6-Week All Clear

I had my 6-week check-up today. It's actually 5.5 weeks, but I get to round up because 6 weeks falls on Christmas Eve and the office is closed (plus, we'll be at the lake). All is good and I got the all clear to do all the things, including exercise, which is a bummer because it means that now I have to exercise. I had already gone against doctor recommendations and done everything else I wanted to do- sex, lifting heavy objects, scalding hot bubble baths, etc. But exercise... I really felt like I needed to wait for the doctor's okay on that one. And now I have it, so I can ratchet up my feelings of guilt when I sit on the couch watching TV while my yoga mat and free weights sit just on the periphery of my vision. Sigh. But I do need to get into ski trip/work pants shape by February, and I have reached the point where the feelings of relief and joy at no longer being pregnant are fading and being replaced by a mental frowning at the jiggly state of my midsection.

(I also got a wry little lecture about birth control because unless it's mindless we are utterly irresponsible about these things and my doctor shared stories of how many "pull and pray" babies she delivers every year in addition to how many "born within 10-11 months" siblings she delivers every year and yeah, my IUD appointment is now scheduled for first thing next Friday morning, which is the first weekday we're back in town from Christmas. Yay for modern mindless birth control and insurance that covers it!)

Anyway, speaking of birth control, Cora has been much happier the last few days! But just for posterity I took this picture of her feeling super mad on Tuesday:

 

Chubby cheeks of fury right there.

On Thursday she went to lunch with me and my coworker friends and slept the whole time (probably because she exhausted herself screaming in the car on our 40 mph drive over to the restaurant) and then insisted that I hold her for the rest of the afternoon. I finally had to take a picture to document how we spend much of our days- with her plastered to my chest, one arm wrapped around me, and her other hand clenching some part of my clothing. Even on her totally happy days, she'll wake up a little early from each nap- she's not hungry yet, she just wants to cuddle. And cuddle we do.

 

The outfit I'm wearing above is part of my rotating fall/winter maternity leave stretchy pant wardrobe. Every day involves (1) stretchy pants (I have these leggings from Old Navy in dark red, grey, and black; they aren't the finest, but if you buy them with a discount code you really can't go wrong); (2) a tunic-y top (a denim shirt, a white button down men's style shirt, long sweaters, actual tunics, sweater dresses, loose slinky t-shirts, old college swimming gear, and zip up fleece sweatshirts all look great); and (3) flat boots. Somehow, no matter what you put on top, if you have the leggings and boots, you end up looking pretty put together and only you know how ridiculously comfy you are at the same time. It's awesome.

As for boots, after an exhaustive search and many online purchases and in-store returns, I finally found this flat pair. They're real leather and have truly narrow calves (not fake narrow calves like many a pair I tried) and I bought them with a $25 discount code and $20 in rewards coupons. I LOVE them and wear them everyday.

 

But back to Cora. Today has been a calm, happy day. Mostly because she hasn't had to sit in her carseat and go anywhere, but also because except for a few days earlier this week, she really is a pretty calm, happy baby. This was my view looking down into my arms an hour ago:

Then she switched to my legs.

 

And then she decided she was hungry. You should know that the time stamps on these two pictures are exactly 7 seconds apart.

But I understand because when I'm ready for lunch I am READY for lunch.

And now that Cora is back down for her next 4 hour nap (which I'll have to interrupt to put her in the hated car seat to pick up Landon and get to Claire's school in time to change her for her Christmas Program at 5), I think I'm going to go make cinnamon rolls in the kitchen. I need to get away from the judgey eyes of my yoga mat and I've decided homemade cinnamon rolls are going to be a new but vital part of our Christmas morning tradition!