Bad day and baby food

Do you ever just have one of those days? Today was mine. First of all – it's Monday…enough said. Then, I put on my pre-planned outfit fresh out of the clean laundry basket…and promptly got spit up aalllll down one leg. Then, I got to work and both of the people in our front office were out sick, so I had to go sit up there. I could go into detail, but let’s just say there was a series of frustrating events (mostly involving computer issues) that occurred one after the other for about two hours. Then I broke a nail…and I think I have hives… So rather than dwell on today, we are going to talk about this weekend.

I made baby food!!! It was super easy – I’m still not sure if S likes it or not. He is eager to open up for the spoon, but then he makes a funny face when he tastes it…so I’m not sure.

Here are the steps I went through:

Step 1: Peel sweet potato, cut into small chunks.

 

Step 2: Place in frying pan and put just enough water in to cover. 

Step 3: Cover, bring to boil, cook until tender.

Step 4: I let thing cool for a few minutes, then used a slotted spoon to scoop the sweet potato chunks into the blender. I added a couple of serving spoons full of the water used to cook the sweet potatoes, and pureed everything until it was about the same consistency as the rice cereal we’ve been using. 

Step 5: Spoon into ice cube trays and freeze. 

Of course, we can't forget steps 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, and 5.1: receive constant basset hound assistance. Whenever I'm doing something in the kitchen, Lola has to come up behind me, or beside me and put her paws on my but or my hip to see if she can help with anything. I have no idea where she gets this. I never give her food when I'm cooking.

"Don't you have scraps I can get rid of for you?"

 

We had a lot of good quality family time this weekend. 

Little man started to get tired at my parents' house and my mom rocked him and sang to him. As soon as she would stop singing, he would fuss. I think she was pleased with her captive audience.

When he was no longer happy with that, he was content to snuggle his dad.


What did you do this weekend?

So Happy It's Thursday

Well, I could keep complaining that my back is out of whack and driving me crazy because I'm dying to run...but I figured I would take a break from complaining today and do a "five things" post.

TV choices that prove I'm a nerd. 
1. Doctor Who. I'm not a true-enough fan to have watched the originals, but I love the newer seasons. I have a Tardis key chain that hangs from my bulletin board and makes the spiffy Tardis noise when you squish it and I can enter into a heated debate on which Doctor is the best - even though I can't choose - Cody and I have gotten into some heated discussions about his dislike of Matt Smith and his misguided belief that Rose Tyler was the most epic companion. ...My wallet may also resemble the Tardis a bit...

2. Star Trek. My mom was a hard core Next Generation fan when I was growing up, so I've probably seen almost every episode. Cody and I are currently watching Voyager and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

3. Firefly. I think to be a card-carrying Sci-Fi nerd, you have to fully believe that there as a conspiracy involved in Joss Whedon's epic show being cut short. I keep my card hidden, but it's there. Shiny.

4. Stargate. This is one of my all-time favorite Sci-Fi shows. We still own all ten seasons.

5. Almost any superhero show. The Flash, Supergirl, Smallville, etc. 


Things I love about running.
1. The challenge.
2. The endorphins.
3. The community.
4.  The shoes.
5. The calories burned.

Random facts about me.
1.  I am the world's slowest texter. Cody teases me that I am the fastest typer and the slowest texter he's ever seen. I text with one finger and refuse to abbreviate anything. This may be why I don't text very often.

2. I love wedding stuff. I love to look through wedding magazines, but am embarrassed to buy them because we've been married for 11 years. Cody will buy me a couple if I'm sick, or put them in a gift basket for presents. Yup - he's the best.

3. I hate Jello. I don't trust it. It moves by itself.

4. I used to rock climb and I love heights...but ladders freak me out. I discovered this after climbing up on the roof of our rental house a few years ago to shovel snow. Surprised the heck out of me.

5. Cody and I got married super-young. I was 20 and he was 19. While this might not be the best thing for everyone, it has worked out amazingly well for us since we were able to grow into adults together. I think that's one of the reasons we waited over ten years long to have a baby - we were thoroughly enjoying being young and silly together.


