Wedding #4- Houston Part 1

Well we got back from our trips but now we are in Knoxville. Houston was great, just so busy. The first two days were spent working on the wedding but once that was over we just had fun and relaxed.

I know we mentioned how much he loves the pool. Well lucky for us, my aunt and uncle have one. He had to get in the first day, almost as soon as we got there. Mom had him leaning over the side and got his whole outfit soaked. I went upstairs, changed his diaper and brought him back down just to have mom plunk in down in the pool. I love these faces!

I have skipped over the wedding and will do another post about that. The day after the wedding, we went to visit a friend of my aunt's who has monkeys. They were so much fun. Here Sascha, gets a drink of water from a bottle. It drinks from a bottle and wears a cloth diaper......so it is fitting that we call Miller a monkey. 

At this point, he liked the monkey. 

He started to lose interest. The monkey decided to groom me by tugging at my eyelashes and Miller was more interested in the leash. 

So these monkeys and some birds were in a furniture store. I think it is crazy that this picture looks like it is at the zoo and there were some recliners in between me and this bird. 

My aunt and uncle have a lake in their neighborhood so we took Miller for a walk. It took some bribing of the ducks (strategically placed bread crumbs) but they did get close to Miller. 

Monday we just hung around the house. Miller got in the pool with his Ninny. 

My mom was splashing Miller but he still would not look up. 

Cute little pruney feet. 

Tuesday morning we got up super early and caught a 7:50am flight back. It was a great trip and we had so much fun visiting family. I love that Miller has got to meet so much of our big family already. He just met the last member, his godfather Nolan, last night. I love that!

Miller Week 36

Just a warning, you are getting ready to see a bunch of pictures of Miller in the pool over the next few months. He is just too darn cute in his suit.

Since we were going to Houston and I knew we would be swimming in my aunt and uncle's pool, I wanted Ben to be there for Miller's first time. So even though it was a bit chilly that day, we headed to our new neighborhood pool. 

Miller swimming with mommy. 

And he tried to swim away from me. If he could get the floating part down, he would totally swim. He is moving his arms and legs like crazy.



Miller and daddy lounging on the stairs.

 

We decided to make it a whole evening of summer filled activities and went to get some frozen custard. This is a bad food to feed a baby because as soon as the spoon has left his mouth, he has swallowed and wants more.

  

 After we were back from Houston, we had a busy week. My friend Lindsey's shower was that weekend and I was co-hosting. It was also the week before Father's Day and I had to get on the ball to get Ben's present done. We actually bought him something but also wanted to make something too. There is only so much you can do with an 8 month old but I decided to try finger paints. I had to actually make the finger paints so that they were baby safe. Aren't they pretty?!?!

 

He did not actually get that you had to paint on the canvas and just wanted to spread the paint around on his high chair and eat it. He had fun either way.

On Wednesdays, I take a weekly picture of him. Now that this kid is mobile, that is getting harder and harder. This is an outtake from this weeks, but it was just too adorable not to share. 

Friday night, we had very little sleep because someone was restless all night. Ben actually took him on a walk at 6:30 so I could get a little sleep. We had to get up early anyways to setup for the shower and of course he was good and slept through that. He came out and visited while Lindsey opened the presents and was pretty good while we cleaned up. We hoped he would come home and take his afternoon nap, thus mommy and daddy taking a nap but he refused to. We laid on the floor in his room as he played instead.

That evening we went to our friends David and Julie's house for a cookout and pool party. Of course Miller had a great time. 

Him and Isla were having a very intense conversation. I have it on video and it is hilarious. 

 

Sunday, Father's Day. I made breakfast while Ben spent time with Miller. We had bacon waffles, bacon, eggs and fruit. Mine is the waffle with chocolate chips on it. Yes bacon, and chocolate chips.

Miller's presents to his daddy.

We decided to try out another one of our neighborhood pools. We were only there for 45 minutes because Miller lost his patience but that was good for us because we did not feel like staying very long anyways.

We came home, showered and went to Old Navy where we got a few things for Miller on sale plus the guy at the register gave us another 30% off (not exactly sure why but I am not complaining). We went out to eat at Marlows were we had a coupon for a free soup, then we ordered an appetizer and they had run out of an ingredient for it, so they gave us another one on the house. We only had to pay for our entree. It was a night of great deals which is right up Ben's alley.

I hope all the fathers out there had a great day!

We are still dealing with a teething baby who will not sleep very long segments and loves to wake up in the middle of the night and whine, cry and climb all over  us. We are so tired and beyond frustrated! Hope these two new teeth pop up soon.

Rant: Post Baby Body

Deep breaths.....

Okay, I want to post this but I was so scared to put this on the internet. I feel like I need to because it is something I have been struggling with a lot lately.

I loved being pregnant but was so scared of what it would do to my body. I have struggled with my weight for a long time and had just recently got it under control when I got pregnant. As I watched the scale go up with each appointment, I cursed it because I knew I would have to deal with it afterward. I actually only gained 38 lbs which is still within the range of a healthy pregnancy and I swear that I was not overeating. During my first trimester I only gained a few pounds, in my second it came piling on and in my third I stopped gaining, all of that without changing my eating habits.

After Miller was born, I  quickly dropped 20lbs but the last 18lbs, would not go away. I can not diet since I am breastfeeding and do not want it to affect my supply. I try to work out but with wrangling the baby most of  the day, my only workout I get is a nice walk in some days. I actually stopped weighing myself back in January so I have no idea where I am at. I am hoping that once Miller weans, which I have no idea when we will do that, I can lose the rest of the weight.


.....deep breaths....be brave.....

Here is me 1 week postpartum with Miller and then 6 months postpartum. I feel like Miller is faring better than I am. 

This is me at 7 weeks pregnant (my skinniest pregnancy picture) and then 6 months postpartum. I actually did a layover of the pictures and there is not much difference, which I think is my big problem. I feel like the pounds I can justify to a little excess in my belly and chest but in general everything is different and those changes make a world of difference in my clothes.

Here is the big comparison shot. 7 weeks pregnant, last belly shot at 40weeks1 day, 1 week postpartum and 6 months postpartum. 

I am not sure why I am posting this but I think it is interesting to see the difference. I know I should love my body for what it did, creating and carrying a healthy baby and now nourishing him still, but I am having a hard time. I feel like I do not belong in my skin and this is the first time I feel like I can not do anything about it. I am not sure how long Miller will be nursing but I would really like to try to lose this weight as soon as he is done. I do not want to be one of those people where weight keeps compounding on top of each other with each pregnancy. I struggled long enough with my weight that I want to keep it under control.

*Update*- I actually wrote this post back in early May but kept delaying hitting the Publish button. Recently, we took Miller to the pool so I had to try on my bathing suits, and they did not look horrible. While I was digging those out, I came across my skinny jeans. Now I have tried those darn things on twice already since having Miller and they were tight. I pretty much stared them down and decided to try them on and see how I was doing. They fit! They were snug but they actually fit.

I had a crazy moment and decided to bite the bullet and weigh myself. My plan was to not weigh myself until Miller was weaning so I could start dieting. I actually feared that I would step on the scale and weigh more than the 18 lbs post pregnancy that I had hanging around. I was shocked to see that I was actually down 9 lbs from that, which means only 9 lbs from my goal weight. Nothing has changed except maybe being a little more active chasing around a crawling baby. I am still not planning on dieting until later on but this was so encouraging to see.

Miller: Month Eight

 

 

We have been a traveling family. When we started out on all of these trips, Miller was so cranky when he was getting adjusted. After being in 4 different places in a month, he would get adjusted so well and warm up to people so much faster. In the four plane rides he had, people always told us how impressed they were with his behavior on the plane. He grew into quite the big boy this month.

Weight: 20lbs 10oz (+ 12lbs 8oz)

 Height: 29" (+ 7.5")

Head: 19" (+ 4")

Sleep: It is hard to talk about consistency in his sleep when he has been all over the place in the past month. In Oklahoma, he would not sleep in the crib and had to sleep with me. In Knoxville he would only make it about 4 hours in the pack and play before he would sleep with me. In Memphis, he was horrible and a few nights we were up rocking him just so he would not be screaming (we think it was teething). In Houston, it seems like he finally got the hang of sleeping while traveling and would sleep in the pack and play for all his naps and most of the night. He has been more consistent when we are home so we are going to start working on soothing him when he wakes in the middle of the night so he can start sleeping the full night in his own bed.

Eating: Honestly, I am still getting the hang of how to feed a baby that is still nursing but working on solids. In Houston, he was eating so much more solids and seemed so much happier. Now that we are home a bit more, I am going to be better about feeding him more and a variety of solids during the day.

Best Moment:I love these spurts where he crawls all over the house and plays by himself. One night. Ben was on the floor and I was on the couch and we both pretended to ignore him. He crawled back and forth between the foyer and living room, talking to himself and laughing for about 45 minutes.

Milestones: This kid is full on crawling and pulls up to everything. Where did my baby go?!?!

Monthly Wisdom: I honestly have no one thing for this. This kid teaches me so much all the time. Continually, I am learning more and more about cherishing everything the way they are now and not wanting to rush time forward.

Goals for the Upcoming Month:
- Feeding Miller more solids on a regular daily basis.
- Having a routine when we are home (now that we are for a stretch).
- Trying to get Miller to sleep all night in his crib

Things Miller is doing:
- Waves at people about 60% of the time when we try to get him to.
- Bounces up and down dancing when music plays.
- Drinks really well from a straw, whether it is a sippy cup or my cup.
- Feeds himself most of the food you give him in his high chair