I want to workout in my home. I have even purchased some equipment to help me in my endeavors, but I never can seem to keep up the habit of regularly burning those calories at home.
Our current situation has my husband and me raising three young kids, my husband juggling an exceptionally stressful career, me working part-time and staying home raising our family, us balancing church responsibilities, our kids active in tee ball, dance, and children's activities in our church. Working out is low on the list of priorities. Over the last couple months though, I have been attending Zumba classes at a nearby church two nights each week at a rate of $5 per class. I love going, and I don't mind the cost because my long-term health is worth $10 per week! Last night, though, our schedules had a serious conflict, but I had a stern resolve that I was working out, no matter what. Nights like last night are why I don't workout at home though.
My husband and I both worked during the day, and we had already eaten dinner and taken kids to tee ball practice, and I was planning a 40 minute workout with Zumba for the Wii. I knew my husband had a meeting that he planned to go to in a few minutes, and I thought I could squeeze in a quick workout while he was gone. As I bent down to put the Zumba disc into the Wii console, my 18 month old son came over to me with an odor. It was clear that he needed a new diaper. My husband had a meeting to go to within a few minutes, but he reluctantly agree to change our son's diaper before he left. So I went ahead trying to get things going on the Wii. For some reason it wouldn't work, and I realized the little receiver communicator piece that is supposed to sit on or around the TV had gotten knocked down by someone's little hands. I got it figured out and started my workout. My two daughters wanted to workout with me, and I cautioned them that they should scoot away from their mama for their own safety.
The three of us were getting involved in the first of many songs. It was fun. We were stepping and sliding and punching the air when my husband finished the diaper change and brought the little boy back into the mix and headed out the door to his meeting. Our son saw my Wii remote and thought he needed to hold it, so he began attacking me while I was still in motion. He grabbed and reached and reached and grabbed, but my cat-like speed was no match for his less than 3-feet-tall frame. When he realized I wasn't going to stop to allow him to take away my Wii remote, he grabbed on to my right ankle and hung on tight while he wailed about this terrible injustice! He got to go for a little ride before I realized his resolve to hang on to my leg might get the both of us hurt. So, I scooped his crying little body up and grabbed his chair from the table in the dining room where I could strap him to keep us safe! I pulled it into the living room while he kicked and screamed under my arm, sat him down so he could watch, fastened the straps, and I resumed dancing within five feet of him. He began to cry as if he had been deserted. I did my best to ignore him, and I continued my calorie-torching dancing.
Though I was ignoring him, his sister wanted to console him and help him to stop crying so she ran upstairs, grabbed the Kindle Fire and gave it to him while it played some songs. All the while, I am sweating to my Zumba! When she finally got back to her own version of Zumba beside me, she apparently forgot the rule about keeping her distance from mommy. I reminded her a couple times, "Mommy.... (huff).... (puff)... is... moving... (huff).... around.... a... lot... scoot... over... so... (puff)... you... don't... get... hurt!" We danced and moved, and she zigged when I zagged, and my heel connected to her little arm while I was mid kick. She alerted me to the injury, but I could tell that she was injured emotionally more than anything, so I kept on moving and dancing while she cried on the bench in our living room.
While she still cried from getting a gentle kick (that she had been warned about numerous times), her brother decided to throw the Kindle Fire across the room in anger from being strapped in his booster seat for his own safety. Once the Kindle was lying on the floor, he decided to mourn his loss by screaming as loud as he could. The oldest of the three was beginning to lose interest in the fitness program, and she went to the kitchen to get a drink for her and her crying sister. I'm still dancing. I could see from the corner of my eye that our oldest was getting two very large cups of water filled with ice. It looked rather refreshing. I was super sweaty by this point. When the song finished, I grabbed my own water, and took a nice long drink. The strapped-in young boy apparently felt thirsty too because he was crying and motioning for my water bottle. I handed it to him as the next song began and I resumed my calorie massacre. He threw my water bottle to the floor in anger as well.
His sister had by this point recovered from her injury, and she went in search of her own beverage. When she got to the kitchen, she began to get her own cup with ice water, and our oldest daughter became outraged that her sister wanted to get her own beverage because there had been one already prepared for her. What happened next, I can only describe as a very loud cat fight that caused me to PAUSE the Wii. The fight between the two girls was about a cup of ICE WATER. I sent the screaming, crying, mass of older daughter to her bedroom while our younger daughter got her own cup of ice water. I went back to the living room, where our son was staring at our crying older daughter as she cried her way up the steps. I hit resume and went ahead with my workout.
My mom-eyes were still monitoring the kitchen situation where our younger daughter was asserting her independence from her sister's ice water regime, and she was filling a different cup with water and ice cubes. As I was doing leg lifts, I heard a small gasp and saw about 12 ounces of water and ice go flying across the kitchen, dripping down through all kinds of worksheets and art projects that came home from school today. I was so frustrated with the whole mess of an attempt at working out that I ignored her and kept on dancing, realizing that the mess was just water, and it would wait for me.
Naturally, the daughter who had been exiled to her room for her extreme overreaction about a cup of ice water wondered when she could come rejoin our wonderful Zumba group. I gave her a time and some stipulations through my huffing and puffing and side stepping and squats. She rejoined the mess just as the last song was coming on. He brother was throwing the Kindle Fire some more, and her sister was partly dancing while keeping her distance and retrieving the Kindle for the loud little boy to keep throwing.
For this particular workout, the cool-down song is "Bailamos" by Enrique Iglesias, and when I heard the beginning notes of the song I said outloud, "Praise the Lord!" The girls looked at me with confusion on their faces, but I knew the only way that I can burn any calories at home is with the help of the Almighty! My Wii told me I burned almost 500 calories in that 40 minute crazy-fest! And I thought to myself, "This is why so many young ladies are overweight! This was a nightmare!"
Working out with small children around is a chore! Even if I liked working out, it would still be a miserable experience! Besides all the mess that I just described is the "mom guilt" that comes with not giving my full attention to my children in the evenings. I miss them while we are apart during the day, and I know they need me to hear about their day and their frustrations.
I know we have another conflict later this week, and I am not sure how I will proceed! My out-of-the-house Zumba class is my preferred method of working out, but my husband has more meetings on Thursday during Zumba time, and I cannot justify spending money for the class and a sitter!
What do you do to make exercise a priority? Leave a comment below!
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentlesness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentlesness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
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