NILL FAMILY news

My dad bought me a Healthworks membership to get me through January, February and March. Although the membership was active starting January 1, I have just been too exhausted and overwhelmed by the idea of getting everything together to actually make it there. When was there going to be a good time to go? Ashton pretty much always needs to eat, nap, or be changed – all three of which were not going to happen in the 2 hours it was going to take me to drive over, work out, and get home. But today was the first day I actually suited up, put my running shoes on, got Ashton ready, and went. And a curious thing happened: I LOVED it! And the gym is beautiful! Everything is brand new, it’s women only, and I felt 100% comfortable leaving Ashton in the nursery. (Okay, that’s a lie. 50% comfortable, but it was all me and nothing to do with the providers. It was a small glimpse of what it would feel like to drop him off at daycare before going to work at a full-time job and I have to say, it made me grateful that I don’t have to.) Anyway, they said, “Don’t worry, we’ll page you if we need you!” and sent me on my way. I’m mainly a treadmill person, so with some trepidation I climbed on…Now, my last good, real run was in November 2010. Yes, you read that right. It was just before my 30th birthday and I was about to find out I was expecting. Despite vowing I would be one of those fantastically fit pregnant women and keep up my exercise routine, it, uh, didn’t happen. Ashton made me too uncomfortable to really do anything besides walk. But I digress. So as I was pressing “Start” on the treadmill, a million thoughts ran through my mind: would I run for 5 minutes and collapse in a fit of breathlessness? Would I even get off the ground? Not to mention, because I’m breastfeeding, let’s just say my sportsbra was going to have to work overtime. Would it hold??

What happened was, I ran my heart out. At a speed of between 6.5 and 7.0, which was more than I expected I would be able to do. I can’t tell you how great the physical exertion felt. After 7 or 8 minutes my chest started to burn a little, but in a good way. In the beginning I told myself, “I’ll run for 5 minutes and see how I feel, about both the exercising and about leaving Ashton.” At 5 minutes I was doing great. Then I told myself, “Okay, 10 minutes.” And then it was 15, 20 and then 25. Then I walked for 15 minutes at an incline and just when I was about to quit, Nicki Minaj came on my iPod and I realized I had to sprint for just this last song because it’s Ashton’s favorite 🙂 Gosh it just felt so good to run! It erased the dullness I have been feeling and gave me a renewed spirit. I didn’t feel like a tired mom, I was exhilarated and revived! I felt energized and strong!

Now let’s not be mistaken. I know that this is reality:

But I WILL be the top picture by March! That’s my goal.

The icing on the whole experience was when I picked Ashton up and they told me he did great – he didn’t cry or fuss, turns out he loved watching all the other babies and toddlers and pretty much just stared at them the whole time. It was a perfect hour for both him and me. Win-win. I can’t wait to go tomorrow 🙂

It’s been VERY quiet around here the past few days. Jason was off Friday/Saturday/Sunday and honestly we didn’t do much of anything. Ashton did a little bouncing, a little football watching… all I have for you tonight is some new pictures, no good stories I’m afraid

When Ashton sleeps we swaddle his arms but keep his legs out because he is too tall for the swaddle blanket. This means we dress him in footie pants so his little toes don’t get cold. This also means that his pajamas end up looking like the outfits a Russian gymnast would wear. Tonight was so funny, Jason dressed him and brought him into the kitchen before swaddling, announcing “Next on the uneven bars…Ashtonovich Nillovich!!” I died laughing. (That’s Ash-TAWN-o-vitch NILL-o-vitch.)

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As you can imagine, the excitement over our news appearances last week has died down considerably. In fact, the spotlight has moved on completely and we have been forced back into our day jobs like ordinary people. Imagine! Luckily, my day job is hanging out with Ashton so things aren’t so bad 🙂 Especially when he naps like he is supposed to, i.e. today! Nap 1: 9:00 am to 11:20 am, Nap 2: 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm. Woo! Although, he really did owe me because he was up all night last night, it seems he forgot he was supposed to go until 5 am without a peep. He forgot BIG time. Anyway, while we have a big week coming up with an extraordinary amount of stuff going on, the past several days have been mostly chill. The mini is in the shop so we have been homebound and it has been ok for the most part. Ashton and I read stories and play and generally stay in our pajamas way too long. I am trying to help him learn how to sit up on his own. Today on his playmat he rolled from his back to his front and then back again, a few times in a row. Quick, someone call Channel 7 News!! Get them back here ASAP!

