Weekend Recap

We have arrived at another Monday morning. I did not want to come back to work this morning. Nope, not at all. Its going to be another busy week around here! This is pretty much how I felt about it.

The weekend started off with 2 T25 workouts for this mama. I had a major case of the Don't Wants on Thursday and really wanted to go to bed. So I did just that. I planned on getting up at 5am so I would have enough time after I pumped to work out. Nope. Tucker had other plans and got up at 5:30 and that left me with 2 workouts to do that evening. I got them done and it wasn't too bad. I don't want to do it again really, but it wasn't bad.  Friday also brought the beginnings of a tooth for Mr. Tucker!

Saturday I got up and did yet another T25 workout. Saturdays are my scheduled double days but I just don't know when that will actually workout for me. After I worked out, I got myself ready to head to a bridal shower for my big sis in my sorority. Two of my Pi Phi sisters picked me up at my house and visited with Tucker before we headed over. It was so nice to see everyone and catch up.

Danny and Tuck picked me up from the shower so we could go to dinner at a place called Fuji. Its a Japanese Steakhouse and Hibachi Grill. It was pretty good! It had been a while since just the 3 of us went to dinner so it was nice. When we got home we gave the little dude some Tylenol to help with his new chompers then he went to bed and we relaxed the rest of the night.

Sunday was just a plain old day. Tuck and I went to Target and Kohls and that was pretty much the highlight of the day.

It was a rather low key, normal weekend. I need those every once in a while so it was kind of nice!

The Costs of Breastfeeding

There are so, so many advantages to breastfeeding. It's free, you always have your boobs, it's free, its great for the baby... and did I mention it's free? Can you tell I'm kind of a tight ass?

While there are a number of advantages and wonderful things about it that you seem to only read about while you're pregnant, there are just about as many that you miss out on during your preparation and research. Or at least I missed them.

If you're new here, I've posted a few times about Tucker and I's breastfeeding experience. I talked about how it sucked and how I switched to exclusively pumping for 2 days then Tucker threw me a curve ball. Things are much better now though!

1. It can be mentally challenging and exhausting. Lets be honest though, those first few weeks with a newborn are exhausting no matter how you're feeding your baby. But after that newborn phase and even when the baby is by some divine miracle sleeping through the night and you've developed your version of a routine or schedule, many of your thoughts are still going to be breastfeeding related. Have I pumped enough today? Will this broccoli make him gassy? There's no way in hell I'm drinking a Diet Mt. Dew after 4pm? Do I have time to fit a beer in before he eats again? Don't judge me. Or if you're on the road for work a lot like me, you're thinking of the best places on your route to stop and pump, if you're meeting is at such and such time and it will take an hour, then you need to be done pumping at this time which means you need to start at this time, meaning you have to leave this many minutes earlier than normal.

2. When your life isn't revolving around your baby, its revolving around your boobs. You're going out for the day? You better take that pump with you. Skipping a pump every ONCE in a while isn't going to kill your supply, but if you do it often you're setting yourself up for issues.

3. You're probably going to lose some sleep. Not because you're feeding your baby at that particular moment. But because you're pumping. Only about once a week, Danny and I go to bed at the same time. When he's heading to bed, I'm staying up so I can pump, wash parts, make bottles, THEN get ready for bed. That puts me in bed an hour later than him most nights, which is almost 2 hours after Tucker. Then I have to get up early to pump again. Tucker doesn't get up until 645/7 normally (though right now he thinks its cool to wake up at 5:30ish) so in order for me to pump with enough time to replenish, I have to get up at 545. Your supply is highest in the morning after your longest stretch of sleep and this pump is vital to my supply for the next day's bottles. So, even though baby is sleeping 10 hours, I'm only sleeping about 6.5.

4. Losing weight isn't automatic. In fact, it might not even happen. There are some very fortunate women whose weight melts off while they are breastfeeding. There are also some women who don't lose weight. They actually have to hold onto that extra weight in order to keep making milk. Which brings me to my next point...

5. Don't try too hard to lose weight or you'll lose your supply. Make it gradual. And drink water like it is your J-O-B! If you're like me, "but I'm breastfeeding" will become your ultimate excuse for eating the delicious, unhealthy crap.

6. The milk itself is free (unless you have supply issues), but everything else isn't. Extra/spare pump parts, nursing clothes (bras, tanks, easy boob access shirts), pump accessories (car adapter), supply boosting tricks (Fenugreeks, Mother's Milk Tea). These don't add up to the cost of formula, but they do add up.

7. You're it. If the baby is hungry, you're up. If you want your husband or someone else to feed the baby a bottle, see #2.

8. Pumping sucks. Plain and simple, no way around it. It sucks.

I'm not pointing these things out to scare new mama's. Its all stuff that I've learned along the way and I didn't really pick up on before I had Tucker.  I get really annoyed with breastfeeding sometimes. Especially #3 and #4, almost to the point that I've wanted to stop. But then I see my bank account flash before my eyes and my dreams of a new car, master bedroom and camper fly out the window. No, formula for a year (or 5.5 months at this point) isn't going to break the bank but like I said, I'm a tight ass and that's the number one reason I'm still going. There are millions of babies every day that are thriving while they are on formula and I am not at all against it. I just like my money :) And after we got nursing figured out. Not having to clean bottles was another perk.

To convince you all that I don't hate breastfeeding and maybe un-scare you, I'll highlight some of the unexpected perks of breastfeeding that you might not realize exist!

