a tinge of jealousy.

I am not a jealous person by nature, I know better.  Jealousy just leads to anger, frustration, and fights.  I am incredibly proud of my wife.  She works very hard to keep her life normal during the pregnancy.  She fights extreme fatigue, nausea on a 24 hour basis (although this has resigned a bit since the 2nd trimester started).  She has occasional headaches and some that become debilitating migraines.  She doesn't drink any caffeine, gave up her favorite wines, and sleeps out of exhaustion throughout the day.  I am not jealous of the constant aches and pains that turn up on a daily basis.  The pains of ligaments stretching and pulling, the lack of sleep as a result of those pains.  I am not jealous of the bloating, the gas, the constant stuffy nose, or the constipation. 

What I am jealous of is everything else.  We were laying on the couch watching tv a week or two ago and Christine said, "hmmm that was odd, I think I just felt the baby move."  I thought how cool, I wish I could feel that.  Granted as a guy I can honestly say that I have no desire to be pregnant.  I will leave that task to all those strong women out there.  But I am jealous of the feeling of knowing that the future of our family is growing inside of my wife.  I am jealous of the kicks, flutters, and movements of the baby that I will never feel on the level that Christine does.  I am looking forward to spending time with my wife and being able to feel the baby move from the outside.  I can't begin to imagine how powerful that will be when it happens and I am counting the seconds until it does. 

sunday weigh in, a day late.

So I had my weigh in on Sunday.  I am down 2 lbs this week after not losing anything for close to 3 weeks.

I was remotivated after this successful week, and woke up excited to run on Monday  morning.  More to follow.

still smiling.

Christine and I had our appointment this morning for our first Sonogram at Mercy Womancare associates in Pleasant Hills.  I can honestly say that last night I slept about as much as a 5 year old on Christmas Eve.  I woke up with more excitement than I have in years.  I had very little nervous energy, Christine on the other hand was a ball of nerves.  She must have had a case of the what if's last night.  But as soon as the ultrasound began and the technician began the 40 minute procedure we began to hear alot of "that's normals."  As in, head looks good, there are the eyes, that's normal.  Kidneys are normal, spine normal, hands, feet, normal, normal.  Cerebellum development is normal, hmm lets check the heart, normal, normal, normal.  Heart rate is 146, normal.  No cleft lips, brain size looks good, no club feet, normal, normal, normal.

My family seems to have a knack for producing boys, well maybe not entirely but that is the recent trend.  Since sex is determined by the male in the relationship we can just look at my dads side of the family.  My dad is from a family of 5, 2 girls, 3 boys.  I am from a family of 4, 3 boys and 1 girl.  My brother Andy is married to Shannon they have 2 boys Nicolas and Emerson.  My brother Bob is married to Terri and they just had a baby boy 7 months ago Emry.  My sister Trish isn't married yet but she has plenty of time on her side, she is going to be an awesome aunt and great mom someday (no rush T!!)

Nicolas

Emerson

Emry

Christine has been saying this entire pregnancy that we are having a boy.  Me, I took the opposite approach as in, its a girl so that if I was right I could tell her I was better at predicting than her.  Of course in the sonogram the tech does all her health checks then checks to find out the sex of the child.  We spent the last 15 minutes of the sonogram coaxing the baby to uncross its legs to reveal its little secret.  After some bouncing around and jiggling to get the baby to move we learned that we are having a boy!   Surprise Surprise!  For once in my life (maybe the first time ever) I was wrong.  We are so excited to begin planning the nursery and shopping for our new son!  Ultimately all we could have asked for is a healthy properly developing baby regardless of sex.  But, I can't say that I am disappointed to have a fishing, hockey, football, running, mountain biking, snowboarding, and mamma's little boy...buddy.

I think my brothers kids are wonderful, Nicolas is intelligent and fun, Emerson (Captain Destructo) is a ham and so curious, and Emry is laid back and just adorable.   I can't wait for the future with our son I know he will be a wonderful addition to our close knit family!  I am so happy that he will have 2 cousins close to his age and numerous other babies among family and friends to grow up with!

