End of January??

It's hard to believe that it's already the end of January. We've had a super mild winter (as most have unless you live in the northwest). No snow at all so far this winter. We don't get a whole lot of snow but every year we've been here we've had at least one storm that shuts down the city and closes the schools. It's been nice so I don't feel so cooped up in the house with baby.

Logan is doing great. He is eating like crazy this week so maybe he is going through a growth spurt. Yesterday he wouldn't stop crying unless I gave him more food; I kept thinking he couldn't possibly need more but he proved me wrong! At his last weight check he was the 46th percentile (10lbs 4oz) so he's definitely not a big guy or anything, but we can tell he's putting on a bit of chub now.

I've now run a handful of times and each time feels better and better. Yesterday I made it out to Umstead with Tassie and felt really good. My endurance is horrible which is no surprise, but I'm just glad I felt like I might be getting back towards actually running as opposed to jogging.

I've also swam twice (wow I'm slow) and ridden the trainer once (not only am I slow, but my bum is out of practice sitting on the seat. ow.) So yeah, slowly but surely I'm getting back into the workout scene. Now if only I didn't have to feed the kid all the time I might be able to get out more than 1hr at a time!

Here is Logan after stuffing himself silly:



And he's started smiling...something I've been dying for. I read that no matter the nationality, pretty much all babies start smiling around 6 weeks old. We got our first ones just a few days shy of his 6 week birthday, and I got a huge one this past Tuesday.



Last Saturday we all got out to wine tasting party where Logan was passed around among a bunch of the mother's. He had a great time getting all loved on and I think a couple of them were fighting over who got to hold him. Anytime you all want to come over and hold him so I can get out, feel free ;)

Logan is noisy

Turn up the volume and listen to our little guy cutting some zzz's.

Baby Update

I've been enjoying having my mother-in-law here as she has freed up my arms to do other things and sleep more for the past week. It sure has been nice! Marty and I have also been trying to take advantage of the free babysitting and have been getting out as much as possible. Logan's feeding schedule doesn't allow us to stay out for very long, but it's still nice to get out.

Still no real working out except for some walks. I was all ready to swim with our Master's team this morning only to have a dead battery when I went to start the car. Total bummer since we have that free babysitter right now and after I fed him I dumped him in her arms :) Marty had already left since I was going to be a bit late and he had a swim lesson after. Maybe Monday.

He came in at 9lbs 1oz and 21.5 inches this morning at the doctors office. He was 1 month old yesterday - I wonder how old he'll be before he weighs my birth weight of 10lbs 14oz?

Here are some pics:

Fight the power, Logan.

Thriller dance while dressed as a bear.

Jogging?

I did a bit of walk-jogging on Sunday like I said in my last post - it went...weirdly. I don't know, it didn't feel right and probably only other mothers can understand. But I felt like everything was just going to fall out?? I ended up shuffling and thinking that this was not a good idea and I need to give myself more time to heal up. I know others have run shortly after birth and I just don't understand how that is possible (well, perhaps they didn't have any repair work afterwards?) Anyways, any advice from running momma's would be appreciated :)

So, cute baby picture - here is Logan at 3 weeks old after a walk around the lake.

What's happening

Last night, the 3 of us ventured to a friends house for a NYE party. We went early and only stayed for a little over an hour but it was nice to get out and see a bunch of our friends. We've been trying to get out as much as possible to keep sane. Logan has been to several restaurants already and if I time it right he usually just sleeps like an angel. The other night we waited too long to get out and then our first eating place was too crowded so he was hungry and screaming before I got my plate. That led to me having to breastfeed him in the car and eat my dinner at home from a carry out package. This week we're going to try a bottle and see how that goes which will really free me up at night (and take care of any situation like that).

At this point, he is very portable. It's not like we have to entertain him, he's just strapped into his carseat. The other night a friend of ours came over to watch him for a couple of hours so Marty and I could go out to dinner and watch the FSU/ND game - that was awesome!

He's gaining weight which is great even though I'm still having a lot of breastfeeding issues. Turns out he had a slight tongue tie (look it up if interested) and he had to get his frenulum clipped. We just did that on Friday so hopefully soon we can work it out where feeding him isn't so painful. He left the hospital at 7lbs 5oz (babies lose weight from birth) and on Friday he was 8lbs 5oz which the doctor was happy with.

Since I have nothing to compare him to, I don't know if he is a good/easy baby or not. Despite what Marty may have you believe, he doesn't cry from 7pm to 1am every night. There is just typically a chunk of time during that period where he is fussy - we can soothe him for a bit then he cries again. A lot of people have told us this is pretty typical for babies in the evening. He does sleep a lot - pretty much it's a feed, maybe a bit of wakefulness, then sleep for 3-4 hours. Sometimes even longer (but not at night yet, dangit).

He loves to get bounced on the ball. Here we are ringing in the New Year. Actually, we weren't. This was around 10pm right before I went to bed.

That's my dad's letter sweater from high school that I'm sporting. Hot, I know.
Also, this picture is huge because Tassie has been totally scared of the yoga ball forever. She's realized that in order to get close to us right now she has to get over her fear, and she's done a pretty good job so far.

