On Two Feet...

Yesterday, I witnessed the most amazing thing I think I have ever seen. It was both beautiful and frightening. My 1 year old little girl took her first steps.

It felt like a normal day when I woke up. Little did I know that my world would once again be rocked when she took those first few steps. My wife decided to head to the beach for some relaxation and gentle ocean breezes. Me and my little girl stayed home for some much needed daddy-daughter time. She was in a great mood all day and had a blast playing with her toys (I think I may have enjoyed her toys as much as she did).

After lunch we decided to listen to some music...Classics like 'The Cleanup Song', 'The ABCs', and 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider' rolled out of the cd player in her room while we clapped and danced. At one point she tried to make her own itsy bitsy spider. Not quite there yet, but it was a great effort and she was very proud of herself. That new trick should have been my clue that something amazing was cooking in that little brain of hers.

Then I tried to get her to stand on her own, which she was getting pretty good at. I figured if she got good at standing she'd walk that much sooner. No dice, she stodd great and clapped and danced, but not a single step was taken. I wasn't worried because she was obviously getting closer and it was only a matter of time.

That time came just a few hours later when my wife came home from the beach. I wanted to show her our little girl's new spider trick and see if we could get her to dance. I set her up on two feet and she stood for a second with a big grin on her face. My wife then crouched down and said 'Come to mama' and with that the spider trick took second fiddle to the first few steps by our 14 month old.

I was so proud I got her to do a new trick during 'Itsy bitsy Spider', but she was obviously holding her 'A' material for when mommy got home.

I count myself very lucky for my wife and I to have witnessed those steps together. I'm at work all week so my time with her is limited to a few hours each night when I get home...Chances were I'd probably miss those steps. And with my wife gone to the beach all day she could have easily missed them as well.

Could it be that my daughter was waiting for a full audience? Was she being considerate of both of our feelings? I think so...She's a genius after all.

I'm Taking the Plunge....

Sure, you read the title, it's 96 degrees outside and you could safely assume I'm about to dive into a post about my family's summer swimming habits...Well, you're wrong. I'm taking an entirely different plunge; an entirely more anxiety inducing plunge into the Weight Watchers pool.

In 2004, I was rapidly approaching the 300lb mark. I wasn't there but I could see it on the horizon and it scared me. My wife and I began following the Weight Watchers program using materials we borrow from her mom. It worked, I lost about 70lbs and my wife was also successful.

Trouble is, since then I've been up and down and unfortunately for the last year I've been on a steady journey back up. I'm in a different place in my life than I was in 2004. Now I have a 13 month old baby girl at home who is watching very carefully what I do. It's one thing for me to be unhealthy, but there is no excuse to let my poor eating habits begin influence her.

My pants were getting tighter (I even broke down and bought a few larger pairs), and I thought it was time to get back on the horse, but this time the right way. It's one thing to borrow some books and information about Weight Watchers, but an entirely different thing to go to the meetings and learn how to successfully change your lifestyle. This all sounds kind of cheesy, but the more I stay positive about my weight loss the more likely I am to actually do it.

My wife went back to Weight Watchers after our daughter was born and she recently hit her goal weight...

This means three things:

1. She feels really good about her hard work over the last year.
2. She looks fantastic.
3. Her Weight Watchers meetings are now free.

That last one is important in terms of my decision to go to a meeting myself. You see we've been paying for meetings for about a year so what difference will it mean to our bottom line if I started paying for meetings? You're right, none. So last week I went onto the interwebs and signed-up for Weight Watchers Monthly Pass. Now I can go to meetings every week and be held accountable for the poor habits that have resurfaced in the last couple of years.

I'm not one for meetings, but just like when I saw 300lbs on the horizon I realized something had to be done. This time I want to stick it out so that my little girl will grow up in a houseful of healthy eaters. I'm not naive, I know she'll love her pizza and ice cream just like the other kids, and I want her to know that it's OK to eat that stuff sometimes...Just not all the time, like I do.

Are the meetings going to work? I'm not sure, but I'm exercising again and really trying to keep my food intake in check. Something had to be done, so I'm doing it.

Finally, I can Grill like a Champ

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a confession to make. When it comes to cooking meat, I'm a cutter. I'm never confident that the meat I throw on the grill is done, so I cut it open two or three times before I take it off...This method leaves me with meat done to perfection, but it's sliced to bits before it even gets to the table.

All that is in the past now that I have joined the digital thermometer revolution. I've been using a digital thermometer for all of my indoor meat creations for almost a year, but it was never really that conducive for my grilling need. My digital thermometer has the temperature gauge and digital unit connected by a 3 foot cord. If I use this while I'm grilling, I'm constantly in and out of the house checking the temperature. It was a pain so I never really took to it.

Now, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to try a Talking Wireless Digital Thermometer system from Oregon Scientific. The unit itself consists of a temperature gauge attached to a wireless transmitter. While my chicken is cooking outside I have the receiving unit on my counter. All I have to do is set the system to 'Chicken' and wait for the system to tell me it's done.

The only problem I had with this little gadget was in the initial setup. I took it out of the package put the provided batteries in the transmitter and the receiver, and put the temperature probe into the chicken. Nothing happened. After a few minutes and some careful reading of the instructions, we were up and running. The receiver actually speaks when your meal is done.

I can't wait to use it again, I think we'll have steaks tomorrow night! For more information about this and a wide variety of great Father's Day gifts check out the RedEnvelope website the place for unique and personalized gifts.

If you want you're own talking wireless thermometer or any other great Father's Day gift from Redenvelope.com and you want to save 10% off your purchase, be sure to use the code '10offred' at check out!



*Compensated Review

142. They're Back...Thank goodness.

Last week was not one of my favorites. It was terrible coming home to an empty house while my wife and baby girl were away. I wrote in my previous post that I bought tickets for my wife to visit her sister in California...And I'm sure you've all been waiting on pins and needles waiting to see how I survived my week alone.

Well, it was terrible. Sure I went fishing a couple of times and I got some good home improvement projects completed, but on the whole I did not have fun. For the last 12 months, I've come home everyday to a beautiful wife and the cutest baby girl in the world. To suddenly stop that was a bit of a shock. I saw it coming though. As soon as I dropped them at the airport I realized my mistake, but by then it was already too late.

I couldn't sleep or concentrate most days, all those home improvement project that I completed were started randomly throughout the house. I could never work on one for very long before I'd get distracted by another one. Fortunately, I was able to get everything together and cleaned up before they came home, but it was close there for a while.

I'm the kind of guy that needs to be close to his wife and child as much as he can. It bothers me that I have to go to work everyday, while they're at home. I want to be home too, but I can't so I just try to make the best of the hours I am there. Luckily, I work in education and the summer is fast approaching, which means I'll get some time off. I can't wait.

I learned my lesson last week...Where ever they go, I go.

143: Fatherhood Friday, What am I supposed to do now?

In about 24 hours, my wife a child will be on a plane headed to California for a week. My wife's sister lives on the opposite side of the country and they miss each other a lot. So, for Mother's Day I decided to surprise my wife with plane tickets. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Now, with the trip approaching fast, I am feeling very anxious. I've never been away from my wife for this long in years, and I've never been away from my daughter at all.

Cynics will surely say I bought the tickets to give myself the vacation, but that's not true. I don't do well when I am away from them. I won't sleep, I'll eat poorly or not at all, and I will be extremely listless. Thanks to Gmail's video chat we'll be able to have some contact, but in the end I'll be all alone.

So what am I supposed to do now?

It's funny how things have changed. These two girls are my entire life. My wife and I have been together for 13yrs (married for 6) and my little girl turned 1 a few weeks ago. When I'm at work I wonder what they are up to, when I'm driving home I can't wait to get in the front door to see them. I'm often bummed when my daughter is still napping when I get home. Is it manly to say that I love getting hugs from both of them is the greatest part of my day? No, probably not, but no one will ever accuse me of being particularly manly.

I just reread that last paragraph and you'd think they were going away for a month, but it's only a week. I can get through this, I can...No really, I can.

I'll let you know how it goes next week.

Check out more Fatherhood Friday posts at Dad-Blogs.com!

144: The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody

It seems that 14,000,000 people have seen this video before I ever heard about it. I was all about the Muppets growing up and this video has all of my favorite characters plus a few new guys that weren't around in my day. I hope the Muppets Studio people continue to put together great clips like this so that my little girl can grow to love them as well!

145. Wordless Wednesday's - A Stroll Through the Tulips

If not for Dad-Blogs, I probably would forget to post. It's the one spot on the web that actually makes an effort to acknowledge fatherhood...Sure the parenting sites pretend to include us, but with makeup and beauty advertisements all over the place it's hard to make that argument stick. If you haven't seen Dad-Blogs, check it out today...