So without further adieu meet our son...(no names in the blog yet).  We have one picked out and our close family knows it but just in case we change our mind he is just mini me right now. 

only 2 more days.

On Friday morning at 830am Christine and I are going in for the first sonogram!  We have decided to find out the sex of the baby because we would like to plan out the nursery and things for the baby.

Once that is done I am sure I will have plenty more updates coming as we get the nursery put together, the closet shelving built, the paint, the furniture, and all the other baby things that I get to assemble.

Long day of work today, looking forward to my run in the morning on Thursday.  The goal for Thursday is to knock out a 5K before work.

Enjoy your day!

monday soggy monday.

I have today off from work.  I have plenty of work to do around the house even after my handy husband jobs of putting in a new kitchen faucet and gas line for our new dryer.  Our old kitchen faucet was leaking and a hideous combination of chrome and gold.  It was straight out of 1990's tacky home furnishings catalog.  (no offense if you are into that...me, not so much)  I wish I would have had the forethought to take before and after pictures but I did not, so you get the after.

Please excuse the dirty dishes, since we didn't have running water for most of the morning we also have dirty dishes accumulating in our sink.

The dryer wasn't nearly as glorious or fashionable.  Just your standard Whirlpool gas dryer, white with knobs and buttons.  The gas line was a relatively simple install.  Just a new safety valve beyond the shutoff, a stainless steel flexible gas line and some adapters to get the line hooked up to the dryer.  Follow that up with a leak check on the line and then test fire the new dryer.  Runs like a dream, and quiet as a church mouse.

Today I had originally planned to get out and finish up some leftover yard work from the winter.  Seeing as today is going to end up being mostly a washout I will take care of some of the inside chores instead.  Having a pregnant wife means I have inherited many of her chores as well.  I don't mind she is making a big enough sacrifice as is for our family.  She has been having some hip pain recently due to some pull on ligaments in her hip and its causing her to lose sleep.  Hopefully its just a temporary "growing pain"  and will get better soon.  But in the meantime anything I can do to help her around the house I will.  So today I will be cleaning the house, finishing the laundry, and watching a movie or two from netflix.

I also need to get in a nice run today, hopefully a 5-6 miler.  I was able to knock out a quick three miles on Saturday in under 26 minutes.  I hope today will be much of the same over a longer distance.  I also hope some extra distance and time on the treadmill will jump start the weight loss again.

Sunday weigh in day.

Sunday weigh in day was a disappointment again this week.  I neither gained nor lost any weight this week.  I stuck with the plan this week, I exercised 3 or 4 days this week, and I didn't use any of my bonus points.  I don't get it.  Well there is always next week.

I do feel somewhat accomplished today though.  I installed a new kitchen faucet and also installed a new gas line to the new dryer leak checked it and am now doing laundry.

Normally the laundry is the wife's task.  BUT, her hip has really been bothering her the last few days so being the good husband that I am I volunteered to help her out. 

Well the new dryer just buzzed, time to change the load.

Have a great week.

breakfast addiction.

I have a new breakfast addiction, aside from daily coffee and my eggs.  I was experimenting with some veggies to put in an omelet yesterday morning.  I was sauteeing some mushrooms and onions in the skillet with my turkey sausage and decided to spice them up.  I tossed in some onion salt, (no butter, no oil, just Pam) and then the secret ingredient ancho chile powder!

Guess the ingredient isn't very secret anymore.  I tossed the onions and 'shrooms and some freshly diced stem tomatoes into the omelet along with 1 oz of shredded cheese.  It was amazing.

Try it, you won't disagree.

we talkin bout PRACTICE.

