Fitness Plan for After the Third Baby

Eight months along with baby #3

Before I had Finny, I made a list of ten things I wanted to get done before he was born that would make me feel more prepared. I had already had a baby, so I knew that none of these things--in fact, nothing at all in the whole world--would actually ensure that I was prepared for this new HUMAN when he arrived to restructure my universe. But that didn't stop me from wanting to feel prepared, or more accurately, feel proactive.

Now I've had two babies so I'm less bought in to the notion that preparedness is a reasonable goal; and furthermore, to the extent that it is reasonable, we're already there. If the newborn-plus-toddler-plus-preschooler combo hits us like a pile of bricks, we know how to order our groceries online and how to access a lactation consultant and how to frantically call my parents and screech "CODE OVERPOPULATION!" over and over again until they show up at our door.

So my proactive focus for this third go-round consists of only two prongs: maintaining my mental health is one, and regaining my physical fitness is the other. Below I'm outlining my goals for the latter--not necessarily to "hold myself to it," but more so that I can keep track of what worked before...and to give you all a chance to gently remind me of what didn't. (My hindsight may be 20/20, but it's still impossibly rose-colored.)

1. Give myself two weeks. Some moms give themselves an established "wait" period before jumping into tasks like birth announcements and organizing the non-gender-neutral baby wardrobe. Those are the things I will love doing while Dave is home (or at least home more often than not). I will also be establishing a milk supply and trying to sneak in sleep where I can, so I will NOT be doing any official exercise in those weeks.

2. Spend the next six weeks doing something active every day, but count on that "something" involving a baby. For instance: go for a walk with the baby in the carrier, or work out at my parents' while he/she sleeps next to me, or do an exercise DVD in our basement in between feedings (and while the older guys nap).

3. Get gung-ho with exercise at the start of week nine. Eight weeks after my due date is when our summer sitter comes home from school to start helping me out. At that point I'll have a designated time every day when I can at the very least do a more strenuous DVD workout downstairs. Hopefully the baby's feedings will be a bit more spaced out, and it will be MAY. Glorious May! I might be able to do some runs outside if it doesn't straight-up kill me.

4. Join Weight Watchers online at the start of week nine. Truthfully, the WW allowance for nursing moms means it's barely a diet, at least for me. I know that's the point--you're not supposed to diet when you're pregnant or breastfeeding--but it is frustrating that I seem to be one of those who carries an extra layer or two until I've weaned my baby. That being said, for the purposes of being proactive, it does make me feel better to keep track of what I'm eating and how damaging or beneficial it might be to my overall fitness goals. That way, even if I'm unable to lose all the baby weight until I'm done nursing, at least I'll be on the right track already.

5. September will likely be a transition month, and I hope that getting in shape can be a top priority starting then. The boys will go back to school; the baby will be six months old and eating some so-called solids; it may be easier to utilize the Y's baby-sitting room while I hop on a treadmill or take a class as the weather gets chilly.

To some, this plan probably sounds like overkill--to others, it might seem lazy or just unrealistic. But the truth is, even though I started this post by separating my mental and physical health from each other, getting in shape only changes my mindset for the better. A few friends with kids have described one benefit of going back to work as "focusing on something else for a while every day." I'm not going back to teaching anytime soon, so when I need to focus on something other than parenthood, fitness can be that focus. I also feel like my non-pregnant self starts coming back to me when I am able to fit into my...well, my non-pregnant clothes again. Where the body goes, the brain will follow. I hope. Wish me luck!

First Best Friends

Jenny was my first best friend; we met at three (me) and seven (her) months old, and we went to high school together, and then we headed to the Midwest for college and continued fairly regular visits. She might be the only person I can NOT talk to for months and still feel completely at ease with when we do get to catch up.

Last week, Jenny and Tim brought home their baby girl, Fiona May, and we got to meet her on Friday. She is perfect and beautiful, sleeping and eating like a champ--she shouldn't even be born for another month and she's already smiling:

Fiona 2 wks old/Finn 4 mos old

Hopefully Will, Finn and Fiona will continue the tradition of being each other's first best friends.

Congratulations, Sheehan Family!

36 Weeks, Then and Now

On the left, 36 weeks with Will. On the right, 36 weeks with Nooner 2.

