Post-Baby Running

I mentioned before that Jake and I are going to be running a half marathon (13.1 miles) in September, so I've been running 5 days a week to prepare for it.

For the record, I am not an amazing in-shape runner person. I have a love/hate relationship with running. I hate running, but I love the way I feel after I run. Even with the love part, it took me a while to get into it. Here's my running schedule:

Week One: walk 1:30, run 1:00, for 3 miles.
Week Two: walk 1:30, run 1:30, for 3 miles.
Week Three: walk 1:30, run 2:00, for 3 miles.
Week Four: walk 1:30, run 2:30, for 3 miles.

And so on, and so forth. Sometimes I run 4 miles, like I did today, and then I'm super sore, like I have been all day.

I'm up to 2:30 running now. I have good days and bad days. The good days are great; the bad days are pooptastic. No matter what kind of day it is, though, I'm constantly amused that I run a 5K every day, and I used to do everything I could to avoid running in all its forms. My, how things have changed.

Birthday Preparations

Camille's birthday is fast approaching, so I decided to start the prep!

And by that, I mean I reserved the location for the party. Parks around here get booked way in advance.

I reserved a pavilion at Sugarhouse Park, and I'm really glad I called about it today. You can reserve either a morning (8am - 2pm) or afternoon (3pm-10pm) time slot, and the pavilion I wanted to use was already reserved for the morning slot. I wanted the afternoon one anyway, but still! I felt silly reserving it so soon, but now I'm really glad I called today.

I think I want to do a combo Camille-Jake birthday, since their birthdays are only four days apart, and having two separate parties would be extravagant. Jake isn't really into birthday parties anyway, so if we combine it, he'll be happy that most of the attention is going to be on Camille and not him.

Alright. I've done enough for now. There probably won't be any more talk of Camille's birthday until early September or so. What can I say? I'm a seat-of-my-pants type of mommy. :P

Nine Months Old

Nine months! Holy crap!

So, let's see... what does Camille do, nowadays? Well, she crawls like it's the Indy 500, 

she tries to feed herself with a spoon, 

she cruises on the couch, 

she hates her car seat (she used to like it just fine), 

she's learning how to drink with a straw, 

she will wave good-bye (but only once; if you try to get more waves out of her, she'll stare at you like, "I waved at you already, asshole. Get out of my face,"

and she takes baths without a baby tub. She loves splashing around in the water!

Here she is trying to feed herself. Please take note of the pea-bindi she's given herself.

 

The Poop Ponderance

Hypothesis: Camille will not poop if she's not at our apartment.

Why I think this: for a long time (when I wasn't really going anywhere in the morning), Camille would poop like clockwork. We'd get up, I'd feed her, and then she'd take a dump. Clockwork. But now, since I've actually started getting up early, her poop schedule has changed... but only when we go out.

On days I run, she won't poop until we're done running and have returned to the apartment. On days I don't run, she poops as per the usual: wake up, eat, poop.

On Wednesdays, I have my mommy group, and she doesn't poop until we get home from it.

The ultimate test came yesterday, when we went camping. She pooped before we left, and she didn't poop again until we came back the next day.

So yeah, Camille only poops at our apartment. Possibly at her Grandma's house, too.

Camping!

Earlier this week, Jake found out his work schedule for the weekend. Friday off! So we decided to go camping with some friends of ours at a nice little place called Tanner's Flat in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Early Friday afternoon, our friends left their house and headed up to Tanner's Flat. Jake and I were still getting ready, and planned to meet them up there.

We got a call.

"Hey, so we're at Tanner's Flat, and all of the camping areas are reserved or occupied. The guy says there's one group that might be leaving in a couple of hours, but they don't really know for sure. So... what do you want to do?"

Uhhh, go back in time and reserve a spot in advance.

But seriously, we opted to go camp somewhere else. I forget the name. Jake and I left our house and stopped at the store to get some water, and we got another call.

"Hey! We were on our way to Sum Nutha Camping Spot, and we got a call from Tanner's Flat. A spot opened up! They're holding it for us. Meet us there"!

Hooray!

So off to Tanner's Flat we went, and camped in a very nice little spot.

For My Mom, Part Dos

I love looking at pictures of my sister and I when we were babies/kids. My mom's gripe suggestion that I don't take enough pics made me realize that... I don't take enough pics. I want Camille to have an assload of baby pictures to look at when she grows up, so I've been taking oodles.

