The care and feeding of mommies

I was at a cafe last week with a friend. Me with my 4-month-old and she with her 3-month-old. My friend was already there when I arrived, so I quickly went to the counter and ordered a large cappuccino and a flaky cheese-filled pastry. My friend was drinking regular coffee and when the waiter brought my drink, she asked him whether they had sugar-free or low-fat cookies. 'Yuck!' I thought, but didn't say out loud. In the end, she got a little quiche and didn't eat the crust. Later that day, it dawned on me. Why had we picked such different breakfast fare? It's because she has two children and I have three.

Yes, when you have three children under the age of 3 you can eat anything you want!!!

Let me explain. Every woman gains weight during pregnancy, whether the child she's carrying is her first or her 20th. The rate at which that woman loses that weight depends on many things, the most important one being whether she actually can find a free 5 minutes in the day to eat!

That's my diet secret.... as much as I try to take care of myself, there are so many times in my day when I have no time to eat. So, when I finally get a moment of respite to sit down and eat...well, it doesn't matter what it is. I can eat that flaky cheese-filled pastry because my body needs fuel and who knows when my next chance to re-fuel will be. Pass the jelly donuts!

You might be laughing, but think about the last time you were at the table with a mom of small children. Unless she had some helpful older children, she likely spent the better part of the meal helping the little ones eat....dishing out food for them, cutting it into little pieces, helping them with their forks, spooning food into their mouths. It didn't leave her much time to eat. So yes, she could have taken a portion of the most fattening food on the table and still not eaten as many calories as the other guests. This is kinda my philosophy... if this is all I get to eat for the next few hours, it better be something good!

If both of my hands are occupied with childcare tasks, then eating takes a back seat. At the moment, that's my life. I slurp down at least one cup of coffee in the morning I get the boys fed and dressed and ready for gan. Then I have a nice half-hour walk up and down the hill with a stroller full of kids.

A mom of small children gets daily exercise whether she wants to or not... it's called pushing a stroller! Even the oldest of my three little puffballs still sits in the stroller - and he's heavy! I recently weighed my kids and realized that I push 63+ pounds of yumminess when I have all three of them in my stroller. (yes, 3 kids in a double stroller, I will explain the mechanics of that sometime later) We are peasants without a car, so the only way my boys are getting to their respective nursery schools is if I walk them there and back. When the boys are gone, I usually take the baby with me as I run errands around the neighborhood... more walking! Add to that the daily weight-lifting of lifting children in and out of cribs and strollers and you have yourself a workout... with cardio and weights!

This is actually something that I'm still working on; finding a balance between taking care of everyone else and taking care of myself. My husband always gets a nice hot lunch because I cook massive crockpot meals and portion them out in aluminium pans in the freezer that he heats up daily. My lunch menu is pretty sporadic. I'm hoping that I will have more time once the baby settles into a schedule. Also, I think that I try to do too much... I will go into the city to run errands when the boys are away and I end up returning home with just enough time to put the baby to bed and leave to pick up the boys. Lunch is falafel, eaten standing at the bus stop.

I really like falafel, but I'm slowly learning to channel my activities into a routine and carve out a few minutes, as needed, to sit down and make myself a wholesome meal. I'm sooooo not into the whole 'I'm a mom, so I need to be a martyr' mentality. I might laugh at my current situation, but I wouldn't take such pride in constantly putting my kids before myself. I think the best parenting advice is something the airlines tell you during the crash safety instructions... when the plane loses oxygen, if you are travelling with a child, put on your own safety mask before you assist the child. I think the lesson is pretty obvious, you can't put an oxygen mask on someone else if you yourself are struggling to breathe. So too with parenting.