The Things I Don't Do

In my Small Group we are reading the book Bittersweet by Shawna Niequist. In the book is a chapter called “Things I Don’t Do.” The chapter has good humor sprinkled in it but the overall point is the author set out with a goal to ‘Do Everything Better,’ in which she found that doing everything better is not really a fulfilling goal to strive for, there are things that we need to accept aren’t our strong suits so we can focus on the things we are really good at/enjoy. No one is ‘super human’, which is a great reminder for me as I tend to fall victim to this idea of having to do it all and be perfect at it. So she made a list of things she has accepted she just doesn’t do. Our group decided to make similar lists, so here is mine; let’s start with the things I do ‘do’:


• Being my profession is Financial Analyst/Accountant, I’m very good at keeping our family’s finances in line. I’m probably one of the few people in this world that calculates my revolving debt ratio every 2 weeks to make sure we aren’t overextending ourselves since I have a tendency to go on shopping binges. Give me a budget and you bet I’ll stick to it! My personal financial spreadsheets are quite impressive.

• I love to do laundry, I find it therapeutic. Apparently I’m a loner in this area. I could do laundry all day long. I just love it! Ironing… I hate with a passion but I’m a washing, clothes folding fool! It blows my mind that people only have on average 2/3 loads of laundry every week: darks and whites. That is just SO wrong in my world of doing things! I have casuals, whites, dress clothes, blacks, annie’s clothes, towels and bedding. That’s 7 loads of glorious laundry I do with pleasure every single week. Love, love, love laundry.

• My party throwing skills have dramatically improved over the years; I can thank Pinterest mostly for that. I am all about having great food, a great set up, and making sure people have fun. I can certainly throw a good party.

• Research. This is a catch all for planning vacations, researching products, broadening my knowledge in all areas. What did people seriously do before Google? Without Google, I doubt I would be half the parent I am today.

• Organizer. I am very neat and clean, give me a mess and I can attack and organize in amazing ways.

• Finding a good deal. I hate paying full price for anything but have a liking to brands that tend to be pricey. I can finagle my way into finding a deal and I have no problem calling up a retail customer service line to obtain a promo code or free shipping. I can sweet talk my way into some killer deals. I like feeling as if I’m ‘beating’ the system when I know I’m getting a good deal.

Now to the more important list… The Things I Don’t Do… a reminder that it’s okay for me NOT to do these things:

• Everyone talks about how great their garden is and what is popping up in theirs. You know what is popping up in ours? Nothing. Because I deeply despise gardening/yard work. I just can’t get myself excited about the idea. At all. I have a fresh basil plant inside that I bought already grown, I can handle watering that every other day, it’s practically zero work. I usually can sucker my mom into planting my spring flowers every year, that’s the only reason I have pretty flowers in my front yard.

• I don’t DIY/arts & crafts. Am I jealous of those who can, sure but I accept that it’s not my forte. I had this absolutely crazy idea a few years ago that I was going to make a coffee table. Yes a coffee table! What was I thinking?! Every DIY project I attempt ends up being a total disaster! 99% of the time it’s nothing more than a big mess, numerous trips to the store, stress/frustration, lots of research and then it ends up in the garbage. Why put myself thru that?! Luckily Aaron talked me off the ‘ledge’ when I went all cray cray talking about making my own coffee table and we ended up finding a perfectly good one to purchase at the furniture store.

• I don’t food decorate. This goes somewhat with the whole ‘don’t arts/crafts’. I took a cake decorating course a year ago thinking it would solve all my first world problems and it so didn’t. In fact, if anything it really drove the point home for me that I cannot make my food look beautiful, even when I try. Cook/bake delicious food I can do, but I’m not one to have a beautifully plated meal or cake worthy of photographing. If you see me with a piping bag in my hand, ask me to calmly set it down and step away from it.

