And This Little Piggy Stayed Home

Zip’s favorite pastime is to sit on my legs while poking his fingers into my abdomen, singing, “Squish Yer-Belly, Squish Yer-Belly, Squish Yer-Belly!”

The year between having Tizzy and getting pregnant with Zip, I was in the best shape of my life. Two weeks after my c-section, I was walking the three mile reservoir near our house, and did so at least four times a week if not more. I felt great, was in excellent shape and my pre-pregnancy jeans were loose!

But, I don’t do pregnant well, and as soon as I got pregnant for Zip, that all stopped. All I wanted to do was sleep, and, with a 14 month old, even that wasn’t happening much.

I’ve tried over the years to get back into walking regularly, but, logistically it’s been tricky. Getting the boys in the double stroller, making it through the 3 mile walk without melt downs, snack attacks and ultimately, fellow stragglers turning my 12 minute mile into an all day affair – in addition to 112 degree summer’s – I now have a muffin top that’s worth singing about.

I’ve never been a gym person, preferring in the past, to exercise outside. The one time I did join a gym, presumably to meet boys, I ended up going a total of six times during my 12 month commitment. It just seemed like more work to drive across town, change into sweats, work out for an hour in a sweaty gym, shower, change back into street clothes, and then drive wherever I was going next. It made so much more sense to just ride my bike everywhere.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in the park with a friend while our boys played, and she started telling me about her very expensive gym, that offers 3 HOURS of childcare a day, tons of classes, a family pool, restaurant, Wi-Fi – the list goes on and on – I couldn’t help but go check it out. 

Granted we don’t do expensive anything. We just had our first overnight away from the boys – something we’ve been dreaming of for five years – a month ago, and it consisted of trading houses with my mom while she watched the boys, pizza and a movie and a drink at a real bar. It was very luxurious! Really!

So, I went to visit this gym and IT was luxurious. 

I did the math, and while still ridiculously expensive, I figured the daycare and pool alone would pay for itself. 

I maxxed out my three day visit, and aside from being paged to the daycare the first day because Zip wasn't as potty friendly as I'd thought,  getting paged the second day after he got into a fight, and then finally, Zip refusing to go the third day because he didn’t want to wear the number tag they pin to the children’s shirts for ID, I was still committed to making this work.

I signed up last Tuesday with a ten day bail out period if it didn’t work.

The boys and I went swimming that night and had a wonderful time, despite listening to a man in the lap pool, hacking and spitting, hacking and spitting.

The boys got sick the next day.

Every day this week, I woke up to the radio announcers listing the various schools in our area that have been closed due to children contracting the swine flu. I’m less concerned about actually getting the swine flu from the gym, than I am about paying the expensive premiums if we don’t go. Googling germs and gyms didn’t leave me feeling any more confident that we wouldn’t spend half this year sick just by attending the place.

Then I got sick. 

I went to bed early last night, then woke wide awake at 2:30 am and spent the next three hours, waves of nausea washing over me, running to and from the toilet bowl contemplating the pros and cons of this gym. 

Part of me really, really wants it. But, the fact that we haven’t been able to go all week, and the fact that Zip may get himself kicked out during the first month, makes me wonder if my frugal ways are not cut out for this much luxury.