Teach Zumba: Am I crazy? 90 days or bust!

I am crazy! Crazy about Zumba! Everyone knows what Zumba is but if not let me fill you in. If you take the aerobics craze from the 80s and the dance craze from the early 2000s then do a mash-up with dance club music you've got Zumba. I first fell in love with it via our Wii and loved trying to follow along and get a high score but soon found I didn't care about the points I just loved to move, sweat, and work on my postpartum body back in 2011 or '12 I think. I chucked the waist band that holds the controller, then chucked the controller too because ever since I was a little girl I loved to dance.

You really don't need to know how to dance to master the moves. That's another thing I love about the group classes I've been taking lately. There are people of all shapes and sizes, men and women getting it/working it/having fun. It's infections, contagious, and somehow I've come out of it wanting to become an instructor. What the what? I take a class a few times a month with my mom in a warehouse with box fans, a stage, and bumping music. It's hot, it's sweaty, but it's rewarding and it's fun!

I grew up around this type of stuff. My mom was that aerobics instructor in the early 80s. She taught packed out classes and being a single mother I often accompanied her to gyms. You could say I was a gym rat. I knew the photographer was near me but didn't know he was getting video clips. You can see me at 2:51. Fast forward 30+ years and I can not hardly describe the feeling I feel when I see my mom jump up on stage at 3:51 and doing anything with her and watching her is an honor! This clip was from this weekend at a zumbathon sponsored by Growing Together.

"Mommy, I saw you!"- my kids

The atmosphere was hot but cold water was handed out along with snacks bars, fruit and t-shirts. So now after seeing what I look like I'm even more determined to become an instructor and it's the perfect goal for me to get my mind off my size. My family won't disown me for not being this 'right size', my husband won't love me less, my kids won't hug me less, my life can't revolve around this idea that I have to be a size whatever. I'll leave that for another post. I'm at a wonderful place of self forgiveness and acceptance where even though I may not be where I think I should be I'm still ok. That's really big for me.

I've seen some plus size instructors teaching routines on youtube and it's so inspiring to me. Can I teach yet? I'm not quite there but I'd like to try for 90days and see where I am then to go for this crazy dream! More fitness reviews to come ya'll.

For anyone else interested in becoming a zumba instructor check here for more info. There are class certifications happening just about everywhere.





Now Look what my zumba leader (Michael - pictured in the above video) posted just moments after I wrote this post... happy tears!! These are the hearts that are teaching me and I would love to follow in their foot steps!

CIZE Sneak Peek
Posted by Carl Daikeler on Monday, June 15, 2015

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The Season of the Chicken - A Family Update

So... hello there? What do you say when it's almost been a year since we've last spoken. I missed you? How've you been? All legit questions but it just feels awkward and insincere. This blog was my baby. And speaking of babies, I have six now. That's where the hashtag #momofmany comes from because I can't keep changing the number with each new addition.


My littlest guy is 8months today and has quite the few polka dots going on as you can see.

But he's still pretty happy about life.


You have no clue who this is do you? This is Z and he was born at home. Read his birth story here.

So how'd this happen? It's all my fault apparently. I came down with a rash that wouldn't go away. At first I thought it was a bug bite gone wrong but then these little blisters formed and I couldn't believe it was shingles. As a kid I don't remember getting spots plus when I asked my mom she couldn't remember either. I was vaccinated so maybe I couldn't gotten the shot as an older kid, who knows but I had the shingles and since then we've been put on self quarantine.

 

One by one we've had one case at a time that last roughly 3wks... 

March - mom gets shingles

April 4th - C gets chicken pox 6

April 19th - then G 4

May 7th - then J 8

May 21st - then N 2

June 5th - now Z 7mos

With each case I was sure it'd be the last... 15wks later and we're just trying to just roll with it.

In my perfect world we all would've gotten it 12 wks ago and been done, but we don't live in that world apparently. The thing is these kids aren't letting life pass them by but I will be mighty glad when this silly, nasty, put your social life on pause virus (which really wasn't as bad as it could've been) is over. Spring/Summer has been full of family trips to grandparents and watching the littlest learn new things, the 4 and 6yo learned to ride 2-wheelers and life is good.

Hey, come see me on IG/twitter/facebook.

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Thumbsucking:

Aww but they look so cute...
Picture Source

Of my 4 children 3 have sucked their thumb or finger. Battling my first daughter and her binky woes I've since thought the finger a great idea. PT would lose her binky making an impromptu run to the store inevitable. It was a stress to keep up with and keep clean. The same couldn't be said for a finger. PJ was a finger sucker from the get go. Apparently she was sucking her finger during delivery causing quite the cramp in space to enter this world. My midwife, after delivery, said her elbow was in the way and that's why it took forever to push her out. PJ just turned 6 and I can chuckle now but at the time trying to push out a 10lb baby was no laughing matter. thumb sucking

We did break her of her finger habit with hot sauce, that thumb stuff that tastes horrible, and offering chewies in it's place. It was a struggle and because it was so hard on the both of us I haven't broken my boys yet.


After my first daughters you'd think I'd be an expert as to what works best, one was ATTACHED to a binky and the other ATTACHED to her finger. As a mother of 3 and then 4 there was no way I was going to try to keep up with multiple binkies so I voted finger. It'd be a few years before I found out how wrong I was.

Now those boys are 3yrs and 20months old and the fingers have to go!! These are boys I'm talking about. Boys play in dirt or whatever they can get their hands on. My 3yo is now fully potty trained and it grosses me out every time he is finished pottying he comes out sucking his thumb. So today, I finally decided I'm going to do something about this. I also discovered a potential fungus growth on PC's face causing white circles. They look like a pigment disorder so we'll rule the fungus out over the next few weeks. But still the thumbs are out and have to go. So what do I do? I tried the hot sauce on the oldest excerpt he loves spicy food. The yucky stuff doesn't work on him.

I did what all good mothers do, 

and googled it!

I found that some experts say you shouldn't even worry about it until age 4-5 and that most kids stop at this time. I think these kids start going to school and notice everyone doesn't suck their thumb and they don't want to be different. As a homeschooler with more than one thumb sucker that theory is really going to work. I can see teeth movement in their mouths and really don't want to do braces later in life if we can help it now. From my search I found a few pretty creative solutions that I never thought of.


Tape, Socks, or Bandages

Now we've actually done this with PJ. Her fingers got a yeasty looking infection between them and couldn't heal with her pointer in her mouth all the time. So for a week or so she had a sock Velcro'd onto her wrist. She is the persistent type and sucked through the sock anyways but it did heal up.

We already have a few Spiderman bandages so I'll go this route first and see how they hold up. With younger one's I would think about this being a potential chocking hazard as they may not stop sucking until the bandage is off.





Thumbusters

Mory was a father of three daughters who were all serious thumb suckers. After years of thumb sucking which resulted in thumb sores and potential teeth damage, his daughters expressed a desire to quit. After trying Tabasco, socks over their hand, even bribery. He came up with the idea of the Thumbusters! Smart Man :)

Thumbusters is a glove-like device made from Lycra that covers the thumb and is attached by a Velcro band around the wrist. I would have never thought of this but it's ingenious really. And it seems to help many. It's recommended for ages 4-12.



Thumb Guards

These are similar to the previous device and some are crocheted. I can do that now :) I could sew up some as well I'll just need to mess around with pattern designs to see what fits the best.

As we prepare for baby #5 I'm fully Thumbs Down. I don't see a need for little dirty hands to be in a baby's mouth all the time. I know it brings them comfort and if non of these habit breaking techniques work then we'll deal with it until age 5 I guess. I really could have encouraged binky's more if I'd known what I know now. Wish me luck :)



The opinions posted here are my own.  I was not reimbursed for this post but wanted to spread the word about a unique product and idea.

Add your 2 cents...

LIKE  or DISLIKE

Have you raised a thumb sucker?
Did they drop the habit on their own or did they need help?

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Meet Gymbella! HomeFitness Reviewed

Now that I've gotten my head about my health I've decided to blog all Fitness and Health Reviews at Gymbella.blogspot.com. I have over 70lbs to lose (at least I think I do) and really want to make sure I document it well. Progression pics, daily tweeting and blogging, challenge steps, the works. Need some motivation? Seeing others do what I need to do always motivates me, let Gymberella be that person for you :D

I'm also in the process of making Home-Mom.com solely about promoting moms who work and sell from home. I love to blog but not because I want to talk about myself all of the time. I find talking about other people far more interesting. I still love to host giveaways and will do so here and on the Home-Mom fb fan page.

So make sure to stick around,
subscribe, and stay tuned.

We've got a 2.5Fanatical coming your way as soon as I gather enough sponsors and reach 2000fans

(500 fans from my momMADE page)

 

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#HomeMomHealth: Reboot Juice Fast

Rebooting my life, Today! I can't waist anymore time. I'm feeling urgent pressure, not from anyone but that I have to lose my extra weight and do it quick. Almost like an internal ticking. I feel anxious. My weight has caused me some small but ill effects. Spine misalignment, hiatal hernia, and joint pain. It's very scary that this list could be bigger, these are only things I can physically feel or see, what about my heart, my blood, the things I can't see? With four kids, The Hubs and I are constantly asked, "is this it? Are you having anymore?" My answer is always, "We don't know".

What I do know is I don't want to have another fat overweight pregnancy. I've carried 40lbs or more with every pregnancy. Our bodies were designed to work. They can't do their jobs if they're fighting the extra fat  that gets tacked on and stays. This is my life, I have some pretty big responsibilities that need me. The Five most important people are my babies, my wonderful hubby. I don't know what tomorrow holds but I do know what happens to those I love who don't treat their bodies right.

The rest of this post has been moved to

Gymbella.blogspot.com

Where I'll be blogging only health and fitness from home. Gym not included.

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