My Baby Isn't Like The Other Babies

My baby isn't like the other babies.  At the local moms group play date for babies born this year, Lily was fussing almost the entire time.  She's a very happy baby.  But, she knows what she wants to do and how to communicate that we're not doing what she wants to do.  She did not want to be at the play date.  When she woke up from her nap, for the second week in a row, we were in someone else's house.  She was happy for a few minutes.  Then, her demeanor very quickly changed to "MOM!  I don't want our big adventure today to be ANOTHER house! GET ME OUTTA HERE!"  She wasn't really interested in playing with her toys.  She didn't want to play with everyone else's toys.  She didn't really care to play the I'm-gonna-drop-it-and-you're-gonna-hold-me-while-I-pick-it-up-game.  However, an hour after she woke up, she did find a maraca that she was very interested in playing with like it was the best toy ever.  When that nostalgia wore off, I knew we had to go.  But, Mommy didn't want to go.  I wanted to stay and talk to the other mommies.  Hmph.

This is happening more and more.  She's over play dates with other babies.  She's over Busboys and Poets.  She's over Gymboree.  She's over Le Leche League.  She's over playing on her tummy.  Forget trying to go to a non-baby related event.  None of the other babies throw fits like my baby does.  I don't see any of the other moms constantly panicked with trying to appease their little prince or princess when we go to these things.  I looked around as we were leaving and everyone else was happy as a clam.

Despite the fact that it does take three of us here at home to manage and we're all still pretty exhausted, Lily has so many strengths.  She is charismatic.  Her smile and laugh are to die for.  She can eat like a champ.  She loves to go shopping.  She loves to dance.  She loves to sing and watch other people do all of these things.

We keep hoping that when we can communicate and understand each other better that this dynamic will change.   But, that's probably just more waiting for a change that isn't what we expect.  She'll probably be able to much better communicate that she's over it. 

Finally Loosing Weight

OMFG.  Wow.  I weighed 171 lbs for my low weight this morning.  A month ago, at 8 months postpartum, I had hit 185 lbs again for a high weight.  I gave birth at 190 lbs.  Before I was pregnant, I weighed 150 lbs.  Breast milk production makes my weight fluctuate from 3 to 5 lbs each day. 

You know, I was loosing weight during my maternity leave.  I figured this out a couple of weeks ago.  When I'm at work, I intake a lot of food and drink that I wouldn't otherwise.  I eat out more.  It is easier to eat crappy food at work.  Chipotle and thousand-calorie burritos was a staple for a few months.  And, I needed a snack to get me to work.  Sometimes two.  I also needed a snack to get me into the newscast.  Then, there was a glass of wine to chill out at night.   There were many days where I would have 3 snacks and 2 lunches (along with breakfast and dinner).  Hungry?  Need coffee?  BAM!  Starbucks breakfast sandwich.  There were other days where I'd eat a thousand calories of gluten free pizza, because it was yummy and we were too hungry to figure anything else out.

And, you cannot crash diet while breastfeeding, because loosing weight too quickly will release toxins that will get into the breastmilk.  Additionally, if I am not eating at regular intervals, I am starving, and I will suddenly crash and need to eat 2,000 calories of whatever I can get my hands on first.

I had attempted to cut out grains, sugar, and nuts while focusing on the overall health of my teeth.  Those newborn months were busy, and since the days didn't have distinction between them, there wasn't a clear place to take care of myself.  I noticed during that first round of cutting out grains and sugars that I started dropping pounds.  But, I plateaued and stopped loosing weight, so I got frustrated and gave up.  I chose the food that comforted me.  I did make the switch from Starbucks brownies to organic peanut butter cups.  But, I was back to eating frozen dinners in the microwave.  Something had to give.

homemade chicken tikka masala and broccoli

I do the best on grilled meat and veggies.  But, I have to have hot food, I have to take lunch and dinner to work with me, and I have to use a microwave (which dries out meat).  I realized a few weeks ago that I could simmer the meat in a premade sauce, like the frozen dinners do.  Voila!  I could make healthy, low cost, no grain meals that I could put in glass containers.  These would not dry out in the microwave.  I then went down to one sugar snack a day (before the newscast), and now I am down to ZERO snacks per day.  I had a little chocolate the other day, and it was too sweet.  Win.

What I cut out:

• All sugar (refined sugar, natural sugar, fruit, etc)
• All grains (refined, whole, bread, corn, rice, etc)
• All nuts and seeds

What I eat now:

• Breakfast: Eggs (and sometimes bacon)
• Snack: Salad with cheese and oil and vinegar
• Lunch: chicken/beef and veggies
• Dinner: chicken/beef and veggies
• Water/Coffee

We also started:

• Walking 1.2 to 2.5 miles per day almost every day (now that we're on 2 naps)

And, that's it.  No cookies.  No chocolates.  No peanut butter cups.  Well, there are some situations where I do indulge.  I have a mimosa with my eggs benedict at brunch.  And, you can be damn sure that I'm going to eat cake when it's there.  Damn.  Sure. Holla.  Cake.  Mmm.

Homemade Bubbles

Yesterday, I made bubbles.  Daddy wanted sugar bubbles, like the ones at Gymboree, but it turns out those are corn syrup and glycerin.  Not bad.  But, most of the at-home recipes use dish soap.  You can just google bubble solution recipes and find a bunch.  I decided to not use any kind of sugar solution, because we're having a bug problem and I didn't want the sugar to exacerbate the situation.

We could sporadically blow some bubbles.  We don't have any bubble wands yet (I just decided to do this on a whim), so I couldn't tell if my shoddy foil wands were the problem, if the solution needed to set awhile (as some website suggested), or if I just need to try a new recipe. 

Here's the recipe I used:

• 1/4 cup natural, biodegradable dish detergent (Like Seventh Generation Free & Clear)
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon glycerin