A few things...

I don't have the energy for a proper post (whatever that is). It has been a tiring week. I didn't get to bed anywhere near early enough before getting up at 4am for my flight to Charlotte on Wednesday. And I haven't had any time for extra sleep later in the week. The 3-day weekend will be thoroughly enjoyed!

In case you were wondering, an electric breast pump is nearly guaranteed to cause a call for a bag check. In Pittsburgh, it was scanned with some kind of ion test. In Charlotte, it was recognized once it was opened.

There is no doubt that my appetite is back. I could eat constantly while at work and I'm still hungry when I get home. Care must now be taken to not overdo it, after a year of being able to eat whatever I felt like eating without concern.

The stretches I've been doing have caused some improvement in my leg pain, but I'm still living on motrin and walking like an elderly woman whenever I get up from an hour or two of sitting. The pain is less in the morning (pre-motrin), but it is still there and still annoying. Hopefully my doctor will have some more suggestions at my appointment on Wednesday.

I've completed almost two Dulaan hats this week. We'll see what else I can get done this weekend.

First Daycare visit, etc.

Tomorrow, Mom and I are taking Heather for her first visit to daycare. I'm feeling excited and anxious about it. We visited daycares in September and at the time we went to the one we chose, they were undergoing renovations. So I have only vague memories of the teachers in the infant room (I know I liked them, but I wouldn't recognize any of them if I passed them on the street) and I haven't actually seen the new infant room. I'm mostly anxious because I hope we can convince Heather to take a nap while we're there, which is the biggest "test" she needs to pass before her first full day there alone. (I'm not worried about whether the teachers will be able to feed her or get along with her - she's pretty easy going around people.)

In the good news category, my leg seems to feel better than yesterday. It's no where near back to normal, but yesterday morning it was particularly awful. I was hoping that it was because Saturday night was my first real stretching session (it's so hard to find time!), and I thought maybe it was just extra soreness from that. I still haven't managed to do any yoga or pilates, but I did stretch again last night. We'll see if that is enough (although I'd still like to sneak in a little yoga).

On the knitting front, the trekking socks are progressing. I also realized that I have just a couple of weeks until the Dulaan box needs to be shipped and I'm way behind my goal. Next time I can knit at home, I plan to start a couple of hats for the bus and hopefully for my business trip on Wednesday. I could get a couple of hats done while sitting in the airport, the planes and the car.

It feels like there is a lot to do in the next two weeks. Some of it is because of the preparation to send Heather to daycare and the things I want to accomplish while my mom is here to help/visit/etc. And I think some of it is just coincedence. So far June does not seem like it will be as busy and it hope it stays that way. I still haven't finished the mural in Heather's room. :-)

It's been a week and a half since I've posted new pictures to the gallery. I'll try to get back to it soon...in the mean time here is one of my favorite tummy time photos...

Random Thought Friday

1 - Pumping stinks
Okay, it's not really *that* bad, but it has definitely been the most stressful part of returning to work. Nursing is so much simpler. No bottles or parts to wash, no bottle transfers, no worries about quantity or freshness. But that said, I'm very happy that the technology exists that enables me to continue to give Heather breast milk even now that I'm back at work. I will be happy when I can pump twice a day instead of three times. I miss my lunch break.

2 - Trekking socks
I keep meaning to take pictures and haven't yet, but my current pair are going well. I'm doing a pattern (currently forget the name) from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road. I'm doing them toe-up instead of cuff down, so I'm basically doing my usual "recipe" with the addition of the cable pattern on the top of the foot and the leg. I'm doing both socks at the same time on 2 sets of dpns and from each end of the skein. I have to untangle the two ends from time to time, but it is working well. I decided to try a short row heel again. Last time it took me 5-6 attempts after reading multiple directions. This time I had the very clear directions in the current issue of IK, and I got a beautiful heel on the first try! The IK directions will become part of my standard toe-up sock recipe from now on!

3 - Heather
What can I say? She's adorable and seems to be adjusting well to being watched by babysitters during the day. It sounds like she's accepting the bottle okay and napping pretty well. She still fusses before sleep, but sometimes less than others, and she seems to be giving in more easily as long as she doesn't get overtired. I'm anxious to see how she'll do at daycare. We have our first visit there next Tuesday and she'll make a couple more with R and my mom before she starts in June.

