Having a sick baby is no fun :(

The sick little guy trying to nap.

I know, I know. I said in my last post that I would talk about my eating habit game plan when it came to losing my baby weight this time around. Well the thing is, that was before Ryan got sick so talking about weight loss is going to go on the backburner for the moment. Instead, I’m going to focus on what it’s been like to experience being a mom with a sick baby for the first time.

In three words, it is rough. There is snot flying everywhere not to mention the occasional urpage when he can’t hold down his Similac formula and then there was the mother of all poop blow-outs that had both Dave and myself gagging in disgust on Sunday. I mean, the little guy first pooped in his diaper, which was fine since that’s what babies do. But then when we went to change him, that’s where things got nuts because he projectile pooped when we got his diaper off, proceeded to poop more after I tried to wipe off his bum, and then thought it would be fun to kick his feet all around in it. He was giggling the whole time, so, he wasn’t feeling all that sick, but it was so gross that we both almost puked. Needless to say, Ryan immediately got a bath, his clothes were thrown in the laundry, and after changing the garbage in his room that was filled with his poop aftermath, we even had to plug a Glade air freshener in the wall since the smell wouldn’t go away! Ahhh!

Ryan is not a fan of the snot sucker!

Other than the blow-out of all blow-outs, the hardest thing to deal with is not being able to help him feel better. Since he’s still so little, he doesn’t know how to breathe through his mouth yet and that’s been a big problem for him given that his nose is almost plugged shut. So, we had to bust out the nose sucky thing and he hates it with a passion. Every time we use it on him, he screams bloody murder and it’s hard to keep cleaning out his nose when I know that it bothers him so much. Once we’re done, he calms down, but geez, it’s like his world is coming to an end. I’ve never felt so sympathetic for someone who has had a cold before, which is a bit out of character for me since I’m sometimes not a very compassionate person. It’s a character flaw of mine, so, I apologize to everyone who I’ve come in contact with who has had a cold in the past and have not show compassion for. That was pretty crappy of me and it won’t happen again, but I digress and back to Ryan.

Now, after we suck his nose out with the sucky thing, he could breathe for a little bit and would get comfortable enough to fall asleep in either my or Dave’s arms. However, the sleeping has always been short lived due to the fact that his nose would get plugged up again and he would snort and wake himself up. It’s a super vicious cycle that I’m hoping will end soon. The fever/pain reducer we got for him seems to help a bit with the congestion and we also bought him a warm steam vaporizer, something that has helped him sleep in his room by himself for a little while the last couple of nights.   

I must say through this whole thing, Dave has been SUPER DAD. He has been taking care of Ryan the last two days while I’m at work and has been doing an awesome job. He’s so patient with him and cares so much about him. Without Dave, I don’t think I’d be able to handle dealing with Ryan’s cold, especially since I’m getting sick myself. What really sucks is now Dave is sick and we’re basically all miserable. Hopefully, we’ll all get better soon and can get back to our normal routines…FINGERS CROSSED! 

Go away baby weight! – Part 1

Not all that happy about the way I look.

I’ve never been a skinny person. Let’s get that straight. I’ve always have had some muscle and yes, some fat on my bones. That’s just my make-up and I can’t change it. I’ve learned to accept the curves, for the most part, and have always just tried to be happy with the way I look. However, now my body has a whole bunch of extra baby weight on it and quite frankly, I’m fed up it.

Yes, this tomboy is insecure at the moment and it’s killing me. I want the baby weight off and I’m trying to do everything I can to lose the weight sooner rather than later. When I was pregnant I did work out and that helped me avoid gaining a whole bunch of weight, around 35 lbs in total, but after I had Ryan, I wasn’t allowed to work out or do pretty much anything for six weeks in order for my body to recover. And believe me, it’s not like I wanted to work out at that point anyway. I mean, it was painful to even sit down and stand back up after I had Ryan so needless to say, I wasn’t going to try to do squats or run five miles! Like, super OUCH! So, for those six weeks, I did basically nothing in terms of exercise and I ate and drank whatever I wanted. I mean, I had pizza, cheeseburgers, ice cream, cookies, cake, brats, cheese (mm, I love cheese) and yes, I did indulge and had some beers. Well, more then some. Honey Weiss is my favorite and boy did they taste good going down! Especially with a lemon, yum! Okay, I digress, but I figured I deserved to treat myself and go a little nuts  since I did push a watermelon out my va-jay-jay! :)

Peter as a blob!

