The Morning Run(s)

I take Willa for a morning jog a couple of times a week.  It all depends on when she wakes up, sometimes I'm able to get in a run sans stroller before she wakes up, sometimes after and Ryan will watch her as he gets ready, sometimes I will take her with me in the early morning, or sometimes we drop Ryan off at the bus and then go on a run.  When we drop Ryan off at the bus, instead of going home we drive over by our church building because there are lots of really beautiful trails there.  It's a lot easier to take the stroller on beautiful trails than to try to dodge traffic and go up and down curbs.

Here is Willa before the run:

She's got a big smile.  I love this stroller!  It reclines so that she can get a nice snooze in while I'm working hard.  I don't think it's the most restful sleep, but she can't fight the vibrations and it gives her a little pick-me-up.  

 Here is a side view, riding in luxury! The sun canopy is so big, I love how it completely shades her; once I forgot the rain cover and it started to rain but baby was nice and dry under that canopy.  Check out the big, inflated wheels.  It's so much more pleasant for her because the bumps are smoothed out; even when we go on a walk at the park or somewhere close I will take her in this stroller because it's so much more comfortable. 

Do you see that little plastic opening on top?  It's a little peep hole so I can peek in and see how she is doing during the run.  

View of Willa through the peep hole, nice and safe - trying to eat her toy:

The neighboring town has amazing running trails all throughout.  

This is what it looks like at the start of one of the trails.  The trails go everywhere, but they aren't all connected like the Provo River Trail.  Basically, if you see a residential area you can pull over and you will find a trail opening pretty quickly.  It's pretty exciting to find out where the trail will end up once you hop on.  Isn't it pretty?

Lots of the trails go along big roads; those trails are nice because they are fairly straight and you know they will last a while.  However, if you take a chance and turn off onto a smaller trail sometimes you will get a good view of this, or this:

Isn't that so pleasant?  The lower photo reminds me of a trail we used to run on in Bloomington.  The unfortunate part is that these little vistas don't always last too long and then you sometimes end up just emptying out onto a street.  Still, you can't complain because these trails are awesome and if you do empty out onto a street there is another opening not too far away!  

The strange thing is that I hardly ever see people on these trails!  I used to think it was because people here were just lazy.  One Saturday morning my mom and I were on a beautiful section of trail and no one else was out!  Saturdays on the Provo River Trail were busier than the 405 at rush hour. Now I think that there are just so many miles of trail that the people are more spread out.  I've noticed that there are certain sections where I will see a lot of people and other sections where I will see none.  I always like looking for houses that are for sale close to these trails; it would be so nice to just walk out the door and be right there instead of having to drive.  Plus, they are in a great school district!

I like the privacy of the trails while having them still close to civilization.  Sometimes during my run, I wonder what I would do if I needed to take a little pit stop.  Are there sections of trail that are sufficiently shaded from the public eye where I could secret myself behind the stroller?  What sections am I least likely to be interrupted by another runner?  What are the shrubbery conditions most amenable to this?  Here is my surmise: chances of being interrupted by other joggers- very low; chances of being interrupted by chiggers- almost guaranteed. 

Willa, post run:

Ahh, all done.  She is very smiley because she's had a little catnap; if you look closely you can see that her hair gets a little windblown.  I'm not running that fast so this always surprises me; I wonder what she would look like if Ryan were at the wheel.  We love this stroller; it saves me when I need to get out but didn't get up early enough before Ryan goes to work!  A big thanks to Willa's Aunt Becca who gave it to Willa for Christmas!  

Little too braggity?

I've been thinking about my posts and fearing that they might come across a little too braggy. We sure love Willa, but she is no angel. She is a GREAT baby, but I'm pretty certain that she came with her little personality and her easy-going nature has little to do with any parenting styles at this age. Babies are babies and every one of them is different, I'm pretty sure we'll get a horrible one soon enough. I don't want anyone to feel badly if their baby isn't sleeping through the night, or doesn't like to do something that Willa is good at. Chances are, Willa is horrible at something your baby is good at - it's just easier to list the positives rather than the negatives in a blog. Here are some negatives about Willa.

- she is very picky with her smiles, she's a little more solemn and won't just laugh and be smiley like other babies I see

- stranger shy, I've written about this one - it drives me crazy! It also makes it hard for us to go out, people are doing us a huge favor when they babysit her and I don't want to throw it in their faces if she is going to scream the entire time

- she startles easily - she doesn't like loud noises and will even start to cry sometimes if I practice the harp!

