One Hour at the Gym

9:30AM Arrive at the gym for one hour of child-free exercise. I'm hoping to read while getting some cardio exercise.

9:31AM Sign the girls into childcare, drop stuff off in locker room

9:35AM Recumbent bike, perfect for reading, becomes available. Work out begins.

9:42AM I see the child care woman enter the gym, obviously searching for someone. She makes a beeline for me.

9:43AM I am back in the child care room. La Nina had an accident and she is teary eyed over the whole thing. While I was surprised she had an accident, it sort of made sense. She was wearing her gymnastics leotard and didn't get it off in time. Her leotard, sweats, panties, socks and shoes are soaked.

9:45AM I am at the car, digging through Carly's emergency clothing stash. Thankful that at somepoint in my life I was organized, I gather up a full change of clothes--appropriate for gymnastics or regular wear-- and head back into the gym.

10:00AM La Nina is wiped, changed, comforted and resettled in childcare. I took her clothes in a plastic bag to my locker and I'm back in the gym, no bikes are available. I search for a piece of cardio equipment that will allow me to read while I sweat. Ok, a little false start, but that's ok. I still have 30 minutes.

10:10AM I see the child care person again enter the gym. It never even occurs to me that she could possibly be looking for me. She walks past me, then circles back and stops at my eliptical trainer. No effing way, I thought. (Editted slightly because my mother reads my blog.)

10:11AM I'm back in child care and Maggie has a bad diaper. And I mean bad. Let me tell you there is nothing to interrupt a work out like a 2 year old with a blow out. It's been a long time since I've seen anything like that. I'm actually sort of awestruck for a minute. She's saying, "Stink, Mama, stink". "Oh, yes it does, dear. Oh yes it does."

10:13AM I back at the car to get Maggie a change of clothes. I break open the emergency clothing bag for a second time in 30 mintues and find something for Maggie to wear. I don't think I've accessed the emergency clothes since November. Amazing.

10:23AM It's a seven wiper. "It" was literally everywhere. Maggie is cleaned, changed, comforted and resettled in child care. I rinsed her pants and double wrapped them. I head back to the car. I'm not putting these in my locker with my clean clothes. There are already pee-pee clothes in plastic in my locker. But I draw the line at blow out sweats. I don't care if I rinsed and double wrapped them. The clothes in my locker are clean. The clothes in the bag are not.

10:25AM I start to look for a cardio machine and realize I only have 5 minutes left before I have to leave. I give up on my workout, take my book and read in the locker room until it's time to go.

10:30AM I sign the kids out of childcare and head to gymnastics.

By the numbers, I spent a total of 62 minutes at the gym. Only 17 minutes were spent exercising. I spent 33 minutes dealing with my kids and their issues. I made 3 trips to the car. I redressed both of my girls and I dealt with 2 sets of soiled garments. It was quite a work out. Thank goodness the girls will be in pre-school when I go to the gym tomorrow.