parenthood

// kentucky in a nutshell //

December 30, 2012 by Rachel 5 Comments

Y’all, traveling with a newborn and two dogs is not for the faint of heart. Holy. Hell.

When we got to Kentucky last week, my anxiety level was through the roof. And driving home yesterday made me car sick beyond belief, partially from anxiety; partially from riding in the back seat with babycakes.

But we had tons-o-fun relaxing in Kentucky with Mimi and Papa!

The first day we were there my mom arranged a massage for my sister and I. It was fantastic, but I could’ve done without the sore muscles afterward.

My sister, Shauna, and her boyfriend, Jimmy, were only in town for that first Saturday + Sunday before Christmas; so we did a little pre-Christmas dinner and celebrating with them. They gave Ari some adorable toys — one of which I’d been eying up forever!

Really the only thing I ventured out of the house for [other than Starbucks] was for Lights Under Louisville and to tour the Louisville Slugger Factory + Museum.

Lights Under Louisville is this 30-minute drive-thru Christmas light display in a mega cavern located beneath the Louisville Zoo. Unfortunately Ari was asleep the entire time, but it was a really neat experience.

Christmas Day was spent in the comforts of our PJs, sipping on Starbucks Christmas Blend and later some craft beers. But my favorite part of the day was ~~having Ari open his gifts~~ opening Ari’s gifts for him. Chad and I kept it simple – we bought Ari a Gloworm and a kid-friendly iPod activity case [both Amazon Daily Deals! Woo hoo!]

Ari + I bought Chad an engraved key chain with Ari’s birth stats on it. I took advantage of an opportunity to get a sentimental gift 😉 And Chad gave me a gift certificate to Yoga Bliss! Hooray for hot power yoga! 🙂

Christmas perfected!

The next day we headed to the Louisville Slugger Factory + Museum for a tour of the factory. Ari was awake for this one. And he was so good throughout the 30 minute tour. If you’re ever in Louisville, I would definitely recommend the factory tour. I’m not a big fan of baseball but the history of the Louisville Slugger was cool enough in itself.

Ari was such a good sport. His Mimi + I were playing paparazzi and snapping all sorts of pictures of him. He wasn’t amused but he didn’t freak out either. Hooray!

In addition to all this awesome, Ari actually slept at night. Amazeballs! Now that doesn’t mean he slept thru the night; it just means we didn’t have to sleep in shifts. But I can handle the waking up just for feedings at night — that I’m totally OK with.

Now that we’re home, we’re kinda hoping that this sleeping through the night thing continues. 🙂

Ari Davis // Two Months

December 18, 2012 by Rachel 3 Comments

Be sure to check out my guest blog post on SummaFlourish.org today!

Sunday my little man turned two months old! Where has this time gone?! It’s hard to believe that in just a couple of weeks my maternity leave will be over.

Although our 2-month well baby checkup isn’t until Thursday, I already know our little guy has grown. He seems so much longer these days. And even though he still doesn’t have chunky baby rolls, I know he probably weighs more, too!

Eating:

– He’s still bottle feeding with my pumped breast milk exclusively. And he’s eating a lot — somewhere between 25 and 30 ounces a day. Such a champ! Luckily I’m producing enough to keep up with his appetite! So thankful for that.

Milestones:

– He loves to ‘talk.’ He mimics our noises. So much so that one time I was saying “I love you Ari!” and Chad and I could swear that he said “I love you too!” It was hilarious!

– We had a very fun first Thanksgiving! We went to Ari’s Great Aunt’s house for the day and spent it with great family and great food.

– He’s learning to hold his head up really well. He still needs some support because he doesn’t have a ton of control; but his neck is super strong.

– He can also push himself up on his hands/arms when he’s on his tummy. He does it constantly.

– A couple of weeks ago he figured out how to roll over on his side.

– He’s a lot less colicky than he was before. Somewhere in the last few weeks it’s subsided. He still has him moments, but they are less frequent for sure. Thank goodness!

Fun notes:

– He pooped on his Mimi [my mom] this past weekend. It was hilarious! Of course, I wasn’t being pooped on so maybe that’s why it was funny.

– He’s been trying to laugh but it comes out as this fake cough. I can’t wait until he figures out how to actually laugh.

– He loves bath time. I actually get in our big tub with him so that he can kick around and splash. He loves it. And, honestly, so do I! I can’t wait to put him in swim lessons in a few months.

– He met Santa for the first time at our annual family Christmas party.

Can’t wait to spend the holidays with this little guy before going back to work! 🙂

you are all rock stars

December 15, 2012 by Rachel 2 Comments

Operation: Get-Fit Postpartum is underway. I’ve been trying to really step it up.

And Thursday night my mother-in-law had stayed the night to help with Ari. You’d think that I would try and sleep in. Ha. Nope.

I actually woke up Friday and went to a 6am power yoga class at Yoga Bliss. I’ve been managing to make it to the gym pretty regularly the last few weeks, but this was only my second chance to take a yoga class, postpartum.

And I didn’t realize just how much I have missed my yoga practice.