Plans for the weekend.
1. Take the final for my Managerial Accounting class.
2. Fix my treadmill belt...again. Possible sell a kidney to buy a new one if necessary. I need my treadmill.
3. Finish the curtain project I started over a year ago (I'll explain in a separate post).
4. Make and freeze some sweet potato baby food. Feed some to S and take lots of pictures.
5. Take several hot baths and do lots of stretching to try and get my back to behave.
5.1. Cook a fresh vegetable in a way I've never tried before. (We need to expand our eating repertoire.) I saw a recipe for grilled Brussels sprouts that looks strangely appealing. 

Anyone else have big plans for the weekend?

 






 

Yard Work Not Recommended

It was all going so well... Do you know what's not so good for a healing back issue? Five hours of yard work. Sigh.  My back has been totally locked up for the past three days (hence, no blogging).

Note: This was after about 3/4 of the limbs had already been hauled off.

My father-in-law assures us the tree will "branch-out" again next spring.

I knew yard work wasn't the best thing for my back, but I didn't feel like I could just let my in-laws do all of the yard work for us, while I sat inside on the couch. Said in-laws were amazing and took five or six loads to the dump and helped us collect 22 lawn and leaf bags and two boxes full of leaves. We owe them some serious favors.

Before the yard work, I managed to do some cleaning and get high-chair put together. **Side note: I was telling my mom about the spiffy space-saving high chair I mentioned here, and she had one sent to our doorstep. Best. Mom. Ever.

Some assembly required. 

The finished product. If you tuck the tray behind the seat, you can push the chair in, saving a ton of space. I'm a huge fan!

I'll do a full review in a few days, once we've had a chance to put it through its paces. So far, so good.



While I was assembling the high chair, little man was out like a light. At one point, I peeked over the sofa to check on him and saw this little face smiling back at me...

Once he was awake, he decided to help me out with my vacuuming and sweeping...

So he followed me around, throwing toys as he went to show his support.

Have you ever over-done, knowing you'd pay for it later?

Random Thoughts for Thursday

Hi all! I enjoyed the "Random Thursday Thoughts" so much last week that I thought I'd do it again. I think I like it because that's how my brain works. Talking about subject, talking about subject....ooooh! something shiny!

Random Thought #1: PT exercises day 4: Still going pretty well. S was super fussy last night when we were over at the in-laws' for dinner and I held him and bounced him for a long time. My back said, "Additional weight on your front? We remember this. Initiate back pain." [I'm not sure why my back is a collective, but who can say?]


Random Thought #2: Little man's Nana bought him some warm, cozy jammies - they're adorable!


Random Thought #3: S is getting ready to start solid food and I was doing some research on how best to go about that and, for some strange reason, I'm really excited about this. I can't wait to watch his little face when he tries a new things.

Random Thought #3.5: Due to said research - I'm totally making some baby food this weekend. Also ridiculously excited about this. I'm nerding out. I didn't realize making baby food was so easy. Steam, blend, freeze? I can do that.

Random Thought #4: This book. I'm hooked on this series (on audio) and can't wait for my walks at work. Just when I think things are going to settle down, something new and gripping happens. Love it!

Random Thought #5: I forgot to mention that I did not get the job I interviewed for. The supervisor sent be a really nice e-mail telling me that they were very impressed with me and qualifications, but they had someone apply with more internal accounting and payroll experience. I was sad for about a minute, but then I was relieved that I wouldn't have to go through a huge change.

Random Thought #6: This view:

Pay no attention to the security fence.

I felt like I should hear a choir of angels singing or something. It was amazing. Gotta love Montana!

Final Random Thought: So excited for the weekend!!! There will be rain and baby feeding and baby-food making...oh, and some gentle running. So EXCITED! [imagine little-kid-excited-hand-clapping - cuz that's what I'm doin']

What's your random thought for Thursday?

Unexpected Aspects of Parenthood

First of all, I will report that day three of PT exercises in the morning is going well. I did cut out my last 15 minute walk yesterday because my pelvis was hurting. It is so hard not to just muscle through and do it anyway because I want progress NOW. I hope I'm not overcompensating and taking it too easy. Patience is the order of the day. I just have to try what I'm doing now for a couple of weeks and then reevaluate.

