Happy 2018!

It is a single digit out. I live in North Carolina. I’m freezing. This is unreal.

The first week of the New Year came, and is about to be gone, and I’m feeling a few things. I can’t believe 2018 is here. I can’t believe I have a 16-month-old. I can’t believe I’m someone’s parent.  I haven’t made any New Years resolutions. Just plans for the new year. Here’s what we’ve got on deck so far for 2018.

• Disney. We are going to Disney at the end of this month! I am fully aware that Liam probably won’t remember any of it, but my 4-year-old nephew will be into it, and to be perfectly honest, I will probably be into it. The parks are totally different, but while were down there, I’m wondering if I shouldn’t try to arrange a trip to Harry Potter World. I very honestly believe in the magic, and I have yet to receive my letter to Hogwarts, so I have to visit the registrar down there.
• Rock n’ Roll DC. I ran my first postpartum half marathon in November, which I will recap shortly. (Spoiler, it was really fantastic.) I signed up for RnR in DC with a friend, and am now training(ish) for that race on March 10th. I say -ish because…
• I’m running a 50k in April. I have had my eye on this particular race for a number of years, and after I got pregnant with my little nugget, I took a break from racing, and I definitely took a break from the thought of ultras. I got up the courage after doing some research with some trail running friends, and signed up for the North Face Endurance race in DC (technically in Virginia). We will see how it goes!  I’m doing a modified marathon training plan, and planning to put in some extra trail miles instead of just road miles.

And that’s kind of all I have so far. We’re playing with the idea of Crater Lake this year, I’m loving my job still, but exploring within the organization, and just just like….learning stuff, as a wise Jenner once said.

Not strictly resolution-based…what are your plans in 2018? 

hi there!

Are you wondering where I went?  Are you wondering if I gave up on writing?  I didn’t.  I just took a little break while work got nuts, motherhood got nuts, and while I started working on a few things.

Here’s what I’ve been up to.

Running

I’ve been running for some time, but I took the plunge and signed up for the Richmond Half Marathon.  I decided on it after my old boss’s boss moved there to take a job.  I saw an ad for the half, and kind of fell in love with the finisher’s blanket.  (I’m a cheap sell.)  I signed up with a friend of mine, and we got an Air BnB for that weekend.  In prep, I’m running long at least once a week, and maintenance running when I can during the week as well.  It’s surprisingly like riding a bike – I’m just really frustrated with how slow I am.

Momming

I am a mom to a one-year-old.  It is so very cool.  He’s walking.  We’re still nursing.  He’s sleeping (okay).  And I swear, he’s the most active kid on the planet.  I’m struggling a bit with daycare – I feel like our transition to the toddler room from the infant room took longer than I cared for, and I struggle with feeling like I made the right decision to return to work.  I’m not sure that any of us have the answers, but I will say that outsourcing things that are really beyond your scope and abilities (if you can) is the total way to go.  We recently started having someone come in to clean the house one day a month, and I promise you, with everything in me, that that is the best investment of money (and in my marriage) that I’ve made in some time.

Finally putting my house together after having lived there for three years. 

This is so embarrassing to me.  We moved into our house about (okay, over) three years ago and I never really decorated or designed.  Our couch is a biohazard, a relic from graduate school.  We have no rug.  Our coffee table was a donation from a friend.  It’s simply awful.  So we’re fixing that.  A few weekends ago we took a full Saturday and went furniture shopping.  I made a decision on a huge sectional, and I’m acquiring pieces that fit, and purging things that don’t make sense.  Bonus points for Scotch Guard and those ottoman coffee tables so my kid doesn’t put an eye out.

Podcasting 

I have sworn up and down and up and down and up again, for years, that I wanted to do radio.  I am totally dating myself by saying radio, but in college, I used to fantasize about doing college radio, but never really made the steps to make it happen (which I totally kick myself for now).  After watching enough Insecure, and getting inspired, I finally decided to put myself out there, get a cohost, and start a podcast, the Pop Tea Podcast.  It has been fun.  It has been so much work.  But darn, I think we’re kind of onto something here.  I will definitely post more about how all that works (if you guys are curious).

Our 5th episode celebration!

The podcast is a pop culture discussion (one of my favorite things), so if you’re into that, give us a listen, follow us, and post a review on iTunes so we’ll be poppin’ and I can make some money.

