Friday 5: Current Favorite Running Songs

It's been awhile, so here are some more that I dance to...while running.




1) Stuck Like Glue - Sugarland  Watch the video!  It's not only hilarious, but it stars Captain Awesome from Chuck!



2) Party Rock - LMFAO I know it's overplayed right now, but I still can't get enough.



3) Hey Baby (Drop it to the floor) - Pitbull/T-Pain You know I needed something Pitbull.



4) Flashlight - Parliament



5) I Write Sins Not Tragedies - Panic at the Disco



And a bonus!

Discotech - Young Love

Who do I look like?

On the forum I participate in, we were all making collages of our little ones to try and figure out which parent they look like.  So I thought I'd share my results with all of you.  The forum ladies were just as sure as all of us that he's Chris's kid.  What do you think?

My 7 Links

After a picture of Robby's gigantic frog-belly (you should check out the post over the weekend about his 2-month-birthday), are links to some select posts, since I've been tagged in the "7 Links" posts.

Kat at Living like the Kings tagged me in the 7 Links.  So here goes,

1. My Most Beautiful Post:  I want to say the post memorializing my friend that died, but I don't feel comfortable linking that.  Search if you want.   

2. My Most Popular Post:  Both of these, that are related, have received similar numbers of hits: Friday Five: Pregnancy Surprises and Friday Five: Biggest Postpartum Surprises 

3. My Most Controversial Post:  The Noah's Ark of Suburbia This is the only post I have ever received a nasty comment on.  And I'm not exactly sure why...  Someone poo-pooed medicating my dog and cat...  For reference, the dog has EPI and would die otherwise, and the cat gets in a lot of fights and has arthritis.  But...ok... 

4. My Most Helpful Post:  The "Correct" Relationship Style Ok, not HELPFUL per se, but it did point out to Chris that his passive-aggressive (though, ok, funny) methods of getting me to clean the bathroom weren't helpful. 

5. A Post Whose Success Surprised Me:  Grilled Pizzas This is an old post that continues to rack up the hits.  The link landed on a diet site, and the rest is history.   

6. A Post I Didn’t Think Got the Attention it Deserved: Bread Dreams This is a very early post before I had any readers.  Literally.  But it is REALLY awesome bread, and you should make it. 

7. The Post I am Most Proud of:  Happy Birthday Robby - The Long Version More because of the content, then being able to write it, I am proud of giving birth to my little man!  

Here are the other 4 Blogs that were tagged on Kat's 7 Links: 

• Jenn @ Growing with the Greens
• Doctor’s wife @ Life of a Doctor’s Wife
• Lori @ I Can Grow People
• Emily @ The Culinary Couple

And here are 5 that I'm tagging: 

• Katy @ Everything We Love
• Lauren @ Talk of the Trains 
• Whitney @ QuipWhit
• Sara @ The Spendidly Imperfect Miss M!
• Ruth @ Bogue and Weejer 

The Lion at 2 Months

Where is the time going?!?!  Already he is SOOOO big.  This month has brought a much more interactive boy.  He is happy, generally easygoing, and LOVES his Momma.  Almost to the point that it hurts Daddy's feelings.  I know soon enough this will flip around, but for now?  Just my presence will often make him settle down.

He is most CERTAINLY a chunkster.  As always, his appointment is next week, so I'm not sure of his exact weight, but I'm guessing around 13.5 pounds.  Both outfits in this post are 3-6 months, and both are a little snug.  That is truly ridiculous, and it means that my mother and Chris keep battling for college football fandom by buying larger sizes for their respective schools.  (Ok, that's ignoring that my mother actually WENT to Penn State, but has been sending OSU and ND.  Ok, she went to OSU, too.  But it's still funny.)

There is a side by side of 2 months to 1 month.  He's packing it on!

 Chris's most recent Penn State purchase.  And, yes, it's supposed to fit a 6 month old.  Laugh with me now.  Hahahahahahahaha!

Robby and his Buddha belly are joining in.  

At 2 months, Robby is very alert.  He was sleeping through the night from about 9 pm to 7 am, or with only one wake-up, but this past week while it was hot, all schedules have flown out the window.  He takes a long nap from about 10:30 am to noon, and then a couple brief ones in the afternoon.  He follows toys with his eyes, talks to them, and can grab them with his hands.  On the activity mat, he kicks and waves his arms at the toys, as well as loves staring at himself in the mirror.  We have Mr. Vain on our hands.  He can roll onto his side pretty well, but we aren't making it all the way over any more.  He seems to know the word "eat", and will stop crying when it is said to him.  He's very smiley, and will "talk back" to you when you converse with him.  

Finally, the dog and cat are as interesting to Robby as he is to them.  Harper helped out with taking pictures, and most mornings we'll sit on the floor with her for awhile and play tug or ball.

"Ok, Mom, enough's enough"

(And, my confession: here's one of the secrets to getting his attention for the pictures)

Trying to Escape

Don't tell Robby he can't crawl.  He won't believe you.  At least not while he's sleeping.  Or on a changing table. In reality?  He's not close.  But at night, he escapes from his swaddle, rotates 180 degrees, and moves down the crib.  How?  I'm honestly not sure.  I need a nanny cam on this little Houdini.

Oh, don't let that acting job fool you.  This cute little face hides an entirely awake child.  He's fronting for the camera.  And blowing bubbles.

I also should mention that these pictures are from last week because that swaddler will not fit around his body.  We have gone up a size.  Which he still escapes from.  It may be time to ditch it, but, for my sanity?  I'm stalling.

Uh oh, he heard me.  Looks like he's really working on that arm strength.  He'll run away to some house that will swaddle him for the rest of his life.  You just watch.

Oh, wait, found an arm to suck on.  Nevermind.  **Arms were bruised in the taking of this photo.  By the child giving himself a hickey.**

Robby at Work

Yesterday, I registered for daycare.  While many people have said how lucky I am to be working part-time from home with him, I feel like he ends up neglected, and I am more stressed out because my 4 hours of work end up taking 10.  The whole time I'm working, I feel guilty that I'm not interacting with him, and the whole time I'm interacting with him, I feel guilty I'm not working.  I need some compartmentalization.  So, it looks like I'll be in the office 3 days a week.  Anyway.  Here are shots of his normal day.

Even at this second, I am working to break this, but during the day, 99% of his naps occur in his swing:

Woo hoo!  Mom's talking to me!!!

Learning to self-soothe since mom's too distracted.  Hands are wonderful things: 

Even the dog feels neglected.  This is shot from my desk chair.

Eye-ing the wall of diplomas.  "This is what you studied for, Mom?"

 

Bring on the next round of mommy guilt!

Things Need to Change

Out of consideration for Chris and Robby, and well, I suppose for my own well being, I need to own up to my unhealthy eating habits, and change them.  Since I'm breastfeeding, I can eat ungodly amounts of food and still lose weight.  Therefore, I have been using this opportunity to put absolute crap into my body.  Chris wants this to change so that he can lose his sympathy weight.  Robby wants this to change so that he can grow into a healthy young man.  And, I guess..., I want this to change for their sake.  And for my future health.  Right?

Yesterday's consumption:

Breakfast:  Corn flakes, soy milk, raspberries, orange juice (still doing well here!)
Snack: Pasta salad (2.5 cups), granola bar, nectarine (hmm...going downhill)
Lunch: Grilled cheese, hot dog (doh)
Snack: 1.5 dry blueberry waffles
Dinner: 2 pieces of veggie pizza
Snack: 1 cup moosetracks ice cream

Yeah, so...I cringe looking at that.  But then, miracle of miracles, I plug it into my favorite little device.  (This is by no means compensated, they don't know me, I just love them.)  Calorie Count!!!!

This site is great because it not only tracks calories, but activity, water, and analyzes your day for nutritional value!  Ignore that I screwed up where I put a few of the items, but here is what yesterday's breakdown looked like for me:

Shockingly, this only worked out to 2,335 calories, and my nutrition was actually pretty good!  I would never have guessed.  I still could probably at least drop the hot dog.  ;)  But, when I woke up this morning, I was STILL down another 2 pounds.  I'm still above my wedding weight by a couple pounds, so I'm not stressing, but I will be trying to get the extra calories in more healthy ways from now on.  Yes, I suppose I care about the men in my life.  Love ya more than hot dogs!  ;)

***Clarification:  I'm NOT counting calories, but I put all this in just to see how ridiculous yesterday was.***

Any suggestions on high calorie foods that are, perhaps, a better choice than hot dogs?  

Robby the Fish

I am thrilled to say that my son is like me in one very important way...he LOVES the water.  After his initial hatred of baths (which he's LONG since gotten over), he's a happy little clam whenever you put him in water.

We went to a state park on Friday and made one large error.  We took the jogging stroller.  We would have been MUCH happier with just the Bjorn.  It wasn't a hard hike to the river, but there were a lot of tree roots and a fair number of steps.  So Robby and I were having trouble keeping up with Chris and Harper...and my arms got a major workout.

Once there, though, both Harper and Robby were thrilled.  Robby, of course, is thrilled any time he can see trees, but see trees, water, and his puppy playing?  His mind is blown.

Consequently, he slept almost 12 hours last night, only waking up once at 5:30.  I even woke up ON MY OWN.  It almost feels like he gets too much sleep when he's not my alarm...which...is wrong.  It's what we're shooting for, right?

Today was his first time in a pool, which he thoroughly enjoyed, and Chris viewed from afar, agreeing to take this one picture...  We could be in trouble.  He's been asleep in the swing for a couple hours, and we need to get him to go to bed.  Doh.  Bad planning on our part.

Videos where I sound ridiculous

I can't email the larger videos, so I will have to publicly humiliate myself so that Chris and the few people I might have sent them to can see them.  Please don't mock me...too much.

First thing in the morning cheer

His favorite buddy

Harper "helping"

And more of Harper's "help"

Back to Running

I've now done two "official" runs on a treadmill, and it's a mixed bag.  At 7 weeks post-partum, I pretty much feel back to my old self, but when I try and run?  There are a few reminders that things have changed.  Obviously, my stamina is nowhere close to what it used to be.  That was a given.  I also have laughed and said that it's the first time I've run in my 30's, too, though I doubt that's the issue.

It really isn't my legs, or my breathing, or any of the normal reasons that I used to feel worn out that hit me.  It's my stomach!!!  7 minutes into my run last night, my abs clenched up and were NOT going to let go.  I understand that they were stretched out for a long time, but it's just a new experience.  I never gave a second thought to my core being strong enough before.  I had been a life-long swimmer, and frequently practiced yoga and pilates, so I don't know if I've ever had so much as a side cramp, much less this entire abdominal lock-down.  Regardless, things will continue to improve, and it will stop one day, but for now, it's the first hurdle to overcome.

Another hurdle?  What to WEAR.  Oh, sure, that outfit looks great in pictures, and that's actually one of the better ones for me to choose, but I'm more top-heavy now.  Things just don't fit.  And if I can get them on?  They aren't supportive enough.  So I am on a mission for new jogging attire.  That won't break the bank.  It's tough, ya'll!

I can't wait until the Lion can join me!  We have a jogging stroller, but you're not supposed to use it to run until 6 months because their heads bounce too much.  So, for now, here's my GORGEOUS view!

Spectacularly Stupid Things I've Done Lately

Well, if I'm not an Idiot's Guide for what not to do, I don't know who is.  And, a few of the "exciting" reasons I have failed to blog recently reminded me of just how rarely I remember to screw my head on straight.

1)  My trip to the emergency room last week - I decided it was time for my rings to fit again.  Since I had quite a bit of swelling toward the end of pregnancy, I couldn't get my rings on my fingers for the longest time.  With my weight being ALMOST back to what it was, I thought they should easily slide on.  Even when they fought me, did I stop?  Nope, just jammed them on.  AND...cut off the circulation to my finger.  It swelled to double its size and turned purple.  Meghan generously came over and watched Robby until Chris could get home, and I headed over to the emergency room, where they cut the rings off.  Now, I still won't be wearing wedding rings until I get to the jewelers to have them repaired.  Time to hit up the bars!  ;)

2)  My trip to the pediatrician - I am a horrible mother.  Why you say?  I was taking my child for a check-up, that's responsible, right?  It is until you forget to buckle the car seat on the way home.  I had heard of others doing this and thought I could NEVER forget that.  Uh huh.  Fortunately, nothing happened.  I'm still horrified.

3)  Opened the basement window - Ok, so how's this stupid?  It's not, except that Monster JUMPED THROUGH THE SCREEN to attack a cat.  He was seriously injured, but fortunately will be alright, after yet another vet visit.  Alright, I'm not the stupid one here.  But the cat?  Oh yeah.

4)  Leaving the hose out - Yeah yeah,also not necessarily dumb.  But the dog chewed the nozzle off for the THIRD TIME.  She is being HORRIBLE recently.  She's now decided she's jealous of Robby (though still loves him and protects him, too, go figure).  She is literally fighting me for my attention sometimes (yes, she's nipped at me), destroying things, and even has batted at Robby.  We're working on increasing her exercise and individual attention, but it's been rough.

Not so dumb things I've been up to:

1)  Back to work (at home).  It's proving to be difficult, but manageable.  Robby certainly doesn't like deadlines, so if I have a quick turn around, there's been a lot of screaming.  Some of it's from him.  ;)  He's spending much too much time sleeping in a swing.


2)  Look at our garden grow!

3)  Growing babies!  Robby's now following things with his eyes, talking back to us, and generally being more and more agreeable.  Thank goodness since I'm being more and more demanding with the whole working thing.  He's slept through the night a couple times now, and probably would a few more, other than I keep waking him up because I'M uncomfortable.  I'm also not sure if I should care at all that sometimes I go in to check in the morning, and he's already awake, but just laying there happily.  Pretty sure that's a good thing.  He is now outgrowing his 3 MONTH clothes.  At 7 weeks!  SHEESH.  (Ok, not an attractive picture.  But it's a tight outfit.)

4)  I started running again!  Doing...alright.  Figured out I'm the equivalent level of week 3 Couch to 5K.  Ouch!  I'll get back there.

And...yes I used up all my recent pictures, as I figure I'll probably be horrible about posting.  Though I'm sure I'll have just as many ridiculous reasons why!

A Successful 4th of July Roadtrip

The Lion took his first roadtrip this weekend, and all of my fears turned out to be unfounded.  I feared that his sleep schedule would be terribly thrown off, that it would be exhausting for us, and that the car ride would be miserable.  In a word....nope.

The car ride up was especially not painful.  It's about a 2 hour trip to Chris's parents, and Robby slept almost the entire way, and only popped his eyes open once we were already in the town.  Score!  He settled in at Grandma & Grandpa's house, and Grandma happily cuddled the lil guy.  (Notice you can actually SEE me in a picture.  Chris took one!)
  

Soon enough, we headed over to a picnic at Chris's Aunt Margie's house, and the entire extended family got their turn.  Surprisingly, Robby's biggest fan was his 2nd cousin, Will.  I wish he lived closer because he offered a bunch of times to babysit.  Though, perhaps 11 is a little young.  ;)

And, of course, his sister wasn't going to be left out.

Harper enjoyed the trip, too, mostly because she got to steal Misty's toys.  She didn't last long at the lake house because certain Schnauzers (hmm hmm Monty) were picking on her.  Though she happily jumped in a few times before she had to go home.

 So, Misty just took over guard duty.

Robby slept well, both in people's arms and in his pack n play at night, only waking up 2 times.  But it was Chris's first time sleeping in the same room as the baby and getting woken up.  He was "exhausted".  I think one night in 6 weeks is pretty darn nice.

The ride home was less fun and involved some screaming, but generally, the trip was a smashing success, and WORE A BOY OUT.  He slept 12 hours last night with only one wake-up at 4:45.  By 8 I was checking if he was alive.  He finally joined the living world at 9.  Sheesh.  Must be nice.  Now if only I could quit CHECKING on him a million times a night, I'd be well rested.