My Postpartum Journey: What Now?!

After a short blogging break, I think I'm ready to return to documenting my progress and experiences. When I look at my pregnancy as a whole, my initial thought is "WOW! What a journey I had!" In a nutshell (I can't say "nutshell" without thinking of Austin Powers):

• The first 14-ish weeks were SO TOUGH! So much nausea ALL DAY LONG. Life (let's not even go there with running) was harder to deal with on a daily basis.
  

  

  First trimester fun with my boy.

• Somehow, I managed to run 40-42 miles per week with my long runs averaging 12-14 miles. I did this through 20 weeks.
  

  

  That time I won a 5k at 18 weeks pregnant. LOL.

• Week 20, my nightmare happened (when I was run over while on a training run and fractured three metatarsals in my left foot). I was non weight bearing for 5 weeks and partial weight bearing for 2 weeks. I was then able to begin a walking program and cycling as tolerated but wasn't allowed to run until 3 months post accident. I  worked my rear off to rehab and get strong until I could attempt running again.
  

  

  My life for several weeks. Dark times.

• Week 33, I could finally run again...sort of. It was a painful transition full of many tears. Tears of joy, tears of pain, tears of frustration, and tears of thankfulness. Eventually, as my ankle strengthened and my pain subsided. I was able to work up to running 4 miles (no walking) at a 10:30 pace. It was beyond any expectation I had for myself that late in my pregnancy.
  

  

  That glorious run that gave me hope.

• Week 38 + 3 days, I ran my last mile on the indoor track at The Y. I delivered Ruthie 3 days later. After I ran my last pregnant mile, I was pretty confident I didn't want to run anymore until my baby was born. I'm sure God was telling me to rest and soak in my last days of what might be my last pregnancy. Sigh.
  

  

  My last belly shot.

 

I am beyond thankful for the miles I was allowed to do (walking or running) during this pregnancy. It wasn't the superstar running pregnancy I had envisioned when I got pregnant, but I believe this story was more powerful and had more impact than the one I had in my mind. I can only hope that my story inspired at least one person. If it did, mission accomplished!

 

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So, what now?

 

I'm just listening to my body and doing activities as tolerated. I've been amazed at how my body responded to this delivery. I've had no pain, just occasional pelvic soreness after extended activity. I'm starting to get my energy back and Ruthie is allowing me to get a decent amount of sleep. Don't get me wrong...I'm not ready to conquer the world. I just know that I feel a lot better the second time around than I did with James.

 

• Postpartum week 1: Complete rest. I did nothing except what I had to do to take care of Ruthie. There were a few days that I did a little more housework and errand running than I probably should have, but, I did not do intentional exercise.
  

  

  Selfie fun with two of my loves.

• Postpartum week 2: I did my first walk last Monday (Ruthie was 6 days old). I took the dogs for a walk on their regular 1.5 mile route. Have I mentioned that I hate walking our dogs?! UGH. They are wild. Anyway...I did daily walks, gradually increasing my distance and pace. I improved from walking 2 stroller miles at 16:15 pace to 4 stroller miles at 14:34 pace.
  

  

  It's like she knows what to do for a selfie. This was the only pic I took!

• I know some people may want to scold me, but I had the opportunity on Sunday evening to go on a non stroller walk. I decided that, since walking felt so good, I might try some walk/run intervals. Of course, I listened to my body to guide me on pace or tell me if I should just stick to walking. I tolerated things well. I did a total of 3.15 miles. I started with a half mile walking warm up, then began quarter mile intervals which I did for the remainder of the run. During my running intervals, I just stayed at a pace that felt comfortable and easy. These sections started around approx. 10 min/mile, and, as my body warmed up, improved to 9 min/mile (this was just based on me looking at the pace on my Garmin occasionally). My walking intervals were anywhere from 13:30 to 15:30 min/mile. When I finished, I felt the same as I do when I finish my stroller walks. I am not planning to do intervals everyday, but will slowly get back into running as I feel it is safe for me to do so. All of you that have had babies know that there are things going on in our female system that I have to keep an eye on as I return to activity.
  

  

  I love this boy. When daddy isn't dominating his life, this is the kind of fun we have.

