Exercise After Baby! - GUEST BLOG by Katie Moore

I am pleased to welcome a Guest Blogger today on The Rebel Housewife Blog! Katie Moore is a talented writer, new Mommy and emerging blogger. I am so happy to have her on RebelHousewife.com -- Enjoy!

Exercise Guidelines for the Post-Partum Period

by RebelHousewife.com Guest Blogger, Katie Moore

After the initial fatigue of childbirth recovery wears off, many new mothers are excited at the idea of getting back into an exercise routine. Often, mothers with uncomplicated deliveries experience a surge of energy about three or four weeks after their babies' births. For the first time in months, they are not experiencing heartburn, backache and overwhelming fatigue, and the idea of working up a good sweat sounds like fun. I was a mom who exercised before pregnancy and couldn’t wait to get back to feeling fit and back to my pre-pregnancy size.

Exercise in the post-partum period does have some benefits. Performing light physical activity can decrease post-partum depression and curb the appetite for sweets and junk food. Exercise can help your body stay flexible so that you can avoid pulled muscles when you get back to your normal fitness routine.

Most doctors tell new moms to take it easy during the post-partum period. After all, childbirth is extremely hard on a woman's body, and it takes time for the body to heal. It is important to speak to your doctor about your post-partum health and exercise routines. My doctor was so helpful to me during my planning time for delivery, informing me of options like pain management, cord blood banking, and breastfeeding, and continued to be the best source for information about my post-partum habits and health.

Generally, if you had an uncomplicated delivery, there is no reason that you cannot do some light exercise, like stretching and walking, even before you visit your doctor for your six-week check-up.

Most importantly, you should pay close attention to how your body feels during exercise. If at any time you feel light-headed or weak, you should stop immediately. Additionally, exercise should not cause your bleeding to increase or turn bright red. If it does, you have done too much and should take a break for a day or two. A big surprise to me was how tired I would feel after about 10-15 minutes of exercise; its important to give into the feeling of fatigue, rest, and then come back to exercise later. Breaking up my workout routine helped me get in a least 30 minutes a day.

You will want to stick to gentle, low-impact exercises for the first few weeks after childbirth. Walking short distances at a moderate speed is fine. Yoga, my favorite workout, and stretching are also good for the post-partum period. Jogging, high-intensity aerobics and kickboxing will need to wait until the doctor tells you that it is okay.

If you were very physically active before you got pregnant, you may be frustrated in the body changes that pregnancy brought to you—I certainly was! You probably will have lost some flexibility and endurance and gained some weight. You need to remember that you can get back to where you were physically once again. However, this process will take a little time. You should be patient as you work your way back into your fitness regimen. If you try to rush the process, you will simply injure yourself and increase the amount of time that it will take to recover from your pregnancy. For me, it was constantly reminding myself that if I got hurt, I couldn’t take care of my daughter to the best of my ability. Remember that rest and recovery are important first steps before exercise and weight loss.

Caring for an infant around the clock takes more energy from a new mother than many might think. Being unable to sleep for more than three or four hours at a time can sap a new mom's energy. If you do not feel like exercising for a few weeks after childbirth, that is perfectly fine. You should not feel that you should push yourself to workout if it is all you can do to feed and change the baby. Exercise can wait until your baby sleeps a little longer at one stretch.

The highest priorities for a new mother in the post-partum period should be caring for the baby and rest. If you feel like you have the energy to exercise after taking care of those priorities, then you can safely begin some gentle exercise.

Katie Moore has written and submitted this article. Katie is an active blogger who discusses the topics of, motherhood, children, fitness, health and all other things Mommy. She enjoys writing, blogging, and meeting new people! To connect with Katie contact her via her blog, Moore From Katie or her twitter, @moorekm26.

Asperger's Syndrome & A New Normal

Logging into my blog account today, I was shocked to discover...
it has been many weeks, months, in fact, since I have finished and published a blog article on RebelHousewife.com. Oh, I've started many thoughts, on paper, on post-its, in my head, in TextEdit and Word. There are several waiting patiently on the blog as "unpublished" -- wonderful starts about kids, Aspergers Syndrome, homeschooling (kind of), the teenager, the learner's permit (driving?!) and banishing the XBOX 360 from our home. There are others about books, events, recipes and cost-cutting strategies for family financial survival in tough times.

