Goals Update

Clean house up and out - Our bedroom is almost completely de-junked. Only Dave's dresser and one small box of knickknacks on my bookshelf remain. Currently it's a disaster zone of things out of their places (clothes, towel, diaper bag, bed un-made, etc.), but it's one room that I can look at and know that there is minimal extra stuff. The living room, dining room, and kitchen are also similar, however the mail and dishes tend to pile up around. I need to figure out a system of keeping that clutter away. The nursery/my office isn't really functional right now because Alex, my brother, is staying with us in his post-mission limbo, and his things are residing in there currently. The biggest challenge is still the hallway (stuff stash) upstairs. I hope to tackle that this week (which I've said the last 4 weeks).

Craft - this has been put on hold a bit. I have been collecting toilet paper tubes to make a frame for the mirror in the dining room, though, and I'm excited to make that.

Develop schedule - Well, I still do laundry every Friday. That's really the only stable thing in my week. I have been consistently going to bed around 11pm and getting up at 9am though (including a few interruptions during the night).

Save money - I've been making more food instead of buying food, and I'm happy to report that we're spending a couple hundred dollars less per month on food because of it. YAY! I'm excited for Spring to finally decide to stick around, so I won't use the heater as much (it's currently snowing outside...yuck). I'm also hoping that I can convince Dave to remember to turn off as many computers upstairs as possible, whenever possible.

Get back in shape - Well last week I walked up to campus to go to the Marriott Center to see Mark Zuckerberg and Senator Hatch have a discussion about technology. I just about died hiking up the big hill by the tennis courts. Then I had to hoof it up and down the full flight of stairs a couple of times to take crying Joshua out to feed him. Man, I was huffing and puffing. On a bright note, that was a definite step toward getting in shape, but I do know I'm nowhere near there yet. On good-weather days I try to get out and walk (or run HA!) with Joshua in the stroller. I'm hoping to run/walk the Stake Easter 5K this year. I went to Stake Aerobics a couple times, but I wasn't a huge fan.

Read lots - I've been reading the book club book every month. I will also be reading more as I have sworn off facebook and blogs except once/day, so while I feed Joshua, I plan on reading instead of checking those.

Adjustments- I'm wondering now if I should add some goals in different areas of my life. Any suggestions?

Stau

One of my favorite German words is Stau. I learned it when my host-mom in Vienna told me a story about when she had her second child. She got so much Stau, or congestion, or a clogged milk duct, that she had to be hospitalized for a week. To this day I'm not sure why she told me that story. It was very out of the blue. But after that I always remembered the word Stau and started to hear it on the radio in traffic reports, too.

I've had a clogged milk duct twice now: about a month ago, and yesterday/today. It's miserable! It was too painful to have him eat on that side, so I pumped about every two hours and I put a heating pack on it the rest of the time (this includes during the night...Zzzzzz...soooo tired...). I also popped the ibuprofen whenever I could and drank lots of water and massaged the area, which is all pretty textbook for relieving clogs.

Nothing happened though! Almost nothing would come out when I pumped, and there was no pain relief. This morning I took a nap with a heating pad on it, and thanks to some advice, let Joshua eat from that side again.

Immediate relief! I've decided to rename Joshua...Drain-o.

2 Months - Doctor Appointment, Shots

Joshua turned 2 months old on Sunday. He had his 2 month appointment on Thursday. He had to get his first round of shots at the appointment, which made him quite sad the rest of the day, but he seemed to be over it by the next day.

Stats: He is 24.5 inches tall (90%ile), 12 lbs 4 oz (55%ile), and his head is 41 cm in circumference (75%ile). His height percentage went down 5%, his weight went up 30%, and his head went up 25%. He's sure a growing baby. It makes me feel like I'm doing something right.

Eat: I think Joshua has gotten a better handle on eating, if that was at all possible. He's always been a down-to-business eater and finishes in 10 minutes or so. Now it sometimes even takes him less than that, and then he lets out a few LARGE burps (sans spit-up usually) and sometimes will eat a bit more after them, and then he's full. He doesn't seem to react too badly to things that I eat, even if it is spicy Indian food. He eats about every two to three hours during the day, and slightly more often after 5pm until bedtime.

Sleep: In the last week Joshua has really been sleeping well. He takes a few naps throughout the day, never longer than an hour and a half, usually only 45 minutes or so. He'll fall asleep if I swaddle him, pop in the binky, and put him down. If he doesn't I hold him swaddled, binky in, until he calms enough to fall asleep on his own, and then I put him down and he does so. (Of course there are exceptions when he just won't calm down enough for a nap unless he's in the swing with the music on.) The past few nights he has been sleeping a lot longer. For example, last night, he slept from 10pm until 7am, and then again from 7:30am to 10am. That's right, I got a ton of sleep and feel great! I hope he does it routinely. I think bathing him at night helps him to this.

Poop: Don't worry, I'll be brief. I think a lot more about his poop than I ever thought I would. I worry about the fact that his poop is green most of the time, but the doctor said not to worry about it. He told me that once his wife ate Trix and the baby had very brightly colored poop for a while thereafter. He seems to be getting less gassy and/or dealing with it better. I've noticed he usually lets a few rip when he's doing tummy time.

Other: Yesterday when I was getting my allergy shots, I fed Joshua because he was past the point of waiting for food. When I sat him up, he let some very large, loud burps out, and the 12 year old boy and his dad sitting across from me had quite the giggle about it. He burps like a man and could put anyone to shame in a burping contest.

I love having him around all the time, and he's smiling more and more. He even started to giggle a little bit (kind of a "huh huh huh" sound). I'm hoping he'll start learning to play with toys soon.