March mayhem

We're halfway through March...halfway! Raine is 8months old, our gym is into its third week, we've been living in our new home for almost two months...where has the time gone (more importantly why is half of house still boxed up?!).

Over the last few weeks Raine learnt to crawl, pull herself to sit, clap and say "dog" at anything with four legs. She's eating a varied diet of fresh fruit & veg, quinoa, and wheat free toast, pasta or crackers as they come up. She has four teeth which were a nightmare to work through but we had a pretty good sleep last night so I am hopeful we can take on the next bout. The little champ has already done a few wee's on the potty (gotta love elimination communication) and I think she'll be "untrained" around the same time as her brother was.

River has turned a corner, sometimes driving me to distraction, sometimes causing me to cry with happiness that I have him...my sweet, outgoing, independent, hilarious little man. So good with his sister & so good with other kids. When they say "I love you" for no reason it's like magic.

As a mother I haven't been very present lately. I've been truly stressed, run down & not coping with loud noises. It's hard to seperate working mum from mum sometimes and very hard to leave work at work and money trouble out of the equation. We've been here before, starting a new business so I knew money would be tied up in the gym for a while...it's just hard having to do it all over again with an extra mouth to feed & an increase in rent! 

Anyhow, I know most of my readers have felt the pinch of financial strain and I definitely know it will be worth it. To do what I love as a living, avoid child care & have the lifestyle I choose. 

CrossFit Croydon has about 30members which are all FANTASTIC. Such a humble, supportive, hard working group who make me smile going into every WOD. The PBs being achieved every class are proving the effectiveness of our programming and I am loving watching people walk in hesitant and walk out with their heads high! The mum & bub class is beautiful I adore teaching women about health & wellbeing. My pregnant Mummas are so fit & loving I know they will all be amazing parents. It's cool that I can start to encourage breastfeeding and natural birth now, promote co-sleeping, baby led weaning, elimination communication, baby wearing, cloth nappies & attachment parenting. And it's even better that the mothers who have taken a different path don't feel judged or any different, mothers empowering mothers!!!

Yoga teaching is going well, it takes me ages to plan a session but each one is moving more fluently and everyone keeps coming back so I must be doing something right! 

So many adventures on the horizon...I have so much to put out there. I am really trying to release negativity from my life, really trying to protect myself, and really trying to keep finding the things within me that can hold me up. There are hours spent crying on the floor crippled under the weight of trying to succeed. But there are 8 really important hands holding me up everyday, and some truly amazing friends that believe in me even after they have seen me crumpled.

One beautiful soul is getting married in 6weeks and I am running around with her team of bridesmaids to ensure the perfect celebrations are had. 

Thankyou all who help light my path up, thanks to those that let me light theirs.

March mayhem

We're halfway through March...halfway! Raine is 8months old, our gym is into its third week, we've been living in our new home for almost two months...where has the time gone (more importantly why is half of house still boxed up?!).

Over the last few weeks Raine learnt to crawl, pull herself to sit, clap and say "dog" at anything with four legs. She's eating a varied diet of fresh fruit & veg, quinoa, and wheat free toast, pasta or crackers as they come up. She has four teeth which were a nightmare to work through but we had a pretty good sleep last night so I am hopeful we can take on the next bout. The little champ has already done a few wee's on the potty (gotta love elimination communication) and I think she'll be "untrained" around the same time as her brother was.

River has turned a corner, sometimes driving me to distraction, sometimes causing me to cry with happiness that I have him...my sweet, outgoing, independent, hilarious little man. So good with his sister & so good with other kids. When they say "I love you" for no reason it's like magic.

As a mother I haven't been very present lately. I've been truly stressed, run down & not coping with loud noises. It's hard to seperate working mum from mum sometimes and very hard to leave work at work and money trouble out of the equation. We've been here before, starting a new business so I knew money would be tied up in the gym for a while...it's just hard having to do it all over again with an extra mouth to feed & an increase in rent! 

Anyhow, I know most of my readers have felt the pinch of financial strain and I definitely know it will be worth it. To do what I love as a living, avoid child care & have the lifestyle I choose. 

CrossFit Croydon has about 30members which are all FANTASTIC. Such a humble, supportive, hard working group who make me smile going into every WOD. The PBs being achieved every class are proving the effectiveness of our programming and I am loving watching people walk in hesitant and walk out with their heads high! The mum & bub class is beautiful I adore teaching women about health & wellbeing. My pregnant Mummas are so fit & loving I know they will all be amazing parents. It's cool that I can start to encourage breastfeeding and natural birth now, promote co-sleeping, baby led weaning, elimination communication, baby wearing, cloth nappies & attachment parenting. And it's even better that the mothers who have taken a different path don't feel judged or any different, mothers empowering mothers!!!

Yoga teaching is going well, it takes me ages to plan a session but each one is moving more fluently and everyone keeps coming back so I must be doing something right! 

So many adventures on the horizon...I have so much to put out there. I am really trying to release negativity from my life, really trying to protect myself, and really trying to keep finding the things within me that can hold me up. There are hours spent crying on the floor crippled under the weight of trying to succeed. But there are 8 really important hands holding me up everyday, and some truly amazing friends that believe in me even after they have seen me crumpled.

One beautiful soul is getting married in 6weeks and I am running around with her team of bridesmaids to ensure the perfect celebrations are had. 

Thankyou all who help light my path up, thanks to those that let me light theirs.

What stress?!

My friend sent me a fantastic video the other night http://www.upworthy.com/a-whole-new-way-to-think-about-stress-that-changes-everything-weve-been-taught-2 which, as the title suggests helped me change the way I view my stress.

So I've come up with some tips & tricks I have for balancing my crazy busy schedule. THIS is the secret to how Eric & I are still standing:

• The morning routine: lemon water, bush flower essence (my own personalised blend), dress & prepare breakfast, get kids up/dressed/try to do it all at once. My reward is that I am thinking about coffee ;)

• Plan, list, visualize, do. Remain flexible. Every day has a To Do list, each week has a to do, to pay, to plan list, meal plan, grocery plan. This is separate to work lists which are also broken down into financial, legal/accounting, member care, class design, programming, systems, wish lists & goals. Children are never going to allow the plan to go as planned. I'm learning to hold it together when one or two items aren't ticked off.

• Eat. This also has to be planned or I forget and everyone gets hangry.

• Laugh a lot and PLAY. Life wasn't meant to be a serious series of events. Listening to River talk to Uncle Rhabdo (spray painted on our wall) makes me laugh, watching Rain smoosh food all over herself makes me so happy. Chasing the dogs and forgetting the plan for a minute helps me unwind. Teasing Eric or vice versa keeps that pressure lid from coming off (though sometimes this backfires!).

• Talk it out or write it down. If I'm going through something I actually need to talk it through with my closest friends or with people so far removed from the situation they don't mind (sorry to the telemarketers!). I also filter my social media through the men in my life lest I make a career damaging comment or look petty when something upsets me. Sometimes I can't help myself...

• Be grateful. Always. There are so many brilliant things in my life, that this is pretty easy to do. But like everyone else I get caught up in the few crappy things & can obsess over them. I am reminded to show gratitude often though, and I know this makes me a happier, kinder person.

This list should probably include amazing things like yoga and training everyday or spend half an hour in the bath or some such...but if I'm honest sometimes my yoga and CrossFit sessions can't be squeezed in, I never bathe alone and there is often NO time to even go to the loo by myself let alone meditate in a park somewhere. 

So you can easily see that my priority is my family, my business & my health (in that order) and for now this works for me and my journey.

Today I had the pleasure of training with Simon who owns CrossFit Knoxfield and Eric watched the kids so I could smash out my first WOD in so long. And now he'll be laying floor for a little bit longer...man I'm proud of him, I'm proud of us! We're getting it done, doing the same thing as last year only bigger and better and with more drive to succeed. 

This path is everything we've worked towards coming together right now. Theres some awesome people helping behind the scenes; Nick, our steel man, my dad, our coaches & the whole Doncaster lululemon team. And our space that once again we've poured our hearts into is looking so damn good!

What is especially exciting is that I get to train mums in a group setting (for the first time!!) and they can bring the kids & learn to love themselves and perhaps to balance their lives a little better than I can. That I am designing a program that I don't think anyone ever has before...that I get to put my knowledge & experience into a program that is applied in a very specific way, and taught in a very loving environment. So happy :)

Speaking of brilliance and love (and stress?!), my baby sister is getting hitched in a few months!! What a blessing it will be to watch her marry her high school sweetheart, however rushed the planning will be I know that their special day will be pure filled with love. Having Jake as our official brother will be awesome, could not have asked for a more gorgeous partner for Lozzie, they are the perfect duo.

This week I am asking my clients & yoga students to practice falling in love with their lives...and as I write this I feel light, I feel gratitude, the ability to glance past imperfection to see the beauty and abundance that is.

Xxx

Life Assistant

Days like today I require:

• someone to go to the three stores I grocery shop at 

• someone to cook the food on my meal plan 

• someone to answer my calls

• wear my children

• play with them

• unpack my boxes

• decorate my house

• change my address 

• organize & pay my bills

• finalize all of CFC equipment

• promote CFC

• plan my yoga classes

• finish the webpage

• decorate CFC

• clean CFC

• make money money

• finish moving out of my old house

• sort all of my papers

• write more articles

• give me the benefits of their workout

• walk my puppies

• celebrate Valentines Day ;)

So...any takers? Hehe

The art of change

Today I am compelled to write...just three months shy of his third birthday, we have decided to wean River completely. I have tears in my eyes, such a hard call to make. My little baby is a grown toddler, asserting himself more everyday. His diet is brilliant & I've never struggled to get him to eat anything, he is long out of nappies, almost not needing a daytime nap, he's very independent. 

If I wasn't feeding Raine I think I would continue happily along but I think it's time to "bow out gracefully" as this little boy (BOY!) is old enough, and his Mumma is very ready. 

The plan is to have good quality one on one time everyday, and lots of cuddles because since Miss R has come along things have been very busy and I don't really have time for us to play without me carrying Raine, which is fine or has been until now...

We are on day 9, I think and so far I have actually seen HUGE improvements in our ability to parent equally, spending more conscious time together and the bedtime routine is actually not really any more difficult.

So we've also moved home this week which is always a stressful ordeal & on top of that we're finalizing our CrossFit Croydon gear. Eric & Nick finished the floor on Thursday morning at 4am!!!! We've sold 17 of our 20 Foundation Memberships already and our Open Day is going to be EPIC :)

I hadn't trained for over three weeks (my last workout at F3 was wall balls, rowing & strict pull-ups) so yesterday decided to do lots of handstand practice, max plank, nail butterfly pull-ups & do a road WOD that Coach Leasa & Alterego Productions posted (burpees & hollow holds). Today my ABS are on fire!!!

I got to catch up with Adele from Vegie Head and we took our puppies on a walk together. I've got an amazing group of people connecting to me currently and I'm starting to draw HUGE amounts of strength from this.

Life is beautiful if you see it!!!

Cheers & giggles xxx

Adventure

Not sure how much longer I will be using this blog...I'm taking on a few new ventures this year & I am a typical lazy writer!! 

It's official: Eric & I now own CrossFit Croydon, Melbourne's newest affiliate!!!! 

I am SO excited for this we are really on our right path now, and already the people that are interested are SUPER high quality & positive. We have made so many friends in the wider CrossFit community this past year and seen how different each box can be and has to be. We visited Byron Bay CrossFit & LOVED it! They have a brilliant community, a perfect mix of professionalism and relaxation, I would highly recommend visiting or joining if you live in the area. For E & I we really want to make CrossFit accessible to everyone...we want to improve the HEALTH of everyone who comes through our door. So we won't have a culture of pre-workout, and bacon...we aim to create a community of people who feel great about themselves whether they are over or underweight, strong or slowly getting there, old or young, new or seasoned.

The coaches we are bringing on are amazing people who will be able to inspire and teach CrossFit.

Our timetable will be released on Saturday and following that will be our pre-sale. If you are interested in joining us we will have a week long introduction between the 24-28th Feb with our open day on the 1st March (Chloe & my mum's bday!!). Website will be up & running by March.

