Back to the Gym...

...and really sore. Thankfully my recovery from labor and delivery was really great and I was able to get up and move around with ease just days after Grace was born. We went on walks right away and I generally felt pretty good. Well just over a week ago I had my 6 week postpartum check up and decided to wait until I got the go ahead from my midwife to start working out again to go back to the gym. I know I probably could have gone sooner but really why rush into that again. So, she said go for it and I started again on Tuesday. I really enjoy going to a strength training class but it is hard work. We just do reps and lifting for 1 hour straight. I was dreading and fearing the sit-ups but they haven't been so bad. I've also tried to use light weights so the next day I can still pick Grace up. It's been great though. Matt watches Grace while I'm at the gym and I feel great getting in a workout. I've been walking on the off days and that's nice too. So hopefully we can keep that routine up until the fall and then maybe I will be ok with leaving Grace in the childcare room at the gym. I'll keep you posted.

29 Years Young

Yesterday was my 29th birthday. The celebratory activities were mediocre but it was a good day. It's hard to celebrate your birthday like you used to pre-baby but it's easy to feel very blessed on your birthday post-baby. We knew that Sunday wasn't going to be the easiest day to celebrate all day long so we started my birthday celebration on Saturday with a trip to the local Farmer's Market. We bought some veggies, flowers, pasta, and steaks for the grill (and they were delicious). Then we got to babysit for Grace's friend Livi on Saturday afternoon and just relax on Saturday evening. Sunday, my birthday, started with church and ended with steaks on the grill with our good friends Adam, Erin and their daughter Adsen.

Here are a few picture highlights of the last year and some of my favorite moments...

June 25th-July 11th - Our trip to Germany

August - Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony Party

September - Packers game with Jared and Yvonne

Christmas Eve - Chinese dinner with some great church friends

March 7th - Meeting our niece Jenna on her birthday

April 22nd - Grace's birthday!!!!

May 4th - Grandma and Grandpa meeting Grace. This one is particularly special for me because we've been dealing with some health issues with my Grandpa this week. I'm so thankful for what a great Grandpa I have and hope he'll be around to spoil his great granddaughter Grace for a while longer.

NBA Finals Preview

The NBA Finals begin tonight on ABC and I would like to convince you to tune in.  There are lots of things to do in life, but the NBA Finals should be a priority for you.  Here are five reasons to watch the Lakers battle the Magic for the NBA championship:

1) To root against Kobe Bryant.  People either love or hate the Lakers' superstar.  I don't love him.  So join me in rooting for his demise.

2) Dwight Howard.  He's the superstar of the Orlando Magic and he's got the biggest smile (and muscles) in the game.  He's the anti-Kobe -- a superstar with character. 

3) Rashard Lewis' shooting.  Lewis plays forward for the Magic and has been shooting ridiculously well from 3-point land in the playoffs.  Hopefully he makes 100 3-pointers against the Lakers.

4) Phil Jackson's quest for 10.  Lakers' coach Phil Jackson has won 9 NBA championships.  He's trying to complete the set of 10 with the Lakers this year.  

5) The return of Jameer Nelson.  The Magic point guard got hurt mid-year and was declared out for the season.  But apparently Nelson is almost healed and will try to play during the series.  He was a key in the Magic beating the Lakers twice during the regular season.

All in all, I expect a closely-contested series.  The Lakers have more maturity and depth, but the Magic have momentum from their big series wins against the Celtics and Cavs.  I'm rooting hard for the Magic, but my prediction is Lakers in 7.  I hope I'm wrong.

6 Weeks Old

Smiling for Mommy - 6/3/08

This is it...the magic week. Everyone says that the first 6 weeks are so hard and then it gets so much easier. We've been blessed with and easy baby so even though its been hard I'm not feeling too overwhelmed. But, it will be interesting to see if things really do change a lot now that Grace is 6 weeks old. The last week has been really fun with her. I'll list all the new, cool and hard things that have been happening.

1. Grace has been super smiley. She gravitates towards our voices and gets huge smiles on her face when we talk to her and smile at her. She also has been smiling at other people and her toys a lot too.