 

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I'm looking forward to reporting my return to running and (hopefully) my return to training for a marathon! I'm sure I will have a lot of struggles to share in the next few months. Love you all and can't wait to get back on the road with you again!

C.U.T.E.

Completely (C), utterly (U), and totally (T) exhausted (E)...that's me. I'm in some form of a major funk this week. I'm nauseous ALL THE TIME (please don't ask me if I'm pregnant...I might have to throat punch you) and I can't seem to sleep.

 

Sunday, I was so tired that I could have fallen asleep at 7pm and been happy. When 10pm rolled around and I could actually make the bed thing happen, I wasn't able to fall asleep. I seriously stared into the wild yonder for 3 HOURS!!! Yes, you read that right. I finally went to the couch at 1am and probably fell asleep by 1:30. It happened again last night but I wasn't up as late. I was supposed to get up and run at they gym but that didn't happen.

 

That's another part of my funk...running. I think I've finally hit my limit of early mornings. I'm now understanding why I always hibernate from running in the winter (or run on the treadmill). These 3:45 to 4 am wake up calls during the week are killing me. Then I turn around and get up anytime between 5 and 6 am on the weekends. WHY AM I DOING THIS TO MYSELF?! If it weren't for the friendships and the running goals, my butt would be SO HAPPY to "sleep in" until 7 or 730!

 

I don't know what I need right now. Encouragement, maybe? A race to prove that this is all worth it? I run early so it won't take time away from Mr. and Baby Boo.

 

Weeks are the hardest because, when I get home, it's go, go, go. Start dinner, put away crap from the day, prep crap for the next day, eat dinner with my family (the only time I get to sit and have quality interaction with James until he goes to bed), do chores (Boo helps, of course), and put baby to bed. If I'm lucky, I get to have extra play time with James.  On really fun nights, I have documentation to do for work after James goes to bed.

 

I feel like a lousy mother/wife/etc. Life can't be all about doing meaningless things that are necessary. I don't know what I'm asking for by typing all of this. I just know that I always feel better when I get it out.

 

I missed my run this morning because I was C.U.T.E. so I'll head to the gym after work and hope for the best. 

Big Changes for #jd3

So, it's official...as of Christmas day, I stopped breastfeeding. Since my supply began to decrease at the end of October/beginning of November, I started supplementing with formula. Then it got to the point that it wasn't worth pumping at work. When that happened, I started feeding James when he woke up in the morning and in the evenings at home. The last couple of weeks, it seemed as if James wasn't getting enough milk during his feedings so I would give him more milk (from a bottle) afterwards. It was at that point I realized I would have to stop breastfeeding sooner than later.

Part of me was a little bummed but the other part of me felt really good about what I was able to do for my son. Now that he's ONE YEAR OLD and can "officially" drink cow milk, it's become less stressful in the Davis household.

*side note: At some point in the near future, I will do James' "turning one" blog post.


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On a different, but related, note, we are actively transitioning James away from the bottle. In the words of my lovely hubby, Mr. Boo, "This is going to be hell." True words. James LOVES the bottle. He loved the boob, too, but hasn't noticed it's been missing from his diet.

There is so much crap out there about transitioning from the bottle. Feel free to share your experience (mostly because I love hearing other mommas' stories). Here's what we have currently decided to do. He usually goes to bed/nap with a bottle in hand (except when I breastfed him, of course). We have stopped doing that by having him drink before we even put him into the crib. We also decided to stop giving him milk in a bottle before his first nap of the day. We put it in a sippy cup. If he chooses to drink it, GREAT! If he doesn't, he goes without (This is mostly because he typically eats his breakfast before napping and it's about lunch time when he wakes up. We figure, if he misses that milk, it shouldn't affect him in a negative way).

Another thing we started, last night, is to put his last milk feeding in a sippy. It broke my heart! He cried like crazy for 10+ minutes about the cup. He knew milk was in there but absolutely refused to drink from the cup. When he finally calmed down, I had the cup close to his lips and he decided to grab it and drink! He only drank 1 1/2 oz. but we decided that was a victory. We did end up putting the rest of it in the bottle because he didn't eat well yesterday due to travelling.

