Weekend Update and Baby Schedule

We had a great weekend hanging out with friends. We hosted a somewhat impromptu barbecue on Saturday evening. I made chicken and beef kebabs with Jamaican Jerk seasoning, and invented a new fried rice with only the ingredients Brian likes, which included pineapple, fresh ginger, and bamboo shoots. The recipe is, of course, a secret ;-). Everyone brought something to contribute, and Tiff made a yummy carrot cake for dessert to round it all out.

Incidentally, Saturday (Oct. 13th) also marked another important date... The date that Trent came into being as an embryo. Of course, we didn't know it yet this time last year. I still remember our "Oh shit!" moment when I took the test in early November. Of course, by this time we kind of suspected because I'd been nauseous for the tail-end of our honeymoon, so this was just confirmation.

We've been working on getting Trent settled into a new routine. It's been a little tough here and there, but we think it's starting to pay off. I got the info from the book "On Becoming Baby Wise". We have him on a relative feeding schedule now, which means we don't do the on-demand feeding, but rather we have him eat when we say so. Sometimes he gets hungry a little early and of course I feed him, and other times he doesn't want to eat, which is why it's a relative schedule, rather than a rigid one. On this new schedule, his bath time is between 8 and 8:30, and he eats and goes to bed right after his bath. Which gives Brian and I our entire evening back! We love it!
Last night he slept through the night... somewhat. We woke him up for his final feeding at midnight, and he did wake up and cry a few times in the night, seemed like every two hours or so, but we didn't feed him... Brian went in and comforted him so that he'd go back to sleep, and he made it to almost 7am without feeding! that's almost 7 hours of sleep for me. Granted it was interrupted sleep, but I tend to wake up a lot anyway, so it sort of counts as a full night's sleep for me.
Poor Brian was pretty beat this morning, though. He was the one hiking to the nursery every few hours. After Trent's 7am feeding, I snuggled with him for another hour and then took him downstairs so Brian could get some more sleep. I just couldn't resist cuddling with him this morning. He's just so happy in the mornings and looks so damn cute in his PJs that I just can't stand it!

Today was picture day at daycare. Can't wait to see them.

Horsing around

Yesterday I went out to Manor with Dana and her daughter, Meg, to take some pictures of Meg with her horse, Luca. Having been kicked by a horse once, I was a little bit intimidated when Dana's other horse, Van Helsing, came right up to me and gave me a friendly nudge. But you can't show fear. They can sense it! So I just looked him square in the eye, put my hand out, and pet him on the nose. Not so bad. He's a young horse, not ready for riding yet, but he's sooooo pretty. Here's a picture of him:
http://picasaweb.google.com/keylimeypie/Horses/photo#5120455069632342082


Meg rode Luca all around one of the practice fields and jumped him over all of the jumps. I was so impressed, especially when they put me on Luca for a ride and I realized how big he is, and how unstable you feel up there at first.

Here's a pic of me on Luca:
http://picasaweb.google.com/keylimeypie/Horses/photo#5120455095402145874

Dana and Meg are totally fearless around the horses. I suppose that comes with being around them all the time. I just made sure not to get to near to their back legs. It made for some great photo opportunities with my Nikon. You can see more pics here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/keylimeypie/Horses

Grusome!

Two old ladies were sitting in a bar having a few drinks when a Scottsman walked in wearing a kilt. Having had several totties the ladies were feeling rather bold. One said to the other "I dare you to ask him what's under his kilt". Never one to back down from a dare, the old lady marched up to the Scottsman and said "my friend dared me to come and ask you what's under your kilt". The Scottsman replied "och, lassie, I'd show ye, but are ye sure ye can handle it?". To which she replied "Young man, I'm old, I've seen some things in my time. Nothing surprises me anymore". So the Scottsman said, "I'll tell ye what... you bring your friend over here and I'll show ye!".

The two ladies gathered around the Scottsman and he lifted up his kilt to show them what was underneath.

"oooooh! look at that!" said one of them.... "It's grusome!"

To which the Scottsmand replied..............


"Look again, lassie.... It's gru-some more!"


LMAO!!!

