Mrs. Weber's Neighborhood

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!


The Dressing Room: A Lesson On Loving My Body

Shared by 9 Comments

Body Image

There I am, standing in front of the mirror at Target looking at my figure, when I realize someone is watching my every move. It’s just me and my 3-year-old, and she just stares. And stares. And stares.

In my head, I feel like she’s analyzing my bumps, my moles, my insecurities.

I try on bra after bra, bathing suit after bathing suit, cursing myself silently along the way.

I’ve indulged too much lately and gained weight. I need to lose it stat before bathing suit season.

I have to concentrate SO hard to not let the words spill out of my mouth and into the brain of a highly sensitive preschooler.

“I don’t like that one,” she points out as I try on a bathing suit that’s too small. If only I was a size smaller, I think to myself.

Then I try on a bright blue one, and her eyes light up. “That one is pretty, mama!”

I look at myself in disgust. The thighs are cut way too high, exposing much more booty than I am comfortable with showing to the world. As I undress, I see her look of curiosity.

“Mama, why is your belly big?” followed by “Why are their lines on it?”

At this point, she’s right in my bubble, almost touching my stomach — the part I’ve always felt the most insecure about. I have to fight the urge not to let tears come to my eyes. Gotta love when kids call it how they see it, and it hits you where it hurts.

I pause for a moment to think of how to explain how a woman’s body changes over time.

Then I have a flash back to 1989. I’m watching my own mother get naked in the dressing room. She knows I am watching her, and no matter her insecurities, she doesn’t let a single.one.show. To this day, I don’t know how she never showed a sign of weakness. I never recall her putting herself down in any manner. But I am not my mom, and when I talk, I usually say too much, and am overly sensitive.

Finally, I answer.

“I’ve carried 3 big babies in this tummy. My body has been all sorts of shapes, and so it may not look perfect to everyone, but I am happy, and that’s what matters most.”

The explanation seems to suffice, and she moves on. But I can’t help but wonder if I said the right thing. Will she remember this moment in the future? Who knows. I sometimes wish I had a consistent script to follow when my kids throw me for a loop like that.

I want to raise strong girls. I want them to embrace their imperfections and love their curves. I want them to appreciate a smile wrinkle when it happens, knowing it means happy experiences and wisdom gained.

I want them to stand proud in the dressing room one day, easily able to undress in front of their own children, showing them it’s OK to be vulnerable and naked in front of those you trust and love.

I think all these things in the span of two minutes as I hang the bras and bathing suits back on hangers.

Which, as it happens, is just enough time for a 3-year-old to plot an escape while my back is turned.

I guess we’ll save the deeper body image discussion for another day.

The Dressing Room: A Lesson On Loving My Body

How do you explain your body imperfections to your children? Advice welcome! 🙂

7 Ways to Work Out With Kids in Winter

Shared by 5 Comments

I have an ongoing partnership with Meijer and am compensated for posts. All opinions and content belong to me.

Oh exercise. Some days I truly hate you. Thing is, I know I need you.

However, my daily schedule with three little ones plus working from home make my options to go to a gym pretty limited. Instead, I have to settle on working out at home most of the time. My goal this year is to break a full sweat at least 2-3 times/week. These are a few things I do:

7 Ways to Work Out With Kids in Winter

  • Run/walk on the treadmill. I try to sneak in a run while the kids are happily playing when possible. Sometimes I can’t manage to squeeze in a full run, but at least I’m moving. A recent funny exchange between my husband and I:Running with a Toddler
  • Play outside! First, getting my little ones dressed feels like a workout in itself. I focus on walking in the snow and sledding with my kids for an hour or so each day. They need that outside time, and frankly, so do I. Getting that Vitamin D makes me feel great. Also, the stat of only 1 in 3 kids are physically active each day is alarming to me. If I’m not active, why would they think they would need to be?

  • Dance party. This may be my favorite way to get my heart rate up. We pop on the Power Hip Hop station on Pandora and get down. Or, we run laps around the basement stairs.
  • Shovel snow. Forget the blower — this is wear the real workout is. The kids love to help, and I enjoy the upper body workout, even if it makes me sore for the day.
  • Workout videos. I enjoy the quick 20-minute videos, such as Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred. I can work various parts of my body with simple hand weights, and break a sweat — all before my kids lose their cool. In fact, many times, they do it right along with me!Working Out with Kids in Winter
  • Make a game out of chores. I make my kids clean-up before bed, so often times I will make it a game or a race. They love the competition, and I like to get in on the action and try to clean up as fast as I can, too.
  • Plan showers according to my ‘sweat schedule.’ I try to wait to shower until I’ve done something to move my body, even if it’s just pushing the kids in the snow or running up and down the stairs with the toddler on my hip. This mental trick usually works pretty well with me. No worries — on my day off, I opt to shower before the kids are up 😉

Despite not hitting the gym, I get into full gear — workout pants, shirt, headband {Goody slide-proof headbands FTW!} and shoes. I’ve found that alone is a great catalyst for showing my kids what is going to happen next in our day. Lucky for me, they are SO supportive. In fact, they even love getting dressed in their gear, too!