So, here starts the sippy cup adventure. Please tell me your stories!

I Know I Shouldn't Feel This Way BUT...

By far, above all other challenges of becoming a mother, BREASTFEEDING/PUMPING has been MY biggest challenge.

 

When James turned 10 months (he will be 11 months on Friday!),  I noticed that my milk supply had significantly decreased. I had a small stash in the freezer and was still able to pump each day what he needed for the next day at the sitter (approx. 16-18 ounces). I was pumping three times during the work day and waking up early (between 2 and 4 a.m.) to pump. People think I'm crazy for waking up in the early morning but it has always been my best pump session so I felt I needed to do it for my baby.

 

When my supply decreased, I noticed that it didn't matter if I pumped all three times during my work day so I started taking out my morning pump session and just pumping at lunch and before picking up James. Nowadays, rather than pumping 18 oz. of milk per day, I'm only able to get 6-12 oz. per day. Because of this, my extra stash is almost no more. I only have two extra bags in the freezer. I'm basically being forced to start mixing what I have with formula.

 

For some reason, this makes me feel like a FAILURE. I know I shouldn't feel this way. I've done absolutely everything I can to exclusively breastfeed my child. I ultimately have no control over my supply. I'm not asking for advice on how to increase it because I've tried a lot of things over my almost 11 months as a mother. I'm seriously not looking forward to walking into the store today and buying my first container of formula. I know it's so weird but I just feel awful.

 

James' doctor gave me a sample and he seems to like it but every time I shake that stuff up, I feel guilty...like I'm robbing my child of the greatness of breast milk. I know formula is fine, I just feel like I worked so hard for almost 11 months for nothing.

 

Are there any other moms out there who have felt this way?

The Latest on Baby Boo: One Year is Approaching!!!

I've had a lot of people say to me lately, "James is almost a year old!" Honestly, I haven't really thought about it that much. Yes, I've been planning his birthday party for a month or so BUT I haven't had the fact that he's almost one on my mind.

Now that the reality of him turning one in December has hit me, I have a few goals I'm working on with him. James has always been slower to develop skills compared to his friends but he always seems to get things done a day or two before his appointment with the pediatrician! Future procrastinator like his dad?! Hehehe.

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He's doing well developing his movement/transportation. He's doing great with crawling and pulling himself to standing. (Warning: James' firsts ahead!!) He has even started side stepping while holding onto objects...and climbing stairs! In fact, he was halfway up our stairs the other day before Jimmy noticed! Based on his balance, I don't foresee him being able to stand without holding on or walk in the immediate future.

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He is improving with his eating! As you all know, this has been the biggest challenge he has presented to Jimmy and me. He will typically eat a full container of puree at each meal in addition to the breast milk he drinks throughout the day. We have been working REALLY hard on getting him to eat finger foods. We offer him everything we eat. He will now let us put it in his mouth (and he's finally starting to do it on his own sometimes!) but, unless it's a puff, he spits it out! He has kept two other things in his mouth for more than 1 second: apples and taco meat. He's slowly but surely coming around. I'm just praising Jesus that he is finally getting puffs into his mouth by himself. It's not efficient or pretty, but it eventually makes it there!

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A couple weeks ago, James went on his first plane ride to Nebraska to see his cousins, aunts and uncles. He was awesome on the plane and was very popular with the ladies. The experience wasn't bad at all and everyone was helpful. He was very constipated on the way home and got a little grunty/fussy. He had a surprise waiting in his pants when we got to Chicago. Good thing we had a short layover cuz it took some time to get that one changed! Here are some highlights (via pictures) of the trip:

He was SO excited to look at the planes!

Plane selfie with Grandma.

First time meeting Aunt Ashley.

Cousins.

More cousins!

Aunt Ash and Aunt Shawna

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Finally, our adventure continues with transitioning away from the bottle. I've tried a few different cups. The most recent being made by Avent. He seems to like it better than the others so far because its spout has the feel of a bottle nipple so he seems to understand how to use it.

