Friday, August 29, 2014

Fit Life - Weigh In Wednesday...err Friday

Well all I can say is it's been a long week...I haven't lost any weight nor started my exercise. I know I know I need to get it started and I am going to. I actually signed up for Baby Boot Camp starting next Tuesday. It's a bit spency so we will see how it goes. I get the first class free :)

My friend also asked me if I wanted to start taking Barre classes so I'm going to be doing that on Wednesday. I'm a bit nervous because I'm really out of shape but can't get into shape without working out :) Having a friend to keep you on track is always super helpful too. We are going to start next week as well.

Food has been so so - I need really quick and easy snacks/meals that are healthy and I struggle a bit with that. Things that can be eaten with my hands over a fork are great as well. Salads are a bit hard because I often eat with just one hand while I'm feeding Ryley so I need something I can easily put into my hand with no table to set it on. I need to do some Pinterest searching to figure out my options here.


Ryley is ready for football!!!!
On to more exciting news - Miss Ryley is up to 10.2lbs! She's finally fit 10lbs, so crazy! Looking at her growth chart she is exactly where she should be so that's great. I can tell she is getting heavier; my back hurts more haha

She's in a weird in between size unfortunately - her newborn clothes are almost all too small, except a few plain onsies, and then her 0-3 months close are mostly too big for her. Baby Gap seems to be the best fit so far in the 0-3 month range but even those are a bit big. She'll get there! It's hard to buy baby clothes - I want to buy her some winter clothes for when we go to Ohio but I don't know size wise where she will be. She'll be 5 months old so I'm thinking she'll still be in her 3 month old clothes since she's on the smaller side. I just bought a few things from Carter's that are 6 month and they look like they are going to be too big. And when you have to buy for the season you are in it's harder to buy things on sale - it's how they get you!

Anyways - not so good week for me but exciting week for Ryley :)


Sunday, August 24, 2014

Married Life - Date Night

Yesterday Matt and I had a great day! First we had a BBQ with our ADPi family and then we got our first REAL date night and our first real babysitter (outside of family)! It was a very good day!

Matt and I decided to go to the Willow Glen Wine Walk - it's something we would have totally done prior to baby. Anything wine related as right up our alley. The first place we wanted to eat after I was no longer pregnant/could have a glass of wine was Enoteca, which is our favorite little spot in Los Gatos, CA. Great wine, great cheese, great food all around. They have a fabulous patio and before pregnancy Matt and I would enjoy it almost every Friday :)

Anyways back to the wine walk - different stores in Willow Glen each had a winery with a table serving small tastings. We tried probably 8 or 9 different wineries. Nothing super stood out to us but it was just fun to walk and chat sans the little one. Ryley definitely came up in conversation but we spent lots of time talking about other things too, which I'm told is a good idea so that not everything is always focused on baby. After the wine walk we enjoyed a nice dinner at Haymarket. Sadly I was getting a bit tired, why I don't know since Ryley tends to sleep relatively well, but it was still a great night with my husband. It actually felt like a good date night from before we even had a baby. We were home by 7:30 but that wasn't all that unusual for us prior to baby, we are old ;)

One of my favorite things from the night - we found this AWESOME shark robe.
A little too big for now but soon enough :)

We also had our first non-family babysitter, one of my sorority girls I advice, Erika. Things went well. I expected Matt and me to be a bit nervous but honestly I was more nervous about Ryley crying a lot more so than Erika doing anything wrong. But I'm told she was good, so hopefully we can use Erika again. 

It was exciting to have a night out just us - we can't wait to do it again!
 

Friday, August 22, 2014

Family Life - Grandparents

Grandpa and Bo-Gee (bonus grandma) meet little Ryley!

This past weekend my dad and his fiancé came down to visit and meet Ryley. They were here Thursday thru Sunday and it was a great time having them. It's my dad's first grand baby so he was very excited. Ryley is finally more alert so she got lots of grandparent cuddle and play time. We enjoyed time out, took them to Matt and I's favorite restaurant Enoteca, playing in the pool and some delicious mac-n-cheese made by Shawn. I even had leftovers for lunch today :)

It's hard not having family close by but it's great that they get to visit. Matt's parents were able to visit 3 weeks after Ryley was born. She was a bit more of a "blob" then but they are coming out again in October and she'll have grown SO much by then!





