Name: Katy Widrick
Child & Age: Audrey Saison, 16 months
Hometown/Current Location: Orlando, Florida
Quick Bio: Katy Widrick is an admitted fitness freak who blogs about Healthy Living in a Hectic World at http://katywidrick.com. A full-time television and multimedia producer (Growing Bolder, distributed nationally), Katy is also a new mom (http://bugchild.com), a triathlete, half marathon runner and vegetarian. She’s passionate about helping others use the latest tools and technology to connect with the healthy living community. While she loves green smoothies and kale, she believes in moderation in all things — including moderation. So don’t be surprised to see her with a cupcake in one hand and a large coffee in the other. Katy does not consider herself a natural athlete — she still shudders when thinking about the timed mile runs in 4th grade P.E. class — but she has fallen in love with fitness and says it has changed her life. It has also helped her maintain a 40-pound weight loss, and inspired her to become a group fitness instructor to help others become fitness freaks, too.
Q: How do you balance being a Mommy and keeping your sense of self?
A: I sweat! Keeping fitness and healthy living a priority helps me with a very stressful workload — so I run, I swim, I practice yoga, I dance and more. Having that sense of purpose helps me put everything in perspective and hopefully, it’s helping me serve as a great role model for my daughter!
Q: What is your favorite piece of advice to new Moms?
A: I’m still a pretty new mom myself, so I remember the great advice I received. Overall, I think my advice to moms (and dads!) is to not stress about stressing. 🙂 My daughter spit up frequently when she was a few weeks old and it freaked me out! Even though people were telling me everything was OK, them trying to calm me down only added to my anxiety (when I would hear “trust your instincts,” I would want to scream — “I have no instincts! This is my first time at being a mom!”). So be OK with not being OK for a while, but know that things do get much, much better. One day you’ll think — I’ve really nailed this parenting thing! And you’ll be right!
Q: How do you incorporate fitness into your daily routine?
A: I work long days, but I make sure that fitness is a part of almost every one. Sometimes that means running on my lunch (ha!) break or arranging for my husband to pick our daughter up at daycare so I can go straight to a spin class. Often, it means working out before everyone else is up, or after they’ve gone to bed.
Q: How would you describe your parenting style?
A: I like to say I’m a Type A hippie. I had an unmedicated, hypnotherapy birth with a doula, and I am a breastfeeding, vegetarian, baby-wearing kind of mama. On the other hand, I’m addicted to technology, so I have a blog for/about my daughter, and I know I’ll be the stricter one of me and Audrey’s Daddy!
Q: What’s your most memorable Mommy moment to date?
A: There have been so many great moments, but I think watching my daughter pull herself up to a standing position was the one I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Watching her struggle and achieve something, all with a smile on her face, inspired and touched me very deeply. Now, of course, she’s off and running!