Year's End

Seriously, I just sat down to write and realized there's a load of laundry that needs to be folded and another that needs to go in the dryer. But I want to write something because it's New Year's Eve and I feel I've been neglectful of this blog. I need to write. And sum up 2010.

It's all been so crazy with the holidays and the little man. And the traveling! We drove to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving (easy as pie) and to Jerome, AZ for Christmas (a bit challenging, but 8 hours in a car will make anyone stir crazy.) We had lovely holidays and a wonderful 1st Christmas!!! but I so look forward to celebrating in our own home next year.

Hunter continues to amaze me on a daily basis and I can't wait to experience what 2011 has in store for him. He's starting to wiggle around on the floor and when he gets up in the morning I sometimes find him pushing up on his arms which leads me to believe that crawling may be coming soon. He is nearly standing on his own and just this morning he took 3 steps while holding onto the coffee table.

He said mama and mum for the first time a few weeks ago. And last week he started going crazy with baba. He still hasn't said dada but we've heard abba, ada, pa and poo and he's started mixing consonants. Like bagoo and paga and what sounded like el gaupo.

Oh, also, he still has no teeth. At our 4 month appointment the doctor felt his gums and said "Oh yeah, there's some swelling. Looks like teeth are on their way!" That was 4 months ago. And I've been feeling the rough edge of the lower teeth for, like, 3 months now.

And it's awful because Hunter seems so uncomfortable. He's always running a temperature around 99.5, no teether can sate him for longer than a minute, and he just drools like a St. Bernard all the time. But everyone, including the new doctor, says this is normal and some kids don't get their teeth until after a year. Which just seems so mean.

But I'm fairly certain he will have teeth. Just like I'm certain that one day he will have hair... and eyebrows.

So my goals for 2011 are to help my kid grow some teeth and hair. Just kidding, but seriously, dude, throw me a bone, or some teeth.

My goals:

Run 1000 miles- that's less than 3 miles a day so it's doable. Although I'm not starting off very well because I haven't run for 2 weeks. I am using the elliptical so I'm not a complete lazy ass.

Lose 37 pounds- 3 pounds a month, totally doable. I haven't been dieting like crazy or running and have managed to lose 2 pounds since Thanksgiving. Bow down

Run 2 marathons- LA for sure and maybe Las Vegas in the fall

Make art- I'd like to finish at least 1 piece a month and have a representation of my year in art

Sell my art- just one piece is enough. Hello Etsy?

Read 10 good books- I used to be an avid reader, it's always been like dessert to me. I want to feel that again

I am an evil wife! I was so tired yesterday morning after having been woken up twice in the past 2 hours by baby boy that I turned the baby monitor on it's highest volume and hung it over Adam's head. It was quite a rude awakening for my dear husband.

Sorry baby, I owe you!

5 Holiday Gifts for the All Natural Baby

5 Holiday Gifts for the All Natural Baby

So I'm posting this list from The Stir because there are a few products that I love. The Lil Bumpkin quilt has been great for Hunter to play on during the day and wrap up with at nap time. I had Hunter's quilt custom made and Tiffany, the genius behind Lil Bumpkin, chose fabrics to coordinate with Hunter's nursery.

Do you see the squirrels? It's perfect!

I didn't know about Aden & Anais before I had Hunter but I received some swaddling blankets as a gift and they are the best! They are the only ones I use. I love the large size and the soft breathable fabric. I know we'll use them for a long time to come. I also really like the Green Toys Stacker and I think I may purchase this for Hunter for Christmas. He's just getting into stacking stuff, well more like unstacking, but this seems right up his alley. And the price is awesome too. I am loving the Green Toys site. I think I've already found Hunter's birthday gift!

Milk Donation

I've written here before about my breast milk supply issues and how inadequate it has made me feel to not be able to provide milk for my son. I've also worried about Hunter's overall health because breast milk is best for babies and we just couldn't make it work. I mentioned to a friend of mine that had I known more about breast milk exchanges and donations that I may have gone that route. I did know of the existence of exchanges but the idea of it seemed a little weird to me. Like how is the milk or donor screened? Is it costly? Those types of things.

Then the following day I was at my mommy and me class and this woman mentioned she had an abundance of frozen breast milk her son wouldn't eat. And she asked what she could do with it. I piped up that she could donate it to people like me that needed breast milk through donation centers or Le Leche League. And yesterday she came over to my house with a Target bag full of frozen breast milk for Hunter. It almost makes me want to cry it was such a wonderful gesture.