Look how much she's grown just in the three weeks between the visits! Her head is so much bigger, adorable :) Miss Ryley is also Grandma and Grandpa Bossenbroek's first grandchild and they couldn't be more excited to have a little one.

Ryley is one lucky lady! She has the grandparents above plus Leigh Ann, and amazing GREAT grandparents. We are going to be heading back to Ohio for Christmas so that she can meet Matt's grandma Lucille. She has quite a few great grandkids but is still beyond excited. We'll have to figure out when we are going to take a trip to WA to see my grandma Virginia; this will be her first great grand baby! I'm so glad Ryley will have all of these amazing people in her life; she is one lucky lady!!

Thanks,

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Fit Life - Weigh in Wednesday

First for a Wednesday - YAY!

This week will feature TWO weigh-ins, exciting :) I had my six week postpartum appointment last Friday and was given the all clear for exercise. I'm not sure if I'm excited or not hehe. Well I'm excited but also having an excuse to be lazy was kind of fun, now I need to get my ass in gear!

Goal 1: Lose 25 lbs by birthday (April 24th)
Goal 2: Work out at least twice per week
Goal 3: Go on a minimum of 2 walks per week
Goal 4: Do yoga twice a week

I'm going to accomplish goal 2 in a few ways. I'm joining babybootcamp and going to do that once per week and then work out at home on my elliptical the other day per week. I'd like to say I'm going to work out three times per week but I'm trying to make realistic goals here.

For goal 3 I know Matt and Zoey will appreciate it. During the last couple months of my pregnancy we were going on a walk almost every night. Zoey LOVES walks and she was getting so used to it that if by the time the sun went down we weren't up and walking she would be jumping all over us to get us going. It was actually kind of nice because if I wasn't feeling it she made us do it.

For goal 4 I'm going to do yoga at home as well. My dad's fiancĂ©, Shawn, recommend yogaglo so I'm going to check it out. It's $18 per month and you can target specific areas of your body and pick your timing too. I'll check it out. Matt and I really enjoyed going to yoga before I got pregnant but doing it together with a baby is going to be a bit difficult.

So my starting weight as of August 15th is 152 lbs. My pre-pregnancy was 132 and I got up to 170. I gained too much weight but all for a good cause ;) So yeah, that's my goal. I'll post each week where we are at.

Now for Ryley's weigh in! This little lady is getting bigger by the day! It's just crazy and amazing all at the same time. We weighed her yesterday and she was 9.5 lbs! Can't believe it! I also can't believe that some people give birth to kids that size. Our little girl was a small one but I'm thankful for that. She already looks so different; it's very fun to see her growing. I can't wait to see her grow year over year, as she gets older and see what sort of woman she grows into

Thanks!

Monday, August 18, 2014

Baby Life - Breastfeeding Month

In light of it being breastfeeding month I figured I'd share our story. On TV and in life breastfeeding is portrayed as being easy and just "what you do" but in reality it may not be so easy. I went into being pregnant afraid of the delivery part but my experience for that was actually easier than the weeks and weeks of pain with breastfeeding. This is a bit of a long post as I share my experience.

I never really thought about it but the shape of your breasts and nipples play into how easy breastfeeding is going to be for you. I have large breasts but very small and flat nipples. Sadly that means that getting Ryley to latch was difficult. For one my boobs are hard for her to get her tiny mouth around and for two my flat nipples didn't really give her anything to "grasp" onto.

At the hospital the nurses didn't really explain what they were doing, they just tried to jam her face into my boob. Since I wasn't getting her to latch I had to pump in the hospital because those first few hours and days are so important to your milk coming in. When jamming her face into my boob didn't work they gave me a breast shield. It basically suctioned my nipple into it and gave her something to suck on. That began to work thankfully so she was able to get milk.
However my nipples were getting raw and bleeding and were SO sore all the time. I didn't want to keep breastfeeding, I just wanted to cry and often did. I was feeling inadequate, like I wasn't going to be able to provide for my daughter. It was very hard. On top of feeding Ryley I was trying to pump too so that Matt could feed her a couple times a day and give me a break, but I didn't get a lot when I pumped so to get Matt two feedings I had to pump at least 3 times a day and if I missed one he wouldn't have enough milk. I felt horrible.

