*~*~*~ Spotlight on TIFF4NY! ~*~*~* « Back to Group Discussions

[TIFF4NY]

Hello everyone. I'm Tiffany, 30 living in Stockton, CA. DH is Frank, 34. He works as a pharmacist in a local independent pharmacy but is also very much a technology geek. Our beautiful DD is 3 and we have two large, awesome dogs.

I was born and raised near Portland, OR with a brief time spent on the Oregon coast in Newport. I moved to Seattle, WA for a couple years when I was 19 and then moved to London, UK for a 6 month stay before unexpectedly settling in Stockton. While in London I traveled through England and to Italy and Egypt. Loved it! Since then we've also been to Belize. I'm hooked on international travel for sure. 

I say unexpectedly settling in Stockton because I had intended to make it to the Bay area but Frank and I wound up dating and the rest is history. It has been quite an adjustment to adapt to living here compared to the other places I have lived but I'm finally beginning to accept it for what it has to offer. Also, my parents are in the process of selling their home in OR to move nearby (for the kids & climate mostly) and should be here by mid-Feb if all continues to go well with their escrow. I'm really excited to have someone from my family nearby and have a great relationship with them. It will be nice for our kids to have easy access to them when they are here.

Before having DD I worked as a Realtor but we agreed that I would be a SAHM once we had kids. In a way I feel like I've lost my ability to hold intelligent conversations and feel like I have developed a slight social anxiety. But I do really enjoy being able to spend the time with DD and I feel like this is the best for us right now. 

That's all for now. Ask away if you have any questions!

[Munchkin08]

I grew up in the Bay Area and I tried to live there with DH last year so that we could start a family while being near mine. Sadly it didnt work. We are back on the East Coast - where there is a less... crunchy.... mentality (and more of DH's family - very non crunchy also).

From your post:" It has been quite an adjustment to adapt to living here compared to the other places I have lived but I'm finally beginning to accept it for what it has to offer."

I would love to hear more!

Also, how is DD feeling/acting about the new addition? And how do you feel about the 3 year age difference - intentional? Ideal?

[TIFF4NY]

With regards to adjusting to Stockton, it was hard going from big huge cities with a lot to do to here where it's flat and doesn't have a lot going on. Though it is within a decent drive to both the mountains and coast, there isn't much right in Stockton for me to do. I used to spend a lot of time walking, taking the bus or tube around Portland/Seattle/London and enjoyed the different elevations and activities they had to offer. Here in Stockton we don't venture too far out because there are some rather rough neighborhoods you don't want to go near. Thankfully, we live right next to UOP and the Miracle Mile area which is arguably the best area in town so we do have places to go. I also had some major acclimation to do since I had never lived anywhere that got as hot as it does here. It took a few years for me to adjust. Another adjustment (from the PNW) was not having close family and friends nearby. I'm very close to them and it was hard to be so far away. My in-laws are great so I've had them but I'm really excited now that my parents are moving here in less than a month.

DD is super excited about the new baby and tells everyone about her baby sister in my belly. We talk a lot about what it will be like when she gets here and she's very gentle and loving towards my belly. It's really adorable. The age gap is maybe a bit larger than I had originally thought I would want, but now that we're here I'm beginning to believe it is the best for us. DD is such an intelligent, helpful, independent little girl and I feel she will have a good chance of adjusting well to the new baby. She's very eager to help out when she's here too and I feel like she's really going to be helpful as opposed to just slowing things down. At least most of the time. ;) She will be right around 3.5 years old when DD2 arrives.

[1babysmom]

*eek*  I LOVE Newport.  So jealous you got to grow up so close to there.  We visit as often as possible.  BIL is in Corvallis so we never visit him without spending a few days on the coast.

[TIFF4NY]

Originally Posted by 1babysmom 

*eek*  I LOVE Newport.  So jealous you got to grow up so close to there.  We visit as often as possible.  BIL is in Corvallis so we never visit him without spending a few days on the coast.

Nice! I was only in 1st grade when we lived there but I do have fond memories of our year there. And I nearly went to OSU in Corvallis but I got the acceptance letter (and offer for a full ride!) after I had already gotten all enrolled at PSU and had moved into my apartment in Portland. Had I gone there I'm sure my life path would've have gone a completely different way. It's weird to think about that. 

