April 29, 2015 by Stephanie

Fit for Me 17/52

What I did last week:

Thursday-30 minutes on a bike

Saturday-1 hour of BodyPump. I actually got through all the tracks! I did have to weight down on a few tracks, but I made it all the way through.

Sunday-I participated in the March of Dimes walk with my sister-in-law. George and my niece, Ava, were there too, but they did a lot less walking. When I signed up for this event, I thought it was a 5K walk, but we ended up doing only one lap in this park that was maybe a quarter of a mile before they did the programming for the event. So Emily and I ended up doing our own thing and kept walking for 45 minutes. It seemed like a lot of hype for a 5-10ish minute stroll.

Monday-20 minute ab workout.

Tuesday-30 minute walk/run with the dogs.

Impressed by:

It has been a long time since I have gotten through an entire hour of BodyPump, so I was impressed with myself on that.

Struggled with:

This week was a good week physically and mentally. I can’t really think of anything I really struggled with. I was pretty proud of my workouts. Long time coming!

Did I meet my goal from last week?

I did meet my goal, sort of. I wanted to add planks to my ab workouts, which I did the one day I did the abs. So I met it, but I still feel like I could have done planks more days.

What is my goal for next week?

I am going to up my last goal and try to do a plank at least 3 days next week. I have a couple plank challenges pinned so maybe I will whip one of those out.

Fitness Thoughts:

I want to talk about kids working out. I think it is great to educate children on fitness and to start creating habits early about physical activity. What I don’t think is great is not teaching them proper technique, especially with weights. There have been several weeks that there have been kids in the BodyPump class. I think that is awesome! However their technique sucks. Their parents just tell them to keep going and suck it up basically. And here they are hunched over with a bar on their back doing squats or flinging a bar sporadically with shoulderpresses. I am just waiting for them to pull something right there because it is obvious their parents got them too much weight. Fortunately, the instructor on Saturdays is phenomenal, and she usually spots these issues and walks around to help fix them. She is really good about showing the right techniques and making you feel ok about only doing body weight. It just bothers me to watch the parents encourage the poor form when their little bodies are in such a growing period. If I was closer to these kids, I would try to say something. But inevitably they are usually set up several people over if not across the room. I don’t know if that would be me overstepping my bounds, but it hurts my heart knowing that these kids could get injured or at the least starting poor habits. (And yes I watch everyone else in the class through the mirrors…)

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If only it were that easy…

Have you done a plank challenge? Do you see kids in your gym?

Also I am answering all your questions tomorrow, so if you have any to add, please check out this post!

April 28, 2015 by Stephanie

Handled BY Grace

And Crosby.

Our dogs are running a muck right now. We are getting man-handled by them. I guess dog-handled….

I honestly don’t know what their deal is. The last two months they have been going crazy.

Between Tom and I, we really try to get them active whether it is me walking them or Tom spending time with them a little extra in the backyard. And with the weather turning around, they are getting a lot more time outside to get those jitters out.

But seriously, our couch can’t take anymore abuse.

We have lost two couch cushions to our sectional. In their defense, I think they are pawing at it because they are “nesting” to make it more comfortable, and in the process they accidentally rip a hole. And once a hole is made, they see the candy (stuffing) inside that we have been hiding in there and decide to throw a party.

RIP couch cushions.

For the past month, every morning I come down to a pile of poo and a pee spot because Grace couldn’t wait to go. But she also neglected to try to wake us up. Now I get if I was the only one she was trying to persuade to get out of bed to let her small bladder outside (I could sleep through a train going through our bedroom), but Tom is such a light sleeper that he would hear her if she tried. She just doesn’t. She just takes a dump in the corner of our living room, like she is obviously trying to hide it. Mind you Tom also lets them out late so it’s not like she has to wait for hours to go outside. For example, all last week he got home around 2:30 am and would let them out, but inevitably there would be a nice pile waiting for me at 6:30 when I make it downstairs for breakfast. And yet she can make it all 8-10 hours during the day when we are gone with no issues.

Now we have had issues in the past with Grace’s anxiety. Until we had Crosby, she had to stay in a kennel because she tore our house up like she was robbing the place. She was a lot better once Crosby came around, and we only had minor issues crop up every once in a while.

So in the last few weeks when we would also wake up to the bathroom and baby trash tipped over and ripped through, I thought Grace was the culprit.

That is until last week when I was at the dining room table and watched Crosby tip over the downstairs bathroom trash and pull out a poopy diaper to snack on. APPALLED!

I felt bad for getting after Grace for the past couple weeks, because it appears that Crosby has been getting in on that action.

Let me tell you cleaning up ripped up baby diapers is the worst. And not because of the baby poop. Whatever the Pampers Swaddlers is made of makes it look like a thousand little rubbery squishy beads exploded on the floor.

