Updates

Update 1:

Also while Sam was on Mancation, I successfully re-sleep trained AC, and I'm feeling stupidly proud of it (after all, she's 8 months old, so it's not such an achievement).  But the last couple of months had gotten pretty hard, with her return to two awakenings a night prior to our consult with the pediatrician.  I think the recent increase in rations coincided with a growth spurt: for about a week, she ate huge bowls of food at every opportunity, and then for another week, she slowed down quite a bit.  Then one night, finally, she didn't take much at her night feedings, and the next night (Mancation Night 1), I decided not to go in to her unless her cries got progressively more urgent, as they had when she was waking from hunger. She woke up twice, but put herself back to sleep both times without me.  The next night (Mancation Night 2), she slept all the way through from 7:00 p.m. until just before 6:00 a.m.  Let me say it again: ahhhh . . .

Update 2, rated F for female audiences:

She'll be nine months old in a few weeks, and I'm reminded of the "nine months on, nine months off" adage about pregnancy weight gain.  I still could definitely use some toning, but I dropped my Pilates routine from the summer after just a couple of weeks because it was just sooo boring to do by myself, and I had much more enticing things to do during AC's naptimes.  Sigh.  Is this what they mean when they say, "She's let herself go"?  Meanwhile, I really think my bottom is getting flatter, which is not a good thing for an Asian woman; I've had to buy a belt to keep my pants up because even though I had bought new jeans a size smaller, I found I could pull them down to my knees without unbuttoning them.  This might sound like a good thing, but again, not for an Asian woman and especially not when coupled with the squishy midriff--I'm basically becoming ovoid.