Yoga Baby; 8 Months

My little bug is 8 months old! Time is, oddly, slowing down. It's still going far too quickly, but I feel like I've had more time to appreciate this stage lately, short lived as it may be.

Loves: His new favorite song is this Muppets song. You know it. I promise. T and I duet so I do the "doodoooooodoodoodoo" and he does the "Mahna mahna". It's pretty great.
He loves when I do pushups and squats. He laughs so hard. Squats are the best because he gets to do them with me. He's also a fan of overhead baby press.
He loves toys that talk and sing and light up. I can leave him in baby jail with a little electronic book and go down to start a load of laundry and he's the cats pajamas. Yeah, I just said that.

Yoga Baby; 7 Months

Time is flyyyyying! I just posted his 6 month update, and now we're well on our way to 8!

Loves: (this category was formerly called "likes" but he mostly likes everything, so we're limiting it to his favorites) He LOVES standing up! Holy smokes. If he's sitting and you put your hands out for him, he grabs on and pulls himself to stand. I blame hubs for starting him at 2 months so now he thinks that when hands are out, it's time to stand. Anything related to standing, he loves.
He loves when we sing -  his favorite is the Winnie the Pooh exercise song. He loves when we babble with him "Dadadadadadadada" "Nananananana" "Babababa", etc.

Yoga Baby; 6 Months

This guy is 6 1/2 months now. I had most of this post done closer to his half birthday, but I wanted his stats from his 6 month checkup, so I waited to post.

Likes: More of the same - everything in his mouth. We introduced him to Sophie this month - he loves her, along with most other teething toys. He loves to eat her face best of all.

Dislikes: Falling over from sitting and hitting his head on hard(ish) surfaces, but he so rarely falls over now. We're still struggling with naps. Dude is anti daytime sleep. 

Sleeping? On his tummy mostly, but he moves around a lot. Nighttime he is a total champ. Goes down drowsy and sleeps for 10+ hours almost every night.

We are getting better at naps at home. I can give him a pacifier and my hand to hold and he'll fall asleep. Sometimes I can sub a lovey for my hand, but not always. I still can't bring myself to CIO, but at least he's napping in his crib and I can get things done while he sleeps. Habits Shmabits.

Luckily (or unluckily?) we're in the car a lot and he falls asleep in the car seat. A lot of times he wakes up when the car turns off though.

Accomplishments:  Solid sitting dude. He sits completely unsupported for extended periods of time now. He also just started sitting up in the bath (which actually happened after his 6 month bday, so maybe I should have saved it for next month)
He pops up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth, but he hasn't figured out how to move forward.

Eating habits:
Still nurses 5-6 times a day and has solids twice a day. He's sometimes nurses for shorter periods of time after he has solids because he's more full, but its frustrating because he's not getting good fatty hind milk.
We've added quite a few foods to his repertoire. He's had beets, bananas, pears, peas, and strawberries. Next up is zucchini, I think. We were advised to try tiny bits of highly allergenic food poisoning like peanut butter and eggs since studies show the earlier babes have them, the less likely they are to develop an allergy. And since we don't have a family history of anaphylaxis, we can try them at home. 
He also drinks water now - only because he's enamored by it, not because he needs it for hydration. He just stares at water and reaches for it - in glasses, in bottles, it doesn't matter. He sees water and he wants it. So, I put a little bit in a bottle or sippy cup for him. He's getting the hang of holding it, but doesn't understand that he needs to hold the bottle above his mouth for anything to come out.

Stats:
He had his 6 month checkup and shots yesterday. He weighs 17 lbs 14 oz and is 26" tall. I think he's taller than that though. He's still firmly perfectly average. 

Diapers:
I'm consolidating my diaper stash. I'll tell you more about that later, but he's still midrise in GroVia AI2s. Snaps and H&L still meet perfectly in the middle.
I let the rise all the way out for nighttime in his GroVia ONEs.

I haven't put him in sposies in a couple weeks, but I think he'd be in 3's now. At least I hope so, because I just gave away the last of my 2s.

New Momdom; The Stuff That Works for Us

A little while back, a friend of mine did a huge comprehensive post of everything you could possibly need for a baby and what worked for her and her family. I was going to do something similar, but when I came down to it, there is so much that is nice to have, but not so many items I simply could not have survived the first few months without.
When I was putting together a shower gift for a dear friend and having a hard time because I couldn't settle on what to get her, my husband walked around BRU with me and rolled his eyes and then said "Why are we not getting her _____... and _____? We love these for Joe" and together, we compiled a basket of things we loved and she registered for (mostly things that fell into both categories). Kind of a new baby survival basket... It contained a lot of these things...

Kitchen Adventures; Boozy Cherry Pecan Banana Bread

We were at costco last week, searching for snacks that wouldn't turn us back into fat kids, and we wandered (as usual) down the dried fruit isle.

Why does dried fruit have it's own isle?

Ok, you're right. It doesn't. It shares with delicious snackable nuts. So, when you walk through the isle, all you can think is how you'd like to have a handful of dried cherries and a handful of pecans and just alternate throwing a few into your mouth as you stroll.

