Wake Up!

on September 21, 2012
in All Posts

It was an early morning in the HTP household… Yawn.  Kristien left on a business trip – he was out of the house at 6:00 AM – and Henry was cooing in his crib five minutes later.  And Maggie was licking my feet.  Now, I can pull Henry into my bed for a cuddle, but the dog action is motivation to get the heck out of bed and get moving.

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All-around too early for me, but it’s nothing that a special (sugary) breakfast can’t fix!

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Bob Red Mill GF Pancakes

Peaches

Coconut

Syrup

Cashews

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In other news… I am currently trying to memorizing all the world’s capitals.  All 193 members of the United Nations, as a matter of fact.  I was actually pretty appalled at myself for not recognizing so many countries during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, so I’m flexing my brain power with the old flashcards.  It’s pretty fun, believe it or not.  Also – it gives me something to do while pumping ten minutes a time, six times a day.  And maybe one day this new skill will come in handy (you know, when I appear on Jeopardy…).  BIL Nick is also attempting to memorize all the capitals, and we’re going to have a face-off in a few weeks.   So.  Yeah.  That’s my weird personal admission of the day. 

{ 34 comments }

 

  • Angela @ Eat Spin Run Repeat September 21, 2012, 8:14 am

    Haha you never know when the Jeopardy folk might call you up and ask you to be on a special blogger edition!! 😉 My geography skills aren’t bad since I lived in the Middle East for 5 years growing up, but capitals is definitely something that I could use some work on too! Have a great day Caitlin, and hopefully a restful one! 🙂

  • Katie @ Peace Love & Oats September 21, 2012, 8:47 am

    Hahaha I love learning random things like that!

  • Chelsie @ Balance, Not Scale September 21, 2012, 9:00 am

    What a neat “hobby” to be taking up! I’m all for further education — making a face-off out of it is what’s right up my alley though. A little healthy competition never hurts, right? 😉

  • Anne @strawberryjampackedlife September 21, 2012, 9:22 am

    That would be one of my weak points that I’d have to study when I go on Jeopardy. Geography and history. Good for you!! Of course some of them might change in the next month/year/decade.

  • Natalie @ Free Range Human September 21, 2012, 9:23 am

    That challenge is pretty cool. It appeals to the social studies nerd in me. You should do some kind of challenge here on the blog!

  • Ebernst September 21, 2012, 9:24 am

    I love the idea of memorizing world capitals! I might have to give that one a try! A co-worker and I were super bored a few weeks ago on a work trip and to entertain ourselves we decided to name all the US State Capitals! Unfortunately, we were waiting to gain access to a restricted area and had to wait all day to get our phones to double check our answers! It was really fun and we came pretty close! (darn New Jersey totally messed us up!)

    On the whole world thing, if you are looking for random stories about living in some of those random, I’ve never heard of you countries, I would check out peace corps journals..its a compilation of Peace Corps blogs! I think I learned about so many random countires while I was waiting to join PC! 🙂

  • Jess September 21, 2012, 9:35 am

    Totally jealous of your 6am wake up. I get up at 5 every day for work after a half hour nursing session somewhere between 2:30 and 3:30 am. Ok, on the weekends, I’m woken up around 7. 🙂

  • Claire @ Live and Love to Eat September 21, 2012, 9:40 am

    I could never be on Jeopardy specifically due to the geography questions! I did see them do a live filming of the college edition at Pitt though, and that was interesting. 🙂

  • Mari @ Wine Required September 21, 2012, 10:04 am

    I do the same thing. I see something I’m lacking on and I dive right in to learning it as soon as I can. Right now, I’m trying to learn Italian. It’s going along.

  • Amber @ Busy, Bold, Blessed September 21, 2012, 10:06 am

    Sometimes I just wander around on googlemaps and look at random places. It really makes me realize how much geography I’m unaware of! Happy Friday 😀

  • Christine @ BookishlyB September 21, 2012, 10:08 am

    A “capital face-off?” I wish I could play it cool and tell you that this is the dorkiest thing ever, but in reality I’m kind of jealous. Please tell me you plan on inviting people over and having some sort of prize for the winner.

  • Kathleen Ojo @ Onward; Inward September 21, 2012, 10:24 am

    That sounds fun actually! In high school freshman geography we were actually required to memorize all the world capitals. We went one continent at a time and memorized the country and capital, and as a test we were handed a huge blank map! I’m a geography nerd so I thought it was fun at the time, and it sure came in handy later (though I still suck at all the island nations – I can never keep them straight!)

  • Sam @ Better With Sprinkles September 21, 2012, 10:25 am

    One of my life goals is to be on jeopardy…apparently I should start brushing up on my random facts!

  • Christen September 21, 2012, 10:51 am

    When I was in 7th grade we had to memorize all the countries in the world for geography class. At the time, there were just over 200 countries. I had all the countries, their capitals, and where they were located memorized, I do not think I could do that now, my brain doesn’t work that way any more. Good luck!

