Cereal

Since I've been sick I haven't felt much like posting so this is a few days past due.  I was planning on holding out on giving Em cereal until she turned 6 months old, but I got so excited to give her solids that Paul and I decided to just go for it!  I think I succumbed to a little bit of self imposed peer pressure because all the other babies in my breastfeeding group that are around Em's age had started solids and I wanted to be in on the fun. 

Of course the day after we started cereal I came down with this awful cold so pumping is the last thing I feel like doing and yet at the same time I have to pump to keep up my supply because I had to take decongestants.  Its a viscous circle I tell ya!  But I do need the pumped milk to mix with the cereal so its all working out.  I've also been drinking Mother's Milk tea to keep supply up.  It's actually pretty good and I like tea and tea is good for your cold...again a circle. 

We started cereal at a time when we knew Paul would be able to be on skype and watch Emma.  I'm not sure who enjoyed it more...Emma or Paul and I! 

Skyping with Daddy

Hey, what's going on?  Why am I on the table?

Hmmmm....

I don't know about this.

I think I like it.

I do like it!

In other big Em news...she is getting BIG!  I think she is going to weigh 17 or 18lbs at her 6 month well baby.  She is rolling all over the floor resulting in the purchase of a new area rug for the living room.  She's also figured out that it is super fun to snap mommy's bra strap while she nurses. 

It's such a blessing that she's such an easy baby because not feeling well has left me not up to par.  I give mad props to single mom's everywhere because it is exhausting!  Of course I was thinking today how weird it is to be a stay at home mom with no husband to take care of!  I'm sure not many single mommies have that luxury.

In one month Em and I will be heading down to Cape Cod for a family vacation with my dad, his lady friend, aunt, uncle, friend Emily, and her son Gavin.  And then Em and I head to Florida for the rest of the year.  Time is flying by. 

8-10 August

August 8


I finished my work for this trip by lunch time, so the rest of the day was mine to enjoy. How did I spend it you ask? Well I did a two hour cardio workout. Did the elliptical for 45 minutes, followed by the bike for 20 minutes, back to the elliptical for 45, and finished on the bike with 10 minutes to make an even two hours. It surprised to me that I felt pretty good after it.

The evening was spent Skyping with Jenn and watching her feed Emma with a spoon for the first time. It was just watered down rice cereal, but the face Emma had was priceless. She seemed so confused, but yet intrigued by the whole experience. She’s our little chubby baby, so I’m sure she will enjoy eating real food. It was awesome to get to be a part of such a milestone. I don’t know who invented Skype, but I will give them a huge hug if I ever meet them.

I’m heading to bed with the hopes of getting a flight tomorrow. If my master plan works as I hope I will be eating lunch back at FOB Ghazni.

August 9

All good plans seem to disappoint. A helicopter didn’t show as planned so I spent an extra day here. To be honest I don’t mind spending some extra time at this FOB. It may be small, but I always seem to have great workouts. I went to the gym twice today. This morning I did weights and then another marathon cardio workout in the afternoon. Two more hours split between the bike and elliptical machine.

I got a lesson in cricket from the local Afghanies that stay on the FOB. It’s very similar to baseball with some interesting twists. I was going to try and do a little batting practice tomorrow, but I’m hoping to get a flight in the morning. If not that gives me something to look forward to.

One thing I noticed today is that it seems mandatory for Army soldiers to have tattoos. I know they are popular for people of all walks of life, but every single soldier seems to have multiple. And to be quite honest, some of them are just stupid. One guy has “Death” written on his forearm. That wouldn’t disturb me so much except he is one of the cooks. I don’t want someone so fond of death cooking my food. Another guy is from Boston and has the Red Sox “B” tattooed on his neck. That may be great as a soldier, but good luck getting a good job when you get out. I’ve seen praying hands, pictures of people’s mothers, and some that I just don’t even know what they are. Maybe I’m missing something, but I think I’ll stay tatooless for a little while longer.

August 10

Have you ever jumped on a bus, train, subway, exit ramp, etc and wondered “I hope this gets me to where I’m going”? Well, today was like that. There was one helicopter coming to the FOB where I was staying. When these helicopters come they basically touch the ground, a guy hops out the back and you follow him onto the chopper and you are in the air. The helicopter is on the ground for less than three minutes. This helicopter landed, I jumped on and away we went. Once we were in the air I asked the guy if we were heading to FOB Ghazni which is of course my temporary home. He looked at me and said “Nope.” So here I am on a helicopter flying over Afghanistan and NOT going to where I want. So I looked at him again and said “where are we going?” His response was simply “A few places.” I followed up with “What’s the biggest FOB we are going to?” When he said FOB Sharana I simply replied “Close enough.”

