quirks

Sorry this is really late today.  There was zero overlap of nap time, and pretty much no nap time from Elsie anyway.  Therefore blog post just wasn't happening.  Until now.  Anyway.

So I'm a little OCD sometimes.  The dishes have to be loaded in the dishwasher a certain way.  It drives me crazy if someone else writes on a paper of mine.  Or if a paper gets folded.  I get anxiety when Chris puts together a snack or lunch for Ryann because it isn't just so (I wish I was joking).  Running is no different.  I can't run back over a path I've already been on unless absolutely necessary.  I have to finish with my mileage ending in .0 or .5.

But what has really been getting me while running at my parents house, is that I simply can't make myself start running on an uphill.  There is about a third of a mile of uphill after I leave their driveway to get to any of my routes.  The problem I have with that is that I HATE that walking time gets added in to my running time, slowing my pace.  I could wait to start my tracker until I started running, but then I'd lose fractions of miles that I've actually covered.  It is quite the conundrum.  HA.  Please tell me I'm not alone in this weirdness.

Goals went better this week.  I got in 4 runs totaling 16.6 miles and had zero sweets three days.  I may have overdone the chocolate a bit the other days, but I did survive three days without.  Still didn't get in a strength workout.  I'm sure that story is getting old.  But it is really something I need to work on for more than one reason.  I've been having some pain in my pelvis/hip region, which I'm going to attribute to a weak core.  Could be totally wrong on that one, but it sounds good, right?

I'm getting excited (and nervous) for my long run this week.  I've got seven miles on the calendar, which will be my longest distance post baby thus far.  I hope the weather is decent, it is absurd how much my pace is affected by the humidity.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to finish the half in under two hours, and I think I'll be back in better shape by October, but right now I'm not sure of where I'm at.  My current pace averages wouldn't do it for me, but I've read that for every 10 degrees over 55, your pace is generally slower by 4-7 seconds per mile.  Hoping that holds true and as the temps cool down and I put in more miles my pace will get better.

Goals for this week:

-4 runs totaling 16 miles
-one strength workout
-one new breakfast

Ok that is all I've got for now.  This post is taking me entirely too long to write.  Sorry it is so late!

 

Link up your health and fitness related posts below!

elsie - six months

written August 8th

Oh my baby girl, how do you keep getting older?  I can't figure out where the last six months have gone.  They were long and hard while we were in them, but I honestly can't believe that Elsie is already six months old.  She has grown and changed so much in the past half year, and I know the changes will only keep on coming.

don't you just want to nom on those cheeks?

We had E's six month well visit today.  Overall it was a pretty traumatic experience for I think everyone involved.  For starters, she usually only poops every 4-5 days.  So go figure she has a poopy diaper when I get her out of her carseat.  We measure her length, and her head, and then the nurse takes her to go weigh her and tells me she'll change her diaper for me too.  The second they leave the room Elsie starts screaming.  She is such a mama's girl and stranger danger has set in for sure.  Pretty much the only people she is consistently happy with are me, Chris and my parents.  Everyone else is hit or miss.  Anyway, Elsie continued to cry throughout the entire appointment.  The shots only made it worse.  It was absolutely awful.  It's a good thing that I didn't have too many important questions for the doctor (except it was a nurse practitioner because I forgot to schedule our appointment on time) because I couldn't function with her crying so much.  My poor little Elsie Belsie girl.  I felt so bad.

I could tell Elsie is a bit smaller than Ryann was, but I was surprised to hear she was only 15 pounds 2 ounces.  I'm going to guess I was wrong when I estimated her weight at 15 pounds last month.  Whoops.  Her weight puts her in the 34th percentile.  She measured 26.25 inches long (69th percentile) and her head is 17 inches (69th percentile too).  Because I'm in denial I still have E in 3-6 month clothing (the pants are WAY too short), which reminds me I should get the box of 6-12 month stuff out of the basement.  Elsie is also still in a size two diaper, and I think we will stick with it a bit longer.  I can tell she is filling them up at night though.

