*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!!!
Tuesday 8 June 2010
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!!
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 23 April 2010
Friday 16 April 2010
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Sunday 4 April 2010
Saturday 3 April 2010
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...
Thursday 25 March 2010
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..
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..
Wednesday 24 February 2010
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Saturday 13 February 2010
Sunday 7 February 2010
Adventures in Motherhood – The Milestones
Never before have I been so concerned with calendars and development, until having a child. All actions are reviewed on a chart and compared to where he should be today. On a whole, Connor seems to be above the average for hitting milestones. He is a very strong baby. Apparently all that excessive kicking he did before he was born translated into a physically fit baby. He has been bearing weight on his legs since he was three months old. I can't remember him not being able to hold up his head. He passed a toy from one hand to the other months ago... and just the other day he exhibited object permanence when he dropped (or threw) his toy on the floor and then leaned over to look for it...
As a general rule, he hits the milestones either before the average or right on the line... for example, he rolled over from belly to back the day after he turned 4 months. The "Books" say that he should roll over belly to back between 4-6 months. Recently, he was behind the curve... in my mind, anyway... all the other babies in his age group started rolling from back to belly... I started to fret... worry... then I discovered that he had zero motivation to make this move. Connor is extremely motivated by positive reinforcement... EXTREMELY! So we helped him roll from his back to belly and then lavished him with praise... he spent the next hour perfecting the roll over himself and now he is a rolling machine.
He still doesn't enjoy eating cereal. He gets a tonne of praise and ends up eating almost a tablespoon's worth but it's a long process. I enjoy the opportunity for Cory to feed his son, but I think we are going to stop again and try again at 6 months. Connor isn't eager and the cereal isn't value-added at this point of the game.
He is sleeping better (Thanks to my demi-goddess Kara!!). Swaddling was like giving him a sleeping pill. I am learning to put him to down to sleep when he starts to exhibit signs of being sleepy and following a loose routine with him. I still haven't corrected his bed time but he is following his own schedule now. Baby steps!!
Wednesday 3 February 2010
Adventures of Motherhood - Food Rewards
So Connor is still not enthusastic about his cereal... he gets barley in the morning and rice at night. After he eats his rice cereal, he gets a treat... he drinks the leftover breast milk from a glass...
Thursday 28 January 2010
Adventures in Motherhood - The Food Dilemma
Wow.... what a hot topic feeding between 4-6 months. I don't think I've found a more diverse set of opinions on any other baby topics. Some doctors recommend cereal at 4 months, others say stay completely away until 6 months, some say only rice cereal, some say only single grain cereals, others say go ahead with low allergen foods...
So in my complete confusion, I made my own decision... I'd let the kid decide if he wants to try stuff. He is being offered a rice cereal and a barley cereal. To be honest, he isn't a fan but he's a trooper and tries it for me. He seems to like the barley cereal better than the rice cereal but he isn't enthusastic by any stretch. I'm sure he will get the hang of it eventually...
Wednesday 27 January 2010
Adventures in Motherhood - Sleep
Okay, I am admitting that we have screwed up.... Connor does not go down for the night until 3-4am and sleeps until mid to late afternoon, with a feeding every few hours. He will fall asleep on my lap or in my arms but the second his back touches the crib mattress, he wakes up and starts wailing. In order to get any sleep, he has been coming to bed with us and nursed to sleep. While this does give us a chance to sleep, it is a poor quality sleep, fearing that we may roll on him or some other parental nightmare. My hips and lower back are so sore from being in a locked position all night.
Our biggest issue is that Connor will go to sleep but seems to wake himself up. He falls asleep with his feet in the air but as they gently relax into sleep, they drop down and wake him up. I've almost conquered this one by rolling up a blanket and placing it under his legs when I first put him down, if I have progressed to the point that he will actually lay down.
So we have our work cut out for us... we need to get him back into his own bed, change his bedtime back to a more suitable time and get him to fall asleep on his own.... should be simple enough...ha!
Our biggest issue is that Connor will go to sleep but seems to wake himself up. He falls asleep with his feet in the air but as they gently relax into sleep, they drop down and wake him up. I've almost conquered this one by rolling up a blanket and placing it under his legs when I first put him down, if I have progressed to the point that he will actually lay down.
So we have our work cut out for us... we need to get him back into his own bed, change his bedtime back to a more suitable time and get him to fall asleep on his own.... should be simple enough...ha!
Tuesday 12 January 2010
Saturday 2 January 2010
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