Eleven Weeks

Hey there!  I've said before and I'll say it again, I have a hard time finding time to blog these days!  I really have to look for time to do it and when I do, I grab my IPhone and look to see what pictures I have on there that I can use.  Gone are the days of me being really conscious of taking pictures specifically for posts.  I've used the DSLR for pictures of Allie occasionally, but it's rare.  I can't remember the last time I actually used it for food or anything else.

Anyway, we passed eleven weeks yesterday and Allie is doing well!

Knock on wood, but she seems to have a great immune system like I do, and managed to not get Greg's horrendous cold that caused him to call in sick, come home, and pollute the house with his germs.  I think in the future we may have him stay at his Houston apartment if he gets that sick again because I was really worried Allie and I were going to get it.  Hopefully my breast milk is giving her great anti-bodies.

After some successful napping in the crib, we decided to give putting Allie in the crib at night a try this week and it didn't go that well.  The first night wasn't too terrible for the first half of the night, but after she woke up for her night feeding, I had a really hard time getting her back to sleep and I was really cranky about my disrupted sleep the next day.  The second night neither Allie or I slept much for the first three hours, so I gave up and put her back in the bassinet for the rest of the night, not wanting a repeat of the first night.  The third night I decided I wasn't ready for crib training yet and put her back in her bassinet.  As if to confirm that she isn't ready yet, she slept her longest stretch ever- from about 9pm til 5am in the bassinet.  So I think we are still a little ways out on crib sleeping.

We did our second Gymboree class on Monday and Allie did SO WELL!  She managed to stay awake, alert, and happy the entire class and impressed all the rest of the five month olds and their parents that were in our class.  I think she's really curious about sensory stuff, and seems to love music, physical touch, and all the interaction she gets in the class, so I'm glad we are doing it.

Allie is getting more and more funny and interactive with her smiles.  I think she's laughing sometimes, but it's hard to tell.  She definitely makes tons of cute sounds and coos and some sound like a laugh.  It's so cute.  It's also become obvious to me that she knows ME, and smiles specifically for me.  She's been doing that a lot while my parents are holding her and I walk over.  Heart melting :)

Greg has seven days in a row of work from going from April in to May, so we decided to head back down to Hilton Head and hang out with the grandparents for a couple days this week so I wouldn't be flying solo the whole time.

It was also my birthday on Tuesday, so it was great to celebrate with my family.  My mom made me steamed lobster and a huge strawberry shortcake.  It was awesome!!

We have been going for walks around the plantation, my favorite place for walks!

The weather hasn't been as good as it could be- kinda cooler and rainy at times, but we're still having a good time with my parents.

We went to the outlets (they have Janie and Jack, Gymboree, Carters, and Children's Place = dangerous!) and got Allie her first pair of sunglasses yesterday.

Too cute!  She also got a bathing suit and cover up to use later in the summer.  Couldn't resist!

Allie has been sleeping well in the Rock N Play while we're here, maintaining her up once a night schedule.  I'm also getting a lot of use out of our monitor, putting her to bed in the guest room and using it to track her from the living room on my IPad.  A lot of people have asked how I like our baby monitor (made by Withings), which was one of the items Greg picked out because it can be used remotely from the internet to view the baby.  The catch is that you have to use a computer, IPad, or IPhone, it doesn't have a separate handheld viewing device like say the Summer Infant one or others that many people use.  I wasn't sure how I'd like this, but after using it a bunch this week, I actually like it fine.  My only gripe is that it's hard to hear Allie because if you use the white noise on it, which we do, you can't hear much else besides the white noise.  For viewing it works really good though, and we really like that the white noise goes as long as you want.

We've been enjoying some lunches out and dinners in while here.  I always eat well when I'm down here!  Today we tried a new wine bar and I got a Cuban sandwich and black bean soup combo and split and Allagash White beer with my mom.  Delish!

Wow, a food picture!

Working out is going ok.  I didn't run or go to yoga while Greg was home sick last week because he didn't want me to leave Allie alone with him, so that was a bummer, but I did get in walks most days as usual.  I did go for a run here the other day (about 2-3 miles), but am primarily walking this week as well.  It's occurred to me that it is probably going to be a long time til I can race again.  I really can't count on consistent training and further more, I would have to line up someone to watch Allie during the actual race because I can't count on Greg being home on a race day, so it's hard to plan anything.  I'm a little bummed to be so far out of the running/racing loop, but it's worth it to be with Allie.  I've been lucky enough to loose pretty much all my baby weight walking and doing minimal running and yoga, so I really can't complain.  I mainly just miss the fun of training and running the race.  I hope eventually I'll be able to get back to it at a more intense level.

Anyway, it's been another fun week.  I can't believe Allie will be three months old in a matter of days!

Ten Weeks

Allie is now ten weeks old!