On average Elsie nurses six times a day, pretty much every three hours.  Slightly longer between feedings if she takes a good nap, less if she takes a bad nap.  I swear sometimes she isn't really hungry, but she sees me and instantly thinks FOOD and starts crying.  It is almost funny.  Almost.  E takes three naps a day, each one lasting between 30 - 90 minutes.  Occasionally if she has had a couple of crappy naps we will get a good two hour afternoon nap, but it is very rare for her to nap for a long time these days.  With the shorter naps has come the need for an earlier bedtime.  For the most part she is in her crib by 7:30pm, if not before, for the night.  Honestly she usually starts letting me know she is ready for bed by 6:45pm at the latest, it is just taking our family some time to adjust to an early bedtime.  She is usually up for the day between 6:45 and 7:30am (with one feeding).

We have yet to introduce any solids.  But I'm guessing it is about time.  I'm not sure why I'm dragging my feet on this one.  Mostly because I'm lazy?  I don't know.  We'll probably start with oatmeal next week.  Maybe.  We'll see.  Ha.  I'm interested in doing baby led weaning and Chris would rather do purees, so I'm not really sure where I'm going with the whole feeding thing.  So I just don't do anything.  Good plan, right?

The biggest milestone in the gross motor skills department is sitting.  Which I absolutely love.  She looks so cute and so big just sitting there playing with her toys.  Milestones are so interesting, Elsie finally was able to tripod for about 20 seconds the day before she turned 5 months.  A week later she could sit unassisted for that length of time, and maybe a week after that she could sit for minutes at a time.  It just happens so fast!  I still don't trust her enough to just set her down and leave her, but she is pretty sturdy, and is doing really good reaching out and grabbing things and being able to bring her body back upright.

Elsie has finally started rolling belly to back again.  I haven't actually seen her do it, but I have caught her on her back in her crib, when she was previously on her belly, maybe three times in the past week.  She has also started rotating on her belly a bit more in her crib, or if I leave her somewhere for a little while.  Apparently she just doesn't want to do any of it while I'm actually watching.  I'm betting now that she has a little more freedom to move at night, she might have more of an interest in learning to crawl during the day.  E LOVES to pull to a standing position though.  She can't do it on her own, but if I give her the slightest bit of resistance with my fingers, she can successfully get to her feet.  I think it will take her a bit to figure out how to hold on to a piece of furniture and do it, thank goodness.  Of course overall I'm still paranoid about her development, which is stupid, because she is obviously strong and capable of a lot.  But I'm a worrier.  Plus Ryann was an over achiever, as are some of my friends' kids cough cough Sarah cough cough, so I think that is throwing me off.

had to throw a sad face in here too, so pathetic!

I think Elsie might give me kisses.  Or she just tries to eat my face.  One of the two.  But I'll tell her to give me a kiss, pucker up my lips and go in, and she leans in with a big ol' open mouth.  I'm going to make myself happy and say she gives me kisses.  She also seems to be starting to actually play with her toys, such as shaking a rattle to get it to make noise.  It is awkward, and possible that she isn't really doing it intentionally, but when I say something like 'good job shaking the rattle!' she gets a big grin on her face like she accomplished something.  So I'll go with it.

Elsie really likes when you do 'this little piggy' with her feet.  The anticipation totally gets her every time.  I also love that it is something that shows she is starting to remember things and have an idea of what is going on.  As soon as you say 'this little piggy went to market' her eyes get big and she gets all excited.  Twinkle Twinkle still seems to be her favorite song.  She likes any toy as long as she can get it in her mouth.  If she doesn't have a toy in her mouth, it is her thumb or her feet.  There is ALWAYS something in her mouth.  It is so different from Ryann who never would put anything in her mouth, including food!

adorable headband from here

She doesn't babble as much as I remember Ryann doing, but that certainly doesn't mean she is quiet by any means.  This month she discovered that she can make this awesome high pitched screeching noise to get attention.  Let me tell you how much fun that is while we are grocery shopping.  Oh yeah, none.  Especially when Ryann starts covering her ears and yelling at me because Elsie is being too loud and they both just get louder and louder and then I'm that mom in the grocery store.  So yeah.  High pitched screeching.  Awesome.  Ok it is awesome, because she is so dang proud of herself when you finally look at her.  Elsie has also started blowing raspberries with her mouth.  So if she isn't screeching she is covered in spit.  All kinds of fabulous right there.

E hasn't distinctly made any sounds like ma da or ba, but often when she is crying it does sound like mama.  Really hoping she decides to start making that sound when she isn't completely pissed off.  Elsie is also really good at this creepy breathing noise thing.  She does it when she is happy, she'll look right at you and just exhale over and over again.  It is hilarious.  Chris says he is going to call someone and just put her up to the phone because it really does sound like that breathing you hear on horror movies.  Strong work E.  :o)

Overall Elsie is really such a good baby.  She seems like she is going to be a sweetheart (fingers crossed!).  She doesn't cry all that often, and most times even when I know she is crabby or upset, nobody else can see it.  She definitely gives off a go with the flow vibe.

