Working Out With Baby

Did I mention that my friends have been weightlifting three times a week in our garage since just before Silas was born? For the first few months after Silas was born, I would say hi as they came and went while nursing Silas pretty much all the time. Then he started to go on a more regular eating schedule and the time in between feedings increased in the evenings. But I still hesitated to try to weight lift because I was tired all the time.

About a week ago, I started my attempt to join in on this fitness collaboration. It's left me with a few thoughts on babies and exercise. There are so many DVD programs dedicated to moms trying to work out during the 20-30 minutes that their babies are asleep and I can tell why. Unlike some things, a baby doesn't just let you carve out that time for exercise. You can't just say "Ok, from five to six I will skip going on the computer and go to the gym instead" unless you have child care already set up. And child care isn't cheap.

For now, I'm using a program of "putting Silas in his carseat while I lift weights and holding him in between and also letting my friends hold him" which has, thankfully, been pretty low on the spit up factor and pretty high on the "getting a work out done" factor.

Once Silas starts to move and crawl, I'm not sure how to address the issue. I might be able to bring a playyard out into the garage, especially if the weather is nice. Maybe I will fence him into a section of driveway with some strategically placed four by fours and cinder blocks. Maybe not though, since he'll probably try to lick the cinder blocks. Or eat the asphalt. I don't think driveways are terribly baby-proof to be honest.

Smiley started running on Wednesday and asked if I wanted to come with. This brought me back to my quandary on work outs. After all, I can't leave Silas in the house alone and I can't bring him with as my baby carriers are not designed for jogging with a baby in them. They make jogging strollers, I guess. Those are, uh, expensive. So either I can watch Silas while he runs and then he watches Silas while I run, which kind of defeats the purpose of running together. So, although I've managed to sneak in one form of exercise for now, I think that cardio solutions will have to come later.

I'm ok with that, because I'm still tired all the time.