- light sleeper - this goes with the previous point, she wakes up fairly easily so I have to be very quiet when she is napping - even with a loud fan on in her room; it makes it almost impossible for her to sleep at church because she jumps anytime people say "amen" or for the hymns or any general noise

- super sonic scream - when she wants to, she can SCREAM and it is deafening; really, it hurts your ears

- refuses to take a bottle unless it is piping hot - I should be grateful that she takes a bottle at all, but I think as she gets older she gets wiser and wiser and refuses it more often; if it is not extremely warm then she will gag on it and get very upset. This is mainly annoying because the times when I would like to give her a bottle are when I would prefer not to breastfeed (at church, on outings) and those are places where it is impossible to heat up a bottle. It's still nice to be able to send a bottle when she goes to the babysitter, but I'll be glad when she starts on solids and I can just send that instead.

- NOT rolling over yet; according to my mom, she flipped over tummy to back a few weeks ago; I have not seen her do it since. She can almost flip over back to tummy, but really feels no inclination to work on this

- gets distracted easily when eating - if I am breastfeeding I can't do any of the following: laugh, talk, cough, sneeze, breathe different, move around - or else she comes off completely and looks at me; I have to sit extremely still for her to eat. Even in the morning when she is famished she will often come off if I try to say something to Ryan

- finally, at this very moment she is in her bed with her pacifier and she is refusing to go to sleep even though she is tired! She is learning to spit out the pacifier when I leave the room so that I have to come back in and put it in her mouth.

Okay, there are more but I can't think of them right now. I think I'm going to have to put her to sleep in the bouncy seat right now because she needs a nap before I go teach my class. See? Sometimes she won't go to sleep in her bed.

We got home from picking Ryan up for work on Friday and a bunch of kids ran past us in their bathing suits. It's been warming up here, so Ryan felt inclined to take Willa for a quick dip in the pool. Because of naps and other things, we ended up not going until Saturday around 6:00 pm, so it ended up being a little cool outside and the water was chilly so the dip was very quick.

Isn't this such a cute swimming suit? I want one to match it; I was calculating just how I would make my own. Do you think they sell mommy/baby matching swimsuits? If not, that's a niche market that needs to be tapped, the next billion dollar idea!

Don't you love this stanky face she's giving Ryan?

In the pool at last! I can't wait until it is warmer and we can really play with her there. The pool as a little sloped area where it is really shallow; once she can sit up, she'll love just sitting there and splashing. Ryan and I grew up swimming and around a lot of water, my mom enrolled me in a class when I was about eighteen months where she would drop me off the diving board and pay someone to tread water in the deep end and teach me how to roll onto my back. It seems like everybody should do this with their kids; it is so important for a toddler to know how to float! Ryan and I haven't decided who will be the one dropping Willa and who will be the one treading water - I will probably pick the one where she will hate me the least.

Sleeping

Willa has always been a pretty good sleeper, though she definitely has her moments of rage. Here is a photo of her on her way to naptime la la land today. She's such a good baby! I lay her down like this and she goes to sleep! Today she had a few unhappy throat gurgles, but that's because she didn't get a good nap at church so she was overtired. Most times she doesn't even make a peep when I lay her down.

Yes, we still swaddle her. While we're on the subject, let me just say that I LOVE the kiddopotamus swaddle wraps. Shannon gave us one (among the many other baby items she handed down) and the first time we used it we were in love. I had no idea that we would be using it this long; we even had to buy a bigger size when she outgrew the original one. It looks kind of ridiculous on her now, but it works! I think she would probably sleep find without it, and I won't be sorry to see it go, but for now it keeps her busy little hands from pulling her pacifier out. It's also become part of the nap/bedtime routine. Once she's in the swaddle she KNOWS it's naptime; sometimes she even starts smacking her lips for the pacifier because she know that that comes right after the swaddle. I'm not sure how we will get her to sleep without one, anyone know of some teenager-sized swaddle wraps we can buy?

Willa has been regularly sleeping 11+ hours each night. The last few weeks, however, she started waking up 60-90 minutes earlier than normal. It wasn't THAT much of a pain because Ryan and I were up already, but it was a little bit of a pain because she was still a little grumpy and it also threw off our "take Ryan to the bus" schedule with her. Yesterday I decided to try putting her pacifier in her mouth instead of getting her up. Guess what, she went back to sleep for another hour!! I went and laid back down and watched her through the monitor, her eyes got heavier and heavier. I was hesitant to do it because I thought she might freak out since it had been a good ten hours since she last ate, but she really is a lot happier with the extra sleep. I tried it again this morning and it worked... kind of. She fell back asleep, but then woke up again within ten-fifteen minutes. Oh well, babies just do what they do. Can anyone explain why babies just do what they do?