Happy half birthday sweet girl.  I love you so!   

sleep training update

After a little over two weeks I figured it was about time for an update on how the sleeping situation has been panning out around here.  The short story?  Elsie is putting herself to sleep, in her crib, unswaddled, but is not sleeping through the night and it isn't always without tears.  But we have accomplished the goals we set out to achieve.

Alright, the longer story.

Elsie is all over the place with this whole putting herself to sleep thing.  Sometimes she doesn't fuss one bit, and only takes 10-15 minutes of just kind of rolling around and rubbing the sheet to put herself to sleep.  Sometimes she still screams like crazy and I have to go in a couple times to rub her back.  And sometimes she just sort of complains but eventually goes to sleep without any assistance from me.  Thus far it is hard for me to find any correlation between something going on prior to a nap and her crying episodes.  It is definitely more difficult for her to go to sleep quickly when she gets over tired, but I still have a hard time gauging her sleepy signs.  She'll be yawning and rubbing her eyes after 90 minutes, but if I lay her down she is pissed and doesn't fall asleep until the two hour mark.  So I don't know.

Nap length is also a place where we are struggling.  I know this is the point where I believe we ended up forcing Ryann in to a two nap schedule to try and help consolidate her nap hours, but Elsie just doesn't seem ready for that yet.  She doesn't freak out when I keep her up longer than two hours, she is really a good baby and takes it, but I can tell she is tired and I just feel bad.  So we're still doing three naps.  Unfortunately sometimes she only makes it 30-40 minutes, and then she is just grumpy.  I usually let her fuss for 10 minutes if she wakes up before the hour mark, and sometimes she'll go back to sleep, but not always.

quite the view to wake up to... on the to-do list, figure out where to mount the camera

Bed time can be touch and go too.  She either needs to fall asleep nursing and be sound asleep when I put her down, or be fairly awake.  Drowsy doesn't work for her, if I put her down pretty drowsy that is when she cries the most.  It is so incredibly sad.  Where I've seen the most improvement is the middle of the night.  That is the one time where she almost never fusses or needs any help from me.  In general I have to feed her once, sometime between 3:30am & 5:30am.  I much prefer 5am or after (obviously) because then I can just get up and go run or get something done when she is back in her crib.  And those nights she usually sleeps until 7:30-7:45am.  On the days when I feed her between 3:30-4:30am she is up between 6:30-6:45am.  There have been a couple nights that she has gotten up twice, and one night where the poor thing really did try to put herself to sleep after I fed her, for over an hour, and just couldn't.  So I ended up going back in and nursing her a bit longer until she was asleep.  I felt so bad.  But really the middle of the night has been pretty good.

I'm hoping that we don't ever really need to deal with night weaning, and that she just does it on her own.  Plus, I really truly don't mind the 5:00-5:30am wake-up, because at least then I can go run knowing that she won't need me for another three hours.  And I don't have to deal with pumping.  Because I hate pumping.

Aside from freeing me from spending hours trying to get or keep Elsie to sleep, my favorite part of this whole ordeal has been seeing the positions she ends up sleeping in.  She instantly seems older and bigger to me, not all swaddled up on her back.  For the most part she sleeps on her belly.  Occasionally she falls asleep on her side, and once on her back, but she never sleeps as well like that.

As much as I hate this process, I still maintain sleep training Ryann was one of the most beneficial things for our family, and I hope that in a few more weeks I feel the same about our experience with Elsie.  I know that there will be many things that might bring sleepless nights, but for the most part I am confident that Elsie will be able to be more independent in the sleep department. 
  

would you like to share?

Well mamas, apparently I hit the end of my 'day in the life' schedule.  I suppose I could have looked to see how far ahead I had planned, but I didn't, so when I never received a post for this week I decided to check :o).  Which means I'm looking for more volunteers!  If you would like to share a day in your life with my readers, please leave your name, e-mail, blog name and address in the comments section.  Also note if there are any weeks that will NOT work for you.  Oh and if you would be willing to get a post ready for next Wednesday let me know!

I will do my best to get a schedule e-mailed out by next Tuesday.  I know there are some of you out there who commented at the beginning of the last schedule, saying you'd be willing to participate.  I never got around to adding anyone to the schedule, so please PLEASE leave your info here.  I would love to have you!  Also, if you have participated before, but would like to again, that is fine.  You'll be put towards the end of the schedule, but with kiddos days change so fast that I'm sure yours will look different than the last time.

Lastly, if there are any mamas whose day you would like a peek at, leave their blog address in the comment section, and I'll do my best to convince them to share with us.  Thanks!  Happy Wednesday! 

It is Wednesday, right?

pictures of my girls because they're cute and I can.  :o) 

dude. it's early.

Saturday was Christopher's birthday, so naturally we went out to breakfast, had some cake and ice cream, went out for a nice dinner, had some drinks and stayed up later than we should.  And then Elsie woke up at 3am.  Thus, when my alarm went off on Sunday to go run, I felt like I had been hit by a bus.  Note to self, don't plan a long(ish) run for the day after a special day (actually I wouldn't have, except I felt it was rude to make Chris get up early on his birthday so I could run!).

Lately I've been running along the main street (because having cars drives by encourages me not to walk, and I feel slightly safer).  Thankfully when you run before 6:30am, the street really isn't all that busy, and it is nice and flat and an easy route.  I make a point not to wear headphones when I do training runs, because I'm paranoid about not hearing a car.  Even still, I zone out and am kind of in my own little world.  Sunday I was incredibly out of it, and probably moving like a zombie, when all of the sudden a car honks at me.  Scared the crap out of me seeing as it was maybe, MAYBE 6:40am?  I turned to look and it was a red mustang with some immature males who then proceeded to whistle at me.  Oy.  What is it that makes men feel the need to do this?  I wasn't the least bit impressed.  Not to mention it wasn't even 7am.  Much, much too early for that.  Whatever.

My random thought while running... how do you wear your hair when you exercise/go for a run?  I've got a LOT of hair, so I can't just put it in a pony tail, because then it touches me.  And I absolutely can't handle it if my hair touches me while I'm sweaty.  I used to put it in a bun, but sometimes I'm too lazy for that.  So I'll just pull my pony part way through (kind of a messy bun thing I guess?), except I can't pull it too far or it flops around and drives me nuts, so instead I end up with a little loop and a huge chunk of hair hanging down.  Really, really cool obviously.  Maybe I'm the only one who has all those 'issues', but I was curious what other girls with lots of hair did.

As for my goals from the week.  HA.  Massive MASSIVE fail.  No idea if I lost a pound because I don't have my scale with me (I'm at my parents, big surprise), but based on what I ate this weekend I'm going to guess the scale wouldn't be tipping in my favor.  I did manage four runs, but they only totaled 14.75 miles instead of 15.  I'm going to give myself that one, because Elsie woke up and I needed to get home twice.  I didn't try anything new for breakfast (unless you count going out on Saturday, haha), and I didn't do any strength workouts.  It is so much easier for me to go out for a run, than it is to convince myself to do any form of strength training.

Maybe this week I'll do better?

-15 miles
-3 days without sweets
-one strength workout

What do you do when you are having a hard time meeting your goals, or committing to your fitness plans?

 

Link up health and fitness related posts below!

happy birthday christopher.

My other half turns 28 today (I can't believe we're almost 30!).  I wish I had come up with some elaborate birthday plan, but elaborate isn't really in my vocabulary lately.  So instead we've got a homemade cake, a homemade birthday card and a couple of presents.  And my parents lined up as babysitters for the evening.  It may not be elaborate, but I think he'll love it just the same.

Christopher, I think this is the 11th birthday (maybe?  my math skills aren't so good right now) I've celebrated with you.  I hope there are many more birthdays to come.  The girls and I are so lucky to have you in our lives, we appreciate everything you do for us.  Thanks for being awesome.  Happy Birthday.  We love you.

a day in the life - jess

We had an incredibly lazy day yesterday, unlike the one you get to read about here.  Jess wrote a post not too long ago, but she was up for another so I said why not!  I hope you enjoy a peek at her day.

*** 

Thank you Ashley for hosting me today!  Also, thank you for getting me out of my blogging slump :-)  If you head over to my blog Life With Crazycurls, you'll see that it's been a while since my last post.  Why is it that summer has that affect on me?  Probably because our days are filled to the brim like this past Monday:

6:15AM
I hear Tommy crying but it is way too early for both of us.  Turns out he had a poopy diaper (lots of those lately, maybe teething?) so I change him and put him back down. Thankfully he goes back to sleep until 7:45.  He usually doesn't sleep this late so I'm pretty happy.

