Yes I’m a lunatic but my latest efforts I fear will prove a leap of madness too far even for me. With only 19 days to go I’ve signed up for the Lincoln 10K.

Before my pregnancy I had the running bug. In fact through training for the 2010 Lincoln 10K and continuing afterwards I managed to lose over four stone; whilst a little crept back on I maintained a healthy weight and shape. Early pregnancy saw no change to my running – although I didn’t know at this stage that I was indeed pregnant! I voted once I discovered my confinement that I would run right up into my third trimester. Looking back its impossible not to laugh at my delusional thoughts especially when you throw in extreme morning sickness and vertigo! As many advised I was simply too ill during my troublesome pregnancy to keep up all the good work.

So here we are Boo is seven months old and I’m still to shift the baby weight and get back into some sort of running routine. To be honest I have all the best intention in the world yet I’m lacking two things: physical energy and time. So what better way to motivate myself than to commit to running a 10K in less than three weeks. That way my effort will be on display for all to see. If I don’t train then I will die on my feet – although I’m not altogether too sure that won’t happen regardless of how much training I do!

There have been many cries from He and my Mummy to abandon this lunacy yet I’m as stubborn as an ox so no such luck for my lurking shin splints. I need to run every day and make sure that I also go for a long walk with Boo as well to help my muscles and joints.

It’s going to be tough; what high His work, TA commitments and personal tailing the Only time that I can guarantee to run is 5 am. Yes that’s right I will be running in the middle of the night! It’s going to be hard, really hard it’s one thing to push yourself when you’re by yourself but it’s on a completely different level when you add a Boo to the mix, not forgetting the stinkies!

Energy drinks by the bucket load and encouragement is greatly needed. I bet you a thousand Mulberrys I’ll want to throw the towel in by the end of this week. So say hello on twitter – I’ll be using the hash tag #operationyummymummy as I’m hoping to keep this up so I’m looking and feeling fabulous by Boo’s 1st birthday in July! If you have any tips on Mummy fitness motivation or ways to maximise my runs or even to incorporate extra workouts into my daily routine with Boo then I’d love to hear from your since i’m sure you’d agree that at this stage I need all the miracles I can get. Nope?! Ok I suppose we’ll have to stick with the old fashion no pain no gain!!

Mummy

In case you hadn’t noticed today is World Book Day.  The stinkies came home armed with worksheets from various school activities and the obligatory £1 book tokens.  I’ve enjoyed a beautiful love affair with reading from an early age and am really pleased that the stinkies are starting to see what a great escape books can be. 

I think it’s really important to help establish a positive relationship for a child with reading and books, so already Boo has a her own little space on the family bookshelf; granted there’s no literary greats but she giggles like a hyena when a book comes out and smacks away at the pages.

I make sure that the stinkies read every night but I’ll admit that it’s not often that I know which books they’re reading.  Just before bed this evening I asked everyone to place the book they were reading on the table and this is the result (ok so Boo had a little help reaching up to the table!).

As you can see there is an eclectic collection of different books and thanks to He even a magazine – there is always one!

World Book Day allows us to be reminded of the joys and importance of reading. But what about the rest of the year?

So this is my family bookshelf. It would be lovely if others shared theres’.  Who knows, we may even be able to build a family library with all the contributions.

Mummy

Sunday saw Boo go swimming for the first time. Both He and Me took her with the stinkies coming along to splash around like loons in the big pool.

At 7 months old Boo is relatively late to the swimming game, yet due to her being early and struggling to maintain her body temperature initially (I never want to see a hot cot again) we thought it was best to wait. The water would always be there and we wanted it to be a happy experience for her.

We’d received loads of advice in the days before with the majority saying that we would be lucky if she stayed in for more than a few minutes; so armed with a bunch of towels and the cutest swimming costume there ever was we headed down to our local pool. The walk from the changing village (I still don’t get mixed changing!) to the teaching pool with Boo in my arms felt like I was walking the plank – I was literally perspiring with sheer nerves. I’d imagined this moment for months and it was one of those future memories that kept me focused when Boo was premature.

I don’t know what I was worried about. She absolutely loved it – we were in the pool for over half an hour and by the end she was kicking and splashing away as if to say ‘why haven’t you brought me here before you moronic parents!’

For He and me it was one of first truly ‘Proud parent’ moments; here was our beautiful little girl – our creation demonstrating that she’s just fine in fact she’s blooming marvellous.
On the way out we signed her up for a course of swimming lessons so who knows this time next year she may be swimming the Channel. So ok I doubt she’ll be that proficient in long distance swimming but I’m sure she’ll be doing swimmingly.

Mummy