I Think We Need a Lexi Pic Fix!

Here are some pics of my sweetie!

First smile I caught on camera


Our 2 month photo shoot (8/29)





After her two month shots :(


Found the thumb!


Momma and Lexi on our last day of mat leave


Daddy and Lexi all ready for her first Stealers game



This may be my favorite pic so far!


The morning after she slept through the night for the first time!! (9/14)


"I got this, Daddy"



Lots of Love, KJsbabe

Working Mom

Well, my first week back to work is finally over. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I thought I would be crying at my desk all day on Tuesday, but it was an ok day. I dropped Lexi off at MIL's in the morning and got her all settled in. I got choked up when I had to leave her and cried a little in the car, but pulled it together by the time I got to work. It was a pretty uneventful day, which I was glad about. I only got to pump twice, though, because it took forever to get an answer as to where I could go. Man, was I engorged by the time I got home! Ouch!! MIL lives right up the road from where I work, so I got to see Lexi on my lunch break. I love that girl so much!

Now that I don't see Lexi constantly throughout the day I can really tell how quickly she's growing. I love seeing her change and develop new skills, but it also makes me sad. I feel like I'm missing a lot being at work. It's only temporary... I have to keep reminding myself that.

Boy, this working mom stuff makes life very busy! I get up at 5:30 (sometimes at 5 depending on how Lexi is sleeping) get dressed, do my hair and make up, eat breakfast, grab and stuff any diapers I have in the dryer, clean my pump flanges from over night, pack up my pump, make sure Lexi's bag is together, grab my lunch and her bottles, fed the cats and clean the litter. Then at 6:20 if she isn't already up, wake Lexi up, get her dressed, changed, and fed, let the dogs out and get their kongs together, get everything in the car and be on the road to MIL by 7:10. We get to MIL's at 7:30 and I have a few minuets to spend with Lexi before I have to go. Back on the road to work at 7:50. Get to work at 8. Pump at 9. Pump at 11. Eat lunch at my desk at 12. Go back up to MIL's at 1 to fed and spend time with Lexi. MIL usually has either Fox news or the Kardashians on TV (yeah, figure that combo out!). Back at work by 2. Pump at 3. KJ picks Lexi up at 4:30 on his way home from work. If he has to work late I pick her up when I leave work at 5. Get home around 5:30. First thing, throw the diapers in the wash. Then make dinner and fed Lexi, the dogs, and cats. By 7 go out for a run with or with out her, depending on what KJ is doing. Put the diapers in the dryer. At 8 we start bedtime routine with a bath every other night, then nighttime diaper, pj's, eats, and rocking. She's usually out by 8:45 or 9. After that, I make up mine and KJ's lunches for the next day, wash bottles and pumping things, make up Lexi's bottles for the next day, get diapers from the dryer and fold, pack up her bag with fresh burp cloths, clothes, and diapers, clean up the kitchen a little, take a shower, dry my hair and get in bed between 10 and 10:30. Lexi usually wakes up around 2 to eat and is back to sleep by 3. Wake up at 5:30...

I'm exhausted just typing that out. I'm living for the weekend more than ever now!

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe

The Last Weekend of the Summer

I feel like I've been on summer vacation and school starts tomorrow. :( This sucks! I have to go back to work tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it. I've enjoyed my time and home with Lexi so much and I don't want it to end. I love being home with her, just the two of us. We've made our little daily routines and I'm really going to miss it.

We went over to MIL house on Saturday and got her all set up to watch Lexi during the day. I feel pretty confident that she'll be well taken care of. MIL is a bit of a pack rat and I was a little concerned about clutter and there not being room for her and her things. They cleaned the house up, though, and there was plenty of room for the PnP. She's going to be fine there... I just need to keep telling myself that.

Anyways, since my knee has been feeling just about normal, I decided to go ahead and run the Buhl Day 5k. I had already signed up, so I figured why not. MIL watched Lexi and KJ and I ran. His time was 28:33 and mine was 28:35. Definitely not my best, but for just having baby, still being up 17lbs, and only running for two weeks prior, I was just glad to finish!

Next up is the Sharon 5k in two weeks!

Wish me luck tomorrow... I'm not looking forward to this going back to work thing.

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe

More on the Knee Saga

So, Murphy's law, as soon as I made a doctor's appointment to get my knee looked at it started feeling better. I wasn't going to get it looked at at first, but my MIL made a good point. I've already reached my insurance deductible for the year because of Lexi, so anything I would have done to it (tests, x-rays, etc) would be covered. It was still hurting a week and a half after I initially hurt it, so I figured I might as well call.

I got up bright and early this morning for my 7:00am app and got checked out. They took an x-ray and my bones looked fine. The doctor squeezed my knee a few times and that was that. He wants me to have an MRI to see if any of the cartilage is torn. Other than that I really didn't get an answer as to what could have happened.

