I'm a Mom

My excuse for being so far behind on this blog, is that "I'm a Mom".  Not a good enough excuse but still. So much time has passed, and I just feel so overwhelmed, and when I ever have an ounce of free time, all I want to do is sleep! (when instead I should be running).

However, I have managed to work out at least three times per week in the last month, so I'm on the way to getting back to my pre-pregnancy self, my goal is to fit into my grass green strapless dress I wore to my cousins wedding in Cancun in March of 2011 (just 2 months pre preggo).  I want to fit in it for my brother in laws wedding in November 2012 in Phoenix.  It is a very realistic goal, as November is quite far away. But, I also feel that posting it for all to see is another way to make me stay on track. I could actually probably fit in it at the end of summer. (but I'm being realistic). And, the funniest thing is I have not even tried it on, so it could in fact fit me, but I'd rather save myself the anxiety of trying it on and wait.

Lincoln eating sweet potatoes and almost the spoon too! 6-27-12

Enough about me. Lincoln is growing extremely fast, he eats quite the amount of breastmilk and has me pumping like crazy to try to keep up with his 27-36 ounce per 7am-6pm day self! Thats' not including his morning and evening feedings, geeze hes only four months, and I think even I would be stuffed with that much milk.  And, yes, now he is eating solid foods, we started him at 3 months and 3 weeks on rice cereal, and then introduced sweet potatoes on 6/19/12. He likes them both. Next food debut, will be soon.

My smiling machine, Lincoln, 06-26-12

He loves standing and he loves baby talking and he enjoys playing on his play mat, and of course he has a blast when he is with his grandma! He smiles too, and laughs out loud. Its' so super cute, apparently he does it all the time according to Chris and grandma but I've only heard him twice. 

Some more things that you missed while I didn't write:

April 15th- First walk with Lincoln in jogger stroller. We walked to Earl of Sandwich with Uncle Craig and Aunt Chelsea. He didn't really like it, but he was in growth spurt, so he doesn't like much in those stages.

April 20th- two month check up, 11lbs and 23 inches. He cried for about 8 seconds and was fine. We thought we would need to give him baby tylenol, but was not needed. That same day we went shopping at North Star Mall with grandma and at night we took him to his first FIESTA event, Alamo Heights night and he was the happiest 2 month old in attendance.

April 21st- first time mom and dad went out on a date, while grandma watched Lincoln at night. We chose to go to the Market Square during FIESTA. He did great! We were gone about 5 hours and of course he ate almost 20 ounces of milk! Its' not that I don't want to leave him with my mom to go out, its more that I want to save my precious breastmilk!!! LOL

April 30th- first 8 hour stretch at night, and kept it consistent. Ironically this was at the Four Points Sheraton Downtown in their crib. We did a "staycation" over FIESTA, and apparently Linc was as comfortable as Mom and Dad were, because he slept all night!!

He also graduated to a size one diaper probably at about one month, but is now a size two as of probably 3 months and one week. He loves his newest toy (we probably got it near May 5th), the kickin coaster http://www.albeebaby.com/the-first-years-kickin-coaster-dot-to-dot-seat.html.. he just kicks away and is exercising and doesn't even know it!!

May 1st, 2012- Lincoln graduated to sleeping in his crib, in his room alone! So, daddy graduated back to the bedroom. Our goal was two months for this, and we barely made it!

The fun pose ...! (all done with the infamous camera timer!) 05-08-2012

May 5th- 9th- Aunt Jill, Aunt Jina, and cousin Marley came to visit us from Indiana and Lincoln had his first trip to the San Antonio Zoo. It was way too hot for him, so we will wait til closer to the end of summer to take him back. He had a big poop about 20 minutes after we arrive and we had to change him on a bench in front of the monkeys! Poor baby he was so hot and irritated- until we made it into hippo-ville! Thank God for the hippos needing to be in cold air- Hello AC!

May 13th, 2012- My first mothers day was so sweet! Chris made me my favorite for breakfast, pancakes and all the trimmings. And, he came home with some beautiful flowers and told me to go shopping and pick out a purse! Lincolns' mothers day present to me was sleeping in until 8am and then some moon pies and my favorite chocolate chip cookies (packed by grandma)!  

May 19th- Beach to Bay in Corpus Christi! Mommys' first race post Lincoln and I kicked butt. Considering the most I had ran was three miles since his birth and only once.. doing almost 5 miles in the crack of hotness in Corpus at about a 12 minute pace was considered rocking the race! Not sure how I made it through but I did, and it felt so great! Now to keep up the rhythm to get back to my true 8:40 pace!

