More of Son's 7th Month

This was originally written on Tuesday, November 25, 2008:

On Sunday, November 23rd Logan stood alone (without holding on to anything) for the first time (for a few seconds)!

Earlier that evening we'd returned home from celebrating Thanksgiving in Iowa with my mom, stepdad, his brother, wife, two kids, my step-grandparents, maternal grandma, and mom's sister. It was only the third trip Logan had taken but the first time he was truly aware of what was going on. The other two car rides to Iowa he slept the entire three hours. This time he only took a half-an-hour nap on the way there and on the way home. So, I had to entertain him the rest of the time, but it was good practice because tomorrow (Wednesday) thru Saturday we're going to Colorado for Joe's family's Thanksgiving. His mom is renting a van and coming here tonight, then we're driving with her to his oldest sister's house to join her husband, five kids, and the first two's spouses and daughters. (One of the daughters I posted a picture of on my post titled Look-A-Likes--Reagan was born in Feb. Logan's other nephew had a daughter, Aubrielle, in June. Since Logan was born in April, all three babies are two months apart)

Last night Joe bought a portable DVD player and a second Baby Einstein DVD for Logan because otherwise it's going to be a LONG 9 hours (18 hours total) stuck in his carseat. He did really well this weekend--only cried for our last 15 minutes home on Sunday, but I think we'll probably have to make several stops on the Colorado trip--especially since I'm still breastfeeding.

Since I last posted, saying things had really improved in that area, I decided that since it's more comfortable to nurse & pump more frequently (engorgement-wise. . .by the way, I forgot to mention that when I first cut down my pumps/nursings I obviously wasn't emptying my breasts completely and so I pumped the most I ever have in one sitting: 15 oz! At least they don't leak anymore when they're full--the first few months I used to wake up in puddles in bed)--I decided to kick it back up to nursing continously throughout the day. (Especially since Logan hasn't bitten me since I last wrote.) I still wasn't breastfeeding or pumping for more than 10 minutes at a time, but with no pain or blood I thought maybe we'd be able to continue this way for the next five months. Nope. On Sunday I pumped blood again and noticed the sores were back. Dang!!! Since then I haven't been able to nurse or pump for more than five minutes at a time, but luckily the sores went away and I haven't had anymore bleeding. I've decided I'll take my pump to Colorado--but when we return next weekend I'm putting it away for good and will let nature run its couse. If Logan nurses well for the next five months then wonderful, but if my milk decreases too much and/or I have even the slightest pain again then I'll cease nursing.

On the bright side, he has been a pure joy since my last post. The only good thing about babies changing so much is that when there's a bad month it's certain that it will change soon. Also, things always seem easier after a rough time--I think that's why I liked month 5 (because I hated month 4). But month 6 was worse than month 4! The past week he has been happy all day, taking good naps, and sleeping 10 hrs at night without interruptions . . .the only thing is that what I just said also applies for the good months--I'm enjoying this while it lasts because I know he'll have another not-so-fun month in the near future. :/

I've been able see more resemblance to me lately! I'm sure he'll always look more like Joe but as long as there's some proof that I'm his mom :)

Another recent thing, the little stinker, is he likes to roll over when I'm changing his diaper! So that has made it tricky lately to get the thing on right. I feel like a first timer again, like when my nurse Mel at the hospital asked Joe and I 36 hours after Logan was born, "Have you changed his diaper yet?" because we kept calling the nurse in whenever he needed changing, haha! We sheepishly admitted "no," we'd never changed a diaper in our lives. But back then the only hard part was not getting peed on, but nowadays I'm having to sometimes change it on the floor (on a pad) so that he doesn't fall off the changing table!

This morning I had a scare--he almost fell off my bed. Until now we've put him in the center of the bed because that way if he falls from a sitting position, there is time to pick him up before he can roll off onto the floor. But now he's gotten too quick. Today he was sitting there while I was getting ready in the bathroom (which has always been our pattern) and he fell forward (which he does on purpose to get into the crawling position when he wants something in front of him--only he doesn't go anywhere, lol). But this time he immediately FLIPPED himself over! Thank God I happened to be standing right by the bed because I hurled myself across the bed as we was in mid air and caught him!!!! I now understand how mothers can have super human strength!