I don't know how I feel about all of these tests. I saw a different sports medicine doctor back in HS when I was running XC for my other knee, and it was a very different experiance. I told him where and when it hurt and he was able to feel my knee and tell me exactly what was wrong. No fancy tests required. I guess I feel like this new doctor is pulling out the "big guns" prematurely. He has a very nice office. It reminded me of a resteront or hotel lounge. How much do you want to bet he runs a lot of unnessisarey tests in order to pay for his fancy office? The more I think about it the more I'm annoyed. Since my knee is feeling relitively normal now, I feel like if I do get this MRI done it won't show anything anyways. I've been reading online about getting one done while BFing and there's conflicting information. Some places say if you get an MRI or CT you should pump and dump for anywhere from 12-48 hours. That would really put a wrench in things! Other places say it's not nesisary and that you can BF normaly. I guess the concern is if you have to take a contrast dye injection it contains iodine and can get into your BM and then baby ingests it. I don't know if I'm comfortable with that. I guess if it was for something really inportaint it would be one thing, but since it's for something that's practically a non issue... I don't know

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe

On the Injured List

So, only one week into running and I hurt myself. :( I hurt my knee pretty bad and it sucks! I ran 4 days last week,, 3.5 miles each time. It was a little sore over the weekend, but on Sunday it was feeling ok. I hurt my foot last fall and I was able to tape it up and it made it feel 10x better. I was able to run with it just fine, so that's what I thought I'd do this time. Well, my tape job didn't do crap. I went out running Sunday night and my knee throbbed the entire time. I, like and idiot, kept on running, though. After I got back home I could barely walk it hurt so bad. :(

So, now I'm wearing a knee brace and taking it easy this week. I've been taking Lexi for walks at the park to stay active. I'm really hoping by Saturday or Sunday I'll be up for a short run. As luck would have it, too, I just sent in my registration fee last Friday for a 5k on Labor Day. I hope I'm still able to run it. There's another race two weeks after that I was hoping to do, too. I guess we'll just see what happens. My half marathon training has started out really well...

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe

Back to Running... Finally!

I had my 6w pp app with my doctor yesterday and I am cleared to run!! So excited!! I took Lexi out last night to the park and we went for our first jog together. It was my first time running since the day before I found out I was pg with her. I remember I had already started what I thought was AF and ran really hard that night because I was upset to be at the beginning of yet another cycle. If I had known then what I know now.... (that the next time I would be running it would be with my baby in a stroller!)

Being out of shape sucks! Ugh! I went 3 miles and boy was I hard. I couldn't even make it running the whole time. But, you know what? I'll take it. I will take the suck and the hurt and the sore muscles. This is the hurt that last October I said I would gladly take in exchange for a healthy baby. I said I would gain the weight and get out of shape if it meant I could finally have my take home baby. Well, I have my healthy little girl,  I gained the wight, and now I will happily take all the suck of losing weight and getting back in shape. Bring it on! It hurts sooo good! Give me more! :)

I ran 3 miles again today and I hurt... a lot. I have this bruised feeling on my back right about where I had the spinal, my abs (or lack there of) hurt from my flab jiggling when I run, and then of coarse I have the normal muscle soreness. My body is different then it used to be and I don't seem to be bouncing back as quickly as I usually do. I know it's only  been two days, but it just feels different. I'll keep plugging along, though. The only way it gets easier is if you keep at it.

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe


My power song on the week "Ugly Truth"

Another Week Down

This has been a big week for Lexi! On Saturday (8/4) she went for her first long car ride down to the Jackson's. It was a little bumpy, but went ok. We had to stop once and she cried a few times, but we got there in pretty good time. Once we were there Lexi got to go on her first date (hehe) and with a man twice her age! BIL's FI's brother and SIL were there with with their 2mo son. We were joking that it was their first date and some day they would get married.

On Sunday (8/5) KJ and I took Lexi for her first breakfast out. We went to this little dinner down the road from us. They have good food at super cheap prices, so we like to go there for breakfast on the weekends. She slept the whole time. The waitresses kept ooing and awing over her cute headband and leggings.

Then on Tuesday we took Lexi for her first shipping trip to Walmart. Again, she did great. She was awake for part of it, but slept most of the time. The stroller really soothes her. Love my city mini!!

This morning, Lexi woke up with her first ear infection. :( She wasn't fussy (thank god!), but she had yellow crusties coming out of her left ear. I called her pedi and they had me bring her right in. She got some ear drops and a cream for some mild cradle cap on her outer ear. I'm just glad it doesn't seem to be bothering her.

While at the Pedi's she got weighed and she's up to 9lbs 13oz. My girl is getting so big! She definitely not my little new born peanut any more. It's so cool to watch her learn new things. She has a lot of head control, she follows things with her eyes, she's been trying to say "gaw" and "bur", and she's much more attentive to what's around her.

I have finally started to loose weight!! Right after I had Lexi I lost 27lbs, but haven't been able to loose any since. Everyone kept telling me, if I BF I'll drop weight without even trying... Wrong! Completely untrue for me, at least. I ate normally while BFing for the first moth or so and gained 5lbs. So, I got back on my strict diet, and in two weeks I've lost that 5lbs plus another 2. I'm finally on a steady downward track. My goal is still to be back at my pre pregnancy weight of 120 by New Years. I have a feeling these first 12-15lbs will come off fairly easily, but the last 8-5lbs will take some work. I did it once, though, and I'll do it again (I lost 35lbs in 2007). I have my 6w pp app on Monday where my doctor should clear me for running again. I can't wait to get back out there, get in shape, and get moving. I've set a goal for myself of running the half marathon in Pittsburgh next May. I can do it and I'm excited! Training starts Monday!

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe