Ten On Tuesday

1. Adam had a birthday last week. We celebrated with presents in the morning and a steak dinner and cake in the evening. He had a good day! Then i fell apart…

2. Tuesday night i had an anxiety attack (again) and i didn’t sleep well. At all. I ended up going home after lunch from work on Wednesday to get some rest. But i still didn’t feel well. So my friend Kristi came over to help with Charlie since Adam had to work that night.

3. Thursday I felt a little better and was able to watch Charlie.  She is sure moving around now. Speed crawler and loves to try and pull all the books off her book shelf.

4. Friday I felt almost normal and finally was able to eat real food! Jimmy johns. But then i fell apart when I got home. So we all loaded up and went to the beach for sunset. It was Charlie’s first time in the ocean and playing in sand. She had a ball and I felt normal for an hour.

5. Saturday I woke up feeling worse. I called my OB and he suggested I take the medicine my GP prescribed. I did and started to feel better. Charlie and I spent the day in St. Pete with Tara and Adeline.

6. Tara got a sitter for the girls so we went and got pedicures and manicures.  It was nice to relax.

7. Tara & I also hit up an estate sale. It was weird going through someone's house and stuff…but i found some old stationary and a piano book for my mom. I spent a whopping 75 cents!

8. Sunday we checked into the Grand Hyatt. Mommy needed a break and to feel better. We enjoyed the pool and fancy room. Then at 8 Adam and Charlie left and mommy stayed by herself and tried to get some much needed rest.

9. Monday we enjoyed the hotel pool again with Adeline and Tara. Charlie loves the water and loves to splash splash splash! My aunt and uncle, who were flying back from MI, stopped by and spent some time with us before we headed home too.

10. By Tuesday night I was feeling normal again. This is the longest one of these episodes has ever lasted. It was rough. really really hard. I am so thankful for all the help and support I received. Adam has been wonderful stepping up and taking care of Charlie. I really really hope i can get these under control and not have to depend on the medicine. I will see a counselor in a week. I really hope it helps. I don’t have time to “check out” for days at a time!

Relax

That is the thought for this Thursday.

I have been repeating this to myself for two days now.

It’s a lot easier said than done.

I have been having issues with anxiety, which are short lived. But the repercussions of that burst of stress causes me to be physically sick for 24-48 hours.

Today I am feeling a little better…but I still need to:

RELAX. Take a deep breath…and move on.

Humpday Photodump

Here are some of our favorite picture from the last week.

 

10 Things

1.  Charlie’s tooth is slowly coming in. She doesn’t seem to phased by it, which is good. I first saw it poke through on 8/12…so it’s taking it’s sweet time.
2.  Charlie's appetite is growing! I know that when she is at Ms. Jones’ house she eats good, but when she’s with us in the evenings and on weekends it’s hit or miss. Well this past week I was feeding her and at one point I thought she was done…but I tried one more bite and she ended up eating a whole jar of peas and 1/2 a jar of something else! Makes me wonder if we’re not feeding her enough!
3.  On the subject of teeth and food…we’re really hoping she’ll get some more teeth so we can start giving her more table food! We didn’t plan on buying her pureed baby food, but since we haven’t been very good at making dinner and they’ve been on BOGO, we’re finding it easier to just give her a jar of food so we know she’s actually eating!
4.  I have an childhood friend who is an artist, Rebecca Ringquist, and when I was on bed rest she mailed me one of her embroidery samplers.  I enjoyed working on it and learning the stitches, but then the baby came and I never finished it.  The past few weeks, needed something new to do, I pulled it out and finally finished it! I even ordered another one from her and created my own design to use as a square on a quilt I hope to someday to for Charlie!
 
5.  Charlie is really loving pulling herself up and climbing all over us. She’s even getting braver and doing one hand or trying to stand from a crawl position. It won’t be long now…she will be walking! Lord help us.

6.  Last week my friend Tara and her husband Doug opened their brewery in St. Pete! We have gone the last two Friday’s to support them. They only serve Beer and are not done with the interiors, but the beer is good and that’s all that matters!

7.  Saturday night we got a sitter and had a date!! One of my old students, who is now 15 (!!) really wanted to babysit Charlie, so we jumped and had her (and her mom, for the 1st time) come babysit.  Originally were just going to go to the movies, but my friend Kristi got free tickets to the comedy club so we went with her there then finished the night, just the two of us, at Ciro’s Speakeasy.  It was weird to be out w/o her…and we kept talking about her…but it was fun and I hope we can find time to do it again soon.

8.  Sunday we met up with Adam’s cousin and his family who were in town for a baseball game. They have three boys and they loved seeing Charlie and all wanted a chance to hold her. They even gave her a bottle!

9.  Speaking of bottles, she holds her own bottle at daycare…not so much at home.  We still hold the bottle for her, we know she can do it herself…but she knows that we’ll do it for her! I think we’ve finally come to the decision that our days of cradling her and giving her a bottle are numbered…so we’re just going to enjoy it while we can.
10. Our friends Kris and Paul had their 2nd daughter a few weeks ago.  She was small like Charlie and is still only 7lbs4oz.  So when Kris told me that her 3mo clothes are swimming on her, I jumped at the chance to lend her our NB clothes.  It was so fun pulling out the clothes and thinking back at how tiny Charlie used to be and realizing how big she has gotten.  We were so nervous with her because she was so tiny, but now we just toss her around!  Charlie had fun looking at her old clothes too!