Working out with Meijer

Fitness Savings at Meijer

I’ve gotten quite a few pieces of my workout wardrobe from Meijer. As it turns out, the beginning of the year is an amazing time to buy workout gear, diet supplements and more, with sales. I’ve also seen sales on water bottles, weights and more in the fitness aisle. And don’t get me started on the MTA Sport brand hooded sweatshirts…I own 3 of them. They are my absolute favorite sweatshirts for daily wear, and to keep me comfortable during a warm-up.

Make sure to check out mPerks for great coupon bundles tied to better health in the new year. Additionally, be on the lookout for personalized rewards — these are wonderful for saving additional money on fitness gear.

How do you incorporate your kids into your fitness routine? I’d love more ideas!

My Healthy Goals for 2016

Shared by Leave a Comment

This post is sponsored by Meijer. All opinions expressed are my own.

I don’t know about you all, but I have felt that familiar squish that is my tummy getting into freshly washed jeans recently…and frankly I don’t like it one bit.

As many of you know, I had a successful weight loss story this past year after 10 years of battling extra weight. Unfortunately, losing weight was the easy part — it’s maintaining that is difficult.

Even though it’s cliche to say, with the {delicious and indulgent} holidays behind me, I love that the new year gives me new focus. I’m looking forward to getting back in shape, and continuing to practice the 80/20 rule {80% healthy foods, 20% indulging}. Because as I always say, life is too short to live without pizza and beer!

A few of my healthy goals this year:

  • Try some new healthy recipes, focusing more on fish and less on red meat.
  • Push myself to eat a better breakfast each day — even if it’s just a quick protein shake. {I often focus on feeding the kids and either eat their leftovers or just plain forget about myself.}
  • Keep fresh produce on the counter to encourage healthy snacking. Fresh Produce
  • Try some new workouts. First on my agenda is SkyRobics…How fun does it sound to burn up to 1,000 calories jumping on a trampoline?
  • Continue running and sign-up for a few 5Ks. I love that these keep me motivated!
  • NO POP. Less coffee. More water and tea.
  • Take better care of my skin and wear moisturizer daily.
  • Let my kids see me taking care of myself.

My Workout Motivators

The last one is my biggest motivator of all. My kids seriously LOVE seeing me be active. The photo above is the perfect example! They love doing workout videos with me 😉

To kick off the new year, I took a big shopping trip to Meijer to stock up on pantry essentials like fresh produce, vitamins, protein supplements and more.

This time of year is great to stock up, with plenty of healthy deals. I usually buy all of our vitamins in January, as well as exercise products and even organizational items.

Healthy Products from Meijer

Some of the items Meijer provided me with for a healthy new year.

I try to focus recipes around things in season, too — kale, spinach, carrots, celery and citrus fruits like oranges are things you can always find in my fridge during this time of year. Some of my favorite Michigan bloggers to follow for healthy recipes ideas include Mom to Mom Nutrition, The Nutritionist Reviews, Chocolate Slopes and The Lemon Bowl.

Make sure to check out the Meijer website for ideas on staying healthy and be sure to keep an eye on mperks for great coupons on diet and health products! So much is on sale this month, including many B1G1 and B1G1 50% off deals. 🙂

Health Products at Meijer

The new year is a great time to start anew. What are your healthy goals for 2016?

Thankful Thursday: A Healthier Me, Part 2

Shared by 8 Comments

I owe a lot to these beat-up shoes.

Last night was kind of epic for me. For the first time, I ran a full 5K without walking. I am so thankful my body has allowed me to do this.

Back in September, after I received the all-clear from my doc to start working out again (I wasn’t going to mess with that after delivering a 9-pound baby), I decided to start my journey toward a healthier me.

I’m proud to report back that I’ve finished the Couch-to-5k program. While it took me a bit more than 8 weeks, I’m proud because I’m not really sure I’ve ever stuck with any kind of workout regiment, so this feels like a major accomplishment.

I don’t like running, ya’ll. I don’t see myself becoming a marathoner anytime soon, although I guess who knows. As a nursing (and therefore time-crunched) budget-conscious mama, I just needed something that was low-cost and worked every part of my body in a small period of time.

I can’t speak highly enough of the program. It is absolutely wonderful for any non-runner trying to get into shape. Since starting the program, I have logged 55 miles (much of that including steep hills!) on my running shoes and I couldn’t be happier…or feel better. It has honestly changed the way I feel about myself and what I’m capable of.

As I walked into my garage last night after my run, I felt emotional. I honestly didn’t think I could do it. But, I set my mind to it and did it. I truly am thankful for this blog for holding me accountable…I knew I didn’t want to report back on failure.

I am looking forward to my first “race” (really, it’s just a fun run) next week. I could care less what time I finish in. I just want to cross the line and feel that runner’s rush everyone has been telling me about.

If you need a little motivation, check out this Women’s Health article, 6 Reasons to Start Running.

What have you accomplished recently that has made YOU proud?

Blog Design By: Creative Kristi Designs