Ass and Abs

So as most people know, breastfeeding = faster pregnancy weight loss. It's probably the one redeeming quality about it. Sure there's the "bonding" with the baby, but let me assure everyone, I would have bonded just fine without having to whip out my tits every couple of hours. Anyway, back on track... after the initial 30 pounds or so in 2 weeks I've been slowly losing weight. Nothing aggressive, not even noticeable, right. Maybe 1/2 lb a week if that. However, a couple of days ago I realized that my arse is turning into a back-crack. Oh I can hear you all now - "Poor Mandie, her ass is shrinking, booo-frikin'-hooo". But it IS a problem. All my favourite jeans and trousers don't look good. Where I used to look like "one of those rap guy's girlfriends", I now look like one of those rap guys. you know the ones, with the trouser crotch that hangs to their knees and the undies popping out the top? it's unflattering to say the least.
Some people might think that the solution is to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. And wouldn't that be nice? but I'm a new mother. Firstly, I don't have the time to shop for a new wardrobe, and secondly, I have over 30 pairs of jeans and trousers that are super cute!

So yesterday I started working on the solution. An ass and abs workout at the gym. When you work out muscles, they get firmer/bigger, right? so that logic dictates that all I need to do is work out my ass and it'll fill up the back of my trousers. I did lunges with weights, squats with weights, and some leg extensions (I think that's what they are) when you push a weight straight backward behind you and extend your leg. I threw in my usual set of ab work to the mix, too. Then I did 20 minutes on the stair stepper at level 10 and sweat like crazy. I left the gym hot, sweaty, but feeling really good.

Today I am NOT SO GOOD. Today I am walking like I have the world's largest hemorrhoid, and don't even get me started on going DOWN the stairs. OUCH! Why can't your body tell you DURING your workout that you're doing too much and should perhaps take it a little easier?

Anyway, needless to say I might have to rethink the ass and abs workout and try a gentler approach, or maybe after the pain goes away, and I do it again it won't hurt so much?

In other exercising news, Andi and I are going to start training for a half marathon. We're not sure which one we'll do yet, but we need a goal to motivate us back into our regular running routine, so this is it. 13.1 miles and not a step more. Imagine my shock when Barbie committed to joining us on our first training run on Sunday morning! not that's she's committing to a half marathon, mind you... let's just see where this goes ;-)

Breakfast in bed

Just a quick brag on my hubby. Yesterday he took Trent downstairs so I could get some more sleep, which isn't unusual, we do this for each other in the mornings depending on who is more tired looking ;-). This weekend, though, Brian not only baked us cornbread muffins for breakfast on Saturday, he also served them to me, along with a nice cup of English tea, in bed on Sunday :-)

Brian's on track to receive a #1 dad, and world's best hubby mug in the near future. hehe.

Ladies' night

What a fun night! Brian and Trent had a boys' night in while the girls and I unleashed ourselves on downtown Austin. We started off the evening at Donn's Depot, our usual starting point, where we ran into our friend and cantankerous old fart, George. I hadn't seen George in over a year so it was a real treat to see him. Next we headed to Cuba Libre for some Mojitos and appetizers and discussed our next move. We were almost convinced to go to the Yellow Rose, but we thought we'd save it for another night when Barbie could hook us up with free admission. Next we took a pedicab (which is one of those chariots attached to a bicycle). We squeezed all four of us into one and heckled the drivers as we went from the Warehouse District over to 6th street where we visited the Ivory Cat. Kenny and Matt were playing and Andi and I shook our asses on the bleachers to some Bon Jovi, which interestingly, sounds pretty good played on a piano.
Next we walked down 6th and popped into some weird bar just off of 6th and San Jacinto and it turns out we knew the bass player in the band there. Somehow we got free drinks, I think the doorman hooked us up, but they were not very good, and we soon left. We took a spin through BD Riley's and then took a stroll eastward on 6th to see if anything grabbed our attention. We eventually ended up at Coyote Ugly, where Barbie dared me and Andi to dance on the bar. Never to turn down a dare we picked out a song and up we got. It's good to get this stuff out of your system every once in a while. We ended our evening Back at Donn's Depot, of course, no evening would be complete without some T and A, so we hollered out of the car at Brian Lee who was playing at Mother Egan's. Sadly he missed the show ;-). Murphy's Inlaws were playing at Donn's. Fortunately, we arrived right when they went on break so we got some good hugs and a quick chat in with them. I hadn't seen the Inlaws since before I was pregnant so we had some catching up to do! And finally, the cherry on top of the cake... Casey Yager! What an awesome night.
On a slightly mushy note, I just wanna say I absolutely love you girls and can't imagine my life without you. You're truly better than sisters to me (though that isn't hard given the competition ;-)).

