Monday, April 30, 2012

Shooting myself in the foot

Yikes! How did it get to be the end of April already!?!?!?  This year is already going by way way to fast....in a mere two months we will be celebrating our baby's FIRST birthday! Oh my...I just want to keep him little.

I am hoping I didn't shoot myself in the foot..This past Wednesday I had a fairly large cyst removed from my lower back.  I didn't think it would be a big deal as it was done under local anesthesia and usually surgeons are able to make smaller incisions than you think they do.  BUT mine is bigger than I thought it would be ...close to two inches long.  And it is right at my waistband.  As in every.single.pair  of pants hit it.  Despite being covered with a band aid, it is still getting irritated. So I haven't run  since Tuesday night.  Which in the grand scheme of things probably wouldn't be so bad..except this past weekend was our longest run for training, 11 miles.  AND I skipped the week prior (don't ask, I have no good reason).  Not a smart move.  I am going to try to run tonight for a few miles, but race day is less than 2 weeks away so no more real long training runs.  I keep telling myself that this is an endurance run (all trails vs street running) so I don't need to worry about time, but I am still slightly nervous.

Blake is STILL getting up 1-2 times per night.  Ugh. I am not sure what we are doing wrong here!  And he is eating more during the day.  In fact yesterday I know he had two good meals outside of his bottles because I fed him.  He is definitely getting better with that too.  Although he is ready for big people food.  Last weekend we went to DQ and I gave him Charles' grilled cheese since he wasn't eating it and boy was Blake in heaven!  He gnawed on that thing forever and even got a few bits with no signs of choking.  I then gave him a bite of garlic bread during the week and he loved that too.  I have tried some of the third stage food jars and he liked the spaghetti that had chunks, but another one he didn't I think it depends on the size of the chunks.   He also likes munching on puffs and the Gerber crunchy sticks.  I am trying frozen vegetables steamed really soft and he isn't a big fan just yet. 

Charles is doing great!! He has taken ownership of my iPad.  And will yell that it is "Charles' turn!" if I go anywhere near him (he thinks I am going to take it...rightfully so!).  And when I say it's Mommy's i Pad he says No, it's Charles' iPad.  Stinker.  He does have his own games, but I tend to find him in mine or W's and with things messed with.  Like random requests sent to random people for Drawsomething. Hmph.   He also has this thing where he (with W's help of course) has 'ranked' each family member.  W is #1, he is #2 (because he was 2years old at the time this started), I am #3 and Blake is #4.  And he .does.not.waiver. Ever.  I keep trying to convince him that I am #1 to no avail.  He will slip up every know and then but in the next sentence he corrects saying Daddy is #1. And he laughs at me when I try to tell him that I am #1..  It's cute.

W is going to Vegas in two weeks for a bachelor party..I will be home with the kids by myself for 3 whole days!  Should be interesting..I haven't been alone with them for more than a day.  Of course I can handle it...but it will be interesting.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Sleep training, Weight loss and Running

Progress...Progress...Progress!!!

Sleep training- Had to do it.  Little Mister has been waking up 4-5 times a night.  Sometimes just to cry, but others he wants to eat. And W would feed him each and every time, because, well, that was the easy route.  Give him a bottle and he would go right back to bed.  Except... then he started not eating so much during the day so we ended up in a nasty cycle of little food during the day (3-4 ozs 4x a day, plus two solid meals) and lots of eating (upwards of 20ox) at night! One night he took 8ox before going to bed and then was up again a mere 2 hours later.  Ugh. There is no way he could have been hungry so I walked with him, rocked him, etc until he went back to sleep.  And since then we have been gradually working on less food at night and he is starting to eat more during the day. Last night..up only ONE time!!! Although he did guzzle a 6oz bottle!  And even better, he put himself to sleep! He was overly tired, I had fed him and was trying to get him to sleep but he was fighting me. I finally had to just put him down.  I walked out of the room to him screaming :( went to the bathroom, put on my pjs, went and checked on Charles...and QUIET.  Didn't hear another peep until 2:30. I even had the monitor on in the bedroom which I don't normally do (W takes care of night wakings until he goes to bed so that I can get some sleep so the monitor stays off until he comes to bed). I was surprised that I didn't hear any restless-ness or whines come from him at all. I am hoping that means he is sleeping more soundly and getting good sleep.

Weight loss- Since I started tracking my weight on Jan. 20, I am down 8.4lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am 4 lbs away from my goal as of this morning...9 more to my 'ideal' goal.   Not sure what happened, but the last couple weeks it just started melting off.  I am now down to weighing less than I did when I got pregnant with Charles (even if it is only 1 lb less!).  Clothes are starting to fit better and I am feeling more comfortable in my own skin. I am loving it!! And I am still eating plenty...don't get me started on how many times I had McD's last week...and an unplanned trip to Chipotle (w chips). Yum!

Running-  I am truly amazed at the progress I have made in 7 short weeks. I am certain it is all due to the speed work and hills that we run on Tuesdays.  I was just telling the ladies that I run with last night how thevery first night I wasn't really sure if I was going to be able to keep up.  We started with one lap around a small block and I wasn't sure how I was going to do 3 more miles that night...or 4 that coming Saturday.  I was struggling maintaining a 10 minute pace.  But I stuck with it.  Nearly two weeks ago I went out for a run on the path after work (alone) and as I started running and watching my pace, I realized I was pacing at about 9:15 per mile. In my head I thought there is no way I can sustain this, I need to slow down.  My first mile was something like 9:11.  Again..slow down. But I didn't.  This particular stretch of bike path is a 1 and 3/8 mile loop near my house. I did 3 laps that day and timed the laps (instead of miles) and each one was faster. I couldn't believe it!!  Monday night I went out and ran and paced at about 8:45.  Amazing!  I ran a 5k this past weekend and while it wasn't a PR it was better than my time two years ago for the same race.  And that was after a year of running!  I have only been back at it for 3 months!  So needless to say I am extremely happy with my progress.  I can even see it in my legs. They are thinning out a bit and looking more muscular.


An update on the boys...both went to the ped this past week for regular checkups.  Blake weighed 21 lbs 6 oz and was 29 in.  Compared to Charles at 9 mos was 22lbs and 29in.  Charles was 40.5in and 32.8lbs and impressed the Dr with his spelling, shape knowledge, numbers, etc. So smart that kid is!