6 months gone...

I haven't posted in a long while, but Lucy turned 6 months old earlier this month. She's still a little nugget of a baby. At her checkup she only weighed 12bs. 13oz. Still has a tiny head. Still tall.

So here's a recap of what we've been up to lately.

I discovered the joy of hair bows back in July

I knit her a new jumper for winter

At the end of August John was working in Albany, so Lucy and I went to visit. Here's the highlights.

1st Carousel Ride

My how strollers have changed!

Track-side at the Saratoga Springs Racetrack

Investigating the ducks at the Washington County Fair

Hanging out with Dad

And walking along the Hudson River

I participated in a yarn swap and my swapper remembered little Lucy and sent her a bear. I think she likes it.

On the day Lucy turned 6 months old she got to try out TWO new things.

Food!

And riding in her stroller like a big girl

And just a couple days ago Lucy went to the LA County Fair.

So much adventure for such a little girl!

Recipe Review: Bacon Egg and Leek Risotto

One good thing about my gallbladder problems has been the need to switch up our eating. Gone is the beef, most baked goods, most pork, and a lot of the cheese.

This is the healthiest we've eaten in a long time. So I'm bringing back my recipe posts because I've found lot of yummy things. 


First up is Smitten Kitchen's Bacon Egg and Leek Risotto. 

This is delicious. We'd been enjoying Real Simple's Spaghetti with Bacon and Eggs for a long time now, but the risotto is much more of a filling and grown up meal. 


I'll admit...I was a little worried to make this dish. Part of my post-gallbladder life is having the potential for digestive issues. But, so far this recipe sat just fine. 


Really it wasn't difficult to make either. Just a bit time consuming. Much better on Sunday evening, than a week night. You saute the bacon and leeks, then set aside. But you cook the risotto in the bacon fat so the flavor gets incorporated. 


To make it a little lower in fat I did use low fat bacon. I looked at every single bacon package trying to find a good one. I have to say that I didn't taste a difference. Plus the recipe only calls for 4 pieces, so each serving only has about 1 piece of bacon. 


I did not add olive oil. The bacon fat was plenty. 


I also did not add a full cup of Parmesan. Only used about 1/2 cup and I didn't notice a difference in the flavor. 


I think the hardest thing is not going back for seconds. I'm trying to resist going back for more. Its so easy to end up eating way too much. 

Here's a new Lucy photo. Looks like she'll be a fruit lover like her Dad.

Post-Op

So, day two post-op. Its going okay. I won't say good, but manageable.

The surgery went just fine. They were running about an hour late. So I was anxious and sooo ready to get it over with. Plus the later it started, the longer I would be stuck at the surgery center.

I wasn't really nervous until I actually got into the operating room. Then I was thinking 'Oh shit! This is real!'. I scooted my butt onto the table. Spent a minute or two looking around and then...nothing.

Next thing I know I wake up somewhere else (the recovery area) am completely disoriented and in the worse pain ever. I just kept saying 'I hurt. I hurt. I hurt.' until they did something about it. I also desperately had to lay on my left side. So the nurses helped me move.

Because they have to blow up your stomach full of air in the procedure I had to be intubated too. I was scared I would wake up still intubated, but I wasn't. I just had the worst phlegm and it hurt to cough it up.

Thankfully I went back to sleep and woke up feeling a little better. But I was also just so emotional. I'd been storing up breast milk is preparation but I was worried it would run out before I could nurse again. It made me upset while in recovery. Thankfully I did not run out of milk!

My poor Mom though. She was waiting for me. The surgeon had come out and told her everything went fine, but then she was left sitting there as every single other waiting party got to go back and see their loved ones. I was okay, but I'd just been in so much pain that they gave me a bit of relief and I had passed out!

She did finally get to come back, and once I had some juice, used the restroom, and had all my various cored removed, I could go home.

Yesterday my lovely Aunt Erin came to help me during the day. She brought along my cousins and Brin proved to be an excellent baby entertainer. My Mom also came out and helped me eat dinner and get Lucy ready for bed. I'm extremely grateful for their help. I'm also grateful to Emily who is coming tonight to walk Dottie.

Unfortunately Lucy did not sleep well last night at all! So tired today and looking forward to taking her to daycare for a few hours so I can get some sleep. Also looking forward to a weekend of John being home to help out.

If anyone wants to see my wounds click on this link. I won't post them here because that's just mean.

In other news...

I was really sad to be retiring this romper. It is the type of outfit I would never buy myself. (Come on...who buys Ralph Lauren for a baby?) But it was a generous gift from my Dad's friend and his wife.

Sadly Lucy is out growing it in length.

But then John and I went to a 2nd hand baby store and guess what I found. $8 and brand new...

Not exactly the same, but close enough and just as cute.

Love my wiggle girl, even if she did keep me up all night.

A lot of catching up to do

I last posted a month ago and for good reason. I've been darned busy.

1) I went back to work 2.5 weeks ago. I found that my work was all sorts of messed up and have spent the last couple weeks fixing things.
2) Lucy started daycare. This is going really well. She seems so happy there. We really like our provider.
3) John's been working lots of hours. And lots of those hours have been in the evenings.
4) My running got abandon. Mostly because John's late evenings.
5) I'm going into surgery tomorrow. Goodbye gallbladder.

Really my gallbladder is the biggest deal. I'm nervous. I'll be happy to have it gone after all the pain its given me and everyone assures me its a minor surgery, but its still surgery, my first one. Can't help to be scared.

Tomorrow I'm going to put on my big girl pants and enter the center like a mature adult, but on the inside I'll be a scared little girl. Good thing my Mommy is coming with me. But now that I'm someone's Mommy I'm so terrified that something bad will happen to me. My little girl needs me and I need her.

Anyways, that's the last month in a nut shell. Now here's some pictures of Lucy and I in our newest hand knits.

Morning Lucy

Afternoon Lucy

Week 2

Last week went well. I did miss one day of cross training because I had to have tests run and I couldn't eat until 2pm that day. Didn't sound like a good idea to work out. I also missed one day of running because John didn't get home from work until 9pm. With no treadmill option, I decided to skip the day.  But, I did run 3 days, cross train 1 day, and keep up my daily walks with Dottie and Lucy.

So onto week 2 of my training. So far its not off to a stellar start.

I supposed to walk 2 minutes and run 4 minutes 5 times. Tonight I did that twice. Then I ran for 2 minutes and uh...I burnt out. I could stand the calf burning, but when it hit my ankles it was too much. I'd say my running is also a cross between speed walking and jogging. It will get better though. I couldn't totally give up though because I was 1.2 miles from my house. So I just turned around and briskly walked home.

As if the threat of emergency surgery wasn't even to keep me moving, we stepped into Lululemon today.

I like. I want. BUT I have to loose like 3 inches off my hips to fit into the largest size. Boo!

At least I have lost 3 lbs. in the last 2 weeks. Something about cutting out sweets, beef, pork, fried foods, and whole milk products from my diet. Again, nothing like the threat of emergency surgery to make a gal stick to her diet.

I also finished knitting a nice summer sweater this week. Part of a month long festival I'm participating in. Turned out really nice and I think it will gat a lot of wear in the office this summer.

Yes!

Look who's fitting into dresses she made last summer, pre-pregnancy!

That's right! Me!!!

The only problem is that the bodice darts aren't hitting me correctly anymore. Anyone know how to alter patterns to fit gigantic breasts on a narrower frame?

Update

So the preliminary results say that I have gallstones. Like bad. Looks like I'm headed into surgery to have my gallbladder removed. But the surgeon is on vacation for the first two weeks of June, so the earliest I could get a consultation was June 19th.

That's okay. In the mean time I was instructed to keep a low fat diet.

I'm still waiting on some other test results, but hopefully this will be all they find.

While I'm waiting I've decided to forge ahead with my 5k plans.

I saw this picture and went 'Urgh.' But isn't that why I'm starting this program? I need to get into better shape. I've already come a long way. When I went into the hospital to have Lucy I weighed 194lbs. Too darn much even though I hardly gained any weight while pregnant. On Sunday I weighed 169. Already 25 lbs. are gone in under 3 months. My eventual goal is to get to 140lbs.

So at least I've taken the first step.