Hi! After many months of reading/lurking these boards, I have convinced myself to come out of lurker-dom, and I hope to be an active participant on the H&F board.
My name is E, I live in south Louisiana (like-WAY south-as in Swamp People territory) and work as a local government consultant. My H is L and works as a systems engineer for a large agricultural company. My DD, LV, was born at the beginning of December. I am originally from Iowa and moved down here about 3.5 years ago.
Before having my daughter, I had completed 2 marathons (Chicago in 09 and 2010), about a dozen half marathons and countless 5K's, 10K's, etc. Thanks to living in a small town, I actually placed and won age group/overall awards during 5K's. Looking at some of your sig times, though, I am reminded that I am definitely far from fast I taught fitness classes throughout college, and was a Crossfitter for 2 years before finally giving it up due to scheduling constraints.
Fitness was such a huge part of my life pre-baby, and I really struggle to find the balance these days between work/marriage/motherhood/working out. I have completed one 10K post-baby (Crescent City Classic in NOLA at the end of March) and did OK. I will be in Denver for my BIL's wedding at the end of next month, and am registered to run Boulder to Boulder. I have yet to sign up for any local 5K's, because I am not yet mentally prepared to see the finishing time when I cross the line, since I know that I am not back to pre-baby speed.
I'm still trying to find a consistent time to work out. I was taking BodyPump two nights per week after work, but gave it up because my time with LV is so limited that I want to be at home with her after day care. I recently signed up at my local YMCA, and am trying to incorporate lunch hour workouts, since that seems to be the best bet. My H is also great about giving me time on the weekends to go out and get a run in. In the next several months, I hope to drop down to a more flexible work schedule that will allow me some additional daytime hours to work out.
Anyway, I look forward to posting on this board! Any questions for me? Ask away
Welcome! It's a great board, I think you'll like it here. I'm running Chicago for the first time, this fall. Your daughter is adorable. I don't know how the mom's do it. Sometimes it's hard to balance with just a job and DH. lol
Welcome to the board & best of luck with your training goals! I don't have kids (yet) but I know there are a lot of ladies on this board who can talk about the challenges of balancing everything -work, family and kids, fitness, etc. (I seem to have trouble somedays w/ just work my H & our dogs. :-) Sounds like you are doing well; good luck with Bolder Boulder!
I agree, I do not know how you moms do it! I am just me, no pets, and my hubs. And I feel exhausted and like I don't have time for myself or for fun with my husband. It is going to be a rude awakening when we decide to TTC
Welcome to the board, it is a great place for active women and for those of us who are aspiring to be more active and healthy and in shape!
Welcome! It's a great board, I think you'll like it here. I'm running Chicago for the first time, this fall. Your daughter is adorable. I don't know how the mom's do it. Sometimes it's hard to balance with just a job and DH. lol
I loved running Chicago-you will have a great time. For me, personally, it was a wonderful marathon for a first-timer because of all the crowd support. I think there is something like 1 milion spectators? Even with the crowds, my dad still manged to find me at the halfway mark. I remember him shouting, "Keep going! Keep going!" LOL. Thanks, Dad. I'm not going to stop at 13 miles!
Welcome! It's a great board, I think you'll like it here. I'm running Chicago for the first time, this fall. Your daughter is adorable. I don't know how the mom's do it. Sometimes it's hard to balance with just a job and DH. lol
I loved running Chicago-you will have a great time. For me, personally, it was a wonderful marathon for a first-timer because of all the crowd support. I think there is something like 1 milion spectators? Even with the crowds, my dad still manged to find me at the halfway mark. I remember him shouting, "Keep going! Keep going!" LOL. Thanks, Dad. I'm not going to stop at 13 miles!
Awesome! That's one of the reasons why we picked it, so I'm glad to hear you had such a positive experience. I've done both large and small marathons, but this will be DH's first, so I thought something exciting & big like Chicago would be good for him. It'll be my first BQ attempt, so I figured if I'm a little bummed if I don't make it, I'll have a huge marathon party to perk up my spirits. We're excited!
Welcome! I'm a pt WAHM, so I don't have near the scheduling constraints that you have - tons of credit to you for working it in. It has gotten easier as my DD has gotten older - hopefully you will find a bit more time sneaking in soon
Welcome to the board & best of luck with your training goals! I don't have kids (yet) but I know there are a lot of ladies on this board who can talk about the challenges of balancing everything -work, family and kids, fitness, etc. (I seem to have trouble somedays w/ just work my H & our dogs. :-) Sounds like you are doing well; good luck with Bolder Boulder!
We have a chocolate lab who can be a complete PITA. Sometimes I'm convinced he is more work than the baby!
Welcome! I'm a pt WAHM, so I don't have near the scheduling constraints that you have - tons of credit to you for working it in. It has gotten easier as my DD has gotten older - hopefully you will find a bit more time sneaking in soon
I'm hoping to transition into a PT/work from home situation in the next several months (depending on how my workload shifts). My challenge has been 1. getting up the courage to request this transition from my manager and 2. figuring out childcare since PT daycare is pretty much nonexistent in my community. I currently commute about 45 minutes-1 hour each way to daycare/work, and DD hates the car. HATES. It can be brutal listening to her cry for 45 minutes straight 5 days a week, twice a day. I'm really hoping that downshifting to a more flexible work role will give us more meaningful time together, and not just 2 hours a day in a car.
I'm hoping to transition into a PT/work from home situation in the next several months (depending on how my workload shifts). My challenge has been 1. getting up the courage to request this transition from my manager and 2. figuring out childcare since PT daycare is pretty much nonexistent in my community. I currently commute about 45 minutes-1 hour each way to daycare/work, and DD hates the car. HATES. It can be brutal listening to her cry for 45 minutes straight 5 days a week, twice a day. I'm really hoping that downshifting to a more flexible work role will give us more meaningful time together, and not just 2 hours a day in a car.
I put together a proposal to reduce hours after having my first. I was pretty nervous to ask, but it was accepted and worked out really well. The only problem, and it speaks to your #2, is that I still had to pay FT rates for part time day care. Unfortunately it didn't add up financially with two in daycare, so I stayed home after #2. It was great while it lasted though, and it doesn't hurt to see what they see. Even working at home a day or two a week can make a big difference with a longer commute.
Welcome! I'm also running Chicago for the first time this October. It'll be my second marathon and I've heard such great things about the race - I have high hopes!
I'm hoping to transition into a PT/work from home situation in the next several months (depending on how my workload shifts). My challenge has been 1. getting up the courage to request this transition from my manager and 2. figuring out childcare since PT daycare is pretty much nonexistent in my community. I currently commute about 45 minutes-1 hour each way to daycare/work, and DD hates the car. HATES. It can be brutal listening to her cry for 45 minutes straight 5 days a week, twice a day. I'm really hoping that downshifting to a more flexible work role will give us more meaningful time together, and not just 2 hours a day in a car.
I put together a proposal to reduce hours after having my first. I was pretty nervous to ask, but it was accepted and worked out really well. The only problem, and it speaks to your #2, is that I still had to pay FT rates for part time day care. Unfortunately it didn't add up financially with two in daycare, so I stayed home after #2. It was great while it lasted though, and it doesn't hurt to see what they see. Even working at home a day or two a week can make a big difference with a longer commute.
Oh, and welcome to the board!
I always wonder why day cares don't offer PT rates? I guess maybe the low number of people requiring PT care hours doesn't justify the costs? There is one daycare in town that offers PT, but their wait list is 2 years long. What I am hoping to do is propose a WFH schedule two days a week and reduce my hours from 7:30-3 daily.
The other problem is that her current daycare is in the next town over (where I work). So I would be most likely looking at keeping her at her current daycare at FT rates and then hiring a daytime sitter on my WFH days. So it will cost more...which doesn't bother me so much since we pay ridiculously low daycare rates in my area, but try telling that to my H. I'm now trying to find creative ways in which WFH will save money to justify the added expense of a sitter on my WFH days I could switch her to a daycare in my town, but my H travels a lot for work-domestically and abroad-and if an emergency came up, it would take me an hour plus to go and get her.
Post by katinthehat on Apr 29, 2013 16:44:41 GMT -5
welcome! I think you're doing a pretty awesome job at fitting it all together, considering you've already raced with a little one like her at home! that's pretty impressive!