My Coach

Since the birth of my third boy, I have been pretty disciplined when it comes to exercise. I have never been one who doesn't have to try hard to look her best. I am not petite. I am not "tiny." (Someday, I will do a blog about women's silly habit of calling of each other "tiny." But I digress...) Not that I don't have plenty of room for improvement, especially right after Christmas, but anyone who thinks I don't work hard to be the size I am, forgets that I gave birth to an 11-pounder, a 10-pounder, and a 9+ pounder, and one does not just "bounce back" from that.

I try hard to be healthy and when I feel I look good, I truly feel good and that helps all areas of my life.

That said, I can't always make it to the gym. I do go regularly, but with three boys, sometimes I just can't make it. Fortunately, my husband went ahead and set up a complete home gym for us almost immediately after I paid for a whole year's gym membership. (There was some sarcasm mixed with genuine thankfulness there, in case you missed it...)

Yesterday was one of those days I just couldn't make a gym visit work, so I waited until Jack was napping and took Mitchell down to the basement with me to keep me company. He loves that. Often times, he will do push ups or sit ups or make up his own completely ridiculous exercises that look more like fun than work.

This time though, my workout was actually something he could help with! He had my stop watch and timed me when I needed it. He stood on my feet so I could do sit-ups and yelled "punch me!" or "tickle me!" or "grab my elbow!" every time I sat up. He counted all my sets for me. He kept shouting, "Faster, mom! Faster! Time's almost up!"

He often gets in my way down there, especially when he wants to help or have a turn with the squat rack, but I have to say, yesterday, he was awesome! My favorite part was right at the end, after the timer went off and I was done. We were putting things away and he high-fived me and said, "What's gonna work, mom? Teamwork!"

Brain Injuries

Today we were releasing some extra energy by throwing balls at each other in a battle for the domination of the earth (the basement.)

Before you start imagining getting socked in the temple by a baseball or a football, I will add that these balls were all hand picked by mom and were all soft enough to be deemed safe.

At one point, right after I landed a sweet shot right on Mitchell's noggin, he fell over and said, "Oh mom! you hit my brain! Now I can't even think anymore!"

This explains so much! So many times, I have wondered why Mitchell's brain isn't functioning properly. We now know that one too many soft squishy ball to the head has caused some slight brain injuries.

Boredom FIghters

We had a boring day at home today.

Sicknesses have taken on a whole new meaning since having kids. I don't just feel badly for a day or two, tough it out, and get back to life. Now, one boy gets sick. Just as he is feeling better, he passes it on to another brother. This repeats until every one of us have gotten sick seperately! No two of us ever seem to go through it together, drawing out total sick days until I stop counting them.

This kinda takes us out of commission for a large chunk of days! I can't even go to the gym as I can't really exercise while sick, nor can I bring even one sick boy in there for fear of infecting everyone else!

Yuk. I hate it when we all get sick...

So back to our boring day. We are just running out of things to do and driving each other crazy. I sent the big boys down to the basement alone for a while though and they were happy enough to escape Mom the Grouch. When I went down to check on them, they had dug out their light sabers (or, life savers as Mitchell calls them) and were busy attacking each other and the couches.

An idea hit me then: why not replace the batteries in these old things and return them to their functioning, though obnoxious, state? So we hunted up all the "dead" toys and had a little toy clinic where we fixed 'em up! The result was something amazing to watch!

And here are my two boredom fighting super heros:

I'd Say That Counts

As I sent the big boys off to the basement for a little "quiet" time so I could go upstairs and shower uninterrupted, I reminded them that they needed to stay put until I came down to get them. Being the lone female in my house, I don't love tattling visitors while showering. A girl's got to have a bit of privacy!

I told them I wanted them to stay playing downstairs and not to come get me unless there was an emergency. Ben looked at me and said, "Would it be an emergency if Mitchell's leg got cut off?"

Yes, I think that would count as an emergency. When I told him they may come get me if Mitchell's leg came off somehow, the launched into a heated debate as to who would come get me and how. Ben didn't think Mitchell would be able to manage the stairs with one leg and a bloody stump, but Mitchell insisted he could hop up on one foot to show me.

They were still discussing other possibly bloody emergencies on their way down the stairs, but somehow they made it through one more quiet time in one piece.

The Dungeon

We have a dungeon.  It is the dark, cold, scary place in which I store a few boxes and also make dozens of trips a week to do laundry.  My washer and dryer are a little old, so they take constant hand-holding, which makes a lot of extra trips down to the dungeon.

Have I mentioned the boys love it down there?  I have to sneak down there to move the laundry along in order to not bring them with me and loose them in the dark, shadowy, spider web-infested depths that run the length of my house.

I'm not sure why, but my boys have wild imaginations and no fear, it seems.  They are not afraid of scary things some kids fear such as ghosts or monsters or skeletons or dark basements.  

Today, while their imaginations were still running in high gear after story time with Dad, they got to talking about our dungeon.  Matt suggested they sleep down there from now on, and they were half in horror, half totally excited at the mere idea of it!  

Ben:  There are huge spiders down there, hiding in the shadows!

Mitchell: Dad, did you know there is a big arm down there that reaches for you and grabs you?

B: Dad!  There are spiky worms down there!  They are small but covered in spikes as sharp as knives!

M: And there are Keeves that suck you in with their legs and eyes and suck you down in!

B: And there are not-so-nice-sheep!  Don't pet them or you'll get stuck to their wool!

M: Big, scary shadows hide everywhere, Mom!

B: Stay away from the boxes, mom!  If you get too close, they will reach out for you and grab you and suck you inside them!

After this, it started to get a bit... creative.  It no longer made much sense, but it was hilarious.  I had plenty of reasons already to not want to do laundry already.  Now I have a few more.

 I'm not sure where they get all of these scary ideas, but I have a suspicion it comes from a certain "big dude" in the house.  I love that they can come up with these ideas and get imaginative and creative with it without actually being frightened.  What a couple of crazy boys...