Post #2 10/27/2011 Fitdad update.

I seem to have become a cluster-poster.  Making all my posts for the past few days in one single day, so if you didn't read the earlier post from today you can find it here.  This post is going to be more fitdad, than dad, but there is still a small amount of dad thrown in at the end.

I have now been going on close to a week with my "refocused" approach to weight watchers for men.  Sunday will be the determining factor if it is working.  I have been diligently tracking my points and snacks and I also lowered my daily points target by 2 to see if that helps as well.  I have been on the bike trainer once for 35 minutes and ran two days ago, all since my last post.  I had made plans to go ride with my friend Mark on Wednesday, but rain and a hankering for pancakes kept us indoors.  Can't say that I regretting missing that workout for Pumpkin Pancakes and a great brunch spent with Mark and Kristin and their daughter Carly.  She and Noah are just too cute when they are together...all the old ladies were swooning.  Mark and I figure we can really pick up some hot blue hairs during brunches.

I set out on a mission during my run a few days ago to see how fast I could run a 5k.  I did that a few weeks ago when I was in Jersey for a wedding and ran a 25:38.  My goal was to run faster than that, I pushed and pushed, and finished in 25:25.  I was pretty stoked!!  Actually a little sore today because I haven't run that hard in a while.  I feel as though if I keep pushing myself I will be able to get my 5k time down into the 24's by the new year and hopefully further down that next year.

I need to get in at least 1 or 2 more workouts this week to feel comfortable with my progress.  Today is out because I work all day.  I will either have to get up early before work Friday (unlikely), or workout after work.  I am due to spin on the bike for at least 30 minutes followed by a run before Sunday.

My diet has been erratic the last few weeks, but it's difficult to always stay on the program when you are attending parties (baptism) and going out to eat.  Thank heaven that fruits and veggies are 0 points on weightwatchers plus because bananas, apples, kiwi, celery, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and pears have been my hunger busters the past few days.  I have also relied on fiber one bars (4pts), baby bell (light) cheeses (1pt), and eggs (2pts) and chicken breasts (vary due to size), to fill my diet with fiber, protein, and flavor!  I rarely use mayo on sandwiches because its has a points value, I prefer hot sauce and mustard whenever possible.  I have really tried hard to cut out the mindless snacking that I consistently don't think about when I am hungry as well.

Now on to the additional "dad" section of part 2 of today's blog.  Here are the developed pictures from Noah's 2 month photo shoot!  I have had a few people ask me where we got the onesies marked with months for the pictures.  Those are actually stickers, we received them as a gift from our good friend Kristin Sullivan!  She said she got them from www.etsy.com just search for baby month stickers.  You will see a large selection of them.  (I don't make any money from you clicking that link just wanted to share!)

Lets Get Baptized!

This past Sunday 10/23/2011 was Noah's Baptism.  He performed marvelously, only crying once when I passed him off to Rev. Thompson.  He was a hit among the congregation in his dapper all white tuxedo and bow tie.  The Baptism was followed up by a nice and small family gathering at my in-laws house.  We are incredibly grateful for them opening up their home to us because we would have been pretty cramped in our house!

Here are the pictures that capped off the day, complete with corny captions by yours truly.

 Fist Bump daddy-o

 I am sooooo hungry I could just EAT this BOWTIE! nomnomnomnom.

 Daddy, I am working up a surprise for you!

 Ok, I will smile nice once or twice.

 Wanna see my ehhhh face?

 My tie is unclipped, cause I'm cool like that.

 Scruntchy shoulders!

 HEY DAD!

 My Really Sad face...

My pitiful face.

renewed focus.

I haven't had much time to focus on the "fit" part of fitdad recently.  I have been too busy with the "dad" part.  It's not that I haven't been working out, I just haven't been blogging about it.  I have not lost a pound in over 8 weeks, but after a little personal reflection this week I think I may have found the reason.   I am a secretive snacker, secretive as in I secretly don't log the little snacks here and there that I eat into weight watchers.  I have a feeling I am exceeding my points totals daily which is not causing me to gain weight, but is causing me to maintain my weight.  So starting TODAY, I have a renewed focus, and a renewed drive to be more diligent in my tracking.

