So we are super lame and don't send out Christmas letters. Sorry, guys! There are lots of pictures of us (or at least of our adorable offspring) on Facebook, and here is our electronic version of a Christmas letter!
2013 was definitely a fun and crazy year for us, and involved a lot fewer medical problems and hospitalizations than 2012-hooray!
Josh is about to start his last semester of school. He will graduate in early May of 2014 with a Bachelor's degree in English. We aren't sure what will happen after that, or what may or may not change with our family dynamics or life situation, but we are super excited for him to achieve this milestone! He has worked really hard in the English program here and will graduate with an amazing GPA! I think he also feels that he has learned a lot about writing on the way, which will hopefully help him as he seeks to finish working on some books and other writing projects he had started. He is always looking for feedback, so if you are interested in reading something from him, let us know! He has been keeping pretty busy between school and being Ben's full time caretaker as well as all-around house despot (I haven't cooked a meal in a VERY long time, and let me tell you, he can cook circles around me anyway!).
I am doing okay-other than being extremely pregnant! (But thankful to have made it to this point of pregnancy, so even that is doing okay!) Still working for the university as a physical therapist and clinic supervisor of a freestanding clinic on the north side of town. Definitely still struggling to find the work/mom balance, if such a thing even exists. This year, I am happy to report that I have not been hospitalized once (and hopefully the only reason I would be hospitalized in the last remaining few days of the year is if Hadassah comes!) so that has really been very nice. I have been thoroughly enjoying Ben during the moments I do have with him, though I wish I had more time-he just grows up so fast! But I know from talking to my mom that is the case even if you stay home with your child.
Ben continues to grow and change at a very rapid pace! He is really at a very fun stage right now-walking and communicating (I'm not sure I can exactly say "talking"-he does have a big vocabulary in terms of number of words he knows, but he doesn't really string them together much) and very interactive. He gives hugs and kisses (on his own and by request) which is also wonderfully fun! He typically sleeps on his own without waking now, though sometimes he needs a little attention in the night-but the norm now is for him to sleep through the night or settle back down on his own, which is really very nice! The child eats constantly (which I'm sure is why he is so tall and also a reflection of the fact that he is really in perpetual motion)-and I am pretty sure he frequently eats more than I do in the course of any given day! Some of his favorite things include: eating, talking on the phone (Facetime), looking at photos and videos of himself on the phone, The Bellybutton Book, hugs, being held, being played with, hollering "Daddeeeeeee!!!" if the kitchen timer beeps, showers, nursing, his new carseat, and pushing buttons. I'm excited to see how he does as a big brother. I know it will be a big change for sure, but I really think he is the type of kid who will enjoy having siblings. I hope!
Hadassah is still cooking at the moment, though she has given us several false alarms (and I still have a sneaking suspicion she doesn't intend to stay in there too much longer-which is fine, as she is now at a "safe" gestational window to come). I am so excited to see this little girl's personality and hold her in my arms. I'm definitely looking forward to maternity leave (though dreading having to go through the "leaving my children to go back to work" stage again) for the sake of both her and her big brother. I know there will be lots of challenges and lots of joys with this new adventure of parenting childREN instead of just "little son"-and I pray that we have lots of grace to do so well and wisely in this coming year!
We love you all and miss those of you we haven't seen recently! Hopefully the next blog post will tell of Hadassah's safe arrival!
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Family Update!
I always love it when I agree to come in earlier than I should be here to meet a patient who "can't come at any other time" and then they don't show up to their appointment! Oh well, now you get a family update!
We are doing well, generally speaking. Very busy with working, school, cooking babies, chasing toddlers, and...well, life! You know how it is, I'm sure!
Josh is doing well with school and Ben duties during the day. His load is a bit tougher this year, because he is a senior! If all goes well, he will graduate in early May, which is of course extremely exciting for all of us! However, that means he is taking junior and senior level classes, complete with capstone projects, intense papers, and teachers who think that it's quite reasonable to request hundreds of pages of reading to be completed between class sessions. We aren't sure what changes will or will not occur following graduation, but it is nice to see this chapter drawing to a close. As I am sure he would tell you, being the full time caregiver plus going to school is no easy task! Ben is at a very busy age, which is lots of fun but also not terribly conducive to getting homework done!
Ben is nearly 17 months old now, and such a sweet (and as mentioned, VERY busy!) bundle of joy. He walks and runs very well now, and is starting to climb on things. He definitely loves exploring his world, which is fine, except when we forget and leave certain doors open, and then it can be very messy (toilet paper everywhere, anyone?). He has started offering kisses and offering and requesting hugs and cuddles, which is just heart meltingly precious. He LOVES reading stories, particularly "Barnyard Dance" and "Pajama Time", and will toddle to his room, grab a book, and then toddle back to give it to you, after which he holds up his hands so he come come on your lap. He is talking and signing a bit more as well. He has some phrases that he says ("Where'd he go? There he is!") but is mostly still using single words. He signs to nurse, eat, and for more. He poops on the potty, and sometimes will pee on the potty as well, but that one is MUCH more iffy. I'm not pushing that for right now. If he does, great-if not, I'm not worried about it. I've heard lots of parents say their kid went through a toilet regression when the new baby was born, so I don't want to push him to potty train early and then have that frustration. He can identify his ears, nose, and chin and he is generally a pretty happy little boy. He definitely does want attention all the time-I hope this means he will really enjoy being a sibling once Hadassah is old enough to play with him! He often sleeps through the night now, which is just lovely! The nights when he does wake up, he usually comes over to our bed to cuddle for a while, and then goes back to sleep either in our bed or his bed (he sleeps in a bed that is wedged between our bed and the wall-partly because his room is really cold and partly because I like him being that close if he does need anything in the night or early morning-I'm too lazy/tired to get up and walk across the house!).
Hadassah and I are doing okay. I'm struggling with the requirements of my job-the clinic I run has gotten to a point of busy-ness where it would really be nice for us to have another therapist, but the hiring process takes a VERY long time here. We are still waiting on an approval that was requested several weeks ago, and only once that goes through can we start actually hiring. In the meantime, the patients must be seen, and I am not willing or able to overload myself in terms of numbers I see at once, so I have a tendency to come in early or stay late in order to fit them in. There is a part of me that is hoping things will actually slow down a little around the holidays, and then I will likely be on maternity leave shortly after that (and if we still don't have our other therapist, my boss very well may have to have 2 people come over to cover me). We are now at 29 weeks and all seems to be going very well. Hadassah is more active than I remember Ben being, and my abdomen is definitely more sensitive in that I am feeling a lot of her movements as cramping/pain where I really don't remember that so much with Ben. I am starting to think about/try to mentally prepare for birth again. I am so excited to have another sweet snuggly baby, but it is hard to know how to prepare for the birth process. I was reading through my birth plan from Ben and kind of laughing-I wrote it assuming that I would be in labor for a LONG time, so much of it ended up not applying to his actual birth. I'm not sure whether to make 2 birth plans-1 for another precipitous birth and 1 for a more regular birth-or what. I'll have to think about that one some more. I have laughingly said that maybe it would actually be good for me to go into labor at work, since my doctor's clinic is literally across the hall from mine-the nurses here don't think that is very funny.
Hope you all are doing well! There is our little update. We miss those of you that we don't see regularly!
We are doing well, generally speaking. Very busy with working, school, cooking babies, chasing toddlers, and...well, life! You know how it is, I'm sure!
Josh is doing well with school and Ben duties during the day. His load is a bit tougher this year, because he is a senior! If all goes well, he will graduate in early May, which is of course extremely exciting for all of us! However, that means he is taking junior and senior level classes, complete with capstone projects, intense papers, and teachers who think that it's quite reasonable to request hundreds of pages of reading to be completed between class sessions. We aren't sure what changes will or will not occur following graduation, but it is nice to see this chapter drawing to a close. As I am sure he would tell you, being the full time caregiver plus going to school is no easy task! Ben is at a very busy age, which is lots of fun but also not terribly conducive to getting homework done!
Ben is nearly 17 months old now, and such a sweet (and as mentioned, VERY busy!) bundle of joy. He walks and runs very well now, and is starting to climb on things. He definitely loves exploring his world, which is fine, except when we forget and leave certain doors open, and then it can be very messy (toilet paper everywhere, anyone?). He has started offering kisses and offering and requesting hugs and cuddles, which is just heart meltingly precious. He LOVES reading stories, particularly "Barnyard Dance" and "Pajama Time", and will toddle to his room, grab a book, and then toddle back to give it to you, after which he holds up his hands so he come come on your lap. He is talking and signing a bit more as well. He has some phrases that he says ("Where'd he go? There he is!") but is mostly still using single words. He signs to nurse, eat, and for more. He poops on the potty, and sometimes will pee on the potty as well, but that one is MUCH more iffy. I'm not pushing that for right now. If he does, great-if not, I'm not worried about it. I've heard lots of parents say their kid went through a toilet regression when the new baby was born, so I don't want to push him to potty train early and then have that frustration. He can identify his ears, nose, and chin and he is generally a pretty happy little boy. He definitely does want attention all the time-I hope this means he will really enjoy being a sibling once Hadassah is old enough to play with him! He often sleeps through the night now, which is just lovely! The nights when he does wake up, he usually comes over to our bed to cuddle for a while, and then goes back to sleep either in our bed or his bed (he sleeps in a bed that is wedged between our bed and the wall-partly because his room is really cold and partly because I like him being that close if he does need anything in the night or early morning-I'm too lazy/tired to get up and walk across the house!).
Hadassah and I are doing okay. I'm struggling with the requirements of my job-the clinic I run has gotten to a point of busy-ness where it would really be nice for us to have another therapist, but the hiring process takes a VERY long time here. We are still waiting on an approval that was requested several weeks ago, and only once that goes through can we start actually hiring. In the meantime, the patients must be seen, and I am not willing or able to overload myself in terms of numbers I see at once, so I have a tendency to come in early or stay late in order to fit them in. There is a part of me that is hoping things will actually slow down a little around the holidays, and then I will likely be on maternity leave shortly after that (and if we still don't have our other therapist, my boss very well may have to have 2 people come over to cover me). We are now at 29 weeks and all seems to be going very well. Hadassah is more active than I remember Ben being, and my abdomen is definitely more sensitive in that I am feeling a lot of her movements as cramping/pain where I really don't remember that so much with Ben. I am starting to think about/try to mentally prepare for birth again. I am so excited to have another sweet snuggly baby, but it is hard to know how to prepare for the birth process. I was reading through my birth plan from Ben and kind of laughing-I wrote it assuming that I would be in labor for a LONG time, so much of it ended up not applying to his actual birth. I'm not sure whether to make 2 birth plans-1 for another precipitous birth and 1 for a more regular birth-or what. I'll have to think about that one some more. I have laughingly said that maybe it would actually be good for me to go into labor at work, since my doctor's clinic is literally across the hall from mine-the nurses here don't think that is very funny.
Hope you all are doing well! There is our little update. We miss those of you that we don't see regularly!
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Family Update
I don't remember the last slow day I had at work, but I'm having one now, so you get an update post (finally)! We are generally doing pretty well-enjoying the change of seasons as we move from summer into fall.
Josh is in his second-to-last semester of school! He is taking higher level English classes, including some writing classes, and seems to be (mostly) enjoying them. I think the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to feel a little more real! He is still doing a great job of taking care of Ben and meals while doing so much with school-I am so impressed by his ability to juggle all of it, as I think I would have had a hard time doing the same when I was in school. He is still helping with security and projection at church and seems to be enjoying that.
Ben is continuing to grow and get bigger (and cuter, not that I'm biased or anything!) each day. He is 100% convinced that he needs help to walk, but I have seen him stand and walk (and stand up unaided in the middle of the floor) when he is sufficiently distracted, so we'll see how long it takes him to figure out that he can do it on his own! He talks a little bit now, and I have a suspicion that he actually says more words than I give him credit for. His favorite game right now is to get up on Daddy's back (he says "Dahh--eee"-SO cute!) and say "Go go go!" while poking Josh in the back until he gets his desired result-a galloping piggyback ride! My siblings are teaching him all kinds of "cute" tricks, like how to burp on command, apparently. My sister drinks a bunch of water and then belches afterward (and that's how she taught him) so now he thinks anytime he drinks a lot of liquid, he needs to do the same (he doesn't actually burp, he just makes a growling kind of noise, but that's what he's trying to do). The funniest thing is when he pulls off after nursing and does it. He is still nursing about 3 times per day-I don't think he is going to wean, so we will probably be experiencing tandem nursing in a few months. He was dry nursing (ouch) for a while there, but now I think he is getting milk (or colostrum?) again. He is almost always sleeping through the night, which is amazing! He has started fighting sleep (naps and bedtime)-I think because he thinks we pull out the party hats when he goes to sleep (he would be disappointed if he saw what we actually do-I keep trying to tell him we are very boring people after he goes to bed, but he doesn't believe me!) but once he's down, he usually stays down-which is SO nice and helpful especially after so many months of waking 4-8+ times per night.
