Archive | daily life RSS feed for this section

Kriswold Family Reunion 2015

2 Aug

The weekend after the Fourth of July, we hosted my annual family reunion at our house in Brainerd. The reunions started out as my mom’s side of the family but my dad’s only brother Noel and his wife Pat have attended several years too. The more, the merrier!

My mom and dad, brother Jeremy, sister-in-law Jen, and nephews Jensen and Jackson all came up on Wednesday night. Besides getting food and tables ready for the day of the reunion (Saturday), we went to the beach both Thursday and Friday, played with the kids outside, watched Frozen at least a half dozen times, and of course, ate lots of food.

11754695_10102176482089652_8704636943997148234_o 11722438_10102176483017792_8647893803242054627_o 11700820_10102176482678472_1708864970602841707_o 11717508_10102176484619582_1259868130360249896_o

Jen and Jackson

11145036_10102176482249332_3376008099578079540_o

Jensen
11238267_10102176483102622_1461717142146569691_o

wpid-fb_img_1438253924863.jpg

Friday night, Noel and Pat, my uncle Roger and aunt Sharyn, and my uncle Kim came over for pizza. We ate outside on our deck and patio. It was a beautiful evening and the best part – no mosquitoes! We had our lawn sprayed by the Mosquito Squad and it was very effective. Definitely worth $150 in my opinion! My brother Chris and sis-in-law Meg showed up after dinner.

11057644_10102176484729362_9099520116818159271_o

Annabelle and Jackson “playing” together11016961_10102176484544732_5167785230461321536_o

11016819_10102176482184462_7112476780432306023_o

Saturday was the official day of the reunion. We were slightly worried about rain, or about it being too hot (previous forecasts had called for 85 and sunny) but it ended up being low 80s and mostly overcast – perfect weather for a reunion!

This year’s theme was Disney. I had really wanted to find a Belle (Beauty & the Beast) costume for Annabelle but just couldn’t find one in her size. So she ended up being Snow White.

11223984_852958014759071_5223546584184055322_o

Emma was Minnie Mouse – I found her dress for $0.25 at a garage sale, and princess shoes and Minnie ears at Walmart (that she wore for about 1 minute).

11731582_852957684759104_2860013623488812387_o

I had really wanted to dress up as a princess with a fun dress and tiara, but since I’m nursing, a dress wasn’t very practical. I already had a skirt and tank that would work well for Ariel (The Little Mermaid) so I decided to do that. I bought a purple bikini top from Walmart and a red wig from Walmart.com.

I tried my hardest to convince Travis to dress up as Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid – I even bought him a white polo shirt, blue shorts and a red sash from Walmart. But he refused. He said the costume made him feel like a Walmart hobo. So what did he do instead?

11722140_852955964759276_2511843126971487029_o

If you guessed the hunter from Bambi, you were correct.

905772_852957611425778_4435125192329795817_o

11411804_852957714759101_6797774246252665376_o 11228936_852957334759139_8453608010919131880_o

Tinkerbelle, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Mr. Smee11053615_852957471425792_358843996009049173_o

The Jedi (apparently Star Wars was bought by Disney?)11709926_852956574759215_5461904379036690660_o

A few of us kept our costumes on for most of the day but most people put theirs on long enough for pictures, and then took most or at least part of them off. I wore my wig and bikini top until after dinner and then ditched them. The wig wasn’t itchy at all, and surprisingly not too hot, but that darn long hair was always in the way with holding and nursing Annabelle!

Other people that showed up for the day of the reunion were my aunt Jayme, cousin Jody, second cousin Lacey and her son Parker, uncle Don and aunt Marilyn, and cousin Tim and his daughter Charlotte. All in all, we had about 25 people. It was a troop!

