Letters to Bella: 3 Months

Dear Bella,

Thursday was your 3 month birthday.

You are getting so big. I know most parents say that about their babies, but in your case you really are getting so big as you have nearly doubled your birth weight (guess I should have believed your Nana when she told me your father doubled his birth weight by 3 months). The baby books tell me that you shouldn't have done that until 6 months, so nice work being ahead of the game. However, your big baby-ness is making your Mama's arms tired as you are now over 15 lbs. Oy, Bella, oy!

15 lbs was the weight limit on your Pack 'n Play bassinet so now you are sleeping so far away in the bottom of it. It makes it quite the feat to lift you out of there in the middle of the night to feed you.

Hellooooo, down there!

In addition to being big, you are also very strong and keep busting out of your Kiddopotamus swaddle (as pictured above). I can hear you busting out of it as I lay in bed; the velcro being ripped apart as you free your arms and legs. Like a little Incredible Hulk.

Your eyes are still mostly blue, but the centers are a hazel/green color. Eye color watch 2009 continues...
You have really begun to practice using your voice this past month and are jibber-jabbering the days away. Sometimes it's a sweet little "goo" or "goo gah", but other times it's this crazy squealing/screeching. When I bring you to baby yoga, you often manage to be the noisiest baby in there. You father and I suspect that once you start talking you will provide a running commentary of whatever is going through your head. I can't wait.

Noisy Baby from Bella's Mama on Vimeo.

You know, I wasn't able to finish this letter by your 3 month birthday and I had to take your 3 month picture one day late. I have to say that things like that bother me since I'm a bit of a fussy-pants type person. But you know what? Yesterday, as I was rocking you to sleep, I realized that the reason I haven't completed things in time was because I was spending time with you. My hours are being spent just holding you and not getting things various tasks completed, but isn't that the point? How I'll long for these days when you are too big to hold in my arms. So forget about meeting strict deadlines when it comes to documenting our life together. It seems to me our time is better spent living our life together, making memories that can be documented at a later date. And our life together is just so sweet. It's so touching to me that I often find my eyes filling with tears as I hold you just because I love you that much. And then, because you are sleeping in my arms and I don't want to wake you up, I have to dry my eyes on your burp cloths, taking care not to put regurgitated milk into my eyes. Life is so special.

I love you, darling.

Love,

Mama

PS - There were several outtakes from our 3 month photo shoot as you aren't quite ready to stay in a sitting up position on your own. I'm going to be a little sad when we have a photo shoot without outtakes of you flopping over to one side because it will mean you are growing up.

[Papa's letter]


Dear Bella,


You seem to be growing so fast. The days, while largely the same, fly by. During the week, I barely get to see you because I'm usually getting ready just when you're waking up (around 6am) but sometimes you and I cuddle in the morning and let Mom sleep a little longer and I end up getting in to work a little later. You're so happy first thing in the morning. Actually, you're pretty happy most times but especially so in the morning. Then, by the time I get back from work and exercise, it's usually 6pm. We usually go for an evening stroll around the river. You love to gaze at the trees and the buildings along St. Anthony Main. By the time we get back, it's time to start your bedtime routine, which includes bathtime. This seems to be your one enduring favorite activity. I can't say for sure but I think you understand the word 'bathtime.' If you're crabby or fussy during the evening and I say it's 'bathtime,' you usually smile and calm right down. Once we get into the bathroom and get the tub running, you're always so calm and ready for your bath. Lately, you've started kicking and splashing in your little whale tub. This usually results in some water getting on your face, which makes you laugh and lick. It's hilarious. You've become quite the licker lately. It's a great way to end the day. Your Mom and I then get you all dried off, 'top off your tank' with some milk, and sing "You are my sunshine," which we've been singing since you were in the womb and you smile most times during bedtime while we sing it. Then we say goodnight, turn on the fan for some white noise and you usually fall right to sleep...or within about five to ten minutes.
Again, it's the weekends that we get to have more time together, except these past few I've had to work on the properties, which has been hard on both me and your Mom. So, Labor Day weekend we'll be taking you to your first northern Minnesotan cabin. I can't wait!
Bella, I'm so excited to witness your changes and growth. You've brought purpose and focus to my life. I love you more with each passing day. You never fail to bring a smile to my face.


Love, Papa

Walk 3.5 Miles In My Shoes

Since Stinky loooooves taking walks (or rather, being taken for a walk), we end up going on a long walk each day. So obvs, I needed to blog about it. Join us on our 3.5 mile journey!

