Muffin Tops

Yes. This is a post about pregnancy weight gain, especially in the belly region. Rob promises to write a few posts soon, just to keep this from becoming a total mommy blog.

Trey is approaching 8 months of age and I still have an extra belly. I think this is referred to as a spare tire. If I were a man, you'd say I have a beer belly. If I were a whale, it would be called blubber. Actually, the best words to describe it would be "muffin top." My old jeans fit, but there's a lot extra hanging out in the front. I had pictures to prove it, but they were all deleted under mysterious circumstances...

In my defense, Trey was a big baby. I mean, look at that stomach! It's hanging out of the bottom of my shirt. I was 8 months pregnant in this picture. People on the street were already telling me that I was having twins. I didn't always correct them.

After having Trey, I wasn't physically able to exercise for a few months. It's okay. I didn't really want to exercise anyway. When Trey was about 3 months old, I asked Rob if he'd watch both kids while I worked out. I was starting to be annoyed by my big belly and I thought I might try to find a gym. He said, "sure, as long as you watch both kids for an equal amount of time and let me read books." I decided that I'd rather be fat.

Fast forward to this past month - I joined a gym! It's located inside an expensive hotel, but the membership fee was only $150 for 6 months. That's $25 a month for the best gym ever. Not bad. Why do I love it you might ask? Well, it's almost always empty, except for the cleaning people that bring me free bottles of water and cold/wet washcloths. They love me. It smells faintly of some sort of aromatherapy oil, instead of sweat like most other gyms. The bathroom has a hot shower, fluffy towels (unlike my hard line-dried towels at home), free soaps & shampoos, and a clean toilet with folded over toilet paper stamped with an "R." I feel like I'm the only person who uses that toilet. I'm not, but I just feel like I am. It's my happy place. The gym, that is.

It has been a month now and despite several members of our family getting sick, I've been able to make it to the gym a couple times every week. Who do I have to thank for this? My husband. It's funny, I never struggle with motivation to get to the gym anymore. I'm always motivated to take a break from the kids and have time to myself :) even if it means I'm running a 5k during that time!

In fact, I'm probably going to run a half marathon on June 2nd. It's in Northern VA - anybody want to join me? I'm waiting until we know our summer plans, but I'm going to sign up soon.

Anyhow, I like to think my belly is getting a bit smaller. I asked Rob and he said it's getting smaller, so it must be true. I mean, what reason would he have to lie? ;)