Our little boy!

Talking on Mommy's Phone

Making Ice Cream

Michael sat for almost 2 hours playing in the sand




Loving mommy

Daddy helping Michael on the slide

Way behind....

Since Michael is taking his second nap of the day (which he doesn't normally do) and we are at the beach, I decided to post some pictures to catch up on the blog. Michael will be 16 months on the 27th of June. He just had his 15 month check-up last week and he is doing really well. They put him on reflux medicine again in order to neutralize some of the acid problems he is having again. Our pediatrician said we can take him off of it ourselves when we start to see a change. Just one week of being on the medicine has seemed to make a difference for him. I don't have his measurements with me right now, but I remember his percentiles....45 percentile for weight, above 95th for both length and head. Michael is saying new words every day. His favorites (off the top of my head) are: mommy, daddy, kitty, doggy, step, please, no no, cookie, and many other random words. We have also learned that he has some "substitute words" such as baby/bobby for mommy and dee-dah for daddy. He will flip between calling us by mommy/daddy and bobby/dee-dah. We are definitely entertained by him constantly. He can get up and down stairs, open our screen doors (letting our cat out), run in the sand without falling much (I found out yesterday), and he is doing really well using a fork and spoon while eating. As you can see we are already enjoying the summer.
Michael LOVES the beach, the pool, the playground, sand,` and walking around the neighborhood without a stroller.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

"I thought it was funny to 'fess up about some embarrassing things I'd done that week...by pretending I totally did not actually do them! "   - MckMama

I have been following MckMama's blog for a while now and can't help but laugh every Monday when I read her confessions....especially when I have done some of the same things.  I finally am deciding today to take part in this blog carnival.  If you decide to do it also, just comment on my blog and let me know so I can laugh at/with you too :-).

Here goes.....

I definitely did not spend numerous hours this past week catching up on progress notes for work because I was a month behind.  Nope, that would be utterly ridiculous.

When meeting Jason this week to swap Michael so I could go see a client, I certainly did not lie to my husband by saying "I don't know where Michael got that tissue that he is chewing on", when in reality I had given it to him moments before seeing Jason just to stop the whining.

I most certainly did not contemplate taking my sick son out on Saturday just so I could get some caffeine and fresh air because I was desperate.  Nope....that would be totally irresponsible and selfish.  

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 :-)!