I have started a new routine for my workouts in the last 2 weeks as well.  I am now alternating running days with biking days, either outdoors or on the trainer in the basement.  During my run days I am going to increase my mileage from 3-4 miles to 4-5 miles, and will add in biking 1 to 2 days a week for anywhere from 30-60 minutes.

One of the biggest challenges that I find during the week is getting time to workout between my work schedule and Noah's schedule.  I also need to make sure that I am being a good husband and spending time with my wife.  Throw in some yard work and some chores around the house and you have the perfect storm for no workouts.  The best possible advice I can give to anyone who is trying to keep fitness in their lives is to put it on a schedule.  Make fitness a part of your planner.  If I have a day off on a Wednesday, I make sure to tell Christine a few days before hand that I want to work out that day.  I figure out a time of day that works best for what we have planned to do and I stick to my time.  If that means I have to get up at 6am for a workout so be it.  That also means that sometimes I have to sacrifice time in the later afternoon or evening to workout as well.  No one ever said this kind of thing is easy, but by sticking to a schedule I am more likely to keep a scheduled workout and less likely to try to wing it, and then settle for missed workouts. 

I currently don't have any race or event coming up that I have to be ready for, but I am considering the City Of Pittsburgh Half marathon with Christine, and a few sprint triathlons in the spring/summer.  I would also like to see if I can compete in a Spartan Race, a Tough Mudder, The Run for Your Lives, and another Warrior Dash this coming season. 

What do you do to make sure that you get your workouts in?  Does anyone out there have any suggestions as to how to make fitness and managing your life duties easier?

I would be excited to hear from you!

(as an aside, if anyone is interested in doing a Spartan Race next year please let me know, I have a coupon code that will save you $10 off registration.)


Ron

2 months!

Today our handsome, bubbling baby boy is 2 months old.  Wow, two months!!  Alot has happened in the 60 or so days since this little guy was born.  He has changed so much in the first 2 months, he has begun to really develop a personality.  Christine and I kid each other that he is a bit too dramatic sometimes, I think he gets that from his mother.  He has a voracious appetite, something he definitely gets from his father.  He has his mothers chin, and his fathers eyes.

In these first 60 days I estimate we have changed about 700 diapers, have given him 450 bottles totaling somewhere in the range of 1800 ounces of formula and breast milk.  We have done more laundry than a local laundromat.  We have lost more sleep than we have gained and we have had more visitors than we can count.  Having a newborn at home isn't an easy task but it's worth every moment.  Noah changes before our eyes.  Best advice I can give a new parent, take 1000 pictures the first month, and another 1000 the second.  Because every picture you take is going to be different.  I never want to forget what our little man is like right now.  He may be 100% dependent on us right now, but we would be 100% lost without him in our lives.

Noah had a wonderful present for mom and dad on the eve of his 2 month birthday as well.  He decided to bless us with 9 straight hours of sleep!! We were expecting a long night soon, we just didn't expect it this soon.  Since day 1 Noah was usually good for about 3 to 4 hours of sleep before he would wake up in a panic (dramatic...like mom) and want food (like dad).  In the last week or so he had graduated to about 5-6 hours of sleep before waking up starving.   I swaddled Noah last night and put him down about 8:30 in his crib.  Our room is close enough to his that we just leave the doors open to hear him, no need for baby monitor most nights.  I woke up to hear him cooing in his sleep about 2 am.  I assumed he would be ready to eat shortly so I kept an open ear and dozed off.  I woke up at 3 am, listening to make sure I could hear him.  The occasional grunt or sigh let me know he was still doing fine.  I fell back asleep and woke up at 4 wondering if he was ok, and to my relief after a few moments laying silently in bed I heard him sigh and snore a bit.  Again I fell back asleep, only to wake up to his soft cries at about 5:30am.  It was Christine's turn to get up with him so she took the feeding shift and came back to bed a little after 6.  We were so excited to have had so much sleep, we didn't know what to do with ourselves.  We got up, had some coffee, watched the news, and had breakfast.  I took my shower and got ready for work.  I was getting ready to leave and I poked my head into the nursery and Noah was fast asleep.  He looked so calm and peaceful, I whispered goodbye and slipped out of the room.

I received a text message from Christine that he made it until 9:30am before she decided to pop in and check on him.  He was laying in his crib completely Houdini'ed out of his swaddle.  He was lying on his back kicking and smiling.  For the first time in his life he had woken up under his own power.  He didn't wake up because he was hungry, he just woke up because he wasn't tired anymore!

Hallelujah!

We are crossing our fingers that this trend continues because we really enjoy the full night sleep!  We are very lucky, Noah has been a relatively easy baby.  We can pick up his cries, we know when he is hungry, we know when he is uncomfortable, and we know when he is happy.  He smiles all the time, and it's not just gas anymore.  He laughs occasionally, usually more so when he is just about to fall asleep.  He is very funny when he is in that twilight mode just before falling asleep.  He smiles in his sleepy state, and chuckles to himself, I wish I could capture those moments on video because I know those moments are impossible to replace.

These first two months have had their ups and downs but all in all this has been a wonderful experience.  We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful baby boy in our lives.

I also want to add a special thank you to a good friend Robert Healy III for directing traffic this way from The Baldwin-Whitehall Patch online news site.  Bob and I became friends a few years back, he is a great writer and friend.  (Check out his work at the patch and like their facebook page by clicking on the hyperlink).  I received no money for this and I make no money from this blog.  I am doing this as a chance to journal my son's development and my fitness/weight loss.  I want to be able to show this to him when he gets older so that he can experience what his first few years were like.  If you are here from The Patch, thanks for stopping by, if you like what you see add your email to my subscription box or add me as a friend on your reader.

Thanks for Reading,
Ron

10.12.2011 Post 2 or 2

Today is 2 for 1 day here at fitdadorfatdad.  If you missed the first post of the day you can find it here.  Today is mainly just a picture day because I don't have much diet or workout items to cover.  I did manage to lose the 3 lbs I gained in NJ at Travis' wedding 2 weeks ago.

I did my first brick workout since college, and I set up my bike on the Kurt Kinetic Bike trainer for some foul weather mileage the other day.  The KK is smmoootth as butter, if you are looking for an indoor trainer to get you ready for springtime there is none better.  I would have loved to have splurged for the Rock And Roller, but I found a sweet deal on a used Kurt Road Machine online for the price I would have payed for a brand new trainer from another less capable company. (I will have to write a review here soon for anyone interested).

This weekend is a guys weekend in for Noah and I.  Christine will be around but she is spending some much needed time relaxing, getting her nails done, and her hair done.  Daddy volunteered to take the little man as much as possible this weekend so that Mommy could get a break.  Of course she misses him all day when she is gone so the second she walks in the door daddy time is over.  The bond between mom and baby is just amazing to witness.  Not that I am not connected to him as well, but mom's have a special bond with their children....something about a womb...9 months...and birth.


Monday was a fun day for Noah and I, well at least me...he is indifferent.  We were tasked with taking the photos for Noah's Halloween card.  Mommy made sure to provide dad with the costume, the fall skeleton sweatshirt/pants combo, and the holiday outfit.  My job was to try to get him to smile enough in pictures to use them for a card.  Can I tell you that a 2 month old baby will smile pretty regularly especially when they see mommy or daddy.  We can make Noah smile all morning long.  But the second I pick up a camera he becomes a turtle in his shell.  It was NEARLY impossible to get him to smile at the same time that I had the camera up in front of my face.  I really think I need to invest in an infrared or wired remote to control the shutter.  Noah was a good sport the whole time as long as his belly was full and his diaper was clean.  Here are a few of the pictures that I took.  The rest can be found on my flickr page at www.flickr.com/robringer

 (Probably my favorite picture of him that I have ever taken, his face is priceless.)

 That's my happy boy coo'ing away.

A wee bit of a smile from Mummy's Lil' Monster.

Happy Halloween a bit early from Noah and the O's.  Thanks for reading!

 

10.12.2011 Post 1 of 2.

Today is fitdadorfatdad 2 for one special.  You get two posts because I developed 300 plus pictures yesterday from my camera and decided to make 2 posts out of them.

I promised a while back that I would load up the pictures from Noah's 1 month birthday and they will be in this post as well as pictures from his first month.  We can call this the first month recap.  You already have the birth story and the requisite pictures.  So here is a quick recap of his first month.

We spent alot of time in our bouncy seat because its so plush and comfortable.  We didn't nap much there but we could sit and stare at the light for hours in this thing.

We wore many different outfits, but daddy's favorite was the hoodie with ears, because who wouldn't want to wear a hoodie with ears?

