2 Questions

#1: What is this child's obsession with his father's shoes? It doesn't matter where I put him in the room. He always finds his way over to Trevor's shoes. And they always find their way into his mouth. Yum, not.

#2: How do babies have such uncanny timing? 

Exhibit a: every night at dinner, Milo decides he wants to eat. So my dinner looks at me, while I watch Trevor and Milo eat theirs. Kinda like when I'm nursing Milo in the night. Trevor is asleep. Milo falls asleep. And I'm all sitting there lactating and everything.

Exhibit b: all the best blowouts occur when we are out. I'm a pro at changing intense diapers in the seat of the car. 

Exhibit c: every once in a while, Trevor and I are both home and have some down time at the same time when Milo is sleeping. And about as soon as we realize it, he wakes up. It's like they just know. 

Exhibit d: We like to walk to the lake across from our apartment complex. E-ve-ry-time, Milo decides it's time to be home right as we get to the lake, a.k.a. the farthest point in our journey.

And I leave you with this picture of the hickey Milo gave Trevor: :)

Ode to Target

Today, I got 3 pairs of sweat shorts (which I've been searching high and low for for months but refused to pay much for them... $7.99 apiece my friends!!!) and 4 striped t shirts that are the most comfortable fabric ever for $5 apiece. 

I love you, Target. 

Forever.
Especially your clearance racks.

Update Time

First of all, WE HAVE A NEW NIECE! World, meet Baby Eleanor:

She is perfect and we are so excited for Kyle and Whitney and big brother Dexter!

I have a new top 5 movie. Gifted Hands. SO GOOD! It was one of those like A Beautiful Mind, or Warrior, or Titanic, that just leaves you kind of enchanted and thinking for days after. Loved it.

Milo is the funniest. He loves to roll, and get on all fours and faceplant because his knees are ready to crawl, but his hands aren't. He is the apple of my eye.

Always falling asleep on accident in his seat

Loving his rice cereal (lots of pumping happening these days but he is going to bed full with a few scoops of rice cereal in his milk!)

Just sleeping with his basketball. Every night Trevor and I sneak in and look at him and laugh about all the funny things he did that day and how cute he looks in whatever position he is in and all that mushy stuff. Last night we found him with his ball right next to him. Darling.

Keep crossing your fingers that it keeps going well, but I'm picking up more real estate work here in San Angelo! I'm so glad to have flexible work to do. I love having projects to work on to make me feel productive and contribute, and mostly I love that it doesn't take away from me being a mom!

We had Freebirds for the first time the other day. YUM. I approve. We will be back.

Speaking of things I love, here's something I didn't. A few days ago I went into my closet to get dressed after I took a shower. And right by my foot, a SNAKE was slithering around. AHHH!!! Let's just say that 1. I'm glad Trevor was home and 2. I turn the lights on to get Milo out of bed in the middle of the night every time. And pray that it never ever happens again. Tiny lizards are fine. Snakes are very much not.

Still loving having Trevor home this last 2 weeks! School starts again Monday, but he's officially 1/9th of the way done becoming a physical therapist!

P.S. going home to Olathe again in about 3 weeks! Last time was too fast, and my parents are flying me home with some miles they have saved up. YAY!

A Few Things:

But first, a funny story.

In church, I work with the teenage girls. I love them. We have a group of Spanish speaking girls as well, and yesterday, I gave a talk in their meeting (I was translated- talk about pressure/stage fright/nerves). So I thought I'd be cool and start out by introducing myself in my 12 words of Espanol. As it turns out, when you say you have an esposo caliente, you have, in fact, just told a congregation of adults and children that your husband is "hot and bothered" in so many words. The end.

1. HEB Gummy Bears. THE BEST.

 2. This boy, always with a handful of Momma's hair. Also he is rocking the monkey face hard in this picture.

 3. So happy to be ROLLING everywhere! And dangerously close to getting up on his knees and crawling... It's ok that I cried with pride this morning when he was on all fours, right?

 4. Put something in front of Milo. Count to 2 and watch slobberfest '13 commence.

 5. A sleeping picture, because we all know I haven't posted enough of those :)

 6. Is there anything better than a happy, nakey baby? Of course not!

Summer Lovin'

We have a new tradition: Taco Tuesdays. Actually, Rosa's has this tradition (thanks for the rec Sara!) and we like partaking in it. Their tacos and tortillas and everything, quite honestly, are sublime.

 

Milo has the squishiest cheeks. !!!

 Sometimes you just gotta skip the run when you've been debating whether you would go all day. Playing with Milo was way more fun.

 Hand on the tum.

 Diaper wedge and my favorite crooked little smile. This boy is so strong. He is always kicking and rolling and standing and bouncing and growling. And he giggles most when I clobber-kiss him. The best!

 Milo was being extra cuddly this day. 

 Eating bananas! From a spoon! So grown up :) For the record... apples and peaches were a no go. Sweet potatoes, however, were a win!

 Milo's favorite way to be put to sleep: Trevor playing drums on him.

 Madi and me! Sarah and her kids and Heidi came to play with us yesterday. Come back!

 Spidey jams. Officially too small. But seriously... I'll choose him over Peter Parker any day.

Milo likes to fly at the lake.

At the lake by our apartment! SO fun.

My boy and me watching the big kids at the park.

Trevor has finals this week then 2 weeks off! We are so excited to party with him!

Mighty Milo

Just a bunch of random pictures of our last few days::

Game night at friends' house and I got the sleeping baby. Neener neener.

That one time when we strapped our swaddled Milo into his carseat and laughed about it for a good five minutes before we pulled ourselves together and actually left. Sometimes Trevor and I just think we are hilarious. 

Church! And please appreciate the wide open field to the side (it's a small airport) and behind our apartment. I'm in love.

 And I'm even MORE in love with this munchkin.

 Who is, as of the 15th, 4 months! 24 inches (10% and 11 lb 14 oz (3%). Doctor was impressed with his rolling skills and strength. Milo was impressed with the paper on the table. Not so impressed with his shots, however.

Sleeping off the trauma of 4 month shots.

 The cuddliest boy. Heavenly. Also, please note that the mark on my neck is, in fact, a curling iron burn. I'm not lying this time, I promise.

 Look at this guy holding his bottle like it ain't no thang. Secretly it lasted like 5 seconds. 

My little helper, doing my work with me. Glad I had his input today.

Also. Please don't think I'm conceited for posting a zillion pictures of myself and my child. I want to have a lot of pictures of me with Milo to go back and look at in the future. I also like my blog to show the reality of the ins and outs of our extremely exciting and glamorous life that I love so much. So, we all know he is the star of all these pictures, but I love to document our days together, so you're a little stuck with me too, bare faced and sweatpants and all :)

Healthy Mommy, Happy Baby

*Disclaimer: this is a candid post is about weight and periods and breastfeeding and things like that. TMI again, as per usual on this blog. And I'm a little scared about it because it's a lot of personal details. So here you go- even more about me than you ever cared to know.*

My pregnancy was really hard. By the time I went into labor, I felt completely depleted in every way. Since I was so sick, any nutrients and energy I had in my body went straight to Milo.

A few days before Milo was born

When I got pregnant, I weighed 107. I was running a lot and eating pretty well (I used running as a way to cope with the fact that I wasn't pregnant- which probably didn't help me get pregnant- not my best coping mechanism in retrospect). I find that when I'm exercising and eating decently, I can maintain about 105-110 without overworking, so this seems to be my healthy set point. I dropped about 10-15 lbs that first trimester because I could literally keep nothing down. It improved some as the months went on, but minimally. When I checked into the hospital to deliver, I was 110. My arms an legs were all bones and I was dehydrated and weak. When I was in the depths of my pregnancy, I just took everything a day at a time. I was so indescribably tired and sick that I didn't have the mental capacity and energy to advocate for myself the way I should have. I was also just so happy to be pregnant that I knew I would and could handle whatever it took to get my baby here. I expressed concern every time I went to the doctor, and they told me that as long as I could handle it, I was ok and that some women are just this way when they're pregnant.

I'm spending time now educating myself about what I can do for my subsequent pregnancies to avoid having it take such a toll on my body, because at this point I realize that it's probably pretty unlikely that I'll have easy pregnancies in life (but a girl can dream!). I'm pretty sure I should have been on IV therapy a few times a week because I was so dehydrated, and that probably would have helped the residual constant nausea.

The point is, I was far from being in fantastic shape after delivery. I could finally eat again and it was (is) glorious. I started gaining weight back pretty fast, as I had expected, but it hasn't quite stuck, and I'm going to chalk that up to breastfeeding and exercise. I love being able to feed Milo and have that mandatory cuddle time for hours every day. However, I want to be a good, healthy, strong, energetic mom. I also want to be able to have lots of babies.

So I'm starting a thing. A health thing. I don't want to quit breastfeeding, so here's what I'm doing instead.

 First of all, I'm toning down on running. After years of 6 miles a day just because I could and I had the time, I'm done being an ocd workout fiend. I love running and I'll still jog daily since it's good for my sanity and my health, but less. And in moderation. And I'll even miss days and be ok with it! I think getting exercise helps me be a better mom, but too much is going to take away from my energy and time with my family, and that's not ok with me. 

I'm also seeing this as a golden opportunity to start being a good wife and cooking for my husband! It's only taken me 3 and a half years to get here. Oh well. He's a good sport :). I'm going to take a good look at what we're eating and incorporate more healthy fats into my diet so that I can boost my energy and ability to be a good mom. If I want my periods to come back and regulate (takes a while when breastfeeding but I'm hoping they'll be back sooner than later), I'm going to need to put some effort into it. 

Right now is about taking care of myself so I can take care of my family. As much as I hate to admit it, actively trying to put on weight goes against everything I feel as a woman. And I'll be the first to say I've always had a REALLY easy time putting on weight historically. I've spent many years of my life being the pudgy one. I had a hard time with it, so when I discovered about myself that I was, in fact, capable of exercise and eating healthy and not being the pudgy one, it became a hobby when I was first married (I had to do something when Trevor studied!). Health is a big passion for me! But sometimes you just need to take a step back and look at the big picture of what health truly encompasses. I'll give you a hint: it's not all about fitting in old jeans, and for me- and I'm guessing lots of women- that's a hard one to internalize. I know I'm a little below were I should be right now and that Milo deserves a mom who is energetic and happy and healthy and able to give him brothers and sisters!!! I would rather be a kind of squishy, happy mommy of a big brood of kids than a bony, tired mom of less babies than want to be in my family. Also, if I'm going to survive another pregnancy, I now know I need to start out in a good place so I can get through it with a healthy babe.

So, here's to being fat, happy, and fertile!

And please, by all means, share your recipes! Being healthy and taking good care of my body should be a fun thing and I'm excited about learning more and getting better at it! I'd love your feedback and experiences on this one!