5:30 again

So for much of the last six months or so I have been getting up at an ungodly hour to go to the gym.  I am a morning person, so it hasn't been much of a struggle.  However, a couple of weeks ago I got a bad cold and an ear infection and I just haven't well enough at 5:30 to drag myself out of bed and go to the gym.  Ideally I'd like to go 3x a week, I feel better when I get in at least 3 workouts a week.  I enjoy the workout and getting my body moving.  I always feel better once I've done it, but sometimes knowing the long day ahead of me anyway, I just shudder at the thought of getting out of my warm bed.  The change I am discovering is not just that I need to go a bit early now that school is back in session, but also because it is dark and cold.  Well, really I am going to need to buck up because dark/cold is the order of the day for the next few months.  So this morning I did just that and I feel good for it.  Say a prayer that I can keep it up again, I know I'll feel better, I just need to remember that in my early morning stupor.

Anyway, it is something I am contemplating.  I am very admiring of women who manage it all, work outside the home, family, time at a gym. I am busy all the time and Robert has recently been giving up on his nap, so I am trying to figure out how to deal with that.  Harry didn't give up a nap until he was in preschool.  In fact, thinking about it,  I always had Harry in some form of pre-school/ mother's morning out which meant I had 3 or 4 hours to myself most weeks when I was alone (a key thing) and could get chores done.  Sometimes it is better not to put things like this down on paper, but now I have a little more sympathy for myself.  I don't know there is any solution, but maybe I'll start thinking about it.  It is lovely to be able to be home for my children, but it is odd that means that I am not always able to find time for myself.  I don't think there are any ideal ways to be - at home parent / working parent - it is a balancing act.  The goal is to be a good parent and to figure out how we can best live and love together.