Anyways, what have you guys been up to?  

There’s nothing worse…

…than that phone call from daycare when you’re going about your day.

Yesterday, I got the call while I was on my way to drop my brother’s lunch off, the lunch he’d forgotten on the counter on his way out the door.

“I’m calling about Liam’s fever.”

Of course, I was thinking to myself, what fever, but I played it cool and didn’t let on that I was really confused and really panicked.

“Yeah, it’s 101.2, that’s without the degree added.  He’s been fussing all day.”

Again, I was confused.  My child was laughing when I dropped him off.  Had things gone left so quickly?  Did he have (another) ear infection?  Would this be the one where they recommended tubes?  Am I a bad mom?  (All roads lead to that, by the way.)

I dropped my brother’s lunch off, raced down the beltline, and called the ped on the way to daycare.  I arranged a sick visit within a half-hour, pulled up to where Liam was, and hopped out, with the car still running.

When I burst into the infant room, Liam, dressed in his finest shark onesie, turned and smiled at me.

Play it cool, Cheri.  He has a fever. “Hiiii sweetie!”

The women taking care of him all looked really confused.

“They called you?!”

So, in the midst of baby snuggles, I gleaned that it was another little boy in Liam’s class, not Liam, with the fever.  Apparently that was lost in translation when they’d asked for the front desk to call a mom.  I scooted out, and headed back to work.  I’m sorry for the little one with the fever.  But glad Liam was okay.

 

We did a thing! On roadtripping with a baby.

In case you’re wondering where I’m writing to you from today, it’s not a Carrie Bradshaw type of situation.  I am typing away in a back office at my place of work, topless, with my pump strapped to me, trying to extract enough milk so that my boobs don’t feel like they’ll turn into stone and fall off.  Did you know pumping is the worst?  I’m convinced that bad pumping experiences are why a lot of women ditch breastfeeding.  And I don’t blame them.

So.

We drove to New York City with a baby, and lived to tell the tale.

So sometime, like a month or two ago, I decided we needed to go see my grandmother.  She is my last living grandparent, and though she was able to travel to make it for my wedding, she isn’t traveling much these days, and I thought it was important that Liam get a chance to hang out with a great.  That doesn’t happen for everyone.

We tossed around the idea of flying, but to be completely honest, flying just isn’t fun anymore, and we needed, at the absolute least, a stroller and a pack n’ play for Liam to sleep in, and gate-checking these items, or renting them once we got there, was a little too much for me to handle.  I just couldn’t.

So Austin rented a giant car.  I’m used to a compact (my teeny Korean car, suitable for a small family of three who still parallel parks from time to time), so this car, a Nissan Pathfinder, was like the Titanic to me.  We packed the car the night before, slept for a few hours, and executed our plan to be out of the house by 4am that Friday morning.  Really, we pulled the classic Armour, and didn’t leave until 4:20ish, but still within a reasonable time frame.  I fed and dressed the baby absolutely last before we left, loaded him up, and headed out of town.

Austin drove the first shift, and we didn’t have to stop for a few hours.  Our first stop was at a truck stop McDonald’s, which allowed for us to hop out, feed and change the baby, let him crawl around in the third row (which we flattened), and finally, I pulled the jogging stroller out and walked a few laps while Austin cleaned out snack trash, bought more coffee, and set us up to drive for another few hours.

Liam minorly freaked out for a few minutes, and we found ourselves playing, then replaying the baby version of Nina Bonita (there is an entire Spotify album that’s really good, dedicated to this Venezuelan duo and their greatest hits), but he was pretty calm as we made our way to the bottom of the Brooklyn bridge where we were staying, and while Austin laid down for just a few minutes, we played.  We finished night one with a short walk halfway across the bridge, and an early night to bed.

The next day, both of us donned workout clothes, and we walked into Manhattan with a few extra diapers, a change of clothes, and a plan to spend most of the day out.  We walked to first find coffee, to Oculus, the WTC memorial, to a late lunch to meet a camp friend, and finally, we hopped on the subway to go back to Brooklyn to see my grandmother, who was delighted to see Liam.  Liam had a rattle grasped firmly in his fat little hand, which he kept swinging.

“Gentle Liam, gentle!”

“It’s ok,” my grandmother said.  “I’m a mother too.”

