A Plethora of Problems Keep Me From Fitting in Fitness

Normally, I am the queen of at-home exercise. I have a DVD library so that whatever mood I'm in, I can step with Cathe, get my groove on with Allison, find my zen with Sara, or practice pilates with Ellen. My daily exercise is a huge source of stress relief for me, and boy do I need stress relief, especially on days when the monster eczema rears its ugly head. I look forward to Daniel's nap time as my mini-vacation from the demands of daily life. I know, a lot of people probably can't relate, but I like exercising. Stephen and I used to make fun of a t-shirt created at Berry College with a list of natural highs, but exercising really does give me a wonderful, natural high.

So you can imagine my frustration at the onset of multiple exercise inhibiting issues. Some of the issues have been plaguing me off and on since Daniel's birth, such as a general feeling of instability in my pelvis and ongoing back pain from my little Daniel who loves to be toted. However, I know these stresses are part of the job description for mothers of small children, so I just worked through it. I actually decided, after trying an extended rest period that did NOT help, that I just needed to work all those areas and attempt to strengthen them. Anyways, I was not letting those aches and pains hold me back. But a few weeks ago, I started having nagging pain in the joint of my big toe, phantom pain that came and went with no obvious cause. A couple of days, the pain was so intense that I was hobbling around gingerly. I decided another rest was in order. After about ten days of no exercise, I was ready to start back. I did a couple of days of workouts; the toe wasn't worse, but wasn't all better, so I decided to employ the same, grit-my-teeth and get through it strategy I had used for my back.

Well, that same day I bashed my little toe into our kitchen step stool. I felt no pain for about two minutes, but soon discovered that was only because my toe had been completely numb. When the feeling came back, it HURT. I felt like I might have even broken it. Of course, the injury necessitated more rest, although I did go ahead with an upper body strength workout. Another week later, I have decided my toe was not broken, although it has turned a lovely shade of periwinkle violet.

Today, I finally attempted a full body, low impact workout. It went well. My toe was a tad sore, but not a major issue. However, when it was time for the relatively intense Pilates floorwork, Nathan (who was not sleeping) decided it was the perfect time to come lay on Mama, lean on my legs that were hovering in the air (making my major ab work more intense than I really wanted it to be), and generally sit or stand anywhere that would disrupt my good form. Ah well, life with small kids. I love 'em, but they are demanding, even the good ones like my two precious boys. And what little kid can resist the human jungle gym that is an adult laying on the floor with limbs splayed in all directions?

My big boy

I've written a post about Daniel, so I thought I'd write a few things about Nathan. He's still a really easy child. Of course, we have to train and discipline, but he's usually pretty responsive (for a three year old). He's got a strong grasp of language, but he's still working through some of the more obscure wordings and pronunciation. He says "yogret" instead of "yogurt," and "mans" instead of "men." He also misunderstands what we say sometimes, although he's always listening. The other day we dropped by Publix and were looking for apple fritters for Papa, and he kept saying, "Where's the apple critters?" Today I was talking to Stephen and I asked if he wanted to go today to get Nathan's C-A-R-S-E-A-T, and Nathan heard me spelling and said, "Mommie, I want a C-G-A!"

I'm afraid Nathan has inherited my wicked sweet tooth. Today we went to Truett's for ice cream, and he ate a cookie and drank a third of my milk shake (and would have drunk more, had there been any left). He loves marshmallows and cookies. However, he also eats many healthy foods. He LOVES creamed corn and corn on the cob. He also likes roasted zucchini, pan sauteed green beans, and grape tomatoes straight from the plant. Another favorite is cheese (something else I think he probably inherited from me).

As far as toys are concerned, Nathan has two favorite things--balls and cars. He loves kicking balls, throwing balls, hitting balls with a baseball bat, and sleeping with them in his bed at night. He plays with his cars like they're little people. "Hi Percy, what are you doing?" The cars go to the grocery store, they play at the play ground, they go to the Mexican restaurant.

When it comes to going places, Nathan is his father's son. Stephen just about goes stir-crazy if he has to stay at the house all day. I, on the other hand, could stay home for days on end, and find myself getting stressed out if I have to run errands on too many consecutive days. Just about every day, Nathan wakes up and one of the first things he asks is "Where are we going today?" On the days when I have to tell him we're not going anywhere, he's always so disappointed.

Now that I have two kids, I see even more clearly that each child is very much an individual. My two children are already very different, but I love them both with such overwhelming love. A couple of nights ago, I was putting Nathan to bed in his crib. I tucked him in, looked over the side and said, "I love you, Nathan." He looked straight up in my eyes and said, "I love you, Mommie!" Now those are the moments a mommy lives for!