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It’s not often I win the weekly challenge amongst friends but when I do, I let everyone know.

Vero mentioned how Holly and Amanda were wondering how I get so many steps in during a week.  Now generally in the weekly Fitbit challenges we are up against Alan and he is kind of awesome getting his steps in.  I’m going to assume this week he broke two ankles and that’s why I ended up taking the trophy.

But getting back to the original question…how DO I get my steps in?

First off, this is a companion piece to one of my original entries where I talk about fitness in my life in general and how I managed to get fit.  I send this link to people who are excited to get into the Fitbit world.

Now, onto my daily regimen to get steps in.  I suppose I started rewiring my brain to avoid efficiency in terms of getting to Point A and B and I have swayed towards how to get more steps between Point A and B.

When I’m at a parking lot, I generally park far away from the store if possible.  Not only are there generally less cars there, but I get more steps in.

The same goes for walking down for a bite to eat at lunch.  Why take the most direct route possible when I can tack on an extra 15 minutes?

On a normal day, Vero drops me off at work and I avoid the escalators.  When I get into the elevator, I don’t bother hitting a button to choose a floor.  I just get off wherever the first stop is (which is generally the 2nd floor) and I take the stairs up to the fifth floor.  Granted, if the elevator is empty, I’m not a dumbass, I just pick the fifth floor.  All throughout the day, if I’m not with someone, this is my modus operandi to get some exercise in.

During my breaks, I get out of the office and walk around the complex where I work.  Oddly enough, Fitbit shows me that this is where the majority of my cardio workout comes from.  I find this quite odd considering I also take a walk outside at lunch and rarely enter the cardio zone.

While I miss hanging out with friends and playing cards/games at lunch, I feel that getting a walk in at lunch gets me in a good state to handle the rest of the work day.  It could be -40 outside and Etienne and I hike around the area.  We have a few different routes that we like to take.  We generally aim for 30-40 minutes so we can grab a bite to eat when we return.  I’ve always told myself that I can treat myself to a lunch if I put the effort into deserving it.

If Vero had dropped me off in the morning, I always walk across the bridge to Ottawa to meet her when she picks me up.  It’s generally around this time that my Fitbit tells me I’ve hit 10,000 steps which is around 4PM.

Depending on the day, the majority of my steps stop there but I have been making an effort to hop on the elliptical at least three times a week while I watch a show so I may get some more steps in there.  When I am always referring to steps, my main goal is to work my heart each day for 30 minutes.  Sometimes the elliptical is the only way I can get my heart working that hard.

The weekends are entirely a different story.  If I’m up with Sierra in the morning, I will hop on the elliptical while we watch some TV together.  We also try and get Sierra outside to tire her (and ourselves!) out in the mornings so it’s not impossible to rack up 10,000 steps a day on a weekend.  But it’s definitely harder than while at work.

Speaking about work, I work from home some days.  It was quickly apparent that I could go a day and accumulate 2,000 steps while working from home. I never realized how bad it is for our health to work from home!  I immediately changed a few things…I always drop Sierra off at daycare by foot.  I walk to the post office at lunch.  If I have a teleconference I hop on the elliptical and stop whenever I need to speak.  Generally I achieve at least 10,000 steps in a day this way which is pretty good considering I’m working from home.

That’s that!  Hopefully this has inspired others to get out there and walk a little bit more.  Remember, the goal is to have a strong heart.  Losing weight is just a bonus.

Here I am re-reading the blog from a few years ago wondering what I have written about Sierra before she was born.  Turns out that I didn’t jump back into blogging all that much during Vero’s first pregnancy.  Perhaps I’ll have a better track record this time around!

