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	Wonder Woman Lynda Carter thought it would be easy to step into the boots of Wonder Mom - but her new baby has made her think again.

	Lynda had visions of little James Clifford-taking naps all day while she carried on with her career. Fat chance!

	"I had all these fantasies and visions of the sleeping child and all these wonderful ideas. Her motherhood is a little busier than that," admits 36-year'old Lynda.

	"I have so Much. respect for mymother and women all over the U.S. now who have two and three children and an infant - I don't know how they do it, because my days are full: I'm loving it, but they're full."

Lynda is still hoping to get back to work soon, though. "I'm really not planning on jumping right back into work until he's a little bit older," she says. "I do, however, have some things in development and I've got things that I have to do. But I really want to enjoy him for a while."

Lynda, who, gave birth in January, relishes her new role of mom. So, why did she wait so' long?

"I always wanted to have children, but the time was never right," she says. "I spent the last 15 years focused on my career, and I decided it was time that I focused on the' real things of life. "

“The decision wasn't a difficult one because I wanted a baby so much, and I've wanted a baby for so long. But the reality, I think, is a little more difficult.”

"As soon as I got pregnant, I -quit working because I wanted to enjoy it. My life is more balanced since I've had the baby because I'm far less selfinvolved."

That is, except for one thing. She's working hard to shed the pounds she gained during pregnancy.

"I need to be 15 lbs. underweight for the camera," Lynda groans, She won't say how much she gained during her pregnancy, but through a strict diet and exercise, she has lost half of her unwanted pounds in six weeks.

"Being pregnant and having the extra weight was a shock to me," says Lynda. "I've always had to watch my weight. Lately, my typical day has become taking care of the baby and working out."

She and her husband, Robert Altman, have put a gym into the basement of their new $1.8-million home in Maryland, near his Washington, D.C., law office.

"I was exercising a week after I delivered, although my doctor was not too excited about that," says Lynda. "At three weeks, I was going full steam."

Soon, she will be back to the more sports-oriented exercise she prefers, such as playing tennis and racquetball, bicycling and swimming.

To complement her exercise program, she sticks to a diet of vegetables, fruits and protein-rich foods, all prepared by her cook. She has given up all dairy products, red meat, sweets and fats.

As for the period leading up to the baby's birth, Lynda says: "I loved my pregnancy, although it was tough the last month, being so unwieldy."

“But I wasn't sick a day, and my labor and delivery were under four hours."

She attributes the quick delivery to the fact that even when she was pregnant, she "worked out like a demon," going four miles a day on the treadmill.

Looking very much the screen star, Lynda is all glamour as she talks about her plans to return to work. But when her husband carries their infant into the room, she switches instantly into doting mom.

The star image forgotten, she jumps up with a big smile. As she coos over her son, her eyes light up with a look only motherhood can evoke. Altman, bottle-feeding the baby, says he hopes that James, who has dark hair and blue eyes, will look like Lynda.

For her part, Lynda knows she must now begin a balancing act between family and career. She plans to return to work in May, when she's set to do a new campaign for Maybelline, for which she is company spokeswoman.

"I enjoy my career and I have no intention of giving it up, but it's hot an end-all," says Lynda. "When I'm old, I want to have my family around me not be alone watching my videos and looking at my picture in a book."

Her goal now is to develop a TV series based on the East Coast through her company; Potomac Productions Inc., so she can have the best of both worlds. She says she doesn't mind the long hours during the day, as long as she can : go home at night.

A series can take up to 10 hours a day, eight months of the year. When she was living in Washington and working in L.A. on her short-lived series, Partners in Crime (with Loni Anderson), Lynda was spending half of her time on the road.

"I was just married, and it was tough," she recalls.

But she's delighted to live outside the constant glare and pressure-packed world of Hollywood.

"I love Washington - it's a very exciting place," says Lynda. "And I've made a lot of good friends here. The East Coast is very different from the Eaest Coast, however. But in a way, the things that go on in Washington are not that much different from the kinds of things that go òn in Hollywood. Í think I'm somewhat of an oddity living here in Washington.

"Of course, for people from Hollywood, it's not the place of choice to move to, unless you're going to be the President of the United States. "

"Since my husband lives and works here, it was my only choice. But I really like it here and people treat me in a very special and kind way.”

Lynda, a native of Scottsdle, Ariz., knew early in life-that she wanted to sing, dance and, act.

After winning the title of Miss USA in 1972, she moved to Hollywood. and has since starred in TV series, variety shows and TV movies.

Now she'd like to break into films and star in a major motion picture.

"I'd like to stretch out a little," she says. "I always play a jeopardized woman in a mystery. I would enjoy playing tart or a vamp - someone manipulative rather than sympathetic."

While Lynda has realized most of he dreams, she is particularly pleased with the happiness she has found Witt her husband.

"I'm so lucky. to have found a kind decent, straightforward, non-show business person that I'm very much in love with," she says.

"Robert and I met in Memphis: He was my dinner partner at a Maybelline party. We hit it off, and it was a wonderful flirtation.

"Then he came to Florida to my tennis -tournament, and we started seein each other. I've known him for five years, and-we've been married four."

Now that she and Altman know the joy-of parenthood, will there be more Wonder Children on the, way?

"Robert wants to have two children, says Lynda, adding: "We'll see."