Falling into October

This year I have been head over heels in love with fall. It has always been my favorite season (What is not to love- pumpkin patches, apple picking, Halloween, chili, college football... I could go on forever!), and I think this year I'm appreciating it even more because this summer was so stinkin' hot and of course Baby Smith is just around the corner!

So I considered setting some work out goals for October, but after giving it more consideration I decided that this needs to be the month that I start to learn to listen to my body. I have never been very good at adhering to my body's requests to slow down or take a day off. Instead, I push myself, and sometimes it pays off and other times I end up nursing a sore back or some other sort of injury. This is not the month to push myself to achieve more (well at least in terms of exercising), but the month to listen to my body and enjoy the physical activities (Did I mention how awesome it feels to go for a long walk on a crisp fall day?!) that I feel like I can handle.

Learning to listen to your body and actually listen (not hear and ignore like I usually do) is not always easy, especially when what your body is saying and what your goals are do not line up. This month though I know I need to listen. Hunter and I took a long walk on Saturday morning and my pace was too fast, and I'm pretty sure it contributed to the awful day I had and why I had to spend it on the couch. (I am terrible at relaxing and sitting still. I like to be doing things and on the go. If I'm not doing that, I feel like I'm being wasteful with my time.) So this month in order to prepare for childbirth, I am going to listen to my body and exercise as I feel like I can handle it and only up to the point where I do not cross the line that puts me out of commission. If I can master this skill now, I know it will make it easier for me when I start working out postpartum and really need to listen to my body.

This month I am going to continue to watch what I eat and try to incorporate some more protein and veggies into my diet. (Baby Smith seems to hate those. I love veggies, but throughout my pregnancy nothing has been more revolting to me.) Our midwife said that since Baby Smith is measuring large (by nearly three weeks!) and is bound to keep getting larger, I need to be more cautious about what I eat so that as our childbirth instructor so eloquently put it "I'm not pushing a toddler out of my who-ha." Evidently what you eat now can really affect the baby's growth, so I am trying to stay away from empty calories which has been kind of difficult because with the majority of my torso being occupied by Baby Smith it is hard to eat anything filling. I much prefer popsicles, sliced fruit, apple sauce, crackers, bread, and the likes. To my credit, I have been working some nuts and peanut butter into my diet. Hopefully some of my efforts will pay off or Baby Smith will arrive early and I won't have to worry too much about his seemingly gargantuan size.

So here's to turning over a new leaf (Terrible, I know!) and learning how to listen to my body. In the end, I know I will be glad that I did.