Or... you could have an apostrophe (epiphany) and think about the bananas that you have at home and how - as much as you love chocolate chip banana bread - something has got to give and it's time to try something new.

Enter Cherry Pecan Banana Bread.

Yoga Baby; 5 Months

How is it that my baby is already 5 months old? I remember being pregnant and thinking my friend would have her baby right around his 5 month birthday and how far away that seemed, and she just had her baby a few days ago!

Likes: All the same stuff as last month - putting everything in his mouth, singing, thrill seeking. Some new favorites are: consistently rolling onto his tummy. He would do it before, but now he does it all the time.
He also likes laying on the floor next to me when I work out - and he LOVES when I do burpees with my hands on either sides of him. He loses his sh*t, it's so dang funny.

Dislikes: Naps. Ugh. The worst parts of the day are when I put this dude down for a nap. He is not a fan. These are the only times he really cries. I have temporarily given up on trying to get him to nap in his crib. He did it great for a few weeks, but now he needs to be rocked or bounced or in his swing or carseat. If I try to put him down after rocking him, he usually wakes up and cries like its the worst thing that has ever happened. For now napping happens however it needs to happen.

Sleeping? A few days after we started solids, he started sleeping longer stretches again. He'd go down at 830/9 and sleep through until about 4am (Really anytime between 330 and 5 - if he wakes up before 330, he gets a pacifier and we all go back to sleep). Then he'd go back down until 730, which is consistently when he's up for the day.
We had a few roughish nights staying in a hotel a couple weeks ago. Night 1 he needed new jammies at 330am. Night 2 I gave him a pacifier at 3am and he went back to sleep until 530. Night 3 there was a fiasco. Hotel fire alarms and flooding. The first three hours he slept, he was awake every 30 minutes or so. It was so sad/frustrating.
As soon as we got back home, he went back to long stretches and became a tummy sleeper. He's been rolling over every night since then. We flipped him twice, but the second night we turned off the light, I heard some shuffling and said to T, "you know he just rolled back over?" and sure enough...
Since then we just let him sleep how he wants.

Accomplishments:  We're still working on sitting. He's getting pretty good at it. He can hang out seated for a while before falling over. So we just keep him on heavily padded surfaces. We've had a couple face plants, but he's a tough guy.

Eating habits:
He nurses 5-6 times a day and has solids twice a day.
Sweet potato is the booooomb. He flipping loves it. We also added avocado to his list this past weekend. It was another win. The dude loves food, man. He grabs the spoon to help get it to his mouth faster. Mom and Dad don't feed him fast enough. Carrots and green beans are "meh" so far, but he eats them up. I haven't figured out how to get a good puree yet. They still seem kinda chunky. Any tips?

Stats as of the day after his 5 month bday when I weighed him at MH:
16 lbs 8 oz - which was exactly the same as the week before. A girlfriend and I agree something is off about the scale, but he doesn't get weighed at the Dr until he's almost 7 months. :/

Diapers:
Still in Size 2 disposables, but I'm considering moving him up to 3s. We have a bunch of 2s to get through though - since we don't use them very often.
Midrise snaps on his GroVia and BumGenius, Second S setting in his Charlie Bananas, and I have no idea what the setting is for Softbums because there are no markers. I have adjusted the rise so he wears them pretty high though to accommodate all the pods I stuff in there.
I still put him in GroVia O.N.E.s for nighttime.

A Day in the Life; Round 2

Thursday, May 7, 2015

5:53 AM the dude is awake. I get up and nurse him. It's frustrating this morning because he keeps wanting to stop look up and smile at me and I just want to go back to bed. I feel bad for feeling this way, especially since he's so dang cute.

6:10 AM I put him down awake and crawl back into bed. He groans and talks for a little while and eventually falls back asleep.

7:15 AM after hitting snooze twice on my phone alarm, I get up, wash up, put on my make up, get dressed, and go downstairs for breakfast.

8:05 AM after I make breakfast, get dudes cereal ready and pack his diaper bag. This whole section is kind of a multitasking blur. Last nights laundry gets moved to the dryer, breakfast gets eaten, and dishes get washed.

8:20 AM I wake up the dude, pack him up and we head to work.

Marathon Training Mama; Gator Run 10k

Did I write about this at all earlier? My plan to train for and run a marathon as part of my journey to "get my body back"?

That's a thing I'm doing.

ANYWAY, part of my training plan was to run a 5k, 10k, and half marathon before my full marathon on September 13th.

I ran a 5k on Pi day. It was a little perfect, actually. 3.1 miles on 3/14 - then taking tiny pies home from a wedding later that evening.

Since early March, I've been making an effort to slowly increase my run distance each time I went out. 1 mile, 2 miles, 2.5 miles, 3.1 miles, 3.6 miles, 4.1 miles, 4.5 miles, 5 miles...

I was a little nervous last week because I managed to run 5 miles on Thursday night... but cramped up at a mile and a half on Friday. So, I made sure to rest and stretch on Saturday, drink lots of water, eat mostly healthy food.

Yoga Baby; 4 Months

This kid! He's so big! Where have the last 4 and a half months gone? Babies from our mommy & me class are already turning 5 months!

Likes: Sticking everything into his mouth - from his toys to my braid. If he can reach it, he wants to eat it. I got a haircut yesterday to make it a little less easy for him to eat my hair. He even eats his tshirts when he can pull them up to his mouth.
He still loves being sung to. He's also become a bit of a thrill seeker. He loves when we pretend we're about to drop him. He loves when dad pretends he's a crane/baby fork lift. He loves doing yoga with me - especially boat and squats. He finds it refreshing and soothing when you blow in his face. He loves being talked to and he loves talking, and he likes when you touch his toes to his nose.

Dislikes: Sitting still. Unless he's asleep, he is always moving - arms, legs, all at once.
Still not a fan of naps, but we're getting there. Most times it just takes a pacifier to settle him down.

Sleeping? We had a rough few nights clustered around his 4 month bday. A few with frequent wake ups, a few refusals to go back to sleep - but we seem to have settled into a pretty good pattern without having to resort to sleep training yet. His bedtime has moved up to 9pm, occasionally going down as early as 845 - though thats only happened once or twice. He typically sleeps between 7 and 8 hrs and then goes back down for another 2 or 3.
We're struggling a little bit having him in our room still. He doesn't wake me often, but since we go to bed an hour or two after he does, sometimes the opening and closing of drawers, the sounds of people (and panda) walking around the room, teeth brushing - they wake him up.

Accomplishments:  He rolls from back to front now, He'll roll to his side for a while and then you'll look away and he'll just be chillin' there on his tummy. It's adorable. And he can sit without assistance, though usually only for a few seconds.

In other news:
We started solids this weekend! Right now we're only doing a few teaspoons of cereal in the evening, but we're slowly increasing the amount, and in the next few days we'll let him try some avocado or sweet potato.
We're introducing foods slowly and systematically per the pediatricians orders.

Stats as of his 4 month well check:
15 lbs 10 oz, and 25.5' tall

Diapers:
Size 2 disposables. Midrise snaps on his GroVia and BumGenius, Second S setting in his Charlie Bananas, and I have no idea what the setting is for Softbums because there are no markers.
We've had pretty good luck with the GroVia ONE for nighttime. He can *usually* stay in one diaper leak free for 10-12 hrs with one night feeding. We've also been able to avoid leaks by doubling GroVia boosters.

Yoga Baby; 3 Months

I fully intended to post this a few weeks ago. My dude is over 4 months now. Le sigh. Such is life. 

I'll say this every month. I know I'm biased, but my dude is the best. baby. ever. I cannot get enough of him.

Likes: Still a huge hand eater. He went through a straight thumb sucking phase. Not sure if that will come back.
He loves singalongs and being sung to in any way, shape or form.

Dislikes: Falling asleep during the day. He gets so tired, but he fights it because being awake it so much more interesting.

Sleeping? He was suuuuuuch a good sleeper at 3 months. I dreaded the 4 month regression. Most nights he slept between 8 and 10 hours straight. His bedtime is still later than I would like, but he ends up sleeping from around 10pm to 7 or 8am consistently. If the stretch is closer to 8 hours, he'll usually go back to sleep for an hour or two.

Accomplishments:  His hand eye coordination is really improving. He starting to open his palms so they're not always in fists all the time.
He is consistently rolling from front to back. Once he even rolled onto his side, hung out there for a bit, and then continued his roll all the way onto his back. I considered that his first intentional roll.

In other news:
I went back to work March 9th. I'm only part time right now, but I've been able to bring him with me. He's doing great. He definitely has his rough days - like the day I forgot his pacifier. Poor guy refused to nap and was a huge crankapotomus. Squawk squawk squawk squeal squawk squawk squeal.
A few weeks ago he started spending one day a week with my mom. They both love it. Its nice for me to be able to get some work done, but I miss my little man and am always a little sad that I got to spend almost no time with him that day.

A Word About Regular Posts

So, you guys...

LIFE!

Working 30 hrs a week, tax season, teaching two yoga classes and considering picking up a 3rd, regular housework on top of caring for this marvelous 3 month old little man. Laundry takes over a week to get folded. Dishes go out and right back into the dishwasher.

I would love to post regularly, but for real though, that ish aint gonna happen.

Before I went back to work, weekly workout posts could happen during naps and nightly dad/dude time, but seriously... two weeks ago I tried to swing a "day in the life" post... couldn't even make that happen. The logistics were too much - getting stuff done while keeping track of what I was doing and when I was doing it is so much easier then you spend half the day sitting on you're butt nursing.

ANYWAYSSSSS,

This is not goodbye. I'm going to continue to do my best to post every now and then, but the reality is that I will not be posting very often. I miss the blog life. Hopefully I'll be able to fill y'all in on the state of things soon. :)

Fit Mama; Week 8

Monday little dude and I were going to go on a walk, but it started raining the second I stepped out of the garage. I did Core Synergistics. The little guy has become a great workout buddy. He mostly just hangs out in his crib and we talk and he kicks things. This particular day, he started to get frustrated that he couldn't see me the whole time, so I moved him to the floor so he had a better view. He was perfectly happy after that.  