Weigh In Wednesday

I feel like it would be a good idea to move Transformation Tuesday to Weigh In Wednesday and check in with everyone else on this same weight loss train. This is my first time every participating in this so I'm kind of excited.

Things have been going GREAT on the weight loss front.

Last Tuesday I started T25. I was very nervous about starting, especially since the program starts out with cardio.

I powered through it and let me just say I felt like I was going to die. But it felt oh so good to get it done and I felt so great about all of  my T25 workouts all week. I got all 6 of them in, but didn't do the double workout on Saturday (usually Friday, but I start my "week" on Tuesday), so I moved that second one to Sunday. I didn't feel confident about a second workout Saturday and felt like I would get more out of it the next day.

My eating was pretty good all week as well. I was over on calories pretty much every day, but like I've said before that's fine with  me as long as I'm only eating when I'm hungry due to me breastfeeding still. I may have also eaten turtle cheesecake Wednesday night and Thursday at lunch.

The best part about last week? My most favorite, would wear every single day if I could, pair of jeans from my pre-pregnancy days FIT! They button and there's not even a muffin top. Maybe a mini-muffin. But not enough to make me take them off and not wear those bitches. I'm getting there! And I am so stinkin excited. Plus, 2 people told me yesterday that I was looking good and like I was losing weight. SCORE!

Here are my official stats. I actually stepped on the scale this morning before I even decided to start doing this. Its fate, I tell ya.

Starting Weight(from the beginning): 175

Goal Weight: 140

Current Weight: 169

So that's where I'm at this week. We're getting somewhere!

We have family/Tucker's 6 month pictures tonight. It is currently 78 degrees and it isn't even 9:15. Please say a prayer for my hair and patience. Oh and lets not forget to mention that I had a zit under my nose yesterday and then woke up with 2 more on the side of my face. Great timing.

Father's Day Weekend

Last week got pretty busy and the blog got put on the backburner. Apparently being a full time working mom and wife leaves little free time, even when you do your blogging at work. Who knew, right?

I worked a half day on Friday and took the little man to his 6 month check up (how is that possible?) Danny went along with us. Tuck weighs 16 lbs 9 oz and is 26 inches long. He is a growing boy and the doctor said he looks great! After the appointment, we used what time we had left before the Tylenol we gave him in the parking lot of the dr office wore off and went to look at travel trailers. I am beyond impressed with us that we didn't make an impulsive decision and buy one on Friday. We found a couple that we really like and we have the one picked out that we want to buy. Just need to get a couple things paid off first, which those will all snowball once we get our old mower sold. After about an hour of looking, we were given our warning from Tuck and we headed home.

Saturday was a busy day. I got up and did one of my T25 work outs and skipped the second one. I felt like I wouldn't benefit from pushing myself through it and I wanted to take Diesel to the park while Danny was home. After that we got ready and headed out to celebrate Father's Day since Danny worked on the actual day. I bought Danny and his mini-me special shirts for the occasion.

Skinny Meg bought these for her husband and their new little boy and I had been wanting to get shirts like this for Danny. These can be found on Etsy HERE.

We went to lunch at Montana Mikes where my eating went completely downhill for the rest of the weekend and then recliner shopping for Danny. That was my Father's Day gift to him. Well, buying half of it anyways. After that we went to visit some friends at the campground they were at for the weekend, just to see what camping is like in the daytime. We knew nighttime was sitting around, shooting the shit and drinking, but I have been concerned about what to do all day. For Danny's sake, not mine. Day time is a lot like nighttime. You RELAX. That's where I'm worried about the hubs. That word is not in his vocabulary and he almost physically cannot do it. After a couple hours there we headed home and I pretty much did nothing the rest of the evening.

Sunday Danny worked so it was just Tuck and me. We headed to the small airport in town to watch Danny's grandpa go on a glider ride. The man is 89 years old and took a ride in a glider. He is awesome!

After that Tucker and I headed to Target and the mall, then back to town to visit Danny at work and Danny's dad.

After we made the rounds, we met my mom at our house. She watched and fed Tuck while I did  my workout from Saturday. My brother and his girlfriend came over and we ordered pizza from my dad's favorite pizza place. My brother and I have done it the last few Father's Days and I hope we keep it up. Once they all left, Tuck went to bed and I followed shortly after.

It was a busy but fun weekend! We have another busy week this week though. Its the calm before the storm at work and we have family picture scheduled for Wednesday evening. I can't wait! :)

Transformation Tuesday

As I mentioned yesterday, I ran my very first every 5K. I've walked 2 of them before with a  couple girlfriends, but never have I ever paid money to run. I just haven't and I never would have guessed that would be something I would do. But I did it and I would probably do it again.

A little over 2 months ago when I set out on this mission to lose the baby weight, my very first goal was to run in the 5K with Danny. Even though I walked part of it, I'm still going to mark that goal as achieved. So, now what?

T25 is next on the agenda. I ordered the program through Shannon @ Life After I Dew after much inspiration from Christi @ A Full Time Keller. I love that about blogging. Just a group of women inspiring others and helping you figure your shit out.

Last night I wrote all the work outs in my planner. Yes, I still write in a planner. Now I just have to stick with it. The two 5 week sessions will end just in time for my birthday weekend. If I do this right, I can start Year 25 off feeling much better about myself That doesn't sound half bad now does it.

Now if I can just control myself and not plow through the 2 packages of bagels I bought yesterday. Buy one, get one is too good of a deal to pass up.

Keeping it short and sweet today since I have lots to do!