Throw out the rocking chairs

Throw out the rocking chairs b/c I've got something even better....a YOGA BALL!!!

Let me back up a little....I know I use the term "when I was pregnant" a lot in this blog but you obviously think about what type of parents you want to be and you also think about what "parenting tools" (interesting term) that you want to use in your every day life most during pregnancy. Well, when I was choosing a chair for the nursery I decided not to go with a rocker for two reasons: 1) I didn't want to get in the habit of rocking Lola to sleep as I didn't want to create another habit.... Does this make sense? I guess I should clarify....I wanted Lola to learn how to put herself to sleep. What I didn't want was a 1 year old baby that I would still have to rock to sleep b/c she never learned to fall to sleep on her own. Does this make sense now? AND 2) I wanted a modern and cool chair in the nursery and a rocker did not fit the criteria. I'm pretty certain #2 was the deal breaker b/c I really had something specific picked out in my mind.

With this said, I still like to snuggle and rock baby Lola sometimes but I don't have a rocker. So how do the rocker and yoga ball correlate? Well, my yoga ball is my rocker. Why is the yoga ball better than a rocker??? One main reason is that you are getting a core work-out while rocking your baby. So, way to shoot two birds with one stone...quality time with baby plus an ab work-out all in one. Woohoo!!! With the yoga ball, new mothers can't make the excuse that they don't have time to work-out b/c this is a great solution to the time issue.

Another reason why we really love the yoga ball is it can be fun for the baby too. We'll get on it in the afternoon and play what we like to call "Bouncety, Bouncety, Bouncety Bounce". It goes a little something like this "Bouncety, bouncety, bouncety, bounce. Up down up down all around" and you repeat again. Say that three times fast....kind of fun! It drives Clay CRAZY b/c the rhyme is a little obnoxious but Lo LOVES it. I mean she giggles and giggles and giggles. So, I love that I'm able to play with baby Lola and get a fabulous ab work-out all at once. I really feel like my post-baby mushy belly is FINALLY starting to tone up and I'm sure that yoga ball has a lot to do with it. Of course, it's taken 6 months but at least we're finally starting to see some results.

Oh, also the yoga ball is great during pregnancy. Actually, this is when I decided to invest in one. Since you can't do hard core crunches and really get those abs working during pregnancy, this is a great substitute. All you have to do is sit on the ball and you're working your core. How fabulous is that! So I would sit on it while watching TV or just hanging out. Now this is what I call an easy work-out that's worthwhile!!!