My poor little guy :(

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Hubby came home from work on Friday with a stuffy nose, figured it was allergies.

By Saturday night, it was worse.

On Sunday, I was at a specialty baby boutique, and mommy-gut told me to buy the special suction aspirators for baby's nose that you use mouth suction to get the gunk out - much more practical and productive than the bulb suction aspirators.

Glad I did, because Elliott has his first cold... and I was up at 2am sucking snot out of his nose, because he was having a hard time breathing while nursing.

My poor little man. He's having a crash-nap now, and since I need to be quiet, I can tell he would easily be roused, hey - a blog!

Nutrition is still bad. I don't know why I can't wrap my head around it. I'm bringing less crap in the house, but I still don't have the gumption to chop some dang veggies to eat. Now that Elliott is bigger I really have no excuse. I think I need to do some inner exploring to figure it out.

Fitness is amazeballs. I'm in week 7 of C25K - which means 25 minutes straight running. My gym membership resumed last week, and I was there on Sunday - had a pretty big eye-opening moment, let me tell you a story...

Most of you would remember that I kept going to the gym for Zumba, agility, etc. all the way to the end of my pregnancy. When I was at the gym on Sunday, doing my agility drills for the first time in months, a man came up to me that I didn't recognize and motioned for me to take out my earbuds.

I thought he was going to ask what I was doing (I'm the only person I think that does them, and in my absence, the staff removed the tape markings, but there is permanent marking on the carpet haha), but instead he told me it was great to see me back, thought it was awesome how I kept up my fitness during pregnancy, and asked about Elliott. That was COOL.

Then, a lady from the Zumba class I frequented came up to me and started discussing the same things. I had left an impact. On strangers. Nice!!

Today we were going to go to the gym and Elliott would have had his first time at the child care, but he's sick. I'm due for a rest day (it was going to be tomorrow) and aching all over, so it's best we just stay home and focus on him being comfortable.

He's awake! I'll toss ya some pics, then I'm out!

Here's a professional newborn shots - I wish I could show more, but Spark isn't letting me upload them due to file size:



And his most recent age picture:


And 500 interwebz to the person who understands this pop-culture reference:


He's getting big and strong!


Alrighty - little man is looking at me like - "feed me, and maybe suck my nose out again, Mommy!"

He's still giving me some smiles at least... my sweet little boy!

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

Oh, right... Spark...

Saturday, May 04, 2013

Motherhood is a lot of things. Namely, time-consuming.

Who am I kidding though, I friggin love it. Elliott will be 11 weeks old tomorrow (!), and we are starting to get some kind of semblance of a pattern to our day.

This is what a typical day in our house looks like

Somewhere between 5am-630am, Elliott wakes up. I take him from his bassinet next to the bed and lie him next to me in bed and nurse him back to sleep. At 650am, my alarm goes off. I start the diaper wash load (every other day) and Brad gets in the shower. Then while Elliott is usually still asleep, I pump.

Between 730-8, Brad is getting ready for work, so Elliott is gently woken up by the general noise, and I get him changed and washed up (just face, armpits, hands) for the day, and we go upstairs.

From 8-9ish, I eat breakfast, catch up online, while Elliott talks to his giraffe and friends on his bouncy chair. (This picture is from when Mom and Dad babysat for an evening, and decided to be funny, stole me camera and put all sorts of weird things on Elliott in his chair)


Somewhere from 9-10, Elliott nurses and then takes a 30-40 minute power snooze. I either cuddle with him, or if he's down do laundry, etc.

From usually 10-11, we nurse and change and play then he gets whiny haha, needs sleep! Anywhere in the span of 11-4 he takes a 2-3 hour EPIC nap! Usually in his swing (hey, it's guaranteed sleep!) and I will nap, or watch TV or (just lately) do a home ST workout.

Then he's usually awake until bedtime (was 930 until the last few days he has started konking out at 730). It's a lot of nursing, bouncing, giggling, reading, playing in that time. Sometimes we get out for a walk if it's nice or errands if he'll let me. He's not a big fan of leaving the house.

In the run of a day, I'm getting in my workouts 100% now, housework is at about 50%. I need to re-prioritize napping too, it's slowly falling by the wayside, I can feel it and it sucks!

The weightloss is sloowwwllly starting. My diet is crap. With having to go completely dairy-free (not just lactose), every trip to the grocery store has been "Oh! I can have this" and junk gets loaded in (soy ice cream, gummy treats, frikkin' two bite brownies). Instead of looking at the nutritional labels, I've been looking at the ingredients labels. I need to combine them!

