True, childless women may not know the great love you experience when you become a mom. The ones at my office joke at me about being under ball and chain to my family and how they could not do without their "me time" and bars and lazy mornings as they stroll to happy hour... (I am the only mom in my office full of women) I joke back that their childlessness is just natural selection...survival of the fittest. Us moms are the ones who will create the future of our country, while the childless women will leave the world without a bloodline to carry on. But I think it's better if not all women have kids...we would be crazy over-populated if they did.

aw...you are too sweet and am glad you like Zumba as much as I do! Can I ask whose class are you taking?

I have lots of recommendations, but it depends on what you are into. Like Martial Arts? There's TaeBo, TurboKick and a bunch like them. Like Hip Hop? There's Madonna Grimes's DanceStreet or TurboJam. Like traditional aerobics? There is Reebok Step, Kathy Ireland & Denise Austin (although the bored me after awhile).
Like Dance? There's a workout for every style...CRUNCH Cardio Salsa, Samba Party, Balletone, YogaBooty Ballet, Irish Dancing Cardio, Kukuwa, Powerdance, Bellydance workouts, and I probably don't have to say what my favorite workout is as is evident in my screename. Personally, I like to mix it up so I don't get bored.

18:19, I found alot near Fair Oaks:
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Lady Of America, Fairfax,
Tuesdays @ 6pm with Kiki Tyler.
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Burke Racquet and Swim Club
Wednesday @ 6:30 with Lisa Lourey
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Providence Recreation Center
Thursdays @ 8pm with Cori Sabet.

These are the closest I found to Fair Oaks, but it lists all classes in a 10 mile radius from the location you query, so just look them up on www.zumba.com, go to FIND CLASSES and you can search by day, time, city, zip code or instructor. You'll find schedules for each instructor and their contact info.
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Happy New Year!

Hey, 17:16. Zumba is a multi-level fitness class. A good instructor will break down trickier moves, but most moves are basic enough to follow for beginners. Then as you get it down, you are free to embellish and put your own style into the moves. Some classes are immersion style, and the more you go, the more you pick up (like learning a language). My certifying instructor does this in her class in Alexandria because she has classes up to 100 people, but my class is much smaller. You just have to try a couple and see which teacher you like, like I do with yoga classes...they're not all the same!

<br> You can look up classes in NOVA on zumba.com and I have a few listed on my own Zumba site, posted in the events section. A bunch of instructors were certified this year, so there will probably be new Zumba classes popping up all over town.

those are all great ideas which I will try. My family is half Filipino, so there are always exotic meat/veggie dishes on the table...but they refuse any which way I try to present it to them. I gave up trying to vegify my stepdaughter's diet, after coaxing her from age 3-8, and just this year she is paying attention to what she eats...she never before would eat a spinach salad, but loves it now. Maybe the only thing I haven't done is try to get DH onboard with me. He loves to cook them, but will not eat them much. He was raised on a country carn & carb diet.

I think alot of parents with young kids spend New Years like that...we did several times. Once they get older you can go out again, as they will make their own New Years plans down the road. But if you are missing a New Year shindig, why not throw a party at your place so you can have fun and be with the kids? When I lived in California with no babysitters or family nearby, New Years was always spent at home rocking the kids to sleep before the apple dropped. But now that I am around family in DC, big family parties allow me to be with the kids and celebrate with adults. Don't be depressed...be happy that you are with your kids on New Years. Some parents might not be so lucky.

So my husband is a carnivore and so are my kids. I'm not a full vegetarian, but have more taste for veggies than meat. so my plate is always the opposite of my family's. Problem is, my kids have refused since they were little, all my attempts to feed them veggies. They eat fruit, but not green veggies. The only veggie they will eat is corn and potatoes. My stepdaughter was like this as a child, but now that she's a teen, she eats salad, I guess cuz it's "cool" to eat veggies in high school. Anybody have this problem? I have to hide veggies under layers of meat and other foods, and I give them the Morning Star foods that look like meat but are really veggie. That worked on my step daughter until she was old enough to read. Any suggestions?

I think we have all been through the same thing, and getting mad then feeling guilty about it is a common part of parenthood. Just keep it up and eventually they will learn to understand your rules, requests, limits, etc and the tug of war will lessen over the years. My son was like that, but now that he is 6, it's much better. Granted, there are still times when I feel like I am talking to a wall when I ask him to pick up his toys or get off the video games, but giving him a countdown works well. I prompt him 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes, 30 seconds to act on my request to clean or get dressed, etc. Now my 3 year old...sounds just like yours!

What is Lipo Dissolve?

Just want to share that I recently visited a friend of mine...50 years old and near 300 pounds when I last saw her. Now she is 53 and 150 pounds. She lost it all with portion control and eliminating pasta and sugar from her diet. She said she has kept it off for nearly 2 years.

oooh Zumbalove to you all! I have the Zumba DVDs and they are my FAVORITE out of my 25 different dance workouts. Everything else is too aerobicized for my taste, Zumba is way more fun! Instead of the traditional 32 counts for each move, Zumba is based more on the structure of the music. I can't mention my classes on this post, as it irritates some people and they think I am just trying to advertise myself. Really, I am truly just a Zumbaholic! But you can also check out www.zumba.com to find classes anywhere in the world (not just mine), and more in your area. It makes me smile to read about other Zumbaistas!
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Anti-Zumba posters...I am answering a question here to other Zumbadores so don't roll your eyes, just keep scrolling. Zumba has just exploded in DC in the last few years, so that is what the recent craze is all about. And note I have plenty of non-Zumba related posts on this site.

I wasn't advertising my class, I do that on the event side. I was answering a question about Zumba if that is ok with you. There is another Z instructor that said where her classes were, but I never have unless someone asks. It is okay to talk about Zumba or Yoga or anything on this board...it's not like we're limited to babytalk. Happy New Year.

Hey 20:40, Zumba is a latin & international dance-fitness workout that is designed to feel like a party and give you an aerobic workout at the same time. It's salsa, merengue, flamenco, belly, cha cha, a bit of hip hop and dances from all over the world. It hit the U.S. in Miami in the 90s, and DC about 5 years ago. Check www.zumba.com for class listings worldwide.

I get DH to loosen up my lower back and obliques with massage, all which hold in your gastrointestinal organs. So if the core muscles tighten up, along with getting squished by baby, it's going to leave little space in the intestines for food to get through. I agree with all the food postings and exercise postings, anything you can do to loosen up and get things moving.