8 months & 8 days

My baby is getting big. He's been crawling, pulling himself up, and saying mama and dada, along with a conglomeration of other baby-talk words. He's been a traveling and sleeping champion lately. Whoops, I probably jinxed myself.
A couple of posts ago I talked about how Micah didn't sleep very well. It was, of course, my own fault because I didn't allow him to sleep well. As soon as the doctor told us to let him cry-it-out, we did so. Of course, I didn't do it cold turkey, but little by little I let him cry more and more. Seriously, it only took him a week to sleep through the night! It has been glorious.
I enjoy rocking him to sleep still, but when I put him down he wakes a little and then goes back to sleep on his own. Sometimes when I lay him down, he wakes up and decides that he wants to play, so I let him play alone in his crib, until he gets tired enough to fall asleep on his own (with a little fussing, of course).
Micah is still taking three naps, although the middle one is short.
He has been so much fun! It is such a blessing to see him grow so quickly, and I become more and more attached every day.

In July, I was the Matron of Honor in a BEAUTIFUL wedding. Jen was a beautiful bride, and she allowed us to stay in a mansion of a cabin, where the wedding was taking place. It helped us a lot because we got to mingle after Micah was asleep. The monitor reached every room, luckily. We did feel awfully bad because we put him to sleep at eight, and the music continued until 10:30. Well, our room ended up being directly behind where the DJ was. We are still uncertain how Micah slept through a "rock concert," as we call it, but he sure did! We had a great time dancing, eating, and socializing, while Micah slept, but of course we were worried that the music would wake him and we didn't know what we would do then. But it never did.
We just got back from a fun weekend in Ruidoso, celebrating our friend Jalen's 30th birthday. Micah, again, was fine the whole trip. He slept through the first night, woke a couple of times the second, but went right back to sleep.
I keep asking Conrad how we got so lucky with him, and he tells me that Micah is like him. Haha, funny guy, he is.
Micah has two teeth, and the third is coming in. He has been tackling teething pretty well. Sometimes he is a little fussy, but I don't know if it is teething-related, or just because he is a baby. :)
I am already starting to think about his first birthday. I can't believe it is less than four months away! Before I grew tired of hearing that time flies when you are raising children, but it is the truth. It is a little bittersweet.
Childcare at the gym has been going excellent. Micah has been doing a great job with the people there, and I am so happy. I was a little anxious when he wouldn't go with our friends or family members, but I think the gym has truly helped him to have more confidence when he goes with people he doesn't really know.
I have just started my second week of marathon training. It is a lot harder when you don't have friends to run with, but I know that I will do it because I am motivated! I have just been running a little more than I'd like on the treadmill.
Anyway, I hadn't blogged in a while, and I wanted to update you all. Everything has pretty much ironed itself out. All the worries I had in the first few months have evaporated! I'm, of course, a typical first-time mom.

Helping my 6 1/2 month old with independence

My husband finally gave in and let me get a gym membership at a really expensive place. There were many reasons we decided to get the membership, but the most important reason was getting Micah used to other people. This gym has childcare, and it is the only one in town that will watch babies Micah's age.

He's very shy, and always wants to be with me. He also doesn't trust "new" people to hold him. This could be good, but it also has been bad because we want our friends & family to be able to play with him!

It has definitely been difficult for me to leave him when he is frightened, but I know it is for the best! Other kids have siblings, or they go to daycare, and they aren't so stressed when their parents hand them off. 

It has been a week, and yesterday we made HUGE progress. He didn't cry the entire time!! He played and was very content. The people that have been watching him were so happy for both of us, and it was nice! 

We have a wedding this weekend, and my hope is that Micah allows our family to hold him! So we will see.

Oh, and he's finally sleeping through the night, and so am I!!! 😄👍🏻

Perseverance & consistency! That's the key.

Sleeping through the night @ 6 months? Yea, right!

I have a six month old who has yet to sleep through the night, but I can see there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

We went to our six month wellness checkup, and our doctor told us that I don't need to feed him at night because he is a healthy baby. At this point it is more of a habit than anything else. Also, she suggested we just let him cry. She thinks it is better to do that now, then to have a toddler who cannot sleep, which is true. Another thing she said was to go longer between feedings, and to feed him solids three times a day. Finally, she suggested trying new foods every week!

Okay, now back to sleep…for naps, I have been putting him down awake, and letting him soothe himself. It has been going pretty well, I would say. He doesn't cry for very long in the afternoon (five-10 minutes tops). Don't get me wrong though, it isn't easy for me to let my little baby cry.
We have made his bedtime later, and that seems to have helped A LOT. He went from waking up 6-8 times, to waking up 2-3 times. This, in my opinion is great! However, a six-month-old should be sleeping longer stretches, and he isn't.

We used to go to him every time he cried to soothe him, now he can get his pacifier on his own, and put it into his mouth so when he wakes up we just let him figure it out. Last night wasn't the best because he had a really hard time going to sleep. It took him 30 minutes, and then Conrad figured out that he was really hot and he took him out of his swaddle, and switched him to a sleep sack. Then he still cried a little, switching all four pacifiers in and out of his mouth. Finally, he went to sleep, then woke up again at 12:30, and soothed himself back to sleep. Then again at 1:20, and Conrad went to him because I was afraid he would want to nurse. Conrad put the pacifiers within his reach, and he fussed for a little while before going back to sleep. He woke up again at two something, and soothed himself to sleep. At 4, he woke up and I nursed him so that I could get some more sleep. Finally, he woke up for the day at 6:30 a.m.
I think what messed him up was he took a longer afternoon nap than usual…and his last nap of the day lasted until 5:30, which I think is too late. Another thing that could have effected it was I tried to push his bedtime to 8:30 instead of 8. I don't know which of those hindered his night the most, but I will try to adjust his schedule today.
The other nights this week have been better than that, because I was keeping his schedule consistent. I know that I am going to have to just let him be, and eventually he will figure it out. I don't want him to be one, and still struggle with nighttime sleep. Also, I don't want to have to nurse him at night when he is one! I would like to start weaning him before he reaches one-year-old.
Anyway, he is much better than he was a month ago! We have friends whose babies still struggle at nighttime and they are a little older than he is, so it makes me feel a little better! I am sure things will come up all the time that make him sleep better or worse, and I am going to just have to ADAPT.
I just figure if I am not feeling right about something, I shouldn't do it. I think mothers have an instinct. However, I don't want him to be a spoiled brat who cannot be alone either! I want him to be more independent.

I will let you know how this goes. I hope your baby is getting some good nighttime sleep. Do you have any suggestions? If so, I'm all ears!

Leaving Micah at 6 months

I was asked by my BFF, Jen, to be her Matron of Honor while I was pregnant with Micah. Little did I know how hard it would be to leave my little one behind for a bachelorette/bridal shower weekend, and boy was it one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. When people say that you won't understand until you have kids, I think it is true. My heart has never been more full than it is now, and leaving him behind, although it was with my husband and his parents, was still very difficult. 

I started packing for Micah a week before my trip. He was heading up to his grandparents' house in the mountains. His dad would get off work, and would be there by the end of the day. 

The longest I had ever left Micah was a few hours here or there, and that was long enough, so I knew it would be torturous for me. 

Knowing that I was going, months in advance I was able to store a healthy stash of breast milk, which helped (a little) to put my mind at ease. Then I had questions like: Will he accept the bottle every time? Will I be able to pump successfully when away? Will Micah be miserable without me, and be a handful? Will he still nurse when I return?

I rented a car for the trip, and when my husband drove me to pick it up, I finally cried. It wasn't the pretty teary-eyed crying either. I straight-up bawled my eyes out.

But you know what? He survived. He was just fine. He sucked down those bottles full of my carefully stored milk! For some reason he even slept better than when I am around. I am still trying to figure out why. These are my thoughts: maybe it was cooler there, and he likes the cold (my husband wouldn't pay for it to be that cold ;) ), maybe he drank more milk than I provide him at each session, maybe he doesn't need to be wrapped up in a swaddle anymore (his arms are out), maybe he senses I am around and I baby him more than Conrad, or maybe there is no answer and he is just young? I wish I knew, and hopefully I will be back to tell you all about it. 
In the meantime, I have been trying to analyze his schedule to come up with some kind of solution. 

Anyway, it was a lot harder on me than it was on him. I pumped every three hours, apart from the nighttime where I pumped once at 3:30 a.m. (YIKES!!) I probably didn't have to do it so much, but I was so afraid of losing my supply that I thought it was absolutely necessary. 

Steph and I drove up there (Colorado) and we ended up having a great time!! I just don't know if I would advise anyone to leave their breastfed baby at six months. It is a lot of work, and a lot of stress for the mama, and that is with an easy baby…I don't know if I would leave a somewhat difficult baby! Especially if I knew he/she wasn't good at taking the bottle. 

I'm glad that I have an easy baby so that I was able to spend such an important weekend with Jen. 

My next post will be on nighttime sleep struggles.

Love you, Jen, you know you were worth it! ;) 

Half Marathon & traveling with baby

Two weeks ago, I completed my first half marathon post-baby, and it felt so good. I ran 8:31 min/mi, and beat my last half marathon time from a year and a half ago. It was a huge accomplishment, and I am very proud. The last two weeks on the other hand, have been very inconsistent when it comes to Micah's schedule and exercise. We went to Maui, back home, Las Cruces, and to a wedding…and the motivation to exercise has left me. I think I may need a little break though because the half marathon took a lot out of me, as did boot camp.

I was maintaining an 8:15 min/mi pace until the last three miles. I hit a wall. When they tell you to do the same exact thing that you do for your long runs during race time, they aren't just talking to talk! I forgot to bring carbs along with me, and I hit an effing wall at the end. I didn't run slower than nine minutes the whole race, until the end. Oh well. My goal was less than two hours, and I did it!

First of all, Maui was gorgeous and I am so thankful we were able to go with my parents (thank you). It was the trip of a lifetime! However, traveling with Micah was very intimidating. I had a nervous stomach a week prior to takeoff. I read several articles and they all said different things (of course). Our pediatrician told me to nurse him on takeoff and landing, so I did and we didn't have any issues.

Oh my goodness gracious did we have to pack a lot for our little son. What I think made a difference was his sheets from home (unwashed), and his swaddler (unwashed). The smell I think comforted him, and made him relax. Who the heck knows if this is true or not, but this is what I like to think. There was a four hour time difference in Maui, and you couldn't even tell with Micah. He slept 8 hours each night we were there! I think we kept him busier than ever, so he wanted to crash out at night. I guess there was a lot for him to take in.
Would I recommend traveling with a four month old? Well, it all depends. Would you worry about your child when you were away…the entire time? Would you miss him/her and be miserable on the trip? Four months is a little young, so I didn't want to leave him. He is still nursing, and I didn't want to deal with pumping that much prior to the trip. To be honest, leaving him wasn't even an option in my mind. However, when he is a little older, and if a trip like this comes up I definitely would probably leave him behind. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't have done it without him…but as a mother, you can't really enjoy it ALL. You are constantly trying to make your child happy on the trip. If he's fussy, you figure out ways to calm him. It isn't relaxing, is what I mean to say…but what part of parenting is?
I was informed by my mom that the next eighteen years are going to be stressful, and that I won't ever get to totally relax…haha. Micah was a trooper though! He did so well that passengers complimented him on both flights! I'm telling you, we are lucky! I just think the traveling part is a little hard!
Anyway, I have a friend who will be traveling in June, and her daughter will be five months by then (right!?) and she has total confidence in her in-laws because they are with her daughter all of the time. Her mother-in-law also ran a daycare! She is debating about whether to bring her along, and my opinion is if she has people who do great with her, then maybe she can leave her daughter behind and feel good about it. No one was really around Micah too much, so I worried that both Micah and whoever watched him would have a rough five days. Five days is a lot though even if you have someone to watch your child at home.

A thing that really helped us in Maui was baby rental places! They deliver what ever you need wherever you need it. I thought this was a clever idea. It helped us a lot! Just google baby rentals, maybe they have this in a city you are going to!

Anyway, hope all is well!!!

