Dirty Little Secret: Vaccinations

Danielle and I have many friends and relatives that have small children which has been a great resource for us to ask kid questions to. One thing we were not prepared for, however, was the dreaded shots!

Here we are humming right along with a great 2 month old who eats well, sleeps well and is happy. We take him in for his shots and his world gets turned upside down! Our previously happy child turned into a fussy boy who wouldn't sleep for about 5 days.

Thankfully he has slowly returned to his normal self but we sure are not looking forward to repeating this experience multiple times in the coming months. Hopefully it will be easier the next time.

The other lowlight of our visit to the doctor other than a 75 minute wait (thanks medical establishment!) was having to hold down my son's arms while they stick him with needles in his legs. Not fun to see those big beautiful eyes looking at me as if to say "why would you do this to me?"

I'm sure this is something all families get the joy of going thru but for us it sure was a curveball we were not expecting!

Evidences of God's Wonderful Creation

Isn't it great to see some of the natural beauty that our world has to offer? There are certain times that I look at the world that God created and sit back and say "Wow". I wanted to share a couple of these "Wow" pictures that we have recently seen.

The first picture was earlier in the summer when we were driving to Brainerd. A rainstorm had just passed and we saw this amazing rainbow. I can't ever recall seeing an entire rainbow from end to end.

The 2nd picture was a sunset picture at the lake. Fortunately we get blessed with great sunsets at the lake just about every night but this one was especially beautiful.

What a great creator we serve and what an amazing creation we get to live in and enjoy!

Look at how handsome I am!

One of the new things we have found that entertains Nolan is holding him up in front of the mirror in our bathroom. He stares at himself for a few seconds and then starts to get a huge grin on his face. Sure has been fun as he starts to get more aware of his surroundings and responds with big smiles!

4th of July Fun!

Our entire family (Nick's side) was out at the lake for the 4th of July and had a great weekend. We were able to get a picture of the 2 cousins side by side in diapers. Nolan is definitely bigger but Scarlett is filling out a bit too.

Nolan took his first dip in the cool lake and didn't cry at all. He didn't seem like he loved it but it was nice that he wasn't screaming either!

Nolan, Aunt Nicole, Grandma Gwen and Scarlett hanging out on the boat.

Nolan and dad cruising the lake!

Smiles and Stretches

Nolan's favorite morning activity is a vigorous stretching routine. After being wrapped up in his "burrito" at night he loves reaching his arms straight up into the air for a few minutes in the morning. Very funny to hear him grunt like an old man as he stretches. He has also started smiling a bit which is exciting for his mom and dad!

Sour Grapes Half Marathon

I tackled my second half marathon of the summer over the past weekend in Brainerd, Minnesota. My good friend Tony and I had been looking for an early June half marathon to run and thought that this race would be perfect.

Little did we know what we were in store for. The race description claimed that the race was an off-road race on surfaces of dirt and sand with "subtle and challenging hills." We also recieved an email from the race director before the race telling us that you will not get your PR (personal record) on this course. That would be prove to be more than true.

The first mile included some of the steepest hills I have ever run up and down. They were steep enough that you were unable to run down the hills, you were forced to step down them to avoid tumbling head over heels. It was at this point that I wondered aloud if these were considered "subtle" hills. A runner next to us confirmed it by saying "the whole 13 miles is like this". While he wasn't entirely accurate, the rest of the course did prove to be just about as challenging. The highlight or lowlight depending on how you look at it was a 200 yard section uphill in deep sand. I now know what running uphill on a beach would feel like. Overall a very pretty and scenic course with a lot of shade which was nice but just a brutal course for running 13 miles. I think I need to run it again next year knowing what I am in store for!

P90X

Sitting around my parents home last November in a post turkey Thanksgiving haze I was having an interesting conversation with my cousin Tyson and her husband Mark. We were talking about working out and fitness and they asked me what I have been up to. I confessed that I was really good in the summer about running and working out but from about October to February I pretty much just lifted the remote control and "ran" to the fridge.

They said they had been doing an interesting workout called P90X. They said it was alot of fun, challenging and they were seeing great results. They are also both military men and women so I knew if it was good enough for them it would be good enough for me. I started using this workout routine last November and have to say it has been pretty great overall. Last night Danielle got the "all clear" to resume working out after her C-section and she was introduced for the first time to their intense workouts. Here are my pros and cons on P90X:

PROS

1. Very little equipment needed. I have 20lb dumbells, a yoga mat and a resistance band. I also use the deck behind the house to do pullups. That is it for my "home gym".
2. Not having to drive anywhere to work out. Maybe not a problem for some people but for someone like me looking for an excuse to not work out this takes that option away.
3. Variety. The workouts are scheduled for you and make alot of sense. After you kill your arms one day, the next workout hits a totally different area and lets you recover a bit.
4. Pretty quick results. If you do the workouts and follow the schedule there is no way you won't see results in 3 months.
5. You can workout at home with a partner. I am excited that Danielle can start joining the workouts.

CONS

1. Time. The workouts are long - at least 1 hour per day, 6 days a week is the recommended schedule with some workouts being 90 minutes.
2. Brutal. The workouts are not for the faint of heart. The first couple of weeks I was stiff and sore continually.

All in all I think P90X is a great way to get back into shape and stay in shape. I am looking forward to seeing if my wife agrees!