I recently received a pair of Dr. Scholl’s insoles through influenster (complimentary).   If you follow my blog you know that I love to run, I’ve done one marathon and several half marathons and find running to be very therapeutic.  I use my running time to meditate and reflect on myself and my surroundings.  Since having Ally in May I have gone on a few runs with Ally in the stroller but not enough to say that I’m back into running.  We mostly go on walks to get Ally to fall asleep but also to get some Vitamin D, especially on days where we don’t really leave the house.  While I’d love to get back into running, to be honest, when you are a breastfeeding mom your boobs are so sore and extra big that the idea of strapping them into a sports bra and jogging is less than appealing.  I will probably stick to walking for now.  I thought when I received this influenster opportunity it would be a great time for me to start ramping up and increasing my cardio.  So Ally and I have consistently been walking about 3-4 times a week.  I love the arch support that the insoles provide my feet in comparison to the ones that come with the shoe.  I would definitely recommend and buy them again.  I actually recently bought my running shoes in a size larger this time around and I feel like it may have been too tight if I was wearing my regular size shoe and the insole.  The larger shoe and Dr. Scholl insoles seem to be a perfect fit.

On a personal note, I miss the freedom that running provides.  Although I love being with my baby girl all day I do enjoy the moments where I am alone.  Something that I have learned over the past few years, and now that I am a Mom of two, is that taking care of you should always be #1.  If you don’t take care of yourself you’ll never be able to do all the things (happily) that you must do in your daily life.  As Mom’s (and especially working Mom’s) we have a lot of duties that we must juggle each and every day from organizing family and work life, managing meals for everyone in the family, paying bills, cleaning house, and the list goes on and on and sometimes it feels like it never ends…  Taking time for ourselves may make all the difference between a happy versus a bitter wife/mommy/life.

My Dearest Bode,

Happy 3rd birthday my love…

I remember just three short years ago when we were at the hospital waiting for your arrival, that day after all the pain and high emotions I named you my angel.  The only thing that could erase it all was looking at my beautiful gift in the end and I am so thankful that I was blessed with you as my baby boy.  As I look back on this past year it’s been a roller-coaster of a ride.  You have tested both your Daddy and I physically and emotionally.  How far we have come this year, the ‘terrible twos ‘ set in around January and peaked upon the arrival of your baby sister in May.  I honestly think if we had even a glimpse of what was coming we may have never decided to get pregnant with your sister.  But we learned how to manage your attitude and did our best as parents to love you even when you made us both angry.

I love your energy and how when we think we’ve tired you out, you always seem to get a second wind.  That definitely means you have a future in sports, whether or not you are an all-star will depend on your work ethic but I know for sure you will be out there either way burning off some of that energy.

Most recently I’ve been lucky enough to have a few park and picnic dates with you while Grandma watches Ally.  I can’t tell you how great it feels to give you 1:1 attention.  I’m sorry I couldn’t do it more often over these past 5 months since Ally came into our lives.  Please know that you will never be replaced and instead your Daddy and I have given you a best friend in life.  I can already see how much she idolizes you and it’s only a few more months till she is chasing and mimicking your every move.  You are an amazing big brother always trying to get your sister to smile and most importantly stop crying.  We pretend that she is having conversations with us at the dinner table every night when we ask her, “Ally, what do you think… Goo goo or Ga Ga?”  Or when she is crying to be held while I’m cooking dinner every night and you come over to her and show her your blocks or cars to distract her.  I’m looking forward to more Mommy and Bode dates this next year.

I think the hardest thing you’ve had to adjust to since Ally arrived is the attention.  You are no longer the only one getting attention around here.  Being the only grandchild definitely has its perks with all the attention you would get from family.  You will still be the first grandchild (on both sides) which you should know holds a very special place in everyone’s hearts and therefore you will never stop getting attention and love.  I for one will never stop giving you attention whenever I can.  You just need to be more patient with me now that I have the 2 of you.  I think my favorite example is most nights when you tip toe into the nursery when I am nursing Ally before bedtime and whisper things to me just so you can be there and get some attention, even though you don’t really need me at the moment.  I love welcoming your conversation and then reminding you that once Ally goes to bed its all about ‘Bode time’.

While this year has been difficult at times I can also see how much preschool has made a huge impact on you already.  Your listening skills have improved as well as your communication skills.  These 2 things alone have really helped you grow and mature.  I love that you have new friends to socialize with and have a teacher to help guide you and teach you.  These are all new experiences that I know will mold you into the person you are going to be.  I love when you talk to me about your day at school and share your artwork with me that we happily display on our refrigerator.  I’m so proud of all your talents.

Today we started off the day by waking up in your room filled with birthday signs and balloons.  We all went out to breakfast as a family and then dropped you off for the day at your preschool.  I sent you to school with a special lunch – Mickey shaped almond butter and jelly sandwich, apple slices, strawberry-banana flavored yogurt, apple juice, and a cookie that you picked out at the grocery store.  You also got to share cookies with all of your friends at preschool.  They made you a birthday crown and sang happy birthday to you.  After school you came home and raced upstairs to see your new big boy bed that Mommy and Daddy bought you for your birthday.  Then I made sliders and tater tots for dinner.  After dinner we sang Happy Birthday and had ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery.  Once Ally went to bed, we had ‘Bode time’ and played cars, watched the baseball game, took a bath, and read a book before saying good night.  It took you awhile to finally fall asleep because you were so excited about your new bed but eventually you did around 9pm.

Happy Birthday to my sweet angel, I can’t wait to see what experiences this next year brings!

