10 down 58 to go

After a spectacular first week with a 9 pound loss, I am having a pretty slow week.   I have been hovering at 10 lbs lost so far this week (1 lbs lost this week), but I expected it after the big loss last week.

I know everyone says "don't weigh in every day" but I have too.  I have to keep myself conscience of my weight.  When don't see it every day I forget and then I indulge.  The morning weigh in is my wake up call ever morning.  The scale says to me "Hey dummy, you're still fat!"  Yes, I have a very mean scale.  I have been tracking my weight for over 6 years now.  That is a lot of weigh ins!

The cold weather isn't helping me much either because I have to spend more time exercising indoors.  I love to get out and ride my bikes or hike but right now the trails are muddy and while it is cold out they take forever to dry.  Getting out on the road bike in these cold winds is not really much fun at all.   So my road bike is upstairs in the trainer.  So 4-5 times a week I get up stairs and try to get 18-20 miles in.  The last three days, I have logged 53.5 miles on the bike (in the trainer).  The only thing that keeps me sane is that I am able to play XBox while on the bike.  I used to have aero bars that I could rest on but I broke one of the pads so I know use a large pillow to rest my forearms on.  A very ghetto solution but it was free, I can't justify buying new aero bars right now.
Despite the slowdown in weight loss I am feeling great.  Getting the exercise in and the healthier means make life so much more enjoyable.  Some of my sleeping issues are going away, no more reflux, and I actually get hungry instead of a constant "I ate too much" feeling.

I have determined that I am going to start running the local mountain bike races again.   DORBA (Dallas Off Road Bike Association) has announced the dates and locations of the 2012 North Texas Series and I really want race this year.

• Oak Cliff Nature Preserve, Oak Cliff
  Sunday, Aug 5th
  
• Erwin Park, McKinney
  Sunday Aug 19th
  
• Sansom  Park, Ft. Worth
  Sunday Sep 9th
  
• Johnson Branch, Pilot Point
  Sunday Sep 23rd
  
• Rowlett Creek Preserve, Garland
  Sunday Oct 14th

I have raced all of these trails and it is going to be an awesome series.  Except the Sansom race, that trail is a beating and the last time I raced out there it was so dry and dusty I wiped out at least a dozen times and left at least a quart of blood on the trail.

The last time I raced was in 2008 and that was a tough, tough series and Kevin, David, and I were so worn out after that series that we took the next race year off and never got back to it.  But I miss it and I will be back next fall.  In between now and then there are some other races to run.  Right now I am trying to get ready for a 6-hour race at Erwin park in March that is part of the 2012 DORBA Frozen Endurance Series.  They have a 4-hour solo option that I will probably go with because I am not sure I can get in shape enough to do the 6 hour option.  The last time I ran this race, I didn't manage by fluid or electrolytes properly and completely cramped up at 3.5  hours and had to abandon the race.  Hopefully it will go better this time!!!

7 down 61 to go!

Oh yes, I am talking about my eternal battle with my weight.  It seems like I am constantly dealing with it because I always am.  Only once in the last decade have I been down to a weight that I was happy with.  (Don't get me wrong, I have completely realistic expectations about my weight, I am a big dude and understand that) And when I was at that weight I told myself I would never go back.  Yet, it happens so slowly that you give a little here and a little there at POW POW, you are up 60 lbs.  And that is no exaggeration.

July 2008 at 209 lbs.

Nov 2011 at 268lbs.

So, I am back on a quest to get back down to 200lbs and to stay there.  Maintaining is the hard part for me.  Once I get to my goal, I don't stay there.  I slowly start to put weight back on and boy does my body know how to put weight on.  I think since I at one point I weighed up over 310 lbs my body naturally wants to go back to that weight and it is a constant fight not to.

Right now I am back to eating healthy and slowly getting back into my exercise routines.  I would say I am on a diet but I'm not, I hate the word "diet" and all it stands for.  It should be about getting into a healthy long term life style not a temporary change to get results.  I still eat all the things I love I just don't eat them all the time and I moderate the high-calorie foods to very small quantities.  I can't just cut everything out, that usually results in a short term loss, long term gain. (See that little weight pun I threw in there)

I got back to my healthy living the Friday after Thanksgiving and have already lost 7 pounds.  I would like to drop 10-15 more before Christmas and then at total of 35-40 by the time Rebecca is born.  Those are really lofty goals and it will take constant diligence to meet those them, but I think I can do it.

Funny things you say, #1, #2, and #3

Unless you have experienced a toddlers need to explore their world this post probably only won't make much sense to you.  As Samantha began to crawl and then to walk and then to run, she begun to see, touch, and taste everything she could.  I noticed that Karie and I were starting to say things that if taken completely out of context sounded really funny.  So I started to make a list of some of the better things that have come out of our mouths.  So far I only have three, but I am sure there will be many more to come.

Samantha really liked to chew on shoes when she was older so this lead to Karie saying:
1.   "Dogs eat shoes, not babies"

After the Christmas tree was put up I turned around saw Samantha  walking around the tree putting ornaments into a fed-ex sack I had just emptied:
2.  "We do not trick or tree off of the Christmas tree"

Then the other day Samantha was trying to tell me something with her fingers in her mouth:
3.  "Take your fingers out of your mouth, I can't understand you.  Go ahead and put them back in, I still can't understand you."

All Done

It's amazing how much joy a little one can bring into a household, especially our little Samantha.  Karie and I are constantly laughing at the things that she does as she tries to figure this crazy world out. 

