Finding Balance: Wellness for the Everyday Struggle: 9 months!

Every day he's shuffling...forward

Legan update!

Weight: About 21 lbs (20 lbs 10 oz)

Length: 28.25"

Head: 19"

Percentiles: 85%, 75%, and 100+% in that order.

New Skills: Rocking on hands and knees, not faceplanting when going from sitting to tummy, getting onto feet and face (this is hilarious), and drinking from a 360 cup (sippy cup with no straw or spout). Clapping his hands!!!!

Learning the lean...

Likes: Swimming, getting snuffled by dogs, playing with hair and mouths (preferably yours), rough housing, singing and dancing, and rolling away from diaper changes. Going on walks outside!

He loves being on daddy's back!

Dislikes: That he can't quite crawl yet, being awake for more than 3 hours, mom not being in eyesight.

Tummy problems: WE'RE OFF ZANTAC HOORAY! So that's exciting. AND...I'm back on dairy, plus Legan gets to eat cheese too. Great time.

Eating progress: He pretty much eats whatever we're having now, plus some puffs and a little extra fruit or veggies when I'm worried he's not getting enough healthy stuff. Some favorites: banana, chicken, broccoli, and stink bugs (!).

Blackberries, EVERYWHERE!

First burger joint. Not only were the burgers and fries good, but the plastic trays were wonderful!

Sleeping: Well...this is always fun. Now that we're actively teething and battling some snuffles a lot of the time, and trying so hard to crawl - sleeping has gotten rough again. He's got two modes overnight. Either is up for like 5 minutes to eat, every 3 hours OR sleeps great for 4.5 hours, then is up for 1-4 hours in hanging out and then goes back down for 3-4. It alternates and we can't really put a handle on what causes it or if it's just a phase to deal with. Naps are consistently decent now though. Every 3 hours he goes down, so 2 naps per day. 1 is usually 1.5-2 hours and the other is 35-45 min. Usually first nap is the long one, but not always.

Clothing sizes: Still fitting into some 9 month and filling in the rest with 12 months. Pretty much the same place still.

Other new updates: First tooth is about 2 weeks old, and the second one will be out in soon I hopeDAYS. Getting them out does help his mood. Hopefully we're done with these for a little while. Also, his buddy Warren (4 months) is now hanging out with us on Wednesdays so mommy can make a little extra money. They're pretty funny together - though very exhausting.

Sometimes you just have to gnaw on mom...

Mommy Update!

I've gotten lazy and busy and haven't gotten in anywhere.

I also think my personal brand of physical therapy is mostly working as pain is slowly decreasing, so I'm just doing my own thing.

I'm down below my pre-pregnancy weight, and ab strength is mostly back...but tummy skin is kinda flappy. It's all icky. I've never seen a belly that had a c-section that didn't have this crepe-y skin afterwards. I just kinda hate it.

My lower chest is kinda barrel shaped. Always has been, and then my stomach was in an inch or so further than that. Not anymore - even though I've lost the fat, and my abs have returned. I got yanked around too much to come back. My pants won't ever fit the same I don't think, if they don't now.

Still getting to gym 2-3 times per week. Doing elliptical work, a couple minutes on treadmill (mostly walking), and some ladder machine work, plus 15 minutes working on arms with weight machines. Then I do a little ab work (like 2 min) and test out the pull up machine. Long walks on other days. I've really been using my FitBit to motivate me to get my butt moving!

Physical stuff: Same old same old incision irritation. Pelvis is still limiting. I'm afraid to ride. It aches for about a day after every time I go to the gym. I stay away from any real impact too. I've been getting to a light cardio (geared towards seniors) as much as possible. That goes well, but I even have to modify some of that - such as declining using any resistance with sideways leg movements - and doing no jumping at all.

Emotionally: Comes and goes. With my lack of nighttime sleep it's hard, but the decent naps at least give me a little alone time during the day, so that's good. We're also house shopping for our first place - which is stressful but exciting. As much as we appreciate having been able to house share with family for most of the past 2 years I'm very eager to get out on our own, and be able to do the mom thing without having to take 2 more adults and their animals into consideration for all of my plans, meals, etc. Again, it's been appreciated, but it's mentally and emotionally taxing for all of us. So that changes on a day by day basis.

I did basically drop the rest of the baby weight, and a few of my pants STILL just won't fit. I lost the fat, gained some muscle, but my hips/pelvis is still wider than it was. So I gifted some pants. I'm interested to see what happens when I get the rest of my pants out of storage.

still hopeful to do some hiking on our summer camping trip.

I've been able to do a little more riding, it hurts less, which is great.

I had a scary barn day when my mare decided to be a total bitch to me. I jumped off for safety, but got back on a moment later. We worked through it. Physically it was manageable, so that was a huge confidence boost.

So I'm trying to slowly help out more with dinner, especially now that I'm down to only washing diapers every 3 days! In the meantime, gotta take lots of baby photos!