Talking To Myself

The struggle to get outside is real. At least for me. I follow some bloggers who make it look so easy- it’s an integral part of their lives. I’m sure they have their struggles, but the internet makes it easy to gloss over those.

A couple weeks ago we finally got snow Friday evening and Saturday morning. We played outside Saturday and had fun, and on Monday morning we still had snow on the ground.

We don’t usually get a lot of snow- maybe 2 or 3 decent snows a year, and it’s not uncommon for it to all melt the same day it falls.

So the fact that we still had snow on the ground a couple days later was cause for celebration. After breakfast Sunshine headed out to go sledding with the neighbor boy.

I, on the other hand, sat and debated whether I was feeling up to bundling up the boys and myself and taking them outside. I didn’t sleep well (an all-too-frequent occurrence) and woke up with a nasty sinus headache. I also ate too much sugar the day before and was feeling fuzzy headed.

I want to get the boys outside. I know it will be good for them. But I’m feeling crummy. And River decided to throw away his breakfast rather than finish it. Do I want to continue that little 3-year-old power play? How much energy do I really have?

The thing is, I know if we don’t get outside, I’ll regret it. We love snow, and we just don’t get that much here. There’s no guarantee we’ll get any more snow this winter. This could be it.

I could try to get some work done- Monday is a designated work time, after all, but let’s be realistic. With this headache and mental fuzziness, I wouldn’t be super productive. And isn’t the ability to have a flexible schedule supposed to be a perk of being self-employed?

Or I could just curl up on the couch with a blanket and a book and hibernate for the day and hope my headache goes away. I don’t think the boys would cooperate with that plan of action though.

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Sunshine’s been asking for another sled and I’ve been pushing back. We have a perfectly good sled, why do we need another one? She maintained that we needed a new one because ours was old and scratched.

That day I realized that we do indeed need another sled. Sunshine was busy sledding with the neighbor boy (this is the first winter she’s had someone her age in our little neighborhood to play with and she’s loving it) and I wanted to take the boys sledding.

But I couldn’t because she had the sled.

Ok. She was totally right that we needed another one, just not for the reason she thought.

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Then I realized that my best chance of having the boys actually take naps was to let them play outside for a while. That tipped the balance and I decided to ignore my inner pro-hibernating voice and get moving.

In the end, I drank a lot of water to try to minimize the sinus pressure contributing to a good portion of my headache, then went upstairs to get the boys and myself dressed for outdoors.

Even without a sled we had a good time and the fresh air helped clear some of the fuzziness from my head. We found that trampolines are great fun with a layer of snow on them. Even better, the net kept them in one area and I didn’t have to chase all over the yard after Ocean (the usual routine when we’re outside).

I’ll call that a win.