(I wish I could blow up the photo on the left, but I suppose there was a reason I was taking it from such a distance. I mean, WHAT WAS I EATING in 2008? Whatever it was, why did no one stop me??)

The side-by-side comparison makes me wonder if all those obnoxious "Looks like twins!" commenters were not, in fact, teasing me, but were instead truly concerned that I was carrying multiples and didn't know it. And how delusional was I when I deemed those 3/4-length skintight leggings appropriate attire for that body?

Anyway, enough incredulous ranting about The Great Belly of Yesteryear. The report (from the doctor) on Baby 2 is: head down & moderately low, heartbeat good & strong, my blood pressure's fine & dandy. The report from me is more along the lines of: Ooh, ouch! And also: Must you pummel my sternum with your (inevitably monstrous, weaponlike) feet? Concluding with: If you are already over 8 lbs., please plan to exit within a week, or, you know, never. Hey, thanks.

Also, at 36 weeks with Will, I wrote in my pregnancy journal something like "Your dad finally hung up the curtains in your nursery, so it's officially done...at last! Whew!"

Hm. Well, Baby 2 has a crib. Sure, the plastic's still on the mattress. As are three paintings, two duvets, a batch of newborn diapers and some miscellaneous overflow from Will's closet. There's a...bookshelf in there (the room, not the crib). And a little table with nothing on it. Oh, and a set of drill bits, because nothing says "Welcome home, Baby!" like DeWalt accessories.

One Month to Go

In all my glory...

I'm glad I took this picture so I could see just how much dust has accumulated on our full-length mirror. Maybe it creates an airbrushing effect? Yeah, I'd better not clean it quite yet...

Things are progressing just fine. I think they'll check the baby's position at my 8-month appointment later today, so here's hoping this guy's aimed in the right direction.

We'll be back to our regularly scheduled Will-centric posting sometime next week!

Partner in Pregnancy

I can't tell you how excited I was when our friend Aimee announced she was pregnant back in June. Our due dates are 3 weeks, 2 days apart (hers is the day after Christmas), and what that means to me is that stuff like:

• two-week checkups at the pediatrician
• finding out whether your baby likes or dislikes the bouncy seat
• discussing weird rashes and baby acne
• getting through the day when you have a winter baby in New England

and other miscellaneous topics that are SO DULL to everyone else will actually be exciting to her--and vice versa. (If not exciting, at least tolerable to hear about.)

The kicker is, we live relatively close to one another. I've already promised (warned) her that I will be at her doorstep over the Christmas holiday to deliver meals and generally pamper her. After all, I'll still be in nesting mode with almost a month to go, Dave will be home for a few days at least, and we'll be missing our family in New Jersey. What better way to distract ourselves than helping out (imposing) at Aimee and TJ's?

Six Months Along with Baby Two

"Wait, how far along are you now?" asked Dave.

"Six months."

"Six calendar months?" he checked.

"Yeah. And 27 weeks, so if I were counting like I counted last time, I'd probably be saying I was seven months pregnant already."

"Seven lunar months?" Dave scratched his head.

"Right. And that was silly. But the benefit was, I could say I was nine months pregnant for a whole month."

*************

Six months into this pregnancy, my body has begun to realize that there's a baby in there. I know, it can be slow on the uptake. I launch myself out of bed in the morning, I heave myself in and out of the car or up the stairs with Will in my arms throughout the day, and I lie in seven different positions trying to sleep for an hour in the evening while this kid kicks the stuffing out of me.

Ah, yes. This is what being really pregnant feels like. I'd honestly forgotten.

Oh (Big) Brother!

Four months from the outside:

And from the inside:

Now to review the poll stats. There was an overwhelming majority predicting "girl"--78% to be exact. I was on the side of this heavy majority--the first trimester was different this time, and just like I could NEVER picture Will as a girl, I could never picture this baby as a boy.

Except...HE IS.

He's a healthy boy who really likes to stare at his skeletal fists as he opens and closes his fingers. He's been poking me for a month now, but only in the last week has he become a truly active soccer star, leading Dave to secretly start wondering if this baby was in fact the proud owner of a Y chromosome. He's perfect, and we can't wait to see how he manages to be as handsome and cheerful as his older brother!