A couple weeks went by of using the shield so Ryley was two weeks old at this point. I had a hard time getting a hold of the lactation consultants but when I finally did I went in and met with Claire. Claire was great and really helped me see what needed to happen. Thankfully my nipples had started to come out from the use of the shield so latching Ryley onto my boob without it was going to be easier. That day she latched for the first time. The goal was to keep trying every day - start with the shield and get her relaxed and then remove it and get her to latch.
My nipples were still so sore and I was still pumping but we talked to our pediatrician and he said we could supplement some of our bottle feeds with formula so I finally cut out one of my pump sessions which seemed to really help. We didn't want to feed Ryley too much formula so with each feed we give her about 3 ounces of breast milk and make 2 ounce of formula, sometimes she drinks none and sometimes she drinks all of it. But just know it was "ok" to give her formula took a lot off my shoulders.

That week I did just as the lactation consultant told me, except it didn't seem to work. She would get SO fussy and cry and cry so I'd just end up going back to the shield to make sure she ate. Then randomly two weeks later, Ryley being 4 weeks old, she just latched. And she latched at every feeding that day and every day since then. Something just worked. Honestly, I can't tell you what it was. Her latch wasn't great and my nipples were still incredibly sore and cracking but we were at least making progress.

Now at 6 weeks old we are FINALLY to the point where it doesn't hurt every time I put her on my breast. Sometimes it still does and I have to adjust her but 8 times out of 10 we are good on the first try. My nipples are still a bit sore but they don't throb/hurt all day long anymore, thank goodness! I finally feel like I'm getting her an adequate supply of milk AND my pumping sessions are going better too! I do take Fenugreek to help with my milk supply but as long as I pump in the morning, in place of the 7am feeding Matt does, I can get a really good amount then and then a smaller amount when I pump at 10pm in place of that feeding.

The morale of the story is to keep with it. Breastfeeding is hard, I wish they had told me that, but the closeness I feel with my little one and the health benefits for her are so worth it. Any breast milk is better than none so even if you are struggling and you need to mix in formula don't feel bad. Just don't give up, keep trying for a few months and try to work it out. It's truly an amazing feeling to have that bond with your child.

Thanks!

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Baby Life - Cloth Diapers

When I first started thinking about cloth diapers it wasn't about the cost savings to me, it was about the environment. The fact that disposables will never break down is just sad. But gesh there are SO many options I didn't even know where to begin so I got a few different types to test out. Pocket diapers, All In One's, Hybrid, and Covers and then all the different brands.

In the end we purchased Bum Genius and Alva pocket diapers, GroVia All in Ones, Thirsties and Bumkins Covers and Flip and gDiaper hybrids. Covers and hybrids are my favorite honestly. Here are my thoughts:

Pocket Diapers - I don't see the point. If I'm going to put an insert into a flap in a diaper so that I have to replace both the insert and the diaper why not just go with All in Ones? I know you don't have to put the insert into the diaper, which we don't so that we can use the cover a couple times, but I just don't get it except that they are cheaper than the All in Ones. These are one size fits all too so they are big

  1. Alva - a Chinese cheapo brand, they seem to work fine for us but I've read many bad reviews online
  2. Bum Genius 4.0 - The "name brand", they are good but I don't really see a difference between them and Alva, we'll see if that changes as she gets bigger
Alva Cloth diaper
All in Ones - If they weren't so expensive I'd probably buy all this type. It's basically a washable disposable. It means you have to do laundry for sure but the ease of them is really nice. However the most recent GroVia's I purchased aren't soaking anything up at ALL and I've washed them the correct amount of times so not sure I recommend that brand.
Although still sized these aren't as big as the pocket diapers
Covers - I use inserts and put them in a plasticy feeling cover. Similar to a pocket diaper but just no "pocket" to put the insert in. They work great, just wipe out the cover between each use.
Covers - you can buy them sized on onside fits all, we have both
Hybrids - I love these! You can use cloth inserts OR disposable inserts. We use both and it's very convenient.

