AG; Year 5

Five years ago today, we ...

...got married.

 9.17.11

Four years ago, we ...

Kitchen Adventures: Toddler Smoothies

 As is tradition with many toddlers, mine refuses most green vegetables. This has required a touch of creativity on my part, as the preparer of most of his food. Seriously, though, hooray for daycare providing meals when he's there. We'd probably both lose it if I had to make him these smoothies for every meal.

For now though, he ABSOLUTELY LOVES these dang smoothies. See that grubby little toddler hand trying to get his smoothie off the counter?
He gets healthy nutrients and slurps those things down in mere minutes. I kid you not. As long as there are no chunks to clog the straw, he doesn't even take breaks. His smoothie is gone before I've made my own. I even step it up a notch and use my homemade coconut milk.

Kitchen Adventures; Coconut Milk

I rarely post on here anymore. I posted on instagram asking if you wanted to see a post on homemade coconut milk. Responses were a yes, so here it is.

I'm the worst. My goal has been to get on here more... but we all know how that's going.

ANYWAY! If you know me at all - and you probably do a little bit since not a ton of people look at my blog anymore and those that do have likely been around for a while - then you know that I'm a little bit crunchy. I'm a little into DIY and a little all natural... but I won't go all preachy or judgey on you because I'm not all gung ho crunchy mama 100% of the time either, frankly.

Currently; May 2016

It's been a super long time since I've done one of these, so I figured, what the heck!? If you're interested in what I've been upto lately and whats all goings on and such. Keep reading...

Currently I'm...

Reading...
Very slowly working my way through Room. It's pretty interesting so far, but I just don't have the quiet time I used to to actually get into a book. I'm still enjoying it though.

Watching...
We've been super into YouTube. Having talks (with my hubs) about starting a channel, but I know thats a really big time commitment and I'm not sure I want to be one of those people who just talks to themselves everywhere... oh wait, I do that anyway. :P
Shows I'm enjoying right now are Jane the Virgin, Last Week Tonight, Game of Thrones, @Midnight, aaaaand Silicon Valley. If you're not on the Jane the Virgin train, seriously, its amazing. Get into that.

Breastfeeding is hard; Part 2

(Want to read part 1 first? Click here.)

Our first full day at home is kind of a blur. As I write this, over a year later, I recall this was the day my grandparents came to visit.

Breastfeeding barely registers on my memory. Pillows stacked high. Trying all different positions in vain. I remember more how much I loved staring at my baby's face, and how much my whole body ached.

The nights though - the heat on high because of that terrible woman telling us "baby boys born in the winter were most likely to die of SIDS". My hands and feet were hot and puffy so I don't know how much I would have slept anyway.

The tiny one would fall asleep nursing. I could easily put him down, but would wake 15 minutes later without fail. I don't remember sleeping. I remember Tim telling me "he's hungry" and snapping at him because I didn't understand how the baby could be hungry.

Breastfeeding is hard; Part 1

I was around 37 weeks pregnant when I went back in for a second complete anatomy scan. The midwife was concerned that my belly was too small, which turned out to be unnecessary because baby was absofuckinglutely perfect, but before we knew that, at the end of the scan, the tech hovered the wand over his face for a few extra moments to show us our baby was already practicing suckling. We watched him there on the screen, sucking on his tongue. That image is burned into my mind. My baby was practicing eating. He was real and ready to be out on his own.

When we left the hospital on Sunday, December 14, 2014 with a 36 hour old baby in tow, he had still not properly latched. Turns out, that whole sucking on his tongue thing was actually a problem.

In the delivery room the Friday before, midnight approaching, the room was dark when I came out of my first assisted trip to the bathroom and my kick-ass no-BS labor & delivery nurse, Krystle, helped me try to breastfeed my baby for the first time. I was already in my wheelchair, ready to transfer to postnatal, and she wasn't concerned when we couldn't quite figure it out. It wasn't her specialty and she knew that the lactation consultant would come by my room in the morning to help. It was already practically morning anyway.

Kitchen Adventures; Spinach & Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Finding nutritious foods that a toddler likes has been a bit of a challenge for me. For the most part, he loves food in general, but certain green foods - broccoli, green beans, spinach, etc - he will taste and then reject. Every. Single. Time.
So, I've been finding ways to slip green food into my (as it turns out) picky todder's diet. He already downs homemade pouches every day, which is where he gets most of his green food, but I was looking for something different.

A girl from our Mommy & Me recommended a pancake recipe she makes for her son. Hers included blueberries and had no cottage cheese. It almost felt like a waste to blend blueberries up into pancakes when they're one of the few foods I can reliably count on him to eat raw every time he's handed some, so I opted for spinach only, and maybe I'd add a nut butter for flavor?

I ended up keeping it super simple. This recipe makes about 12 sand dollar size pancakes.

1/2 c. 4% milk fat cottage cheese
1/2 c. rolled oats
3 eggs
1 large handful of fresh (washed) spinach

Blend. I used a Nutribullet.
Pour a few dollops into the skillet of your choice on medium heat, wait until it starts to bubble, flip, give it another minute. Done.

The batter is on the thin side, so be careful pouring.

I ate these for breakfast too. They're pretty good. :)

Yoga Baby; 14 Months

So... remember when I used to be really good about posting these updates every month?

My kiddo is 14 months old now! I can barely handle it. He's so much fun. Such a joyful, rambunctious little boy. I kinda can't handle that he's a full on toddler now. Whoa.

A Day In The Life of a Toddler Toting Working Mom

I decided to document a Wednesday for this, which - along with with Tuesday - is one of our toughest days. Those are the days I teach yoga and then Joe comes to the office with me and I have no one to help me with him. Maybe next time I'll document one of our easier days.
Here goes...

Kitchen Adventures; Zucchini Banana Toddler Muffins

Hi there, blog! It's been a long time. My last post was after little dude turned 8 months (5 months ago), and since my last baking related post its been even longer still.

But y'all - I baked! I baked something new and it came out great and I'm excited to share it with you. 

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.