A Post Baby Body.

I'm working on it, still. Uhh, it'll be 3 years, 3 months and 10 days (as of tomorrow.) I have aspirations, I do. I visualize my body, in a bathing suit. And frankly, it makes me slightly nauseous...which would probably help me lose some weight -- okay, okay, not a funny joke.

But in all honesty, I know I have a deadline now. It'll be 11 weeks until the hubby and I head to Key West on our first-ever-without-children-vacation/stress-about-not-being-with-the-children-for-the-first-five-minutes vacation. And between me, you and my treadmill....I'm panicking.

I am not overweight. I know that. In fact, I'm probably the healthiest weight I have ever been, since I was 7-years-old. But, those of you that celebrate birthdays, that have had children, or that enjoy chocolate as much as I do, know that as the days pass into years, the body begins to settle in ways you never knew it could.

I mean, how was I to know that my hips were going to shift two inches in AND out? And in my younger days, would I have ever really considered participating in the vibrating machines at the mall to get rid of my cellulite?! Probably not...although now, I'm wishing I had one of those things at my house!

I'm getting to the point where anxiety to firm up is clashing with the fight against eating that one last chocolate chip cookie -- just so I can get it out of the house. Do I really need to wear that $100 bikini vs. the deliciousness that is a chocolate chip cookie made with Ghiradelli chocolate chips?

I'm kidding. Obviously, I'd choose the bikini. (For one thing, I can't return it now...they have a 'No Return' policy.) But, I DO want to look decent for my vacation. I want to feel good when I walk around...I just want to know why it has to be so much work? Whatever happened to a metabolism?!

I guess I'm just venting because right about now, I'm wishing I had a quick-solution weight-loss pill or a trainer and personal chef on hand to help me get through it. Oh well...enough blogging, time to sweat it off. Wish me luck.

An Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny...

blue and white polka dot bikini. Yes, a bikini. 2 pieces of small fabric. I made the leap. For the past, oh, I don't know...7 years, I have been wearing a mom suit. No, no ruffly one piece moo-moo, but I've been quite comfortable in the tankini, covering all problem areas. My stomach...problem area numero uno.

I have never had flat abs. In fact, I'm not sure I ever will. BUT, with the Key West trip looming over me, I told Ryan that I refuse to go on this trip and wear my 'mom suit' the entire time. I want to look cute. So last night, bathing suit shopping we went and that's the suit I came home with.

Made by Vitamin A, it's reversible and the bottoms are awesome...they are cheekier than I ever worn, but they don't give my butt that awful muffin roll you see sometimes when girls wear their suits a little too tight. AND, for the first time in YEARS...I'm going with a triangle top. It was too cute to walk away from, though.

If you have ever been to a Swim & Sport store, you'll know that they give you personal attention to choose your suit. Although I was ready to walk out initially (a little bit of a wait and I am impatient...), I'm glad I didn't because the lady was so attentive and gave me more options than I even considered.

Anyway, I'm thinking about hanging the Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Blue/White Polka Dot Bikini somewhere in front of the treadmill to give me more motivation during my workouts. Only a few more months....

3 days, 2 nights.

That's exactly the amount of time I have been away from my family since giving birth to Riley over 7 years ago. The only reason I was even away from Riley was because I went apartment hunting with my sister-in-law, Courtney, in San Diego -- over 5 years ago.

And, I have never been away from Ronan for even one night. I know I've had a couple opportunities to go on scrapbooking weekends, but at that time in Ronan's life, there was no way I was going to be able to leave him for more than a few hours (you moms should know what I'm referring to!)

So, when Ryan and I started pondering about taking a vacation, don't think for one second that I didn't try and figure something out that would involve the kids. I know, what a chance to get away from the kids and be at some exotic island location. Nope, not me...all I could think about was how I couldn't leave them because of the possible bad things that could happen to us that would leave our children orphans. Totally morbid. I know.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Ryan and I really need this time with each other. We never had a real honeymoon. We went on a 3-night stay at a bed and breakfast an hour away from Pittsburgh. In March. It was cold. I wore sweats. So not romantic.

Beyond all that, I knew that Ryan's new job would require a lot more time away from home...so I wanted to take advantage of some quality time we'd have now before reporting in at his new unit. So here we are, we've come to decide we're taking a vacay and now, the Type A in me is coming out and the planning has begun.

Key West, here we come.

Easy right? No, not so much. We pretty much have decided on lodging, but it's figuring out the fun things I want to do that make it so much more difficult. I don't want to have this wonderful week and not take advantage of the great things Key West has to offer, but the more I read about the excursions, the morbid thoughts jump into my mind. Do I want to snorkel? Sure! But I can't swim. Think that would be a problem? Scuba dive? Sounds like fun. But I watched this story on the Today Show about this couple who were on their honeymoon and went scuba diving and somehow, the bride turned up dead. Take a plane ride to the Dry Tortugas? Absolutely friggin' not. Small planes make me nervous and I won't even go into the things that could go wrong.

I know, I totally sound like a Negative Nelly. I'm not trying to. It's my nature to think about the danger possibilities, now that I have kids. I will say, though, that I am going to work on getting over some fears and I will definitely try things that I probably wouldn't have...I owe it to myself and to Ryan to have a great time during this week...and I can't wait!

If you've been to Key West, what should we do? What shouldn't we miss out on?