When I Grow Up

After many, many efforts to go back to sleep at 4:00 am…after hitting snooze no less then 5 times…after coming up with every excuse on why it would not be in my best interest to get out of bed and workout this morning….45 minutes had passed on a wasted conversation with myself. I completely guilted myself into it…I was WIDE awake and have no idea why it’s so difficult to just freaking get out of bed! I got myself together and headed down for my meeting with Jillian Michael’s. Right as the video was starting, I could hear the click of a door and knew instantly who was standing at the top of the steps curious about the noise coming from downstairs…I was sure it spooked him. He came down ever so cautiously until he saw my face and then he beamed! Doesn’t it make your heart melt when your child is so happy to see you? Now that I think about it he was probably just overjoyed that I wasn’t the Boogie Monster. It was Luke…after a series of very confused questions about why I was up this early and exactly what I was doing…I gave him the option of watching TV with his dad upstairs or he could stay down with me. I was desperately hoping he would pick the Mickey Mouse Club over me since I hate for people to watch me exercise…true to form…he decided to observe. He laid on his beanbag and I put a blanket over him and proceeded to sweat my way through another workout. Then it happened…Luke went from my sweet son to something along the lines of Personal Trainer/Tyrant. He corrected the form of my push-ups, told me my back was curved while doing bicep curls, told me I was supposed to do 5 jumping jacks not just 4….it went on and on. It was so on my nerves. “Go…to…the….kitchen…..and….get…some….grapes...” I said, GASPING! He came back…he sat again, eating grapes, noting my errors aloud. Then said, “Mommy…when I grow up and become big and can go out for a walk by myself and when I’m walking is that when I will find my wife?” Not sure if Luke was inspired by the scantily clad women in the video or where exactly this came from…but I said, “Yes, metaphorically speaking, that is what happens.” Blink. Blink. (Oh yea, your talking to a child not the exercise guru) “Yes, that is exactly how you will find your wife.” I’m praying for his wife already and hope that’s exactly how he finds her…

Stress Equals Change

Welcome back to me! It’s been a long time…things are just busy and it’s difficult to find the time to just sit, think and type all at the same time. But, here I am. The baby is now eight and a half months old and is cruising all over the house and boy is he a big’un! Huge. Not a roly poly type big, but in a dense bones big. He has an incredibly peaceful disposition and crazy smile. Henry is marching fast into the “three’s”. He is as fun as ever and all smiles. I’m sad that he is turning three…it seems to be the bridge age from baby to little boy. I don’t exactly feel ready for that. Luke has turned into a boy overnight…about to turn five and will be in kindergarten in only a few months. He is as big brother as he can be. He is very caring but a touch bossy, but what else is new about first borns (little dig at my big brother). They have all adapted well to Jonah’s arrival…so, with that update, here’s the bad news…I’ve been dieting. I only seem to have the discipline to diet when I’m at work. So, I’ve basically just maintained. I figured it was time to throw in some exercise…so, while checking out some other “mom blogs”…I stumbled onto the video called “The 30-Day Shred” by Jillian Michael’s. I promptly ordered it and OMGa! It’s been three days and I can barely sit down. I could barely get through it the first day and I was only on level one and it was only 25 minutes long!
Jillian is quite the trainer and I can say, it’s probably the only exercise video that goes by pretty quick and is actually motivating. On the first day, I was sweating profusely and literally huffing and puffing and Jillian says (paraphrased), stress brings change. She is talking about how the killer squats create stress on your body, which brings the changes you want. I’m not sure why but this comment has been stuck in my head for days now…not just because I am shuffling around the workplace like a little old lady today but it’s really kind of profound. I can’t think of any stressful time in my life where I didn’t come out changed and I would say, 99.5% it was for the better. The stress we are all living in at the moment has been really, really super hard. It’s that pit of the stomach type stress…I really think all this stress will and has already changed the lives of many of us for the better. I read an article yesterday about the items and products that are soaring from this economy…seeds, fishing equipment, macaroni and cheese…people are staying home, eating together and finding ways to have fun without spending much money (and maybe catch dinner while they are at it). Going back to basics is not a bad thing and quite frankly, I think most of us missed the basics anyway. So, I'm trying to embrace the stress and welcome the change!