Meet Sarah!
Sarah is a 28-year-old Movin’ Mama residing just south of Boston with her husband and new baby girl, just 2.5 months old! While she’s enjoying her Maternity leave from her usual Program Coordinator role, she’s taking advantage of spending extra time at home with her little one, cooking delicious meals for her family, and of course browsing the Etsy marketplace.
How do you typically start your day?
My daughter has been waking up lately around 5:40 AM. I feed her in the glider in her nursery, and then usually bring her downstairs to her favorite swing. I’ll turn on the news and grab some breakfast.
What is your favorite workout right now if you can get to it, and what’s your favorite time of day to exercise?
Taking Hannah for walks around the neighborhood is serving as my workout right now. The fall was such a nice time of year to have a baby. I typically take her out midday to avoid the morning rush and afternoon commute…less cars on the road and a bit more quiet.
What do you love most about being a new mom so far?
She’s truly taught us what’s important and not important in life. You realize one’s health and happiness is most important and petty little things that you once thought were important or worth arguing and worrying about just don’t matter.
Watching her change every single day has been such a joy. She’s developed a personality. Right now, she is in a smiley phase with occasional giggles. Sometimes she will sit on my lap and will smile and giggle when I make sounds or sing to her. Last night, she got the biggest kick out of me singing “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer” to her. She has the biggest smile and expressive eyes that just melt my heart.
What is one of your recent go-to healthy dinners that you like to cook at home?
One quick, light and easy staple I love to make right now is spaghetti squash. It isn’t quite the same as spaghetti, but it’s delicious and has way less carbohydrates per serving!
What do you do when you want to have “Me time”?
Simple things are considered “Me time” right now. I will put her in the car and go for a ride, and grab a coffee and listen to the radio. If she is content in her swing or napping, I will catch up on one of my favorite T.V. shows. Every few weekends, my husband will watch the little one while I go get a mani and/or pedi.
Can you share a couple of your personal fitness goals for 2016?
I’d like to start jogging come spring-time. I don’t think I’ve gone for a run since I ran the Falmouth Road Race a couple of months before I got pregnant. It’s something I will definitely have to ease into and will track my mileage each time I head out.
I’d like to get back into yoga as well. I did yoga occasionally prior to becoming pregnant and did a few sessions early on in my pregnancy (due to a complication over the summer, I stopped the yoga altogether). Your body takes a toll from pregnancy and shifts in ways that can create a lot of discomfort during and after pregnancy.
What has been your biggest challenge with wellness since the birth of your baby girl?
The lack of time to prepare meals has been the biggest challenge for me. I find myself grabbing random things to eat during the day when I have a second instead of having an actual meal, especially lunch.
When my daughter was first born, people were great and brought over meals, and a friend of mine let us have some free Blue Apron meals from his account. If I do have to grab and go during the day, I have been making an effort to keep healthy options in the fridge or pantry (yogurt, fruit, rice cakes and peanut butter, for example).
Who do you lean on most for support when it comes to wellness?
Wellness isn’t just fitness and healthy eating. The most helpful thing I have done during my leave was seek advice from and chat with other mothers about their experiences with certain things like feedings, sleep, etc. I worried a lot about doing the “right thing”.
I came to the conclusion that I need to do what is best for me and my family. I never realized what an emotional rollercoaster motherhood would be!
What is one piece of candid advice you’d like to share with other new moms regarding general wellness?
A pediatrician in the hospital told me that women can read all the books they want and will receive conflicting information on what to do, what not to do, but ultimately you should “develop your own set of tools”.
It’s hard, but try not to worry about every single little thing and if you are “doing things right” all of the time. I look back and wish I spent less time worrying myself sick over things. Enjoy it while you can…someday these babies will be teenagers!
What Makes You Move, Mama? 