Look alike?

There are very few pictures of me from when I was a baby. Most likely my father kept them all when he and mum split up when I was 3, and now that he's gone, nobody knows where they went. Below is one of the surviving pictures of me, I was around 4 or 5 years old, I'd guess, because it's a school photo. I see so much of Brian in Trent, but I also see so much of me, too. Take a look at the pictures below and judge for yourself:

3 months of parenthood in review

Trent will be 3 months old next week. In some respects, time seems to have flown by. But it also seems like a lifetime ago that Brian and I had a "normal" life. A time when we could go out whenever we wanted and wherever, were bound by nobody's schedule but our own. When we could start a home improvement project together and finish it in one weekend. When we could drop everything and take a weekend trip. When I could eat whatever I want. That last one sounds weird, right? you'd think that having had the baby, no longer responsible for creating life, no longer affecting another human being with every bite of food, would free me of the massive responsibility of eating the right things and avoiding potentially harmful things. But that would be wrong. It's been 2 months since I've had ice cream, cheese, milk, and tomato-based foods. At first it was difficult because it seemed that everything we ate for dinner on a regular basis contained either dairy or tomato products. I've had to learn a whole new repertoire of cooking to accommodate this shift. 2 months in, and I've adjusted. I have rice milk on my cereal, and I actually prefer it to regular milk. I've discovered Tofutti, which is a tofu-based frozen dessert with a similar texture to ice cream, and Rice Dream, another frozen ice cream type dessert. Both are exellent substitutes, but obviously the variety is rather lacking. I've created new, dairy and tomato free dishes, such as lemon chicken with capers over angel hair, ginger chicken over jasmine rice, and rosemary/thyme pork chops with garlic buttered noodles. These have become regular favorites in our household now.

I think back to a time when I used to have a sleeping disorder. Where I'd spend hours at night frustrated and staring at the ceiling fan wishing for sleep. I think the sleeping disorder has actually helped me to survive these early months of parenthood because I was used to functioning on 5 hours of sleep. Since having Trent my sleeping disorder seems to have disappeared and has been replaced by a different type of "problem". Now, rather than lying awake fidgeting and enduring the random movements of my legs, I pass out at night, completely exhausted, and my mummy senses are acutely tuned in to the baby monitor on my night stand. At the slightest whimper I am yanked out of a deep REM cycle and into complete wakefulness as either I or Brian head to the nursery to retrieve our little bundle of love. This happens between 2 and 5 times a night.

Our Friday happy hours with friends have been replaced with an occasional glass of wine sipped very slowly over a 2 hour period so as to not cause Trent any adverse affects from alcohol. And instead of going out to bars, we invite our friends to come hang out at our house for dinner and a movie. It's not all bad, though. We enjoy our time spent with friends and we love how all of our friends have welcomed Trent into their lives and genuinely want to be around him.

Home improvement projects are now lone endeavors as one of us has to hang out with Trent while the other gets the job done. Over the past 2 weekends I've redecorated our master bathroom. Stripping off wallpaper, texturizing the walls, and painting it a delicious shade of blue with chocolate accessories. Meanwhile Brian has spent the past 2 weekends hanging out with The Kid, and was visibly frazzled by Sunday evening.

What used to be a fairly regular work out schedule for me has been replaced by a work out when you can schedule. If time permits, and Trent is calm, I can go for a run with the jogging stroller, or go to the gym and put him in the kids' room there for an hour. My favourite times are when Brian and I go for a run together with Trent. We run and talk about our day, our situation, our hopes for the future, our parenting philosophies, our plans for future vacations, and have fun hypothesizing about what Trent will do when he grows up.

Shopping trips where I would spend hours perusing the stores for cute outfits for me have turned into shorter trips where I spend most of my time looking at cute little outfits for Trent. I no longer get excited about shoes. The needs of my own feet have taken a back seat to the needs of my little man. I get excited when I get a Carters coupon in the mail rather than one from DSW.

Taking a shower, drying my hair, and putting on make-up, once taken for granted, are now luxuries. There used to be a time when I wouldn't dream of leaving the house without drying my hair. Now I leave the house without even looking in the mirror. I now understand why women get the "mommy hair cut". 2 reasons: it needs to be wash and wear because a morning shower isn't always possible. It might be 10 pm by the time you shower, and what's the point of doing your hair then?? ; it needs to be either short, or long enough to tie up because little fingers don't care that your hair is attached to your head, and they will grab on to it and hold on like their life depended on it.

One of the more fundamental changes that I've seen in myself recently, is that my aversion to children, while still there, isn't as strong. I noticed this yesterday when I dropped Trent off at the kids' room at my gym. A little girl came over as I was unstrapping Trent from his car seat. Ordinarily, I would have tried to ignore her, or had minimal contact. Yesterday I actually held a conversation with this 4 year old girl, showed her what to do if Trent cries, and trusted her to sit next to him. This might seem rather insignificant to anyone who doesn't know me. But those of you who do know me must realize that this is quite monumental. I actually took the time to talk to a child, and I smiled while doing so. I know this could be cause for concern from some people. I imagine Barbie is calling the FBI as we speak and reporting an alien abduction, and who could blame her, given my past history as kid-hater.

And finally, the thing I'm really enjoying, and I guess this isn't really about motherhood, but it's somewhat related. Body image. I have a whole new respect for it now. I no longer look in the mirror and see that little poochy tummy that just won't go away, or feel the fat roll lapping over the top of my jeans in the car. Sure those things might be still there, but now what I see is a body that's taken some major trauma and survived. A body that went from reasonably sized to the size of a small planet, and then back to normal again with no visible signs of wear and tear, except for a dark pink scar that is fading by the day. That not only amazes me, but makes me feel incredibly lucky because most women don't fare so well. Even my dolphin tattoo that I jokingly referred to as an anaconda because it got so stretched out during pregnancy, has gone back to normal. My belly ring looks exactly as it did before. And I've even lost a few extra pounds, mostly in the rear, which is never a bad thing.

So in all, there have been some surface changes, such as how we socialize now, and how we sleep, but most importantly, fundamental shifts in thinking. And in case you're wondering if I'd do this all over again... not on your life, mate. Ask me again in a few years when I've forgotten what a royal pain in the ass he is ;-)

Home improvement and weekend fun

This weekend was packed full of fun, hard work, and a little drama. On the fun side, Trent got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa. They popped up from Houston for an overnight visit. Brian and Gramps went out to Pluckers to watch the second half of the game while Gramma stayed home and watched Trent. And I set about stripping wallpaper from our ugly master bathroom. It was covered in hunter green faux marble wallpaper. Seriously, who's bright idea is it to put walpaper in the most damp room in the house? Not only is this wallpaper ugly, but it's also starting to peel on the edges. I had started to peel off the paper the previous weekend and was able to finish it off. It's a labour-intensive task but I hope the results will be worth it.

That evening Trent hung out with his grandparents while Brian and I went to dinner with friends, followed by drinks and Karaoke at The Water Tank. It's funny how much you appreciate a few hours of freedom from being parents. Though we do miss the little guy when we're away from him.

On Sunday, Barbie and Scott came over for a visit and while they were here we discovered that our ceiling in the upstairs game room was leaking water! ACK! Not only was it leaking, but it was leaking right onto an expensive piece of equipment! Fortunately it had only just happened and we were able to move everything before it got damaged. Then Brian and I spent most of Sunday trying to get the home warranty people to send someone out urgently. We played the "I have a newborn in the house" card, which, incidentally, comes in really handy and you get upgraded from regular service to urgent :-). Sadly, though, even their "urgent" status left us waiting until today for someone to come out. The problem was with our A/C unit in the attic. We have 2 units, one for upstairs and one for downstairs, both located in our attic. It turns out the one for upstairs had a clogged drain and it was causing it to leak onto our ceiling. We weren't able to run the A/C last night so it got a bit toasty. We had to close off all the vents in the house, close all the blinds to keep the sun from heating up our rooms, and Trent had to sleep in our room last night because it was the coolest room in the house.

Today a nice repairman from Shelton's Pride came over and fixed our problem for very little money (and it wasn't covered under our warranty after all). So we no longer have water dripping out of our ceiling, but we do have a damaged ceiling that we now need to figure out how to fix. Meanwhile, due to the drama of having our A/C out of commission for a day, I wasn't able to make much progress on my bathroom project.

My old friend, Town Lake

On Sunday morning I got up early (though every morning I get up early these days), and ran on Town Lake with Andrea. I was both dreading it and looking forward to it. Dreading it because I haven't really ran since late November last year, about the time that my boobs started to hurt too bad to actually run. (Though there was that time when I was 8 months pregnant that Barbie and I ran, but we mostly walked. I probably made it a whole mile that time.) And I figured that I'd lost my running mojo. Looking forward to it because I really miss my "girl time" with Andi. We have such great conversations during our runs and it's so therapeutic.
So we started out on the north side of the river under the Mopac bridge, and we did the 1st street bridge loop. We walked only once - across the 1st street bridge. That was our reward for kicking ass for almost 2 miles prior to reaching it.
The run was by no means easy. In fact, if Andi hadn't been there, I might have walked a whole lot more. Actually, scratch that. I probably wouldn't have made it down there in the first place. But it was enjoyable, and it felt great to push myself and know that I wasn't responsible for another life form. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to make it all the way around. I think that's a 4 mile loop. I can't wait until Trent is old enough (and predictable enough) to go with me in his Jogger on town lake.
Now I'm thinking about training for a half marathon.

Flashback

Courtesy of Barbie, I was reminded of just how huge I got at the end of pregnancy. This is a picture of me about 2 weeks before Trent was born, taken at NXNW at a Cameron Road gig:


I can't quite believe it!

Return to sanity?

Tuesday was my first day back to work after 2 months of maternity leave. In England you get 9 months paid maternity leave. Here in the US, you get 6 weeks (if you're lucky) and 8 weeks if you had a c-section. I remember before Trent was born and I was contemplating my 6 weeks of leave. I thought I'd go crazy in the 6 weeks of not working, and perhaps be bored. I couldn't have been more wrong. People tried to tell me. But you can't quite grasp the intensity of having a new baby until it is upon you. During my 8 weeks off I barely checked in with my team and I barely checked e-mail. I mostly deleted the ones I knew wouldn't pertain to me, and ignored the rest that did pertain to me, but I have more important things to do.

A typical day was spent feeding Trent, burping him to make sure he didn't get painful gas later in the day, changing diapers, cuddling him, rocking him, trying to figure out why he's crying. Let me tell you, 8 weeks of that day in and day out will leave you actually looking forward to going back to work so you can have a break. I've been pushed to my absolute limit on patience, I've cried, I've thrown my hands up and said "I'm out!" and walked away leaving Brian to deal with him, I've sat up at 5am feeling guilty because I can't figure out why he's upset and lost my tempter with him, and now, after 8 weeks of being with him constantly, I miss the little bugger.

Trent went to daycare for the first time on Tuesday. We arrived around 9:45 and got him settled in with his teachers: Ms. Ashely, Ms. Carrye, and Ms. Michelle. You can tell they just adore him already. When I put Trent down next to Ms. Michelle, he busted out a massive smile and the girls practically fell over themselves to get the camera out! After we got him settled in, we left the daycare, and no, I did not cry. I guess people do, but I was actually relieved. I have absolute confidence in his team of teachers and I welcome the break. Brian and I had lunch together at Par's Deli that day, then headed to daycare to check on our little man. He had just started fussing when we got there so I rocked him to sleep and put him down in his crib. Then we stood and stared at him for 5 minutes while he slept, then we headed back to the office.

Getting back into the swing of things at work is a bit of a challenge. My head isn't where it needs to be, yet. Likely due to lack of sleep and the nagging feeling that all of this is unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Though what IS important is keeping the lifestyle that we have, so I must get my head back in the game. While I was gone my team got cut by 2 (contractors), leaving now only 3 people (including me) to do the work of 6. My remaining team mates did an amazing job of managing all our deliverables, though I know they didn't have an easy time of it. I chose the wrong time to leave (or the right time depending on who you ask). But now that's all behind us and we're focusing on our new deliverables.

At 5:15 Brian and I headed off to pick up our little man from daycare. When we got there he was passed out on Ms. Ashley's lap face down and looked so cute! I really missed him. They reported that he had a pretty good day, didn't cry much, napped really well, and smiled a lot. It sounds like he had a great day.

British Invasion

This past weekend was wonderful! My "adopted" family, Daz, Mel, and Louise came to visit us for a few days, then headed off to Disney World. What a lucky girl Louise is. This was Mel's (and Louise's) first time to come to America and after only one day, I have Mel convinced to move here. Their visit was packed full of fun and included quite a lot of retail therapy for me and Mel, and some much needed pool time. We hit some of Austin's best cuisine, which includes Papasitos for some Fajitas and awesome Margaritas, Salt Lick for some of the best BBQ you'll find anywhere, and The Oasis, but this one was primarily for the view, not the food, obviously. Now they're at Disney and I imagine Mel's realized her life long dream of swimming with the dolphins and Louise got to see Mickey Mouse.
I'm sad that their stay was so short, but the time we got to spend was wonderful. I'm exhausted, though. It's hard work having a 2 month old baby and trying to entertain guests.

Lost Highway

I am a huge Bon Jovi fan. Today I picked up their new album, Lost Highway. I love it! like there was ever any doubt. As I've mentioned before, I've not really gotten into country music, so I was a little apprehensive about this "Nashville inspired album" from BJ, but I'm really impressed. I really like the song with Leanne Rimes. I also picked up the remastered Bon Jovi album (from 1984!) to help round out my BJ collection. Trent seems to like Bon Jovi, also. He stopped crying when the CD started to play and just kinda kicked his legs to make his bouncy seat bounce. I also bought my very first country CD - Carrie Underwood. See?? who says a leopard can't change its spots?? What's funny is that Brian loves country, but he does not like Carrie's song "Before he cheats" which is the reason why I bought the album. Go figure! Maybe he'll like the rest of the album. And on another music related note, who would believe that Brian has never heard of Tesla?? WTF? I'm gonna slip "Bust a nut" into his car CD player while he's not looking.

I'm syncing them to my iPod so I can rock out at the gym :-)

In other news, only a few more days till Daz, Mel, and Louise get here for a quick weekend visit from England. Daz and I have been best mates for almost 25 years, and with the addition of Mel it's like having a brother and sister.

OUCH!

I've thrown my back out! :-(
It was stupid. I was wrestling Trent's car seat into the car and I kind of felt a sharp pain in my lower back. I just ignored it, which was STUPID, and when I got home I did a work out on the trampoline, which is completely idiotic when you just hurt your back, but you know how when you get whiplash you don't feel it until the next day? well I didn't really feel bad and my work out was fine... but about 5 hours later I could barely move, and then the next day (Thursday) I could barely walk!
Imagine having to take care of a baby when you can't walk and you can't pick him up because it causes you to almost pass out with pain! Thankfully, I have some good meds left over from my surgery.
I've been putting a heat pack on it, sitting in my massaging chair, and taking it easy for the last 2 days. Brian has taken time off from work to help me out with Trent, which is fortunate because if he weren't able to, the kid would likely starve.
Today (Friday) it feels marginally better, but I still can't get around too well. Hopefully it will get better by tomorrow so I can enjoy my evening down town.

Weekend review

This weekend was pretty fun. On Thursday evening, Erin gathered a group to go listen to Andi and Brian at NXNW. Trent was the perfect little baby, he wasn't phased by the loud music at all, and was so content to be passed around the group and cuddled by all his honorary aunts and uncles.

Trent and I went to the outlet mall in Round Rock on Friday, and he was so good. He endured 2 hours of me trying on clothes, though I only bought 2 tank tops from Banana Republic because it's hard to predict what my body is going to do over the next several months. Plus, now that I'm back to normal size it's like I just went shopping and bought a whole new wardrobe! I bought Trent a couple of cute outfits too. Friday evening we went to Mama Fu's to see Brian play. About an hour in, he started to fuss so we headed home.

