Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder

As any of you know who are moms, the world of motherhood seems to require learning a whole new language and becoming accustomed to a new culture. Thankfully, all my StrollerFit and Restore the Core moms have been wonderful examples and tutors for what's in store for my husband and me. I am so thankful to have a wonderful group of friends at StrollerFit and Restore the Core to whom I can run and ask these questions. Being pregnant myself has illumined just another wonderful part of StrollerFit and Restore the Core: a support system and group of friends to share in joy and confusion and to help smooth out rough patches.

I can honestly say that that I will be availing myself of their help in the coming months. Embarking on this new journey is, right now at least, more confusing than anything else! :) Here are some things that are, at least currently, conundrums for me:

• diapering - I really think that I would like to use cloth diapers. I know, I know, but before you turn up your nose, cloth diapers are MUCH different than they used to be.
• labor and delivery - I had a friend ask me the other day if I had a birth plan yet. This truly made me stop and pause for a minute. Hyperventilating didn't ensue but I didn't think I needed to have that yet. We don't expect this baby to arrive until February, and I'm certainly not ready to develop a birth plan yet. Apparently, though, some moms to be have that set in their minds at a much earlier stage of pregnancy than I do.
• baby items - Where in the world do you start in order to make the decision about the kinds of things that you think you'll need?! Just walking down baby/kid aisles at Target makes me get dizzy! To an untrained eye, there seems to be about 10,000 brands of bottles, 750 kinds of soaps, one gazillion different kinds of outfits and combination of clothes that are available for purchase. I am a minimalist in most respects (and I'm also pretty frugal), so I certainly don't want to buy something that will really serve no purpose or will only be in use for a few weeks or a month.

I promise that there are plenty more questions where these came from, but I think this list will suffice for now. After all, I may need a nap after just ruminating on these three topics!

Mommymuscles at work

Our six-week fitness challenge is complete and I am thrilled and inspired by the results! I will post more specifics later, but the moms of StrollerFit made some amazing improvements. Each mom who participated saw improvements in various areas: timed mile walk/run, timed wall sit, timed full plank, number of push-ups as well as measurements for thigh, hips, and waist. Can I tell you that I just wanted to jump up and down and act like a StrollerFit cheerleader on Monday?! It was wonderful!

The biggest lesson that I took away from the experience was that those who committed to StrollerFit classes saw the greatest improvements and gains in strength and time. Their bodies responded to the demands that they put on it... in very positive ways!

Way to go StrollerFit moms! You've got real mommymuscles!

Baby Impulse Buy

My husband and I made what I think is the strangest impulse buy of our lives last weekend. While browsing and baby stores in town, which in and of itself is a strange experience for us now, we stopped in at Target. (Does anyone else seem to live at Target?) We moseyed down the carseat aisle so I could just show him the brand of carseat that I thought I'd like to get. I was perusing the various brands, he was going through sticker shock (the first of many times that will happen, I'm sure!) when we discovered that there was a clearance section even in the carseat aisle. Now, I love clearance and sale things especially at Target. The sight of those little reddish-orange stickers on labels and boxes makes my heart go pitter-patter. Not only were there big ticket items on clearance but there was the exact carseat brand that I thought I wanted... for HALF OFF! Upon further perusal, there was also an infant carrier for the same brand for half off as well. We looked at each other and thought that it was too good to be true. We marched up to the customer service desk (I think "guest relations" if you want to use official Target-speak) and asked, "Is it possible to return even large items like carseats if they're on clearance?" The gal replied that indeed it is as long as it comes back with a receipt. Deciding to jump on that deal, we scooted back to the aisle and loaded our cart with the two strangest items we've ever bought on impulse: a Britax carseat and Britax infant carrier. Now with those in the garage, this whole baby venture seems a little more real.

As an addendum: don't worry, we did come home and immediately check the safety ratings for both of our impulse buy items and they got top ratings. Whew!