Easter has come and gone and tomorrow Andreas starts working half-time again. He's been home for 5 days, which probably saved me from an insane asylum.
Every day things are getting easier, I think.. Love is getting the hang of breastfeeding more and more, and I'm also finding my rythmn. It's going to be hard once Andreas starts work full time but my dad will be here for 2 weeks so I still have 3 weeks until I will be alone 8 hours a day. By then Love will be 5 weeks old; things should be easier.
We are trying to keep Love more awake during the day so that he sleeps more at night. So far - mixed results. You can only push a baby so far, and we have to respect his schedule to a certain degree. The worst is that he often makes noises when he is in a light sleep, so half the night he is bleating like a sheep and grunting.
Tomorrow we have another check-up for Love, where he will be weighed.
Goals for tomorrow:
Do my körkort teori for 30 minutes (review trafiksgrundregel, högerregel, and the classes of vehicles.) Write down new words and their definitions.
Practice Swedish from Språkportal for 30 minutes
Walk with Love for 20-30 minutes. Do kegels. Do some arm exercises
Practice napping with Love. (Try feeding on the bed when I want a nap).
10 minutes of belly time on the floor
Monday, April 21, 2014
Saturday, April 19, 2014
2 weeks old!
...And we got very little sleep last night. Andreas let me sleep 8:30 - 12:30 am, and then we snoozed together the rest of the night. Andreas is much more able to sleep through all of Love's noise than myself. Even still, it was a long night.
Thursday I met all my goals, yesterday I don't think I got my walking in, but I did clean the house for an hour while Andreas and Love napped. I laid with them for an hour and contemplated life, unable to sleep. Then I decided to get up and have some me time while I had the chance.
Today we are going to the grocery store. Then farmor and farfar are showing up to visit for a few hours. Busy day.
I think I'm slowly adjusting to less sleep, but its hard. I used to sleep 9 hours a night, and I found those 9 hours very important for keeping myself stable, especially with regards to anxiety. Daily exercise was also super important to me. Right now I'm not getting enough of either of these and its definitely affecting me. Hopefully these iron pills and my antibiotics will make me stronger soon so I can manage more.
Thursday I met all my goals, yesterday I don't think I got my walking in, but I did clean the house for an hour while Andreas and Love napped. I laid with them for an hour and contemplated life, unable to sleep. Then I decided to get up and have some me time while I had the chance.
Today we are going to the grocery store. Then farmor and farfar are showing up to visit for a few hours. Busy day.
I think I'm slowly adjusting to less sleep, but its hard. I used to sleep 9 hours a night, and I found those 9 hours very important for keeping myself stable, especially with regards to anxiety. Daily exercise was also super important to me. Right now I'm not getting enough of either of these and its definitely affecting me. Hopefully these iron pills and my antibiotics will make me stronger soon so I can manage more.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
First BVC visit
Yesterday a nurse from the BVC (child care clinic) came to check out Love for the first time. The first visit happens at the parents home, and after that we go in to the clinic. The visit was really pleasant, except that Love hadn't gained any weight in a week. I felt pretty awful about it, because I was so worried that he was over eating. This worry planted itself because my friend had that happen (her child was born 7 weeks before mine), and I felt like I was feeding so much already. But it turns out it wasn't enough, so we have to double up our efforts. I'm spending ~6 hours a day breastfeeding, another hour pumping, and then sometimes Andreas supplements with a bottle of pumped breast milk. A lot of work, in other words.
Love seems happier with the increased amount of food, and I'm confident he'll start to gain weight. I'm trying to not feel bad about the lack of weight gain, instead trying to look forward and how we can better it. But these are rational thoughts and I'm a new mom, so I'm not always successful.
Yesterday I managed a 20 minute walk with Love in the carrier. My abs hurt a bit afterwards so I need to be careful that I don't damage my abs. I also managed to read my driving license book for 30 minutes. I did not manage to do my pelvic floor and tummy/back exercises though, except for some simple squeezing of the pelvic floor exercises.
This morning we were up at 6 am, which was ok since we went to bed at 7pm. I just completed my exercises, and after blogging I'm going to read my driving theory book. I'll wait until it's warmer out to go for our walk. Another goal I want to add to the list is tummy time with Love. We are going to try to spend a bit more time on his tummy. He does get quite a bit of tummy time on mine and Andreas' stomach/chest, but I'd like to do a bit more on the floor. I have the play mat out today so we will see how that goes.
The house is clean after yesterday and I've decided I'm not doing any house work today. I need a break. I'm still getting very dizzy so I started on some iron pills - hopefully that helps. I'm trying to make sure I eat enough as well, but that can be challenging. I think we are getting quite a lot of sleep for being parents of newborns. I think we both got about 7-8 hours last night. Andreas napped a few times through feedings, and then I mostly slept through our 4am feeding (he got a bottle).
I'm enjoying this experience but I don't know that I could do it again. It is hard. I can't even imagine having a newborn with a toddler around.
Love seems happier with the increased amount of food, and I'm confident he'll start to gain weight. I'm trying to not feel bad about the lack of weight gain, instead trying to look forward and how we can better it. But these are rational thoughts and I'm a new mom, so I'm not always successful.
Yesterday I managed a 20 minute walk with Love in the carrier. My abs hurt a bit afterwards so I need to be careful that I don't damage my abs. I also managed to read my driving license book for 30 minutes. I did not manage to do my pelvic floor and tummy/back exercises though, except for some simple squeezing of the pelvic floor exercises.
This morning we were up at 6 am, which was ok since we went to bed at 7pm. I just completed my exercises, and after blogging I'm going to read my driving theory book. I'll wait until it's warmer out to go for our walk. Another goal I want to add to the list is tummy time with Love. We are going to try to spend a bit more time on his tummy. He does get quite a bit of tummy time on mine and Andreas' stomach/chest, but I'd like to do a bit more on the floor. I have the play mat out today so we will see how that goes.
The house is clean after yesterday and I've decided I'm not doing any house work today. I need a break. I'm still getting very dizzy so I started on some iron pills - hopefully that helps. I'm trying to make sure I eat enough as well, but that can be challenging. I think we are getting quite a lot of sleep for being parents of newborns. I think we both got about 7-8 hours last night. Andreas napped a few times through feedings, and then I mostly slept through our 4am feeding (he got a bottle).
I'm enjoying this experience but I don't know that I could do it again. It is hard. I can't even imagine having a newborn with a toddler around.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Need a place to post my thoughts
I'm going to start writing here again so that I can have a place to keep some thoughts, goals, and progress.
10 days ago I gave birth to my son, Love. I had a pretty bad infection after the birth, but my antibiotics are doing their job and I'm feeling much better already. Which means I want to start setting up a plan. A plan for how to keep myself from going stir-crazy out here on the torp. I'm a bit isolated with no car and a newborn, so I need to have some sort of goals and routine.
There are several important things I want to accomplish over the coming months. The single most important one is getting my driver's license. Getting a driver's license in Sweden is no joke - I have a 300 page theory book, and then there are all the lessons and other required bits. I want to start now by spending at least 30 minutes a day studying theory.
Another important thing for me personally is getting back into shape. I want to start slow and build up my body back to where it was. I've already lost 20 lbs at 10 days PP, with 4 pounds to go to my pre-pregnancy weight. The only thing is, I am much flabbier now than when I got pregnant. All my muscles have dissolved and my body is of a much different make up than it was before the pregnancy.
A list of daily goals for the coming week (April 15 - 20th):
- Spend 30 mins studying driving theory
- Go for at least a 20 minute walk
- Do pelvic floor and tummy exercises
I'm going to start with this small list of goals and go from there.
10 days ago I gave birth to my son, Love. I had a pretty bad infection after the birth, but my antibiotics are doing their job and I'm feeling much better already. Which means I want to start setting up a plan. A plan for how to keep myself from going stir-crazy out here on the torp. I'm a bit isolated with no car and a newborn, so I need to have some sort of goals and routine.
There are several important things I want to accomplish over the coming months. The single most important one is getting my driver's license. Getting a driver's license in Sweden is no joke - I have a 300 page theory book, and then there are all the lessons and other required bits. I want to start now by spending at least 30 minutes a day studying theory.
Another important thing for me personally is getting back into shape. I want to start slow and build up my body back to where it was. I've already lost 20 lbs at 10 days PP, with 4 pounds to go to my pre-pregnancy weight. The only thing is, I am much flabbier now than when I got pregnant. All my muscles have dissolved and my body is of a much different make up than it was before the pregnancy.
A list of daily goals for the coming week (April 15 - 20th):
- Spend 30 mins studying driving theory
- Go for at least a 20 minute walk
- Do pelvic floor and tummy exercises
I'm going to start with this small list of goals and go from there.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
And suddenly there's no free time
I've been incredibly busy, which is saying something since I'm normally busy anyways. My second week with the Masters swimming group is coming to an end and it's been a blast. Entering a group in Sweden is always a bit of challenge as Swedes can be a bit reserved in the beginning and it takes time to get to know everyone. After 2 weeks I'm finally on a talking basis with 3-4 of the swimmers, and I'm loving the social aspect, something I was really missing. My colleagues are great but they are also 20-25 years my senior which makes topics of interest limited at times. The people swimming in the Masters group are between 25-35 for the most part, with some exceptions. Most seem to be PhD students.
With Andreas attending Art on Tuesday and climbing on Wednesdays and Sunday, and me swimming Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, we only have Monday and Saturday nights together. That means most cooking has to be done in advance now, and bigger portions for more leftovers. A bit of an adjustment but it's fine.
We received our growing lights yesterday so this weekend we will set up tomatoes and peppers inside. I'm really excited about this seeing as we've never had much luck with tomatoes. They usually end up way too tall and scrawny, with a very small harvest.
This weekend will be spent indoors seeing as the weather is still icky. It's cold and all the slush from last week's melting has formed into difficult-to-walk-on ice. Hopefully next week some of it will melt away, but we are still having very cold nights so I doubt it. Biking is completely out of the question at the moment as it is too dangerous with my bike tires. I think this weekend I'm going to try and get some knitting done, as I haven't knit at all in 2 weeks.
Lastly, we had a nice lunch out yesterday with Andreas' parents. They were passing by on their way home from Uppsala so we grabbed some lunch in the city! We are going to visit them in the beginning of May, just a short holiday which I am really, really looking forward to. I haven't had a proper holiday since I started working.
With Andreas attending Art on Tuesday and climbing on Wednesdays and Sunday, and me swimming Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, we only have Monday and Saturday nights together. That means most cooking has to be done in advance now, and bigger portions for more leftovers. A bit of an adjustment but it's fine.
We received our growing lights yesterday so this weekend we will set up tomatoes and peppers inside. I'm really excited about this seeing as we've never had much luck with tomatoes. They usually end up way too tall and scrawny, with a very small harvest.
This weekend will be spent indoors seeing as the weather is still icky. It's cold and all the slush from last week's melting has formed into difficult-to-walk-on ice. Hopefully next week some of it will melt away, but we are still having very cold nights so I doubt it. Biking is completely out of the question at the moment as it is too dangerous with my bike tires. I think this weekend I'm going to try and get some knitting done, as I haven't knit at all in 2 weeks.
Lastly, we had a nice lunch out yesterday with Andreas' parents. They were passing by on their way home from Uppsala so we grabbed some lunch in the city! We are going to visit them in the beginning of May, just a short holiday which I am really, really looking forward to. I haven't had a proper holiday since I started working.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Oh that's right, this is supposed to be a knitting blog..
Last night I went to a local knitting group which takes place every tuesday after work. There were between 10 and 15 of us, which apparently is a large number and we were lacking a bit of space. Cozy, in any case.
I've been working away on my baby blanket that I started last year. I think I seriously underestimated the work involved. I have 8 skeins of yarn, and each skein makes ~10 squares, so 80 squares total. Each square takes about an hour, if I'm completely focused. That's 80 hours of knitting! I have about 20 squares completed... not much to show for my efforts I suppose, but the knitting goes a lot slower if I am watching tv or talking with Andreas while knitting.
On the other hand, this is quite a small baby blanket compared to what a lot of people knit. That'd be more comforting if I didn't know myself better... let's see how long it is before I start on the next baby blanket..
Anyways..
Just to spite myself and the title of this post, I thought I'd talk about the upcoming SM (Sweden Championships) that I will be attending. I signed up for the following events:
Saturday morning: (tentative, if I can make it to the pool):
50m freestyle
50m backstroke
4x50m free relay (mixed gender)
Saturday afternoon:
100m medley
4x50m free relay (womens)
Sunday morning:
400m freestyle
50m butterfly
4x50m medley relay (not sure which stroke I will swim yet)
It feels fun being all grown up... I can do what I want and what I think is fun. I actually think butterfly is a lot of fun, hoping I can improve my stroke. I think swimming the 400m will be an awesome challenge and a walk down memory lane. I like the medley. And as you can see, I skipped my possibly least favorite event, the 100m free. Well... second least favorite, 200m free takes the cake. I hate sprints that are actually not sprints, just a prolonged painful sort-of sprint where you are just wishing you'd drown or finish basically the entire way, because you actually did sprint the first 50m and there's no juice left.
Tonight I'm going bouldering/rock climbing indoors for the first time. I'm really sore but hoping my body will forgive me.
I've been working away on my baby blanket that I started last year. I think I seriously underestimated the work involved. I have 8 skeins of yarn, and each skein makes ~10 squares, so 80 squares total. Each square takes about an hour, if I'm completely focused. That's 80 hours of knitting! I have about 20 squares completed... not much to show for my efforts I suppose, but the knitting goes a lot slower if I am watching tv or talking with Andreas while knitting.
On the other hand, this is quite a small baby blanket compared to what a lot of people knit. That'd be more comforting if I didn't know myself better... let's see how long it is before I start on the next baby blanket..
Anyways..
Just to spite myself and the title of this post, I thought I'd talk about the upcoming SM (Sweden Championships) that I will be attending. I signed up for the following events:
Saturday morning: (tentative, if I can make it to the pool):
50m freestyle
50m backstroke
4x50m free relay (mixed gender)
Saturday afternoon:
100m medley
4x50m free relay (womens)
Sunday morning:
400m freestyle
50m butterfly
4x50m medley relay (not sure which stroke I will swim yet)
It feels fun being all grown up... I can do what I want and what I think is fun. I actually think butterfly is a lot of fun, hoping I can improve my stroke. I think swimming the 400m will be an awesome challenge and a walk down memory lane. I like the medley. And as you can see, I skipped my possibly least favorite event, the 100m free. Well... second least favorite, 200m free takes the cake. I hate sprints that are actually not sprints, just a prolonged painful sort-of sprint where you are just wishing you'd drown or finish basically the entire way, because you actually did sprint the first 50m and there's no juice left.
Tonight I'm going bouldering/rock climbing indoors for the first time. I'm really sore but hoping my body will forgive me.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Back in the Pool
Yesterday was my first day with LASS - Linköping Allmänna Simsällskap (Roughly translated to Linköpings General Swim Society?). I'm swimming in the Masters group which is about 20 swimmers. I think my coach was impressed once he saw me get in the water. As Andreas put it, I'm "very penguin-ish... not always graceful but damn you can swim".
My coach is actually an American from Minnesota. Him and his wife (who swims with us) moved here 1.5 years ago. I'm still not sure why they are here, I didn't get a chance to ask. I'm really glad he is American (who ever thought those words would leave my lips??) because it's very loud in the swimming hall and my hearing is so bad with background noise. Not to mention I'm blind as well. Sheesh... maybe time to invest in some prescription goggles if I really get into this. Luckily he was able to tell me what I was supposed to be doing.
We train 4 days a week, with 30 minutes strength training/boxing 3 days a week before we swim. There is a tiny gym attached to the pool area, really cool. I also learned yesterday that Swedish Nationals for Masters (25+) is in 5 weeks, and it's open invitation, so my coach wants me to go. It's 15-17 March in Södertälje, which is about 1.5 hours from here. It will be fun to hang out with my teammates and get to know them more, and I think this swim meet will be a great opportunity for that.
All in all, I had a very positive first practice and I am so glad I took the step and joined!
P.s. Today I'm running home from work (8km)... wish me luck ;) Wednesday Andreas is taking me indoor rock climbing too, so my week is absolutely full with activity. I'm going to kick everyone else's ass in this 12 week competition!
My coach is actually an American from Minnesota. Him and his wife (who swims with us) moved here 1.5 years ago. I'm still not sure why they are here, I didn't get a chance to ask. I'm really glad he is American (who ever thought those words would leave my lips??) because it's very loud in the swimming hall and my hearing is so bad with background noise. Not to mention I'm blind as well. Sheesh... maybe time to invest in some prescription goggles if I really get into this. Luckily he was able to tell me what I was supposed to be doing.
We train 4 days a week, with 30 minutes strength training/boxing 3 days a week before we swim. There is a tiny gym attached to the pool area, really cool. I also learned yesterday that Swedish Nationals for Masters (25+) is in 5 weeks, and it's open invitation, so my coach wants me to go. It's 15-17 March in Södertälje, which is about 1.5 hours from here. It will be fun to hang out with my teammates and get to know them more, and I think this swim meet will be a great opportunity for that.
All in all, I had a very positive first practice and I am so glad I took the step and joined!
P.s. Today I'm running home from work (8km)... wish me luck ;) Wednesday Andreas is taking me indoor rock climbing too, so my week is absolutely full with activity. I'm going to kick everyone else's ass in this 12 week competition!
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