Mom Blog and Baby Blog | Baby Bunching

body by baby

Before I had a baby, I wasn’t really in great shape, but I worked out pretty regularly. After my oldest was born, I was back at the gym, regularly, by the time Alex was four months. This was mainly as an escape from the baby every now and again. I never really got back to my pre-pregnancy weight after Alex since he was seven months old when I got pregnancy with baby #2. (I can hear the sighs now. Yes, I know that was crazy!)

After Anna was born, it took me six months to get myself to the gym. But upon my reemergence into the workout world, I discovered that I was already in shape. I could run a good 20-30 minutes on the treadmill without too much work and wow, I could lift weights like I could back when I was working out regularly. How, you ask, is this possible? Let me explain:

• Baby in Baby Bjorn, toddler carried on hip, diaper bag on back
• Baby in infant carrier, toddler on hip, diaper bag on shoulder
• Baby in stroller/Baby Bjorn, toddler riding on shoulders, diaper back balanced on knee
• Lifting toddler into/out of stroller with baby in Baby Bjorn
• Carrying both kids on hip, toddler carrying diaper bag\

Ok, so you get the point. I was a regular workout junkie without even knowing it. I could lift and squat with the best of them with at least 40 pounds of baby/toddler on me at a given time.

Alex and Anna are now 3 ½ and 2, respectively, and really babies no more. They either walk everywhere or catch a ride in the stroller that they can climb into themselves. But this week I was forced to resort to one of my old positions of baby in stroller and older baby on shoulders due to a hurt foot and paid for this later. After a few months of workouts limited to running and kickboxing, I realized I had neglected to do and weight training. Today, on a whim, I decided to go back to the old weight routine (the one I could do when Anna was six months old) and found out that I am, indeed, out of baby shape.

While taking care of two children less than two years apart is a lot of work, what once was physical work has now become mental and emotional work. Now it’s about negotiating, scheming, creativity and planning, instead of balancing, lifting, squatting or running. For the past four years, my body which has been defined by babies—nine months of pregnancy, recovery/breastfeeding, nine more months of pregnancy, recovery/breastfeeding, heavy lifting of two children—is now defined by me. Guess, I should start going to the gym more often. Thank God they have childcare there.

another major milestone: the big boy bed

Tonight's post is bittersweet. My babies have both moved to a big boy bed. After spending most of the summer traveling and sleeping in every configuration imaginable (together, apart, big boy beds, toddler beds, pack n plays, blankets on the floor, airplanes, carseats, etc.), Drew has informed me that he "no want to sleep in crib". In a persistent, wailing tone of voice. On a nightly basis. For the past three weeks.

Cade, who has been sleeping on a makeshift pallet of blankets next to my bed since we returned from vacation three weeks ago, informed me that he would sleep in his room ONLY if he could sleep in a big boy bed, not the toddler bed he happily slept in for over a year prior to vacation. In the interest of shortening the bedtime routine and removing the permanently installed Cade Area Rug from the floor next to my bed, I caved. It was not without apprehension - I got tears in my eyes last night as we discussed the Big Move and found myself mourning the loss of my babies. For almost the past four years (counting the pregnancy obsession months), my whole life has been focused on baby stuff - the food, the toys, the babyproofing, the diapering, the gear, etc. I found myself feeling sad that with the loss of the cribs, all the "baby" I will have left is the two diapers and 15 bibs a day Drew goes through since he STILL drools enough to soak through a raincoat.

We dragged out the old full mattress that we have been storing in mattress bags in the garage for two years since we lost our guest room to the second baby. When we packed it up (seems like just yesterday!), I lobbied pretty hard to sell it but Aaron insisted on keeping it since it had only been slept on three times and nobody had ever had sex on it. I must admit, I was pretty happy not to have to go out and buy a new mattress set today.

I started to get kind of into it. I secretly rejoiced at the thought of getting my guest room back. We disassembled the toddler room in Cade's bed and moved it up to the attic, leaving Drew's crib (which converts to a toddler bed) up in the nursery as backup in case the whole big boy bed thing didn't work out. Exhultation turned to disappointment when I realized that we have enough toys to fill up ToysRUS headquarters. With the big boy bed taking up so much precious bedroom real estate, the "guest room" will morph once again from nursery to playroom and be consumed by the Pottery Barn Rocket ship playhouse, the rocking horse, the play kitchen, and the train table (all gifts from well-intentioned relatives who clearly no longer have small children and all their assorted crap at home).

While shifting beds and oversized toys between the two rooms, we were amused to overhear the following conversation between the boys:

Cade: When I was a baby I slept in the crib and I didn't like it either. I was trying to get out but I couldn't get out!
Drew: YEAH!
Cade: Don't worry - Daddy says tonight we will sleep in the big boy bed in my room - you can stay there too.
Drew: Allright!!!
Cade: Now give me that train!

With the big boy room all set up and the toys neatly organized (at least until tomorrow) in the playroom closet, we read stories, brushed teeth, and settled the boys into bed. We outlined the rules of the big boy bed (no getting out of bed, no goofing off, and no touching the expensive Pottery Barn planet mobile hanging over the bed because Daddy is too lazy to move and re-hang it since the bed has moved). I was psyched and fully prepared for battle, as I was pretty sure the big boy bed was not going to work out and we would spend half the evening marching people back to bed and the other half listening to Drew wail as he was returned to his rightful place in the crib as the baby of the family.

Instead, Cade cried out once - to go to the bathroom. He went, climbed back in bed, and rolled over and went to sleep. Drew did the same.

It was too easy. Normally, I'd be rejoicing at what a masterful job we did sleep training our children! So why am I so sad that it looks like my days of sleep training may be behind me?

seatbelts, carseats, chaos . . . peace at last

Managing two kids in and out of carseats for the last two years has been one of those tough but necessary activities. Multiply that by the back and forth in the car several times a day and you have instant headaches.

But my day has finally come. I never thought I’d get to the point where my kids could open the car door themselves, climb in to the carseats, and strap themselves in. We did it today

Flashback on the past 2 years:
The early days . . . Anna was in her infant seat crying most of the time. Alex used to cry because Anna was crying. I would put Alex in the car, back it out of the garage, then run in the house to get Anna’s bucket seat (since the garage was too small for loading everyone in together.) Reverse on the way back in.

As Anna got older but still faced the back, she would cry since she couldn’t see me. Alex would get irritated that she was crying and then throw things at her. That would piss her off more. I would still always load Alex in first on the way in and last on the way out since she sat nice and neat (not quiet) in her infant seat.

The day that Anna moved up to the big girl carseat, I had a meltdown. I would load her in first to make sure she was secure while Alex spring boarded off of my nice leather Volvo seats. At this point she was about 9 months and he was 2 years old. Neither one had a concept of traffic so as long as we were going from stroller to car or car to stroller we were doing OK. Sometimes, poor Anna was halfway strapped in, hanging out of the car while I sprinted to get him as he wandered to the end of the driveway. This was when we stopped running errands together as a threesome.

When Anna’s car seat turned around and they both could read books, getting in was a lot easier. Alex, by then, could climb in himself and spent a good deal of time trying to get the buckle fastened. This gave me time to get her in without the fear that he might make a run for it. The trips themselves were bad as they fought over books and toys in the back of the car. Sometimes shoes would fly past by face into the windshield if I ignored their pleas for books on the floor.

About the time Alex turned 3, he was able to fully get into the car and fasten the belt himself so I only had Anna to contend with. She fought and pleaded, arched her back and did everything in her power to make sure she didn’t have to seat in the carseat. I fought back with a vengeance and made her sit! But, I only had the one now to deal with.

Most recently, the game had become musical car seats. Both kids would climb in and switch carseats, switch again and then switch again. Once we started backing out, they would cry that they wanted to be in the other seat. This game got old quickly and I finally just told them that Alex was too big to ride in Anna’s seat. That seemed to fix the problem.

>Yesterday was the milestone. Both my kids went to their side of the car, opened the door, climbed in, shut the door, got in their carseats and buckled themselves in before I even managed to get all my gear in the door.