Thankful Thursday

I took a break from blogging this summer to spend more time with my family and less time in front of a computer screen. Until this break, I’ve updated this blog on a weekly basis for almost four years. Baby Gators Den started out as a place to keep my family up to date on my newborn baby, then it morphed into a parenting blog where I reviewed products that made life as a mom easier, then suddenly it felt like a job and wasn’t fun anymore. That’s when I knew it was time to leave my ad network (that required the weekly updates) and take a vacation from blogging. A self-imposed time out.

I’ve enjoyed the summer spending time with my two kids and husband: lazy days at the pool, adventures to the North Carolina mountains and a beach trip to Florida (where I’m writing this from). I also did something this summer that I’ve never done before as a mother: spent time on myself.

My time as a mother has been spent worrying about and carrying for everyone else. While I was pregnant, I worried about the baby I was carrying. When I had the baby, all I cared about was feeding and caring for the baby, Now that my kids are a little older and (slightly) more self-sufficient, it’s time to start caring for me.

I’ve finally realized I can’t take the best care of my family until I start taking care of myself.

 

In June I started my journey into a healthier lifestyle. It started by joining No Risk CrossFit. I’ve wanted to try CrossFit for a while now since I first learned about it from my good friend Kelly (her husband has done it for years and she’s recently started CrossFitting also). The stars aligned perfectly and a brand new “box” (CrossFit gyms call themselves boxes) opened up 5 minutes away. No more excuses.

I signed up online before I had a chance to wimp out and showed up to class a few days later at 6 am. I became instantly hooked. I think every mother should get an hour to herself  in the morning. I’ll revisit my love of CrossFit later, but for now my kids are ready to head to the beach!

Here’s a few of the many things I’m thankful for this week:

• My husband, who has also joined CrossFit and is working hard to be a healthier  man. Love him.
• Inspirational friends like Jen & Kelly. Today they’ve launched their new fitness-inspired lifestyle blog, TheFWordBlog.com. With 6 kids between them, they do a great job of keeping fit and healthy while motivating others. Check them out!
• Vacations that seem like torture when traveling with 2 small kids. Even though I’m totally sleep-deprived, I know these are the times I will look back and miss. To be perfectly honest, I had to feed my kids oreos for breakfast to even get a few minutes to write this post.
  

  Oreo-faced Sidney.

I hope you can take a minute to think of what you are thankful for, I promise you can’t help but to smile!