norsegirl | Entries tagged with diet

I'm torn as to whether I should pick up a book on childhood development or not. On one hand it would be neat to get info on the stuff I won't necessarily be able to observe (like when they are able to focus their eyes on things further than 2 feet away, and when they start to take interest in things other than human faces, like right now she clearly doesn't respond to either toys or the dogs) and to be informed of things that I didn't necessarily realize were milestones (the ability to roll over for example, it didn't occur to me that this was a skill that came before crawling), but on the other hand I am worried that I'll become one of those parents who get their knickers in a knot if my child isn't keeping up with the "schedule" in the book. I'm keenly aware that children do things at their own pace. And sometimes it's indicative of a problem (my sister's late reading pointed to dyslexia for example) and sometimes it's just an "I'm not ready for that yet" kind of thing. I want to be informed so I can respond if there is a problem, but I don't want to become the pushy parent or the fretting mother.

Let's address some of the milestones we're tackling right now.

Sleeping through the night
Last night I tried her in the crib again. I didn't take her into my bed to sleep at all. First we tried putting her down and turning off the lights. That was a resounding failure and I had to pick her up and give her a quick feed to comfort her. After that I tried going to bed with the lights on so she could see me. That worked much better. She managed to stay asleep for 4.5 hours or so, and that was pretty decent. I got up long enough to eat breakfast with Jason and then went back to bed for another hour or two. Jason slept in our room alone and because we may have stayed up a bit late playing WoW he only got about 5.5 straight hours, but that's still pretty good by our current standards. I'll try sending him to bed earlier tonight so he gets a full night.

Tummy time
Our pediatrician recommended starting tummy time at 4 weeks. I did a few sessions here and there on the trip home, but they were largely met with screaming and unhappiness. Sessions on our chest were generally accepted, but didn't fulfill the entire point of the exercise. As I understand it, tummy time is required for 2 things:
1) Preventing flatness at the back of their heads
2) Helping them work on both fine (grasping) and gross (kicking and holding their heads up) motor skills
She generally doesn't lie with her head pointing straight up. Like her mother, she prefers to turn her head to sleep on one ear or the other. Therefore I'm not overly worried about back of head flatness even if we never did tummy time at all. Thus, the only possible good to be gained, and even the experts aren't sold on this being a true necessity, is fine and gross motor skills. Frankly, she kicks around plenty even while on her back, and everyone who has held her will attest that no matter the position, she's constantly flinging her head around. Same goes for the gripping and grasping. And when she gets tummy time on our chests, she just falls asleep, so that's somewhat ineffective for anything other than avoiding head flattening and of course bonding.

After a few attempts (one at home and a few on the road and maybe one at my parents' place) I pretty much gave up on floor-tummy time for the trip and figured we'd just tackle it again when we returned home. Imagine my surprise and delight when I gave it a go on a blanket yesterday and it was greeted with smiles and delight from her! I lay her on her tummy, supported her chest for a few secs and then slowly lowered her down while I lay next to her so she could see my face. She smiled, cooed, kicked around and managed to kinda lift her butt a little. Eventually she managed to turn her head to face the other way and eventually turn it back. And she never got tired of it or frustrated! Jason tried a little session when he got home from the office while we were waiting for dinner to cook and that went well too!

Georgia is presently doing her best impression of Maggie from the Simpsons. Complete with blue dress and soother. I should have taken a pic of her doing that when she was yellow - lol. In all seriousness, I'm glad that the yellow appears to be well and truly gone. Also her rash is clearing up quite nicely so far and I expect in another day or two that it will be completely healed.

Post-partum recovery
As I'm now at past the six-week mark, it's time I started working on myself. I haven't been to the doctor yet and thus don't have any official okay to start working out, but I should at least start on the things that I know are okay. Easy stuff like getting out for a walk and maybe seeing about improving my diet. I've got all kinds of yummy Canadian candy, snacks and cookies from the trip and I haven't had much self-control thusfar. I thought about going for a walk yesterday, but let torrential rain keep me indoors and did nothing.

Last night I ate nothing but roasted veggies and nuts for dinner, so I'm making an effort. That the nuts were praline-coated was maybe not the best thing. Tonight I'm serving the veggies again accompanied by shrimp. Tomorrow veggies and salmon. By the end of the weekend I'm hoping to have thrown out or hidden all the candy and sweets and gotten myself into a nothing but veggies and proteins diet. No sugars from starches, fruits or junk food. I figure if I do that for 3 weeks or so that I'll be off to a good start. At that stage I'll re-introduce fruit and maybe the occasional treat.

On the exercise front, I'm thinking I'll set a goal of walking at least half an hour a day. That should do until I've talked to my doctor about something more ambitious. Eventually I hope to re-introduce some time on skates when Jason is home to watch the baby and maybe tackling my Fluidity and some yoga or belly dance videos.

8 weeks left and there's still some stuff left to do, but not too much. I'm hoping I can get Jason's help today with hanging mirrors, pictures, the quilt rod and some shelves. While I could do it on my own it's easier with help. And then we just go back to waiting for Ikea to get that crib back in stock - sigh.

Yesterday I picked up the second side-table to go next to my couch. I freaking LOVE having side tables. The old futon had wooden arms I could put a drink on and I really missed that with the new couch. Especially now as it's very challenging to reach forward to grab a drink off the coffee table. And I'm guessing that won't get any easier when I'm holding the baby instead of carrying it internally.

I'm holding up okay. For the last week or so I've been waking every 2 hours like clockwork. I get up, pee, and maybe get back to sleep after, or toss and turn for some time. So I'm not functioning real well. I actually missed a cooking class last week that we'd paid for because I was just too out of it to remember I'd signed up. I'm kicking myself now and have decided that I'm not allowed to sign up for any more classes as I simply can't remember anything.

Someone asked if I can see my feet... no. Not sure when I stopped being able to see them as I hadn't looked until this morning. The weight seems to be hovering in the 150-152 mark. Puts me a little under the minimum suggested weight for this stage *shrug*. It's not like I'm not eating. I feel like I'm eating all the time. 154-162 is the suggested weight for this week. Also, a few weeks ago I officially went from innie to outie. I meant to post when it happened but I kept forgetting. I'm really hoping when this is all done that I can discipline myself and get on a good diet and exercise program and shed the pounds I've put on since starting University. I'd like to be somewhere in the 120-125 range. I was 115-120 in high school but I don't think that is an achievable or reasonable goal, so we'll aim for early university weight. That's only 10-15 lbs off my pre-pregnancy weight so I think it's a reasonable goal.

Last night when I was trying to fall asleep I had an itch on my belly. When I scratched it I got kicked REALLY HARD from inside. I stopped, the kicking stopped, when I scratched *boot*. I think I was tickling her feet - heh.

My back is pretty much sore all the time. I've been seeing the chiropractor, but it's hard for her to adjust my injured spot because it's right behind the baby. The hips go weird every couple of weeks too but she's been able to fix those just fine. My wrists occasionally get buggered if I spend a day doing something hard on them (working with lots of power tools for example) but she can fix those right up too. Every once in a while the muscles on the underside of the belly start to hurt, I think it's when the baby sits really low and stretches them. It stings, but eventually she moves and it goes away. I've got my sense of balance back. My ankles haven't swollen up at all yet. I still get the occasional bit of mild heartburn, but it seems to be helped by just eating smaller meals all the time and never letting my tummy get empty. I'm having a hard time getting comfortable enough to sleep, but I've just got to suck it up. Really, as pregnancy goes I've got the mildest of symptoms. I just might be able to do this again. Of course we'll have to revisit that suggestion after I go through delivery.

The birthing classes are going okay. They gave us exercises to do and of course I've done nothing. I really should get on that. If I do it for 8 weeks that should help. If I leave it much longer though there won't be much benefit. They also talked about nutrition, but I can't be bothered tracking every little thing I eat. There's been a lot of propaganda, including a video of a 1982 news report questioning the safety of ultrasounds. First of all, every woman in that room is too late in the process to decide not to subject their offspring to ultrasound, so why fear-monger? Second, if you can't find any news report that is younger than the people taking the class, maybe it's a sign that there wasn't any actual news there. So far the only thing we're really learning is how well we know each other and how well we already know how to work together. They mostly focus on relaxation, and how the coach can help the woman relax. Jason already knows plenty of techniques to calm me down, so I'm not sure how much benefit we'll actually get from this. Hopefully it will get better in a few weeks when we get to the sessions on labour. The teacher is pretty useless. She's trying, but I can't help think that I'd get just as much by just reading the textbook and saving myself a drive to her house.

I think I've killed enough time this morning. Off to get some chores done.

This morning I'm driving Jason to work and we're chatting about stuff we need to do. By the time we get to his office I've already forgotten one of the things I told him to take care of. I made a comment that it must be the whole baby-brain thing. His response... "no, we've already seen baby eats your fat, not your brains. It's not a zombie baby."

