Thursday, August 30, 2018

Dogs vs Babies

So, X cries when he's not being held, which gets old.  But, the puppy keeps eating my sandals and won't listen to basic commands, which also gets old.  So really, at least with X, when you hold him, he stops.  The pup does not stop eating shoes, no matter how many toys you give him in place of said shoes.  My only hope is that they both outgrow this phase, the dog sooner rather than later.  Oh, and if he would stop peeing/pooping all over the house every time he gets scared, that would be great too. 
Now, having a newborn makes it hard to get to the gym, as you might imagine.  Sometimes we go for neighborhood walks, but this week especially has been extra hot.  90s - 100s the past few days, so I haven't been able to take X out.  Luckily, Ryan takes him at night so I get about an hour of baby free gym time.  Sometimes the family comes to visit and they will watch him in place too, but really, I've only gone to the gym maybe 3 - 4x.  I know, I know, it's only been 3.5 weeks since X was born, why do I even need to go to the gym that much, right?  Mostly because I do have a half-marathon to run/walk in October.  I certainly don't mind not running the whole thing, but I would like to be able to at least walk the parts I can't run.  And since I haven't really walked multiple miles since, maybe March, I need to at least get back some of that endurance.  So I go to the gym and walk 3 miles on the treadmill or elliptical.  On the treadmill I generally don't make the 3 miles in under half an hour because I'm not sure how fast I'm really supposed to be going before I get to my 6 week pp Dr. appointment.  On the elliptical, I go faster because it's easier, so I can at least make the 3 miles in just over 30 minutes.  So hey, 3 miles, only 10 more to go! Kidding.  I see no scenario where I would go 13 miles on either machine. I didn't do that when I was full on marathon training to cut down my time, no way am I doing it now.  The plus side to all this is that when X gets full head control, we can take the BOB out for longer runs, assuming everything isn't covered in snow and ice by that point.  Clearly that all depends on X, but at the very least, we'll be out running by next Spring, I hope!  Poor X doesn't know what he's in for.
I have given up on the step count for now, which might sound crazy to some people.  Here's the thing with that though.  There are a lot of activities I do that don't get recorded on my watch.  Cardio, weights, and pushing the stroller.  So even though I may have gotten my 30 - 45 minutes of activity in, my watch has only recorded 2,000 steps.  Now, I know that I've worked out and I know that I got my cardio in, so what's the point of checking the watch to have it tell me that I haven't?  Until they can make a good watch that records this activity without having to press a bunch of buttons, I'm passing o the step count.  Mostly I'm just trying to be aware of my activities and how many donuts I eat in a day. Anyways, X man is awake again, so it's time to go for now.  Enjoy these pictures of a cute baby and a doofy dog.  (Not the shoe-eater)

Bath time is the best time

I didn't think I needed a wrap, but then I bought one and found out how wrong I was. 

X's first Target trip.  He was not sure what to think about it

And a doofy dog

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

On the Other Side

It's been 11 days since we grew to a family of 3.  Those first few days were a little bit crazy, but, as with any change, we're learning how to adjust and making our way in this new world.  So obviously the last few weeks I haven't been doing too much working out, due to a giant belly getting in the way.  But now, he's on the outside and eventually, I have to get back into it.  Today, for example, I went to the gym and walked on the treadmill for 2 miles.  Now before you all freak out that it's too early, I took it very slow.  We're talking 20-minute miles.  Plus the Dr did say that I could walk, as long as I didn't go too hard.  So no running yet, but in a few more weeks, I'll hopefully get back up to that. 
In the meantime, it's a lot of work not doing anything but taking care of a newborn.  Obviously, babies require a lot of attention, but it's amazing how much time I spend sitting in the corner of the sofa feeding, pumping, or trying to get X to sleep.  I feel that the pumping is the most time consuming of all, but I'm not quite ready to quit trying to get him to nurse yet.  Ok, well, that's not true.  Most days, around 4/5 p.m. I am so ready to give it up, throw in the towel, and start making bottles.  But I haven't yet, because the LC at the hospital said to give it at least two weeks before giving it up, and we all know I ain't no quitter.  That being said, if we can't get a grip on this whole latching thing after our visit to the LC next Monday, then I might switch to formula. *GASP* *insert horrified mommy hating bloggers mean comments here*  Maybe I shouldn't give it up, but if this keeps up, the frustration between the two of us isn't worth the effort. 
Ryan, for his part, has done a great job as a father and a husband since X arrived.  He is everything you would want a partner to be when your entire life has suddenly changed and I am the luckiest for having him here.  That will make it a lot harder when he goes back to work full time and I'm here alone, so I guess there's a downside to that.  Hopefully, in the next couple weeks, we'll get it all figured out and him going back to work all day won't be such a problem anyways.  Until that happens though, it's nice to have a person to take the baby when he's extra upset, or when I just need a shower or a 20-minute nap.
So that's what we've been up to over here.  I'm sure working out and running is going to be completely different now, so be prepared for a much different type of blog from here on out.  Eventually, I hope to take X on longer runs in the BOB, but until he's old enough, I'm going to work on getting up to a certain amount of mileage again, and working on rebuilding leg and arm muscles.  If there's one thing I really let go during the last 3 months, it was muscle tone. 

The X man cometh

Unimpressed at 5 days old

40 weeks...he was really taking his time.

11 days post-partum.