• Beach Bits,  Bug,  travel

    Super Jogger!

    We’re off to a good start! Toby and I picked up the free jogger stroller on Friday, I washed the dust and spiderwebs off it Saturday and Baby Bug and I took it for a run on Sunday! Woo Hoo!!! Take that baby pudge–that has settled around my middle and refuses to leave even though I’ve been back to my pre-pregnancy weight eons ago.

    It’s weird to actually want to work out. I used to force myself to run just out of sheer self hatred. But now, it’s a whole different story. I remember feeding the baby a month after she was born and looking through the sliding glass door at my running shoes as they gathered dust on the patio. I remember yearning to put them on and just run through the neighborhood free one more time. But, no, that was not happening. Babies do not go kindly into baby carriers for a jog, especially when they’re little heads go jostle jostle jostle and then they get sick and puke all over you. Not that I tried it. I didn’t. Just the thought of running with the baby made me worry, not to mention the baby-feeding-boobs that go jostle jostle jostle painfully.

    The Bugaboo is funderful but it just wasn’t cutting it for running. Mostly because it’s too nice to keep outdoors. Hauling it up and down the stairs every day when I want to take a walk or a run is out of the question. It’s bad enough when I want to take it out for a stroll at the mall. And no, we don’t have a garage I can put it in. And no, I can’t keep it in the trunk of my car. My car is small, gotta put groceries in that trunk.

    Now I have the jogger stroller and since it was free and it’s obviously worn, I don’t feel bad leaving it outside in the weather. I leave it under our stairs. It’s so handy! It’s so inviting! Every time I come down the stairs it sits there all red and happy saying, “Just think of the places we could go!” The wind in my hair, the pavement beneath my feet, a baby happily content as the scenery whizzes by… life is wonderful when you have a jogging stroller. Jogger sweet jogger.

    Getting back into shape is not quite as pleasant. Thankfully, all the walking I do has helped. I managed to run almost 80% of my old regular route, only stopping to rest check on the baby a few times. It’s really nice to have something to do again in the early morning. I figure if she’s going to wake me up at the crack of dawn, I might as well put that time to good use. Trying to get her to play by herself while I slept just five more minutes was not working.

    So that’s that. We’re happy jogging morning people. I know. We’re freaks.

  • Buddies,  Bug,  illos,  The Hood

    Hot Jogga-mama

    My quest to find a jogger stroller might be over! My neighbor, a guy I like to call “The Friendly Dad”, is going to hook me up with a free one. FREE! Rock on. Blogs are good for something. Actually I don’t think he read that post where I asked about jogger strollers. I think he just knew somebody who had one and being the friendly guy that he is, he offered it to me while we were chatting at the park and swinging our babies.

    Have you noticed how much friendlier people are when you have a kid? It’s like having a puppy but less flirty. I can’t believe it. I meet people every day who want to hang out with me and my kid. It must be because she is so cute. I don’t think it’s my captivating conversation skills because I’m shy in public and I have a mouse voice that nobody can ever hear.

    Back in the day when I was a singleton I used to mope around coffee shops and pretend to read or draw in my journal, just wishing that some stranger would come up and say hi to me. Nobody ever did. Now I’m minding my own business, wishing to be invisible because I have baby food smeared all over my fore arm, and people are coming out of the woodwork to talk to me. It’s kinda nice.

    I’ve actually contemplated making up cards with some kind of funny illustration of a mom and then a line for a play date time and day and my phone number or email or something. I don’t know, that idea is still percolating but I think it might be a good idea because I’ve wished I had something handy and cute (but not too pretentious) to hand out more than one time. I’ll keep you posted on that. Maybe even make printable pdf’s. (It’s about time I gave away something on this site.)

    So back to the Friendly Dad. (I hope you don’t mind me calling you that Mr. B.) I’m just not accustomed to my neighbors actually being nice to me. I’ve been invited over for lemonade, I’ve met his wife and kids. I was invited to a block party, but I chickened out last minute and didn’t go and now I’m getting the hook up (hopefully) for a FREE jogger stroller. The Friendly Dad rules.

    Hopefully since I’m blogging about this I’ll actually get up in the morning and take a jog with the stroller. You’ll have to keep me accountable, internet.