Tummy Time

The two weekend runs, a NC zoo trip and a bike ride with the older boys Sunday afternoon left my legs feeling pretty sore today, so I decided that it was best to take a day off from running.  Then, I accidentally looked in the full length mirror this morning while getting dressed (won't make THAT mistake again) and thought that it was HIGH time to start back pilates.

After dropping off the three oldest at their respective schools, I came home, nursed the baby and cleaned the house in its entirety....something that has not REALLY been done since pre-baby.  I was feeling pretty darn productive and sat down to nurse the baby (again) and flipped through the channels to find some pilates on demand.  At this point, I only had 10 minutes to spare before preschool pick-up, so I laid out a blanket next to me in the den and hit the start button on the pilates abs show.  I flipped the baby for some tummy time and began the exercise.  I do not know who cried louder - me or the baby.  It was like a cruel joke - in order to work abs, you've got to have some, right?  It appeared that they were completely missing from my body.  I laughed when the spunky little redhead on the tv told me to do 5 roll-ups.  Ha!  I looked at the baby.  He looked at me.  We both vented our frustrations.  I told him if he kept working, I would, so that's what we did.  Ten full minutes of tummy time.  Together.

After it was over, I flipped him back to his back and congratulated him for completing the task and he returned a big laughing grin.  You know the kind?  Plain smiles are old hat now.  This was the wide-mouth smile so big that sound is emitted and it's almost like a laugh.  I grinned back at my 7-week old and he at me for a good minute.  I was smiling partly because I was done with that 10 minutes of torture.  But, mostly, I was grinning because I had this new, sweet little bud to go through it with me.  Had I not had this unexpected baby, I would have been all alone with no one to share the moment with, no one to grin with me for completing a hard task together.  I look forward to many more grins with this new, sweet member of our family.