4 - Pain
The back pain I had is under control and/or gone. I haven't even had the beginnings of a flare up since the night before we had the carpets cleaned in April. Not sure if it is because the issue has resolved itself or if my new pain is just preventing me from doing enough to aggravate the back pain. ;-)

The new pain is in my hamstring and in my behind, all on the right side. It usually feels like the muscles are contracted and don't want to extend. Occasionally it hurts just to stand, but usually it is sitting and bending down/over that are the biggest issues. My current guidance from the doctor is Motrin, walking and yoga/Pilates stretching. I haven't done the yoga/Pilates yet. I plan to check out the offerings on Comcast On Demand this weekend. Then I'll decide if I need to buy a video or if the free options are enough.

I have a follow-up appointment in 2 weeks. If the stretching doesn't solve the problem I will be anxious to find out what else they can do. I don't really like living on Motrin and since I spend most of my workday sitting there is little I can do to improve how I feel from 8:30-5:30.

5 - DVR
Despite my love for the DVR, it really annoyed me last night. It taped the LAST MINUTE of Ugly Betty, and that was it! So all I got to see what the cliffhanger at the end of the show. I'm really hoping that abc.com has the episode up by tonight so I can find out what the crying is about. I was also looking forward to seeing Kristen Chenoweth.

6 - Food and Weight
I'm no longer censoring my diet at all and my previous appetite seems to be back. I slowly added chocolate, dairy and citrus back into my diet and it didn't seem to bother Heather at all. Add in the fact that I tend to eat more at work just sitting all day, and I feel like I need to be more conscious of what I'm eating again. I'd really like to take advantage of the fact that I'm burning extra calories everyday through lactation, so I don't want to be taking in more than I need. It's nice to be able to lose weight without exercise (other than walking) and I really think that once I get back down to a better weight I can do a better job of keeping myself there this time.

According to the BMI chart in the doctor's office, I'm about 5 pounds over the cusp between "overweight" and "obese". And I'm about 35 pounds over the upper end of the "normal" range. Clearly, I would prefer to be overweight instead of obese, and based on that chart I haven't been in the normal range since about 6th grade (sad but true - although I was in the lower end of the overweight category for a long time).

I'm really writing about this for my own benefit. Understanding the numbers provides me with some motivation. I'm not planning on any extreme changes, because I think I eat pretty well in general. I just don't want to overdo it on chocolate and ice cream and custard all summer.

7 - Travel
Next week I'm taking a day trip for work to Davidson, NC. My first project in the office (almost 8 years ago) was a student center/theater at Davidson College, and I've never been there in person. We're primarily going down to talk about another project we're doing on campus. But I'm very excited to finally see my "first building".

8 - Harry
I'm really enjoying Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (again). I bet I would be done already if I was still on maternity leave. For now, I have to settle for reading while Heather eats and sometimes a little bit before bed. I may get through #6 faster since there won't be anything on TV in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure if I will continue to be a regular reader when I finish this series or if I will devote my reading time to my backlog of magazines for a while. I enjoy reading, but it hasn't been the same kind of passion that it was for me when I was in school. I guess if Harry can bring that back it's a good thing.

Pretty random, isn't it? I've been working on this post on and off all day, so I guess I might as well post it. I'm sure I'll think of a few more things as soon as I do. :-)

You know you're a geek when...

...a new mouse makes your day. :-)

As long as I've been with my current employer (almost 8 years), I've used the same mouse. Each time I get a computer or keyboard upgrade I keep my original mouse because it has a thumb button. And I use the thumb button when I draw on the computer in Microstation. The thumb button is crucial to my drafting speed. I don't even know how the mouse with the thumb button entered the office because no one else has one. But that was what was attached to my computer when I learned and I can't go back.

Well, my 8+ year old mouse hasn't been clicking well for a while. During my maternity leave, someone else used my desk and requested a new mouse because the one I had was substandard. When I returned, I reconnected my old mouse to the surprise of our office manager. I explained to him that despite the poor clicking capability, I needed my thumb button, and I'd rather have a bad click than no thumb button.

This morning I found a newer mouse with a thumb button on my desk. :-)

It was a little dirty and an old model. But I was able to download the driver I needed and now I have a mouse with a thumb button that can keep up with me again!

