The Challenge

Mark and I have done a lot of reading about adoption over the last several months. Most of it has been about preparing to help our baby adjust to us, good practices in attachment/bonding, transracial adoption, etc. But one article in particular was about preparing yourself for having a baby at home. And one comment within that article really caught my eye. One of the women that was interviewed talked about how she went from having no children to carrying an 18 pound baby overnight. This doesn't sound odd by itself but if you think about how most children are born weighing about 7-9 pounds (granted, unless you're from the Hutchinson family!) and as they grow, they get heavier but it's a more gradual adjustment. This mom talked about wishing she had prepared physically for caring for her baby. Huh. It got me thinking about how I struggle to help Mark move furniture or carry a heavy suitcase. I don't want to be the mom who can't keep up with her children or starts to have back spasms from carrying my child!

So now that the holidays are over, it's time to shape up. I've been thinking about this for awhile -- so has Mark -- and we have re-committed ourselves to getting in to better shape. For me, that includes lifting weights and doing cardio exercises. I even came up with a name for our efforts:

The "Lose Weight While We Wait" challenge. Clever, don't ya think? ;)

So to help me in particular stay accountable, here are my goals for January.

1. Drink 4 glasses of water a day.
2. Work out 4 times a week.
3. Lose 10 pounds this month.

So far, so good. Mark has been going to the gym for over a year now. I just joined last week. And to date, I am on track. I'm only going to weigh myself once a week. For this first week, I have met nearly all of my goals, including a 2.4 pound weight loss. YES!

Well, it's out 'there' now in blog land -- no turning back! Hopefully, we'll stay on track and meet our goals. Knowing that I'm working towards being a healthier mom for our baby has given me motivation in way I haven't felt before. And it feels awesome. (This also means that I cry at the drop of a hat but that's a blog post for another day!)