Keeping My Heart in Shape

The twins were nine months old yesterday...so I celebrated surviving 9 months of twin-dom by dragging out the treadmill. Mia (cat) just thought I was giving her a new bed amongst the books at our front door.

Between caring for some very needy, fussy twins; running after my active 2 1/2 year old; and working nights at my full-time-job-from home, it's not like I've sat on my tush and gnoshed on bon bons for the past 9 months. I've been a flutter of constant movement during the day and a flutter of constant brain waves at night. I just haven't found the time for good, heart-pumping exercise.

No, strike that--I made a choice. Mommy exercising would mean two babies crying, so I chose to sit and cuddle, snuggle, love, and otherwise "console" two fussy babies. But now that both twins can crawl, it's time.

Yes--I'm not the "I-got-my-beautiful-pre-baby-body-back-in-9-months" woman whom you read about in magazines. I lost all my "baby weight" (plus some) last October when I tried to check out of planet earth after developing a serious case of toxemia, having an emergency c-section, and spending 48 hours in the ICU. But I still haven't managed to make my supposedly elastic skin snap back into its original shape.

The twins' two bodies stretched out my abdomen like yeast rising in one of those silicone bread pans, distorting a rectangle into some yet-to-be-named shape. It's depressing to step on the scale and weigh what I did in college...but yet my tummy looks like one of those hound dogs with the floppy jowls? Argh--twins!!

So, I put up a baby gate to imprison myself in a corner--just me, the fan, and the treadmill.



At first, Wyatt was excited: "Whatcha doin' mommy? I wanna do it! Let me try!!!"

But once he realized I wasn't letting him beyond the gate, he and the twins started crying and fussing.

"Don't you want to stop, mommy?"

Yeah--that's real good motivation for making me want to exercise.

Later, he resorted to slandering the treadmill: "I no like that."

There's no way I can tell my son that I don't really love exercise all the time either, but it's something I need to do if I want to keep my heart in good shape so I can really "live" life to the fullest.

That's not the only kind of heart exercise I do, though.

After Wyatt was born in 2006, I was so overwhelmed with having a new baby that I stopped Bible study for months. It was one of the driest seasons of my life. So once the twins were born, I arranged for babysitters so that I could spend every Wednesday morning in Bible study. Our ladies' group completed three studies just this past spring. We learned some amazing truths about God.

Sure, it has been rough to find the time to focus my mind and heart on Scripture. But, it was and is worth it.

Physical exercise. Spiritual exercise.

I have to convince myself that both are of great importance to keeping my heart in shape...no matter what my children think.