Hello, and Happy New Year to everyone!

My name is Karen Skidmore, and I am the owner of Completely Fit, a personal training and fitness company located in Mount Airy, Md. I am a team leader for one of the groups in The Mommies Network Weigh-In Challenge.

All my team members have started off strong and are working very hard to accomplish their goals. They were asked to fill out a detailed questionnaire about their current nutritional and fitness habits, and answer questions about what changes they wanted to create. Based on that information, I have helped each person come up with a detailed action plan that will not only help to accomplish her goals, but more importantly, help to improve her lifestyle.

If you are looking to make a change in your life but are not a part of the Weigh-In Challenge, you too can do it with just a few small changes at a time.

If your nutrition is off track, start by taking away one unhealthy food once a week and replacing it with a healthy food.

If your exercise routine is off track, start by finding something you really enjoy doing — walking, biking, or swimming — and adding 10 minutes of that exercise to your day. Before you know it, exercise will have become a daily routine.

Be sure to track your results, as we do much better when we can see our progress.

I am very excited to be a part of this group and team, and I look forward to reporting our successes back to you each month. — Karen Skidmore, Completely Fit

If you think yoga is for the thirty-plus set alone, it may come as a surprise that children as young as preschoolers actually enjoy striking a pose. While they do not attempt headstands, there are a number of simple moves that the young enthusiasts can perform. The exercises themselves last between thirty seconds to one minute, but children stay in a pose as per their capacity, which builds gradually with practice.

Many of the yoga positions resemble animal movements and elements in nature, which is why kids easily take to stretching their bodies like a cat or balancing like a flamingo. The poses spark the little ones’ imagination and promote awareness of their bodies’ abilities.

Instructors too afford children freedom to explore, and incorporate creative techniques and age-appropriate props to playfully lead them through the active and relaxation poses. So unlike in a class for adults your tots can flap their imaginary wings, make barking sounds in the dog pose or be still as the mountain for as long as they wish. In the process they develop strong, flexible bodies, better motor skills, and learn to calm down and focus.

Yoga also presents ways to overcome fear, anger and frustration. It has been found to aid hyperactive kids in channeling their impulses, and therapeutic in children with special needs. Thus this exercise system that dates back more than 5000 years fosters the overall development of children and unlocks their potential through the formative years. Yoga programs for kids offered across the country are providing that early start. From being a trendy discipline, yoga is gaining acceptance among parents too. In fact, some of the classes are open to parents so you have a wonderful activity to share with your child.

This is just the beginning. As your kids grow so do the ways in which the physical skills and meditation techniques derived from yoga can make a difference. An after school yoga session serves as excellent exercise without the pressure of competitive student sports. The holding of postures and synchronizing of breadth and movement enhance fitness. Hatha yoga which is the more widely practiced form in the West has several styles so there is flexibility in choosing a workout suited to the individual’s physical capability and personality type. For instance ashtanga yoga with it’s challenging sequence of poses performed at a faster pace is akin to athletic training while viniyoga is less demanding physically and focuses on precise coordination of breath with the movement of the spine.

Regular practice builds strength, energy and muscle tone, boosts bodies vital systems, and improves concentration and coordination. These benefits help your child be a better sportsman as well as a better student. Beyond that, the essence of yoga is to bring the mind and body together to attain inner peace so it promotes self-appreciation, serenity and a sense of balance. Hence your preteen or teen acquires the inner resources to cope with the stresses of adolescence, keeping disorders and addictions at bay.

Even if you may not know much about yoga it is not difficult to bring home it’s many positive effects to your family. Towards this end you can attend a yoga class taught by a qualified instructor or self-study using books and videos. Resources such as The Yoga Site (http://www.yogasite.com) and Yoga Journal (http://www.yogajournal.com) educate on the philosophy and practice of yoga, guide you on how to perform various poses as well as assist in locating a teacher in your area.

When practicing the postures with your four year old or your twelve year old at home a little bit of improvisation and spontaneity keeps the workout interesting and it becomes an activity that they look forward to doing with you. As you interact at their level, you will find discovering yoga with your child to be a rewarding experience in more ways than one.

Originally posted on CharlotteMommies

This is part of a series.  You can find parts 1 & 2 on this blog.

Georgetown, Here We Come!

No I did not say that because I’m on my way to go shopping or check out the nightlife, though it was still dark out as we arrived into Georgetown. I’m saying that because Georgetown University Hospital is where we went to have DD’s tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, and tubes placed in her ears. Yeah, that is a mouthful, quite literally! The last time I remember being up at 3:30 in the morning I was not getting up off the pillow, I was laying my head down on the pillow. Sadly, I was not just coming in the door from being in Georgetown; my being up late did however involve my DD and a feeding. But, here we were three years later and heading to something life changing for her. 

We got to the hospital and DD was wonderful, she hardly minded the extended wait we had in the waiting area before going back to the pre-surgery area. I tried to remain strong and remind myself not to cry, inside my head I kept saying, “Don’t cry Traci, and don’t let her see you cry!” Yeah, that didn’t work. The Anesthesiologist came in to explain once again what would happen in the OR when we got in there and even though I had read about it and heard it all before (from the nurse and friends whose children went through the same procedure), I still choked up and out came the tears. The time finally came for them to wheel her down to the OR and she started to cry. In the back of my head I knew this was a good thing since it would help get the gas into her quicker if her lungs were open but, it still hurt to see her so scared. 

Photo Credit: ReSurge International

We rolled into the OR and I helped them get her situated and told her to just close her eyes and go to sleep. I told her I loved her and that she was going to have sweet dreams and I couldn’t wait to hear about them. It took about a minute and a half and she was fully asleep. Her ENT walked me back to the pediatric pre-surgery area and asked if I had any more questions. At that point even if I did I don’t think I could really think straight enough to vocalize them. I went back into her room and the wait began for us. We were told the surgery would take about an hour and a half, and it did, at exactly an hour and a half later her doctor was back in her room telling us she was in recovery and we would be able to go back and see her shortly. 

Photo Credit: babe_kl

We were informed by her ENT that her tonsils were big, her adenoids were HUGE, and there was A LOOOOOOOT of fluid in her ears; so much that we were given ear drops to ward off infection. Before he even finished going over the surgery with us and her recovery process at home, they were calling from recovery for me to go and be with her. Her nurse walked me back to her in recovery and she saw me and started crying. The last time I heard her cough like that was when she had bronchitis. Lucky for us she loved the popsicles and apple juice and keeping her throat moist helped to keep that cough at bay. We were told the more she had of the two the quicker she would go home, luckily she understood that and before we knew it, we were on our way back home. 

How is she doing so far?  VERY WELL!!! It has been a week and a few days and we can already tell she is hearing things she may have never heard completely before. She is covering her ears at high pitched sounds, and you can understand more of what she is saying (fewer mumbled conversations). BUT, the big thing to check is the low tones and how she is hearing them. Time will only tell right now and we have an appointment coming up soon. Once I know more, I promise to share! 

We went to see an ENT and he performed a whole work up and scheduled another appointment to come and see him in a month to go over his findings. I knew before we left his office that he would be more than likely placing tubes in her ears since she was hearing at a 45 (meaning she had 45% hearing out of 100%). We also left knowing it was more than likely that her Eustachian tubes were being blocked by her adenoids and that they would be removed. When I heard him say that the tonsils were coming out too I did worry a bit. I had been doing some research and realized that the tonsils were very beneficial in helping to protect from infection and bacteria. Once I spoke more with her doctor he assured me that while that is true in young infants, that a child at her age (who also is in daycare and building immunity there) has built up her immunity and to not worry as much. He mentioned how her tonsils were “a tad” large and that they were a bit inflamed, so removing them would benefit her. Her doctor also mentioned that he could leave them in but that he would feel pretty awful in a few years time if we were right back where we were right then and there discussing moving her tonsils because we didn’t remove them when she was three.

Photo Credit: Daniel Morris