By the way, I created a page for "Pregnancy" that has some notes about my pregnancy and the accompanying birth story - so check it out if you're so inclined.

As I was writing things out, it made me think about being a parent and how some things are different than I thought they'd be. Here are a few:

I'm someone's mother. Okay, obviously I knew this was going to happen. I had nine months to prepare for it right? I thought about having a baby and loving it and all of the warm fuzzy feelings you have when you're expecting your first child. But - dude, I'm someone's mother. I will say things to S like, "Are you smiling at Momma?" but when someone calls me a parent, it is a bit of a shock to the system.  
 I am far more emotional about other people's kids. The other day, in the grocery store, someone had a small child (around two-ish?) in the cart and he was crying and reaching for his mom while she was trying to pay. In the past, I might have been sympathetic, but a little annoyed  - I mean, the child was clearly not in any danger, he just wanted to be held. Now, I wanted to go over and scoop him up ( I wouldn't, of course - people get arrested for that). I felt like I wanted to cry and was very anxious to get home and snuggle my baby.



I'm ornerier (is that a word?). I asked my mom when she transitioned into feeling like a grown-up, and she said when she had kids. I totally get what she means. Apparently being responsible for keeping a tiny human alive has given me the gumption to not feel shy about speaking up for myself and my family. I suddenly don't feel shy about questioning my husband's new doctor when she hasn't reviewed his test results, and I would not hesitate to go mama bear on anyone that even looked at my baby cross-eyed.

I want to be home all the time. I used to think I could never be a stay a home mom because I'd go crazy. Now I know that's not the case. It is almost physically painful to leave him in the mornings and I want to be present for his every expression.

Babies are expensive. Yes, logically I know this. When we were planning to have a baby, I knew finances were a bit tight, but I assumed I would be able to breast feed and cut down on costs. Nope. S never took to nursing and my supply dwindled quickly. Holy crap, formula is expensive!   

Baby smiles fix everything. No matter how stressed out or irritated I am, one little gummy smile immediately makes my heart happy. One night, S was really fussy and I was trying to change his diaper (at 2 am) and he was fussing and flailing and I was trying to figure out the complex oragami of snaps on baby pajamas without turning on the light. I wanted to yell in frustration, but then S looked up at me and smiled, and just like that - everything was fine. I didn't care that I was exhausted, or that his chubby little baby legs kept flailing out of his footy pajamas. It was totally worth it. **I think this is some sort of evolutionary self-defense mechanism that babies have developed.

I love to watch other people with my baby. I thought I might feel possessive and not want other people to hold S, but it makes me so happy to see my family fall in love with him too. I love to hand him over to my sister or mom and see their faces light up. I love that he flaps his little arms when he sees someone familiar.

S with my dad aka "Nonny"

 I'm sure there are a million other things, but these are the ones that come to mind at the moment.

Parents - what are some things that surprised you about having kids?

Happy Tuesday, My Inner Runner, and Lists

 Happy Tuesday, everyone! I'm not sure why, but Tuesdays are one of my favorite days of the week. I think it just be the fact that it isn't Monday anymore.

Day two of physical therapy exercises seems to be going pretty well. I'm starting out with 10 minutes in the morning and stretching at night in the hopes that I won't overdo it. So far, so good. If my daily walks go well and I'm still feeling good by Friday, I might try a gentle interval run (my inner runner just clapped her hands with glee).

So if the inner runner is clapping her hands and the outer runner can't run - what do you do? Well, being the nerd that I am, I make lists and plans. I have a Project Planner notebook that is full of lists and plans for everything from weight loss to school schedules and home improvement plans. It is delightfully random and gives me a lot of joy. So, of course there is a page for the project "Return to Running." The list looks something like this:

• Morning PT exercises: Do 10-15 minutes of PT exercises  in the morning and 10-15 minutes of stretching at night.
• Daily walks: Continue to walk at work during breaks (1 hour total per work day).
• Add treadmill: After 2 weeks of steady PT exercises and stretching, add 15 minutes of treadmill time in the morning. Walk if necessary, but slowly add gentle running intervals.
• Transition out of PT: Use the 10-15 minutes reserved for PT to do ab exercises, planks, and push ups. 
• Increase treadmill time: After 2 weeks of 15 minute workouts, increase treadmill time to 30 minutes, slowly increasing running intervals until you can run 2 miles nonstop consitantly.
• Start running for distance: Slowly increase distance to 3-4 miles per day with a long run of 6-8 on the weekends.