If you or anyone you know has a bunch of breast milk that has gone unused I would say I would love to have it. But the truth is there are mothers and babies that need it way more than Hunter and I do. Infants with failure to thrive, allergies and premies. If you or anyone you know want to look into donation of breast milk I have attached a few links below for donation research.

http://milkshare.birthingforlife.com/

http://milkinmamas.com/?gclid=CIWN9_q0o6UCFRBzgwod5kW1Iw

http://www.milkbanking.net/index.php

http://www.llli.org/NB/NBmilkdonation.html

xoxo,

Lauren

EC Training

We just started EC training a few days ago. For those of you that haven't heard of EC training, you are going to think this is crazy. EC training is Elimination Communication or infant potty training. Dude, I know. I thought the same thing. But hear me out.

There's a lot of fear and frustration that goes into potty training. Some kids are afraid or confused and that makes the parents frustrated. It makes sense that a baby should be familiarized with the potty and flushing at a very young age to make it a normal activity. Then it eliminates fear. And that's only one benefit.

You can imagine the other benefits. Fewer diaper changes means fewere diapers and money saved, less poop exposure :), and earlier and easier potty training. So what do I do?

I'm starting off slowly. Hunter goes on the potty after eating and sleeping. He stays on for a maximum of 5 minutes so as not to get bored or frustrated. I try to make it enjoyable by singing silly potty songs and he gets one special toilet toy to play with only on the potty. If he pees he gets congratulations with a "good pee pee" and then I follow up with the sign for urination. Hopefully he may eventually be able to tell me that he needs to use the toilet.

Also I'm hoping to learn his bathroom cues. I pretty much have the poop one down, but that only happens once, maybe twice a day. His pee one is a bit harder, but he seems to go right when he wakes up, so I just need to pay attention.

He's peed three times on the potty so far and it surprised the hell out of me. He enjoys being up there with me on the floor because we're at eye level. It's actually nice because it has afforded us some extra bonding time free of a lot of distractions. We'll see how it goes. If he starts getting annoyed or crying I will try again in a few months. I've heard good things about this method and because I have the time at home to do it, I figured I should give it a try.

My friend suggested getting a small potty so when Hunter walks he can use it himself and I think I may procure that item this weekend. I was just a bit ambivalent because cleaning out the poop seems icky to me. Funny because I deal with baby poop and dog poop on a daily basis. And I use cloth diapers so hopefully it won't be any worse than that.

I'll keep you updated.

xoxo,

Lauren

ATHLETE

The Post Where I Disclose My Weight

I was overweight when I got pregnant. In fact, I was OBESE. I had even dropped 8 pounds in the two months prior to conception, but it wasn't enough to lower me to the overweight bracket. I have to say that I was dealing with multiple scales at all the different doctor's offices, hospital and home (of course the most forgiving scale that weighed me a significant amount less) but I'm just going to use my OB's scale because it's probably closest to the awful truth and happens to weigh close to the same as our new scale.

According to that scale my pre-pregnancy weight was 211 pounds. Yowza!

I can't believe I'm putting that out there for everyone to see, but with the holidays just around the corner, I'm hoping this will keep me accountable.

I gained close to 40 pounds during my pregnancy, tipping the scale at 25o pounds the day before Hunter was born. Ugghhh. But I wasn't there for long. I don't recall what I was post delivery but I know I lost 23 pounds the first month and 4 more pounds by 8 weeks. That's when I could finally find time to exercise. They say you can resume exercise by 6 weeks, but I seriously don't know how anyone can do it that soon. Just exercising 3 days a week and juggling a 2 month old was exhausting. But I did it. And by 4 months postpartum I was back to 211.

It felt so good to be at my pre-pregnancy weight yet still pretty discouraging to think that I had close to 50 pounds left to lose to be at my ideal weight. I had been running a few days each week and decided to really step it up and start running more days and longer distances. I also joined Stroller Strides so that Hunter could be a little social while I exercised.

Now I am 6 months postpartum and weigh in at 188 pounds, a 62 pound weight loss. I am nearly half way to my goal with only 24 pounds left to lose. And no longer obese And more important than my weight is that I've developed a real LOVE for running. I have run 5 marathons in the past and a few other shorter races so it's pretty clear that running has always been a hobby of mine. The reason I ran before and had marathon goals is that it kept me exercising. Which is a wonderful reason in itself. But now I run because I love it. I love moving my body and pushing it to it's extreme and then going out the next day and realizing that I can push myself even further. And seeing what my body can do makes me want to take much better care of it.

I also have this dream of running the Boston Marathon and now there may actually be a chance in hell that I can qualify for it in 2012. When I started running again, or should I say jogging, 4 months ago I was jog/walking at a 15:30 minute/mile pace. Now I'm running a mile in under 9:30! I can run 3 miles under 30 minutes! At 188 pounds! Sorry, I had to brag for a minute because I never thought my body could run under a 12 minute mile. But, boy, can it! So maybe qualifying for Boston with an average 8:23 pace isn't too far off.

My goals, in the mean time, are first: to run a 10k this weekend in under 60 minutes, second: to finish the LA Marathon in under 4:20 (DUDE) and lastly to lose my remaining 25 extra pounds in the next 6 months. It's so funny that my weight is now the least important priority because I've always thought it defined me as a person. And it did, it defined me as OBESE. But now there's a new word that defines me: Athlete.

xoxo,

Lauren

You're Half Way Baby

Mr. Hunter you are 6 months old today! Half a year, old boy! I can't believe it. It seems like only yesterday that you were still in me.

(I had only known about you for about 4 weeks, you were the size of a kidney bean!)

(your dad and I hiking 4 days before you were born)

That was such a fun day. It was a beautiful Friday afternoon and your dad and I thought it might be the last time that just the two of us went hiking together so we went to one of our favorite spots just before sundown. Actually, we were hoping it would be the last time we would hike just the two of us because we were so excited to meet you and hike as a family! But I didn't really think I would get to meet you so soon, I wasn't feeling too much action and thought you might come a few days late.

Fast forward to Monday when I went in for a routine check up and Dr. K listened to your heart rate and looked at my fluid levels and thought maybe you should come out a little sooner than planned. I was scared to death, but super excited because I was finally going to get to see your face!

(that was my last meal and I could only eat a few bites because I was so excited)

Your dad, grandma and I camped out in that room for the next 30 hours playing 'Words With Friends' (it's like Scrabble and if you're anything like your dad and me you'll love it when you grow up) with Rachelle, eating Jolly Ranchers (you'll love those too) and watching Tremors (if you have any taste you will hate that movie but because you come from the Dietrich's and Hawkins' I have little hope you will miraculously have good taste.)

By 30 hours that room got pretty boring and you were ready to come out anyway. In fact, you were trying so hard to come out that my body tried to push you out but my pelvis would not accommodate your huge noggin. The doctor was making fun of it yesterday at your six month appointment because it's still quite large for your size (95th percentile head size when the rest of you is in the 50th or 75th percentile.) But Dr. K made the decision that it was time for you to be born, so...

(they took you right out of my tummy and you're sitting on it in this picture)

Remember how I told you that you were so ready to come out that my body tried to push you. Well, normally babies born by c-section aren't all squished up looking because they just come straight from the belly. Unfortunately, your lack of patience (you're definitely our child) and trying to come out too quick made you a little scrunched and gave you a ridiculous cone head for the first few days.

(You even had a little raspberry sized mark on your head for the first few months because you got so squished)

But even with that conical head you were still the coolest little human I'd ever seen. And when I finally got to hold you I never wanted to let you go.

And look at you now, you're growing so fast I forget sometimes how little you were. Everyday you amaze me. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me!

(No more cone head, just my perfect little man.)

xoxo,

Mama

Getting Over Our First Cold

On Tuesday Hunter woke up from his first nap with a panicked scream like I've never heard. So loud that Adam heard it through his techno blasted headphones and came running. (I didn't even towel off from the shower I was taking, perhaps that scared Hunter even more.) It was way worse than any scream from shots and it lasted for about 3 minutes. 3 HORRIBLE MINUTES. It doesn't seem that long but when you have a baby trying to cry and scream and gasping for air 3 minutes is for FREAKING EVER. That was the beginning of Hunter's first stuffed up nose.

Once he calmed down we found he was totally stuffed up. Maybe a sinus headache too? He had a very low fever and we figured he was in pain from the scream so we gave him some baby acetaminophen. He was able to relax a bit but still wanted to play. His sickness was clearly harder on us than on him after the initial screaming incident.

The worst part was all the mucous. He was so congested he could barely eat. I track all of his activities with a cool little app called Baby Esp so I know exactly what his input and output is every day. And on both Tuesday and Wednesday he was eating half his normal intake. But he seemed ok. That mucous just ran a muck though; it had him snoring, he couldn't eat, way more drool and snot than I could have imagined.

To combat all that mucous our pediatrician recommended Baby Simply Saline and the ball syringe. It was great. He was able to eat a bit more after getting the saline rinse. It's kind of like a neti pot so it clears things out for a bit. We also use an anti mold/bacteria humidifier, we have for the past few months because it's so darn dry in the valley and the moisture helps to keep things moist (duh). But it's the dry warm nasal passages that can keep viruses and bacteria nice and comfy. You need that moisture to help things move through.

So today he's all better. He hasn't had a fever since Wednesday morning. So I'm hoping we're on the tail end of this thing. He ate better last night and is eating like crazy this morning, he's already eaten more than he ate yesterday. I think we're definitely on the road to recovery.

Likes

Hunter Likes

Peas!

He actually ate some pea puree, and I was kind of convinced he wouldn't eat many veggies. Hooray!

Frozen burp cloths!

Wash cloths or burp cloths will freeze easily for his favorite teething soother. Thanks Lisa S.

Hanging out naked!

A few months ago he hated being out of his clothes and now he hates being in them.

Chilling with Ringo!

They both love lying on our big bed, especially together!

Daddy!

xoxo,

Lauren

Too Fast!

It's amazing how fast 2 1/2 weeks have gone by. It's not like it's been any busier than usual, well maybe a little. Hunter is turning into a bit of a handful. Not bad at all, quite the opposite actually, he's starting to do so much so it's a lot more work. But soooo fun!

Happy 5 month birthday little man!!!!!

Here's an update

He loves to play!

We got him this bouncer off Craigslist. He loves it! He loves to play with all the activities and he reaches out to play with things hanging out of his reach. He also loves to stand ALL THE TIME. So much so that Adam and my arms were tired passing him between the two of us. So this has definitely taken a weight off our shoulders, literally.

On a side note, notice the white bar in the foreground with shiny screws. Those screws are notches for the bouncer to move up as Hunter grows. A few days ago Hunter had a super cranky day; no naps, lots of screaming and eating. The next day, he wakes up and I put him in the bouncer while I make his morning bottle and realize we have to move the bouncer up a notch. He actually grew overnight!

He's mobile!

I've been putting Hunter in this activity walker for the last 10 weeks just so he can stand. He will hang in it while I shower or just for a few minutes when I need to put laundry in the dryer or something. Last week I brought it into the kitchen while I was cooking and Hunter moved a foot. I was so excited and hollered for Adam to come watch him move at a snails pace. But the next night he moved five feet and we had to put up safety gates. Now he's cruising all over the house! He's also getting interested in the cabinets so we'll be baby proofing those in the coming weeks.

He's also rolling over quite often, he sits in a propped position, and he does this weird downward dog move that may be a crawl in a month or two. It looked like he tried to scoot on his rear today, but he may have just been trying to stand

He's onto solids!

It took him a while to warm up to some of these new tastes. He hates rice cereal with a passion, he purses his lips and won't let anything through. So we moved onto pears which he tolerated a bit more but not completely. He really likes banana and sweet potatoes and tomorrow we will move onto peas. And I've heard pureed avocado is great so we'll try that in the next few days. Yum?!

Here are some other cute pics from the last few weeks:

As for Adam, he continues to work like a madman. I swear as soon as he gets a moment of rest he immediately starts working again. That is good news though. And he's been biking like crazy as well too. He is a total mountain biker dude now.

Not too much is new on my end except for my weight loss and overall fitness. I'm a little over 10 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight and I've dropped a full pants size. I'm running crazy mileage, 11 miles this past Saturday. And I think before I run my marathon in March I might run the Malibu 1/2 marathon in November. Just for fun, ya know ;)

I'll try not to be so tardy with my next post.

xoxo,

Lauren

Some People

So Hunter and I were in Trader Joe's a few days ago picking up a few items for dinner. He was in his Baby Bjorn, happy as a clam, checking out all the colorful produce. And while I was getting some cabbage (for fish tacos, yum!) this girl fairly close to me turns to her very pregnant friend, and loud enough for me to hear, says "You didn't register for a Baby Bjorn did you? Those things are terrible for you and the baby. And don't even get me started on forward facing carriers." I immediately turned towards her, mouth totally agape, and stared. She stared right back, and totally scowled at me, and she and her friend walked off.

That was it. I didn't say a thing, but it totally hurt my feelings. Seriously? WTF? I really want to use the real F word but I'm using some restraint. And, of course, I kept seeing her in the store and was thinking of all these witty retorts, but it was just too late. And she got her point across, because I immediately went home to research all the terrible things I was doing to Hunter by forcing him to face forward in this deadly carrier.

The first site I looked at was Baby Center and the thread directed me to this link for a company called Sleepy Wrap, similar to Moby Wrap. And my first thought was "of course they won't endorse the Baby Bjorn because they want to sell their own product." But they're basically against any type of hanging carrier because it isn't supportive enough for the spine and can actually cause spinal stress called spondylolisthesis if worn for a "long period" of time. But in the spondylolithesis article the writer recommends using a sling. And the US government issued a statement that baby slings can and do suffocate infants. The article also states that 60% of Eskimo's have spondylolithesis, most likely due to the papoose, but I'm imagining they're wearing it for much longer than the 30 minutes Hunter is in his each day.

As for forward facing carriers, infants can get overstimulated and can't look away. But if they're facing you, they can look side to side and then curl into you and fall asleep. That is awesome that some kids do that, Hunter does not. If he's sleepy, I put him in the stroller, but he craves social interaction. Every once in awhile I face him in, but he gets screamy and kicky until I turn him around and I feel like it's forced motor-boating.

So I'm writing this post, mainly, because I'm super annoyed at that B in TJ's. But you know what? Everyone is going to have their opinion about what's best for children whether it pertains to sleeping, eating, or transport, etc. And not every kid is the same. I have the Moby Wrap and Hunter hates it, I'm so lucky someone bought me the Bjorn or I'd be up a creek. I also know people whose kids really like rice cereal and other that really like avocado, and kids that only sleep on their stomachs, and one of my favorite bloggers that loves her slings and makes them (here's an easy tutorial if you want to make your own.) Oh, and ALL these kids are still alive. Imagine that.

So I did the research, and the truth is, I don't think Hunter is at any risk and I will continue to use the Bjorn as I have been, for maybe 30 minutes a day. I adore my carrier and I love being close to my baby. That lady can suck it. And I swear if I see her again at MY Trader Joe's...

xoxo,

Lauren

Roll Over Beethoven

Or don't. That's cool too. Hunter just isn't into rolling over. He rolled over for the first time a month ago and I thought that was it; he was gonna roll over all the time. Yeah, totally not the case. He didn't roll over again until a week later, then five days later again. Last week I took him to the park and he rolled over 3 times, but hasn't since. I talked to my friend and she said her daughter (who is now 3 and can totally roll over because she showed me) skipped that milestone all together. But Hunter looks like he'll roll over and then just stays in this position on his side:

I hear walking can be this way for some kids as well. There will be a step and then nothing for a few days. But then some kids just get it and are off running. Hunter is starting to sit on his own now. He can stay sitting for about 10 seconds, but as soon as he turns his head, he falls over. So we still have a little ways to go.

He's also really starting to enjoy his walker and bouncer. It's so awesome to watch him try to move his legs back and forth. He actually bounces a bit now. I love watching him.

xoxo,

Lauren

Screech

No, I'm not referring to the dude from 'Saved By The Bell' (although, for name-dropping sake, Kelly Kapowski was in my prenatal yoga classes.) Screech is Hunter's new nickname. Or Shrieky, McScreamy, etc.-you get my drift. The kid has learned to scream and it is ear piercing and migraine inducing at the very least. Now that he's learned how to do it that's all he wants to do.

He started out with a little screech only a few days ago. And he would smile and shriek and it was so damn cute. Now he's learned that it really gets our attention, so he cries and shrieks and I'm sure the neighbors think we're torturing him or that we've adopted baby pterodactyls. And instead of getting a little fussy before naps he now gets all shrieky and I'm about ready to pull my hair out.

We're still not doing the best with sleep and I'm wondering if I should start sleep training. We're doing 2 feedings a night which is fine, but he's having a hard time with naps now too. Which was never a problem before, he was a GREAT napper. And I KNOW it's due in part to the pre-teething (still no visible white caps) but we've tried a lot of the remedies and they haven't helped much. I finally broke down and gave him some acetaminophen today. He needed to sleep and boy did it help.

And I need to get his naps back on track too, because I know good sleep begets good sleep. And it is so hard with Adam working at home. Rock music is not conducive to napping. Hunter slept so soundly as a newborn, but he is a much softer sleeper at the ripe age of 4 months.

But back to the sleep training. I feel like he's definitely ready to be at 1 feeding a night. He was there for over a month and the teething seemed to change it. It could have been a growth spurt but those usually only last 2-3 days, a week tops. I hate the idea of letting him cry it out. Some of the methods require letting the kid cry for 5 minutes. My uterus twists after 20 seconds. I also tried dream feeding before this change to help him sleep through the night but didn't seem to help much. I may try it again to see if we can get back to one feeding.

I think it's definitely too early to wean feedings all together. It's clear he still needs some extra calories at night. But maybe the extra feed just needs to be replaced with something else that's soothing. I wish he would take a pacifier, but screech is still a lazy sucker!

xoxo,

(Yawn)

Lauren

One Year Ago Today

Uniform Project

This is one of my favorite websites. Great idea, great cause, enjoy it daily and give them some money.

UNIFORM PROJECT

Eliza

This is so incredibly beautiful. Makes me cry just thinking about it. I had to watch it twice.

No Sleep til...

Seriously I don't know. Sleep these days has been ROUGH. And I've done tons of research so I know it's normal for babies to sleep great and then totally change their schedules. But it certainly doesn't make things easy. And he's pre-teething (UGGHH), more on that later.

We had a pretty good thing going for close to 6 weeks. There were a few rough nights in there with a wake up or 2 but Hunter was pretty much sleeping 7-8 hours every night and an occasional 10 hours. But about 10 days ago all that changed. It started with 2 wake ups, then 3, then he was up every hour or 2, meaning 4-5 wake ups each night. It has made me pretty cranky, although it has been better the last few days with only 1 or 2 wake ups a night. I'm not holding my breath though.

It's just so weird because even as a newborn he wasn't up that much. Luckily he does go right back to sleep after a bottle or some soothing so I don't have to worry too much about crying and sleep training, YET. He goes to sleep on his own every night which is a bonus. So I'm praying it's the teething or a growth spurt because I really need some sleep.

Adam will get up and help every once in awhile, but it's hard because I'm a bit of a control freak and I'm afraid he won't stick to my night ritual. And that makes him fearful of helping. When I was breastfeeding all the time I had to be up and thought at least one parent should get rest so the transition to me needing help has been rough as well. I'm sure we'll figure it out though. Or maybe Hunter will start sleeping better. We shall see.

We also have some milestones approaching. Hunter will be 4 months on Saturday, he's getting so big. He's also started to "pre-teeth." I know this discomfort is definitely contributing to his overall crankiness and restlessness. And the good news is that he could be uncomfortable for 1-2 months before the tooth even cuts. Are you kidding me?

And up until today he hasn't really been able to soothe himself except for eating his hand and drooling everywhere. He just didn't have the coordination to get a teether to his mouth and keep it there. He will grab something and try to gnaw but usually loses control pretty quick and just hits himself in the face. Last week we got him a teething pacifier. But the darn thing was so big he could barely get it into his mouth. Couple that with the fact that he's not a good sucker and it just didn't work. Good in theory, but not for us.

So I was really thankful that he got the teether in his mouth today, and long enough for a photo. Sweet!

This Week in Photos

This is how Hunter spends most of his time these days. Hand in mouth, tons of drool.

But I guess 2 hands are better than 1!

So you probably can't tell but Hunter is wearing a Bob Dylan onesie here. And I know it's totally inappropriate, but it took everything I had not to Photoshop a joint into his right hand. It's almost too perfect. But I know if I did I'd just be jinxing myself for the future.

And here's his modeling pose, minus the drool all over the sofa.

We've had this mirror propped in our entry for awhile and I recently brought it to the living room for Hunter to look at himself during tummy time. For some reason now that it's in the living room the dogs pay so much more attention to it. Maybe it's the better light but both dogs spend a lot of time looking in that mirror. Almost as much as Hunter. My narcissistic family.

And I couldn't leave Ringo out. Here he is with all his stolen toys. The black and white toy is Hunter's toy moose cow named Moscow and the brown toy is Abbey's favorite giraffe. Both dogs have been so great about not messing with Hunter's toys. But I guess Ringo just couldn't resist that one. I'm sure Hunter will be taking their toys in no time.

Movies and Meatless Mondays

Hunter and I went to our first movie together today. It was fantastic. Monday Morning Mommy Movies is such a great idea. As soon as the movie came on Hunter was in awe. I think he was excited for such a huge TV. Much to our chagrin, the kid loves TV. He was fussy for a good 1/2 hour, but it wasn't too traumatizing since most of the other babies were as well. All us moms got up and walked around, bounced the kids in the aisles and changed diapers on the changing area set up in the theater. I will definitely be doing this again.

So Adam is very particular about what he eats. Even though his parents are very fit he still has a family history of high cholesterol and blood pressure. We try to watch sodium and cholesterol intake but now that we're on this health kick we've decided to eat a lot more lean meats and vegetables. But yesterday Adam decided he'd like to include a lot more vegan meals into our normal dinner repertoire. Enter Meatless Mondays (and possibly Tuesdays and Wednesdays as well.)

And now I have to give a shout out to Stone Brewing Company for having a meatless menu on Mondays. One more reason in a very long line of reasons to drink Stone.

I got this amazing cookbook from my friend Lem Jay for my birthday. It's called 'The Conscious Cook' by Tal Ronnen. And it's touted as vegan recipes for carnivores. I highly recommend it. Tonight we had Agave-Lime Grilled Tofu with Asian Coleslaw and M Cafe's Scarlet Quinoa Salad.

You'll have to buy the book for the tofu and slaw recipes, and believe me, it's so worth it. But here is the M Cafe Scarlet Quinoa Salad Recipe from the LA Times.

And here are some pics of little man from the past few days.

xoxo,

Lauren

A Dose of Cute

I've been neglecting the daily picture so here are some from the last few weeks.

You Take the Good, You Take the Bad

Adam's back home and things didn't get easier as I had anticipated, although he did fix the electricity and the computer instantly. He's way busier than either of us was expecting so fewer breaks for him means fewer breaks for me, as well as making 3 meals, extra laundry, the list goes on... But he's really enjoying his work these days and he's doing it mostly from home, so that's been nice for both of us.

He wasn't supposed to have work this week but he got some awesome work very short notice. And I am so excited for him. I really wanted to post about it on Facebook but he asked me to hold off, although he did say I could put it on my blog because maybe 10 people tops actually read it. So he's working with this guy in a band that rhymes with Schmeastie Shmoys. SO COOL! I guess it's so exciting to me because I've been listening to them since I was 6. So yay for Adam!

As for me, I guess my full-time job title is now Mom. I was planning to go back to work on a limited basis in September but apparently my job no longer exists. Can you sense the bitterness?The girl that has been covering my position is only working there twice a week because there is so little work. She immediately changed stuff when she began working there and she's been doing stuff her way for the last 4 months so I'd have to be retrained to do MY job anyway. I'm bitter about it because I don't think the situation was handled very well by my ex-boss. But she often doesn't handle things well, so I should have assumed this would happen.

If I could I would do this (NSFW):

The good news is that Adam totally supports me staying at home, although he is urging me to resume painting more and maybe doing something with my art degree. I know I am so lucky to have his support and this opportunity. And I'm looking forward to giving Hunter my undivided attention, like he deserves. It just wasn't planned this way so it's thrown me for a bit of a loop. But I believe things are this way for a reason and for the better. And of course I want to spend every day with this little dude.

In other news, I'm finally below my pre-pregnancy weight. So rad! I've been working my ass off! Literally. I put on freshly washed jeans this morning and didn't even have to do the waist band pull or shimmy into them, they just fit perfectly. It did take me closer to 4 months than the 3 I had hoped for to lose the weight. But I also gained more weight than I wanted.

Because I had a high risk pregnancy I had to go to a perinatologist. Even my OB called him the "food Nazi." And he really was. Every time I went to see him (monthly) I was in tears, expecting to be yelled at for my weight gain. At 36 weeks and 35 pounds gained, when I was already feeling pretty fat and grumpy, he gave me a really harsh lecture on how studies show because I was already overweight if I gained any more I was going to keep gaining and become obese. And that when I started breast feeding, I couldn't have any extra calories because that would make my kid obese too. He was so mean. And now I'm BELOW my pre-pregnancy weight. So Dr. Doany, to you I say FACE!

So good to get that all of my chest!

XOXO,

Lauren

Tomorrow, Tomorrow... Is only a day away

Hunter is down for the evening. Hallelujah! Although I wrote that, "down for the evening" I never say it anymore. My Uncle Reland says "you should never put a baby down." You put animals down, but not babies, unless they're rabid or something :)

And Adam returns from Austin tomorrow. Can I get an AMEN? This two weeks hasn't been too difficult but we've had a few trying days.

I feel like an accomplished traveler now that I've been on a few trips with the little man. And most recently we traveled alone to Laguna for a few days with 2 dogs, a bunch of luggage and a butload of baby gear... in a Prius. It was fairly uneventful, of course that was after we went through the gas station car wash. I don't know why I thought it was a good idea with all that commotion and noise. But after the dogs tried to dig through the trunk and climb the seats we had a peaceful ride to Laguna. Hunter's a great travel companion, he sleeps the whole time. I wish I could say the same for the dogs.

Laguna was great, we got to see my parents and Hunter got to meet his great grandmother. He just loved her. But again, I wish I could say the same for the dogs. Abbey, who isn't really even comfortable with me touching Hunter (she thinks he's her baby) was really wary of Grams. At first she just followed Grams everywhere. But as soon as Grams tried to touch Hunter, Abbey would body block her. Literally throw herself between Grams and Hunter. Then it escalated to a growl. And later a snap. We eventually had to leave the dogs on the side yard for the rest of the trip. After all, we didn't want Grams to lose an arm. She already has a bad hip.

Home has been ok as well, but wouldn't you know, as soon as Adam leaves things go to shit. First, half of the power in the kitchen is out. Luckily it's not the side with the refrigerator and the stove. But it is the side with all the outlets (old 40's house, there are only a few anyway.) So I have been without a garbage disposal, which I rarely use anyway, but it's cool to know it's there. But I also have to move everything to the one other grounded outlet if I want to use it. So I've given up on coffee, toast and microwaving because it's just too annoying. I still move the electric tea kettle to prepare formula, but that's it. I would have called an electrician, but my husband is an electronics whisperer, so I'm sure if he just breathes on the circuit breaker everything will work again.

