chariot of fire

Sorry I dropped off the face of the earth again. I've been writing posts in my head for weeks, but...

Things are going well, but I haven't much in the area of health and fitness to report. On a good week, I lift weights on Monday and Wednesdays and bicycle to work on Wednesday (the only day I don't have to lug the pump to and fro) and go for a long walk with the boy and the Mr. most every evening. On my non-paying-work days (truly, the work is harder than any work I've ever been paid for), the boy and I walk a lot - around the neighborhood, to the library, up to Mt. Tabor, around T@rget.

Bicycling? Not so much. The rule of thumb is that you can't take a baby out on a bike (trailer, seat, whatever) until they fit into a helmet - and their necks are strong enough to support their (enormous) heads+helmet. I've heard that some kids completely reject the bike trailer (we actually inherited a burl3y-like carrier from some friends who had this experience).

To this end, we invested in the Chariot of Fire (seen without any of the attachments). You buy the base carrier and then buy different kits, depending on your need. Right now, we have the jogging stroller kit. When the boy gets a little bigger, we'll get the bike carrier attachment.

The good news is that the little Mr. likes it. The bad news is that it cost an arm and a leg. The good news is that we got it with our 20% off coupon from R31. We justified the purchase by giving it to each other as our 10-year wedding anniversary gift (aluminum, you know).

I realized the other day that, once the little guy turns 6 months old (in three week's time), all kinds of possibilities open up for us including:

• My auxiliary gym has childcare for kids over 6 months old (!)
• Swimming lessons at D1shman (!!)

So, it's spring in Portland. The sun shines (at least some of the time - except last week when the little guy and I got caught in a hailstorm/deluge. Fortunately, he was in the Chariot so stayed mostly dry) and the lilacs are blooming (I never realized how many different kinds there are!). Life is, as they say, good.

weights (both kinds)

Let's see. I'm down to 4 lbs below pre-pregnancy and I'm almost certain it's due to loss of muscle mass. That in mind, I've started a little weight program, with my small collection at home:

• Squats
• Bicep curls
• Tricep extensions
• Shoulder db work (lateral, front, shrug)
• Overhead shoulder
• Lunges

I started Friday and suffered excruciating butt (glute, hammie, quad) pain all weekend. Skipped yesterday for the holiday and just finished two sets of the above. Looking forward to more excruciating pain tomorrow. Weirdly, no pain in upper body - probably all those baby boy curls I've been doing.

3 weeks, 2 pounds

(this is a fitness blog, right?)

I weighed myself yesterday. I'm exactly 2lbs over what I was when this whole pregnancy adventure began. I can't believe it, given how much ice cream I've been eating (although, this will be cut way back now that the acupuncturist has advised me to avoid cold foods - for increased milk production). Probably muscle loss accounts for some of that loss. The scale at home consistently read higher than the one at the gym (where the start weight comes from). The scale at the doctor's (middle of the day, fully clothed) consistently read way higher than the one at the gym (morning, nekkid). The difference between the last reading from the doc's and today's home reading? 35lbs. Yowza! (I successfully avoided breaking my pre-BFL high weight during pregnancy - my goal met!)

No fitness news. I get up. I feed the boy. If I'm lucky, I get a shower before noon. I feed the boy. If I'm lucky, he naps rather than fusses. I feed the boy again. I pump. I do another load of laundry. If I'm lucky, I leave the boy with the man for 1/2 hour and walk down the boulevard, doing errands.

It sounds worse than it is. The boy is beautiful (at least I think so) and usually only fusses when he needs something (food, clean diaper, to be held, to be burped, to jostle the gas). When I look at him, my heart feels like it can't fit inside my chest.

A while back, we bought a weight set from a friend ($60 including a rather fragile-looking bench). I didn't think I'd be using it (given that I have two, no, three gym memberships - the work-sponsored one downtown, the $10/month addition to the Mr's at B@lly's, the punch card at the local grunt-gym, L0prinzi's), but now I'm thinking we should set it up so I can get a few curls and bench presses and squats in, in between feedings.

That's the news at 3 weeks, 3 days. Hope you are enjoying the winter weather (it's gorgeous here - my favorite winter weather: cold, clear, and sunny. Really, I should live in Colorado rather than the Pacific Northwet, huh?)