What Does it Mean to Be Inspired?

There are many things from which I draw inspiration from day to day. I draw inspiration from my God, Jesus Christ. The inspiration daily to be a better man, the inspiration to grow spiritually, the inspiration to be a better father, and a better husband.

Being better is not just a spiritual act, or a mental exercise, but a physical act as well.
37
[Jesus] said to him, " "You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind.'
38
This is
the greatest and first commandment.
39
And a
second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor
as yourself.'
40
On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets "
To that end I have been inspired to get into a shape other than rotund.

I have been inspired by my son, because when I play with him I'm out of breath.

I have been inspired by my father, because he was able to coach my sports as I grew up.

I have been inspired by my wife, who has challenged me to a weight loss competition. She, daily helps me become a better man on all three fronts. I'm continually inspired by her ability to set goals, and attain them, as well as her ability to put up with me daily.

I have been inspired by my former roommate Jeff, who is line 736 on this list.

So it is in honor of these people that I have started a blog to mark this journey to become a better me, physically.

I intend to accomplish a couple of goals.

• Get back into a healthy weight range (133 - 178.5 or a BMI or 18.5 - 24.9)
• Beat Heather in our competition (She's a tough cookie, so this won't be easy)
• Play with Michael without being winded.
• Run a Half-Marathon (13.1 mi.) in the fall. Yeah I know I'm nuts.

So if you're at all interested in monitoring my progress, you can follow along at my new topical blog inspiredbyanothermile.blogspot.com

Tuesday February 21, Working with Daddy

On Tuesday, Heather had training for work. Rather than finding somebody to watch Michael, I had the opportunity to work from home. This was an interesting endeavor, as I work with a computer all day, and Michael wants nothing more than to play with the closest computer he might find.

Michael played pretty independently for about 2.5 hours. This was nice as I was able to focus on reporting, and the other mundane details that go along with data analysis and report creation. After 2.5 hours Michael became focused on my laptop. I had taken precautions, seeing this as the inevitable result of working around him for this amount of time, I was surprised that this didn't happen sooner.

So I was faced with a dilemma, miss my now bordering deadline to keep Michael occupied, or keep working and attempt to ignore the increasingly shrill screeches emanating from my obsessed offspring. Quite suddenly it hit me, what if Michael works with me? I grabbed my remote keyboard and mouse, and set him up next to me on the couch.



Michael was elated, and we enjoyed a good 45 minutes of work together until having a fun lunch at Chick-fil-a. I love being a father.

One year check-up

Yes, his one year check up is a few weeks late. I had to reschedule and this was the earliest we could get an appt. Our big boy is growing fast!!! He is 31.5" (92%), 23 lbs and 4 ounces (55%), and 19.5" head (95% - big Kanaly head). His appointment was during his afternoon nap time, but he was such a good boy. Michael got a few shots and only cried briefly.

Our baby :-)

Michael Rory just turned one year old on February 27th and it is still hard to believe. I just came across pictures from his first week of life last night as I was cleaning off a memory card. Oh man, I couldn't believe how little he was...I didn't think it was possible that my little boy who runs around now could ever be still in my arms for any period of time. I thought since I haven't been so good about updating our blog lately, I would leave you with a picture from Jason and I meeting our son. Then, maybe I'll update with birthday pictures soon.

I just have to post another picture. Look at that cute face!!!

Ok, one last picture. This is our family before leaving the hospital on 2/29/08 (Leap Day).

I lied. I can't help myself. Here is Michael after his first bath at home.



DONE :-)!