Family Life – Page 14 – a hippie with a minivan

Ankles and Kettlebells….

This morning I woke up and I realized that I didn’t limp out of bed…

My left ankle is finally on the mends … though it is still a bit painful to the touch, when I move it a certain way, or when I am on the stairs, the pain is pretty much gone.. My right ankle was at this stage last week and is pretty much completely better, so I am guessing that in a week I should be pain free…

I am not sure that I am going to go back to running any time soon, though it is something that I still want to do one day… I did go swimming soon after I got hurt, and I love being in the water… but the amount of time it takes (go/swim/come back) just doesn’t fit into our routine very easily and it means that I have to have supper ready on time, but can’t eat with the family…

2 weeks ago, I was reading on a forum and read about Kettlebells, it peaked my interest and I read more, and read more, and then asked questions and then decided to try it out… Though my ankle was hurting when I walked , working out with the Kettlebell did’t hurt at all… and what an amazing workout! I have been doing 20 minutes every few days doing various exercises including swings.. By the end of that 20 min my heart rate is way up, I am breathing harder and my legs are feeling a bit jittery… but I feel great! I feel sore the day after, but it is a good sore and it actually surprised me that I did feel sore because though I felt it was a workout, it wasn’t too hard and it was fun..

I have to say… I am sold!

I had found a 10 lb Kettlebell at Zellers which is great to start but I had the feeling that I would be outgrowing it soon, especially for certain excersises, so I found some on sale at treadmillfactory.ca with decent shipping prices and while I was at it I also picked up a mini-trampoline that was on special as it is something I know that we will all have fun doing…

20-30 min a few times a week is so easy to fit into our family routine…

Here are some great links:

How to do the two handed swing:

This blog is a great resource and inspiration (she used to be 120 lbs heavier and is now a Kettlebell trainer)… http://tracysfoodandthought.blogspot.com/… she shares workouts and videos etc…

Cabane à Sucre 2011

On thursday we headed to the Sugar Shack for our anual Sugar rush…

We go in the week when we can get a table left over from a group. There are not always all the activities, but the kids have the playground more to themselves, there are less people in line to eat and there are no crowds…

It was a beautiful Spring day and the Sap is running strong at the moment so keeping the sugar boiling is nearly a 24h/ day task…

(see those barrels of syrup there…. yummmmm)

(Sap boiling with a wood stove and the steam rises through a hole in the roof)

Every year the meal stays the same… so you can see the older pics here…

After the meal we head outside for some playing, seeing the animals and the anticipated “Tire sur Neige” or maple taffy, which is made from hot syrup being poured onto clean snow….

(That stuff is seriously dangerous… I know you can make it at home, but I would rather remain ignorant to that fact)

What a fun day and it is definitely something we all look forward to every year!

Ankles…

Week 2 of running brought on sore ankles… It started near the end of one session and then two days later I went out again not thinking much of it and after doing one walk/run interval my body shouted NO MORE. and I limped home… It was one ankle that was hurting the most and I put Ice on it and put my legs up and wished it away… my wish didn’t come true…

Over the next days I decided to ignore it, and hope that it would go away that way….it didn’t… and it didn’t even get better but actually worsened and both ankles were in pain, same problem, both sides.

I read a few things, iced it and tried to stay off my feet, but I have things to do, meals to make, kids to corral and a 14 month old that gets into everything. I tried taking some ibuprofen and it just made me feel very loopy and didn’t help with the pain much. Last tuesday, more than a week after the pain started, I had enough and called the family doc. I got in because of a cancelation yesterday and so I headed into Montreal yesterday morning.

The doctor was not very happy that I hadn’t been there in nearly 6 years and it was actually a fluke that my file hadn’t been thrown out. However, the fact that I had not seen anyone else in those in those 6 years, gave me the advantage and he will be keeping me as a patient as long as I go in for a check up in the fall…

He said that if it would have been only one of my ankles, with the amount of swelling and pain, he would have thought it was fractured, but because it was both, it is most likely either the tendons of the ligaments that are giving me problems and his suggestions are basically what I have been doing (or trying to do)… restand ice, oh and stronger anti-inflammatory’s and he also gave me a referral for physiotherapy.

(It’s hard to take a pic of swelling, but I think you can see it there… it the same on both sides)

*sigh*

So… I am in pain… and the minute I seem a bit better I get a bit too ahead of myself and tend to overdo things and then I am in more pain…

I think running is going to have to wait a while… my Vibrams will be great for walking… and I think I am going to get back into the pool routine again…

double *sigh*

It's these little moments…

that make me realize how much I wish I would have had siblings…

The ABC's of Wilhelmina

I got a great deal on Shutterfly before the holidays and made a few photobooks for family, for us and for Wilhelmina.

For family, it was a compilation of our favourite photos and memories of 2010… For us, I made a book capturing my trip to Prince-Rupert last year and also sent one of those to Annie…

My favourite book however, is the one I made for Wilhelmina.

An ABC book all about her….

I ordered it in both an 8X10 and a 5X7 format… the larger hard cover one will be a great memory book and will be for a bit later when she is a bit more careful with books and the smaller version is great to carry around and for her to look at on her own…

Each page has a theme with the corresponding letter…

A is for Adorable
B is for Brothers
C is for Colin
D is for Daddy
E is for Eat
F is for Family
G is for Giggles
H is for Happy
I is for Itty bitty Mina
J is for Joyful
K is for Khéna

L is for Love

M is for Mama
N is for Nala
O is for Outside
P is for Potty
Q is for Quebec
R is for Red
S is for Silly
T is for Trip
U is for Unique
V is for Violet
W is for Wilhelmina
X is for Xavier
Y is for You

Z is for Zzzzz….