'You have always had the power, my dear, you have had it all along'

'You have always had the power, my dear, you have had it all along'

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Bump in the Road...



So I don't know if I've mentioned it on here, but I planted a garden a few months ago. It's been really fun tending to it and picking tomatoes and peppers and such. So far I've gotten a few tomatoes, some grape tomatoes, a couple green peppers, basil and a ton of jalapenos, tomatillos and hot chiles. I also planted some zucchini and squash but haven't had a lot of luck with those. Was hoping for lots of sauteed zucchini this summer but maybe next year I guess. But I digress.

A few days ago I was out picking some veggies from the garden. It was actually my biggest gather yet, and I was really excited! As you can see in the picture, I constructed a fence around the garden because in the first few weeks after planting, something kept eating all the buds. Well, in trying to step over the fence to bring the veggies back to the house my heel caught the edge of the wire and I fell. Hard.

Immediately I felt awful pain in my wrist. The wind got knocked out of me and I felt like I might pass out. Luckily I had my cell phone on me so immediately I called my friend who lives nearby...and even more luck..Ian was still napping upstairs in his crib at that time. My friend came over to get Ian and Jeff came home and took me to the ER as my wrist was throbbing horribly and was swelling up pretty good.

So my wrist is broken. I knew it when I was laying in the yard rolling around in a pile of smashed tomatoes crying (I'll let you picture that for a moment...done laughing? Ok, read on;) It just hurt too bad to not be broken. Despite all the annoyance of having one hand instead of two (for example, this post is taking 3x as long to write as it should) I am more upset about my training. My first thought was that...how will I box? How will I lift weights? How will I do push ups or learn to use the prowler? I had an almost immediate sense of panic and sadness. I know it doesn't seem like too big a deal in the big picture, but for someone that is working so hard and is dedicating so much time to doing everything I can to getting healthy and fit, this is a huge setback.

So I called Mandy that night. If anyone in my life knows what I'm feeling right now it's her. A couple months into training me, Mandy was taking her level up test for Krav Maga and tore her ACL and Meniscus. She had major surgery to repair it and has gone through months of recovery. I needed to talk to her. She definitely helped lift my spirits. She gave me a huge pep talk and reminded me that in the end, this just adds more to my story. An obstacle that gives me more to be proud of in the end. So that is what I am trying to focus on through all of this. I see a hand surgeon on Tuesday to most likely get my regular cast applied (right now I have a plaster splint cast) and to find out how long it will have to stay on.

It's definitely an everyday challenge. It's hard for me to not just say screw it, and stop going to the gym, and start eating whatever, and just stop. But I'm not going to. I'm keeping on my routine, even if it means changing up my training and doing more pilates and cardio and such until I can use my arm again. It's hard to not let it get in my head. I laid down on the reformer for my pilates PT last week and just couldn't help but start crying because all I wanted to do or thought I should be doing was boxing or kicking ass on the TRX. And all I hear in my head is that I'm going to end up gaining everything back and getting weak (oh my gosh, how weak will this arm be in 5 weeks!!! UGH!) again. But I know that is ridiculous because I refuse to let that happen. Even if I have to cry and break down once and awhile in the process. Because that's what it is. A process. And this is just a bump in the road...one that I will get past and one that will make me even stronger.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Update in Pictures:)

It's been a busy couple of weeks and to be honest I'm tired!! But all good things at least:) First, we had a bunch of work done on our house and it is finally completed. I LOVE it...it was totally worth the money, time and anxiety. Check it out...

New floors..


New appliances (minus the new fridge)...


Not too shabby! I'm so glad it's done. We basically had to stay upstairs while they were doing the work (about 2 weeks long) and keeping Ian upstairs all day and evening was no simple task.

Speaking of Ian, we're getting ready to start preschool next month. I can't even believe it's time for that kind of thing...I was so excited about it this summer but now that it's getting closer I'm getting kind of emotional. The truth is, I take him to Mangos (my friend's childcare center) twice a week anyway when I'm at the gym, and his preschool will be those exact same two days...so really not much is changing except he'll be there about an hour longer. Honestly I guess it's just the fact that he is getting so big and that's hard sometimes. I miss my little baby! But luckily there are so many awesome things about him growing up that it keeps me from getting TOO sad...he's talking so much, saying the funniest things, asking the most hilarious questions, it's all so entertaining:) I'm so grateful to have been blessed with this amazing little boy. Man, I love this kid:)







I'm going to write another post soon about this, but I had a great surprise last week. Jeff whisked me away for a surprise weekend trip to Chicago!! It was my first time there and I absolutely LOVED it. I will post more pics soon, but here's a sneak peak;)





I've been keeping up my workouts/boxing/pilates and I'm feeling pretty good. I went shopping at Lane Bryant the other day and I actually only found 1 shirt that looked good on me...all the rest I tried were too big! It was awesome. I am pulling old clothes out of the drawers that I haven't worn in forever, buying workout clothes in regular stores again, and my capris from last summer and this past spring are too big to wear..they look pretty ridiculous. It's a really nice feeling:)

So when I won the 90 Day Challenge Mandy told me I should write a little essay about my story (how I came to Lifetime, losing the weight, all the new workout stuff I've been doing, etc.) and submit it to Lifetime's website for their success stories. Well, I did, and not only did they post it, but they featured it on their main success story page. I couldn't believe it!!! I'm so proud:) If you would like to read it here's the link: http://lifetime-weightloss.com/success-stories/category/dublin-oh

So of course Mandy was especially proud of me. She had told me so a million times and even shared my story with her colleagues. A week or so later I came in for my 6 AM TEAM Weight Loss class and as soon as I came up the steps to walk towards my treadmill I saw this:



She had completely decorated my treadmill with streamers and balloons and a big "Congratulations Michelle!" sign. There was also a card signed by her and a bunch of the other trainers. I was SOOOO touched I teared up. She had been planning it since the 90 day results came out...I was so surprised! It was seriously one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me. I'm so lucky to have so much support in this journey. When I think of what my life was like last year and what it looks like today, it just blows me away. I am so blessed.