baby got back.

the pepa.

sometimes things are not better in the west. no offense to the myriad of companies producing baby carriers, but the developed world has simply not designed any product that carries babies as efficiently and perfectly as the women of developing nations. i have seen pictures of how it is done in other countries, but lesotho is the only country for which i have first hand experience. they use a blanket and a gigantic safety pin. that is it. it sounds too good to be true, but i assure you it is possible. thanks to my two year sojourn in lesotho, and the fact that my best friend and her mother both had babies, i learned how to pepa (carry a baby on my back). about a month ago i decided pringle was ready to pepa, so on my back he went. other people seem surprised at how much he likes it, but not me. let us think about this...he is tightly wrapped and happens to be strapped to one of his favorite people in the world. what's not to love? anyhow, i started off using my tjale (a blanket women wear around their waist or shoulders, similar to a picnic blanket - mine was given to me by my in-laws) and when at home, i carried pringle around on my back all the time. but i was not mentally prepared for venturing out in public. i have this awful tendency to get a bit timid about doing out-of-the-ordinary things in public, so obviously strapping my baby on my back and wandering the grocery store was totally NOT in my comfort zone. ugh.

boring blue blanket.

but then a friend saw a picture i had posted of pringle on my back and she mentioned that my blanket is boring. she is right. it is blue with blue stripes. well, i cannot say that i needed another sewing project, but i like a good challenge. and i realized that maybe if i made a special pepa blanket, i would be more at ease using it in public. as an added bonus it would be lovely and hopefully not be as hot as an acrylic blanket, which is mucho importante in miami. so i pulled out my fabrics and voila!! a quilted cloth to carry my little pringle. now when people ask me what carrier i am using, i am going to tell them it is a "pepa" by lerato. and they will be super jealous, because their hands-free carrier ain't as fantastic as my hands-free carrier. 

the new and improved pepa blanket.

ain't it lovely? i am still not 100% confident using it in public, because i feel like a fish out of water, but i am working on it. i am building up mental stamina... i used it walking downstairs to get the mail, to a yoga studio grand opening, and in the mister's company at the grocery store. it has been wonderful, but it definitely gets a lot of stares and comments. i know i know...time to stop worrying about what everyone else is thinking and just worry about what is best for me and my baby. easier said than done, but i am trying!!!

pringle loves it!

muscle mama.

i am trying to get back in shape since pringle was born. although "back" in shape is maybe not accurate, since i do not think i could argue that i was in shape before i got pregnant. details. anyhow, i am tackling this "get fit" in multiple ways. 

pickel on the left doing abs, while pringle sleeps in the stroller second from left. photo courtesy om yoga miami.

first, stroller boot camp. sounds cute, right? ummm...there is nothing cute about this class....except of course the darling babies riding in their strollers. we speed-walk up and down the sidewalk and stop to do lunges, squats, abs, and pushups. ouch.

pickel and pringle in our yoga pose. photo courtesy om yoga miami.

second, baby & momma yoga. okay, this one is pretty cute. and since we are not gasping for breath, the mommas can chat. when the babies cooperate, we help them stretch. then while they rest or sleep, the mommas do yoga. it is relaxing and lovely, but our instructor makes sure the poses we do work as many muscles as possible. more ouch.

third, i have headed back to the gym. i get on the treadmill and walk two miles with as much speed and % grade (you know...uphill) as i can handle. and then for a few minutes i lift the ten pound weights and hope that i will have michelle obama's arms the next time i gaze in the mirror.

fourth, i started a one hundred pushups challenge. supposedly, if i follow the routine, in six weeks, i will be able to do 100 pushups. i will believe it when it happens. although, if you add together all the pushups included in yesterday's workout, i did eighty-eight, so maybe there is something to this!!

fifth, just for good measure (as if all of that wasn't enough), i somehow convinced two people to do the pushups challenge with me, but they in turn suckered me into doing the two hundred situps and two hundred squats challenges. yikes. 

i am hoping to maintain my motivation, because although i am not always a fan of exercising, i LOATHE dieting. i will do anything to ensure that ice cream and cookies do not have to be eliminated from the pickel food pyramid.

nice to meet you murphy.

"if anything can go wrong, it will." ~murphy's law.

who, ME?!?

in my pre-baby life i had some run-ins with murphy. now that baby is here, murphy visits every 5-7 minutes. awesome? well, no. not exactly. but it does keep you on your toes and teach you how to see the humor in life. these are the top 10 new rules in our life.

1. if it is inconvenient or impossible to take the baby out of his car seat, he screams. conversely, if it is convenient or possible to take him out of his car seat, he is sound asleep.

2. the baby will scream hysterically during a car ride, only bothering to fall asleep when we arrive at home.

3. the baby will happily hold the paci in his mouth when you sit with him. he will drop it the moment you walk away.

4. when you are prepared with a rag to catch spit-up, the baby will just burp. when you are entirely unprepared, the baby will barf all over you.

5. the baby will make hundreds of cute faces when the camera is in the other room. retrieve the camera and the baby just stares at you.

6. if you need the baby to sleep "just five more minutes,"so you can finish something, he will wake up. if you want the baby to wake up so you can do the 2am feeding before you drift off, he will stay asleep. 

7. when you put the baby in a cute onesie you would like to look at all day, he will happily soil it within the hour.

8. when lying on top of you (aka you cannot get anything done), the baby will sleep soundly for hours and hours. if you try to put him in his bed, he will be awake within 60 seconds.

9. the more tired the baby is, the harder it is to put him to sleep.

10. if you are early you will breeze right out the door. if you are on time or running late, the baby will gleefully provide you with a diaper explosion that will require you to change his diaper and outfit, and possibly even your outfit. the severity of the explosion is directly proportional to your tardiness.

just a newbie.

hard work...who ME?!?

as you have clearly figured out, i have a newborn in the house. loving the little one, but ummm..newborns are hard work! holy bananas. i mean, don't get me wrong, it is all good stuff, but it is HARD WORK! i was expecting the typical eating, sleeping, pooping, and crying...but i did not realize the potential complexity of those four events. 

milk time...censored, because this is not THAT kind of blog.

eating. this is not a simple affair of have some milk and then be fine with life. nope. first, he nurses eight to twelve times a day, for thirty to forty minutes at a time. yikes!! never knew it could take so long to fill the world's smallest stomach. of course, at least half of the time i forget to grab my phone, the remote, or something to drink, so i end up stuck under a nursing newborn with nothing to amuse myself and completely parched. second, i am supposed to remember which side he nursed on last and start on that side at the next feeding. do who, what?!?! right. i can barely remember to brush my teeth and i am supposed to keep track of which boob is up next. ummm. sure. third, make sure he eats every three hours. well luckily, despite never remembering to look at the clock, this is not a problem. this kid never stops eating. fourth, change the kid's diaper BEFORE he eats. okay, check. and finally, burp the kid AFTER he eats. oh sure, spend forty minutes waiting for the kid to suck his way to sleep and then wake him up?!?! no thanks. he will burp in his own good time. (this is probably the point when someone is freaking out, because i do not regularly burp my kid...but hey, sleeping babies are much more pleasant than cranky i-am-supposed-to-be-sleeping-but-you-woke-me-up-to-burp-me babies.)

sleeping on prime real etate...momma's lap.

sleeping. that is, the baby sleeping. seems straightforward. mmmhmm. easy peasy, until the little dude discovered that he can sleep in his momma and poppa's bed or better yet...on top of them! yup. little guy is already spoiled. if he is even remotely awake, he refuses to sleep in his crib. this is a great time to point out that his crib is butted up against our bed, so his mattress is essentially an extension of ours. it's not like he is sleeping miles away, but apparently he thinks the 9" space between him and his momma is too much. at this point you might be wondering how a newborn refuses a crib. well, we lull him to sleep wherever he likes...in our lap, on our chest, next to us in bed, etc. then we move him to his crib. for up to five minutes things seem fabulous. and then the noises start. he squeaks. then he opens his eyes. next he waves his arms and kicks his feet. sometimes he manages to give himself the hiccups (sounds ridiculous, but i swear he does it!), and no matter what, after a few minutes he starts crying. oh and did i mention that when i manage to get him to sleep somewhere other than on top of me, he invariably wakes up right as i am thinking "i hope he sleeps for two more minutes, so i can finish what i am doing." this kid has a sixth sense for how best to dominate momma's world. whoever said that babies are boring, because all they do is sleep, has clearly never met my kid.

