Day 5

Is it almost bedtime? Today we went with some friends for a long day at the YMCA. We left our house at about 11:30am and didn't get home til almost 6pm! We put the little ones in the play room and went for a quick work out. We hadn't intended for it to be so short but the play room was going to be closing for a break so we had limited time. I believe it was only 25 minutes we had to get down to the lockers and up to the fitness center and back down again. I still got quite the good work out anyways. Then we took the kids for a nice, long swim. We were going to go back to work out once the playroom reopened but after all the negative energy that was going around thanks to the rude complaints we heard (over and over again) about us being in the wrong locker room, plus so many kids to deal with, we were a bit pooped. Originally we had went to the women's 14+ change room because the kids were in the playroom and well, we're women who are 14+. When we came back all trying to juggle diaper bags and kid's coats and of course our children we realized we should really at that point switch over locker rooms. We decided against it though because it would have just been WAY too much of a hassle just to go a room over, and we were really keeping to ourselves in our one little corner anyhow so we didn't expect it to be a big problem this one time. It wasn't as if it was smooth sailing for us having no change tables to work with! However somebody felt the need to make a complaint about us all being in there (it was me and three friends, two with one baby and one with a baby and a toddler) and we were continuously told by staff we weren't supposed to be there (but with no request to move, just to notify us for next time.) for the rest of our visit, even after leaving the change room to get our strollers so we could just pack them up and leave. Each time the suggestion came off rude, as if we had done something absolutely horrible. The thing I don't get is that we were at the YMCA...a family gym and recreational center...and yet nobody was being understanding about how hard it was even in the first place to drag our little ones out by bus to come in the first place, let alone lug our diaper bags, gym bags and swim bags around with our kids! Thankfully there was one nice lady who seemed rather pleased to see the cuties in the locker room and was quite shocked to hear about the feedback we had been getting in regards to it all. She was very impressed that we had even bothered coming out with the kids! lol
It is very frustrating to have to feel as if you are such an inconvenience simply because you have a child(ren). It happens everywhere for us. We get on a bus and deal with dirty looks each and every time because we are needing the space for strollers or to let our kids sit down. We go to a restaurant and get the same dirty looks if our child makes even the tiniest peep. How dare we try to enjoy a meal out like the rest of the world? Going to the mall to shop for clothes (if we can even manage to squeeze the stroller through the small space between racks!). It is so irritating that our world seems to be so annoyed by the existence of children.


In spite of it all I managed to get a cute picture of Benjamin and his buddy Chace after our swim...



I can't believe how big he is getting! He was swimming so well, kicking his feet and even his arms a little bit, climbing into the pool on his own (for me to then catch), dunking in the water and blowing bubbles! Turns out my little fishy is really learning well!

"You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance." - Franklin P. Jones