Trial

Oh, and Mr. Bisous is going to a party tonight, so for the first time I will manage the newborn and the toddler alone while both are awake (yes, I've been spoiled - first the parents were here, and 4 days a week I have the nanny for the Bisousette, and Mr. Bisous and I are both on maternity/paternity leave still).  How does one accomplish this task? 

a) fortitude

b) wine

c) curious george movie

d) all of the above

Losing weight like a man

I still hate the post-pregger body, BUT these past couple of days I've actually decided to watch what I've been eating a little.  This was after about three days of not losing anything, which was beginning to freak me out, because with the Bisousette, I had a steady six weeks of losing every day.  So I cut out the ice cream (that's it, really), and then lost 5 pounds in two days.  I still have a long way to go, but the more it falls off like this, the better I feel.  I'm fitting in smaller maternity pants, and hopefully in another month will be back in my larger regular pants. 

Hopefully.

Two milestones

Today I was able to put on my wedding ring again.  And yesterday on the scale I dropped down to another decade - I'm 34 pounds down total.  I'm also wearing one of my normal (and not a maternity) hoodies, all zipped up. 

These are the small triumphs in my life right now.  Which is to say, besides laundry and getting through another day with newborns growing and toddlers toddling, not much is going on.  I'm almost looking forward to going back to work (at least half time, which is how I start).  I will feel a little more accomplished at that point.  And next week will be four weeks, so I'll start to lift a little weight instead of doing only lower body standing bodyweight exercises.  

And I'm catching up with Ugly Betty and making more little crochet animals.  

Yep, that's pretty much it.

some more pics

Bisousette at the zoo, and the littlest one in Grandma's lap, with that facial expression that means "I want milllllk."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Argh umph
The littlest one has not been sleeping well the past few nights.  Her little face scrunches up and she screams, or she wants to nurse, but as soon as he pesky milk comes, she gets very angry, and of course she won't take a pacifier.  It eventually works out, and with the nanny I do get a chance to get a nap, but I find myself looking forward to 3 months, when the kid is cute and stretches out her legs and smiles and laughs instead of not being able to lift her head and seeming so confused with the muscles and the world and digestion all the time.  It must be very hard to be a newborn.

Even numbers

My parents returned to Austin today, but they were quickly replaced by other inlaws, who came by for a long afternoon visit.  But now they are gone, the house is ours, the toddler and infant are sleeping.

I'm exhausted.  It is nice to be able to nurse the baby without a million people loitering about.

However, this morning when Mr. Bisous went to mow the lawn, I had my first taste of two kids v. one mama.  It involved a lot of lugging baby around and making lunch one-handed for the Bisousette.  Also some tears (not mine) and jealousy (Bisousette tried to shove the baby away from me because Bisousette wanted me to pick her up).  

I had two glasses of wine this evening (baby did not sleep well today with the inlaws visiting, and she is in the middle of a 4-5 hour evening nap as we speak) and I have a headache.  These alcohols are not for the inexperienced.

 

Another week nearly gone

into the ether.  Time flies with a newborn and when you don't add in the daily work grind (like it or not, work slows down the week in its way). 

Also, Mr. Bisous' computer is virus-infected, so my father, Mr. Bisous, the Bisousette and I are all duking it out for computer time on my laptop.  The Bisousette usually wins - those youtube videos of Thomas the Tank Engine and Jack Johnson's Curious George song from the movie are very engaging for a two year old.  She is also playing Babysmash (a free program I downloaded on a tip from the Elkridge Hollerer) from Lifehacker.  

The littlest one had her two week check-up.  Not surprisingly she's another superbaby - all >90%.  She weighs 10 lbs 3 oz.  I've lost 30 pounds in the 16 days since she was born.  I still don't fit into any but my largest clothes, and I'm living in Mr. Bisous' button-down short-sleeved shirts (the wardrobe for a plumped up nursing mom is entirely different from a grossly pregnant working mom, but this stage (hopefully) is too short to warrant its own separate wardrobe, so I borrow Mr. Bisous'.)

The double chin, though, is almost gone.

Sigh.

But hey, it is nice to be able to have a grown-up glass of wine every now and again.  

The icks and pumping 101

I hate post-pregger body.  It's sloppy and painful and huge.  That said, we're at Day 11 here for the newest edition, and my insides finally feel like they are mostly healed up.  The outsides are still tender in places, but nothing that a couple of motrin doesn't fix. 

I've lost 27 pounds.  33 pounds left to go, since I gained 60 (again).  Really 38 pounds, because I was still 5 pounds up on my pre-Bisousette weight when I got pregnant again.   38 pounds seems like a lot - I'm guessing the next 10-15 will slip off very easily, but the rest will go away as I wean the baby over the next year.  My feet will thank me when it is gone.

Oh, I had a pumping question in my comments section, so here's some pumping 101 - 

You need the right equipment to do it right - unless you rent a hospital pump (and unless you had a premie or plan to pump for only a few weeks, I don't really see the point in that) there are basically two choices of good pumps out there, the Medela Pump in Style and the Ameda Purely Yours. They have variable speeds and suction, are automatic, and all the other ones pale in comparison.

Medela is much more expensive than the Ameda, but I believe it is the more popular brand.   It has more cool accessories you can buy too - such as a hands free pumping bra and whatnot.  I have the Ameda (in fact, I have two, because I got sick of lugging one back and forth to work, so I had one for home and one for work), and it works very well.  The Ameda has the advantage in that all the parts that come in contact with the milk you can sterilize and wash in the dishwasher.  I believe the Medela has some parts you can't quite clean properly, though I'm not entirely sure about this.  You can also purchase extra gear so that you don't have to pump and then clean and then go to work - you can pump and throw the gear in the sink and then use the clean set for work.  

Some pumping tricks to get started - pump in the morning, when you have the most milk.  Pump in the same chair you feed your baby in, and think fondly of the baby as you cosy up to the silly pump aparatus.  Unless you can chill out enough for let-down, pumping won't work well.  Get started before you go back to work so you can do things like leave the house and set aside a frozen supply for the childcare provider, and so you can get used to it. Pumping is also good in those early days when the milk bar is sore as hell - pumping will give your milk bar a break and give dad/cousins/grandparents a chance to feed junior. 

(I use the lansinoh freezer bags, btw - the gerber ones are too cheap with thin plastic, the medela ones too expensive.   I also use the Johnson's nursing pads - gerber are leaky and lansinoh too crinkly)

When you go back to work, pump right before you leave for work, then at noon, then at 3-4 pm.  That keeps you from getting too uncomfortable during the day and gives you plenty of milk for the kiddo's needs.  Set aside at least 20 minutes each time - 10-15 for pumping and another 5 for sorting the equipment and cleaning things.  You can buy special cleaning wipes so you don't have to rinse off stuff between noon and 3-4 pm.  

And that's pretty much everything you need to know about pumping.  

Hmmm

Keeping not one but two children fed and relatively clean not just on Sundays, but pretty much every day, is something of a challenge, by the way.

 

Breastfeeding brain

...is dull and slow in a slightly different way than late and early pregnancy brain.  It's due to the combination of the relaxing double shot of oxytocin and prolactin with daily sleep deprivation.  But I'm not feeling any fabulously witty blog posts coming up any time soon. 

I hate post-preg body.  I feel like a deflated ball of fat and milk.  Yuck.  Like last time, I seem to be losing stuff fast - the littlest one is 9 days old, and I've lost 24.5 pounds.  Still many many pounds to go, though, and due to the weird deflation/sag effect, I still only fit into my largest maternity pants.  My hands and feet and face seem almost back to normal, except the double chin, of course. Time to start walking.