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Uh...the gym? I don't, unless it's to take LO to a class there. I wish I were able to go, but it doesn't work for us right now. I find ways to be active with my kiddos every day though, especially since it's nice weather right now and we can play outside. In the Fall, I'll probably try to when DD1 is in preschool, and I'll just put DD2 in the childcare there.

I just take a long walk to the park in the afternoon, that way we both get exercise!

@daniellemybelle: we walk at least a mile to a park and all the way back, so it is pretty good exercise! Especially because she doesn't like her stroller and I end up carrying her! (Or holding her hand.)

I WISH I could go...but none of the gyms around here have childcare. If I could go, I would prob bring LO around 9:30--enough time so he played at home for a while and had breakfast, but not close to lunch, and we could do something else after the gym.

@erinpye: ha, your first sentence was my first thought!

No time here, so I just make sure to get out with the kids and try to get some exercise in. I like to also do some light exercise at home just to stay toned up, too.

No time isn't an excuse if you really don't have the time specifically for the gym.. Just throwing that out there. You can always do other activities that are exercise with lo. For us it's more like not worth the money especially while pregnant. DH and I have done exercise at home (and the building we live in now has a small exercise room) while dd has been asleep or taking the BOB out with her usually in the mornings. Now that she's close to 3 that isn't happening though, she won't sit in it.

Why can't the gym be her activity for the day? She will most likely have the opportunity to play with other kids and that will be fun for her (hopefully). On the days you don't go to the gym, you can do story time or other fun stuff. Maybe 3 days gym, 3 days of something specifically for her?

@daniellemybelle: Go in the morning. I am not a morning person, and haaaaaaate getting up early, but honestly with working out it is much easier to get it out of the way early and go on about the rest of your day. Can you go for 6am and leave her at home? What time does your DH leave for work? I also find that gym time is great ME time.

It varies for us, sometimes it is our only activity for them, nothing wrong with that, they love playing at the gym! Having an activity a day sounds overwhelming to me, some days I just want to take it easy! A lot of the time I'll run a few errands with them once we are done with the gym. The hardest part for me is getting out of the house since things always come up.

Sometimes we go mid-morning, and sometimes we go in the late afternoons, it just depends what we have going on that day.

I'm a sahm for the summer, I work out 5-6x a week.
I alternate when I go, though. Monday's I go at 5pm because of a class I like. Tuesday I go at 4:30 for a cardio class, Wednesday I go at 9am and do my own weights routine. Thursday I go at 9am for yoga. Friday I go at 9am and lo has swimming lessons (at the gym) at 10.

I don't really have lo in activities other than swimming because we spend so much time going to parks with the weather as it is. If I were a SAHM during the school year, I would be more inclined to do classes then when the weather is cooler and we need a change of pace. Also, my LO LOVES the daycare at our gym and he asks to go nearly every day.

@daniellemybelle: lol, with two, my motivation to do something every single day is gone! We do something (zoo, butterfly garden, aquarium) about once a week these days, it was every other day or so with 1, but I was also working less then. It was much easier with one, so even getting to the gym is a major victory lately! I was ready to go this morning, then a work crisis came up that forced me into a conference call, and we missed our late window to go. We'll get out later today once the little guy wakes up.

Me time is becoming more of a necessity again! I would love to go before my husband leaves for work, but he has to leave at the butt crack of dawn and childcare at the gym doesn't start till 8.

@daniellemybelle: We have the same problem! I do activities every morning with my two year old - gymboree, playgroups, zoo if it's warm, children's museum if it's cold, playdates etc., and I don't feel comfortable cancelling all her morning activities so that she can go hang out in gym daycare, which I agree sucks comparatively. Afternoons her nap end time is somewhat erratic and 80 percent of the time I don't even get done the simple errand I had planned. So I have committed to an after work class 3x a week with my husband to spend quality time with the LOs then. I am trying that for a month and then seeing if I need to reasses

@daniellemybelle: depends on the your gym's childcare and timing of your activities, but what has worked best for me is:

- find an activity around 9-930ish. we had a music class then, so we could go to the class, then hit the gym, and be home for lunch.
- find an activity around 11, and do the same as above except gym first (either no shower after or shower at gym, depending on timing!), then class, then home for lunch.
- do an activity in the morning and then i do a noon yoga class. the babysitter at the gym daycare actually likes when the kids bring food (likely so she has to do less!), so i just pack lunch for my older LO so she eats there.

i do some combination of all of the above each week...and usually a day or two of no activities in the morning too

I hope your LO warms up to the gym daycare! My kids have been so fickle with it that I try to go when we have our helper even though it cuts into my work time. I tried it last week when I had LO and I got about 30 mins before he flipped out because some other mom came in who looked like me, apparently

That said I would probably do it when LO is well-rested (morning or after nap) to boost your chances of success.

@daniellemybelle: go early if you're taking LO, alone if it's in the evening and i never took mine in anywhere around lunchtime!

I am not going to the gym right now because I'm 29 weeks pregnant, but I started working out pretty regularly when DD2 was 12 weeks old, and I went whenever DH wasn't at work. So either before he went in or after he got off, and then on his days off. I tried to go 4-5 days a week. That is also my plan again for when I start to go once this baby is born (I will probably start at 12 weeks post partum). I don't feel like it takes away from family time too much since it's only 1.5 hours out of the day and it makes me a much happier, more energetic person. It's better for all of us.

I have 2 and my younger one still has a morning nap so it's a little different but we usually go between his nap and lunch so around 10 or 10:30. They get a snack in the car. Honestly I think it would be too much to have a class or something and the gym back-to-back. Normally we go when the weather is lousy or we have been super busy and I need a break! I have found that too many activities can be exhausting for my guys and sometimes they just want to play with their own toys at home. My younger one also has separation issues so my gym visits are short. I think I get more exercise pushing them around our hilly streets in the double stroller!

I'm trying to get back into the habit of working out. We have a Y membership. Right now I go once or twice in the evenings, once or twice in the morning (put her in their child watch). And sometimes I take my LO into the pool with me.