BONUS!!!
11. Today is Adams Birthday! Happy 34 to the love of my life! We will be celebrating at home with a steak dinner, cake and presents.

Baby Weight

Aside from my bed rest, I got really lucky with my pregnancy when it came to my weight.  I was really worried that being on bed rest I was going to pack on the pounds,  but i didn’t.  I was also not allowed to exercise at all before my bed rest.  So I was shocked when I only gained 20lbs with Charlie. When i got pregnant, I was about 15lbs over my base weight. I was the heaviest i had ever been and I attribute it to trying to get pregnant for 18 months…it’s my own fault. But when i got pregnant I was 160lbs.  When I checked into the hospital I was 180. 

I didn’t really think about loosing the baby weight at that point.  And Luckily i didn’t have to at all. By Christmas I was wearing my pre pregnancy jeans.  My mom was aghast.   by February I was out of my pre-pregnancy jeans and having to buy new clothes. By April I was squeezing into jeans that i hadn’t worn since we got married.  How did I do it? I nursed. that’s it. I didn’t get on my treadmill, I didn’t diet. nothing but nursing and eating everything insight.

I know, lucky, right!!?!?

Everyone kept telling me how skinny I was. But i had yet to step on a scale (other than when i went for my check up and had already lost 20+ lbs.)  Finally 5 months after having Charlie i got out my old scale and stepped on it.  I was down 36lbs….144. I hadn’t weighed that since i got married. But to me…that is my “normal” weight.  I can maintain that…without exercise.  But as anyone knows, you should exercise.  And anyone with a kid knows, that is easier said than done.

Enter Stroller Strides.

Tara had told me about it a few months ago and finally last week I was ready to give it a try.  Despite loosing all the weight, I knew i wasn’t in shape or even tone up.  Basically the class is a bunch of moms, with their babies/kids in strollers. And you go around the park and do exercises while singing the abc’s and such to your baby.

Our first class was last Saturday. And it kicked my butt.  The class was by no means hard.  I was that out of shape! On Sunday i was sore. Monday I was still sore.  We went back again this past Saturday…the class wasn’t any easier. and I was sore again on Sunday.  But it felt good to get out there. And the soreness in my triceps much needed. I forgot about those little floppy muscles.

Charlie is so good during the class. She just kinds of chills and stares at everyone. I try to get her to crack a smile, and sometimes she does, but for the most part she is just taking it all in. We are only able to go to the Saturday class, since we have jobs during the week, but it’s a baby step (ha ha) And with Adam working every Saturday until November now, it will get us out of the house and into some fresh air (which will hopefully cool off soon!!!)

Book Club

I know I haven’t written about book club in a while. But to be honest, the club hasn’t read anything I’ve enjoyed…or that I actually read in a while!  I did do some reading while on maternity leave…the one that comes to mind is The Glass Castle.

If you haven’t read this…do! It is ridiculously good, unbelievably amazing…and an eye opener.  I’m so glad that Charlie was small and easy…because I would just prop her on the bobby, she’d nurse and I’d get 20-25 min of book time! Also I recently finished The Secret Keeper…so good! It is written by the author of The Forgotten Garden.

Anyway, back to book club.

This past month we read Rules of Civility.

My friend Mary hosted. Mary and her husband Matt bought a gorgeous fixer upper a year or so back. I helped them with some design ideas and hadn’t been to see the house since before they moved in last year! So that in itself was a treat for me!

The food was phenomenal. Very classy since the book took place in Manhattan at the end of the 30’s and the characters would be considered social climbers or well to dos… so there was seafood, fancy cheese spreads, pate, champagne, salads with bacon and figs and chocolate mouse!

The was little discussion about the book, but we did hit a few key questions that the characters discussed early on while out at the 21 club:

What were you afraid of as a child?

What was one thing your parents never gave you that you wanted?

who would you be for a day?

If you could relive one year in your life, which one would it be?

My answers were as follows:

Dracula and my brothers closet (I thought Dracula was in the closet)

A tree house

Heidi Klum – on a day off!

The year I met Adam.

What would be your answers?

Anyway, I was a good book, well written and an easy read. It reminded me a lot of the Great Gatsby, which I loved in HS. If you haven’t read it, I would recommend it. And I hear there is a sequel!

Oh and the highlight of the night…Mary’s electronic reclining couch!!

 

Other books we’ve read this year:

May: The Night Circus-I listened to it…it wasn’t my favorite, but i think it would make a great movie~

April: We need to talk about Kevin-I really wanted to read this, but didn’t have time…then found out how it ended…kind of spoiled it for me, so I'm going to watch the movie.

March: Words That Work-I didn’t even attempt to read this, was not interested at all.

February: The Mermaid Collector- I didn’t finish this…it was kind of cheesy, but I’m sure I could have gotten through it. The group went to Wikki Wachi to see the mermaid show.

January: Home - it was ok. I read it…but really didn’t enjoy it or hate it.

So that is my book club update. Have you read anything lately that you want the whole world to read??

A Positive Outlook

Adam and I are usually 1/2 glass full people. But sometimes life knocks you down or you have a crappy day or something is just off. Lately I’ve been needing a good dose of positive thinking and I find the quotes you see on Pinterest or Facebook or my daily prayer book are just what I need.
Here are a few that I like, that remind me that no matter how bad you feel tomorrow is another new, glorious gift from God day and it’s your job to make it better than the day before.