In other related news, it seems that my milk supply is decreasing despite how much I'm pumping each day. I'm not sure why it decreased all of a sudden. I have been congested the last week so I'm not sure if that has any effect. I've had to do a little bit of supplementing with formula. I asked the pediatrician about starting cow milk early. She said it wouldn't hurt but also said that the formula provides things like iron  and cow milk wouldn't give as much of it.

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In our future: Surviving the holiday season and managing to pull off a kick butt 1st birthday party in the meantime!



Surprise! A James Update...

The last 3 weeks or so have been full of surprises. Mr. Boo and I think we are watching James, we look up and...SURPRISE! He's done something new. I don't think I've typed a James update since he turned 9 months. I guess I'll give you his 9 month measurements:

Height- 28 in. (34%)

Weight-17 lbs. 3 oz. (11%)

Head- 46.5 cm (89%)

Basically, he's average height, skinny, and has a big ole head!

James' firsts since turning 9 months:

• Crawling- he mostly commando crawls but started what we think of as traditional crawling a week or so ago.
  

  
• Pulling himself up- he started by pulling himself up to his knees and eventually learned to go to his feet; his technique has improved from the "wide base of support/butt sticking out" pose to standing straight up; we had to put his crib mattress down a few levels because he's now standing up and trying to look over.
  

  
• Climbing steps- we live in a split level home and he has attempted to go up from the main level to the upper level; he made it up one step but hasn't been able to do more than that.
• Consistently sleeping 9-11 hours- he started skipping his evening nap most days and going to bed a little earlier than usual.
  

  

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James gave us the ultimate surprise the other day. He has been constipated a lot since eating more solids (side note: prunes seem to help...the doc also suggested mixing apple juice with water). His poop hasn't been as soft as it should be so I can imagine J isn't feeling that great regarding his bowels. Anyway, I was changing his diaper and there was a tiny rabbit turd is his diaper. I was doing my thang to clean him up when he started grunting REALLY  hard. As I started putting coconut oil on his booty, a turd started coming out!!! AHHH! It kept coming and coming and coming. I looked like one of my dogs' turds! My jaw seriously dropped. I couldn't believe the size of that thing.

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In our future:

J goes to the doctor this Friday for his second flu shot and, ten days from now, J will go on his first flight! I am a little nervous about flying alone with him. Not so much the flight part as much as the security part. I'm sure the TSA employees will be nice but I'm afraid the general public will be jerks because people tend to be in a hurry and there's no way I can be in a hurry when I'm by myself with James!

Run Like A Girl Half Marathon (includes race review)

When I started running post pregnancy, I had no idea what to expect. Am I going to be a suckier (not a word) runner than before? Am I going to be able to train for races with a baby in the picture?

Mandatory James picture. He is saying "Good job, mom...but let's get the heck home! It's cold!"

It turns out that I'm a BETTER RUNNER and, yes, I CAN train for big races with my baby (in fact, I felt extremely weird running without him today)!!! 

The Run Like A Girl (RLAG) half was a true test of my abilities. When you stroller train, you have NO IDEA where to start guesstimating a potential pace. I went into this race wanting to break two hours. My personal record (PR) is 1:57 and some change (Memphis half marathon in 2006...when I was "young"). In fact, even if I was able to go faster, I told myself I was going to stay around that pace so that I could kill the Columbus half in two weeks. What have I learned? You can't tell a runner to take it easy during a race! 

Pre-race selfie! We were SO COLD!!!

I had my mapper on during the race to have an idea of our pace (poet and didn't know it) but ended up only checking it 2 or 3 times. I was so focused during the final stretch that I didn't stop the mapper. I've been stalking the website ALL DAY waiting for the results! Without further ado, my official time, per whoever does RLAG, is:

1:50:13

Holy Crap! I smashed my PR!!  We placed 46th and 47th out of 664 runners and, I think, 6th in the 30-34 age group! I would like to think we broke 1:50 because Jackie stopped her watch a little after we finished and it said 1:50...but whatev! LOL. A special shout out to my girl/running partner, Jackie, for finishing her first half!!! I am SO PROUD of this girl!

Not only did we get a free bottle of wine...they gave us celebratory shots of wine! 

