Maternity Leave

I started back to work on Monday. 13 weeks sure did fly by! At least on one hand - when I think back to Logan being newborn it seems so long ago, but I can't believe my maternity leave is already over. It wasn't so bad going back into the office; I layed low and went through my hundreds of email without anyone really bothering me. Yesterday was more of the same and today I'm off (I'm working Monday/Tuesday/Thursday).

I made Marty do the daycare drop-off on Monday, and it looks like he will do that most times as its just easier while I get ready for work. Last week I had to go there to give them diapers and stuff and I started tearing up then, which is when I knew I would be a basket case if I tried to drop him off first thing - I totally didn't think I would be like that! I guess you never know.

He was super tired after his first day at daycare and for the first time in 3 weeks woke up in the middle of the night. I imagine it will take some adjusting but the next night he was back to sleeping a ton which was great.

I've managed to slightly strain my calf. I guess there really is something to this post-pregnancy-nursing-hormone thing. I was just running easy! On a flat surface! Argh. Hopefully, I can still do the triathlon I'm signed up for in a week and a half.

It's just I love running and the weather has been so ridiculously nice. I can still do other things so I guess I'll have to be okay with getting in shape and not necessarily real triathlon shape for awhile. Since I'm back at work, I can take advantage of the gym on campus. Which I did yesterday. I'm sure I'm very weak in many places that could contribute to all these little niggles that keep cropping up.

And like father like son. Logan is already interested in tasty brews.

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few pics and video

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Training

I'm getting back into the swing of things as far as training is going. I did my first run 'workout' this morning since Marty is down in Florida and we have a group run every Thursday morning. Nothing great, but my heart rate was up and my legs were burning. Today I'm planning on getting out for a bike ride - its going to be 77 degrees and I can't miss out on that! I signed up for a race at the end of the month; an all women's triathlon: Girls Run the World here in Raleigh. There will not be any miracles taking place and I doubt I will be able to hold even a 7min mile for the 2mile run, but I am so excited to get out there and compete again.

How am I able to get this training in right now while Marty is running our camp in FL? Mom-in-law is in town helping me out. It's awesome to have time for myself again.

I am however, incredibly sad I'm not down in Florida with everyone at camp. This is the first time I've ever missed going to one in the past 7 years. Even though I have family down in St. Pete that offered to help, logistically it still seems like it would've been a nightmare with his eating schedule and all things that go with being 11 weeks old. Next year, though, we will make it happen.

Last week I was able to ride the trainer 2 days during the week while Kari came over and watched Logan. This was great because Marty got to keep working, Logan was happy, and Kari and I got to catch up. Even though we may have seen each other the day before, there are always multitudes of topics we can cover. So that was awesome.

We also made it to our first hockey game up here last week and had awesome tickets given to us from one of Marty's athletes. We had our first real babysitter come and watch Logan and she told us he was good. I hope he was so she'll come back :) It was a great game, too - the Canes shut out the Capitals. I really don't know much about hockey but was glad we were close enough so we could actually see the puck and goals and all that. It didn't hurt that our tickets were in the swanky section with comfy seats and free food and drinks.

And lastly, Team Victorious Secret will once again be vying for a top spot at Doughman in May.
Some of you may remember the debacle of last year's race where I flatted on both the front and rear tires while leading and ended up hitching a ride back to the race site. If you have a lot of time and want to read the entire story, you can click here. We had some stressful moments thinking we may not get in this year, but my fast typing skillz got us an entry.

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Sleep

I love my sleep. I love going to bed early and getting a solid 8+ hours.

When you get pregnant, you'll have a lot of people giving you advice. Some of it is very helpful and constructive, but a lot of it is frankly quite negative. From digs at sleeping to not being able to stay active...that was definitely one of the most annoying things I put up with while pregnant.

But I was very worried about my sleep! It's true that towards the end of pregnancy your sleep is bad - lots of waking up to pee and a general restlessness from being uncomfortable. It becomes a production to just rollover at night.

And then the baby gets here and the first 2-3 weeks are HARD. Particularly if you decide to breastfeed because it is all you. Sleeping 1-2 hours at a time is the norm and who can survive very long on that?

We started giving Logan a bottle right around 3 weeks and I started pumping to build up some inventory so others could give him this bottle. That was a huge lifesaver as I could go to bed and sleep for 4hrs or so straight and not have to worry about one of those night feedings.

We haven't tried any sleep techniques, although there are about 100 different variations and books. Luckily, he has progressively gotten better at sleeping longer as his belly has gotten bigger and he can hold more food.

After a few weeks, he was a consistent 3-4hr sleeper, and that grew to 5-6hrs, and we've now gotten more and more 6-7hrs at a time over the past 2 weeks. After the long chunk, he'll go back down for another 2-3hrs. He's also thrown in several 9hr sleeps, and then he wakes up with the driest mouth you can imagine and screaming for his milk.

Unfortunately for me, I can't go 9hrs at this point. If you know anything about breastfeeding then you know what I'm talking about. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry. Prior to Dec 12 I wouldn't have known either. Hopefully, my body will adjust soon so if he does keep stretching those night hours I can go back to getting my own beloved 8hrs.

I'm sure once we've got this down he'll start teething or something and I'll be back to getting up every couple of hours ;)

Unfortunately, he doesn't have as good a hold on the day naps; sometimes he'll nap for a couple of hours and sometimes not at all. Some days he seems to nap all the time. Maybe this will be one of those things daycare helps us out with.

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Logan Update

Logan had his 2 month check-up on Monday. He's 12lbs 2oz and 23 inches long, putting him at the 50th percentile for both height and weight. His head circumference is at the 90th percentile, though. Kid's already got a big head. I guess we should stop telling him he's the cutest baby ever. Har dee har har.

He's got a wicked case of cradle cap, which should go away between now and several months. You gotta love all this weird baby stuff they get. To treat it, you can rub olive oil on his head and then use a soft brush or comb to help loosen the flakes. You never know what he will like (this) or not like (baths), but yeah, he absolutely loves getting his little (big?) head massaged. He almost always goes comatose when I'm doing it. He even likes getting his hair washed after. Go figure.

We're getting lots of cooing and smiles now. It's absolutely adorable.

Here's a picture of him in his Valentine's Day outfit. Tassie is always close by.

Here's another when he was awake and wiggling all over the place in his bouncy seat.



And we've been taking monthly pictures with a big stuffed animal (UNC Ram - from my sister who went there and is a big fan. Any of you who don't like this could've gotten us something different!)

Here he is as a newborn (not quite 1 week). I forgot how orange (jaundice) he was! You can see my mom's hand trying to hold him up.



And here he is at 1 month, still needing a bit of help to stay put. He wasn't particularly happy when we were taking his picture here.



And now at 2 months. Look ma! I can do this myself now!

Overall, he's a very good baby, at least as far I can tell since I have pretty much nothing to compare him to. When he gets fussy, it's usually because he's hungry. Thankfully, he was never colicky, and getting bounced on the stability ball is pure gold. My dad says it's because I ran with him so much when I was pregnant and he likes that motion ;) For the past several weeks he's been in a routine of sleeping a 4hr stretch (breastmilk) or 5hr stretch (formula) at night, then waking up. I'll feed him again and then he'll go back down for another 2-3hrs. We've had a few 6-7hrs stretches over the past 2 weeks so hopefully that is some foreshadowing because it was heavenly! As my sister-in-law said, they don't typically go backwards so at least the nights of 2-3hrs should be pretty much done.

He's also holding his head up much better now so I've been able to get him in the Baby Bjorn with him facing out which he seems to like MUCH better than turned toward me not being able to see anything.

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Keepin' it real

I have 1 month until I go back to work -- it seems like a looming deadline but I know it will be good to get out of the house and feel like a contributing member of society again. I'm going back 3 days a week, too, so that should provide some balance while also not feeling like I never get to see Logan. This past Thursday I went in for the end of our staff meeting so everyone could meet him. While my boss was holding him, he pooped his diaper really loud. Kids have the greatest timing.

I was feeling really great running recently, but then all of the sudden my right knee started hurting so I'm backing off and taking some time to make sure it's okay. I'm sure it is and maybe has to do with off biomechanics or possibly my hips being in a different alignment right now. Logan and I made it to Masters practice again yesterday morning. Fast Friday is very hard with my current fitness, but things are improving. On Tuesday I did 5x200s alternating swim and pull and I was back in the 2:40 range, as opposed to the 3:05+ range I was in just 3 weeks ago when I first got back into the pool.

We went back to the Lovgren's to watch the Superbowl and cheer on the Giants. We bought Logan an Eli Manning onesie and he looked very cute in his little outfit. My grandpa was a sportscaster for the Giants so my family has always cheered for them - he even has his own wikipedia page!

Working really hard to lift his head.

Tomorrow Logan will be 2 months old! And on Monday he goes in for his 2 month checkup where unfortunately he'll be getting several shots.

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Update

I had a typical run-in with Time Warner recently. I decided to skip the phone call and tried their online chat instead. That way I could yell out loud without them actually hearing me. The first representative "Holly" (yeah right) determined that we needed a new box, which meant we needed to go to a Time Warner store front. That took 3 trips.

We hooked the new box up exactly like the old one but of course it didn't work. I was almost positive it had to do with the fact that it was trying to read through 480i and our tv was higher than that, but I couldn't figure out how to adjust the mode without any screen showing. Back to a chat session, with "Vince" (uh huh) who was much slower to help me. I'm pretty sure he was furiously looking through manuals only to come up with the solution that we needed a technician to come out and fix it.

3 days since our cable went out a technician came by and literally clicked 4 buttons and our tv was working. If you read Marty's blog you will understand why not having cable is a really big deal right now. I watched dvd's instead (mostly episodes of Arrested Development, very funny).

My skepticism of their names stems from their sort of off English.

[10:08:59 AM] Holly; Thank you for the information.

[10:09:00 AM] Holly; Since when you have been experiencing this issue?

[10:09:22 AM] Brianne; It probably started the end of last week, maybe Thursday

And

[10:17:48 AM] Holly; If the issue persist again then you can replace the cable box at our
nearest service center for free of cost.

[10:17:58 AM] Brianne; ok

Anyways, the technician was nice and when I asked why they couldn't have told me the buttons to push or why they didn't default to the higher number since that would totally fix the problem he himmed and hawwed a bit. When I suggested it was because then they wouldn't have these easy service calls he grinned.

Tuesday we had a photography session with Logan. My sister had bought me a groupon for a local photographer which was awesome because this is something Marty and I never would have done. We went to Heather Swanner in downtown Cary, and she was fantastic. She was so great with Logan and we had a lot in common with her. She didn't rush us when Logan got hungry and I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures. Here are a few behind the scene scenes.

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