Today I will run the last run of C25K Week 4. On days that Brad isn't home from work early enough for me to run, I've been lucky that my brother and his wife live close enough that they'll come babysit for an hour so I can do that. Yesterday we returned the favor and watched their little boy so they could go out for a lunch date.

And on May 15 - my gym membership resumes!!!!! Yayyyyy!! Was not expecting to get it until I go back to work, but our tax return was way bigger than we were expecting, so we paid for my gym membership for a year! I'll have to pay the child care on top of that, but it's like a punch card system, so you don't "waste" any. Very excited!!!

We did take a roadtrip to visit family a few provinces over - Elliott's first time in a hotel room:


Here's his most recent age picture:


Yesterday was gorgeous, so we did our ST session outside! (Totally staged pic haha)


And hanging out with Daddy while Mamma finished her workout:


I really wish I could say I have our professional newborn pics to share, but the photographer is being a GIANT A-HOLE and not responding to my emails (2 months after they've been taken, I'm ridiculously pissed off and can't lie, want to go to her house and punch her in the face - longstanding issue, I'm trying to cope!)

Elliott is really growing his own personality. He is sweet and adorable and the best thing in the world!

Goal for May (on top of getting better nutritionally) - weekly blog. I think I said that for April, but oh well, can't blame me!

Toodles!

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

Round two!

Saturday, April 06, 2013

Hi everyone!

April 1 marked the "reset" button for me! My 6 weeks of just loving on my little boy and relaxing are over! My doctor cleared me for full return to exercise, and I am starting to get to work on getting back to my pre-preggo weight (or as close as I can get to it!)

I'm sitting between 152-153 lbs, so basically I have about 15lbs to lose. Not too shabby! I'm hoping to have it gone by July 1st, but I'm not going to pressure myself. It's just me hoping to fit into last summer's clothes so I don't have to go buy more clothing!

Some changes about my body that I need to remember if I don't fit into those clothes by that time:

- I'm breastfeeding - this means that in any given day, my bust can increase and decrease a cup size or two. Additionally, I'm a good 2 cup sizes bigger than I was last summer, just from pregnancy and nursing, so this probably won't change.

- Someone gave me hips. Oh, that would be Elliott. I was into a size 8 (Old Navy, almost a size 6) for bottoms before my pregnancy. My hips have grown probably 1-2 inches in actual size from pregnancy and childbirth, which means I doubt I will ever see a size 6, mmmaybe a size 8 if I'm lucky, but likely I'll be in 10s on the bottom.

How will I be working towards this?

1) Starting C25K again on Sunday. I did this program with complete success last year around this time of year. I feel like it will be my easiest way to get a consistent 3x cardio per week. As soon as Brad comes home from work on the scheduled days, feed baby and literally - run! I went for a walk on Thursday with 6 x 1-minute jogs randomly tossed in and DAMN it felt good! As I get consistent with that, I will also start regular strength training.

2) Eliminating dairy. Womp-womp. I'm not too happy about this to be perfectly honest. We are currently investigating if Elliott has a dairy intolerance (very common in infants, typically outgrown by 1 year) and I've been dairy-free for a week now. Right down to minor ingredients in foods. I'm not saying that going dairy-free is an answer to weight-loss. At all. But it is reallllly curbing mindless snacking. At this point, I have to read every ingredient list. I'm ending my days roughly 500 calories lower since doing this, without feeling hungry or messing with my milk supply. And for the dairy-free life, I'm gaining a happier baby who is brighter, less fussy, and sleeping much better!

3) Aiming for 2200-2500 calories per day. Elliott eats a LOT. Breastfeeding makes up for a lot of calories out (although it's difficult to find an accurate number anywhere that I could actually use the math for). If I can lose weight slowly at that range, I'll be happy. If I notice a stall, I'll have to fiddle with it a bit.

I'm going to check in with these three points at mid-month and end of the month.

Oh what? You want more pictures of Elliott?

4 weeks old on St Patrick's Day!


5 weeks old


6 weeks old on Easter Sunday



Happy Easter!


Reading with Daddy again!


Who's that handsome fella?


Have a great weekend my friends!
xoxo

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

How Time Flies!

Friday, March 15, 2013

Holy Moly - Elliott is going to be a month old on Sunday - that's crazy to me! It actually just seems like yesterday we brought him home from the hospital. Crazy to think that on Tuesday will be his 1 month appointment - and I'm assuming he's over 9lbs already, this boy is HUGE!

It has been an amazing few weeks. Very trying and tiring at times (like when he decides to cluster-feed nonstop for 3. Straight. Hours. Thank God for breastfeeding convenience!!)