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In case you want to run this half in the future, here's my race review (if you don't care about racing, you should just skip this part because it may be boring):

I'm not one to care too much about the race swag bag but you do get a t-shirt, protein bar, head band and a small cold pack among other things. Also, when I picked up my packet from Front Runner, I  was given a free headband (not the one in the swag bag) that had "13.1" on it because I bought something while I was there. 

The weather was about as sucky as it can get (unless snow was present). It was SO COLD (I think it was around 40 degrees). According to my weather app that morning, it wasn't supposed to precipitate. I might delete that dang app because it was raining and HAILING almost the entire time! AND it was windy!! I'm thankful I wore long tights. I just wish I had gloves because my hands were freezing. 

As far as the course is concerned, it had a couple of back-and-forth loops of which I'm not a huge fan. We started at Columbus Commons and connected to a trail approx 1-2 miles into the run. I remember wishing we hadn't connected to the trail so early because I felt like we needed more time for the runners to thin out. It was really hard to pass the groups of runners on the trail. 

We ran 4-5 miles out before making the first turn and running back the same path. It was even harder passing people on the trail after the turning point because we had to dodge runners coming towards us. Once we were back on the city streets, we ran a mile or so and connected to another trail. We did another loop (I feel like this one wasn't as long). It turned around at about 10 miles and then we headed back towards Columbus Commons. The last 2 miles were on city streets. (side note: there are hills but, because you turn and repeat, for every one you go up, you get to go down).

I liked that they had mile markers at every mile and police at every major intersection. They seemed to have plenty of drink stations (although I didn't take advantage of them at first because it was so cold and I couldn't feel my hands) and port-a-potties. The down side was minimal spectators except at the start/finish (part of that due to being on trails)...BUT, when there were spectators, they were very encouraging! 

The finish felt organized. They immediately gave medals and directed us to food/water/wine. Did I mention that you get a free bottle of wine?!

I haven't decided if this is a race I'll do again since it's so close to the Nationwide Children's Columbus Marathon (I LOVE THAT RACE!!!). I feel like I enjoyed it more because it was my first big race post baby and because I PR'd with Jackie. Hope this helps you guys in deciding if you want to run the race in the future!

Handing Off James

For those who follow my blog, I've talked about my struggles with leaving James. I'm not referring to leaving him at the sitter while I'm working. What I'm referring to is those times outside of my work routine.

Those times when Jimmy and I go on short dates about 10 minutes away from my house because I can't stand to be further than that...those times Jimmy has to take my phone away from me because I want to keep checking on James or look at his pictures even though we've only been gone an hour.

I think you get the point.

In the last week, I've had two different leaders at our church (which doesn't have a nursery on Sunday mornings) ask if a nursery is something that I would take advantage of if our church had one. On the surface, it sounds great! Hand James off to one of my fellow church attenders so I can focus on the message?!

One of my biggest complaints since having James is that I really haven't heard a church sermon in 9+ months because of caring for James. The more I thought about our church having a nursery, the more I thought I wouldn't bring him to it. Honestly, I still have issues letting him go. When I figured this out in my wonderful brain, I then thought, "WHY?! Why do I feel this way?"

Here's where I want y'all to chime in:

I wonder if it's because I'm away from him daily while I'm at work and I feel guilty for leaving him any other time. I feel like I need to take advantage of every single moment that I'm not at work.

That's all I could come up with! I would really like to hear from stay at home moms or part time working moms on this one. Is it really hard for you to leave your babies for dates, etc. even though you are with them a lot during the week days?

I need more perspective and understanding as to why I can't just LET GO! Does this end when they turn a certain age?

Talk to me, ladies.

Conflicted...My Struggle With Envy

1st: This is my 300th post! I wish it wasn't so serious! LOL.

 

2nd: Formal definitions help me.

 

Conflicted: be incompatible or at variance; clash

 

Envy: a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc.

 

 

I'm a mom/wife and I work full time. I love my job, but I love Mr. and Baby Boo more. I've had many, many thoughts, the past couple weeks or so, about working part time. I think about how awesome it would be to:

•  Get JUST ONE extra hour of sleep (which means waking up at 645 instead of 545)
• Drink my coffee in the comfort of my own home (instead of in my car between work duties)
• Spend more time during the week with James
• Run during the day so I could spend more time with Mr. Boo in the evening
• Do my devotional while James is napping (rather than in the morning when every single thing seems to interrupt me)

 

...and the list goes on and on.

 

I am so thankful for the wonderful job that I have and for the things it provides for my family, BUT I also get super annoyed by the fact that, because of my career choice, I have student loans up the butt. Jimmy and I are doing a really good job paying extra towards them but we still have a long way to go...then we start saving for retirement...UGH!!! IT NEVER ENDS!!

 

There is more to life than being worried about paying stupid bills. Sometimes I hate being responsible! I wish I could put some of our bills on pause for 5 or 6 years until our kids (no I'm not pregnant) are in school. I want to enjoy these first few years because they go fast and they are so precious.

 

Because  of all of these things above, I am very envious of moms who stay home with their babies. No matter which route you take, being "mommy" isn't an easy road. I want more time with my baby. I'm not saying I want to be full time stay at home mom but I do wish I was part time stay at home mom :)

 

 



An Exciting Week In The World of James....

My boy decided to end his 8th month with a bang! He has been eating more consistently, talking up a storm, and hitting some developmental milestones.

Even though I have a ton of frozen homemade food in my freezer, James seems to prefer those squirt pouches. When did those become a thing, anyway?! I'm pretty sure we didn't have those when I has a kid. Sometimes he likes me to squirt it straight from the pouch; other times, he likes it with a spoon. We'll just agree that feeding him takes a lot of patience nowadays but it getting a lot better.

"Talking up a storm" does not mean actual words but he is definitely more vocal and we take turns talking as I pretend to know what he's saying. SO FUN!

Finally, James had two developmental firsts this week. At our family photo shoot, we were all on our bellies taking some pics and J decided to scoot/creep/crawl forward (I seriously do not know the difference between the terms). He has been getting all over the place for a while but mostly via rolling, scooting backwards, and wiggling. This time, he actually progressed forward using his arms but his belly and legs were just there for the ride...kinda like the military crawl. It was so cool to see...Jimmy and I were speechless.

Then, yesterday, he decided to go from his belly to the sitting position by himself. Jimmy and I both missed it! We were both in the living room, Jimmy looked over and saw him sitting. We were like "what the what?!" J pretty much did that the rest of the evening ;)

(you can skip the video to 1 minute to save time)

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Besides those fun things, J's cousin, Maggy, was born and J went to the zoo for the second time (but his first time going while awake!).  He LOVED the fish at the aquarium but wasn't the biggest fan of feeding the giraffes.

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My boy turns 9 months tomorrow! I am so happy that he is healthy and growing. He goes to his 9 month appointment on Wednesday so we'll get his recent stats. I'm dying to know how much he weighs!

A Weird Feeling: Marriage and Pregnancy Post Baby #1

James will be 9 months this weekend. I have yet to be separated from my sweet, precious baby boy for more than a work day or a 2 hour date with Mr. Boo. The thought of leaving him over night with someone absolutely makes me want to cry. I know he would be well cared for, but I don't want to be away from him! I guess I feel like I'm already away from him too much during the week because of work (hashtag full time working mom problems).

 

Where are these thoughts even coming from, you ask?

 

Mr. Boo and I will be celebrating five years of marriage next year...5 YEARS! Jimmy wants to go on a vacation, of sorts, to celebrate. We have so much to celebrate in our five years (and 15 months of dating). I do feel it's important for us to get away and be together, just the two of us (we can make it if we try...anyone else singing the song?!)...especially after becoming parents.

 

 

One of the biggest challenges in my 9 months as a mother has been staying connected with my hubby. We have been on dates (thanks to the grandparents) but I always feel the need to rush back to James. I feel like I've been an awful wife and a mediocre mother. I know we need to make this anniversary vacation happen but there's one thing stopping me:

 

 

THIS BOY!

 

 

James will be around 16 months during the time we would be gone. Hopefully, he'll be eating real food and weaned off of breast feeding at that point.

Another bummer...we wanted to start to get pregnant after my race season is over with, late October/early November. There's no way I'm gonna be preggo on my 5th anniversary vacation! Therefore, if we decide to go away, baby making round two will have to be postponed by 6 or 7 months :(


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Fast forward 3 hours from the time I typed the above:
 When we got home, Jimmy said he thought we just needed to pick a week near our anniversary and plan for family to watch James. I agreed, even though I know it's going to be hard!

