First Work Trip for Mom

First time traveling for work since Dargan was born, and first time being away longer than a weekend. I went to Pittsburgh for work training last week - left Monday morning and came back late Thursday night. It wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated, but 4 days is a long time to be gone!

I was mostly nervous about pumping and dealing with transporting milk home, but it all went really well! I got tips from some other mamas at work who do a good bit of traveling. I pumped in the Atlanta and Pittsburgh airport, both of which had proper facilities (way to go, ATL and PIT!).

ATL nursing pod - kind of like a port-a-potty for pumping!

PIT had an entire room

While I was in Pittsburgh, I only pumped 4 times each day - first thing in the morning, lunch, right after class (~5:30pm) and before bedtime. The training facility had a little room set up for me and let me use their freezer & fridge during the day - it worked out really well. I froze all the milk I pumped and was able to keep the coolers packed with ice for the trek home. I had a lot of luggage - suitcase, pump, and cooler - on the trip home. Thankfully, no problems getting through security or taking my stuff on the airplane. HUGE relief.

Pittsburgh itself was nice - not like what I expected of a big city - really lovely!

Went to a nice park (North Park) to do my #10kTuesday run




and found a great restaurant there for dinner



On Wednesday, my colleague and I went to The Church Brew Works for dinner and some brews...




... then went to ride the Duquesne Incline and see the city at sunset. So pretty!

Oh, the mobility!

Yes, Mr. Dargan has not stopped moving since he figured out how to crawl a couple of weeks ago! Talk about exhausting. Each of these new milestones is both exciting and terrifying at the same time.



We've installed new baby gates, which of course have attracted lots of attention...

He's also been pulling up to his knees...



And getting up on all fours with his hands and feet...


I don't think he's close to walking/standing yet - still a little unsteady - but oh boy it's coming!

Last weekend was great - the weather was perfect all weekend, and we didn't have any "obligations", just a nice weekend to spend together as a family! On Saturday we went to Pleasant Ridge, where Scott and I took turns doing loops on the mountain bike trail, and spending time in the park with Dargan in between.



Sunday we took a bike ride to downtown to see the bike race - the National Cycling Criterium Championships. A criterium is a race on a short loop or track where riders aim to do the most number of laps in a given amount of time. The "loop" was a figure 8 through downtown Greenville, so we got to see the riders often. Dargan enjoyed ringing the cowbell and clapping for the bikers!

Other fun from the week...

I can get my own toys now!

Grocery trip

Shiner!

Toys

Hanging out at Upstate Craft Beer Co.

Bathtime sillyness

Bedtime story

Yum, dinner

Happy after a #10kTuesday run!

11 Months Old - Crawling!

It's official... as of yesterday Sunday (I'm late posting this), Dargan is now mobile!

We, along with the dog and cats, are in for an exciting time. I was out of town all weekend and of course he started crawling while I was away, but he is definitely able to get from point A to B on his hands and knees. I'm so proud of him!




Growing
Still squeezing into some 9-month clothes, but mostly in 12mo. Pants are still baggy, but onesies need the bigger size to snap. And getting shirts over his big head is a challenge.

Movement
Standing supported, crawling, sitting and leaning, trying hard to pull up!
Rolling over and belly sleeping occasionally, but still prefers his side.

Sleep
Sleeping ~10 hours at night, plus a couple hours of naps during the day. We've been hovering between one and two naps... he's happier with two naps, but sometimes he fights the second one so it's a challenge to gauge what he's going to want each day. Sometimes if he's gotten just one nap at daycare he'll fall asleep on the 5 minute drive home and we'll let him nap the ~30 mins until dinner is ready. It's usually enough to keep him pleasant through the meal but not enough to screw with bedtime.

Speaking of bedtime... he's been going to bed late (8/8:30) a lot of nights, but it's just so hard to get him home, fed, etc without being ridiculously rushed before then! So far it's not caused any big issues, but I really don't want him to be overly tired because of it.

Also, new development as of Tuesday night: if he's not immediately asleep when we put him in the crib, he will be awake, crying, sitting up (from lying down!) and crawling around. This was NO fun, and I hope it passes quickly. Poor guy, he doesn't know how to lie back down yet!



Eating
Still holding strong on the same schedule during the week:
nurse at wake-up
breakfast then bottle
lunch then bottle
afternoon snack then bottle
dinner
nurse before bed

During the weekends we have fallen into a schedule where one of the bottle/nursing sessions is eliminated. The timing just works out that way since we're more likely to be out and about. Nursing happens between breakfast & lunch, then again between lunch & dinner, plus the first a.m. and last p.m. = down to 4 total. I need to figure out if this is what they want him to transition to at daycare or if we just do our own thing at home on the weekends.

As for foods, he hasn't really found anything that he dislikes... although cottage cheese is not a big hit still. He looooves strawberries, so we give him those after he eats the rest of his dinner.

Other Fun Things

Swim lessons started last Thursday! He did well - just a little bit of a startled look when we first got in. He handled getting dunked really well! Seemed to enjoy playing in the water.





Visiting Wrap: Perigee Ocean




Other cuteness:

First Night Away!

Over the weekend, I spent my first night away from Dargan - I think the anticipation was worse than the reality, but of course I missed my little guy! Thankfully I was extremely busy, so I didn't have much time to dwell on it.

I was in Winston-Salem for competition with my chorus. I drove up Friday after work, arrived in time to get settled in the hotel, pump, and grab a quick dinner before going to rehearsal. Got done around 10:30, pump before bed, then I was able to sleep in until 7:30 the next morning! It was a treat, but I was still tired when I woke up - I guess one day of getting to sleep in wasn't enough to combat almost a year of waking up early.

Saturday was also busy - chorus breakfast, rehearsal, getting into costume & makeup (with pumping sessions squeezed in throughout the day). Scott and Dargan arrived mid-afternoon after a stop at Granite Falls Brewing (Brewery #33*).



They awaited my arrival at the competition venue at the brewery across the street, Small Batch Beer Co. (Brewery #34).

 

After competition we went for a late dinner at Foothills Brewing Co (Brewery #35).



Got him down for the night in his hotel pack 'n' play, but he didn't sleep great - he ended up in the bed with us after waking up around 1:30am. Seems to be standard practice in hotel situations... not too concerned though.

Sunday morning we had breakfast then headed out - Scott went to meet a friend for mountain biking, while I went with D and Angelina (bari/runner/mom friend) to Salem Lake for a run. It was chilly but turned out to be a great morning for a run. Dargan enjoyed the stroller ride, as usual, and it was so nice to spend time with someone else who understands all the challenges (and joys!) of balancing being a runner, chorus member, and mom. :)




*We realized yesterday that we'd mis-counted and left off one brewery from our official tally... so we're actually up to 35 breweries now, not 34!