Busy Week, losing weight and a Mini Rant
Hello Saturday! Man, am I glad to see you! It was a ridiculously busy week at work and Monday and Tuesday will be busy as well. On Monday I have to work from 2 p.m. until 10 and while I am not a fan of working later, I am kind of looking forward to having the morning to myself. It felt like a very long week starting with a gig on Monday, an editorial meeting with the lovely people of Vienna Würstelstand on Wednesday, an early dinner with the Husband on Thursday and then drinks with a couple of friends last night. Next week promises to be a lot less social which will be a good thing.
Last night I met my friend D.K. for a couple of drinks at our normal hangout Cafe Gitarre and then I hopped onto the 13A and met a friend and her friend at a lovely little cafe called Epos. After some Aperol spritzers, we decided to stop for a quick drink and some gyoza at the always awesome der Fuchs und die Trauben. It was packed, but luckily we were able to get a couple of seats at the end of a long table. The gyoza were amazing as always and I bumped into a couple of fellow AISers who joined us at the table. By 10:45, I realized it was time for me to head home and my friend and I bid our table buddies a good night and headed into the pretty mild night. Yay! Spring is almost here!
The Kid has been sleeping incredibly well the past couple of weeks. Every morning he wakes up with a big smile, grabs a blanket and puts it around his shoulders and walks into the living room. Obviously he mimics my morning routine. After about 10 minutes of being wrapped up in his blanket, he drops it and starts his "zooms". This is basically the same thing as what cats do: zooming up and down the apartment for a long, long time. He isn't a calm kid, but he has personality. We are pretty lucky that he is quite easy going. We tell him it is time to go and he will grab his shoes and sit down in anticipation. We can dress him in anything (the Husband said no to the heels and pashmina) and he doesn't care and there isn't a specific route we have to take. With bed time, we are the luckiest of the lucky. At 8, we announce it is bed time and he will happily make his way to his bedroom, crawl into bed and wait for his milk. Either the Husband or I will sit beside him for a maximum of 5 minutes, kiss him on the forehead good night and then walk out, knowing that he will stay in his room until the next morning... Now, before you roll your eyes in disbelief... it wasn't always like this. No, it was a battle royale. I even wore face paint one night.
The Husband and I have to remind ourselves that even though we have more challenges raising a child with autism, with some things we are incredibly lucky. What makes it even more challenging, however, is how other people treat us. For the most part, we stay in our hood but every Thursday morning, we take the bus to therapy. He sits in his stroller and makes noises and movements (styms) and without fail, I will get a dirty look thrown my way. If we are out and he does something "weird", someone will "tsk tsk" me and it makes me want to scream. I am past the point of caring what people think but it still riles me up. Just the other day, I was on the Ubahn heading home and a mom and her teenage son were sitting diagonally across from me. Her son started to "stym" by playing with his zipper and flapping his hands. He was agitated and self-soothing himself. His mom rocked and talked calmly to him and told him they were getting off soon. A man across from me kept shooting the mom and her son dirty looks and I gave the Douche Royale the dirtiest of looks. I wanted to fist bump the mom but she had it under control and so if you ever read this, u-bahn mom, you ROCK!
It is so hard to raise a child with autism. It has been a life changing thing; filled with heart break, mourning for what could have been and yet, I am probably the happiest I have ever been in my life because I have a son I adore and who has taught me so much. He is my inspiration daily and the only thing I would change is that people like Douche Royale would learn some compassion and understanding. So that is my mini-rant and it won't be my last.
Onto another topic: weight loss! It's happening! The weight is coming off and the funny thing is is that for the first time since I was like 9, I am not on some funky weird ass diet. Sure, some people would think that being mostly vegan is a funky weird ass diet... but in my case, my stomach issues have pretty much cleared up and I am feeling a lot better. I have cheese and meat once in a while but for the most part, vegan is the way for me. The Husband eats most of my vegan meals a couple times a week. Just this morning I said "Making vegan fajitas for dinner tonight!" and he responded with a non-committal "hmmm." He'll love them. In February I lost 10 pounds and I was stoked, and then I kind of plateaud and wasn't super committed to my food diary. My friend and I were talking on Wednesday and realized we both kind of lost sight of our goals and decided to re-commit. So now we are texting each other our weight every morning (masochists, are we) and we have made an end goal. We have decided we are going to go to the Badeschiff on July 19th after work and wear bathing suits... The size of the suits is still to be determined.
I like that we have a goal and a date. I like that I am changing my relationship with food. I like that I am making better food choices. I even have had fruit for breakfast the last 4 days. I know, I had to sit down too. On Thursday I went out with the Husband for dinner and we went to Fratelli's. I told my friend I was a little worried about my control around pizza and she suggested I leave a piece behind. And I paused and then we both laughed and laughed. But then a funny thing happened... I left a piece and most of the crust and for once I didn't ask the Husband to consider wheeling me out of the restaurant. For most people, this might not seem like a big victory, but for me, it was HUGE! Also, just yesterday I was buying something in a shop and I was offered a free cake pop and I said "NO THANK YOU!" Yes, I am strong. I will be back for you one day, cake pop. One day. My energy levels are back on full and I am just a lot more upbeat and less likely to turn into a Gremlin in the middle of the afternoon because of a sugar crash.
