Sunday, July 15, 2012

Discovery.

I used to be a runner. In fact, I used to be not bad at it. At my peak, I could run 5 miles without breathing through my mouth. (Thank you yoga.) At some point, life intervened. I got shin splints. Really bad shin splints. I stopped running. Gained weight. Gained more weight. I was horrified to realize that my "peak" running fitness was almost 10 years ago. I think of 2003 as being recent, but, um, it's not.

After having the baby, I lost the pregnancy weight really fast. (Breastfeeding rocks.) I "got my body back", so to speak, but my body sucks! I don't want my body. I want my body from 10 years ago! I've been feeling increasingly unhappy with my body. I am horrifically scarred from the stretch marks and the c-section, and I am 40 pounds overweight. I can't handle those things in tandem. Looking at it objectively, I suppose it's good that they are coinciding, because it's spurring me to action. To be frank, my motivation is 95% vanity. I don't want to be fat anymore. I don't want to feel ugly. I don't want BG to look back at his baby pictures and wonder why I'm not in any of them. "I was fat and ashamed" feels like a sorry excuse.

So what to do? I wanted to get back into running, but didn't really have that thing that pushes you over the edge from thinking to doing. Then I ran into an old acquaintance, who is rapidly becoming a true friend. She is a serious runner. She is training for a half Ironman and she is in great shape. She and I chatted about running and she told me to email her and she would give me some advice. I did. She returned my email with a lot of thoughtful discussion, and laid out a preliminary workout regimen. I went out and bought running shoes.

Half of the workout routine is light calisthenics. I am supposed to do 15 sit-ups, push-ups, and squats. My big discovery is that after the c-section, I can't do a single sit-up. Not one. I literally cannot sit up from laying flat on my back. It's a little scary. Don't get me wrong, I certainly wasn't the sit-up champ before the c-section, but it is disturbing to me that I can't sit straight up. Especially being almost five months post-partum and feeling "recovered".

I went on my first "run" this morning. I say "run" because it was more like jog for a minute, walk for two or three  minutes. I went 20 minutes out and 20 minutes back and did my calisthenics afterwards. My legs are so tired, but I feel really good about getting up and going. It's hard for me to give up the extra sleep, but ultimately it's worth shedding the weight and feeling better about myself. And it's nice to have a little slice of time that's all mine.

I also signed up for the Ragnar Relay in DC at the end of September. It's a stretch for me to go from what I am now to being able to run three miles in a single go, but I think it's good to have a "reach" goal. And if I can swing it, I think I'm going to join a local "fun run" group. Though they run at 5 am. God help me.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Lesson learned.

Strollers are not easier or more convenient than babywearing.

They are only lighter. As in, I am not lugging around a 17 lb baby and a 15 lb diaper bag.

So, lesson learned. Even if it's a Cadillac stroller, it's still kind of a pain in the ass. (But a necessary one, occasionally.)

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

I bought a zoo stroller.

It's been apparent for some time now that we should probably have a stroller. I know. This is turning out the same way our home birth did, which is to say, nothing like we planned and actually, completely opposite of what we thought. Welcome to parenthood.

When Allen and I go anywhere together, we carry Butterbean. One person carries the baby, the other carries the diaper bag. When I go grocery shopping, or run any of our other myriad errands, strapping Baby Guy (BG for short) to me in the Beco or other carrier makes sense. It keeps my hands free and I can also push a shopping cart around. But there have been times when I am on my own with BG that carrying a baby and a diaper bag is too much. Mostly when I go in to the city by myself. I can easily drive to the city, but it's usually more trouble than it's worth. I have to time it so I don't get caught in rush hour each way, and navigating DC is frustrating on an epic level, even with a GPS. And don't even get me started on parking. As a result, I haven't been going into the city. BG and I could be visiting friends or going for walks or seeing museums, but I find myself shying away from those trips because of the huge hassle or either driving or lugging around a baby and a big ol' bag in ridiculous heat.

So we bought a stroller. Literally one week after attending a babywearing conference. Yeah, we're those people. Here's the ridiculous part (as if it wasn't ridiculous enough): we didn't buy just any stroller, oh no. We bought a freaking Cadillac stroller. This one in fact: Britax B-Ready. We got a crazy good deal on it, and we figure we'll be having a second child in the next 2 years so we might as well get a stroller that can accommodate 2 instead of getting a single and upgrading later. Plus, it's so flexible with seat arrangements. And it's so pretty. I kind of love it. I would recommend it to anyone with 2 small children. It's a lot smaller than all the other double strollers and like I said, flexible seating arrangements. You can also dock your carseat in it, bassinet style, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a Britax carseat. Our Chicco Keyfit 35 fits in there. Britax is also running a special where you buy 5 things from their line of baby stuff and get a free toddler car seat. We got 2 out of 5 for free, and the other 3 were crazy on sale, so we are also getting one of these car seats as soon as I turn in our UPCs: Britax Boulevard 70.

So now, I'm officially going to be the person I hate. The person who takes a giant ass stroller on the metro. Hopefully I'll be more polite with it than the people I have complained about, but feel free to say, "I told you so". We took it on a test run yesterday, walking around the neighborhood and our first "real" outing will hopefully be tomorrow, barring thunderstorms.

I know. But whaddya gonna do? 

Monday, July 9, 2012

Meatless Monday: Local eats.

Apparently, it's National Vegetarian Week in the UK. The Washingtonian ran a story today about some of the best meatless options at restaurants around the District. So, in lieu of me rambling about something, I'll just link the story. There's some yummy stuff in there if you live in the Metro area or are planning to visit. Enjoy!

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/bestbites/events/critics-picks-25-of-our-favorite-vegetarian-dishes.php

Monday, July 2, 2012

Score!

We went to the free public day of the babywearing conference on Saturday. Half the traffic lights were out in DC due to a crazy storm the night before, trees were down all over the city and we had no power at home. Plus, the event was pretty disorganized and half-assed, if you ask me. Even so, we got some good info - like a demo on how to use a damn ring sling! (I have tried and tried but can't figure it out on my own. Finally tried to "follow along" with my sling as the instructor was demo-ing.) There were lots of neat vendors there and a raffle. The raffle was super stupid. They were supposed to hold it every half hour, but we only ever saw them do it once... And the raffled off like 3 drawings worth of stuff. We hung out long past when we were ready to leave to wait for the last raffle, which never materialized. There was some kind of miscommunication and we waited around for no reason apparently.

But! Lest you think we had no fun... We met a guy who started his own baby carrier business after pimping himself out in a deluxe carrier. (That man can sew like no one's business, but his website needs some work.) His carriers are freaking genius and I want one! I saw one that had owl fabric (love!) and one that had STAR WARS fabric! Star wars fabric, people! Don't even get me started on the pockets and clips and other cool features...

We didn't win anything at the raffles, but while chatting with the Britax people about carriers and strollers, they gave us a free carrier! It doesn't have everything I want in a carrier, but then again, nothing does. But man oh man is it comfortable! It's so soft and padded and cushy! I wore Baby Guy in it for hours and didn't get that pinch in my back I get with the Beco. Then, when I asked the guy about the raffle (after waiting around for an extra 2 hours...), he explained that there weren't any more, but gave me a pair of Beco baby socks (the thigh high ones)!

I love free stuff! Score!