Operation MILF

I think I've finally found my niche in Alabama. I've found a great group of ladies and have become involved in a few different fitness groups--Commence Operation MILF.

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays I have started training for a 5K with some other moms using the Couch to 5k program from cool running. It's a very effective program that I've used a few times before. We are planning to run the St. Patrick's Day 5k on Post.

On Fridays I'm doing "Moms on a Roll" which is a Stroller Strides type of fitness group that takes place at the track behind the  gym. Basically it's running and cross training. Every half lap we do a station with various exercises like squats, planks, crunches, push ups, etc. For a total of two miles.  It's a great, tiring workout.

I gained over 40 pounds with my pregnancy and I still have about 9-10 pounds of baby weight to lose. Ideally, I would like to lose another 15 after that to get to my pre-fertility drugs weight but mostly I just want to get fit and feel more energized. I still feel the effects of the lingering relaxin in my system but not nearly as much as I did before I started exercising again.

Up until now Hazel hasn't spent any time in her stroller because I just wear her everywhere so getting her used to it has been somewhat challenging. Coupling that with the fact that the workouts normally coincide with her nap time has made this difficult at times. Very rarely has she fallen asleep in the stroller on her own. During these times I've heard her hum and sing herself to sleep and that was that. More often than not she is good for 5-10 minutes then will start crying and not settle back down. When this happens I stop what I'm doing, take her out and soothe her since I'm not going to just let her scream.  Sometimes she'll fall asleep on me within minutes and sometimes she calms down enough to get sleepy again. Either way, she'll let me lay her back in the stroller and she normally takes a nap for a decent amount of time. She just wants her mama's comfort to fall asleep and I don't blame her for that one bit since that's what she's used to. So sometimes i end up behind the group for my workouts but that's okay, at least I'm out there. Hazel is the youngest baby that goes and the other moms are very understanding.

Alabama is looking up!

Five Month Stats

Hazel is 15lb.11oz. (50th percentile) 25 inches (65th percentile) and her head is in the 75th percentile (Thanks, Mike!) My tough girl barely fussed when she got her shot today. She's almost sitting up and started log rolling today--four times in a row in the same direction.

......and she said "Ma" when I went to pick her up when she started crying today. Aaaaah. <3

Five Months

Say it isn't so! My baby is five months old?! She's growing by leaps and bounds and I feel that she''ll be off to kindergarten soon. We've had a very busy month with the holidays and a month full of firsts! She was a trooper though and is turning into quite the little traveler.

Road trip to Indy!

I'm still nervous to travel too far on my own with her because I can't stand to hear her cry in her car seat. We are getting out more regularly now though. We went to our first La Leche League meeting in December as well as her first playgroup. She was the baldest baby there but that's ok.

She nurses every 2-3 hours at night but she's gone as long as 4-5 a few times. I've woken up in a panic those nights, wondering if she's okay! One of these days I'll get more than a few hours of sleep at a time but for now I'm more than happy to nurse and cuddle her all night. She has been sleeping in the co-sleeper more too, which is nice sometims because i can stretch out more.

She had her first viral infection. That was scary. Her fever got up to 103.8, she had vomiting and diarrhea. I was really thankful we cloth diaper because she had a lot of nasty poop explosions and not one blowout. We were also going through a ton of diapers-- cloth diapering for the win! She weighed 15.75 pounds with her clothes on when I took her to the doctor.

We got her first Christmas tree! The experience didn't go quite as I had hoped. Hazel was tired and refused to sleep in the Ergo. She cried a lot while we were looking at trees. It was December and I was wearing shorts. The trees were painted green. It almost fell off the van on the way home. The limbs were so scrawny we couldn't even put up our German candles and the tree gave both Mike and I a rash on our hands and arms. But it was Hazel's first Christmas tree.

Hazel needed fortification to hunt for a tree.

Pretty girl decorating the tree.

She spends a lot of time on her quilt or play mat, just playing on her own. She grabs everything now and sticks it right into her mouth! She rolls easily from her back to her belly and Mike has seen her roll from belly to back a few times but I haven't seen it yet.  She has almost mastered the low crawl--aah! I'm not ready for a mobile baby yet. We're still breastfeeding on demand but have not introduced solids as I feel it is important to exclusively breastfeed for at least six months. She's growing like a weed and is filling out her 6 month clothing now and even wearing some  6-9 month item. She's also moved up a snap size in her cloth diapers.  

I was so excited for Hazel's first Christmas. I know she won't remember it but I wanted it to be special. For the past several years there has been an emptiness that has filled our hearts at Christmastime because of infertility. We wanted so much to have someone to share the magic and spirit of Christmas and now we finally do! It was so wonderful to spend Christmas with my sister's and parents as well as my nieces and nephew.

Hazel's First Christmas

 

Her onesie says "Daddy's Favorite Present"

I love this picture of us.

The Elf made me do it!

Hazel's first trip to the Hofbrauhaus

Hazel's first trip to the zoo--it was cold in Cincy! In a snow suit, in the Ergo, inside my jacket. She slept cozy warm the entire time!

She was amazed by all the fish

Awwe

Happy 2013!

She has started sitting in her high chair at meal Times and sometimes while I'm cooking or baking. This is the free one I got but I don't like it. We are going to get one that attaches to our chair and will be good for traveling.

Mommy' s sous chef

We have this picture of her on our wall and she just loves to talk to it. She is all smiles when she sees herself in the mirror too.

She also really, really loved the song, "Frosty the Snowman." I sang it over and over again for her. Now her favorite is Old MacDonald. Who knew he had SO many animals on his farm? The list is never ending.

Hazel' s first time in the Jumperoo

I think she likes it.

Her naps are kind of wonky and she no longer takes super long naps. On Thursday she probably slept maaaaybe an hour all day. Yesterday she took four or five cat naps. I sometimes long for the days of two hour naps. Since we co- sleep we weren't even gong to buy a crib but we scored an amazing deal. $50 for the $200 Graco Lauren Crib and still in the box. We are going to paint it a fun color and eventually my goal is to transition her into taking naps in it since she will need a safe, pet free place to sleep once she's mobile.

I'm still 20 pounds over my pre- pregnancy weight but I'm working on it. I can get infotainment my jeans and athletic shorts but my books are too big for a lot of my shirtless. I can't necessarily diet since I'm breast feeding but I can get more active (other than the never-ending squats and bouncing I do everyday) so I am going to start walking. Hazel hasn't cared for her stroller much since she is used to being worn but we made it about half an hour yesterday with no fussing. There's a stroller walking group on post that I'm going to check out next week. 

 God I love this kid. 

Belated Tidings

A belated Christmas and Happy 2013!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and rang in the New year in style. know that I am majorly overdue for a blog post! I had a very busy December and now that I'm home and finally got around to unpacking my suitcase i have a sick baby. She got sick the last time we traveled too, Damn it.

The good news is that Santa brought me a Kindle.Fire for Christmas so hopefully that will make it a little easier to blog more often. I have a lot of pictures from Hazel' s first Christmas but for now I' 'll leave you with this cuteness.

Hazel on her way to see Scuba Santa at the Newport Aquarium.