The Beginning

Hello anyone reading this :-)  I created this blog as a personal project or rather to motivate me to continue my personal project.  I'm a newlywed, happily married and enjoying life with my beautiful and wonderful wife.  We are looking forward to having many adventures together, one of which is starting a family.  At this point of our life we feel it's appropriate to focus on each other and building the foundation for our future.  That being said...I have baby on the brain. BIG TIME!

 Literally I think about becoming a mom at least once every hour that I'm awake...and then I sometimes dream about being a mom.  Luckily for me I have a loving, caring and patient wife who happens to like that I'm wanting to be a mom because so does she.  We both know the reasons why we are waiting...somewhat patiently...to begin the process of my getting pregnant.  One of those reasons is that I want to be healthy when pregnant and I just don't feel I'm there yet.  I'm overweight, still smoke some, love and can't live without my caffeine, don't drink the right amount of water each day and I run from exercise...which doesn't count as actual exercise. 

I could come up with many excuses: I sprained the tendon in my right knee and ankle...eight months ago so exercise hurts but it's healed so I should work to get it strong again, I don't like the way the water tastes where I live now...but my wife buys me water from the store so that takes care of that, my wife smokes so I smoke with her...but she never makes me and doesn't care if I stop, I love the taste of coffee in the morning it's something I've had for years and really don't want to live without...my wife pointed out they make decaf which is true.  So you see my problem...I've run out of proper excuses. Poor me ;-)

Thus, this new project came to mind.  I am combining my never ending baby on the brain with a goal of being the healthiest me.  A full term pregnancy is 40 weeks in length, for this PRE-pregnancy plan I will spend the next 40 weeks becoming a healthier version of myself.  This project began on October 5th and will continue until July 12th at which I will be a 40 weeks older but healthier me ready to begin the process of becoming a mom!

 

When I told my wife my idea she jumped on board.  To kick off my first workout she surprised me and took me to Babies R Us.  We walked up and down every isle of the very large store talking about what we would want for our future children.  When I actually felt my legs tiring we went home.  It was a fun way to start the Pre-pregnancy plan.  We also found a wonderful Mexican market.  Before I got married and moved I lived near several Mexican markets where I bought all my produce and groceries.  The food here is so very expensive at a regular market so I feel very blessed that we found an affordable place where I have fun shopping.  We bought fruits and veggies that we like which were: peaches, pears, spinach, carrots, celery, tomatoes and potatoes.  We also bought chicken and beef.  Making breakfast, lunch and dinner is fun with fresh food!

I also talked to my sister (who is a mother of three who runs marathons and is training constantly) about my project and she suggested that I have a weekly reward for meeting my goals.  The rewards she suggested would be baby related such as: rattles, clothing or toys.  My wife and I discussed this idea and she's on board, as long as we're honest about meeting our goals. At the end of these next 40 weeks we could have up to 40 baby items ready for when we start a family. 

My goals will begin small and grow each week.  This week I want to workout three times with a duration of 30 minutes each, eat some type of fruit or veggie each day, and drink at least three glasses of water daily.  I feel that if I give myself too many goals or take away things that I like right off the bat that I won't make it the 40 weeks.  Instead I'm going to be realistic about my goals and each week the goals will grow and be another step towards a healthy life.

I look forward to tracking my journey on this blog.  Here's to week one! :-D