[brooklyn_warbler]

I am curious to learn more about your experiences with CrossFit and Paleo-inspired eating.  :)
 

[TIFF4NY]

Originally Posted by brooklyn_warbler 

I am curious to learn more about your experiences with CrossFit and Paleo-inspired eating.  :)
 

Oh yea, that. ;)

When DD was approx 6 months old I reached out to a couple of friends of mine who are MMA fighters and asked for personal trainer recommendations. I knew they knew people in my town even though they live in Huntington Beach. So they recommended this girl who happened to be a trainer at a CrossFit facility, something I had never heard of. After a day or two with her, I fell in LOVE with CrossFit. I stuck with her for well over a year before she opened her own gym in the neighboring town. Since they no longer offered the classes during just about the only time that worked for me, I could no longer go. So DH and I began the process of turning our garage into a CF gym and I eventually began training out there. I wound up training two friends as well as DH before getting pregnant and then I cut waaaaay back due to the morning sickness I was experiencing. I'll likely pick right back up with training after I get the clear when DD2 is born.

As far as paleo, that same trainer convinced me to give up my beloved bread for a week but otherwise I pretty much scoffed at the idea of paleo in the beginning. DH and I had tried and failed a Whole 30 in October of 2010 so that left me feeling deflated. Finally in Feb 2011 I had gotten an ulcer that left me eating very little while I dealt with that. Because of that I decided to give Paleo a full fledged try and DH was on board. It was an absolutely amazing and eye opening experience and we have drastically changed our eating habits since then. We aren't 100% perfect all of the time but we know the benefit of eating this way and how great we feel so we're constantly striving towards it. Our DD has been primal (she has some dairy) since she started eating solids and I totally feel she thrives due to it. 

As a side note, I did find myself disheartened a LOT because I was still focusing on the scale more than my personal progress or how I felt/looked. Because I had at that point had an undiagnosed thyroid problem (that I suspected but my primary dr said was fine) I had a lot of trouble actually losing weight. I was literally working my butt off and eating better than I had EVER eaten prior and very little was changing. Because of this, and because I now have the dx of Hashimotos I'm very eager to see what happens to my body after DD is born. 

[IronMam]

I can sympathize with the feeling like there's not much to do thing. We live in a real city now and it's improved my mental health a LOT...even though most days I don't even have the car (and I'm not comfortable doing the buses with DD). There's still a lot within walking distance here.

Does CrossFit include a lot of cardio? If not, what do you like to do for cardio?

[TIFF4NY]

It includes cardio in a high intensity interval sense. They don't encourage a lot of "chronic cardio" which I'm totally okay with as I am not a distance runner. I do have a treadmill and will do short sprints or jogs on it. For now I just walk when I'm able to. 

[TIFF4NY]

It just occurred to me that I didn't include any photos of the fam. Here are a few. Sorry if they are huge!

[1babysmom]

OMGosh, that wedding pic is gorgeous!

[TIFF4NY]

Thank you. 

[brooklyn_warbler]

CAYUTE family!!

This woman is my neighbor and she's been hyping the Cross Fit gym down the block.  She did Cross Fit her whole pregnancy and also ate paleo the whole way through so you might be interested in the archive (I was):

https://clubfritch.wordpress.com/

Anyway, I really think I would like it but finances are so tight with me in school that it will have to wait probably. 

It's interesting reading about your diet journey too.  I'm not sure I totally buy into the paleo thing (some of it is just semantics, some of it is just that I find myself ambivalent about overly restrictive diets long-term no matter what they are) but I would say I've been eating a sort of modified primal diet lately and feel REALLY good and well-nourished.   I have been amazed by my more stable blood sugar levels (just based on how I feel) and my utter lack of sweet tooth since cutting most grains (I do very very small amounts here and there of corn, rice, or quinoa  -- probably just once or twice a week).  So I don't find myself hostile to being inspired by the principles at all, just the dogma aspect of it if that makes sense.  I would probably eat even more like the diet proposes if our budget was a little better but we won't eat anything but humane/clean well-sourced meat from farmers we trust, so that gets...expensive.