Judgement-Free Zone

Shawn and I decided to cancel our gym membership for 2011 and purchase an elliptical for the home instead. Over the year, for the amount we were paying for our membership plus childcare (while I worked out), the cost of the elliptical was considerably less. There were a slew of other reasons why the convenience of having an in-home machine was better for our family. Plus we figured that if the big ole machine was sitting smack-dab in our bedroom, we would feel guilty not using it and it would motivate us to exercise more.

This morning, Shawn broke in our machine. In a slightly different atmosphere than what he was used to at the gym. His lovely wife lounged in bed, sipping her coffee and reading her latest book, How to Tuck in a Superhero by Rachel Balducci (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to those moms of boys out there!). His two equally-lovely little girls were perched on the side of the bed watching Daddy exercise and offering words of encouragement. (I had put on a show for them to watch, but Shawn was apparently much more interesting.)

"Dada doing? Dada doing?" (from Violet)

"What are you doing, Daddy? Is that your exercise machine? What's in your water bottle? Why are you breathing like that?" (from Clare)

The one-sided conversations continued for the entire length of the workout. Towards the end, Clare was standing alongside the elliptical, moving her arms and legs like Shawn was and she mimicked the huffing and puffing perfectly. I'm thinking that tomorrow, we're going to be locked out of the bedroom during muscle hour.