Under the "Next Steps" section, I have listed my goal to run a marathon by next September (or the first week in October if I have to use my backup race), so I will need to start training by mid May or early June.

Making a plan always makes me feel better about things. It helps remind me that even though I'm not where I want to be right now, I am headed in that direction... however slowly. Fortunately, slow and steady is kind of my jam.

I will leave you with a photo from the weekend that I forgot to post yesterday:

S with his Auntie Erin

What's your inner runner doing today?

 

Weekend Recap in Pictures (Mostly)

First of all, I'll start with the weigh-in: 310.4. This is up half a pound from last week. Quite frankly, I'm relieved that it wasn't more than that. In the past, the thing that's really driven my weight loss has been exercise. Even at my heaviest, I've always enjoyed how I feel after a really good workout. Now that my back and pelvis are hurting so much, I'm really struggling.

Being in pain and not being able to do the things I want to do is taking its toll. So - I actually followed through with one of the things I mentioned on Thursday. I set an alarm and went through some physical therapy exercises this morning. This has become my new mission. As much as I want to make running my mission, I have to get things working again. I had a couple weekends of wallowing and eating junk, but it's time to move on. I am nothing if not stubborn (just ask Cody) and determined.
**Other people use their blogs to give themselves pep talks, right?

Right, so - the weekend:

 This group had a starring role in all of my weekend activities. They make my heart happy.

 
I managed to get the living room/dining room cleaned, swept, and vacuumed.

 I can't say that too much decluttering happened, but I got things to the point that if someone stops by unexpectedly I won't have a panic attack.

My family teases me because I always like to put everything at an angle. Things just feel more open that way. Maybe I'm secretly a feng shui master.

 
Then there was this project:
I decided to crochet a couple of iPod touch cases for my niece's birthday. Things started off a bit dodgy. There was one that had to be scrapped completely, and I ended up throwing out the pattern to wing it, but it was super-fun. It make me want to crochet cases with googly eyes for all of my belongings. 



Have you ever tried to take a selfie with a baby? It goes something like this:

 I got up early enough to actually blow dry my hair, put on makeup and pick out grown up clothes. When little man finally started to stir, I picked him up and paused by the mirror to look at his face and he had the biggest smile. I thought "this would be a great picture." Yup, I tried the mirror thing, but that didn't go well, so I thought I'd give it the old arms-length try. These were the best ones.

And, of course, my day was off to a great start because I got a new pair of seasonal socks. Yay!

 

Happy Monday, all! I hope you have the equivalent to seasonal socks to brighten your day.

What oddball things (like seasonal socks) make you happy?

Random Thursday Thoughts

Works every time.

 Random Thought #1: Do you ever feel more tired after a full night's sleep? Monday night I didn't get much sleep because little man was feeling fussy. Then last night, I went to bed early and slept for like 8.5 hours and now I can hardly keep my eyes open. I feel like my body is saying "Sleep? I love sleep, let's do more of the sleep."
 
Random Thought #2: I am really happy it's a short workweek. Yay for Federal Holidays! Thanks, Columbus.


Random Thought #3: I'm not sure if it's the exhaustion talking, but I'm feeling a little disheartened. My back and pelvis have been bugging me all week even though I haven't done anything but walking. I need to set an alarm and go through the exercises I got from the physical therapist when I was pregnant. I keep thinking "I need to do that..." but then I don't. Maybe if I set an alarm it will give me that little extra push to actually do it.


Random Thought #3.5: I'm really missing running right now and you know what they say: "you have to be able to walk without pain before you can run." That's a thing, right? I've been so focused on how much I want to run that I haven't been doing some of the things that could help like light strength training and yoga. But don't worry - I hear moping about being overweight and not running burns calories. True story.



