Our New Bodies

Well we are almost finished with the blogs so I wanted to post the latest pictures of Kelly and my progress. We have become real gym rats. We are spending about eight to twelve hours in the gym every week, and enjoying it. I never would have thought I would enjoy going to the gym as much as I do. I am so impressed by Kelly’s workout ethic, she pushes herself so hard. I am also happy with the stamina I have built up since I first started doing cardio. I just feel healthier.

            I also notice that my body is much more solid that it was three months ago. Just the other night I leaned over to kiss Kelly goodnight and she grabbed the arm I was propping myself up with and she commented on how nice it was. She doesn’t feel comfortable complimenting me so this was a big deal. I reached down and felt what she was feeling and it felt like I grabbed a rock. It made so pleased.

            We started going to the tanning salon this week and love looking at myself in the mirror as I rub the lotion on myself. It almost like I’m looking at a younger me. My legs and bottom are solid again; it is incredible. I guess all of those miles on the elliptical and all those pounds of weight I’ve been lifting are paying off. I no longer need Kelly to make me feel attractive I know I am but it is nice that she agrees.

            My body isn’t the only one going through changes. Kelly is thinner and firmer than she has ever been since I’ve known her. She still feels like she needs a lot more work. She keeps saying she wants to lose more weight but I feel like she has lost enough. She can stay the same weight and keep toning and she should be happy with the results. I think she looks wonderful!

            I’ve not only noticed improvement in my stamina but in my strength as well. I benched 200 pounds for the first time ever last week. I can probably lift more than that now, but I’m not going to try for a few weeks. When I started I was benching 80 pounds and now I’m working out with 140 pounds. That is a pretty big improvement. When I first started using the elliptical I could only use it for 15 minutes at 1 resistance. I worked myself up to running 2 ½ miles in 30 minutes with the resistance set at 1. Now I can run 3 miles in 30 minutes with the resistance set on 10-16.

            These improvements give me more energy and agility. I am more able to get down on the ground and play with the kids better without getting tired like I used to. I benefit from it and so do the kids. Not only do they enjoy being able to play with me more but they love going to the playground while we work out. I can’t believe I haven’t started doing this sooner.

In-law Living With Us

Kelly approached me last November about emails she was sending and receiving from her brother Bobby from California. Apparently he and his current girlfriend Betty are being asked to leave her mother’s house and they are in need of a place to stay long enough for them to get jobs in the area and save enough money for them to get their own apartment. Kelly has a huge heart and she loves her brother very much, but she was leery because she helped him out before and she had to eventually kick him out. Well she harbored guilt over that last incident so she was seeing this as an opportunity to make things right between them.

I love Kelly more than breathing, so I told her that if she needed this then I would support her decision. She emailed him back and told him that we would help them out but things would have to be different then they were last time. He said that they would be. I had not met her younger brother yet so I was a little nervous about possible personality conflicts. When they arrived early December both Betty and Bobby seemed very quiet and reserved, but they seemed willing to fit into the family mayhem.

We didn’t set out rules for them or a list of chores like we probably should have. We just assumed that they would be more than willing to help out around the house until they were working and could contribute to the household expenses. Well, we assumed wrong. They say they are willing to do anything we ask, but we have to ask every time, and that is such a hassle. Kelly even started feeling like we were taking advantage of them. How could she have gotten the entire thing twisted?

I’m not saying that they didn’t help because they really did. They would watch the kids in the at least one evening on the weekend so I could go out with Kelly. We haven’t really been able to do that much for a long time, and we needed as a couple. Kelly and I haven’t gotten so much closer since they have moved in, but I personally think they could be doing so much more to help out. I also think they should just pick at least one room a day to clean or watch the little ones during the morning so that Kelly can pick up the house and do laundry. I don’t think that would be too much to ask.

I was warned by my boss that this was a bad idea and that it would not end well. I am starting to see his point now. Bobby has recently been hired to be a stockman at Wal-Mart in the middle of the night. I know that sounds good but as soon as he got his first check he received a letter in the mail about paying child support for his son in California. The child support payment leaves him with only 400 dollars a month which is not enough to give us any and save. He for some reason feels that now that he is working any of the simple chores he was doing around the house are no longer his responsibility. Since he works all night he sleeps all day and Betty sleeps all day with him, so she is of no help during the day either.

