Winter Wonderland

Although we missed the large amount of snow expected overnight last night, I think there is at least three inches of snow on the ground and still coming down. It's so pretty and our dog Charlie loves it (I've posted a short clip of video of him running around in it.).

Finally put out the Christmas decorations - yay for me! There isn't that much, but at least it's out, and I don't look like Scrooge. Here's my tree. It may be a little pathetic, but at least it's up! And I found some leftover Christmas cards from last year (I knew there were a few), and I have them addressed, stamped and ready to go to ALMOST everyone on the list. I'm on a Christmas roll.

My husband had to work this afternoon so I'm going to reward myself with a girl movie or two and possibly a nap. I love Saturdays!

Bloom'n into new fashion

I received six packages in the mail yesterday from some of my EBay orders! So exciting!

One was a three pack of belly bands by Bloom’n Fashion, and as I understand it, is supposed to help lengthen the time I can wear my normal clothes and also kind of act as an extender between my pants and shirts. Here's the description from the site: Wear a Bloom'n Belly Band to cover your belly before, during, or after pregnancy. Wear it to fit your own style: wear it over your whole belly for secure comfort or fold or roll it for an under the belly style. Create a trendy layered look for pregnancy and nursing to keep your tummy covered until you get back to pre-pregnancy shape.

On the tag it said “By purchasing our products, you support Moms who work from home.” I didn’t realize when I bought it; I only thought it was a good deal – three bands for $22.95 plus shipping in whatever color combo you want! Fast delivery as well!

The only bummer is I was on the bubble between medium and large, and I went with large. I’m testing the black band today and although it fits, it’s not very tight. Thinking medium would have been better. I may order a few mediums since they are so reasonably priced – I’m sure the large bands will fit soon enough though! :)

Too cold (or pregnant) to decorate...

Am I an awful person for not putting out any Christmas decorations yet? I definitely haven't hit the nesting phase of pregnancy because I am just avoiding decorating for the holidays. Plus, all of it is tucked away in boxes located in our icky basement, and I need help carrying them. I keep telling my husband he needs to bring them up, but he doesn't seem to care - and yes, I'm pushing the buck off on him! HA!

I think decorating is the one holiday item really stressing me out. Granted I don't have my gifts all purchased yet, but I know I'll get it done. Who cares if people receive cards from us or not? Although I guess it would be a good way to communicate we're expecting, even though I would think most would know already. We already did a cookie exchange so we have plenty of cookies, although they're already half gone... again, it must be my husband who is eating ALL of them.;)

I guess the decorations will happen when they happen (or better yet IF they happen!).

I better go do some yoga and try to rid myself of this stress.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

My fav - Prenatal Yoga DVD

Today I practiced Shiva Rea’s DVD Prenatal Yoga for the fourth or fifth time, and I think it’s my favorite yoga workout for pregnancy so far. It’s a little slow, but it really seems to center me and open up my hips and my back to prepare me for labor. In the video are three models representing each trimester of pregnancy (Shiva is in her first.), which makes the DVD usable throughout the entire nine months.

Another positive is that it’s broken down into sections, although she doesn’t have it broken down into chapters, but you could skip through until you found the four major sections:
* Meditation and Pranayama (Breathwork)
* Standing Poses
* Floorwork
* Relaxation

You could probably do each section as its own workout if you’re low on time (each section is about 15-20 minutes and the entire video is about an hour long depending on how long you stay in savasana), but I usually end up doing the entire workout.

The first section is much more than meditation and pranayama and includes various warm up asanas and hip openers. Keigel exercises are also done and a good reminder to do them (I always forget!)

The standing poses section is decent. Shiva recommends a lot of props throughout the practice, especially for second and third trimester. So you may want to have a block and a strap handy and also a blanket and chair (more common items laying around the house).

The floorwork is nice and relaxing and stretches those pesky hammies that cause my back to hurt (knock on wood, my back has been great so far during my 16 weeks of pregnancy).

Of course at the end is savasana, and she has very good instruction on how to be in the various trimesters and gives okay, guided relaxation.

After doing about three or four different yoga workouts on DVD for pregnancy, I'd say this one is my favorite so far.

Tell me more about these eight limbs

If you want to dive deeper into yoga check out the book Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison. It has daily reflections for every day of the year about yoga and are based on the eight-limbs of yoga and its subsets. Each day Gates, a yoga instructor who trained with Baron Baptiste, takes you through each one with real-life scenarios, quotes and “reflections from the mat.” I checked it out at the library first and because it was so good, I purchased it on amazon.com used for $3! (You know I love a good deal!)

Eight limbs of yoga
1. Yamas (Five moral restaints)
2. Niyamas (Five observances)
3. Asana (Postures)
4. Pranayama (Mindful breathing)
5. Pratyahara (Turning inward)
6. Dharna (Cocentration)
7. Dhyana (Meditation)
8. Samadhi

If you’re at all interested in growing your knowledge of yoga beyond the postures or asanas and learning about the other seven limbs of yoga (you probably know two others and didn't know it - breathing and meditation), this book is definitely a step in the right direction. The chapters or days are also in bite-size pieces - one to two pages per day - so it’s easy to keep returning to it.

I read day 89 (p. 118) this morning after my asana practice and learned about Svadhyaya, which means self study. It encouraged being open to inspiration everywhere and “connecting to the energy you find healing and inspiring.” The author said he was using the movie Gladiator to inspire him and his yoga teaching and writing by watching interviews with the cast and director, listening to the movie score, etc.

I’m ready for inspiration world – I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

EBay madness

Since I'm showing I've become concerned that I won't be prepared with maternity clothes, so yesterday I opened EBay up after abstaining for a few years. Now I remember why I stopped going - I become a looney, competitive junky. I set my eyes on a "large lot" of maternity clothes: 2 pairs of pants, a few sweaters, long sleeve shirts and button downs. It was all in my size (I guess you wear the same size you currently wear but in maternity.) and it was only at $30 when I first started looking at it. The garments were from nice stores like Pea in a Pod so I thought this will be a steal! Plus I have my sister-in-laws maternity clothes as well (she had our niece Quinn in July) so I thought, I'll be set.

Well, then the bidding started to heat up in the last three hours. I set my maximum bid to $67 after bidding $45. Once I returned about an hour before closing, I was outbid! What?! Well, my competitive nature kicked in (I know, very anti-yoga!) and I went for it again... well then in the last five minutes my competitor tried to swoop in and steal my loot, er, I mean lot. No way sister - this maternity garb is mine! So I bid a dollar above her and set my maximum a few bids away so it'd take her a while to figure it out. With 10 seconds to go, she outbid my max - AAAAAAAHHHH!! So I did what any crazy, pregnant lady would do, I outbid her by $1 and somehow pulled off the steal of the day.

The final total ended up at $88 plus $15 shipping but still less than $10 a piece for decent clothes. Hope it fits after all that! Hmmm, wouldn't that be karma? Okay, let's not go there... it will fit, it will fit, it will fit. Part of EBay is the "fight" so bring it on!