Hitting up the gym again!

Sorry, no new photos of Hannah to post today. Not because I don't have any, but because I'm too lazy to take them off my camera, which is upstairs.

Nope, today I re-joined Planet Fitness and got in my first "real" workout since April of 2007! It felt so good to get on the treadmill and run and use the weight machines again! I'm starting to train for a 5K road race again, the same race I was starting to train for last spring when I found out I was pregnant. I had to stop running then, because I hadn't been doing it long enough for it to not be a huge strain on my body. So it felt good to start back into the running program I was doing, and I'll do the first week twice, just to get back into the swing of it. Plus, I'm looking forward to having an opportunity to get out of the house a few times a week after John gets home from work. The 5K gives me something to work towards, while hopefully losing some weight in the process!

Just another day in Paradise

John is home on vacation this week, which is awesome. I'm really excited to have him home with me this week. I have this week and next week off before returning to work on March 11th. I'm not looking forward to going back, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right? I'd love to be a stay at home mom, but I'd also love to be able to afford our house, so guess which one wins out? :-) Fortunately, it's only two days a week that I work, but the down side is that I am waiting to hear back from my boss as to which two days it will be. I used to work Monday and Thursday, but now she wants me to work Tuesday and Friday. I e-mailed my boss to ask for Tuesday and Thursday instead, but she hasn't gotten back to me yet. I'm hoping that she gets back to me soon! I need to be able to tell John's mom that if I need a baby sitter, those would be the days. I have to let her know soon, so she can tell her boss.

Hannah is doing awesome, speaking of baby sitters. She's starting to make new noises. This morning she experimented with "goo" and "maa", so it's been fun listening to her sample these new sounds she has discovered she is capable of.

Well, it's time for us to pack up to head to church. Hannah is really well behaved at mass services, so we'll see how she does again today!

Hannah is 1 month already!

Boy, how right they were when someone first said, "Time flies when you're having fun!" Hannah is 1 month old today, and I can't believe how fast the month has just flown by! I feel like I was just coming home from the hospital, stressed out beyond believe and having no idea how to take care of this little person I'd just given birth to, and now, I'm not going to say I'm a pro mom or anything like that, but I'm definitely getting the hang of things now. Hannah and I are starting to figure each other out, and get a schedule down, which is good. Of course, by the time our schedule is pretty much set, I'll be going back to work two days a week.

Anyway, Hannah did great at the doctors again - she's in the 95th percentile for hight, and the 75th for weight! Tall and skinny, that's what she is. Her nurse practitioner says she looks great!

I got the all clear from my doctor today to start working out and stuff again. I'm so excited! Now I've just got to decide if I want to join Curves or Planet Fitness. Decisions, decisions. I think it will all come down to which one costs less. I suppose that means that I have to start watching what I eat again, huh? Bummer. I was kind of hooked on Oreos and ice cream. :-) Just kidding (kind of). Since John is home on vacation next week, I will go to Curves to check them out, and if I like them, I'll sign up. If not, I'll go sign up at Planet Fitness.

There isn't much else going on right now. John is on vacation next week, which is AWESOME! I will love having him home with me - it makes caring for Hannah so much easier because if I'm doing something, he can tend to her. Plus, it will give us the chance to have some family time that isn't rushed because we only have two days together. I'm looking forward to that!

Last but not least: Photos! The first four are Hannah being a big girl and sitting on the couch. The last one is of her in her car seat modeling a sweater a woman John plays in Carter Mountain Brass Band with made for her. Wish I made it, but I didn't :-) I've got some things in the works for her though.

Knitting and Hannah updates

So, I finally decided it was time to get some pictures of current and recently completed knitting projects posted up here again. And of course, some pictures of Hannah :-) Fortunately, she is modeling one of my knitting projects.

First up is this photo (below) of a baby blanket I am working on. I can't remember if I've posted a photo of it or not yet, so I figured I'd post one again to be safe. It's made with the Blue Sky Organic Cotton in the color "nut". This photo makes it look kind of dark, but it's not as dark as it looks.
Here we have the photo of the "Traditional Mabel Dress" from the "Simple Knits for Cherished Babies" book by Erika Knight. I'm knitting it with Baby Ull yarn in a Periwinkle color. It's going to take a while to do because the yarn is so fine, but it knits up well.

This is my second beret that I made for me. I used Blue Sky Organic cotton for it. It came out pretty well, but I'm not crazy about the yarn for it.

Now, moving on to the photos everyone REALLY wants to see:

This is Hannah on Valentines day. Her shirt says "Be Mine" with a puppy dressed like cupid. The back had little fuzzy wings on it. Her pants have hearts saying "Be Mine" and "Hug Me" on them.


February 15 - "Dad, is their food in your nose?"

February 16 - All bundled up and sound asleep :-)

February 17 - Hannah makes her modeling debut! She is modeling the Lilly Hat I made (I found the pattern while navigating Ravelry) The hat is made of Lion Bran Vanna's Choice (because I was in a pinch and couldn't get my hands on anything else thick enough) in Dusty Purple. I think it looks great!

Tummy time photos!

No words needed. Enjoy!

Photos, updates and just general life stuff

So this past week has been fairly uneventful for me. Hannah and I are finally starting to hit our stride, which is good, and we're starting to kind of get things figured out. Going back to work is going to be a challenge, not so much because I'll be taking her with me, but because I'm not going to want to go! I really enjoy my "stay at home mom" time with her, and I wish I could find some sort of work to do from home. I've tried, believe me, to find some, but it's hard without having some sort of training. If I could, I'd probably want to work from home as a medical transcriptionist, but you really have to have training for that, and the trainings I've found for it are all over $1,000. I guess technically we could afford that right now, but it's something I'd really have to be sure of wanting to do, and I'm just not sure that's exactly what I want. I also think it would be kind of fun to franchise a Stroller Strides, but I have no experience in fitness and teaching it, and I wouldn't really know just where to do it anyway. If anyone has any suggestions of things I can do to work from home, I'd really appreciate it!

Hannah has been doing really well lately. She sleeps for about a 3 1/2 to 4 hour stretch at night between feedings, and she does well during the day too. She's not very fussy a lot, which is nice. Some days are tougher than others, but that's how it goes sometimes.

Anyway, without further ado - PHOTOS!

Time to update

Well, our first 2 weeks (just about) of parenting has been an adventure, but it's been a lot of fun! Just learning about Hannah's personality and what she does to signal different things has been neat, but stressful too. We discovered that the breastfeeding was just not working for us, so we switched her to formula, and now she is thriving wonderfully - she's already surpassed her birth weight, after hitting a low of 7 lbs 12 oz the Friday after she was born. As of this past Thursday (the 31st) she is up to 8 lbs 7 oz. She has her next check up this coming Thursday.
Hannah is able to sleep up to a 4 1/2 hour stretch at night, but usually it's about 3 hours between feedings. Fortunately, we can do that three times in a row, so I still end up with about 8 hours of sleep when all is said and done.
Today we took her to church for the first time, and we got all sorts of compliments on her from people we didn't even know. It was a great feeling! She was excellent at mass too, she slept through half of it, woke up to eat, then just hung out quietly until it ended. Then she fell back asleep! She's napping now in preparation for her first Super Bowl. She's all dressed and ready for it - she's got on her little Patriots teeshirt, and she has a cap she can wear too, but it's miles to big for her.
Things with me are going fine too. I feel pretty good (though slightly sleep deprived), and have been healing nicely from the birth. John is doing well too. He went back to work this past Monday, and will have his vacation in about 3 weeks. My mom's sister and her husband are in town from Texas this week, and they will be coming over to meet Hannah on Thursday, which is exciting.
Anyway, other than that, I just have some new photos of Hannah to post:
This is Hannah in her Pack 'N' Play under a quilt made for her by Mary Lynn.

Here she is in her car seat to head to church this morning.

And here is Hannah resting up for the big game tonight!