Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The Starting Point

I am not gonna lie, before I got pregnant I was out of shape. I wasn't the heaviest I've ever been but I was pretty dang close. I made a conscious effort while I was pregnant to not gain TOO much weight, I only gained 25 lbs total and the doctor was very happy with that!So now that Eli is here I am like 5 lbs from pre-pregnancy weight; however that is not my goal!
Two summers ago I lost 15 lbs by running, zumba and doing weight watchers. I have done every diet in the book,  done every fitness program and never got results until this combo. So Sunday I decided to bite the bullet and start the running program again. Needless to say it kicked my butt!!! I realized then that the starting point I was at now is different than the starting point I was at two summers ago. I am going to have to take things a little slower in the beginning and get my body use to being active again.
I felt so bad about where I was physically. I hated myself for letting my body get this out of shape; but then I realized I had a choice, while I couldn't change where I was or how I felt about it I could either a) feel bad about where I am, throw a pity party and do nothing about it or b) feel bad about where I was and do something about it no matter how hard. I choose b. It does me no good to feel bad about it, I have to get up and do the work.
The joy of social media and blogging is that it provides instant accountability. Gone are the days of having to go to a meeting to weigh in to have accountability. You just post online that you are starting a fitness routine, diet, or making a lifestyle change and BAM! You have hundreds of people who can help hold you accountable. I haven't started Zumba back yet, that will have to wait till the summer due to work schedule but I have started walking this week (which will turn into running soon) and weight watchers. So I'm putting it out there and asking you guys to help hold me accountable.
I can't change the starting point but I CAN change the destination.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Colic

So we discovered why Eli was so fussy. He has colic...and reflux. Poor guy got a double dose! I have read about colic and our godson had colic so while I was pregnant I thought "well if he has colic I'll have clue what I'm in for" WRONG! Colic is a horrible horrible thing. It is dang near impossible to watch your baby cry for hours and hours on end and there is nothing you can do to make it better. On the up side it is always over by 10:30. But on some days it last 5 hours, and couple that with normal baby fussiness during the day and that can be stressful.

I think the best advice was giving to me by another mom on the March board of the Bump. She told me that if they are crying in your arms and you have done everything you know how to; if they are clean, feed, and otherwise "good" they can cry the same in the crib, bassinet, bouncer, swing, whatever as they can in your arms. Put the baby down. Another mommy friend of mine added go get a drink of water, take a quick shower, do something to calm your nerves for 5 minutes. It'll be better for you and better for baby. Truer words have never been spoken.

Now some things help during "colic time". The 5 S's from Happiest Baby on the Block normally can calm him down. The only thing is with a colic baby they will be calm for a little while (15 minutes if we're lucky) and then BAM! More crying. Sometimes gripe water or colic tablets work. Sometimes it's the vacuum, or walking, or the Moby. There are lots of things that will sometimes work for a few minutes, but nothing works for long enough to make him sleep for longer than 15 minutes.

It is getting a little better most days. He normally is down before 9:30 so that helps!

Don't get me wrong, I have found more joy in being a mommy than anything else I've ever done in my life. I love love love seeing his smiles, watching him discover the world around him and of course cuddle time!! I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. And thankfully this is our first child. This is all we know. We don't know what it would be like to have a baby who DIDN'T cry for hours almost every evening.

We are so thankful for Eli and love him so much; however, I wish more mommies had talked to me about how hard the first couple months could be so I am talking about it. I don't think it does anyone any good to sugarcoat the tough stuff. But like I said earlier... mommy-hood, while tough, is the best thing that has ever happened to me.