No-baby shower

This past week, I started going to the gym every day. It is the solution to all my problems. Really!

Problem No. 1 is the dreaded “Mummy Tummy.” Where my six-pack once resided, a roll of flabby, overextended abdominal muscles has settled. There is also the issue of that extra five pounds that will just not go away. No amount of pelvic tilts and leg lifts (done in the five minutes after checking in with Chris after Maddi’s bedtime but before my utter collapse) have fixed this situation, so I have brought in the big guns: ab machines at the gym and lots of additional exercises. Problem solved — I have already lost three pounds and my tummy is a bit flatter. The things you can do when you spend a full hour working out!

Problem No. 2 is the biggie. While I get a shower every day, it is always with Maddi in the bouncy seat or swing, and she’s usually barely hanging onto herself. Even if she is asleep, there is a 90 percent chance that she will awaken tearfully within minutes of my stepping into the shower. With this hanging over my head, I rush through my bathing routine, skimping on the conditioning time for my hair and shaving my legs just often enough to keep from being mistaken for Chewbacca.

Enter the gym. Thanks to their child-minding service, not only can I enjoy the luxury of 20 minutes of cardio and 40 of weight and resistance, I can take an unhurried shower, too. Soap! Shampoo! Shaving!!! And after my shower, I can do my hair and makeup right then. And, instead of being lonely while I take care of hygeine issues, a smiling Maddi gets showered with attention from the baby-tender.

The working-out idea could have gone horribly — my being really tired, for instance, or Maddi despising every second in the child minding room. But thanks to some good timing, it’s working out remarkably well. Instead of going back to sleep after Maddi’s early-morning feeding, I simply pack her up and head for the gym. Maddi finishes her sleeping while we’re there and for me, a little fatigue is a small price to pay for a taut tummy and, most importantly, clean hair.

Some people spend months on the treadmill before they look any better. I’ve got nowhere to go but up. Simply having a few minutes to use conditioner and properly apply makeup has already made a huge difference. I may never get my old body back, but at least I’m able to wash it now!

And here is a 14-week photo of Maddi, enjoying some time in her own “gym.”