Random Thought #4: On a less depressing note: my in-laws fed us a steak dinner last night. It was amazing. Cody's parents always watch little man on Wednesday afternoons and then feed us dinner. Is it rude to give my other family members a list of demands? If you want to see the baby we'll need two large pizzas, a helicopter, and a straight shot to the border... nope -that's the wrong list.  Side note: sleepy Megan is extra-sarcastic. Sorry.

Also true with husbands...just sayin'.

Random Thought #5:  There needs to be some hard-core decluttering this weekend. Have you  noticed I specifically didn't post any pictures of our new furniture arrangement? Yeah, there's a reason for that. Stuff. Everywhere. I'm on a mission this weekend to master the clutter - or at least knock it back a bit so we can see some of the flat surfaces in our house. Challenge accepted.

Random Thought #6: Having a baby is the best excuse for everything. "I can't make it to your catalog party." "Sorry my house is a mess." "There's spit up on my shirt." "I need to be home so I the baby can be in bed by eight."

What's your Thursday Thought?

Weekend Recap - Yes on a Tuesday

I had an amazing weekend. To quote Office Space, "I did nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be." It was rainy all weekend and we stayed hunkered down in the house watching Netflix and playing with the little man. It was perfect.

Okay. The "nothing" didn't actually start until Saturday afternoon. Friday morning I helped my parents out with some stuff they had going on. Then I came home and ran into the recliner that was sitting in two pieces in my dining room. Cody inherited said recliner from his parents - so there was furniture to be moved. We decided to get rid of the couch and chair that are in our downstairs family room (because we never spend time down there), and move my chair and part of the sectional downstairs. It sounds so simple, right?

The chaise aka "my chair"

Our massive sectional. Yes, it's as cozy as it looks.

So the furniture dance went something like this: move chaise into the dining room, pull the sectional out and shuffle pieces, (sweep, vacuum, swear never to speak of the things we found behind the couch, etc.), move bottom of recliner into corner, attach top piece of recliner, bring basement chair up, move chaise downstairs, try to move corner-piece of sectional downstairs only to realize it won't fit through the doorway, have anxiety attack due to massive amounts of clutter, take ibuprofen for super-fun lower back/pelvis pain. 

Then, because it was still raining, my brother-in-law (who was set to take possession of the basement furniture) couldn't come until morning...so there was some sideways shuffling around furniture for the rest of the evening. We were finally divested of the excess furniture on Saturday morning with the help of a super nice guy from work. Soooo..... the fabulous nothingness began on Saturday afternoon. I had visions of decluttering and changing the curtains, and that didn't happen.

Sunday there as much lounging and snuggling with an evening at my parents' house to cook my mom a birthday dinner and watch the debate. Monday I didn't have to work (yay-Federal holidays!) and we spent the whole day watching Netflix and playing with the little man. It was perfect. I don't even feel guilty for not working out or watching calories closely.

That being said, my weight is up a bit 310.2 (up one pound from last week), but I had a lot of salty food yesterday, so I'm not terribly worried about it. I'm back at it this week and fully expect to see a nice loss by Monday.

I will leave you with some cuteness from this weekend...

 

He is fascinated by his toes.

Run in the Rain and a Blogging Fail

First of all, I have to give a shout out to the best husband ever! I mentioned that I really wanted to try and get a run in after work and he got the pooch and the little man all packed up so that we could go to the park when I got home. He even made us tuna sandwiches so we I wouldn't get hungry and change our my mind (he knows me so well).

Old shoe photo, just for good measure.

So, I had a glorious two mile walk/jog in the rain. It was beautiful. The 1.5 mile track winds in and out of trees and has some gentle hills. It is awesome. I think the last time I ran here was during marathon training. Of course, any self-respecting blogger would take a few pictures along the way, right? Some shots of the path...Me-looking all wet, but happy... The obligatory shoe picture so you can see how awesome my neon green shoes are... How about a shot of my Garmin when I as done? ...Nope. I remember thinking at several points along the way that these would be great photo ops...but did I have a phone or camera? No. I did not. ...Blogging Fail...

