Friday, July 30, 2010

My Dear Friend Comes to Visit

She's here. I didn't really miss her though. She always comes on the weekend... always. The good news is my cycle went from 6/27-7/30! That's 3 days less than last time, and it's been in that range for 4 cycles now! It's the simple things, right?

My hard work is paying off; even if a period still reminds me of the condition I'm not in right now, I'm having one REGULARLY! Maybe, just maybe, I'm on the verge of getting my body in a normal state. That would be awesome!

Also, I'm not bummed about having my period. Major first. Through all of my recent research and study I'm learning just how dangerous I've made my body for a little life. I cleaned out all the conventional cleaners in my house and replaced them with tried and true homemade recipes. I can elaborate later, but I believe that a cleaning product may be to blame for the chromosomal mutation that makes me a carrier for Trisome 13 and 21. My genetic councilor said it happened later in life, and household cleaners contain an ingredient that will damage your genes. Lovely, right?

Gotta scoot. Going to see a sweet friend and her babies today!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

My New Leaf

One overarching trend in my life is a serious lack of self discipline. I don't get things done that need done, I let myself get out of shape, and I shirk off responsibility. I've always loathed the lazy part of myself. Daniel is one of the most focused and disciplined people I know. How he has remained so patient with me I will never know.

Something clicked. I've finally had enough and I'm doing something about it. Sure, I've tried to be more disciplined in the past. But now, I have a secret weapon that makes this whole "new leaf" thing idiot proof. Enter Daniel. :) Daniel's profession consists of him organizing an entire workforce of people, and different facets of the production in his company and making a rather complicated schedule ensuring that those helicopters get built. He's a genius at what he does, and everything organizational for that matter. So, I figured, find a system to get things done, and ask Daniel to analyze it/hold me accountable. It's been going amazingly well for an entire week!

I've truly felt convicted about my lack of self discipline and failure to complete the simplest of tasks. It's been depressing me too. I know that Daniel's love language is acts of service, and this is the one area I fail consistently. I knew I had to do something for his sake.

It started with the clothes. I have clothes that I wore in high school. I graduated 5 years ago.... I hardly wear anything I own and thought, "why should I keep things I don't wear just to make my closet look full?" So, I literally bagged 90% of my wardrobe. It's in 5 garbage bags in the garage. I will take them to my grandmother's garage sale next week and hopefully make a few dollars. Talk about liberating. There's empty space in my dresser, I can find what I want to wear, and there's less clutter! This felt so good I collected 2 boxes full of stuff to take with the clothes.

From my uncluttering spawned the idea for "The Goal Book." Everyday I write down a list of chores to be finished by 5pm. I wrote down weekly goals, monthly goals, as well as long term goals, like my weight loss. Every day I do my work, write down what time I finished a chore or completed a goal, and even write down the time I spent wasting time. I will save all of this in a notebook so I can look back and see my improvement. This is where the plan becomes fail proof. I ask Daniel to look at my book when he gets home from work. Accountability is a fantastic motivator. As a bonus, Daniel seeing me take initiative and making progress makes him REALLY happy, so I'm really happy.

My doc said one of the best things I can do for the PCOS is an hour of jogging/cardio everyday to lose some weight and keep it off. Exercise goals are in the Goal Book too. I'm going to combine cardio with a yoga program designed to enhance fertility. I love yoga! There is nothing like it! I'm starting slow. I desperately need new running shoes, as the ones I have rub my toes terribly. I also cannot run in the heat. I have never been able to tolerate it. I need to get a gym membership, but I'll have to save my pennies for the sign up fee, and I may as well wait until I get new shoes. It will probably be a couple of months before I go to the gym. Until then, I'll use mom's treadmill and hope I can find a good pair of tennis shoes. I have picky feet. Yoga, requires no shoes though :)