Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Hank is 2 Months Old


Hank is currently: 2 months old! Wow, time has FLOWN by. I did the monthly posts for Patsy and I thought it would be fun to bring them back for Hank!

Weight: 12 pounds, 6 ounces. He is quite the little chunker. Doc says he's in the 75th percentile for weight. At this age, Patsy was in the 5th percentile.

Clothing: He has completely grown out of his newborn stuff. Some of his 0-3 month stuff is too small and he is starting to fit into 3-6 month clothes.

Nicknames: Hank already is a nickname, but we also call him little guy, big boy, and Patsy loves to call him "Hanky"

Health/Diet: He's just on breastmilk. My goal is for him to be breastfed for a full year. I was able to breastfeed Patsy for 18 months and I'm hoping to make it to at least a year for Hank. We gave him a bottle once at 3 weeks old and he seemed confused by it but took it without issue. We should probably try introducing a bottle again as he'll need to get used to it when I go back to work!

Sleep: Oh man, I don't even know if I want to answer this question in fear of jinxing it. I have zero complaints about Hank's sleeping habits. Patsy is much more of a handful at night than Hank.

Milestones: He has started to smile more and more, sometimes even reacting to me! He is so strong and he has already rolled over from his back onto his stomach. Our little guy is growing up so fast!

Likes: Being held, his binkie, getting changed, sticking her hands in her mouth

Dislikes: Being hungry. That's pretty much it.



Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Loss is Never Easy

Yesterday I said goodbye to a family member. I debated whether or not to share this news publicly but I can't stop thinking about it and I thought it might help the healing process to speak about it. He was my second cousin. We haven't been close in a long time. I was busy, we were on different life paths, things happen. He was my age. Our birthdays are two months apart. Our paths intersected many times over the years not just at family parties but through different groups of friends. He was dealt a difficult hand in life and had a challenging family situation. I don't want to go into details but he turned to drugs to escape his troubles. He went to rehab but once he turned to heroine, it only took a few years before the drugs took him from us.

Thanks to technology, I was able to read through my most recent Facebook messages to see notes from him. We hadn't spoken much, but when we had, they were kind words. He had told me I had a beautiful family and wished me congratulations when Patsy was born. He invited me and my husband to hang out for a drink (although we never did). When his grandpa passed away late last year and I didn't get to talk to him at the wake, I had sent him a note. He was thoughtful and appreciative. Despite our differences and troubles, he always had a kind word for me and for that I will be eternally grateful. Part of me has guilt and regret. What if I had done things differently? What if I had tried to be more involved in his life? What if I had reached out more? Would things have turned out any differently? I know I can't beat myself up over these questions but I also can't erase them from my mind. 

A modest funeral mass was held at his high school (he had attended a local all-boys catholic school). Those years were some of his happiest times. He was a great athlete and made many bonds there. He kept in touch with his baseball coach after high school and they became friends. His coach gave a very touching and moving eulogy. There wasn't a dry eye in the church. During the service, I was very thankful to be holding Hank in my arms and sitting by my mom and brother. It was a very emotional and eye-opening experience. Life is too short to take things for granted. My family is important to me and we need to see each other more. We will always be busy (work, bad weather, other obligations), but I don't want to look back and wish I had done more. 

Friday, April 1, 2016

March 2016 Workout Summary

If you follow me on twitter, you probably saw that I was cleared to workout at my 6 week appointment!


That day (March 21) I went for a 1 mile run. I never thought that running a mile would feel so slow. But after taking almost a year off from running, you have to start somewhere! I thought that bringing back a weekly or monthly summary might help make me accountable. Spring is here, the weather is beautiful, and it feels great to get out there and get moving! Pepper was not impressed.

I went to my first post-baby barre class on Friday (March 25) with Meghan. In classic form, we forgot to take a photo after class! I was kind of rushing to get back because I had left the kids with my mom and it was a workday for her.


The day before Easter (March 26), I went for a 5 mile walk with my in-laws on a new local trail through a forest preserve. We took turns pushing Patsy while I carried Hank in the Baby Bjorn. The trail was paved and was a little winding and had some rolling hills. I would say it would be perfect for running but there wasn't any shade so it would be best left for spring and fall runs.
That mom of 2 life!

Awhile back, Maggie told me about the Nike NTC app. After a few failed attempts at planning another run, I thought I would give the app a try. I picked the Cardio Surge workout which required no equipment. It was 45 minutes of mountain climbers, frog jump, jump squats, lunges, walking burpees and lots of other things. To be honest, I really wanted to quit about half way through but I pushed through.
NTC: DONE

And yesterday (March 30), I went for another mile run. Patsy insisted on coming with me so it was a nice stroller run. It started to rain while we were out there and I felt kind of badass (even though I was jamming out to the Camp Rock soundtrack), if I do say so myself. It felt much better than my first run so I'm excited for what April will bring!
Testing out my new Oiselle baseball cap. Love it!

As I'm restarting my workout journey, I'm remembering how challenging it can be to revolve runs around breastfeeding schedules, child care, meals, and everything else in between. Oiselle has an upcoming challenge in April and I'm excited about participating! I plan to run 13 times in the month of April. That equates to about 3 times a week for 4 weeks. We'll see how it goes! Here is the link to Oiselle's blog to find out more about the challenge!