On Saturday evening, Brian stayed home with Trent while I went to Mike's 40th birthday party. It was a backyard bbq at his parents' house, and we had so much fun. I saw a bunch of old friends from a previous lifetime. Many of them I had not seen in almost 10 years! It was so great to catch up with everyone.

On Sunday, Trent and I went to the mall. I had intended to take advantage of tax free shopping weekend and buy myself some clothes, and I found the perfect pair of shorts for me, but sadly, I didn't buy them because, again, I'm not sure what size I'm going to end up. The shorts I bought only 2 weeks ago are already falling off me.

I spent some time working out on our trampolene yesterday. Surprisingly, trampolining is really great exercise. Brian helped me come up with some new moves to work different muscle groups, and I also incorporated some kung fu moves into my trampolene work out. I am certain these moves will help me with balance and speed so that when I do return to my Kung Fu classes, I won't be too far out of shape.

Today, Monday, I took Trent to the gym with me and put him in the kids room while I worked out. It was hard to leave him with a complete stranger, and I felt a little over protective when all the other kids in the room immediately ran over to check him out. I wanted to say "DON'T TOUCH HIM!" to all the kids, but instead I just bit my tongue, took a deep breath, and walked away. I can't shield him from germs and other kids forever, so this was a big step for me. Only 2 more weeks until he goes to daycare. I am sure I'm going to be a complete mess when I drop him off and leave him for the first time.

Clean bill of health & the stretch mark fairy

Not that I had any doubts, but it's nice to hear from the doctor that you're medically cleared to resume all pre-pregnancy/birth activities. All of the hard work that I put into keeping my body in shape during pregnancy have really paid off. Today I weigh the same as I did before I got pregnant! Only 6 weeks after giving birth and a gain of 38lbs. Today also marks my return to my work out routine (YAY!).

I went to the gym this morning and did a 10 minute warm up on the cross trainer, followed by a chest/arms/abs weight work out, and then 20 more minutes on the cross trainer. I did notice a slight decrease in my cardiovascular ability, and also a slight loss of strength, which is expected given that it's been 8 weeks since I worked out. It's funny to think that I was in better shape when I was hugely pregnant than I am now. But I am certain that in a couple of weeks I will have regained my former fitness level. The ab work out was interesting. I have lost the most strength there. Not surprisingly since my abdomen has been stretched to the max over the past 10 months, then endured major surgery, but it wasn't as bad as I was anticipating.

I am absolutely convinced that my pregnancy workout routine is largely responsible for the fast return to "normal". I'm also happy to report that I do not have even one stretch mark! The Stretch Mark Fairy might have tried to find me, but I foiled her by moving house! HA! take that! Actually, I attribute the lack of stretch marks to drinking plenty of water during pregnancy, and genetics.

Anyway, all of this is very good for my state of mind. I feel great. One of my big fears was not returning back to normal, and also losing myself and becoming only "Trent's mum", but I feel just like I did before, only now I have one more person to love.

Trent's Road Trip

This weekend we took Trent to Houston to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa. This was his first road trip. We set off around 11am, right after we fed and calmed Trent down. He was a complete angel most of the way there, only crying for about 2 minutes 15 minutes away from our destination.
Grandma and Grandpa were very happy to see us, and especially Trent. Grandpa had spent many hours cleaning up Brian's old crib so that Trent would have a place to sleep at their house and it looked awesome. He'd also been to Babies R Us and picked up a few toys for Trent, as well as a hairbrush. The hairbrush amused me to no end because Grandpa kept trying to get Trent's spikes to lay down, which seemed to be an exercise in futility - though he did give him an awesome comb-over!
While we were in Houston, Grandma and Grandpa spent time with Trent while Brian and I went out for a lovely Italian dinner, complete with wine (which I've missed so much) and my favourite Italian dessert, Tiramisu. mmmmmm!
On Sunday, Brian and I got to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I'd been dying to see, while Grandma and Grandpa watched Trent again. He was such a good baby all weekend. Very minimal amounts of crying, it seems that his medication is really helping him to feel better.
On the way home, he fussed about half way home, so I sat in the back seat with him and fed him a bottle while Brian drove, which seemed to be very successful.
All in all, we were very proud of Trent's behaviour on the trip and couldn't have asked for a better first road trip with him.