First Bridge of Many

Downtown View

My nemeses: The Segway People

So Husband thought I was being over-dramatic when I was telling him about how I find the segway tours incredibly annoying. I get caught in their long lines of slow moving segways and end up having to either wait on the side until they pass or awkwardly try to move along side them. Once Husband started running more frequently, he then joined me in my anti-segway stance as they would get in his way, too. See those girls walking behind them? They will have to walk all slow behind the line of segway people the whole way across the bridge. DOWN WITH THE SEGWAYS!

View From Another Bridge

Someone Getting Crabby About Her Mama Stopping Every 5 Seconds to Take a Picture

More River Views

Weird Houseboats That Arrived This Summer

You just know that Johnny Depp is living in the yellow one in some sort of Chocolat/Pirates of the Caribbean get-up.

One of the Many Little Bronze Animals

People of Minneapolis: STOP STEALING THESE! YOU ARE BAD IF YOU STEAL!

Old Mill Ruins

Old Mills Turned Museum & Condos with the Guthrie Theater in the Background

*NEW* 35-W Bridge

Saint Anthony Falls

Stone Arch Bridge

Alternatively: The Place to Get Engagement & Wedding Photos Taken

Yet Another Old Mill

Saint Anthony Main

View of Stone Arch Bridge & Downtown from Saint Anthony Main

Bella's Favorite Cobblestones (Bumpy Stroller Rides = FUN!)

And there you have it. Wasn't that fun? Now what would be really fun would be if the rest of you take pictures of your regular walking routes and then post them on your blogs. Do it, do it!

Chicken is squawking
The baby is waking up so I gotta go. I'm guessing someone wants to go for a walk.

Bless My Homeland Forever

Husband and I attended a friend's wedding yesterday. Actually, Husband was the officiant at said wedding, but that's another story. We attended the wedding sans baby.

Oy, that was hard. It was the first time leaving Bella that I felt acutely aware that I was leaving Bella as we were gone for over six hours. I had every confidence that my sister-in-law, we'll call her Auntie S, was going to do a great job with Bella, but still...I didn't like it. I know it's important that I keep having times where I'm separated from her, but it's hard for this mama. It makes me feel even more fortunate to have the ability to stay at home with Bella.

When we arrived home, we received the full report of how Bella did. She had resisted napping and wanted to be moving all the time (sounds about right). Auntie S asked us if Bella really likes when we sing to her. Husband and I replied that we do sing to her, but she doesn't seem to particularly like it one way or another. Auntie S said that she asked because Bella became so happy when she started singing - grinning and kicking her legs. She then went on to say that she didn't know what to sing and was randomly singing songs from The Sound of Music. Bingo! Interestingly, this is what I sing to Bella when I'm putting her down to sleep - I had no idea she was absorbing it! When she heard the familiar tune of Edelweiss, she must have been all, "Dude! You know that song? My mom sings that song! Edelweiss is my fav!".

Now that I know that she is indeed paying attention and enjoys that song, I'm going to brush up on the lyrics. My spotty memory of them has had me endlessly repeating things about the "homeland forever", "blossom of snow may you bloom and grow", and "small and white, clean and bright". It's been getting a little exhausting to only know a small part of it and to repeat it again and again.

Oh, wait. Just googled the lyrics. Yup, that about covers it. Ha. "Bless my homeland forever" x 100 coming right up!

Nap-tastic

I believe I've mentioned Bella's not-so-good ability to nap on here. She would go down for maybe 30 minutes and then be done, over it, ready to get up. I tried having her nap in the swing, in her bouncer, in the stroller on a walk, in the Bjorn, in the pack 'n play...they all resulted in an approximately 30 minute nap. 30 minutes is great if you are an adult, but a 12-week-old should be napping for 1.5-2+ hours at a time. So I had a sleep deprived little chicken on my hands.

Then last week I discovered I could eek out another 30-60 minutes of her nap (for a total of 60-90 minutes) by holding her while she napped: either on my lap or on my chest. It was great for her to get more sleep as she was less crabby-pants come the evening, but...not so practical for the mama. (Although Dr. Sears would certainly approve).

Which brings us to this week. I've found the key to solid naps: swaddling! I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner - I think I thought I was supposed to keep the swaddling just to nighttime. Ever since I've started swaddling at nap time I can get Bella to take appropriately long naps throughout the day and in her pack 'n play no less. Victory is mine!

And now that I've written this I'm sure her naps will go to poo starting tomorrow. Or she'll spontaneously start rolling over and I'll have to stop swaddling. Hmm. I'll worry about it when it happens. In the meantime...VICTORY IS MINE!

Breast Milk: The Cure-All

So little Ms. Stinky Pants seems to have caught her first cold. I noticed that her left eye was leaking a teeny bit of lovely yellow-green goo on Monday evening (you're welcome!). When I found some more on Tuesday morning, I placed a call to the pediatrician and they wanted to see her right away since she's still so young.*

In spite of not having any other symptoms besides the leaky eye, Bella was diagnosed with a cold (process of elimination as it wasn't pinkeye or allergies). So guess what I'm doing to help her get better?

I'm squirting breast milk in her eyes.

For reals, yo. I know that sounds like the craziest thing, but apparently it works since breast milk is chock full of anti-bacterial properties. Of course, it's not exactly easy to squirt breast milk in your infant's eyes. On my first attempt I ended up squirting it all over her face (including some in her eyes), which cracked me up. She's staring up at me with this confused look on her tiny, adorable, milk-splattered face, but when she saw me smiling she grinned and cooed back at me. So I guess that means she doesn't mind milky eyes?

Never in my life has my body been so purposeful and full of hidden uses. I feel like some extremely useful household item that you would buy off an infomercial. You know, like the Magic Bullet or Mighty Putty. Perhaps I can bottle my breast milk and sell it as "Mighty Milk" or "Magic Milk" or "Mighty Magic Milk of the Mothership"?

*I want you all to know that the elevator was out of service at the doctor's office and I had to climb five gigantic flights of stairs with Bella in her carrier. Bella who now weighs 14 lbs, 14 oz. Ok, now that I type it out it doesn't look like much of an athletic feat, but dude, you try lugging 20+ lbs up multiple flights of stairs!

The Most Awkward & Creepy Photo Shoot EVER

I'm enjoying exercise beyond the world of Jillian. In addition to Turbo Jam and daily walks, I ran twice last week, using the Couch to 5K podcast. The music is actually great, if you enjoy techno. Techno always reminds me of my days studying abroad in London. It takes me back to being tipsy off Super Strongbow (magical, extra-strong cider) while dancing in a club like Fabric and maybe making out with Spanish boys named Juan. JUST KIDDING ABOUT THE SPANISH BOYS NAMED JUAN, HUSBAND! (Not really.) NO, REALLY!

[Husband's comment: If you tease me just Juan one more time, I'm going to get angry ;0 What do you call it when Laura's old hookups play basketball against each other? Juan on Juan. ]

[Nice emoticon, Husband. What are you, a 12-year-old girl? LOLZ, ROFL, BRB, TTYL!]

[Husband's comment: I told you, just Juan more time. Now you're not my BFF! No more TLA]

Anyway, it's been refreshing to get back to less drill sergeant-like exercise, but I am still appreciative to Jillian for getting my body back to normal in a pretty quick time period. It's amazing, I still have 13 lbs to go until I'm at my pre-preggo weight, but more and more of my clothes are fitting. The power of muscles!

I decided to be creepy and have Husband take a couple pictures of me after my run today, so I can show you the final results after completing the Shred. So, um, let the creepy photo shoot commence!

Hurray! I'm doing a creepy photo shoot! And I'm doing it all sweaty & pink-faced! Plus I'm wearing my new running shoes that have only a hint of dog poo on them! Huzzah!

To the midwife who made me feel like I was destined for obesity after gaining too much weight during pregnancy? She can kiss my (now toned) bootie.

So you want to know the trick to getting slimmer arms?
It's easy, just grow yourself a GINORMOUS bosom. Voila! Instant slimming effect on the arms.

Had enough of this awkward photo shoot? I should think so. What to talk about now? Hmm.

Oh, I know. Look! A cute baby!

Maybe this will be my new trick. I'll write ridiculous things and post outlandish pictures and then follow it up with cute baby photos which will effectively distract you from the nonsense I spewed forth at the beginning of the post. I'm a clever one.

Parenting Book Wars

So I (somewhat foolishly) didn't read much on parenting while I was pregnant. After the pregnancy books had me convinced that my baby was destined to be born with a myriad of problems including a knotted umbilical cord, Tay-Sachs disease, missing limbs and the like I shied away from reading on parenting. I didn't want to learn about how my child was going to have severe learning disabilities and seizures with a side of attachment disorders. I thought if I read them I would end up watching my baby with an air of panic about me, waiting for the inevitable something to go wrong.

I was right and I was wrong not to read them. Had I read the parenting books sooner, I would have been less freaked out when Bella developed an umbilical granuloma recently (she's fine and if it doesn't go away in the next week or so she will have a minor treatment to remove it). On the other hand, finally getting around to reading the parenting books recently has left me feeling confused and even a little less confident in my natural parenting instincts. These books make me feel like if I'm not doing everything they say, then I'm doing it wrong. And each book gives very different advice - so who's right?

Let's briefly compare the advice given. Take, for example, Dr Sear's The Baby Book vs. Gary Ezzo's Baby Wise. Dr. Sears promotes attachment parenting and advocates that you let your baby lead you in all parenting decisions. He talks about things like baby wearing (keeping your baby in a sling or carrier most of the day), feeding your child on demand, following their lead with sleeping, and feels parents should avoid letting the baby cry. Gary Ezzo, on the other hand, promotes parent-guided parenting. He encourages parents to provide your baby with a schedule in order to help regulate their sleeping and eating and feels that letting a baby cry at times is simply necessary. He also stresses the importance of keeping the parent's relationship strong for the sake of the family.

I found reasonable and useful information in both of these books and use bits and pieces from each in my own parenting. What I do not find reasonable and useful is how bitchy they are about each others' books and theories. Dr. Sear's has a little paragraph warning parents of the slippery slope of letting your baby cry. He seriously gives an example of parents who used to be very attached to their child, but after letting her cry it out one night, they soon found themselves able to be away from her for weeks at at time. Apparently the cry it out slope is just that slippery! Gary Ezzo's ridiculousness comes in the form of abhorring baby wearing. He wants mothers to report any lactation consultants who advise baby wearing. Baby-wearing promoting lactation consultants must be stopped! (Apparently).

So I'm feeling irritated at these extremist baby books. I get why they do it - middle of the road books wouldn't sell. But my god, why all the drama? It gives me the same feeling as I get watching Speidi vs. Lauren on The Hills. What would happen if these baby book authors were all in a room together?

Scene from a Baby Book Bar Brawl

Gary Ezzo: (Sees Dr. Sears across the bar and stomps over to confront him.) Hey, bitch! What's up with the sling promoting? I'm going to report you to the highest authority!
Dr. Sears: Don't you even, asswipe! (He kicks Gary Ezzo in the shins.) You want babies to cry, you baby hater! YOU MAKE BABIES CRY!
[Dr. Karp of The Happiest Baby on the Block walks by.]
Dr. Karp: Hey Guys! Are y'all collaborating on a baby book? That's great, I think it's about time...
Gary Ezzo: I know you. You're one of those anti-cry people. YOU SUCK.
Dr Karp: Suck! That's right. That's one of my 5 S's. And I am anti-cry and proud of it, just like Dr. Sears here. (He puts his arm around Dr. Sears.)
Dr. Sears: (Dr. Sears narrows his eyes and shrugs off Dr. Karp's arm.) Wait, aren't you the one that promotes children sleeping in a mechanical mother? You are no friend of mine. (He spits on the ground in disgust.)
Dr. Karp: But, but (his chin wobbles) it's just a swing! Dr. Sears, I thought you were on my side.
[Dr. Karp runs off, wishing someone would swaddle and soothe him to sleep. The other two men resume their bickering, which will go on for the next millennium.]

THE END

See? Just like Spencer & Heidi vs. Lauren at an LA bar. Just with less trendy clothing.

So now that I have that out of my system, anyone have any recommendations for a middle of the road parenting books that aren't so gosh darn pissy? And won't make me fear that my child will soon be showing signs of anything and everything that can go wrong with children? Oh, and finally, won't have me thinking that if I don't follow their advice to a 'T' I will be damaging my child?

Much Thanks,
The Mothership

PS- Bella has now been sleeping for two hours in her mechanical mother. In your face, Dr. Sears & Gary Ezzo! (Except inside my head I'm all twitchy - should I wake her? Let her sleep? WHAT TO DO!?)

Apparently I'm Shredded Now

I did it! 30 days in a row of the Shred. I have to say, I wanted to to do it less each day, so by day 30 I was more than over it.