• Beautiful gift wrapping. Man, am I envious of those who say they turn on Christmas music, pour themselves a glass of wine and get totally engrossed in beautifully wrapping gifts with all the pretty trimmings. I try every single year to try to replicate this glorious sounding experience and every single year it turns into a disaster where I end up drinking a lot of wine and having gifts where the underside shows that I ran out of paper, the ribbon isn’t centered, and there is a wrapping tear in the side of a gift totally revealing what it is. This is why I always shoot to try to buy my gifts at places where gift wrapping is free. Thank you Von Maur and Pottery Barn.

• Things I don’t do as a mother that is baby-related is cloth diapering and making baby food. I know people who cloth diaper and maybe it’s not as bad as I envision it to be but I’ve had my fair share of diaper blow outs where I’m scrubbing poop off of clothes. Now with baby food, that’s a little different, I have considered going down that road and dabbling in making Annie’s pureed veggies. But then again, I barely find time to make Aaron and myself meals and I know I have 17+ years of having the responsibility of making Annie wholesome, nutritious meals that I think I will enjoy this year of popping the lid off a jar of baby food and serving. No hassle, no work, no pressure, now that’s my kinda meal prep.

• I’m just not a morning person. Being married to someone who is a morning person, it can be depressing waking up to learn he’s already completed what sounds like a days’ worth of activities all before 7 am, leaving me feeling pretty worthless. I’d love to be in a deep yoga pose while watching the sun rise, scamper around in my slippers drinking my coffee all before 7 am but I just can’t make it happen. I’m content with waking up at 8/8:30 am, then having the need of 30 min of ‘me time’ to officially wake up before I can even consider doing anything or have meaningful conversations. By 10 am, I’m ready to get my day started.

There you have it! Things I do and the things I’ve accepted that I’m just not cut out for, God didn’t gift me with a crafty bone in my body and that is something I’ve come to accept.

5 Months

Happy 5 months to my fun-loving, ball of bursting personality!

This stinker refuses to cooperate for photo shoots, not the pic I wanted but it will do!

Lots of changes occurred this month and some of them proved quite painful for Aaron and I.  First big change was switching to all formula.   The chaos of pumping was really getting to a breaking point for me where I decided I need to stop with the madness.  The time spent every day, the packing up the supplies and hauling them around with me, not being able to do anything for more than a few hours at a time on weekends because I had to go home and pump, all the extra hand washing and consolidating/keeping straight to use the oldest pumped milk first, and the biggest headache was my supply dropping and trying to keep straight what was formula and milk in the fridge as they have very different rules on how long they are good for.  Aaron was the worse about keeping the ‘rules’ straight between the both and more and more was going down the drain.  At that point I said enough is enough with this madness!  So we switched to all formula, I felt like I had my life back.  In fact, when I stopped, I got a burst of energy and felt more alive than I had in months.  But poor Annie, we didn't transition very slowly and her reflux was out of control for a good week.  We finally found a formula that works best for her tummy but it was a painful, stressful process for a good week.    I've learned a lot about nursing/pumping/formula and walk away with a lot of knowledge and changes I will do with baby #2 that I think will make it more successful next time around.  Biggest thing I learned is don’t let it run your life.  As long as baby eats, who cares if it’s breastmilk or formula!  My health is just as important as my daughter’s and letting it run my life and stress me out was totally not worth it, I feel like a whole new person now since I've stopped, it’s been refreshing to just feel like me again.  

Another big change was introducing rice cereal.  At first she didn’t know what to think, most of it was coming out then going down, it was fun the first time then after that it was just a nuisance, but with good practice, she is now gobbling it down and really seems to like it and its fun again.  Practice really does make perfect.

We also experienced our first diaper rash.  We are still dealing with it 3 weeks later, it just won’t fully go away and looks like I’ll be calling our Pediatrician again this week to find out what to try next.

She is rolling like crazy, and when she’d roll at night, it was waking her up.  Arg!  Sleeping clear thru the night was interrupted for a good week to two.  We finally got back to sleeping thru the night again but it was another painful change for us as we transitioned to getting back up in the middle of the nights for a few weeks to calm her and help her get back to her back. 