Bumbo

Heather really seems to enjoy it when we hold her up to stand on our laps, so we tried the bumbo seat this evening. Success! She got bored after about 10 minutes, but not before we took some cute photos. We'll have to take it outside this weekend so we can get some nice non-flash photos.

Glad I have a stash

Knitters, this post is not about what you think. ;-)

I'm not really convinced that I going to get as much milk today as I did the past three days of work. Usually the first pump of the day is nearly two servings and my later pumping bring in less. Today's results are less impressive. I'm not convinced I'm going to get three total servings. I've been trying to drink a lot of water, but I didn't have oatmeal this morning for breakfast. Maybe I should have some as an afternoon snack...

I'm not panicking yet. I have a good freezer stash, I can pump extra during the weekend, and it could just be a short-lived slump. But if I continue to have to spend 15 minutes pumping to get less than a serving, this is going to get old fast!

Vent over.

Demand it!

We need to convince Amy R. Singer to come to Pittsburgh for a workshop or book signing or *something*.

http://eventful.com/demand/D0-001-000213056-2

Harry

The one thing I keep forgetting to post is about my current reading. I decided last year that I wanted to reread the Harry Potter books, and my resolve was strengthened when they announced the publishing date of the last of the series. I find it interesting to be rereading them and seeing the similarities and differences between the books and movies. In general, I still think they've done a good job. There is nothing like reading the books, but the movies are entertaining reimaginings of the books.

During the pregnancy I read the first two and during maternity leave (mostly while Heather ate), I read #3 and #4. Goblet of Fire is my favorite of the first four, although I did find that I enjoyed reading Prisoner of Azkaban more than I remember the first time. I expect that this is because that is my favorite of the movies thus far. I was not disappointed by the movie for Goblet of Fire...but the book is so long and so rich with subplots that only a movie of epic length could have come close to doing the book justice.

And I admit that part of the reason I am rereading them is because I read #5 and #6 in very quick succession the first time and I feel like I've forgotten a lot of detail. In some ways, #6 is more clear in my mind than #5 since I read them back to back. So I want to prepare my brain for both the book and movie releases planned for this summer. Hopefully R and I can find a trustworthy babysitter by the time the movie comes out...

I'm about 3 chapters into Order of the Phoenix and so far it is even better than I remember.

The first 8 hours

So far I have survived my first day back at work. Leaving the house this morning was not too traumatic, probably because I was focused on getting out the door so I could get the express bus, which I ended up missing anyway.

I am missing Heather, but I am busy enough that the day is going fairly quickly so far. My two attempts at pumping have gone well. The only downside being the time it takes to pump plus the fact that I didn't get here until almost 9...so I think I'm going to be a little short on my 8 hours in order to get the last express bus...but I think I'd rather make that up next week than take a non-express bus that might not get me home until close to 7pm.

Must set alarm earlier next week and hopefully the time it takes to pump will get shorter, too.

I finished my socks on the way in this morning. So I will be reading the latest issue of IK on the way home and stash diving for my next project tonight or tomorrow. Except for buttons, I finished Heather's sweater, so I have nothing on the needles (other than an old sweater in progress that I haven't tried on since I was 6 months pregnant - might need to drag that out again). Not sure what is going to be next. But I do know that I haven't wanted to have many things in progress since Heather's birth. My brain just isn't so interested in multi-tasking that much right now.

Random Tuesday Part 2

14 - I should mention that the clapotis works okay for breastfeeding in public. The biggest obstacle is that Heather always seems to have her "top" arm in motion while she's eating. So while it might have worked better if I would have made it a little bigger...the whole process would still have it's challenges. But, I think we do well enough that I feel comfortable nursing in public when necessary.

15 - I'm not a person who likes routines and routines are good for babies. Shall we just leave it at that? :-) There isn't much else to say, it just is what it is. It's one of the reasons that I'm not looking forward to going back to work - the morning routine.

16 - Our luckiness can't be overstated. Despite the fact that Heather will still fight it when she's tired and falling asleep, she continues to sleep through the night. *knocking on wood* Sleep is good. :-)

Random Tuesday

Who knows how long Heather's current nap will last, and I'm way behind on my picture posting, so just a list of thoughts for today.

