On Three! One! Two! Three! Ugh…
On the days that we take Henry over to the other nanny-share family’s condo, we carry him up to their place with him still in the car seat. Super-nanny Silvia will sometimes take them places (the zoo, a far-away park, their job at the factory), so we have to lug the thing up up to the second floor, and, when we pick him up in the evening, lug him down two flights.
And I have to tell you: he’s getting really heavy.
He hasn’t been weighed since his 6-month checkup, but I suspect he’s anywhere between 20 and 184 pounds and when you add on the 4 or 5 pounds of the car seat, it’s starting to become difficult.
I remember when — wait, can you believe I’m about to get nostalgic about a 7-month-old baby? — we would play on the floor and it would be time to get him changed or fed or off to sleep, and I would scoop him up with one arm and use the other one to get my old, fat body off the ground. Not any more. Now, I have to get him into a sitting position, get myself up, and actually do the knee bend to pick him up else I strain my back.
(Note: In no way am I saying that a) Henry is overly large or b) larger than most babies. I’m just saying, in general, he’s bigger than a Thanksgiving turkey.)
Once I get him up, however, he’s still easy to carry (sans car seat), because he’s long enough now that you can position him on your hip to take a little strain off your arms. (And carrying him now is more fun than ever because he’s started to grab a hold of me and lay his head down on my shoulders.)
This is only going to get worse, and I can only think that I’m going to have to start wearing one of those ugly belt things you see strapped around the huge guts of warehouse employees. Because, as we all know, I’m not adverse to looking completely ridiculous at all times for the sake of muscle safety.
That and it has velcro straps.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Look at those eyes!
I have absolutely no muscles in my arms so I had to give up on the bucket seat a while ago. Which sucks because now when he falls asleep in the car I have to wake him up to get him out.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Perhaps some pushups will help. I have found that doing some pushups makes picking up children easier. Picking up children also makes doing pushups easier so everybody wins.
March 26th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
FWIW, Henry’s carseat actually weighs about 13 lbs. So we’re talking about lugging more than 30 lbs of baby and plastic.