Pentecost Sunday

Happy and blessed Feast of Pentecost! I want to try to do a little each day, because I miss writing. I'm not promising anything though. It seems like every time I get on the computer, I just honestly have something better I need to be doing. I do now, as a matter of fact, but I'm holding a baby and am stuck in a chair, so might as well type). I'm not as quick of a worker anymore, I need more rest, and I can no longer multitask due to the cognitive issues (anyone who has fibro/CFIDS or knows someone with it knows what I mean). That means that my daily duties take much longer.

Phillip will be six months old on the 13th. I can't believe it! He already has two teeth and is getting a third. He seems very precocious as far as milestones go, which is such a blessing. With every child, I worry about development since Gianna- with Phillip, where I had to stay on meds during the pregnancy, I worried more.

The weight loss from his birth isn't going so good (says I as I eat my banana pudding ice cream...oh, man....just get me some Resier's Hot Buttered Rum and banana pudding ice cream...can anyone guess which one of the seven deadly sins I tend to fall into?). Seriously I have to lose weight, so this will be my last bowl for a while *sniff sniff*

Although, I think I am working out aerobically. Experts recommend aerobic exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes at least 3 times a week, and anaerobic exercise (weight lifting, etc.). Here is my workout routine:

Loading a 15.5 lb, 30 lb, 40 lb., 50 lb, and 62 lb. child into the car. Two, sometimes three of these need physical help. The car is an average of 20 feet from my door and this takes about five minutes.

Repeat procedure when we arrive at the church. Pick up the 15 lb. weight and the 30 lb. weight. 30 lb. weight is clumsy and frequently stumbles because he won't look where he is going. Enter church

Genuflect and kneel. Wrestle with 50 lb. child and 30 lb. child for the length of a Low Mass- sometimes more so, sometimes less. Repeat move from kneeling to standing to sitting a minimum of 10 times. Work on flexibility when the toddler drops the missal over the pew between the pew and the cry room window, when I have to stretch my leg to keep one child trapped in the pew while I grab the other, or when I have to stop my autistic daughter from bolting out the door while nursing the baby because there wasn't a Mass offered at the side altar today like there was yesterday adn that threw her routine off and then cover her mouth when she screams until I can take her to the bathroom, calm her down, and repeat procedure. Go up for Communion, with 30 lb. weight and 50 lb. weight, recieve, return to cry room, repeat kneel, stand, sit about five more times, then go forward again after Mass to light a candle with each kid, then load up diaper bag, put ten pound weight over shoulder (slight exaggeration), put 15 lb. one in 5 lb. car seat, walk to car, strap all the kids in, and collapse in driver's seat.

I'm sweating at the end of it. My heart rate is up. I'm very frequently sore afterwards. I say it qualifies. I bet you anything a doctor couldn't do it. When it's a High Mass, with all the standing, sitting, and kneeling and genuflecting I could sell it as a workout video. ;) (They're usually very well-behaved; I just have a baby, a toddler, and an autistic child which feels like having toddler twins)

And I wouldn't give it up for anything. As long as I am still physically capable, I pray for the grace to keep it up. I've grown more in four months (we were going to daily Mass intermittently the last six weeks of my pregnancy with Phillip and after his birth, but it was only at 8 weeks postpartum we started going regularly daily). I didn't think the experiment (that was what it was) would have such amazing results.

I didn't think I had the energy. I don't have any less, and often more, from going. I didn't think I could get up that early. I still don't like it, but it's doable. I didn't think the kids would enjoy it, that it would burn them out. They love it. Not in a "fun" way, but they get upset when we miss it. The effects have transformed our family.

Amazing, huh? Well, I essentially reinvented the wheel- I'm not the first one to discover this. But I thought I had every reason in the world not to go- distance, money, time, energy, health, kids- and all those reasons have just seemed more reaosns TO go.

I'd love to write more about this, but I've got to go to bed if I'm going to Mass tomorrow.