The Walk

Our health insurance provider offers incentives for adopting a healthy lifestyle change every two months. For January/February it focused on healthy eating, and for March/April the goal was to get 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week. Having a baby one week into the challenge meant that my exercise abilities were going to be limited, so we decided on taking a 30 minute walk after dinner. We have loved our family walks, and I hope we keep them up even after the challenge is over.

Starting off!

We do the same loop every time, and after we turn the second corner, Sam starts protesting. "No go home Mommy!" he says, OVER AND OVER again. It's always at the same place on our walk.

This is where the litany starts; you can see I'm tired of hearing "No go home Mommy"

We distract Sam from his chant by pointing out pretty things in the nice little condo complex we walk through. A lot of our friends live here, so Sammy knows it pretty well.

See? Pretty trees!

Sam always insists on deviating from the sidewalk to go "monster truck" up the steps.

And Ryan is almost always happy to oblige. Benjy tolerates the bouncing around very well.

The last five minutes of our walk is a cut through the park. As we passed the softball fields on our walk yesterday, we slowed down so we could watch the games going on. A woman jogged up to us and asked if I would help her out. Apparently the 9th member of their team was running late, and they would have to forfeit their game. She wanted me to put on the glove and stand in the outfield until the last girl showed up so that they could play. I was wearing jeans and clogs, not exactly softball attire, plus I had my glasses on. AND, as Ryan told the lady, I just had a baby and am not really in any kind of physical shape to play softball. But I did feel bad that they would have to forfeit, so... I said yes. They shoved a glove into my hand, and I trotted out to right field. After the first half inning, the last player showed up, and I was released, though many of the girls asked if I wanted to stay and play. I kept saying "No, I just had a baby, I shouldn't be playing softball," when what I really wanted to say was "I would like to finish the nice walk with my family that you interrupted, and I am WEARING CLOGS." But I am a nice person, at least on the outside, so I kept my inner snark to myself.

After my triumphant stand on the field. Do I look like I'm ready to play softball to you?

I just had my six-week postpartum check today, and I got the all clear to participate in physical activities that are more strenuous than walking. I can also lift more than 20 pounds now (shh, Sammy, don't tell anyone I've been carrying you around for a month). I think I might take up jogging. I hate to run, but I do have a really nice jogging stroller, so... I'm thinking about it. Plus, Brigadoon is going to have some good dancing in it, and the 30 seconds we learned at the audition wiped me out. I need to get my endurance back.