For My Mom

My mom mentioned to me the other day how I don't post nearly enough pictures of Camille, so I took a bunch just now and am uploading them. Just for you, mom!

Hiking to the Living Room

Up behind the University and Red Butte Garden, there is a little trailhead.

Camping in the Living Room

Before

During

Quasi-after

After

The Toe-Gobbling Ducks of Sugarhouse Park

We took Camille to Sugarhouse Park, to feed the ducks.

This Is How We Zoo It

I really like the Hogle Zoo, and now I like it even more in the morning. I went today with Jill, her boyfriend Will, my nephew Bryan, and Camille.

A-Camping We Will Go

Jake and I want to go camping this summer, and last weekend, we went to scope out a good camping spot.

The first place we tried was closed. :(

So we went elsewhere: Jordan Pines.

It was vurry nice! Camille liked the scenery, and we got charmed by a squirrel, so I think that's where we're going to camp whenever we get the time.

Gojirra!

Walter P. Charmington, Esq.

I like this picture. A. Lot. I call it, "Reflection on a Stump."

There's still snow everywhere.

Trampoline Time

Jake's mom has a trampoline at her house, and when we were over yesterday, Jake's sister Jill took Camille on it.

Camille loved it.

She spent the whole time giggling like crazy and squealing with laughter. In a few months, I predict many an hour spent bouncing around (and possibly off) the trampoline at Grandma's house.

The Pump is Ump

I've decided that I'm probably done with pumping my boobs. Camille is doing well enough on solids that when she visits Grandma for a couple of hours, she's OK with Cheerios and doesn't need any milk. I still nurse her when I'm around, but I think the need for milk at every meal has passed.

It's the end of an era, and I'm not going to miss it. The pump was a fantastic tool, though! I'm so glad I had it when I needed it. Every nursing mother should have one.

May Diaper Count

In May, Camille used a total of 128 diapers.

She pooped in 48 of them.

She peeped in 80 of them.

That averages out to about 4.1 diapers per day.

Back From the Dead... Kinda

I feel much better.

It's amazing how knocked-out you can get from one little infection. I was practically couch-ridden all last week (definitely didn't get to run like I had planned), and I hardly ate anything. While feeling extraordinarily nauseous all day isn't great, the weight (near 10 pounds) I lost from not eating is great. It's not the ideal way to lose weight but I'll take what I can get!

It's beautiful outside, and I'm glad I'm feeling well enough to go out and enjoy it. I usually take a picture of SLC at the end of every month, and I didn't do it for May because I didn't feel like hiking to the top of the hill I take the photo from. I don't know if I still feel up to it. I'll give it a try today and if I make it, great! And if not... well... I tried.

Growl

Being in constant pain makes me grumpy. Surprise!

Also, Jake and I go through black printer ink faster than we change underpants, so I have to forego my sitting-at-home plans and actually go out to get more ink. Blurrrggggg. >:|

It's Palpable

Apologies. I've been laid out sick the past few of days and had absolutely zero motivation to do anything except watch David Attinborough narrate a documentary about birds. It's an awesome documentary. If you have Netflix, instant stream that shit!

I went to the ER on Saturday night (it wasn't a real emergency, but it was Saturday night and my normal doctor was not available), got poked a bit, and was given medication that was presumably supposed to fix me and make my pain stop. The medication caused chills, fever, headache, nausea, and stiff muscles. My doctor is out of town but her nurses or PAs or whatever they are said I could come in and they would be able to determine if my issue was cleared up.

"Hooray!" they say, after a few minutes of waiting. "The medication worked!"

"Then why am I still in near-excruciating pain?" I queried.

They looked at each other and said, "Ionno."

So I have another appointment on Friday to see a real doctor and hopefully get this whole thing cleared up. It's nice to know that the medication worked and got rid of one part of this pain equation, but it's disconcerting to know that something is still wrong, causing lots of pain, and no one yet knows what it is.

Like any good child of the Age of the Internet, I promptly went to WebMD and looked up my symptoms. WebMD told me I have cancer. Or lupus. Or a blood clotting disorder. Or a flesh-eating bacteria on my insides.


At least Camille isn't sick.