Her fussiness has improved but not dramatically enough to say we are over it yet.  I think I have honed in on the problem though and hoping this month we’ll have it solved.  I don’t think she is getting enough quality naps and therefore is overtired.  I follow the book The Sleep Lady, great book!  So this month our focus is to work hard on establishing a good nap routine and honestly I think daycare isn’t the issue, it’s us on the weekends that are throwing her off.   Crossing my fingers that lack sleep is the culprit of her fussiness!  From what I read, I really think it is.

She is doing so many fun things every week.  She can now sit unassisted for a bit at time.   She can roll and roll.  Loves to army crawl her way to get a toy.  She likes to stand holding onto something.  Charley also really captivates her attention.   Her personality is really shining thru and let me tell you, she has quite the little personality.  She is quite the go-getter, and if anything gets in her way…watch out because she is a vocal little one!  Boy can she get mad!

I also feel like she has to constantly be on the move, it’s like I’m holding a hot potato.  Move this way and that way and back and forth, it’s exhausting!  And when someone asks to hold her, I usually preface by saying she’s a squirmy one, you really gotta have a good grip one her because she is pretty darn strong.   The only time she lets me hold her like a baby is when she is feeding otherwise, she’s constantly moving this way and that. 

Guessing this next month will be a lot more of us chasing after her as she continues to improve her mobility.  Go Annie GO! 

This was the pic I wanted, but with her looking at the camera

So intrigued with these blocks

A Day in the Life of the Hyde Family

I’ve Googled a million different schedules.  I like schedules.  I like the predictability of a routine.  It gives me a sense of control.  I like being in control.  This is my schedule, as most schedules I Google are labeled I would call this one: life with a 4 month old, working/pumping mother.  Now since she just turned 5 months old, this schedule has changed, I no longer am pumping which really frees up a ton of time.  More to come on that in her 5 month post but this is what the last few months have been looking like for us:

5:30 AM – my alarm goes off, I have to pump.  Aaron has already been awake for who knows how long.  He's an early bird.  He usually goes into Annie’s room about this time and try to slip her reflux meds to her while she is still somewhat asleep.  Normally successful. 

5:45 – I wash all my pumping supplies and pack up my pump & supplies to take to work with me.

6 AM – Reflux meds have been in her for the minimum half hour before feeding as required.  I get in the shower, Aaron feeds Annie. Some days we have to feed her before 6 am as it’s can be super challenging to hold off on feeding a hungry baby, ideally her meds need to be on an empty tummy for 30 minutes but however long we can get, we take!

6:30 – I take over Annie so Aaron can get ready.   We play and get dressed, I load her into her car seat, fill out her daycare sheet, pack up her bottles and send her and Aaron out the door at 7 am.

7 – 7:30/8 – Makeup, hair and dress myself.  I’m out the door and at work anytime between 7:30 and 8. I’m loaded down carrying my pump, work computer, lunch, extra cooler for pumped milk, coffee in one hand, purse throw in there somewhere.  I work in a massive building with a massive parking lot, carrying everything in (in one haul/in heels) is a workout.

My days vary from day to day.  But normally I have meetings that fill up half my day and the other half is free for work to-dos.  I generally get into work and settled, look at my calendar and plan 2 times I can pump during the day.  I can’t hold off as long as lunch time, 5 hours I’ve learned is about the max I can go in between.  I settle with blocking time on my calendar around 10 am and again at 3 pm.  I have to block time on my calendar or someone will plan a last minute meeting or I get busy and lose track of time.  I generally don’t go home for lunch, I’ll step out for some quick errands or I will work thru lunch and leave early.  I love my job and the people I work with.  That helps make the days fly by!

Anywhere between 4 – 5 pm – Leave work and go to daycare to pick up Annie.  Chat with her teachers, review her day with them.  She loves daycare and usually has awesome days there.  I enter all her naps and bottles in my baby app every single day, Daycare does an awesome job of keeping track of this for me during the day.  It really helps when she is super fussy to pinpoint what could be wrong.

