A Six Week Update

This is a bit of a narcissistic post, so feel free to scroll down to the cute pictures of my son, and skip this one all together.

Back in October I had the opportunity to write a post about my thoughts on fitness and health post partum for a new web site called Bodies in Motivation. My post was published this week (scroll down, it's the second post) and it got me thinking about my goals and it made be do a bit of a gut-check (did you catch the alliteration?).

Yesterday was exactly six weeks post-partum. On some accounts I have done very well. My most favorite pair of jeans became wearable this week and the scale says I have about ten pounds still to lose, from the 35 I was facing on the day of delivery. But it's more than just the number on the scale, to me it's a good time to check in on how I'm doing as a woman, a wife and a friend.


Let's do a bit of a comparison...me at 40 weeks:

And today...

It really is amazing the body's ability to heal and transform. Just as it blew me away to watch my body grow and deliver a child, I have been almost equally amazed as it has transformed yet again into another version of myself.

I think as women we need to embrace our bodies and be proud of their capabilities. We have the tremendous gift to create and nourish children that no amount of squishy tummies or jiggly thighs should take away from that awesome accomplishment.

Not to say I don't almost daily give into what the world says I should look like. I have shed a few tears over my silver stretch marks and looked discouragingly into my closet at all the clothes that still don't fit. But, I have to remind myself that it's health that's important not a number on the scale.

I'm documenting my transformation...the physical and the emotional. Because I am committed to health -- physically, emotionally and spiritually for myself and my family. I don't think I can mother effectively nor be the woman I know God wants me to be if I don't take seriously all the pieces that make up my life. I know that the healthier I am, the happier and healthier my family will be.

This is sort of a disjointed post, but I am realizing each day that to be an effective mother, one who is calm and joyful and energetic, I have to pay attention to myself as well.

Anyway...just scroll down the my little elf...

A Little Elf

We have a little elf living at our house. He is watching to see if his parents have been naughty or nice...it looks like more naughty than nice!

Priceless

Cost of full price airline ticket bought on Thanksgiving morning because of airline/credit card mixup -- $1,060

Cost of Jackson's future therapy after Mommy loses it after said ticket was purchased -- too much to put a number to.

Cost of multiple trips to Starbucks to refuel because 5-week-old baby decides sleep is for the weak -- $12

Cost of frantic trip to Target to stock up on travel size everything -- $32

Jackson meeting his uncles for the first time, spending time with family, my son getting loved on by his grandparents -- PRICELESS

One Month

In many ways, time is flying by faster than I can keep track of. The days and nights blur together filled with nursing, changing diapers, trying to empty the dishwasher every once in a while and find a little time to hug and kiss on my husband.

I feel a little melancholy when I think that a month has already gone by with my boy. Where did the time go? On one hand I am eager for him to grow up, get to the next stage...and then all of a sudden I am hit with a pang of sadness that it's all going to fast. He's growing and changing so much every day and there isn't enough hours in the day to soak it all in.

Don't get me wrong, there are moments (okay hours) that I want to pull my hair out. There have been ugly moments when I am so frustrated with his crying, the endless hours on the couch nursing, and feeling all around inept at this job I have in front of me, that I have said and done some things I'm not proud of.

And then I take a deep breath, and in the blink of an eye, my son is cooing and smiling at me. He willingly hangs out in his bouncy seat while I take a long shower or he falls asleep on my chest and I am overwhelmed at my love for him.

As usual my words fall short. But, this is such an incredible gift and I have never felt so vulnerable in my life. Never before have minutes and hours been so important. Because, every time I look up, they have passed by and I don't want to miss a thing.

The First of Many Posts About Christmas

Saturday started off as usual...just hanging out. But since our family will be traveling for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, Christmas is coming early to our house.

So we got all bundled up and headed for the mountains!
To find the perfect Christmas tree! And thankfully we had spotted this beauty over the summer and actually remembered where to find it!
Unfortunately, Aaron's behind got a little chilly in the process.

Can you tell Aaron is excited for Christmas?

Jackson wasn't all that impressed with the snow or the cutting down of his first ever Christmas tree. He decided to catch a few zzz's instead.

Can you tell how big the tree is? I think we are going to have to cut off a few feet!

Remington's expression sums it up best -- pure bliss.

It's amazing what a little fresh snow, cold mountain air and good company will do for the soul. Tis the season!

(I guess I should mention that the tree isn't actually coming in the house until after Thanksgiving...Aaron put his foot down.)

Sleeping

Jackson ditched his 5:30am wake up call this morning which meant I only had to get up once last night to feed him!!!! (excuse the overuse of exclamation points, but I'm a little excited). The baby slept from 10pm to 3:30am and then slept again until 6:45am...nothing says love like a sleeping baby.

I'm sure tonight he will wake up every two hours to eat, but last night was awesome, and I feel like you have to celebrate every little milestone. Yesterday marked four weeks with our boy and in some ways I can't believe I've been a mother that long and in other ways I feel like I've been doing this forever...not just four weeks.

Jackson is starting to wear 0-3 month or 3 month clothes and I sadly packed up a few of his newborn clothes this week. His favorite activities continue to be nursing, sleeping. pooping, sitting in his bouncy seat and baths. He has also decided he likes to go for walks in the bob stroller and lay on his baby play mat.

I'm forced to start really thinking about when my maternity leave ends and what I am going to do. I can't imagine leaving Jackson for 8 plus hours a day, but I feel weird about giving up my career all together. In my perfect world I would just do freelance work and that might be an option but it would have to be consistent which isn't really the definition of freelance. My other option is to negotiate to go back to my current job part time or fin a part-time job elsewhere. Unfortunately, public relations and marketing jobs don't really exist in part-time status that often.

It will be interesting to see how this all pans out because at this point I can't even predict.

Here are a few pictures of Jackson's favorite things...

Road Trip

A couple of bullet points because the baby is squawking and I haven't had my allocated 1/2 cup of coffee yet this morning:

• First full week of stay-at-home mommying under my belt and overall it was awesome. We had one pretty hard day last week but other than that, it's been a lot of fun. I just need to figure out when I can clean my house, because that needs to happen at some point.
• We took Jackson to Spokane over the weekend and had our first overnight! He was a dream in the car and it was super fun to introduce him to our family.
• I nursed the baby in an Arby's parking lot in Moses Lake, nothing says being a mom like whipping out your boob in a fast food parking lot.
• I can button a few pairs of my jeans, but I have a long ways to go. I'm looking forward to two weeks from now when I have the clearance to work out, but it's another thing to add to my day when the days already fly by.
• Jackson loves his bath! In an attempt to start building a routine, we give him a bath every night. It seems to calm him if he's fussy and sort of help him wind down to go to sleep.
• We've had a few nights of five hour sleep stretches but we went a bit backwards last night..oh well.

More to come I'm sure...when my brain works a little better.