Joy's Life and Times: Forgetting to fuel

It's not often that I forget to feed my baby. Except those times he refuses his lunch and I eat it all and then later I wonder why he's getting cranky and realize he hasn't had much to eat all day. But before anyone goes and calls CPS on me, he still nurses a lot and is growing juuuust fine. :)

Evidence of his eating:

there's nothing in my mouth, why?

this shirt didn't come polka dotted

not so much eating as sorting food...but the opportunity is there

Apparently, however, I've gotten in the habit of forgetting to feed myself, especially before running. After carefully getting back into it Sunday but still having another discouraging run, I realized I'd forgotten to eat breakfast, and that 2 oz of orange juice used to wash down my antibiotic just wasn't cutting it. I'm not only not eating for 12 or so hours between supper and these morning runs, I'm also keeping Hunter's fuel reserves full. He still nurses a few times at night, but I'm not in there snacking in the bed to replenish myself (although at my old job I heard tales of pockets in bed skirts used to stash cookies for midnight snacking).

I'm not trying to have tough runs by under fueling, although there is that training method out there. Back in early season training years ago I'd forget that I was not using fat as efficiently as I had at the height of Ironman season a few months before, and going on a 3 hour easy ride requires fuel when you're coming off winter rest.

SO now that I realize my mistake, I've had two entire runs where I was properly fueled and felt much much better. Of course, the first was Labor Day when Jenny and I did 2x2 mi repeats in a hilly golf course neighborhood, but it was overcast. Then today I ran in the crisp cool fall-like 80 degree weather.

In other, non-running news of the Harwoods, Jeremy and I went on our kind-of -first-date since Hunter was born. We did ride our bikes about half an hour when he was 3 weeks old, and then we ran half an hour a month ago in laps around the block where we could peek on him at Jenny's every 4 minutes. But tonight, we left him, drove away in the car, and ate dinner together, just the two of us. He had a ball with Emily, Jackson, Ethan, and Jenny and Tim, and looked at us when we got back like, hey, did you guys go somewhere? I keep reading articles about "putting your marriage first" for the sake of your marriage and the kids, since, you know, the kids are only there temporarily and hopefully your spouse will be there forever. But that's the thing: the kids are only tiny temporarily, in these super formative years where attachment really matters, and if you and your spouse can't keep it together that long, well then, maybe there wasn't much there before. Not that there's something wrong with leaving kids with competent babysitters and family, but we just didn't feel comfortable when we didn't have family around that he really adores. As soon as Jenny comes in the front steps he's like, "Mommy who?" So it's a new chapter for all of us.

And now, this month in baby pictures.

my happy toddler