9 month body update

I remember when I was pregnant seeing an update from Miss Conception and being surprised that many months later, the after-effects of pregnancy couldn't be ignored. I kept hearing from others about how pregnancy changes your body forever, but I guess I didn't think that it would happen to me?  

HA HA HA HA HA.

Tomorrow Izzy will be 9 months old and she will have been outside of my body longer than she was inside my body. My pre-pregnant self and my pregnant self would have liked to have known these things so here is what has and hasn't changed in the past 9 months (for the 5 month update click here): 

*Although my hair loss only lasted about two months or so, it seems to have all fallen out close to my forehead so I definitely notice a clump of hair on one side of my head that is only about two inches long when I pull my hair back. It will certainly be interesting as it grows out....

*My weight has been consistent for the past 4 months which I guess it's a good thing that I haven't gained any weight since Izzy stopped nursing?  I am still hoping that I can lose at least a few more pounds.

*Biff and Harry the hemorrhoids are STILL THERE.  They don't cause any trouble but seriously, when do they go away???

*I have no more issues with uterine soreness after working out, but my abs are still not very strong.  I think that 9 months of not using your abs/not sucking in your stomach ruins them.  I'm sure a c-section doesn't help matters. I try to remember to suck in my stomach when walking or really doing anything but I often forget. I also should probably be doing some ab work in general...

*Sexy time is back to normal.  It basically got better once I got my period when Izzy was around 5 months old.

*Prior to getting pregnant my boobs were a bit lumpy which made it hard to do monthly self-exams. Then they got huge with pregnancy and nursing.  Currently they are floppy, but even before pregnancy (because of their size) they were floppy so this isn't too much of a change. They have gotten a bit smaller since I am no longer nursing, but I am wearing bras that I wore pre-pregnancy when I was 15 pounds heavier.  That means that my band size and cup size haven't changed despite being lighter.  Whamp whamp. The only change that I truly notice is that they are smoother and less lumpy, so that is sort of nice.

*Yes, there is more on my boobs. My nipples were constantly out during pregnancy and continued to want to show themselves off while I was breastfeeding- it didn't matter if I was cold or hot.  They have retreated slightly but still come out to play more often then they did pre-pregnancy.  

*I still have a lovely pouch above my c-section scar.  I don't think this is going anywhere unless I lose some serious weight.

*I sure ate a lot of Tums during my pregnancy to deal with the heartburn (especially towards the end of the pregnancy), but these days I am not needing to take my charcoal pills very often for heartburn which is great! I have only had to take them probably 3 times in the last 9 months whereas prior to getting pregnant I would probably take them once a month.

*I can still sort of see my stretch marks- they are definitely turning white and no longer are an angry red color. I won't be sad to see these go, although I guess they will never truly go away.

Overall?  I don't hate my new body.  It's certainly different and it still needs work, but I certainly don't fret about my body as much as I did before pregnancy. Who has the time?  

Every time

Every time CP travels to Thailand:

• By the end of the two (this time three) weeks my caffeine consumption is through the roof.
• I am exhausted.
• I am irritable.
• I do not do as much self-care as I should.  I have great intentions when he leaves cooking healthy things and running the first week....but by the second and now the third week I am too run down.  What kind of take out can I order tonight?  Is a mile walk with Buster sufficient for exercise today? Ha.
• I thank my lucky stars that I am not a single mother or a military wife. I seriously don't know how they do it. I mean I do because really, you would just do it. But it would suck even more than my situation.  At least I know an end date of help that is not too far into the future.
• I thank my lucky stars that Izzy is a good sleeper.
• I am glad that I am not a stay at home mom. Although work is stressful and running to/from the train station in order to get the right trains for me to pick up Izzy and Buster on time is stressful, I do get a bit of a break during the day.
• I get annoyed because I can't plan anything in advance. I have been trying to plan something with our friends for weeks now.  We are finally going to get together Labor Day weekend but we haven't seen each other since Memorial Day weekend! Which, WHOA summer is basically over.
• I get frustrated at work because I must leave at a certain time to catch the right train in order to pick everyone up from their daycares (i.e. kid and doggie). That means that even if I am in the middle of something and I am finally on a roll, I have to pack up what I am doing and head off to the train. I don't have a backup for pickup. This also makes it tremendously stressful when the train is running late, or in the case of a few weeks ago, if the train hits and kills someone (it was the train ahead of us but we obviously sat there for a while).
• I try to keep up with housework- vacuuming, laundry, etc but the garden usually gets the shaft as do other errands/chores.
• Buster simply doesn't get as much love because there is only one of me and I haven't seen Izzy all day and only get an hour or so with her at night.  She takes priority until she heads to bed.
• I wonder how the heck I will manage if we have a second child and he travels this much???!??!