Until 6 pm, it’s just Annie and I.  I get her reflux meds in her right away so I hit that 30 minute window.  Usually watch a little Mickey Mouse, have some rice cereal, feed her bottle and then Daddy comes home. 

6 pm – I start on dinner.  Aaron and I do the ‘dinner dance’ that goes something like this… me: What sounds good?  Aaron: I don’t know.  Me: I’m calling in an order to the Mexican place down the street, what do you want?   Who has time to cook anymore!?!

6:30 – Annie usually sneaks in a short catnap until 7 so we can eat.  Aaron and I chat about our day as we eat fairly quickly, never knowing if Annie's catnap will only last 10 minutes or 30.  It's not normally a sit down meal, it's more like I take a bite, get up feed the dog, come back take a bite and realize something else so I run and do that.  Aaron's phone rings, it's a call he has to take in the middle of dinner. We eat while we get stuff done.  It's a chaotic hour. 

7 pm – bath time!  Every other night Annie gets a bath.  She loves baths.  Following a bath comes her baby lotion massage, which she loves!  But then I put on her jammies and she screams.  She normally hates getting dressed.  

7:30 – I play with her, read a book and cuddle up.

8 pm – Aaron feeds her last bottle of the night, she gets zipped up in her swaddle blanket and normally goes down by 8:30 pm.  Some nights a little later, but we try to hold off as long as we can until 8 if she is acting tired early. 

8:30 – Aaron might workout or he does some work from home.  I make Annie’s bottles for the next day, unpack and clean the pumping supplies/bottles.  Make my lunch for tomorrow. 

9 – TIRED!  At this point, I haven’t sat down to do nothing since 5:30 am.  Watch tv for a half hour and spend time with Chuck.  She pretty much is demanding my attention at this point so she gets my last half hour.  So we play fetch and tug-a-war and she gets her daily allowance of belly scratches.

9:30 – wash up and get ready for bed.

9:45 – I have to pump.  This is the most dreaded agenda item on my list.  All I want to do is go to sleep, I actually don’t mind the 5:30 am or day time pumping sessions as much, but this session is the one I dread and hate doing so much.  It’s the last thing I want to do after a long day but I get it done.

10 pm – get pump ready to go for 5:30 am session and fall asleep watching the news.

5:30 AM – Get up and do it all again!  

I think Aaron and I have a good balance of who does what.  This is pretty close to a look at our weekdays, it varies some, some nights Aaron mows the lawn and I do everything with Annie.  Some nights he takes her and I go to my hot yoga classes.  Some nights I have small group, some nights he has late work events.  And not to mention the million diaper changes we do.  We have a good give/take balance that seems to be working for us!  Annie pretty much has to be hands on all the time, she doesn’t really play by herself for too long of periods before she gets colicky so there is a lot of hands on/trading off that must be done to keep our sanity! 

Lighten-Up BLT {Flatbread}

Let's talk food!!  Annie says "Mmkay!"  

This late summer season has some of my favorite foods…vine ripe tomatoes, fresh corn on the cob, juicy watermelon, flavorful peaches, just to name a few.  I like to pair my favorite summer foods together and one meal I especially love is BLTs with corn on the cob.  They just go together in my mind.  Every late July into August, that’s my go-to meal. 

But one thing I find time and time again is I get so full off the corn on the cob that eating a BLT sandwich on top of that, well it’s just a gut buster.   So I found a way to lighten up the BLT but still pack its seasonal freshness. 

Meet the BLT mini flatbread, eliminating all that extra bread that just fills you up.  And who isn’t looking for a way to shed a few carbs?!  This, my friends, is so pretty you could serve it for a tappas themed meal.  A thin warm flatbread, topped with guacamole, crumbled bacon, arugula, diced tomato and a smidgen of mayo and wah-lah!... you got a new take on the BLT. 

I would like to make a special call out to the arugula that is used in place of the ‘L’ on my BLT.  First off, I love arugula!  I’ve learned from various sources that iceberg lettuce really doesn’t give you any great benefits and you are better off eating a good leafy green packed with antioxidants such as spinach, arugula or kale.  So long are the days of buying a head of lettuce just to brown in the fridge in a few days, I’ve grown to prefer one of these good leafy greens instead.  Plus it’s just prettier, not only does arugula taste good but it looks fancy.  And I’m a sucker for anything fancy.

I was really torn on what flatbread option to use.  We don’t regularly eat flatbread.  We don’t eat much bread period.  I usually only have bread on hand for my pb sandwiches.  Aaron uses corn tortillas for about everything, that wasn’t going to cut it for me.  So I bought several to try but the one I ended up preferring was the Flatout Hungry Girl Foldit Flatbread.  It’s only 90 calories and I cut it in half so technically 45 cals.  Score.  This is the key for avoiding that gut busting feeling.  So GOOD you guys!  You gotta try this BLT sammy a-sap!  

Ingredients:

Flatout Hungry Girl Foldit Flatbread (or any flatbread of your choice!)

3 strips of cooked bacon (the crispier the better when it comes to BLTs)

1 tomato, diced

Guacamole or a mashed avocado

Arugula

Mayo

Cut the flatbread in half.  In a skillet warm up the flatbread on each side for a minute or so.  Remove from skillet.  Spread your avocado/gauc.  Tear your bacon up into bite size pieces and top.  Add your arugula.  Top with diced tomatoes.  A few dollops of mayo on top as desired.   

That’s it!  It’s that easy!  Your lighten up BLT awaits.  You’re welcome.  I can hardly talk about food without saying my punch line…it’s going to be yummers in your tummers! 

Happy Bday Chuck!

Guess who had a birthday earlier this month?  This huggable, loveable, fuzzy face. 

Charley turned 3 and we had big plans of making a day just for her but then Annie decided nope… she was going to take center stage that day and be extra colicky.  Poor Charley!  But she still got lots of love, extra treats, a new toy and her own photo shoot I took for this post.  No dog park, no Starbucks puppy lattes, no car rides, no pup cups from Dairy Queen, no walks…but pretty sure she didn’t mind. 

This year, we have worked to make a conscious effort to give Charley lots of love every day but thru the day there are lots of “No Charley” being said.  She wants to play all the time.  She still doesn’t understand that when I’m holding or feeding Annie, I can’t handle having a dog toy being shoved into my lap.  Although she may not give up easily with trying to get me to play with her, she is still so good and doesn’t get mad that I ignore her.   When I’m on the floor playing with Annie, I try to balance between keeping her entertained and giving Charley attention at the same time.  When Annie goes to bed, Aaron and I try to give Charley 1:1 attention but some days I’m just too tired and so Chuck gets a bone. 

Charley has had a lot of nicknames over the years but lately she is ‘Chuck’.  Or Charles Dickens.  LOL, I know, we are weird.    

Chuck is pretty good but the one thing we still struggle with to this day is when company is at our house, she will not listen at all!  She gets so OVER excited and go nuts.  She is so good and listens so well when it’s just us but when other people are here, she is the worse and does not obey at all.  I cannot figure out for the life of me how to resolve this.  I think she is just still a puppy and it will just take time for her to not get so wound up when people are over.  And then she thinks those people are here JUST to see her.  Sorry Chuckers!

I refer to Charley as my ‘first born’.  She is the BEST dog I’ve ever had.  Really.  She is such a lover and always so happy-go-lucky and still does funny things that makes us laugh.   I always tell Charley and Annie that they are best friends they just don’t know it yet.  I look forward to the day they can wear each other out. 

Happy Birthday Charley!  As much as life has changed for you this year, we still love you just as much as we did before! 

4 Months Old

Annie is 4 months old!  And I’m behind posting this, as usual!

She is so alert, aware of her surroundings and just really intrigued with this world.  Big milestones are she now can grab and pick up small toys, everything goes to her mouth it seems like, rolling from back to tummy every day, and babbling more and more. 