XOXO

Mommy

Allyson is now 5 months old and we have had a pretty eventful month so far.  Not in the sense that we did much around here because our weekends are pretty boring and uneventful but I always feel like we are somehow busy.  Now that Bo is in preschool we have all been rotating various sicknesses – cold, stomach flu, flu, croup, ear infection.  I’m hoping that as we get closer to the holidays we will have gotten all of this out of our system and it will be my goal to keep us healthy!  Can you believe it is October?  I have to say it’s one of my favorite months because it’s the beginning of the holidays, all things pumpkin, perfect southern California weather, and it’s my Bode’s birth month.

Sleeping/Feeding

I’m still breastfeeding Ally but the biggest challenge we’ve had this month is getting her to take the bottle.  I slacked off a bit and didn’t give her a bottle for a while and only breastfed so we re-introduced the bottle and it was much harder than I thought it would be.  As you may remember from last month, she refused to take it from anyone else besides me and if I was even in the room when someone would try to give it to her she would cry hysterically.  We have come a long way and she will now take a bottle from other people and even when I’m in the same room.  She usually gets her bottle for her last feeding so I can put her in the high chair while we are all eating dinner.  It’s been nice to have her sit with us and she loves to see what everyone is doing at the table.  She seems to have a lot of interest in food and we are now only 1 month away from introducing oatmeal and avocado (the 2 foods I plan on starting her with).  I had the stomach flu just this last week and was a little concerned about my milk supply because I had a hard time eating food and I was losing weight pretty fast but I increased my water intake and Ally hasn’t seemed too fussy about my milk so I guess we are good to go.  I feel like if it isn’t one thing, it’s another thing dealing with my milk supply.  I’m so very thankful that we can continue this journey together, and if it ended tomorrow I’d still be so very thankful because I did my best and that’s all I can ask for.  No one can tell me that I didn’t strive to achieve the best for my baby.

Sleeping has gotten a lot better; I’d say she has been very predictable with her sleep patterns.  We did have 1 week when Ally had an ear infection that threw us off a bit but for the most part she goes to sleep around 630pm, I dream feed around 930pm, and she sleeps till about 530am and then she’s up for the day.  Naps have been a little inconsistent lately but my routine has also been inconsistent. She always take a morning nap anywhere from 1-2 hours long and then the rest of the day is hit or miss.  Sometimes I can get her to take 3 naps/day and others only 1 nap/day.  But the 1 nap/day she typically goes to bed an hour early for the night to make up for lost sleep.  Also, the unswaddle transition was so much easier than I thought it would be and CIO too. I’m pretty good at predicting her cries and most of the time when she cries it is because she is tired.  I can usually either time her feeding or she will give me the hand to mouth signal that she is hungry.   I also noticed that she is a side sleeper, she doesn’t really prefer a specific side; however Bode was always more of a tummy sleeper since he was about the same age.

Miscellaneous

We did not have a well check visit this month but we did go to the doctor a few times.  Two times for Ally and two times for Bode because they were both little sick baby’s.  Sadly Ally’s first official sick doctor visit was on September 26^th for an ear infection where she received antibiotics that she was on for 10 days. They are both healthy now which is good because we have Bode’s party this upcoming weekend and Disneyland next weekend to celebrate my little man turning 3.

Still no teeth, but lots of gnawing on anything she can put in her mouth.

Her new milestone this month was related to separation anxiety.  I am with her all day long and I am the primary one to hold, feed, change, pretty much take care of anything she needs.  So therefore she started having a hard time with me just leaving her anywhere, even to go to the restroom.  So it has been my goal this past month to get her used to others holding her and feeding her.  She is doing better but we still have work to do so she can transition smoothly for daycare when I go back to work.

Ally and I did our first driving trip outside of our valley (without Matt and Bode) to go visit Jessica in Sherman Oaks.  Her baby girl Samantha was born a few days ago and we can’t wait to go back out and meet her for the first time.  I love having friends with baby’s close in age to mine!

Funny Moments

I finally heard my first laugh this month on September 16^th.  Well to be honest it was more of a giggle.  Bode used to laugh out loud when he was this age but Ally is more of a giggling baby.  It happens when I either tickle her tummy or under her neck. I have tried numerous times to record it on my iPhone but every time I take it out she gets camera shy.  One day I’ll get it and I’ll be sure to post it!

Diaper size – size 2

Clothing size – mostly 3-6 month clothes

Nicknames – Al, Ally, Squish, Ally-Boo, Ally-Bear

5-Month Hair color – brown

5-Month eye color –blue

5-Month Weight – 13lb

5-Month Height – 25 inches

What’s up with Bode?

Preschool is going really well and Bode has made a lot of new friends.  From what I hear he is a shy boy which surprises me because he has so much energy at home.   This past week he came home with two accident reports at school – 1 for a black eye and another for a large scratch on his nose, such a boy!  It’s cute how the teacher apologizes for these accidents but I feel like as long as it’s not causing him to go to the hospital, boys will be boys.  I’m just waiting for the day when she calls to tell me he broke a leg or an arm; I don’t think it’s too far off unfortunately the way this kid plays.  But amongst all this fun play time he is also learning a lot of new things.  He came home one day and shouted “Washington D.C.”, to get my attention of course. I said, “Oh, really, who lives there?”  Bode said “Barack Obama”.  Now I was impressed and asked him “Where does Barack Obama live?” and Bode said, “The White House”.  I have to say this was pretty impressive stuff to hear from my almost 3-year old.  He has also been learning a lot with letters each day and bringing home lots of fun art work that we display each week on the fridge.  I have to admit, the artwork was something I looked forward to ever since we first discussed Bode going to preschool.

Bode’s 3^rd birthday is next week and his party this weekend.  We also have plans to visit Disneyland next weekend as long as everyone is healthy.