Tomorrow CP gets home from his three week work trip.  He missed Izzy crawling, clapping, waving goodbye, pulling up on a step, etc. in person.  He also missed the plague that hit me on Monday morning.  Stomach issues, violent puking, and not being able to keep anything down led me to ask my mom to come to my house after work to help me pick up Izzy at daycare and help me take care of her until she was asleep. Izzy wasn't happy about seeing me but at a distance so I did give in a little bit, but so far she has stayed healthy.  I am still having stomach issues and ate dinner for the first time last night in three days.  Needless to say, I am more than ready for CP to get home.

Wednesday bullets

*This summer I have seen a TON of pregnant women. Unlike two years ago or even when I was pregnant, but not showing, I am not jealous of the women. I do look at the bellies though, marveling at how funny they look with a basketball under their shirt- despite the fact that I was in the same boat just last summer! What a great summer to be pregnant though- at least here in Chicago it has been in the 70s or 80s every day except for a few hotter days (this is NOT typical).

*Yesterday I went to CVS on my lunch break and bought a few things, including a new bottle of prenatal vitamins. I continued to take them while I was nursing and have decided to continue to take them. If I am hoping to do a frozen transfer of my one and only embryo in January, that's only 5 months away. I might as well stay in the habit of taking them...I've been on them for 4+ years anyway! So as I was checking out, the clerk asked if I was pregnant. First off, I hope that I don't LOOK pregnant, but seriously what a forward question! I told her that no, I had a baby and just lied and said I was still nursing. Then she mentioned that she heard that taking prenatals keeps women from getting pregnant.  Ummm what?  Weird lady.

*I have been using my train commutes recently to use the app Duolingo. It's a FREE app to help you learn a language. I am using it to brush up on my Spanish before we head to Spain in December and it's awesome. It's mainly my vocab that needs refreshing so it's perfect!

*The piece of technology that is pissing me off the most is my Nike Fuelband. I haven't been able to sync it with my iPhone via Bluetooth in probably a month. It's really annoying.

*I randomly saw an ad on Facebook for Ecodu. It's a company that created a kit to turn an old formula canister into a play toy. I love re-using things and even better that it was a play toy that we didn't have for Izzy! At eight months she doesn't get the concept of putting the pieces into the circle/square/etc slots but she loves to chew on the pieces and play with the canister! (Note: they have kits for the major brands, not just Similac.) 

Izzy and her Similac/Ecodu canister 

*We have yet to baby-proof the house now that Izzy is crawling. I want to strike a balance between keeping her safe and not over-doing it. I worry if we over baby-proof that she won't actually learn not to touch certain things. CP ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazon and it should arrive here in time for us to do some baby-proofing when he gets back from Thailand.

*Unfortunately most of my pictures from the White House event I attended while I was in DC include me in them so I'm not going to post them, but Izzy got a souvenir from my trip! I was hoping to hit the White House gift store that supposedly has items that you can't find in the regular shops but sadly it closed before I was able to get there.  :-(  

I couldn't resist.  :-)

Oh and I also got to see Michelle Obama speak while I was in DC which was awesome!!

FLOTUS!!!

She is clearly reaching for me...  :-)

*This past weekend was the first time I felt old at a wedding. My cousin got married and although she is only 7 years younger.....it made quite a difference. The couple had a hashtag for people to talk on Twitter/Instagram about their wedding, they played music I had never heard at the reception, etc. It was the first wedding since I turned 21 where I didn't really drink which I'm sure didn't help. (I had to drive home from the city by myself- it was our first time leaving Izzy with a babysitter that was not my parents! We found the babysitter at our daycare- she claims that Izzy is her favorite and that she would quit her job to be Izzy's nanny if we wanted her to. The good news is that everything went great and Izzy had a big smile on her face when the babysitter showed up at our door.)

*Speaking of how awesome Izzy is, she was a total trooper the night before the wedding. My cousin invited us to the rehearsal dinner so that everyone could meet Izzy and she was such a hit! Luckily she took a late nap during the car ride downtown because dinner didn't start until 9pm and we didn't head home until 11 or so. She was up the entire time and absolutely fantastic. No crying, fussing, etc. Just smiling, happy, and excited to get some of mommy's dinner! She did have a bunch of random wake-ups throughout the night but settled down by herself so I didn't have to get up. Honestly, best baby ever.

Izzy in her rehearsal dinner outfit.  The bracelet is from a friend of the family who got it in Cambodia (I guess baby jewelry is a thing there?)

*Finally, I wrote most of this post yesterday but now when I am finishing it up to post it, I want to cry.  Not only did Izzy have a bad night of sleep- she cried out four different times last night- two of them I needed to go into her room to calm her down, but CP called this morning to let me know that he has to stay in Thailand for an extra week.  I was really looking forward to him coming home on Friday but now it will be THREE WHOLE WEEKS that he is away this trip.  I am not coping well with this news.