The visit was amazing, and we hopped back on the subway to head back to our corner of Brooklyn, where I prepped Liam for bed, and sent Austin on a quest to find us something to eat (in the hallway, since our room was small, and Liam was asleep).  After a little bit of sleep, we prepared to head back, and the trip back felt much shorter than the trip there.  Austin took the first bit of the drive, and again, we stopped and walked around some stops, and I took over for the last few hours of the drive, built in a few extra stops, and made it home with enough time to lay the baby down for a nap, and do a walk/run before it got dark.

So, all of that to say – if you’re thinking about traveling with a little one, here’s what I would suggest.

• Pack your food/snacks.  Pack the baby’s food/snacks.  The week before we left, I bought car snacks like waters, dried fruit, nuts, and protein bars to tide us over and keep us from having to do too much fast food.  I packed some solids I’d made for the baby in a cooler bag, along with my hand pump in case I had to pump at all (I didn’t), and it made for a healthier, cheaper trip.  On one of our stops, we opened the tailgate, and I was able to feed Liam on one of the stops.
• Leave disgustingly early.  We woke up at like 3, got everything together, and took the baby with us last.  I dream-fed him, put him in his car seat, and he was asleep by the time we were just south of Virginia.  He slept from them until like 8 or so, which gave us a few solid hours or driving without really having to worry about a meltdown.
• Pack the stroller to walk on breaks.  I guess this depends on if you have a baby that enjoys walking, but even for your own exercise and sanity, having the stroller so that you can do a few laps for 15 or 20 minutes while one of you throws out car trash and programs the XM is really worth it.
• Leave yourself plenty of time.  A 9ish hour trip took about 11.  And that’s a-ok, we made it so we didn’t have anywhere to be the evening we got there.
• Be prepped for meltdowns.  Occasionally, your child may scream like a demon because he’s been strapped in a carseat for hours and he wants to crawl around like a normal baby.  Keep. Your. Cool.  Don’t freak out, don’t rip your hair out, and don’t yell at your driving partner.  It ends.

Anyways, so we made it to NYC and back, and I’m excited, not only to our next trip home, but also for other trips.  We’re planning another trip to Fripp, a few trips home, and one big trip to Florida to see family at the end of the summer, so this definitely gives me a little more confidence in this moment.

 

My first girls trip!

Hi!  Hey!  What’s up?  Do you miss me?  Are you wondering if I quit blogging?  What am I doing?  Maybe not?

So hey, I’m still here.  I just have a (not so) newborn, and I’ve been crushing it at work, but not crushing it as much in blogland.  Which I absolutely hate, so here we are!

I somehow by the grace of the good lord above ::skin-tone appropriate praise hands:: have survived a few whirlwind weekends of work, travel, and packing the baby and husband into my little compact, and making it back in one piece for work on Mondays.  It’s nuts.  It’s crazy.  It’s fun.

So let’s take it back to a few weekends ago, when I survived my first girls trip!

So a few months ago, a friend who was turning 30 said he wanted to plan something, and he sent out an invite, a date, and a gorgeous photo of a cabin in the Shenendoah State Park area of Virginia.  I’d just had Liam, but I was really determined to do something that would require me to leave him at home with dad for a weekend or so, and I figured that early spring would be a good chance to try it.  So I talked it over with Austin, confirmed, and since time is accelerating (I swear it is), found myself up early on a Friday morning, packing stuff for me, getting the baby’s stuff together for daycare that day, thawing milk, and finally, heading out of town on a rainy Friday, with my podcasts (S-Town), my audiobooks (Andy Cohen’s Superficial), and my breast pump stuff for the morning and into the afternoon.

My first stop was in Richmond, about 3 hours away from where I am in Raleigh, to have lunch with someone I used to work for.  She’d just accepted a position in Richmond, and I stopped just off of 95 with her to have some lunch and to take a pump break before I finished the last two hours or so.

I arrived at the cabin just after dinner (I had to stop at the super Target in Short Pump to pick up some cleaning stuff for my bottles), and was one of the first ones there, along with the birthday boy, and some friends.  I ran to my hidey hole upstairs for one more pump break (that was kind of the theme of some of the weekend because OMG) and we started the weekend.  We drank, got in the hot tub, I called the hubby and the baby, who were both doing amazing, and we finished off the night by watching RuPaul’s Drag Race (now at a bizarre time on Vh1, which is a discussion for another day), and I fell asleep after promising I wouldn’t, long before everyone else did.  Seriously, there is a photo of me dead asleep with my phone still up to my ear (I may have been talking to Austin?!) completely passed our for the night.  I was told that someone came in and flipped lights on and off, strobe light style, and I didn’t budge.

The cabin! 

The next day, we all woke up, and one of us cooked breakfast.  I pumped, ran down our corner of the mountain and back up, and by the time I got back, we were getting ready to do a gorgeous hike in the park.  It was rough, and about halfway through, we split off, and half the group headed back, and the rest of us continued to the peak.  I was reminded that I don’t entirely do heights (at all), and as we came back down the mountain, it was starting to get a tad darker and a tad chillier.  That evening, we cooked dinner, baked a birthday cake for the birthday boy, listened to ALL the music, practiced old tap routines with one of the theater nerds there, some of us got back in the hot tub, and just enjoyed one another’s company.  I managed to pump some more and build up a little stash, and major shout out to my friends, who don’t have kids for the most part, but who were ridiculously understanding and curious about what breastfeeding entailed.  They are the best.

Sunday was good

We need to talk about Prime Now.

Hi!

My son is 6 months old.  How in the world…

I like to think about the fact that 6 months ago, which sometimes sounds like the longest time and shortest time ever, I was not yet a parent.  I was big and fat, and waddling around in the late summer heat, but not yet a parent.  And now I like try to balance the fact that I’m a parent and I have some very adult responsibilities with the fact that I feel like I’m totally faking it as a grown-up.

Which brings me to Amazon Prime.  Specifically Prime Now.

So, I work full-time, which turns out, is really freaking hard when you have a kid.  Moms of multiples (I’m friends with this dude who’s a triplet), and moms of more than one, how in the world do you get anything done?

I really do love my job, and part of what makes it a great gig for when you have a kid is how flexible it is.  I work really hard, and I work STUPID hard during our campaign season, however, when I need, I can come and go, I can bring the baby to work with me when daycare isn’t open and let him hang out in my office, and I get to teach, one of my favorite parts of the job.  But, since I’ve been back, I’ve managed to forget something huge at least, at least once a week.  I’ve forgotten parts to my pump, the really important parts.  My lunch, brown bags for milk, storage bags, running shoes for when I’ve been teaching, socks, really, the limit does not exist as far as forgetting things goes.

So, Monday was a total Monday.  Once I got settled at work, it was time to pump.  I headed downstairs, took off my shirt, slipped on my pumping corset thingie, and then realized that in my haste to get dishes washed, I’d washed pump parts, stuck them in the dryer, and then left them there.  I had no bottles and no phalanges.  And I was already pretty uncomfortable by that point in the day.

Enter Amazon Prime Now.

I was kinda of running between meetings, and didn’t have time to run home, so I quickly g-chatted my husband, told him about my mistake, and asked him to look on Prime Now to see if we could find phalanges and bottles for my pump.  They were there, and he ordered them and had them sent to my work address.

I shit you not, within like 40 minutes, just before another meeting was starting, the stuff showed up at the front desk in a brown paper bag, and I was able to bust into it, wash it, and pump, very much to my relief.

I honestly think every time something something cool comes out, like when GPS because readily available to everyone, that technology truly cannot get any better, and then something like this totally blows my mind.  And it wasn’t like it was super expensive either, it was normally priced emergency stuff for moms whose brains haven’t yet returned to its normal size.

Side note: the next day, I forgot sneaks to teach my 12:15 cycling class, and I had to pull some major major major strings (I am so grateful for this friend) to get a pair of sz 10 shoes to the branch just in time for me to teach, then teach again, and then teach one more time.

I’ll get this working/momming thing down pat one of these days.

Have you ever used Prime Now?  What do you find yourself ordering off of there?

Beyoga

Okay, so first off, I am not at all unbiased when it comes to Beyoncé – I know that.  However, what does the woman have to do to win album/record of the year at the Grammys? I’m not in any way demeaning Adele’s talent.  She is talented, and I bought hard copies of both 25 and Lemonade, but Lemonade was the better album from start to finish.  The committee did her dirty, and Adele agreed, according to last night’s speech.

