To Run or Not to Run

Once again it's been about 2 weeks since my last post. An update on Ben, he is doing great. He's started to do an army crawl. He's getting pretty quick. It's hilarious when he sees something across the room that he wants. He will climb over anything in his way (monster truck style) instead of moving it or going around it. He is eating veggies. He likes carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, apples, pears and a few others. On the unsure list: Cauliflower.

Anyway, between work, Ben and running I just don't have the time to post like I used to. That brings me to the point of this post. To run or not to run?

Many of you know I have been in a running group for the last 7 months. When I started I could barely run a mile, now I have run a 5K (3.1 miles) in 27:45 and I've finished a 12K (7.46 miles) in 1:21:17. I haven't gotten thinner by running all these miles, but it's kept me from becoming a fat ass.

I've also made a few good friends from the group. How do I know they are good friends? Well, we're friends on Facebook now. ;) I run with a good group of people. Seriously I think I've made 5-7 good friends from running. It's hard making new friends as an adult with a child. So it's a great thing.

Those are the pros. The cons:

• Running group starts at 6:00. I get there around 6:15/6:20. Training starts without me, so I am missing out on part of it. And it's about to get HOT out there. I'm not good in the heat.
  

• On normal nights I get to see Ben from about 5:30 - 8:00. 2.5 hours out of my day is not a lot of time to spend with my son.

• On running nights (2 nights during the week) I get home, give Ben a kiss, change, have a snack, give Ben another kiss and go running. I get home around 7:30 or so. Which is when Ben starts his nighttime routine. Bath, bottle, bed. So on running nights, I see him for about 30-45 minutes. That sucks.
  

• It's getting harder and harder to go to running every week. Especially now that Ben is crawling and being more interactive. I just want to stay home and play with him. Look at the fun I'd be missing out on:

So what do I do? Miss out on hanging out with Ben twice a week to go running? Maybe I miss his first steps or words or the first time he throws a ball, but I stay in shape. Or skip running to hang out with Ben? Maybe I get fat. Maybe I miss out on making new friends and hanging out with the friends I have there, but I spend more time with Ben.

What to do...what to do......

Goals for 2010

It's almost 2010. The past decade flew by. December 31, 1999 I was in a luxury suite at Madison Square Garden ringing in the New Year with Billy Joel and 20,000 of our closest friends. This year I'll be at home on my couch watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. What a change, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

This is the time of year where everyone decides to give themselves new year resolutions. They decide to diet, exercise, maybe give up soda or sweets and are really gung-ho about it...for about a month. I don't do resolutions anymore because I was the same way. I would stick by my resolutions for 2 or 3 weeks, then get bored with it.

So instead of making new year's resolutions, I decided to give myself a list of goals for 2010. It's very similar to having resolutions, but goals are measurable and obtainable items. What good is having a resolution to exercise or give up chocolate if you can't measure it and have nothing to show for it? It's no good. That's why they never last. Join me and make a list of goals for your 2010.

Some of my goals will sound silly, but I'm serious about them and I'm going to try to meet them all.

Goals for 2010

1. Spend less time on Facebook and Twitter and more time with Ben and Allison
2. Spend the first hour after Ben goes to sleep writing.
3. Finish writing my book
4. Make money off of my writing
5. Run a 5K under 30 minutes
6. Run a 10K in an hour
7. Run a 15K - just finish, without stopping
8. Run a half marathon - just finish without stopping
9. Learn how to juggle
10. Learn how to play Super Mario Bros theme on my keyboard
11. Learn how to play Clocks by Coldplay on my keyboard
12. Learn how to play NY State of Mind by Billy Joel on my keyboard
13. Remain a size 34 for another year
14. Create a new blog and post a picture on it everyday in 2010
    
15. Teach Ben to say "Daddy" & "Awesome"
16. Do not curse in front of Ben
    

Super Sunday

Yesterday was a good day. A super day you could say. It started early, Molly woke me up to go potty at 5:30. 5:30 on my day off. Thanks Molly. I guess that is payback for forgetting to feed her until 9:30PM the other night. Now we're even.

Next I went to my running group. Our running coach Sara, who based on her running times I think is a fembot, was away in Vegas so we were on our own. We decided take advantage and run at 7AM instead of 6. We were supposed to run for 75 minutes. I only did 73 minutes. But that's a good thing, it means I was 2 minutes faster on the way back. I did 6 miles. It was great. I was very proud of myself, Kim and Patti (my running buddies)

When I got home Benjamin was just waking up. Allison and I watched him in his crib for a while. We made him smile a lot. I turned on the mobile, he stared at it and smiled. He followed the monkey, the parrot and the monkey all around. I said "Screw football, I can watch this all day" I only said it because the Jets had a bye, but still, it was really fun to watch. I wonder if it was someone elses kid if it would be as awesome?
I also had some time to read Benjamin a book. I haven't read him anything in a while, so he got 2 books. Up first, my favorite book as a kid, The Monster at the end of this Book. It may not have been the best book to read him to get him to fall asleep, but I really enjoyed it.
The second book was Corduroy. I had never read it before. Actually I had never even heard of it before. It's a good book. I won't tell you what happens, but it's about a bear named Corduroy who lives in a toy store.


That's all I have for now. It was a fun day until I got tired. 6 miles makes me tired and really cranky.

Perhaps we better start from the beginning...(My First Post)

Hello! and welcome to the first post on Baby C's blog.

I plan to post my thoughts and feelings throughout the pregnancy and after delivery. On days when I'm not feeling anything new, I'll post links to sites, top 10 lists, and stories of events that have gone down during the pregnancy. Remember, my wife is pregnant, hormonal, moody, so I'm not going to post all the stories. Nothing that will get me into trouble. I'm brave, but not crazy. Having said that, her moods and emotions really have not been that bad. It has been a great 4 months.

I decided just before I left work today that I should start this blog. I have lots to say about our upcoming addition, but I don't always have someone around to talk to. So now it's out here for the world to read. I am staying up way to late to do this, but if I don't do it now, odds are I never will. I have lots of grand ideas. I plan to do them, I have all the best intentions in the world, then I get distracted and never get back to it. Examples??? My comic strip about Molly, my kids book about manners, and organizing my own half marathon.

I even had a name picked out for the 1/2 marathon and designed a logo for the t-shirts. It was called "The Central Florida, possibly annual 1/2 marathon on the same day as the NYC marathon, 1/2 marathon race for the cure" Doesn't it just roll off your tongue?? I think I was watching too many episodes of The Office at the time. Or more accurately, I watched the Rabies Run episode one too many times.

Well, I'm here to share, not to scare, so back to the baby stuff. We have started to test out boy names. We have a spreadsheet of names we like and every two days we pick a name and use it in conversation. Then, depending on how that goes, it either gets crossed off the list or moved to the "finalist" column. So far, 2 names....2 strikes. The 3rd name has made it though day one with flying colors. Which is surprising, because I didn't think I would like it.

I have also started talking to Baby C every night. While Allison is laying in bed or on the couch, I will lean over and just talk to her belly. Tonight I told him about the blog. So far I have mentioned baseball, a list of movies he should watch and a bunch of other silly stuff. I'm not sure why, but I just can't talk about serious stuff yet. The important thing is that he hears my voice, so I don't really think it matters what I say.

I think this is a good start. More to follow, stay tuned.

Baby C - 8 weeks


Baby C - 12 weeks