Heavy lifting...

Max weighs somewhere around 55-60 pounds. It depends on the scale we weigh him on, and in which clinic. Last time we were at the special care clinic, he weighed 56 pounds. He's about 4 feet tall...I haven't measured his height recently, but closer to 4 feet than anything.

I am 5'4" and around 135 pounds. Give or take a piece of pie now and then. ;)

When Max was a baby, I used to cart him around on my hip. I would carry him in a little baby bjorn with little effort. As a new mom, I was always waiting for that extra baby weight to come off. Before Max, I weighed a whopping 110 pounds. Holy Moly!

As Max has gotten bigger, I have been thankful I have a little more weight on my bones. I don't think I could lift my guy with my old, before Max body.

I try to take care of myself, eat right, protect my back when I lift him, take walks, and get as much rest as Max lets me. But, working out has not been on the top of my list. I've gotten by up to this point with the heavy lifting each day helping with the daily work out. I can see though, if I'm going to keep up, and be able to lift Mr. Enormous for years to come, I am going to need to find a type of work out plan that works for me.

Today, I was counting how many times I had lifted Max. As of 6:00pm, I've transfered him 13 times. A transfer is from one seating device, or bed, to the floor or another seating device. This is not an abnormal day, in fact, it's a very typical day. We have another 3-4 hours before bed time, and probably another 4 more transfers. Once he's in bed, and sleeping, he needs repositioned and adjusted in bed around 4 times a night. All that to say, my back is tired!

While I was counting up the transfers today, I thought, I should take a video to see what it looks like when I pick him up. As with most things with Max, I just do them. I don't sit and think about how I accomplish the task, or if it is safe...it needs to be done, so I do it.

I already can see some things I need to do differently from the videos. Like, try not to round my back as much.



Getting him out of his chair is always more difficult for me. It's hard to get in front of him and use my legs to lift, like I do in the video above. Once I have him, and I'm standing up, he's really not that heavy seeming to me. Usually when I'm holding him like this we have a little dance. There's something about getting him up so close to me and locking eyes with him that makes time stand still, and really just calls for a little dance.



I need to be able to keep dancing with him for a long time to come. What is your preferred form of keeping strong, and protecting your back?