1 - Two more days left of maternity leave. I go back to work on Friday. At the moment, the thing I'm least looking forward to is setting my alarm and being woken up by it. Heather has been sleeping in a little later lately, so it's pretty likely that the alarm will wake me up and not her.

2 - I'm not too worried about the transition to work otherwise. Heather will be staying home for the first month, so we don't have to worry about getting her out the door for a while. And since the people watching her are unlikely (for the most part) to take her out anywhere, she'll probably fall into a better nap routine than she has with me, which should make it easier for her teachers at daycare.

3 - During my blog hiatus a few weeks ago we went to Dayton to visit family and friends. Heather met her three great-grandparents, two great, great aunts and a great, great uncle. Not to mention two great aunts, a great uncle and a variety of family friends. It was a nice but exhausting weekend. Heather did great in the car and slept well overnight in Dayton. The only tricky part was on Monday after we returned, when she needed to cry for about half an hour before every nap. Poor thing didn't nap enough over the weekend and was exhausted. It was a long day, but we survived.

4 - On the spring cleaning front, I have 7 boxes ready for charity. 5 will be picked up by a neighbor tonight and I'll probably call another charity to take the other 2 tomorrow. I've been through all of my clothes. I'll probably find more when I have more time to organize my room, but I feel at the moment like that is the only part of the house that needs major organization. (There is also an area in the basement that needs organization, but that is primarily R's stuff.)

5 - Lavender Mitts (pattern by Dale of Norway). Yarn is a merino from Artyarns - the leftovers from a sweater that my friend Erin made for Heather.

6 - Pink Clapotis for Breastfeeding in public, and which will be a nice spring/fall scarf when we're done breastfeeding. Made with a cotton/rayon blend by Wool of the Woods.
7 - The famous Log Cabin Blanket - finally photographed. The purple yarn is a cotton that I bought in a cone from Webs several years ago. The pink, blue, aqua and green accents are Cascade Sierra, a 80% cotton/20% wool blend.
8 - Not trying to brag, but I'm pleased to announce that I'm 10 pounds lighter than I was before I got pregnant. I credit breastfeeding with most of this loss, since I certainly having been doing lots of exercising - just a few walks a week with Heather. I also haven't been overeating, but my appetite is finally back, so I do need to keep an eye on my intake, especially with my return to work and more sedentary days.

9 - We're caught up on thank you notes again. The arrival of gifts seems like it has finally slowed to a halt, so I hope to stay caught up until our shower in Dayton this summer. :-)

10 - No progress to report on that sweater for Heather. I've been working on a pair of socks when I've had time to knit. Though I hope to get the sweater seamed up and finished soon...before it gets too warm for Heather to wear it. It felt like summer here today. Lots of sun and temperatures in the mid-80s. Though it is supposed to be in the 60s for the rest of the week, so there is still hope that it will get some use.

11 - I will try to use computer time over the next few days to work on getting more pictures posted in Heather's gallery. Please bear with me!

12 - I'm behind in my blog reading...so the lack of comment on my part is not because I think your posts are boring. ;-)

13 - Ummmm....let's end with something adorable....

A day at the zoo

Heather and I met Annie, Marcus, Cara and Max at the zoo today. (The hilarious part of going is that it takes longer to get us in and out of the car than it takes to drive over there...)

We had a lovely time, although Heather did nap quite a bit. She was asleep by the time we got to the lions...
She was not interested in seeing them from another side, either.
She was not impressed by the elephants.
She woke up a little bit in the monkey house (might have been the smell), but the nap she had just finished didn't keep her from yawning at them.
After lunch, she fell asleep again in the aquarium. Hopefully this turtle didn't feel snubbed.

(Note: I attempted a similar shot by the penguins, but there were too many enthusiastic children running around for me to get a good picture safely)


Halfway through the aquarium, Heather wasn't the only one asleep. All three strollers contained sleeping children. :-)
The outside air seemed to revive Heather a little. The polar bears were very cute and pretty active. But there is that yawn again... (you'd think we never let her sleep!)
Next was the white-tailed deer habitat. She must like them since she's awake and not yawning...

By the end of the day it was so warm that we were able to remove all sweaters, hats and blankets! Lovely sun!

Progress photo

My first sweater for Heather so far...