Ok, we’re done with that.  But it kind of ties in to what I did this weekend.

I mentioned this a few posts ago.  But a really sweet girl who works at the Y bought me a gift card to a yoga studio I’d mentioned wanting to try out, and so once a week or so, I will actually trek down to Durham, and take a class there.  It’s good for me.  The drive is nice, Austin gets to do some dad duty, and I get a really good practice in.  We all win.  (Plus it takes 20+ minutes to get there, so I get to listen to podcasts on my way.  It literally is so good for my mind to get down there once a week.)

So anyhoo, a few weeks ago when I was taking Angela’s class, she mentioned a Beyoncé- themed yoga class.  The class was still like three weeks off, but I went ahead and signed up so that I wouldn’t have an excuse to not go (like I’ve done with getting my nails done every single week since the day before he was born). I signed up, and really didn’t know what to expect.

Sunday afternoon, I got to class about 15 minutes before, set my mat up in the corner, but close enough to the mirror so I could see myself, and watched as the room filled with women, some young, some older, super excited to take the class.

The instructor, a tall, thin, and beautiful dancer-type with mermaid hair was piddling around the room, setting up her mic, and helping folks get set-up while one of Queen Bey’s live tours was playing.  I was pretty impressed – usually the live stuff is reserved for only the biggest fans.  I chatted with the instructor for a second before the last of the nearly 45 women poured in about the Formation world tour, the one during which we’d been evacuated due to bad weather before the Queen re-entered and finished out the show.

So the class started with a talk.  Where I started crying immediately.  Gah.  But Brady, the instructor with the mermaid hair, began to talk about the class, what it meant that we were all women, the fact that the class would have some dancing, and some singing, and would be unlike any class we’d ever taken before.

Ok. I leaned over to the woman sitting next to me, and whispered, “this is gonna be insane I feel like.”

And off we went.  We started with ‘Drunk in Love,’ and began in tabletop.  From there we did dancing lion, a moved I recognized from the pole fitness studio I sometime teach at, and back into downward facing dog, which morphed into a more twerky version of itself at some point, more bouncy and ass-ish.  At the top of the mat, in mountain pose, things started to get different in a great way.  We strutted up and down the mat, waved our hands, sang at the top of our lungs, and between of all this, managed to throw in squats, work on our calves, pushups, and some core work.  I was drenched in sweat 20 minutes into this, and the class was 90 minutes.  I took a few moments during the class to take a mental snapshot…

…and it was so neat. It was kind of cool to take yourself out of the place where you criticize any and everything about yourself and someone else for dancing around like a fool, and just go with it.  There were some women who were really cute, perfect-looking lulu yogis.  There was me, in running shorts and a tee, still trying to lose those last few pounds of baby weight.  There was the mom next to me who’d been married for over 17 years as I found out.  There was Brady the mermaid.  There was the cute girl, barely out of college, singing her lungs out in the front.  And we were all just enjoying sweating with one another!

Anyways, so now, I’m feeling really energized.  A little sore.  Inspired.  And totally ready to do some more creative programming and host my own themed classes.

How have you gotten sweaty this week? 

 

A Day in the Life (Lately)

I took the neatest yoga class yesterday.

Last week, one of the super cute girls who works on the floor at the Y invited me to come take this Hot Yoga class at this studio out in Durham.  Durham is kind of a hike for us – we are in downtown Raleigh, and during a high-traffic time, it can take like 40 minutes or more to get out there, but she assured me it was worth it.

Totally worth it, and I ended up signing up for a Beyonce-themed yoga class on Grammy Sunday.  I am super excited for that.

What I liked about this class was that, though the class was an excellent workout (I found myself a little sore the next day in some new places), the focus wasn’t on the workout.  We focused on breathing, and really being present, which is something I needed on Monday, where I felt my focus was pulled into a million different directions.

Anyways, I totally stole this idea from Taylor, a blogger who I’m insanely jealous of because she gets to live in Chicago all the time.  I’ve only ever run the marathon, and I dream about living there.  But it’s kinda cold and my sisters aren’t there, which could present some challenges…

Anyhoo, here’s a typical day (these days) for me.  I caveat this by saying “these days” because I’m still not in a great groove with the baby, and I’m not sure when I’ll get there.

