Our Monday started off with a little bit of playing and a few errands. Hooray!
But just before 10am we were off to our first Mommy & Me exercise class!
I joined this gym a couple weeks ago which is a part of the business I work for and is only offered to employees (this is important for a bit later in the story). The front desk lady informed me when I joined that there was this Mommy & Me fitness class. I was stoked. So I called last Friday to double check the time and we showed up 15 minutes til 10 on Monday morning. I got there early just to make sure I could get settled in and what not...whatever settling into an exercise class means. I made sure Ava had a little bit of food so she wouldn't get fussy but not too much food because I didn't want to get spewed on. I made sure she had a fresh diaper on even though that wouldn't prevent a blowout from happening at any given moment. And I filled up my water bottle because hell I haven't done anything more than walking since about halfway through my pregnancy and I knew my diet pop from the morning wasn't going to help keep me hydrated through this workout.
Four other ladies and the instructor come into the fitness room with their kids. There is an 18 month old boy whom I thought was about 3 before the mom revealed his age. The boy was running around, picking up mats, playing with weights, and just in general hard to keep track of. I guess I'm in for a lot of running around a making sure Ava doesn't kill herself in the next year because this litte boy was into everything. The other moms had infants 6 weeks to 3 months. Crazy to see how much Ava has grown since then. There were 2 other first time moms which was nice because you can tell we are all a little frazzled to travel outside the house with our diaper bags, car seats, purses, extra food, etc.
The class is about to start and the instructor asks if everyone enrolled. Oops definitely not enrolled. Then she states that she can take checks now or after class. And I'm like uhh strike two. Definitely didn't know this class cost money. Thanks front desk lady who told me about the class and listened to me say that I would definitely attend this class and thanks to the lady who talked to me on the phone when I called to confirm the class time and didn't ask if I had paid or signed up. And thanks to me for assuming my monthly gym membership included this awesome class.
Then the instructor tells everyone they can get their babies in their carriers. Carrier? Did she mean car seat? I was about to set Ava back in her carseat and was trying to picture swinging our kids in their carseats or doing bicep curls for a good workout. And then magically the rest of the class gets out their carriers - like the strap over your shoulder backpacks that your baby sits in. And I look around like a deer in headlights and just hold Ava in my arms thinking maybe I can just hold her and do the exercises. We start with squats and arm exercises with no weights. And it's completely obvious I do not have my carrier. I inform the instructor that I did not know we were supposed to bring one. Feeling stupid because now that I see what a Mommy and Baby exercise class is like how did I ever think I would just hold Ava through the exercises? I really didn't know what to expect - I thought maybe we would be lifting our babies up in the air for arm exercises or lunging with the extra weight of our babies. Or maybe just setting our kids on the ground and doing crunches next to them. The mom with the 18 month old running around comes to my rescue and runs out to her car to get her extra carrier. She even helps me strap all 17 million straps on and get Ava into the carrier. Thank goodness for Mom comradery.
We start exercising and the instructor introduces herself and starts having other moms introduce themselves and their kids so everyone can get to know one another. Ava is enjoying herself and looking around for about 15 minutes. Then all of a sudden she is like what the hell - I'm strapped in, I'm restrained, and I want food. And she begins to cry. The instructor informs everyone that "no matter how this class goes that we are all welcome next time and to keep trying". It's nice of her to say this but at the same time I'm thinking please point it out a little more that this totally isn't going well for me.
So anyhow Ava is fussing so I grab a bottle for her and keep doing my lunges. She starts squirming and getting angrier so I finally stop and go to the corner of the room to try and unstrap all 17 million straps. I try to loosen one strap and Ava starts wailing. I try to find a way to loosen another strap and it doesn't loosen as much as the other one so Ava is kinda hanging at an angle. I try holding her up while trying to sneak my arm out of one strap. It's not loose enough and my arm gets stuck halfway and looks like a chicken wing. I loosen that strap a little more to get my arm out and then try to pull Ava out. She is still stuck. Finally the mom who lent me the carrier asks if I know how to loosen the straps. I look over at her with one strap off, one strap on, baby crooked in the carrier and crying, and my shirt getting all out or sorts as I attempt to rip off this strait jacket. She comes over and is like oh you just loosen this one and then clip off this one and 8 clips and straps loosened later we are released from this crazy device.
The instructor continues to ask other moms about themselves and I learn that another lady has a 2 year old boy, the lady with the 18 month old is pregnant again, and the mom with a 6 week old is sleep deprived and a bit nervous about her first baby. It's nice to hear moms going through similar things and offering up advice. The sleep deprived mom discusses how she is trying to get her kid to sleep and another mom offers up advice about a book she read that helped get her kid to sleep. I then let the mom know that Ava is going on 6 months and still doesn't sleep through the night. My intentions were to let her know she wasn't alone or whatever and some babies just don't sleep as much, but I quickly realized that I basically told her "things will never get better so get used to it". Looks like making mommy friends isn't starting off on the right foot. I decide not to speak anymore.
Next up is going around in circles as we continue with lunges and arm exercises with weights. Since the carrier was a disaster, I decide holding Ava is best and I will just do lunges by holding her and skipping the actual arm exercises. The instructor notices that I carry Ava facing me and comments on how it may be easier to carry her facing outwards so that I don't hurt my back. I try it and it works pretty well, however I don't think my arms are strong enough for this. So my shoulders are hunched up to my ears as I try to hold Ava's weight and continue with lunges. I am also taking a few cheat steps in between lunges because I can't keep up with the pace of this mom behind me with her 8 pound child she just popped out 6 weeks ago. I thought I was in better shape than this. Super instructor then informs me that I should try to relax my shoulders. No shit Sherlock. I mean thanks for the advice. I will try to relax my shoulders while not using my back to support my child's weight and try using my one pack abs that I have not used since they deflated 6 months ago. Perfect.
The next exercise was my favorite. For real - no sarcasm. It was more of the child involvement I imagined the class to be. More playing with our babies rather than just holding our babies while we exercised. For this exercise we did planks and push ups over our babies and gave them kisses on their foreheads and sang to them. Very cute, right? Then we began stretching. And we all know stretching means the end up class. Which means although I didn't necessarily survive this class at least I didn't walk out :) And since I paid for the next 3 classes it looks like these ladies better get used to me. Plus I gotta teach Ava not to give up, right?!
By the end of class everyone had been asked to introduce themselves...well except for me. I guess she forgot? Or maybe they got to know me too well with all our mishaps. Either way I wasn't going to point it out and draw more attention to us.
And then just to add to my list of warm, fuzzy exercise class moments a mom strikes up a conversation with me at the end of class. She asks me where I work and I just stare at her. I'm thinking well this is an employee facility so I'm an employee HERE. Like at least ask me a question you don't already know the answer to. Instead of saying what I'm thinking, I politely tell her where I work in the facility thinking that must be what she's asking. And then I ask her where she works where she proceeds to tell me that she works at this business downtown. Apparently these classes are open to the public while the gym itself is only open to employees. How many strikes do I have for the day? Add one more.
We drove home and enjoyed the rest of our day off together. Maybe we were just glad to be out of our class, but it was fun to play and hang out just the two of us. I'm already loving having Monday's off and here's to next week's adventure.
Here is my one picture of the day. Ava got to dress up all girly after working out so hard :)