2. Grace makes a lot of new noises these days. She's been cooing and even squealing. She also has been fussing more. I've read multiple sources that fussiness escalates up to about week 6 and then starts dying down again. I'm going to believe that and if it is true I can't really complain about her fussiness.

3. We're working on taking a bottle. The first 3 times we gave it to Grace she took it with no problem. Then she had a couple of nights when she wouldn't take it. I think part of the problem might be we have tried to give it to her when she was not too happy already. Today I'm going to try to give it to her in the afternoon when she is in a good mood. Some sources say that the mom shouldn't give the bottle but I've been able to give her a couple so far so I'm just going to try and hope she takes it from me. We really want to be able to give her a bottle so if we want to go out for more than 2 hours we can. The main goal is by our anniversary on the 23rd of this month she will be fine with a bottle so my parents can come and watch her.

4. Grace has been sleeping 6-8 hours at night for the past week. We put her down for good around 10:30 or 11 and she has only woken up once before 5 and usually I wake her up because I want to feed her. We are really encouraged by her ability to sleep at night and hope she can keep this up. Daytime sleep is still unpredictable but I've read it will be until about 3 months or so. Plus she's pretty good during the day so it's not too stressful if she doesn't sleep.

Saved By The Bell -- My One Complaint

(This is Matt posting, just to be clear).

If I had to pick a single TV show that defined my childhood, I would pick Saved By The Bell.  It has a great cast, many famous episodes filled with comedy and drama, and even a couple spin-offs that weren't successful.  I always resonated a little with Zack with the blonde hair and a lot with Screech being a math nerd.

I even have a theory that the success of Friends was largely determined by the success of Saved By The Bell.  Think about it, a group of friends with 3 guys and 3 girls and one famously dramatic couple (Zack/Kelly = Ross/Rachel).  Each show had a tough guy (Slater = Joey) and a nerd (Screech = Chandler).  It all makes sense.  

I watch Saved By The Bell every once in a while in the morning because it's on TBS from 6 -  8 am (4 episodes a day!).  But I'm posting because I have found a flaw in the Saved By The Bell show.  And I'm talking about the show with the core 6 actors, not the spin-offs without Kelly or the College Years or the New Class.  So here's my issue...  

The episode in question is the one where Lisa is doing a fashion show and the drama of the episode centers around Zack and Lisa being interested in each other.  They kiss and Screech gets jealous and Screech ruins Lisa's fashion show.  Anyway, in the end Screech and Zack make up and Zack and Lisa end the show as an item.  So my complaint is that there is no other episode that has Zack and Lisa together!   That's unbelievable.  The writers decided to great this compelling drama where two of the core six actors fall for each other, creating tension between the main character and his best friend, and then they don't continue that with subsequent episodes.  That is an outrage!  It would be one thing if Zack became an item with a random cameo girl, but Lisa is one of the main actresses.  Shame on you, Saved By The Bell writers.  Shame on you.

So yes, Saved By The Bell is not a perfect show.  But it's close.

Dance-off Between.....Baseball Players?

Yes, this actually happened.

5 Weeks Old

Today Grace is 5 weeks old. She's been doing a lot of new things this week. She has doubled the amount of noises and coos that she makes and she is definitely smiling. It is so fun that she smiles at us now. She is no longer just a blob that I feed and change. She seems to appreciate the feedings and diaper changes. She has also started sucking on her hand in the last couple of days. Sometimes this helps a tiny bit when she wants a pacifier and we can't get to her. Her biggest accomplishment has been sleeping 7 hours straight the past 2 nights. I'm not sure if she was just extra tired from all the activity over the weekend or if she's ready to sleep that much but I'm not complaining. I'm sure she is 10 lbs by now and I've heard once a baby reaches 10 lbs they can more easily sleep that long. So maybe we are really really lucky to have a baby sleep through the night at 5 weeks. I guess we will see what the next several nights bring. Tonight we are going to try to introduce a bottle to her. I'm a little nervous she won't take it but it would be nice to be able to pump every once and a while and give her a bottle. So I finally figured out how to pump and there is a bottle waiting in the fridge for her. My camera ran out of batteries today so I don't have a 5 weeks picture.