Where does the time go?!

I just realized that it has been weeks since I have posted anything! Time really has been just flying by. So let me try to update you on everything. :)

James has been amazing. He is as vocal as ever and has been throwing giggles at us from time to time though not consistently yet. It seems the more I try to make him laugh, the less he laughs out loud ... so I try to be patient, but it is the best sound in the whole wide world! Before I know it he will be giggling non stop :)
He is also starting to sit up by himself. Even if I sit him in his swing he is lifting up his chest and head to try and get into an upright position. So I pulled out the highchair today and strapped him in. He absolutely loved it! He loved being tall and in an upright position, not to mention that it was the perfect height for him to watch his Baby Einstein DVDs in the TV. He loves the music and changing colors on the screen. Those DVDs keep him occupied for at least 25 minutes or so :)
On the bummer side of things, he has started teething. We can feel his top teeth coming through the gums. This explains all of the drooling! So far he hasn't been too fussy. He has just been feeling a little warmer than usual and shows a little more fussiness than usual. But we are just starting this journey, so we'll see how it plays out. Hopefully it wont cause him too much pain.
Back on the positive end, James is on a sleeping schedule (kind of). He goes to bed somewhere between 8pm-9pm. Sometimes he wants to go earlier and he lets me know. He still wakes up quite a bit during the night but at least he is not getting more quality sleep rather than semi-sleeping on me in front of the TV until 11pm or 12am! He usually wakes up for the day somewhere between 7am-9am. Now if we can just get him sleeping through the night! :)

I am loving being a mom more than I have loved being anything in the world. Yes it can be hard some days, but that's all a part of it and I wouldn't change anything. He is the light of my life.
I have been hitting the gym pretty regularly for about three weeks now. My dad, Josh and I are hoping to do a mud run at the end of September so I am trying to get back into shape for that. I have hit a snag though ... my knees. This past week both knees have just ached. It doesn't matter if I am walking, running, using the stairs, carrying James, they just ache. I cannot tell if they are stiff or if its an injury pain, either way I have backed off for a little bit. It is very possible that I lost the muscle mass that I had in my legs protecting my knees. In which case I just need to build that back up carefully and over time.
In the meantime I have been trying to remain patient. I have been hard on myself but this is because exercise is my stress release. Running is what I do to feel like me is we've had a few hard days. I love the sweat, the runners high and the results that I get from running ... so yeah, not being able to run has been very difficult.

I have kind of started working again. Because child care is too expensive I have set it up so that I will work on some of the days that Josh has off. I will be a substitute coach for a while, offering my services on days that Josh will be home to care for James. It gives me the opportunity of a few hours per week to make a little extra money and get out of the house.
I have also applied to be an amature journalist of sorts. It would give me the opportunity to get paid to write and we know I love to write. If I am accepted I will pass on the link :)  

Anyway, life is busy. Life is good :) I will try to write again soon!

Back in the Gym

The title of my blog is "From Running Shoes to Baby Socks." --- From here on out I am retitling it to "From Running Shoes to Baby Socks and Back Again."

I am getting back into a workout grove. I have been using some of my workout DVDs, the gym in my apartment complex and the also the complex pool (junior Olympic size). My workouts were very sporadic at first, but starting today I am planning my (and Josh's) workout schedule a week in advance. I feel that if we don't have a set schedule that it will leave room for excuses. Today, for example, I had decided I was going to do yoga, but as I was feeling last night's lack of sleep I could feel myself starting to make excuses ... so before one stuck I hopped up and did my 35 minute Jillian Michael's Yoga Meltdown DVD. That was when I decided that every Sunday I will plan the whole week's workouts based on Josh's days off and other events.

If you can read it (I know it's kind of small) you see that there are '1 mile jog' days where both Josh and I run a mile on the treadmill (taking turns so that James is entertained). In a week or two I will up it to 1.5-2 miles. There are two days that say 'swim/off'. Those are on Josh's days off. So one of the days we will swim and the other day we will both have off from working out. There is one day in the week with yoga. That will be another day off for Josh while I work on getting my core strength back because I have lost a lot of that after giving birth. And of course there is just one more day off to make sure that we are getting enough rest/recovery time!

I am excited to get into a schedule. I know it will be hard to start out, but I cannot keep using sleep deprivation as an excuse to not get moving because that is how many new moms pack on more pounds and lose themselves. I want to make sure that I am healthy because a happy, healthy me will make a happy, healthy James (and Josh too, of course). Now if I could just control those cravings for junk food!

Just incase I start to lose motivation, we (Josh, my dad and I) are signing up for a mud run. It will be at the end of September and will be my first race since having James. I absolutely love to run and race, so that will keep me in the gym. The mud run will be 3.37 miles with 16+ obstacles, so I know that in order to finish it I will need to get into shape and regain my strength. I want to run the whole thing and not skip a single obstacle!

So in the next few months we'll be saying good-bye to the last 10-15 pounds and hopefully hello to my old muscle mass  :)  Wish me luck and send me strong vibes ... I'm going to need them!

Baby Babble

Over the last week or two James has become very vocal. It sounds like he is singing to himself and I love it! It's all oooo's and aaaaah's right now but I could listen to it all day long (sometimes I have to haha!). He doesn't just make the sounds, he makes all these funny faces too. Some of them are serious looking and others are happy. He often does it while staring at the TV, like he is chiming in with whatever is going on.

My favorite babble moment happened today. I was breastfeeding him and while he often nurses with his eyes closed, sometimes he stares at me. Today he was staring at me and after just a few minutes he unlatched and stared softly ooo-ing and aaaah-ing at me. It was softer and quieter than usual and his eyes were just so loving. Not only that, but he was smiling and staring straight into my eyes. I have no idea what he was saying, but I could feel a deep connection and a lot of love. I couldnt stop smiling at him as he kept babbling as if telling me something very important. After a few minutes he stopped and just continued feeding  :)  I love little moments like that!

He also loves to talk to Sheepy Sheepy, who lives on the changing table and Mr. Bear who he plays with when I have a few things to do around the house. He often chats with and sings to himself in the morning when he wakes up. Even when he does it at 6am, there is no way I could ever get mad. I love listening to him. His voice is so sweet and almost angelic :)

I read that it can be entertaining for him if I mimic him, so I do it all the time. It also encourages him to continue babbling so he can work on those vocal skills. I have no doubt that during the day, anyone who walks past our apartment must think we are insane. On days when Josh is working I speak very little English ... I just speak James-ish  ;-p  Even Brutus (the dog) gives me funny looks from time to time.
When I am folding laundry etc I love to have James in the room with me. I describe almost everything as I'm hanging it up (this is daddys blue shirt). Right from birth babies take in a lot of vocal/vocab information for when they start talking so I want to load him up with lots of words to help with that process. That and he loves to stare at the colorful clothes as I fold them.

Anyway, I love all these firsts and I love to watch him as he starts to explore the world around him. I love my little boy so much <3