Here are some things that have been on my mind regarding The Sequel:

• I’m wondering if Vero is secretly annoyed that I’m referring to our second child as The Sequel
• The thought of The Sequel came from my thoughts of how could I possibly love another human being as much as I love Sierra?  I adore this kid running around and talking to me and helping me out.  Is it even possible that I could love The Sequel as much?  Then I realized that if I looked at it in terms of Star Wars, then the future is bright.  When we all saw Star Wars we thought “THIS IS IT.  HOW AMAZING IS THIS MOMENT?!  CAN IT GET ANY BETTER (OR AT LEAST EQUAL)?  Turns out that Empire Strikes Back was just as good as Star Wars and that’s when I realize how I can love another child as much as my first one.
• The first ultrasound was a few months ago and it’s a nerve wracking experience.  Why?  Because of twins.  Or fear of twins is more like it.  In fact, we are heading to the second ultrasound tomorrow and I’m thinking that maybe the first one was incorrect and they will tell us that we are having twins.  Let me tell you that the thought of having twins in a city where we have no family support is a very scary thought.  Luckily, the first ultrasound showed just one sequel and not a trilogy.
• It’s interesting to think about our future with two children.  The logistics are quite scary as well.  I definitely was more comfortable leaving Vero alone overnight with Sierra at…the six month mark.  Now, with two children?  I’m not even sure when I would be comfortable.  Just the sheer thought of having to oversee two kids on your own overnight is daunting.
• On logistics, Dad was even pointing out that we may need a larger vehicle.  Part of me thinks he was joking, the other part thinks that he was serious.  I suppose we will see how it works out with our existing vehicles and see what happens after that.  Something tells me I’m not getting my electric car as my next set of wheels.  Maybe a hybrid?
• I remember Vero and I preparing for the first child quite a bit.  Reading books, exercising heavily, preparing rooms, etc.  This time around I think I cracked open the pregnancy book once, perused it to remind myself of a few things and haven’t picked it up since.  I think it will take a few days after the birth to readjust to the new life, but then it will be old hat.
• I have decided to take between 2-6 months off and take care of The Sequel.  Part of me is excited and the other part is scared.  Not scared of whether I can take care of the kid, but more scared of staying at home with the kid!  I have definitely seen the mental exhaustion a few times on Vero’s face before.  It definitely will be the hardest job anyone has ever undertaken but hey, I’m made of stern stuff.

 

I didn’t think it was possible but I feel quite normal on this Monday, post daylight savings time.

I think I figured out how to do it.

Step 1 – Go out with friends on Saturday night.

Step 2 – Proceed to drink.

Step 3 – Continue to drink until 4am.

Step 4 – Sleep for five hours, wake up, feel quite tired.  Perhaps even hungover.

Step 5 – Have a nap when your kid goes for a nap in the afternoon.

Step 6 – Go to bed at normal time that night.

Step 7 – Wake up on Monday morning and think “Wow, I feel surprisingly awake.  What happened?”

Maybe Tuesday it will hit me hard?

Sierra seems to be talking in sentences these days.  She is becoming a fully functioning human being!  So exciting considering I didn’t know if we could do it.  Maybe the daycare is responsible for it?

Sierra was very excited to get an invitation to a superhero themed birthday party!

When I first thought about bringing Sierra to school on a sled during snow days, I just imagined that it would happen a few times this winter.  We somehow managed to have a very harsh winter which led to many days where I worked from home.  No matter, it allowed us to take the sled to school!  Sierra was very excited to tow it a few steps along the way and she especially liked waving to her friends at the daycare when she was leaving on the sled.

Mina’s car was stuck for an entire week in his parking spot.  After many days of hearing this tale of woe we figured a bunch of human beings pushing his car out may work.  It was out in eight seconds.  Mina was quite content.  He then proceeded to get stuck the next week while trying to enter the parking area after the plow had driven by.

I had a good laugh at this one.

Hawaiian day at daycare!  This skirt was about three times too long so I had to trim it back.  She wasn’t happy with it at first but then didn’t want to take it off.

It’s February and there are still a few gifts that Sierra hasn’t opened for Christmas.  Here’s a great gift from les grandparents.

It’s not often these two gentlemen get together but when they do, the heads are hurting the next day.

Heading out to the Vars winter carnival.

I need someone to tell me the story about this thing.  Is this the Vars winter carnival mascot?  This is amazing.

This year the activities for the carnival were moved inside in case the weather was too cold.  They had a great setup there including this craft table!

Zoom zoom

Another dump of snow results in fun scoop rides!

Aunt Maureen bought a really need penguin mold that we could use when the snow was the proper conditions.  One morning before getting in the car to daycare we quickly made one.  Unfortunately this was the one and only penguin that was made.  The penguin mold met his demise when there was two feet of snow in the driveway and the snowblower didn’t see him until it was too late.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be picking up little blue bits of plastic from the lawn for a few years.