Cleaning

I may have more time later...depending on when the carpet cleaners show up and whether or not Heather can nap while they're working, but I want to do what I can for the moment.

I've spent much of the past few days cleaning up around here. We are having most of the carpets in the house cleaned today, as well as the living room sofa. The cats definitely know that something is up, but they are trying to take their morning naps as usual after following me around all morning as I did the last of the straightening up.

I admit that all of this straigtening and removing (or redepositing) of clutter makes me want to do a real clean sweep around here. On one hand, the place feels kind of cold and empty without any knick knacks or other personal items sitting around. On the other, the rooms feel bigger without any piles of clutter. And the non-carpeted places that became dumping grounds for stuff remind me that we have too much.

So far, I think I've done a good job of keeping Heather's things organized and manageable. We already have a couple boxes of baby things for donation (formula samples, too-small or poor-fitting diapers, extra blankets, etc) and I want to stay on top of her stuff. Somehow, before her stuff gets out of control and before she gets much bigger, R and I need to get a handle on our stuff, too.

The other thing that will help is putting back together the front room on the third floor (currently gutted and in need of electrical work, drywall patching and floor patching) so it can become a family room and accept some of the things that don't really belong on the first floor but end up there because it is the space we "live" in.

Yes, it's true

I'm officially a mom.

R was holding Heather facing out near me. And when she spit up, as a reflex, I put out my hand and caught it. And then immediately said "Ewww". We were in the kitchen, over the tile floor...I really could have just let it drop.

Eeeeewwwwww

That pretty much seals it, doesn't it?

Behind

I hate getting behind on my posting, it is so hard to catch up...and I feel like there is so much to say!

...I started this post this afternoon, and you can see what happened. Foiled again. Technically, Heather is in bed and I could post now. But I have to get up early tomorrow to go get a massage (!), so I must head to bed.

Let me just tease you with some upcoming topics:

Heather meets her great-grandparents, great aunts, great uncle and many cousins and family friends

Amy works on her first sweater for Heather

Heading back to work soon, preparing for babysitters

Photos of the latest clapotis (and its uses) and the log cabin blanket

How I hate routines

Stats

Heather at 2 months and 1 day:

10 lb, 0 oz
22 1/2" long
37 cm head circumference

Still has cradle cap (bad mommy!), but is otherwise in great shape

Loved the apparently tasty oral vaccine
Cried (though not any louder than I've heard before) and turned red during 3 shots

Was happy to eat afterward and collapsed with sleep in my arms on the way to the car

Was fussy in the evening because she missed her afternoon nap, but finally had an evening nap on daddy and slept fine after a midnight snack

**************************

Today Heather met my coworkers and they all think she's beautiful. The receptionist called all of the females in the office to come meet her soon after we arrived. After she did a little fussing, several men showed up to say hi, too. We also visited the owner of the coffee shop in my building and the yarn shop across the street. It was a fun outing.

Tomorrow is another playdate with Max and Marcus. If her afternoon nap pattern continues, I should be able to get some knitting done while she sleeps. :-)

2 months, 2/3rds and Easter

I wasn't going to post until I had taken pictures of recent finished knitting to post, but that's one thing I never got to this weekend. So maybe that will make my next post...

Heather turned 2 months old yesterday. Since I've never really know a 8 week old baby before, it is hard to know if anything we see is part of Heather's personality or just typical baby stuff. The good news is that she finally seems to be accepting of her need for sleep. For nearly a week, she's slept 6-7 hours in a row overnight and for the past few days she's taken a significant nap in the afternoon, with catnaps between other feedings. She's also become much more alert - looking and toys and faces - and she seems to enjoy when R and I talk to her. I even read her a book the other night, although her interest seemed to be in my voice and not in the pages of the book. We're also beginning to hear sounds other than just crying. Some happy noises and some sounds of frustration that are not really cries.

Sadly, I'm 2/3rds of the way through my maternity leave. I'm not dreading going back to work, but I am going to miss the time that I've had with Heather. And now that she's napping, I'm going to miss the time to get things done around here. Also, R and I are going to have to fight over her in the evenings after work...at the moment, R gets her as much as he wants in the evening since I've had her all day. :-)

We had a nice visit with my parents over the weekend. Having the help enabled me to get some very overdue cleaning done, do some knitting, and get caught up on the processing of Heather's gifts. (That in itself is practically a full time job!) I have more thank you notes to write again, but I hope to bang those out in the next couple of days.