This was a big week of firsts for us.  We took our first road trip as a family- to Hilton Head!  The trip is about three and a half hours from home and we were curious to see how she'd do in the car that long.  I had a hunch that if we left late morning and got there early afternoon she'd do ok since I already know I have her out during the day a lot at that time and she usually sleeps through car rides, lunches, and even play dates, sometimes almost three hours.  Still, she's older now then when I first got away with those long stretches and sometimes she's not asleep for that long, so I wasn't sure she'd make it without some kind of meltdown on the way.

Aside from worrying how Allie would do on the ride there, I also wondered how I would go about feeding her.  I decided to just wing it instead of bringing a pumped bottle like I often do when I'm out with her for a while.  She slept til the halfway point when we stopped the car for lunch.  The stop had a good back area where we could park, so I breast-fed her in the car since she woke up when we pulled off the exit and I figured she was hungry.  That was my first time breastfeeding her in the car.  I've actually gotten more comfortable feeding her with no pillow now, so I just draped a blanket over us and she did great.  We didn't even make a big mess!  Feeding her halfway worked well and she slept the rest of the way after I fed her.  Success!  Later during the visit, I also took her out during lunch out to feed her in the car when she got cranky, and that also went well.  It's nice knowing I can do this now.

Allie got to meet her Aunt Ashley and cousin Avery for the first time this week.

Avery read a book to Allie :)

We took some really cute pictures of the girls in matching outfits that Ashley got them.  They are exactly a year and a half apart in age and I think someday they'll be good buddies.  We may have added major confusion to our family name situation though.  We were constantly calling Avery, Ashley, or Allie the wrong name all week.  Oops!

We also took Allie to the beach for the first time.  She spent most of the time in my lap or in the Ergo walking the beach.

Yes, we still have a dog...

I had worried about the trip disrupting what little sleep pattern we do have, but she was the same on the trip as she is at home- up about once a night.  We brought our Pack N Play so her sleep spot would be the same as usual, that probably helped.  I think also filling the day with stimulation from my family helped her to sleep well at night.

The trip was a pretty big success.  I would say Allie was happier and less fussy than usual.  I swear no one believes me when I say she can be fussy because she rarely is when she's around people.  It probably helped having her G-ma (my mom) around a lot to dote on her.

We only had two nights there because of Greg's schedule, but I definitely plan on going back down to spend longer now that we know she can handle the car trip and slept okay away from home, so I plan on going back in a couple weeks.  I want to take advantage of the extra Hilton Head time while I'm on maternity leave!

Allie also did her first Gymboree class this week.  Some of my friends mentioned Gymboree classes and I thought it was the perfect thing for me to do with Allie while I'm still on maternity leave since they have classes for babies Allie's age.

They have Play and Learn classes for babies 0-6 months and you can try the first class free.  We did some sensory things, sang, did tummy time, puppets, and other baby friendly activities.  Allie really seemed to like the first half then had kind of a meltdown during the second half.  I didn't time her feedings very well, so she may have been hungry.  I tried giving her a pumped bottle, but she wasn't really into it.  I think it will still work out though if I plan my morning feedings more strategically next time.  I thought the class was great for Allie and really enjoyed doing the activities with her.  I signed us up for a membership.  I am looking forward to seeing how she progresses with it.

I also discovered that Allie can grip and shake her rattle this week!  She loves getting her diaper changed now (oh how things have changed), and I handed her a rattle and she was holding and shaking it.  I was so excited I did Facetime with my parents to show them!

I think I only got one run in this week and no yoga because of the Hilton Head trip, but I did walk a lot including a long 4ish miler in Hilton Head, which was glorious.  I loved showing Allie my favorite place :)

One other thing- we have a jogging stroller now, but I need advice on when I can start using it.  It works with our car seat, so I was hoping I could click it in and go for a run with Allie sometime, but my pediatrician recommends waiting til she is NINE months old.  This seems like a long time to wait to me.  At that point I can probably have her in it without the car seat, which kind of defeats the purpose of the stroller we chose (since it's compatible with our car seat).  I was hoping to run with her while I'm still on maternity leave.  I obviously don't want to injure her in any way, but I don't see how it would be any worse for her than the car as long as I run on a flat surface and am careful.  It would greatly increase my ability to run more if I could use the jogging stroller with her, since right now I can only do it like once a week when Greg is home.  Thoughts/experiences?

Thanksgiving 2012

Greetings!  I'm down in Hilton Head again for Thanksgiving weekend with my parents.  I was just rereading my recaps of Thanksgiving from previous years and this year was fairly similar to 2010 and 2011.  There was a turkey trot, a walk around the plantation, and the usual excellent turkey dinner with fixings.

The big difference was that this year my mom did the Hilton Head Turkey Trot instead of me, being that I'm on my running hiatus since I'm preggo.

Earlier this year my mom decided to get into running and even wears the same sneakers (Asic GT-2160) I do.  She's usually does about 2 miles, but I told her a couple months ago, I knew she could do a 5K if she just kept increasing the distance a bit.  A couple weeks ago she sent me a text saying she was signing up for the Turkey Trot because she'd run 3 miles :)  I actually wanted to walk it, but then thought I should return the favor and spectate for her and also keep my dad company.

My mom was so cute, she actually got up and made herself the typical pre-race breakfast of toast with peanut butter and banana, and had pizza and pasta the day before for appropriate carb-loading.  She took this seriously!

She had some issues with her IPod and heart rate monitor, but tinkered with them to get them set up before the start.

Finally it was time for the racers to line up, so we followed her to the start line to see her off.

My dad and I hung out in the car for bit because it was pretty chilly, but then made sure to head over to the finish line with plenty of time to catch my mom come through.  Soon enough we spotted her shirt and she was bobbing towards us!

Looking strong!

She did great, her gun time was 43:45.  I was totally impressed!  Great for her first 5K :)

After racing we headed home to have a little more breakfast (fruit and pumpkin bread).  We started some Thanksgiving prep and took some time to relax.  We put the bird in the oven.  Later, my mom, Clyde, and I went for a walk on the plantation.

Still my favorite place for a walk or a run!

Clyde loves the trails on the island portion of the walk.

It was a really gorgeous day- perfect for a scenic walk around the plantation.

Back at the house we got serious about cooking.  On our agenda- stuffing, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce shaped like a can (love that stuff), and of course the turkey and gravy.

Clyde went nuts as usual once the turkey came out of the oven.

My meal!  Mmmm.

Everything was delicious.  I enjoyed every bite.  We had pumpkin pie with whipped cream later.  I copped out and bought the Costco pumpkin pie this year instead of making my usual pumpkin cheesecake, because I was just too frazzled to bake this week, but Costco's pumpkin pie is seriously awesome too.

I know I have a ton to be thankful for this year with my pregnancy and our baby girl on the way.  Greg was on a trip, but we celebrated earlier in the week.  I made him his favorite sides, since he's not a big turkey guy.

Anyway, hope you all had a great Thanksgiving as well!

At Least I Got A Massage

Hey there!  Where were we?  Oh yeah, I had that fantastic scallop dinner on Saturday night in Hilton Head.  Mmmm :)

Sunday's breakfast was also impressive.  My mom made creme brulee french toast.  I know, awesome right?

I will post her recipe soon.

We also had fruit.

 I also had some coffee with it.

We had to eat and run though, because my mom and I had a spa appointment!  There's a resort called Palmetto Bluff kind of between Hilton Head and Savannah, and it's very fancy and beautiful.  Greg got me a gift card for a massage there for our anniversary last year, that I had yet to use, so I got my mom one for her upcoming birthday and we went together.

I didn't take pictures inside, but it was everything you would expect a gorgeous southern spa to be. 

image from their website

We hit the steam room before our massages, and each had a customized aromatherapy massage.  Mine was geared towards my female issues and runner's legs.  I think my special blend of oils had lavender, rose, and a few other scents in it.  The massage rooms each have a balcony off the back, and my therapist kept our door to the balcony open so that we could enjoy the fresh air and birds chirping.  It was so relaxing and wonderful, definitely one of the best I've had.  Post massage, I met my mom on the relaxation balcony overlooking a small lake, and we each had a lot of water and a complimentary mint julep (I had about half of mine).

After our massages, we drove to the "town" center and parked and walked around.  I have been to Palmetto Bluff before, but it's been a few years.  It was just as beautiful as I remember.

The resort overlooks the May River.

It would be an awesome, albeit expensive place to get married.  The little chapel is so adorable though!

My parents have eaten at the main restaurant and said it was really good, with creative twists on most dishes.

It's actually a combination of resort and residential.  Some people do live there!

Anyway, it's just a beautiful place. 

Supposedly, stays there have been given to Oscar winners or nominees in their goody bags.

We headed back to my parents' house for lunch, which was leftover shrimp on a salad and some fruit on the side.

My parents had a tee time for the afternoon (golf for those who don't speak golf), so Greg and I took Clydester for a walk.

Over near the marina, there's sort of a "dog park" area, where people take their dogs of leash.  We decided to give it a try, and here's some video of Clyde and Greg.  Pay no attention to my voice, I really hate hearing myself talk!

Our walk was followed by some errands and a quick cookout dinner with my parents before hitting the road to head home.  Well trying to head home anyway.  We were promptly hit with this parking lot of traffic on 95 North...

People actually got out of their cars and were walking around for a while.  Thank god for Angry Birds or I probably would have lost my mind!  We didn't get home til about 12:30am, and our original ETA was 10pm, so that really sucked!  Anyway, over all, it was a great day, and another excellent weekend in Hilton Head!