Y or die

I can't believe I haven't mentioned this in any previous post....but just a note to all new moms or soon-to-be new moms.....the YMCA is your best friend!! It gets you out of the house, it gives you a free babysitter for up to 2 hours, and you leave feeling better about yourself for working out. For me, even if my husband was watching her for a bit so I could get a break, I still felt rushed as if I was about to get a text asking how much longer I was gonna be. With the nursery at the Y, I didn't have to feel guilty like they were doing me a huge favor by watching my kid. That's what they are there for. I can't tell you how good it felt to not have that burden hanging on my shoulders.

I've taken yoga in the past and always enjoyed it but I definitely always thought it was kind of cheesy. The way they talk and all the stuff they say while they try and get you to relax at the beginning and end of class.....but once I had that baby, man. It was like they were talking to me! "try and focus on why you are here today", " this is about YOU", "let go of the stresses of your day and find some inner peace". I turned into a total sap, eating up everything they said.

Originally I started going just to make myself stretch and loosen up because i was so tight everywhere. Little did I know how much it would help me on an emotional level. It was the only time of my day/week where I honestly felt like it was about me again. Even if only for an hour. And it was refreshing being in a place where no one knew I had a baby....I could just be me without anyone asking me how the baby is doing. Those small breaks you can get in the beginning are so important. I often wouldn't want to take them because I wouldn't want to miss a feeding and have to use a bottle that I had tried so hard to get as back up. It felt like a waste. At one point I told my husband that even if I said I didn't want to get out of the house, that he had to make me.

Anyways, this was all more relevant when she was about 3-6 moths old. However I still make myself go to the Y at least 3 times a week. I decided that if I was going to start having a plan for my day/week, it was going to have to revolve around something more than my baby's schedule. Something that helped ME, that was important to ME and my well being. Something to keep me sane. It has been the escape I so desperately needed along with jump starting me into losing all this baby weight. WIN/WIN!