I'm kind of a freak about sunblock. Have you seen my children? They're like ghosts. They burn, I burn.), and 3) Wearing a bathing suit.
This late in the game...probably not learning to rescue small children from water. So most likely, we will only be going to the pool with Clif.
The ghostly-ness of me and my children? That I can do absolutely zero about. I will be buying lots of sunblock.
However, I've decided to try and do something about the horridness of my body in a bathing suit. So at least when I am sitting under some sort of shade structure watching my husband take care of my kids in the water, I can feel somewhat comfortable in the most un-revealing bathing suit I can find.
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| Do you think I could pull off this look? |
So I present...What I'm doing to get bathing suit ready and healthy too!
1 - Walking. My cousin, Elizabeth, has started a walking competition between a bunch of us. I have a large family and we live all over the East coast, but we all bought pedometers and we're all trying to walk at least 10,000 steps a day. Well, I was not on the ball and did not buy mine until Saturday. So I started yesterday (a week behind everyone else)...but I walked 17,500 steps!!! What?!?! I couldn't believe it.
2 - Stairs. I work on the 7th floor of a building. I've always taken the elevator. But I've decided, no more elevator. Now I'm walking up and down stairs all day. Up is way harder than down, but I've already noticed it getting a bit easier in just a week.
3 - Water. I used to be so great at drinking water. But I have floundered since taking this job. Ice is the reason. I love really cold water. I mean, it needs to be almost icy for me to drink it all. There is only one ice machine in the whole building. Second floor. Note above...I work on the 7th floor. So I've been lazy. But now with my whole attitude towards stairs and walking as much as possible...I drank 9 glasses of water yesterday!
4 - Food. This is always my biggest weakness. I. Love. Food! I love so many different kinds of food. The greasier, cheesier, breadier the better! All bad things. So I'm trying. I refuse to "diet." Really I'm just trying to make some healthier decisions. I'm trying to eat less sugar (because apparently when I got pregnant with Freddie I also got a major sweet tooth). I'm trying to eat at least 5 fruits and veggies a day. And most important of all, portion control. This is really the hardest part for me. I have a huge...no HUGE appetite. I can eat most people under the table. Not really something I'm proud of, but unfortunately true.
5 - Play. Since it's been nice, I've been trying to take the kids to the playground as much as possible. It is at the top of my in-law's hill, half a mile away. I put them in the wagon with their snacks and sippy cups and pull the 50+ pounds up the hill. Then we play for 30-40 minutes. And I'm trying to really play with them, not just watch. I taught Ainsley tag, follow the leader and dodge ball. So this is how I plan to get my exercise...since I no longer can find the time for 6 mile runs or hours on a treadmill.
So there you have it. Are you doing anything to get your body ready for summer?