Well, all of the inactivity and treating myself has pretty much left my body in shambles. Sure, I did lose about 20 or so pounds of the baby weight, yet the problem is all of the muscle I had before has pretty much turned into fat and my body is a big pile of dough. I feel like Peter Griffin on Family Guy when he made a wish and his bones disappeared. (That was a funny episode by the way, especially when he flushed himself down the shower drain) He slushed around and that's how I feel I am at the moment. I know, it’s not a pretty picture as you can see to the left.

Basically, now I have to start from scratch when it comes to getting my body back into shape. For the last three or so weeks I’ve been working my butt off to make it happen and I must say, it’s been extremely difficult. There are all these obstacles standing in my way when it comes to working out and overcoming them hasn't been all that easy. One, it’s hard to put Ryan down. When he's awake, all I want to do is lay on the floor next to him and keep him happy and occupied. His little smile is the best. Then when he's sleeping, I know that I should l lay him in his crib and go on the exercise bike or do some yoga or something. Yet, I find it hard to do since now that I’m back at work, I don’t get to spend as much time with him as before and I want to make the time I have with him count. Being able to hold him and keep him comfortable is the best feeling in the world as a mom. And, he’s so darn cute when he sleeps too and makes funny little sucking noises. His cuteness makes it that much harder to put him down due to the fact that I just want to watch him and smile. :)

I think I have to realize that my health is important along with his well-being. Therefore, I’m just going to have to force myself to put him in his crib when he’s napping so I can work out. I did that two days ago. It killed me to lay him down, but I did it anyway. When I was done working out, I scooped him up and we cuddled. So I managed to get through it (Yeye me) and still was able to get in some cuddle time with him!

Another obstacle standing in my way of working out is finding time to do it. There’s always so much to get done and not enough time for it all. When I think of working out and then all the laundry that needs to be washed or the cleaning that has to get done, I get overwhelmed and end up doing the housework before the work out. I need to balance things out better and I’m getting close thanks to the art of multi-tasking! I will sometimes throw in a load of laundry and then head outside with Ryan and the baby jogger for a run/walk. Then when I get back, I switch the laundry and do some weights or something while Ryan is content and sleeping in his car seat that can be removed from the jogger. It all gets done and I feel accomplished!

There are other obstacles that have stood in my way when it comes to working out too like the weather given that sometimes Ryan doesn’t want to sleep and we can’t go outside to run/walk because it’s raining. Or, sometimes it’s hard to find someone to watch Ryan when I want to work out if kid’s corner is booked up at the Y. Plus, I’m really good at finding excuses to keep me from working out like if I’m sore or something or don’t feel like driving to the Y. Stupid, I know, but I’ve done it before. And finally, sometimes I’m just tired. There are times when I just want to sleep instead of working out and it can be soooooooooo hard to not fall into bed and nap! Oh, the thought of the pillow beneath my head and being able to shut my eyes. It's glorious! I can’t give in to sleeping all the time though when the opportunity arises and I keep telling myself that I have to press on given that these pounds won’t magically leave my body. 

Along with it being difficult to get back into a work out routine to get my body back in shape, I have found it to be a challenge to change my eating habits. Since this post is getting pretty long, I’ll save talking about that for next time. I do have a game plan that I want to follow and will write about it soon. Until then, this is Carla the new mom, and tomboy, signing off!

I’m not sure if I want to read this or not…

So as I was making my three minute commute to work this morning, the newswomen on the radio talked about this book: ‘Confessions of a Scary Mommy’: An honest look at motherhood during her broadcast. I was intrigued by the title and decided to check out what the book is all about. So, I went online and found an excerpt from it. If you want to check it out for yourself, go to this link:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46942778/ns/today-books/#.UFM9VIH4JtI

I must say, the excerpt was both funny and disturbing all at the same time and I’m on the fence about whether or not I want to read it. The reason being is because I can just see myself obsessing about trying to avoid some of the not-so-good things that other mothers have confessed to doing and then hating myself for ending up doing those same exact things anyway. Kind of crazy thinking I suppose, but that’s just how I roll sometimes. The one thing that I could see myself doing from the excerpt is taking Ryan to daycare at the gym and then heading off to surf the Internet instead of actually working out. However, since I really enjoy working out, I’ve actually used the daycare like it’s intended, especially at the YMCA, which I’ve talked about before. I love working out and being able to have someone to watch him for an hour or so has been awesome! Thanks again ladies! One thing from the excerpt that I couldn’t see myself doing is trying to get sick at 6 pm so I have an excuse to go to bed. How stupid is that? Getting sick sucks and to try to do it on purpose just sounds lame.

