I’m getting old. There is just no denying it.

My age is manifesting itself in many ways, not the least of which is my weight. In the past, my “baby weight” has disappeared before each baby was 6 months old, without much extra effort on my part. But not so after Jade‘s birth. She’s 14 months old and these last 5 pounds just do not want to leave me!

Apparently the fact that we raise most of our own food, eat very healthy, and stay very active running the homestead is no longer enough.

I’ve had my treadmill for a decade, and quite frankly, I’m bored with it. It also doesn’t get us any weight training. Friends of ours have a total gym (no, I’ve never seen an infomercial for one), and we tested it out. We all liked it, so Jim found a cheap one and we got it. (And no, it did not come from the garbage!)

So far we’ve been very happy with it. We all use it. The favorite exercise amongst the children are pull-ups. I caught Brett getting some help tonight in getting a more challenging work out:

Apparently, the added weight to her workout is working:

Too bad her workout doesn’t help me rid myself of these extra 5 pounds!