(And maybe he'll also manage to be one of those laid-back babies I'm always hearing about? Maybe?!?)

Three Months with Baby Two

Three months, four days, wardrobe by Tomsey Trucking

It's time for belly photos! Here's three months with baby #2. I was joking with Lauren the other day that I was all committed to "lunar months" when I was pregnant with Will--that is, four weeks equaled a month, twenty weeks equaled five months, so that I ended up being ten months pregnant. And it was silly.

Yes, I felt like I was ten months pregnant--I think we all do as we watch that due date (and the number on the scale) creep up. But I wasn't; I just liked counting that way so I could say I was six, seven or eight months pregnant before I actually was.

Not this time! In this picture, I am 14 weeks and 3 days and 9 minutes and 14 seconds and WHO CARES. The point is, I'm sure we will all have a fine old time watching me balloon into oblivion again...

Meanwhile, Bee and Mark are hoping their little one makes an appearance sometime soon, and I am selfishly hoping for TODAY. You can do it, Baby Power!

Mysteriously Looking Forward to January

It's finally summer in Boston!

Time for Will to crawl around with no pants on and sport a spiky

Dennis the Menace hairdo like his dad's:

And yet in our house, strangely, we find ourselves looking forward to January.

It makes no sense. It's cold in January! It's slushy, and we stay inside all day. It's past the holiday season. What could there possibly be to look forward to?

Oh, right. We get to meet our second baby sometime around January 18.

That must be it!

(New boy-or-girl poll to appear shortly--vote soon because we'll find out in a few weeks!)

Out of Africa

I received a phone call at 4 a.m. this morning: "We have a baaaaaby," Lisa croaked. "And I have to go to sleep I'm so tired."

"So...boy or girl? Name?" I demanded, scurrying into the kitchen to avoid waking up Dave and Will.

"Grace Elizabeth," she told me proudly. 

"I'm so excited!" I squealed. "And I can't wait to go buy BABY GIRL CLOTHES! FINALLY!"

Welcome to the world, little Grace. I can't wait to meet you (or for now, see pictures of your cute face).

Baby Names

My sister-in-law Jean and I recently had a long conversation about naming babies. She is due with a boy in March (boy cousins five months apart = great news for Will!) and I was grilling her a little about her naming process. While she and John are not revealing the name ahead of time, we talked about how they had decided on "Megan" for my three-year-old niece: "It wasn't my top choice, and it wasn't John's top choice...it was just the only one we could agree on."

Dave and I had chosen a boy's name prior to the Big Reveal Ultrasound, but not a girl's name. In fact, when we left that ultrasound appointment in a stupor, Dave commented that now we wouldn't have to think about names again for a couple of years.

Dave, is it? Hi, I'm Joanna. Nice to finally meet you! Baby names? Sure, I've been thinking about them since I was five years old, although at that point I was trying to name my imaginary future baby sister. What did I do when I realized I wasn't getting a sister? Thanks for asking! I actually proceeded to name the five panels of my bedroom bow window. I gave them first and middle names. And I wrote their names on the windowsills. In neon puffy paint.* What do you mean, that's crazy? Wait, where are you going? YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME NOW, WE TOOK VOWS, THINK OF THE BAAAAABY!

But I digress. Basically, Jean and I concluded that 1) naming babies is hard, and 2) naming babies whose last name is "Noon" can be especially hard. "Noon" is a noun, and therefore the following adjective/descriptive-word names are out of the running before the game's even begun: Summer, Autumn, April, May, June, Scarlett, Coral, Ruby, Dawn, Crystal, Amber, India, Chyna...not to mention anything that rhymes with "Noon" and all the tricky monosyllabic names like Brooke, which I love but Dave doesn't like when it's paired with Noon. He tells me it sounds too choppy. Even the name Taylor when paired with Noon...well, it rhymes with the name of the animated Japanese character Sailor Moon.

My last name is hilarious!

All this, and I'm not going to tell you what our favorite names are because there are still more babies to be had and therefore secrets to be kept! Suffice it to say, girls' names are tough, and boys' names are not that much easier. Still, I'm sure that we will all love the newest Noon boy's name, whatever it may be. Of course, we'll love the boy himself even more.


