Being a healthier mom

For those of you who hadn't heard yet, I officially resigned from teaching this year to stay at home with Nadia. At first, I was apprehensive about making such a decision that seemingly left me with "nothing else to do but take care of the kid." After the busiest summer of my life (being in two weddings, a trip to Europe, 3 times to a friend's lake house, 1 time up to the parents' cabin, and a multitude of errands that would normally have been left un-done) I am encouraged to see just how full the life of a stay at home mom really is!

This summer has been the best summer of my life. I have had a list of things to do and yet all the time in the world. This is Nadia's first summer, and she loves the outdoors and the water. She could go for a stroller ride twice a day to the same park and never get bored. The hard part is finding time for all the other things that have to get done, because I, too, would enjoy being at the park all day instead of cleaning the house. In many ways, this was the best summer because it has been the best balance of them all. We have Nadia and all of her quirks to enjoy. We get to witness Nadia enjoying things we take for granted, and learn crawling and rolling and lobbing ourselves over things like she does. We have had the adventures of my big European Vacation and our mini-vacations with family and friends. I have gotten some things done at the house that I wanted to, like keeping the livingroom relatively clean and the dishes washed and the groceries bought on a regular basis. I worked harder to provide and make healthier baby food for Nadia, which is already growing out of. I've been reading books non-stop, from Shadow of the Dolls to currently Randy Pfausch's Last Lecture. I joined a book club! I started this blog! I even got the introduction to my Mommy Book written and the rest is yet to come!

This is the first time in 20 years where I didn't end summer with going back to school. Wow.

And this is the first summer where I truly feel like I accomplished things. I got a lot done, I tried new things, I traveled. I started taking Zumba class at the Princeton Club on Wednesday nights and now let that be Daddy Date Night. I am thankful that I have had such a fulfilling summer, and I am thankful to have had the support of my friend, Therese, in taking care of Nadia (and I) while I got so many things done, or happily left them undone.

The next thing to work on is myself. As I said, I started going to Zumba class regularly. I've started walking further than I thought I could walk. I unofficially started LA Weight Loss a week ago today. It's unofficial because I also got two cavities filled and my wisdom teeth pulled a week ago, so the anesthesia that was used is keeping my metabolism from officially starting the program. So far, my teeth are doing well, my energy's up, and I'm proud of the balanced meals I've concocted for the past several days. I am looking forward to Hip Hop class on Tuesday nights and the Mommy and Me Stroller Class on Saturday mornings starting in October, as well as continuing whatever crazy classes I take at the Princeton Club. A year from now I should be a size 8. Here's to the start of the rest of my life!