If I lose a lot of weight, hey, that would be great. But just eating well and continuing with yoga is providing me with enough smug Instagram posts currently that I am loving making better life choices. I wish you all a fabulous Saturday. I went to hot yoga this morning and it was great! This afternoon I will take the Kid for a walk and I will buy some groceries for tonight's vegan fajitas. I am cooking tofu for the first time. Kind of terrified... and yet... so filled with smugness. Happy Saturday!
Last night I met my friend D.K. for a couple of drinks at our normal hangout Cafe Gitarre and then I hopped onto the 13A and met a friend and her friend at a lovely little cafe called Epos. After some Aperol spritzers, we decided to stop for a quick drink and some gyoza at the always awesome der Fuchs und die Trauben. It was packed, but luckily we were able to get a couple of seats at the end of a long table. The gyoza were amazing as always and I bumped into a couple of fellow AISers who joined us at the table. By 10:45, I realized it was time for me to head home and my friend and I bid our table buddies a good night and headed into the pretty mild night. Yay! Spring is almost here!
The Kid has been sleeping incredibly well the past couple of weeks. Every morning he wakes up with a big smile, grabs a blanket and puts it around his shoulders and walks into the living room. Obviously he mimics my morning routine. After about 10 minutes of being wrapped up in his blanket, he drops it and starts his "zooms". This is basically the same thing as what cats do: zooming up and down the apartment for a long, long time. He isn't a calm kid, but he has personality. We are pretty lucky that he is quite easy going. We tell him it is time to go and he will grab his shoes and sit down in anticipation. We can dress him in anything (the Husband said no to the heels and pashmina) and he doesn't care and there isn't a specific route we have to take. With bed time, we are the luckiest of the lucky. At 8, we announce it is bed time and he will happily make his way to his bedroom, crawl into bed and wait for his milk. Either the Husband or I will sit beside him for a maximum of 5 minutes, kiss him on the forehead good night and then walk out, knowing that he will stay in his room until the next morning... Now, before you roll your eyes in disbelief... it wasn't always like this. No, it was a battle royale. I even wore face paint one night.
The Husband and I have to remind ourselves that even though we have more challenges raising a child with autism, with some things we are incredibly lucky. What makes it even more challenging, however, is how other people treat us. For the most part, we stay in our hood but every Thursday morning, we take the bus to therapy. He sits in his stroller and makes noises and movements (styms) and without fail, I will get a dirty look thrown my way. If we are out and he does something "weird", someone will "tsk tsk" me and it makes me want to scream. I am past the point of caring what people think but it still riles me up. Just the other day, I was on the Ubahn heading home and a mom and her teenage son were sitting diagonally across from me. Her son started to "stym" by playing with his zipper and flapping his hands. He was agitated and self-soothing himself. His mom rocked and talked calmly to him and told him they were getting off soon. A man across from me kept shooting the mom and her son dirty looks and I gave the Douche Royale the dirtiest of looks. I wanted to fist bump the mom but she had it under control and so if you ever read this, u-bahn mom, you ROCK!
It is so hard to raise a child with autism. It has been a life changing thing; filled with heart break, mourning for what could have been and yet, I am probably the happiest I have ever been in my life because I have a son I adore and who has taught me so much. He is my inspiration daily and the only thing I would change is that people like Douche Royale would learn some compassion and understanding. So that is my mini-rant and it won't be my last.
Onto another topic: weight loss! It's happening! The weight is coming off and the funny thing is is that for the first time since I was like 9, I am not on some funky weird ass diet. Sure, some people would think that being mostly vegan is a funky weird ass diet... but in my case, my stomach issues have pretty much cleared up and I am feeling a lot better. I have cheese and meat once in a while but for the most part, vegan is the way for me. The Husband eats most of my vegan meals a couple times a week. Just this morning I said "Making vegan fajitas for dinner tonight!" and he responded with a non-committal "hmmm." He'll love them. In February I lost 10 pounds and I was stoked, and then I kind of plateaud and wasn't super committed to my food diary. My friend and I were talking on Wednesday and realized we both kind of lost sight of our goals and decided to re-commit. So now we are texting each other our weight every morning (masochists, are we) and we have made an end goal. We have decided we are going to go to the Badeschiff on July 19th after work and wear bathing suits... The size of the suits is still to be determined.
I like that we have a goal and a date. I like that I am changing my relationship with food. I like that I am making better food choices. I even have had fruit for breakfast the last 4 days. I know, I had to sit down too. On Thursday I went out with the Husband for dinner and we went to Fratelli's. I told my friend I was a little worried about my control around pizza and she suggested I leave a piece behind. And I paused and then we both laughed and laughed. But then a funny thing happened... I left a piece and most of the crust and for once I didn't ask the Husband to consider wheeling me out of the restaurant. For most people, this might not seem like a big victory, but for me, it was HUGE! Also, just yesterday I was buying something in a shop and I was offered a free cake pop and I said "NO THANK YOU!" Yes, I am strong. I will be back for you one day, cake pop. One day. My energy levels are back on full and I am just a lot more upbeat and less likely to turn into a Gremlin in the middle of the afternoon because of a sugar crash.
If I lose a lot of weight, hey, that would be great. But just eating well and continuing with yoga is providing me with enough smug Instagram posts currently that I am loving making better life choices. I wish you all a fabulous Saturday. I went to hot yoga this morning and it was great! This afternoon I will take the Kid for a walk and I will buy some groceries for tonight's vegan fajitas. I am cooking tofu for the first time. Kind of terrified... and yet... so filled with smugness. Happy Saturday!
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