Allen Iverson once gave a press conference where he was questioned about skipping/missing practice.  His response to the reporter was: (yeah I know its a long quote but bear with me here...its been a long morning)

"If Coach tells you that I missed practice, then that's that. I may have missed one practice this year but if somebody says he missed one practice of all the practices this year, then that's enough to get a whole lot started. I told Coach Brown that you don't have to give the people of Philadelphia a reason to think about trading me or anything like that. If you trade somebody, you trade them to make the team better...simple as that. I'm cool with that. I'm all about that. The people in Philadelphia deserve to have a winner. It's simple as that. It goes further than that ... If I can't practice, I can't practice. It is as simple as that. It ain't about that at all. It's easy to sum it up if you're just talking about practice. We're sitting here, and I'm supposed to be the franchise player, and we're talking about practice. I mean listen, we're sitting here talking about practice, not a game, not a game, not a game, but we're talking about practice. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it's my last but we're talking about practice man. How silly is that? ... Now I know that I'm supposed to lead by example and all that but I'm not shoving that aside like it don't mean anything. I know it's important, I honestly do but we're talking about practice. We're talking about practice man. We're talking about practice. We're talking about practice. We're not talking about the game. We're talking about practice. When you come to the arena, and you see me play, you've seen me play right, you've seen me give everything I've got, but we're talking about practice right now. ... Hey I hear you, it's funny to me too, hey it's strange to me too but we're talking about practice man, we're not even talking about the game, when it actually matters, we're talking about practice ... How the hell can I make my teammates better by practicing?"

I went to bed last night around 930pm...I was tired, at least I thought I was while sitting in front of the tv dozing off.  I woke up at 209am hungry as could be and was unable to fall back asleep.  Usually during a sleepless night (which is not often) I can go out to the oversized comfy couch, turn the tv on low and fall back asleep.  Last night, well...no so much.  I caught up on the DVR, watched the news, and watched Sportscenter.  Being awake for 4 hours before the wife got up I had time to daydream and think about random things.  I thought to myself, self...is this what life will be like with a newborn?  Of course it is!  So instead of complaining about being tired or whining about lack of sleep I am treating this like practice.  Prep work for a child.  I actually perform pretty well on 6 hours of sleep, heck in college I got through most nights on 3 or 4 for six straight years! 

I have heard horror stories from friends about how the basically didn't sleep for 2 years straight with their first child.  But I have also seen firsthand the glory stories of newborns that slept through the night very very early in their lives.  (ie. my nephew Nicolas)  Nicolas is the model child, he sleeps through ANYTHING, he listens, he behaves, and he is a really fun kid!  Sure part of that is parenting and my brother and sister in law seem to have that down to a science these days with their second child Emerson.  I hope that part of that is also genetic and that my child will inherit these highly desirable behaviors!  But if he or she doesn't I promise to be there for them sacrificing my sleep so that they can get theirs.

I have a nice long 11 hour day ahead of me and my prescription for survival will be diet mt. dew and probably more coffee than the 2 cups I have already had this morning!

Wish me luck!

 

sunday weigh in day.

Sunday was a weigh in day, I gained .4 lb this week.  I was a little surprised because I ran more miles and did more cardio last week than ANY previous week on the program.  I think the problem I had last week was 3 separate meals out in restaurants during the week and "tastes and tries."

Part of sticking with this evolution of my diet requires you to log everything you eat, which I have been very diligent doing.  Until last week...I did a very poor job last week because there were numerous times I would walk past a bag of chips or snacks at work and just have a taste.  Oh, someone made a dessert and brought it in to work I'll just try a forkful.  Well the tastes and the tries added up last week.  I am not saying that all the weight gain this week was because of tastes and tries but that didn't help the situation.

This week will require more discipline and better tracking of my snacks.  But I will turn things around.

fun workout.

I made up a workout on the treadmill today to beat the boredom of running for 40 minutes.

I am sure there is a name for it, but thats not the point.

I walked for 5 minutes to warm up my legs, then put the treadmill at 6mph.  I held the pace for 5 minutes, then every 3 to 5 minutes I moved the speed up .5mph.  I kept doing this until I reached the point where the treadmill was winning and I had to back it down a few notches.  (My rule was that I had to be able to hold the pace for at least 3 minutes). 

I made it to 8.5mph and barely hung on for the 3 minutes.  As soon as I hit the three minutes I backed it back down to 6mph.  Ran there for 5 minutes and ramped it back up.  This time I made it to 8.0mph and the legs were BURNING. 

After all was said and done I was sweating like a hog and huffing and puffing.  I had covered over 3.5miles in just over 33 minutes then I walked to cool down for 5 minutes for a total workout time of 43 minutes. 

It is now almost 5pm (my workout was at 745am) and I am still feeling good from the workout.  I don't even think I needed coffee today. 

What a DAY!

PiggyBack Post...holy fiber batman!

I was writing the last post and I came to a realization, I am eating a hell of alot of fiber everyday!  Depending on what you read we are recommended to intake approximately 25 to 35 grams of fiber a day.  There are a plethora of benefits to eating fiber.  Proper fiber intake (both soluble and insoluble) can reduce risk of obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disorders and global cooling (hehehehe...increased methane production will warm any room!).

Lets do a quick calculation for my diet based on todays other blog..
Breakfast: varies from from 4gm to 6gm
Snack is a fiber one and an apple or other fruit: 9-12gms of fiber
Lunch varies based on the Lean Cuisine and Soup but anywhere from 4 to 10 grams of fiber
Afternoon snack is also 9-12 grams of fiber.
Dinner also varies from 5 to 15 grams of fiber (15 if I eat mega salad)

So my grand total on the low end is 31 grams to an absurd 55 grams of fiber per day. 

Honey,  Do we have any beano?!!

It's a groove, not a rut.

I get in a rut occasionally with work, life, and sometimes diet.  So I would consider myself somewhat of an expert when it comes to being stuck in rut.  I haven't written much about my diet recently because I have found a groove and I like where it is taking me.

I have always been a creature of habit and one who doesn't like rapid change.  I think that comes from being first born and always in control of my situation.  I also have been the kind of eater that will try anything but have my go to foods that are always around and comforting.  When I first got out of college I could have eaten mac and cheese every night for a month and never got bored.  It's not that I don't want to try anything else I just know what I like and when I do finally get bored I will move on.

My recent meal choices for the past 8 weeks or so have revolved around the following schedule.  Breakfast is eggs, bagel thins, smart balance light margarine with olive oil, turkey sausage, fresh fruit, vitamins, and coffee or its oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, vitamins and coffee.   Both Breakfasts range from 9-11 points and are very filling and satisfying.  My method of deploying the eggs is usually over easy or as an omelet with fresh veggies and just a little light cheddar cheese.  The oatmeal is steel cut old fashioned oats, fresh fruits, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

I usually snack at work around 11am on a fiber now bar (aldi's version of fiber one), or a fiber one 90 calorie bar.  I also usually eat some fresh fruit preferably a banana or apple but I have also been eating mangoes recently because they are 10 for $10 at Giant Eagle.

Lunch is usually a Lean Cuisine and a Progresso soup.  Honestly the variety of foods available from them is outstanding.  I have something different everyday.  Points range from 6-9 for the lean cuisines and from 4 to 9 for the soups.

I will usually have another piece of fruit at some point in the afternoon if I am hungry but that lunch usually holds me for hours.

If I am working an 11 hour shift I will have another lean cuisine for dinner and then a snack of triscuits and cheese when I get home.   If I am leaving work by 5pm, I will usually come home and make a mega salad (see previous blog) and a turkey burger or some other lean protein.  If I end up hungry or  with some points left over after that feast I will usually graze on fruits or another fiber one bar.  Most dinners are also anywhere from 12-20 points.

That brings me to my grand total of 46 points for the day and usually very satisfied with my hunger level and I am also seeing results with my body so I am highly motivated as well.  There have been only a handful of days where I have tapped into my weekly bonus points.  Each week I get 48 extra points for pigout days or days where I exceed my daily points.  I also earn extra points for exercise which I have been doing regularly each week, minus one recovery period 2 weeks ago where I just took some time off.

I have a feeling I will continue in this groove for a while until some other meals come along that cause me to change tracks and jump into.  

milestones!

Todays weigh in was a good one!  213.6!

I received a congratulatory note from weight watchers that I had reached a milestone, I have lost 5% of my original weight!

Then the screen popped my bubble with this:

Please note:You’re probably excited to be losing weight, but you’re losing faster than is recommended. Although it’s normal to lose over 2 lbs in one week, if you lose more than an average of 2 lbs per week over a 4-week period, this could pose health risks, such as heart irregularities, anemia or loss of muscle mass. Please slow your weight loss; your doctor can help you do this if you’re not sure how.

I lost 2lbs in one week but I definitely have  averaged more than 2lbs a week so I am not entirely certain why I am getting this warning.   I am not going to sweat it, I am sticking to the program and doing exactly what I am supposed to do.  I run, I train my muscles, and I eat right.

Have a great Sunday!

she's beautiful.

"You're Beautiful Hon,"

"No I'm not, I'm Fat!"

"You're not fat you're pregnant"

"Well I feel fat"

"You're Beautiful Hon."

The above conversation is the abbreviated version of 90% of my conversations with my BEAUTIFUL wife since she has become pregnant.  I try and I try but there is no convincing a pregnant woman anything other than the thought in her head, but  I continue to press on.  She is currently sleeping away her pregnancy fatigue while I sit out here on the couch ticking away on the keys.  The fatigue has been the biggest difficulty for both of us.  Luckily Christine wasn't too nauseous during the first trimester, just tired, ALL THE TIME.  I have become accustomed to going to bed at 830pm and watching tv in bed until 10 or 11 pm.  Being as supportive as I can is very important to her.  I don't want my wife to feel like she is ever alone in this, even though she is carrying the brunt of the responsibility right now.  My more significant responsibility begins after March 25th, sonogram day.  Once we find out the sex of the baby my work begins.  I will be remodeling the bedroom to become the nursery.  Picking up furniture, paint, a chair rail and other assorted baby goods.  Let me make sure I clarify that as well.  I will be PICKING UP these items, but I won't be PICKING these items.  The wife has everything planned out for the rooms.  I did have a say but I told her that she was welcome to pick whatever she wanted for the themes as long as they weren't overwhelmingly pink or blue.  My job once these items are in the house will be to install/paint/assemble and arrange everything exactly how the wife wants them.  

In my opinion one of the big myths of pregnancy is that the guy should gain weight along with his wife so that she feels sympathy.  I am glad my wife agrees with me on this one because if I was gaining weight right now as opposed losing it I wouldn't be a happy camper.  This weekend appears to be a washout weather wise with a forecast of heavy rain all weekend.  So I will most likely be on the treadmill today and Sunday.  If the weather is better on Monday maybe I can finally squeeze in another outside run.

"You're so beautiful hon." 

"shut up ron (smiling)."

"yes dear."

wonder how many points this is.

Being that I have a pregnant wife, I am sometimes forced ENCOURAGED to join her for dinner that isn't the most friendly to me losing weight.  Lucky for me these cravings have been few and far between.  But tonight I am glad I ate light this afternoon because she wants to go to Beto's Pizza in the South Hills. 

I will see if I can leave food long enough on the table to snap a photo of the delicious cheesy goodness before we devour it.

mmm dino eggs.

mmmm dinosaur eggs...i wonder how many points they are?  oh wait.  thats a mango.

and mangoes are ZERO points...mmmm zero points.

SNACKTIME!

one of those weeks.

You ever had one of those weeks where everything is frustrating?  Aside from my great run on monday everything has gone downhill since then.  Somebody call the wwwwaaaaambulance for me please, then come over and slap me upside the head and tell me how good my life is please.  I am just in a funk...of course I know this too shall pass.