Gym etiquette!

So I've recently reignited my love for training. I've always loved to keep fit and for most of my 20's I trained for triathlons, however after completing an ironman and retiring from triathlon I've been up and down with training. Being a single mum and working full time also doesn't allow a whole heap of time for training either, but with a new found focus and something new to train for I have found myself spending a lot of time at the gym lately. Not quite to the same levels of my early twenties when I was there so often my dad started telling people I had a new boyfriend and his name was 'Jim'! It never ceases to amaze me the people you see whilst working out in the gym, I've been getting my fix of people watching at the same time as working out. 

There are the girls with the faces full of makeup that walk at snail pace on the treadmill whilst texting or reading trashy mags, making sure they don't work up a sweat and ruin their makeup.

The guys that go in groups and spend more time checking out their muscles in the mirrors than actually lifting any weights.

The grunters, those that can't lift a single weight without the whole gym hearing them. Sure if you are doing an absolute max effort and exerting yourself, but the other day I thought I was in the gym with Maria Sharapova, when a girl was grunting with every single rep.

There are the show offs, the guys like one today who set the weights on the machine so high that they have to use the worst possible form to even make the weights move. 

The ones that sit on the equipment on their phone for longer than they actually use the equipment, ensuring they piss those off who are waiting for the machine. Or worse, the ones who talk to loudly on their phone, again whilst hogging equipment. 

Or my personal favorite is when you are in an empty gym, there are 30 treadmills and only one person on them, but the next gym goer has to come in and set up on the one right next to you.

Then of course there are those who don't wear enough deodorant (if at all), don't wipe their sweat off the equipment, don't re stack the weights, hog five pieces of equipment and one time and spend 10 minutes in the shower during peak hour when there is a line waiting outside.

I'm loving getting back into some serious training, and do always love a bit of good people watching, especially when it gives me enough content for a new blog post!

Toddler Troubles

As an adult, I find many things to be stressful, frustrating or upsetting. Today I started to understand the frustrations a toddler faces, to me all of these things seem insignificant but to a 2 year old that has yet to experience much of the world, these were all moments that led to tears.

Firstly the concept of having to share, if I want a toy then why should I not be able to have it? Why should another child be able to play with it? And of course even in a room filled with toys, children always have to fight over the same toy.

Next was the babycino dilemma, whilst being a very well behaved little girl and patiently waiting for her babycino a look of disgust appeared when mummy's coffee arrived first. Seriously, do they not recognise that babycino's are far more important than coffee? Upon receiving the babycino I watched her little eyes search the plate for the holy grail that is the marshmallow. As she realised that one very important component of her babycino was missing the tears started to fall. We're not talking toddler tantrums but rather a really emotional cry, as if one had just lost her best friend. I mean what kind of cafe doesn't have marshmallows! Mental note to self, in future check if cafe has marshmallows before ordering a babycino.

Then of course are the bedtime dramas, when one insists on wearing the peppa pig pyjamas but doesn't understand why she can't? Wet washing, seriously mum, you should have thought ahead and made sure the pj's were dry before bed time. Then to add to the frustration when mummy really can't understand what book it is you are asking for. We do both speak English, so I don't understand how hard it could be to know that I want to read 'Dear Zoo'!

Today taught me that everyone has frustrations in life, things may upset some more than others. I realised that whilst my daughter's problems may seem insignificant to me, to her they were huge. Everyone's entitled to show their frustrations and emotions, we are only human afterall. 

Baking for the baby!

Well the baby is not quite a baby anymore, in fact she turns 2 on Monday. Last year I was smart enough to outsource the first birthday cake to a friend who makes amazing cakes, this year however in an effort to prove something to myself I decided to make her a birthday cake! I found the perfect cake and had my heart set on creating her something special (not that she'll care or ever remember it though!) From start to finish the whole thing has been a disaster! I found myself on Friday night baking 3 cakes to build a layer cake, after cooking them I decided the cake wasn't going to be high enough so I baked another two! Today in reading the recipe for the butter icing I decided it wouldn't be enough for the cake so I doubled the recipe, 1.3kg of butter and 12 cups of icing sugar later I had enough icing to cover a house. The icing was meant to be a pale blue but instead became a shade of green instead! The tower of cakes surrounded in butter icing actually turned out pretty well. However tonight came the hard part, pouring icing over the top to give it the drip look effect, now I just have one very messy cake with icing running everywhere! Nothing like the cake I had desired to make. Part of me wants to bin the whole thing and start again, the other part has no energy to even contemplate baking ever again! So here I am feeling like a failure of a mum all because I stuffed up a silly birthday cake for a 2 year old that will never even remember it. 

1 step forward and 2 steps back!

After a recent relaxing holiday in Fiji, I returned home feeling invigorated with a new lease on life. I threw myself back into exercise, maintained a positive attitude at work and stopped worrying about things outside of my control. 4 weeks later and I feel like I've completely gone back to pre holiday mode! I've managed to get the mum flu, it's kind of like the normal flu but nobody cares and there's no time to rest from it when constantly chasing an energetic toddler. Being sick has meant no exercise and craving winter comfort food! Whilst my positive attitude towards work has remained, juggling work and motherhood is one constant obstacle course. Monday I found out that Mia's childcare will be closing at the end of the year so I'm now on a mission to find a new one. Yesterday in the middle of my work day I was called to collect her from childcare as she was suspected to have hand, foot and mouth disease (turns out she doesn't). So instead of a productive afternoon in the office I attempted to work at home with a toddler hanging off me as I typed up emails and whilst on the phone to a work colleague I had to run after her around the house to stop her drawing on the furniture with crayons! The holiday now feels like a distant memory, though another one is now only 2 months away. I may have retired from triathlon but this new form of racing is far more exhausting and there is no finisher medal and towel and the end of the 12 hour event! Just a messy house, mounting piles of laundry, a work to do list that is ever expanding, and a beautiful sleeping toddler!

Travelling with a toddler

I've  always enjoyed travelling and according to my Facebook memories, June is a popular time of year for me to holiday! 5 years ago I was holidaying in Hawaii with a group of triathlon friends, I was in peak fitness and competing in the Hawaii 70.3. 4 years ago I was away on a girls trip in Port Douglas celebrating my 30th birthday where we consumed what seemed like a year's supply of wine and cheese. 3 years ago I found myself in a less tropical location, Ballarat of all places (though I was meant to be in Thailand - long story). The last 2 years with an impending birth and then an almost one year old, I found myself remaining at home. This year I am once again on holiday for my birthday, in the tropical destination of Fiji with my little mini me as my travel companion. Gone are the days of relaxing on the flight, reading books and watching movies, instead I found myself desperately trying anything to entertain an almost 2 year old for 5 hours, of which one I was stuck standing at the back of the plane as it was the only place she was calm!

I had visioned days playing happily in the pool, relaxing in the sun, reading whilst she napped. However it appears the water was too cold for my little princess, whilst other parents couldn't drag their children away from the pool I couldn't drag mine into it. She was happy enough sitting on the step splashing her feet and soon enough I realised that was actually pretty relaxing, so there we waded in the water, splashing and smiling.

We wanted to go on a cruise out to the islands and somehow a guilable me got roped into a deal where the day cruise only cost $5, the only catch was I had to attend a 90 minute sales pitch at another resort, sure, why not! Luckily for me, Mia decided to be cranky at just the right moment so we didn't have to endure the whole sales pitch and we still got the $5 cruise! Best $5 ever spent! We had a great day out on an island, the water was beautiful, I was relaxed, Mia was happy and the weather was amazing. We even ran into some friends of my brother Sam (small world!) Mia loved the Fijian music and dancing and she behaved so beautifully even having not had a nap all day. This warm weather holiday was benefiting us both! It would have almost have been the perfect day if not for this mornings disasters! When I got Mia up this morning I found her in a cot full of vomit, of course she didn't want to be bathed either! There were toys and books to be cleaned, a toddler to be bathed  and clothes to be washed. Ordinarily I would have found this to be a stressful situation, but not today, we were in no hurry, we were relaxed on holiday! So instead of getting frustrated with the toddler that refused to bath I remained positive and calm and in turn she co-operated. All was going well until she called out from the bath a little agitated, I went to see what was wrong, only to find poo floating in the bath! So spew and poo all in the one morning, great start to a day in paradise! So whilst I may be on holiday from my paid work, there really is never a holiday from being a mum and that includes cleaning up spew and poo. But the memories we made today are worth every single painful moment that sometimes can be motherhood. Tonight as I drank a glass of wine on the balcony, Mia came up to me with her bottle of water in hand and raised it up to say 'cheers', I couldn't have been prouder! On Friday I will celebrate my 34th birthday, Mia of course will have no idea, but I will get to spend my special day with one very special little lady in a beautiful tropical island and if all she does is raise her bottle for a 'cheers' then that will be the best birthday present ever! 

Feeling Guilty

With motherhood has come a feeling that I had rarely ever felt before, the constant feeling of guilt. 

When I'm at work I find myself feeling guilty for being a working mum and not spending more precious time with my little girl who is growing up far too quickly. When I leave work at 5pm on the dot I feel guilty that I'm not in the office working more hours, even though I know I'll be putting in those extra hours in the evening once Mia is in bed. I feel guilty that I'm not the same career driven woman I used to be, guilty that my priorities have shifted now that I'm a mum.

I find myself desperately wanting some 'me time' to cycle, to sleep in, to go out with friends but when I do finally get that precious time, I end up not enjoying it as much as I should as I again feel guilty for being away from my beautiful girl. I spend enough hours working that I should want to spend all of my non working hours having fun with my daughter.

Lately I've been tired and my baby is becoming a toddler that has attitude, by the end of the day I'm exhausted and at times feel frustrated when she doesn't co-operate. Again I find myself feeling guilty, she's just a very small human still finding her place in this world and it's my job to have the patience to guide her without getting frustrated.

So maybe you can try to do everything; juggle a career, be a mum and still be yourself. You just end up spending all of your time feeling guilty for not doing something else!

Travelling, Toddlers and Tantrums

Today I was that mum on the plane with the hysterical toddler, half of the plane felt pity for me whilst the other half probably wondered why I couldn't get her to stop crying. It was so horrific that the couple sitting next to me had to move seats. At one point I thought Mia was going to be sick she had herself worked up so much. A delayed flight combined with an overtired toddler are really not a good combination. I sat there in tears myself, willing her to be quiet and stop crying, I felt terrible for her, seeing her so upset, I felt bad for the other passengers having to listen to her and I wanted to be any place but there. She did eventually fall asleep and I sat there for the whole flight trapped under a snotty, sweaty little toddler, too scared to move even an inch for fear she would wake again and start screaming again. As I looked at her peacefully sleeping I started to think about our upcoming holiday to Fiji and now fear the trip immensely! I don't think I could possibly handle another flight ordeal like the one we endured today. Travelling solo with a toddler is certainly a challenge, as much as I love my mini me I fear the days of having a relaxing holiday are long gone!