*This story is entirely true. Eventually I had to help my mom chisel the dried puffy paint off of the windowsills; I wish I had written down those names before they were lost forever.

Asking the Audience

Here's hoping that the 50% of you who predicted I'd go into labor by today (at 39 weeks along) are as reliable as the audience on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

No, I'm not particularly uncomfortable, and I'm doing a good job of enjoying these last days of non-motherhood...but I have no objections if this baby wants to make his way out in the next few hours!

Here are some of the things I've been distracting myself with--many ideas courtesy of my lovely friends and family members:

1. Walking. Everywhere. (Thanks, Cindy.) To the post office, the grocery store, our new favorite dinner spot, no holds barred. The only caveat is that I have to make sure there's a restroom every .6 miles or I have to rush home, trying to cross my legs as I walk (which is a difficult-to-impossible feat).
2. Hanging out with all my local girls, including Lauren and Kerry in their rare off-hours and AlRo before she gets tied up with her new job.
3. Reading before bedtime; going to movies; trying to fit in other fun stuff that will be more difficult in the coming months! (Thanks to Maria and Julie for the wealth of suggestions.)
4. Cleaning and organizing our office, guest rooms and closets.
5. Baking for my doctor's office, for my hairstylist, and for anyone else willing to accept treats from me. Yes, otherwise known as "nesting."
6. Having no attention span for TV anymore, although I did watch the "Dancing with the Stars" season premiere last night, and I think it's actually mindless enough to suck me in!
7. And of course I will be eating pizza for dinner on Friday evening after my dad returns from his business trip. (Thanks again, Cindy!)

Any other suggestions for the last week or so?

Also, don't forget to leave a comment predicting the baby's size!!

Two Weeks to Go...

Well, I hope that the majority of poll respondents were correct in that I will be going into labor this week. No, I'm not desperately uncomfortable, and I've still got the energy to work out and get around every day, but I am so impatient to meet this (not-so-) little devil.

Here are some pictures of the 38-week profile. No real changes from two weeks ago, which hopefully means that the baby's good and baked!

36 Weeks and a Brand New Poll

Here I am at 36 weeks, with nine lunar months under my belt (and roughly nine pounds of baby above my belt, from the look of it).

And now that we are crawling through the last month of pregnancy, it's time to ask our family and friends for some more fun guesswork. We'd like to know when you think this baby is coming, so be sure to record your vote on the poll in the sidebar. Hopefully you are more accurate this time around!

32 weeks...and then some!

I had my 32-week appointment this morning. The good news? My doc's best guess it that the baby will not be particularly oversized. Yay! (Still, no one can guarantee I won't end up with a ten-pounder...I'm holding onto those onesie extenders for sure!)

Leah, who is both a fantastic first houseguest and a wonderful photographer, did me the honor of taking my 8-month picture a few days after I hit the 32-week mark.

Where have my eyelids gone? I miss them terribly.

29 weeks!

The third trimester is here in full force! Although most people I've talked to and books I've read say that the second trimester is the best, I have to disagree. Little Nooner has stopped his Incredible Hulk growth patterns (maybe because of his ridiculous spurt in the middle of this pregnancy?!); that slowdown, combined with my body starting to adjust to its new and cumbersome shape, has made me pretty happy. Now if only the little guy would stop kicking me in the bladder...oh well, you can't have everything!

7 months along...

Large and In Charge

Happy six months of gestation, Baby Noon!

In honor of this milestone, I am posting pictures of Baby Noon's ever-growing home...my big belly. And yes, the "It's A ______" post is coming later tonight!

Two months along (8 weeks). I look like I am a giant. Thanks for being too lazy to stand up and take the picture, Dave!

Three months down the path (12 weeks). Mini-bump? Check.

Four months (16 weeks) and lookin' chubby! (In a good way.)

Five months (20 weeks), halfway there!

Yesterday, at six months (24 weeks). Alright, NOW I'm pregnant! What was that baby eating between five and six months? Geez! But, to be fair, below are some photos NOT taken directly after I ate a four-course (veggie) sushi meal followed by a J.P. Licks caramel sundae!

Note how sleepy I look in the morning. Let's just say the baby does NOT sleep when I want to!