Babies are amazing! Baby weight, however, sucks.

Hello, all! Here I am with some rare downtime at work, so I thought I'd post an update. I sure do miss being a regular Sparker! First off, aside from work (I'm a manager now), the reason I've been so busy is THIS AMAZING GUY! Wow, guys. Being a mom is crazy awesome! I had no idea I'd enjoy it this much. Of course now he's nearly 17 months old and also making me insane with his mood swings and temper tantrums and free freakin' will -- but it's all OK because ... he's so amazing! And that's even though he broke me. I discovered at my annual exam in April that my ab muscles are still separated since his birth. For non-moms, it's called diastasis recti and it's actually pretty common. But it usually resolves itself within the first year postpartum, is my understanding. Mine, however, did not. (Must be my "advanced maternal age." Good grief, I hate that label!) It's not really dangerous unless it leads to a hernia, but the lack of core strength can lead to pain and instability in the low back, hips, knees, etc. The typical prescription is lots of crunches, to sort of pinch those muscles back together. However, with two herniated discs, I am forbidden from doing traditional crunches, so off to my trusty physical therapist I went. It's been about 6 weeks now, and with the baby and full-time work, I have not been the 110% compliant patient I normally am by the time pain sends me crying to PT, but I've been doing my best, and she's also a little surprised I am not seeing great results. I'm still having lots of leg (IT band), hip (bursa) and foot (arch?) pain. BAH. That's actually what stopped my renewed Walk Away The Pounds efforts, so I hit pause again while going to PT. And I seem to be gaining weight instead of losing! I am sure the extra 20 pounds isn't helping any either. My last weigh-in was about a week and a half ago, at 151.5. ARGH. What the hell. I was down to 141 within three weeks of my son being born! SO. ANNOYING. I'm tired of being a (snug) size 10 again, especially since it's a more lumpy, post-baby size 10 even than before. However, since my body seems utterly at home on a bicycle, I have managed to jump back into riding 4.5 miles to work (for a total of 9 miles a day) with almost no trouble! No weight loss yet, but at least it feels great to be back in the ol' saddle. I wanted to get back to riding again long before now -- I rode until my fifth or sixth month, I think - but it is impossible when both my husband and I are working full time and making the MAD DASH to daycare pickup. But hubby is currently between freelance contracts -- a godsend for once, since my daycare is CLOSING July 1 and there are crazy waiting lists everywhere! -- so he's home with the boy for now. So I am just going to enjoy it while I can! I really, really, reeeeeeeeally missed riding! I'm hoping my appetite starts to fall in line again too, because good grief, I do not have time to track my nutrition anymore. I always noticed that I eat better when I am moving more, so I am (perhaps foolishly) hoping that it will all just start to come back, like the second nature it had become ... you know, like riding a bike! Thankfully, except for a fun new picky stage, generally speaking this little dude is off to a great start! Some of his favorite foods are (usually) salmon, sweet potatoes, peas, strawberries, blueberries, oatmeal, yogurt, beets and avocados! I can always count on an avocado even if he's throwing everything else on the floor. Oh, and that's good ol' fashioned filtered water in that sippy cup. I feel so lucky and am so grateful that he loves water! I actually have asked his daycare provider NOT to give him juice and freakin' ruin it. OK, back to work. Hope everyone is having a great week and an amazing summer so far. I really do miss you all and hope to catch up on some of your blogs soon. And I am so so so so so SOOOOOOOOO impressed by all the dedicated Sparkers who are also PARENTS, walking the talk and doing what needs to be done! I had no idea how hard it is until I became a mom, and I honestly have NO IDEA how you do it. There is rarely a free moment in my WEEK, let alone every day! So keep it up, mamas and papas! You are amazing!