Fitness update

The big news is I started "running" again - yay! yay! yay!

Again, this week has been a mixed bag when it comes to my resolution to get back into exercise in a way that I can sustain once I have to go back to work.  The week at a glance:

• I was up early and done exercising by 7:30 am on Wednesday and Thursday.  7 am would be better, but I'll take it.  Daniel left for school at 7 am on Wednesday and 8 am on Thursday.  
• But, Sunday and Monday were late nights making Monday and Tuesday late mornings.  Daniel didn't leave for work until almost noon.  It's hard to strike the right balance between feeling more rested (and getting up later) vs. being more tired but trying to stick to the schedule. 
• Running was, um, difficult.  It's hard to imagine getting back into shape to run a race or even do a real workout, but I'm trying to stay positive.  Right now my plan is to make M,W and F easy/cross-training days and T, R and S run days.  As much as I've lost cardiovascular fitness, I know I've lost a lot of strength, too, and I need to get back into some kind of strength training routine for cross-training.
• My weight was down to 132 lbs today (2 lbs to go until I'm at my pre-pregnancy weight).  Again, I'm not crediting myself with any kind of virtue when it comes to eating or exercise.  I think I'm just still losing water weight and whatnot after the delivery (but I'll take it).

Cute Scott picture of the day:

And he means it...

Happy 1-Month Birthday, Scott

Let's play a game.  

Because I'm terrible at determining if two people look alike - especially trying to figure out if a baby looks more like one parent or the other and even MORE if we're just picking out parts (well, he's got mom's eyes  but he has dad's chin) - I'll crowd source the question to the rest of you.

Luv

Who does this guy look more like?

Baby A

or Baby B

Bonus points if you can identify who Baby A and Baby B are - although a lot of you probably already know and even if you don't, I think it's pretty obvious.

Back in action

I had my postpartum check up today, and I'm cleared to start working out again*.  YAY!!!!!  I've been doing some walking (with a few jogging intervals thrown in there just to test the waters), but I've been very motivated to take it easy after the delivery.

I'm always amazed when I read or hear about another woman's great comeback to running after motherhood, but despite my own grand plans, I'm not sure that will happen for me.  I'm certainly not going to be in race shape anytime soon and probably not PR shape for a long time (I guess that's where the "after baby" PRs come in), but - after almost a year off of real training- I'm still excited to get back into it again.  I've updated my running tab to reflect the change.

*except for doing ab work - I'm supposed to wait another two weeks for that.

Maternity Photos

Several weeks ago, friends of ours were kind enough to take some maternity pictures for us*.  I was about 30 weeks pregnant (maybe 32???) when these were taken.  We did the photo shoot at the Pheasant Branch Conservancy.  I've actually had these pictures since before Scott was born, but time just gets away from me.  Here is a selection of my favorites.  

Many thanks, Matt and Amanda!

*They've taken maternity and newborn photos for several couples/families and they always turn out beautifully.

The fourth week

This week's theme was a huge increase in eating and a huge decrease in sleeping.  Scott has been eating about every 2 hours around the clock for the past several days (we used to get a 3 or 4 hour break every so often) and when he eats it's often for much much longer.  For example, yesterday afternoon, we had a eat/spit-up/poop fest from about 1:30-5:30 pm with short breaks for screaming making complaints to the management when I thought he was asleep and tried to sneak away to do the laundry or vacuum.

Last night was a little better, though, because we moved him into the nursery and let him sleep in the swing in there so we only heard him when he really needed us rather than having to listen to his nightly one-man performance of Pterodactyl vs. Kitten.

But when I look at these chubby cheeks, it makes it (mostly) better.

El jefe

Mommy's little cuddlebot:

Very suspicious of Daddy's (the giver of baths') intentions:

Here's a better one of Daddy and Scott:

And just because I couldn't help myself.  Baby feet:

Also, Scott has a new trick this week:

You'll have to forgive my annoying overly enthusiastic mom voice.  Everything my child does deserves a gold medal.

Fitness update

It's been a mixed bag this week...

• Exercise.  Exercise is going really well.  I'm continuing to able to walk more and faster on the treadmill without any pain, and I'm excited to be cleared to workout (I'm assuming) at my post-partum check up next week.  As per my January resolution, for the last two days I've gone down to walk on the treadmill one feeding earlier so I'm starting at about 6:30am rather than 8:30 or 9am.  I'd really like to move this back another hour, but it works for now because Daniel is flexible with when he can get to school.  In the long term, I think if I can pump/feed at 5am with the goal of exercising out at 5:30am, Daniel can get out the door at 7am to leave for school, and I can finish getting Scott ready and to daycare with the goal of being at work at 8:30???  However, that depends somewhat on being able to get more...

• Sleep.  Sleep is not so good.  It's not any worse than for any other parent of an infant, (and is probably better than for many) but the lack of sleep is draining.  Some nights are better than others, but yesterday was a feeding frenzy from 6 to 8:30 pm and then a loop of eat, cry, change diaper, cry, eat, cry, spit up, cry, etc. for about 2 hours from 8:30 to 10:30 (at least that's when I stopped looking at the clock).  Once he's asleep at night we usually get one decent chunk of about 3 or maybe 4 hours and then he's up every 2 hours for the rest of the night.  Good thing he's so cute... but it's leading me to bad...

• Eating habits.   I actually do pretty well during the day, but I've developed a "witching hour" after dinner and before Scott finally goes to sleep when I can't escape the call of the Christmas candy from the kitchen.  We're not talking about one square of dark chocolate here, either.  If chocolate is good for you, I've eaten so many antioxidants in the last 3 weeks I'll never die.  And I'm not eating because I'm hungry - it's just because its there and it tastes good and I'm tired and a little stressed out knowing that my baby is probably going to start screaming and I may or may not know how to make him happy and I'm certainly not going to get to sleep any time soon.  BUT, I do want to lose the baby weight, and I don't want to sabotage the good I'm doing by hauling myself out of bed early in the morning to exercise.  I know the answer is to shut the door to the kitchen and try to go to bed earlier, but so far I haven't found the willpower to do it.  

• Weight loss.  Last Friday I was 136.8 lbs and today I was 135.2 lbs.  I think this was a real change because I feel like my mid-section is flatter than before, but it's probably a result of water weight lost rather than any actual body composition changes.  It's somewhat annoying, but I'll take it - especially considering the junk food situation.          

So anyway... kind of a whiny post, but it's my blog so I can whine if I want to, right?  Hopefully I'll be all smiles and unicorns next Friday.

6 things that surprised me about be a mom

1. Babies make a lot of noise.  And I'm not talking about crying.  I'm talking about all the grunting, snorting, squeaking, coughing, sneezing, hiccuping, heavy breathing, and one I can only describe as "kookaburra".  At night I sometimes feel like we've invited a wild animal to sleep at the foot of our bed.

2. Babies bounce.  No, I've never actually tested this, but, while babies are tiny and delicate and need a lot of care, they are actually more resilient than I'd thought.  I remember meeting a friends' newborn baby (who was a little early but of normal size) for the first time and been absolutely terrified to hold her or even breathe on her too hard thinking I'd break her.  Scott is probably that size now, and we lug him all around the house, wrestle his clothes on and off, wrestle his diaper on and off, and he's no worse for the wear (although he'd tell you differently - especially when it comes to getting a bath).

3. Babies make a lot of laundry.  I was told that this was true, but it was another thing I had to learn from experience.  Scott will go for hours being a wonderful, clean baby and then *boom* he lets it fly, and in less than 5 minutes I've got a laundry basket full of changing pad covers, outfits, burp clothes, blankets and my shirt.  He's especially hard on changing pad covers.  Despite our best efforts to keep things... um... contained, I think we wash all four of ours every day.

4. I would get used to body fluids being expelled on me realquick - People say it's not gross because it's your kid.  I think it's only not gross because it doesn't smell (at least for breastfed babies).  

5. Things happen at their own pace.  I worried a lot in the first week or two because things that I thought were supposed to have happened hadn't yet.  When would he poop and pee more?  Why wasn't he burping or spitting up?  All those things happened shortly after I worried that they never would, and Scott has done a great job of making up for lost time.

6. Love at first sight.  Yeah, I'm ending with a sappy one, but I've read from the parenting books that a lot of moms actually grow to love their newborns rather than feel in love with them from day 1 - especially because newborns are like little dictators: lots of demands without any positive reinforcement.  Because I don't think of myself (or like to think of myself) as a particularly sentimental or emotional person, I was afraid that I'd feel like Scott was a stranger in our midst and that it would take a long time for us to bond.  However, I was awed, amazed, and in love with him from the minute I saw him and feel like mothering has come more "naturally" to me than I thought it would.

What surprised you most about parenthood?