Today was another fun day. Carter woke up at 6:50 after Ty and I had stayed up until 11:30 last night and were wiped from the half-marathon. I got up with him because I knew if I was sore, achy, and tired, Ty must feel 10x worse. Adelynn woke up a little bit after Carter and we all played together.
Adelynn feeding Carter.
When Ty got up we all got ready and went out to the trails to run/walk. Chris had left earlier to get in an 8 mile run, so we met up with him at the trail. Ty, Chris, and Candice all walked 1.5 miles together. I ran 3 miles with Carter and my mom ran 3.5 miles. I caught up with Ty, Chris, and Candice about half a mile from our cars and walked back with them. Ty wasn't too keen on the idea of walking, but I convinced him it would stretch out his legs and make them feel better, which it did.
Ty and Harper at the park after their walk.
Our walk finished at the parking lot where we had parked which has a park area. We let Adelynn play at the park and I carried Carter around and helped him play on some of the toys with her. He also went down a slide for the first time and had a blast. He even figured out he would go down the slide if he pushed off with his feet. I would hold onto him, he would push off, and smile like crazy as he went down the slide.
His favorite toys at the park were the leaves. He kept trying to shove them in his mouth.
For lunch we went to Free Birds. We packed Carter some cheese and grapes to eat. He finished all of his food and kept trying to grab tortilla chips off my plate. We decided to buy him some black beans to eat. It was his first restaurant food and, man, did he love it! The restaurant had really loud music and he was dancing along, eating his beans, just as happy as could be.
Messy face!
Carter had a blast with Adelynn. He wanted to keep up with her and was always watching her. When they left she gave him a hug. He reached around her head and grabbed a handful of her hair. Right after she left he was out for the count. He was one tired boy!
Today was just what I needed. We ran a half-marathon this morning, more on it to come later. Ty's friends, Chris and Candice, came to run the 5k at the same event. They brought their 2 year old daughter with them. Lately I've been struggling with the fact that Carter is getting so close to a year old. I'm not ready for him to pass from infant/baby to toddler. Watching their daughter really helped with those feelings. I love that she is so talkative and active. It makes it easier to let go of the baby side of Carter because she is just so much fun! Now I'm embracing change. I'm embracing a mobile and talkative toddler rather than focusing on the sweet, cuddly baby who is moving on to the next stage. Here's to becoming a toddler mommy in about a month!
Riding cars together.
He loved watching the 2 year old.
Carter always preferred the other car.
Carter's new thing is playing underneath things, especially chairs!
Lately I've been struggling with being a working momma a lot. It had gotten easier the past couple of months and then a couple weeks ago I was having a hard time again. Today something happened at work that was the last straw and I lost my cool during my plan time. I was angry and upset all wrapped in one and had a hard time getting thoughts out of my mouth while keeping tears in my eyes.
Thankfully in moments like those I have an amazing "work spouse" who has already been through what I'm going through. She talked me off the ledge. I went from a volcano spewing over with guilt, hurt, sadness, and a hint of depression to a zen-like calm all in the matter of a 15 minute talk. It's amazing what a difference it makes to have someone listen calmly as I freak out and then talk me through my issues.
How is my sweet boy almost 11 months old?!!?
We came to the conclusion that part of the reason why I'm struggling again is that Carter is approaching his first birthday. With that comes weaning, which I feel like I'm okay with, but I guess deep down I'm not quite ready. It also means Carter will be moving to a new classroom. In January he will officially be in the one-year-old room. I will be handing him over from the teacher in the infant room (who I adore and chose his daycare partially because I loved her so much) to the one-year-old teacher who I don't know very well. When I think about it I guess that's a lot to be getting emotional about. Add in Carter transitioning to the one-year-old schedule which means taking a nap at noon and sleeping during my lunchtime and it equals one big ball of emotions. Can you blame me? My co-teacher explained to me that each time it gets easier your children reach a new milestone and become a bit more independent and you start all over with adjusting. Her daughter is approaching 16 and she's anxious and sad about her daughter learning to drive and not being home as much. I guess it never ends, huh?
Yesterday I was ready to throw in the towel. To sit down with our budget and figure out how in the world be could pay our mortgage, bills, and necessities with half of our current income and then hope to add another baby into the mix in the coming years. But when it comes down to it I am able to provide Carter with amazing care during the day, one-on-one attention at night, and opportunities we couldn't afford on one income. Staying home after baby #2 is something we've been kicking around for a long time. There's just no perfect answer. There never will be. We just have to make the decision that is best for our family. Right now being a working mom is what's best for our family.
When I got to Carter's daycare at lunchtime I was shocked to see he was awake! Little man must have known that mommy needed him. Needed his snuggles. Needed to be reminded that as long as he is healthy and safe, nothing else matters. I love that little boy so much. That's what makes it so hard.
Little mister nursed and then fell asleep at lunchtime.
I guess with all that talk yesterday about Carter not wanting to grow up, he had to go and show me otherwise today. When I got to daycare at lunchtime he was taking a nap. Not on the infant side in his crib, but in the one year old room on a "cot" on the floor. It was almost too much to take. Last time I woke him up from a nap to nurse at daycare, he never went back to sleep, was miserable, and went to bed early that night. So I let him sleep, watched him for a while, gave him a few kisses, and headed out. I missed him so much. Seeing him was great, but I needed to hold him, to snuggle him, to see his smile. Being a working mom is rough and just keeps getting harder. Everyone told me it would get easier and they continue to tell me that, but it just hasn't. Maybe it will. Maybe I haven't given it enough time. Or maybe it's just me.
Fish hooked!
Before dinner Carter and I were playing with one of his cars. I was pushing him around and we checked in to see where everyone was, then I stopped and talked to him as he sat on the car and played. All of the sudden he pushed with his legs to propel the car on his own. The only problem was that he went backward rather than forward. He reached to me as if to say, "I want to come this way!" But then he decided he enjoyed pushing himself around enough that it didn't matter which direction he went. Luckily he did it again so I could get a video.
This evening Harper had pulled down and chewed a pump part. When Ty went to get her in trouble she ran and hid behind Carter. It was hilarious to see and made it difficult to punish her. She's even smarter than we give her credit for!
Please don't punish me, I'm hiding behind a cute baby!
Carter has pictures tomorrow at daycare. I am so tickled at the thought of him posing in front of a professional camera, looking all grown up! We picked out his special picture day outfit and even put it on this evening to make sure it fit and looked good. I have it packed up and ready to go so his teacher can change him before pictures. The hard part will be waiting 3 weeks to get the pictures back!
I wanna be a Toy's R Us kid! That's what I keep thinking every time I look at our sweet, little Carter and chuckle about some big kid thing he should be doing right now, but is more interested in the baby stuff. As much as I'd love to keep him a baby, I know he needs to start transitioning to some big boy stuff. He will be 11 months old next week after all.
So Mr. Man really should be crawling to get around and even moving on to cruising on the furniture. Is he? Nope! His mode of transportation of choice is rolling. Here, there, everywhere. He adds in some modified crawling by using just his legs and feet to propel himself forward. He also throws in pushing up on his arms to spin around and get in the direction he'd like to go. The little guy is the master of getting around without working too hard! If he can't get to what he wants using his method, oh well, that toy probably wasn't that cool anyway! As far as cruising and standing goes? He'll stand while holding onto something and will occasionally take a few steps while holding my hands, but that's as much interest as he's shown in that type of movement.
Can I skip crawling and walking and go straight into driving?
Eating table food he does pretty well in the beginning, but starts getting frustrated with how long it takes him to get the food from his hand to his mouth and from his mouth to his belly. I totally understand that basically gumming food (I mean, 4 teeth really isn't an adequate number for chewing) would get frustrating. After a while he starts fussing and crying to be fed. He'll start refusing harder foods like grapes, kiwi, and zucchini and reach for yogurt and cottage cheese. He'd be as content as could be eating purees for every meal. So with some nudging he is eating big boy food.
When it comes to nursing, I'd say that's one area he is ready to be a big boy. He likes to nurse, but LOVES food! He would be quite content to switch to eating mostly food and just nursing to wash it all down. We are going to start transitioning to more food and less nursing. We went down to an afternoon snack with a bit of milk today and tomorrow will do a morning snack with a bit of milk. That decision was made due to his interest in food and influenced by the fact that I'm just not pumping like I used to.
The last couple days I've been stressing due to my lack of production. My morning pump session usually yields 5-7 ounces, it's been 3. My plan time session usually yields 2.5-3.5 oz, it's been 1-2 oz. My evening session usually yields 3 ounces. Last night it was less than an ounce. We'll see what happens tonight. When I talked to my mom she responded with, "Well he is about a year old. Even milk cows go dry." She can seriously make me laugh no matter how stressed I feel. Simple and to the point.
Not impressed with the shoes.
Shoes are another not ready to grow up area for little man as I'm sure is the case for most babies his age. My mom and I went into a shoe store this weekend and had him try on shoes. He hated them! He screamed and cried and didn't want to stand up at all. He bent in half and stared down at his feet in disdain. I could tell he was wondering what were on his feet and why! Today I pulled out some soft soled shoes to try out. He still didn't like them too much, but tolerated them. Unfortunately they were so big, he could kick them off after he's wiggled around in them a bit. I couldn't get over how big he looked wearing them. I could almost picture him walking, but it was hard since he's not yet crawling.
One way he's holding onto his baby ways that I am loving and hope he continues is snuggling. Little man loves to snuggle. Sometimes he wants to be held so badly, he'll cry whenever I set him down. We still use the baby carrier from time to time which is a life saver, especially at 6:30 in the morning when I'm still trying to get ready for work and he just has to be held. When I'm holding him and he snuggles his little head into the nape of my neck, that's a feeling I want to remember forever. Such a sweet feeling wrapped with unspoken love and trust.
By no means am I trying to rush Carter man to grow up, take your time little dude. You will learn very quickly that mommy and daddy are very patient. If it takes you a year to decide you want to crawl, then we'll be clapping next to you as you go. I've learned from years teaching young children, some kids just need time. And buddy, we've got plenty of that. Now as far as your grandmas go... I think they're getting a bit anxious!
Last year Ty heard about a race called the Mustache Dash through Groupon. We signed up knowing it would be a small race since it was the inaugural year. Ty made me a shirt to wear honoring Carter's future mustache, Thomas grew a sweet stache, the rest of us wore fake ones from the race packet, and we all had a blast. I was 30 weeks pregnant and won my age group in 25:56. I knew this year I'd have no problem beating my time from last year!
Thomas' awesome stache from last year!
Going into the race I'd had a rough week of training. The soreness from my 12 mile run in California lingered late into the week and prevented me from getting a speedy run in. Although I knew that wouldn't effect my race, it did effect my confidence. The week before going to California I had run a tempo 5k with the stroller in 22:05. I focused on that and knew I was poised to run a new postpartum PR. My previous best being 21:23 at the Zoo Run 5k. I figured I could run an average of around 6:40 per mile and planned to take off the first mile in around 6:40.
Carter ready for the race!
Trying out another mustache.
We took off and I felt pretty good. By the first turn I was 3rd overall female with the top 2 women within range. I looked up and was surprised to see I wasn't far behind the lead vehicle and Jeremy was running alongside the lead pack. Half a mile into the race I had passed both women and Jeremy was leading the race with a huge gap between him and 2nd place. The first mile was into the wind and had a few sizable hills. I went through the mile in 6:48, slower than I'd hoped, but I knew the wind and hills slowed me down quite a bit.
Carter loved my mustache!
Trying out a kazoo from the tents before the race.
Going into the 2nd mile I moved into 4th place overall. The guy in 3rd place had quite a lead and I was mostly running by myself. There was a guy in a wig and a tutu running by me and some people would yell, "Let's go ladies," at us thinking he was a female. It provided me with quite a bit of entertainment. I kept pushing the pace hoping to run mile 2 a little faster than mile 1. We hit the turn-around and I noticed we were at 1.5 miles rather than 1.55 so I figured the course was a bit short. The wind let-up quite a bit when we turned around which helped me pick up the pace even more. My split for mile 2 was 6:43 which I was pleased with.
Ty ran with Carter.
The last mile we had the wind at our backs and had some nice downhills. I was really rolling on the downhills and pushing the pace. I saw Ty and Carter after the turn-around which gave me a boost to push a little harder. As I crossed the finish line I looked at my Garmin and saw the course was in fact short. I decided to run through the finish line, much to the distress of one of the women cutting timing chips off shoes. She was very concerned and yelled at me as I kept running. Of course, I went back to return it after I finished out 3.15 miles! My split for mile 3 was 6:33 and I finished out the full 5k in 21:05, 6:42 pace.
Now I'm itching to run another 5k so I can really push to break 21 minutes. I ran hard and was pleased with my time, but I was a little bit disappointed. I wasn't sore yesterday or today and even ran a hard workout today. For some reason I'm having a hard time running fast during 5ks. I know I've really focused on the half-marathon and I guess that's reflected in my 5ks, but I just feel like I'm capable of running faster. I'm okay with slowly chipping away at my 5k time 10-20 seconds at a time like I have been. We have plenty of races coming up on our calendar.
Wearing our race shirts later in the day.
Jeremy was the 1st overall finisher in 18:25 which translates to around a 19:05 5k. I was the top female finisher in 19:58 which I finished out in 21:05. As the top male and female finishers we won sunglasses. Jeremy got black running sunglasses and I got pink everyday wear sunglasses. Jeremy also won his age group and Thomas came in 2nd in the same age group. Ty ran with Carter in the stroller and was 14/21 in his age group. Dad won his age group and mom was 2nd in her age group. They only gave out awards to the top overall finishers, otherwise we would have come home with 5 awards! I enjoyed the race just as much as last year and I'm sure we will run this one again.
This weekend we had a race on the calendar and my parents and brother came to run it with us. We had a relaxing yet productive weekend. The race was on Saturday morning so we should have gone to bed early Friday night. I was washing and folding laundry and didn't notice what time it was until Ty said he was going to bed. I checked my phone and it was 12:20 am. What in the world were we still doing up?!!?
Saturday morning we ran the race and then came home to enjoy "a bowl of shame" for brunch. Ty likes to make eggs, sausage, cheese, and hashbrowns. Then put them all in a bowl together and call it a bowl of shame. I was tired and Carter was ready for a nap. I debated about what to do. I really wanted to nap with Carter in our bed, but I was super hungry. We came to the compromise that I would go lay down with Carter and Ty would bring me breakfast in bed. Talk about wonderful! I ate in bed and then took around a 2 hour nap with Carter. I was ready to go for the day!
When Carter and I woke up everyone had left to do some shopping except for Ty. We headed out to meet them. After shopping we headed home for some dinner and played games before bed. I did more laundry, folded it, and put it away. I totally rocked it on the laundry front this weekend!
Ty snuggling Skippy and Zuma in the mess of our living room.
Sunday I forgot about the time change and couldn't figure out why I woke up at 7:00 am and couldn't fall back to sleep. Ty reminded me it was daylight savings and my phone had already switched over meaning it was really like 8:00 am, sweet! We did some more shopping, I got a flu shot, and then cleaned and vacuumed my car which was much needed! While I vacuumed my mom scrubbed the doors and console. We make a great team!
Yay, grammy!
Flying with grampy, where's the cape?!!?
We enjoyed the time with family and look forward to seeing everyone (minus my dad who will be at a conference for work) next weekend!