Hadassah and I are doing okay. We got rear ended on the way to work last week, which kicked off some fairly intense contractions and cramping that had all of us concerned for a while, but after monitoring and testing, it appears that all is well. She is certainly a VERY active little girl! More so than I remember Ben being at this age, though I know there are all kinds of things that can impact how much you feel movement (placenta placement, etc.). I am struggling with energy and endurance at work, but that is completely normal and expected. I'm afraid my "housekeeping" (read that as "lack thereof") is what shows that lack of energy the most. Oh well. At some stage of life, I will have a clean house for more than a few hours (ahahahahaha!!!!!! Aren't I hilarious! Or delusional...) Anyway, there's the short and sweet-hope you all are doing well! I can't promise more frequent updates, but know we love you all and miss the ones we can't see frequently!
Josh is in his second-to-last semester of school! He is taking higher level English classes, including some writing classes, and seems to be (mostly) enjoying them. I think the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to feel a little more real! He is still doing a great job of taking care of Ben and meals while doing so much with school-I am so impressed by his ability to juggle all of it, as I think I would have had a hard time doing the same when I was in school. He is still helping with security and projection at church and seems to be enjoying that.
Ben is continuing to grow and get bigger (and cuter, not that I'm biased or anything!) each day. He is 100% convinced that he needs help to walk, but I have seen him stand and walk (and stand up unaided in the middle of the floor) when he is sufficiently distracted, so we'll see how long it takes him to figure out that he can do it on his own! He talks a little bit now, and I have a suspicion that he actually says more words than I give him credit for. His favorite game right now is to get up on Daddy's back (he says "Dahh--eee"-SO cute!) and say "Go go go!" while poking Josh in the back until he gets his desired result-a galloping piggyback ride! My siblings are teaching him all kinds of "cute" tricks, like how to burp on command, apparently. My sister drinks a bunch of water and then belches afterward (and that's how she taught him) so now he thinks anytime he drinks a lot of liquid, he needs to do the same (he doesn't actually burp, he just makes a growling kind of noise, but that's what he's trying to do). The funniest thing is when he pulls off after nursing and does it. He is still nursing about 3 times per day-I don't think he is going to wean, so we will probably be experiencing tandem nursing in a few months. He was dry nursing (ouch) for a while there, but now I think he is getting milk (or colostrum?) again. He is almost always sleeping through the night, which is amazing! He has started fighting sleep (naps and bedtime)-I think because he thinks we pull out the party hats when he goes to sleep (he would be disappointed if he saw what we actually do-I keep trying to tell him we are very boring people after he goes to bed, but he doesn't believe me!) but once he's down, he usually stays down-which is SO nice and helpful especially after so many months of waking 4-8+ times per night.
Hadassah and I are doing okay. We got rear ended on the way to work last week, which kicked off some fairly intense contractions and cramping that had all of us concerned for a while, but after monitoring and testing, it appears that all is well. She is certainly a VERY active little girl! More so than I remember Ben being at this age, though I know there are all kinds of things that can impact how much you feel movement (placenta placement, etc.). I am struggling with energy and endurance at work, but that is completely normal and expected. I'm afraid my "housekeeping" (read that as "lack thereof") is what shows that lack of energy the most. Oh well. At some stage of life, I will have a clean house for more than a few hours (ahahahahaha!!!!!! Aren't I hilarious! Or delusional...) Anyway, there's the short and sweet-hope you all are doing well! I can't promise more frequent updates, but know we love you all and miss the ones we can't see frequently!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
It's a.....
Wow, my poor neglected blog! I'm so sorry, friends, I have really not done well at keeping up with posting here. I've thought of things I wanted to post but when it comes to sitting down and taking the time to actually write...well, that hasn't gone as well. I hope to get better with this-we shall see! I want to write an update post on our family, I want to blog about a recent whirlwind trip to see family...and yet time and energy are ever-fleeting, it seems.
Anyway, one thing I don't want to do with this baby is skip all the things I did with Ben due to busy-ness. I know I probably won't be able to do all the things we did during his pregnancy and infancy, but I'd like to do at least some of them! And so....
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I am very excited to announce that we will be adding a little GIRL to our family in January-ish! (given her due date, she could conceivably come in December, January, or February) She looks very healthy so far. We would have (of course) been thrilled regardless. I was so torn-two boys super close in age would be a lot of fun and I would have absolutely loved that! My heart has always wanted a daughter, though! I am a little scared-I MAY have been guilty of buying a few adorable girly things even when I didn't have a girl (diapers, etc.), so I will have to use self control now that I actually have one to buy for. I always say, having a tight budget is a great incentive to maintain self control!
Her name is Hadassah Grace. Hadassah (pronounced Huh-DAH-suh) is the Hebrew name for Queen Esther from the Old Testament. Esther was a woman of great courage, strength, and ultimately was used by God to save His people from genocide at the hands of the Persians. Grace means-well, grace! We pray that she will be a girl/woman who has a deep understanding of the grace of God-I feel like I don't even have a beginning grasp on it-I want it to permeate her life and transform her. And we pray that she is a woman who has the faith, courage, and strength to make choices that may at times be hard, unpopular, or even dangerous. I am probably not explaining this well, but there you go.
If anyone has advice to give on raising girls, I am all ears! Oh, and thanks to my sister in law, Lydia, for giving me the truly special gift of a photo shoot with my growing family! Check her out-she is an amazing artist and creator- http://lydialark.blogspot.com/
Anyway, one thing I don't want to do with this baby is skip all the things I did with Ben due to busy-ness. I know I probably won't be able to do all the things we did during his pregnancy and infancy, but I'd like to do at least some of them! And so....
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I am very excited to announce that we will be adding a little GIRL to our family in January-ish! (given her due date, she could conceivably come in December, January, or February) She looks very healthy so far. We would have (of course) been thrilled regardless. I was so torn-two boys super close in age would be a lot of fun and I would have absolutely loved that! My heart has always wanted a daughter, though! I am a little scared-I MAY have been guilty of buying a few adorable girly things even when I didn't have a girl (diapers, etc.), so I will have to use self control now that I actually have one to buy for. I always say, having a tight budget is a great incentive to maintain self control!Her name is Hadassah Grace. Hadassah (pronounced Huh-DAH-suh) is the Hebrew name for Queen Esther from the Old Testament. Esther was a woman of great courage, strength, and ultimately was used by God to save His people from genocide at the hands of the Persians. Grace means-well, grace! We pray that she will be a girl/woman who has a deep understanding of the grace of God-I feel like I don't even have a beginning grasp on it-I want it to permeate her life and transform her. And we pray that she is a woman who has the faith, courage, and strength to make choices that may at times be hard, unpopular, or even dangerous. I am probably not explaining this well, but there you go.
If anyone has advice to give on raising girls, I am all ears! Oh, and thanks to my sister in law, Lydia, for giving me the truly special gift of a photo shoot with my growing family! Check her out-she is an amazing artist and creator- http://lydialark.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Mother of 2
I suspect most of you know this by now, but we are expecting our second baby! We are extremely excited and happy. The children will be about 19 months apart, and while we are aware that this presents challenges, we are also excited about the potential blessings that can come with close spacing. Because Ben is so young, we have made the decision to allow him to continue nursing (he is not ready to wean, and I don't want to traumatize him, so as long as I have milk, I intend to let him continue nursing). I am due January 21st-Ben came exactly 3 weeks early to the day-so we will see if this baby comes in December or January!
So far, this pregnancy has been pretty different than my pregnancy with Ben.
For one thing, I am far more tired. I suspect that is because when I was pregnant with Ben, I was just working full time. Now I work full time, come home and chase/play with a toddler, work on my second job (small business to try to finance a trip to Texas and have a little extra money for all the expenses that come with us paying for Josh's education ourselves due to the changes in the GI bill), and then wake up several times at night to pee/nurse. It's pretty tiring, and I suspect a point will come soon where I have to simplify something, though for the life of me I am not sure what! Maybe if I can just hang in there for the rest of the first trimester, it will get better.
Morning sickness has been less wretched this time. I am absolutely still nauseated, but I am able to eat. By 9 weeks into my pregnancy with Ben (where I am now) I was eating AT MOST once per week, and sometimes far less frequently than that. I never threw up, but I felt horrific anytime I ate anything, so mostly I just didn't. That would not work as well this time since I am still nursing Ben. So far, I have only had to skip a few meals and have only lost 5 lbs (last time I had lost almost 20 by this point). Also, I have been able to eat moderately sweet things (fruit mostly) this time, and actually that is often what has sounded appealing. With Ben, anything even a little bit sweet sounded utterly awful and wasn't going to happen! I cannot eat greasy things this time (cheese and meat), where with Ben if I could force myself to eat something, that was probably what it was going to be.
This pregnancy I have been extremely cold. I don't remember that with Ben.
I have also had a lot of dizziness this time. I did not have that in the first trimester with Ben, though I did in the second trimester. I often have black dots floating in my vision. I'm going to ask our doctor about that, as I'm not sure what it could be from (as I said, I am actually eating most of the time, and I am very conscientious about staying hydrated).
It will be interesting to see if things stay very different, or if they will be more similar later on in the pregnancy! It almost doesn't feel real, even though we have known for over a month. However, my symptoms are real enough!
So far, this pregnancy has been pretty different than my pregnancy with Ben.
For one thing, I am far more tired. I suspect that is because when I was pregnant with Ben, I was just working full time. Now I work full time, come home and chase/play with a toddler, work on my second job (small business to try to finance a trip to Texas and have a little extra money for all the expenses that come with us paying for Josh's education ourselves due to the changes in the GI bill), and then wake up several times at night to pee/nurse. It's pretty tiring, and I suspect a point will come soon where I have to simplify something, though for the life of me I am not sure what! Maybe if I can just hang in there for the rest of the first trimester, it will get better.
Morning sickness has been less wretched this time. I am absolutely still nauseated, but I am able to eat. By 9 weeks into my pregnancy with Ben (where I am now) I was eating AT MOST once per week, and sometimes far less frequently than that. I never threw up, but I felt horrific anytime I ate anything, so mostly I just didn't. That would not work as well this time since I am still nursing Ben. So far, I have only had to skip a few meals and have only lost 5 lbs (last time I had lost almost 20 by this point). Also, I have been able to eat moderately sweet things (fruit mostly) this time, and actually that is often what has sounded appealing. With Ben, anything even a little bit sweet sounded utterly awful and wasn't going to happen! I cannot eat greasy things this time (cheese and meat), where with Ben if I could force myself to eat something, that was probably what it was going to be.
This pregnancy I have been extremely cold. I don't remember that with Ben.
I have also had a lot of dizziness this time. I did not have that in the first trimester with Ben, though I did in the second trimester. I often have black dots floating in my vision. I'm going to ask our doctor about that, as I'm not sure what it could be from (as I said, I am actually eating most of the time, and I am very conscientious about staying hydrated).
It will be interesting to see if things stay very different, or if they will be more similar later on in the pregnancy! It almost doesn't feel real, even though we have known for over a month. However, my symptoms are real enough!
Happy birthday, Beniah boy!
Yep, I'm a week late in posting this...we've been busy and sick, so that's my excuse. But better late than never, right?
There might also be a teeny tiny bit of denial at play here-I truthfully still feel like I should have a newborn in my arms, but my bouncing boy is indeed a full year old!
In a year of motherhood, I have learned that the moments are precious, nights can be very long, sleep is not to be taken for granted, the smiles are priceless, the hugs and laughter are beautiful, and my sweet son is growing more loved day by day!
He can walk now, meaning he can take a few steps across the room. He mostly does this if he isn't paying attention and wants something. He also will let go of support and stand on his own if he sees something he is interested enough in (there has to be proper motivation!). He has yet to take off on his own. He also doesn't really crawl. He CAN army crawl and get to what he wants, he just usually doesn't bother. He LOVES to charge around the house holding one or both hands, he loves to push his walker toys (while still holding onto us by at least one hand), and I think he is really close to walking on his own.
He still isn't talking much. I am positive he says "Daddy" and sometimes he says something that sounds like "mamama" (but I'm kind of thinking that means "milk" more than "mama"). He is very expressive despite the lack of words, though, and I'm sure those will come soon!
He waves and claps. He loves to play peekaboo.
He has also started patting us on the back while hugging us, which is super sweet. I realized we often do that to him. Sometimes I think he does it as a sign of affection-at other times it seems he is doing it because he wants us to do it to him.
He enjoys playing in water (in the tub or in his new baby pool that Grandma and Grandpa got him for his birthday!). He also loves drinking water, but doesn't usually try to drink the water he is playing in.
He typically is only waking 1-3 times per night now, which is very nice! He's been sick the last week, so that has changed things quite a bit (read: he spent 3 nights in a row either screaming all night or not sleeping much, and only in the upright position) but I am hopeful we will return to the status quo as soon as he is better.
He loves fruit, especially strawberries, nectarines (only if he takes bites though, not if they are cut in pieces), and pineapple. He is less crazy about vegetables. And he is his father's son-meat and chees are still amazing in his book!
We do have occasional tantrums, I think usually caused by lack of communication/understanding, but overall he is a pretty mild natured little boy!
Happy birthday, sweet son. I have so enjoyed being your mother during your baby year, and I look forward to watching you as you enter toddlerhood!
There might also be a teeny tiny bit of denial at play here-I truthfully still feel like I should have a newborn in my arms, but my bouncing boy is indeed a full year old!
In a year of motherhood, I have learned that the moments are precious, nights can be very long, sleep is not to be taken for granted, the smiles are priceless, the hugs and laughter are beautiful, and my sweet son is growing more loved day by day!