Then last night the TV goes out. Well not the TV exactly, but the computer we use as a media center. Because my husband is ultra nerd and we can't just have cable. And the thing shuts down and I get the blue screen of death. But it restarted itself and, whew, I got TV back after 10 minutes. But today I got home from my Mommy & Me class and the computer won't turn on, it has power but it's fried. I tried to trouble shoot to the best of my ability, but let's face it, my ability is close to nil.

At least I have my computer, and my sweet, sweet phone, oh yeah, and beer. Without those I swear I'd go nuts. And as I write this, the electronics are probably both slowly dying, just to drive me crazy. But all this has made me realize what a brat I am. I adore my technology and I covet it. I know pioneers didn't have this stuff and had to walk miles for water and food and shit. But I am not a pioneer! I am a spoiled kid from Laguna Beach. Is this Karma?

Then payback certainly is a bitch.

Oh wait, but I forgot to mention the result of Hunter's shots. And the 24 hours of projectile vomiting and fever. And according to the nurse, these were the "easy" shots. FYI, Polio shot is rarely easy. It almost always leaves a very tender lump. And I tried to ask for delayed shots, but they told me I had to have them. I'm all for vaccinations (really, I am PRO VACCINE) but I think I may delay the next round for a few months or even a year, even if I have to change my pediatrician. Who has polio nowadays anyway? And what 3 month old child is getting a sexually transmitted disease? Not mine.

But Hunter, the dogs and I are well and pretty darn happy. I just need to give props to the HTC Sprint Evo. I swear I would have lost my mind otherwise. It has kept me in touch with the world.

And now, I bid you adieu.

xoxo,

Lauren

A Tall Drink of Water

So I have to start by telling you that Hunter slept 10 1/2 hours last night. SCORE! Best sleep yet, but I feel like I deserved it because last week he was up twice every night, starving. And because he was so starved I was convinced he was under weight, being starved and I was doing something wrong. I did try introducing rice cereal to see if that would help, nope, just made him puke, A LOT! I'm guessing it was just a growth spurt because this week he was back to sleeping 8 hours with one nightly feeding (or early morning, 4am.)

So Hunter slept from 7:30pm to 6am which is perfection for me, I'm an early riser. I wish he would keep this schedule, but I know just by writing this I'm jinxing myself. So we got up and did all our morning stuff, walked the dogs and were out for our run by 8am. Almost unheard of.

I was just going to do an easy run with some speed intervals. But 1/2 way through I got a call from the pediatrician asking if Hunter could come in to the office in an hour rather than tomorrow. I agreed and my run turned into a tempo run. I ran way faster than I normally do for an extended period of time. It was actually really good for me. But what was better, finding out early if Hunter's growth is normal. Because I've been so stressed out about it.

It is! Hunter's stats are right on track. His weight is in the 50th percentile but his length is in the 75th percentile. He's just tall and thin. I knew he was tall because he is mostly wearing 6 month clothes right now, but only for the length. I had also heard that formula babies are usually chubbier, ranking higher percentage wise in weight, so I look at my skinny kid and think "what's wrong with you, dude?" But we've known since the beginning he's a lazy sucker, and he continues to be.

It feels so good to know Hunter's growing appropriately and behaving exactly as a 3 month old should: giggling, grabbing, gooing and gumming anything that he can get in his mouth.

He also got another round of shots today which I totally forgot was scheduled and gave me one more thing to obsess about. I still hate it. And they made him sick, he got a fever of 100 and has been extra fussy, which he never is. Last time he just slept all day which I much prefer. It's the most heartbreaking thing to know your kid is in pain. And even more heartbreaking when he's crying, screaming, and nothing will console him.

But now it's nap time, and conveniently that falls at the same time as happy hour, because mommy neeeeeeds a drink.

Cheers,

Lauren

My Little Narcissist

Or how I taught Hunter to enjoy tummy time

Infancy

Hunter is no longer a newborn! Crazy! He's just a baby now. A sweet, wonderful, little baby. I was reading my friend Anna's blog and she just put away all her son's newborn clothes (tears) and that's what made her realize her son was growing up. It's so weird that this milestone is already upon us. I feel like just yesterday he was still kickin' it in my belly.

I guess I notice Hunter's getting older because of all his actions. He's trying to roll over, he kicks and screams, but still tries. He's also trying to sit up, with the same result of kicking, screaming and getting upset. He wants to do it so badly! He also gets really mad when he wants to stand up and can't. I swear I spend half my day holding him up. I can't wait until his feet reach the floor in his little activity walker! I'm hoping we only have a week or 2 for that. I'm not sure I'M READY for him to grow up. But I know he is.

(Mesmerized by Shark Week)

xoxo,

Lauren