2017 Goals

Seeing that it is almost February, it's probably time to write down my 2017 goals, right? LOL.

1. Dress up more on the weekends and when I am at home. It's so easy to throw on a sweatshirt and yoga pants to do anything and everything on the weekends. I have really been trying to make an effort to dress up for dinners out with the family and to look a bit nicer in general when I go out in public. I have continued my goal of doing my hair and putting on makeup more often so the next step is my clothes. :-)

2. Continue to send paper cards to friends for their birthdays. This has been a goal for the past couple of years and I have kept it up. I know how much I love receiving mail and think that my friends would too (I do get thank yous from friends every year. They are also amazed that I remember- well, generally I don't but I use a free website called birthday-reminders.com. I input birthdays and I get an email 7 days beforehand which gives me time to buy a card and send it! (If I was smart I would buy all the cards for a year ahead of time but I like to personalize the card for each friend.)

3. The usual lose weight goal. I'm back at 208 but really want to be at 190 by the end of the year. I've got to do better about eating healthy- especially while I am still BF so that I can burn the extra calories!

4. Part of that weight goal will include working on being more active. Right now during the week I am going from 5am to about 8:30pm (depending on when the kids get to bed). I'm not sure I have it in me to wake up before 5am to exercise. I do take Buster on walks three days a week (Sat, Sun, and my telework day), but my body is itching for MORE and HARDER exercise. This goal will get easier once I am no longer breastfeeding as I will get that time back. For now, I would like my goal to be to work out 4 days a week.

5. Spend more quality time with CP. I would love if we could take a trip, or even just stay overnight in downtown Chicago, just the two of us later this year. We try hard to have one date night every month- thank goodness my mom is willing and able to babysit!

6. Breastfeed Wes *at least* as long as I breastfed Izzy. I don't think that this one will be too hard. Wes is now 6 months old and I made it 7.5 months before Izzy decided she no longer wanted to nurse....so I don't have that long to go. Best case scenario I breastfeed until the end of winter. I would be okay with mostly formula feeding and then maybe nursing in the morning and at night as he gets closer to the age of 1. 

7. Run in at least two races this year. I don't care the distance, but participating in races makes me more accountable with my running!

Microblog Mondays: Why I March

On Saturday I joined 250,000 close friends in Chicago at the Women's March. Less than two weeks beforehand, organizers thought that we would have 22,000 people....so to jump more than 200,000 is amazing!

Being that I am a privileged white female, this was my first march. I wasn't very political in high school and *just missed* being able to vote in the 1996 presidential election (I turned 18 in December of that year). In college I was too worried about sports, my boyfriend, partying, etc. to really look too hard into politics. That changed right before the 2000 election and I have been paying attention ever since. However, nothing so far has gotten me off my a** until Trump was elected. I would still say that I am fairly safe, but I am not okay with my friends OR strangers being vulnerable to terrible policies and illegal actions.

Thankfully CP was in town and able to stay home with the kids so that I could meet up with my sister, her husband, and some friends for the march. Cell phone connection was spotty because there were so many people there, so when my sister got an alert on her phone that we weren't going to march because there were too many people, I first became disappointed. Then I was pissed and knew that other people in the crowd would be pissed too. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but about 15 minutes after we got the alert, the crowd started shuffling and we were off, slowly but surely.

Waiting to march

Marching towards the Loop

My favorite sign of the day

I am happy that I made my voice heard on Saturday and put Trump on notice that I will be watching and participating more than I ever have before.


Want to read more Microblog Mondays? Go here.

6 months!

Six months

Height- will find out at appointment next week

Weight- 20 lbs, 10 oz (with a onesie and diaper on) last week. Holy poop does Wes earn the "Chunk" nickname!!

Nicknames- Chunk, Buddy

Diapers- Size 3

Milestones- Right after Wes hit 5 months he rolled over (from front to back- CP saw it...I did not until days later). He hasn't done it too much since then- lazy boy! We are still working on sitting up and not toppling over.

Working on sitting up while playing with a Christmas toy

Sleep- Ugh. The beginning of the month Wes started waking up for no reason right around 4-4:20am. That meant that by the time I nursed him and he fell back asleep I only had 20-30 minutes to try to get myself back to sleep before my alarm went off at 5am (which simply didn't happen). I would have rather he woke me up at 2 or 3am so that I could get some sleep afterwards but it wasn't in the cards. :-( Generally he is in his crib by 8-8:15 depending on if CP is around to put Izzy to bed or if it is just me doing bedtime.

