The sun is shining, and I'm sick of being sick. I'm sick of being tired! Maybe it's just the natural end to that stay-in-bed postpartum period, or maybe it's spring, but H is 10 weeks old, and I feel like getting fit again. There was a time, before we had kids, that I went to yoga every single day. I had joined a gym when we temporarily didn't have a shower in our flat, and was really making the most of it. So it was that hardcore gym-bunny vinyasa flow yoga too. I felt awesome. I felt strong. I'm not necessarily looking to lose weight (I'm back in my normal clothes already. Did I mention H was a big baby? I did??), but I want to feel strong again. But, um, how do I do this with little ones underfoot? I'm not sure how this is going to work out, but here's my grand plan:
Step 1: Just get the goddamn mat out. Get my favourite leggings on. Take my shoes off. If you build it, they will come. H is happy in a bouncer for a little while, usually, so I just need to plan to take this sliver of time, every day.
Step 2: Involve F. On the days that she's home with me, maybe we can do yoga together? Our initial crack at this was a partial success. She really had fun, and it was so cute to see her doing down dog and warrior pose. But her attention span got the better of her, and soon she was making us a pretend picnic of chocolate cake to eat. Even so, a handful of sun salutations is better than nothing, surely?
Step 3: Refocus my diet. Not because I'm 'dieting', but because those little indulgences make you feel like crap when they become habitual. Caffeine and sugar have snuck back into my life, not everyday but enough to make me crave more, and I need them gone again. So goodbye for now vegan cupcakes! It's not you, it's me... And it's not like I need to be some Iron Woman, normally I think it's fine to indulge - but parenting two small children, one of whom is huge for his age and exclusively breastfeeding, is physically demanding. It's a marathon. I need stamina! Snacks lately have been protein-y (probably because of the aforementioned milk chugger), lots of nuts and seeds. F recently discovered that she loves pumpkin seeds, so we need them in the house all the time now.
Step 4: If all of the above goes well, and we are practicing daily, I might look into getting an audio-led yoga practice CD or something, and a child-sized mat for F. It could be our fun thing in the morning! We'll see though.
Just an aside, don't put Kombucha in your smoothie, even single fermented. It makes it 90% foam. Whoops!
Any tips for me? Anyone maintain a daily practice with kiddos about? What works?