This week, Brad went back to work, so Elliott and I have been on our own. To go from pretty well 3 full weeks of having my parents or Brad's parents here, plus Brad, to all by my lonesome has been quite the learning curve. I have had my frustrating points, but for the most part, DAMN I love this adorable little boy!

He is sleeping much better at night. He at least will go down in his bassinet now! He still only sleeps 3 hours MAX at a time (average is about 2 hours) but his wakings are getting shorter and more efficient and he is going down easier.

Naps during the day are completely erratic - and very very very rarely will he let me put him in his bassinet for them. They usually end up occuring laying on my chest or in his bouncer chair. I really really REALLY hate this and want to try to overcome this hurdle with him next week.

I've started tracking my food again, and started tracking a couple walks with Elliott. We spend a little time outside everyday in the carrier. Today (due to snow) it was only to the mailbox and back (less than 5 minutes) but yesterday was GORGEOUS we did the "long loop" of the subdivision! 35 minutes of walking with him in the carrier! (I swear he's in there somewhere!)



So we are slowly getting back on track! I think my weight has settled between 153-155lbs now (pre-preg was 138, so my goal by July 1 is 140). I am still giving myself the rest of the month (holy jeebus, it's halfway through) to ease back to it, especially because I haven't been officially cleared for take-off yet!

...that and there is no such thing as consistency at this point, and I'm dying for some!

Elliott pictures!

3 weeks old in this picture - and first time in a cloth diaper - which is AWESOME and we are fully in for days now, and soon to start on nights! So happy they fit him already!



We read together every single day - no excuses!!


A chubby cheek day! Hilarious - chubby one day, stretched out skinny the next! Infant growth spurts are very noticeable!


Getting to know my bear!




Time to sign off! Brad's been off by 4pm every day this week... and tonight... still no word of him being done. It's 7:10pm right now, and typically we start Elliott's bedtime routine (whatever semblance we have of one anyway) around 7:30pm... looks like I'm on my own! *minor heart attack*

I hate... hate... HATE that about Brad's job. *epic rant begins* Not only does he not know about working a day until the night before (he calls into a job line) - sometimes the job line is posted at 5pm, sometimes not until 930pm. And at that point, we still have no idea if he's off by noon or 9pm. Then - as if this isn't cruddy enough - he might start the day with a job that would be done by whatever time, and so he thinks he'll be done by a specific time, but more often than not, more job time gets added on. Literally every day this week, he thought there was "a chance" of not working the next day. He's worked every day. Then for today, his task on the job line "sounds like I'll be done by about 2pm" - just got the text right now saying "45 minutes"... now I have to decide between telling him to cab home so I can get Elliott settled, or risk screwing up Elliott's bedtime to get him (because of course, this happened on one of 2 days this week that I happened to keep the car)

I thought it pissed me off before a kid - well holy crap - this sucks... I wish I had some idea when my respite comes home , not to mention he is going to be SO upset if Elliott is already to bed by the time he gets home. He admits that his absolute favorite thing every day is his Elliott/Daddy snuggle time. (this was taken in the hospital probably 12 hours after Elliott was born - it's how he best falls asleep still, on Daddy's chest)


*rant over* - time to start gently waking Elliott (ugghhh...) to get him changed, fed, and into the car to get Brad.

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

The Sweetest Thing

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

It all started on Friday, February 15th... *cue flashback/dream sequence music*

I saw on Twitter that our favorite burger joint was having a 1st birthday celebration on Saturday the 16th - specials, cake, all that jazz! Brad and I decided that we would go there for lunch on Saturday. Saturday, Feb 16th is a special day for us. In 2008, when Brad and I were dating long distance, he took his first visit to me, and on Feb 16th, we did a 17 hour date, so this was kind of our way to celebrate a 5th anniversary of sorts.

We got to the burger joint on Saturday, Feb 16th - one day until due date!

I am not much for spicy food. I'll eat my share of curry or Thai style heat, but I'm not much for hot hot spicy food. I think "Hmmm...I wonder about that Old Wives' Tale about eating spicy food inducing labor"...

So I order the TNT burger. This thing has TNT-rated pepperoni, jalapenos, and jack cheese on it. I added extra jalapenos and hot sauce. It was the spiciest dang thing I have ever eaten in my life. I joked with the owner/chef that I was eating this burger in the hopes of inducing labor.

That was around noon. I wanted to go do some browsing around/shopping for pantry storage items, but Brad wanted to enjoy his day off at home with his video games. I dropped him off at home and went on my way to some home decor stores.

