Motivation Monday: I love lucy

I know it's a holiday, but I couldn't help but be motivated this Monday. Why? It's been 65 degrees down south allllll weekend, and the sunshine is truly my friend. After having an incredibly rough and bleak December, it's been so nice to have a little bit of sun to shine down on us and play with the kids outside. little C. has been going nuts (in a good way) over riding his Jeep around and just running all around the yard, and baby L hardly knows what to think. After all, she's grown leaps and bounds since we were last playing outside! And being outside means I can be more active, which is amazing. I definitely love cozying up to the fire in the cold, but being outside and doing things is so good for the soul...and the body. 


These days I don't consider running miles my cardio, I'm just too busy. But chasing after the kids is plenty of cardio for now and I love wearing my activewear on the weekends to do this. One of my all-time fav brands is lucy because it's not only cute stuff, it's also very durable and made for it does best. I love this Get Going Jacket ($98)...I usually do all my warm-ups in it because it's so lightweight, and I love the thumbholes! And the Hatha Leggings ($89) are a must-have...in fact, all of the Lucy pants I own are some of my favs. They're just amazing at staying put and really, truly comfortable. It's great for cardio and running around (and cute enough you can wear it around for errands even if you didn't work out that day...blush...guilty.). But it's also incredible for Pilates (yoga, etc.), which I just started back last week. I've been practicing Pilates since 2008, the year before I started having kids. Back then, I worked full-time, so only went to one night class a week. Now that I stay at home, I'm able to have my mom watch baby L for an hour while I get my Pilates on several times a week. Sooooo thankful for that. 

I stopped going to Pilates for just four months (and not to mention had tons of stress with both of my parents) and my lower back just went nuts on me. So, last month I started going back to the chiropractor (I had stopped that as well), and had some x-rays run. I mean, my back was so bad I couldn't even sit down. I had to roll a yoga ball up to the dinner table, y'all. Ouch. Turns out, nothing major was wrong, I just have uneven hips for now and am slightly out of alignment. That means? I need to strengthen my core. After hearing the news, I started back at the gym the next week, and every morning I do back stretches and plank while I play with baby L on the floor.

What's crazy? THE next day after I went back to Pilates, my back felt 75-percent better. I'm not saying it doesn't still hurt some, but I will say that I'm convinced that with the help of both the chiropractor and Pilates (and my own stretching), I've nursed my lower back...back to health. I'm thrilled. Back problems can really start to get you down, ya know? And it was becoming really hard to take care of the kids!

So this Motivation Monday I'm completely motivated to make the rest of any lower back pain go away by strengthening my core each week to get my abs strong again, and hey, I might be ready for our beach trip in no time! (whew...swimsuit try-on is getting so close...talk about motivation...)

*products were sent for the purpose of this review

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