Twas an exciting day at the office when I pulled out this apple from my bag and it looked like a butt!

Sierra enjoying her Babar sticker book that comes every couple of months thanks to Nat.

I hope Sierra doesn’t make this a habit.  Quite hard to carry someone on top of your head!

I can’t remember what was going on here but I’m pretty sure we were practicing 1950s nuclear safety drills.

Buds!

Buds!

I stole this photo of Danny from Facebook but it needs to be preserved here forever.  Look at the 12 pounder he caught!

We played out in the neighour’s driveway for a bit during a snow day.  There was this massive hill that we climbed up and slid down.

The bottom of the hill was just a pile of snow.

This photo will be a good reference point of how high the snow was this year!

This prank never gets old.

Big race!

Hanging out in the lawn looking at the moon in the daytime.

Grandpapa was nice enough to share his dessert.

While we have gone to Winterlude every year, we have never ventured over to the kid’s park on the Hull side of the river.  It was quite a great time there but I have to say that I am not looking forward to the day where Sierra wants me to wait an hour in line to go down a giant sliding hill!

Gaetan made this the night before.

I feel we have a hundred of these types of photos.  We need to switch up Sierra’s jacket!

We got to see a dragon!

We decided to trek out and find other dragons in the area.

Beavertail!

There’s nothing more fun than popping bubbles with Grandpapa.

Spider-Man and her trusty drill!

It was Super Mario’s fifth birthday party

It’s official.  It’s impossible to get the perfect picture of kids.  But isn’t that what makes these photos perfect?

Much like the province of Ontario in the year 2019, this slide is open for business!

I have to remember to start giving bubble wrap out as a gift for kids.

We went out to Abigail’s birthday at Alegria restaurant.  It was decent and I would definitely return again.

Clearly someone was excited to win the card game.

Spider-Man joined us for supper one night.

Uncle Brent managed to get Nanny’s birthday announced on the news out in Victoria!  I love how I recorded 5 minutes of this video and then I ran out of space but Vero managed to find her phone just in time to get this video!

Sierra was introducing Poppa to Angela’s Christmas, a special on Netflix about a girl who steals the baby Jesus statue to keep him warm on a cold Christmas Eve night.

Sierra got some one on one time with a baby in the house.  I’m already scared for August when a new one arrives.  

While the trek through Larose Forest started out with a snag as Dad and I were helping a guy whose truck got stuck in a snowbank, we did manage to have a fantastic walk through the woods on a beautiful day.  I’m claiming that this was my favourite adventure in the winter of 2019.

Taking a granola bar break.

Sierra showing Grandma how to do a puzzle.  Sierra is a whiz kid at puzzles.

If you start seeing garlic stuff olives at Costco, you can thank Mom for filling out this form on Dad’s behalf!

Sierra checking out Grandma making her some new curtains.  Mom and Dad were an amazing help for the week they were up.  They painted Sierra’s new room, hung up a bunch of blinds and finished off the basement bathroom!  That was a long project but it’s finally done.

It’s always sad to see family leave but clearly Sierra is quite happy.  Or oblivious that they are about to leave.

 

 

 

This blog somehow got larger and will probably take double my efforts to update!  In August we will have a new child to take care of.  As I type this I’m trying to figure out how to keep a pregnant woman happy in a house without a lot of air conditioning!  Vero and Sierra are doing quite well.

Vero: “Sierra, there is a baby in Mommy’s tummy.”

Sierra points at her belly.  “Baby?”

Vero: “Yes!”

Sierra points at her own belly.  “Baby?”

Vero: “Uhm no.”

Sierra points at Dad’s belly.  “Baby?”

Me: “Beer.”

I don’t think the kid will understand until the baby arrives.

Is it odd that I’m writing this on January 28th and Sierra still has three gifts she hasn’t opened?  They just sit there on her table waiting to be opened.  Something tells me next year she doesn’t need a lot of gifts?

We had the week of Christmas off with Sierra so it was full of fun activities (aka things to tire her out in the morning so she sleeps all afternoon!).

She has also been getting the hang of potty training this past month.  I didn’t realize potty training translates directly to ‘the ultimate test of patience of a parent’.  Some days I’m thinking she’s getting the hang of it and then other days I’m looking at how many times she has peed in her pants and thinking “Maybe I should try when she’s five years old?”  She does know her routine though…pee, wipe, put everything in the toilet, flush, wash hands, collect a sticker and put it on your sticker board.  I love how she generally picks the smallest sticker and then proceeds to put the sticker on top (or quite close) to the sticker she put on earlier.

Can I say that Sierra is much like her Grandmother and really loves puzzles?  This is our go-to activity these days and it’s quite fun to watch her brain in operation.  Every time we approach the same puzzle, it’s a different way of going about it.  I’ve been trying to teach her the concept of making the border first but I feel that she’s finding it easier to just start with an object (let’s say a dragon’s face) and find another piece with a dragon’s face to connect it to.  A few days ago I brought out a huge 36 piece monster of a puzzle which blew her mind but she’s really enjoying it and it’s an adventure each time she does it.  I think the interesting thing about puzzles is that they get progressively harder no matter what age you are.  1,000 piece puzzle?  No problem!

I figure I should write a little about her routine so it doesn’t get lost in the history books.  I’ll write about a day in the weekend.

Typically on a weekend, one of us wakes up with her and she turns off her dehumidifier, grabs her water bottle and heads for the fridge to get the hummus and crackers.  Then we go downstairs and eat.  Lately I have been hopping on the elliptical and we watch Star Trek Deep Space Nine together.  She’s pretty good with the show…she generally likes it until about 30 minutes into it and then says “Pas ca.” and I have to explain that I’m still going to watch it until the end.  She gets a little fussy but hey, that’s life kid!

We generally hang out downstairs for a few hours until Maman wakes up and then we will go have some breakfast (generally crepes and fruit).  I would say that if we don’t have any major plans made, we are ready and dressed by 10am and then we figure out what we are going to do with the rest of the morning…go to the park, go sledding, go snowshoeing, etc.  Anything to tire Sierra out.

We come home for lunch and then Sierra has a nap around 1-2PM and generally will sleep until 4-5PM.  Then it’s supper time which Sierra really likes helping with.  After supper it’s bath time which is generally a struggle to get her into but as soon as she’s in, she doesn’t want to leave!  Afterwards we get dressed in the PJs and settle down with a tv show.  Lately she really likes Moana, 1967 Spider-Man, Paw Patrol and She-Ra.

I feel like we were in the novel Dune, but the complete opposite.

Vero did some research and found one of the best hills in town for a little kid.  It was located in North Gloucester so one morning we headed out.  I wasn’t overly confident that it would be in any shape to slide on considering the day before was an ice storm.  When we arrived we saw a family try and scale up the hill and they gave up.  The entire thing was coated in thick ice.  At one point we were considering leaving and thought “No way.  This might be the ULTIMATE sliding experience and we need to go down at least once.”

Guys, I’m not kidding here when I say this was a nearly impossible feat.  It took everything we had to scale up this hill.  Once we got to to the top I had to hold the slide in place while Sierra and Vero got onto the slide and even at that, I couldn’t hold it and they went flying down the hill!  This was Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation speeds!  I went down on my arse with the video camera in hand and you can see how fast they were going.  IT WAS AWESOME!  So much fun!  Imagine having your own hill and it’s just a sheet of ice.  In hindsight if we would have brought those grip things for the bottom of our shoes, we would have stayed there all day.  In the end, we went three times.  The second time I managed to go down with them (I almost fell off!).  So much fun.  While I went in there with trepidation, I came out thinking this may be THE event of 2018.

Ski Hill Park!  Quite the appropriate name.

Over the holidays we had a homework assignment.  We needed to take photos of what Sierra was doing over the break so her teachers would talk to her about her activities.  Of course this one made the cut.

Felix and Sierra got to hang out one night as we had an excellent supper over at Melissa and Jeff’s place.  I love how the TV was definitely on their minds as they posed for this picture.

Look who moved out of the crib onto her crib mattress!  We decided we may as well give it a shot and I have to say that other than her crying the first night and me having to sleep next to her on the floor, she has adapted quite well!  In fact, we’re not even sure if she was crying because of the mattress or because we had her out late a few nights that week.  Either way, it’s quite amazing that she pretty well sticks to her mattress and doesn’t roam around her room at night.  I just assumed that would be an issue but she never really strays too far.  If she falls out of the mattress she manages to get back in there eventually.  I’m also liking story time a lot more now since I can just hang out on her mattress and read instead of trying to share the rocking chair with her.  She insists that we squeeze together on the rocking chair built for one person!

