7 Quick Takes (Vol. 1)

7 quick takes sm1 Your 7 Quick Takes Toolkit!

 

1. Introduction
For those of you not familiar, Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary hosts 7 Quick Takes every Friday. I thought it would be fun to participate this week. Jennifer is always telling tales of her encounters with scorpions and other such creatures. Fortunately we don’t have scorpions here, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t get our fair share of things that freak me out. The other morning there were two cockroaches and two spiders hanging out with me in the bathroom, and 3 of the 4 were on the move. Trying to keep an eye on all of them, as some drew uncomfortably close to where I was standing, made it impossible to get ready. I suppose the appropriate reaction would have been to try to kill them, but I don’t like killing things–even creepy little creatures. I would take them outside and “set them free,” but they could crawl on me in the process, which makes that a no go. Of course there’s the classic call for your husband technique, but mine had already left for work. So long story short, I was scared out of my bathroom by bugs- pathetic.
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One of the cockroaches that was tormenting me

 

2. Spa Day
I had my first day out without Austin last weekend. My cousin got me a gift certificate to the spa for Christmas, and we decided it was time for us to finally use it. The spa was amazing. You feel like you’re entering another world when you go there… soft, soothing music is playing, and you’re wearing a lovely robe and sandals that they provide. As if that’s not enough, we got massages– one of my favorite things. If I’m ever rich and famous someday– unlikely– I would love to have a personal masseuse. I get headaches somewhat frequently that spread to my neck and shoulders, and a massage would be fabulous when that happens! After the massages, we had lunch in the atrium and then relaxed in the hot tub. Needless to say I was pretty relaxed afterward, and good thing because Clint was anything but relaxed after an afternoon home with the boys. When I walked in the door, he walked out… he needed a break. 🙂 Apparently Austin took his first bottle ok but was pretty upset when he was given his second bottle. He was happy to have his mommy home! I think he may be even more attached to me than Parker was.

 

3. Separation anxiety
Seeing Austin struggle while I was gone left me concerned about how he will handle it when I have to return to work. Clint thinks that Austin is struggling with separation because I’m coddling him more than I did with Parker. I didn’t think I was, but after giving it some thought I realized that may be true. The second time with a baby I know just how fast it goes, so I think I’ve been holding on a little tighter and trying to savor it a little more. In the early days with Parker I felt exhausted by the constant breast-feeding, and the middle of the night routine was wearing me out. This time around I’ve been much less stressed by the baby phase. Of course it helps that Austin spoils me by consistently going back to sleep after a nighttime feeding, whereas Parker would often stay awake after and sometimes cry for hours. I was also super paranoid about SIDS and suffocation the first time around, so I made a point of having Parker sleep in the co-sleeper rather than in our bed, and this time I’m a lot more lax about letting Austin sleep with us. So as I try to get Austin prepared for my eventual return to work (early July) by occasionally offering bottles and working toward sleeping through the night I start to think… who really needs to be weaned here, me or him?

 

4. Sleep
With Parker I was determined to make sure I taught him how to sleep well, so at 7 weeks we moved him to his crib, and he was sleeping through the night at 8 weeks old. This time, surprise surprise, I’ve been more lax.  I have not really been concerned with whether or not Austin sleeps through the night as I generally don’t mind our nighttime feeding snuggles. He will often sleep for 5-7 hours at a time, and once even made it 8 hours, so I guess I kind of thought he would learn to sleep through the night on his own anyway. With Parker the sleeping thing was so obvious: before we started sleep training he was consistently waking up once a night, so we just helped him learn to go back to sleep rather than feed during that wake up. Austin is less consistent, and when I’ve tried to encourage him to go back to sleep, he’ll fall back asleep but then he’ll keep waking up regularly until he gets fed. That leads me to believe that when he wakes up it’s because he is actually hungry and not just looking for a breast pacifier. Hard to say if that’s true or if I’m just “coddling him” again. For the time being I’ve settled on a sort-of-not-really sleep training. I am allowing a nighttime feeding, but I am having him sleep in his crib in the room he shares with Parker (well, for the first half of the night anyway). Having the boys sleep together is one thing about the whole process I’m actually enjoying– I like them sharing a room. Amazingly it’s going fairly well so far. Fortunately once Parker is asleep he sleeps pretty deeply, so even if Austin fusses he’ll generally sleep through it. Also, Austin seems to be able to fall asleep even when Parker isn’t quite asleep and quiet yet.

 

5. Maintaining
An update on my post about keeping up with my kids, the house, and other responsibilities: I’m continuing to make progress! My mother has always preached about the value of maintaining. She says that if you do a little straightening up each day to maintain your house it’s much easier than cleaning a messy house… and that’s absolutely true, of course. I go through phases… sometimes I manage to get the house nice and clean, and then I want to keep it that way, so I maintain and get to appreciate my mom’s good advice. Inevitably though something happens, and once the house becomes a mess I have trouble digging back out of it again. Fortunately right now is a good phase, and I am managing to maintain my clean house (everything except for our bedroom which hasn’t quite made it to clean yet, so it can’t be maintained yet). I’m even continuing to grocery shop and cook while taking care of two kids… go Jennifer, go!

 

6. Exercise

I’ve slowly begun to incorporate exercise back into my life. I’m finding that including the kids in my workout routine makes it feasible. So I’ll take the kids to the park, and I’ll get in a walk or a run on the way (my first post baby run was pretty tough, but my second one was much easier thank goodness). Parker even likes to join me for my postnatal exercise video. He doesn’t quite get the exercises right, but it’s super cute to watch him try, and of course he digs being included. I still have a ways to go on rehabbing my body, but it feels good to be exercising again.

 

7. Website updates
I’ve made a few updates to my site. First I improved the appearance of the Facebook link. Make sure you click the like button if you want to receive updates on new posts via Facebook. There is also the option now to subscribe to the blog via email if you prefer that. I’ve added a featured post, and the option to search for posts by tags, which will hopefully make it easier to navigate. Lastly, I’ve added a new tab called “Recommended Reading” which lists a few books and blogs that I like. Hope you enjoy all the updates!

 

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