Go home mother nature... your drunk!

Jersey. The state that endures a little bit of every season. Fall is my personal favorite. Cool crisp air. Warm sun. Pumpkin Spice lattés and the changing color of leaves painting every street. Summer... not so bad. It can be hot humid and downright disgusting but there is the timeless Jersey shore. Beautiful beaches and boardwalk fun. Spring brings warm days and cool nights. Long walks and hours at the park. But then there is Winter. And Winter in Jersey just plain sucks. December 21 st-March 21st are my three most dreaded months.

I swear I have seasonal depression. And it starts the week before Christmas. I dread the new year. The cold. The darkness. The perpetual grey skies. Snow. The frigid air. Winter coats. I hate it all. Absolutely all of it. Not to mention it is the season of the stomach virus and every other nasty bug that one of the kids will be sure to bring home and share with everyone they come in contact with.

Hating the cold and being a germaphobe... I tend to hibernate... for the entire winter. Like a mama bear with her cubs. Well kinda... bears bulk up and then sleep the winter away and quite honestly I don't blame them. I'd love it if someone could just wake me up when it is over. I hibernate in the sense that I do not leave the house and spend much of the winter getting fat and being lethargic. Sounds like fun? Its really not.

It is in these cold winter months that I have discovered cabin fever is a real thing. I am in the house so much I feel physically ill looking at these same walls day after day. I pride myself on being a hands on mom. Until mid February when we have done every craft, baked and eaten every cookie, put together 9,000 puzzles, covered the refrigerator in sloppy art work, at which point I give up and let the boys stare at the TV for hours on end or even worse play video games until they can't see straight. I know shame on me... but at this point my main concern is keeping my sanity intact.

I decided that I would start exercising for an hour everyday to make up for the somewhat sedentary life I am beginning to get accustomed to... I mean for god sake I don't even go out for groceries anymore. (because shop rite delivers not because I am starving the kids) I figure that while Aidan is at school and the baby is napping the least I can do is a quick work out video and a little time on the elliptical that I stare at everyday thinking I should really use that thing. Seark my easiest child is the only that needs to be entertained during this time and usually "the triple nugget" episode of Sheriff Cali will do it. Seark for the most part is a boy of very few words. He could spend all day in the same room with you and do nothing but cuddle. Of course As soon as I get on the elliptical he goes from Silent Seark to chatty Kathy.

Mom what is that thing your on called.
(It has been in the same spot for months and he has never once asked)
An elliptical machine
Why is it called that?
I don't really know it just is.
What does it say on the screen?
The numbers are your heart rate and how many calories you have burned.
What are calories?
Ummmmm the things that make you fat... you work out to burn them so you don't stay fat.
(good enough right? He's 3 he doesn't need the scientific explanation of a calorie)
Mom your not fat you can keep your calories.
Well mommy is fatter than she would like so....
But mom its only cause you have a baby in your belly.
No Seark there is no baby in my belly.
Yes there is... my baby brother.
No your baby brother is up stairs sleeping in the crib. He is already here... for like a year!
Oh then you better stay on that thing.

Awesome. I am exhausted. Depressed. Suffering from cabin fever and being insulted by my 3 year old. Seriously... Go home mother nature... your drunk! And I need to get out of this house before I lose my mind!