The main headings of my life.

Not a travel post this time but rather one about everyday life, a bit boring perhaps but this is what it is.

Back to work
I started work on the 13th this month after 9 weeks of leave. I hate leaving Cooper each morning, but I have been okay with it because my mom is taking care of him, and Frank is home too helping out (soon to be taking care of him on his own). I feel guilty though still, and so wish I could be at home with him. Not feasible. All I want to do each evening now is be with him calmly enjoying his smiles and cooing and nursing him before making dinner, eating, and hitting the sack around 9:30. Yes, very early I know, but with waking up twice a night still to feed Cooper and having to be at work by 7:30, I am exhausted each night at that time. I feel like a cow pumping milk twice a day from work, but am becoming quite good at it now, and I feel so happy knowing that at least he is still solely getting my breastmilk. And, I go home at lunch every day to see him which cheers me up and let's me keep up the breastfeeding easier.

Cooper
Ever since he hit the 10 week mark last week, he has become so cute and shows so much personality. He smiles at us all when he is in his happy awake time after eating and talks to us with the cutest Ohs and Oooohs. His whole chest moves as he tries so hard to communicate. His hands now open all the time to reach out and grab stuff and he loves to stare at toys now and follows our voices. He enjoys his swing to calmly drift asleep, or us rocking him while holding him tightly, and has now found his fist for sucking. This past weekend, Frank and I took Cooper out to climb. Reminder to self next time -lay Cooper down to sleep in his pea pod near multiple climbs! He fell into a nice deep sleep at a boulder with only 2 climbs we finished lickity split, and I didn't want to even chance moving him. So, we enjoyed each others company with the dogs sitting on the mossy boulders for an hour. Hoping for good weather this weekend.

Frank
Frank will be taking over the nannying soon while he works from home. Right now Cooper sleeps a lot, so we are hoping it won't be too hard. Once it is, as he gets older and more active, we'll be bringing Cooper on post for day care. I do not look forward to that day at all. Frank had his 33rd Birthday last week as well!! We didn't do anything to exciting unfortunately, but, mom watched Cooper and we were able to go eat out alone together like the old days, which was quite nice. I miss the good ol days, but the present is pretty nice too ;) We are adjusting to parenthood and the changes it has brought along, figuring out how to still enjoy things we did before Cooper came along (i.e. climbing!). Frank has been still getting out pretty frequently. Our good friend Kalle came down with his familiy 2 weekends ago, and Frank has met quite a few other guys to go out climbing with as well. Plus he runs and takes the dogs for huge hikes often and we have a gym room in our basement.

Staying Fit
The last few months of pregnancy, all I wanted to do was sleep on my back and tummy again and CLIMB! Well, I can do the sleeping part now, and you think I would want to climb all the time now that I can, but now all I want to do is make sure Cooper is happy and calm at night and getting good naps. I thought it would be feasible to climb on weekdays, but it has been harder than I thought, although weekends I plan on taking him out for sure, either for big hikes or climbing outings. I have not stuck at all to my fitness goals I drew up before having Cooper. I thought we would just be able to take him out climbing right after work and have him nap in his pea pod happily or lay looking at toys happily...not exactly the case. Maybe when he gets a little older but at the moment he needs too much attention. One good thing is that I am back down to my prepregnancy weight. However, I am not fit by any means. Nobody told me I would have a saggy baloon belly even though the weight would disappear! Sigh. When will this outie belly button go back in? It was/is harder to start routines with Cooper and myself than I thought. Partly because we have had so much to do and so many visitors, which we have loved having and will miss terribly once it all ends.

Well, I have rambled on enough. Pics and a videos below! Love you all!

F&M