Tuesday I decided to do plyometrics. I guess I've given up on the P90X schedule. I'm just doing the workouts I'm not sick of and still feel like I'm getting a good workout.

Wednesday I pulled out my Tracey Mallet DVD for some Functional Interval Training. It's a 90 minute DVD, but my dude woke up from his mini nap at the 60 minute mark, and I was beat anyway, so I called it and took a shower. I also went on a quick 3 mile walk earlier in the day. I was a little rushed because we were meeting my mom and grandparents for lunch and shopping - lots of big events coming up my little dude needs outfits for.

Thursday I opted for Cardio X. I was so excited to have a shorter workout, but then the computer decided it needed to run updates 10 minutes in, so my workout was rudely interrupted. While I took my unwanted break, dude did a little core work aka tummy time.

Friday my only workout was baby & me yoga, but we did our usual squats and lunges and planks and such.

Saturday I complained that I was bored with my workout DVDs, so hubs put together a workout plan for me. He bought me all kinds of fun workout equipment for Christmas, so part of the plan was to get me to use it! I did squats on a balance board and more squats and pushups wearing an extra 20 lb weight vest. It was nice to do something different. :)

Sunday afternoon I ran out to one of my favorite yoga classes - pre/postnatal. Some of my fellow new mom friends joined me. Its so nice to see them and workout where most of us met.

That was my week. I'm really hoping to get some more interesting posts going soon, but for now it seems like this is it.

Yoga Baby; 2 Months

Joe is officially 3 months old this week, so I'm trying to get his 2 month post up!

In general he's a happy dude. He loves to smile and talk, and is an absolute joy to be around. Of course I'm biased, but he's even adorable when he's cranky. 

Likes: eating his hands! singing songs, being on his changing table, sleeping on mama, grabbing things, kicking, flying 

Dislikes: Being left alone, being on his tummy for too long

Sleeping? No complaints from me. We did get a fluke 7 hour stretch when he was 2 weeks old but around 2 months he consistently slept 4/5 hrs in one stretch and then another 3/4 after. Bedtime was 11pm (usually) because that's when mom and dad go to bed, which meant he was usually up between 3 and 4 and up for the day around 8 or 9. 

He definitely likes to party in the wee hours of the morning, but I started putting him down while drowsy and letting him soothe himself all the way into sleep.

Accomplishments:  Aside from being a total tummy time rockstar, my little guy started grabbing things. Usually not on purpose, but he was very interested when he first noticed his hand holding a blanket and moving closer to his face. He's also ended up eating his blanket a couple of times because it was in his hand. 

He rolled front to back a couple of times but it wasn't on purpose ;) 

In other news:

He had his first round of shots at 2 months and 5 days. He screamed when he got them, and he screamed for longer a few hours later when his little legs were sore. He was a total champ though. Got some Tylenol and fell asleep wrapped up on his mama. 

Motherhood is such a trip! Ha! I still look at him and can't believe he's mine. Especially as he gets bigger, I can't believe he was ever the size of a poppy seed. 

Fit Mama; Week 7

This week was kind of a mellow workout week. I went on a lot of walks... as you will see.

Monday Joe and I walked 3.5 miles and I did ab ripper x and called it a day.

Tuesday night hubs "rushed" his workout to get home in time for me to make it to a hip hop class. It was the same teacher I used to take Bollywood dance from, and when I showed up at hip hop, he says to me "you look different. Why do you look so different?"... the answer is that I am no longer home to a tiny human baby. It was such a fun class. I sweated up a storm and had a blast.

Wednesday I broke my workout up into two chunks. Around lunch time, little dude did his tummy time and mama did ab ripper x on the floor next to him. We both got great core workouts. Later on, I pushed play on some legs & back. Pull ups are still not my favorite, but I love the leg workouts so much that it still my workout.

Thursday was a repeat of Monday. Little dude and I went on a long walk, and finished the day with ab ripper x.

Friday we did baby & me yoga. It was a tougher workout than last week. It was a great group of moms and babies, and later on I went on another long walk.
 

Saturday was a rest day. 

Sunday I went to boxing with my sister and my aunt. My wrist is still messed up - this guy is heavy - so I shadow boxed instead of actually boxing. It is actually harder to shadow box. So much shoulder and core work.

I'm actually feeling kind of down about this week. My workouts weren't tough enough to counter all of the terrible eating I did, and if I hadn't just polished off a bag of Cadbury mini eggs I would say this week will be better. I'm off to a rocky start.

Fit Mama; Week 6

Monday was a holiday. Hubs was home so I planned to take power yoga from one of my teachers (woman who taught me to teach)! The website didn't say anything about a sub, so when I showed up and saw it was being taught by someone else, I have to admit I was a little bummed. It ended up being an incredible class. It was fun and unique and challenging. I was so impressed. Jill, the sub, taught such a great class!