He can walk now, meaning he can take a few steps across the room. He mostly does this if he isn't paying attention and wants something. He also will let go of support and stand on his own if he sees something he is interested enough in (there has to be proper motivation!). He has yet to take off on his own. He also doesn't really crawl. He CAN army crawl and get to what he wants, he just usually doesn't bother. He LOVES to charge around the house holding one or both hands, he loves to push his walker toys (while still holding onto us by at least one hand), and I think he is really close to walking on his own.
He still isn't talking much. I am positive he says "Daddy" and sometimes he says something that sounds like "mamama" (but I'm kind of thinking that means "milk" more than "mama"). He is very expressive despite the lack of words, though, and I'm sure those will come soon!
He waves and claps. He loves to play peekaboo.
He has also started patting us on the back while hugging us, which is super sweet. I realized we often do that to him. Sometimes I think he does it as a sign of affection-at other times it seems he is doing it because he wants us to do it to him.
He enjoys playing in water (in the tub or in his new baby pool that Grandma and Grandpa got him for his birthday!). He also loves drinking water, but doesn't usually try to drink the water he is playing in.
He typically is only waking 1-3 times per night now, which is very nice! He's been sick the last week, so that has changed things quite a bit (read: he spent 3 nights in a row either screaming all night or not sleeping much, and only in the upright position) but I am hopeful we will return to the status quo as soon as he is better.
He loves fruit, especially strawberries, nectarines (only if he takes bites though, not if they are cut in pieces), and pineapple. He is less crazy about vegetables. And he is his father's son-meat and chees are still amazing in his book!
We do have occasional tantrums, I think usually caused by lack of communication/understanding, but overall he is a pretty mild natured little boy!
Happy birthday, sweet son. I have so enjoyed being your mother during your baby year, and I look forward to watching you as you enter toddlerhood!
Friday, May 31, 2013
A Good Baby?
Since Ben was born, lots of people have asked me if he is a good baby. I am always a bit unsure of how to answer this question. I usually settle for, "I think he is a wonderful baby!"-which is utterly true. However, I am not answering the question that I know they are REALLY asking.
When people ask if Ben is a good baby, they really mean "Is he an easy baby?" The answer to that probably depends on your perspective. From an eating angle-yep, he's pretty easy, unless you consider wanting to eat and/or nurse very frequently (he is a growing boy!!) to be difficult. From a sleeping perspective-I'd say he wasn't ever really an easy baby, and still isn't-naps are a bit of a challenge still, but thankfully night sleeping has gotten incredibly better. Yet, I really can't blame him for that one-his previously extremely wakeful nights were directly tied to me going back to work. From a play perspective-yeah, this kid doesn't like to play alone. He is really happiest if he is touching someone all the time. He CAN play alone, and will for short periods, but I definitely can't plunk him down somewhere and leave him for an hour. From a diaper perspective-I think he's about as easy as it gets! He has unfailingly pooped in the potty since he was about 6 or so months old, with only one accident between now and then (and that was because he asked to go when we were in the middle of nowhere, and there was literally nothing that could be done about it). He's going through a pretty extreme clingy/stranger anxiety/separation anxiety phase, so that's not that easy either...
But he is a truly wonderful little boy-cheerful, happy, and interactive most of the time! His sweet little voice chatters away, mostly baby babble still, but with a few words mixed in, as he charges about the house exploring his world. He gives the sweetest hugs, and his face lights up when he sees someone he loves. He plays peekaboo and "clap your hands" when we sing the clapping song. He has the sweetest laugh, and it is readily extracted. His snuggles are priceless.
I wonder what it says about our culture when the words "good" and "easy" mean the same thing in any context. Really, very few of the truly good and worthwhile things in my life have been easy, in the traditional sense. But they have all been worth it, and my precious son is no exception.
When people ask if Ben is a good baby, they really mean "Is he an easy baby?" The answer to that probably depends on your perspective. From an eating angle-yep, he's pretty easy, unless you consider wanting to eat and/or nurse very frequently (he is a growing boy!!) to be difficult. From a sleeping perspective-I'd say he wasn't ever really an easy baby, and still isn't-naps are a bit of a challenge still, but thankfully night sleeping has gotten incredibly better. Yet, I really can't blame him for that one-his previously extremely wakeful nights were directly tied to me going back to work. From a play perspective-yeah, this kid doesn't like to play alone. He is really happiest if he is touching someone all the time. He CAN play alone, and will for short periods, but I definitely can't plunk him down somewhere and leave him for an hour. From a diaper perspective-I think he's about as easy as it gets! He has unfailingly pooped in the potty since he was about 6 or so months old, with only one accident between now and then (and that was because he asked to go when we were in the middle of nowhere, and there was literally nothing that could be done about it). He's going through a pretty extreme clingy/stranger anxiety/separation anxiety phase, so that's not that easy either...
But he is a truly wonderful little boy-cheerful, happy, and interactive most of the time! His sweet little voice chatters away, mostly baby babble still, but with a few words mixed in, as he charges about the house exploring his world. He gives the sweetest hugs, and his face lights up when he sees someone he loves. He plays peekaboo and "clap your hands" when we sing the clapping song. He has the sweetest laugh, and it is readily extracted. His snuggles are priceless.
I wonder what it says about our culture when the words "good" and "easy" mean the same thing in any context. Really, very few of the truly good and worthwhile things in my life have been easy, in the traditional sense. But they have all been worth it, and my precious son is no exception.
Monday, May 13, 2013
11 Months!
Thsi past weekend, my sweet son officially became an 11 month old. As insane as this is to imagine, next time I write a blog post update on his age he will be A YEAR OLD! Whew. Fastest/craziest/great year of my life.
New things he is doing:
He DEFINITELY has more stranger anxiety and a MUCH stronger preference for Mommy and Daddy (and other people he knows). He's pretty good about going to my parents and siblings since they watch him while Josh is in school. The nursery is a bit more iffy, and he is definitely not thrilled when strangers try to hold him. Fair enough!
He sleeps in his own bed at least part of every night now (the thing that determines when/if he goes back into his own bed is whether I am awake enough to put him back in there after he nurses). He's actually really good about going to sleep there at night.
He is walking around like crazy-he still needs hands, but I have noticed a definite improvement in his balance-I think he'll be walking around with no problem really soon! His favorite thing is to walk-and preferably outside. He LOVES putting his shoes on because he knows that usually means we are going outside (I don't like him to walk barefoot outside because he has a habit of dragging the top of his toes on the pavement and scraping them up).
He has become more vocal again (he wasn't talking much when he first started walking but has recently started again). He says "Daddy" very clearly and definitely knows what it means. He says "Mamamama" too, but I have yet to determine if that means me or if it means "nurse."
He has become much more affectionate-he gives hugs really frequently (which is SO heartwarming and sweet), and he sometimes gives kisses too.
My favorite new development is that he has started becoming MUCH better about sleeping at night! He has had several nights where he woke up only 1-2 times. He does still have nights with 4-6 or more wakeups, but we are about 50/50 with good nights and tough ones now-so I am hoping this trend continues to move toward fewer and fewer awakenings! Mama definitely feels better on the nights when he sleeps longer!
He has 4 teeth now.
He still loves cheese.
I think those are the big things-time is still flying by far too quickly, and I feel like I am constantly trying to grasp the tender, wonderful moments and this life rushes by!
New things he is doing:
He DEFINITELY has more stranger anxiety and a MUCH stronger preference for Mommy and Daddy (and other people he knows). He's pretty good about going to my parents and siblings since they watch him while Josh is in school. The nursery is a bit more iffy, and he is definitely not thrilled when strangers try to hold him. Fair enough!
He sleeps in his own bed at least part of every night now (the thing that determines when/if he goes back into his own bed is whether I am awake enough to put him back in there after he nurses). He's actually really good about going to sleep there at night.
He is walking around like crazy-he still needs hands, but I have noticed a definite improvement in his balance-I think he'll be walking around with no problem really soon! His favorite thing is to walk-and preferably outside. He LOVES putting his shoes on because he knows that usually means we are going outside (I don't like him to walk barefoot outside because he has a habit of dragging the top of his toes on the pavement and scraping them up).
He has become more vocal again (he wasn't talking much when he first started walking but has recently started again). He says "Daddy" very clearly and definitely knows what it means. He says "Mamamama" too, but I have yet to determine if that means me or if it means "nurse."
He has become much more affectionate-he gives hugs really frequently (which is SO heartwarming and sweet), and he sometimes gives kisses too.
My favorite new development is that he has started becoming MUCH better about sleeping at night! He has had several nights where he woke up only 1-2 times. He does still have nights with 4-6 or more wakeups, but we are about 50/50 with good nights and tough ones now-so I am hoping this trend continues to move toward fewer and fewer awakenings! Mama definitely feels better on the nights when he sleeps longer!
He has 4 teeth now.
He still loves cheese.
I think those are the big things-time is still flying by far too quickly, and I feel like I am constantly trying to grasp the tender, wonderful moments and this life rushes by!
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Dear SAHMs-an explanation from a WOHM
Wow, we do like to label ourselves, don't we? We even have cool acronyms-SAHMs, WAHMs, WOHMs...and we all seem to be threatened by each other. In response to that threatened feeling, maybe we are defensive, maybe we say some things strongly or in a way we don't quite mean in order to defend ourselves.
I obviously can't speak for all WOHMs (moms who work outside the home), but please know this: when I see a SAHM or am talking to you, I am NOT sitting there thinking about how you are wasting your life, not being productive, lazy, not contributing to society, etc. In fact, I think that the choice you made to stay home with your child during his/her formative years is a very wonderful and noble one-and unbelievably, incalculably valuable when it comes to contributing to society. Our children are really the only lasting legacy we leave, and you have chosen to spend your time, energy, and resources pouring into them on a full time basis. Judge you? Far from it-I have to really watch myself to keep from envying you!
Now, maybe you are not judging me either, but some of the comments you have made directly to me would lead me to believe otherwise. I would like to explain myself.
I don't work because I don't love my son enough to stay home with him. I don't work because I think I would be bored at home, or because I feel a need to be a member of the workforce in order to contribute to society. I don't work because I need/want time to myself, nor because I just love my career too much to give it up. I don't work because it is easier than staying home and entertaining a high maintenance toddler all day.
I work because we have bills, a mortgage, and a "powerful need to eat sometime this month" (to quote our favorite TV show-bonus points if you know what it is!). That's it. Pure and simple.
When I was a child, if someone asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I almost always said, "A mother." I grew up in a large family with a SAHM, and I naturally thought I would follow in my mother's footsteps. I have always dearly loved children (especially small ones) and looked forward to the day when I could have my own brood to love, teach, be driven crazy by, and play with.
Fast forward to actual adulthood-I was married and a physical therapist. I did a lot of extra training-not because I was career building or trying to climb some corporate ladder (though both of those did happen as incidentals) but because I have this perfectionist drive that makes me want-no, NEED-to be the best at what I do. Combine that with struggles in the area of defining boundaries, and I ended up with a lot of training and experience at a very early point in my career.
Through a series of events, some of which could maybe have been altered, and some of which could not, when we actually did have a child, we found ourselves in a position where the options were for me to work full time and my husband to stay home with the child/go to school, or for both of us to work and put the baby in daycare. WOHMs who do have your child in daycare, this is NOT a judgment on you-please don't read that. I think the right answer for every family is different-but for us, it made more sense to have someone home with the baby, and Josh is able to do that and go to school full time (with a lot of help from Grandma!). The idea of "well, Josh should just go to work" is great-but that would not result in me coming home at this juncture. Both of us would love for me to be able to be home (or be home more), but we just aren't in that spot right now. If you know of some magical job that we don't, we are all ears!
I don't necessarily think that my job or life is a lot harder than yours-I do think that both have challenges, and the challenges are very different. For example:
I work all day at my job, come home at night and become/resume "mom"-I am literally "on" 24/7, just like you. The difference is, I can't really sleep train my child because he needs milk and snuggles at night-because he hasn't had them during the day. I am sure as he gets older, his needs for these will decrease, but please don't give me crazy looks when you find out he rarely sleeps more than 1.5-2 hour stretches at night. He eats and goes back to sleep. He is healthy. I am only somewhat awake and with it, but we manage. I know many of you SAHMs and WAHMs don't have the opportunity to get naps during the day either-but that is definitely not ever on my radar!
I have to walk away from my child every day. On many days he is okay with it (which is somewhat heartbreaking in and of itself), but on many others he cries, reaches, and says "mamamamamamum"-and I have to leave anyway. You see, I also love my child too much to (want to) leave him all day-but I don't have an option.
The advice out there to help moms stay sane doesn't really apply to me. For example, "Take some time in your day to do something just for you." I don't feel like that is really an option for me (unless you count my work day as something just for me-or maybe my commute time). Ben already doesn't get to see me for the vast majority of the day 5 days per week-it doesn't feel right to take more time away from him. And I certainly am not going to take time away from my marriage! My husband has been wonderful the last few weeks and allowed me to sleep in (Ben wakes up at 6 on the dot every day of the week, which is totally our fault) until 7:30/8ish on Saturdays, and that is so nice! But other than that, I don't feel like it's right for me to take more time for "just me." Maybe later, when the kids are all older.
My house is a train wreck all the time. I know yours is probably not a Southern Living catalogue either, but I really, really struggle to get just the basics done on the weekends...because housework, for me, has to be crammed into either evenings or weekends only. I don't have the option to do a little bit throughout the day each day-so I tie my son to my back (usually) and we wash clothes, clean, mop, etc. if we can. Sometimes I'm too tired (or that's my excuse anyway) and so the chaos is allowed to reign a little longer than usual. Yes, I'm embarrassed by it-but I haven't fixed it. Maybe that means I'm a bad wife/woman, maybe it just means I'm overwhelmed too.
I ask myself daily (just like you, I'm sure): Am I doing something valuable? I hope I am-but I can't get rid of the nagging feeling that being with my son would be more valuable.
I could go on, but the point is just this: my life isn't automatically easy because I don't "have" to take care of my baby during the work day. I don't think yours is automatically easy because you "get" to be home all day. I strongly feel that moms need to support each other-no matter what our lifestyle, and no matter how we got there. Are you a stay at home mom, by choice or necessity? Wonderful. You struggle, let's band together based on our commonalities (to start, we both have kids). Do you work outside the home, by choice or necessity? That's great-again, let's come together for mutual support. Do you stay home but run some type of business out of your home? That's hard too-let's try to help each other out!
I have thought before about starting a blog or facebook page that is a support system for working moms-because as I said, much of the support and advice out there seems very geared toward stay at home moms. I haven't yet because I'm not sure I have energy for another project, and because I'm not sure if it would further divide us.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Stay at home moms, I salute you! You are doing something wonderful, and deeply valuable and needed. Working moms, you don't have it easy either-hang in there! I really hope a day will come when we can all just be moms-and be each other's backup and support as we all navigate the daily challenges AND JOYS of motherhood. It is so worth it.
I obviously can't speak for all WOHMs (moms who work outside the home), but please know this: when I see a SAHM or am talking to you, I am NOT sitting there thinking about how you are wasting your life, not being productive, lazy, not contributing to society, etc. In fact, I think that the choice you made to stay home with your child during his/her formative years is a very wonderful and noble one-and unbelievably, incalculably valuable when it comes to contributing to society. Our children are really the only lasting legacy we leave, and you have chosen to spend your time, energy, and resources pouring into them on a full time basis. Judge you? Far from it-I have to really watch myself to keep from envying you!
Now, maybe you are not judging me either, but some of the comments you have made directly to me would lead me to believe otherwise. I would like to explain myself.
I don't work because I don't love my son enough to stay home with him. I don't work because I think I would be bored at home, or because I feel a need to be a member of the workforce in order to contribute to society. I don't work because I need/want time to myself, nor because I just love my career too much to give it up. I don't work because it is easier than staying home and entertaining a high maintenance toddler all day.
I work because we have bills, a mortgage, and a "powerful need to eat sometime this month" (to quote our favorite TV show-bonus points if you know what it is!). That's it. Pure and simple.
When I was a child, if someone asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I almost always said, "A mother." I grew up in a large family with a SAHM, and I naturally thought I would follow in my mother's footsteps. I have always dearly loved children (especially small ones) and looked forward to the day when I could have my own brood to love, teach, be driven crazy by, and play with.
Fast forward to actual adulthood-I was married and a physical therapist. I did a lot of extra training-not because I was career building or trying to climb some corporate ladder (though both of those did happen as incidentals) but because I have this perfectionist drive that makes me want-no, NEED-to be the best at what I do. Combine that with struggles in the area of defining boundaries, and I ended up with a lot of training and experience at a very early point in my career.
Through a series of events, some of which could maybe have been altered, and some of which could not, when we actually did have a child, we found ourselves in a position where the options were for me to work full time and my husband to stay home with the child/go to school, or for both of us to work and put the baby in daycare. WOHMs who do have your child in daycare, this is NOT a judgment on you-please don't read that. I think the right answer for every family is different-but for us, it made more sense to have someone home with the baby, and Josh is able to do that and go to school full time (with a lot of help from Grandma!). The idea of "well, Josh should just go to work" is great-but that would not result in me coming home at this juncture. Both of us would love for me to be able to be home (or be home more), but we just aren't in that spot right now. If you know of some magical job that we don't, we are all ears!
I don't necessarily think that my job or life is a lot harder than yours-I do think that both have challenges, and the challenges are very different. For example:
I work all day at my job, come home at night and become/resume "mom"-I am literally "on" 24/7, just like you. The difference is, I can't really sleep train my child because he needs milk and snuggles at night-because he hasn't had them during the day. I am sure as he gets older, his needs for these will decrease, but please don't give me crazy looks when you find out he rarely sleeps more than 1.5-2 hour stretches at night. He eats and goes back to sleep. He is healthy. I am only somewhat awake and with it, but we manage. I know many of you SAHMs and WAHMs don't have the opportunity to get naps during the day either-but that is definitely not ever on my radar!
I have to walk away from my child every day. On many days he is okay with it (which is somewhat heartbreaking in and of itself), but on many others he cries, reaches, and says "mamamamamamum"-and I have to leave anyway. You see, I also love my child too much to (want to) leave him all day-but I don't have an option.
The advice out there to help moms stay sane doesn't really apply to me. For example, "Take some time in your day to do something just for you." I don't feel like that is really an option for me (unless you count my work day as something just for me-or maybe my commute time). Ben already doesn't get to see me for the vast majority of the day 5 days per week-it doesn't feel right to take more time away from him. And I certainly am not going to take time away from my marriage! My husband has been wonderful the last few weeks and allowed me to sleep in (Ben wakes up at 6 on the dot every day of the week, which is totally our fault) until 7:30/8ish on Saturdays, and that is so nice! But other than that, I don't feel like it's right for me to take more time for "just me." Maybe later, when the kids are all older.
My house is a train wreck all the time. I know yours is probably not a Southern Living catalogue either, but I really, really struggle to get just the basics done on the weekends...because housework, for me, has to be crammed into either evenings or weekends only. I don't have the option to do a little bit throughout the day each day-so I tie my son to my back (usually) and we wash clothes, clean, mop, etc. if we can. Sometimes I'm too tired (or that's my excuse anyway) and so the chaos is allowed to reign a little longer than usual. Yes, I'm embarrassed by it-but I haven't fixed it. Maybe that means I'm a bad wife/woman, maybe it just means I'm overwhelmed too.
I ask myself daily (just like you, I'm sure): Am I doing something valuable? I hope I am-but I can't get rid of the nagging feeling that being with my son would be more valuable.
I could go on, but the point is just this: my life isn't automatically easy because I don't "have" to take care of my baby during the work day. I don't think yours is automatically easy because you "get" to be home all day. I strongly feel that moms need to support each other-no matter what our lifestyle, and no matter how we got there. Are you a stay at home mom, by choice or necessity? Wonderful. You struggle, let's band together based on our commonalities (to start, we both have kids). Do you work outside the home, by choice or necessity? That's great-again, let's come together for mutual support. Do you stay home but run some type of business out of your home? That's hard too-let's try to help each other out!
I have thought before about starting a blog or facebook page that is a support system for working moms-because as I said, much of the support and advice out there seems very geared toward stay at home moms. I haven't yet because I'm not sure I have energy for another project, and because I'm not sure if it would further divide us.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Stay at home moms, I salute you! You are doing something wonderful, and deeply valuable and needed. Working moms, you don't have it easy either-hang in there! I really hope a day will come when we can all just be moms-and be each other's backup and support as we all navigate the daily challenges AND JOYS of motherhood. It is so worth it.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
10 months old
This past week, my favorite kid in all the world turned 10 months old. He has now been outside of my body considerably longer than he was inside it (especially since he made his entrance 3 weeks ahead of schedule!). This month, more than any before it, my child has changed and transitioned. He is leaving infancy and going headlong into toddlerhood. I watch with a mixture of delight and a tiny taste of sorrow. I've had a few moments of wondering, "I wonder how many more times we will get to do this?" and as has frequently been the case this year, the fleeting nature of time is impressed upon me. And yet it is SO FUN to see his personality emerge, and to watch as he discovers his world. His smiles and giggles light up my day, and time spent with him, while not as frequent or as long as I would often like, is so awesome.
Ahem. Sorry. I really like my son.
New things he is doing this month:
The biggest thing is walking. He doesn't walk independently yet, but he wants to walk holding hands ALL THE TIME and everywhere. He's pretty fast, too! He likes to walk around the house and chase the dog (he plays a game where he shrieks at her, she comes, he laughs, then she leaves and he follows...crazily, she comes more reliably for his shrieking than when we call her! I told Josh we should just start shrieking at her when we want her, but he's not convinced...). He also LOVES to walk outside. Outside is his favorite place in the whole world! He likes to test out different surfaces (grass, concrete, bark, etc.) and look at the neighbor kids and dogs. He has figured out that if he walks us over to the door and then stops and lets go of one of our hands, we will usually open the door. We then go through and he stops and lets go of our hand again to let us shut the door. It's a little scary how smart he is...
Along with walking comes a fascinating side effect-we get to see what he is interested in! It's kind of fun to see what things catch his attention and what he comes back to. He loves balls (which he mostly sees at my work since we don't have any at home, but maybe we should get one...), banging on things, licking things (ick! I try not to let him lick anything TOO gross, but he sometimes is too quick for me-why does he even want to lick the dog food bag???), blinds, strings, and "stuff I'm not supposed to have."
He has definitely become more verbal and communicative this month. Not very many words, though I swear I heard him say "Daddy" as clear as can be yesterday, but he definitely can get his point across! Sometimes we don't get it fast enough, which leads to frustration/tantrums on his part. He is also signing, which is awesome. Sometimes I think he doesn't sign because he knows we know what he wants.
He goes in the church nursery now and charms all the workers who say he is so sweet!
He had his first hair cut this month. It's a little crooked, but cutting his hair was like an intricate choreographed dance with scissors near my baby's head/eyes/ears etc so considering that, I think I did well!! He looks so much older now...
He loves nursing still, though he eats all kinds of solids! If anything, I think he's nursing more (my guess is it's because he is more active and thus burning more calories) than he did before. Which is fine with me-this is one of those things that I know is for such a short time, and though there are some challenges with it (mostly the fact that he is still nursing anywhere from 4-9 times at night) I treasure these moments I have with him snuggled close.
I think those are the main new things. I have so enjoyed the last 10 months, and look forward to many more getting to know the sweetest kid on earth! ;-)
Ahem. Sorry. I really like my son.
New things he is doing this month:
The biggest thing is walking. He doesn't walk independently yet, but he wants to walk holding hands ALL THE TIME and everywhere. He's pretty fast, too! He likes to walk around the house and chase the dog (he plays a game where he shrieks at her, she comes, he laughs, then she leaves and he follows...crazily, she comes more reliably for his shrieking than when we call her! I told Josh we should just start shrieking at her when we want her, but he's not convinced...). He also LOVES to walk outside. Outside is his favorite place in the whole world! He likes to test out different surfaces (grass, concrete, bark, etc.) and look at the neighbor kids and dogs. He has figured out that if he walks us over to the door and then stops and lets go of one of our hands, we will usually open the door. We then go through and he stops and lets go of our hand again to let us shut the door. It's a little scary how smart he is...
Along with walking comes a fascinating side effect-we get to see what he is interested in! It's kind of fun to see what things catch his attention and what he comes back to. He loves balls (which he mostly sees at my work since we don't have any at home, but maybe we should get one...), banging on things, licking things (ick! I try not to let him lick anything TOO gross, but he sometimes is too quick for me-why does he even want to lick the dog food bag???), blinds, strings, and "stuff I'm not supposed to have."
He has definitely become more verbal and communicative this month. Not very many words, though I swear I heard him say "Daddy" as clear as can be yesterday, but he definitely can get his point across! Sometimes we don't get it fast enough, which leads to frustration/tantrums on his part. He is also signing, which is awesome. Sometimes I think he doesn't sign because he knows we know what he wants.
He goes in the church nursery now and charms all the workers who say he is so sweet!
He had his first hair cut this month. It's a little crooked, but cutting his hair was like an intricate choreographed dance with scissors near my baby's head/eyes/ears etc so considering that, I think I did well!! He looks so much older now...
He loves nursing still, though he eats all kinds of solids! If anything, I think he's nursing more (my guess is it's because he is more active and thus burning more calories) than he did before. Which is fine with me-this is one of those things that I know is for such a short time, and though there are some challenges with it (mostly the fact that he is still nursing anywhere from 4-9 times at night) I treasure these moments I have with him snuggled close.
I think those are the main new things. I have so enjoyed the last 10 months, and look forward to many more getting to know the sweetest kid on earth! ;-)
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Let Me Be Good to You...
I have a very hard time believing in the goodness of God. I don't mean believing in that concept. I mean deep down, at the heart level, where it transforms my life and heart. I absolutely can believe in His righteousness, and in the concept of His justice. It is easy for me to see Him as Lord, but hard to see Him as Father. I don't know if this is just my nature, partially my upbringing, or just because I am (shocking, I know!) human. I like to try to take control, earn my own way, make myself right in His eyes FIRST-and then come to Him. I like to work hard to make my life turn out the way I want it to be (or the way I think He wants it to be)-to control the details of timing, etc. I like to try to wash myself clean and make myself "presentable". It's hard for me to grasp that I have it backwards-that I have to let go of that control and come to Him, let Him change me from the heart out, and then my actions will reflect what is inside.
I am SO thankful to say that my Father, rather than getting impatient and throwing me in time out (which I think is what I as a parent would be tempted to do with such a recalcitrant child) has been gently and graciously teaching me about His goodness, and the value of release. Some examples:
I spent years agonizing over the fact that I wanted children, but "couldn't" have them right now. We weren't in a life situation where I could stay home with them, and therefore, it "wasn't time." We weren't ready. He encouraged us to stop trying to prevent and allow Him to decide the timing-and gave us a beautiful, wonderful, deeply treasured little boy. Is it hard being a working mother? Oh my heavens, yes. Harder than being a stay at home mom? I don't know. I think the struggles are different, so it may be hard to compare the two. Is it better to be a working mother than to not be one at all? Absolutely.
I spent years struggling to lose weight. And I mean that I tried everything. Diet, exercise, extreme forms of both-and the only thing that worked in nearly 5 years was the weeks of fasting imposed by my morning sickness. Weight struggles are so hard on an emotional and spiritual level as well as a physical one. After Ben was born, I dropped pretty quickly to about 3 pounds below my prepregnancy weight and then stayed there. I didn't really try to lose weight, honestly-I was scared, and didn't want to go back to the bondage and mental struggles that I had been dealing with prior to pregnancy. I spent a lot of time talking to my Father about this, and really felt Him asking me to let go, stop finding my worth in what *I* do or do not look like in this area, and allow Him to be good to me. In January, I did. Since then, I have lost 27 pounds-and without the ridiculous striving that characterized my life before (I am eating healthy and exercising-but in balance, not the extremes of exercising 2-3 hours/day and counting calories like a fiend). It feels like magic to me, because VERY extreme measures did not work before-and now I am just doing what "normal people" do to lose weight, and it is working! Even more significant to me, is that while I am enjoying the process of watching the scale creep down (and loving my "new" wardrobe of clothing that I haven't been able to wear in years!), I am not obssessing over my workout schedule, food, or the way I look as I have in the past. I still feel the freedom and joy I had in pregnancy-I am able to lose weight with a balanced mindset. I don't know that I have EVER been able to do that.
I have a dear friend who has deeply struggled with infertility. She and I have spent time praying about it together, and I have spent countless hours crying out on her behalf as well. She recently found out she is expecting!
Now, I absolutely AM NOT a health and wellness gospel believer. I do not believe that if God is happy with you, then all of your problems go away and you are magically this super happy and healthy person. I know there is a fine line to be walked there. The thing with that philosophy is that it is STILL dependent on you. Is YOUR FAITH strong enough, are YOU PRAYING well enough or in the right way, etc. And heaven knows there are still deep struggles in my day (finding the alertness to get through a work day after a sleepless night comes to mind!). But I am so grateful that my Father is teaching me how to walk with Him in a new way-a way that trusts Him and believes that He can be good to me. I don't always do well with it. Especially in the area of my weight, it is SO easy to turn it back into I, and me...to stress about whether I exercised enough that day, etc. I'm not perfect here by any means. But I do see His hand working in my life, gently and lovingly teaching Me that He is on my side (even if that doesn't always look the way I think it should look), and that is enough. He is enough.
I am SO thankful to say that my Father, rather than getting impatient and throwing me in time out (which I think is what I as a parent would be tempted to do with such a recalcitrant child) has been gently and graciously teaching me about His goodness, and the value of release. Some examples:
I spent years agonizing over the fact that I wanted children, but "couldn't" have them right now. We weren't in a life situation where I could stay home with them, and therefore, it "wasn't time." We weren't ready. He encouraged us to stop trying to prevent and allow Him to decide the timing-and gave us a beautiful, wonderful, deeply treasured little boy. Is it hard being a working mother? Oh my heavens, yes. Harder than being a stay at home mom? I don't know. I think the struggles are different, so it may be hard to compare the two. Is it better to be a working mother than to not be one at all? Absolutely.
I spent years struggling to lose weight. And I mean that I tried everything. Diet, exercise, extreme forms of both-and the only thing that worked in nearly 5 years was the weeks of fasting imposed by my morning sickness. Weight struggles are so hard on an emotional and spiritual level as well as a physical one. After Ben was born, I dropped pretty quickly to about 3 pounds below my prepregnancy weight and then stayed there. I didn't really try to lose weight, honestly-I was scared, and didn't want to go back to the bondage and mental struggles that I had been dealing with prior to pregnancy. I spent a lot of time talking to my Father about this, and really felt Him asking me to let go, stop finding my worth in what *I* do or do not look like in this area, and allow Him to be good to me. In January, I did. Since then, I have lost 27 pounds-and without the ridiculous striving that characterized my life before (I am eating healthy and exercising-but in balance, not the extremes of exercising 2-3 hours/day and counting calories like a fiend). It feels like magic to me, because VERY extreme measures did not work before-and now I am just doing what "normal people" do to lose weight, and it is working! Even more significant to me, is that while I am enjoying the process of watching the scale creep down (and loving my "new" wardrobe of clothing that I haven't been able to wear in years!), I am not obssessing over my workout schedule, food, or the way I look as I have in the past. I still feel the freedom and joy I had in pregnancy-I am able to lose weight with a balanced mindset. I don't know that I have EVER been able to do that.
I have a dear friend who has deeply struggled with infertility. She and I have spent time praying about it together, and I have spent countless hours crying out on her behalf as well. She recently found out she is expecting!
Now, I absolutely AM NOT a health and wellness gospel believer. I do not believe that if God is happy with you, then all of your problems go away and you are magically this super happy and healthy person. I know there is a fine line to be walked there. The thing with that philosophy is that it is STILL dependent on you. Is YOUR FAITH strong enough, are YOU PRAYING well enough or in the right way, etc. And heaven knows there are still deep struggles in my day (finding the alertness to get through a work day after a sleepless night comes to mind!). But I am so grateful that my Father is teaching me how to walk with Him in a new way-a way that trusts Him and believes that He can be good to me. I don't always do well with it. Especially in the area of my weight, it is SO easy to turn it back into I, and me...to stress about whether I exercised enough that day, etc. I'm not perfect here by any means. But I do see His hand working in my life, gently and lovingly teaching Me that He is on my side (even if that doesn't always look the way I think it should look), and that is enough. He is enough.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Happy 0.75!
This month, my sweet son turned 9 months old. Wow. I know that each month I say time flies by-but I mean it. If you are pregnant right now, or have a small baby-be warned. You are going to blink and your baby will be a big boy/girl! It is overwhelmingly exciting and wonderful to watch them grow, but slightly heartbreaking at the same time, and each stage has both challenges and wonderful joys!
This month more than any previous month, Ben has become very interactive. He has been smiling a lot and laughing, but now he is playing games with us. He loves to play peekaboo (he has liked this for a while, but now he is "hiding" and "finding" himself) and we just discovered a new game where he shakes his head back and forth ("no") and we tickle his tummy, he giggles, we stop, and he shakes his head again. He is DEFINITELY experimenting with cause and effect. If we do something in response to something he does (and he likes it) he is very likely to try again to see if hisperforming monkeys parents will do the same trick twice. It is so fun to play with him like this!
He has started demonstrating excitement when he sees a parent, which is so fun. :-) When he comes to see me at lunch, the biggest smile breaks over his face! And the same when he sees his daddy (this boy is head over heels, crazy in love with his daddy-seriously, he thinks his daddy is the best person in the WORLD! It's the sweetest thing...). He also looks for people if he doesn't see them (and I can ask him "where is daddy" and he will look for him in the places he normally is-smarty pants!).
He has started reaching for us and showing anxiety when we walk away. However, we can walk away if we keep talking to him and reassuring him we are coming back (if I put him down to go to the bathroom or something like that).
He is signing a little bit-mostly to nurse. Josh is signing with him, so hopefully soon we will see some other signs.
He can scoot/army crawl a bit, but isn't really crawling on hands and knees yet. He is sitting and will transition from sitting to tummy (though that scares me a bit on our hardwood floor). He isn't really pulling up either. The kid definitely prefers to be held, though we can now put him down to play for a while depending on his mood. I'm okay with this-I figure he will be all over the place before we know it and for now, I don't mind knowing that he will be approximately where I put him down when I come back to get him.
He is eating a wider variety of food-still mostly fruits and veggies, but occasionally he will want to self feed some cheerios or something similar. He definitely prefers foods with flavor (he would way rather eat a cooked carrot out of my soup/stew versus a regular cooked carrot).
Happy 0.75, baby son! We are SO incredibly blessed to take care of you every day!
This month more than any previous month, Ben has become very interactive. He has been smiling a lot and laughing, but now he is playing games with us. He loves to play peekaboo (he has liked this for a while, but now he is "hiding" and "finding" himself) and we just discovered a new game where he shakes his head back and forth ("no") and we tickle his tummy, he giggles, we stop, and he shakes his head again. He is DEFINITELY experimenting with cause and effect. If we do something in response to something he does (and he likes it) he is very likely to try again to see if his
He has started demonstrating excitement when he sees a parent, which is so fun. :-) When he comes to see me at lunch, the biggest smile breaks over his face! And the same when he sees his daddy (this boy is head over heels, crazy in love with his daddy-seriously, he thinks his daddy is the best person in the WORLD! It's the sweetest thing...). He also looks for people if he doesn't see them (and I can ask him "where is daddy" and he will look for him in the places he normally is-smarty pants!).
He has started reaching for us and showing anxiety when we walk away. However, we can walk away if we keep talking to him and reassuring him we are coming back (if I put him down to go to the bathroom or something like that).
He is signing a little bit-mostly to nurse. Josh is signing with him, so hopefully soon we will see some other signs.
He can scoot/army crawl a bit, but isn't really crawling on hands and knees yet. He is sitting and will transition from sitting to tummy (though that scares me a bit on our hardwood floor). He isn't really pulling up either. The kid definitely prefers to be held, though we can now put him down to play for a while depending on his mood. I'm okay with this-I figure he will be all over the place before we know it and for now, I don't mind knowing that he will be approximately where I put him down when I come back to get him.
He is eating a wider variety of food-still mostly fruits and veggies, but occasionally he will want to self feed some cheerios or something similar. He definitely prefers foods with flavor (he would way rather eat a cooked carrot out of my soup/stew versus a regular cooked carrot).
Happy 0.75, baby son! We are SO incredibly blessed to take care of you every day!
Thursday, March 7, 2013
A Weighty Matter
Okay, so that's a bad pun. Take it back-that's an awful pun! My husband would be ashamed. However, this is my blog, not his, so too bad! Of note-I am happy for anyone who wants to read this blog to go ahead and read it-but if we are just casual acquaintances, you will probably find it boring. You have been warned!
So, some of you know this, some don't, but shortly before Josh and I got married, I made the worst medical mistake of my adult life-I took hormonal birth control. I thought that was just what you do-we are about to get married, not ready for kiddos yet, so this is the responsible adult thing to do. Well, to say it wreaked havoc on my body is to put it VERY mildly. The first one I was on made my hormones swing like crazy. Ask Josh-I literally spent an ENTIRE WEEKEND sobbing on the couch in his apartment-for no identifiable reason. I didn't even know it was possible for an adult to cry that long (or any human for that matter!) and I had no answer to the question of "what's wrong???" After that, we both agreed that I was changing pills. That was NOT an experience we wanted to repeat!
The next one I took was better from the hormone standpoint (at least the ones that make you crazy and emotional) so we thought we were good. We got married, came back to Texas, and I started clinical rotations. Then all of a sudden, I started gaining weight. Fast. And a lot of it. In fact, in the first 3 months we were married, I put on 50 lbs. Now, sometimes we are most blind when it comes to our own lives and bodies. I had heard and read of people "letting themselves go" after marriage, and figured maybe that was the problem. Never mind the fact that we were eating exactly the same and I had become MORE active (I went from sitting in a chair 8+ hours/day to standing, walking, running, and lifting that same amount of time), not less. Eventually, I realized that couldn't be it. Well, maybe I was stressed? I was in the clinical rotation from hell, after all. Nope...the gain did not end when the rotation did. So I started seeing doctors. The first one I tried was positive I had an eating disorder I was trying to hide (because people who are trying to hide conditions seek medical care). The second told me in words that are seared into my soul to this day, "I know you are just wanting to sit on the couch and eat chocolate all day, and I am not going to give you a medical excuse to do that." No one mentioned birth control as a possibility.
My sister in law got off of her birth control around that time and mentioned how much better she (eventually) felt. She had been having some of the same fatigue symptoms that I had been having, so I wondered if that would help me. So I got off of mine. It took about 5 months, but finally, FINALLY my weight gain stabilized and I stopped gaining (almost 80 lbs more than I had been at the beginning of all of this). However, no matter what I did, it would not come off.
You know how you watch those extreme weight loss shows and see a contestant who hasn't lost the right amount of weight...and then the trainer gets in their face and says, "Math doesn't lie! If you were doing xyz and only eating this many calories, you would have lost this much weight!" Well, I can't tell you for sure how it is for those people, but for me, the math lied. There were points in time where I was doing 2-3 2 hour workouts per day and eating 1400 calories or sometimes slightly more-and my weight did not budge. It didn't even really redistribute very much. I won't elaborate on the emotional struggles involved with this, but any of you who are women or who have spent any time talking to women, will know what I mean.
Finally, one of my parents' friends (a family practice physician) got involved. And I FINALLY, after over a year at this point, had answers. Apparently this is a fairly common side effect of birth control (about 5% of women who start birth control, especially at a point multiple years past puberty have this "side effect"-which I think is a high enough number to warrant a warning and/or recognition by the medical community!). It essentially can "turn off" your body's ability to process food-and instead it starts storing EVERYTHING you eat...the net impact is that even though you are gaining weight, your nutrition levels are similar to someone who is starving to death, because everything is being stored rather than used. Oh, and it doesn't really matter what you eat, healthiness, calories burned, etc.-it isn't going to come off and you will keep gaining.
So I got on medication-several medications, actually, which were intended to turn my metabolism back on and make my body start processing food correctly again. There were some side effects of those, but I was SLOWLY starting to lose weight. I was eating healthy, taking the meds, and doing P90X-and at the end of the 90 days, I had dropped about 10 pounds. Not much...just a drop in the bucket, really...but it was the first time I had been able to lose weight in almost 3 years.
Then I got pregnant. I was soooo happy, and weight was the last thing on my mind. In fact, I loved my body while I was pregnant. For the first time, I didn't feel like I had to constantly berate myself for my weight and I didn't feel like people were judging me (for the record, both of those are my issues, not due to anyone else!). However, when I got pregnant I almost immediately dropped 20 lbs despite the fact that I stopped exercising. I was quite ill and unable to eat much. I was okay with that, but really not worried about my body-I figured I'd start the whirlwind and craziness again once the baby came.
I gained a total of 12 pounds during my pregnancy (over my prepregnancy weight). In fact, I walked out of the hospital weighing only 3 lbs more than I did before I got pregnant. People had mentioned the possibility of pregnancy hormones "resetting" my metabolism, which made sense since I had gained the weight hormonally, but I didn't hope for it. However, the weight continued to slowly come off, even though I wasn't trying (there was a lot going on postpartum). 2 months ago, I was FINALLY cleared to exercise, and then the weight started coming off more quickly. It was like magic!
The math is finally working. It's crazy.
I am so thankful-it is so freeing to actually have things work the way they are supposed to! As of today, I weigh 21 pounds less than I did before I got pregnant, and in the last month I've been dropping an average of 2 pounds per week. I definitely feel a lot better, and I can fit in clothes that didn't even fit before I was pregnant! I'm not sure if it will continue doing this (part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop) but I am so thankful to the Lord for giving me this gift.
So, some of you know this, some don't, but shortly before Josh and I got married, I made the worst medical mistake of my adult life-I took hormonal birth control. I thought that was just what you do-we are about to get married, not ready for kiddos yet, so this is the responsible adult thing to do. Well, to say it wreaked havoc on my body is to put it VERY mildly. The first one I was on made my hormones swing like crazy. Ask Josh-I literally spent an ENTIRE WEEKEND sobbing on the couch in his apartment-for no identifiable reason. I didn't even know it was possible for an adult to cry that long (or any human for that matter!) and I had no answer to the question of "what's wrong???" After that, we both agreed that I was changing pills. That was NOT an experience we wanted to repeat!
The next one I took was better from the hormone standpoint (at least the ones that make you crazy and emotional) so we thought we were good. We got married, came back to Texas, and I started clinical rotations. Then all of a sudden, I started gaining weight. Fast. And a lot of it. In fact, in the first 3 months we were married, I put on 50 lbs. Now, sometimes we are most blind when it comes to our own lives and bodies. I had heard and read of people "letting themselves go" after marriage, and figured maybe that was the problem. Never mind the fact that we were eating exactly the same and I had become MORE active (I went from sitting in a chair 8+ hours/day to standing, walking, running, and lifting that same amount of time), not less. Eventually, I realized that couldn't be it. Well, maybe I was stressed? I was in the clinical rotation from hell, after all. Nope...the gain did not end when the rotation did. So I started seeing doctors. The first one I tried was positive I had an eating disorder I was trying to hide (because people who are trying to hide conditions seek medical care). The second told me in words that are seared into my soul to this day, "I know you are just wanting to sit on the couch and eat chocolate all day, and I am not going to give you a medical excuse to do that." No one mentioned birth control as a possibility.
My sister in law got off of her birth control around that time and mentioned how much better she (eventually) felt. She had been having some of the same fatigue symptoms that I had been having, so I wondered if that would help me. So I got off of mine. It took about 5 months, but finally, FINALLY my weight gain stabilized and I stopped gaining (almost 80 lbs more than I had been at the beginning of all of this). However, no matter what I did, it would not come off.
You know how you watch those extreme weight loss shows and see a contestant who hasn't lost the right amount of weight...and then the trainer gets in their face and says, "Math doesn't lie! If you were doing xyz and only eating this many calories, you would have lost this much weight!" Well, I can't tell you for sure how it is for those people, but for me, the math lied. There were points in time where I was doing 2-3 2 hour workouts per day and eating 1400 calories or sometimes slightly more-and my weight did not budge. It didn't even really redistribute very much. I won't elaborate on the emotional struggles involved with this, but any of you who are women or who have spent any time talking to women, will know what I mean.
Finally, one of my parents' friends (a family practice physician) got involved. And I FINALLY, after over a year at this point, had answers. Apparently this is a fairly common side effect of birth control (about 5% of women who start birth control, especially at a point multiple years past puberty have this "side effect"-which I think is a high enough number to warrant a warning and/or recognition by the medical community!). It essentially can "turn off" your body's ability to process food-and instead it starts storing EVERYTHING you eat...the net impact is that even though you are gaining weight, your nutrition levels are similar to someone who is starving to death, because everything is being stored rather than used. Oh, and it doesn't really matter what you eat, healthiness, calories burned, etc.-it isn't going to come off and you will keep gaining.
So I got on medication-several medications, actually, which were intended to turn my metabolism back on and make my body start processing food correctly again. There were some side effects of those, but I was SLOWLY starting to lose weight. I was eating healthy, taking the meds, and doing P90X-and at the end of the 90 days, I had dropped about 10 pounds. Not much...just a drop in the bucket, really...but it was the first time I had been able to lose weight in almost 3 years.
Then I got pregnant. I was soooo happy, and weight was the last thing on my mind. In fact, I loved my body while I was pregnant. For the first time, I didn't feel like I had to constantly berate myself for my weight and I didn't feel like people were judging me (for the record, both of those are my issues, not due to anyone else!). However, when I got pregnant I almost immediately dropped 20 lbs despite the fact that I stopped exercising. I was quite ill and unable to eat much. I was okay with that, but really not worried about my body-I figured I'd start the whirlwind and craziness again once the baby came.
I gained a total of 12 pounds during my pregnancy (over my prepregnancy weight). In fact, I walked out of the hospital weighing only 3 lbs more than I did before I got pregnant. People had mentioned the possibility of pregnancy hormones "resetting" my metabolism, which made sense since I had gained the weight hormonally, but I didn't hope for it. However, the weight continued to slowly come off, even though I wasn't trying (there was a lot going on postpartum). 2 months ago, I was FINALLY cleared to exercise, and then the weight started coming off more quickly. It was like magic!
The math is finally working. It's crazy.
I am so thankful-it is so freeing to actually have things work the way they are supposed to! As of today, I weigh 21 pounds less than I did before I got pregnant, and in the last month I've been dropping an average of 2 pounds per week. I definitely feel a lot better, and I can fit in clothes that didn't even fit before I was pregnant! I'm not sure if it will continue doing this (part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop) but I am so thankful to the Lord for giving me this gift.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Ways Being a Working Mom Has Blessed Our Family
I am standing here at work with no patients (it's one of those days where EVERYONE wanted to come in at the same time, so it's literally feast or famine in terms of busy-ness today) and got to thinking that I need to do a post about how it has been good for our family that I have been a working mom for the last 8 months. I think it is way too easy for me to focus on the bad/negative things (and as with anything else in life, there are both positives and negatives to this situation!) like how much of my son's life I am missing, how exhausting it is to stay up all night and then drag myself out of bed at 6:30 AM, etc. etc. But I think that the key to not falling into "sorry for myself" land is a thankful heart and recognizing the blessings where they come, so I am going to make a list.
1. When I am home with my son and husband, I am able to spend quality time with them and focus on our relationships. Because Josh takes care of the house and really spoils me in the domestic "arena" I am able to really be present when I am at home. I think this is an area where I might struggle if I stayed home-always feeling I should be "doing" more (in the house, etc.) but that is not a struggle I have right now.
2. I have no idea how we would have been able to handle all of the many surgeries and hospitalizations if I had been a SAHM and Josh had been working! Especially since my restrictions after the gallbladder surgery and the pelvic floor reconstruction included not lifting >5 lbs for several weeks (and Ben weighs a sight more than 5 pounds!). Because Josh was the stay at home parent, he was able to care for us both during those times.
3. The obvious-we have a roof over our heads and food on our table.
4. I love coming home every day and seeing Ben's face light up when he sees me!
5. I treasure the times when I am able to come home a little early, or take a personal day. All of a sudden, mundane things like housework and playing with Ben are cherished moments! I'm afraid with my personality, I might lose those little joys in the repetition of every day life if I was a stay at home mom.
I don't know if a time will come when I'm not working full time. If it does, I hope I am able to use the lessons I have learned to really make the most of that opportunity. If it doesn't, I am so thankful for a job that is family friendly, a husband who is super supportive, and the simple joys of a baby's laugh/smile. :-)
1. When I am home with my son and husband, I am able to spend quality time with them and focus on our relationships. Because Josh takes care of the house and really spoils me in the domestic "arena" I am able to really be present when I am at home. I think this is an area where I might struggle if I stayed home-always feeling I should be "doing" more (in the house, etc.) but that is not a struggle I have right now.
2. I have no idea how we would have been able to handle all of the many surgeries and hospitalizations if I had been a SAHM and Josh had been working! Especially since my restrictions after the gallbladder surgery and the pelvic floor reconstruction included not lifting >5 lbs for several weeks (and Ben weighs a sight more than 5 pounds!). Because Josh was the stay at home parent, he was able to care for us both during those times.
3. The obvious-we have a roof over our heads and food on our table.
4. I love coming home every day and seeing Ben's face light up when he sees me!
5. I treasure the times when I am able to come home a little early, or take a personal day. All of a sudden, mundane things like housework and playing with Ben are cherished moments! I'm afraid with my personality, I might lose those little joys in the repetition of every day life if I was a stay at home mom.
I don't know if a time will come when I'm not working full time. If it does, I hope I am able to use the lessons I have learned to really make the most of that opportunity. If it doesn't, I am so thankful for a job that is family friendly, a husband who is super supportive, and the simple joys of a baby's laugh/smile. :-)
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Elimination Communication-Our Experience
So I realized I promised before Ben was born to do a post about our experience with EC if we ended up doing it (that was one of those things that we thought we wanted to do, but weren't positive we actually would end up following through). Here we are, 8 months later, and we did do it, but I didn't fulfill my promise about the post. Oops! :-) So here you go.
We are not experts by any means! We first learned about it from my sister in law who did it with her kiddos. I thought it was an awesome idea but was skeptical as to whether it would work for us. I knew that, as a working mama, I would not be able to be nearly as consistent as she is with it-and both her her littles are girls, whereas mine is a boy! So I wasn't sure how those factors might change our success with it.
I set my goals fairly low at the beginning. My ideal world was that by the time Ben was eating solid foods, he would be doing all or most of his poop in the potty. Breastmilk poop is not a big deal or hard to clean. Solid food poop-a whole other (stinky) ball of wax!
I don't remember exactly when we started taking Ben to the potty. It was while I was still on maternity leave, so he must have been less than 3 months old. We noticed around this time that he almost always pooped within 30 minutes of waking up, so we would wait on the bed with him until he started to get "that look" and make some straining noises, and then rip off his diaper and rush to the potty. He wasn't old enough to sit up yet, so we sort of had him on his back (supported in our arms) with his butt over the potty. The first few times were a little messy (sometimes we didn't start rushing in time, other times we misread when he was done), but eventually, we started to notice a pattern: he woke up (often with a dry diaper) and waited for us to take him potty before he went.
We started trying to pay attention at other times when we thought he might need to go. He makes a certain face and has a specific grunting noise when he is getting ready to poop (sorry that's kinda vague-but I've heard that different babies have different signals) so we started being able to catch it in the potty. Hooray! At first, I was "cuing" him by hissing (you're supposed to cue them so they know it's time to go) but then I went back to work and his Dad started taking him-Josh thought it would be fun/funny to grunt at him when he wanted him to go, so that became his signal. However, Ben thinks it's hilarious when I grunt at him (it probably is, to be fair) so now he doesn't really have an audible signal, at least from me (unless you count me telling him, "Okay, I'm ready!" once we are situated over the potty)...but I still think he knows what to do, as he ALWAYS does some kind of potty when we get him into position.
We went through a bad run (haha) of diarrhea for about a week-he was pooping every 30 minutes, so we didn't even try to get him to the potty for most of those. I was a little worried that he would forget, but no-once he started moving his bowels more normally, we resumed pooping in the potty without a problem.
I am not trying to get him to pee in the potty (though he almost always does when he poops and sometimes he just pees if I have misread his need/desire to poop)-I think this would be stressful for us and him, and I don't mind washing wet diapers in the slightest. I also don't worry about it if we have an accident and he ends up pooping in his diaper-in all, we are very chill about it. At first, I wondered if I was really saving us time, because the whole "potty" experience definitely took way longer than changing a diaper! However, now he has gotten pretty fast, and it's maybe 1-3 minutes at most! We have honestly used our diaper sprayer to hose down his little tushy after he goes way more often than we have used it to spray diapers (he doesn't seem to mind and it gets his butt clean way better than toilet paper!).
As for him being a boy-the biggest issue with this is that it's hard to aim him, and if I shift him while he is peeing, he stops. So we have perfected the art of using the back of the potty seat as a backboard of sorts (we squat in front of the potty, so he faces the back while he pees)-I know that sounds gross, but we do clean it afterwards!
The other place I got information was www.diaperfreebaby.com-be warned, they sometimes make it sound like you are committing child abuse if you aren't fully EC-ing...but there is a lot of good how to information on there, and having now done it myself and watched a few people do it, I am convinced that you can be as full or part time with it as you want-babies are smarter than you think!
Oh, and I LOVE the fact that we have only washed one poopy diaper in the last month or more!
We are not experts by any means! We first learned about it from my sister in law who did it with her kiddos. I thought it was an awesome idea but was skeptical as to whether it would work for us. I knew that, as a working mama, I would not be able to be nearly as consistent as she is with it-and both her her littles are girls, whereas mine is a boy! So I wasn't sure how those factors might change our success with it.
I set my goals fairly low at the beginning. My ideal world was that by the time Ben was eating solid foods, he would be doing all or most of his poop in the potty. Breastmilk poop is not a big deal or hard to clean. Solid food poop-a whole other (stinky) ball of wax!
I don't remember exactly when we started taking Ben to the potty. It was while I was still on maternity leave, so he must have been less than 3 months old. We noticed around this time that he almost always pooped within 30 minutes of waking up, so we would wait on the bed with him until he started to get "that look" and make some straining noises, and then rip off his diaper and rush to the potty. He wasn't old enough to sit up yet, so we sort of had him on his back (supported in our arms) with his butt over the potty. The first few times were a little messy (sometimes we didn't start rushing in time, other times we misread when he was done), but eventually, we started to notice a pattern: he woke up (often with a dry diaper) and waited for us to take him potty before he went.
We started trying to pay attention at other times when we thought he might need to go. He makes a certain face and has a specific grunting noise when he is getting ready to poop (sorry that's kinda vague-but I've heard that different babies have different signals) so we started being able to catch it in the potty. Hooray! At first, I was "cuing" him by hissing (you're supposed to cue them so they know it's time to go) but then I went back to work and his Dad started taking him-Josh thought it would be fun/funny to grunt at him when he wanted him to go, so that became his signal. However, Ben thinks it's hilarious when I grunt at him (it probably is, to be fair) so now he doesn't really have an audible signal, at least from me (unless you count me telling him, "Okay, I'm ready!" once we are situated over the potty)...but I still think he knows what to do, as he ALWAYS does some kind of potty when we get him into position.
We went through a bad run (haha) of diarrhea for about a week-he was pooping every 30 minutes, so we didn't even try to get him to the potty for most of those. I was a little worried that he would forget, but no-once he started moving his bowels more normally, we resumed pooping in the potty without a problem.
I am not trying to get him to pee in the potty (though he almost always does when he poops and sometimes he just pees if I have misread his need/desire to poop)-I think this would be stressful for us and him, and I don't mind washing wet diapers in the slightest. I also don't worry about it if we have an accident and he ends up pooping in his diaper-in all, we are very chill about it. At first, I wondered if I was really saving us time, because the whole "potty" experience definitely took way longer than changing a diaper! However, now he has gotten pretty fast, and it's maybe 1-3 minutes at most! We have honestly used our diaper sprayer to hose down his little tushy after he goes way more often than we have used it to spray diapers (he doesn't seem to mind and it gets his butt clean way better than toilet paper!).
As for him being a boy-the biggest issue with this is that it's hard to aim him, and if I shift him while he is peeing, he stops. So we have perfected the art of using the back of the potty seat as a backboard of sorts (we squat in front of the potty, so he faces the back while he pees)-I know that sounds gross, but we do clean it afterwards!
The other place I got information was www.diaperfreebaby.com-be warned, they sometimes make it sound like you are committing child abuse if you aren't fully EC-ing...but there is a lot of good how to information on there, and having now done it myself and watched a few people do it, I am convinced that you can be as full or part time with it as you want-babies are smarter than you think!
Oh, and I LOVE the fact that we have only washed one poopy diaper in the last month or more!
Monday, February 11, 2013
8 month update
I actually have thoughts percolating for non-directly-baby-update related blog posts but haven't had a chance to sit down and sort them out into something semi-coherent!
My sweet son is 8 months old today! Truly, nothing has cemented into my brain how fast time flies like having a child. I don't know if it is because he changes so quickly and grows so much, or what...but the time seems like it has slipped away at an ever-increasing rate. I look at his baby pictures and barely recognize that tiny newborn. Of course, I think he has only gotten more adorable with time, but it sure is a bittersweet thing!
New things he is doing:
He sits up very well by himself now. He definitely still can lose his balance and go toppling over, but I "trust" him a little bit more. He can also play with toys while sitting up-so fun!
He DEFINITELY has "being left" anxiety-which is kind of funny given that we don't really ever leave him! If he sees us walking away, the world ends. (sometimes even if Daddy walks away WHILE he is being held by Mommy or vice versa!!) The "nice" side of that is that he definitely knows who we are and will reach for us or try to move over to us, which is really sweet. :-)
He laughs and smiles and babbles a lot more. In general, he is just a lot more interactive, which is so fun! I especially love it when he lets loose with giggling and belly laughing. I keep trying to get a video, but he usually stops by the time I get the camera out! But him being happy and laughing just fills our hearts to overflowing!
He rolls as a means of locomotion now-and he can also kind of "squirm" and army crawl to get to things. I think real crawling is on the horizon...oh boy, we are about to find out how not childproof our house is!
He likes to eat paper. I don't know why.
If we are drinking water, we HAVE to share it with him. I'm not sure why water is so awesome, but the world ENDS if we don't give him some!
He has discovered crying/throwing mini fits as a means of expressing displeasure. I'm not super thrilled about this, but I guess at least he is letting us know!
He hugs and kisses now-which is SO precious and melts my heart every time.
I'm trying to teach him some signs-I'm not sure if he has the motor control yet, but we'll see if he picks up on them!
He has a new habit of waking up to pee at about 4 AM. Not my favorite thing ever either, but that's okay-everything is a stage, and I am so aware of how fast the time is flying and how I will miss his current stage's joys when the struggles are over!
I think he is growing again. It seems to me that he is getting heavier (I would guess he weighs in the 25-27 lb range now). Even the Ergo isn't super comfortable for me anymore!
He has 2 teeth that are now quite well defined. They are VERY cute but sometimes painful!
He goes to bed on his own quite well-usually around 7 PM and he typically stays down until I wake him up right before I go to bed to eat (that way I get at least some sleep before his first night waking!).
He eats solids pretty well-mostly fruits and veggies, though he does get some legumes in there sometimes. He's gotten really good at gumming/chewing things and then swallowing them.
He can ALMOST get the cheerios into his own mouth. ;-)
I think those are the major changes...we continue to enjoy him more and more. Parenthood is definitely not a walk in the park in the sense of being easy (or even fun all the time) but it is absolutely one of the most wonderful things that has ever happened to me!
My sweet son is 8 months old today! Truly, nothing has cemented into my brain how fast time flies like having a child. I don't know if it is because he changes so quickly and grows so much, or what...but the time seems like it has slipped away at an ever-increasing rate. I look at his baby pictures and barely recognize that tiny newborn. Of course, I think he has only gotten more adorable with time, but it sure is a bittersweet thing!
New things he is doing:
He sits up very well by himself now. He definitely still can lose his balance and go toppling over, but I "trust" him a little bit more. He can also play with toys while sitting up-so fun!
He DEFINITELY has "being left" anxiety-which is kind of funny given that we don't really ever leave him! If he sees us walking away, the world ends. (sometimes even if Daddy walks away WHILE he is being held by Mommy or vice versa!!) The "nice" side of that is that he definitely knows who we are and will reach for us or try to move over to us, which is really sweet. :-)
He laughs and smiles and babbles a lot more. In general, he is just a lot more interactive, which is so fun! I especially love it when he lets loose with giggling and belly laughing. I keep trying to get a video, but he usually stops by the time I get the camera out! But him being happy and laughing just fills our hearts to overflowing!
He rolls as a means of locomotion now-and he can also kind of "squirm" and army crawl to get to things. I think real crawling is on the horizon...oh boy, we are about to find out how not childproof our house is!
He likes to eat paper. I don't know why.
If we are drinking water, we HAVE to share it with him. I'm not sure why water is so awesome, but the world ENDS if we don't give him some!
He has discovered crying/throwing mini fits as a means of expressing displeasure. I'm not super thrilled about this, but I guess at least he is letting us know!
He hugs and kisses now-which is SO precious and melts my heart every time.
I'm trying to teach him some signs-I'm not sure if he has the motor control yet, but we'll see if he picks up on them!
He has a new habit of waking up to pee at about 4 AM. Not my favorite thing ever either, but that's okay-everything is a stage, and I am so aware of how fast the time is flying and how I will miss his current stage's joys when the struggles are over!
I think he is growing again. It seems to me that he is getting heavier (I would guess he weighs in the 25-27 lb range now). Even the Ergo isn't super comfortable for me anymore!
He has 2 teeth that are now quite well defined. They are VERY cute but sometimes painful!
He goes to bed on his own quite well-usually around 7 PM and he typically stays down until I wake him up right before I go to bed to eat (that way I get at least some sleep before his first night waking!).
He eats solids pretty well-mostly fruits and veggies, though he does get some legumes in there sometimes. He's gotten really good at gumming/chewing things and then swallowing them.
He can ALMOST get the cheerios into his own mouth. ;-)
I think those are the major changes...we continue to enjoy him more and more. Parenthood is definitely not a walk in the park in the sense of being easy (or even fun all the time) but it is absolutely one of the most wonderful things that has ever happened to me!
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Life Update
Wow, that sounds weighty, doesn't it? Sorry! It's been rainy all day today-maybe that puts me in a weighty mood? Anyway, it's not anything intense or weird (and I'm not pregnant, so don't anybody get their panties in a bunch)...I just wanted to write a little update since we've had some shifts in our daily lives lately.
The biggest reason for the shift is that Josh started back to school full time. He is majoring in English, and according to his advisor, he should be able to complete his degree in a year if he goes full time for all semesters (including the summer). It will be great to have his degree completed so quickly (relatively-we weren't sure how many of his classes they would transfer over and were pleasantly surprised that all he is really required to take are some English classes and some language courses! We don't know what (if anything) this may mean in terms of the future, but it is a good first step. The paperwork had to be re-filed for him to get his GI bill-we are really hoping they process that in a timely manner. We paid his tuition for the spring out of pocket-and there went the rest of our savings account!! So we'll have to see-I am somewhat dubious as I have not had good experiences with the VA doing anything in a timely manner, but maybe this will be the first time?
Thankfully, our schedules worked out about as well as I could imagine. Josh does have class every day, but he only has 2 classes that require him to be on campus-the other 2 are online (which helps with baby care!). My mom watches Ben during his classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and I am home during his class times on Tuesdays (I work until 7-7:30 PM on Tuesday, so I don't go in until 11 and his class is at 8) and Fridays (his class is in the afternoon and I am off most Friday afternoons). So Ben does get shuttled around quite a bit more than he used to, but he is cared for by family at all times, which is such a huge blessing (both financially and for my peace of mind). He is still able to come for lunch every day, which is super helpful emotionally and because he has officially shunned drinking milk out of anything that resembles a cup or bottle. (Though he will drink water...????)
My schedule has shifted, partly to cover the evening shift at work (we are open 2 late days per week-I take one, my new therapist takes the other) and my half day switched to Friday afternoon instead of Wednesday morning. While it was nice to have a break halfway through the week, it is also nice to have a longer weekend. I continue to slowly heal, though I am still in a fair amount of discomfort by the end of the work week! I am able to sleep without pain medication, which is very nice.
Ben continues to grow and be just a delight. He has started to show affection, which is super sweet and awesome. The other side of that coin is that he is developing a phobia about being "left" (why? We never leave him!!). If he sees me walking away, even just to go to the bathroom, the world ends. I haven't even attempted the church nursery (although he has also decided that worship music is terrifying...so I end up standing out in the hall with him the whole time. That's actually okay with me-while I am healing, I am not healed enough to sit on the hard pews yet, so holding the baby in the hallway seemse better to me than just randomly standing out there...lol!
Anyway, that's rather rambly, but I had some time (it's raining and apparently my patients don't want to come in the rain?) and thought I'd update! Hope you all are well-we miss those of you who are far away!