Crib sleep & weaning swaddle, 4+ months

How insane it is. Micah was sleeping seven to eight hours consistently for a month, then I have the brilliant idea to try to move him to the crib. I. AM. EXHAUSTED. My husband doesn't think that he is bad, and I would have to agree with him, but it takes me a long time to get back to sleep once I have to go into his room to put the pacifier back in his mouth. 
At this point, Micah goes to sleep at 7:30. I do a dream feed at 10:00. Then he wakes up on his own around 12:30-1 because he notices that his pacifier is not in his mouth. He cries, we respond immediately so that we can get some sleep. Then he is up again around 2, with the same issue. He goes right to sleep after the pacifier is back in, and he is up again at around 3-4 to eat. Then our day starts around 6:30-7. 
This, of course, wasn't the case when he was right next to me in his co-sleeper bassinet. I only had to nurse him once, and although he probably woke up for me to put the pacifier in his mouth all I had to do was reach over. 
I have created a little baby who is dependent on the pacifier.
Does this sound familiar? 
He doesn't use it much during the day anymore, but it is the key to getting him to relax enough to sleep. Micah has always been a good little sucker. Hehe. 
It sounds to me like we need to figure out how to break him of the pacifier, if we want to get better rest. With that said, it is recommended to have an infant sleep with a pacifier until they are nine months old, to help decrease the chance of SIDS. 
Like I've said before, conflicting things, conflicting things! 
What to do? 
He is also starting to try to roll over from back to front. He does this while in his swaddle, so I have had to start trying to wean him from swaddling. It is a difficult thing. One that takes time and a lot of effort and patience. 
Do you want to know another cycle that is happening? When he is awake in the crib, trying to go to sleep he decides to take the pacifier out of his mouth with his free hand. Then he will cry for us to put the pacifier back in his mouth! This is a vicious cycle because we are trying to wean him from the swaddle, but it is hard when he won't stop taking the pacifier out and crying because he has done so!
I don't think I should try and wean him from the pacifier and the swaddle simultaneously... I have a feeling we would go weeks with even less sleep! However, I just have to be consistent about leaving one arm out of his swaddle for naps. Then maybe he will get used to this, and then I can leave one arm out at night…then we can gradually move to two arms out. 
Who would have thought there is so much to think about, worry about, and stress about, with a little tiny baby!?
My good friend, Ashley, said it took her A LOT of time and patience, but eventually her girls were swaddle-free! 
I know it will take Micah quite some time, too! 
Until next time...

Four Months Postpartum

It looks like I am finally starting to fit comfortably into my pre-pregnancy jeans. I am so excited because I didn't want to have to buy new pants. I have to be honest, I haven't been eating the best, but I try to get nutrients in as much as possible along with some junk that I shouldn't be eating. Hey, I'm only human! I do work my butt off exercising though. As I have said, I am training for a half marathon, so there's that…and I also go to a boot camp that our trainer puts on a few times a week. He is so intense, and it really has been making such a difference. I see the tone and definition throughout my body from training and boot camp. If I ate well, I know I could look MUCH better. Eating really is the majority of it, but it is also the most difficult (in my opinion).

When it comes to what is left, I have A GREAT DEAL of skin that needs firming. I think this will probably come with time. I know there isn't too much you can do with the excess skin, which saddens me.

Since I don't weigh myself, I can't tell you if I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I did have to weigh myself at the doctor a little over a month ago, and I was seven pounds away from my starting weight! I must have dropped a few more pounds, surely.  I used to weigh myself and it psyched me out too much. I would workout and eat better than ever, but I would gain weight instead of losing…so I decided I wouldn't let my weight define me, and I wouldn't let it mess with my head! I am crazy enough without having to look at a number all of the time.

Anyway, my long runs are up to 8 1/2 miles! I am very proud. Of course, I am not as quick as I used to be. I am still proud of my 9 1/2 min/mi average pace. A "goal" that I made for myself for the half next month is to finish averaging 9 min/mi. We will see though. I don't know why I always have to give myself a time limit. I guess it is just what I do. This will be my third half marathon, with my quickest average pace being 8:09 min/mi.

If you are trying to get back into shape, you have to push yourself! If you want results, you have to push it…you have to go over your limit…you have to be sore the next day. You have to feel it! If you aren't feeling it, you won't see the results as quickly. Some people also have to eat very well. I am lucky, so I can slip up a little. I do think my definition of not eating "well" is better than a lot of people's diets. I don't drink sugary drinks, or too much caffeine (I do love Starbucks a couple of times a week, but I order tall and I make it Skinny.) I drink A LOT of water because I am breastfeeding, and I make sure to get my fruits and vegetables in AT LEAST every morning in my smoothie. I think everyone deserves a cheat meal once a day ;) Okay, so obviously don't listen to me when it comes to diet and nutrition. I just love food too much.

Chris Powell was on Dr. Oz and he did say that you should sneak breads and pastas in every other day, in ONE of your meals. This way you aren't craving the carbs so much when you are trying to have a healthy diet. I like this idea, and look at Chris! I think he knows what he is talking about.

I hope all is well with you all…

This is a couple weeks shy of fourth months postpartum. As you can see, I still have my good ole love handles! I am happy with my progress though!