This has been a week of major ups and downs for me. I’ll start with the good things, since that’s the most fun. First, Riley slept for almost six hours in a row for the first time. At six weeks of age, we’re pretty happy about that. He’s been approaching five hours in a row for a while, but he slept from about 10:30 to 4:15 last night, which was great for me. He’s been so wonderful about sleeping at night time, but getting a longer stretch of uninterrupted sleep was really nice.
I also FINALLY found an adorable Easter outfit for him, one Andy and I could both agree on. Finding an Easter outfit for a little boy is an impossible feat, while Easter dresses for little girls seem to grow on trees. I looked at probably a dozen Web sites and in half a dozen stores and finally found what I was looking for. Be on the lookout for pictures after Easter Sunday – it’s REALLY CUTE.
Riley is also more reactive than ever, reaching for toys to see them closer, actually starting to play on his Baby Neptune mat (grabbing the rings, watching the light show, staring at himself in the mirror), and watching his Baby Einstein DVD. We bought him one of their DVD’s since we knew Dylan had been a big fan. Riley is ENTRANCED every time we put it on. He loves the music, the bright colors, the puppets, everything. Fret not, we don’t treat the movie as a babysitter – on the contrary, we often talk him through things, explaining what objects are, what the pieces of music are, singing along to the songs, etc. Lately, we’ve discovered that he loves watching movies in general (just like his mom and his uncle!) as he was equally awestruck when we watched Star Trek tonight. Another thing Riley really likes is the water. We have a huge, jetted tub at our townhouse and decided to take him into the tub with us to see how he felt about the deeper water. He loves it! He doesn’t cry at all (not even when getting his hair washed) and smiles a little while in there. It certainly makes bathtime easier on us knowing he likes it so much.
Also, Andy finished his Ob/Gyn rotation this week and did very well, getting a great grade in it. He gained some valuable experience and learned a lot, but is not planning on being an ob/gyn in the future. Next up is surgery.
The best news of all is that my brother and my nephew will be here tomorrow!!!! We are so excited to see them (though we desperately wish Allison could be here, too) and spend the next four days with them. I’m sure it’ll be chaotic with a six week old and a sixteen month old, but it’ll also be a lot of fun!
Then there were the low points of the week. It all relates to one thing – my weight. It seems like everywhere I go, women are congratulating me on my pregnancy. Not on my gorgeous baby, but on my PREGNANCY. Apparently, to everyone I look like a big, fat pregnant lady still. The first time it happened, I brushed it off as some idiot woman who had never been pregnant being unaware that it takes time for the weight to come off. The next two times, I attributed it to just women in passing not paying attention. Today, we were at the mall (in search of Riley’s Easter outfit), and as we entered Saks a woman pointed at me and said to her young daughter, “Look, sweetie, that lady has a baby in her tummy,” as I held the door open for Andy and the stroller. That was the fourth person who had called me pregnant and this was a woman who had clearly been in my shoes before. At that moment I just started to cry (in the middle of the Louis Vuitton department – not a place that usually makes me sad) because I felt so awful – just fat and ugly. Sure, there’s still plenty of hormones rolling around inside I could blame, but after all these people pointing and commenting on the size of my stomach I had had enough and my body image feels sub-zero. Andy felt awful, of course, because men like to fix things and there was nothing he could do to change how I feel (or look). I’ve lost close to 35 pounds now and was starting to feel good and this one experience just ruined everything. Andy keeps telling me its because my hips and thighs are so skinny that people keep making this mistake (I’ve always carried my weight in my mid-section), but knowing something and believing something are two totally different things. All the pregnancy books say that it takes nine months to put the weight on and takes nine months to take it off, but there is no way my ego can survive eight more months of this. I’m trying to be rational about it, but I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t make me feel bad.
Despite the negative feelings, I am still in a good mood because I get to spend the next four days with my favorite men – Andy, Riley, Christopher, and Dylan!




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