Murphy's Law

My sister decided to instigate a "Biggest Loser" contest in our family. She recorded our current weights, and our goal weight. After a few months (I think we're ending at the end of May) we'll record our weight then, and for every pound we don't make it we put a dollar into the pot.

So. I'm not really at the point where I want to lose weight, but I DO need to exercise, and badly. Sure, I go up and down the stairs multiple times a day. I'm constantly lifting my children, and getting up and down off the floor. Once a week I push a heavy cart of children and/or groceries around a store for an hour. But it's still not a condensed, get-your-heart rate-going kind of regimen.

The last time I went skiing with my family I made it about a run and a half, and then I was kaput. It was embarrassing, to say the least. So instead of poundage, I decided to make my goal to exercise three times a week for a half hour each time. And I thought it would be simple-I'd get up before the kids, exercise for half and hour to TaeBo or with Dance Dance Revolution, and then get all showered and breakfasted before my busybodies are up and at 'em.

This is where Murphy's Law comes in to play. Every time I try to get up before the kids, they end up waking up early. They're usually 8:30ish kind of kids. So when my alarm goes off at 7:15, inevitably at least one of my kids gets up about then, too. What's up with that? I've only half-succeeded just once: I started the TaeBo tape, and about 30 seconds later Jakob wandered out of his room. As I attempted to force my limbs into movements they haven't done in ages, Jakob took one questioned look at me, and said, "Uh, Mom? What are you doing?" I replied, "Working out. Do you want to join me?" He said, "No. It's stupid." Although later in the tape when they were doing side kicks Jakob said it was "cool". And this morning when my alarm went off, I hit it, and immediately Troy started scream-crying, so I pulled him into my bed to calm him down (mostly so he didn't wake up his sister), and he and I fell back asleep. (It actually kind of rocked, because all my children slept until 9:15. It was like a reverse Murphy's Law.)

I guess I could work out after the kids are in bed. If I make Pete go in the other room. I have a hard time exercising in front of people, because I'm so uncoordinated. I'm the person in the step aerobics class running into the others, and missing my step, and standing there for a while with a bewildered look on my face because I can't figure out the sequence of moves.

So until I get some kind of miracle wherein my children stay asleep until they're supposed to get up (Benadryl?), maybe I should count that extra hour I'm awake as a half hour of exercise, eh?