8:00AM
We go down for breakfast and immediately Molly and Tommy start playing with the doggy jack-in-the-box they just can't get enough of.

9:00AM

I'm tired of worrying that Tommy is accidentally going to delete an app or send an email so I finally set up a passcode on my phone.  But after he tests it out I end up taking it off because I became worried he was going to make an 'emergency call'.

If he's anything like his big sister, soon I'm not going to have any of my electronics!

10:00AM

Swim lessons!  Molly is doing wonderfully, she'll be ready to move up a level next time she takes lessons.  Tommy and I are doing the child/parent class.  He doesn't want anything to do with what we're supposed to be doing and would rather jump from the side and play with the toys.

11:30AM

We're back home and I have to get the chicken started.  Tried this new marinade and turned out really well!

Molly's into drawing out stories lately.  The dry-erase board comes in handy, I'm sure we've saved a couple of trees using this.

1:00PM

After a lunch of noodles I put Tommy down for a nap and have Molly doing some arts and crafts.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon I wash and fold four loads of laundry, call my clinic asking them to re-fax a prescription to the online pharmacy my insurance is making me use, call the local school admin office to schedule a new student appt for Molly before she starts Pre-K in September, sweep and wipe down the floors, unload the dishwasher, etc etc etc.  I also have to make sure I'm not ignoring Molly.  I have to remind myself to stop and make sure she is getting attention too.

4:00PM

Tommy wakes up and I start the potatoes for dinner.  Keith is having friends come over to help him work on the basement so I plan on grilling outside to make sure we stay out of their way. 

5:30PM

Marinated chicken with roasted potatoes.  I forgot the zucchini so I had to grill that after, whoops.  Turned out pretty well, I'm not the grill master in the house so I was a little worried what the results might be!

After dinner we go to the front yard where Molly's friends from down the block are out and about so they play until about 6:45.  Nice to be outside on beautiful sunny day.

7:00PM

Dishes are done so Tommy and I play while Molly plays with Playdoh.

7:15PM

The kids watch a show before bed, Molly chooses Imagination Movers.  LOVE these guys!!!  They have a show on Disney Junior, highly recommend it for your kids.

8:00PM

Molly was upset that I took away her story because she hit Tommy.  She gets a book, story and song on the nights I put her to bed and I know the story is her favorite.  She usually wants me to tell her the story of "Rumpelstiltskin".  I give her extra snuggles and remind her that I still love her even though I had to punish her.

After they are both in bed I am on the couch with a glass of wine watching season 6 of "The Sopranos".

Keith's friends go home and he realizes he needs to get something at the hardware store for tomorrow night.

10:00PM

Keith's in bed and me, the nocturnal one, is up until 11:30.  Someday I'll go to bed after the 10:00 news, but not today.

Ashley's questions:

I was fortunate enough to do a Day In The Life post back in April and while I still like my answers from then, here are some close seconds. 

Q:  What is the most surprising thing to you about being a mom?

A:  How much I enjoy doing for them over doing for me.  When we didn't have kids, I had no problem going out with friends until all hours, having a gym membership that I used twice a month, buying new shoes at the Nine West outlet.  Now?  I'm making sure Tommy has diapers and Molly goes to camps and that we walk to the playground.  Not that I don't need some ME time but I actually find joy in making sure my kids' needs are met before my own.

Q:  What advise would you give to new or soon-to-be mommas?

A:  On the other side of doing for them, you must also continue to be active.  And I don't mean exercising (although that is a great stress reliever).  But I mean, don't let your baby define who you are.  Your baby is a part of you of course, but you still have your own interests and you deserve to have them.  I'm not saying it won't be tough to follow through but at least never give up trying.  I was taking a ballet class last Winter and hope to start up again this Fall.

Q:  What are your top three baby products?

A:  Right now?  For Tommy: Take n' Toss sippy cups, spray-on sunblock, Little Tikes basketball hoop.  For Molly: Dry erase board and markers, Princess dresses, construction paper and crayons.

Ashley, thank you so much for having me again.  I hope to get out of my blogging slump so stop on over to check out what's new!

***

Thanks for sharing with us Jess!