My little elf

Naps are pretty good- in fact the other parents are jealous when they hear what a good sleeper he is (according to his teachers). He generally naps three times a day, one being two hours or so and the other two around an hour. When I pick him up from school he ends up falling asleep on our short 7 minute ride home and sleeps for 30-45 minutes which is super helpful because we are rushing around to feed Buster, get outerwear off of Izzy, get dinner ready, etc. Some nights we are able to shove dinner into our mouths before he wakes up and wants to be held. He is also pretty good about settling himself to sleep while drowsy, both at school and at home. So at least there is that....

Clothes- He is now solidly in 9 month clothing and nothing so far is big on him. I'm not sure how long he will be in this size....

Eating- Wes eats 3 6oz bottles every day at daycare (we added an ounce to each bottle this month). My supply dropped a TON in December because I wasn't pumping enough at work so the past few weeks I have been fighting to get my supply back. It's back up so Wes will get less formula (yay boobs!). The other big news is that Wes starting eating purees later this month! His first puree was sweet potato/breastmilk which he wasn't a huge fan of. We also tried mashed avocado which was not a big hit. However, while I was out of town this past weekend Chris fed Wes steamed carrots and he ate a ton!

Eating all of his steamed carrots

Not a huge fan of mashed avocado

Teeth- No teeth yet but I'm hoping that one pops soon because boy is Wes unhappy at night.

Likes- Watching Izzy and Buster do anything, grabbing Buster's fur, nursing, drooling, putting his hand or toys in his mouth, kicking water in the bath, pulling mommy's hair and daddy's beard

Misc- This month Wes perfected the lower lip pout-into a quiver-into crying. It's so adorable and sad at the same time.

Wes' first Christmas was a bit chaotic and we are horrible parents because we neglected to take any pictures of Wes (I took only three of Izzy). Hopefully we will do a better job next year.

An interesting difference between Izzy and Wes this early on is that Wes seems to be more interested in CP than Izzy was at this age. If Wes is nursing and he hears CP's voice he immediately stops to turn towards CP and give him a big smile. Obviously CP is eating it up!

Phew! I sent Wesley's birth announcement just in time to get back his congratulations card from the Obamas! :-)

Obama Farewell Speech

Tuesday night I got to be a part of history. I was lucky enough to  score a ticket to Obama's Farewell Speech from work and it was amazing. It was such an honor to be in the room with him. 

My ticket!

We got in line around 5pm when the doors were just opening. Little did we know that A LOT of people showed up way before 5pm so we were actually towards the back of the security line! We waited for a good 2.5 hours to finally go through the metal detectors.

Waiting to go through security

With only 30 minutes until Obama's speech started we finally headed towards the hall. I guess we were late and missed Eddie Vedder's performance.

Heading into the hall

I have to admit, when Obama came out on stage, I had to wipe away a tear. I am going to miss this man. The crowd started to chant "YES WE CAN!"

Obama speaking on the big screen

We were pretty far back but if I got on my tippy toes I could see Obama speaking.

I don't know if you could hear it, but every once in a while, people would shout "FOUR MORE YEARS!" or "I LOVE YOU OBAMA!"

My view from towards the back of the room of Obama. He is to the left of the seated crowd, right above the blue thing in the center of the picture.

Towards the end of the speech when Obama was thanking his wife, his kids, the Bidens, etc. I started to get teary eyed again because it was so sweet. The crowd roared in approval and everyone was yelling "JOE!" when we saw Joe Biden on the screen. I finally got home around 11:30 with my boobs aching (the last time I had pumped was at 4pm) and my legs exhausted from standing for 4+ hours.

I am so honored and happy that I got to see Obama's farewell speech. My ticket is already hanging in my office and I hope that over the next few years I can look at it and remember how far we have come and how much we will have to fight for the progress that we have already made as a country. 

Yes we can. Yes we did.

Day in the Life: Winter 2017 edition

Welcome to the quarterly Day in the Life post! If you are interested in documenting a day in your life for posterity (DO IT!) please read up on how to do it over at My Life in Transition. You have until January 22nd.

Day in the Life- Winter 2017

January 8, 2017

CP is 40 years old

NSC is 38 years old

Izzy is 3 years old

Wes is 5.5 months old

Buster is almost 6 years old

I went to bed a little after 11 last night. Wesley woke up at 3:30am hungry- despite nursing from both sides and a 6 oz bottle before going to bed at 8pm. Damn this kid is hungry. He nurses from both sides and thankfully he falls asleep afterwards (for the past week he has woken up in the middle of the night and even after being fed, he cries when we put him down). It's super frustrating because he had gotten very good about going back to bed.

7:25- we hear Izzy singing in her room so CP gets up and gets dressed. I lay in bed hoping for a few more minutes. CP says he didn't even realize that Wes got up last night (of course). Izzy comes bounding into the room and flings herself on me asking why we didn't say good night to each other last night (CP put her to bed after dinner because she was a mess). I get hugs to make up from last night.

CP and Izzy head downstairs and I have about 10 min before Wes wakes up. I pull on clothes, go pee and pick up Wes. He gives me a smile when he sees me. Change him, give him his reflux medicine, and then head downstairs. I nurse Wes while talking to CP about what he should make for dinner and breakfast/lunches this week. CP goes up to shower; Wes spits up all over me. Izzy and I play pretend that we are teachers and Wes, CP and Buster are the students. She has an A sticker on a piece of paper and we (I) teach the kids different words that start with the letter A. Wes is fascinated the entire time with Izzy and simply stares at her.

I sit Wes on the floor with the Boppy behind him so that he can work on his sitting. We play with a toy while Izzy works at her art table. I give Izzy a warning that we are headed upstairs at 8:30 to change into clothes for swimming. We take her pull-up off (not sure why CP allowed it to stay on) and head upstairs. I put Wes on her bed and pull out clothes for her and her swimsuit. She quickly gets her clothes off but then runs around the room naked. I try to make a game about putting on her shirt but she runs around, bouncing from wall to wall, until I threaten no swim class if she doesn't get her clothes on. We finally get them on and she runs into our room while CP finishes getting dressed. 

Wes spits up on me again so we go into my room where I change my sweatshirt. I head downstairs where Izzy is finally eating some blueberry yogurt. I put Wes down on the circle of neglect and start to make my breakfast (two eggs over leftover sweet potato and bacon hash CP made yesterday). I eat quickly while CP works on getting Izzy out the door for class. 

Cutie patoodie

Once done I start to play with Wes and smell poop. I let Buster outside then change Wes. He rubs his eyes so I give him the milk sign, he smiles, and we sit down to nurse. I then realize that today would be a good day to do the DITL because I am out of town next weekend. He falls asleep while nursing and I start to type up the morning. I let Buster in and take Wes upstairs at 9:45 for a nap.

The house is quiet without Izzy and I could workout but my breakfast is still digesting so I decide to pluck my eyebrows. I realize that I neglected to take my birth control pill this morning so I take that with my prenatal. I also put a face mask on because why the heck not. I decide to fold laundry while listening to a new podcast for me- My Favorite Murder.

10:15- Wes is up and is not crying so I quickly put the rest of the clothes away and wash the mask off my face. I head into his room where he is working on pulling up his legs.

Look ma

Downstairs we go and he goes on the circle of neglect for tummy time and I grab a glass of water. Buster comes over for some petting and playing.

Please play with me

Izzy's swim class runs from 9:30-10 and then the two usually head over to Corner Bakery with a daycare friend who is also swimming for a muffin afterwards. Today they are going grocery shopping too so it will still be some time before they are home. Wes starts to fuss so we nurse. More play time with different toys and on his stomach, back and sitting up.

Tummy time

Working on sitting up

I eat a banana and mash up a tiny bit to feed Wes. He makes a face and eats a little. CP calls to tell me that Izzy is in the middle of a tantrum so he is dropping her off before going to the grocery store- oh fun.

They come in as I am changing Wes. Izzy gets mad at CP and accuses him of following her. She then says she is sad. 

Izzy's sad face

CP leaves and I offer up playing in the living room or sun room. Izzy doesn't like that idea, nor does she like my idea of going upstairs to read books. I offer to bring books downstairs to read and she agrees. Wes sits in my lap for a few minutes while reading but gets fussy so he goes on the circle of neglect while I read with Izzy. She picks two new Christmas books to read, both about the human body. I read them to her, thinking that they will be a little old but she is interested in both. 