Of course he didn't have a clue what was going on. He just smiled at me like, "you're silly, mommy." Whenever I yell at the dogs he smiles, too, so he obviously doesn't react to that emotion yet. However one night last month I was having a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day (remember that book?!) and then at the end of the night I was taking a frozen pizza out of the oven and it fell on the floor! 99% of the time I don't cuss, but I screamed a swear word and Logan burst out crying! I think it's because he'd never heard me raise my voice before. It was so sad, I vowed never to scream in my house again. I grew up in a family of yelling and refuse to pass that on. . .which means I need to be aware now of what makes me yell so as to avoid those situations in the future!

He's been a chatter box lately. He has a sound he makes when he's "talking" and it's not really the most pleasant sound (at first I thought he was whining but now I realize he's just trying to have a conversation with us, lol). I can see why the thing now is to teach babies sign language at 9 months old. He can already signal when he wants me to pick him up (by raising his arms) so that helps me know what he wants during those times--so teaching him other signals sounds like a good idea, plus sign language is something he'd be glad to know as an adult. (I've always been interested in learning.) I've had a lot of people ask me if I'm going to do this so I've decided I'm going to try! Anyone else interested can read about it at Signing Baby dot com.

Back in June I mentioned how my paternal grandmother loved how Logan seemed to wave when she said "hi" (this was not for real--he was 2 months old). I forgot to mention that after he did that, she asked, "Did you just wave?!" And he nodded! haha!

He definitely doesn't seem bored anymore, like in my last post 7 Months Old. He has been enjoying all of his new toys--like several balls, thanks for the tip, Kendra! And, I've noticed he'll play with his toys longer if he can see me. If I put him wherever I am he will be content longer than if he's playing in a room by himself. I think that's why he's always been super good when we're out in public (aside from getting his pictures taken, haha)--I'm always close by and there's enough "new things" to keep his attention.

He had a good time at my neighbor's scrapbooking last Wednesday. At first I was worried he wasn't going to take a nap (and he needed it because that morning he'd been up since 6) but after a few rocks of his carseat he fell asleep. However, since we don't let him sleep in his carseat anymore, he woke up after only about 15 minutes. Still, he did a good job just sitting on my lap while I ate lunch and talked with the other mothers. Last time I mentioned about finding out I wasn't the only one with bad morning sickness (in fact now my pregnancies doesn't seem so bad) and a posterior baby--well this time I learned I'm not the only one with dysmenorrhea (labor-type menstrual cramps). One of them also has cysts on her ovaries that burst in addition to the cramps--ouch! None of them noticed an improvement with having a baby, either. :( We'll see how next month's period is for me.

Later that day Joe had said he'd come home from work by 4 pm to watch Logan while I went to an appointment, but he was in a meeting so I ended up having to wake Logan up from his nap to take him with me, which meant we arrived ten minutes late. Fortuantely, Joe WAS able to leave work early on Thursday, November 20th for Logan's ENT appointment.

Good news=the brachial cleft fistual hasn't changed! There appears to be no infection, but the ENT would still like to do a scan in order to make sure nothing's happening on the inside that we're not aware of. (Like a cyst developing.) Also, he hopes to be able to tell what "type" Logan has (you may remember I explained the different types in my More On Brachial Cleft Fistula post). The ENT is guessing it's either a 1 or 2. If it's a 2, Logan is going to have to spend the night in the hospital as it will be a little longer of a surgery (but still easy for the ENT) because he'll have to go up Logan's entire brachial tract to the ear. If it's a 1, then the hole is just at the surface and it will be a very quick surgery that will allow Logan to go home that same day. We're still planning on the surgery in January but need to schedule the scan first with Children's Hospital and then go from there. Once the ENT sees the scan he will be better prepared for the procedure because he'll have a clear picture of what Logan's neck looks like inside. Unfortunately, Logan is going to have to be sedated for the scan (because it's a CT scan so he is not allowed to move the slightest) so that will be tough to watch (he's going to have to have an IV).

The ENT also checked Logan's ears and throat so I was glad to be reassured that Logan wasn't sick. (Especially since last Sunday he developed a rash on his face but now it's almost gone--I think it's the change in weather: the first time his skin has felt winter!) I, on the other hand, developed a sore throat early Sunday morning and had the worst headache ever on Monday (I finally had to take ibuprofen again and that helped, as well as drinking some cherry coke) so I was worried I was coming down with something. The room seriously spun for so many hours that I was sure I was going to throw up by the time Joe got home from work. Amazingly I didn't, but that taste of nausea reminded me of last year (I'm just a few days away from the anniversary of when my all-day sickness finally ended) so I pray I don't get pregnant before I make the decision to because I'm not ready yet to go through that day in and day out again! I just have this horrible feeling that I'm going to have it bad again, not only because of the statistics saying subsequent pregnanices are worse, but also if the baby is a girl which I have a feeling my other child is going to be. I'm kind of hoping for another boy, though--and this gives me another reason :)

We actually had a pregnancy scare in August. Well I guess it wasn't a "scare" exactly--but it was just the first time we were dumb and so I took a pregnancy test (even though I hadn't had my period yet since having Logan). It actually happened to be just 3-4 days later than when we conceived Logan last year so I was like OMG I'm going to relive the entire year exactly! As each day went by the more I remembered how much I hated being pregnant, as well I know it would shorten my time with just Logan (I actually get sentimental with my very first dog Bella because the one year it was just her & me seems so short now when I look back, so I can imagine I'll be the same way with Logan). Plus, I want to be as into my next pregnancy as I was with Logan's, but not only did I just do it all so I don't think there'd be as much excitement right now, but also my attention has to be 100% on Logan since he's still a baby. Not to mention two babies in diapers=insane amount of work. So I was very relieved when the test which I had from the same pack as I used last year (that had turned positive) came out negative!

Anyway, I'm feeling better today so hopefully a good night's sleep was all I needed. Otherwise, if I do get sick hopefully it will be like in September where Logan didn't catch it!

After the appointment last Thurs. we went out to Roja Mexican Grill, which I've decided is where I want to go for my birthday this year since Macaroni's, my favorite restaurant where we've been going for every special occasion since our engagement on Valentine's Day 2002, is gone in Omaha :( We still haven't found an Italian restaurant we like as well, but Mexican is our other favorite type of food and we've really loved Roja the three times we've eaten there.

Logan slept while we enjoyed our food (they have the best chips and tacos at Roja) and then when we got home Joe went to bed (at 6:30 pm)! He has been doing some challenging things at work, but the good news is it doesn't look like he'll have to travel again since his DC trip last May. Originally he was going to go to Malibu the end of October rather than DC again--but that fell through which Joe was relieved about. But before having a baby I would have wanted Joe to go--so that I could go, too!!! My brother is only an hour from there so I could have visited him, and at that time temps hadn't dipped below 80 so spending a day or two at the beach sounded pretty good to me! But it's just as well it didn't end up happening because I think taking Logan would have been more stress than relaxation. I don't want to put him on a plane before I "have" to. Aside from him not liking to be confined for a long period, I gave links to other reasons in my post titled, Returning To Normal (Is that a good thing?)

On Friday we packed for Iowa and gave the dogs a bath. Joe said from now on it's worth paying $60 a month to take them to the groomer rather than us spending 4 hours giving them a bath on the nights we do it. Until now we've only taken them twice a year but now with Logan it's harder than ever to give them baths inbetween their appointments. They're supposed to have a bath every ten days but aside from Friday, they'd had one other bath since their last hair appointments in August! :/

He also said he's fine hiring a cleaning service since I've been feeling overwhelmed with doing everything lately and can't seem to keep up since Logan's been born, but then I made a list of the pros and cons and there is only one pro but six cons. :( (My list of cons were: I don't want to have to spend money that isn't necessary; I'm at home so I feel I "should" be able to do it myself; I don't like people who I don't know close to my personal items; It'd be awkward to have someone in my house cleaning while I'm here; I would probably end up cleaning before they came so they wouldn't see gross stuff; They might not clean to my standards anyway. My pro was: My house would always be clean!)

On Saturday morning we left Omaha at 9:15, thinking we'd get to my parents' house about 45 minutes early (lunch was set for 12:30). We left our house having beautiful weather, but just twenty minutes into our drive it completely changed. Snow and ice, accidents, traffic moving at 10 miles an hour, etc. At one point the snow was coming down so heavy Joe thought he was going to have to pull over! He said that the forecast had not predicted this and that if it was going to be like this on Wednesday then he wasn't driving to Colorado! Fortunately, it improved as we neared Ankeny and the snow was very light (and didn't stick on the ground). But we showed Logan his first snowfall :)

Anyway we didn't end up arriving until 1 pm so we ate between 1:30-2:00 and then played a game called Lifestories and my two aunts, uncle, and cousins enjoyed meeting Logan for the first time. I was glad my step grandma was able to come. You might remember me mentioning in August when she and my grandpa visited that she found out she had breast cancer. She had the one breast removed and they've been trying to test her for the past two months to make sure the cancer is gone but it keeps coming back inconclusive so she was going to have a surgical biopsy done on Nov. 17th but they had told her the wrong time to show up and so it was postponed to the first week of December and now has been postponed AGAIN until the second week of December! What a mess. I really hope that after all of this she receives good news. She has been doing well and I so pray that the cancer never comes back and didn't spread. Her mom had breast cancer but they caught it in time and she never had any other effects; living to be in her late 80's (she basically died of old age--not cancer). So I am going to believe that this will be the end of her cancer, too.

Prayers work: my cousin on my mom's side, Kate, is now almost 34 weeks pregnant!!!! She is still on bedrest but only for two more weeks, then anything can happen! What a relief--it looks like everything is going to be okay and she should have a healthy little girl. What a perfect Christmas gift! Let's just hope she can make it at least 2.5 more weeks!

On a sad note, Joe's sister's partner has been having heart trouble the past couple of weeks. She was in the hospital for several days getting her heart drained because it was full of fluid and they didn't know why. She was able to be released when she had 60% heart function again, however she has had to be readmitted. I really hope they figure out what is wrong and get it taken care of once and for all. I can't think of anything scarier going on in your body than a heart mystery.

On Saturday night my relatives left my parents' house around 6:30, and then at 8 pm Joe & I checked into a hotel. Thanks to my mom & stepdad for a wonderful gift of babysitting Logan while we stayed in a suite with a whirlpool!

It was the first night I've ever spent away from Logan (16 hrs--the most amount of time as well; previously it'd been 8 hrs the two times I've done the scrapbooking nights since he's been born) and I realized that I think our beach vacation is going to have to occur in 2010, not 2009, because I don't think I'll be ready even a year from now to be away from him for an entire week! (Of course Joe didn't try to talk me out of it since he's not a traveler.) I actually think it's harder the older Logan gets! Like, over the summer I don't think it would have been hard for me to take a solo weekend trip to Iowa (which I was going to do but then we found out about his brachial cleft fistula) however now I don't even plan to do that until this summer when he's over a year old. I admit I even miss him when he's sleeping! I know that sounds crazy since I value my breaks, but if it feels like it's been awhile since I've seen him awake, I start picturing his smiley face and thinking about his cute sounds and movements and I'm like, "where is my little guy?"

But don't get me wrong, I still know that time away is good for a mother's sanity so I'm not waiting to take our vacation until he's in school! I enjoyed my consecutive hours of relaxation on Saturday night!!! It was nice getting "a night off," and fortunately Logan did well with my parents, especially for being away from home. They said he slept from 10 pm to 5 am and then 5:30 am to 8 am. Joe & I really appreciated them watching him.

At our house he hasn't stayed up til 10 pm in over a month. He always falls asleep at 8 pm. His waking up time still varies (anytime between 6-8 am) but he has been taking naps every day again--yeay! (9-11 am if he wakes up at 6, 10-noon if he wakes up at 7, and 11-1 if he wakes up at 8). Then, as he has since August, he takes a 30 min-to-an-hr nap around 4 pm. Hopefully this week's Colorado trip won't get him off schedule. . .I've liked the routine/predictability that we've had since he made this schedule on his own at 4 months old.

On Sunday we went out with my family to a BBQ restaurant for lunch and then headed back to Omaha at around 3 pm. Thankfully the weather was good this time. Joe met my parents on the interstate this afternoon because they are going to dogsit for us, so hopefully Bella & Cosmo will be well-behaved.

Oh, that reminds me! The other day Logan was drinking his bottle (which he holds now himself) and I was checking e-mail on the computer. When I glanced back at him a minute later he had replaced the bottle with a dog bone he'd picked up! Ewe!!!! I don't even want to think about how many germs were on that thing--he had his hands wrapped around it and was sucking it the same as he had been with his bottle! My mouth dropped open as I saw the bottle had been thrown behind him. I've noticed that he always tries to get whatever dog toys he sees on the floor--so we're going to have to start putting them up high where he can't get to them anymore. It's going to be hard to constantly pick them up. . .and this is something that isn't going to get easier for a few more years! I'm sure that even when he's two and three yrs old he's going to want to play with dog toys and put them in his mouth. Ick. :(

He sure loves our dogs. I think they were the first thing that ever made him smile--and I remember him observing them when he was super young (like a week old). They've always been able to make him laugh like no other. He has started trying to pull their hair, though, so I'm not sure they're going to like him as much once he is mobile. Bella already moves out of the way when he gives her eye contact! Cosmo tries to play with him and seems more forgiving so hopefully he'll continue to be!

They have done really good the past few months as far as not barking outside. Our neighbors can't complain anymore :p

Other things I haven't mentioned (after reading through all of my past blogs):

Joe never knew he was supposed to request paternity leave prior to my giving birth. When he told his boss afterwards, they said they couldn't honor it (he had used a vacation week instead) because the HR people needed to set it up in advance! I don't think that's very fair so hopefully he can contact the HR people at some point and tell them he wasn't told that he had to set it up before I gave birth--and then he can have an extra week of vacation.

Back when Logan had jaundice and we checked into Children's Hospital, the staff came over to us and asked if my car was the one parked out front--because we'd left the passenger side door wide open! Ahh! "Hey everyone who's walking by, get a look at my messy car!" :p Obviously our minds were elsewhere. . .

After Logan was born I mentioned that his breathing was a little congested off and on for two months. It occured to me later that maybe I should have been concerned about asthma (because Joe's sister AnMarie has it) but by the time that thought occured to me it was gone and he hasn't had it since. It was probably either related to Logan's birth -- his rough time breathing for the first time or the brachial cleft fistula. Since then he's had no indicators of asthma (which Sandi said she knew right away when AnMarie was a baby that she breathed differently) so I'm praying he won't develop it.

Also, his first couple of months his feet seemed odd, but now they look completely normal. I actually think that may be common--babies often have to grow into their feet. He still uses them a lot, though. In fact, I can't keep socks or shoes on him because he kicks them off so fast.

For the past couple of months Joe has joked about him having artistic hands. Logan will move them around in a "flowing" creative motion, it's cute :)

In my Look-A-Likes post, I had mentioned that at Logan's two month check up it was recommended I give Logan vitamin D drops because that vitamin is super important for babies--but he spit out the liquid. That didn't last long--now he eagerly opens his mouth for the dropper, especially vitamin C which I gave to him before and after the 3 vaccinations that he's gotten, or when I think he's been around more germs than normal. I think he'll like orange juice when he can start drinking it, haha!

The olive oil definitely cured Logan's cradle cap. He hasn't had it at all since August when I put that on his head. It only took a week!

Joe and I haven't noticed Logan having our cowlicks in his hair like he used to have up until he was 4 months old. (Mine in front, Joe's in back.) Weird, I thought those last forever.

For the past couple of months he gets a shiver every now and then which sometimes seems a little scary (it's almost a shake) but when we went out to eat with Chris last month she informed us that is often a reaction to a baby's brain growing! (Her baby that is due in Feb. does this in utero.) Isn't that crazy? Maybe that's why Logan was so fussy last month: his brain was growing! I looked it up on the internet and saw that it is common for babies to twitch and shiver, especially around 6 months old, because their muscles are developing so quickly. Many parents are scared it's a sign of a seizure but Logan's are so quick that they've never concerned me so I haven't brought it up with his pediatrician. It sounds like by 9 months old it will have stopped.

Logan is a vegetarian. :p On his 7 month birthday we fed him beef for the first time and I couldn't force it down at any meal so I gave it to my dogs. He kept gagging, it was so sad. He'd cough, his eyes would get all red and watery, and he'd spit it out. Every time I fed him another bite his face looked like I was making him eat dirt. I've decided I'll wait until he's nine months old before trying it again, since that is what a link I gave in my 4 Months Old post recommended anyway. Same thing for mixtures. Even though he likes all of his fruits and veggies (except peas and greenbeans) he doesn't like them mixed together. I had to throw out spinach & potatoes because he kept gagging on that, too. He actually cries now when we put him in his high chair and is fussy even when we're feeding him the stuff he likes--in the beginning he LOVED meal times! So we'll be sticking to the plain stuff for a while longer.

As I said in my last post, even though he's still in the 90th percentile he's only gained 1.5 pounds over the past two months--quite a difference from gaining 6 pounds his first two months, 4 pounds his second two months, and 3 pounds his third two months. Last weekend my maternal grandmother said to Logan, "You've gotten fat." I know she was just joking but I pointed out that I've actually been worried he's getting thin! (Although he can wear some 18-month clothes already. Last week he wore his last 3-6 month outfit and only has a few 6-9 month clothes that still fit him; otherwise he is mainly in 12-month clothes now! Over these past 7 months there were outfits I wish I would have put him in sooner. I thought that if he could still wear the previous size then he didn't need to wear any size bigger clothes yet. But they all fit differently so there are outfits he wasn't able to wear as long because they were already perfect or tight when I first put him in them. So that's why he's already wearing some 18 month clothes--if they're not huge, I'm going to put him in any size clothes and hope that he can get a lot of wear out of them!)

I think people from "the olden days" aren't as used to chubby babies because, for one, most weren't breastfed (and breastfed babies are generally chubbier) and, two, parents back then were taught (by doctors) to only feed their babies on schedule opposed to now we know that is dangerous and babies should be the one to make their feeding schedule in order to make sure they are getting what they need.

In my Trying To Figure Out A Schedule post I mentioned that at one time I'd heard that chubbier babies usually make more physically fit adults. I since looked this up and while I couldn't find that exact statistic, I did find that research indicates fat babies are no more likely to become overweight adults than babies who weigh less. Once you get over the age of two, that changes and is an entirely different topic (then it is unhealthy)--but prior to the age of two, chubby babies are healthier! Before I was a mother I always pictured my baby as chubby just because I thought the ones I saw were cuter! :p I'm sure I'll worry something is wrong if my next baby doesn't require as much as Logan and is on a lower scale--but if that's what's healthy for them then I'm not going to worry if I have a baby on the opposite end, either. I think Logan's chubby days are coming to an end just because he's getting older. So it's actually a little sad for me. . .but I know he'll still be cute and cuddly even when he's a wiry child, which with his small bone structure I think he'll be.

I forgot to mention after his first prunes that when he went poop I didn't think it was anything unusual--until TWO days later! Then it was like his first 4 months all over again with super full, liquidy explosive diapers. In fact, we've since fed him prunes on another occasion because he'd gone three days without pooping (the first time since his only constipation week in August) and then he had FIVE poopy diapers in one day! We definitely won't be feeding him prunes again unless he truly needs it, haha! (But they are one of his favorites!)

Speaking of which, one topic I never covered when doing my pregnancy & post pregnancy stuff? That constipation is super common after you give birth. I'd heard that but hadn't had any problems in that area after Logan was born--until about two weeks later, one night I was completely caught off guard. I was in the bathroom for two entire hours. It was awful, I thought I was having a repeat of Logan's birth. Joe had to bring me water. I've decided he's proved to me he's in my life for the long haul after watching me at my worst (giving birth and now this)--and still wanting me--ahh!!! I now have activa yogurt every day even though I'm 7 months away from giving birth and may not need it anymore--but I'm not taking any chances--no way am I ever spending two hours on the toilet again. :p I was glad I had some leftover medicine pads from the hospital to use afterward (I think they give them to all women after giving birth, since most vaginal childbirths often cause hemorrhoids).

One good thing to know for those who are worried about giving birth to big babies--I've researched this since I'm worried about my pelvis next time, since generally second babies are bigger than firsts (however women usually gain less weight with their second pregnancies than their first so I like that statistic). Fortunately, women who have birthed both 6 pound babies and 10 pound babies say there really is no difference. You feel it while pregnant (the extra weight which is uncomfortable) but when a baby "comes out" it doesn't hurt any worse. I guess that makes sense because when Logan came out he didn't come out as a perfectly shaped baby--he was all scrunched up, his head all mashed up, etc.--babies can form how they need to form in order to fit. Still, hopefully my next baby will be another 7 pounder (or 6)! I remember how I felt like Humpty Dumpty. Then again, I also indulged on Cheetos my last couple of weeks as well as a chocolate-peanut butter mixture I melted in the microwave and ate with a spoon. I didn't think I had any weird eating habits when I was pregnant but I tried that chocolate-peanut butter thing the other day and I was like, YUCK! I also haven't been tempted to buy Cheetos since. So I definitely did eat more junk when I was pregnant.

I remember during my last couple of months thinking that everyone I knew had lost weight. Finally it occured to me that this was impossible. Not EVERYONE I knew could have lost weight while I was pregnant. Was there a new diet out there? I mentioned something to Joe's mom after I'd had Logan and she said the same thing happened to her! I think our brains try to make us feel better when we gain weight, rather than comprehend our own bodies, we just think everyone else has gotten skinny--haha!!!

In my When Life Gives You Lemonade, Make Lemonade post, I mentioned that I didn't get stretch marks during my pregnancy except several on my left inner thigh which seemed odd to me. (Also I swear they weren't there until my final week!) The past 6 months I've put Mederma on them, as that reduces the apperance of scars and the red stretch marks (preventing them from changing to the permanent kind) but they haven't improved at all so I'm not going to waste any more money on the gel (that stuff is expensive).

I still have de quervain's, but I think it is getting better now that I'm not nursing and pumping as much so that's why I haven't gone to physical therapy. Last month it was really bad and I had decided to stop putting it off because I was afraid that by letting it go on for 6 months I was going to put myself at risk for surgery. But then this month (before I made an appt.) it's been just minor pain/tightening so we'll see if it goes all the way away once I'm done breastfeeding; if not, I will go.

Finally, my back hurt off and on the first six months after giving birth because I think it still was out of whack from my pregnancy, but the past month it hasn't hurt at all. Maybe my massages have helped for more than just relaxation! I haven't had one since Nov. 11th and probably won't have time in December, but hopefully in January I can return to going regularly.

I better go finish packing for our Colorado trip tomorrow!