As I'm walking around the stores, starting around 2pm, I start getting some minor contractions. I was thinking they were Braxton Hicks - or the fake/practice contractions. I thought it was just from walking around all day. I get to Walmart (Brad ordered ice cream), and I was planning on going back to a store I had seen the ideal storage solution in. Then the contraction got a little stronger - I couldn't easily walk/talk through it.

So I texted Brad - "I'm getting your ice cream and coming home. I miiiiiigghhht be having contractions."

I get home, and I just chill on the couch. Thinking they are Braxton Hicks, I just figure "I need to rest, I have been on my feet, these will pass". But just for fun, I start timing the contractions - did you know there's an app for that?

This is around 3:30pm - and they are like 20-35 minutes apart, only lasting about 20 seconds, and I'm just chilling on my couch.

At 4:30pm I decide to BAKE A CAKE. I had planned for my Little Suzie Homemaker adventure that day to bake a cake.

So I'm in early labour, baking a cake. My contractions are now only about 11 minutes apart, lasting 45 seconds. Did you know it's difficult to use a mixer when you are breathing through a contarction? True story.

Here's the cake - a strawberry Greek yogurt cake. Holy effing delicious.



At this point, I get pretty delusional. I'm thinking - "I know what it's like to be a nurse and not be appreciated. If we go to the hospital tonight, we need to bring the cake in for the nurses." (Oh dear sweet God, denial is fun.)

So by about 7pm, my contractions are now up to every 9 minutes, lasting almost a minute. I am emailing back and forth with Mom (who lives a 90 minute drive away and would be meeting us at the hospital).

She says "chill, just like we planned - go to the hospital at 4-5 minutes apart, lasting a minute for an hour. So call us when you are at 6-7 minutes apart, and we will head up"

We skipped right past 6-7 minutes apart, straight to 5 minutes apart by 8:30pm. I email Mom and just say - "we're going now! See you there!"

Then, in the 6 minutes it took to get into the car, I had 3 contractions. We get a little scared! Are we going to make it? Luckily, there is this awesome thing a woman's body does when she is in a scary/uncomfortable environment - labor slooowwwwsss down.

I get to the hospital and whizz-bang-boom, I'm admitted, at 1030pm, assessed to be 3cm dilated. The nurse says "okay, we may be here a while, what do you want to do?"

"I want morphine. And a nap."

So I got morphine and spent 3-4 hours in the tub, getting through the contractions as naturally as possible. Most of it was tolerable, but then they got quite painful and I needed something else - Brad and I talked about avoiding the epidural as long as possible.

I got another painkiller - fentanyl - and at that point no longer allowed in the tub, and I was 7cm.

Less than 5 minutes later - fully dilated - 10cm - I WANT TO PUSH THIS BABY OUT NOW!!

The nurse (who I actually went to nursing school with) allowed me to start pushing, and 42 minutes later, at 3:38am, our sweet baby boy Elliott was born. On his due date, That's my boy!



Start to finish, my labour was 13.5 hours. That's kind of unheard of for a first baby! 15 hours after eating the TNT burger!

6lb, 6oz.

It has been an amazing 10 days. We are so in love! Brad, right from the first minute, has been the most amazing father and husband. He is so naturally a nurturer and provider, comforter and caregiver. He is the best at swaddling!! (and at this moment is feeding me nachos as I type one-handed and hold a sleeping boy, who was held by too many family members today and missed his Mamma).

At his 8 day appointment, Elliott already weighs 7lb 2.5oz! Gaining like a rockstar! Sleep is not perfect yet, but we are getting there, and breastfeeding is obviously working!

I'm not tracking my food yet - it took about 5 days for my appetite to come back, and the weight is still coming off, so I'm not overly concerned.

I am ITCHING to get back to exercising (I have doctor's orders against vigorous exercise for *minimum* 4 weeks - wahhh!!). The first day I walked to the mailbox, I almost sprinted back up the street I felt so good! I think I'll do some angle push-ups tomorrow. Today we put Elliott in his carrier and did a quick 5 minutes around the block!


We are taking things day-by-day, just enjoying getting to know our sweet boy. I managed to clean our bathrooms today, which just accomplishing 1 single thing on a to-do list makes me feel somewhat normal!

Have some Elliott pictures!

Snuggles with Daddy at the hospital!


First night at home, meeting one of our kitties - and super skeptical!!


After his first bath at home!


Just plain cute!


One week old last Sunday!


Okay - bye bye!! Loving me some snuggles!!

  Member Comments About This Blog Post: