Sometimes my shoulders hurt so much that it is hard to put my shirt on

So...CrossFit. I started it about 4 weeks ago. Here's a link to give you a better idea of what CrossFit actually is.

Today I am feeling like a better name for it might be Stuff That Sara Really Sucks At. That sums it up nicely as well. Sigh.

So every time that you go to CrossFit the workout is different, and you never know what to expect. Today this was the workout: Do 3 reps of shoulder presses 5 times. Then do 10 "toes to bar" (hanging from a pullup bar and bringing, yep, you got it, your toes to the bar) 4 times. Then, in 8 minutes, do as many rounds as possible (I am learning this is called an AMRAP) of 7 handstand pushups (just like they sound) and then 10 overhead squats.

Um.

Friends, I have no upper body strength. I seriously don't know how I care for two small children that want to be carried quite a bit, but I will say that carrying Josie around in her carseat makes me real tired. So my shoulder presses were pretty funny/sad. I can't get my toes to the bar, so I make do with my knees getting to my armpits...or at least that's the goal. It's still hard for me. And let's talk about my handstand and how I kicked Tim in the face when practicing at home, because for some reason getting upside down induces sheer panic to my body and I flail around like an idiot. The coach kept scaling the workout down, down, down, until... Sigh. It's embarrassing, but for 8 minutes I did 10 overhead squats with a PVC pipe (I know, couldn't even do the bar) and 7 girl pushups, on my knees. Over and over again.

And it was hard for me.

Tim and I did enjoy nicknaming this workout "Senorita Sad Arms" and imagining me at a CrossFit competition looking around for the PVC pipe. But really? I have been trying all of these new things recently: guitar, mountain biking, CrossFit. Sometimes it does get a little old feeling like you suck at everything you're working on. It's not easy to learn something new! But I will keep you updated on improvements...I mean, obviously there's LOTS of room for improvement.

I still can't believe I can only overhead squat a PVC pipe. Oh the shame...

Self-Absorbed

I don't know about all of you, but it's very easy for me to get caught up in my own little world here at the Rauch homestead. Of course these little ones consume most of my waking hours.








Sometimes I look at pictures of my girls after they've gone to bed, or even just think about something cute they did that day, and I want to run in and scoop them up and love them just a little bit more. Then I remember how happy I am that they're asleep and I resist, but still...love being a mom. I continue to be in awe of what an incredible blessing and responsibility it is to be a parent.

At the beginning of January I took the girls to my mom's house in Northern California. My mom lives in McKinleyville, which is waaaaay up in Northern California, almost by Oregon, on the coast. I was pretty stressed about flying with the girls by myself but was saved by this and this . To be honest I have no idea how the pioneers made it across the plains without these items. Well, those and Dora the Explorer, which is how Lily was occupied for much of our travel time, along with copious snacks. Allow me to describe my method of travel. I had the single stroller, pushing Josie, then was wearing a backpack, then was pulling Lily in her car seat on wheels getup. The only hitch was when I was in the Albuquerque airport which has these stupid revolving doors that you have to go through, and Lily's car seat got stuck in them and Lily freaked out and I freaked out and bad words were said. Other than that things were fine.

We had a great time. We were there for 6 days and had us a little New Year miracle in that it didn't rain there once. It was so beautiful and so nice to be among trees and near the ocean again.














In other news, I will be waking up at 5:20 am for Crossfit tomorrow, so I'm signing off. Talk to ya more about that later...