Eight Things

1. Marshall has slept in his crib three nights in a row now. I've cried two of those nights before going to sleep myself. Cards on the table, the night I didn't cry we slept in his room with him. Who knew I'd be such a sap? I thought I'd be tougher--a come-on-kid-you're-five-months-old-let's-get-this-show-on-the-road kind of mom--but it turns out I am battling all sorts of emotions. I feel sad that he's growing up so quickly. I feel a little glad to have my room back so I can watch a little TV before bed and talk to Terry in a normal voice and not cringe because the toothpaste cap is too loud. I feel guilty for feeling glad to have my room back. I feel terrified that something will happen to my little baby. I feel like it's too soon to move him. I feel like if we wait any longer it'll be too long to have him in our room. Etc., etc.

Luckily on the phone with my dad today he told his neighbor that we're working on the transition, and she said, "Tell her that we are the only animals who put our babies so far away from us to sleep." Among all the "it's good for him!" comments I've heard these last few weeks, it was such a relief to hear someone imply that moving baby to his own room isn't the greatest, most exciting event in the world.

2. This weekend we celebrated Heidi's birthday at Terranea! Four families had lunch at Nelson's and then took a walk down to the ocean with our babies (ages 5 mos to 18 mos). It was so fun to catch up and celebrate our friend!

Later that day we stole Kayla, Heidi and Ed's sweet baby girl, so that her parents could enjoy a nice dinner on their own. It was so fun to have two babies around but I'm glad that's not a permanent thing. :-)

3. I found Janeetha's take on postpartum body discussion rather interesting. I respectfully disagree to some extent though. While I recognize the importance of focusing on baby, giving your body time to heal and adjust to motherhood/nursing, focusing on regaining fitness instead of how you look, etc., I also see how some moms feel a desire (or even a desperation) to return to some sort of normalcy after childbirth. I know I was one of those desperate moms, searching for anything familiar to make me feel normal in the midst of so much overwhelming change. I did small things, like cooking a few meals, baking, watching TV shows, etc. But I can definitely understand how someone might use exercise and/or "getting her body back" as a way of trying to feel normal. It's therapeutic, and I can't fault anyone for that. It's such a hard time, and everyone has to deal with it their own way. 

4. I never really blogged about our trip to Palm Springs last weekend, and now I feel like it's too late. Here's what I'll say:

• We loved the restaurants we visited, including Sherman's Deli (I had the BLAT)
  
  
  
  , Clementine Gourmet Marketplace and Cafe (pretty sure I had a BLT there, too), Yardhouse (we had to watch the Giant's game!), and Fresh Agave Mexican Bar and Grill. We also ordered a lasagna to go one night from Trattoria Tiramisu, which is becoming a bit of a tradition because it's so delicious. We also grabbed pastries from the gorgeous display at Il Sogno on El Paseo, which was not a mistake. 
• We spent most of our time eating and watching sports, because the Bruins played Saturday and the Giants played both nights we were there.
• On Saturday morning we took a loooooong walk with Marshall. I had him in the Ergo and he just would not fall asleep, but at the end of our three mile loop he finally dozed off, so Terry and I kept walking to give him a decent nap. We ended up going a total of more than five miles! We definitely felt that one the rest of the day.

•  Friday we did the Death by Squat workout and Sunday was the 5 Push Ups EMOM workout, so we definitely got some solid exercise in! Always a challenge on vacation. 
• I think my favorite part of the whole trip was doing laundry. We brought several loads because their hotel had a washer and dryer in-unit, and I soaked up the opportunity to wash all our clothes. It was heaven.

Overall it was a wonderful time as always. It's been so cool to meet my parents there when they make their yearly pilgrimage. Palm Desert is pretty quiet, but it's perfect for relaxing, enjoying some awesome food, and soaking in the gorgeous mountain views. 

5. It's (finally!!!) starting to feel like Fall in LA! But we're learning that our apartment has simply terrible insulation. When it's hot, like this summer, our unit is sweltering. When it's cold, and not even that cold because I don't think it's dipped below 50 degrees here, it's freeeeeezing! We do have heaters in each room, but I'm hesitant to leave Marshall's heater on when we aren't awake, so his room just gets cold. By 5 am this morning when I picked him up his hands were like ice! I woke up Terry (who is a walking, breathing furnace) and had him warm up the poor little dude. And then we cuddled.

Scout, on the other hand, is pretty thrilled about the cold, because we brought out the incredible grey blanket again. I think he would have stayed there for hours if I hadn't had to get up to burp Marshall.

6. Tonight we had this soup, and Terry has decided that we will need to make soup once a week now that the weather is colder. I'm excited to make Ina's Pappa al Pomodoro, because it is my very favorite soup, but I also like Broccoli Cheese and Winter Minestrone, and I'm excited to try 

7. Today I met Jenn for a lovely walk around her mom's neighborhood (which is weird, because we don't invite her mom to join us, although we should--it's just a central spot for us to meet), and then Terry met us after work. I also brought Marshall to see Jenn and Justin last week, so I'm hoping this means we'll see each other weekly again.

Marshall's pretty happy about it.

8. We bought Halloween candy in case we got any trick-or-treaters and then didn't get a single knock, so I made Terry take the leftover candy (of course we ate a bunch) to work. What do you do with leftover candy? I wish I could make treats for kids without people thinking I'm poisoning their children. 

(That got dark pretty quickly.)

Okay, that's all for tonight. I just had a million topics to post about and decided to write it all in one fell swoop. Get excited for tomorrow--it's Marshall's first Halloween post! 

Did you have any trick-or-treaters? What do you do with your leftover candy? (My brother said some kids ran away from his house!)

Do you like cold weather? I used to hate it! But now that I live in a land that gets about four chilly days per year I really miss cold weather and seasons. Then again, I've never lived in snow, so I'm sure I would gladly give that up for 70-degrees-year-round in a heartbeat after one skid on a snowy road!

Hope your week has started well!