There's not much point to this post, except that she's such a good baby. She hasn't cried when I tried this, in fact she really doesn't cry when she wakes up. Normally, I know she is awake because I look at the video monitor and she's looking around with her eyes wide open. When I go in her room she starts kicking and smiling because she is so excited to see me, but she doesn't cry when I just put the pacifier in instead of picking her up. I think her nighttime schedule really went smoothly because we followed the Babywise steps of making her eat every three hours in the beginning, but beyond that I have no idea why she is so good. We are definitely spoiled with her, but I think that's a good thing because she's lulled us into a false sense of security into having more kids in the future. We haven't experience the demon child yet, so we don't know what to fear.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Obligatory green outfit.  It was a little warm for today, but so cute.

A bonus picture; warm enough for a romper yesterday.

Maternity Leave Ends

Today is officially my last day of work, errr... maternity leave.  Willa is five months old and my maternity leave (most of which was paid) is just ending.  Isn't that amazing?  I was so blessed to find this job; I worked there three whole years - I was hired on October 18, 2007 and my last day of work was October 14, 2010.

When Ryan and I moved out to USC, the plan was for me to get a campus job because if you work for the university you can get half off of tuition.  USC is $PRICEY$ so we really wanted and needed this job.  Well, getting a job an on-campus job is easier said than done.  I wondered if the application website was actually just shooting these applications into a black hole in space rather than submitting them to people who were hiring.   In retrospect, I actually got a job fairly quickly (by sheer luck) - but when you're on the job hunt everything seems to take so long!

One day, I was in the temple doing our ward sealing assignment.  I was praying and thinking about a job and I thought to myself, "I'm going to go get in the car after this and there is going to be a message on my phone for me to come in for an interview."  I don't know if that was inspiration or desperation, but after I said that to myself I felt pretty good about it.  When I got to my car, I immediately looked at my phone and there was a message!!  It was someone contacting me about my application and asking me to come in for an interview.  Isn't that amazing?  I went in the next day, the interviewers were so nice, and they called me the following morning to offer me the job of "Secretary 1" in the Academic Affairs office of the dental school.  One funny story about my interview was that I mentioned that my dad had gone to dental school there.  They all got so excited and ran to get their record books.  Sure enough, there was my dad's name (and picture on some records) with his graduating class.

Most people know that I have really hilarious stories about my work, but overall it was such a great environment to be in.  The office was full of people who were very caring, warm-hearted, and generous. I feel like Heavenly Father really put me in a place that I would be comfortable in and where I could do well while Ryan was in law school.  Law school was so stressful that it was nice for me to have an enjoyable job so that I could help Ryan chill when he got home.  It was also the perfect job because I had almost zero commute.  I found a used beach cruiser and bought it for $50.  I might have paid an additional $30 total throughout the years to replace flat tire tubes and my stolen bicycle seat, but it was a pretty cheap way to get to work.  In fact, I rode that bike to work every day up until I had Willa; I actually rode it the day before she was born.  Every day when I would ride that bike pregnant I would wonder how long into my pregnancy I would be able to ride it, I just kept going and going.  The morning she was born I went into work, but since my water had already broken and I was having contractions, Ryan was nice enough to offer to drive me to work that day :).

My wonderful coworkers threw me the most amazing surprise baby shower!  My only regret is that since it was a surprise I unknowingly had worn a really ugly outfit that day and not really gotten ready.  (I knew the outfit was ugly, I didn't know that I would be wearing it to my own baby shower; plus, it was all blue and I was having a girl.)

I have purposely pick a photo of me where most of me is covered, I did NOT look pretty that day and I don't want to scare anyone reading this blog.

Jennifer, me, Eileen's head

 Nasrin, Sharon, Mary

Oscar, the workstudy, was the only boy there.  I think my favorite part of the shower was when we played "Guess that Baby," they had baby pictures of everyone in the room and we had to guess who was who.  Well, as you can see there are several different races in my office so when it came to picking the Chinese baby to go with the Chinese coworker, it wasn't too difficult.  The best, though, was seeing the lone baby boy photo up there, not too difficult to figure out who that one was.  There is also great video footage of Oscar during the shower.  Some of the ladies were cackling about something and you can see Oscar in the background just shake his head and put his hand over his eyes.  Poor guy, what a good sport for coming along!

Eileen, Ursula, Oscar, Takiyah

 Anna, Ruth, Larissa, Jessica

Patricia and Jessica

Pauline with some attitude

As you can see, I had the awesomest coworkers in the world!  They were so so generous with everything and the shower was so fun.  I am not sad about getting to stay home with Willa, but I already miss this crazy place.