Multi-Tasking X: How to Exercise and take care of the kids!

Ok, so the only time of day that I can exercise is between 3 and 6 pm on most days.  Some might ask, why don't you get up before the kids get up?  Answer:  I can not get up at 5 am to exercise, it is not an excuse, it is just the way it is.  By the time the kids go to sleep by 8pm, is not a time for me either so I am left with the afternoon when everyone is usually home and awake.

Well, today is like any other day except the kids are home for Memorial Day.  Right now I am doing a P90X/Insanity hybrid from Beachbody.   Most routines take between 45 min to an hour.  Today was a day when I was doing P90X.  It started off good, my little boys (Michael, Matthew and Christopher) were napping still and my older 2 were playing quietly (which doesn't happen often) and Mark was hanging around.  I had just finished the warm up and I hear the screams of children from their rooms, "Let me out"!  So, it is time to go into multi-task mode.  I told the big kids to let the little ones out of their rooms and to try and keep them playing in their rooms.  That last for about 5 minutes when the littlest, Christopher comes out with a sleeve of crackers trying to open them.  Inbetween push-ups and pull-ups I worked on opening it for him and taking some out for him before he grabbed them all and proceeded to drop/crush them everywhere.

Once I got him settled the older two, Abigail and Daniel come out with crackers and proceed to sit and watch me.  Usually it doesn't bother me to have an "audience" but when I am doing weights, resistance work, etc, I don't want people not only sitting behind me on the couch but eating on top of that.  I kindly told them to take themselves somewhere else!  Once they all left, I did have a good 15 - 20 minutes to myself for the carvan of kids came out of their rooms into the living room.  Luckly, I was almost done.

Today actually was a quieter day then most. Some days I have all 5 of them "exercising" with me.  Most days it can be fun to have them exercising with me.  It is especially cute to see the little ones try to do the different moves.  It is also cool for them to see me exercise in hopes that they will see exercise as a good thing ( I never so exercise as a "good" thing until the last year or so). 

As I write this I am refering battles between ninjas...

LIife with 4 boys...

Back Again!

It has been a long time since I last blogged!  So much has been going on.  I thought of trying to capture it all here but it would be WAY to long!  So I am going to start with what I have been doing the last 4 almost 5 months.  My focus since the beginning of the year has been my health.  I had started doing P90X last year and was starting to see results but my diet was not as good as it could of been.  I stopped doing it because I started to get discouraged that I wasn't seeing the results I was hoping for.
 At the beginning of this year, I start another program of Beachbody's called Turbofire.  It is an intense cardio workout.  It reminds me of Jazzercise, except on steroids :-)  I have been having so much fun doing it! I have noticed that I have continued to get stronger, more cardiovascular endurance and have lost some inches.  What I haven't been losing is the weight.  In the past 4 months I have lost about 5 lbs.  I was surprised to say the least.  I have been eating well and exercising 6 days a week, so what is the problem?  I had recently gone for a physical and blood work and found out that I have a Vitamin D deficiency and my thyroid was not functioning properly.  I am not officially hypothyroid yet, but I am on the fast track to it.  At first when I found out, I was happy because I felt like I found the answer to my weight loss issue.  What happened next surprised me.  I started to find myself feeling very discouraged about the whole situation.  I have been busting my bottom for almost 5 months now and not much to show for it!?!  I really began to spiral down a hole I didn't want to go into. I have been feeling like this is all too much work.  What is the alternative though?  Not eat well, not exercise, not mentally take care of myself?  I already know what the consequences of that is and I don't like them. 
I read a quote on someones FB page that said, "There are 3 choices in life: give up, give in or give it all you got".  It is easy to give up or give in.   To give it all you got is hard, but I have to believe the payoff  will make it worth it.  Besides, I have 5 precious lives that count on me and they need to have a healthy mom and  a mom that they can look up too. 
I hope and one of my goals is to use this blog to keep me accountable.  I will also share news about the kids and the great progress, Michael and Matthew have been making in leaving with cerebral palsy and overcoming it.  I live with 2 sources of amazing inspiration.  I need to remember that and look beyond the 4 year old twin terrorists that they are right now ;-)  They are the hardest working kids I know!