We had a very nice time on Heather's first Easter with R's family and my parents. R's aunt hosted Easter dinner and there was a pretty good turnout. It was nice for Heather to meet more of her family and I always enjoy the opportunity to get out of the house. (I'm trying not to be bitter about the cold weather that has kept us indoors for the past week!)

This afternoon is Heather's next pediatrician appointment and her first round of shots. Not looking forward to the shots, but I'm guessing that they will be more traumatic for me than for her. :-)

The photo shows the last time she'll wear this particular newborn sized outfit. The first time she wore it I had to hike up the pants like an old man.

Hair

I think Heather's hair is coming in. A week or two ago, the top of her scalp was totally bald, and now the same area looks like she got a buzz cut. The hair on the back and sides is about the same as it was at birth...so maybe that stuff is permanent and is going to start growing when the rest catches up? It will be interesting to see.

Last night I went with Amanda to see "Sweet Charity" starring Molly Ringwald. Overall it was a fine show. The plot was thin, but the Neil Simon comedy was funny. Oscar's clausterphobia bit in the elevator made me laugh so hard that I cried. Kudos to Guy Adkins for his fine work. The dancing was also very cool. Much of the choreography was very 60's, but there were also pugilist and marching band styles as well. My biggest gripe with the show was the costumes. Every character wore the same costume for the entire show, despite the passage of time. As if the audience is too dumb to keep track of the characters unless they wear the same thing the whole time. For those who are curious, Molly was fine. She did what she needed to do but she didn't blow me away.

Just one show left on the subscription. AlterBoyz in May.

Busy, fun weekend

First, the Harlot. Heather and I were running a little later than planned, but Amanda had been kind enough to save us a seat in the third row and within minutes all the ladies near us were cooing over Heather's cuteness. Can't blame them. :-)

With Heather in the baby bjorn, I was able to knit while we waited for the event to start and for about the first 15 minutes of the speech. But it was a bit tiring to knit without resting my arms on the bjorn, so I didn't knit beyond that.

Stephanie was wonderful. She seemed to be a little nervous at first, but she relaxed within a few minutes when it became clear that we all thought she was funny and engaging as always. (I've read about 30 pages of the book so far, and it's great, too!) I think she spoke for about an hour, and given that Heather was asleep the whole time I would have been happy for her to speak for another hour. I haven't laughed that hard in quite a while!

Heather and I had been assigned to Group C for signatures, but Stephanie requested that those with kid be allowed to jump ahead in line. Since Heather was still asleep, I didn't butt my way to the front, but we did join Group A. Of course, just as we got to the head of the line for our turn, Heather woke up. So Stephanie and I didn't have too long to chat because I knew Heather would want to eat pronto. We did get our picture taken (I'm holding Heather's knitting needles :-) I don't usually stand in profile for pictures...that was for Heather's benefit!)

While Amanda was in line, Heather ate. And then the three of us spent some time talking with Julia and Amanda got some Heather time. Even after a diaper change, Heather continued to be fussy, and that was what prompted Stephanie to come over and demonstrate the Harlot-patented "calming butt pat". It works fabulously well, and though Amanda had a little difficulty with the rhythm at first, but I can tell you that Amanda successfully calmed Heather the following afternoon with her new knowledge. :-) Overall, a wonderful evening, and Heather and I are honored to be mentioned in Stephanie's post about the event.

(Although, I admit, I'm a little intimidated to bring up the content around here. My Harlot teaser post garnered a record number of comments and it leads me to believe that quite a few people probably lurked over here from the Stephanie's link and my comments. Hopefully I can rise to the occasion!)

Saturday was fun as well. R, Heather and I attended Marcus' first birthday party. It was a fun afternoon and Heather's first party. It's great that she has a few older friends who can let us (and eventually her) know what toys are most fun. :-)

Heather and Max:

Marcus, with his parents, after eating his cake:

Heather with her Dad:
I'm a few rows away from started the Clapotis decreases. If I don't have it finished by the weekend, I'll finish it over the weekend. :-)

Now I'm off to read other accounts of these fun events!