Two weeks of exercising.

So last week... was not a good week for exercising! Somehow the days just escaped me through this and that, and before I knew it it was Saturday and I still hadn't managed to exercise. At this point fate intervened in the form of my kids, who both climbed into the double stroller and looked at me with pleading little faces until I took them for a walk. So it wasn't a complete shambles, only very close!

Here's where I think I am struggling: First of all, I don't prioritize exercise. I don't get up early to find time for myself, and I'm generally busy enough with the kids and household stuff that I don't often make time to do anything "extra". Which is stuff and nonsense, of course. Loading the kids up in the stroller and taking them for a walk for half an hour takes pretty much exactly half an hour, and I have plenty of half hours. But I make excuses because I don't really want to make the effort, and so here I sit!

Second, (and this is a dumb one!) I don't like any activities that make me feel sweaty enough to shower, because then I have to shower and then that half hour turns into an hour. And who knows what my children will be getting up to during that time? I can always do it while Gwen is napping, but there is so much that has to happen while that little whirlwind is out of commission for a couple of hours. And yet, somehow I frequently manage to find the time to flop on my bed and read Facebook posts for 20 minutes before actually making my way into the bathroom, so again, it's just an excuse. Also, I have to change my clothes, and who has time for that nonsense? Sigh.

The tiny tornado. She is cute though, right? 

However, I did meet my goals the week before, so clearly it is possible to be a stay-at-home mother of two small children and still fit in three little workouts in a week. Here's what I think does work for me (bullet points, you say? Oh, go on then!):

• Having someone to exercise with. I've started walking fairly regularly with a neighbor, and I like walking and talking with her so much that I look forward to it all day. I also super-enjoyed working out with my other sweet neighbor who teaches yoga. It's just easier to stay accountable to yourself if you're also accountable to someone else. 
• Even though I'm usually tired and just want to curl up into a ball on the couch once the kids are in bed, I do have a good chunk of time between their bedtime and mine. So if I can just convince myself to postpone the couch collapse for half an hour, I can get a little exercise in the evenings. 
• Walking works for me. It's pretty basic and not the hippest of workouts, but it doesn't take any special equipment, I can generally fit it into my schedule without much too effort, and I like how it feels once I'm out there. Also, no extra showers or clothes changing required! (At this juncture, I do feel like I may need to emphasize that I do, in fact, shower daily. Please note! It's just the extracurricular showers that throw me off.)

I've already taken steps (ba-dum-ching!) to safeguard myself against having another week like last week by getting a walk in last night after the kids were in bed. So that's one down, two to go for this week. And I just used the word "week" three times in two sentences, and can't think of a good way to fix it. Time to end this post!

(What's that? You want a picture of Espen too? Oh, twist my arm!)

That boy.