A Baby Exercise Blog!

What could be more exciting than post after post about my new baby? A post about my new exercise obsession! It's non-stop fun over here in the Lag Liv corner of the interwebiverse.

(Not that you won't still be subject to Cora pictures, because she is still what most of my day is about.
And she is awesome.)

But yes, like the annoying coworker who won't stop talking about his smoothies (do you have one of those? I did/do and I hate smoothies generally and distrust the whole concept of a cleanse diet; the body is meant to chew and digest food, I believe this strongly), but like that guy who talks to me every morning about his smoothie, I can't stop talking about barre class and wanting everyone to try it. I've been going 6 days a week since I got the all clear for exercise a few weeks ago and not only have I lost pretty much all the Cora weight (weight that Cora has gained in her chins and cheeks, which is delicious), my body is actually leaner and slimmer than before and I feel about 10x stronger and more centered and dare I say it, maybe even graceful? The only place I've ever been graceful is in the water and now, at the barre, with my arms raised and feet in relevé, if I look at the mirror and squint a little, I look kind of good. Less so when we start to move again, but in frozen moments, the inner me that always wished she could be a tiny graceful ballerina smiles instead of scoffs, and that makes my pigeon-toed can't-keep-my-feet-turned-out self return to class time and time again. That and the fact that I can actually see and feel a difference in the strength and flexibility (and size) of my body. Basically, it's magic and I'm addicted. (Here's what I wrote when I first started going, and it remains very true.)

In addition to daily barre, I also go to the occasional yoga class (Cora and I head to baby yoga in a few minutes!) and I am entertaining an attempt at Nia. Has anyone ever done a Nia class? The inclusion of the word "dance" in the description terrifies me. I cannot dance, like at all, and the thought of someone seeing me try smashes the confident feelings I get from barre into tiny pieces. But my favorite barre teacher was waxing rhapsodic about Nia after class Monday night and as long as I have my unlimited monthly pass (I bought one when I realized I had exactly a month until I went back to work and I was going to so many classes they were only about $5 a piece that way), I think I might try one. I'll let you know. It almost can't be as disastrous as my first barre class when I blacked out and nearly fell to the floor in a non-graceful faint while holding 1 lb. weights. Then again, I wasn't trying to dance.

One of the more fun aspects of being a Person Who Exercises again after 10 years of not is that I get to buy myself new exercise clothes! They are cute and they are everywhere! I'd always been a totally boring and functional athletic clothes wearer- sports bra, leftover free high school and college swimming shirts, and old soffe cheer leading shorts that no one out of college should really be wearing. But now that I'm a real grown-up exerciser, I have outfits! This is what I wore this morning- my very favorite barre tank with the awesome back that make my shoulders look strong instead of former-swimmer-huge (from Old Navy, for like $6 after the discount code and coupons of the week):

and capri leggings (all the better to see the calves you're killing strengthening):

I even went on lululemon for the first time in my life and fell in love with all the tanks and then promptly closed the window because no, no, I cannot spend $64 on a workout top. And even if I maybe almost talked myself into it anyway, because look how pretty!, they're out of my size.

I miss class when I go more than 24 hours without one- the toning and stretching and yoga at the end have become vital to my feeling of well being when I go to bed. I barely recognize myself, but whoever that is in the mirror has very toned legs. I'm really going to miss it when I go back to work in a few weeks. I'll still be able to go on the weekends, but all the weekday classes are during work hours or too early in the evening to be possible (like 7:15; I can't possibly leave JP with all three kids at 7 right now. I'd kill him if he did that to me on a regular basis). So it'll be back to the DVDs at home, but I do think I'll go back to them. I feel too good to stop completely.

And now we're off to Mommy and Me yoga, which is adorable and is allowing me to wear my new blue yoga tank and leggings. Two workout outfits in one day! If I wasn't so happy I'd be concerned.

But enough about my exercise obsession, here's a picture of my children!

I promise that sometime soon I'll think of something else to write about.