Baby has been about the best diet plan ever. I'm just doing what I was doing before I got pregnant in terms of exercise and diet, but my upper arms are looking a little less flabby and if I tense my abs I really can't pinch anything there any more. Still have a bit of unwanted flab in my back and around my face (as you can tell from the zillions of chins in my last post) and bathing suit shopping last week revealed some serious cellulite in my thighs that I'm sure wasn't there before. I'm sure the leg thing is because I've had to give up cycling and derby due to balance issues. First trimester I was too exhausted to even think about wasting extra energy on frivolous things like cycling and skating. I don't really feel that out of balance and I think I could still roller skate, but I also think that people would have my head if I tried it at this point, so I've hung up the skates for a few more months. I'll be very excited to strap them back on in the fall. By then some of the construction should ease off so the roads might even be cleaner, which would be fantastic.

As discussed last post, threw my back out yesterday afternoon so the curtains didn't get done. Heck, other than gathering all the stuff together I didn't even get started on them. I went to the chiropractor this morning so I'm feeling a little more sorted. Might go have a nap since I hardly slept at all last night with the pain and then get up and see if I feel like tackling curtains. Overall though I'm feeling like taking it easy today.

This is the last entry you'll see if you're not on the Special K filter...

Here's where I'm starting, as of this morning right after waking:

135.2 lbs
29 3/4" waist

For breakfast (late, didn't wake until noon):
1 serving Special K almond vanilla
some pineapple (fresh - yum)

Snacking now on carrots.

No idea what the plan is for dinner. Any suggestions?

In other news, today is tax day. I finished mine this afternoon. Jason has to pay but I'm getting a refund. Unfortunately the refund will take a while and we have to pay today. Net is refund. Wish they'd just let us net the pair of us - sigh. Have you filed your taxes yet? Midnight tonight folks, don't forget.

So I'm surfing the Oprah.com site today (yes, bored housewives do this) and there was an add for Special K's new fad diet thingy. I have no doubt in my mind that this is probably an unhealthy way to lose weight... and yet, I am intrigued by their claim. 5lbs and 1.3 inches sounds like a sweet deal. I'm also more than a little skeptical. 5 lbs in two measly weeks? Who did they test this study on anyway? People like me who only need to lose a bit, or people who really could stand to shed, well, a *me*.

So I figure sure, why not, what do I have to lose? Starting Monday (I have Tim Horton's donuts in the house and I'll be damned if I have to give them up before I get a chance to eat them, and besides, the weekend is a crappy time to start) I'll measure and weigh myself and follow their stupid plan religiously. Heck, I'll even try to get off the couch, walk the dogs, hit this gym I bought a membership to and never go to, and we'll see how it goes. I'm due for my period, so I should be nicely bloated at the start. That combined with the increased activity, means really, there is no way I shouldn't be losing weight. Nature will be working in favour of the Special K people. I'll journal my progress as I go. If you want in on the "Special K" filter, just pipe up. Otherwise I'll spare you the boring details of what I'm eating every day. And we'll see if I can meet this "average" weight loss claim.

So... a little about where I'm starting from. At 5'3" I weighed 115-118 (depending on the time of the month) in high school. My scale right now says I weigh 136. I think it may err to the light end of the spectrum while the old scale was heavy. The doctor seemed to think I was about 142 at my physical (if memory serves). I may be more than 20lbs over my high school weight. The skinniest I ever got was 106. It was after a week or so of crashing depression when eating made me nauseous. I did not look healthy. I did a little stint at 110 or so right before the big dip (yeah, more depression, no, not diagnosed depression, just breaking up with scum-bag boyfriends "depression"), which I was able to maintain for about 6 months. I figure my body's "comfy place" should be somewhere around 120. Ideally, that's where I'd like to be when I hit the beach in June. With only 5 or 6 weeks I realize that is probably impossible. Ah well, I'm counting on being able to maintain any weight I lose this year until next year's bikini season. And anyway, no matter how much weight I lose, it will still contribute towards looking better in a swimsuit.

Wish me luck folks.

For the sake of comparing my eating habits before, during and after, let's start with journalling what I ate today...

Can't remember anything before dinner (no, honestly can't. Doesn't mean I didn't eat, just didn't keep track)
Dinner: Romaine salad with grilled garlic chicken, parmesan cheese, creamy caesar dressing (regular variety, Wal-Mart was out of light) a couple glasses of skim milk and two After Eight mints.

Will attempt to not eat any more before bed.

I walked the dogs today after lunch. The weather was GREAT! I left the house with the usual gloves and down jacket. I ended the walk with the gloves in the coat pocket and stripped down to a t-shirt - so nice. Also clipped on a pedometer (the free one from Special K a few years back) and it read 14,500 steps or so at the end. There is NO WAY that is right. We only walked an hour, and I figure I usually walk somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5 miles per hour. If 10,000 steps usually works out to 5 miles that pedometer HAS to be wrong. Like REALLY wrong. Ah well, some walking is better than no walking at least. And the dogs are happy. Well, until I threw them into the tub when we got home that is. Muddy puppies. All clean now.