The Shape of a Mother

It's amazing to see photos of celebrity moms after they give birth - all tight and gorgeous and completely unrealistic. It makes normal women, like me, wonder what we're doing wrong. So, when I found this website - The Shape of a Mother - I breathed a sigh of relief.

I am 33 years old and relatively comfortable with the shape of my body. I have come a long way from when I was 15 and eating too little and exercising too much. I am incredibly lucky to have "thin" genes. That doesn't mean that I don't work for a decent body, but at this point in my life, it's more about feeling good than looking good (although that's a nice benefit too). I still get down on myself though, especially I see mothers who gave birth three, four, five months ago with six-pack abs and toned legs. Perhaps that's realistic if you have a nanny, a personal trainer, a housekeeper and a personal assistant. It's not realistic for me. I have none of those. But I do have two amazing kids, a great husband, and a happy life. I'll take my shape and feel good about it!

Keeping It Real

While I could have cared less about the Royal Wedding in the months, weeks, days leading up to it, I found myself strangely transfixed yesterday. No, I did not wake up at the crack of dawn to watch it. I did check out photos as soon as I got to work yesterday. And I did watch a bunch of the coverage after Lila went to bed last night. Nate and Benny were at a baseball game, so I found myself streaming video while scrubbing the kitchen. There's something about those royals.

My favorite moment of the whole experience, however, was watching the little bridesmaid cover her ears when the jets flew over Buckingham Palace. During such a planned, elegant event, it was refreshing to see a young girl inject some reality into the situation. Kids hate loud noises - even royal kids.

Project FAIL

I had such grand expectations for myself. After two weeks of doing practically nothing physical, I'm not sure I can get back on track with my 365 Days of Movement Project. I was doing SO WELL and then life happened. No matter how hard we try, Nate and I can't seem to squeeze any more time out of our days. I'm starting this week anew. I'm going to try to again. Starting today. Starting today. Starting today. I have a lot of time to make up, so I may try to get physical for at least an hour a day!

Kids Will Be Kids

Benny had his friend Toby over for a play date last week. It was the first time he has attempted to climb a tree. They didn't climb too high, but he got a taste of tree climbing. Unfortunately the boys decided to climb the peach tree, which Nate is very protective of. While I encouraged the behavior, Nate put the kibosh on it. He's probably right. But as soon as Benny finds an appropriate tree-climbing replacement, he'll be back among the branches and leaves. And I'll be cheering him on (unless he climbs too high and I flash to him falling and cracking his head open - then it's over!).

True Love

Eating Adventures

My beautiful baby girl has graduated from her Bumbo chair to her high chair. And she couldn't be happier. She can bang on her tray and hang out while I cook, telling me stories from her day (which mostly go like this, "Da da da daaaaaa!"). She will eat just about anything we give her, including aspargus. She loves avocado and applesauce and sweet potatoes and carrots. She's not a huge fan of yogurt, but will tolerate it with a few bananas mixed in.

I had planned to breastfeed Lila until she was six months and then start tapering off. I cut out one pumping at work and started feeding her one bottle of formula during my time home with her. We made it to nearly seven months before she decided that she was totally over breastfeeding. Although I made it to my goal of six months, by the time I got there I decided that I could keep going for another few months. Now that Lila has decided that she is finished with the breast, I can't help but be a little disappointed. I have a feeling we'll continue our early morning feeding for awhile, but other than that, it's over.

I suppose I should be happy that Lila is moving on. There are some significant pros to being finished with breastfeeding, like 1) not having to pump at work any more, 2) not having to clean pumping equipment any more, 3) using my lunch break to go for a walk or run instead of spending my time pumping, 4) not having to go through a painful weening process, 5) not having to worry about pumping and dumping any more. But there are some surprising (and not so surprising) cons to the end of the breast, like 1) snuggling with Lila, 2) more bottles to wash, 3) paying for formula - yeeowza!

But with that face, I can't be too upset about anything at this point!

Spring!

Spring is here! Finally. Nate has been working hard to prepare the garden for the year. So far he's planted lettuce, spinach, broccoli, radishes, carrots, beets. The garlic, planted last fall, is nearly up to my knees now. And the chives and the oregano - the only two perennial herbs we have - are growing at full force in our mini-spice bed. This weekend we also planted some basil, thyme and lavendar.

It looks like we'll be using our tax return to put in a sprinkler system and really overhaul the front yard. It'll be slow going at first since plants can be expensive, but within a year or so, the outdoor space surrounding our yard will be transformed!

Nate spent the first weekend of April finishing the fence on the north side of the yard. After our experiences with our neighbors and their dogs, we decided that having some privacy was probably advisable. I'm not one to advocate for throwing up six-foot fences all over the place, but I think it was appropriate in our case. Considering that one of the dogs was getting big enough to jump over the chain-link fence, we didn't think it was safe for the kids. And it affords a nice benefit in that we don't have to listen to the dogs barking whenever we go outside (since they can't see us opening the back door, they don't rush out and start barking at us any more). It also affords the nice benefit of not watching our neighbor stumble around her backyard in her pajamas at four in the afternoon as she attempts to pick up dog poop. Win/win/win. Three cheers for spring!

Lila: Six Months

I can't believe that Lila is now six months old - a whole half of a year! She is such an amazing baby with a great disposition. The girl almost never cries and is happiest when she is part of the action. At six months she can sit without support, babble, lift herself up with her arms, eat about 10 different foods and generally be adorable.

Benny, while still relatively ambivalent about his sister, is warming up to her. The other day she was crying. I had asked Benny to put his shoes on, but found him in his room. Instead of putting his shoes on, he was playing his drum for her because it made her stop crying. If she drops a toy, he will pick it up and give it to her. Lila, on the other hand, thinks Benny is about the coolest thing ever. She loves watching him!

Lila Squared

Nate's grandma, Nana Lila, visited us in early April. It was the first Lila/Lila meeting and it was wonderful. Both Lila's really took to each other. We're looking forward to visiting Nana Lila in July!

Soccer Star!

(Almost) Back on Track

After two weeks of my 365 Days of Movement Project, I'm realizing that it's going to be more difficult (or maybe impossible) to achieve the goal of moving every day than I thought. Even though I have the motivation to move every day, life has other plans. For example, in the past two weeks I've worked late several nights. After working all day and getting home in time to put Benny to bed, the last thing I want to do is change my clothes and go out for a walk. Additionally, the weather hasn't been the most cooperative (it was 80 on Saturday, 40 today).

So, I've decided that I can make up for lost time. I missed two days last week. That means that I have an hour to make up. I walked for an hour yesterday so I have another 30 minutes to make up this week. With no plans for the week, I think that's do-able. Plus, Nate and I are going skiing on Friday, so I should be able to bank at least one day's activities.

On the upside, I've been more motivated to run lately. I got off of work about 30 minutes early on Friday, so I rushed home, changed my clothes and ran before I had to pick the kids up. It was the perfect end to the week.