We Heart the Gym

So the Corasaurus and I have started up at the gym this month, and right now it's our new favorite thing.

Geoff and I joined last July when I was waddling through my second trimester, with his membership to activate immediately, and mine to activate March 1. So last month we started going in the evenings as a family so Geoff and I could both check out how the childcare area works and get on Cora's security card. That proved to be one too many things to squeeze into our evenings, though, so now Cora and I go during the day and Geoff goes after work.

Right now we're about 50/50 going in the morning vs. the afternoon, but my goal is to get us on a good schedule where I work during Cora's morning nap and we go to the gym as soon as she wakes up.

So if the weather is tolerable we walk there with the stroller, about a mile--and a mile home, which makes for nice bookends to the workout. Cora goes to the child care area. They have a "baby room" and a "big kids room." I'm not sure there's an official age cutoff, but the baby room does include walkers, and the big kid room is very loud and active. There have been times where Cora is the only baby in the baby room, and there have been times where there are about five other babies there. Usually it's one or two. This gives Cora and I a nice break from one another, gives her exposure to other babies and interaction with more adults, and, as Geoff says, "teaches her that when we leave, we're always coming back." The first couple of times we retrieved her they reported that she had cried. One time she was all pink and sweaty and disheveled, passed out in her car seat. Since those first few visits, though, no more crying (I always ask if she cried and/or slept). She's usually happily chatting up an adult while playing with rings or a rattle when I pick her up. They're getting to know her there and seem genuinely glad to see her arrive ("It's Cora!").

After signing her in, I head upstairs to the elliptical machine. Those things are a great invention. Each one has a personal TV attached, so it's like virtue and vice all wrapped up in one machine. It also tells you your heart rate so you can keep yourself from slacking. And I work up as much of a sweat as I do running, but it's not jarring and doesn't give me blisters. It goes by faster and easier than any workout I've done. I'm sure the Surgeon General will come out with a report saying elliptical machines cause arthritis and cancer and every time you use one three kittens die.

So hopefully this will continue to be a great addition to our routine for the summer and fall--it's hard to plan further out than that. Right now it's really nice to have something that's great for Cora and great for me and that we're both enjoying.