Sierra quite enjoyed receiving an activity book in the mail from Nat.

Marie-Claude and Jean-Francois hosted a dinner for all of us over the holidays.  The kids were loving the food!

The kids generally love putting on a play for us.  1) It gives them something to do. 2) It’s hilarious.  In this particular play, Jona was tasked with kissing the princess.

I have to say a sight like this warms my heart.  Sierra still is a little overwhelmed in the first few hours of hanging out with her friends.  It’s only later in the night that she settles in and doesn’t want to hug our leg.

Sierra’s first time playing a Nintendo Switch!  We were over at Oncle Yves place for a great January 1st brunch.

Yum yum!

Maman and Sierra testing out the new silicone muffin trays.  They are fantastic.

It might be cold out but I can’t deny a walk down near the river where I can see Parliament Hill!

Having breakfast with Yoda before he gets packed up for another year.

Oh look, Sierra is being nice and letting Maman have a nap.

Yeah…nope.

This is in the washroom at one of my favourite spots to eat.  So weird!  So funny!

We got to go over to the Hill’s place for breakfast one morning which was fun times.  

While it wasn’t Ski Hill Park, the Vars park had great sliding conditions!  Sometimes an ice storm isn’t a bad thing.

I love how strong Sierra thinks she is.

Look at the beauty I picked up in the park!

Having fun on the swings.

Sierra imitating Dad.  Look, she even brought out my guitar pedal!

I’m assuming we were watching Spider-Man before bed time.

Someone trying to steal Dad’s beer!

I love how Mina bought this new parka and said “It looked really good on the models on the website.  Does it look good on me?”

It’s been a LONG time since Etienne and I could walk down by the river.  It had flooded over a year ago and they were rebuilding the path.  

Ellie’s birthday party!

I love how Ellie is sneaking some cake before it’s cut.

Sierra quite loved receiving a piece of cake the size of her face.

Batman decided to photobomb us.

Max and Sierra playing some cards over at Andre and Karilee’s place where they hosted an excellent brunch!

Did someone sneak chocolate into their plates?

Karilee has this book that her parents gave her when she was a kid with diabetes.  I especially enjoy how the kids look like they all shooting up heroin.

What are those…vultures?  Wild turkeys?  Pretty rare sight for me!

The next day we saw a couple more and they were out on the ice!

Hanging out at Rob and Janice’s place listening to Jenna play piano.  She’s been learning on my old keyboard and it’s still sounding great!

Yes, we love Star Trek in this house.  I’m starting to watch Deep Space Nine again.  The first time through I got through the first three seasons when it was on TV for the first time.  This time, I’m finishing it all!

Sierra is really loving puzzles these days.

This year Vero’s family decided to give some money to get a new CT scan machine at the Hearst hospital instead of exchanging gifts at the annual Christmas gathering.

Big snowfall on the weekend!

Sierra pushing the snow monster!

Mia came over for a visit.  I specifically remember that we didn’t manage to get a fire started this day.

Dance party!

Waiting for some Kraft Dinner.

Making some music!

Super proud Sierra with her new painting! She would show everyone who walked by her.

Tandréane came up for a visit.  Sierra introduced her to the path in the backyard.

We were thinking of bringing Sierra to the Rideau Canal but the weather had whiteout conditions on the roads so we decided to drive down the road to Larose Forest.  We decided to try out a new snowshoeing path which would bring us near a cemetery.  I have to say that I preferred this path compared to the northern path near the parking lot.

No lie, going for a snowshoe trip with Sierra is a slow process.  She doesn’t stay in this sled too long!  But as long as she’s having fun, that’s what counts!

Tandréane was nice enough to carry Sierra for awhile.  All I could think about was “Oh man, now Sierra knows this is a thing and we’ll have to do it all the time!”  Ha ha.

This day may go down in the history books as the best snowshoeing day ever.  The pine trees were swaying in the wind the entire trip and it was dead quiet in the forest.  Beautiful!