Tuesday I got back into P90X. It was week 2 of Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps. I was supposed to do Ab Ripper X too, but my fussy monkey baby would not allow it. At least I got to finish the arm workout this time. ;)

Wednesday I texted the hubs and asked him to come home a little early so I could maybe go for a jog instead of doing plyometrics. He said no and told me to suck it up and do plyo - it was a better workout anyway. Woooooooomp. I did just that, and I'm glad I did. It wasn't all that bad. It's actually easy to get through the workout when you break it up into sections - I could tell myself, "only 3 more sets to go". My dude was a boss and let me finish the workout AND shower before losing his sh*t. :P

Thursday I did back & biceps and ab ripper X. As I write this I don't remember anything in particular about the workout except telling Joe, who was in his crib next to me, how much I hate all curls and pullups. He laughed at me.

Friday afternoon my little dude and I led baby & me yoga. We danced and did squats and tummy time, and core work and pushups. It was so fun. We started late, but we still did about an hour of class.

Saturday I was not feeling Kenpo (I wonder if I'm bored with P90X? ;)). Instead I decided to do an hour of Dance Central Spotlight in the living room. I wore a 20 lb weight vest for the first 15 minutes. My plan was to wear it the whole time, but it was digging into my shoulders. Mucho uncomfortable. The game threw some new moves at me and I had a lot of fun with most of them. Hooray!

Sunday my sisters and I had a date for aerial yoga. I ended up jacking up my shoulder during the warm up. It made me suuuuuper careful for the rest of class. I skipped one silk climb altogether. Everything else I did, I just took it really easy. Then I made a quick stop at the gym and ran 2 miles on the treadmill. I'm starting to feel better about running again, but I still haven't been able to get the full 2 miles without taking a break.

That's it for last week! Look at me getting one of these posts up in a timely manner with a picture and all! 

Fit Mama; Week 5

I'm really bad about getting these up in a timely manner. Sorry, sort of. I have an infant.

Monday week 4 came to a close with core synergistics and a walk - 2 miles with my dude. I'm still having issues with my left wrist so all the push-up stuff was not fun, but I don't think I did any further damage, so at least there's that.

Tuesday was the first day of week 5 of p90x. That means the start of "phase 2". I've been to the start of phase 2 before. I've never made it to phase 3. I always get bored (or last time I got pregnant and decided I should be doing other workouts instead). The chest, shoulders & triceps workout is another push-up heavy workout. So I closed out with some wrist tenderness. Womp womp. Followed it up with ab ripper - per the schedule - and earlier that day the little guy and I went for a walk.

Wednesday I was text complaining to the hubs that I didn't want to do plyo. I tried to negotiate a way for him to get home earlier so I could go for a run (I mean, I've got a marathon to train for), but it didn't work out. Later in the day I got my energy up and was ready to tackle plyo. As always, it wasn't as bad as I expected. Also took the dude on another  and walk

Thursday was weird/tough. Our computer got all wonky and I had to get creative with the disc for my back & biceps workout. I ended up wimping out of the end of my workout, but I did go for my 2.5 mile walk earlier that afternoon.

Friday night hubs got home early enough that I could go to the gym! Woot! I ran two miles on th treadmill for the first time since last summer. It felt amaaaaazing, and again, earlier that day little dude and I went for a walk. 

Saturday I did p90x legs & back and ab ripper x. Had a cranky dude toward the end so it was a baby incorporated workout, beginning with toe-roll iso lunges). I didn't get to do all of ab ripper because some of the moves are just not possible while holding a baby. I don't feel bad about it ;)

Sunday I drove out to pre/postnatal yoga! Some if the girls I met while pregnant (all of whom have had their babies) and I planned a little semi reunion. It was so fun! It was a nice mellow workout/stretch with some more challenging parts for those of us who wanted. 

That's all for last week. Better get going on this weeks post! :P
 

Fit Mama; Week 4

Time gets away from you taking care of a tiny one. I don't remember much by way of specifics about these workouts, but I did do them - at least I'm sure of that.

Not only is this post late, but I don't have a picture for it. These posts are mostly for me anyway, amiright? ;)

Week 4 of P90X is straight core/cardio/stretching. So I did not lift a single weight last week.

This week also commenced dude taking semi-regular naps. So whenever he starts to get sleepy I put him down in his crib and workout next to him. He usually sleeps through most of my workout. If he wakes up cranky, I either nurse him or incorporate him into my workout to keep him happy. If he wakes up happy, I can usually finish my workout. :)
 

Monday was Kenpo X. I've set up so now I work out almost completely in the nursery right next to the crib. He slept through most of my workout, and I even managed Ab Ripper X that I was supposed to do the day before.

Tuesday ended up being a rest day. I don't remember why. That's real life.

Wednesday I did yoga X - again in the nursery. I'm getting stronger. I've been doing a lot of the push-ups after vinyasas  now. It's so nice to feel sort of strong again.

Thursday another rest day. We have mommy & me on Thursdays now, and since it takes a lot if planning to get a workout in, I didn't want to worry about having to schedule it in around our afternoon out. 

Friday was core synergistics. I forgot how hard that workout can be. Chutarunga runs are a cruel form of workout torture. In general it's a fun workout though. I might even go so far as to say I missed it. 