So I really don’t have much for my readers today except I finally began to work on our wedding album tonight. As a reminder, we got married on 9/26/09 but so much has happened and it has been such an overwhelming task that our album was never completed. I have to admit, it has been pretty fun to go back through our amazing pictures. For starters, how unbelievably handsome is my husband?

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/12006329733049/mass-state-trooper-charged-with-extortion/

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Ashton went to sleep at 6:15 pm, woke up at 1:30 am, cried for 23 minutes (I did not go in) and put himself back to sleep until 5:05 am! YAAAAY!!! Granted, I fed him at 5, then he was up for the day at 6:45 am but it made for his first nap at 8:45 am so we adjusted. I think 6:45 was a bit early for him too because he slept from 8:45 am – 11:15 am afterwards. I’ll take it. Wondering what tonight will hold.

However, WAY more interesting news. Literally, news. Last Saturday, New Year’s Eve day, at approximately 3:30 pm, there was a huge FBI sting that happened right outside our house. Unmarked cars, guns drawn, the works. Jason was in the shower getting ready to go to work, I scared the crap out of him because I ran into the bathroom yelling about the FBI swarming outside of our house haha. Also, poor Ashton- I had been feeding him on the couch when I heard the yelling start so he never really got to finish. I’ll save the whole story for when I actually have the footage, but Ashton and I were interviewed by Channel 7 this morning about the incident (they knocked on our door- thanks Katie 😛 ) and were supposed to be on the news at 6 pm but some stupid hockey game got pushed back and messed everything up. Anyway, it’s a huge deal that everyone is talking about because it was a state trooper that they arrested – I know all the details because I witnessed it, and Channel 7 has my personal video they plan to air, except I don’t know the WHY. Something juicy I imagine. They had the guy face down practically in our driveway with no less than 8 cars and 20 people surrounding him, talking on their radios, etc. Hopefully my next blog post I can link to my news interview. Of course I could have looked much better had I known I was going to be on the air oh well. The best part was that I was holding Ashton the whole time so he is making his television debut at the tender age of 5 months. For now, this is the only thing that has shown up in the news (and it is not Channel 7)- stay tuned!

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/30119180/detail.html

It was a quiet one around here! Jason had to work and Tate and Ashton fell asleep pretty early – Katie came over for dinner but after that, it was just me. Not too different from last year as I was alone then too, but had just found out I was pregnant so at least this year I got to have a glass of wine. Oh, did I say that my night last night was quiet? I meant at least until Ashton woke up for the first time. Three nights ago I had posted that I was officially sleep training him and he was just going to have to cry it out. I was not going into his room until 5 am if I knew he was otherwise okay but just looking for comfort and attention. Well Night #1 he cried from 11:15 pm to 1 am and then I gave in 😦 Night #2 he slept from 7 pm-4 am and I was so proud of him that I happily responded to the monitor even though it was an hour before my deadline. And then last night, #3. He woke up at midnight on the dot, WAILING, and cried until 1:30 am. Then he woke up again at 3:30 am and cried til 4:45 am. At that point he fell asleep til almost 7 am which I was happy with but those two crying spells were pretty tough to take. Luckily my new iPhone 4s kept me company, we played scrabble and watched funny YouTube videos while Ashton’s cries went on and on. It was pretty miserable 😦 I watched him from my bed and did not give up or give in. Tonight is #4 (really #2, I feel like last night was the first successful training night), he went to sleep at 6:15 pm and I have no idea what I will get tonight. I tried to tell Ashton that his new year’s resolution was to sleep more, we’ll see if he heard me.

This is how you do it. Jason told me that my one job was to warn anyone walking down the sidewalk but I sort of forgot because I was too busy capturing this amazing footage.

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Last night, for the first time in 5 months, I cooked dinner. I mean, REALLY cooked: made a list, went to the store, bought my ingredients, prepped my mise en place, etc etc. Jason was not due home until 6 so I put Ashton in the bjorn (facing out now of course so he could see) and he watched me chop my peppers, mince my garlic, etc. I was so excited about my dinner that I had already planned to title my blog post something like: “Behold! Chicken Cacciatore!” with a glamour shot of my beautiful meal but in all my excitement I actually, uh, forgot to take a picture of it. Regardless, it came out great. All of the real cooking took place after Ashton went to bed and after Jason came home but I still did it all by myself (mmmm, 95% of it by myself, I have to give Ashton sous chef credit where sous chef credit is due! 🙂 You may recall his previous experience helping Jason with breakfast several posts ago. Also Jason did cook the pasta now that I think about it, so, 90% by myself).
Anyway! I have made a few things here and there but nothing so complete as last night. I felt really good and Jason took my picture to mark the occasion: