Getting in Shape

In October, 2011, after months of training, I ran the Chicago Marathon.  Then I sat around for the next 6 weeks and ate anything that looked delicious to me.  Then it was Christmas time.  Then we celebrated our engagement with family and friends by heading out every week for appetizers and cocktails.  And then I found out I was pregnant.

So, needless to say, I was not at my ideal weight when I got pregnant.  But what can you do?  Baby needs you to eat.  I tried to be as mindful of weight gain as possible and stayed pretty active but especially at the end, it just piled on like whoa.  All in all, I gained almost 40 pounds but I'm happy to say it was mostly in front.

In the first two months, I dropped about 30 by doing nothing before I hit a wall.  I was pretty much back to where I started but that's nothing to be too proud of.  So, about a month ago, I went on a pretty strict diet and exercise program and recruited Scott to join me.  It's going pretty well so far; I've lost 12 pounds and Scott has lost 21 (ugh!).  Ideally, I'd like to lose another 30, which would put me at my smallest adult weight ever but hey, let's aim for the stars.

Now is the time I should be posting photos of myself but I haven't taken any since my 38 week picture.  You'll just have to wait for the big reveal.  For now, enjoy some photos of the little man.

Here's Way chilling on the Boppy.  His head and neck are getting strong!

Baby was constipated this week and completely miserable.  The only way to get him to calm down was to bicycle his legs and let him cuddle with his little monkey friend.

Found his thumb!

Happy 3 months, Waylon!

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

I can't believe it's been 3 months since my little love muffin was born!  It's been pretty exciting, to say the least.  I measured Waylon this morning and he weighs about 15.5 pounds which puts him between the 75th and 90th percentile, and is 26 inches long, which puts him between the 90th and 95th percentile.  I guess the little beast isn't so little!

We have been having a lot of fun the last couple of weeks.  Waylon loves to listen to music (Outkast, Motown, and Scott's olde timey country are favorites), play on his gym and give little pets to his dogs.  He has been babbling a lot lately and I think he gets the idea of conversation.  He laughs when I sing to him and when I read him stories.  Waylon has really preferred to be held upright since he was born (and before I guess, since he was breech) so I feel like his neck is pretty strong for a 3-month old.  Maybe sitting up is not far off?

I think we have finally got the whole "sleeping through the night" thing down.  A week ago, I started mixing cereal into his last bottle of the night and he hasn't woken up for a 4 a.m. feeding since.  So right now it's just formula and a little rice cereal, but I honestly can't wait to start giving him more real food!  I think he's going to like it and I know I will enjoy introducing him to new foods and figuring out his favorites.  A few days ago, Scott actually gave him a few bites of refried beans.  I did not enjoy that diaper.  But he understood right away how to eat off the spoon and I think he liked it.  He better, with the amount of Mexican food that gets eaten in this house!

We can't quite decide who Baby Way looks like.  He's much paler than either Scott or me and although the Brizzolaras think he looks like Scott, the Manos fam seems to think he looks more like me.  The only thing I can tell for sure is that he has Scott's chin and my mouth.  Well, and my temper.  That baby has the best angry face ever and is super loud when he gets impatient.  It's cute now, but I'm going to have to reign that in sooner rather than later.  Here's a pic of Waylon just out of the bath this morning.  He loves the bath but never actually remembers that he likes the bath, so he screams for about 10 seconds right when you put him in.

I never posted the 2 month photo, so here's both the 2 month and the 3 month....Little boy is really growing!

Misadventures in Breastfeeding. Or, How I Starved My Baby While Making Myself Miserable

*Disclaimer*  I am going to say some things that people are going to disagree with vehemently and possibly find offensive.  To those people I say, have we met?  Because "offensive" and "judgmental" are some of my best personality traits.  However, it is not my intent to offend here.  I just feel like I was not given realistic expectations/information about breastfeeding and it caused me (and my baby) pain and mental duress and I'm trying to do a good thing by giving more than one side of the story.  Stand down, lactivists!  *end disclaimer*

When I found out I was pregnant, I made the decision (guided by mountains of pamphlets from my doctor, at least 100 magazine articles, and the recommendation from other moms) to breastfeed the Sprout.  Actually, looking back, I don't know if it was really a decision so much as succumbing to the fear that my baby would have a deficient immune system, would not bond with me, and would be dumber and fatter if I gave him formula.  Also, I was promised rapid weight loss.  So, although I was a formula-fed baby from birth, I decided I could dedicate 6 months of my life to breastfeeding.

It was terrible right from the start.  It is PAINFUL.  Every time the baby latched on, it was like the most intense titty-twister of my life that caused me to curse (softly, lest the baby startle, pull off and need to latch on again), stomp my feet, and count down the days until his 6-month birthday.  And it was every 2 hours!  I used to silently wish Waylon would develop an allergy to breast milk so I could throw in the towel.

"If it hurt, he must not have been latched on correctly!"  Bullshit.  I know the difference between the feeling of an incorrect latch and a correct one and THEY BOTH HURT.

"But the bonding experience of breastfeeding can't be replicated by bottle feeding!"  Oh really?  You think I have these warm, loving, bonding feelings with a creature who is causing me excruciating pain 6-8 times a day?  A creature who looks at me, his mother, like nothing more than a feed bag?  Talking to him, playing little games with him, even changing his diapers were more rewarding to me.

Eventually, my nipples just lost feeling altogether, which made the whole experience more tolerable.  But, since I never had an overabundance of milk, I couldn't pump.  What I was making was just enough for Waylon to eat every couple of hours so I had to plan my whole day around when I needed to be at home to feed him.  It really stressed me out.  Going to my 3 hour Jeopardy tryout took 3 days of planning ahead and pumping tiny amounts after each feeding, just so Scott had something to give him on the off-chance he might get hungry while I was away.  There is no freedom in breastfeeding, people.

"If you're not making enough, you need to keep him on the breast as much as possible!"  Oh fuck right off!  I sat with him on one breast for 45 minutes, followed by the other breast, followed by a 45 minute break before starting over for an entire WEEK and the supply never increased.  But, I did end up watching the entire series of Breaking Bad so that wasn't a total loss.  (Jesse Pinkman!  I just want to give you a hug.)

Around 6 weeks old, Waylon started to get really fussy.  Like, he had to be held and bounced all the time, he'd never just chill out.  I thought I just had one of those babies who was a fussy pants.  Nope!  We found out at his 2-month check up that he'd dropped from the 40th percentile in weight to the 16th.  Baby was starving!  The doctor suggested I start supplementing with formula.  Honestly, it was the biggest relief of my life.  That's why he was crying all the time!  Someone else will be able to feed him now!  I can go to the store or make lunch or take a friggin' shower because I won't have to be a slave to breastfeeding!  Hooray!

I kept breastfeeding for another week or so after seeing the doctor before eventually giving it up for good.  It just wasn't worth the time involved based on what I was getting out.  Now I have a happy, chubby (not fat!) healthy, smart little baby who I've bonded with just fine, thank you.  And I'm a better mama.

My point in sharing this tale?  No one ever told me that breastfeeding was going to be as painful as it is.  Or as demanding.  I was promised blissful, peaceful moments of bonding.  I was made to feel that women who formula feed are ignorant, lazy, or unloving.  It's all nonsense.  Women talk about "choice" all the time, but we're so quick to judge each other's choices when it comes to feeding our babies.  Why?  My boobies, my baby, my business.

Gratuitous pic:

Programming Note

Well hey, y'all.  I've been MIA for a while  for a couple of reasons.  The first is, I lost my camera.  I am constantly forgetting where I put electronics.  Somewhere in this house is an ipod that I haven't used or seen in 3 years.  But mostly, I didn't know how I wanted to continue the blog after Waylon was born.  Should it be a place to update everyone about him every so often?  Should it be a place where I discussed my experiences as a new mom?  Maybe a little of both?  Is that boring?  Doesn't every other mom do the same thing?

So yeah, this blog is in no way a unique idea but I miss doing it and I have Things to Say.  Let's start with the most interesting/pertinent:  Baby Way!

My little boy will be 3 months old this weekend!  My, how the time has flown.  I will give you all the stats on Saturday but let me tell you what we've been up to the last few weeks.  The little guy took his first road trip to Baltimore in December.  He did great, no incidents whatsoever on a 6 hour drive and it was a good warm up for our trip to Chicago a few weeks later.  Mama did great as well at her Jeopardy tryout, now I'm just waiting for the call telling me to come to L.A. for filming.  I'll keep you posted!

Celebrating Christmas as newlyweds with a brand new baby was pretty special too.  He was way too little to understand what was happening and Scott totally made fun of me for wrapping his presents.  It was still fun to sing Christmas songs to him (John Denver and the Muppets is the best!)  and dress him up.  Doesn't he look handsome in his Christmas outfit?

Way got to spend Christmas Eve with his brother and sister too.  How cute is this?

A few days after Christmas, we had Waylon's 2 month check up.  It was kind of a disaster.  See, the little boy had been really fussy for a couple of weeks.  It was next to impossible to calm him down and I had been getting pretty frustrated.  Well, it turns out he hadn't been getting enough to eat.  The poor little Sprout was hungry all the time!  I'd have been crying too.  I want to go into more detail about this in another post, so stay tuned for my thoughts on feeding.  He is a totally different baby.  He's really quite pleasant when he's not starving.

Right after his checkup, we headed to Chicago to celebrate Christmas with my family.  Waylon got to meet his great-grandparents, my aunts and uncles, a couple of close friends, and even a couple potential lady-friends.  I have to say, the kid knows when to turn on the charm.  He seems to save his best smiles for meeting new people.  I like your style, Way.