Not a fan of having her picture taken

At the very end of the second book Wes started to fuss and then cry. Izzy then starts to cry because she wants to be picked up...despite the fact that we snuggled the entire time while reading. 

Ahhhh my threeager

Unfortunately it is time to nurse Wes but she calms down quickly and starts to use her water pen. CP comes in and starts to unpack groceries, I start to heat up the takeout Indian food we got last night. Izzy only wants white rice for lunch. 

Halfway through lunch Izzy has to go to the bathroom. For an unknown reason she starts spitting on herself.

After lunch Izzy runs around the sunroom from side to side. Wes' head swivels to watch her run back and forth which is pretty hilarious. 

Always watching Izzy

We then head up to her bedroom to get a sweatshirt on, read books, and put pullup on. Izzy tells me that she doesn't want to wear a pullup and I tell her that she has to stay dry for one week to do that. I realize before I start reading to her that I have to pee and change my tampon. Despite telling Izzy to stay in her room, she barges into the bathroom and quickly asks "Why did you put that in your pagina mommy?" I don't even know how to answer that question.

I get Izzy into bed and then get dressed in some warmer clothes in order to go outside. While I was upstairs CP gave Wes some formula and called his mom. I hang out while they talk because I am sort of tired. I finally motivate to take Buster on a cold walk despite the 8 degree temps outside. We only encounter one other dog during the walk so it was pretty easy. I listen to the This American Life podcast during the 30 minute walk.

I am home at 3:30 and I make a cup of hot chocolate to warm up. Izzy is upstairs singing and not sleeping which means she is not going to be fun tonight. I nurse Wes and he falls asleep so I bring him upstairs and put him in his crib. He wakes up but doesn't cry too much so I jump into the shower. I quickly shower, dress, etc then head into Izzy's room to wake her up and then Wes' room to grab him. Izzy took off her socks and put her pj pants over her pants and wants to keep both on when we go downstairs. Of course there is pee in her pull-up so we take it off and I find the socks in her bed. All three of us head downstairs.

I ask Izzy if she wants a snack. We settle on half a granola bar and some carrots and snap peas with a little ranch dip. 

Thankful that she eats veggies

She agrees to do a puzzle with me and I basically sit back and watch her do the puzzle while playing with Wes. 

Working hard on a new puzzle

Meanwhile, CP is making dinner in the kitchen. When he is finished I meal prep breakfast for CP and salad lunches for myself. 

Egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches

Salads for lunch

Buster gets a few leftover veggies as treats in his bowl. He also gets the skin of a sweet potato which I cooked in the oven yesterday for Wes. I mash up the sweet potato with a little breastmilk which we will try to give Wes tonight at dinner.

6pm- Wes is hungry so I nurse while CP makes eggs for Izzy for dinner. The beans in our dinner are taking forever to cook so we eat our side salad with Izzy. In between bites for me I feed Wes the sweet potatoes- he amazingly doesn't spit it out like Izzy did when she was his age.

Not so sure about sweet potatoes

I take Izzy to potty and thankfully her poop is solid (was not yesterday morning). We watch the end of the Packers/Giants game and as an Eagles fan I am happy to see the Giants lose. CP takes Izzy upstairs at 7 and I turn on the Golden Globes while Wes plays in the exersaucer. We head upstairs around 7:20. I change his diaper and outfit, give him his reflux medicine, nurse both sides, and then  he struggles to stay awake through the bottle of formula. Izzy comes in to stay goodnight. I finally let Wes sleep and head downstairs around 8:15....he was too tired for a book tonight.

Around 8:30 the beans are finally cooked enough to eat the Spanish stew that CP made- spinach & chick pea. At some point I grabbed frozen breastmilk from the basement to thaw in the fridge overnight. I start the Golden Globes over and CP is confused about the Stranger Things kids during the introduction. I convince CP to watch first episode of Stranger Things. He likes it and we switch back to the Globes afterwards, fast forwarding through the boring parts. Meryl Streep's speech was awesome!

While watching the Globes I read about an app called Countable where you can contact your representatives in Congress and read up on bills. I download it and share the information on the app with friends on Facebook.