Then it was only confirmed that Crosby was indeed our trash digger when a couple days ago he barfed up a half eaten diaper. And then I walked in on him last night doing it again…

Seriously?

That day I cleaned up some type of bodily function from everyone but Tom before I left for work.

Crosby has also started barking at nonsense at night time. It is like clockwork that once I put the baby down at 7:30, he barks/whimpers at us until we let him out every 5 minutes. And then when you let him out he just stands on the patio barking at the neighbors.

Besides it being spring, there really isn’t anything different that we have been doing that would explain this behavior for the past month. We saw this before Tom started at PD, so his schedule change doesn’t make sense. Honestly I feel that we have been able to get them out more which is usually what works when they get stir crazy.

I know that it must be an attention thing because this behavior is only happening when we are home. They have been perfect when we aren’t home. I just don’t know what to do differently. We give them a lot of attention, but I wonder if they are just now becoming jealous of George. I don’t know if it is now that George is older he doesn’t just lay in a Rock N Play or sit in one spot so they see us giving him more attention by playing with him more. On the plus side though they never take any of his toys or mess with him. They are just taking this anxiety out on the trash. That jealousy is all I can think of, but I don’t know how to help them see they are loved and needed more than we already do.

All I know is, I need some grace and patience do deal with Grace and Crosby right now. I feel like I am cleaning up more after them than I am for George.

They really are spoiled and get a lot of perks around the house. Exhibit A:

Anyone have similar issues? Advice?

April 26, 2015 by Stephanie

George-8 Months

I feel like this was an extraordinary long month. So much has changed this month!

Weight: 16 lbs and 15 oz. His height is 26 inches. He is really starting to chunk up. I love baby rolls.

Health: He had his first real bout of sickness this month. He barfed any solid food he ate for that entire week. We still aren’t sure what caused it because he is back to eating the same things now, so we don’t think it was allergies. He also had a heart check up this past week to monitor the issues he had from being born a month early. The holes in his heart that we had been monitoring have all closed! So we are in the clear there! He does still have some extra blood vessels to his lungs which are common in pre-mature babies because of the lungs not being fully developed at birth. Isn’t it amazing what our bodies will do? The heart specialist said that these are nothing to be concerned about and eventually they will go away. We will be discussing with our primary doctor whether to get another check up in a year or so.

Diet: He has had such a big month food wise. I was still breastfeeding at the start of the month for his first feeding of the day, but right after Easter George decided he was done. He refused to latch and just screamed and pushed me away. So instead of trying to push it, we have moved to formula completely. He is eating three solid food “meals” a day now. His typical feeding schedule is as follows: 4 oz bottle when he wakes up around 5:30am, oatmeal for second breakfast with another 4 oz bottle, lunch is a side dish of fruits or veggies with another 4 oz bottle, 4 oz bottle around 4, dinner at 6:30 is a side dish of fruits or veggies and some of our dinner, at 7:30 he has a 4oz bottle before I put him to bed, then we top the night off with a 6 oz bottle at 10pm. I would like to get where we didn’t have to do as many bottles, but unfortunately we cannot give him more than 4 oz at a time. If it is anything more than that he spits it all back up. He still spits up with the 4 oz but it is not as much. So we end up actually going through even more formula but the same amount keeping him full if we tried do more than 4 oz.The only one he keeps down is the last bottle of the day which doesn’t really make sense but it is what it is. He is doing a mix of purees and baby led weaning with solid food. Sometimes he refuses to eat solid food and will only take a puree and other times it is the opposite. He loves to feed himself with the spoon with the puree but with real food he gets impatient and wants us to feed it to him. This month, he tried blueberries, oranges, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, corn, french toast, watermelon, cucumbers, plums, pasta in the form of tuna and hamburger helper, and graham crackers. He does not like whole blueberries, but loves them in puree form. He also was not found of the broccoli and cauliflower. He is obsessed with graham crackers and plums!

Clothes: He is in 6 month clothes comfortably. He can still fit into a lot of his 3-6 month clothes, and we have been using some 6-9 month items as well. He is in a size 2 diaper and a size 2 shoe.

Sleeping: We have had sleep patterns all over the place. We will have days where he will sleep through the night no problem in his crib. Then other nights he wakes up every two hours and then ends up co-sleeping in our bed because it is the only way to console him. Sometimes though just putting the pacy back in his mouth and giving him his elephant will be enough to lure him back to sleep. We have been doing better at getting him to nap once in the morning and once in the afternoon. He goes to bed at 7:30pm and then we wake him up at 10 for another bottle to help him get through the night. Both of these times it is pretty easy to get him to sleep by a little rocking and my lovely rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.” Tom is successful getting him to sleep by just rocking him for seriously a minute or two and then putting him in the crib wide awake. I have to have him half-asleep before I put him down, so my rocking takes a little longer. He does sleep with a pacy and a stuffed elephant now. If you pull the elephants tail it sings a lullaby so that is one of our go-to distractions to get out of the room while he is still awake.