A big thank you to the Grandparents for giving us a few hours of freedom!

Colic and frayed nerves

Over the past couple of weeks, my patience has been tested to its outermost limits. There's an ambiguous condition referred to as Colic -- unexplained bouts of crying that seem to last forever and render the baby inconsolable -- this "condition" affects one in 5 babies. I guess I can't live a charmed life forever. Trent is the one in five, it seems. During the day he has mild bouts of crying but is usually consolable, but around 4pm and usually until around 8pm, he just can't be pacified. I've researched all over the Web for information on how to cope with a colicky baby. Many experts recommend that you eliminate any possible physical reasons for the baby to cry, then put him down in his crib and just let him cry. Sounds reasonable, right? but it's harder than you think! Your instinct is to try to fix the problem when your little one is crying. To employ this method goes against all of my motherly instincts. Oh stop gasping! yes, I have motherly instincts as evidenced by my extremely spoiled, yet extremely obedient cats.
Anyway, after discussing Trent's symptoms with the doctor, she prescribed an antispasmodic drug called Levsin. Bri and I were hesitant to fill the prescription because Trent's already on one prescription for acid reflux and we just don't want our kid full of chemicals, so we've been trying other methods -- gripe water, mylicon, swaddling, the swing, cuddling, etc. None of these things seemed to work. Eventually the crying would stop, but not until he'd tired himself out. Finally, Sunday evening, we came to the conclusion that our discomfort with so many prescriptions was not worth sacrificing Trent's comfort and our own sanity.
Yesterday I filled the prescription, administered it with his next feeding, and amazingly, he seemed to cry less. In fact, he barely cried at all yesterday. And when he did, it was for obvious reasons, such as dirty nappy, hungry, tired, wants cuddling. There seemed to be less crying after feedings, too and he didn't pull his legs up and scream like he has in the past. It's very early to tell if this is the medication working or just a nice coincidence, but the signs are encouraging.

The good news is that colic seems to resolve at around 3 months of age, so we only have 2 more months of this (ACK!!!)

I'm "That Lady"

You know her. The very one that I complained about not even 2 months ago while out having dinner with friends. The one who sits in a crowded restaurant with her screaming baby and doesn't take him outside or to the bathroom to figure out what's wrong so she doesn't disturb all the other diners around her.

Brian and I took The Kid down to The Grove at Southpark Meadows to see Brian Lee play. We had a great time and Trent was so well behaved. Barbie, Scott, and Michelle were there and we were all very impressed with how mellow Trent was being. After the concert we arranged to go to dinner with Mike and Tara. On the way to the restaurant Trent threw a massive wobbler in the car and nothing I could do would make him happy. He seemed to calm down by the time we got to the restaurant, though. I had lost my appetite at that point so I just ordered a water and planned to nibble off of Brian's plate. Before we could even order, Trent started wailing like someone was trying to slowly torture him. I took him to the Bathroom and tried to calm him down. Changed his nappy, sang to him, told him what a good boy he is. He seemed to calm down. So I took him back out. The minute my arse touched the booth seat, he started again. I frantically tried to pacify him, but nothing worked. I could see the looks from those around us. The same look that I gave someone else less than 2 months ago. The look that says "lady, you're disturbing everyone. Shove a sock in that screaming kid's mouth!". I was completely mortified. Completely.
I once again headed for the bathroom. This time I called Brian from the bathroom and told him to get his food to go. Thankfully, Mike and Tara are very close friends and extremely understanding. And off we went, back home with our screaming kid. I couldn't eat at all because my stomach was completely in knots.

Of course, it's not Trent's fault. He doesn't know any better. It's our fault for being over ambitious. We over stimulated him and it was foolish of us to think that he could handle it at such an early age. So lesson learned. But now I have a whole new perspective on that mom who can't stop her baby from crying in a restaurant. I'll be a little more sympathetic from now on.