I mean, I knew I missed it. But until this class, I didn’t realize that I missed everything about it:

the incredible teachers; the powerful students; the energy + enthusiasm; the amazing community we’ve built.

It opened my heart back up and made me ache for a regular yoga practice again.

All this from one incredibly difficult practice.

But our fantastic teacher, Amy B-G, kept reminding us that “You are all rock stars!” And it’s true. All 30 of us got up well before 6 am to be there. If nothing else, we showed up. Once you show up, the truly hard part is over.

And I certainly had to remind myself of this when she yelled out “Let’s prepare for Frog Pose!”

My heart sank and I practically let out an audible sigh. The one pose I dread is Frog Pose, or Bhekasana.

And then I realized, that I signed up for this. If I didn’t want to be pushed + challenged, I wouldn’t be here. If I wanted someone to just agree with everything I say and feel and think, I would have just stayed in bed.

In that moment I decided to surrender to that pose and these feelings. And then I reminded myself that we are all rock stars!

After class I was on a post-yoga high. This is what I’ve been missing. This is what I’ve needed!

And I officially can’t wait to continue with Operation: Get-Fit Postpartum!

getting out of this.

December 3, 2012 by Rachel 9 Comments

I’m in a rut.

A blogging rut and a life-in-general rut.

Everything in my life seems to revolve around baby related activities. Like poopy diapers. And pumping breast milk. And feeding/changing/napping/holding/walking with the baby.

But just because I’m a mom now doesn’t mean that this is my entire life — it isn’t my single defining characteristic.

So, yeah, I’ve been in a rut. I need to break out and do other things that challenge and excite me.

Plus, I’m feeling the effects of being seriously out of shape. For the first time in my life, I’m really, really out of shape.

So I’m taking back the other aspects of my life to feel whole again.

Physically —

I was cleared for exercise last week during my six-week postpartum appointment. I’ve already started working out again, but I plan on kicking it into high gear this week. I’ve got my eye on a new pair of running shoes and I am going to a 6am power yoga class at Yoga Bliss this morning.

When I set a fitness goal, I plan on reaching it. So I have no doubts about getting there; it’s the starting it that’s difficult.

And I’m cutting out all the bad food.

See, while pregnant, my gluten allergy disappeared. In fact, carbs were the one food that settled my always-queasy tummy. So I ate them. And then I ate them more. And I just couldn’t stop. I was enjoying the freedom of the temporary relief of a gluten intolerance!

My gluten intolerance hasn’t returned postpartum — yet. Perhaps because I’m breastfeeding? Who knows. But I’m still mostly cutting them from my diet. I’ll pick + choose my carbs based on how healthy they are. Like our homemade spelt and wheatberry pizza doughs/breads/pancakes. Oh — and Ohio City Pastas. Those I will still eat, too!

Mentally —

I’m challenging myself to get out there and meet new people. There are several Ohio Blogging Association events this month that I’m really excited to attend. But I’m not gonna lie — I’m nervous! In Syracuse, I was super involved in the social media community. Here, I’ve been mostly an observer. I haven’t quite taken the plunge. But I’d like to change that. I need to change that and finally meet some new people.

And yoga. It won’t only be helping me physically, but it’s mentally and emotionally challenging. I’ve been seriously missing it.

I know I’ll be out of my little life rut soon enough. 🙂 And don’t get me wrong, I love being a mom. I just don’t want to forget about the things I loved before I became a mom.

calm before the storm

November 4, 2012 by Rachel 5 Comments

While all of my friends on the east coast have been recovering from Hurricane Sandy, around these parts we’ve been in the midst of Hurricane Ari.

Y’all, this mom to a newborn thing is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Compared to this? Pregnancy was a breeze. This is exhausting.

I didn’t expect this parenting thing to be easy by any means. But Ari has been wide awake all night long for the past 5 nights. And screaming. At the top of his tiny little lungs, for no reason. He will be fed, changed, clothed, warm, and held; and he’ll still scream and scream and scream.

I’ve taken to my twitter family for advice, and I’ve been told that this is just what some babies do.

Do you know what completely sane adults do when their baby cries for hours for no reason whatsoever? They also cry for hours. True story.

Not everything is this depressing around our house. The days are fantastic. He’s a beautiful and happy little guy. We go for walks, trips to Starbucks for some tea [and just to get out of the house], and pick up random things from Target on the daily. We are, otherwise, living life. Just without any sleep and with our patience worn thin.

So hopefully this week in between the screaming and crying, I’ll be able to put together Ari’s birth story. But that may suck any remnants of life from my body [hint: it wasn’t pretty].

{ he’s here! }

October 17, 2012 by Rachel 15 Comments

Ari Davis L was born Tuesday October 16th at 5:59 PM! He weighs 7 lbs 1 ounce and measures 19 inches long. Just a peanut!

We are all doing great & I can’t wait to fill everyone in. I should definitely be sleeping but it turns out Ari is refusing to sleep if he isn’t being held. So, I’m up holding my beautiful little man! 🙂 Not the worst job in the world, regardless of how sleep deprived I am from the last few days!