Urban Baby

--- If there's one thing my husband and I said when we were talking about getting pregnant, it was that no matter what, a baby was NEVER going to change our lifestyle. So... 8 months in, how are we doing so far? Well, I'll let you decide!---

(This post is inspired by a newspaper article that I was tagged in on Facebook where a woman wrote in to a columnist complaining that her friends with kids were no longer accessible and / or interested in making time for her anymore. Her letter was beyond selfish and ridiculous, but the response from the Columnist was also far from satisfactory to me... it was extremely specific to a certain 'type' of parent... the kind that actually DO change their lives 100% once they have kids. Well, sorry folks, but we are NOT those parents.)

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My husband Brad & I have always been downtown-living, patio-sitting, dog-loving, social people. And although the idea of having kids seemed like a good one in theory, (well-- maybe in a few years) we both felt too happy and selfish to give up everything that we had spent the past 7 years building together. We already had 2 dogs... wasn't our family big enough? We did the 'adopt an adult dog thing', and then we did the 'puppy thing' -- which is sort of the same as having a baby, right? Besides, once we had kids wouldn't we need a bigger place? One with a yard? Wouldn't we need more storage? And a mini-van? Maybe a nice big house with a 2-car garage so we both could have some freedom? Because I think that if you add up all of the above, we would have to move out of our beautiful 2+ bedroom Yuppy Yaletown condo into (gulp I can barely even stand to write it...) **SUBURBIA**?? (Ak. Spit. Shudder.)

But all that useless speculation became reality when I found out I was pregnant after a ridiculous summer of partying, drinking and hot tubbing. (Holy crap!) So that was that. GONE were the fun weekends away and the summers of sitting on patios... GONE were the nights of partying with friends... GONE were the days of spontaneity and independence and dinners out and nice clothes and flat ironed hair... RIGHT?? Because now there were more important things to do. There were diapers to pay for, and school to plan for, and college funds to save for... not to mention all the cooking, cleaning, laundry... and oh yeah. What about that second kid we talked about??

(Ha ha. ANYONE who knows me would think the above was pretty damn funny ;p Cook? Me? And aren't there people you can PAY to clean your condo for you?) ;p

So what happened? You guessed it. We didn't change a thing. Well... Almost. ;p

OK, so maybe now I go to bed a little earlier since I'm up at 3am & 5am & 7am tending to a fussy baby... and maybe my blow drier and flat iron only come out once/month... and maybe now our living room resembles a children's toy store... and maybe our spare bedroom is decorated in fairies and has a crib, baby clothes and hundreds of toys in it... and maybe I have had to join the infamous 'Mom & Baby Fitness groups' since I can't take a fussy baby to our condo gym... and maybe I have to be home twice/day for 'nap time'... and maybe we don't see as many movies anymore... and maybe now we have to sit on the "Family Friendly" side of our favorite bars & restaurants because Vancouver has stupid liquor laws... and maybe our 'date nights' cost twice as much because we need to hire a sitter... and maybe we DID have to upgrade our 2-door convertible to a 7-seat Crossover...

BUT OVERALL, we have stayed true to our original intentions, and have not let having a baby drastically change our Urban lifestyle! We still go out for our morning coffees and dog walks and eat out a few times a week and go shopping and drink copious amounts of wine on patios with friends... we just bring our baby with us! We still crash at friend's houses over the weekends and have actually traveled more this year than ever... Brad and I have both separately been to Las Vegas this year, and Veronica has come with us to Victoria, Nanaimo, Tofino, Bellingham, Toronto (twice!), Muskoka, London (Ontario), Cuba... and we are heading on a Caribbean Cruise at the end of January!

So what does all of this mean exactly? It means that you CAN be a happy, downtown Urban family. And I'm relieved to know that it IS possible to have a social life AND be a parent. And from what we've learned, all it takes is a laid back attitude and a really big diaper bag.

And what about that "Second Kid" you ask...? "What will you do then?" I have absolutely no idea. Everyone keeps saying "Well... you're not going to get to do THAT for much longer..." And yet funny enough? Somehow, we do! So I guess we'll just face those "future obstacles" as they begin to present themselves.... and in the meantime I'll keep an eye out for a 3+ bedroom condo in Yaletown... with a yard! ;p

The Mear Family Circus

Veronica's First Christmas!

Veronica's first DATE with Ethan (& Petunia chaperones...)

FIT 4 TWO-- Stroller Moms

I can't believe it's taken me this long to blog about this!! After all -- fitness, diet & being skinny have all been (borderline unhealthy) obsessions of mine since I decided to go into the theatre / film world... and getting back into shape became my biggest concern the first day I suspected I was pregnant. And I gotta tell you - this is the hardest weight I've ever had to lose in my life! I WAS going to blog about Weight Gain & how to deal with it Pre & Postnatal... but I figured I'd combine it with a plug for the amazing organization that is "Fit 4 Two".

(I hope the ladies don't mind that I scooped this pic off the Fit 4 Two website!!)

Sooo you can just picture it, right? You're sitting with your hubby & 2 dogs, having some brekkie & your morning coffee on the 'Bo Jangles' patio in Marinaside / Yaletown when all of a sudden-- they appear around the corner. An ENTOURAGE of Moms, pushing their strollers along the seawall. They're laughing and talking about men & babies & other random mom stuff, and even though some of their babies are screaming bloody murder, they're doing LUNGES. Yup. That's what I said. LUNGES. Squats. Push ups. You name it, they're doing it. Right there in the middle of the seawall.

So you giggle. And you make fun a little bit. And you may even try to snap a photo because it's just so surreal to see! And you vow, that if you were ever to be a Yaletown mom, you would NEVER be so Yuppy as to join them.

UNTIL... you have a 12-week-old. And you're sitting on the patio by yourself now (because you're on maternity leave and your husband is not) with your sleeping newborn baby & 2 puppies. And a group of Stroller Moms come in for coffee after their class -- laughing & talking about the class & other random mom stuff that you now suddenly 'get'-- and you realize something you didn't think about before... they're all getting fit. AND they have friends! Or at least someone to talk to.

At least, that was my turning point! Once Veronica was 12-weeks-old and Brad was back at work full time, I started to crave some 'adult interaction'. I'm the first out of many of my friends to have a baby-- definitely the only one living downtown... so I started to feel a bit alone during the day and I was going STIR CRAZY!! I would go to the dog park 4x/day, the coffee shop every morning & the 'Hurricane Grill' in the afternoon JUST so that I could talk to the waitresses!! (Anyone who has ever had a baby knows that at the beginning they sleep a lot.) I was having a LOT of 'alone time'. And yet, I couldn't go to the gym! The second I'd get down there Veronica would fuss & I wasn't going to be 'that person'. I would sit & mope at all my local hangouts about the fact that I couldn't get rid of my baby weight-- (and breast feeding alone wasn't doing it for me folks). Something needed to change.

And so I found it. The organization is called 'Fit 4 Two' and my first class was 'Stroller Fitness'. (Who'd have thought there was such a thing??) I had been 'flyered' in 'Bo Jangles' by one of the Stroller Moms when V was about 10 days old & the nice girl who gave me the flyer was like "Oh... well, maybe you'll want to wait a few more weeks" and inside my head I was like "Uh, yeah-- never." But I smiled politely & took the flyer. BUT- I kept it by my computer, and on that life changing Friday-- I emailed the instructor (Melanie) and committed to going to class that following Monday.

And I haven't looked back! Now, 15 lbs lighter, and more sane than ever, Veronica and I take "Mom & Baby Fitness" at the Roundhouse Community Center Mon/Wed and have graduated from "Stroller Fit" to "Stroller Bootcamp" Tues, Thurs. Fri! I still have some trimming to do but I'm well on my way. AND I have a group of like-minded people who are all going through the same thing as me. I couldn't be more grateful.

Link to Fit 4 Two below in case you're interested!

http://www.fit4two.ca/

Veronica Giggles at 6 months

Veronica in her Jolly Jumper :)