The cool part? Jimmy said he wants to pick the destination and surprise me! SWEET!!!! I thought that sounded like an excellent idea! Looks like Baby Boo #2 won't make an appearance for a while longer.

Waving, Another Tooth, Eating, and Massive Dooking

My little cutie had a first this week...

HE WAVED! 

It was so stinkin' cute! At first, I thought I was trippin' but he has been doing it ever since. It's still hit or miss but I'm still a proud mommy :-) I'm also starting to teach him how to high five. He's starting to get the idea but isn't quite there.

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This was one of MANY takes. We could never get the perfect picture because he hated the light!

James popped out his second tooth about a week ago! He was unusually fussy last Friday so we finally broke down and gave him Tylenol. It really seemed to help his mood. The next day, we noticed a big ole tooth in his mouth! It looks a little weird, though, because the second one is significantly bigger that his first tooth. Hopefully it all evens out!

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My boy is FINALLY starting to eat willingly! He doesn't eat everyday and it takes a lot of patience on my part, but at least I don't have to force it in his mouth. His favorites seem to be the squirt pouches (usually something fruity), mum mums, and, most recently, puffs. He seems to prefer me squirting the food in his mouth rather than me feeding him with a spoon (although, he will occasionally take food from the spoon). I think he likes the mum mums because they are big enough for him to hold on his own. He doesn't quite have the pincer grasp yet but tries really hard to pick up the puffs with his two little fingers. 

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Funny boy ;)

Now that he's eating a little more, I'm starting to deal with a change in his poopy diapers. The following may be TMI if you don't have kids or care to talk about poop. Lately, it seems like every time I change a diaper, he has a little poop around his booty hole but none on his diaper. I just knew there would be a massive explosion in my future. I was secretly hoping it would happen to Jimmy or Jane (his sitter)...love you guys! LOL. 

Today, J was grunting like he's never grunted before...and, then, I smelled it....the massive dook I've been anticipating. I'm just thankful he didn't let more out when I was changing him (I recruited Jimmy to help with this one!). An hour or so later, it happened again...but worse! It's like this boy had a poop reserve. Hopefully his body will adjust well to the changing diet so my boy doesn't get an upset tummy :(

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Coming Soon: 

We have family pictures next week and James has his 9 month appointment the following week!

Half Marathon Training Weeks 6 & 7: Motivation Has Been Hard To Come By But Humidity Has Not...Also, Gnats and Deer

If I compare the first 5 weeks of training to the last two weeks, my motivation has definitely decreased. I think it's the dang weather! It has been so humid that it's just draining me. It's the getting-out-of-the-door part that's hard. Once I get through the first mile, I'm ready to go!

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Week 6 of training is the week following that lovely 12 miles of rolling hills in Nashville. I surprisingly felt fine after that adventure. Here's what week 6 looked like:

Day 1: Rest (still in Nashville)

Day 2: 6 solo miles (one of my few without J), no GPS, just a watch- 52:41 total time, 8:46 average

Day 3: Intervals, stroller run- 2mi WU, 16x400m with 200m jog between, 1mi CD (9 miles total)

Day 4: Rest

Day 5: 9 mile stroller run- 2mi WU, 3x[1mi marathon pace, 1mi 10k pace], 1mi CD

Day 6: 10 mile stroller run- 9:27 average, range 9:02-9:53

Day 7: Heart Walk 5K (walked)

Day three was slightly annoying because I had this grand plan to use the track up the road for my 400's. When I got there, I saw a big fat sign that said no strollers. The annoying part? I've been passed that track many times and I know I've seen people with strollers. Maybe it's my fault for being such a rule follower.

Day five was so challenging. I couldn't seem to get to my 10k pace but it was so stinkin' hot that I didn't let it get to me.