So here I now sit at another FOB hoping to get on a flight tomorrow. I arrived in just enough time to make the schedule for tomorrow. And since this is more of a hub than my other places I am pretty confident I’ll get to Ghazni tomorrow. But until then I will enjoy the luxury that is FOB Sharana.

The first thing I did was have lunch which included salad. Back in the states Jenn always made salad with dinner. We would disagree if salad was a vegetable or not. But being in the remote FOBs that I stay at we don’t get salad mainly because the lettuce never survives the trip. So I loaded up with a bunch of salad and did the same thing at dinner too. It’s amazing how you find enjoyment in joys as small as salad.

I was also able to go to the PX/BX which for those that don’t know is a store. It’s not very big here but we don’t have any American stores on Ghazni. All we have are “hajji shops” which are run by Afghanies and have limited selection and are overpriced. There isn’t much I need, but I did load up on some nutritional supplements. Heck if I’m going to work out this much I’m going to make sure I produce results.

Next was the gym. I know I go to the gym almost every day, but this gym is so much bigger and nicer. Since I had the whole afternoon I did some weights and then another two hour cardio session. But this gym had treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, and a row machine. I was able to really mix it up compared to normal. I’ll tell you that after 30 minutes on a row machine, when you are not used to it, will make muscles that you didn’t know you had sore. So I did 35 minutes running on the treadmill, 35 minutes on the elliptical, 10 minutes of fast ab work, 30 minutes on the row machine, and capped it off with 10 more minutes on the elliptical so I could brag about two hours total. If I don’t look good when I get back home then there is no hope for me.

Stroller Strides

Last Friday Em and I decided to check out Stroller Strides.  For those of you not familiar with Stroller Strides first let me tell you what it is NOT.  I had no idea what to expect and had envisioned a group of women serenely (okay, maybe at a fast pace) walking around the park, chatting, while pushing their strollers.  Boy, was I ever so wrong!

We started off with warm ups that included placing the strollers in a circle so we could side shuffle around them and jog as we sang a song.  Of course I didn't know the words so I could concentrate on breathing and moving fast enough so that the person behind me didn't crash into me. 

We then pushed the strollers to the next station.  This involved squats and lunges while singing "Old McDonald Had a Farm."  Let me just tell you that Old McDonald almost had someone pushing up daisies on  his farm after the song was over.  I was so out of breath!  I hate squats and lunges anyways so doing them while singing and focusing on not keeling over was a little beyond me. 

The next station involved arm work.  Okay, that doesn't seem so bad until there was more running around the strollers in the form of musical chairs or in this case musical strollers and the loser had to do 10 jumping jacks.  Don't think I lost because I would've knocked a biatch down to avoid jumping jacks.  Again, all this occurs while singing, but luckily I don't know the words.

We then head onto the baseball field and are told to run around the bases 4 times.  If you know me you know I can't run 4 feet, but I can't not do it.  I start jogging and tell the woman behind me to feel free to pass me.  The whole time I'm hoping she doesn't step on me when I fall over.  Thank goodness there was no singing because all my energy was going into breathing and staying upright.  Surprisingly the woman never passes me so I at least beat one person. Of course a skinny mother of 2 almost lapped me, but at least I finished without walking, throwing up, crying, or passing out.

Then came jumping jacks...while singing the Hokey Pokey.  Do y'all realize how incredibly long that song is?  I am already drenched in sweat at this point and out of breath.  I'm sure some people wondered if I was having a seizure as my jacks were..well, sloppy may have been an understatement 

Finally, it's on to push ups...on bleachers.  While singing.  Kill me now. 

We finished up with sit ups.  I can rock some crunches.  I don't have 6 pack abs...I have a keg.

Of course I then rushed home to shower and meet a friend for lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings.  lol  So much for those calories burned. 

It was a lot of work out...much more than I expected.  We will be going back.  I have a slight cold so we'll see how I feel at the end of the week.  And this time I will be better prepared mentally.  Those women are tough!