I Spy A Newbie Mom

Yup, that newbie mom would be me. Today you could have spotted me from a mile away as my "newbieness" was screaming! It all started this morning with our goal of the day: attend Stroller Strides class (a workout class for moms with their strollers and of course, their babies) for the first time. Class starts at 9:30 with a desired arrival time of 9:15, and it's 20 minutes from home. Problem #1: Ben and I wake up at 8:30, mind you we were up at 6 am and just happened to fall back asleep around 7. So we wake up and are supposed to be out of the house in 25 minutes...right! Maybe a veteran mom could pull this off, but not me. There I was flying around the house trying to pack the diaper bag, get myself breakfast, brush my teeth, change Ben's diaper, and get him dressed. And then finally, "The Dine n Dash," where I feed him and we dash out the door, in hopes that he makes it through the class before he gets hungry again and starts screaming. Well, we managed all of that but the problem was, we walked out the door at 9:10 am...oops. The whole way there I was thinking, 'why bother, we're not going to make it there,' yet I kept driving. And then I realized that I had forgotten 3 things, my phone, the directions to where I was supposed to go afterwards to pick something up, and probably the most crucial, I forgot to pump which I always do first thing in the morning after I feed him. Moms, you know the conundrum I created for myself with this one. But, as we were almost to the park, I figured there was no turning back at that point.

As we pulled into the parking lot at the park, I see a line full of moms and their strollers starting to walk away from the parking lot. I frantically pull the stroller out of the car, put Ben and the carseat in it, grab my water, a blanket, and a pacifier (I declare the remembrance of these items as my success of the day!) and we start running over in "wait wait, don't leave without us" fashion, trying to catch up with the stroller parade. Huffing and puffing, I fall into line and introduce myself and Ben to the instructor. I quickly find myself doing all kinds of hopping, kicking, plyometric-ky type stuff, things that kicked this post-partum mama's booty! Then came the dance steps, oh no. We're talkin jazzercise type stuff, folks. Mind you, I was tomboy as a child, a soccer and softball player, never setting foot in a dance studio. Picture it, I'm stumbling over my feet, totally out of sync from the other moms, clapping at all the wrong times. To put it into perspective for you, I was far worse than Kate Gosselin on Dancing With the Stars! Then it was on to the exercises with the stretchy band thingy. 'Phew,' I thought to myself, 'we're done with the dance moves.' Little did I know that we were going to incorporate songs into the stretchy band exercise portion, so as to keep the kiddos entertained. Turns out I don't quite remember the words to "I'm a little teapot" or "I've been workin' on the railroad!" I found myself wanting to fake it by doing the ole "watermelon watermelon watermelon" trick, but you can't really do that when the moms next to you can actually hear what you're singing. So, there I was singing every other word or so and tipping my spout at all the wrong times. Oh well, I suppose I will learn those too!

Oh and about half-way through the class, I realized that the buckle that secures the carseat into the stroller was unbuckled. I gasped when I realized it, mortified the other moms might have noticed the red straps hanging down from either side of the stroller. But what could I do at that point, other than non-chalantly secure the strap and be very grateful we hadn't gone down any hills in which the carseat could have fallen out. Yup, I am a newbie mom. I'm provided with daily opportunities to laugh at myself. I make mistakes and I learn from them. I am still figuring out my routines and developing my "don't leave the house without it" checklist. And in the meantime, I take the words of Amelia Earhart to heart, "And here, by the grace of God, go I."