Date Night

TODAY'S MOTIVATION

Well last night my hubby and I went on our first date night since Maya has been born. We've got out a few times before with friends, but nothing with just the two of us. We did the standard dinner and a movie. We received a gift card from Chris' co-workers when Maya was born so we used that to pick our restaurant. It was wonderful reconnecting and spending time with each other and the movie we saw was actually entertaining. 

Before the grandparents came over to baby sit, I took a few pictures of Maya and I, since I actually was wearing make up and since I actually took the time to blow dry my hair. Both of these things have not really been a regular occurrence lately and I don't want Maya to look back on pictures of her childhood and have no nice ones of us together.

And then of course the geeky part of me decided to take one of those pictures with the timer feature on our camera. I was getting all sentimental about this being our first date as parents - especially since our first date was a dinner and a movie when I was sixteen years old and Chris was eighteen. We were just two naive teenagers talking about our futures and now we are grown adults, with our twenties behind us, and parents of a beautiful baby girl. My how things change!

So before I get carried away with the nostalgia of it all, I will get to the point of what motivates me today. Before our date I was a bit anxious about eating out at a restaurant that didn't have menu items which would meet the eating guidelines I have been following. I was also worried that straying from my diet would cause me to fall off the wagon so to speak.  My hubby reminded me that it is ok to indulge once in a while and so I just ordered whatever appealed to me without thinking about how unhealthy it may be. It was nice to have white bread, and a salad with creamy dressing, and a potato with regular sour cream, etc. However, by the end of the meal I was feeling kind of sick, uncomfortably full, and tired.  I was bloated and my head hurt. Both of us realized that going out to dinner and adding on all these unhealthy things to our food just isn't that appealing anymore.  It didn't seem worth the uncomfortableness we experienced afterwards. After the movie we also went and got some ice cream, which used to be my favourite thing, but even that just reinforced the feelings of ickiness we had after dinner. Don't get me wrong, it was enjoyable to eat all of these things at the time, but immediately afterwards it was replaced by feelings of regret (for lack of a better word).  So it made me realize that we have come a long way from our old habits - we now know that going out and eating bad once in a while is a nice treat, but it will never be the norm for us.  We used to eat out quite a bit before Maya was born, usually one to two times a week. Now it will probably be more like once a month and when we do go out, we will likely choose healthier options. What motivates me today is the thought that if I keep eating healthier I will always feel good afterwards and I won't have to worry about regret and guilt. Those days of heart burn and bloating are over!

RANT OR RAVE

Can I just say that ear plugs are my new best friend?  In yesterday's post I talked about how sleep is important to your overall health. Well this morning my hubby let me go back to sleep after feeding my little itty bitty for some much deserved sleep catch up. Now normally in the past when I have tried to do this I never get any sleep because as soon as Maya starts crying for whatever reason I wake up. I can't stand to lay in bed and try to sleep when I can hear her downstairs, even when her daddy has got it covered. So this morning I put in some ear plugs, and viola, I slept for an hour and a half! 

NOTE TO SELF