In other non-Crossy news: I am 9 classes and a bit of homework away from my yoga teaching certificate!!! I can't wait to teach my friends & clients something that has helped me so very much. I learned so much about spirituality, philosophy & myself in the 12 day course. It was really hard for me, to be leaving the kids for 2-4hour blocks, sitting & studying, feeling so tired because as soon as the kids saw me they were so full on and Riv is asserting his independence more than ever and Raine is almost crawling and teething (ie frustrated). They both were hard to get to sleep, I felt like the milk maid, I lost my temper often & was sinking into my own negative thoughts. Both Nick & Eric were fantastic with the kids and handling me...everyone was so supportive of what we were doing & I made some friends that definitely got me through.

I'm so excited to be home tomorrow & to see all the people that had my back & held the fort for us at home. My family, especially Alex & Phil, have been looking after our fur babies in the heat wave & poor Aunty A has been reassuring me the whole time I've been gone! All the people helping us create a community for our new business already deserve HUGE kudos.

And I realized while I was away that I am so incredibly strong, not in a way that I am unaffected by outside things but in a way that I can forgive, pick myself up (or allow someone else to do so), and come back with a lesson learned & a great attitude. Sure we've lost some friends, we've lost respect for people we loved dearly, we didn't have expectations met & I nearly experienced my old friend depression once more. All I can do with that is do my best, keep going, and to keep coming back better. 

Cheers & Giggles

Xxx

Happy 2years

My blog is a teeny bit older than TWO!! Happy birthday to my online writing "career"!!

I am writing today with a full heart, a full mind, full arms, a full tummy, (an empty wallet) and a full on year ahead. Each year I tell myself, this is it Sares, just a little more work & you can rest...then another opportunity comes knocking and I just cannot resist! 

With excitement and regret, Eric and I have decided to leave Factory 3 CrossFit to the very capable Gav. We are going out to start a new box in the eastern suburbs looking to open in March 2014. Before then I am off to Byron to complete my level 1 teacher training course. So I am anticipating a very busy jan/feb! 

It came as a shock to most of our clients but we want to assure people that this move is a business move and a change that will serve us all very well in the future. I am quite saddened to leave the place that I poured my heart into but I know that the new space will offer something the eastern suburbs has not yet seen. We have a wonderful support team behind us, and we are going to go full steam ahead in preparation of our opening. 

Here's a quick glance at our timeline:

Continue working at F3.

Have a little road trip to Robe to visit the besty for NYE.

Build all the processes from scratch so they are ready to go when we open.

Make friends with some VIPs that can help us turn an old factory into a State of the art venue for CrossFit & Mobility (if you're reading this, live local & are interested please contact me!).

Pack up our home into cardboard boxes.

Cry eyes out on last day at F3.

Depart to Byron for yoga teacher training.

Road trip home from Byron (omg with two kids!!).

Move house.

Create a new box.

Open 1st March (Chloe's bday).

As most people know, I don't do things by halves...haha!

Raine took her first bottle (of expressed milk after about 3hrs of one side breast refusal...) on Christmas Eve. Yesterday she had her first taste of watermelon & cantaloupe, just shy of 6months. Looking forward to another BLW journey! She is also very chatty & says Dada every day (seriously?! I birthed her!!), as she rolls about trying to plank/fly/crawl.

I'm going to miss spending 24/7 with my babies for the 12day yoga intensive. It was a decision that was hard to make but Byron Yoga have been very helpful in allowing me breaks to breastfeed and pump milk for Raine. And to gain qualification in yoga instruction will be a priceless opportunity. I will keep you posted with this journey!

On a final note, this has been a year of great personal discovery. I have realized who my true friends are, made so many brilliant new ones, and let some go. I've been highly praised and also bullied. I've found a real peace with my past & gained so much excitement for my future thanks to the awesome considerate compassionate people in my life. I'm truly blessed to see the good in people & to be able to let go what no longer serves me. There are a billion people to thank including my family, my circle of friends, my clients who have my back at every turn, my lululemon athletica friends who have been a constant source of support, and those people I have met through CrossFit that I am completely in awe of. 

Thank you for giving me strength to face the day, and thanks to the universe for giving me endless opportunity in making my dreams come true.

I love this quote "The woman who does not require validation from anyone is the most feared individual on the planet" M.N

My message at this time of year is always the same; express gratitude, give love & don't wait for some bulldust date to change your life. Be the person you want to be, be amazing, start NOW. And as the beautiful Amy Coghlan says, Be.Love.Always.

Xxxx