Help Me!

[jmez]

A lot of good advice here. I have a 3 1/2 year old boy, 1 1/2 year old boy and twin boys that are 3 months old.

Number one, get them on a schedule and keep them on it. Like was said above, it doesn't matter what is going on or when. The kids schedule is priority one, always. Keep them on schedule.

Nap time. If you have one, or four. They are on a schedule they all sleep at the same time. Gives you two hours to get a workout in. Also should be enough time for you to workout AND let mamma get out of the house and do something.

Do crossfit workouts at home. Put them in a bouncer in the driveway or garage out of the sun and workout, shoot, whatever while they are sitting there.

Early morning or evening. Mornings are tough, mine are up between 5:30 and 6:00 every day. They go to bed at 8:00 sharp. That gives me plenty of time for a workout in the evening. Get a bike and go biking, go jogging, crossfit etc. You will be tired but do it anyway. Great time to workout, sun is still up and it is cooler. Not ideal for leaving and going to the gym but ok for home workouts.

Improvise. Today I mowed the yard, sprayed weeds around the yard, cleaned the dog yard and then blew off the driveway and patio. All while wearing a pack loaded with 62lbs. Afternoon nap time I shot the bow for an hour and then did burpees and hill sprints in the driveway.

Another of my workouts involves wearing a weighted pack and pushing the kids in a jogging stroller on trails in the black hills. If you don't have trails the sidewalk will work as well.

Lunch hour during the week at work. Take your lunch to work. You have an hour, you can get a lot done. I work out every day over the noon hour. If I don't get a chance to eat, so be it. Would rather get in a good workout than take the time to eat.

 

[unm1136]

I remember those days well. I recall diapers overflowing and the kids floating in the car seat with crap up to the shoulder blades. I agree with Dave's dog advice. The success for raising a well behaved dog and a well behaved child come from total control. You structure the days. You decide when nap time and lunch time is. You decide what happens when. You don't give in to the whining and crying and other attempts of the child to manipulate you. You are, after all the parent, and you are responsible for the way they behave, and how they look at the world. There will come a time when they can make their own decisions, first with supervision and then without. By then you will be able to trust their decision making. My oldest just hit her teens, and while she is not as easy to handle as she once was, shutting off the wifi in the house (because it is mine) goes a long way to reminding her who is still in charge, and that I won't put up with nonsense.

That said, this summer my 9 year old and my 13 year old are wanting to run a 5K, for different reasons, so for three days a week we are running together.

pat

 

[Shrek]

Btw , parents of boys in diapers . You never pull the old diaper away until the new one is ready to go on . I'm betting every parent of a boy got hosed once lol. Always keep the nozzle covered !

 

[Lukem]

A lot of good advice here. I have a 3 1/2 year old boy, 1 1/2 year old boy and twin boys that are 3 months old.

Number one, get them on a schedule and keep them on it. Like was said above, it doesn't matter what is going on or when. The kids schedule is priority one, always. Keep them on schedule.

Nap time. If you have one, or four. They are on a schedule they all sleep at the same time. Gives you two hours to get a workout in. Also should be enough time for you to workout AND let mamma get out of the house and do something.

Do crossfit workouts at home. Put them in a bouncer in the driveway or garage out of the sun and workout, shoot, whatever while they are sitting there.

Early morning or evening. Mornings are tough, mine are up between 5:30 and 6:00 every day. They go to bed at 8:00 sharp. That gives me plenty of time for a workout in the evening. Get a bike and go biking, go jogging, crossfit etc. You will be tired but do it anyway. Great time to workout, sun is still up and it is cooler. Not ideal for leaving and going to the gym but ok for home workouts.

Improvise. Today I mowed the yard, sprayed weeds around the yard, cleaned the dog yard and then blew off the driveway and patio. All while wearing a pack loaded with 62lbs. Afternoon nap time I shot the bow for an hour and then did burpees and hill sprints in the driveway.

Another of my workouts involves wearing a weighted pack and pushing the kids in a jogging stroller on trails in the black hills. If you don't have trails the sidewalk will work as well.

Lunch hour during the week at work. Take your lunch to work. You have an hour, you can get a lot done. I work out every day over the noon hour. If I don't get a chance to eat, so be it. Would rather get in a good workout than take the time to eat.

Wow. Impressive.

 

[SDHNTR]

Dude, 3.5 year old son with a monster temper and a mule's stubbornness, and a 1 yr old daughter that won't sit in one place for 5 seconds and is into everything! Here is what works for me... Forget about exercising at home, or thinking you are going to get out after you have been home. If your wife is anything like mine after staying home all day with difficult little ones... Lets be honest... the moment you walk in the door she owns your ass! So don't come home from work until you have got your workout in. Treat your work out like any other important appointment and schedule it into your day. Then spend your time enjoying your kids, not trying to kill two birds. Just my.02

 

[300WSM]

Well I been able to work in some wod's at home and take the baby on some hike's really watching my diet to. Thanks guys for all of the help its really nice to know that your not alone out there.

 

[Shrek]

I'm going to throw a little more out there for you. Remember that your wife is under just as much stress as you and probably more. Not only is she dealing with the same exhaustion and disrupted life you are she also just had her body contored all out of shape and her hormones are wacked too. If she snaps or whatever cut her a lot of slack . Take a deep breath , be the bigger man , and let it roll. Not every new mom goes off the deep end emotionally but many do.

 

[cmeier117]

I have a 3 year old and 1 year old boy. They both had their issues early on, one had night terrors for 3-4 months, then he broke his collar bone and had to sleep on our floor so he wouldn't roll off his bed and re brake it. Took months after that to get him back in his bed because he wanted to be on our floor in our room. Now that is over and they both sleep pretty good and sleep till 7:30 or so. I go on walks with the family 3-4 nights a week anywhere from 2-4 miles depending on how my wife and sons are doing. My wife takes the 1 year old in a Kelty baby backpack and I push the 3 year old in a jogging stroller. I always try and have 60-100 lbs in the Kifaru and luckily for this purpose I live is a really hilly part of town so I get a good workout. So maybe family hikes could work out. I also get up at 6:00 and run 3 days a week (or try to) and do a 10 minute pushup/pullup ab workout.

All that to say try and get them in a routine and help the wife out as much as possible. I am lucky that my wife stays home and takes care of all the kid stuff but I help out whenever I can. You may want to try a p90x type home workout too. I did that for 6 weeks when the first was just born but it was too hard to fit it in and I feel like running I get more of a benefit.

 

[300WSM]

The hikes in the evening work good with momma and when she flat out needs a brake I take the little guy with a weighted pack as well. I signed up today with a group at work who is training to run the Columbia Crossing 10k as a team. It is after buck season this year so I will be able to do it. This will add some more motivation to get out there.

 

[PhillyB]

I have three myself... 2, 4 and 6.

I have a squat cage with pull up bar and a bench. I get all my workouts in at home now. No time for the gym. I recently moved and for the first few weeks my neighbors always asked... what are you doing in your garage at midnight? We can hear stuff banging around and the lights are on?

That is when I get it in... lift after everyone is asleep, run in the morning before everyone gets up, and shoot when I get home. I look at it this way... there are three things that I need to make time for in order of importance:
1) My family
2) God
3) Hunting

Something has to be sacrificed to have all three, so I give up a little sleep so I can concentrate on all three. Been doing it this way for 6 years now. I am committed to the family 10 months out of the year, come August/ September I am rewarded with 2 mos of hunting.

Hang in there, like others have said. The best times of your life are ahead. If you put your family first, the rest falls in place!

 

[fillthefreezer]

just want to thank all you guys that are contributing to this thread, its like birth control

 

[Shrek]

just want to thank all you guys that are contributing to this thread, its like birth control

Then you have days like today as a parent. I just recieved my son's AP exam scores . Calculus 4 , physics 5 , computer science 5 ! 4 is well qualified and 5 is extremely well qualified. He is off to engineering school at FSU in about a month and he has been slamming his grades out of the park for the last year. I couldn't be more proud of him !

 

[PhillyB]

just want to thank all you guys that are contributing to this thread, its like birth control

Then you have days like today as a parent. I just recieved my son's AP exam scores . Calculus 4 , physics 5 , computer science 5 ! 4 is well qualified and 5 is extremely well qualified. He is off to engineering school at FSU in about a month and he has been slamming his grades out of the park for the last year. I couldn't be more proud of him !

I agree... even with my little ones the good FAR outweigh the bad!

Congrats to you and your boy! Thats evidence you've done something right.

 

[Shrek]

I've teared up twice today thinking about him and all the work that went into getting him to this point. Wasn't long ago he was a 6lb 9oz infant. All I want as a parent is for him to be happy and have a better life than I've had. He really has a clear path right now and if he takes full advantage of his opportunities the sky's the limit. Watching your child take advantage of opportunities that you have opened for him is very satisfying.

 

[PhillyB]

I've teared up twice today thinking about him and all the work that went into getting him to this point. Wasn't long ago he was a 6lb 9oz infant. All I want as a parent is for him to be happy and have a better life than I've had. He really has a clear path right now and if he takes full advantage of his opportunities the sky's the limit. Watching your child take advantage of opportunities that you have opened for him is very satisfying.

Heck... my 6 year old caught her first fish over the holiday weekend. I tear up thinking about the look of absolute joy and accomplishment on her face when she pulled it out of the water. To see your child that happy tugs on even the tuffest fellers heart strings.

 

[J-Daddy]

Btw , parents of boys in diapers . You never pull the old diaper away until the new one is ready to go on . I'm betting every parent of a boy got hosed once lol. Always keep the nozzle covered !

As the father of 3 girls I'll tell you that they are capable of that too, lol...Their aim just isn't as good. We babysitted some for a friend of ours who had a boy still in diapers at the time and I've dodged that one once or twice...Come to think of it I think he's still in diapers and he's like 6 or 7 now, lol.
Every kid is different, with some of them the strict schedule and nap times work, with some it doesn't...Our girls are 18, 12 & 7...Older 2 were not bad with schedules, the youngest, well it wasn't happening with her...Kid never took naps no matter what we tried and we never could do a feeding pattern really either...She's the little hard head out of the bunch, other ones ain't bad, she will make you want to rip your hair out, lol.

 

[jquarnberg]

Being a new father at 32 has not been good to my work out routine example here is how the morning went.
Up at 5 start coffee use the bathroom. The little guy wakes up mom was up with him last night so I take him in the ergo +15 lb pack on a hike through the neighborhood. 1 mile in he spits up all over the both of us. Back to the house change and out the door 2 blocks and again so back to the house change. I put him down to play and I do a wod 5 push ups 10 sit ups 15 squats for 20 min. 2 reps in he blows his ass out it was the kind that the diaper is so full that when you open it flows out on to the changing pad. Get him cleaned up 2 more reps and he starts to fuss its time to put him back to sleep. Back to bed he goes after pacing and bouncing. So here I am wondering how do you guys do it? What routines work for you? What time of day? Let me hear what you got any input is welcome.

Sounds like a good work out as is.

 

[Tag stew]

Ha, reading this thread as I finished feeding my 6mo old! I have four future hunters ages 6yrs-6mo so I get it. What works best for me is to try and get my workouts in right when I get home from work before I even enter the door. Once I enter the house forget about it, basically its no different than if I worked a little late. But that's providing you workout at home. Another hint is try tabata workouts, its much faster and great cardio. Another option is once you get baby situated(diaper,fed) take baby out in garage with you while you workout maybe in a bouncer or chair or keep a pack n play out there. This does a couple things, let's you workout, gives mom a little time to herself inside and gives baby something different to look at for an hr or so.

 

[300WSM]

I have been doing good lately ran 2 miles Monday with baby in running stroller, Hiked Tuesday 2miles w/35# pack + baby in ergo and ran 2.5 miles yesterday. I also went for a big hike on Saturday now I just need to keep rolling.

 

[jmez]

Good for you. It is very doable, sometimes you just need to be creative.