Because we usually spend our Thanksgiving in Indiana, we have gotten into the habit of setting up our Christmas tree the weekend before the holiday.  This way it is already setup when we get home and don't have to worry about it.  When we get back from Indiana we are so tired that setting up the tree became a burden and not a Joy.  This way it's always a Joy.

Well, the tree is setup in the playroom and last night we were playing in there with Samantha.  Other than the candy canes on the tree, Samantha is generally pretty good about leaving the tree alone.  However, last night I turned around and Samantha had a FedEx bad in her hands that I just emptied.  She was walking around the Christmas tree putting ornaments into the bag.  It took me a second to realize what she was doing and then the funniest words came out of my mouth.  "Samantha we don't trick or treat off of the Christmas tree."  It's an honest mistake, how was she to know that you only trick or treat at Halloween.  I still giggle when I think about it. 

Then the next day just after lunch, I was sitting downstairs playing with Samantha before I went back up to work.  Samantha likes to play a "night night" game where she pretends to got to sleep only to pop back up after 30 seconds to surprise me that she wasn't really asleep.  I don't have the heart to tell her that I can see she isn't asleep because she never closes her eyes.  But today she did something different.  She put her hands together right before she went "night night."  I asked Karie if she was praying and Karie held up a Prayer book that she got at the library.  Karie and Samantha had been reading the book so Samantha was starting to pray before she went "night night".  As Samantha sat there Karie says,

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
may angels watch me through the night
and wake me with the morning light
Amen

And Samantha very proudly replies "All Done".

It took a couple minutes for Karie and I to stop laughing.

What?!?

Karie had another baby appointment today and after an hour wait we finally got to hear Rebecca's heart beat (162 bpm).  It was well worth that wait, I really love that swooshing sound.  However, Samantha wasn't sure what to make of it, at first she was upset because she didn't know what the doctor was doing to mommy.  After a few moments, she started to smile.

 As we were leaving the office, we go into the elevator and a few people join us for the ride down.  For some reason people are really pulled to Samantha.  Maybe it is that way with all little kids, but it seems like a lot of people go out of their way to talk to Samantha.  The people in the elevator say "Hi' and Samantha smiles at them.  They continue to look at Samantha then out of nowhere Samantha says very loudly and very clearly "What!?!" with about as much attitude that a 17 month old can muster.  (All you parents out there will understand that is a lot of attitude)

I laugh, but I also see visions of things to come.  I envision Samantha as a teenager staring at me saying "What!?!"

Well Karie was baffled by this behavior because she can't imagine where Samantha would have learned such a thing.  Unfortunately daddy knew exactly where she learned it.  Whenever Samantha gets into a staring mood and stares at me, I look back and say "What?"

Lesson learned.

Babies = Projects

One thing I realized as babies enter your life, your "to do" list never seems to end.  With a second little one on the way, I think my "to do" list is about a mile long. 

For normal people, they would just start one project and finish it, then start the next.  For some reason my brain does not work that way.  Every project I create seems to spawn more projects that spawn even more projects.  This little voice in my head says "Well, while you are doing [insert task] you should go ahead and do [insert slightly related task]" until I am so far away from the original task that it sometimes doesn't get done.

Currently I am in the process of removing all the furniture from our second living room and making it into a play room, even though the new babies room still has a lot to be finished.  I just got it into my head that it needed to be done and there I go!  No sure why I felt a need to start yet another large project while I had a dozen others going.

Then, as I was moving furniture around in the room and clearing it out, I noticed the mantle is a little messed up do to a plant that over flowed.  I am trying to resist taking a hammer to it.  I have a vision of this awesome NEW and IMPROVED mantle.  However, I wouldn't be able to move forward with the playroom project until the mantle is done.  AHhhhhhhh, stop the insanity.  This is also the reason why some of the time I get so overwhelmed with a project before I even start it. 

My other problem is that I don't like prolonged projects.  When I start a project it's all GO 100% until it's done.  You can ask my wife, she generally stays clear when I start a project marathon because sometimes a cussing storm develops.  Then there is the dreaded F-Bomb tornado that spawns when something goes FUBAR!!!  When I decided to paint the new babies room I tore the room down, painted ceiling, accent wall, the rest of the room, touched up, put the room back together, assembled the crib and the dresser in about 24 hours.  Karie would peek in now and again when she hadn't heard me cuss in a while to make sure I wasn't dead.  Karie tends to hover a lot when I am working on something in the house because she is grew up with a dad and ended most of his home improvement projects with a trip to the hospital.  That is a little dramatic but the guy is missing 1/2 a toe and has a metal ankle.

I am hoping that I can get the play room done quickly so I can get back to the other projects that I am suppose to be working on.  I still have a closet to gut and rebuild, a book shelf to build, another one to paint, and a dozen assorted projects to get done before Rebecca gets here.  I still have 3.5 months but with 2 major holidays in the time ahead it is going to go by quick.  I guess I should stop my typing and get to work.

Indiana

One of the things you don't get in Texas is the wide variety of fall color like they get up here in northern Indiana.  So many more reds, yellows, and oranges on all the trees.  It is just gorgeous. 

Are we there yet?!?

Traveling was so much easier before we had kids.  Karie and I would just pack up and go.  Now it requires lists, shuffling items around and between bags to make sure they are not over the weight limits.  Then checking the lists once, and twice, and thrice to make sure when we get on the plane we don't ask "where is the sippy cup" while Samantha is going "AAAaaahahahahahaAAAHhahahhahahahhha!!!!"

Then there is all the looks from the passengers wondering "is that kid going to cry on the plane" or "is that kid going to kick/punch/puke/poop on me during the flight."  Coming down the isle it almost feels like the scene from Forrest Gump on the bus where all the kids/soldiers are saying "this seat is taken" however, we have assigned seats so take that "MUuuahhahahahahaha!!!"