May 26th- One of the saddest days of my life. I found out my grandma passed away. I am very grateful that she was able to meet my Lincoln. I think thats' one of the things she was waiting for! I miss her so much. You know the funny thing is Lincoln had been sleeping his 8 hours pretty much since April 30th, and then on the night before her passing and through the funeral days he started waking up once during the night. I think its because he sensed my misery and stress because of losing her. Its funny how babies notice everything!






Lincoln (from San Antonio) & Nathan (from Chicago)



June 1st- 4th- Nathan & Cindy from Chicago came to visit us

June 16th- David and Evette, Lincolns' godparents got married through the church, renewing their vows of 4 years of marriage. (they were married but not through the Catholic church) In order to baptise Lincoln, they needed to be married through the Catholic Church and Evette needed her confirmation. So, they made the sacrifice to do both in order to baptise our son! Evette took an 8 week class, and they made the time to get married too.. Lincoln had fun at the ceremony and after party!

June 17th Chris' first fathers day. We went to Cracker Barrel in the morning and Lincoln decided he wanted to play the "be loud and crazy" game with mom and dad. So, there we were taking turns back and forth holding and calming him. But, his present to dad was taking a nap when our food arrived to the table! And, the day continued by spending time at my mom and dads with family. And, we finally got to take our family photo with no one missing! 

June 21st-23rd Mommy got sick with mastitis, a breast infection that is fairly common during nursing. It was the worst, I was very very weak.  I went to bed on Thursday night with a 99 fever and major chills. I put on my winter scarf, socks,gloves and hat and slept in them, and still was not warm! I woke up with a 103 fever and was very weak.  My OB was not returning my phone calls quickly so I was left sick for almost all of Friday. I started feeling better on Tuesday, but still am a little weak because of it. But, now my milk supply is suffering because of illness, I hope it gets back up (because its already not high as it is)

June 22nd- Lincolns 4 month check up He was 15lbs and 26 inches long!!! Gained 4lbs and 4 inches in two months. He was in the 25th percentile for weight now hes up to 75-90% and for his height he's going to be tall according to the doc...



Mommy with Lincoln in Houston

 June 22nd- 24th - Lincoln and Family visited Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Craig in Houston for the first time. He did very well on the drives! Considering I was so weak, I still wanted to make the visit, as I know Chris enjoys his time with his family, and I figured they could help with Lincoln. And, they did!

On May 5th, I set the following goals for myself (baby steps):

Run one mile without stopping did this at beach to bay 05-20-12

Lose 3 lbs- done as of 6/14/12 but stayed the same ever since (but I did lose 18 lbs once I got home from the hospital and some in between) So 25.5 total down and about 14 left to go!

Get back to my pre baby running pace of 11:20 miles or better  (currently as of 6/28 still at 12 minute miles)

Successfully complete my leg of beach to bay relay marathon on 5.20.12 Completed the longest almost five miles, most challenging leg at about a 12 minute pace. It was SUPER hot too!

Start Zumba and pilates on my lunch break 06/04 started going at least 1-3 times to rec center on my lunch break

Start eating left overs or meal lunches instead of eating out (working on this one)

Lincoln Chilling at Grandmas! He is so hilarious!

Sorry to bore you with all the details, but this helps me keep track of the Day in the life of Lincoln, Catherine and Chris.  Look forward to my post on his baptism July 22nd!!!



My Four Month Portrait



Breastmilk is precious!

My Breastfeeding struggle- one of the largest things i've learned so far
"Something is wrong with my breastmilk"
I learned that it takes exactly three weeks for baby to become adjusted to "mommy being at work". (well a breastfeeding mommy that is). I say this because at three weeks is when all heck broke loose with my breastfeeding. Here I was complaining because I wasn't pumping enough milk, and because I thought he was feeding too much. Well, that was just petty stuff.


The way my milk drink snuggler looks at
me during breaks in feedings!!
04-26-2012

On Monday, April 16th, marking my third week back at work, Lincoln started to refuse my precious liquid gold pumped milk! My mother called me at work and said "He's not taking your milk, I smelled and tasted it, and it doesn't taste sweet like it usually does?"  OH NO!! I thought- is this the end to my little "milk drunk" snuggler?   What to do? Of course turn to Mr. Google.com himself, the answer to all my questions. (LOL, but really!) What I found was that the problem could be excess lipase and I may have to scold every pumping session of milk or I could risk it going bad within 24 hours.  After turning to my very small breastfeeding support group; my cousin Gracie, my only three friends that I know who breastfeed, Loretta, Tanya, and Shelly; our local La Leche contact, and Similac Strong Moms' hotline, the best information I found was on http://simplyrebekah.com/excess-lipase .  Simply Rebekah was in fact my life saver.

My support group was there for support, but most had never heard of the issue and those that did had very little information. I'm sure they were thinking.. "How weird is she!?" But, I learned the more you share you breastfeeding issues, questions, concerns with other bf mom's the more you learn from one another! After carefully reading Rebekah's article, I found that scalding was likely my answer. So, there I went starting the milk "experiments"....  As if putting a powered pumping machine with plastic breast shields over your nippity nips every two hours while at work isn't enough.... now i have more steps added.

1) once pumping session ends, place milk in bottle warmer, plug in warmer and let the heating begin

2) place thermometer inside milk and wait until the thermometer hits 175 degrees, turn off bottle warmer

3) Move bottle into an ice bath and let milk cool for 5-10 minutes

4) Place milk in refrigerator

As you can see many steps.. and yes, its tiring.. There I go after each pumping session (four times in a work day!) running to the break room to get fresh ice and water, waiting for the thermometor to beep, etc. I broke down and spent $14.99 on a digital thermometer, because it beeps when it gets to 175 degrees, and I don't have to sit and watch it. I would have never known to to solve this issue if it wasn't for my guardian angel, Rebekah! (I mean geeze, even my pediatrician thinks/thought I was crazy!) He said there is no such thing as "excess lipase" and I should not be scolding my milk. And, so I listened and tried not scolding, and he wouldn't take it.. so psssshhht to my pediatrician. He can stick to caring for my baby, but when it comes to boobs, I'll stick to google.com and Simply Rebekah!

my milk drunk snuggler, 04-28-12 (look at his little hands)  

Oh and before I forget, let me mention the infamous "freezer stash". So, of course if he isn't taking my milk, then he's not taking the "stash" either. Gratefully I only had about 27 ounces of precious milk stored (the rest he took prior to me discovering the liapse issue). I've read several other womens' lipase stories and they have had 100's of ounces stashed that had to go to WASTE!! So, I recommend a test run for all breastfeeding moms before they start freezins non stop! So, despite it all, I am one of the lucky ones, indeed. Though, when we get desperate for milk (which is quite often), sometimes he does take milk from my old stash. But it has to be mixed with formula.. so not all 27 ounces was wasted!  So, now I have to scold before I freeze and it will last about two weeks max.

So, if you were not convinced that I am a dedicated breastfeeding mom, I hope your convinced now!  As my mom says, once I put my heart and mind into something, I won't let anything get in the way. The "F" word isn't bad, but I only want to use the formula if I need it! So far he has to take very little or none each day to make up the difference for the amount of milk I pump at work each day (which is about 13 ounces max). But, I try my best to squeeze in pumping sessions whenever possible, because the more liquid gold the better.  The low amount that I pump is a whole other breastfeeding issue, but I am making it work, so that is all that matters.

And, you know the funny thing is that through all of the these recently found struggles, I never once cried! Wowza's I guess that means that post pardum has left this house.. I really feel like I should have been balling my eyes out, but I kept my head up and made it work. But, if I didn't find the details in Rebekah's blog, I think my eyes would have been tear filled for quite some time. So, thanks again to her, and all other women who took the time to write and share about their struggles with lipase or breastfeeding in general. Because, lord knows it is not EASY!

Oh, and you probably are thinking.. what the heck is "excess" Lipase, can it be cured or removed from the body? Well, there is not enough research on it to determine if changing your diet will help, but most moms who tried changing their diet, found that it did not work.. so I'm not abnormal, okay.. : )

Don't worry breastfeeding stories are put to rest for a while, the next post (which is actually almost done) will be all about Lincoln, his growth, his graduation to sleeping in his crib in his room all by himself. And, daddy Graduating back to the bedroom, etc.!

Thanks for listening, and any breastfeeding feedback/ motivation/ cheers are always appreciated!!!

P.S. This post is coming out hand in hand with the controversial "Time" cover page of a 27 year old mother breastfeeding her three year old bub. Do I agree with it? Its a mothers choice; if her bub still wants her milk and she is ok giving it to him, then so be it! It takes a ton of commitment to breastfeed, if she wants to do it for more than 12 months and is able, then good for her. Now, would I do it.. I honestly doubt my boobies will produce for that long! But if I was a mother who had not breastfeed, I am sure I would be like "heck no" but I've been through the experience and I know what it takes, so now I have no bias whatsoever.