Saturday I did Kenpo X. I'm getting bored with it. That could be a problem since still have 2 months of P90X to go.

Sunday I did  yoga x. I had a relatively cranky boy in my hands through a good chunk of he workout. I incorporated him into A LOT of the workout, which was challenging for sure.  

That's it for last week.

Today is the last day of this weeks workouts so hopefully I'll have that post ready soon. ;P

Fit Mama; Week 3

Monday (Day 14) would have been my rest day, but since I rested on Saturday, Monday was Kenpo X. This happened to line up with the day Joe started taking semi regular naps, SO, he sat and watched me from his rocker for half the workout and then passed out. I had a pretty good workout. Not super tough, but Kenpo is one of the easier ones.

Tuesday I jumped right into week 3 Day 15 with some Chest & Back. I put Joe down for his second nap around 330, and he stayed down for about 40 minutes in his rocker. He lasted about another 25 minutes without totally losing it. I was able to make it through most of Ab Ripper X too! Only had 4 moves left before I had to feed him. Then I finished and showered after he ate. I was really pleased with my workout overall. I managed some really great sets of pushups, and I felt so much stronger during abs than the last time I attempted it!

On Wednesday for day 16, I decided it was time to attempt Plyometrics. I remembered how hard this workout was when I'd done it before, so I put it off as long as I could. Up until a few hours before my workout, I was still contemplating doing Cardio X instead. I stuck to my guns though! Pressed play on some plyo and got my heart rate up and a good sweat going. I felt really bad when Joey got cranked and wanted to put his head on my chest, but it was all sweaty. ;/ So, I grabbed a burp cloth and put it between his face and my chest. That was about halfway through. After the freak out, he napped through most of the rest of my workout.
Earlier in the day, Joe and I also started practicing for baby & me yoga. He's so helpful - such a good ~10 lb weight. ;)

Thursday ended up being a rest day. We went to our mommy & me class in the morning and by the time we got home we we're beat.

Friday I started Shoulders & Arms and Ab Ripper X at 10:30am... and I finished my workout at 1pm. It's an hour and 15 minute long workout. There was some baby drama to say the least, but at least I finished my workout, right? 

Saturday I put Joe in his crib to stare at the flowers on the wall for a minute and he fell asleep. He stayed asleep for the entirety of Yoga X. I didn't have to stop once. I held back a little in some of the poses. It just didn't feel right to wrap my arms in right angle yet - though it's already more comfortable than last week. I also was able to hold crow pose a lot longer this time around. I was pretty happy.

Sunday I was scheduled to do Legs & Back, and I did... kind of. I subbed my first class since having a baby, and that kind of threw off my whole schedule for the day. It was so great to be teaching again! I loved it so much. Had some rust to shake off, but the class went really well. I think it was a class I would have liked to take. I did a lot of demoing too... more than I did toward the end of my pregnancy anyway. After I taught I ran a mile on the treadmill. I might have done more, but I forgot headphones and I was bored and focusing on how tired I was. Then I came home and did 30 minutes of Legs & Back before dude got fussy, then hubs got home, so we showered and went on a family trip to the park.

How was your week?

Fit Mama; Week 2

Monday was an official rest day. Technically day 7, but I could rest or stretch with the dvd. I took the day off, went out to lunch with a friend, and had Joe babysat for the first time ever by my mom and grandma. They were so excited to hang out with him.

Tuesday was Day 8 Chest & Back. We made it 45 minutes before the babe had a mini meltdown, so we sat down, I fed him and I picked it back up again. I'm still having a rough go with pushups - also, it turns out I have "mommy thumb" (kinda gnarly tendinitis in my left wrist). I'm icing it, trying to change how I hold baby, and Monday night I ordered a wrist brace for extra support. It didn't help that I was trying to do a ton of pushups though. Using freeweights as pushup bars helped take a lot of the pressure off.

Wednesday I opted to do Cardio X again for Day 9. I figure I'll try Plyometrics next week and see how I do. I managed a pretty good workout. Did need to stop and give thebdude specified but for the most part, as long as he could see me - and I was doing lots of big movements and silly faces - he was happy.

Thursday was Shoulders & Arms for Day 10. I moved my weights into the nursery so I could put Joseph in his crib and talk to him while I did my workout. He made it almost 40 minutes before that wasn't cutting it. At that point, I wrapped him up, wore him into the garage to start a load of laundry because walking calms him down, and then did my best to pick up where I left off and finish my workout wearing him. It put a little added pressure on my upper back, but I made sure to keep my shoulders down and chest up, I also couldn't do a lot of the actual moves. So I had to modify with similar moves. Lying down tricep extensions turned into overhead tricep extensions. Crouching curls turned into good old fashioned regular curls.

Friday I was at my parents most of the day, but when I got home I managed Yoga X for Day 11. I am feeling so much stronger in my chuttarungas. I even managed a couple extra pushups. Baby started to lose it while I was in right angle pose, so I literally reached behind me, rocked his rocker with my free hand and it totally knocked him out. SCORE!

Saturday my inlaws were visiting, so a little rearranging turned it into my rest day for the end of week 2.

Sunday hubs kept the babe entertained while I did Day 13 Legs & Back. That's still my favorite workout. Hubs got me a really cool (super cheap) workout accessory that allows me to thread my resistance bands between the door and the frame, so I can use my bands for pull-ups instead of the door frame pull up bar - you may remember how the door frame bar ended last March. I'll give you a hint. It may or may not have involved a concussion and bruised tailbone.
I also managed Ab Ripper X for the first time this go-round. Of course it was especially tough, being that it was my first attempt at real ab work in over 6 months. It felt so good to start using those muscles again.

Kitchen Adventures; Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Lactation Cookies

Yyyyyyep. This is the first recipe I'm posting since having a baby. These cookies are the only thing I've made, let alone baked, that didn't involve reheating frozen something I made in November.

As you know, I have a tiny one now. He eats breast milk only, so I'm very conscious of my supply, and working to maintain or even increase it a little. A friend of mine had a baby in 2013 Andi remembered she'd made special lactation cookies. I did a little research and found tons of recipes, all with a couple necessary 'supply-increasing' ingredients - oats, brewers yeast, and flax seed meal.

Good thing these cookies are yummy. Otherwise I'd have nothing to post about. 

I baked the first batch of these on Monday, and by Friday it was time to bake the second.

Oh, something to keep in mind should you make these: this recipe is giant. I hope you have plastic wrap or parchment to roll up the dough and keep in in the freezer.


Lactation Cookies
Yields about 3 dozen cookies. (more if you make them smaller than I do)

1 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons of water
2 tablespoons of flax seed meal
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
3 cups of steel cut oats
1 cup of chocolate chips
4 tablespoons of brewer's yeast

Preheat oven to 350°.
Mix the flaxseed meal and water, set aside and let sit for 3-5 minutes.
Cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar.
Add eggs and mix well.
Add flaxseed mix and vanilla, mix well.
Sift together flour, brewer’s yeast, baking soda, and sa
Add dry ingredients (flour, brewer’s yeast, baking soda, and salt), and mix.
Thoroughly stir in oats and chocolate chips.
Scoop onto baking sheet, approximately 1” balls.
Bake for 12-14 minutes
Allow cookies to set for a few minutes before removing from tray.

Enjoy!

Fit Mama; Week 1 - Getting My Body Back In 2015

Oh hey, guys, remember how I had a baby at the end of last year?

There's a funny thing about having a baby - it does a number on a human body. Then you basically sit on your a** for a month and before you even know it, you're ready to try going on a short walk, which ends up leaving you completely out of breath and wondering what happened to the strong, fit, healthy person you used to be.

No? Not You? Maybe that's just me then.

So, this is the beginning - the campaign to get my body back in 2015.

I gained 36 lbs during my pregnancy. Most of it came off on its own. On the 5th, I started taking Joe out on 2 mile walks in the afternoon, and on the 12th, after my postnatal checkup, I started working out from home. As of today, I have 8 lbs to go to get back to my prepregnancy weight.

Aside from trying to eat a healthy diet, this is what my workouts have looked like this week...

Monday I had planned to start P90X, but forgot that I had lent it to my sister, so I did 45 minutes of Dance Central Spotlight. It was so much easier than trying to dance with my giant pregnant belly. I could do all of the squat moves, move my feet faster, and most of the bouncing didn't bother me either - though next time I will have to wear a better bra. Joe loved it too. The combination of watching me flail around and listening to pop music made him very happy.

Tuesday I got P90X back from my sister, so mid evening I started Day 1 - Chest & Back. 20 minutes in, the baby lost his shit, so I nursed him until hubs got home. Then he sat with him mwhile I finished my workout, which by the way, was so freaking hard. It's a pretty intense hour long routine of pushups and pullups.

Wednesday was supposed to be Plyometrics, but I wasn't feeling ready for it so I subbed in Cardio X for Day 2. Joe was a rock star. Totally chilled out and watched me workout in the dining room. He likes to watch my workouts when I move my arms and legs around a lot. I'm so so glad opted to do cardio x instead of plyometrics. It was a really tough workout, especially considering the only cardio I'd done for a month was a week of two-mile walks.

Thursday was Day 3 Shoulders & Arms. Another really tough one. I let myself slide on some moves. I'm not supposed to push myself too hard (seeing as I was only 4.5 weeks PP). Dude was a little fussy. I needed to stop halfway through to feed him. I managed the whole workout nonetheless.

For Day 4 on Friday, I did Yoga X. It was my first time doing an actual complete practice since before Joe was born. Dude was a little fussy so it wasn't very Zen, but it worked out. I gave him a pacifier when he fussed and then he brought him down to do floor work with me. I finally started to feel stronger on Friday. I had a rough time the first few chuttarungas but they actually got easier as I went through the practice. It felt great.

Saturday was Day5 Legs & Back. Joe was pretty entertained by watching me do lots of squats and lunges. The last 15 minutes he got pretty fussy, so I started using him as a weight. I had to sub in some baby press instead of the last round of pull-ups. He worked great as my extra weight for squats and calf raises.