Last bottle

Yesterday I gave my last bottle of breastmilk to Izzy. 

Yes I took a picture of it

I made sure that I gave it to her for her morning bottle so that I would be the person to give her the last bottle of breastmilk. 

Yes I took a picture of Izzy drinking it because I am clearly insane

It sounds a little crazy, I know, but stopping before I was completely ready has made me a little weird about the whole thing. Now we move into a few months of expensive formula before switching over to cow's milk. 

I am happy that I was able to nurse Izzy for as long as I did. Frankly, I probably would have kept nursing her in the morning and at night for a while if she would have let me. But there are definite positives to having milk-free boobs once again. (I can finally declare my boobs milk-free as of last Weds.) I am doing my best to think about all of the positives, but I am still surprisingly sad about no longer nursing.  This is despite the fact that when I am feeding her a bottle, I get to look into her eyes more than I did while she was nursing (big boob problems).

Every once in a while I get a twinge in my boobs but they have deflated as they are supposed to. Now I'm waiting for them to shrink a little (please, please shrink!).

All of my pumping parts, my nursing pillows, lanolin, maternity clothes, nursing clothes, and clothes that Izzy no longer fits into have been boxed up and put into the attic. I hope with all of my heart that I get to use everything up there again.

8 months old

Height: Not sure

Weight: Last I checked 19 pounds with a onesie and diaper on.

Milestones: Oh boy this was a big month.  Last month Izzy started having toys "play together" and she does this even more these days.  Putting one toy on top of another one, banging a handheld mirror against anything and everything (ha).  She has a few toys that she will play with for a long period of time, but mostly she sits with toys around her, playing with one for a minute or two, then switching to the next toy.  Despite her slow start to rolling, this month she became a pro because she isn't quite crawling just yet.  She has quite the reach now and will use a variety of moves to get whatever she wants- rolling, spinning on her butt, walking her hands out, etc.  She is fun to watch!

Izzy does a whole lot of bouncing up and down on her butt and when she is near a table or chair, she grabs at it and tries to pull herself up (she doesn't get very far).  Her standing is getting better and sometimes she will hold on with only one hand. Now that she has no problems sitting up we have taken the sling out of her bathtub and it's much easier to take her shopping because she can sit in the shopping cart (I had been putting the entire infant car seat into the shopping cart which made it impossible to get a lot of stuff at the grocery store because her seat took up so much of the cart!)

I am a typical first born child- a rule follower who holds on to the cart the entire time we are in the store!

I'm on my rocking elephant all by myself!

Everything still goes right in her mouth.

Language: Izzy learned her first sign- "milk."  I haven't been very good about being consistent and signing with her and although I told daycare that we would be working on signing with her, I'm sure they haven't been doing anything as well.  So it was a complete surprise when we realized that she was actually doing the milk sign soon after she hit 7 months!!  We are now working on "all done", "more", "eat", and CP made up a sign for "daddy" (essentially throw your hands excitedly in the air).  LOL.  She may have done "more" a couple of times but it is hard to tell.  In terms of words that she recognizes, she will get excited and clearly know what we are talking about when we say the words Izzy, milk, Buster, and daddy.  Sadly, I think that I say daddy more than CP says mommy so I'm not sure she knows mommy right now.  :-(

Lots of babbling and shrieking, but no real words.  Once in a while she will say "dadadadadadada" but isn't actually equating dada with CP.

Favorite Toy: Probably her handheld mirror.  We joke about "Izzy smash" because she will smash the mirror down on other toys- the outer plastic certainly has some dents.  But the handle is her most favorite thing to chew on.

Sleeping Habits: Still a rockstar sleeper. This month she decided to turn over to sleep on her stomach which completely freaked me out.  After talking it over with a neighbor and realizing that she has no problem with neck control, pushing up, rolling over, etc. I am not so worried any more.  I think that she does wake herself up a little more when she is on her stomach- one or twice a night she cries out waking me up but she settles back to sleep within seconds.  Maybe she is having bad dreams?

Eating: Izzy gets five 6oz bottles throughout the day- generally around 6:45-7, 10, 1, 4, and 7.  After her nursing strike we started to use the frozen breastmilk and she got two bottles of that a day past her 8 month birthday. Once she started to like solid food she got lunch.  Two weeks later we added dinner.

This month she also made SO MUCH PROGRESS in this area in terms of solid food.  At the beginning of the month I was fretting because she didn't seem to like purees, but wanted adult sauces. I ended up going to Michigan to see my parents (CP was in Thailand again) and we tried to give her small pieces of meat (hamburger and steak) and she ate them up!!

Mmmm steak

Homemade South African sausage and orzo pasta

After that weekend, something "clicked" and she suddenly LOVED food.  She LOVES her oatmeal for lunch- I usually make it with a combination of pear, apple and/or bananas. Recently she has had mashed potatoes or veggies (corn, carrots, potatoes) with basil.  If we are out for a meal I usually give her pieces of whatever I am eating- hamburger, eggs with veggies, etc.  We went out for sushi this month and while I didn't give her any of my rolls, she did eat some shrimp shumai (off chopsticks!) and liked it!

Yay!

I have been busy making Izzy's food!

For the most part we are feeding her with a spoon but give her some puffs before her meal so that she can work on her hand/eye coordination. She is getting better, but Buster definitely gets a few extra treats every night!

Diapers: Still in cloth diapers with a Size 3 Pampers disposable at night.  She is wetting through pretty often at daycare, even though they are changing her every 1.5-2 hours.  I have asked our diaper service if we can get a few bigger diapers in our next dropoff tomorrow to see if they are better at keeping in the pee....otherwise, we may be switching to disposables soon.  It's getting frustrating for daycare and for us!

Clothes:  Izzy is solidly in 9 month clothing and she has a few 12 month items that I have her wear.

Illness: Izzy stayed illness-FREE all month long!!!!  

Other highlights:  Izzy finished her swimming class.  CP thought it was a waste of time, I thought it was helpful to simply introduce her to the water. 

Her first Fourth of July parade.  Izzy liked the high school bands and the dancers the best.

Watching the parade

Finally, this month Izzy survived an entire five days with CP while I was in DC.  :-)

Izzy continues to be a very happy, smiling baby.  I am definitely so, so lucky to be her mom.

Summer 2014 Day in the Life

The text and pictures are actually from over a week ago but this was the first time I had a chance to put the post together!!

5:45- alarm goes off. I was definitely having a weird dream where I was wearing an odd costume and rapping "Rapper's Delight." Maybe it is in my head from watching Drunk History the other night?

I take Buster out, then feed him. I start to make Izzy's bottles for the day. One 4oz for her morning bottle, then 5 5oz bottles for the rest of the day. I use two frozen breastmilk bags, the rest is formula. I label 4 of the bottles for daycare, take out Izzy's lunch (homemade fruit compote) and head upstairs to wake her up.

I wake Izzy up, snuggle for a minute as she slooooowly opens her eyes, then change her diaper and put on her clothes for the day. She is very wiggly these days on the changing table and always wants something in her hand/mouth.

I feed her a bottle while talking to her.

When she is done, we read a quick book before CP comes in to take her downstairs and drop her off at daycare. 

I give her a kiss goodbye, tell her to have a good day, kiss CP goodbye, and yell downstairs to Buster to have a good day at doggie daycare.

6:40- I jump in the shower and realize that I am running late.

7:03- out of the bathroom and I rush to get dressed, throw cherries and blueberries in a Tupperware container and lock up the house. No time for breakfast, guess I'll have it at work.

7:13 leave my house & walk quickly to the train station. Arrive downtown and I'm into work at 8am.

9am- I finally have time to make my Apple & Cinnamon oatmeal in the microwave.  I also eat my blueberries and cherries.

Work.  It involves conversations with my boss, lots of emails, a long conference call, a meeting, drafting some documents and a few phone calls ("could I be any more vague?" said in my Chandler Bing voice).  It is broken up by lunch with my mom.  My dad was in CA last week and randomly went to a baby store and bought some clothes for Izzy.  They are super cute and I think that it is adorable that my dad is buying clothes for her.  He NEVER bought clothes for me or my sister, so it's nice to see that he is taking his Grandpa duties seriously (not the buying her stuff, just loving her and thinking about her).  :-)

4:30- I rush out of the office and power walk to the train station.  Luckily it is only 75 out today so I am not sweating by the time I sit down in my seat.

5:30- wait in line for new monthly train pass, then walk home from the train.

Once I get home, I throw on more relaxing clothes, and get in the car to pick up Buster at doggie daycare, then Izzy at daycare.  

We get home, I unpack the car and head inside to play for a few minutes before Izzy's dinner.

6pm- Izzy eats homemade veggies with basil and some cut up Michigan blueberries for dessert.

CP gets home and checks out Izzy's new clothes.  He decides to put her in the top of the box and push her around on the carpet.  She enjoys it and then plays with the box for a few minutes herself.

Buster decides that he wants some love as well.

We also work on Izzy's standing skills.

At 7pm, I take Izzy upstairs and change her clothes and diaper before giving her one last bottle. She isn't quite exhausted so she starts to roll around in her crib before I even leave the room. Her front teeth are coming in and bothering her so I also leave a pacifier in her crib with her.  She'll bite and play with it for a few minutes but won't need it to fall asleep.

8pm- CP and I finally have dinner.  It's Southwestern meatloaf which we thawed from the freezer.  Amazingly enough, we are still working through all of the food that CP made before and right after Izzy was born!

It doesn't look great but it is delicious!

We watch tv and finally head to bed at 10pm.