4 Miles

Happy Father's Day for all the dads out there. We were listening to the radio on our way home from church this morning, and the announcer said "Call your dad for Father's Day!"  I said, "I can't I don't know where he is!"  Will said, "Mommy, he's right there!", pointing to James in the drivers seat.

I don't know where my dad is because he and my mom are wandering the country on a cross-country trip. My brother is working out at Yellowstone for the summer. They went out to AZ to see my dad's family, then worked their way up to visit my brother.  They are getting to see all the cool national parks out west.  At some point, they are going to work their way back via a "Northern route".  I do know I can get in touch with them via e-mail, so at some point my dad will get our Father's Day wishes.

James is earning a "Father of the Year" Award for playing trains with Will right now, when he'd rather be playing on the computer & watching his race (he can still watch his race while playing, though).  What a great dad! Our boys are blessed! For Father's Day, he's getting his office decorated (everything is framed, we're going to go hang them later this afternoon). (When they moved to the new office building, James got to move from a cube to an actual office. The walls look very bare, and I'm excited to see how it will look with things on the wall. If you come visit I'll be happy to show you, the office is just down the street, so it won't take long.)  He is also getting a Dishes Free Day.  That is really the greatest gift I can give him, since I HATE doing dishes and LOVE him deeply for doing them each day. And yesterday he got to go paint balling with people from work, and I made sure he got a nap without the kids bothering him. I think the only way I could make it better would be to let him go play golf, but it's raining today, so that is out.  Happy Father's Day, James!

Week two is complete.  I have worked out 12 of the last 14 days.  That is 6 days of intense weight training and 6 days of intense aerobic exercise.  While I still don't want to get up at 6 am to work out, I know that it is the only time that I am able to do it.  If I wait and say I will do it later it won't get done.

A few people at work have been impressed with my self control.  They had free Pizza at work for lunch on Friday and I choose to go home instead.  Who in their right mind gives up FREE PIZZA?  Well, me.  I am determined to say good bye to the 'grover belly.'  The caveat to the pizza story was I ended up going to Macaroni Grill with my department on the house and got a meal consistent with my 12 week plan.  So, I gave up free pizza for free real food.

Of course yesterday on the way home from playing paintball my ride stopped at DQ and I ended up cheating for lunch.  Not bad, only one cheat in 2 weeks.  And I didn't have a choice.

My stats:

No picture this week.  No visible change.

* Weeks are listed as the end of the week. (i.e. 1 is the end of week one)

Analysis:
Initial major change was the first week.  5lbs is alot to lose in one week.  My belief is that since we increased our water in take each day my body was able to shed water weight that it didn't need anymore.  Your body stores water reserves, like fat reserves, for those "drought" times.  If you are drinking enough it won't need to store the reserves.
This second week I had already shed the water weight.  I did lose some more fat as you can see by the body fat %.  The two numbers I am focusing on are Waist and Body Fat %.  If those both are signifigantly reduced and I am still 180 lbs I don't think I will care too much.  :-) 

For more information on the challenge you can go to www.bodyforlife.com

Alex is 5 months old today.  His major accomplishments for the month? 

•  Finding his toes:

Forget any toys, these babies are the best!!!

• Rolling over from his belly to his back. Over. and over. and over.  Always at bedtime. Resulting in him waking himself up.  But he's usually very cute and happy when he does!  We have not gotten him to go from back to belly yet, though he has tried a few times.
• Two teeth coming in.  I verified the existance of two shadow teeth on the lower jaw that are making an apperance.  These are the reason he's been so restless at night, he's drooling, and that he's chewing on everything he can shove into his mouth (the toes don't QUITE reach, but he has tried…but his hands will do:

 And I'm loving this swing, GrandmaLo!  Tough luck for Will!

 He continues to be a very happy baby, even with the discomfort of teething. Just a sleepy one, with sleepy parents.  He smiles SO much–as long as you're giving him some attention.  He loves to laugh, be tickled, kissed on the neck or bounced.  He can get some good bounces going in his exasaucer. And, he's blessed with a brother who (at this point) wants to keep him and is happy we have him.  I'm just sad we can't have cake to celebrate…we'll have some on Sunday! (Oh, and you can click on these pictures to see them better/larger.)

I just got Will another set of underwear.  He got to pick out the design, and the choices for Boy Toddlers is pretty slim right now. He could get more Thomas the Train ones, or NASCAR ones (or, as I called them "Race Car" ones).  He picked the NASCAR pair. I could tell on the package they were pretty generic, just outlines of race cars on them and the NASCAR logo.  It did make me wonder though–if they were to market actual driver themes (like Jimmy Johnson, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnheart, Jr., etc.), would you get a pair in the driver you support? Or the driver you DON'T like?  I mean, considering how many accidents kids have….hmmm.  Guess that's why they don't give you the option!

I think I might have been too quick to share our successes in potty training.  Will has been wearing underwear, and still goes to the bathroom when he needs to, but usually it takes getting his underwear a bit wet to remind him. So we're still dealing with wet underwear—just not puddles on the floor or anything like that.

I think I need to do better on the house cleaning area of my life. Yesterday, we were doing a "Major Cleaning Saturday", and Will asked "Is Grandma coming over?" While Grandma wasn't coming over, we are expecting guests Monday night. Then, when Will walked into the living room after James had vacuumed, Will said, "Ohhh! It looks so nice in here! SO clean!"  Whoops.  I normally try to do a bit a day, in the morning. But the mornings we have to go to the store, or things are happening, cleaning gets set back. I just struggle to find the time. Any time the kids are napping/sleeping is work for the office time.  So I try to clean while Alex naps and Will tries to "help" me.  Sometimes I can find things he really can do. Other times, I struggle.  At least this time I've cleaned our bedroom (usually the last thing to get cleaned, since most people don't see it, this time I made sure it was first).  But I don't like how quickly our house gets messy. Part of the problem, for both James and I, is a bad case of "clutter blindness" that I'm working on curing.  I do know we’re getting back into the habit of 10 Minute Tide-Ups each day. I think we’re going to try to do those several times a day, in several rooms—not just the living room, at the end of the day.   

I KNOW I'm liking this weight loss program.  And I KNOW a picture of me right now is NOT going in this site.    I also KNOW that I love how the program allows for Sunday to be a "free" day.  It was much easier this week to ignore food left over from our vacation travels because I knew I could have some Sunday. And I do like how I feel after I’ve worked out each morning.  James has mentioned how glad he is that we’re doing it together, and I’d have to agree. He’s a great help in helping me get up (nicely).  But, if he keeps dropping pounds faster then me, I’m going to get rather annoyed!  The other reason I like the program is I feel it just encourages healthy eating, not having you “cut out all specific foods”…which I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing, still nursing.  Monday was the hardest day for me, I felt hungry all day. I ate a bit more Tuesday, but the following days I have felt that I have kept with the portion guidelines.  I tell myself, Alex will get what he needs, and I have PLENTY of fat stores to live off of! (That’s the WHOLE POINT of this!)

Final thing I think—what’s the deal with how fast June is going?!? Alex will be 5 months old on Tuesday. He’s not 4 ½ anymore! I just wish the teeth that are cutting through would come out that fast. The kid has been drooling and shoving anything into his mouth that fits for the last several weeks…and I’m tired of all the fussing.  Yet the teeth don’t appear that close to coming out. Poor kid. Poor us!  

Week one is complete, yeah!!!!!  I am proud to say that I accomplished the work out and nutrition goals everyday this week.  It is tough trying to convince yourself to get up at 6am in the morning just to go to the torture chamber.  Just kidding.  I actually enjoy working out.  The fact that I have to get up at 6am is the tough part.

I choose 6 am so that I am in and out of there before my progeny get up.  I like to have a little relaxing time when I get back before they start climing on me.  Nothing like having a stinky 2 1/2 year old climing all over you when you are hot sweaty.

It has been a good week for both Tina and I.  I have had less cravings then Tina.  But, she is breast feeding so she needs to make sure she gets a few more calories so that The Otter can eat.  Really, God has designed the female body to feed the baby first.  So, that means that if she doesn't get enough calories it won't affect The Otter until Tina is malnuritioned.  So, she has had a tougher time then me.  But I am very proud that she was able to get up everyday and work out and she only had half a coke a day. 