  • Meg @ Anderstons in the Andes September 21, 2012, 11:20 am

    Go to sporcle.com to practice! That is my fav way to learn something new.

  • Terri September 21, 2012, 11:37 am

    Sounds like fun! I love learning things like that. I always tell my husband I keep random, useless information in my head in case I’m Jeopardy. ha ha

  • Lisa September 21, 2012, 11:39 am

    I’ve been obsessed with cashews lately. Putting them on everything!

  • heather September 21, 2012, 11:48 am

    Honey, 6:00am in is sleeping in when you have a new born. :o)

    I was up at 5am. I win. errr…maybe that is the other way around. ;0)

    • Caitlin September 21, 2012, 12:36 pm

      haha there are no winners in this crazy ass game.

  • Lindsay September 21, 2012, 11:55 am

    I love your little challenges!

    Growing up, my mom used the play the “state capitals game” with my brother and I during long road trips. I love that she managed to turn rote memorization into a “game”. Moms are so sneaky like that.

    To this day, I still remember all of my state capitals.

  • Emma September 21, 2012, 11:59 am

    sporcle.com makes it easy!

    • Emma September 21, 2012, 11:59 am

      Haha I’m not the only person who knows about this, apparently lol ^

  • Moni @ {Moni Meals} September 21, 2012, 12:07 pm

    Your early-morning eats always looks so scrumptious! Nice work on the run last night too whoop whoop –Have a great day!

  • Becky B. September 21, 2012, 12:57 pm

    how do you get enough milk pumping only 10 minutes? I want to know the secret! I pump while I am at work 4 times a day (and usually a few times a day on weekends als0 and each session is more like 15-20 minutes to fully drain….
    I know everyone is different and each of us can “store” different amounts based on our size, but gosh that would add a lot of time back into my life 🙂

    • Caitlin September 21, 2012, 1:16 pm

      I think I just have really fast letdown I do think about Henry While I pump.

  • Amber K September 21, 2012, 2:27 pm

    I was also going to recommend sporcle. I think it is great to flex those brain muscles 🙂

  • Ellen @ Wannabe Health Nut September 21, 2012, 3:06 pm

    Wow, good for you! I am the absolute worst at anything geography-related, but I do think I would enjoy learning via flashcards. Gotta have something constructive to do on all my NYC subway commutes!

  • Alexis September 21, 2012, 7:21 pm

    You need to use http://freerice.com/category for memorizing the capitals! Everytime you get one right, rice is donated to the World Food Programme 🙂 I play it (usually identifying countries on a map) all the time when bored at work! I also used to work for WFP and when I’d see their pics of rice deliveries I’d yell “I donated that!” haha.

  • Katie @ Talk Less, Say More September 21, 2012, 8:28 pm

    I need pancakes! I’ve been craving them for a loooonnggg time!

  • Abby September 22, 2012, 11:29 am

    Hi Caitlin, just wanted to say you have a precious baby, congrats! I have been following along through your pregnancy because I was close behind you. My little girl decided to show up a month early and we are going through some eating struggles right now and I was just curious how much are you able to pump each time? I am breastfeeding and pumping and bottle feeding her the pumped milk (triple feeding -yowza). I can’t seem to keep up with her and can’t pump enough breast milk ( I pump after each feeding for 10 min) so we have had to supplement a little formula (doctor’s orders are that she still supplement a bottle after every feeding). She is gaining weight so we are hopeful that I can go to exclusively breastfeeding soon but I have also already had a bought of mastitis in one breast which has affected my prodcution, it has been a whirlwind of a month! Just wondering how much someone who exclusively pumps makes? Thanks for any input.

    • Caitlin September 22, 2012, 12:21 pm

      What a whirlwind, indeed! I think this various SO much from woman to woman but I get 2 ounces out of each breast when I pump every 3 – 4 hours. I notice a jump in supply if I’m eating a lot or eating oatmeal, of all things! Good luck. No shame in having to supplement… don’t forget! Even a little boobie milk is awesome.

      • Becky B. September 24, 2012, 2:13 pm

        Abby- kellymom.com is a great resource. The average is to produce about 1 ounce per hour- so in a 24 hour period you should produce approximately 24 ounces. On average, up to 6 months, a breastfed baby will eat about 25 ounces in a 24 hour period.
        My only advice, is watch your babies cues as you bottlefeed. A bottle fed (whether formula or breastmilk) baby will sometimes consume more than they will at the breast, because they cannot control the suck/swallow reflex with a bottle in their mouths, where as at the breast they have more of a choice to pull back when they are full.
        The pump does not stimulate many women as much as a baby. For me, I have to pump at least one additional time per day to keep up with what my baby consumes at day care. (they say to pump each time your baby would have a feeding- but for me it is not a 1:1 ratio). Different times of day I produce different amounts too. A 4am pump will always give me the motherlode of all milk!!

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