Sunday I managed to get my workout (and shower) to coincide with Joe's nap. He doesn't always take a real nap so this was a pleasant surprise. I put him in the rocker while I did Kenpo X for Day 6.

Sooooo, that was my first week working out again. I'm so happy I've been able to start working out. It hasn't been easy, and a lot of days its my only time off my butt, but it feels pretty darn fantastic!

I'm back to workout update posts every Wednesday (as long as I find the time to type them up - which I can usually do while nursing). Fun times. :)

A Day In The Life... with a newborn

Ok. This post is a little ambitious for me right now. I'm living a whole different life than I was just over a month ago. Every day is different and in some ways exactly the same...

This was my Friday, January 16th...

3:35 AM - I get up to feed the dude. I usually change him before he eats, but this morning I toy with leaving his diaper until we get up for the day.

4:05 AM - He's asleep, so I put him back down.

4:15 AM - He fooled me. He's grunting up a storm, which usually means he's waking up instead of falling back to sleep. I get up to check him and he's more awake than ever. I unswaddle him, change him, and reswaddle him. For a minute, before I nurse him again, we just smile big smiles at each other and he coos.

5:15 AM - I go back to bed

8:30 AM - We're up. I wash my face and brush my teeth as quickly as possible while he slowly gets fussy. He leaked pee up his back. I still don't understand the physics there. I take him downstairs. Hubs is on the couch, sick and working from home. We need to be as quiet as I can manage while change him. We do okay, and head back upstairs for baby's breakfast. 

9:15 AM - I put Joe down while I get dressed and take my thousands of vitamins, then go back downstairs and one-arm some yogurt with granola and honey for breakfast while sick hubby asks if I can turn Joe to face him because he misses his face.

9:45 AM - Joe and I play on the bed. I find a rash on his neck and upper chest. It looks like an allergic reaction, but I call the pediatrician's office anyway. The nurse says it sounds like his skin was irritated by something, to watch it, keep him clean, and make sure he doesn't start acting lethargic, extra fussy, or develop a fever.

11:10 AM - I feed Joe while updating blog, texting friends and family, and checking social media.

12:00 PM - Change full but fussy baby's diaper, put on the Solly wrap and wear Joe around the house for a while. I eat a cinnamon roll hubby made and call it lunch. Then we (me and Joe) take Panda out to get the mail. Exciting mail day. Lots of fun stuff to open; two wedding invitations, the photo book I ordered, (more) vitamins, and a pumping bra.

1:00 PM - Joe's 2nd lunch.

2:00 PM - I get my yoga mat out of my car and put Joe down in his crib. The first 15-20 minutes he was half sleeping but gassy, which keeps him from totally falling asleep. I kept stopping to give him a pacifier so he didn't fuss. Once he felt better he kept himself pretty well entertained. I moved to floor stretching and brought him down to do it with me. I'm practicing for when I *hopefully* start baby & me yoga up next month.

3:45 PM  - Joe eats. I watch Friday Night Lights on Netflix

4:15 PM - I put Joe in his stroller and we go on a quick one mile walk around the neighborhood.

4:45 PM - I am a human pacifier

5:15 PM - I manage a shower. Joe is in his pack n play in the bedroom. I can hear him but not see him. He is not happy, but hasn't totally lost it. I have a few minutes. No time for lotion. I put him on the bed, talk to him, and keep his pacifier in his mouth while I take care of my skin.

5:45 PM - Diaper change for the dude. Then I wrap him up and wear him around for a while. I eat an Asian chop salad trying not to drop bits of salad on his head, and sterilize the parts for my new pump. (I had to send back my hospital grade rental that day) Hubby and I dance around each other, trying to maintain a 10-foot minimum distance between us so baby doesn't catch his sickness.

Little dude falls asleep in the wrap. I let him stay wrapped up until he starts rooting around looking for food. Its been a while since he's eaten anyway.

7:25 PM - I take him out of the wrap and he starts wailing (even though he was just trying to eat my sternum). He falls asleep in my arms on the way up the stairs and gets right back to wailing the second I put him down to go to the bathroom. I get myself situated, turn on the PS3 and try to watch more Friday Night Lights while he eats, but no luck. The playstation needs updates so I let it run while I update my blog from my phone and send text messages. 

8:00 PM - I draw a bath for the guy. We still wash him in the sink. I think he's outgrown it and it's time to move to the baby tub. This was my first time bathing him by myself since hubs was sick. I decided to dry him off with a full size towel instead of a baby towel. It worked so much better in my opinion. For starters, he didn't soak through the towel when I wrapped him up in it. Once he's dry, I get him in a clean diaper and some pjs and head on upstairs.

9:00 PM - I get washed up and we begin what will hopefully be the last feeding of the day... And it is! I'm trying to get both of us to bed earlier - instead of starting the going to bed process at 10 and hoping he's asleep by 11 (usually closer to 1130 or 12). 

9:50 PM - I rock him a little to make sure he's asleep and put him down. I crawl into bed before 10 for the first time in over a month.