Likes: Bath time! He just started splashing this last week. I felt bad because normally Tom has been in charge of bath time, and he has been waiting for months for George to play in the water. Literally the first day Tom had his evening shift and I had to take over bath duty, George started splashing like a mad man. He gets really mad when I pull him out too. He likes to bang and shake things. He loves our cell phones. He likes to see things move and swipes things around which can get a bit dangerous when you go looking for an app later. He is obsessed with peekaboo, and you get the greatest laughs out of this. He gets laughing so hard he starts hiccuping because he isn’t breathing. He also loves when you do anything with his feet. He is really fascinated by things that turn so wheels or knobs are a big hit right now.

Dislikes: He is starting to hate his carseat. I think part of it may be that we need to get a bigger one. He does not like cold food or drinks, so we have to make sure things are luke warm. He doesn’t like a sippy cup yet. He gives me a look like, “WTH is this Mom?” He still hates when you wipe his face and when feeding time is over.

Milestones: He is definitely getting better control of his hands. It is so cute watching his concentration. He is starting to try to mimic us. He smacks his mouth in the popping motion if you do it enough times to him. He also will put his hands together if you clap. He hasn’t got the clapping part down, but he knows to initially put his hands together. He is now rolling 360 all the time. He rolls from back to stomach and then stomach to back like it is no big deal. He is a really good sitting and he can sort of pull himself to this position and then standing. He pulls his knees up under his chest like he wants to crawl, but he hasn’t figured out what his arms need to do yet. He also celebrated Easter this month, albeit maybe begrudgingly.

Quirks: He has found his balls. Changing his diaper is a chore now because he feels the need to stick his hands down there. Tom tells me this doesn’t stop for a long time. He “sings” at church. This is really the only time George squeals along to music. We have music on a lot around him, and it doesn’t seem to interest him like it does at church. But he is always vocal during the hymns which makes our family crack up. Just singing his praises! You can tell when he is really tired because he starts to rub his eyes or put a toy over his face. I can tell that he is about to fall asleep when he pulls his stuffed elephant to cover his face. He needs a baby sleep mask I guess.

We parents are: doing much better after the academy ended, and Tom officially started his new job. I will say that this is the first month since last summer that I have not worn a sports bra to bed. It is sooo freeing to let them breath again and not worry about liquid coming out at random times! Work has been a little nuts for me with the end of the year winding down and one of my co-worker’s last day is during finals week. So we have been working like crazy to get everything squared away for her departure. Tom and I haven’t seen each other much this week though because our schedules have been pretty much opposite so that has been a little stinky, but it meant he came to have lunch with me once this week so we could at least see each other not sleeping!

The dogs are: a freaking mess. I don’t know what is going on with them, but they are having some major issues. We have had puke and/or poop almost every day in the house. They also have gone through the trash on more than one occasion and almost destroyed another couch cushion. And it is when we are IN the house with them. You would think this behavior would happen when we aren’t home, but no they do all this craziness while we are sleeping or sneakily do it when we are on a different level of the house. It is really hard to reprimand a dog when you don’t catch them in the act. And Crosby has started barking every 10 minutes between the hours of 8-10 when George is asleep. They do seem to still love George for the most part, even more now that we are exploring more with food. Perpetual snack time in their eyes. Grace has gotten really clingy in the past week since Tom started his shifts. It’s like she is my little shadow in the mornings.

All in all, George is a really happy baby. His personality is really starting to come out as a sweet fun little boy. Each day is a new adventure as he is so curious, and you can just see his mind growing as he explores his surroundings. I have a feeling this next month will be even more fun as he grows!

It’s hard to believe that 8 months ago we started our journey as parents with a child on the “outside.” This month was momentous considering we finally got the all clear that all his early birth issues are no more. Today we are participating in a March of Dimes event because of our personal experience with the NICU. It is kind of special that the event ended up being on a “birthday” of sorts. We have so much to celebrate, and we want to give other families who have risky pregnancies or early births the same opportunity. If you would like to support our walk, please consider donating here. Let’s help all the babies!

April 24, 2015 by Stephanie

Book Review: Blue Stars

I did receive this book complimentary for the review, and these thoughts are my own.

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I has taken me a good four months to finish Blue Stars by Emily Gray Tedrowe.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this book. It took me awhile to get into the plot-line, and honestly I only kept reading to see what happened to the men. I was frustrated about the characterization of the women. It was like the author portrayed two extremes of military family members: those that don’t agree with the war and a wife who cheats on her soldier. I think that is a stereotype along with just being married to get the benefits.

There were parts that I appreciated and felt that were spot on though. She described that it was hard to fight or be upset in general when the soldier was overseas because you didn’t want to distract them from their mission. It can be really hard to not show your emotions to the one person you want to show emotions to.

I would also have to agree that there can be a lot of red-tape when you are dealing with any type of paperwork in the military. The author did a good job of detailing some of the issues with having to go back and forth to several different offices for stamps of approval only to get a small thing lost to start over again. This very thing cost Tom a promotion once.

I did like that they highlighted more of the anguish and the anxiety that is felt on the homefront by the families. There is a lot of attention on the soldier, as there should be, but there is also a lot of confusion and anxiety with the responsibilities of being the one who stays behind. And while I think we all feel some animosity towards the politics of the war, I felt like there was too much focus on this instead of the steadfast support.

I guess what threw me off really was the cheating part, and it was hard for me to swallow the rest of the book. I felt like there weren’t any “normal” families represented. Normal is the only term I could think of, but I felt like both of these families were not representative of a majority of the population you see in the military world. I feel like it didn’t highlight the strength of having to deal with the every day as much as I would have liked. I felt like it definitely highlighted a more sympathetic and “woe is me” vibe. And without giving too much away, you see these women struggle and their response I don’t feel is indicative to most families. I feel like they both gave up, where I saw countless families doing amazing things and standing strong with the uncertainty that comes with war. I feel that these women were polarized in their stances, and we are not seeing any of the middle ground individuals where I would say most of us families lie. Again, I may have just grasped onto the cheating aspect and had a hard time moving past that.

So all in all I was 50/50 about the book. There were pages I was saying “Amen sister friend” in my head, and other thinking “it’s not really like that for most of us. ” But then again we all have our own experiences, so maybe I am wrong about the majority of families. And this was a fictional book, so some of this I take with a grain of salt for sure. There were a lot of rave reviews for it on Goodreads. Many said they couldn’t put it down and had only great things to say about it.

So you may feel differently than I did.

Have you read this book? What did you think?

April 23, 2015 by Stephanie

Through the Thick and Thin

Tom and I have been through some rough stuff. We have been separated by long distance more times than I would like to count. We have endured a deployment. We both have suffered pitfalls with our careers.

But honestly all that paled in comparison to the last four months of our lives.

Tom started in the Police Academy in January and just graduated this past week. It required a lot of long days of prep work and studying, and many nights away from the family even though he left at the crack of dawn.

These past few months have been hands down the hardest of our relationship. Granted we both started a new job, we have a new baby who changes daily, and two dogs who really are the ones who run the house. Never mind we also moved right before he began, and we are still not fully unpacked. So it really wasn’t all the academy’s fault, but I am just going to go ahead and place a lot of the stress on that experience. Needless to say we have been on edge for the past few months.

I plan to go more in depth on what exactly Tom had to go through as far as the classroom experience here in a few weeks. I just wanted to document the end of this experience.

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Tom had his first shifts actually in a patrol car this week, and I can already tell the difference in his demeanor. It’s all official now.

I have never been so proud and honored to be by his side as he starts a career he is truly passionate about. This job is one he has been talking about for the last decade. It was just amazing to finally see him cross that stage and be able to be the one to pin that badge on him. It is a day we have anxiously been waiting for for so very long.

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There have been times that I have not always liked this career and begrudgingly went along with the plans. I didn’t want to deal with the schedule or the danger if I am to be honest. There is a huge impact on what this will mean for our family. It means that there are holidays that will be missed or needing to be rearranged. It means that there may be weeks where we only see each other sleeping. In means that ordinary day stuff like George learning how to splash in the bath tub will be missed. It means I will wonder every day if Tom will come home safely.

But I have had to step back and see things through Tom’s eyes. This job means so much to him. The way he talks about his community and how he wants to protect it, you can just see the excitement and sincerity brimming from his eyes. This is what he was meant to do while we are here. We only go through this life once, and we should answer the call we have been given. And for Tom that is to be a cop.

It’s not like I didn’t know what I was getting into after that first date, so I really should remember the bigger picture here.

In the heat of the moment, I tend to gripe and complain (a post coming soon about this), and I take a really negative view on how it is impacting me. (Which is pretty selfish of me as a wife and teammate.)

There was a quote in my devotional this week that really struck me. “I so desperately do not want to get to the end of my life to find I’ve missed having an eternal impact because I made all of life’s decisions based solely on what made sense for me and what was for my benefit–unwilling to yield myself to the Lord.” (Kelly Minter)

Watching Tom last Friday made everything click for me. When he left that auditorium on Friday as a uniformed police officer, I could just see all the weight of the last few years fall off him. All that we had been there was finally worth it. This isn’t for him, and this isn’t for me. This is for something greater than us. We have an amazing opportunity to do the things we love surrounded by the people we love.

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