As a fitness blogger, this is a challenge I’d been hoping to attempt every week since I was officially cleared for exercise at Week 6, but it took me until Week 11 to get it done. And, unfortunately, I think it was a bit of a fail. See, my daughter Garrity is in this major mama’s girl phase. As in all she wants to do is be held by Mama. And on top of that she got her rotavirus vaccine the day before we did the class and I think that made her extra needy. Not a good combo when she needed to sit in her motionless stroller for most of the hour. Maybe a bad time to attempt an exercise class, but I just figured I needed to rip the Band-Aid off.

But let’s start with logistics.

The Beaverton Baby Bootcamp class is M-F from 9:30-10:30, located at a rec center about 15 minutes (with no traffic) away from my house. I wanted to leave my house at 9 to give myself plenty of time to get there, park, and unload everything.

Except that Garrity tends to eat right about 9am. But by some miracle she was hungry at 8:15 and I thought, “Yes! we’re going to make this.” So I fed her and sat her in the Rock & Play in my bathroom while I threw on my workout clothes.  I picked her up, tossed an English muffin in the toaster oven and changed her diaper while it cooked — I’m awesome, right? — and then she started rooting, so I sat down and fed her for a few more minutes. I put her in the swing and added peanut butter and jelly to my English muffin and then loaded up the car with the stroller, came back in, made sure the dog had water, gave him a treat, grabbed Garrity and we made it in the car by 9:10! Not bad!

We have arrived!I’m still on time as I enter the parking lot, but I had no idea where to find the class, so I continued circling until I saw moms with strollers. Bingo. (By the way if I had read a little more about the class online it clearly says where to meet).

Most of the moms had already started their warm up while I signed in and met the instructor. I hate being the last person, so I hustled through the walk/jog warmup up a hill and made it back to the class only a little bit late.

(My new best friends are way up there!)

There were probably around 15-20 moms there, and Garrity was the second-to-youngest baby. The kids in strollers went up to about age 4. The instructor was awesome. For each exercise she offered option 1 (for preggos and mom’s 16 weeks postpartum or less) and option 2 (for more experienced moms). I did a mix of both options.

Things started out great. I made it about 20 minutes into the class before Garrity started crying, and then it was all downhill. Basically for the rest of the 60-minute class she cried. At one point we were doing squat jumps and mountain climbers on this rock wall so I ended up taking her out of her stroller and holding her while modifying some of the moves (step-ups and squats) and when I did that she was great, babbling and laughing; girlfriend just did not want to be in that stroller.

Later we moved to a different area and did some core work and I tried to get her to lay down on her blanket while the class did abs and arms but she wasn’t having it. Non-stop crying ensued, so eventually I sat there with her for a bit while everyone was still going, but then I just gave up and left, probably with about 10 minutes left of class.

So overall, not a total fail. I did get a great workout for the portion of class I actually completed, but I don’t think I’ll be back. I love being with Garrity and I love working out so it would be great if the two would go hand-in-hand but I think with the exception of jogging with the stroller (which my body is just not quite ready for) it’s better for the both of us if Mama gets her workouts on without her.

[All photos by Whitney Mattocks, all rights reserved]

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