At one point I look at the clock and realize it is 10:45 and way past our usual bedtime. Thank goodness I am working from home tomorrow so that I can sleep in a little. I head upstairs and put away a few clothes, brush my teeth, and take my contacts out. Kiss CP goodnight and set alarm on phone for 6am.

Wes up at 2:35 to nurse both sides and I head back to bed around 3:05. Come on buddy what gives??

2016 recap

Every year I see Jess take this survey and I think, I should have done that! Well, this year I am.

1. What did you do in 2016 that you’d never done before?
Had a son.  Became a manager.  Potty trained a kid.  Visited a second island in Hawaii. Watched the Cubs win the World Series!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Last year I didn't write it down on the blog, but I had hoped to keep up with sending out cards for birthdays. I LOVE getting a card in the mail and my friends always are happy to get it. I mostly get them to friends on time... I will make a resolution for 2017.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I did! But also a good friend from law school and two neighbors.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
Sadly our trip to Costa Rica got nixed because of Zika fears and my pregnancy, so no international trips in 2016. I did travel to the Big Island in Hawaii, Boston for work, and my parents place in Michigan a few times. It was certainly an off year for traveling for me.

6. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016?
Assurance that our renovation of our home won't go totally over budget.

7. What moments from 2016 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Seeing Wes struggle to breathe while in the NICU. Jumping up and down for joy when the Cubs won with neighbors. The dread that followed the election. 

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Becoming a manager at work. I beat out a few coworkers and all but one of my employees is younger than me. So far I think that I am doing a decent job?

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not being patient enough with Izzy when I was in my sleep-deprived state with Wes as a newborn.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Other than a tough c-section, nothing major except for bronchitis and a sinus infection that took a month to finally go away. 

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A monthly cleaning service for our house. I still have to clean but I don't have to spend all of my time cleaning.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Izzy for totally stepping up as a big sister. She is so proud of Wes and to help us do things for him. It's the most adorable thing.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Trump. Racists.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Daycare and our mortgage.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Completing our family and never being pregnant again. Hillary Clinton as President.

16. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Sadder simply because of the election.
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner because I am no longer pregnant!
c) richer or poorer? Technically richer because CP and I both got pay raises but having two kids in daycare means money is quite tight.

17. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Sleeping, working out, and eating better. Volunteering to make phone calls for the election to people in the Midwest.

18. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worrying about how I was going to handle two kids. It's tough but both are still alive so far...

19. How did you spend Christmas?
At home. We opened stockings as a family and then the gifts from in-laws before my sister, her husband, and my parents came over. We had brunch before opening gifts. Izzy was excited to show "Frozen" to the crew so we watched that (in lieu of a nap for her) before my aunt, uncle, and two cousins came over for dinner. It was an exhausting day.

20. Did you fall in love in 2016?
Yes- with Wes.

21. What was your favorite TV program?
Game of Thrones or Stranger Things.

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

I already hated DJT so that isn't new....but I certainly hate him even more than I did last year.

23. What did you want and get?
A second child to complete our family. A fun trip with Izzy to Hawaii.

24. What did you want and not get?
Hillary Clinton as PEOTUS.

25. What was your favorite film of this year?
I only saw one film in the movie theater this year because it is simply something I don't do, but it was AMAZING. Bad Moms was hilarious.

26. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 38 on a Saturday. CP forgot to wish me happy birthday that morning so I was in a bad mood. I also had bronchitis and felt like crap so I was cranky for the morning but told myself to suck it up anyway. That night we went to a neighbor's house for a party, I had some champagne and felt much better. :-)

27. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2016?
Maternity clothes for the first half of the year. Nursing bras and easy to pull up shirts. This fall I worked on trying to look nicer in general.

28. What kept you sane?
My one day of telework a week. Facetime with CP when he is away on work travel. My parents. A monthly cleaning service.

29. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Kristen Bell has been entertaining me all year. Izzy loves her in Frozen and she was fantastic in Bad Moms and The Good Place.

30. What political issue stirred you the most?
Everything surrounding the election and Trump. This will continue into 2017.

31. Who did you miss?
Friends that live all over the country. Hopefully I get to see them in 2017.

32. How many miles did you run this year?

31.77 miles. I was pregnant half the year, had to wait until September to start running, and then I lost December to bronchitis. Here's hoping 2017 is a better year for running and just working out in general.