So now it's a New Year and I've been focused on getting in shape (separate post!) and trying to find activities that Waylon and I can do together so we can both meet some new people.  He really is a delightful child.  He smiles all the time all the time and even laughed at me yesterday.  It made me totally forget the days he projectile poops all over me.  He used to look just like Scott, but lately people say that he is starting to look more like me.  I just hope his eyes stay the pretty blue color they are now.  They're to die for people.

Here is sleepy Way:

And here is one from this morning.

More coming soon!

Month 1 Essentials

Someone (an expectant Mom a couple months behind me) suggested I do this and I actually thought it was a good idea.  Here are the things I couldn't live without for the first month:

Boppy Pillow:  This is probably the number one thing I've needed, especially in the first couple of weeks when there was no way I deal with the weight of Waylon on my body.  The Boppy not only made feeding him way easier, but it was also good to prop him up on when we were just hanging out.  Make sure to buy a couple extra covers though because it WILL get stained.
Aden + Anais swaddle blankets:  We have a lot of blankets but these are my favorite.  They're a little bigger and stretchier than other swaddle blankets which makes wrapping your baby a lot easier, they wash really well, and I love the cute little prints.  They also make burpy bibs that I highly recommend.
Lansinoh Disposable Breast Pads:  Look, it's as simple as this:  if you're breastfeeding and you don't want big wet stains all over your clothes, get yourself some of these.
Lansinoh Lanolin Cream:  This goes along with the breast pads.  If you don't want to be sore and chapped, get some of this stuff.
Scout:  This little Leap Pad friend is just about the cutest toy ever.  It takes about 5 minutes to plug in your baby's name, favorite color, food, and animal on the computer and then you have this awesome pal who chats about baby's favorite things, sings songs, makes animal noises and even plays bedtime music.  Waylon loves to listen to him, especially during diaper changes, and even Scott loves playing with Scout!  Plus when he's older, Scout can help Waylon learn his colors, how to spell his name, and some nursery rhymes.  Scout is awesone!
Netflix:  I've made no secret about the fact that I am not crazy about breastfeeding.  But those little 20-30 minute stretches of just hanging out while your baby feasts can make you feel a little less like an on call dairy cow if you keep your laptop or ipad close by and stream some half hour long TV episodes.  For the record, I don't do this for all feeding sessions, but sometimes I get a little bored.  Don't judge.

Waylon: One Month

I really meant to write Thanksgiving week but with the family in town I just ran out of time.  We had a lovely holiday and it was nice to have my parents and brother, sister-in-law and nephew here to celebrate and meet little Waylon.  Some pics...

He was a little crankypants for this photo but still super cute.

Here is Grandma hanging out with Gino and Waylon:

And here is Waylon meeting his sister for the first time:

It was a really nice week.

Anyhoo, Monday was Waylon's 1 month birthday!  I took him to the doctor in the morning for his 1-month check up.  He's 23 inches tall (92nd percentile) and weighs 9 lb. 8 oz. (40th percentile).  Basically, he's a tall and skinny lad but he's gaining weight at the right pace (I'm constantly worried about this) so the doctor said everything is fine.

The doctor also said he's sleeping pretty well; he usually eats around 10 at night then sleeps until about 3 when he wakes up to eat.  After that, he's right back to sleep until around 7:30 or 8.  He literally has been doing this since we brought him home and everyone keeps telling me how lucky I am to have such a good sleeper.

He's definitely getting more alert by the day and has even started smiling a little bit.  He holds his head and chest up like a little champ during tummy time.  He's not really a fan of the swing (which is great, since we have two of them!)  I'm kind of concerned that he seems to want to be held a lot. At night, he can put himself to sleep after the 3 a.m. feeding no problem, but during the day sometimes the only thing that will soothe him is being held.  I don't want that to become a habit but Scott says it's fine when babies are this young.  I'm thinking about getting Happiest Baby on the Block to make myself feel better about it.  Any thoughts/suggestions on that?

Supposedly, my nursery bedding should be here this week (I'm so done ordering off Etsy) so I can finally post some pics of Waylon's room.  Stay tuned!

Here is Little Man on his 1 month birthday:

Sprouting Sprout

It's been over a week since I updated the blog, and without getting too specific, let me just say that it's because I've been having some health problems.  It's crappy and I've been tired and in pain and lacking energy to do much of anything.  Luckily, my mom was here all last week and was a big help taking care of Waylon, making dinner and cleaning up around the house.  And of course Scott is super helpful as well which is good because it's been taking most of my strength lately just to feed Waylon.

Anyway, Little Man is doing great.  We went to the doctor on Monday and he grew 1 inch and gained 5.5 ounces in a week.  I think he might be having a growth spurt because he eats constantly it seems!  He is tall and skinny and still super handsome, don't you think?

Here's another of my fave pics.  Scott, Waylon and Josie just chilling listening to some records.

That's all for today.  Time to rest.