Then there is all the fees for the extra stuff that we have to bring along.  I do give airlines some credit for allowing strollers and carseats to fly for free but the pack-n-play is hit or miss.  I think we have spent enough on fees for that thing that we could have bought 2 more by now.

Even with all that it's still worth it to get out and to share the world with the little one and soon to be two.  Even though Samantha is too small to ever remember her trips to Ft. Wayne and her trip to the Grand Canyon or Yosemite or the Golden Gate bridge, I think these sights will stick with her as she grows up.  I feel like we are helping her to expand her horizons and eventually expand her sisters horizons and however many after that.

I didn't travel much as a kid, the farthest we ever went from home was as far as we could and still get back before bed time.  So our range of travel was very small.  My first airplane trip was in high school when the band went to Disney World.  As I got older, I began to realize how much was out there to see and do and if I had all the time and money in the world that is what I would do.  But sadly I don't have all the time and money in the world so we pick and chose very carefully. 

So far our trips have been a lot of fun and yes there have been exploding diapers on flights.  There have been diverted flights and tarmac waits.  There have been not so happy people next to us.  And there has been some crying and screaming but it's still all worth it.  It's so very worth it to watch Samantha run around the giant redwoods and eat dirt in a different state, which according to Samantha California dirt tastes better than Texas dirt.  To carry Samantha around Yosemite where she got to touch rocks bigger than our house and see a waterfall taller than the highest high rise in Dallas.  These memories are far out weight the miniscule inconveniences of traveling with the little ones.

One day, I hope, our kiddos will thank us for dragging them around to different parts of this country and eventually the world.

Rangers

All of these close and extra inning games are going to give me an ulcer.  It makes for exciting baseball but my stress level is through the roof.

As a life long Rangers fan it is so nice to make the the playoffs and the World Series two years in a row after years and years of mediocre baseball.  But I realized that it doesn't take long for expectations to change.  Just simply making the playoffs or making it to the World Series just isn't enough any more.  Now that I have been given a taste, I want it all.

After tonights nail biter the series is tied 1-1 and it heads back to Texas.  We get our designated hitter back and they can play baseball the way it was meant to be played.  I am hoping the Rangers bats wakeup so we can start putting this series away!  I don't think I can take a repeat of last year.

Kicks

I felt two little kicks from the little one tonight.  Karie is really starting to feel her moving around and has mentioned it several times but this was the first time I was able to feel her.  We are almost to the half way point in the pregnancy, it feels like it is going quite a bit fast this time.  With Samantha it seemed to take forever to get to this point.  I think a lot of that is because  are busy with Samantha.

Tonight I made cupcakes for Karie's birthday party on Sunday and Samantha got to lick the beater.  She didn't really know what to make of it at first until I got her to taste it.  Then she was all over it.  The only problem was that she wasn't in her chair so she walked into the living room, tripped, and fell onto a couch pillow.  This resulted in her losing her beater and there was much whaling and gnashing of teeth.  For the second beater, I put her into her chair so their wouldn't be a repeat.

After dinner we settled down to watch the Lion King and to my surprise Samantha actually snuggled with Karie and watched.  Later she came and snuggled with me a little before she went to bed.  Of course she didn't make it through the entire movie but it was nice to have a quiet movie night.

State Fair of Texas

Yesterday was my Fair Day and I love the State Fair.  I remember going almost every year as a kid and even as I grew up.  Karie and my first day was at the State Fair so needless to say it means a lot to me to go every year.  This year was even more fun because Samantha is old enough to partake of the food and the fun.  We also went with my sister, my nephew and his wife and their little girl.  The fair is always more fun with more people.

If you have never been to a fair then you don't understand that the food is one of the main attractions.  Pretty much everything is fried.  If you are going to go to a fair then eating healthy really isn't an option. We had corn dogs, funnel cake, cotton candy, corn on the cob, 1/2 lbs hot dogs, cheese fries, fried buffalo chicken flapjack, fried Oreos, turkey leg, root beer, lemonade, fried mac and cheese and others I can't remember.  

The fried buffalo chicken flapjack won the award for best food and it was pretty good.  The loser of the day was the Kool-Aide Pickle.  I saw it advertised while we were eating out lunch and I just had to give it a try.   The Kool-aide pickle is a huge dill pickle soaked in Kool-Aide then sprinkled with sugar and kool-aide mix.  It was just too weird, the dill was too much of a contrast of the sweet kool-aide. Samantha's favorite food was the fried mac and cheese.

We also went through the childrens animal barn which is generally a big hit with Samantha.  This year she was old enough to walk around without being carried so she could go up to the animals herself.  However, she isn't quite old enough to feed the animals.  She seemed to be just as happy just to look and to play with the scoops that were attached to each cage.

After we looked at the animals we wandered around the car show and picked out all the cars and trucks that we would love to have but won't.  Samantha really liked this red Dodge truck but mean ole mommy wouldn't let her take it home. 

Samantha did get a little model VW Beetle to take home.  It rode around in the wagon with her all day.  The only time she put it down was to get something to eat or drink.

There were a lot of cool cars and trucks.  Every year we see more and more electric or hybrid vehicles at the fair.  This year they were really hyping the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf.  I got to take a look at the Leaf, the electric motor just looks odd under the hood.  But I guess one of these days we will all be driving electric cars.

