Playin' catch up

I can't believe how long it has been since I was able to sit down and blog. Who'd have thunk that a baby would take up all of your free time, huh? I'm supposed to be back at work today, it's my second week off of maternity leave, but last night Vic came down with the worst stomach virus ever so I'm here taking care of him and shielding Ryker from that nasty stomach bug. I can't even fathom trying to deal with a whole family of sick, I remember being a kid and all of us getting sick at the same time. My poor Mom, that's all I can think!

On a happier, less sick note...we've had all sorts of visitors! Vic's parents came to visit the week before last and his grandmother and sister just left Sunday morning. We had a lot of fun just hanging out playing cards and going out for great meals. Ryker got to have his first day at the beach too! 

Ryker's first baseball game. Go Tides!

Ryker out with us for date night. Isn't it funny how tiny that little beer is? Made for a perfect photo op, but he'll be in big trouble if I catch him drinking before he's 42. 

Ryker and "Momma K"!

Ryker and "Grand Daddy-O"!

Beach day!! Isn't that hat silly?

Vic and I, Lillan and his sister Annichen in front of the Norwegian Lady statue at the Oceanfront.

Lillan and Ryker getting some cuddle time at Catch 31

He's been doing so great lately and he is just so big! He's already more than doubled his weight since he was born. He's starting to make eye contact and hold it for a while too which I love. He's learning to sleep and play in his bedroom also. We've started putting him down for naps and some alone time during the day to get him used to the space. We bought the Summer Peek 2 (I think that's what it is called...) monitor and it is pretty awesome. We mounted it on a shelf over his changing pad and we can zoom and pan the monitor and it even tells us the temperature in the room. 

Going back to work last week went a lot better than I thought it would. Here is my sad "I don't want to go back to work" face...

 With Ryker sleeping a little bit longer at night I've been able to avoid being a total zombie in the morning. I tried to get up for workouts at CrossFit Rife the first day back and didn't account for pumping time before I left so I only made it there once last week in the morning. It felt great to get my workout done early, way more convenient than the evening. I've been sooooo frustrated with trying to eat right and get my workouts in so that I can lose the baby pooch. Ryker made his first trip to CrossFit with me this last week, he slept through the whole workout! I think he likes the loud music. I just plopped him down in his carseat and got my workout on. Vic has been doing the same thing and taking him in his carseat to Flex. 

 

Breastfeeding is going awesome lately! I try to make sure that as soon as I get home from work or the gym I am feeding him on demand as much as possible. My work has been super awesome about my disappearing to pump and my supply has been doing really well with all the changes. Ryker is getting to be a super efficient feeder too, so that helps out with it not taking so long to do. While we had visitors here I nursed him at McCormick and Schmick's and at Catch 31, too very nice restaurants. At first I felt funny doing it, but with my super cute nursing cover and a cooperative baby it is no trouble at all. 

I know I keep saying that at some point I am going to write about the books that I've read for my doula certification and I really do swear that will happen! I really like the Nursing Mother's Companion, I think it was more up my alley than Bestfeeding. It seemed like it was less "stop complaining about nursing being hard" and offered more information. I've got to get my next book soon, it'd be nice to be able to bring it in my pump bag for some reading while I'm pumping at work. 

Well, it's time to check in on the hubby and see if he is feeling any better and maybe get some housework done while everyone is sleeping. Might as well take advantage of my random day off! I happened to see a commercial for this ridiculous show on Lifetime On Demand called Pretty Wicked Moms, that should entertain me while I do dishes. I'm sorry if this post was super random, someday I should be able to organize thoughts again! Happy Monday everyone!

Ryker is 6 weeks old!

I cannot believe that six weeks have flown by so fast. I'm still so amazed that I'm a mom, the fact that I've been a mom for six weeks already is so unbelievable. I've been the worst at posting lately, things have been a little bit busier than usual :)

Ryker is doing so well and getting so big so fast! The last time we checked he was up to seven pounds but that was last week, so I'm sure that he is up way more since then. He wants to eat so much more lately, he'll try and take 4 ounces at his night time formula feedings but we've learned that it only leads to spit up trouble if we let him do that. Last night Vic and I were talking about trying to wean him off the formula at night and that I might try to breast feed him in bed at night once I go back to work so that I can get more nursing time in since I'll lose the day time nursing sessions. It is a little bit harder to get him latched in bed at night since it's dark, but I gave it a shot last  night and he sleeps so well once he's breast fed as opposed to bottle fed and we have our own version of co-sleeping down and he loves it. 

I'm nervous that I've created a little monster because he loves being held all the time and kinda flips his shit once he realizes that he's been put down. I discovered this week that while he isn't so fond of bath time in his little bath, he did like taking a bath with me and floating in the bathwater. Obviously he doesn't float completely on his own, but when I supported him and let him lay back he looked so relaxed and content. I think we are going to start a bath time/bed time ritual soon to try and get the most of how it tuckers him out before bedtime. 

It is so exciting to feel like we are getting more and more into a routine and learning what each little sound a cry means. I have a baby, I'm a mom! That's so nuts to me. I just can't get over how cute he is and how much I love to snuggle with him. 

Big yawn!!

6 week birthday kisses from his brother, Sam

My adventure walking all three babies

Just chillin' in bed with Mom!

On a non-baby note, I started CrossFit again! It feels so great to be getting in the "Oh my God, I'm going to die" workouts again. I've been getting a little frustrated that some of the movements are feeling as foreign as they did when I first learned them, I just have to remind myself that muscle memory will kick in and that I'll get back in my groove soon. Laying Ryker on my bruises from power cleans is definitely a different feeling, haha! Monday was this killer workout with 30 reps of 8 different movements: burpees, kettlebell swings, wall balls, pull ups, box jumps, jump rope, thrusters and toes to bar. Holy cow, that one hurt. Yesterday was power cleans and pushups, I'm pretty sure I'll be walking funny all weekend from those workouts. I also got a couple miles in this week and am hoping to get some more in this weekend. 

I've made some pretty tasty meals lately on the grill which  I need to add to the tasty eats section of the blog, I have so much that I need to do on here!

Marinated flank steak with oranges and red peppers

Arugula salad with lemon-olive oil dressing (I used way too much lemon juice, woops!) with grilled chicken pizza with fresh chopped basil and red onions

Also, I started reading my books for my doula certification, I really have to write my review of Bestfeeding soon, I figure that will be the best way for me to keep the books and their information straight. That should be coming soon, I promise.

Ryker's Kassel Grandparents are coming to visit today! They'll be here for the weekend and I'm sure it's going to be so fun :) Lots of pictures to come! 

TGIF

It's Friday! It's kind of silly for me to still get excited about Fridays for the next few weeks, since every day is a Friday to me. It means that Vic will have the weekend off though, so that is what keeps them exciting. 

Even though we did zero planning for ho we were going to spend the holiday, yesterday turned out to be a pretty great Fourth of July. 

After spending another two hours at the furniture store (they were having a big Fourth of July sale) we decided again to not replace our couch. We keep wanting to and then going to the store and deciding that nothing we find is worth the money, so we still have our same old couch. After the time at the store we came back home where I took a nap with Ryker while Vic got to spend some time playing Gears of War with his friend, Danny. 

After we got up from our nap, we packed up and went down to downtown Norfolk to get dinner and watch fireworks. Vic's parking garage at the building that he works at was right next to where they were setting off the fireworks, so we parked there and wandered over to get dinner before the show. We tried to eat at Joe's Crab Shack, but the wait was over an hour and a half! We got a beer or two (don't worry, I pumped right before and had bottles ready for Ryker) and then we walked over to the festival to see if we could get food there. Of course the lines at all the food stands were super long too, so in the end we just went back to the car to watch the fireworks from the top of the parking garage. I LOVE fireworks, so it was pretty great to sit up there with Vic, some music playing and cuddle the baby. He sleeps through everything (except the night) so he had no idea the fireworks were going off over his head. Overall, a wonderful way to spend the night!

 Ryker and I have kind of figured out the whole breastfeeding on our side thing, I can lay on my side with him facing me on his side while he latches from there. It makes for a much easier way to rest while feeding him as long as it isn't one of those days where my nips are super sore. Yesterday I was actually able to feed him from myself more than he was fed from a bottle, which was pretty exciting. Usually he'll eat from me and then lose it like ten minutes later and want a bottle. But none of that yesterday! I think that as he is getting a little older he is getting better at being able to latch and actually stay awake. His latch was never really our problem, he would always fall asleep once he got on there. But, I think things are getting a little bit easier!

Time to try and get some stuff done around the house while my little man sleeps, we still haven't unpacked from our trip to CA. Have a great weekend!