Exercise these days

Years before my kids were born, an older colleague with two kids once remarked, "Exercise is a dream now". As someone who's pretty committed to exercise, I found that comment somewhat depressing and remembered it ever since.

I am happy to report that I have maintained a daily exercise habit with one kid, and am now committed to doing so with two children. It definitely requires creativity and multitasking, though, as well as a willingness to break up workouts into chunks. Even if gyms and workout classes were and option now, a 90-minute or longer excursion would indeed be challenging with two little ones.

Baby Y is almost 6 weeks and I didn't feel ready to work out till about a week ago (much faster recovery than after the first childbirth, though), so I've been doing the following:
- On weekends, I jog with M in the Bob stroller most days. Thankfully she is willing to sit in the stroller for about 20 minutes, which is the typical duration of my jogs.
- Fit in strength training where possible. For example, yesterday I did this YouTube workout from my favorite YouTube fitness instructor. Actually, she's the only one I've tried, but I discovered her while pregnant and just love her.
- Yesterday M and I went to the park as part of our jogging outing, and I did some sets of squats, bench push-ups, leg lifts and tricep dips
- I also try to do lots of walking, including with Y in the carrier, which is also exercise, even if I don't get sweaty

From the park where I did strength stuff while M played with sticks, dried leaves and dirt

We'll see how all this goes once my husband and I are both back at work, though I will say that working from home due to COVID will help fit in workouts. But for now, I can say that continuing to exercise, even in small quantities, when you have small children is not only possible, but essential - I will give up many other things before I give up my 20-30 minutes per day to stay active.

From the land of the sleepless

Baby Y is currently in his 6th week. Also known as the time of peak fussiness. We don't experience a lot of crying, but according to this book, recommended by many pediatricians, he still has colic. The author of the book writes that if your baby is bad at self-soothing and that crying is only avoided thanks to "heroic" soothing efforts by the parents (yes, ma'am), then he or she is colicky. That pretty much describes our situation. So yes, we are the lucky parents of two colicky babies. Thankfully our now-preschooler was a very sweet and cooperative toddler, and now definitely shows some three-nager characteristics, but is still fairly reasonable. Not to mention smart and adorable, so everything turned out OK. We just need to survive the next few weeks. One day at a time... I'm not sure how much sleep I got last night, but I'm pretty sure the number is below 6. I'm trying to not think about it too much to avoid feeling sad.

Weekend - beach and parks

We survived a weekend with both kids!

On Saturday morning we made it out to the beach. We went to Half Moon Bay State Beach,
which doesn't get terribly crowded, we've found, and also has restrooms. The plan was to meet up with friends who have a kid M's age and a newborn just a week older than Baby Y. Unfortunately Google Maps took us to HMB State Beach, but Apple Maps took them to HMB State Park. By the time we unloaded both kids out of the car and down onto the beach, there was no way we were going to go back and try to drive over to them, and I'm sure their thinking was the same. So we ended up talking on FaceTime instead for a bit while M played in the sand and Y slept in the Ergo. Whatever, we all got out and even socialized a bit. I consider it a success.

Both kids napped after the outing, and I was able to squeeze in a nap, too. In the evening we all went to the soccer field at the nearby middle school. It's unclear if we're supposed to be on school premises or not, most likely not. But somebody almost always leaves one of gate doors open and there are always other people using the field and the basketball courts. So if the authorities show up, will they reprimand the mature couple with two little kids or a bunch of teenage boys shooting hoops? Probably all of us, but at least there's safety in numbers. O cooked dinner - sausage with kale, black beans, corn, tomatoes and rice. Simple, delicious, and yielded plenty of leftovers to avoid having to cook again on Sunday. M ate the sausage, the rice, and some vegetable matter.

Sunday was less outing-heavy. We traded off watching various kids in the morning, I took another nap, and M and I went to the field again after naptime. Dinner was easy and we were in bed before 10.