Anyway, books and reading aside, I want to talk quick about going back to work. It’s been interesting to say the least and I’m surprised by how much I really don’t want to be at work. I honestly thought it would have been a lot easier than it has been. I really miss being with Ryan and just chilling together during the day. I’m just hoping that things will be better next week and that I won’t be so down about it. It just gets me how much he changes from the time that I leave him in the morning to the time that I see him at night. It’s not a long time, but long enough. I hope I don’t miss anything when I’m not around him, like more smiling or his first words, that would make me even more sad. At least the weekend is here and me, Ryan and Dave get to have a good time together! So, I’m going to stop writing now and go enjoy it. I hope you enjoy your weekend too!

OMG, I go back to work next week!

I'm going to miss this little guy when I go back to work.

I can’t believe it! Next week Wednesday, I go back to work and this chic is completely freaking out about it! No longer do I get to sit at home and chill with my little baby boy. Nope, no more spending the whole day together because now I have to reenter the real world and I have no idea how this whole thing is going to pan out.

For starters, I’m a little apprehensive about taking Ryan to day care. Sure, he’s been to kid’s corner at the YMCA a few times and has handled it beautifully, but that still doesn’t ease my concerns. Oh, side note here, the ladies who work at the kid’s corner at the East Side YMCA are totally awesome and Ryan just loves going there! They hold and oogle over him, so, when I pick him up after my work-outs, he’s nothing but happy! Thanks ladies! With that said, back to my concerns about day care. I’m not sure why I’m so freaked out about it since the place, KinderCare on the east side, we’re going to take him is clean while the staff is very, very friendly. When I stopped in this week to get his paperwork, everyone was on the ball and the kids in the infant room looked happy. Basically, I don’t know why I’m freaking out so much given that I know he’s going to get great care. I think what’s bothering me about it, is that I feel like they’re not going to be able to take care of him as good as Dave and I have. It’s rather annoying to be honest and I think it’s just my motherly instinct kicking in. I hope that my overprotectiveness goes away.  In time, I think that it will.  One thing that’s easing my concerns is that my mom is going to watch him one day a week and he just loves Grandma! :o)

Something else that I’m worried about is actually returning to work and being able to get back into the groove of everything. I think the first hurdle that I’m going to have to overcome is being able to work eight hours straight. Plus, there’s all that grown up thinking that’s going to need to be done and I hope my brain can handle it. Seriously, going from talking and playing with Ryan along with watching Teen Mom on MTV back to handling customer questions and complaints is going to a shocking daily shift in activities. At first, I have a feeling that it’s all going to be overwhelming and I’m sure there might be some tears. Ughh, tears??? I’m such a girl. However, when I’m able to get into a routine, I’m praying that it will all be fine and that I’ll be able to handle it. Fingers crossed! One thing that I do have going for me is that I did do some fall preview stories for the De Pere Journal while I was on maternity leave. It was a bit of a challenge since I had to squeeze the work in between Ryan’s nap, yet, I was able to get it done. That gives me a little bit of hope that going back to work won’t be super horrible. We’ll just have to see I suppose.

Now, probably the biggest thing that I’m concerned about when it’s time for me to go back to work next week is that I won’t be with my little man all day. I’ve gotten used to his company and to not have him by my side is going to be super strange. I’m going to miss him so much, but that’s a good thing due to the fact that it means that we both bonded a bunch like a mom and a child should. And yes, I’m trying to be positive about having to leave him because if I don’t look at the positives right now, I get a little sad. So, happy thoughts, happy thoughts, HAPPY THOUGHTS! One happy thought I’m going to always come up with when I think of him is his little grin, he’s such a happy baby, even when he wakes up. Not sure where he got that from though, neither Dave nor myself is a morning person! LOL!

Anyway, as I look back on my 10 or so weeks with Ryan at home, I realize how special our time was together. This Tomboy learned how to become a mother and whoever thought that would happen? Not me at first, but with Dave’s help, I was able to do it. Thanks dear! Something else I realized during my maternity leave was that family is most important. Ryan brought our family closer together and the relationship that I have with Dave and his kids has only grown stronger, especially my relationship with Emily who still lives at home. She’s been so awesome and cares so much about Ryan that seeing them together brings a smile to my face! 

Right now, the future looks bright for us and I can’t wait for what’s to come. One thing’s for sure, it’s going to be a fun adventure and I’m ready for it. I hope that you are too since I’m going to write about it all as much as I can! :)