She started rolling consistently at about a week shy of 4 months old.  She did a lot of rolling onto her side and hanging out there for the majority of her 3^rd month; now I can’t keep her off her tummy hardly!  We did have a scare, one morning we walked into her room and found her still swaddled tightly and she had somehow managed to flip to her tummy.  We have no idea how long she was like that for.  From that day on we stopped swaddling her arms so she can have more control when she flips in the night like that.  From that point on, my sleep pretty much went downhill.  I’m petrified that she is going to suffocate sleeping on her tummy and was waking up all throughout the nights and flipping her from tummy to back just to literally walk back to our bedroom and look at the monitor to see she managed to be on her tummy again.  I realized it was a battle I was never going to win at and the Pediatrician has rested my fears and thinks she will be fine if she flips to her tummy at night. 

Babbling.  It’s still as cute as ever to have little conversations with her.  She is still exploring what sounds she can make.  And does it with such effort, you can tell right before she is going to babble because she is so focused and tries so hard to bring out just the right sound.  Good gravy, I could seriously listen to her babble all day long and never get sick of how fun it is.

Her colic hasn’t gotten much better.  We took her in before her 4 month appointment and she is now no longer on baby Zantac and now on a form of Baby Prilosec.  So far, not seeing much of a difference.  Our Pediatrician said some babies are just ‘high maintenance,’ they want to be held exactly a certain way, have a constant need to be ‘hands-on’ and are very vocal about it.  I really think this does apply to Annie.  I cannot wait for her to mellow out some.  It’s exhausting.  We’ve had some challenging days in the past month.    

I know every parent has their challenges.  I have to tell myself often that we are blessed in that our challenge really should be temporary.  Happier days ARE ahead.  A coworker recently told me something that resonates with me, one thing she wished she would have realized is that when people tell her ‘it’s just a phase’, it really IS just a phase.  That is reassuring. 

One thing that has changed for me the last few months is on the weekends I really sleep in way longer than I have in years.  On the weekends, I use to wake up around 8ish and now I can barely pull myself out of bed before 10/10:30 am.  Thank goodness Aaron is a morning person and takes the weekend shift with Annie so I can sleep in.  Monday thru Friday I go nonstop from 5:30am to 10 pm every day with very little time to stop and just do nothing.  Aaron does too but he can just handle it better than me, I’m use to more ‘me’ time than what I get nowadays.  So sleeping in is my new ‘me’ time.  And I look forward to it every. single. weekend. 

Here are a few pics from her 3 month professional pics! 

Un-Preggers

I just realized that a year ago this past week was when I found out I was pregnant.  How did 9 months of pregnancy feel like an eternity but yet it feels like it was just yesterday we were finding out I was pregnant?  Craziness!   Pregnancy… ain’t that something!… it’s not for the weak.  But I am so blessed to have gone thru the process, many out there struggle with pregnancy and that is something I’m fortunate enough to say I can’t relate to.  Getting back to my un-pregnant normal self has been nice change of pace though.  Hence my top 10 list of why being un-pregnant is great again:   

1      I can enjoy a glass of wine again.   Well sort of… nursing a baby means that everything has to be timed.  I’ve had to dump pumped milk because it tested positive for alcohol, it only takes one time of that happening for me pass on the drinks.  I now know where the phrase “crying over spilled milk” comes from.   I’m now to the point where I’m only pumping every 5 hours which gives me a good buffer of of time to clear one glass or two out of my system.   Dinner with drinks are now back on the table!

2        I can sleep on my back, hallelujah!  I learned a lot about myself during pregnancy that I never really had acknowledged much before.  Such as how much of a back sleeper I really am.  I could not stand sleeping on my side and my shoulder would always fall asleep.   Most women say it’s their bladder that keeps them up at night, not so much me; it was side sleeping that kept me up all night long. 

3

      The pillow fortress has been brought down.  To attempt to sleep comfortably at night, I had 9 pillows in bed surrounding me.  Aaron barely had room in the bed amongst all my pillows.  Every night I would peek over my huge pillow wall to check if he was alright over there.  I was pillow overboard.  Even at the hospital I had supposedly every pillow the maternity floor had on hand, which I seriously question if they just started to decline me pillows at a certain point in which I had to send Aaron home to get me more pillows.  I think we had 20 pillows in the room, not an exaggeration.  When the nurses would come in to check on me they thought my pillow fortress was pretty serious stuff.  I’m back to being a normal person who requires only one pillow now.  

4      I am allowed to buy toilet paper, the ban has been lifted!   True story.  I ‘nested’ like crazy and by 6 months, I had nothing more to nest.  So what does a pregnant woman do that loves to plan and prepare?  Well I spent the last trimester stocking up on all kinds of stuff, such as toilet paper.  It got to the point where Aaron was getting really annoyed because we had packs of toilet paper in every nook and cranny of our house.  I was buying TP as if doomsday was coming.  Then one day, the doorbell rang.  Aaron answered to find a UPS man with a box as tall as me and almost too wide for our door.   Yes, I ordered a whole bunch of toilet paper from Amazon.com.   Aaron FLIPPED out on me.  A TP ban was placed in our household.  Yes folks, I was told I was not allowed to buy any more toilet paper.  Recently I asked Aaron if I could buy TP, I had to give him our current inventory count and apparently I’m in the clear now to buy TP again.  HA!

       I no longer feel like an illegitimate pregnant woman.  During the last month of pregnancy, I swelled just enough to make my wedding band not fit anymore.  I hated being in public sans wedding ring.  I would stand at the checkout lines at Target thinking I was being judged, I just wanted to tell the cashier, no worries, this is a legitimate child I’m carrying, I AM married to the baby’s daddy.  I’m sure I completely over thought it and no one really noticed but I was so self-conscious of it and thought everyone was looking at me thinking I was an illegitimate pregnant unmarried woman. 

        I can put socks on (by myself!)  I would sit on the floor and would practically do circles around myself trying to reach for my feet to get my socks on.  The only way I could really get socks on was sitting down and leaning to the side and basically throwing my sock out like a fishing pool and catching my big toe to get them pulled on.   There were even times where I had to decide how badly I really needed to go to the grocery store because I just didn’t want to deal with putting socks on.  Luckily, Aaron is a great husband and put my socks on for me many of those times.

      Back to attending hot yoga classes.  Not that I love working out really but it is nice to get back to the workouts I actually slightly enjoy.  Hot yoga being one of them.   The regular yoga classes for pregnant woman just weren’t my style at all!

       Pants with real buttons.  When I bought my first maternity pants with elastic waist band that came clear up to under my bosoms I was like “This is awesome, I’m NEVER going back to regular pants again!”  I was loving them!  Seriously, I had every intention of wearing maternity pants for the rest of my life.  But after giving birth, I wore my maternity pants a few times and it was a scary, frumpy site.  I now have a deeper appreciation for my pants that button and sit at my waist.

        Back to washing dishes at the sink.  I’m short.  Therefore I don’t have long arms.  This in turn meant when I was very pregnant, my belly stuck out so far, I could hardly stand at the sink and reach the dishes.  Not that I love being able to wash dishes but it’s pretty disabling to not be able to wash your coffee mug in the 2 seconds it took in my pre-prego state.

         No more kong-fu fights.   I’m convinced Annie is stronger than your typical baby.  Feeling my baby kick inside is an awesome feeling.  But having kong-fu fights going down in your belly constantly and feeling like you are black and blue inside has its trying moments.  There were even times where you could visibly see a heel or a fist pushing out.  My stomach would have lumps and at times, her little kong-fu fights hurt!  Although I do miss them a bit, it’s far more fun to watch her kick, stretch and be on the move outside of me now!

All this being said… I now see pregnant woman and feel almost jealous!  Like ‘awh, look at that pregnant woman!’  How I can say I miss pregnancy is beyond me but a part of me does!  It’s an amazing process us woman get to experience that’s for sure.