The real adventures seem to come during long runs. Jackie and I did our run on Friday evening at The O trail (we meet at Antrim Park). We debated all day about when to meet due to the weather reporting rain. We finally had to say screw it and bring the rain covers for our boys just in case. Despite the humidity,  the first couple miles were o.k. but THEN (cue music) gnat-nado made an appearance. In all my years of running and being a hillbilly in Arkansas, I have NEVER seen gnats this bad. They were all over us, the boys, our gear...it was SO DISGUSTING!!! It got so bad we had to stop and swat them off of our boys and put their rain covers on the strollers just to keep them from being attacked!
Towards the end of this run, three deer ran across the path which is always cool to see but, a few moments later, we saw two bucks staring us down. It kinda freaked us out because it looked like one of them was coming after us! EEK!
After we finished this run, Jackie and I didn't even stay to chat and stretch. We just got the heck out of there, went home, and showered off the grossness that was that run.

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Week 7 looked like this:

Day 1: 8 mile tempo stroller run,  splits ranged from 8:30 to 9:39

Day 2: 6 mile stroller run, easy, 9:25 average

Day 3: Rest

Day 4: 7 mile stroller run- 1mi EZ, 5mi marathon pace (range 9:09 to 9:35), 1miEZ

Day5: Rest

Day 6: 13 mile stroller run (9:25 average)

Day 7: Rest/watch football

I've been dreading this week since training started because of the long run...13 miles?! I can't believe I did it with James in the stroller. It would have sucked a lot more if Jackie hadn't been there. It seriously amazes me how cooperative our boys are during these runs. Peyton slept pretty much the entire run and James slept the first half of it then mostly chilled (whine free) for the rest of it (he had a bottle to hold him over until we finished). Jackie and I have the best running buddies EVER!

We ran through Westerville and hit up the Genoa trail (thanks to my friend, Pam, for the idea). Once we hit the trail, it was nice and shady...perfect for the hot day we were having. I wasn't paying much attention to the times from MapMyRun so I was shocked when I saw our split times. We had negative splits the entire second half of our run! No wonder I felt pooped.

I might have mentioned in a recent post that I've been taking Gu gels during longer runs. I'm starting to wonder if they're upsetting my stomach. TMI: I was having some major bowel/gas issues during this run. It was awful. I may try the gels for my training runs this week to see if I notice the same thing. If I do, I need to find another option.

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I can't believe we only have 5 weeks until our first half marathon! I hope all of this hard work pays off!



Talking, All Fours, Poor Sleeping, and Nashville

James is such a fun, happy baby. He loves to smile and giggle. It warms my heart :) He has been "talking" a lot lately...mostly "ma ma" mixed with a few "da da's." I'm pretty sure I heard him say his name (yeah right).

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James has mastered being up on all fours and can now do the baby version of downward dog. He tries SO HARD to crawl but can't quite figure it out yet. It's very entertaining for Mr. Boo and me! It's so funny to watch him play by himself. The ways he can keep himself entertained crack me up. The boy is all over the place which scares me for when he actually does start crawling. 

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My boy went from master sleeper to whatever the opposite of that is called. He's been waking 1-2 different times in the night, no real pattern. I'm still trying the Ferber method on those nights but it's so hard to let him cry. There are nights that I'll be awake an hour or two in the middle of the night and it really screws me up (that's in addition to the time I get up to pump). I would like to blame it on our trip to Nashville but how long do you give a baby to readjust to his regular schedule?!

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Last weekend. we visited our favorite city of Nashville. Our wonderful friends, The Lobbs, went along with us. Friday was sort of our "touristy" day. We ate at Pancake Pantry, walked around Belmont, Lipscomb, and downtown, then ate at Blue Coast. Later that evening, we walked around the Opryland Hotel which is always a treat.

Saturday, after James and I finished our 12 mile run, we checked out The Factory in Franklin and ate at this delicious hot dog place (I was craving a corn dog...weird). Later that evening, we enjoyed a BBQ with old friends and re-told stories of our past adventures in Nashville.

The next day, after a pretty chill morning, we went line dancing at Wildhorse Saloon. I put James in his carrier and we hit the dance floor! (Our boy is a flirt, by the way. There was a group of ladies sitting by us and he had them wrapped around his finger. I had to warn him, though, because they were from Michigan. No respected Buckeye boy would go for a Michigan girl :))