Hi everyone!
We've had a very exciting development in the last 2 days: we can now make Eleni smile :)
She was smiling before but it would happen randomly without any encouragement...she was just testing out the smile muscles I guess. But now we've been able to figure out a few tricks that get a smile just about every time. And let me tell you, nothing has ever felt so rewarding!
The only problem: smiles happen so quickly that we haven't managed to get a picture of it yet...*frown*...but we're working on it. I think it'll be a 2 person job: one of us holds the camera and snaps away frantically while the other one of us tickles her. That'll be tomorrow's project! I guess I managed to get one smile in the video I posted the other day, so I haven't completely failed in keeping you visually up-to-date (does that even make sense? 3 hours of sleep a night = me not making sense most of the time and not really noticing when that happens...please let me know when it happens)
Speaking of smiles, here's something that makes me smile:
We've had a very exciting development in the last 2 days: we can now make Eleni smile :)
She was smiling before but it would happen randomly without any encouragement...she was just testing out the smile muscles I guess. But now we've been able to figure out a few tricks that get a smile just about every time. And let me tell you, nothing has ever felt so rewarding!
The only problem: smiles happen so quickly that we haven't managed to get a picture of it yet...*frown*...but we're working on it. I think it'll be a 2 person job: one of us holds the camera and snaps away frantically while the other one of us tickles her. That'll be tomorrow's project! I guess I managed to get one smile in the video I posted the other day, so I haven't completely failed in keeping you visually up-to-date (does that even make sense? 3 hours of sleep a night = me not making sense most of the time and not really noticing when that happens...please let me know when it happens)
Speaking of smiles, here's something that makes me smile:
Daddy Daughter Nap Time
Something else that makes me smile: they both snore. It was like a tank was driving through the living room. If I'd been trying to sleep (which I SHOULD have been, but I wasn't), I wouldn't have been smiling. I'm sure at some point things like this will become less cute. I wonder when that happens?.... Right now even her poopy diapers are cute....am I ok? Should I talk to someone about this?
Anyway Eleni's sleeping, the house is totally clean and I'm pretty well rested so I think I'll go grab a glass of wine and start looking up post-pregnancy work out tips. I'm finally feeling like I'm ready to start working out again...nothing too crazy yet, but something to start shrinking this belly would be nice. I've started walking again which has been good. We don't have a stroller yet but I do have a sling, so I've had 2 long-ish walks with her strapped to my chest. It's so cozy that she falls asleep instantly. The only problem with this is that my back muscles are weaker than they've ever been, and my stomach muscles are non-existent. I'm not even exaggerating, they're completely torn apart. For the first time in my life I can officially say that I have ripped abs...unfortunately it's just not in the good, "I have a 6-pack" way. I don't mean to scare anyone...it doesn't hurt, I just don't have any strength or stability in my core right now because my massive pregnant belly stretched everything so far that down the middle of your stomach where your stomach muscles attach to one another...mine aren't. So while carrying her in the sling burns a ton of calories...my back is killing me after just 30 minutes. Yesterday we did an hour, and that was definitely too much. I've been paying for it today and not in the "wooo hoo, I really kicked my own ass with that work-out" kinda way, but in the "hmmmm, should I call the doctor?" way. So now I need to do my homework and find out how to work my core without damaging anything further. If anyone has any tips, please let me know...Eleni will be 1 month old next week and I really don't want to look pregnant anymore!
Before I go, here's one more thing that makes me smile: the way Eleni sleeps....
This one is from about 2 weeks ago and I'm amazed at how different she looks already, but anyway this makes me smile because she sleeps like me...hands behind the head like she's lounging on a sunbed on the beach loving life! Of course she doesn't totally sleep like me....she snores like Antonis remember?....I don't snore...nope, not me....never...that's all her Dad's genes....no really, I don't snore, I SAID DON'T SNORE! I don't care what Antonis says, he's probably just hearing himself snore and he thinks it's me.
Good night guys, sleep well!
I love it when babies sleep with their arms over their heads. she is a wonder. How did your mom ever leave? OR is she still hiding beneath the stairs?
ReplyDeleteI WISH she was hiding under the stairs haha! We're missing her big time over here. Eleni's only comfortable with Antonis and I so if I want to take a shower I have to wait until he's off work, but she loooooved Grandma and Grandpa. So, we miss them because they're the best and they're too far away but we're also missing them because Mommy could use the help haha :)
DeleteShe's so beautiful!! And how long legs and toes!! But the picture with Antonis & Eleni taking a nap is sooooo nice. The good vibes come through the screen!
ReplyDeleteAnd then to your abs. Don't start quite yet. It is important that your body gets back to kind of normal state and actually that whole process takes very long time. This is now directly from my yoga teacher's manual:
"Forty days of rest after delivery. Just rest the mother, give her gentle massages, and feed the baby & mother. After 40 days, very gentle yoga. Simple, very gentle stretches are okay during the first 40days, including quiet moola bandha. Very gentle compression of the abdomen is ok after delivery, as in supported forward bends. Viparita Karani is beneficial. Do not try to tighten the stomach muscles until several months after delivery. Breast feeding produces hormones that help uterus come back to shape. Breast feeding is very important for the future of mother and child. and so on.. recommending reading Joseph Chilton Pearce."
Well, it doesn't say much to you probably, but when i come there, i can teach you few sequences that you can do, if you like? I can't find it now anywhere, but the hormone level which your body has produced for the whole thing (pregnancy & birth & breast feeding)- it disappears very slowly. And you need to be careful with your joints as well, all the connective tissues are still a bit softer than normally. (now i found it: it takes ONE YEAR that the hormone level will be back to normal!!!) and Viparita Karani is a restorative pose, where you lie on the floor your legs up on a wall Or kind of half shoulder stand.
I come there next week Monday!!! YIPPEE!! Hope to see you then quite soon??! *L*O*V*E* M xxx
Thank you soooo much for the tips Marjaana!! I wasn't sure how much would be too much...I'm feeling good but I didn't want to push anything just in case it's too soon, which clearly it's WAY too soon. I would love to learn some sequences if you wouldn't mind. It's strange, I was able to find so much information about prenatal yoga but I haven't found anything for postnatal.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see you!!!!!!
xoxoxo