The hit of the day had to be the aquarium.   Samantha loved to splash in the water in the open tanks where you can touch and feel stuff.  Evidently, Samantha didn't seem to care that there were "NO SPLASHING" signs posted all over the place.  Her and Karie had a couple of battles over the splashing that didn't end well.  Within a couple of minutes Samantha was covered in water.  The Manta Ray tank in the back of the aquarium is just too cool.  They rays swim right up and you can touch them.  Samantha seemed more annoyed by them than anything because they were interrupting her splashing.  They would swim by and suck on her arm looking for food and then move on.  I was able to feed a couple of them and it startled my how much they can suck.  It was actually quite creepy.  But they are beautiful animals!

And of course, you can't leave the fair without riding at least one ride.  I scoped out the rides and the "Winky the Whale" ride seemed to be the least threatening.  The minimum height was 30 inches so Samantha was good to go.  I could tell this ride was going to be a problem for me when I got in and realized I didn't really fit.  I had to put my legs sideways to keep my knees from banging around and had to force my arm against the front bar to keep from smashing Samantha.  So when this thing finally started to move Samantha starting laughing.  I then realized it moved faster and more violently than it looked.  Every time Winky the Whale went up and down it slammed my spine and knees against the hard seat and from of the whale.  As I cringe from the next movement, Samantha is laughing and screaming.  She loved it.  This was the first ride she had ever been on and it opened a whole new world for her.  After that she knew what all these spinning, noisy things were and she would point at the rides that were too big for her and clap.  I am sure she would have ridden everything in the midway.  Next year , I am sure I will be on a lot more rides with Samantha. 

As the way went on, I could tell that Samantha was starting to get tired.  Since we took the wagon Samantha didn't have an opportunity to take a nap like her cousin did, who was in a stroller.  We had left the house just after 9:30 am and didn't leave the fair until around 6:15 pm.  As soon as we got into the van to head home, Samantha was out cold.  It was a long, fun, and exhausting day.  Karie and my feet were both sore from all the walking and standing.  But it was an awesome day and year after year we hope there will be many, many more.

Rangers

These playoff baseball games are going to give me a stroke.  As a life long Rangers fan I  unacustomed to being this involved in playoff baseball.  Last year and this year have been an education in reflux causing stress as I watch the Rangers navigate through the post season. 

Tonight's game was hard to watch.  Even though I knew the odds of winning were low when the Tigers tacked on more runs to make it 5-1, I still had hope that maybe there was some more grandslam magic in Cruz's bat.  But it wasn't meant to be.

I knew they would't sweep the Tigers so now we can move on and win the series!

Pumpkins, Twins, Rain, and Bathtime

What do these four things have in common, pumpkins, twins, rain and bath time.  Well, they are all thinks from this weekend.  Yes, I realize that is a cheesy way to start a blog entry but since it was kind of a random title I thought some explanation was necessary.

Saturday morning Karie, Samantha, and I drove up to Celina to visit the Big Orange Pumpkin Farm.  It was a lot of fun.  They had a petting zoo with cows, longhorns, goats and sheep.  The kiddos were not allowed in the pens with the animals but since we go there first thing in the morning the animals were nice and hungry so it wasn't hard to get them to come over.  Actually the sheep were pretty aggressive and one of them was able to get a feed cup away from Karie and eat it all up.  It was funny because the sheep just shoved it's nose into the cup and tilted it's head back and all the feed was gone!  The longhorns and cows were her favorite.  When she would see one she would run towards them yelling "MMMMOOOOOooooooo!!!!"

Samantha really enjoyed running around the pumpkin patch.  We tried to get her to say "Pumpkin" but it came out more like "Poop" so it sounded like she was running around yelling "Poop!" all morning.  Samantha doesn't get to run around in wide open spaces like I did when I was a kid so we try to get her out as much as we can.  The pumpkin patch was a lot of fun, however, Samantha didn't know what to make of the pumpkins at first.  Once she realized she could pick them up and carry them she was off.  The highlight of the visit was when she found a tiny pumpkin that was just her size.  We also enjoyed a hay ride, which was about 5 minutes too long for Samantha.  She didn't get upset but she was starting to get antsy to move around.

Later that evening we went out to my mom and dad's for dinner and Kevin and Wendy brought out the twins.  They are getting so big and it's hard to imagine how small they were when they were first born.  They are both very aware and look at you and acknowledge you.  They are at an age where they become a lot of fun.  Luke and Grace already have distinct personalities and distinct laughs.  Baby laughs are just awesome!!!  Luke is a little smaller than Grace at the moment but I am sure that won't last for long.  I am so glad that I get to spend time when these two!  It really makes you thing about the blessing in our life and our family when you look at these two!

On Sunday not much was going to happen outdoors because it was actually raining.  It rained on and off most of the day on Sunday and boy did we need it.  It wasn't enough to end the drought but it helped.  The weather man said we still have a 9 inch deficit for rain this year and it looks like it will be a dry winter so unless we get some drought busting rain it looks like my water bill won't be going down anytime soon.

Then finally we get to bath time!  I remember when bath time used to be a fun time, not just a something you did every morning or night that is part of your daily routine.  Samantha loves running water, I guess who doesn't.  The feel and look of it is just cool, no matter how old you are. Samantha was having a really good time in the bath until she fell face first into the water.  For an adult this is not a big deal but for a 15 month old falling like that can be terrifying.  In an instant she was face down and not able to breathe.  Karie scooped her up immediately and I wrapper her in a towel because I knew this meant the end of bath time.  Samantha was crying but it wasn't her normal "I"M PISSED!!!!" cry it was a whiny and pitiful "I'm scared..." cry.  I hate that cry. The pissed cry happens all the time, it's not hard to piss off a little toddler, but the scared cry really bothers me.    It makes me feel like I failed as a parent.  Yes, I know it's just part of her learning but I still don't like it and I know that I can not prevent these situations from happening.  Nor should I try unless I want Samantha to grow up sheltered and scared of the world.  So the best I can do is offer a comforting hug and let her know she is alright.

It wasn't long before she was back to herself and she picked up my brush and decided that she needed to brush mine and her hair. 

So what do pumpkins, twins, rain and bath time mean to me.  It means I had a great weekend with my family and reminds me of how truly blessed I am.

Flowers

I have been working feverishly to get the flowers completed so we can start to distribute them to friends and family.  They are all pretty much cut out and now I am sanding and priming the them.  I have 11 of them ready to go.  Since it takes time for the primer to dry I can only do some many of the flowers at a time.  So this evening I decided to sit down and start designing my flower.


I started off with a standard type flower and working my way over to a more exotic design.  In this process, I realized how much I still enjoy grabbing a pencil and paper and doodling.  I used to be a pretty good artist when it came to pencil and charcoal.  However, I am so out of practice now that I can barely draw a stick figure.  Regardless, it is still really enjoyable to just to sit down and lose yourself in a blank peice of paper.  Before I knew it, I had been sitting there for over a hour and it was time to go to bed.

My biggest obstacle to this whole process is that that I really suck at painting.  My sister and twin brother have skills with a paint brush so I am sure their flowers will look great.  I just never liked the flexiblity of the brush.  The pencil makes a mark exactly where I put it.  So I think I might have to bust out my airbrush, something I also haven't used in a long time either.  It should provide me a lot more control, I hope.  It will also give me the look I am going for if I go with the flame design.  No matter how the flower turns out, it should be fun.

Good weekend

It was a pretty good weekend.

Yesterday Karie, Samantha and I went out to Eisenhower State Park for a hike.  The park was pretty much deserted since the water was off limits.  Due to the really hot summer and the lower water levels the algae in the water is at dangerous levels.  So getting in the water is forbidden.  It wasn't a big deal to us since we had not planned on doing any swimming today.

We hiked around  3 miles and then found an empty campsite to have our lunch.  It wasn't hard to find an empty one so we got to pick a real nice one.  Samantha had the most fun chasing the flies that landed on our food and cooler.

Later that evening, we all went to downtown McKinney to grab some dinner.  We went over to Square Burger, one of our favorite places to eat.  And afterwards we walked around the square.  We eventually ended up at a small park just west of the square.  Samantha ran around for about 30 minutes straight.  She even spent some time chasing a little 2 year old boy around, oh, it's too early to start that.

Today we went out for a walk over to a playground near our house.  Samantha loves the play ground and especially the mulch they put down.  She throws it, moves it, carries it, and hands it to me to hold.  We spent some time going down the slides today.  At first she wasn't that interested until I let her go down herself.  That was a lot of fun and we did that over, and over, and over until I had enough.

On our way back to the house we bumped into a lady walking with a small screech owl on her arm.  I asked her if it was an owl and she said "yes" and come over to talk to us.  It turns out she was trying to determine if the owl could be used with kids and adults as a learning bird.  The owl had been injured so it could no longer fly.  The owl had its eyes almost closed and was making a small cry.  The lady said the noise was his cry, and meant he wasn't happy.  The owl was doing pretty well and seemed to get used to our presence.  However, if the owl cannot get used to people it will be put down since all the stress would not be a very good life for the owl.  I really hope he makes it.  The lady works at the Raptor habitat over by Lake Lavon and said it's open to the public the first Saturday of the month.  We might try to head over there next month and see the little owl.

Marching Band

I went to see my nephew march with the Liberty Redhawk marching band last night.  It was a lot of fun to be at a high school game again to see the band perform. 

My sister and I talked a little bit about our band experiences and it got me thinking that it has been almost 20 years since I was out on a football field marching. 

Damn, I am getting old.

17 Weeks and a day

Yesterday was the 17 week mark and everything is going great.  For the most part Karie is feeling pretty good.  However, she has had a couple more bouts of morning sickness which is a little odd.  With Samantha she had issues with getting light headed if she stood up too fast but once she got out of the first trimester the sickness was gone.  It seems to happen when we don't eat real well so I think it's just Karie's body telling her to eat better. 

The number of pillows in the bed seems to be multiplying every week and room is getting limited.  Before long I think the pillows are going to rebel and kick me out of the bed.

Karie and I have been thinking about what we wanted to do on the walls with the flowers.  In Samantha's room we put little lady bugs on the wall below her butterflies and also made a couple ladybug book shelves.  So we thought about putting up little bumblebees below the flowers.  So I printed out some mockups and put them on the wall and they look pretty good.  So once I am done cutting out, sanding, and priming the flowers, I will get started on bumblebees.

So far I have been able to cut out 15 of the flowers.  It doesn't take as long as I though it would to cut out each flower.  Once I get them cut out, I then have to make all the plugs for the middle and that may take a little more time.  But in the end it will be worth it.

Samantha

Samantha doesn't have a clue what is about to happen to her world early next year.  Samantha will never remember a time when she didn't have a little sister.  She is just too young to remember any time when it was just here in the house.  In her mind, the new babies room is just another room for her to play in.  It really upset her while I was painting that she was not allowed in there to help me.  She saw me doing some really cool stuff and wanted to join in so badly. 

I would have let her help but I just didn't have the energy to watch her that closely and I am sure I would be the one having to clean all the paint out of her hair.  And from what I have read lately the acetone in the latex paints are not suppose to good for pregnant women or babies.  So I tried to keep them out of the fumes as much as possible.

Well back to the original point.  Karie and I have had some discussions and we are curious how much regression we will see in Samantha when Rebecca comes along.  I am assuming we will see some around the bottles and the pacifiers.  Samantha never really took to the pacifiers but I am sure that one Rebecca has them Samantha will decided that she must have them also.  It's going to be a fun ride. 

While we were putting the new crib together, which is identical to Samantha's, she kept trying to climb into it.  I told her that is was a bed and that she didn't want to be in there.  But she didn't listen to her daddy.  Once I put her in the new crib is immediatley realized what is was and decided that she did NOT want to go "Nigh Nigh".

Karie got a good laugh out of this one.  We feel bad sometimes about how much we laugh at Samantha but we can't help it, little ones are pretty damn funny! 

Long but productive!

Wow, this weekend has been a very long but productive weekend.  Since we found out Thursday that baby two is a girl,  that removed all road blocks for work on the babies' room.  So after work on Friday, I got to work. 

The first thing to go up was the new ceiling fan because that room can get quite warm with the sun coming in those windows.  After that I painted the accent wall and taped up most of the room so I could paint it first thing Saturday morning.  I was a little concerned about the dark purple accent wall.  It was difficult to visualize how it was going to look with the rest of the room still chocolate brown.

Then I had to get up early on Saturday to get some builds done for work.  After I got my work done I was able to finish taping and paint the rest of the room.  It didn't take long before the room really started to lighten up with that light purple on the walls.  It took some time to get all the edges and around the windows done.  But I think it looks great.

Later that afternoon, I got the crib and the dresser together and in the room.  Then your mom and I got some accessories  after dinner and put the bedding on.

Sunday morning we attented the baptism of the twins and went over to Kevin and Wendy's for lunch.

After that I came home and started to work on cutting out the flowers that the family will paint up for Rebecca's room.

And to finish off, I finaly finished Emily's cross.

I am wore out, which means, it was a good, good, weekend!

Another little girl

16 Weeks

Several people have asked if I am disappointed that #2 is not a little boy and I have told them "no".  However, I don't think they really believe me.  To be honest, I don't really care if I have a whole load of girls.  When I think of my family, I just think of a bunch of little kiddos running around.  There isn't a specific girl, boy, girl, boy, etc pattern to it.  I am just happy that we have another one on the way and that everything is going great!

Changes

This weekend after a hike that Karie, Samantha, and I did out at Erwin park, Karie noticed that Samantha exceeded the maximum height for the car seat in the Xterra. The maximum height for the seat is 30 inches and Samantha is now 31.5 inches tall.  So after some research we determined the brand of booster seat and with some creative couponing we headed over to BuyBuy Baby in Frisco with two 20% off coupons. Since it was late on Sunday when we go home I didn't  get them  installed until today.  After they were installed, we went out to dinner.  Samantha looked around and jabbered the entire time.  She really enjoys facing forward and being able to see everything.

It has been a tough day.  Karie and I decided we needed to change the OB/GYN that she was seeing.  All of the doctor visits this time around start with a nice long wait.  Today Karie waited 90 minutes for 4 minutes of doctor time.   It's very frustrating because we are not having the same experience that we had when Karie was pregnant with Samantha.  Dr. Bailey stopping doing sonograms so we have to schedule those seperately and Dr. Bailey isn't in the office at the same times.  This has been building for a while, actually ever since the "miscommunication" over the hi-def sonogram, that wasn't really a hi-def sonogram.

Anyway, we go to meet with the new doctor on Thursday.  Hopefully we will like her since several people recommended her.  Since we are doing a sonogram, maybe they will be able to determine the gender of baby number two!

Lego time

Well it is Lego season again and our team meetings are in full swing. The game board and the challenges have been released. Along with some changes to the scoring changes for the qualifiers. Last year they had teams focus on a single aspect of the competition so the changes were made to discourage that. A team must be well rounded and in the top 40% of the robot game to make it to the finals

The boys were a little discouraged by this news at first but once we got to business they did really well. There was a ton brainstorming about the challenges this year. A couple of attachments were even build in the meeting.
I think team work is still going to be a challenge this year. The boys have a hard time trying to merge ideas even when some of them are really similar.

The two oldest boys have a tendency to pair up and do their own thing which can be good and bad. Good because when they are focuses they get a lot done. Bad because they can exclude everyone and don't listen to their fellow team mates.

I have high hopes that the team will perform better than 1st year even if they don't make it past the qualifier.

The tasks are very different this year. Time seems to be the biggest issue with a lot of the tasks. There are loads of small pieces that have to be moved around the game board. It will be interesting to see how other teams perform the tasks.

Losing Weight...

The last year has not been kind to me in the weight department.  I have put on about 40 pounds and I am not happy about it.  Up to this point, I have started and restarted and restarted my workout programs but haven't been able to get any traction.

One of my biggest problems is that Kevin isn't able to get out on his road or mountain bike due to time and health issues.  It's not that I can't ride without him it's just not as fun.  My older brother and I even commented that there seems to be less daredevil stuff and laughing on our rides without Kevin.  He was the comic relief a lot of the time.  I used to look forward to my Saturday mornings because that was our day we always got together pack the mountain bikes into my truck and head out on our Saturday adventure.  Sometimes it was only 30 minutes away and sometimes it was 2-3 hours away.  It was my time to be with my brothers and to relax.  To laugh at the stupid shit we will do when all of us are together.  Trust me, there has been a lot of stupid shit over there years.  Most of it ending with the phrase "Dooooooooood, are you alright!?!?!?!"

Time has been another factor.  I don't like eating into my family time with workouts because I like spending time with my family.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been able to start to get into a routine that allows me to get some workouts in without impact my family time too much.  David and I have started doing our Saturday rides again and it feels good to get out and hopefully Kevin will be back with us soon, asking us to sip from his power teet and mooning us from his bike.

Along with some strength training and some other cardio mixed in I should be able to start getting back into shape.

I am trying to get 30 lbs dropped by the end of the year and another 20 pounds before the second baby comes along.  Which will be another challenge for the workouts.

I just take it one day at a time...

Hiking at Johnson Branch

Every since we got back from Yosemite, Karie and I have been discussing our baby backpack.  We ran into some issues with the current backpack that we use.  While at Yosemite, Samantha fell asleep in the backpack and would lay straight back with her arms out.  This did not look comfortable for her and it made Karie and myself very nervous.  So over the last month, I have been doing research.  I found the Kelty backpack that we liked in stock at a local REI so we went to check it out.  I am sure the people in REI thought I was crazy as I walked around the store with Samantha in the backpack.  I wanted to make sure that she and I liked it before the purchase.  I tired on a couple of others but the Kelty had most of the features that I wanted.  My only disappointment is that there is not location for a hydration pouch, but I still may be able to rig something up.

Since we had the new pack, we decided to go out for a hike this last weekend.  Karie and I used to hike a lot before Samantha came along.  Since Karie is pregnant with #2 the hike pace was pretty slow but it didn't bother me because I had 30lbs. on my back.  Samantha did great in the pack.  We hiked for over 2 hours and Samantha didn't complain at all.  I tied her sippy cup to the pack with a shoe lace to prevent be from having to pick it up all the time. 

Over the hike, we would hand Samantha stuff off the trail.  The first thing we gave her was a long piece of grass that she thankfully dropped after a while.  She thought it was funny to put the grass in Daddy's face during the hike.  She also was given a dried up bean from one of the trees that she poked Daddy's neck and crumbled down his shirt.  But the mild annoyance was worth it because these things kept her entertained. 

After the hike we sat down at a covered table and had our lunch.  Samantha used the cooler as a table and ran around between bites to eat.  She seemed to be really enjoying herself.  She just loves being outside.

Once we had eaten, we drove over to the beach area and played for a while.  Since Samantha hasn't shown much interest in playing in the water before we didn't bring a swim suit.  I guess we should have because once Samantha got into the water, she didn't want to get out.  It was a lot of fun.  It was nice because we pretty much had the beach to ourselves and we didn't have to worry about Samantha getting trampled by bigger kids.  After about an hour in the water Samantha was starting to wind down and it was time to head home.

Samantha and mommy both crashed on the way home.  It had been a long good day.

San Francisco Vacation

Instead of posting a ton of pictures, I thought I would include a synopsis of the vacation along with links to the albums.  Enjoy.

Day 1 - August 8th

We left DFW right on time that morning and Karie and I figured Samantha would sleep on the plane.  No!  She bounced on Karie and me the entire flight.  She spent most of her time pulling magazines out of the seat and putting them back.  This seemed to be great fun for her.

Once we got into San Francisco we got our car and headed up to the fisherman's wharf.  It is a lot cooler here than in Dallas.  The temperature was around 65, chilly.

We went over to Boudins and got some yummy sourdough bread.  Samantha really enjoyed it.  As we sat there eating on the patio I noticed Samantha was shivering, so we had to bundle her up.  After that it wasn't long before Karie had a sweatshirt on.  I was fine in shorts and a t-shirt.  I was determined to soak up the cool air.

We then walked down pier 39 and saw Alcatraz and the bottom half of the Golden Gate bridge.  The top part was obscured by clouds/fog.

We also walked down and saw a submarine and a another ship down on the docks.

Samantha loved running around on the piers.  She would yell and flap her arms and go and talk to people.  She is such a goof.

As we walked back I went over to get tickets for an Alcatraz tour and there was a sign out front saying next available tour was on August 20.  So we didn't get to see Alcatraz.

Fisherman's Wharf
http://www.russell-clan.com/aspx/albums_view.aspx?ALBUM_ID=1670

Day 2 - August 9th

After breakfast we had planned heading over to do a 3 mile hike on the west side of San Francisco.  The trail takes you to a scenic view point of the bay and the Golden Gate bridge. However the fog was so think that we would not been able to see the bridge.  So on to plan B.

We decided to head up to the Muir woods and check out some giant red woods.  Wow!  Those are some big trees.  None of the pictures will do it justice.  Samantha did a lot of walking out there and fell a lot. The dirt out there must have been really tasty because she kept licking it off her hands when she fell.  It was funny at first but then just got kind of gross.

Muir Woods
http://www.russell-clan.com/aspx/albums_view.aspx?ALBUM_ID=1671

After that we went down to the Muir beach.  Samantha really enjoyed the beach until the surf came up to her feet.  After that she wanted to be held.

Muir Beach
http://www.russell-clan.com/aspx/albums_view.aspx?ALBUM_ID=1672

Out there and back we crossed the Golden Gate bridge.  On the way back you could almost see the top of the bridge.  And we drove up some of the most winding steep roads I had seen in my life.  This made Karie a little nervous, especially on the way out when the fog was really heavy!

On the way back Samantha crashed.

Once she got up from her 2.5 hour nap we drove back down to the fisherman's wharf.  We started at pier 29.5 and walked all on the wharf down to the Maritime museum.  There were some very cool boats.  Samantha really liked Hercules the tugboat.  From there we walked up to Ghirardelli square and got some chocolate for Karie.  Then on our way back we stopped at Bubba-Gump Shrimp for dinner.  They have a huge window out over the pier so you can watch boats go by.  We walked about 4 miles up and down the pier this evening.

Fisherman's Wharf
http://www.russell-clan.com/aspx/albums_view.aspx?ALBUM_ID=1680

As we were heading back to the hotel I had to cut through the city to avoid the traffic from the Giants game.  So I got to drive on some of the VERY hilly San Francisco streets.

Yet again Samantha crashed on the way back to the hotel.

There is one picture of the bay with some fog.  In that fog is the Golden Gate bridge.  The fog out here is ridiculous.  It flows over the mountains and looks like water pouring over the tops of the mountains.  But because of the fog we still haven't see the Golden Gate except when we drove across it

So far all 3 of us are having a great time.

Day 3 - August 10th

Today we decided to drive out to Yosemite National Park.  Kevin (my brother) recommended that we go out there if we had time.  It was unbelievable.

We discovered that there are two ways to get in or out of Yosemite.  You can take highway 120 or 140.  One of the roads follows the valley into the park and the other one goes over the valley.

We took 120 into the park and quickly realized that the road was going up and up and up.  I knew we were in trouble when a sign on the side of the road said "Turn off A/C".  It was basically a warning that you are going to need all your engine power.

To make things worse, our rental car was not the appropriate vehicle for mountain driving.  The Dodge Avenger may have a super hero name but it did not have a super hero engine.  And it wanted to use its overdrive gear all the time.  I discovered that if you smash the accelerator to the floor it gets out of overdrive.  I am pretty sure that car hates me now

Over 15 miles, highway 120 went back and forth every 100 yards slowly moving 6500 feet up over the mountain and then slowly back down into the valley.  Karie did not really enjoy this part of the trip.  I thought the roads going to Muir Woods were steep and twisty.  I was mistaken.

Once we got into the park we spent all of our time in Yosemite Valley.  That is where you can see the Yosemite falls (upper and lower), north dome, half dome and El Capitan.  However they were doing some controlled burns in the park so some of the pictures are hazy.  There are pictures of all of these attached.

The pictures cannot do this place justice.  The is no way to understand the size of these rock faces and formations without seeing them in person.

Yosemite
http://www.russell-clan.com/aspx/albums_view.aspx?ALBUM_ID=1675

 We did a lot of hiking around the park today and wore all of us out.  It was quite a bit warmer out there probably close to around 90 degrees.  There were a ton of people out there but you could escape them by going out on some of the non-paved hiking trails.  Once we got away from the main attractions you didn't see many people. Samantha really liked the waterfalls and this wooden carved bear statue.  She kept jumping up and down yelling "doggy".  Karie finally had to drag her away from it.

On our way of the park we took highway 140 which followed the Merced River down the valley and was a much more enjoyable drive.  Until we reached a section of road that had to be bypassed on the other side of the valley because a massive rock slide covered the road.  That was pretty scary looking.

I also discovered that Californians are the worst "rubber neckers" in the world.  All it takes to stop 6 lanes of traffic is a flashing light.  It was unbelievable.

It was a good day.  Samantha slept most of the way home.  We ordered room service when you got back to the hotel.

 Day 4 - August 11th

We made today a short day because we have had a couple of long days and needed some recoup time.  So after we all got up and ate we headed down to the Golden Gate Bridge to check out Fort Point.

It is a 4 story fort that is underneath the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was very cool and they allowed full access to the top.  It was very windy and cold up there.    Samantha enjoyed walking around the fort.

Fort Point
http://www.russell-clan.com/aspx/albums_view.aspx?ALBUM_ID=1676

After that we went over to Ocean beach and played on the beach.  Since it was only 60 degrees out we didn't really plan in the water.  But Samantha enjoyed chasing the Seagulls with daddy.

Ocean Beach
http://www.russell-clan.com/aspx/albums_view.aspx?ALBUM_ID=1677

On a sad note, someone actually jumped off the golden gate as we were leaving Fort Point.  I turned around to look at the bridge and saw a flair drop into the water and wondered what it was.  Then it dawned on me that it was to mark the location of the jumper.  It wasn't long before a fire truck, ambulance, and other emergency vehicles started to came down to Fort Point and a Coast Guard ship could be seen under the bridge.  Karie and I left, we didn't really want to see any more.  It was sad enough just knowing what had happened.

Other than that today was a great day.  However, I don't think the fog ever leaves San Francisco.  As soon we got back to our hotel in San Mateo the sun broke through the clouds.

Day 5 - August 12th

Today we went down to the San Francisco zoo.  Since, we have been dragging Samantha around to a lot of non-kid-friendly places, I thought she might like this.  And I was right, she had a great time.  We saw lots of animals and Samantha got to see her first hippo, which she really liked.

But her favorite place was the kids zoo.  They had an open 'barn yard' with ducks, goats, sheep, etc.  Samantha touched a goat and a duck.  She ran around and had a blast.  When it was time to leave, there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth.

They also had a pretty good insect and tarantula exhibits.  They did have an exhibit of the largest insect in the world.  Ugh.  It was creepy.  They also had on of the largest breed of tarantula on exhibit.  It was huge!  Karie said I couldn't have one. 

San Francisco Zoo
http://www.russell-clan.com/aspx/albums_view.aspx?ALBUM_ID=1678

That evening we went out to downtown San Mateo and had dinner with a couple of Karie's college friends.  It was nice to meet them.

Day 6 - August 13th

This marks the end of our vacation and we went home.  It was a good trip with no food poisoning.  Samantha and I had a good time playing in the kids area in the San Francisco airport.


Playing at the airport
http://www.russell-clan.com/aspx/albums_view.aspx?ALBUM_ID=1679