Kelly is at her wits end, but she doesn’t want to give up on them yet. They are really nice young people but they are lazy and a little self centered. Kelly is now picking up after two extra people and it is wearing on her nerves. It is nice to have help with the kids in case of emergencies but they should also be doing things around the house on their own. I want Betty to get a job and I want Bobby to help out around the house more. I am going to have to confront them about it very soon. I just hope it doesn’t cause any conflict between Kelly and I.

The Binky

            I have been dealing with my Grandmother about my son’s use of his binky. She feels that he is too old to be using “that nasty plug”. She has always been set in her ways and felt like her opinion should be the only one. Well I told her that I’m not ready to wean him from his “B” (that is what Dylan calls it) until he is ready. He has just turned two years old and I think that is still young to have his binky taken away from him.

            I have heard tales that using a pacifier will cause early tooth decay or teeth to grow inward. My son has a mouthful of beautiful teeth and his dentist even said he has perfect teeth. My wife baby sits a boy the same age as ours who has never used a binky and he has teeth that grow inward. So I guess that shoots that theory out of the water.

            I’ve always been told by many people that they took their child’s binky away when they were only 1 ½ years old or younger according to some people. Well all I can say is that every child is different just like every adult is different. Dylan only uses his binky during nap time and when he goes to bed. Most of the time during the night he doesn’t even have it in his mouth but sometimes he will dream or something wakes him up then he searches for his “B” and puts it into his mouth and falls back asleep.

            I’ve also read that if you take it away from him too soon that he might become a thumb sucker, which could lead to him being a nail biter. I really don’t know about all that. What I do know is that my son sleeps well with his binky and he doesn’t sleep without it, and that is all the convincing I need. I don’t want sound lazy about not doing what is needed to get my son on track with all of the other kids his age, but if I sound lazy because I don’t feel he is ready to let go and I’m not going to rush him, then so be it.

            I love my son and I want the best for him if the best for him is to sleep binky free then I would do whatever I need to so that he would get over it. I don’t feel that my son being binky free is what is best for him right now. He is a baby and it is ok for him to be a baby. I don’t see the hurry in making him something more. Childhood will come soon enough just like adult hood just let it happen don’t rush into it.

Good Friday

Well it’s Good Friday and we have a lot of things that need to be done today. I worked last night so when I get up at 7:30 this morning I was running on only five hours sleep. I had to get up early to feed the kids breakfast so that Kelly could tidy up the house because the girls that we are fostering were going to be receiving a home visit from their social worker at 9:30am. I decided to take the easy way out and just headed over to Casey’s, while Kelly checked her facebook account, to pick up donuts for everyone. Well, everyone except Kelly and I because we are still dieting.

After filling the kids with sugary pastries I watched Dylan while Kelly helped the girls clean up their room and bathroom which they just can’t manage to keep from trashing every day. They were nearly finished doing this when their worker showed up. She is really a nice lady and the visit went quite well. During the visit we discussed our upcoming Disneyland trip  and we mentioned that we were thinking about having a DVD installed in our suburban so the kids will have some form of entertainment on the long drive. Well, come to find out she is dating someone who does this for a living and she got him on the phone with me and we set up a time to meet him at his shop to look at what they can do and see about some prices.

After she left Kelly and I had to get the kids and ourselves cleaned up so that we could meet the rest of Kelly’s nieces at the mall for grandkid Easter bunny pictures for her dad and stepmom. We decided to leave a little early so we can have sushi at Wasabi’s since we can’t eat meat on Good Friday, and I love Irish roll  When we got there they were packed and we had to wait for a seat at the grill. Once we got seated Dylan was screaming for food. We had to be patient because he isn’t capable of that himself. Soon the cook was flipping his utensils and setting the grill on fire which scared the kids even though they have seen him do this about five times before. The food was great and it was hilarious watching the kids including the two year old eat with chopsticks.

Since it took longer than expected to get into the restaurant, we were running late for the picture. Fortunately we were already in the mall and it didn’t take us long to get the kids in their Easter clothes. The picture turned out great considering we had two babies and our four kids all trying not to look at the camera at the same time, but we caught them all looking anyway. We stuck around and visited for a while. Since she has the rare O- blood type, Kelly decided that she wanted to give blood while she was at the mall instead of checking out the DVD installation. We called the guy and rescheduled for a later day.

We had planned on going to drive-in but after listening to the tornado warnings on the radio we decided that we would have family game night instead. Once we got home the kids were cranky so we fed them left overs from the restaurant, and got them ready for bed. This time of peace was good because I remembered that I had my blogs due tonight. I hope you enjoy my rushed blogs.

A Trampolines is an emergency room visit hiding in the costume of a fun toy.

Kelly and I have three foster daughters. We love them all just like they were our own. They have a sister that lives with another family. They recently stayed the night over there. When we brought them home the next day all we could hear about was that they wanted a trampoline. I personally have reservations about owning a trampoline because I’m afraid it might cause my homeowners insurance to go up. Kelly simply says “No, they aren’t safe.” I don’t want any emergency room visits either. Since I have never owned a trampoline or was friends with anyone who did I decided to research them online to see if they were safe.

I came across a lot of controversy. Some parents claiming that as long as the rules were being followed such as: one person jumps at a time, only with parental supervision, and only if the nets were in place they are safe. I also found some people saying that their children were hurt or they’ve seen someone hurt even while they were supervised by an adult.

This leaves me wondering who is telling the truth. I suppose they all are but accidents don’t happen to everyone. The question I was asking is will my children get hurt while using the trampoline. I guess the better question would be how bad will my children get hurt using the trampoline. I would never want one of my kids to break a bone because of a toy I bought for them. That would make me feel completely irresponsible as a parent.

As I read the parents accounts with their trampolines I was amazed to find out that many of the parents bought these toys for children three years and under. These are children who are still learning to run without falling down am I right. I’m not saying that a two year old wouldn’t love to play on a trampoline but wow I would be a nervous wreck if I had my son playing on one. I always assumed they were for kids a little older. I guess I really don’t know much about these things.

Some of the injuries I read about were pretty serious. These injuries included a broken arm, two broken arms, serious sprained ankles, broken legs, and worse. These injured weren’t all children either some were the parents, or other adults who played on the new toy. One lady said her sister had to quit her job after a trampoline injury caused her so much pain that she couldn’t remain on her feet while she worked. That is simply scary. I just don’t think I’ll ever get a trampoline just because I would rather be safe rather than sorry. I also like watching funniest home videos which not only steers me away from trampolines, but I don’t think I’ll be getting a piñata for their birthday parties any time soon. Call me over protective if you like but it’s not just that I’m also very cheap and I don’t like doctor bills.

           

MY HERO

These are just a few reasons I think Kelly is wonderful. She is a multitalented multitasker. In other words she has to wear many hats to perform all the jobs that she does during the day. She runs our household scheduling any and all maintenance required to keep the home and vehicles running smoothly. For instance, within the last couple of months we’ve had a plumber over to replace our garbage disposal and to fix a few leaky pipes, we had a transmission rebuilt, a water pump replaced in our vehicles, and a mysterious computer problem which causes our suburban to bog down every time we accelerated. She managed to get all of these problems taken care of with two kids in tow while I was at work.

Mechanical problems aren’t the only ones that she takes care of. We have four children all under the age of eight, and she manages to schedule all of their doctor, dentist, and extracurricular activities like dance, soccer, and volleyball. She also gets them to all of these places without screaming and pulling her hair out in large handfuls. Three of our four kids are foster kids so that requires two meetings with their worker and one meeting with our worker each month. This doesn’t include any parent visits and keeping them in touch with other family members including siblings.

The girls seem to be allergic to everything and the middle girl has bad eczema requiring different creams and lotions to be applied nightly. She manages all of this without fail. When we first got the girls the two youngest both had pneumonia and required breathing treatments twice daily and neither of them liked them or made the treatments easy for her to administer. I help out whenever I can but I work between fifty and sixty hours a week and have school work when I get home, so in reality she is pretty much on her own.

She also takes care of all the bills, balances our checking account. The planning of any vacations, birthday parties, holiday get togethers, and other parties including school meetings fall into her lap as well. For any of you that have not been lucky enough to try and plan a child’s birthday party it is much more difficult that it sounds, trust me I know. I tried to plan my son’s last party in an effort to prove to Kelly that I could do it at a lower cost than she speculated. After spending two hours on the phone with my mom getting all the details required for a party and then calling stores and looking up items online for the best prices, I came to the conclusion that I could save a few dollars but if I just let her do it, the party would run smoother and I wouldn’t have to deal with the stress. That is money well spent, she is so smart.

On top of all of the things I previously mentioned, she works out at the YMCA for about 9-12 hours a week, getting her body back into the shape she was in went we met. She is wonderfully fun to hang out with and talk to. I also find her incredibly irresistible. Just looking at her makes me want to wrap my arms around her while planting kisses all over her face. She is not only my wife and the mother of my child she is also my hero. God bless Kelly Batie.

Only Children or Multiple Children?

Which is better, raising an only child or a larger family? Well, I guess there isn’t a perfect recipe to go by, but I came from a large family and I am raising four kids in our home, so I tend to lean toward a larger family for a more well-rounded child. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to bash anyone that grew up as only children or parents who are raising only children. I am only making an observation. I have known a few adults in my life that grew up as only children, and you could tell. They had difficulty socializing and the few that I knew were all selfish and couldn’t share. These are adults I’m talking about not children.

Raising an only child gives the parents more opportunity to spend one on one time with their kid, which could create a very strong bond between the parents and that child. During this one on one time onlies (only children) are usually read to more often, which could give then a head start when school begins. Since only children are mostly talked to by adults opposed to other children they normally develop better speaking skills. The parents of only children have more opportunity to dote on their kid, which is great, but causes the stereotype that only children are often spoiled. All of this quality time with their parents is good but usually causes the child to be too dependent on their parents. For example in my house we are busy getting four kids ready we don’t have time to stop and find each kids shoes; if my kid can’t find both of their shoes then they need to ask a sibling for help or look harder until they find it or we have time to help them, which may cause them to have to wear a pair of shoes they wouldn’t prefer.

It is less expensive to raise an only child which gives parents of onlies more money to spend on extras that a larger family may not be able to afford such as: vacations, name brand clothes, tutoring, and private schooling. Though it is more costly raising several children these parents spending on needs instead of wants teach work ethic and responsibility. It isn’t as easy to save for important things like college and your child’s first car if you have several, but in the long run these children of larger families will learn the value of a dollar and the ability to make it through life on their own steam.

The dynamic of a larger family is busier and probably more fun for the children. They always have someone to play with, fight with, or lean on. This socialization will benefit them when they start school and create relationships as adults. I fought tooth and nail with most of my siblings but I love them to death and I would never let anyone else hurt them and get away with it. I know that they feel the same about me. Onlies are missing out on nieces and nephews to play with during the holidays and birthdays. Children of larger families learn teamwork, because sometimes teamwork is necessary just to get out of the house in time for school, ball game, or a movie.

A Wednesday Night on the Town in Joplin

              I had some relatives come down to visit last week for Dylan’s birthday. He turned two years old. My wife’s sister Melisa flew in from Anaheim, and my mom Patti and my sister Leah drove from the panhandle of Oklahoma. Melisa arrived on Tuesday March 29^th. We spent that evening staying at home and playing catch up on what her sister has been up to and giving Melisa a chance to get to know the kids whom she has never met before. We played Dance Dance 2 on the Wii that evening as well. I took the two following days off so that I could have a five day weekend to spend with all the family that week.

 My mom and Leah made it to Carthage about 5:30pm the following evening. Kelly and I decided we would take our sisters out to play free Texas hold’em at Turtle Heads that night. Poker started at seven so Leah had to hustle getting ready but everyone else was prepared. Once we got there I ordered our table a round of irish car bombs and some food. We all downed our drinks but we were still waiting for our food when the card game started. It wasn’t long before I realized that I was going to have a bad night of cards, but Melisa could do no wrong.

            By the time we reached last second chances she had a fat stack of chips and I was struggling making the blinds with my short stack. She also had a few admirers. This was the first time I met her and she seemed like a lot of fun. She’s quick to smile and likes to talk. She is also very pretty so the guys were showing interest. Leah is also very pretty but more stand-offish and reserved. She wasn’t getting near the attention as Melisa but as far as Leah is concerned that is a good thing. She and I were both out of the game fairly quick so we went and played pool inside while Kelly and Melisa finished up on the patio.

            I was shooting pretty good and wasn’t beaten that night. Soon Kelly and Melisa were out and we played a game of cricket on the dart board while we waited for the ten o’clock match to start. While we waited Jameson (one of the guys that played at our table) came around and visited with Melisa for a little while. It was pretty obvious she was in to him as well. Soon the other game started and the split us up this time. I started at the same table as Melisa and Kelly was at the other table.
            Leah decided she didn’t want to play again and that she would just shoot pool while we played. Since the bar had emptied out some we played the second match inside where it was warmer. I played smarter and took my time. I did well but still didn’t make it to the final table. We left shortly after I was done because Kelly was already smashed and was sleeping in the suburban. Melisa gave Jameson her number, then we tabbed out and headed back to Carthage. The four of us went out twice more that weekend, so that Melisa could hang out with Jameson, but that is another story.