The run itself had glimpses of awesomeness interspersed with a knee that was hurting and a body that felt - well, like it weighed 300 pounds. I tried not to get frustrated that I used to be able to walk as fast as I was jogging. I may have to leave the Garmin behind next time and not pay attention to how fast I'm going. Progress will happen, I just have to keep plugging away at it, right? I know the more I run, the fitter (is that a word?) and lighter I will get. The lighter I get, the easier running will be. The bright side? My Garmin says I burned over 600 calories going just two miles. That may be a bit over-zealous, but I'll take it. The celebration that followed involved warm pajamas, a snuggly baby, and a couch. Endorphin-laced laziness is the very best.

In other news, do you know what happens when you tell everyone how well your baby is sleeping? He wakes you up. At two am. And won't go back to sleep. I want to be mad at the little stinker, but then he looks up and gives me a huge gummy grin and my insides go all squishy. Cuteness is the ultimate self-defense mechanism. That and that snuggly baby smell. I don't think most babies would make it to adulthood if it weren't for these things.

I'm looking forward to a four day weekend (thank you Columbus day) with lots of naps, couch snuggling, running, and picture taking -I promise.

Happy Thursday, Friends!

Rainy Day, Thyroid Issues, and Wishlist Wednesday

I just have to say... rainy weather + thyroid issues = sleepydon'twanttodoanything. Sigh.

View from my office window. Rainy.

I'm pretty sure I'm having some thyroid issues again. They haven't checked my levels since at least a month before S was born and I've been having a TON of trouble with fatigue and feeling like I'm getting sick (but then I don't). I'll get a full night's sleep on the weekend and then will be falling asleep on the couch at 3:00 in the afternoon. Grrr... It was all I could do to make myself walk at work yesterday. I wanted to sit like a blob and do nothing. But I did it! I did not, however, make it for an after-work run. Oops. I know I'm going to have to make an appointment and go to the doctor, but I've been putting it off because I feel like one more doctor bill might just make my head explode.

The last two nights, S has slept from 7:30 until 4 or 5 the next morning. Yay! I think the only things that wake him up are the need for a fresh diaper and the fact that his little hands get chilly. After you change him and feed him, he usually goes back to sleep for another couple of hours. He's been such an easygoing baby, I'm afraid what will happen if we have another one. My sister is still baffled by the fact that he "just falls asleep on his own." I didn't realize that was a novelty, but I'll take it.

Since we only have one car, Cody has to drop me off at the bus stop for work, so little man gets to go for a short ride every morning. He usually just coos and chatters quietly. If you woke me up at 5:30, strapped me into a seat, and took me out in the cold -I'd be pretty cranky. He just goes with it. I really hope he keeps this personality when he's a teenager :O).

Other than being able to snag some quick baby snuggles, the best part of my morning was when I got to work to find my boss left a Diet Coke on my desk. So sweet! I'm hoping the caffeine will give me the extra boost I need to me a productive human being today. We'll see.

Side note: don't judge me too harshly for blogging at work. We just finished our fiscal year and can't do anything for a few days while we wait for money. I'm not a horrible person...honest.

And last, but not least - a quick Wishlist Wednesday item:

ProForm PRO 2000 Treadmill

Isn't it beautiful? Normal price is $1999, but it's on sale right now for $1299. One of my must-have's for a treadmill is a 60" deck. I don't like feeling like I'm going to either kick the front or fall of the back. This one is 22" wide as well - for a little extra elbow room. Another one of my must-have's is a 350 lb. weight limit. Even when I was quite a bit slimmer, I prefer to have a treadmill with the higher weight limit so it is extra-stable and there isn't even a hint of wobble if I want to do sprints. Like my current treadmill, this one had the built-in speakers and fan, but this one also comes with a tablet holder and iFit compatibility so you can connect to Google maps and have the treadmill automatically simulate running all over the world. So fancy! This is definitely on the list of things for "when we become fabulously wealthy" ... or if I decide to sell that kidney.