11 months old

Griffin is now 11 months old. I just can't believe how fast it's going. In just a few short weeks our little guy will be turning 1!! It's insane. He just started sleeping through the night again after being sick, which we are very happy about. He is so funny and sweet and such a snuggle bug. He loves to give hugs and kisses and blow raspberries on us. Being his mom is just the best.

HFM

griffin is currently sick. he has hand, foot, mouth disease (HFM). he probably got it last week at the gym (in the child care he loves to play in). he has a rash all over his body and little tiny blisters on his nose, around his mouth, on his hands, and on the back of his throat. he's basically just hopped up on benadryl, tylenol, and a mixture of benadryl and maalox to soothe the blisters on his throat. poor guy. it's not supposed to hurt, except for the ones in the throat, but it looks bad. he has a rash all over his body. little tiny red bumps. all over his legs, feet, little hands, and arms. it's so sad. the doctor said he's probably drooling so much because it hurts to swallow. he can't be around other kids until 24 hours after his rash goes away. and that could take 7-14 days. so, i'm basically going to be stuck in the house for that long. with a rash-y, virus-y, cranky little boy. wish me luck.

the boy turns 10 months and we celebrate thanksgiving

our little man just turned 10 months old on sunday. i can't believe that he'll be 1 in just two short months. ahhh!!! it's going by too quickly. he eats everything, plays so well with other kids, loves going to child care at our gym, and is an overall joy. he's sleeping through the night, which has changed my life, is taking good naps, and is such a little man. daddy & i sure do love you, little man.

scott & i hosted our first thanksgiving. the boy was sick (slight fever, napping on and off all day, refusing food, runny nose... pretty sure he's teething) and thankfully my mom just held him all day. we watched football, ate a lot of food, and cleaned up the kitchen by 8pm! it looked like thanksgiving never happened at our house, and we were super excited about it. i'm so thankful that scott came into my life and that we have our adorable little boy, who has gone through so much to be here with us. last year we didn't know if we'd be celebrating the holidays with our son, and now that he's here and healthy it's the best gift of all. hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving!!

confessions of an accidental co-sleeper

the first night we brought griffin home from the hospital he was 27 days old, and i was terrified. it was the first time he wasn't hooked up to monitors that beeped if something happened to him; monitors that i could look at and see his heart rate, pulse ox, and make sure he was okay... monitors that told me he was still alive. he slept in our bed that night, curled up in between scott and me. i woke up every 5 minutes to hear him breathe. i felt crazy, but i knew i didn't want to be a co-sleeping mom. i nannied for those moms. those moms who hadn't spent the night alone with their husband for 10+ months. those moms whose 2 year olds are still in bed with them. those moms who sleep on the floor with their kids, while their husbands sleep in the bed. i did not want to be that mom. so on night number two griffin slept in a bassinet, next to the bed. that only lasted about a week or so. and then we put him in his crib (in his own room). at this point he was waking up once, maybe twice a night. by 3 months he was weened off any and all nighttime feedings and was sleeping from 7pm-7am. it was amazing. and then he hit 5 months old. something changed, and he just started waking up. and instead of just letting him cry we spent every night trying to figure out why he was crying (teething?, hungry?, poopy?, etc). we should have just let him cry, but instead we got up with him, fed him bottles, and changed diapers. by 6 and a half months we were just completely exhausted from getting up every.single.night (and for some reason i literally couldn't handle hearing him cry it out in the middle of the night) and one night we brought him into bed with us. it was 2am and we just wanted to sleep. and he slept until 7am. it was so nice. from then on he came into our bed maybe once or twice a week for a little while, and every once in awhile he'd sleep through the night. and then it stopped. he started waking up every night just to come into bed with us. it got earlier and earlier too. at first he woke up between 2am-4am, and then it was 11pm, and then it was 9pm, and then he wouldn't even fall asleep in his own crib. it was heinous. there have been many a night where i've laid next to griffin in my bed at 7pm trying to get him to fall asleep. i hated it. and after more than two months of that i finally hit my breaking point. i'd become a co-sleeper. i'd become that mom that i never wanted to be. it was deeply affecting my relationship, and affecting my feelings for griffin. sometimes it's nice to snuggle with your baby, but not when they're crawling all over you at 3am. i'm happy to say that one week shy of his 10 month birthday, our little boy is sleeping in his crib again. through the night. he's teething now, so sometimes he wakes up, but i let him cry. it's been about a week since we started letting him cry it out, and it's changed my life. i get to cuddle next to scott at night. i get to stretch out in my bed, and i get to greet my son each morning feeling refreshed instead of worn out. i love it. i'm happy i'm no longer a co-sleeper.

this face

is just the highlight of my day. love him.

carving pumpkins

trying to lose

my son is 9 months old and i've lost 25 pounds. which is great. except that i gained 35 pounds total during my pregnancy and had about 20 pounds i wanted to lose before that. so that equals 30 more pounds that i'm trying to lose. before the wedding. before i have another baby. 30 pounds. i belong to a gym that does a biannual bootcamp. it's a 7 week program, and i really want to document it, and my progress, on here. saturday started day 1 of the program, and i was up at 5:30am for my 6am class. we weighed in, took our bmi percentages, ran a timed mile and then went through our first "circuit". it was great, and reminded me a lot of crossfit, which i realize i really, really miss. it's pretty intense. we work out 8 times a week with 1 day of rest, so twice a week we're working out 2 times a day. here is our weekly workout schedule (starting with sunday):
sunday:  60 min cardio, 20 min strength- upper/core
monday: 30 min cardio, 20 min strength- upper/core
tuesday: am: 30 min cardio, 20 min strength- lower/core, pm: 30 min cardio/strength
wednesday: rest
thursday: am: 30 min cardio 20 min strength- lower/core, pm: 30 min cardio/strength
friday: 30 min cardio, 20 min strength- lower/core
saturday: group workout: cardio and circuit.

you need to do 20 minutes of strength work a day, alternating between upper and lower, or you can do 1 hour of strength work twice a week with a full body workout (like crossfit or an hour long circuit workout). so i might go to crossfit twice a week and then go my cardio and other such stuff at the gym.

in addition to this we have to eat a pretty strict, almost paleo, diet. which is pretty easy for me. it's just the no alcohol thing that is hard for me. sometimes i just want a glass of sauvignon blanc! we are allowed one cheat day during the entire 7 weeks (which goes from 10/29 to 12/10). and i've chosen thanksgiving as my cheat day. i definitely can't give proper thanks without cheesy appetizers, lots of mashed potatoes, and glasses of wine