Tuesday 8 June 2010

Adventures in Weight Loss - The Beginning

*Sigh* Well I'm back to work in 2 months plus a week. Last night I started going through the closet to see what fit and what didn't... sadly the "didn't" pile is very very large. I boxed up what didn't fit and now my closet has 4 pieces of work clothing in it... I have 3 options in front of me... buy new clothing, convince work to change the dress code to sweatpants and PJ's or lose weight... So we now embark on the adventures of weight loss...

I was overweight before the pregnancy, then I gained 49 lbs growing my boy and it's not coming off as well as I would like... I have a goal to lose the weight I gained during pregnancy plus substantial more.

The first step is writing down my goals... there is a harvard study that shows that students who have written goals are 10x more likely to succeed in achieving those goals. So here we go...

Before pregnancy, I was 172 lbs... I topped out at 221 lbs and now am completely stuck at 192 lbs. I want to weigh 140 lbs but that is a long term goal... my immediate concern is getting back into my work clothing. I have 69 days to lose 20-25 lbs... to keep it healthy, my goal has to be 172 lbs by August 16...

That is 2 lbs per week...

Now it's time to make the plan!!!

Friday 30 April 2010

Adventures in Motherhood - My Truths

A few weeks ago... or was that months ago... who knows... someone asked me to tell them the truth about childbirth and a few other things. She said that she always hears "it was the most beautiful thing... blah blah blah... lemme blast some more rainbows out my butt at you". Of course, I'm paraphrasing... anyway... she said that she KNEW I would tell her the truth...

Now, I have to admit that I'm not a normal case... first, I had to be induced at a hospital that does not offer epidurals and my pelvis proved to be too small for my baby's head. These two items alone are a recipe for a really bad day...

So to answer her first question... did it hurt? OH MY GOD, the best way to describe it was like putting my pelvic bone into a vise and having an uncontrollable urge to tighten the vise every few minutes. The decision to do the C-section came after I ended up standing up on the birthing table shaking in pain.

How was it to come home... this was really hard. I can remember walking into the house, holding the baby and thinking "Now what?". We had the baby room all set up, the bassinett in our bedroom but nothing in the downstairs of the house to put the baby in or on... we hadn't thought about that part. I spent the good part of the first 6 weeks holding Connor. I ended up with a really sore arm for quite awhile.

Her final question was "What advice would I give..."

Have things to put the baby in... playpens, bassinets, swings, bouncy chairs, excerisers, play mats... they seem to cost a lot of money but they are worth their weight in saniety.

Read the sections about C-sections... even if you don't plan on having one... read it anyway... you never know what will happen. Honestly, I was relieved when the conversation turned to the C-section in the delivery room.

As crappy as it is to keep the I.V. in after the baby is born, it is a source of morphine. Keep it to the bitter end!!

And the most important piece of knowledge...

No matter how hard you try, you cannot O.D. on nitrious oxide... once I figured that out, my day greatly improved!!

Friday 26 March 2010

The Vocabulary of Connor

Cory and I have been a couple for 17 years... as with most couples who have been together that long, we have our own language. For example, about 15 years ago, we were at a bakery and the clerk could not find the proper coding for the delicious treat we were buying... she chose to code the sinful morsels as "Blueberry Muffins". To this day, EVERYTHING in a bakery case is now referred to as a blueberry muffin.

Now that we have Connor, our language has expanded. Here is a brief dictionary of terms...

Honey Cake... verb.... this is the act of becoming extremely intense and overstimulated by a toy or object. Used in a sentence... Connor went all honey cake on the Xbox controller. Phrase Origin - It comes from an evening that Connor got his mitts on a ziploc bag full of.... you got it... honey cake... he got so excited that when we took it from him, he literally vibrated for a few minutes.... Thus was borne the phrase... Honey cake.

Noodle... verb... swaddle. Used in a sentence... Connor needs to be noodled to go to sleep. Origin - dunno

Noodleage... noun... A quality scale for swaddling. Used in a sentence.... That's some mighty fine noodleage there, honey Origin - Derived from Noodle.

The list is long and growing with every day... Part II is coming...

Monday 1 March 2010

Adventures in Motherhood - Connor the Person

We are just a few weeks away from Connor being 6 months old. I've been going through the pictures and video for the last 6 months, it blows me away the differences and development. I find that I often talk about his physical development and down play the person he is becoming... I guess I use the videos to tell that tale...

Connor is extremely good natured. He wants to smile even when he is upset. He spends most of his days laughing and chatting with us. He smiles in his sleep and beams when he wakes up... He doesn't like to sleep in his crib, he prefers to sleep on my lap or in my arms or in the middle of our bed. To go to sleep in his crib he needs to be swaddled and the bed needs to be pre-heated with a heating pad. When he is sleepy and nursing, he plays with his hair.

He thrives on positive reinforcement which he receives by the bucket load. He cries if he thinks you are upset or if he thinks he has done something wrong (i.e. Biting a nipple). He startles easily like his mom... loud noises make us jump, but never make us cry.

He thinks farts are funny and so are sneezes. Although, he thinks our sneezes are loud and scary and he needs to be reassured that we didn't explode. He only likes to snuggle when he is feeling sleepy but there is a fine line between sleepy and cranky. Awake time is for kicking, wiggling, rolling and bouncing.

He will accept any food offered even if it makes him shudder and he is always willing to taste it again just in case he had it wrong the first time. When he is done eating, he is rewarded with the left over breast milk in a shot glass... we are pretty sure this is the only reason why he eats anything at all.

He loves to watch the dog's tail wag and is planning how to grab it. He loves the feeling of cat fur between his fingers especially when attached to a cat. He can stand himself up unassisted as long as he has his daddy's thumbs to pull himself up on and that makes him very happy.

He loves music to the point of distraction. His entire world stops for the opening theme song to the Gilmore Girls and M*A*S*H. He really doesn't like to be disturbed when these are playing so please don't block the television. In fact, TV only exists to him when music is coming from it...

He is certain that his life will improve greatly if he could just get his lips around the Xbox 360 controller and is willing to have a temper tantrum when his attempts are thwarted.

When he is crying because he feels he needs our full attention, he has a pouty lip that makes me smile every time. When he is serious about crying, his head turns bright red.

When he touches silk, he looks like he's touching the best thing in the world...

Well that's a little bit a snap shot of Connor the person... it changes and grows every day..