My stats:

No picture this week.  No visible change.

* Weeks are listed as the end of the week. (i.e. 1 is the end of week one)

For more information on the challenge you can go to www.bodyforlife.com

Tina and I have taken a challenge.  It is a weight-loss/nutrition/excersize challenge.  A friend recomended the book Body for Life by Bill Phillips because her company was doing a corporate challenge and it worked for her.  After reviewing the book I liked the principles it was based on.  It was a lifestyle change including nutrition, excersize and mental changes.  Many of the ideas I had read in other places and make sense.  It is also not a FAD diet, doesn't require any magic pills and emphasizes excersize. 

My goal is to post each week with updated picture and statistics. You can follow my progress and help keep me accountable. My goal: To get rid of that “Grover Belly”!!!!

The details:

1. Weight training 3 days a week
2. Aerobics 3 days a week (yes, this equal 6 days a week)
3. 6 nutritious meals a day
• 1 portion of protien a meal (portion is palm sized)
• 1 portion of carbohydrates a meal 
• 1 portion of vegies 2 meals a day
• 10 glasses of water
4. 7th day we get to do and eat whatever we want. (chocolate!!!!!)

My stats:

Before picture ——————————————————>
(good luck getting to see Tina's picture. )

* Weeks are listed as the end of the week. (i.e. 1 is the end of week one)

For more information on the challenge you can go to www.bodyforlife.com

DSCN1810

Originally uploaded by AthenaMiles.

I tried to get Artsy today. Here are the best results. (Click on the photo to see more.)

Alex's new friend
Originally uploaded by AthenaMiles.

He loves it! He ACTUALLY loves it. When he wakes up he rolls over on his back and grabs Puddles to chew on. He really likes the orange and yellow parts.

Unfortunately it means he has to sleep with Puddles in his bed. How gross. The Tort manages to make his own puddles in his bed. We are working on that though.

I think I am now officially the “Mother of a Preschooler”.  This morning I went to add an item to my grocery list, and all I could find was a crayon. So it got added to the list with a “Magenta” crayon. I had to do that, because if it was not added RIGHT AWAY, I knew I’d forget it (that’s from being the “Mother of a Baby”). (Though I've been told the memory does not come back when the babies are all older. I can hope.)

I think we are starting to see a break through in the potty training.  We’d been doing the James Method ™, and then “Took A Break” on vacation.  This week Will would go just fine if he was wearing nothing, but if we put underwear on him, he’d just go.  And I (being the forgetful Mother of a Baby that I am) was not good at remembering to have him go at set times, or found those set times happening when I was nursing.  I had gotten a timer at IKEA to help me, and it broke.  Anyway, today I informed Will he didn’t get “2 Treates” (his term for 2 M&M’s or a Treat) unless he kept his underwear dry and then peed on the potty (it used to be a treat for going in the potty and a treat for wiping). That was it. I didn’t try to remind him, I was just going to deal with the messins that resulted. The first time he had an accident, it was as in the past, he didn’t have “anymore pee” when he sat on the potty (so no treat). The second time, he stopped himself, and then went more on the potty. But, he was quite upset that he only got one treat. I reminded him he had to keep his underwear dry.  Then he told me “I want underwear!”  Once we got a new pair on him, he wanted another treat.  Um, no.  Anyway, after that we had FOUR times of him telling me he had to go potty, and then going while underwear was still dry!!! Who-hoo! AND, when I was feeding Alex and it happened, I expected that to be the time he didn’t make it in time, but he did, AND he was able to get the underwear off himself. (That, too, has been an Issue in the past.)  So, my child is easily bribed with chocolate. 

I also think the makers of the Finding Nemo training pants for boys were just wrong to put Nemo where they did. Will sure “found” him all right. 

Finally, I think I need to admit that I subconsciously may have taken this idea (Things I Think) from Peter King, who writes a column on football for SI.com.  I realized that after I had started it.  (In case you care, he has a column called Monday Morning Quarterback that includes a section 10 Things I Think I Think.  I didn’t mean to steal him, but I had several thoughts to share!)