Up and Coming!

Just back from NEDA, and had a great time--so much inspiration, so much to learn! I presented on a panel with several other women who are doing related work with helping people recover from exercise abuse. It was a great conference as always!

Now I'm gearing up for a very busy season: Summit is hosting a fabulous CEU event for eating disorder professionals on October 3rd, then I fly back to Virginia for a wedding, and then on November 4th, not only do we elect a new president, but my book is released! That, with the holidays, and my ever growing belly, makes for a busy end of the year.



I hope I find some time in there to bake for the holidays, knit for my baby, visit with friends and enjoy time with family!

NEDA 2008

Just a quick note to say I'm off to the annual NEDA Conference where I'll be speaking on Saturday, on a panel with several others. Hope to connect with a few of you while I'm there!

Learning to be Lazy

The thing about being pregnant: it's exhausting! I'm generally your typical "Type-A": running a mile a minute, accomplishing twelve hundred things every day, and taking pride in those accomplishments (even things as small as finishing the laundry or finding my husband's matching socks). In my first trimester, however, I had to adjust to a whole new me...

Loving friends offered nice reminders, But Peach, you are accomplishing something! You're growing a life inside you! Every day you are contributing to your little baby's growth and development! Hmm. Excellent point. And I imagine when she actually comes out of my body, I'll be able to see the fruits of my labor (literally) and appreciate that these 9-10 months were put to good use and that all my eating and sleeping paid off. But on those fatigued days, with no real tangible mile markers, how can a Type-A like me feel satisfied when the laundry is piling up and I haven't managed to get out the door for a walk?

Thankfully I'm now into my second trimester, and my energy is back. Not 100%, but maybe 80-85%. I'm practicing yoga again, taking walks, checking things off my to-do list at work, cleaning the house, running errands--all of my normal responsibilities and hobbies. There's still some differences, such as my stamina--I can't seem to walk quite as far as I'm accustomed to, nor can I hold every Warrior II as long as the teacher instructs, but the primary difference: I need extra sleep. I've learned not to schedule anything before 11am, and my husband has sweetly accepted that cuddling is off limit in the morning! It's just me, my Snoogle Deluxe, and those extra Z's.

Some days, I wonder if I'll ever be the old Peach again. Will I get back to 100% of my energy and endurance? Or will the tired days of pregnancy transition into sleepless nights with a crying babe? Either way, it's pretty cool to learn something so new. Women have been doing this since time began, and wow, has my appreciation for mothers multiplied! Even my appreciation for myself.

Loving kindness, extra sleep, and a few deep breaths. I'm halfway there now.

Belly Burn

I have a Nike swoosh on my belly. It hurts. Let me explain...

I'm growing. In fact, I'm big enough to get comments from strangers (at the grocery store, "Oh, look at your cute belly! When are you due?"), and I'm also knocking into all sorts of things (doors, counter tops, even walls!) because I'm not yet accustomed to my size.

I was teaching a group today, doing some body awareness exercises, and I had the realization that I've not yet fully embodied my new pregnant size: I don't look in the mirror all that often, and I'm so unaware of how much I've grown that I don't open the door wide enough to fit comfortably through, or allow enough space between my body and the sink when I'm washing up at night. I even burned myself the other day! Hence, the Nike swoosh.

My husband was on a rafting trip with friends, and I was at home alone, hot, hungry, and in a hurry. Hot enough that I had pulled my strapless dress down around my hips so that it was a skirt, and my belly was bare. Hungry enough that I was baking frozen breaded chicken tenders from Trader Joe's that I'd pulled out the freezer, and in such a hurry that I pulled the baking tray out quickly, completely unaware of where my body ended and the air began, and, yep, seared a big Nike swoosh shaped burn right under my belly button. It's amazingly centered!



I spent the next hour with a frozen bag of peas on my belly, and the hour after that with a frozen stick of butter in its place. Then I unwrapped the butter, smeared it over my burning hot Nike swoosh, and fell asleep.

I'm realizing now, five days later, as the burn has turned into a bright red looking thing, that it will likely scar. So I'm reminding myself this week of the fact that I might want to practice what I teach: body awareness. My shape continues to evolve as it never has before, and I have a lot of catching up to do!

Summer's End

Here we are recognizing another Labor Day: another Monday off of work, another summer winding down. This time of year, I always wish I was back in school, reading lots of books and filling my days with learning. Of course, my days are filled with learning since that's just life, right? I can't seem to get through a day without being challenged in some way that lets me learn and grow from some new situation.

This has been one of the most memorable summers of my life. From my wedding and honeymoon to my first pregnancy, I've spent half my time blissed-out, and the other half miserable with morning sickness and massive fatigue. Somewhere in between all of that physical and emotional energy output, I've managed to squeeze in a few fun weekend trips...

My sister and I hiking together at Echo Lake, near Lake Tahoe

Touring the Disney Music Hall in Los Angeles

And all the while my attention has been on the future, gearing up for the release of my book in November (so soon now!), and the birth of our baby in the winter.

I do my best to stay as present as possible, given so much on the horizon, because I know that while planning for the future is useful (and I can't help it--I'm an obsessive 'planner'), it can also get in the way of experiencing my life as it is today. My husband helps me stay in 'the now,' reminding me often that I'll never have this summer again: newly wedded and pregnant for the first time, every day a surprise!