7am – this is sometimes earlier, or sometimes a little later, but this is when I hear Liam start to rustle around.  He’s a morning person, so he’s not usually wailing, just kind of making sounds, and kicking his little feet around.  He sleeps in this…

…which sorta looks ridiculous, but I don’t care. He’s sleeping, I’m sleeping, and that makes me really happy.

In that time, if he’s really smiley, I literally will jog out to the kitchen and start the coffee machine and let the dog out. I still have a teeny tiny bit of eggnog left that I’m using as creamer. I’m fully prepped to sob when that’s all finished…

7:20am –  I change a diaper and nurse my little man.  This time is super nice for us to hang out.  I’ll listen to a podcast sometimes while we do this.  Sometimes, by the end of this feeding, little man is drifting off, and I’ll have a chance to stick him back in the bassinet for a few minutes while he dozes.

8:15am – So for the last bit, I’ve probably been scrambling around the house, listening to podcasts, and collecting workout gear (for my workout and in case I’m teaching a class), work wear (slightly business casual), my lunch, and his bottles that I’ve pumped for the day.  He’s probably stirring by now, so I’ll pop him out of his sleep suit and into this really cute bouncer thing I bought for him at a yard sale for $20.  I pull it into the bathroom, just outside of the shower.  He entertains himself while I shower.  He’s pretty chill, so usually, I have time to put a little makeup on, and smooth my hair down before I get dressed.  He’s ready for a snack, so I’ll nurse him, change him one more time, put some clean clothes on him, grab a few extra diapers with diaper cream depending on his skin that day, and hustle us into the main room of the house.  This is where I load him into his carseat, throw on a hat for him and some socks or shoes, and begin the process of getting everything into the car.

9:15isham – Sometimes this is a little earlier, or a little later, depending on who’s picking Liam up from daycare.  But we’re out the door, and I drop Liam off at daycare quickly before I scramble off to work.  I’m eating a peanut butter bar thing and a coffee for breakfast.  Breakfast is my favorite thing, and I make sure never to skip it, but it’s certainly not elaborate.

11:15am – So say I’m teaching the lunch cycling class?  I’ll go back to the closet to pump, and maybe have a snack.  I’ve been snacking on boiled eggs lately (gross, but filling), so I may pump, eat an egg, and make sure I’m slamming water (since I’m prone to headaches if I don’t).  

I’m off diet soda, but still like something with bubbles, so I may enjoy one of these (these are great, let’s chat about them some more later), and I get myself cleaned up before class.

12:15pm – We cycle.  I like teaching this class a lot.  I teach to tempo, so I love to really think about what music we’ll be using, and build the class.  I’m a disgusting sweaty mess after, so I try to pop into the shower at work, and get myself looking presentable for the day.

2:00pm – I pop over to Liam’s daycare sometimes to nurse him.  That way, I can skip a pumping session (because pumping absolutely blows), and I get to see him a few times a week at that time.

3:00pm – It’s sort of late for lunch, right?  But since I go to Liam’s I’ve skipped lunch, but still need to eat.  I know this is against all of the nutritionist’s rules for mindful eating, but I totally take lunch at my desk most of the time, and try to catch up on emails, and take care of some work for a while.  That’s so bad.  I should not be doing that, I need to do better.

5:00pm – So, so today’s one of those days Austin is picking Liam up from daycare, and say I’m not teaching an evening class .  THIS is when I usually get antsy.  So I’ll change into my workout clothes, and attempt to do a really really quick workout.  My latest favorite is something called the Sprint 8 program on our treadmills.  It’s an interval program that has you pushing, or sprinting, for 30 seconds, and then doing some active recovery for 1:30.  

I love this because I feel like intervals are the best way to mix up your cardio and make it fun and interesting without spending like an hour on the treadmill.

5:45pm – After a quick workout, I stay in my gross clothes, and head back to my office to work a little more.  It’s emails, sometimes writing blog posts, coordinating last-minute subs, and checking in with the classes going on in the building.  Our campaign season is in the fall, so we’re in a lull as far as fundraising.

6:15pm – Austin went to pick Liam up, so he brings him to work so he can work out, and I can take the baby home.  A lot of times, he’s asleep after his big day at daycare, so he sits in his stroller while I keep an eye on him, and finish some things up.