11727829_852970491424490_410986021_o

Snow White & the Five Dwarfs, plus Malificent11722617_852958474759025_3315473040157688123_o 11700623_852957248092481_4235108760304224122_o

We ate a giant brunch of food around noon, and then dinner was around 5:30 I think. Honestly, the day was one big blur – between keeping track of kiddos, nursing, people coming and going, helping in the kitchen a bit, and catching up with relatives I hadn’t seen in years, it was kind of chaotic. Fun, but crazy.

20150711_180725 20150711_180722 11741125_852958508092355_1889269533072790254_o 11717445_852958124759060_736496249945315213_o 11267884_852959201425619_7540627825193291741_o

1501109_852958708092335_8406422433065910082_o 11411884_852958731425666_935661028673413561_o 10866254_852959011425638_7996432045694406046_o

20150709_200108

Sunday, my immediate family (minus Chris and Meg who had left Saturday night because Meg had to work), Travis, our girls and I all made it to church. Amazingly, we weren’t even that late. It was a Christmas miracle!

After church, we had our relatives who were still in town over for lunch. My dad’s cousin Brian and his wife Dianne who live in Brainerd came over too with their daughter. We had been talking about seeing them ever since we moved to the area, so it was nice to see them. I didn’t get to chat much between taking care of kids though – such is the life of a nursing mom!

While the family was there for lunch, we celebrated my mom’s and my birthdays, which were on July 13 and July 15 respectively. She turned 62 and I turned 32. Everything that has happened this past year with my mom’s health makes us thankful for one more year of being alive, and being together.

20150709_193423

(This was earlier in the week — we celebrated more than once — but you get the idea.)

Sunday evening, Jeremy and Jen headed back out on the road with their boys. They made a short pit stop at my parents’ house in Rochester and then continued on their way to southern Indiana – all in all, a 13.5-hour jaunt! They’re brave souls for making the trek with two little ones and two wiener dogs.

After everyone, except my parents and Noel and Pat, had pulled up stakes and left town, we settled in for some White Collar episodes. We were pooped! But our viewing was interrupted by a crazy storm system that quickly blew in. Travis was watching on the porch and called us to come and look. There was a huge wall of greenish, purple clouds blowing in. The wind picked up so fast that after just a few minutes, we were spooked and decided to head to the basement. About 15 minutes later, we lost power. The trees looked like little rag dolls in the wind. A huge branch fell off a tree in the middle of our yard, and a tree on the side of our yard came crashing down too. I was too freaked out to even watch. Not only is it sad to lose trees, it’s scary to know that one could fall on your house!

The worst of the storm lasted for less than an hour, but we were without power until Wednesday afternoon. That night, we got out all the candles we owned, played music through little speakers connected to my iPod, and the guys went out to survey the damage. We were extremely lucky – a tree fell right next to our shed, but did minimal damage. Another tree next to our house was blown partially over, but not snapped. There are other branches in the middle of our woods that broke off too, but we suffered no structural damage.

Other people were not as lucky. This was one of the worst storms to hit the Brainerd Lakes area in decades. In the woods just 4-5 miles north of us, about half of the trees were either snapped off or completely uprooted. And we’re talking big, 60-year-old trees. One of the resorts right in our area had its entire roof ripped off. It’s just devastating.

When you live in the country, no power means no sewer and no water. So after cleaning up the yard on Monday, my parents headed home and we headed up to Travis’ parents’ house in Nevis until our power came back on.

This post is crazy long already, so I’m going to cover our time in Nevis in a separate post. Coming soon…

Tags: , , , , ,

Fourth of July 2015

16 Jul

I’m a little late with this post but right after we returned from the cabin over the 4th, it was a sprint to get stuff ready for our family reunion that we hosted at our house this past weekend. And now we’re up at Travis’ parents’ house because our power is out for 4 days. So. I think I have an excuse for the tardiness.

For the Fourth of July this year, we headed down to my parents’ cabin near Pine City. Travis’ parents Al and Beth, brother Matthew, Matthew’s girlfriend Diana and my brother Chris joined us as well. But first, we stopped at a friend’s parent’s lake house in Aitkin to see our friends who we hadn’t seen in about 5 years! It was great catching up with them — they live down in Minneapolis so we don’t get to see each other as much as we’d like. The kids played on the beach and in the water while the adults chatted and snacked. They had shelled peanuts that Emma was obsessed with — except that she would try to just eat the shell too. Silly girl.

Around 3:30 pm, we headed down to the cabin, arriving around 5 pm. Al, Beth and Matthew got there soon after and we ate dinner. We sat around and talked until it was time for bed. Since Emma is now able to climb out of her pack ‘n’ play, she slept in the bed with me and Travis slept on a twin air mattress on the floor. Annabelle slept in her swing. We were a little nervous about having all 4 of us in the same room, but it ended up working out ok. We put Annabelle down in my parents’ room until Emma got to sleep (with me) and then Travis moved Annabelle into our room when he went to bed. We had a loud fan going in our room so I was able to get up, change Annabelle’s diaper, nurse her and put her back down without waking up Emma. Always a dicey situation!

Saturday was the Fourth and for the morning and early afternoon, we took it easy. Chris had arrived the previous night after Emma and I went to bed, and Diana arrived mid-morning. Travis, Al and Matthew went fishing around 7 on Al’s fishing boat.

IMG_20150704_075103 (Large) IMG_20150704_075228 (Large)

The rest of drank coffee and tea, and ate French toast for breakfast (my fave!). When the fisherman got back, we filled up the kiddie pool and played Bocce ball.

20150704_102453 (Large) 20150704_102459 (Large)

Emma ended up falling asleep in Grandma Beth’s arms mid-morning — she was definitely acting a little off all that day. I blame teething.

20150704_110923 (Large) 20150704_110937 (Large) 20150704_110947 (Large)

After lunch, we got the pontoon out of the garage, charged and launched, and made it over to the sandbar beach area by 4 pm (my parents’ property has a rocky shoreline) after Travis and Matthew got a short tube ride behind Al’s boat. Better late than never! We enjoyed our time over there, though Emma is still NOT a fan of boat rides, at all.

Soon, it was time for dinner so we headed back to the cabin for dinner. I wasn’t feeling the greatest and we discovered that both Emma and I had a fever of 102! No wonder she wasn’t acting like herself. Since we have 2 young kiddos and a slew of adults who hate fighting traffic ;), we made a campfire and watched the amateur fireworks around the lake. The cabin just 3 properties down from us put on a great show — though they were so close and loud that the whole time, Emma kept saying “House! House!” because she wanted to go back inside. Annabelle slept through the whole thing.

On Sunday, we ate breakfast and hung out on the pontoon at the dock watching Emma throw rocks in the water off the dock.

20150705_102810 (Large) 20150705_102813 (Large) 20150705_103233 (Large) 20150705_103736-EFFECTS (Large) 20150705_103804 (Large) 20150705_102737 (Large) 20150705_102723 (Large)

It was at this time that Emma fell off the dock. She had been getting off the pontoon with Grandma Beth and accidentally backed up off the dock. She wasn’t wearing a lifejacket, but it was really shallow (she could’ve stood up) and Beth jumped in to get her really quickly. Emma was ok, and only slightly terrified. She still loves the water! About an hour or so later, we got motivated to get to the sandbar beach. We got there around 11 I think, and spent a couple of hours there, floating, snacking, and playing in the sand.

20150705_122827 (Large) 20150705_122830 (Large) 20150705_122902 (Large) 20150705_123031 (Large) 20150705_123044 (Large) 20150705_123729 (Large) 20150705_123818 (Large) 20150705_123944 (Large) 20150705_124940 (Large) 20150705_124949 (Large) 20150705_125008 (Large) 20150705_131737 (Large) 20150705_131741 (Large) 20150705_131823 (Large)

We headed back to the cabin for lunch and then the packing up began. Our time at the cabin is always too short! Al, Beth, Matthew and Diana all left during Emma’s naptime. My parents, Travis and I loaded up a trailer of stuff to take up to our house for the family reunion, got packed and headed out around 8 pm — later than we had planned on leaving but it’s amazing how long it takes to get going when you have 2 little kids, especially when one is nursing.

All afternoon on Sunday, it had been threatening rain but we didn’t get anything more than a shower here and there… until we got 5 minutes from home. Then the heavens opened up and we got caught in a such a downpour we could barely see the road. Needless to say, all the stuff we had in the trailer got drenched. It wasn’t anything that couldn’t get wet necessarily but still. Figures.

It was a great Fourth regardless! I’m glad I got to see some fireworks this year.

Tags: , , , ,

Intrigued by Plexus

11 Jul

One of my friends here in Brainerd lost 100 pounds using Plexus products in addition to exercising and eating right. But she also listed a bunch of other benefits as well, similar to the ones mentioned in this post from a blog I follow called Journey to the Finish Line:

Plexus Success.

Color me intrigued. I usually blow this kind of stuff off as hyped up and fad-ish. But this one… this one I think I might actually try.

Tags:

Father’s Day 2015

23 Jun

For Father’s Day this year, I let Travis sleep in while I got up with the girls. (He let me sleep in on Saturday.) Once Travis got up and made coffee, I made him eggs and bacon for breakfast — but I tried to do too much at one time so I burnt the first round of eggs.

We made it to church for the second service. Afterward, we made an impromptu decision to pack up a lunch and have a picnic at the beach in the Gull Lake Recreation Area. It was such a fun time! I forgot my phone so I have no pictures (fail), but Emma loved playing in the sand. She was also brave enough to wade out in the water up to her waist, and then let Travis carry her into deeper water. She loved pointing out all the boats on the water, and watching the other kids playing at the beach (that girl has no personal bubble).

By the time we left, it was a quarter to 3 so Emma was exhausted. She passed out on our way home. Annabelle was a champ too — she enjoys being outside.

While all 3 of us girls napped, Travis finished installing our in-ground dog fence by cutting a line through our driveway, inserting the cable and re-sealing the crack. (Hey, he chose to do that!)

He had been planning to go fishing that evening, but I wasn’t feeling the greatest so he agreed to take a rain check and stay back to help me with the girls. That’s why he’s such a great husband and father! We were both still pretty full from lunch, so he just made macaroni & cheese, mainly for Emma. I had entertained the thought of grilling steaks (one of Trav’s favorites) but sometimes things don’t go beyond thoughts. (Actually, that happens quite a bit lately.)

All in all, it was a really fun family day. And Travis will get his fishing in later this week!

Tags: , ,

8 Years.

22 May

This past Tuesday, Travis and I celebrated 8 years of marriage. Since we dated a little over 2 years before tying the knot, we’ve been together for 10 years. A full decade. Besides making me feel old, that length of time makes me feel grateful. Grateful most of all for our God who doesn’t give up on us, but keeps blessing us abundantly and transforming us into His Son. Grateful for Travis, who bears with all my flaws, failures and annoying habits with patience, thoughtfulness and humor. Grateful for our two amazing daughters, who are both blessings and opportunities for growth.

Ten years ago, Travis and I were baby believers. We had both trusted in Christ as our Lord and Savior just a year before. We were diving headfirst into the community of Campus Outreach (CO), a campus ministry we got involved with through the friends who led us to Christ, soaking up truth and fellowship like sponges. Even though we both grew up going to church — me, Lutheran and him, Catholic — we knew practically nothing about the Bible, salvation and what it meant to be a Christian. God surrounded us with passionate Christians who were gung-ho about Jesus. Besides going to class and studying, we spent most of our waking hours going to Wednesday night meetings (which, by a vote, were named both “Ministry Training Time”, and “Travis”), Sunday school, Sunday services, Sunday night prayer meetings, weekend Nerts competitions, study breaks during finals with banana chocolate chip pancakes, and get-togethers organized by CO.

Halloween 2006 088

Some may look at that lifestyle and think “Whoa, CULT!?!?!?” But for us, it was life-giving. Campus Outreach is a very unique atmosphere — like a greenhouse for spiritual growth. Ten years later, I can say that I have not seen such intentionality and vulnerability anywhere else. It was especially good for me and Travis, who had both had previous romantic relationships that weren’t healthy or glorifying to God. We both lost our virginity in high school and did our fair share of partying. In Campus Outreach, we had strong Christians to mentor us, not only in our budding faiths but also in our relationship with one another.

Halloween 2006 050

In my case specifically, I went from making out with random guys at parties and sleeping around (before I was a Christian) to not even holding Travis’ hand for the first 4 months we were dating. We were both in Myrtle Beach at the CO Beach Project soon after we started dating and when we hung out together alone, we took long walks on the beach and got ice cream. Afterward, when we were back at home base (an old hotel that our whole group of 75 students was staying in), Travis would say goodbye by playfully punching my arm, “Well, see ya later.” When he did finally hold my hand in the back of my parents’ conversion van on the way home from a canoe trip with my whole family that August, my heart leaped with butterflies. Two months later, after much consultation and advice-seeking from his mentors, Travis told me he loved me and we kissed for the first time on a hundred-foot-high bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in Winona, Minnesota.

427989_10101733130090340_1641244624_n

It was not easy to date for two years and not have anything go past kissing. We had a couple minor incidences of “crossing the line”, both of which happened when we had had a little bit too much to drink (old habits die hard). Afterward, we talked about what had happened, and in one case, we stopped kissing for about a month to give us time to “cool down” and reflect.

The summer of 2006, when we had been dating for a little over a year, I went back to Myrtle Beach with Campus Outreach and Travis stayed in the Cities. Three and a half months later, Travis and I sat together on the banks of the Mississippi once more, this time on the U of M campus in Minneapolis, and he told me that he knew he wanted to marry me.

That same night, we told each other the complete, ugly stories of our lives before Christ. I won’t lie — it was VERY hard to hear, and to tell. But by God’s grace, we worked through it and can truly say now that our marriage is a story of redemption. Jesus is so much bigger than our baggage and sin.Halloween 2006 063

Halloween 2006 064

On our wedding day almost 9 months after that night, I clutched my dad’s arm and walked down the aisle to a man who was a new creation. It is that same hope of transformation, that same Spirit in us giving us love and compassion that holds our marriage together today. By the grace of God, our marriage is what it is. It’s not perfect — far from it. But with each year that passes, Travis and I understand each other better. We learn what to avoid. How to phrase things. When the best time is to talk. When the other person just needs us to listen. We still forget these things. We’re still selfish and sinful. But we forgive. Move on. Try to bite our tongue next time, or listen better, or let go of our personal desires to fulfill the other’s. We compromise and sacrifice. We encourage and correct. We share and give. We apologize and admit.

I used to beat myself up over not being where I want us to be in our marriage, or not being the kind of wife I want to be. But as Tim Keller says in one of his marriage sermons, marriage is about seeing the potential in the other person. They’re not perfect. They have flaws, sins, failures, annoying habits. But because of the hope we have in Christ and the transforming power of the Spirit, we can look past the rough exterior and see the pearl on the inside. We see what they’re becoming.

wedding_party

wedding

Tags: , , ,

Mother’s Day 2015

20 May

I am very behind on blog posts but since I love to look back at old posts and be reminded of what life was like 1, 2, 5 years ago, I am going to post about these things even though they’re not really ‘timely’ anymore.

For Mother’s Day this year, Travis took care of the girls and let me sleep in. When I got up around 8:15, he had homemade waffles and eggs waiting for me. Delicious!

20150510_085801

We went to the second service at church and then headed home for lunch, which was a veggie pizza from Papa Murphy’s, one of my favorites. When Emma went down for a nap and Annabelle had nursed, I headed to the Y for a swim (this triathlon won’t train for itself). As I swam up and down the pool, lap after lap in my own underwater world, I was transported back to the season of my life when I spent hours upon hours every week getting my body in shape for a race. I remembered the challenge of pushing myself. The satisfaction of being a little sore after a good workout. The thrill of doing something I previously couldn’t. These are the reasons I love endurance sports.

After my wonderful swim (a one-sided pyramid of 200, 50, 300, 50, 400 yards), I went home, nursed Annabelle and we got ready for dinner at Olive Garden. It was a zoo there. We waited 25 minutes for a table and then another hour for our food. Emma was a little rambunctious but she was actually pretty well-behaved considering the situation. Annabelle wasn’t the most content baby ever and I ended having to nurse her a bit. Travis and I didn’t really talk at all during dinner because we were just focused on keeping the kids happy. Ah, such is the life of a mother (and father).

After we got home, Emma went to bed, I spent some more time nursing and bouncing Annabelle and we called it a day. It was a very enjoyable day — the only thing that would’ve made it better is a nap.

IMG_6414

Tags: , , ,

Worth Repeating {5/1/15}

1 May

This is a weekly series where I share quotes, sayings and verses that I enjoyed and found to be worth repeating.

worth_repeating

It’s been a LOOOONG time since my last Worth Repeating post. I have been reading Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas and Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer — both ridiculously long books that don’t have a ton of quote-worthy material (though good books nonetheless). Hence the lack of quotes to share.

But I’m done reading those and just finished The Hardest Peace by Kara Tippetts, which contains many things that are worth repeating. I’ll share some in the coming weeks. I also started reading Jesus Calling again, for a quick word of encouragement in these crazy days. Yesterday’s devotion was incredibly relevant to my last post about Not Good Enough so I thought I’d share it today.

When some basic need is lacking — time, energy, money — consider yourself blessed. Your very lack is an opportunity to latch onto Me in unashamed dependence. When you begin a day with inadequate resources, you must concentrate your efforts on the present moment. This is where you are meant to live — in the present; it is the place where I always await you. Awareness of your inadequacy is a rich blessing, training you to rely wholeheartedly on Me.

The truth is that self-sufficiency is a myth perpetuated by pride and temporary success. Health and wealth can disappear instantly, as can life itself. Rejoice in your insufficiency, knowing that My power is made perfect in weakness. (James 1:2; 2 Corinthians 12:9)

Not Good Enough

28 Apr

11188247_929145573782432_7782986867162788589_n

I’ve been struggling lately with feeling like I don’t measure up. That I’m not enough. I hear Travis and the grandparents having so much fun with Emma and I feel like the most boring, uncreative mom ever. I act cold and unforgiving toward Travis and feel like the worst, most unenjoyable wife ever. I spend my days worrying about laundry, dishes and unwritten blog posts while others are struggling with cancer, death and finances, and feel like the worst Christian ever. Weeks and months pass without a prayer, text, email or phone call to friends and family, and I feel like the most self-centered person ever.

What to do with thoughts like that? In the past, those thoughts would have plunged me into a downward spiral of self-pity and I would end up lamenting that I suck at life and will never be the person I want to be.

I am still often tempted to go there.

But I’m learning to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” instead of just letting my emotions run rampant and drive me into the ground. So these days, when I have thoughts like the above, I stop and think. And it has been in thinking about what the godly reaction is to those thoughts that I started pondering a question:

Does Christ’s work on the cross make me “enough / good enough” OR does His work make it okay that I’m not “enough / good enough”?

You might consider it only semantics, but I think it’s an important distinction – and I believe God’s glory is at stake.

There are 2 things that I think are erroneous about saying, “In Christ, I am enough”:

  • It puts the emphasis on me, instead of Him.

Saying that I’m enough in Christ uses Him as a way to bolster my self-esteem. While I do wholeheartedly believe that I should embrace and rest in who God has created me to be, that doesn’t mean I turn a blind eye to the ways that I sin, fail and fall short. Instead, I can be honest about where I need God’s sanctifying power, and pray for God to accomplish in me what I cannot accomplish myself.

  • It removes my need for constant dependence on Christ.

Nothing drives me to my knees in prayer faster than feeling insufficient, or “not enough”. If I have the mindset that I’m enough in Christ – that whatever I bring to the table is acceptable – my main motivation for walking through each day in dependence on Christ has been removed.

My flesh naturally bristles at hearing “I am not enough.” It’s not surprising, considering how the human race wants so desperately to earn our salvation through works instead of just accepting the free gift of God through faith in Christ. We want to be enough. We want to be sufficient.

But “grace permits us to come (nay, demands that we come) as empty sinners to be blessed: empty of right feelings, good character and satisfactory record, with nothing to commend ourselves but our deep need, fully and frankly acknowledged. Then grace, being what it is, is drawn by that need to satisfy it, just as water is drawn to depth (by gravity) that it might fill it. This means that when at last we are content to find no merit or procuring cause in ourselves and are willing to admit the full extent of our sinfulness, then there is no limit to what God will do for the poor who look to Him in their nothingness.” (We Would See Jesus by Roy and Revel Hession)

So what do I do in response to these self-pitying thoughts, combined with the truth that I’m not enough?

I don’t stop caring about these things. I want to love and serve others.

I don’t stop desiring sanctification. I want to grow in Christ-likeness and show God to be the radiant, glorious God that He is to this world through how I live and act.

I don’t try to improve myself on my own. Even though I yearn for sanctification and groan to put on my heavenly dwelling (2 Cor. 5:1-4), I know that I am fully dependent on “him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to [His] power at work within us” for transformation (Ephesians 3:20).

I don’t focus on how I’m doing compared with the “standard”. Satan wants to keep me preoccupied with my own performance, instead of looking to Christ and His work.

I DO repent of my sin and selfishness, trust God to change me, and focus on what is now possible in my life through Christ’s death and resurrection.

Pregnancy #2: 4 Weeks Postpartum

24 Apr

I keep having good intentions of blogging but for some reason, whenever I have time to write a post, that’s the last thing I feel like doing. So even though I had wanted to do a postpartum update before now, almost a month has already gone by since I gave birth.

Physical Recovery

I didn’t need any stitches this time, which I was extremely thankful for, because I developed this horrible cough after being in the hospital. Coughing a lot is not what you want to do after giving birth, not only because it surprisingly involves pelvic muscles, but also because you need all the sleep you can get and laying in bed hacking up a lung does not help.

Similar to my recovery with Emma, I again found it hard to be up walking around for about a week after giving birth — I’m guessing that’s from the lack of ab muscles? Luckily, that resolved itself and I went for my first postpartum run last Friday, at 3 weeks postpartum. I took it really slow and conservative, but it was nice to be back out there. I am so ready to get back into shape! I’ve also done yoga and pilates a few times each. In the next couple of weeks, I’m going to put together my triathlon training plan and start crack-a-lacking once I get the official green light at my 6-week followup.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m more used to being sleep deprived or if I’m getting more sleep with Annabelle than I did with Emma, but I actually feel pretty energetic and awake most days (after the morning fog wears off). I have more energy now than I did while pregnant with Annabelle, which has been nice. But nursing takes up so much time, and Emma is so busy busy busy, that I’m still accomplishing next to nothing each day besides surviving.

Speaking of nursing, it’s going really well. Annabelle has gotten a little fussier as she’s gotten older, but nothing like Emma was when she was this age. Nursing still involves plenty of tenderness and discomfort the second go around, but it’s so nice to know what I’m doing and not have to fumble through the first couple of months!

The most lasting effect of recovery from birth is that I am sweaty all night every night while sleeping. It is getting old. I’ve tried wearing less warm clothing and putting a lighter comforter on our bed, but then I’m freezing. I’ve also had a few instances of extreme temperature swings — I’ll be shivering, teeth-chattering cold one minute and then roasting, peeling-off-all-clothing hot the next. Hormones are crazy.

Body Weight / Image

At 4 weeks postpartum, I’m about 7 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.
image
Soft stomach aside, I actually feel pretty good and normal. But my pre-pregnancy pants beg to differ. None of my pre-pregnancy pants/shorts/skirts fit yet, even the ones that I bought at about 3 months postpartum with Emma. So I’m embracing the maxi skirt trend, and I also bought a new pair of capris that fit me right now. Hopefully once I get into tri training, my old clothes will start fitting again. Until it’s capri weather, maternity pants it is!

Emotional

The emotional adjustment to having another baby has been so. much. easier. than adjusting to the first one. Yes, it is challenging having a toddler with a newborn, but in my experience, it’s nothing compared to getting used to just being a parent for the first time. I had such a hard time adjusting to being a mother with Emma that this feels like a walk in the park.

The best part about not being an emotional wreck with a newborn is that I get to actually enjoy her! It sounds horrible, but I hardly enjoyed Emma at all during this stage because I was having such a hard time with everything. But Annabelle is such a good baby and so cute, and I’m so happy that I can enjoy her, even at the 2 am and 5 am feedings. And after dealing with a strong-willed toddler tornado that throws a fists-clenched tantrum over me not wearing the flip flops she picked out when it’s 40 degrees outside, even Annabelle’s little newborn cry is just adorable.

Travis and I are also handling this addition to our family better than we handled Emma. It helps to be getting more sleep! Since Annabelle nurses and goes right back to sleep most nights, I get up with her and Travis gets to sleep for a full 8-9 hours. For the relatively few times she doesn’t go right back to sleep, I ask Travis to get up and get her back to sleep, so that I don’t have spend precious night time hours doing something other than nursing. He’ll also get up early and take care of the girls so I can sleep in on Saturdays. It has worked well for us so far!

And that’s life at 4 weeks postpartum with baby #2!

Tags: , ,

Easter 2015

14 Apr

Even though Miss Annabelle decided to arrive early, our Easter plans pretty much stayed the same and were executed with success! We ended up going to the second church service at 10:45 instead of the first one at 9:00, and only planned to stay for the worship at the beginning. Emma had thrown up the night before (from teething mucus we think) so we didn’t put her in the nursery like we usually do, and she doesn’t have a very good track record of making it through a church service. But when the worship was over and both girls were still content, we decided that we’d just stay until one of them started to crack. And we made it through the whole service! Annabelle ended up being held by Travis, and I had to entertain Emma with games on my phone but I was impressed that we were able to stay for the whole thing.

After church, we headed back to the house to pack up the rest of our stuff, I nursed Annabelle, we loaded up the dogs and girls, and were on our way to Nevis by 1 pm. We got there an hour later and poor Emma woke up the minute we parked the car, so her nap was very short. She rallied though and had plenty of energy to enjoy her new toys from G&G and Auntie, and do her first Easter egg hunt.

IMG_4274

IMG_6325 IMG_4280 IMG_6334

She also went on the swing and slide.

IMG_6341

Annabelle met her Aunt Carolyn, Uncle Matthew and Cousin Drew for the first time.

IMG_4269

IMG_4270 IMG_4271

We ate Easter dinner around 4 pm. It was delicious. After dinner, the guys went out to move snowmobiles into storage and jockey boats. We bought Travis’ parents’ old fishing boat and were going to tow it back but didn’t have the right ball hitch. (We tried towing it back last weekend too but couldn’t get the trailer lights to work. I told Travis, one more strike and it just wasn’t meant to be. 😉 )

Around 6 or 7, we ate strawberry shortcake for dessert and then packed up our stuff to head home. It was a short but sweet trip! Both girls did really well.

IMG_4289

Without fail, Travis always makes a goofy face in the best picture of the rest of us.

Tags: , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →