This one's for the grandparents....

Too big to send by email, so had to do a quick blog of him playing for the folks.

I love this picture.

Sometimes when Austin gets fussy, and nothing seems to be working we put him in his crib. It's funny, because he gives himself a time out of sorts. He will zone out, stare at his mobile for a little bit, and then will give us the fake cry to let us know when he is done. This was one of those times, and when I went back in to check on him he was sitting like this. Holding his paci in his mouth, legs crossed staring at his stuffed animals. It looks like he is in a therapy session. He's like..."Look, the baby gym was getting scary....this bird just kept staring at me...I mean you understand right? I'm not at the gym to meet people."


This video was from last time we were in KC with my fam. I won't ruin it for you...but there might be some miming...Austin punching Cameron...and my dad embarassing himself.

Iowa Rules!!!

Worst winter ever...and now the worst flood ever. Or, as the newscasters have cleverly called it...the "FLOODS OF '08"!! Why did we move here again? Now these floods are apparently worse than the floods of '93, for everyone else who has no idea what I'm talking about. There were bad floods in '93...this was worse. Fortunately for us the worst thing that happened was losing our phone/internet for 3 days, so I can't complain too much. The closest it got to us was a few miles away. The river breached a main road in town. Several of Josh's dealers were affected. One of our favorite places to eat was flooded to the roof, so that's sad. Here are some pics from around town.

This is the Coralville Resevoir spillway...as you can see spilling over...

Josh went down to check on one of his dealers and snapped this pic. Craziness...This is just a few miles from our house in Coralville.

Pic of me and Austin, he looks so tiny in my arms...

He is turning into a smiley boy! I like this picture, because I think he kind of looks like me. Don't be a dream assasin Maria, I know he looks like Josh. :) I just mean his smile does.

Laughing for the camera!

Bored with a baby...

This is what happens, when your weekends of sleeping and drinking are replaced with a newborn.

Fun with Baby Bjorn...
















He is the swaddle blanket Houdini...2 min into nap...legs out...another couple of minutes and the arms would have followed.






Fun with video...

It's been so long since I've blogged...

My sister, Megan gave me this book when I was prego. Fit Mama...it's like one of those cute books you see in a baby boutique. Since at the time I had lots of time on my hands subbing...I read it, in one class period, (and then was bored out of my mind the rest of the day)...and it had some good pointers, especially for immediately after baby. Now, I know what you're thinking...who is thinking about working out a week after the baby is born, when you are still trying to find time to brush your teeth...you're right. Totally not thinking about it...but fast forward to 4 weeks later, where...not only have I found time to brush my teeth, but occasionally have found time to shower. It might not happen in the usual time, but I can usually now shower some days...get dressed, AND dry my hair in under 12 hours. I don't know how I do it?...I must be Superwoman.

Anyway, back to the book. It has some good and seemingly easy (mostly breathing) exercises that help you find those ab muscles you b*tched and moaned about how flabby they were pre-kid, until post kid...when you now realize that if someone accidentally put their hand on your stomach not only would they lose it up to the elbow, but you could actually wrap the remainder skin around their arm like silly putty.

So, I'm in...bring on the easy breathing exercises...OK, 1) breath in and out focusing on using the diaphragm 10 times a day....DONE! I breath all day long. Especially, when I'm going Baby Whisper-er on Austin a** with the shushing trying to get him to not scream, for no reason at all, every night between 5 and 6.

2) Now this is for those of you with the diastis recti muscles mishap..Lani, you know what I'm talking about...where your ab muscles hated pregnancy so much that they split, and allowed some type of jelly like material to come through in its place...like, when you were forced to sit up on your own 41 weeks pregnant...when the doctor just left you laying on the table after telling you your contractions don't mean anything, and you are still only dilated 1 cm, and oh, yeah, they can't induce for another 4 days......(deep breath), but I digress... so here's the exercise. Lay on back, cross your arms on either side of your abs, holding them together. Breath out as you lift your head up. I'm like...easy...I'm usually laying on the ground at least once a day praying that Austin will sit in his swing for more than 2 minutes without crying.

Oh, but wait....what's this? How do you hold, what feels like pudding together? I couldn't get my hands to stay on the side of what I'm assuming used to be my abs to contract anything. I felt like I was mixing a bowl of meatloaf trying to make this one work....I persisted...surely this will...no,...there go my hands...sliding together again, unable to get a hold of any solid matter...it was like clawing at a ball of dough...

Needless to say, I have put fit mama on hold for the time being.