my day out with dad

okay so it wasn't a whole day.  it wasn't even a whole hour.

but for 45 minutes on friday I went out with my dad.  alone.  with no baby!

picture or it didn't happen

it was my first time away from Clark since he was born.  it felt sort of like leaving without one of my legs!  we had just gone on a walk around the block and my mom made brunch for everyone.  by the way, let me just say without my mom I don't think I would have eaten these past three weeks!  she is amazing!

anyway, so after we ate my dad announced he was off to run some errands.  I said, "boy, I'm jealous.  that sounds great!" and he said I should come.  I just laughed but he said it wouldn't be very long and after about 10 minutes of convincing me it would be okay to leave my baby for less than an hour we were off!

first we went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription.  then we went to another store to pick up an order he had placed.  the whole thing took all of 45 minutes.  it was so much fun!

haha I guess you could say I've been going a little stir crazy.  I feel like a feeding machine lately...Clark eats about every two hours during the day and it usually takes a half an hour to feed him.  that leaves me 90 minutes in between feeds.  and that's if he isn't fussy or wanting to be held or needing to be changed.  so needless to say I do not have much time to do anything.  the other day I actually breastfed him while going to the bathroom!  hey you gotta do what you gotta do.

I spy a little hand!

on the bright side, he is already sleeping through the night!  (probably because he's eating so much during the day.)  we have no idea how long he would actually sleep but we usually wake him after 6-7 hours.  getting 6 straight hours of sleep at night is amaaazing!

parenthood has definitely been the biggest adjustment of my life.  I used to think it would be so much fun playing mommy...dressing, feeding, and bathing my sweet baby.  I'm not sure I would call any of that "fun" anymore.  do you know how hard it is to dress a squirming, screaming baby?  and breastfeeding has only recently become tolerable in terms of the pain.  forget baths...Clark is cold and crying and we both just want it to be over with!

but even though I can't imagine a harder job, I also can't imagine a more rewarding one.  the love I have for this baby is more than I ever thought possible.  he is my whole world now and I'd do anything for him.

postpartum update

it's been a little over a week and I can hardly remember what it feels like to be pregnant.  so that's how people have more than one kid!

all through my pregnancy as I watched my body change and my weight go up every week, I wondered how I would ever look like myself again and if I did, how many months of exercise and dieting it would take.  it scared me sometimes since I'm lucky to have inherited great genes and have always been able to eat whatever I want without worrying about my weight (minus the teenage years when all girls think they're fat!)  I thought this would be it for me and from now on I would have to live off of salads and exercise hours every day just to be my old self again.

I have been very happy to discover that is not the case!  I was amazed at how quickly my body bounced back.  immediately after giving birth I lost 15 lbs like that!  it was amazing!  now it's been 12 days and I've lost 20 lbs!  more importantly though is how I feel and I honestly feel almost completely back to normal...and it hasn't even been two weeks!

my stomach is definitely not as tight and toned as it was before...and it's not completely flat.  I still look about 10 weeks pregnant...

but this is all without any exercise (literally no time and it's freaking hot outside and the only thing I'm allowed to do so far is walk) although I have been eating very healthy...up until last night when I caved and had a huge bowl of ice-cream.  12 days without ice-cream.  that is a new record for me!  I actually couldn't finish half of it!!!  I guess my body wasn't used to all the sugar..but boy was it yummy!

I have also been using a belly bandit but I'm not wearing it 24/7 like you're supposed to.  I don't sleep as well with it on (and with the amount of sleep I'm getting I'm not sacrificing a minute of it!) and it's not that comfortable to sit in (which I'm doing 10-12 hours every day to breastfeed) so I basically only wear it when we go out anywhere and sometimes during the day.  I do think it's helped though but I honestly think breastfeeding is what's doing the trick!  my mom said she had to quit breastfeeding us a little after 6 months because she was losing too much weight...losing weight while feeding my baby?  that's my kind of workout!

I'm taking measurements every week and since the day I came home from the hospital I've lost half an inch off my left arm, an inch off my right arm (all the breastfeeding!), 4 inches off my chest (although I measured after a feeding so my breasts may have been empty because sometimes they are like playboy huge!), 3.5 inches off my waist, and an inch and a half off my hips.  my thighs haven't changed but once I start walking I'm sure they will.  they are definitely smaller than before giving birth though because they were rubbing against each other at the end of my pregnancy which has never happened to me before and it was so uncomfortable!!

I'm giving myself two months to lose the rest of the pregnancy weight so at baby's two month wellness check hopefully I'll be completely back to normal!  and I'm not going to let myself worry at all until then, especially when my every thought is consumed with this little babe...