7:20pm – We’re done with work, and at home.  Usually, every few days, I try to put something in the crock pot so we have a little something to eat.  Sunday, it was a not-as-creamy wild rice soup…

That was pre-liquid and spices, but you get the idea. Usually, Austin will come in right behind me, run and shower, while I heat up dinner. While dinner is warming up, I nurse Liam, and set him in his bouncer or his activity mat while we eat. After dinner is when things get nuts until Liam goes to bed. We start tummy time around 8. Bathe him (only once or twice a week). I slather him in coconut oil since he’s got dad’s skin. And he’s usually asleep by 9pm.

9:30pm – Me and Austin may watch a show (Blackish lately), and after a show, he’ll wash and fill bottles for the next day, while I start writing, cleaning up, and pretending I’m going to shower, when in reality, I’m not.  Unless I’m feeling really special and energetic.

11:00pm – Because I’m nursing, I usually try to empty the boobs before I go to bed, otherwise I’ll wake up super uncomfortable.  I pump, wash the parts, and will most likely forget my pump on the coffee table, so I have to figure out what the heck I’m going to do the following day.  If we don’t have a plan for dinner the following day, I’ll try to figure something out, maybe throw something in the crockpot or prep something really quickly.

12:15am – BED.  

Whew.  Where did all the time go, right?

What’s a typical day like for you?  

Hey!

Haiiiiiii!

I’ve been gone a few weeks.  I started back at work a little over a month ago and it’s been hard.  Super hard.  I will talk more about that soon, but I’ve struggled endlessly with balance since going back to work.  I like working, I like earning, I do not like feeling completely unmoored every day of the week.  I forget something every day.

Last week was no different.

So I’m breastfeeding baby Liam.  It’s gone well, we both are enjoying the process, but when I’m at work, it involves a lot of time spent in the supply closet.  I have feelings on that by the way, but it’s not the time nor place for me to rant on women in the worksplace right now and how we are seriously undervalued.  Okay, I’m done.

If you’ve never worked and breastfed at the same time, it’s sort of a complicated dance.  It kinda starts when your baby is between 3-4 weeks old, the sweet spot, I learned, when your baby will decide if he or she is going to take the Dr. Brown’s bottles you received at your shower.  You make your partner deliver the bottle, and leave the room (maybe the house) so baby can’t smell you.  For me, I started with just an ounce or two until we figured out that Liam was a little more of a 3-4 ounce kind of kid. And then there’s the pumping.  The bane of my entire existence.  It just sucks.  It’s loud, it’s not comfortable, and as someone recently reminded me, it’s the shitty reminder that your baby isn’t around for a big chunk of the day.

I pump a few times a day at work, usually twice on a loose schedule, or when I feel my boobs tell me that it’s time.  It takes a good amount of time, and a production.  If I’m in my nice fancy work clothes, I strip off my nice shirt and set it aside.  I strap on a pumping corset.  I hook up the phalanges. Screw the bottles into those.  Attach the tubing.  Plug my machine in.  And finally, get to pumping.  (And pouring and labeling and sneaking milk into the fridge in the kitchen blah blah.)

But guess what last Tuesday?

I went through most of those steps before I realized that, sitting there half naked in the closet, that I’d forgotten the bottles and the phalanges, and my boobs were really at the end of their rope.

FACK!

I could try and stick it out until the end of the day, but risk a clogged duct.  I could run home, but today just wasn’t a good day to escape home – I had a lot to do.  I could see if I could convince my dad or my brother to go home, but they didn’t really know what they were looking for.

So I waited to see if I could make it to the end of that day, and then one small stroke of whatever genius I have left struck me.  Rite Aid was down the way.  I could see what they had in the way of pump accessories, and take it from there.

I have never driven so fast (within my legal limits) to a Rite Aid in my LIFE.  IN MY LIFE.  So I get into the parking lot, and…

The Rite Aid has moved.

I’m not kidding.  Around the corner, but it had totally moved.

I raced around the corner, and into the store, where I found a single electric pump.  I put it on my HSA, designated it for my car, and proceeded to pump like thirteen ounces before a meeting.  Ridiculous.

All that to say – I’ve started working.  My brain still hasn’t returned to it’s normal size.  I’m not sure when I will start functioning more normally.  But I am making it work!  Trying to at least.