nonchalant pooper.

pooping. okay, even i have to admit, there is nothing complicated about the little guy's poop. he poops, i change his diaper, he poops again. sometimes he does not wait for a new diaper before pooping, which means big clean up for me. but still, pooping is basic and easy peasy. although, i have to say, his pooping is amusing - the kid lets loose some whoppers and he does it all while gazing nonchalantly into the distance.

this is the "PICK ME UP" shriek.

crying. according to the experts (whoever they are), newborns have different cries for different issues and if i tune my brain, then based on his cry i should know exactly what my kid wants. ummm..i guess my brain is not tunable, because i have so far only deciphered three different cries. the first is the rhythmic shrieking, which is the little dude saying "pick me up, pick me up, PICK ME UP!!!" check. then there are the startling screams combined with kicking, which means "my belly hurts" and is almost always followed up by a humongous poop. got it. finally there are the fussy and whiny cries, which cover all other issues. this is the crying for which i wish i had translations, so i could tell if the dude is hungry, tired, hot, cold, needs a diaper change, or is just generally uncomfortable. maybe in another few weeks i will have the guidebook, but for now we just bop along hoping to find the cure for his crying. luckily pringle is an easygoing dude and has been patient while i figure out how to be a momma.

mommy list.

**warning: some folks might consider this a sappy post. you're gonna have to deal. i just had a baby...sap is now in my blood.

while i found pregnancy to be a delightful experience, it has nothing on the fascination of life with baby. when the doctor put my little nugget on my belly and i stared into his wide-open eyes, i could not believe that i was finally holding my precious pringle. so perfect and so complete. despite having taken all the requisite science classes in school and having previously seen tiny babies, i still marvel at the fact that this little thing popped out with ears, hair, eyelashes, eyebrows, fingers, toes, and nails. i had tried to envision life with pringle, but having never experienced it, it's a little hard to imagine.

before you have a baby, there are lots of folks who are ready to give you unsolicited commentary on what to expect. they typically focus on the humdrum and negative, reminding you of the poopy diapers, sleepless nights, and the expense involved in bringing a baby into the world. i tried to just nod and smile whenever these folks felt the need to speak their mind and kept reminding myself that obviously there is a reason why people say "congratulations" when a baby enters the world. luckily, in my life there were lots of positive folks, excited for the impending arrival of our little nugget and readily telling me how my life was about to be turned inside-out, but in a wonderful way. it's hard to put into words the amazingness that comes with a newborn, but if i had to try to explain, these are some of the things that keep me constantly fascinated with my little guy and mommyhood...

1. the wild-eyed look he has when he is fighting sleep.
2. he squeaks.
3. his soft and squishy little knees and elbows.
4. his baby sneezes.
5. the way he relaxes at the sound of my voice.
6. the way his hair smells.
7. he has the hiccups about 17 times a day.

8. he throws his arms above his head when he is sleeping.

9. after nursing, he turns into a limp noodle.

10. his look of nonchalance as he lets rip a LOUD poop.

11. he purses his lips and scrunches his eyes when i put kisses all over his face.

12. watching the mister play with him.

13. when he is tired, he closes his eyes, raises his eyebrows, tilts back his head, and rolls it around, in some sort of weird stretch.

14. as sleep-depriving as it is, i love that he would rather sleep curled up right next to me, than 9" away on his bed. (yes, the white sheet right next to him is his bed, but it is too far away from mommy).

15. his serious study of the world around him.

16. his chubby cheeks.

17. his hair is all over the place and completely uncontrollable.

18. watching the myriad of faces he makes when he sleeps.

19. he falls asleep on my chest or on my lap and i want to melt.