However, while the actual 27 minutes of working out kind of sucked (20 minutes my ass, Jillian! - my DVD timer tells me otherwise), the results were worth it. And not simply in a "Woo, look at me now that I'm more fit and have lost some baby weight" way, but more in a feeling physically better way and having a decent amount of energy for someone who gets crappy sleep. And - biggest bonus of all: my boobs are finally smaller! After months and months of me watching in horror as they would NOT. STOP. GROWING, they have now reversed direction and have calmed down. But they are still a size that rhymes with trouble knee.

Speaking of knees! The Shred is not for you if you have knee problems, just a heads up. (Heh. Nice segue, eh?)

Now for the next fitness endeavor. There is a 5K that Husband and I have run in the past and we will do it again this year. It's right in our neighborhood, too. So that takes place on October 10, 9 weeks from today. I'm going to do the Couch to 5K routine, which means running 3 days a week. The other days of the week will be a mix of Turbo Jam DVDs, power yoga in a heated room, and a day of rest. I will also continue to walk an hour most days with the little one.

So that's my plan. How are all you doing with your fitness goals?

[Husband's comment: While Laura is always the most beautiful woman in the world to me, she really has worked hard and the work has paid off. I'm really proud of her dedication. I swear, after having a baby, I think-no, I know-a woman can do just about anything. She's still a huge source of inspiration for me. She's the wind beneath my wings. Ha! What a cheesy song that is.]

The Most Wonderful Day of the Year

Yesterday was my birthday, thus it was a VERY, VERY special day for all involved. I opted to do exactly nothing as I'm exhausted after a week of getting sleep in 2-3 hour snatches. We think Bella just had her 3 month growth spurt a little early, which would explain the sudden need to feed several times a night. I've tried explaining to her that she is in fact a gigantic baby and probably doesn't need to be having a growth spurt, but she wasn't in a learning mood so I don't think I got my point across. My biceps fear for the future as lordy, that child has become heavy to carry. Last night Bella was back to doing a six hour stretch (happy birthday to me!), so hopefully we are through the worst.

Anyway, back to the very wonderful and important day that was yesterday. Last year we went hog wild as it was my 28th birthday on 08/08/08. It simply had to be celebrated in style. But this year my deepest wish was for sleep and rest so we kept it extremely simple.

Husband came up with a great gift for me: $100 to spend as I chose for the day. I loved it and divided it up between food (breakfast at Starbucks and lunch & cupcakes at Cupcake), tickets to see the Titanic exhibit at the Science Museum (OMG, so excited), and the rest went towards yoga classes at CorePower Yoga.

Here we have Stinky & I at Starbucks, both looking exhausted and neither getting to have any caffeine to remedy said exhaustion. (Random aside: I'm slightly ashamed to order all my drinks decaf. I have this urge to launch into an explanation, because, truth be told, I've always judged decaf drinkers in the past. Oh, how the tables have turned!)

In my hair's defense, I had quickly showered after doing the Shred and was starving so we went to Starbucks for breakfast right away. And yes, I did the Shred ON MY BIRTHDAY. If that isn't commitment, I don't know what is.

Husband and Bella at Cupcake*It was Bella's first trip to a restaurant and she did great until the last couple minutes when she started wailing. We booked it out of there immediately as we do not want to be those people. Don't you think Husband is looking a little senior picture with his gaze off to the side? Husband! I'm over here! Look at the camera, buddy!


So it was a very happy birthday to me. Oh - and I forgot to mention the best present of all came from Bella. She had her first true laugh while I was making some dragon-style noises at her. Ahhh...so sweet that it makes up for the sleepless nights. Well, almost.

*Good thing we weren't at Burger King. We would have been kicked out for Bella not abiding by the "no shirt, no shoes, no service" policy. For reals.

The Post in Which I Say "Salty Breastmilk"

Months ago, I read a post by one of my favorite bloggers. She talked of how she and her Husband got into an inane argument in the middle of the night over who would take care of their screaming baby. Neither one really wanted to take care of the task at hand and yet neither wanted the other to be the one to do it.

I didn't get it at the time. Why would you fight over that? Why not just let the other one deal with it? Why not take the lazy way out?

Fast forward to now. To last night. I get it now.

Bella has gone back to sleeping in shorter stretches the past few days, which means I've gotten up a few times each night. She isn't the best napper during the day so I haven't had much of a chance to catch up on sleep. I'm a little, shall we say, crabby. Yesterday evening, we returned from a walk and found it was already 7 pm. (How in the hell does that keep happening?) I still had to do the shred, we still had to eat, Bella needed her bath & bedtime routine, and there was a movie we needed to watch as it was overdue. Le sigh. We decided to divide and conquer. I would shred while Husband gave her a bath and then I could feed her and we'd put her to bed. After she was down we'd do dinner & a movie.

Halfway through the Shred, I can hear Bella screaming her head off upstairs and it's making it so hard for me to exercise. I stopped the DVD with 10 minutes left and went upstairs to feed her, sweaty state and all (mmm...salty breastmilk). Husband was doing fine, aside from her shrieking, but I felt like the screaming needed to stop right then (and what quicker solution than the boob?). We got into a mild, bickery argument about who would get to soothe her. He thought I should go back and finish exercising; I thought she should be soothed by feeding her that minute. We both wanted to be the one to take care of her. Neither of us really wanted to do it at that moment, but neither of us trusted that the other would be the best person for the job. So we went back and forth for a couple minutes about what to do. In the end, I fed her and then passed her back to Husband who insisted I finish up the last 10 minutes of the Shred as he knows I would have been frustrated with myself for not doing it to completion.

Parenthood is so weird. What other situation makes you want to be the one in charge of the (quite literally) shitty tasks when there is someone else willing to do it? No, please, let ME be the one to hold the screaming baby. I want to. I swear!

Husband and I talked about it later and he said that he could see that I was at my breaking point and he knew he needed to step in and take care of her at that time. I can see that point in him, too, and will do the same for him. It's that ebb and flow to our relationship that keeps me sane.

But I could still use some more sleep.

Hodge Podge

Item 1: Belly Button Drama, Take Two
Something seems to have gone terribly askew with my postpartum belly button. It's gotten all...dirty looking. It is like my linea nigra suddenly pooled in the belly button, leaving behind a look of Pig Pen. I would take a picture to show you, but that would be just gross. Has this happened to anyone else? Does it go away? Am I destined to look like I enjoy filling my belly button with dirt for the rest of my life?

Item 2: A Denim-rific Day
Look at me!I'm wearing my regular NON-MATERNITY jeans!!! Through the magic of increased muscle and lack of regular jeans washing, I was able to get them on despite still weighing 15 lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight. This is not to say they fit exceptionally well (um, muffin-top anyone?), but they fit enough to walk to Panera with them on. Well, they fit until I ate breakfast. Whatevs. I can wear my jeans for 5 minutes each morning. Progress, not perfection, eh?

Item 3: Tomato, Tomahto
My mom brought us two tiny tomato plants when she came to help out after Bella was born. I didn't have much hope for them since I figured they would take work and we were a little busy (to say the least). However, tomato growing is easy and it only takes some regular watering. Behold - we have grown our own produce!

[BIG TIME HUSBAND COMMENT: However, tomato growing is easy and it only takes some regular watering she says!! HA! She wasn't there when they were just babies and I complained to the board of our townhome's association to cut back the trees so they could have sunlight all day long but had to make up a story about how I was concerned that the trees leaned towards the house and could easily be blown over because they're Box Elder trees and have notoriously bad structure. Nor was she propping them up with bamboo skewers when they were just starting out to keep them upright, or the time they got blown over and I had to go digging by the side of my rental property to find the tomato wire and had to wade through stinging nettles to find it and somehow got poison ivy on parts that I can't even mention because of it. This silly ass woman that I'm married to just thinks these tomatos sprung up magically and I've been busting my ass to keep them healthy. One day I came home and they were all wilted and sad and I asked her if she'd watered them. 'Oh no, I meant to but forgot.' WHAT?! I thought it was so easy...]

Hmmm...someone needs a time out. And a beer. And a lesson in run-on sentences. Kidding!(ish). Here, Husband, have a nice juicy tomato. It will make you feel better.


Item 4: Shredding
Still doing it. Level 3 sucks donkey balls and I'm never one to ever talk about donkey balls, so there you go. However, please revisit Item 2 and you will understand why I'm still doing it each day. Tomorrow will be day number 24. I can't believe I've done it 24 days in a row. I'm proud of myself and it feels so nice to feel physically fit(ish).

[Husband comment: She is kicking butt. I thought for sure she'd only make day 10 but she keeps on going, just like the Energizer Bunny. So proud. She was even grunting she was working so hard :) ]

Item 5: She's Still Cute

Tummy time...so cruel!
Chubby little peanut. (The baby, not Husband.)
That's all, folks! Yuk, Yuk.