More of him, less of me

From the title of this post, you may think that I'm going to write about some deep, spiritual stuff.  But I'm not.  The title is literal - I'm talking about size here. 

First off, "him" - Emmett.  This kid is growing like a weed.  He's not quite 8 months old yet, and at 21 lbs and 29 inches, he's already bigger than Annika was at one year.  He's still wearing some 6-12m size clothes, but mostly 12m stuff!  He has wonderfully round cheeks, plentiful chins, and thighs that would make a grown woman shudder (but they're adorably cute on a baby).  I don't know what it is, there's just something about a chubby baby that I just love.  I'm actually really glad that he seems to be a "big boy."  Since he's a December baby, he'll always be the youngest in his class, but hopefully if he keeps growing like this, then he won't be the smallest.  I think it's harder for boys to be the "little one" in the class.

So, with Emmett getting bigger and bigger, it seems to be having an effect on me, physically.  I've actually lost a couple pounds in the last few weeks, and I think he's the reason.  He is heavy.  He's only about 10 lbs less than Annika right now, but he seems so much heavier to carry around, because he's just like a big sack of flour.  Annika will at least hold on when I carry her, which makes it easier.  He's my weight-lifting routine.  Especially carrying up the stairs or in his bucket seat!  I also wear him in the Boba or the wrap almost every day when we go for a walk, for about half an hour to an hour.  We don't walk overly fast, but just having his weight strapped to me is a workout, and it's definitely been working my core muscles to keep eveything balanced.  I think my attempts at healthier eating have also been helping.  It's only been small changes, but it's enough to make at least a little difference. 

I'm now about 4-5 lbs away from my pre-Emmett-pregnancy weight.  Initially the pregnancy weight came off quite quickly, and then around April I got kind of stuck (and like I blogged back then, I was okay with it).  For a while, I stayed in the range of about 6.5-8.5 lbs left.  Then about a month ago I noticed that I was staying more at 6.5 rather than fluctuating back and forth.  And then the scale started to gradually move down.  It's not a huge loss, but I really wasn't trying to lose weight (just to be healthy and active), so it's a pleasant surprise.  It's also encouraged me to perhaps try a bit harder to get rid of those last few pounds.  I don't think I'll be making any other changes now in summer, though.  It's too hot to start sweating to workout videos or running on the treadmill - I'd rather be outside sweating while playing with my kids while I have the opportunity.  And on a hot day, I want to enjoy the occasional ice cream cone or Slurpee without worrying about my diet.  So maybe by fall I'll get back into the "weight-loss mode" (if I don't lose any more just by doing what I'm doing now).  Who knows, by then I might even feel up to getting up at 6:30am to exercise again (which I used to do on a regular basis!).