I seem to have a problem, of late, finishing what I start. I've never been a non-closer before and yet here I am...

It has been an eventful couple of months.

I actually logged on today to write a thought about Iceland and Vanity Fair and NPR, volcanoes and economic meltdowns and such, only to make this horrifying discovery. I am going to finish this, and fix the Twitter link on the website and then maybe I can get back to that thought about Iceland...

And maybe that's the answer. Why can't I finish anything I start lately? Maybe it's because, every time I start something, something else comes along to take my attention and focus. The constant distractions of life with a busy entrepreneurial husband, three children and Mocha-the-dog. I don't work outside the home. I can't imagine how I would. We no longer have the big house or yard to manage, having downsized to our midtown condo and our one-mile live-work-school-play radius (and loving it!). What excuse could I possibly have to be such a slacker?

We started this school year with three kids in three different schools: 15yo Puberty Angst Boy in 9th grade at the high school; 12yo Drama Queen in 7th grade at the middle school; and 9yo ADHD Phenom started the year in 4th grade at the brand-new elementary school.

Ah, there's another clue to what's happened: Turns out, our very bright, very ACTIVE 9yo ADHD Phenom is not ADHD at all (okay, well, that's a whole 'nother start that I do need to finish, kind of controversial). He has Asperger's Syndrome, which is high-functioning Autism, so he is our 9yo Aspy Phenom. Not a lot of people know what that is, or have any idea what Asperger's Syndrome is (we didn't), so I have some explaining and education to do on that point, I know.

But before I can explain, educate or crusade for a better understanding of Asperger's Syndrome, I needed to understand it better myself and live with it for a while.

* * An aside: If you are at all interested in Asperger's Syndrome, please read the wonderful letter Especially for Grandparents of Children With Asperger Syndrome by Nancy Mucklow. It is appropriate and highly relevant for anybody close to or in the life of a child diagnosed with Asperger's.

So what happened next: In January, we brought the 9yo Aspy Phenom home. The brand-new public school was on a shake-down cruise, getting all of their new-school processes, programs and procedures worked out. We were on our own shake-down cruise, trying to figure out and adjust to this new information and really-quite-remarkable aspect of our son -- finally, we had understandings and strategies that were actually working and helping him, whereas the ADD strategies -- including the medication he was on for more than two years -- never served him well. The school couldn't keep up, couldn't meet his needs academically or provide the structure and stability he needed.

He now attends school from home, although he is not technically a "home schooler." We enrolled him in 4th grade in the Georgia Cyber Academy (GCA), an online public charter school supported by the Georgia Department of Education. As a public school, the schedule and curriculum is established and GCA provided everything we need to attend school from home: books, workbooks, novels, math manipulatives, even all of the materials needed for science experiments! We have a teacher we work with, mostly online, who monitors progress and administers his IEP (yet another complicated issue for another time). We have an abundance of opportunities for social interaction, with field trips and meet-ups and activities all over, all the time.

And there it is: I haven't been able to finish a thought in months, or devote the time I used to have to lose myself in reading, researching, writing, reviewing or blogging, because I am teaching and experiencing the 4th grade all over again with my 9yo Aspy Phenom. It has been amazing -- not EASY, as this has been a HUGE adjustment for both of us and for the entire family. It has been a very challenging transition, but worth it to have the time and opportunity to work with and get to know this brilliant child.

Now then, that's not such a bad reason to be a slacker, after all.
I'm glad I was able to finish that thought.
I am hoping there will be more!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

...or is it?!

I'm trying, I really am -- and this will not be one of those whining, complaining blog posts about how hard the Holidays are on Mom; how there's never enough time or money or magic; how everybody's either looking for donations, cash, checks, party contributions or time on your oh-so-limited calendar...

No, let's not go there.



The Holidays can be, and usually are, stressful, but there's also an awful lot of good stuff. I can come up with 10 Things to Be Excited About, I know I can:

1. The Magic kids still believe in: My older kids, now almost-15 and 12, want to force a confession about Santa, in no small part to "educate" their younger 9-year-old brother. I keep the discussion limited: "If you don't believe in the Magic, the Magic won't believe in you...and THE MAGIC can't leave you a really great gift under the tree or a stocking full of goodies!" (It works!)
2. Christmas Lists! If my children do no other creative writing all year, I can count on them for something truly entertaining and wonderful on the "Come-on Santa, Bring It All and Make My Miserable Life Complete Request List." Want to see an example? 9yo Boy's Wish List
3. The Giving: Not so much the shopping, but the thinking, the planning, the scheming to surprise and delight, the giving is wonderful, especially when you find Just The Right Thing, big or small, for someone special.
4. Gingerbread Cookies! An annual tradition in the Rebel Household, we make armies and armies of decorated Gingerbread Men for holiday parties, school friends, teacher gifts and neighbors...
5. Cold Weather & Snuggling
6. Winter Break - sleeping in and NO HOMEWORK!
7. Christmas Cards - love to receive, even the letters.
8. Decorations & Light Displays - another annual tradition, the Christmas Drive-Around to see all the lights and displays. We drive far and wide, to professional displays (around Atlanta: Stone Mountain, Lake Lanier Islands, Calloway Gardens) and to see everything at homes & businesses in-between. With a Thermos of hot chocolate, a to go box of gingerbread men and holiday music on the car stereo (now XM Radio Channel #23 - Holly) and we are set for several evenings of family entertainment.
9. Christmas Music - all of it, from classical to elevator renditions to The Chipmunks!
10. Christmas Classics - TV Shows & Books

That's it. It's nice to keep it simple. Of course, there is Christmas Morning and the children's delight (hopefully) over their holiday haul; visiting friends & family and oh, yes, the holiday eating...

It is beginning to look -- and feel -- a lot like Christmas...
I'm on it!

Asperger's Syndrome: I'll be in my cabinet...

@RebelUpdate Tweet of the Day:
RT @JoanCelebi: New Post: 17 Tips for Calming Your Child with Special Needs http://twurl.nl/fu7y02 (via @aspergers2mom)
26 minutes ago from Twitterrific

It has been a rough week with 9yo ADHD/Aspergers Phenom, 4th grader. The poor kid has not been able to catch a break with homework: remembering to write assignments down in his agenda and bring home everything he needs, i.e. books, worksheets, etc. This, in essence, is the one thing he must do to earn his afternoon "Computer Pass" at home, which is his most-favorite activity and incentive.

He came home Tuesday with *nothing* in his backpack...Oh, Lord...

My #1 task is to STAY CALM, because it is only when I am calm that I can help him get through any meltdown. If I get uptight and upset, if I start yelling back at him, it only feeds the fire. This is one of those home base concepts I have had to learn -- probably the exact reason this special child was given to me. So I go into CALM mode, breathe, breathe...

He goes APESHIT (the only way I can adequately describe it):
Full-out on the floor, kicking, screaming, crying, wailing, cursing life and the universe.
He had after-school plans on the computer (a full agenda, in fact -- he scribes endless To Do Lists for himself for computer time, just not schoolwork), important stuff to do on his new website and on ROBLOX.com, which is where he currently spends most of his computer time and which is an amazing game and programming environment. But he didn't have the required "Computer Pass."

Dramatic screaming and rolling on the kitchen floor (him, not me - staying calm). I *calmly* told him he would start losing time from his bedtime if he continued screaming at me, five minutes at a time. I thought I was going to lose my mind and my cool. He lost five minutes: "Bedtime at 8:25 tonight." And he stopped. Laying in the middle of the kitchen floor, he just shut it off, which was...disconcerting (eye of the storm?).

He took a deep breath, sat up and, oddly enough, crawled into one of the lower (mostly empty) kitchen cabinets. He then announced, calmly: "Fine. I'm just going to stay in this cabinet the rest of the day, then." Ummmmm...okay?

I took a deep breath, gave him a few minutes, and then I quietly gathered a few items and set them outside his cabinet door: a bagel, a flashlight and several books. I knocked on the door. He opened it. I removed a basket of plastic storage containers, really the only thing in that cabinet, and pointed to the things I had left for him. He took them inside, closed the cabinet door and said, "Thanks, Mom."

He stayed in the cabinet, what he now calls his "pantry" (he put up a sign) for a good part of the afternoon and evening, coming out for fresh supplies and a couple of cushions -- those kitchen cabinets aren't really made for butt-comfort, you know.

I'm not really sure what the moral of this story is, except to say: Sometimes, a kid just needs his space -- a small, dark, enclosed, peaceful, safe space of which he is in control. For thinking and reading. For calming down.

Asperger's Resources - The Best - on Amazon.com

Mom, I Have a Boyfriend!

I got nothing done today. Nothing. Twitter will be the death of The Rebel Housewife, I'm telling you. Twitter or our Dear Daughter, 12yo Drama Queen, who announced yesterday, upon our return from a fabulous (and kid-less!) weekend getaway: "I have a boyfriend!"

Oh.My.God.

Let's not even talk about Dear Son (The Older), 15yo Puberty Angst Boy, who somehow, over the course of the weekend (and yes, they were supervised -- we did not leave them alone!) shaved.his.eyebrows. Why? I don't know. His answer (and I was really trying to be cool about it, to not over-react and set off TTSD)(Total Teen Shut Down): "Because."

Me: Oh.My.God. (on the inside)
To Him: "Well, honey, are you shaving anything else? Do you need a razor or shaving cream or anything?" Maybe an eyebrow pencil? (again - held that last one in)

So back to 12yo Drama Queen, our tomboy who has thus far spent more time kicking butt and taking names (especially on her two brothers) than noticing the opposite sex...Oh. Maybe this explains the Social Studies grade and how a straight-A 6th grader goes to barely-B average (after you throw that Social Studies grade in there) 7th grader. With a boyfriend.

Okay. Breathe. What does the handbook say?

Oh right. There is no handbook on raising a 12yo Drama Queen. I barely survived 12 the first time, 30 years ago. And here I go again...

Hubby sort of nonchalantly ambled (ran) out of the room at this point in the discussion, so I had to quickly re-group and, as calmly as possible -- THINK before speaking -- ask the pertinent Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? and "Does this involve kissing?" interrogatives...

Who? Okay, I kind of remember seeing this kid in the Orchestra last year. I think he was one of the ones I yelled at for messing around during practice before the teacher arrived. "He's really tall and he has red hair..." (hear in the dreamy voice typically used by Cinderella when mooning over Prince (freaking) Charming)

What? (As in: "What does that mean, he's your boyfriend?")
Response: equivalent of "Duh, Mom" (blush, blush, giggle, giggle)
Me: "Do you two actually talk to each other?"
(Because my 7th grade "boyfriend" and I never said a word to each other -- the whole crushing, three-day romance was managed by our handlers (friends), requiring us only to smile stupidly at each other across the classroom or playground as he played basketball with his buddies (he was tall, too), until he broke up with me (via his handler) for an Older Woman.)
Response: equivalent of "Duh, Mom"

Thirty years later: things are different.

Where? In the cafeteria.
When? At lunch on Friday.
Why? He's really cute.
<< Extended conversation about the single most important thing in any relationship and what I hope for all of my children in their relationships: He's nice to her, really sweet. And funny. >>
How? He asked me.

Oh, wow. I need a minute.

Holding hands? Yes. [Breathe.]
What about kissing? "Ewww, Mom - no! That's just gross!"
(Interpret: I just don't know enough and I'm not ready to try that yet. Which is okay. Fine.)

Summary 42yo Brilliant Mom-advice to 12yo Drama Queen:
1) You know you can always talk to me about anything or ask any questions. You might have to give me a minute, you know, because...well, just because. [Breathe.]
2) 12yo "dating" in our family is group dates only to movies, activities or school events. We are happy to help organize and drive gangs of tweens around -- no solo dating until you are older (some as-yet undetermined age).
3) As for the kissing, there is plenty of time, so take it slow. I had my first "boyfriend" in 7th grade, too, but I didn't have my first kiss until I was...like...25...
No, okay, I was already married by 25...16?

And at that moment, I looked at my beautiful little girl...and I saw the amazing woman she is already becoming. 7th grade. Was I ever this young and innocent? Where did my chubby little ballerina baby go and how did it go so very quickly? The little girl in me looked at the soon-to-be grown-up woman in her and I told her the truth, honestly: My first kiss was in the 8th grade, at the end of 8th grade, and I was 14 years old, almost.

Oh, but honey, take your time.