We took many naps! Some were long, some were short.

We got all dressed up for our first Steeler game, only to sleep through the whole thing.

We took our first real bath.  We HATED the sponge baths, but we loved our little tub!  (I also think he kinda looks like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes in the top picture).  I love picture of him looking at the camera in his little robe...so precious.

We took some more naps, because you can't sleep enough when you are a growing little boy.  That's my little monkey!

 I will ROCK YOUR FACE!

 I refuse to HOLD STILL FOR MY PICTURES!

How about I pause in this position and stare away from the goofy guy with the camera.

Photographing babies when they are in their jiggly all over the place 1st month of life isn't always easy, I find it easiest when they are asleep.  Thankfully that is often.  You can dress them up in their fun little outfits all you want, but you end up always putting them in a 1 piece sleeper, swaddled in a swaddler or blanket, or in a onesie.  Why you may ask?  Because they spit up, the pee through diapers, and find a way to dirty all their nice clothes the second you put them on them.  All the pictures here were taken without a flash, using natural light in the living room.  In the more posed pictures (the 1 monthers) I used an old navy blue comforter draped over the couch as a backdrop.  I shot all of them using my Tamron 17-50mm lens or my Canon 50mm(Prime).  I used an ISO of 1600, an F1.8 (canon) or F2.8 (tamron), and kept the camera in aperture priority mode.  The images were only edited for color and to adjust exposure if it was off for any reason.

I hope you enjoyed this brief one month recap!

-Ron

The brick.

The infamous brick workout, sometimes the thought of it sends shivers down your spine.  If you have ever done a triathlon or dualathlon you are probably familiar with the brick workout.  I have not done a brick style workout since probably about 2001 when I was training for the Hi-Tech Challenge (kayak, mtn bike, run).  The brick workout combines 2 different workouts to help better prepare you for a triathlon.  The most common brick (and the one discussed here) is to bike then run, a second less talked about brick is the swim/bike brick.

I woke up Tuesday morning had my coffee and some cereal, fed Noah and changed his diaper while the wife slept.  The plan was to meet Mark in South Park to ride for an hour or so before he had to go home and get ready for work.  I looked out the window to gray rainy skies and a bleak forecast of rain until late day.  The temperature was hovering around 50 degrees.  I wasn't going to let a little rain dampen my parade and neither was Mark.  He sent me a text message that read: bringing your running stuff as well just in case the mood strikes us.  At first my brain went, ehh not a bad idea, if its too rainy we can still run....it didn't dawn on me until about 20 minutes later that he was going to drop a brick on my head.

We commenced on our ride through South Park (sorry no pictures too wet for a camera), we covered about 10 miles in around 35 minutes.  Our ride was mostly flat and fast with one hill attack section that leads up to the wave pool and then around past the game preserve and back to Corrigan drive.  Aside from the rain the ride was basically uneventful and I felt pretty good except for a cramp in my left calf that Mark said is probably occurring because I was dropping my heals when I pedal.  A quick stretching section got me back on the bike and feeling good in around a minute.

We headed back to the car as the rain continued to fall and Mark said, are you ready to run?  At this point I was feeling pretty good so I agreed to a short run.  We loaded the bikes back into our respective vehicles then threw on the running shoes and went out for a run.  Of course, about a 1/4 mile into the run my left calf decided to seize up again.  (After some online reading I learned this is common if you haven't done bricks before).  I took a moment and stretched it out and then began running again.  My legs felt a little fatigued and definitely heavy...kind of like I had bricks in my shoes... We decided to keep the mileage light so we turned around at 1 mile and headed back to the car.  As we approached the final hill (slight grade, but a hill nonetheless) I just couldn't lift my feet anymore.  I don't know if it was the waterlogged shoes, the brick workout, or just a general fatigue but I had to call it at the top of the hill.  I logged about 1.75mi.  Mark continued on for the full 2.  Time for the run was about 16 minutes.  Overall afterward I felt great!!  My lungs felt strong the whole time, my legs just weren't in it to win it.  I have a feeling that if I am able to incorporate these workouts into my training once a week or so then I will be ready for my first tri this spring...

Now about that swimming part...GULP.

Now on to more exciting news because I am sure all 7 of my readers really don't want to hear about me, they want to hear about NOAH!  Wednesday (today) my little man is 7 weeks old.  He has completely grown out of the newborn clothes and sleepers.  If we put him in a swaddle sack, he tries to stretch out his legs and can't...then he yells at us.  He is now in 0-3month clothes and has been upgraded to the size 1 diapers.  The diaper upgrade comes as a great relief because we were nearing a blowout disaster with the newborns if he didn't fatten up those legs enough to fit the 1's soon!  The size 1's now fit without gapping in the legs and they are larger so they can "contain" a lot more baby presents.

Noah weighed in at a plump 10lbs 9oz this morning, a number that is a great relief to us because he has shown solid and consistent weight gain for the last 2 weeks now.  He also now possesses a very cute baby belly that leads daddy to break out the rasberries.

Noah regularly coo's and "talks" to us when we hold him or put him in his chair.  He smiles pretty regularly but it's tough to get him to repeat it.  I have a feeling in a week or two he will be regularly smiling at us and the smiles will be repeatable if we do the same action again.  I am really looking forward to when he starts laughing regularly as well because baby laughter is the best.  He is still Mr. Content either in your arms or in his bouncy seat (especially after feedings).  He is sleeping well (up to 5 hours at a time at night now), and mom and dad are taking shifts at night to make sure that we both get enough sleep now.

Hope everyone has a great week, if you would like to receive my blog via email just put your email address in the subscription box on the page.  The blog will be delivered to your mailbox the day after I post it.  If you are reading and not following I would love to have you follow as well, please add me, and if you enjoy the blog please share it with friends who may enjoy it!

Ron

Lil' tubby.

I apologize for no new blogs in the last 7 days, I had a rather hectic week. I had to cram all my work into sun-thurs this past week because I was going away for the weekend.  Before Noah was born Christine agreed to let me go to a friends wedding in Laketown NJ.  I kissed the wife and the boy goodbye on Friday morning and left for the airport.  We had a really great time but I couldn't help but think weddings aren't the same without my wife to dance with.  I made friends with a bottle of Johnny Walker instead and ate WAYYYY too much food.  I also missed Noah a great deal, but a big thank you goes out to my mother in law Lorraine because she came over and took some of the night feeding shifts so that Christine didn't have to do them all.

One nice thing though about traveling without the baby was that I was able to get a few good nights sleep.  I also had free use of the hotel gym while I was there and no babies to watch in my free time so I was able to sneak in a good run.  I ran a 5k on the treadmill we will call it the Hilton Garden Inn NJ 5K, official time:  25:38.  I have to give the Hilton Garden Inn some credit as well, those air baffled beds they have are outstanding, I think I need one for home!

The wedding itself was a block from the beach in a quaint little chapel, so I couldn't help myself and had to walk down and take some pictures of the shore.  Shame I only had my cell phone camera!  The reception was at a Yacht Club, they did not have the requisite cookie table (but it wasn't a Pittsburgh Wedding).  They did have more appetizers than any wedding I have been to though.  They had a pasta station with penne ala vodka, an asian stir fry station with shrimp stir fry and chopsticks, and a table with stuffed rigatoni, cheese, fruit, calamari, pork treats, chicken treats, and crackers.  They also had butlered appetizers, we stopped counting after we tried the twelfth different one!  Needless to say I skipped my weight watchers weigh in on Sunday, and will resume them next week.  Did I mention there was a top shelf full bar too?  It was an amazing celebration, I just wish Christine could have been there with me!  We are going to a wedding again in the fall for one of my coworkers, I have already promised her I will be the DD and take care of Noah that night when we get home.

Speaking of Noah, he is doing quite well also.  We weighed him on Sunday for his weekly weight check and he was over 10lbs.  Our little boy is getting tubby ;)  but only in a cute chubby baby way.  I would never be concerned about a happy plump baby!!

I made sure to take the first two feedings on Sunday night/ Monday morning as well.  Wanted to make sure that I repaid Christine for the time away that she granted me.  I will have to make sure she gets some spa time and or some alone time in the very near future.

Finally going to be able to get out on the bike tomorrow as well.  Mark and I plan on going for a ride in the morning, I will update you with our stats afterward.

Have a great few days all.  I am going to try to update the blog at least twice a week going forward so that there is a pattern of uniformity.

Ron