The biggest reason for the shift is that Josh started back to school full time. He is majoring in English, and according to his advisor, he should be able to complete his degree in a year if he goes full time for all semesters (including the summer). It will be great to have his degree completed so quickly (relatively-we weren't sure how many of his classes they would transfer over and were pleasantly surprised that all he is really required to take are some English classes and some language courses! We don't know what (if anything) this may mean in terms of the future, but it is a good first step. The paperwork had to be re-filed for him to get his GI bill-we are really hoping they process that in a timely manner. We paid his tuition for the spring out of pocket-and there went the rest of our savings account!! So we'll have to see-I am somewhat dubious as I have not had good experiences with the VA doing anything in a timely manner, but maybe this will be the first time?
Thankfully, our schedules worked out about as well as I could imagine. Josh does have class every day, but he only has 2 classes that require him to be on campus-the other 2 are online (which helps with baby care!). My mom watches Ben during his classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and I am home during his class times on Tuesdays (I work until 7-7:30 PM on Tuesday, so I don't go in until 11 and his class is at 8) and Fridays (his class is in the afternoon and I am off most Friday afternoons). So Ben does get shuttled around quite a bit more than he used to, but he is cared for by family at all times, which is such a huge blessing (both financially and for my peace of mind). He is still able to come for lunch every day, which is super helpful emotionally and because he has officially shunned drinking milk out of anything that resembles a cup or bottle. (Though he will drink water...????)
My schedule has shifted, partly to cover the evening shift at work (we are open 2 late days per week-I take one, my new therapist takes the other) and my half day switched to Friday afternoon instead of Wednesday morning. While it was nice to have a break halfway through the week, it is also nice to have a longer weekend. I continue to slowly heal, though I am still in a fair amount of discomfort by the end of the work week! I am able to sleep without pain medication, which is very nice.
Ben continues to grow and be just a delight. He has started to show affection, which is super sweet and awesome. The other side of that coin is that he is developing a phobia about being "left" (why? We never leave him!!). If he sees me walking away, even just to go to the bathroom, the world ends. I haven't even attempted the church nursery (although he has also decided that worship music is terrifying...so I end up standing out in the hall with him the whole time. That's actually okay with me-while I am healing, I am not healed enough to sit on the hard pews yet, so holding the baby in the hallway seemse better to me than just randomly standing out there...lol!
Anyway, that's rather rambly, but I had some time (it's raining and apparently my patients don't want to come in the rain?) and thought I'd update! Hope you all are well-we miss those of you who are far away!
Friday, January 11, 2013
A Very Merry Un-Birthday...
Ben is 7 months old today. Whew! I can hardly believe it! I know, I know-I say that every month, but this kid astonishes me with his super power-he makes time speed up to super mach/warp speed!
New things he is doing:
He recognizes us now. I am halfway convinced he MIGHT know who "Daddy" is (he usually looks at Josh if I say "Daddy") and Josh thinks he might also know his name (Ben).
He thinks it is hilarious if I say "Ben-aye-UHHHHHHH!!!" in a growly voice. :-)
He laughs pretty easily now, although it's so funny...something can be HILARIOUS and then we get to some magical turning point and he gives a faint little laugh (like "okay, I'm humoring you now, Mom") and then the next time you do it he gives you this look that says, "Okay, that was SO 2 seconds ago."
He can sit up by himself. He doesn't always have the best balance yet, but he can do it.
He rolls both ways at will. He can also scoot himself around in a circle, but I'm not sure he can purposely get anywhere in particular yet.
He's a fan of most fruits and veggies that we have tried so far. Current favorites seem to be sweet potatoes, carrots (though he liked the spicy ones we fished out of a soup more than just regular cooked carrots), and bananas.
He goes to bed by himself now. Most evenings he wakes up and cries a little bit (10-15 minutes) and then goes back to sleep, but last night he just stayed asleep until we came to bed! I like that better-I hate listening to him cry!!!
He has his two bottom teeth. Good heavens, I had no idea how SHARP baby teeth are when they first break through (it makes sense that they would need to be in order to get through the gums). I am no longer so gung-ho about letting him use my fingers (or anything else) as a chew toy.
He likes music still, but me singing freaks him out. Literally, he looks scared and cries.
He likes to grab our faces, bring us close to him, and then suck my chin or Josh's nose. Not sure why I get the chin and Josh gets the nose (I think I get the better end of that bargain!).
He gives Eskimo kisses by coming in close and then shaking his head back and forth. SO cute.
He still would way prefer being held than anything else. He'll tolerate some tummy time and such, but he's happiest in arms.
First up, some size comparisons...I think he was a couple of weeks old in the first picture, the second was taken today.
Below, the sloth hold is not as simple as it once was!! Daddy's getting some massive guns! ;-)
New things he is doing:
He recognizes us now. I am halfway convinced he MIGHT know who "Daddy" is (he usually looks at Josh if I say "Daddy") and Josh thinks he might also know his name (Ben).
He thinks it is hilarious if I say "Ben-aye-UHHHHHHH!!!" in a growly voice. :-)
He laughs pretty easily now, although it's so funny...something can be HILARIOUS and then we get to some magical turning point and he gives a faint little laugh (like "okay, I'm humoring you now, Mom") and then the next time you do it he gives you this look that says, "Okay, that was SO 2 seconds ago."
He can sit up by himself. He doesn't always have the best balance yet, but he can do it.
He rolls both ways at will. He can also scoot himself around in a circle, but I'm not sure he can purposely get anywhere in particular yet.
He's a fan of most fruits and veggies that we have tried so far. Current favorites seem to be sweet potatoes, carrots (though he liked the spicy ones we fished out of a soup more than just regular cooked carrots), and bananas.
He goes to bed by himself now. Most evenings he wakes up and cries a little bit (10-15 minutes) and then goes back to sleep, but last night he just stayed asleep until we came to bed! I like that better-I hate listening to him cry!!!
He has his two bottom teeth. Good heavens, I had no idea how SHARP baby teeth are when they first break through (it makes sense that they would need to be in order to get through the gums). I am no longer so gung-ho about letting him use my fingers (or anything else) as a chew toy.
He likes music still, but me singing freaks him out. Literally, he looks scared and cries.
He likes to grab our faces, bring us close to him, and then suck my chin or Josh's nose. Not sure why I get the chin and Josh gets the nose (I think I get the better end of that bargain!).
He gives Eskimo kisses by coming in close and then shaking his head back and forth. SO cute.
He still would way prefer being held than anything else. He'll tolerate some tummy time and such, but he's happiest in arms.
First up, some size comparisons...I think he was a couple of weeks old in the first picture, the second was taken today. |
| Oh, yeah, I forgot...the other new thing is he LOOOVVVESSS to stick his tongue out at people. LOL. |
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| Sitting with my bunny |
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| Whoa, there goes the balance....will he catch himself? |
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| Nope! Oh well...we'll keep working on that skill. ;-) |
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Health Update
So I know a lot of you have been praying for us/keeping us in mind with my latest surgery-I thought it might be nice to give you a health update.
Overall, my pain levels are a LOT lower than they were prior to surgery. I think it was one of those things where I wasn't really fully aware of exactly how much I was hurting prior to surgery (because I had been hurting so much and for so long) but it is VERY nice to be in less pain! I still have some pain, particularly at the end of a work day (lots of standing, lifting, pulling, and pushing at my job!), but it is much more manageable. I am not waking due to pain most nights, and pain does not generally keep me awake between Ben's feedings either. This is extremely helpful, especially since he is still waking quite a bit to eat! The nights where pain was keeping me from falling back asleep between his feedings were EXTREMELY frustrating.
I would definitely say my energy levels are not yet back up to par (or even really very close). Most days I feel like work is about all I have energy for (and taking care of Ben once I get home) and weekends are still more "recovery days so I can survive next work week" than anything else. Poor Josh! He is probably very tired of his utterly boring wife! I'm not allowed to exercise strenuously yet (not that I would have the energy for that! lol), but that restriction should be lifted sometime in the next month or so. That will be nice-I took for granted "feeling strong" and being at a certain level of fitness, and I miss it! Though I definitely feel much stronger than I once did, and do think my strength/endurance levels are improving week by week, so that is nice!
We appreciate all the support (from friends near and far away alike!) over the last 6 months. I have definitely had more health challenges than I was expecting!! I definitely hope the next birth comes with a few less postpartum complications. :-)
Overall, my pain levels are a LOT lower than they were prior to surgery. I think it was one of those things where I wasn't really fully aware of exactly how much I was hurting prior to surgery (because I had been hurting so much and for so long) but it is VERY nice to be in less pain! I still have some pain, particularly at the end of a work day (lots of standing, lifting, pulling, and pushing at my job!), but it is much more manageable. I am not waking due to pain most nights, and pain does not generally keep me awake between Ben's feedings either. This is extremely helpful, especially since he is still waking quite a bit to eat! The nights where pain was keeping me from falling back asleep between his feedings were EXTREMELY frustrating.
I would definitely say my energy levels are not yet back up to par (or even really very close). Most days I feel like work is about all I have energy for (and taking care of Ben once I get home) and weekends are still more "recovery days so I can survive next work week" than anything else. Poor Josh! He is probably very tired of his utterly boring wife! I'm not allowed to exercise strenuously yet (not that I would have the energy for that! lol), but that restriction should be lifted sometime in the next month or so. That will be nice-I took for granted "feeling strong" and being at a certain level of fitness, and I miss it! Though I definitely feel much stronger than I once did, and do think my strength/endurance levels are improving week by week, so that is nice!
We appreciate all the support (from friends near and far away alike!) over the last 6 months. I have definitely had more health challenges than I was expecting!! I definitely hope the next birth comes with a few less postpartum complications. :-)
Saturday, January 5, 2013
All you need is wrapping paper...
We recently celebrated Ben's first Christmas. Maybe this makes me a bad parent, but I wasn't super hyped up about his first Christmas. I knew he wouldn't remember it and he isn't old enough to care about presents. Now, don't get me wrong, EVERY day I get to spend with my sweet son is a gift, especially because I spend so much time away from him during a typical week. I was thrilled to get an extra day with him that week! But I wasn't eagerly anticipating his first Christmas for the sake of it being his first Christmas.
Christmas was really a fun day of spending time with family. Ben, as always, charmed the socks off of everyone. I expect Christmas to become very fun in the next few years. I think he'll still be a bit young next year, but the year after that, watch out!
It got me to thinking....what do we want Christmas to be like for our children? This is something Josh and I need to figure out together and will probably evolve over the years. We are still discussing it, and this is what we have so far:
We definitely want to have Christmas traditions. My family has an advent calendar my mom made out of felt years ago (before she had children). It's a Nativity scene and you add pieces (crowns for the wise men, stars, angels, animals, and on the 24th-baby Jesus! I used to try to jury-rig it so that I would get to do the Baby Jesus as many years as possible, which was probably a great math problem for me as the number of kids in the rotation changed!) which velcro on-one for each day of December leading up to the 24th. I started something similar (mine is applique fabric instead of Velcro and I am making it from scratch where hers was a premade kit) but haven't worked on it in a while. It's kind of overwhelming! I have the "basic scene" made, but I need to make all the pieces. Whew! I need to get up the energy to pull that project out again, I guess! I don't know what other traditions we want to have. This year, we did lights on our house (just 2 strands which looked a little sad, but the plan is to slowly add to them each year).
We do not want Christmas to be primarily about getting. I have this idea that I want Christmas to be kind of a downplayed day as far as gifts (and to go hog wild with gifts on the kids' birthdays), but who knows how practical that is!
We are not going to tell our kids that Santa is real. We will expose them to the idea of Santa, but only as a story/fun tale that people tell, not as an actual thing, and certainly not as a bribe for good behavior.
That's about as far as we have gotten. What about you? What traditions do you want to have or do you already have for your family?
Christmas was really a fun day of spending time with family. Ben, as always, charmed the socks off of everyone. I expect Christmas to become very fun in the next few years. I think he'll still be a bit young next year, but the year after that, watch out!
It got me to thinking....what do we want Christmas to be like for our children? This is something Josh and I need to figure out together and will probably evolve over the years. We are still discussing it, and this is what we have so far:
We definitely want to have Christmas traditions. My family has an advent calendar my mom made out of felt years ago (before she had children). It's a Nativity scene and you add pieces (crowns for the wise men, stars, angels, animals, and on the 24th-baby Jesus! I used to try to jury-rig it so that I would get to do the Baby Jesus as many years as possible, which was probably a great math problem for me as the number of kids in the rotation changed!) which velcro on-one for each day of December leading up to the 24th. I started something similar (mine is applique fabric instead of Velcro and I am making it from scratch where hers was a premade kit) but haven't worked on it in a while. It's kind of overwhelming! I have the "basic scene" made, but I need to make all the pieces. Whew! I need to get up the energy to pull that project out again, I guess! I don't know what other traditions we want to have. This year, we did lights on our house (just 2 strands which looked a little sad, but the plan is to slowly add to them each year).
We do not want Christmas to be primarily about getting. I have this idea that I want Christmas to be kind of a downplayed day as far as gifts (and to go hog wild with gifts on the kids' birthdays), but who knows how practical that is!
We are not going to tell our kids that Santa is real. We will expose them to the idea of Santa, but only as a story/fun tale that people tell, not as an actual thing, and certainly not as a bribe for good behavior.
That's about as far as we have gotten. What about you? What traditions do you want to have or do you already have for your family?
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