I am really itching to start running again. I may do a bit of a walk/jog today and see how it goes. The weather is way too mild to pass this up.

Life as a Mom

I still can't believe sometimes that I'm someone's mom!

Obviously this blog will be more baby-centered for awhile. Heck, I can't even workout for several more weeks! But in a few months when I can train again it will turn more back into a triathlon/baby blog :) So after 11 days, this is what I've learned about being a mom:

• The sleep thing is tough. Newborns are supposed to be fed every 2-3 hours, and this 2-3 hours is from the time of the beginning of each feeding. So if you're feeding the baby every 2 hours, maybe you start at 7pm. He eats for 30-45min, and if you're lucky he goes to sleep. If you're not, he's squawky and alert. But wait, you have to feed him again at 9pm! -- 2hrs later. So when exactly do you get sleep?
• I've been feeding Logan on the 3 hour schedule, and pretty much every time at night I have to wake him up to feed - some people have told me to let him sleep, others have said, no he needs to eat a lot. I let him sleep for 4 hours last night before I got up...maybe a little selfishly because that meant I got 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
• All told, I get 6-8 hours of sleep, it's just all broken up
• I don't want to make any assumptions, but he seems like a good sleeper right now. He is only 11 days old, and I'm sure this will change over the coming weeks.
• I did get to experience some projectile poop and then a fountain of pee right after yesterday morning. Hi mom!
• I am doing most of the legwork right now since Marty obviously can't breastfeed. I'm not going to wake him up just to change a diaper. There's no reason for both of us to be sleep deprived. But once I can start giving him bottles you'd better believe he'll be doing some nighttime feedings.
• Even though I do a lot right now, I think I have a bit of an advantage since Marty works out of the house for the most part. So if I need to take a shower, I can. I'm not totally chained to the baby like some moms who's husbands have to go somewhere for work.
• Speaking of, I even got out for fro-yo with my girls the other night. Marty took care of squawky baby - he seems to be most disgruntled in the evening. This can last for a short time or several hours. I'm not talking about hours of crying, just hours of wakefulness with bursts of crying and not liking anything we do.
• Also, breastfeeding hurts! I don't care that everything I read online said it's not supposed to, that's a bunch of bs. Probably he didn't have the greatest latch at the beginning which contributed to the problem, but now it's pretty good and it still hurts. A lot of mothers have assured me that after 2-3 weeks it gets better. I'm really hoping it does because I definitely want to continue. Even though it means I get not much sleep and Marty sleeps like a baby (a baby who sleeps through the night, at least). A friend pointed out to me that I must be doing something right if he has several wet diapers a day, he has bunches of wet diapers.
• My weight has literally fallen off. I weighed myself this morning and I'm only 5lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight, and my exercise has consisted of several walks with Logan in the Bob around the lake in our neighborhood. Things are different, though, like my belly although I only have a bit of pooch right now, is super soft, like dough. I can't wait until I can do some core to help that tighten up.
• Tassie is doing fantastic. She hangs out with me when I feed him, seems concerned when he's crying, and gets very excited to see him in the mornings. Like wiggly and want to lick him all over excited. Logan, for his part, doesn't seem to mind.
• I'm getting lots of reading done on the kindle while feeding him. If anyone has awesome books recommendations, send them my way
• I am continually amazed that Marty and I made this little guy!
  

Baby Makes 3

I know I have been delinquent in getting an update out, but I feel like I have so much to say and it's now overwhelming. It's actually not because I'm sleep deprived and exhausted, just haven't had the mojo to write something. But after some prodding from Marty, (Bri, when are you going to make a blog update) I figured WTH.

Soooooo, quick birth story. If you're interested in the gory details, you can email me - I have no problem talking about it but don't really want it all out here on the world wide web. Sunday afternoon I started having contractions. We went to The Mellow Mushroom for a last supper then came home and watched movies. By about 3am the contractions were extremely painful and my water broke. I got Marty up and we went to the hospital where I immediately ordered an epidural. It took quite awhile for the doctor to get to my room and administer it (a couple of hours) and man those few hours without anything hurt. I don't know why anyone would NOT get one! Because once I was hooked up I was able to sleep for awhile. By 11:30am I was fully dilated and ready to push this baby out. That took a long time (2hrs) and with a little help from a vacuum, Logan Marton Gaal was born at 1:44pm on 12/12/11 weighing in at 7lbs 13oz and measuring 19.5 inches.







Marty and I are figuring things out. Up until Monday, neither of us had changed a diaper! It's been helpful having my mom and sister here - really nice to have others give us advice and help out. Newborns sleep a lot so that part hasn't been so bad. I'm not counting on it lasting forever, though. The hospital was the worst as far as trying to rest! Always someone coming in constantly waking you up to do something or ask some question - it was nice to come home on Wednesday.

I can't do any real working out except for walking for quite some time, which is fine so I can just concentrate on Logan and doing what needs to be done for him. Exciting times ahead for sure!

Our little glow worm: