Goals & Updates

As I look back, I am not posting as often as I had hoped. It is all part of my slow transition to staying at home I think. I always want to be further along in a project sooner than what is practical. But that is what baby steps are all about, taking it one goal at a time.

I am thinking of taking on some new adventures and thought this would be a good time to share my progress on various current goals and projects.

Exercise

First of all, I started working out this week. I joined a fitness Facebook page over the weekend, which I already feel incredibly accountable to and I love it. Working out has not always come easy for me. I don't really like it. But I like the way I feel afterwards. I have had such a sense of motivation this week after working out. It feels amazing! Although it wasn't feeling so great on Monday.  I had been having this pain in my right upper arm. I thought it was from always holding Little Man on that side. Monday while I was stretching, I felt a slight pop and then a pinching feeling in my back. It was bad enough to see the chiropractor that day. I had a rib out of alignment!  How crazy is that?! Needless to say it was quite sore that night after it was put back in place. Moral of the story is.....alternate sides when holding the baby. Who knew? Another thing is how thankful I am that I saw the chiropractor instead of going to a doctor that may have wanted to do x-rays and who knows what else.

I did not do the workout yesterday morning. Wednesdays are Mom's Group at church and that is therapeutic for me and socialization for Baby Girl so we do not miss. Therefore,  my workout was grocery shopping with the 15 pound 3.5 month old in the Moby wrap and then making four trips up the stairs carrying groceries into the house. No nap Thursday means the workout this afternoon has to be pushed back to tonight. I am thinking it might be a treadmill night while watching an episode of The Good Wife.

DIY

The motivation has carried into the laundry. I think I might be caught up (if you can ever say you are really caught up with laundry) since we traveled back home in March. No it is not the same laundry since then, I just finally have most of it washed (key word is washed, not all of it is folded). There are a few changes I am looking into for my laundry system.  One is a wall mounted drying rack, primarily for the cloth diapers. Right now I have a flimsy wooden drying rack that will not stay put together and takes up way too much space. Once I get the wall mount rack I want to find a table for folding clothes to put in place of the current drying rack. I am thinking of something with  shelves underneath to hold baskets for each family member to house folded clothes. Our laundry room is in our basement and the bedrooms are upstairs so I need to be strategic in getting the clothes from the dryer to their home.  I cannot wait to get the laundry room more functional. I am really excited.

Gardening

Other goals I am working on is the garden. It looks very sad at this point as you can see. :(  Actually it does  not even look like a garden yet, just dug up grass. Between the rain and babies not sleeping, I am having trouble finishing the prep work. After researching and talking with garden friends, I decided to use the double dig method with raised beds. Double digging is digging out the existing soil to mix with new soil. Very time consuming and very labor intensive, but is supposed to result in the best yields. My husband, of course, wants me to plant the entire backyard so he has less to mow. I told him that would require a tiller and him to maneuver the thing. We are still debating at this point.

I decided on 4x4 beds using untreated cedar boards. I will use the block style planting to get more plants in less space. I am excited  and anxious to get the prep done and plants in place. I want to get at least one bed done for spring/summer planting. I think I will slowly work on building beds throughout the summer to get a fall crop in and then have them ready to go for next spring. Again, one step at a time.

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Kiddos

I have since gone back and forth on eating dairy products in trying to determine if it really makes a difference in Little Man's digestive system. Currently, and for the past few weeks, I have been avoiding dairy and most recently eggs. It has seemed to make a difference so I am going to stick with it for a while longer and then introduce one product at a time. He has slept through the night the last few nights (although usually that means we will have a few nights of frequent waking or early waking), but I am hopeful. We moved to a four hour feed schedule and that has helped tremendously with feeding sessions. But that also means my supply is having a little trouble catching up, so I have been offering a bottle at night after he nurses to make sure his tummy is full. Maybe that is why he is sleeping better? Not sure, but I will keep doing it anyway.

Baby Girl was doing so well with potty training when we hit a wall with pooping. She tells me in public now when she has to go and for the most part she does actually go. Last week though, we had three nights of pooping in her diaper in the middle of the night and getting her hands in it. Oh my!! Changed the sheets three or four days in a row. Finally, something I said I never wanted to do, I told her she could have a cookie if she pooped on the potty. Her issue was not wanting to set there long enough to realize she had to go so I had to give an incentive. This was the first cookie I have ever given her (I am guessing the sitter has given her a cookie or two while she was there). It was a mini cookie so it is only a bite. But she eats it like it is gold. It is hilarious. But, it has worked. She will say, "Cookie...Poop?...Cookie....Poop?". We are consistent and she only gets a cookie if she poops. Today though she did not even ask for the cookie so even more progress. Yah! Right now she is in underwear at home, going out underwear (cloth pull up) for when we leave the house because I am not ready to clean up a mess in public with an infant and toddler even though she has been dry for weeks, and then a diaper at nap and bedtime.

I look forward to sharing more and please feel free to offer suggestions or comments. I am here to learn from you as well.