The Swing of Victory...and the Agony of Defeat

We've discovered a valuable weapon in the "Get Liam to Sleep" crusade - his swing. True, we've known for quite some time that he enjoys his swing, but we had yet to unleash its true potential. When employed at night, the swing can get us around four hours of sleep and once even put him to sleep from 11pm to 5:15am...that's six UNINTERRUPTED hours of sleep. Do I feel guilty for allowing my son to sleep in his swing and not in his bed? Absolutely not. I've long said that whatever works and doesn't hurt the kid is fair game - and that rule applies to all the babies I know. As long as a kiddo isn't being adversely affected, there will be zero judgment from this momma. Liam sleeps in his bed most of the time (and on his grandma the rest), so I'm not really worried about him spending too much time in his swing.

There is one other almost sure-fire way to put Liam to sleep, and that is to take him on a car ride. We have yet to make the 1:30am trek to the car to drive around the neighborhood for hours in hopes of lulling him to sleep, but I have no doubt that if it comes to that, he'll be in that car seat faster than you can say Tylenol PM. I've heard the stories from friends...I have no doubt that one day this will become a reality in the Kamas household.

So...the other day I attempted to put on pants...real pants. I've lost all my pregnancy weight, so (in my mind, at least) it made sense that I could wear my normal pants. Ha...the weight may be gone, but the current shape of my tummy certainly isn't back to normal. Although I could get the pants on (a small victory), there was no way I was going out in public with that much postpartum saggy belly flopping over the sides (hang head in shame). My stomach muscles haven't returned to normal, and until I get the blessing from the doctor to resume exercising, lifting, and all-around normal life in general, there really isn't anything I can do about it. Feeling very defeated, I've opted to continue to wear maternity pants (really, I can't complain too much...stretchy, elastic waist pants are comfortable) when in public and pajama pants when at home. I did manage, however, to wear an old pair of shorts that I found in my drawer that pre-pregnancy wouldn't even stay up. Not sure how to chalk that one up...on one hand, it's real clothes. On the other hand, they might as well be maternity clothes because of all the extra room they (once upon a time) had. Soon enough, I'll be cruising the neighborhood with Liam in an effort to rectify my present situation. Until then, I'll just enjoy my elastic-waist pants.