And, a late Merry Christmas to you!

This year is quite possibly the smoothest Christmas we have experienced in our 10 years of being together.  Who would have thought I'd say that for Ethan's first Christmas?  It took having a baby.  Go figure!

I do hope everyone had a great Christmas (or whatever other holiday you like to celebrate!).

This month has come and gone way too fast.  I feel like we ran out of time for everything.  We didn't even get to decorate the tree until Christmas Eve, and it was after we put Ethan to bed.  Guess I lost my Mother-of-the-Year award.  I really wanted to make it a big family affair, so we kept putting it off.  Couldn't do it during the week because one of us was always getting home too late, and then it would be time for Ethan's bedtime routine.  Every weekend it was something else; we were all sick, my work Christmas party, Ethan's baptism, etc. etc...  I caved and let us get a fake tree this year.  Guess next year I'll have to cave and start decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving.  :-/  Other than that, everything went ahead well.  As you can see, we were able to get Ethan's first picture with Santa (or, Bum Santa, as we affectionately call him).  Koopa's epic yawn gave us a fantastic Christmas card this year.

So, I have started Crossfit.  The first week left me unable to sit right to piss.  This week has been better.  I had planned to go back tonight, but ended up running over with my work obligations.  Tomorrow will probably not be any better, as we are going out of town to Lake Charles after Michael gets off of work.  I knew December was going to suck to start this stuff.  But, my intro marked the start of my month, which I did not realize before I did it.  Oh well, it's been an interesting jump start back into the fitness world!

Other than the tried and true lose weight goal, I don't have much figured out as far as New Year's resolutions.  Not care about people opinions as much?  Meh.  Who says you have to have a resolution anyway! ;)  Blog more? :D

UGH.

I feel like this post should be on my weight loss blog, but since I haven't been able to lose weight I guess it doesn't matter where it goes!

I'm so frustrated.  Everyone said that breastfeeding would burn so many calories.  I gained 30lbs while I was pregnant.  I lost 10lbs within the first two weeks.  Since then I have been at a hault.  Honestly, I want a quick fix.  Nursing Ethan means that I can't do that - which is good.  I don't need to crash diet.  I just hate being back at that place where I hate seeing pictures of myself and I hate looking in the mirror.  It is so depressing.

I went to my Crossfit intro, and I'm going back tonight.  I am not looking forward to it.  It's not that I'm lazy or don't want to get my sh!t together... It's that I feel like that fat chick that everyone will be staring at.

You are your own worst critic.  For me, that's a definite.

Our first ear infection

Sick babies suck.

Well, actually, sick babies are really sweet (at least mine is).  They snuggle and just want to be held.  It melts my heart.  But, knowing that my little nugget doesn't feel well really sucks for me.  He did really well this weekend for his baptism.  He napped on the ride over, was perfect through the ceremony and only started to get a little fussy at the end of picture taking because it was his lunch time.  Once I fed him, he was all smiles through lunch and then just watched the sky on the way home.  Sunday, he seemed like his normal self for most of the day (minus a runny nose), but started to feel warm that afternoon.  By the time we swung by Michael's parents house, he was fussy.  We gave him some children's Tylenol and kept him in bed with us last night.  This morning he seemed better, but still not 100%.  I made an appointment for him with the pediatrician this afternoon, and upon examination he found a small ear infection in his right ear.  I should have known because he was a little irritable nursing while on his right side a couple of times yesterday.  I'm just glad we caught it early.

So, I guess it's another first for my little guy.  Just wish it had been a happy one!

Where have the past 4 1/2 months gone?

Ethan is getting baptized on Saturday.  Yay!  Michael is so not excited to see his little man in a gown, but it's tradition.  And we all know how this Mommy is about traditions.  I did make a concession to have a second "boyish" outfit for him to wear for the family pictures afterwards.  The same priest that married us is doing a private ceremony for our family at his church.  It's out in BFE, but it's going to be extra special!

Moving on...
There is this thing called the 4 month wakeful.  I call it hell.  I kind of feel like if I hadn't read about it, it would have never happened - like I jinxed myself.  It all started when I made the STUPID mistake of being excited over a night of 10 hours straight of sleep.  The next night we lost count of how many times he woke up.  The next night dwindled to about 4.  Then, last night was only once, but he didn't go down until 10:30pm (two hours past his bedtime).  I can only imagine what kind of fun we get to have tonight.  We're trying to ween him off of the night feeding.  The first time he wakes up, he just gets some belly rubs and his pacifier.  If he wakes up a second time, I feed him.  I'm hoping that we grow out of this nighttime fun soon..

I can't help but to think that part of the problem is that we started rice cereal.  The pediatrician told us that if I want to continue to breastfeed, then I will need to supplement with iron in one way or another.  This means a) one bottle of formula fortified with iron, b) an iron vitamin supplement in a dropper, or c) rice cereal.  I thought we were taking the best route by going with rice cereal since that would give him some practice with a spoon.  Because of the two nights of issues, we skipped the cereal last night.  We'll skip again tonight and try back on Friday night.

One positive: Since Ethan was born, I was always the one to get up with him at night because I am nursing him.  Monday night, Michael got up with him since we are trying to ween the night feeding.  One of the several times he came back to bed, he curled up to me and said, "I have such a new respect for you after tonight!"  :)  I don't mind getting up with my little guy at all, but it was nice to feel appreciated!