It's funny how things work out sometimes... After my last post regarding Megan's sleeping habits, some weird things happened. For 3 nights in a row, Megan slept through the entire night (9pm to 6-7am). We started a routine of bathtime at 8pm, one last feeding around 8:45 and she would fall asleep at 9pm. If it keeps up, great!
Had an awesome weekend overall - Friday night we got some grocery shopping in. I know, not that exciting. Saturday Andrea and I both did our long runs. Andrea said something to me which was very nice after our workout - she said she wasn't sure if she would be able to do her long Saturday runs without me there. That was pretty cool. Then we headed down to Rochester Saturday afternoon to see my buddy Adam, who is heading off to law school shortly.
Today I did a 25 mile bike ride, which I expected to be somewhat tough given the temperature outside. What I wasn't ready for was the wind - it was BAD. The first half of my ride I was barely getting over 13 mph, and the entire second half was all above 20! Still a good ride though, and I'm glad I did it.
Anyway, not much else to report. Weekend was good, I'm wrapping up the evening with some video games, and generally staying relaxed. Now, if I can just make it through the month of August. :-)
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Rough Week
I know it seems like all I do is bitch lately, but I think this week I honestly have some real reasons to.
It all started Monday... okay well, Monday wasn't all bad other then the fact that it was Monday. Tuesday rolls around and I get in my car to goto work, turn the key, and nothing. Dead battery. This didn't surprise me as it was flaking out earlier in May. I take Andrea's car to work, trapping her at home for the day. I buy a new battery during my lunch hour, and bring it home only to realize I have no tools to change a battery. How sad is that? No big deal, go visit Grandma Gayle, let her visit Megan, get some tools. Come home, changed the battery, and all is well!
Last night... Megan decides she is going to wake up at 11pm, and stay up. This precipitated an argument between Andrea and I, that in all honesty we both should have seen coming. I don't really want to get into the details of our disagreement, because I'm sure it would come off as one sided (aka, my side). What I can share is the goal, that we both agree on: To have a child that can sleep from roughly 9pm to at least 6am without having to wake us up. The challenge is how do we get there.
Where was I? Oh yes, well Megan didn't end up going to sleep again until roughly 12:15am. I finally went to bed shortly after that and woke up very tired of course. I was late and rushing out the door this morning, and while backing out of my driveway I came too close to the edge and slammed my passenger side mirror into my neighbors garbage can. (it's garbage day) Needless to say, it came clean off. Great, just great.
And my final story to top of this awesome week of suck. One benefit I get at my new job is access to backup childcare through Bright Horizons. For the low fee of $40 dollars, we can drop Megan off 20 times a year. That's pretty damn good rate if we use all 20 days. Basically, Andrea sees them as "Mommy Vacation Days". Works for me! So today we used the service for the first time ever. And what happens on Megan's very first day at a child care center?
Around 11am I get a call at work from the center to inform me that Megan has BEEN BIT BY ANOTHER CHILD! WHAT THE FUCK? She's there for no less then 2 hours and gets bit by another child? They tried to play it off like it was no big deal, saying "Megan didn't seem to be bothered too much, but she does have a mark on her arm." The kicker was, that Andrea said when she dropped Megan off, there were 2 people working in the infant room, and only ONE other child there. There was no way they should have let that happen....
Alright look, I promise I will make a serious effort to make my next few posts more positive. For today, I just needed to vent a little. Thank god tomorrow is FRIDAY.
It all started Monday... okay well, Monday wasn't all bad other then the fact that it was Monday. Tuesday rolls around and I get in my car to goto work, turn the key, and nothing. Dead battery. This didn't surprise me as it was flaking out earlier in May. I take Andrea's car to work, trapping her at home for the day. I buy a new battery during my lunch hour, and bring it home only to realize I have no tools to change a battery. How sad is that? No big deal, go visit Grandma Gayle, let her visit Megan, get some tools. Come home, changed the battery, and all is well!
Last night... Megan decides she is going to wake up at 11pm, and stay up. This precipitated an argument between Andrea and I, that in all honesty we both should have seen coming. I don't really want to get into the details of our disagreement, because I'm sure it would come off as one sided (aka, my side). What I can share is the goal, that we both agree on: To have a child that can sleep from roughly 9pm to at least 6am without having to wake us up. The challenge is how do we get there.
Where was I? Oh yes, well Megan didn't end up going to sleep again until roughly 12:15am. I finally went to bed shortly after that and woke up very tired of course. I was late and rushing out the door this morning, and while backing out of my driveway I came too close to the edge and slammed my passenger side mirror into my neighbors garbage can. (it's garbage day) Needless to say, it came clean off. Great, just great.
And my final story to top of this awesome week of suck. One benefit I get at my new job is access to backup childcare through Bright Horizons. For the low fee of $40 dollars, we can drop Megan off 20 times a year. That's pretty damn good rate if we use all 20 days. Basically, Andrea sees them as "Mommy Vacation Days". Works for me! So today we used the service for the first time ever. And what happens on Megan's very first day at a child care center?
Around 11am I get a call at work from the center to inform me that Megan has BEEN BIT BY ANOTHER CHILD! WHAT THE FUCK? She's there for no less then 2 hours and gets bit by another child? They tried to play it off like it was no big deal, saying "Megan didn't seem to be bothered too much, but she does have a mark on her arm." The kicker was, that Andrea said when she dropped Megan off, there were 2 people working in the infant room, and only ONE other child there. There was no way they should have let that happen....
Alright look, I promise I will make a serious effort to make my next few posts more positive. For today, I just needed to vent a little. Thank god tomorrow is FRIDAY.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Buck o'five
Another 5 day week, with no breaks in sight. Technically speaking, my company handbook says that I cannot take any time off during the first 90 days of employment. But my boss tells me that I earn 1 floating holiday a month for the first 3 months, so I could actually take a day off if I wanted to... So tempting to just take next Monday off!
Our BBQ on Saturday was very successful, I think everyone had a good time. I had to spend most of my time on the grill, but I did get a decent amount of time to talk and meet with everyone. We had slightly more food then we needed, but always better to have more then not enough. Hopefully my bro and sister in law will be coming over later this week for burgers. I tried to get some pictures, but none that I took turned out very well. Bummer!
So my buddy Steve had his blog mentioned in passing, in a Star Tribune article. (click to read the article) How cool is that? I guess they even wanted to interview him, but unfortunately he was out of town so wasn't able to add anything more. It doesn't really surprise me that they would mention his blog - his posts are awesomely articulate and much easier to read then anything I ever post.
Just wanted to close tonight's post with a few pictures of Megan. Enjoy!!
Andrea has taught Peek-A-Boo type game, where she hides behind corners and then comes out again.
I'm pretty sure this is the next step to walking... or maybe somersaults? She's pulling herself up on all sorts of things now - we are at the "watch her like hawks" stage.
Our BBQ on Saturday was very successful, I think everyone had a good time. I had to spend most of my time on the grill, but I did get a decent amount of time to talk and meet with everyone. We had slightly more food then we needed, but always better to have more then not enough. Hopefully my bro and sister in law will be coming over later this week for burgers. I tried to get some pictures, but none that I took turned out very well. Bummer!
So my buddy Steve had his blog mentioned in passing, in a Star Tribune article. (click to read the article) How cool is that? I guess they even wanted to interview him, but unfortunately he was out of town so wasn't able to add anything more. It doesn't really surprise me that they would mention his blog - his posts are awesomely articulate and much easier to read then anything I ever post.
Just wanted to close tonight's post with a few pictures of Megan. Enjoy!!
Andrea has taught Peek-A-Boo type game, where she hides behind corners and then comes out again.
I'm pretty sure this is the next step to walking... or maybe somersaults? She's pulling herself up on all sorts of things now - we are at the "watch her like hawks" stage.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Friday night fun
I left work early last night to head to my 5pm personal training session. I was able to get to the gym early enough to squeeze in a 30 min cardio before the session. I really needed to do that, because I slipped up a few times during the day. Something involving a krispy kreme...
The session was overall a positive thing. We did a full hour of strength training, along with some discussion about nutritional tips for runners. I think that although I have been watching calories for awhile now, it's time to take it to the next level. I have to start keeping track of the SOURCE of my calories, i.e. carb vs protein vs fat calories. I think part of what I can do better is making sure I eat carb calories before and directly after a run to recharge. This will help me fight the "famished" feeling you get after running 5+ miles.
For the strength training portion, it was all core body stuff. That means, no machines, mostly using your own bodies natural resistance. I didn't think it would be all that, but I am sore as hell today. I did do one machine for my shoulders, because I have really bad posture. That has always been a problem, which comes from the fact that I sit in a cube all my life. We also did a lot of lower back exercises, which will help me in the long run, but right now my back feels really tight. I'm going to try and run it out this morning and see how it feels.
The high point of the session was the fact that the trainer had just done the Twin Cities 10-mile run last year. So she had some great advice for me, including to make sure I do some hill training. She explained the layout of the course, and how the first 3 miles are downhill, and that often times people will go way to fast for those miles and just burn themselves out. Hopefully if I can find some time, I will do one of my longer runs in Sept on the course. Will see how that goes...
After all that, Andrea had arranged a babysitter for Megan and we went to check out the new movie Lady in the Water. It was... original, that's for sure. I think I can understand why it is getting bad reviews. In the most basic sense, you leave the theater going "Ahhh wtf was the point of that?" and to analyze it in anyway is damn near impossible. (although, I'm sure die hard fans are doing just that).
Today we are having a Mom's Club BBQ at our house, which should be a fun time. I'm going to enjoy today and count it as an "off day" for eating purposes. I haven't enjoyed a hot dog on the grill is a LONG time, so time to do that. Look for some pictures from that tomorrow!
The session was overall a positive thing. We did a full hour of strength training, along with some discussion about nutritional tips for runners. I think that although I have been watching calories for awhile now, it's time to take it to the next level. I have to start keeping track of the SOURCE of my calories, i.e. carb vs protein vs fat calories. I think part of what I can do better is making sure I eat carb calories before and directly after a run to recharge. This will help me fight the "famished" feeling you get after running 5+ miles.
For the strength training portion, it was all core body stuff. That means, no machines, mostly using your own bodies natural resistance. I didn't think it would be all that, but I am sore as hell today. I did do one machine for my shoulders, because I have really bad posture. That has always been a problem, which comes from the fact that I sit in a cube all my life. We also did a lot of lower back exercises, which will help me in the long run, but right now my back feels really tight. I'm going to try and run it out this morning and see how it feels.
The high point of the session was the fact that the trainer had just done the Twin Cities 10-mile run last year. So she had some great advice for me, including to make sure I do some hill training. She explained the layout of the course, and how the first 3 miles are downhill, and that often times people will go way to fast for those miles and just burn themselves out. Hopefully if I can find some time, I will do one of my longer runs in Sept on the course. Will see how that goes...
After all that, Andrea had arranged a babysitter for Megan and we went to check out the new movie Lady in the Water. It was... original, that's for sure. I think I can understand why it is getting bad reviews. In the most basic sense, you leave the theater going "Ahhh wtf was the point of that?" and to analyze it in anyway is damn near impossible. (although, I'm sure die hard fans are doing just that).
Today we are having a Mom's Club BBQ at our house, which should be a fun time. I'm going to enjoy today and count it as an "off day" for eating purposes. I haven't enjoyed a hot dog on the grill is a LONG time, so time to do that. Look for some pictures from that tomorrow!
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
I won the lottery
Okay, well not exactly. But I did get selected in a lottery. I just got the notification today, I'm officially going to be running in the Twin Cities 10-miler!!
This works out perfectly, as now I actually have a goal to focus on for my personal training session on Friday night. The trainer I am seeing is a competitive long distance runner, so hopefully she will have some good things to teach me. I guess we are going to spend 30 minutes on core strength training, which I haven't done any of. Then I will start a 10-week training program the following week.
In other health news, I also talked Andrea into running a 10k! Well, I'm not sure how much I had to convince her. She seems very motivated to give it a try. We are going to run this 10k together, so I will just be running at Andreas pace. It is the Heart of Summer 10k, and it is on August 19th. It is a fund raiser for heart health initiatives. I'm looking forward to this first running event with Andrea, it should be a lot of fun.
So with that 10k, the St. Paul Bike classic in Sept, and then the 10 miler in October, this summer is jam packed with events. It will be interesting to see how the next few months unfold and see where I'm at after the 10 mile race. I can see this winter being a really big challenge for me.
Well it's late, and I really should be in bed. I've been drinking way too much coffee lately...
This works out perfectly, as now I actually have a goal to focus on for my personal training session on Friday night. The trainer I am seeing is a competitive long distance runner, so hopefully she will have some good things to teach me. I guess we are going to spend 30 minutes on core strength training, which I haven't done any of. Then I will start a 10-week training program the following week.
In other health news, I also talked Andrea into running a 10k! Well, I'm not sure how much I had to convince her. She seems very motivated to give it a try. We are going to run this 10k together, so I will just be running at Andreas pace. It is the Heart of Summer 10k, and it is on August 19th. It is a fund raiser for heart health initiatives. I'm looking forward to this first running event with Andrea, it should be a lot of fun.
So with that 10k, the St. Paul Bike classic in Sept, and then the 10 miler in October, this summer is jam packed with events. It will be interesting to see how the next few months unfold and see where I'm at after the 10 mile race. I can see this winter being a really big challenge for me.
Well it's late, and I really should be in bed. I've been drinking way too much coffee lately...
Sunday, July 16, 2006
True Motivation
Here is a little story I've told a few people recently, so if you already know this - I apologize.
2 years ago, I went to Valleyfair with Andrea, my brother and his wife. It had to be 2 summers ago because Andrea was not pregnant at the time. During this visit to Valleyfair something happened that was just another thing in a long list of motivating factors for me to lose weight. You see, we all got in line for the new ride Steel Venom. There was only one problem... after getting on to the ride, it turns out I did not fit. That's right, I was so overweight that the over the shoulder thing would not latch. I was more embarrassed then I'd ever been in my life, not to mention just depressed that something like that could happen to me.
Yesterday, we headed to Valleyfair again, complements of my new job. 4 free tickets and a free lunch, not a bad deal at all. First, we went on Enterprise. It's pretty much a requirement of going to Valleyfair that you do that one first! Second up, was Steel Venom!
This year, I fit with more then enough room to spare. It's hard to see in the above picture, but if you can see the little belt clip on the right side - that is the part that would not clip in before. It felt pretty good knowing how far I had come, and the best part was actually enjoying the ride!
Speaking of how far I've come, I pretty much achieved one of my goals for this month already:
Finally, after about 14 months of work, I have a "1" in the front of my weight!! Simply amazing. Now all I have to do is keep it up for the next, oh 15-20 years. That's more of the hard part, I would imagine. Next week I'm going to be meeting with a personal trainer for an hour - not sure how useful it will be, but I will try to get the most out of it that I can.
Last night was really weird - after we got home from Valleyfair I was just beat. I suppose spending all day in 100 degree weather will do that to you. At around 6pm, I asked Andrea if I could take a nap, she said sure. Next thing I know it's 9pm and she is coming to bed... I thought about getting up, but just didn't see the point. Instead, I went back to sleep all the way through to 5am. Crazy! I must be getting old. But I got up and got a bike ride in before 7am, so that was pretty nice.
Just put Megan down to sleep, she was getting tired on my lap while I was blogging. It's so nice that she can still fall asleep in my arms.
2 years ago, I went to Valleyfair with Andrea, my brother and his wife. It had to be 2 summers ago because Andrea was not pregnant at the time. During this visit to Valleyfair something happened that was just another thing in a long list of motivating factors for me to lose weight. You see, we all got in line for the new ride Steel Venom. There was only one problem... after getting on to the ride, it turns out I did not fit. That's right, I was so overweight that the over the shoulder thing would not latch. I was more embarrassed then I'd ever been in my life, not to mention just depressed that something like that could happen to me.
Yesterday, we headed to Valleyfair again, complements of my new job. 4 free tickets and a free lunch, not a bad deal at all. First, we went on Enterprise. It's pretty much a requirement of going to Valleyfair that you do that one first! Second up, was Steel Venom!
This year, I fit with more then enough room to spare. It's hard to see in the above picture, but if you can see the little belt clip on the right side - that is the part that would not clip in before. It felt pretty good knowing how far I had come, and the best part was actually enjoying the ride!
Speaking of how far I've come, I pretty much achieved one of my goals for this month already:
Finally, after about 14 months of work, I have a "1" in the front of my weight!! Simply amazing. Now all I have to do is keep it up for the next, oh 15-20 years. That's more of the hard part, I would imagine. Next week I'm going to be meeting with a personal trainer for an hour - not sure how useful it will be, but I will try to get the most out of it that I can.
Last night was really weird - after we got home from Valleyfair I was just beat. I suppose spending all day in 100 degree weather will do that to you. At around 6pm, I asked Andrea if I could take a nap, she said sure. Next thing I know it's 9pm and she is coming to bed... I thought about getting up, but just didn't see the point. Instead, I went back to sleep all the way through to 5am. Crazy! I must be getting old. But I got up and got a bike ride in before 7am, so that was pretty nice.
Just put Megan down to sleep, she was getting tired on my lap while I was blogging. It's so nice that she can still fall asleep in my arms.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Passion
I am a naive and small-minded individual. I don't watch the news, I don't read the paper. I have little interest in world affairs, or even local ones for that matter. Unless they directly affect my day to day life. My reality doesn't extend much beyond my own front door. I don't think I've ever seen the "bigger picture", and I doubt I'd be able to find it if I looked.
I have no thirst for life. I am not excited to get up every morning and face the challenges of the day. I have no sense of adventure. I do not go out of my way to seek out new life experiences. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say I try to avoid them in some ways. Now, one could argue that Megan invalidates all that - she is by definition one of life's biggest adventures. And that is true, and for that I am grateful. Is she the only adventure I need?
I have nothing wholly my own that I am passionate about. What I mean by this is two things. One, video games cannot be considered a passion. Second, I don't think a separate person can be defined as a passion. As much as I love Andrea and Megan with all my heart, I don't define them as a "passion" in the true sense of the word.
To quote the most famous of movies, "You see Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care." Where does this apathy come from? Did I create this in my life, or did my life create it in me? Do all these traits make me a bad person? A boring person? An uninteresting individual with nothing really worthwhile to add? Can I change these apathetic qualities in myself? Do I even want to?
Andrea once told me, she read somewhere that most 20-somethings try a lot of different things to figure out what it is they really want/enjoy/are passionate about. Did I skip that whole phase through a drunken-Everquest-working induced haze?
The truth is, none of these questions even matter. There is only one question in my mind that really matters right now. How will these traits translate to Megan as she grows up? I feel like Darth Vader, when he tells Luke that it's too late for him. It feels like I've gone too far down the apathetic path of life (Dark Side) to change... I can't simply WILL myself to start caring about dying kids in Africa, the war in Iraq, or who's running for office in Minnesota.
Can I instill a thirst for life in Megan, when I don't feel like I have that myself? Can I encourage her to become passionate about the things she enjoys, when I'm not sure I even do that for myself? Can I teach her that there are important things in life, beyond our own immediate needs and desires, when I don't know if I truly believe that? Do I really have any control over these things, or does it not even matter? I just don't know.
As a parting word on today's post, I would like to assure my readers that the above post has nothing to do with happiness. In my mind, happiness and apathy are two completely unrelated topics. I'd expand more on what I mean, but this post is already getting out of hand so I'll just have to bank that for another day.
And finally, I encourage everyone to ask yourself: What is your passion?
I have no thirst for life. I am not excited to get up every morning and face the challenges of the day. I have no sense of adventure. I do not go out of my way to seek out new life experiences. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say I try to avoid them in some ways. Now, one could argue that Megan invalidates all that - she is by definition one of life's biggest adventures. And that is true, and for that I am grateful. Is she the only adventure I need?
I have nothing wholly my own that I am passionate about. What I mean by this is two things. One, video games cannot be considered a passion. Second, I don't think a separate person can be defined as a passion. As much as I love Andrea and Megan with all my heart, I don't define them as a "passion" in the true sense of the word.
To quote the most famous of movies, "You see Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care." Where does this apathy come from? Did I create this in my life, or did my life create it in me? Do all these traits make me a bad person? A boring person? An uninteresting individual with nothing really worthwhile to add? Can I change these apathetic qualities in myself? Do I even want to?
Andrea once told me, she read somewhere that most 20-somethings try a lot of different things to figure out what it is they really want/enjoy/are passionate about. Did I skip that whole phase through a drunken-Everquest-working induced haze?
The truth is, none of these questions even matter. There is only one question in my mind that really matters right now. How will these traits translate to Megan as she grows up? I feel like Darth Vader, when he tells Luke that it's too late for him. It feels like I've gone too far down the apathetic path of life (Dark Side) to change... I can't simply WILL myself to start caring about dying kids in Africa, the war in Iraq, or who's running for office in Minnesota.
Can I instill a thirst for life in Megan, when I don't feel like I have that myself? Can I encourage her to become passionate about the things she enjoys, when I'm not sure I even do that for myself? Can I teach her that there are important things in life, beyond our own immediate needs and desires, when I don't know if I truly believe that? Do I really have any control over these things, or does it not even matter? I just don't know.
As a parting word on today's post, I would like to assure my readers that the above post has nothing to do with happiness. In my mind, happiness and apathy are two completely unrelated topics. I'd expand more on what I mean, but this post is already getting out of hand so I'll just have to bank that for another day.
And finally, I encourage everyone to ask yourself: What is your passion?
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Summer Vacations
It's been 12 years since my last summer vacation. I don't count any of the summers during college, because I was pretty much working full time for each of them. No, I'm talking about REAL summer vacations. What's funny, is when I look back, it wasn't even the actual vacation that I enjoyed. I can hardly remember what I even did on any given summer vacation. There were some summers during college that I was so itching to get back to school, I would drive up to UMD days in advance.
What I do remember is that last day of the school year. The first day of summer vacation, and the feelings that came along with it. That is what I miss. That feeling of freedom, no responsibilities, and the knowledge that if I really wanted to, I could do absolutely nothing.
As I enter what I personally consider the second phase of my life (perhaps technically speaking, the third phase?), I find myself thinking about those feelings that came with summer vacation. I'm not sure why, other than the fact that my daily commute now takes me through two neighborhoods where I often see kids out enjoying their summer vacation. I wonder to myself, will I ever have that feeling again? Do I want that feeling again? Is that what retirement is?
Who knows... Through a discussion Andrea and I had last weekend about a completely unrelated subject, I realized that we are nearing the peak in our level of responsibilities. The only thing now that would really increase it past where it is now, is if we ever decided to have another child. For me, that added level brings added worries, fears, and stress. What if I lose my job? What if my car needs to be replaced? What if my roof falls in? What if I'm not a good Dad? What if I can't teach Megan to chase her dreams? Trust me... this list goes on.
Yes I know they are irrational thoughts. But they are my thoughts, so there! Besides, aren't most fears irrational by definition?
Speaking of irrational fears, Megan has grown deathly scared of vacuums. She can't even handle the dustbuster being in the same room! It's weird, it's the very first thing she has really been scared of. There are many other firsts going on this week - imitating, crawling, new facial expressions, new vocal sounds... All sorts. I think that the next few months are going to be some of the most fast changing and exciting ever.
As cute as she is crawling over to the TV... only a matter of time before she starts scratching the screen!
All those toys, and she homes in on that... Yes, she will probably be playing video games by age 2.
One of the new faces she makes... she sticks her bottom lip out like she's pouting, it's so damn cute!
What I do remember is that last day of the school year. The first day of summer vacation, and the feelings that came along with it. That is what I miss. That feeling of freedom, no responsibilities, and the knowledge that if I really wanted to, I could do absolutely nothing.
As I enter what I personally consider the second phase of my life (perhaps technically speaking, the third phase?), I find myself thinking about those feelings that came with summer vacation. I'm not sure why, other than the fact that my daily commute now takes me through two neighborhoods where I often see kids out enjoying their summer vacation. I wonder to myself, will I ever have that feeling again? Do I want that feeling again? Is that what retirement is?
Who knows... Through a discussion Andrea and I had last weekend about a completely unrelated subject, I realized that we are nearing the peak in our level of responsibilities. The only thing now that would really increase it past where it is now, is if we ever decided to have another child. For me, that added level brings added worries, fears, and stress. What if I lose my job? What if my car needs to be replaced? What if my roof falls in? What if I'm not a good Dad? What if I can't teach Megan to chase her dreams? Trust me... this list goes on.
Yes I know they are irrational thoughts. But they are my thoughts, so there! Besides, aren't most fears irrational by definition?
Speaking of irrational fears, Megan has grown deathly scared of vacuums. She can't even handle the dustbuster being in the same room! It's weird, it's the very first thing she has really been scared of. There are many other firsts going on this week - imitating, crawling, new facial expressions, new vocal sounds... All sorts. I think that the next few months are going to be some of the most fast changing and exciting ever.
As cute as she is crawling over to the TV... only a matter of time before she starts scratching the screen!
All those toys, and she homes in on that... Yes, she will probably be playing video games by age 2.
One of the new faces she makes... she sticks her bottom lip out like she's pouting, it's so damn cute!
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Quick Week, new goals!!
It's hard to say what was better, the 4 day weekend or the 3 day work week. Back to reality on Monday, but for now I'm just going to enjoy it.
Wed night Andrea and I had some chicken thing she had bought from Target. It was a fresh Target meat department item, not frozen chicken of any kind. It really wasn't that good at all, and the next day we both felt sick. Not super bad vomiting kind of sick, but still - upset stomach and definitely not feeling 100%.
After getting hit with the whole new AC expense, Andrea and I realized we aren't sitting exactly where we want to be financially. Andrea said it best last night when she said, "We are spending like we don't have Megan." And that's very true - To be honest, I've never been one to track my finances at the smallest detail level. I've always taken the 100 foot view of things, mainly because it's way easier. What this means is that I have no real sense of how much Megan effects my finances. Hell, on a bigger scope I don't have a good sense of where a lot of my money goes.
We have a couple of options - make some simple changes and try to "reign in spending" and see how it goes. Or the more drastic measure of starting to track every penny out the door. I lean towards the first option, simply because the second one just seems too hard / take up too much time. On the flip side, tracking every penny for maybe just a month or two might help figure out where we can make other adjustments.
Anyway, change of subject. After 2 months of fitness blahs, I've finally come up with a few goals that I am going to stick to. Here they are, in no particular order:
That's all for now - tonight I'm heading over to a friends place to watch the UFC Championships on Pay-Per-View. Bunch of dudes watching other dudes beat the crap out of each other. A safer form of Fight Club?
And one final update to those that have read this far: Megan is officially crawling. :-)
Wed night Andrea and I had some chicken thing she had bought from Target. It was a fresh Target meat department item, not frozen chicken of any kind. It really wasn't that good at all, and the next day we both felt sick. Not super bad vomiting kind of sick, but still - upset stomach and definitely not feeling 100%.
After getting hit with the whole new AC expense, Andrea and I realized we aren't sitting exactly where we want to be financially. Andrea said it best last night when she said, "We are spending like we don't have Megan." And that's very true - To be honest, I've never been one to track my finances at the smallest detail level. I've always taken the 100 foot view of things, mainly because it's way easier. What this means is that I have no real sense of how much Megan effects my finances. Hell, on a bigger scope I don't have a good sense of where a lot of my money goes.
We have a couple of options - make some simple changes and try to "reign in spending" and see how it goes. Or the more drastic measure of starting to track every penny out the door. I lean towards the first option, simply because the second one just seems too hard / take up too much time. On the flip side, tracking every penny for maybe just a month or two might help figure out where we can make other adjustments.
Anyway, change of subject. After 2 months of fitness blahs, I've finally come up with a few goals that I am going to stick to. Here they are, in no particular order:
- Be under 200 pounds by the end of July (currently at 205, have been as low as 202 in June)
- Achieve my final goal weight of 184 by the end of the year.
- St. Paul Bike Classic again this year, Sept 10th.
- Twin Cities 10 Mile, part of the Twin Cities Marathon events.
That's all for now - tonight I'm heading over to a friends place to watch the UFC Championships on Pay-Per-View. Bunch of dudes watching other dudes beat the crap out of each other. A safer form of Fight Club?
And one final update to those that have read this far: Megan is officially crawling. :-)
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Apple Valley Parade
Yesterday we went to check out a July 4th parade here in the great city of Apple Valley. It was really convenient for us, since the parade went by only 3 miles from our house. So off we went to check it out!
It was okay - Megan got scared (and cried a little bit) when one of the semi trucks blew it's loud horn. But she was okay once we were there looking at the floats. Honestly though, I don't know if you could call most of them floats. It was just flat bed trucks with people sitting / standing in the back. There were a few interesting actual floats mixed in with all sorts of advertising. Good times!
After an hour, we had our fill and headed home. I didn't really want to keep Megan out in the sun much longer, plus it was getting to hot for my tastes anyway. Here are a few pictures:
Nice costumes. They must have been hella hot.
Tired & Cute.
Unicycle the entire parade?
It was okay - Megan got scared (and cried a little bit) when one of the semi trucks blew it's loud horn. But she was okay once we were there looking at the floats. Honestly though, I don't know if you could call most of them floats. It was just flat bed trucks with people sitting / standing in the back. There were a few interesting actual floats mixed in with all sorts of advertising. Good times!
After an hour, we had our fill and headed home. I didn't really want to keep Megan out in the sun much longer, plus it was getting to hot for my tastes anyway. Here are a few pictures:
Nice costumes. They must have been hella hot.
Tired & Cute.
Unicycle the entire parade?
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Too Cold? Two Colds!
The new AC is kicking ass, perhaps even too much. I'll admit, I woke up yesterday and was a little too cold. I think springing for the new AC was the right decision, it definitely is working better. For example, on our old AC I had to set the temp to 68 just to get it down to 70 degrees. Now I have to set it to 72 to keep it at 70!
Megan and Andrea got home yesterday, and it seems like Megan has another cold? It's really weird, because her cough was getting better, seemed like it was almost totally gone. She was only coughing maybe twice a day, and never over night. Now it's back in full blown snot + cough. The other weird aspect is that neither Andrea or I have got sick or been sick this whole time. Could it be that Megan has allergies? Could the two weeks of keeping our windows open all the time have brought on another set of sickness? I just don't know!
And now, I technically have no health insurance until July 19th, so we can't take her to the doctor. Well, we COULD in emergency situation and then I'd just have to enable COBRA. But we are playing the insurance game of hoping we can get by without using COBRA. Maybe the cooler house will help Megan recover faster, we will just have to wait and see. It just feels like she has had this cough forever.
Moving my brother yesterday went very well. The cool part was, they had it very narrowed down in what they were moving yesterday, so we just loaded up the big stuff and some minor small stuff. We were totally finished before 6pm, which was nice. It's Scotts birthday tomorrow, not sure if we are doing anything. Maybe we will be able to go out to dinner or something.
Megan and Andrea got home yesterday, and it seems like Megan has another cold? It's really weird, because her cough was getting better, seemed like it was almost totally gone. She was only coughing maybe twice a day, and never over night. Now it's back in full blown snot + cough. The other weird aspect is that neither Andrea or I have got sick or been sick this whole time. Could it be that Megan has allergies? Could the two weeks of keeping our windows open all the time have brought on another set of sickness? I just don't know!
And now, I technically have no health insurance until July 19th, so we can't take her to the doctor. Well, we COULD in emergency situation and then I'd just have to enable COBRA. But we are playing the insurance game of hoping we can get by without using COBRA. Maybe the cooler house will help Megan recover faster, we will just have to wait and see. It just feels like she has had this cough forever.
Moving my brother yesterday went very well. The cool part was, they had it very narrowed down in what they were moving yesterday, so we just loaded up the big stuff and some minor small stuff. We were totally finished before 6pm, which was nice. It's Scotts birthday tomorrow, not sure if we are doing anything. Maybe we will be able to go out to dinner or something.
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