ERGO

I have an ERGO baby carrier I bought when Holden was 3 months old. I loved it then and I love it now, although I don't use it as much as I thought I would. As it turns out I live in the Midwest (I must have forgot that when I purchased it) so I don't really walk around that much unless it is intentional...like going on an evening walk with my souped up stroller.

But anyway, I was feeling really motivated the other day and decided that maybe I'd be able to mow the lawn with Holden strapped to my front and decided to try it out. This was a bad idea and the reasons are threefold:

1) you can't pull the engine to start the mower without jarring the baby that is on your chest

2) it was insanely windy so pieces of grass/rocks we're flying up and into our faces

3) it's hard enough to mow my huge yard, let alone with a baby strapped to me

Now you'd think I would have realized these things before I began, but sadly, no. Thank goodness Holden came out unscathed, but the yard has one small sad swath of grass mowed and the rest is (still) swaying in the wind waiting for the guy we hired to mow it.

Ok, to get to the point of this post: I realized as I was trying to carry around my 22 pound baby on the front of me that perhaps if I lost 20 (or 40) pounds I would feel better. I can't even tell you how much lighter I felt when I unstrapped that little guy and let him roam free again. This seems like an obvious thing, but when weight comes on slowly you don't notice it as much. It is insidious.

So anyway, the last few weeks have felt like the good old calorie-counting-and-see-how-much-exercise-I-can-fit-in days. Not in a bad way. Who'd have thought something as simple as a baby carrier would jump start my motivation to lose weight? That and our high school reunion is coming up in a year. It also gives me something to focus on besides sad things like Ally and all the stuff going on with Dad.

The above pic is Holden immensely enjoying his bananas at snacktime.