Too fat for summer update

I would like to give all my followers an update on the progress I’ve made getting into shape. Just to recap for my first time readers, my wife Kelly and I are trying to get into shape for our California vacation. During her pregnancy we both put on quite a few pounds. I believe I gained as much weight she did. For the last month and a half we have both been going to the YMCA. We have also decided that we are both going to train for a 5k run in October.

            When I first started going to the gym I was working everything each day. After doing that for a few weeks I decided I wasn’t getting the results I was looking for. I began a workout schedule that consisted of: arms and shoulders on Monday, chest and back on Wednesday, and legs on Friday. I also work abs each day and do cardio of some type on at least two other days of the week. My cardio workouts could either be walk/running on the treadmill, riding the stationary bike, run/walking the trap out back, or running on the elliptical.

            Lately I’ve got to where I run five miles on the elliptical. Each time I try to do it with a quicker time. I have yet to get five miles under an hour but I am very close. I’m also quite a bit stronger than I was when I first started working out. My arms and legs don’t look a whole lot bigger but I am lifting nearly twice as much weight as I did when I first started. I am surprised how quickly I gained strength.

            I was working out five days a week but I still wasn’t losing any weight because I was still eating terribly. I was drinking several cokes a day and eating a big bag of sunflower seeds each day at work. I quit drinking the cokes but I was still not losing very much weight I had no idea how bad the sunflower seeds were for my diet. Once I stopped them both the weight just started falling off me. We also started weighing ourselves daily and taking our measurements weekly. I haven’t seen a great size difference in my arms or legs yet as far as inches go but I see difference in muscle tone.

            I’ve started counting my calories, fat, carbohydrates, and proteins. I made an account on myfitnesspal.com and since I started keeping a diary of my workouts, meals, and snacks, the weight has just been dropping me off of me. I am so excited about my new body. I can already see the beginnings of a washboard stomach. I still have too much belly fat for my lower abs to show but my upper abdominal muscles are beginning to show through clearly. I don’t know how much longer it will take for me to get the body I hope to but for the first time in a long time I feel like it is possible. I will be sure to keep my readers posted, take care.

Which diet is best for me?

As I struggle to lower my weight and get rid of my belly fat for summer, I researched many diet options. Dieting is an issue for many people. Losing interest in a diet because they don’t get to eat anything they enjoy is a common problem that many dieters face. One of the ways to avoid this common problem is to research what diets you may be interested in and see how much of what types of food will be available to before you take on that particular one. Diets can vary from low carb, low calorie diet, high protein diet, or a combination of all three. Many dieters want to watch their food intake but are not willing to add some form of exercise to their daily routine, which in turn will increase the amount of pounds and inches lost much quicker. The question is which one is the right diet for me.

The Atkins diet is probably the most common version of a low carbohydrate diet. The human body burns both carbs and fat for energy. The focus of the Akins diet is to remove carbs from you diet so that your body will primarily burn fat for energy. The problem with this diet is that even though many people who use this diet show very good results early on all of the pounds they lost usually come right back if they start eating foods that are high in carbs again, like bread, potatoes, and fruit.

A low-calorie diet (1500-1800 calories a day) works well with most dieters but the results are slow, and exercise is a good idea to help this diet work its best. A more aggressive option would be a very low calorie diet (800 calories a day). This diet should only be used with a physician’s guidance and it is only recommended for serious cases of obesity who are suffering from health threats due to their weight.

In a high protein diet daily calories from fat are reduced to 20%, protein 30%, and the remaining calories come from carbohydrates. This diet actually works very well with regular exercise and regulation of one’s calorie intake. I know counting calories sounds tough enough without having to also count your proteins and carbs. There is a web site that can help a person out, and it is called myfitnesspal.com. This site is really helpful all I have to do is keep a diary of what foods I eat during the day and it will tell keep track of the calories, carbs, fat, and protein of each food for me and also keep a total for the day and week. On myfitnesspal.com I can also keep track of the calories I burn doing daily activities and exercises. As it keeps track of the calories I burn it makes adjustments to my daily limit. One real benefit of this site is I can load a particular food into the diary before I eat it so that I will know how much of it I can eat without going over my goal or if I even should eat it. With the help of myfitnesspal.com a high protein diet is my choice of diets.