Desperate times call for desperate measures

This morning was a doozy. Jonz is slightly sick. Enough to not be bouncing off the walls, but not enough to stop him from teasing his brothers and whining like a poor deprived soul more than he regularly does. Al and Goose were in fine form screaming, crying, yelling, and getting in, on, and behind everything they shouldn't.

Rain kept us from escaping to the yard or park. I couldn't think of any errands that needed to be run and didn't want to hassle with having everyone in a confined space, trouble with carseats, or deal with extra screams because boys who didn't want to be were confined in carseats. To top it off, I severely injured a toe while trying to get over a safety gate. For a bit, I thought it might be broken, but it's stopped throbbing and the swelling has gone down so maybe it's only bruised.

I was cranky. All the boys were cranky. We had to get a change of scenery before we went ballistic.

What's a desperate mom to do in such a situation?

This mom decided to put Jonz and Goose in the jogging stroller/bike trailer with the handy-dandy rain cover (that I thought was a stupid asset -"Who goes jogging with their kids in the rain?" but I now praise the skies for). I shoved my feet, including my overly large and pain-ridden toe, into running shoes. Then I strapped Al to my back, grabbed the umbrella, and headed out for a 25 minute jaunt through the neighborhood. I'm sure we were quite the sight.

No really, I'm sure. I saw at least three passersby who didn't try to hide their smirks.

It worked out alright. My toe stopped throbbing after about fifteen minutes. I only heard one shriek out of Goose while we were out. The air was nice and cool. And I got in some excellent cardio because I was moving along 90 more pounds than usual.

I brought the boys home, fed them lunch, put the twins down for naps, and watched Cars with Jonz. Perhaps we'll make it through the day after all.

What have you ever done in desperation?