  1. Flip - these are from the same people as Bum Genius. I hate the insert, it's WAY too big. I don't recommend just based on that
  2. gDiaper - I LOVE these. they are so stinking cute. The covers aren't waterproof so that's something to think about but they have a waterproof pouch inside and then you stick the insert in the pouch. The disposable inserts are flushable or compostable so even though you are using disposables they aren't as bad for the environment which I love. They are about the same price as disposables but like I said before it isn't about cost to me but rather the environment so this is a great option
gDiapers that I love
But DAMN are disposables just easier! In the middle of the night we still use disposables just because when I'm half asleep it's easier. So Matt puts her in a disposable when he puts her to bed and then I use them during the night and then Matt puts her in a cloth when he gets her up. I still don't know if we've "made the right choice" but for now we are mostly using gDiapers. Not only convenient but super cute :)

Good luck in your venture to find your fit :)

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Fit Life - Weigh in Thursday

That totally doesn't have the same ring to as "Weigh in Wednesday" it but I keep missing Wednesday for this post. The joys of a newborn :) And as I'm typing this she's beginning to cry so I figure it will take me a few hours, maybe even another day, to get through this post...and I'm back an hour later.

Anyways - back to Ryley's weigh in....drumroll please....she is 8 pounds 1 ounce as of Monday 8/4 at exactly one month of age. It's crazy that our one month old is the size of many people's just born child. I'm so glad she was a small baby! I also can't believe she's already a month old! Here are some pictures:





With the struggles we had in the beginning with breastfeeding its beyond relieving to know that she is gaining weight well, that's all I want for my little one. I love that little girl and making sure she is growing is all I care about, especially since I'm the one providing her food to her. There was a day I broke down because I was just so scared I wasn't providing enough for her, that's why her weigh in's are so important to me. It means that I'm providing for her and right now at this age that's all I really can do for her. 

She is truly an amazing little girl. She's smiling while she's sleeping and we had her first laugh today! OMG it was so dang cute!

Starting in two weeks I'll be adding myself to the weekly weigh-ins, once I get the approval from the dr to start working out again I'm going to get back into doing 30 minutes on the elliptical. It isn't much but that's where I'm going to start. It's going to be hard but I NEED to find the time to fit this in...so be on the lookout :)

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Baby Life - So Much Information

Before Ryley was born people gave lots of advice and many included books I should read. I read many, probably too many, and now that she's here it's hard to figure out what Matt and I really want to do.

I've read Babywise, The Baby Whisperer and 12 Hours of Sleep by 12 Weeks most recently. All of them have things I like but combining this is a bit overwhelming. I don't think one way is the "best" way but rather just finding something that works with your child, and that my friend is the difficult part.

The Baby Whisperer is a great book - it focuses on understanding your own child. But it's not that easy. I'm trying to listen to her cries and her body language and I just don't know how to read it.
Then there is Babywise that has a relatively strict schedule. I'm a routine person so I like the idea and we've been going off of their suggested schedule mostly. The downside is, what if an activity we want to do falls during a time she is supposed to be doing something else?
12 Hours book also makes sense - similar idea of a schedule but more flexible.

I just don't know....honestly all I can think about is getting a full nights sleep again. I know we will get there but I'm dying with the middle of the night feeding. I know I'm lucky too because she isn't horrible or staying up all night or anything but I'm the type that used to get like 9-10 hours of sleep every night so to go from that to increments of 3 has been rough to say the least.

I think I want her to be older than she is, that's part of the problem. She's only a month old, I shouldn't expect her to sleep through the night yet. Give it a couple more months, I know. I just want some sanity back in my life :)

Another thing that I miss is going to bed with my husband. Matt and I made it a priority to go to bed together each night. It was always a great way to end the day and for us to reconnect after our very busy lives. I can't wait to have that back too. He's been so great and helpful, I really am lucky to have him!

Here a few pictures of the little one sleeping :)
I love this picture - she is just the sweetest thing ever!

Couldn't be happier

Thanks!