The thing in my backyard that (barely) saved my sanity

A Diet Coke soda fountain with crushed ice and styrofoam cups? I'm not that lucky.

A nanny? No, but good guess.

A cage? Come on, I'm not that kind of mom.

No, the thing in my backyard that (barely) saved my sanity this summer was our swimming pool. For those of you who have been lucky enough never to have experienced Phoenix in the summertime, picture putting on a fur coat and sticking your head in an oven while blow drying your hair. Then add ten degrees. That is what it feels like every time I step out of my house. Now, for those of you who have never experienced staying inside for weeks at a time with a five year old, a two year old and an infant, picture trying to complete one small task or formulate a rational thought while trapped in the monkey house at the zoo while the orangutangs throw their poo, the chimps scream at each other because they all want the same toy and those little ones with the cute faces climb all over you sticking their fingers into your facial orifices and relieving themselves at will. This is (approximately) what my life would have been like without a pool.

But we do have a pool (thank you again to my dear husband for choosing such a wonderful and well equipped home), and up until school started we used it daily. At first getting three kids in their swim suits, slathering them with sunscreen and locating the myriad pool toys scattered across our lawn seemed like a daunting task, but when weighed against raising my children from a psych ward it didn't sound so bad. We eventually whittled our pre-pool routine down to a few quick minutes thanks to aerosol sunscreen and the decision to permanently store our suits in my bathroom and the towels on the pool fence.

Layla is absolutely fearless in the water, and will jump right into the deep end and retrieve dive sticks from the bottom. Weston has moved up from floaties to a flotation pack that allows him to use his arms and legs in more of  a swimmingesque manner (as opposed to bobbing up and down with water wings), and will travel all over the pool playing games and racing Layla. Being the baby of the family, Dylan prefers to be held over sitting in her floatie, but she is a good sport about being splashed by the other kids.

My favorite thing about the pool is how relaxing the evenings are after a long swim. My sweet little children are actually sweet little children, all tuckered out from sunshine and exercise, and offer little resistance to a few minutes of after dinner TV and an early bedtime. I still yearn for the days when we can go for walks, ride bikes and play at the park, but until then I remain forever grateful to our pool.