Matt 2.0: Progress report

For those of you out there (AKA, my mother) that may be interested in whether I have stuck to my new and improved eating and exercising habits,  I have and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. 

This afternoon I finished Week 4 of C25K and I am happy to report I have lost 20 pounds during those 4 weeks (as a matter of full disclosure, the official weight loss is 19.6, but I feel like I have earned the right to call that 20).  I was asked the other day if I like running. I must say I still do not enjoy the act of running, but the same can't be said for the feeling of accomplishment that I get when I am finished.  I also don't mind seeing the scale move in the opposite direction it has over the past number of years.  And who knows, my preconceived hatred for running notwithstanding, maybe someday soon I will actually enjoy it.

I think that day is coming.

Glimpse into the future...

Our multi-talented little man put on quite a show for us yesterday afternoon. 

For those eager to know which classic ballad Lleyton belted out for us while playing his guitar, it was a very well done accoustic version of "Who Let the Dogs Out". 

Next time I will be sure to have the video camera handy.  It was priceless.

Who needs Mega Millions?

Sure, we were a couple of the millions of Americans who put a little money on the line a few weeks back in an attempt to win the $300,000,000 Mega Millions jackpot.  Although I did have a good feeling about our chances, we came away empty handed. 

But our not-so-good luck with the Mega Millions didn't deter Sara from trying her luck again as she entered a free drawing in the lobby of her building the other, and low and behold our luck hadn't run out, her name was draw from  hundreds of others and we are now the proud recipients of an entire year's worth of potato chips. 

For those of you out there that are concerned this could derail my efforts to get healthy, fear not, these are healthy potato chips (100 calories/bag). 

Not unlike the newly minted millionaires from the recent lottery, we will also have some difficult decisions to make after our big win.  Such as do we want to receive one case of Pop Chips each month or would we rather get the entire year's worth in one shipment?  Not quite the decisions were hoping to be making right now, but we'll take what we can get.

By the way, Pop Chips are delicious.

Future tennis star.

Look out world. 

Addy is really liking her new tennis shoes. 

That accompanied by her her mom being a standout tennis player back in the day could equal quite a little player in a few years.

20 Questions

I have written many times about Parker's propensity to ask endless questions, and after today I am confident saying he is no less inquisitive now than he was 18 months ago.   The person on the receiving end of all of today's question was his friend Nathan.  

My office was closed today in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and I took advantage of the time off by taking Parker , Lleyton and Nathan to Jump Zone this afternoon.  I knew Parker was excited to have Nathan with us today, but I figured it was because he would have someone else to chase around the inflatables, yet to my surprise it was because he had alot of unanswered questions to ask him.  Here is a sampling of some of his inquiries:

Who is your favorite basketball team?
Who is your favorite football team?
Who is your favorite baseball team?
Who is your favorite soccer team?
What sports does your sister play?
What sports does your brother play?
Why do you have so many sleds?
Do you like Army colors?
Have you seen Diary of Wimpy Kid?
...what's your favorite part?
...what's your favorite part of the first half of the movie?
How many years have you been in America?

And that was in the first 5 minutes.

Who needs a census?

In lieu of watching that snoozer of a game this afternoon (Bears vs. Seahawks), I introduced Parker to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.  Not surprisingly, he seemed to really enjoy the film, but one comment he made made me laugh outloud. 

In one scene, Grandpa Joe says something about there being 100 billion people in the world.  Parker quickly took him to task on that line, saying "How does he know how many people are in the world?  Nobody knows exactly how many people there are...(pause)...except God and Santa Claus."

Potty Training: Little People style

Before last weekend I would have said that Addy is far too young for us to be considering potty training.  That is until she and I were playing with her Little People doll house and she proceeded to stand up, turn around and back that ever growing rear end of hers up and attempt to sit on the tiny toilet in this miniature dwelling. 

She must have been discouraged that her backside didn't quite  fit, because she hasn't shown any further interest in taking that huge step towards becoming a big girl.

Basketball and Angry Birds

Parker tipped off his first basketball season this past Saturday.  He seems to really be enjoying this new venture. 

He had quite a cheering section for his first game.  Including his two biggest fans, Lleyton and Addy.

Our big man played well and he enjoyed himself.

Lleyton not surprisingly lost interest early on, but we planned ahead and had Angry Birds loaded on the IPod to keep the little man occupied during the game.

Tattoo

Lleyton has an appointment this Friday morning at the Children's Hospital and I am pretty sure the nurses are going to like his newest tattoo.

Go ahead...laugh at me.

No one said that the C25K training was going to be a breeze.  Especially considering I haven't ran on a regular basis since my sophomore year of college.  The first week had been going pretty well until I met my nemesis yesterday at lunch...the treadmill.  I am not a treadmill type of guy but I felt like I needed to get a run in because I wasn't able to the night before due to snow.  The treadmill workout started out pretty well. I felt like I looked like I knew what I was doing, blending in with the crowd, feeling pretty good about myself.  That is until the unthinkable happened...I fell off of the treadmill.  You read that correctly, I am the guy that fell off of the treadmill. 

How could that happen?  Allow me to explain. 

Throughout the workout I was unsure of where to put my IPod (I don't yet have the arm strap).  So I decided that I would put in the cup holder.  That plan was working out just fine until I inadvertently got my hand caught in the earphones cord and knocked the IPod to the floor.  That's where my inexperience on a treadmill came into play as I allowed my instincts to kick and I just stopped to bend down to pick up the IPod.  Well, that doesn't work on a treadmill.  I learned that the hard way as my feet came out from under me before I could think twice, but I was able to grab the bar and hold myself up.  At that point I was understandably flustered/embarrassed, but that's no excuse for my next move...

There I was, holding onto the bar to keep myself off of the ground while everyone around me most certainly looked on with amusement and without thinking I again tried to stand up on the treadmill that continued to roll along at 6.3 mph.  Needless to say, the second effort was a futile as the first and I fell again.   I didn't fall just once, I fell twice. 

I have always thought of myself as a pretty smart guy.  After this little episode, that is debatable.

I could have packed up my things and walked out of the gym with my tail between my legs, but I didn't.  I quickly picked myself and my pride up off of the floor and continued on with my workout. 

Not even extreme embarrassment will keep me from my goal of running a 5K.

C25K

I'll be the first to admit that I have allowed myself to get a "little" out of shape over the past number of years.  Over those years there have been plenty of occasions that I have set out to lose a certain amount of weight, each has ended in failure.  Now is the time for me to approach this a bit differently. 

I am going to run a 5K. 

Starting this past Sunday I began using the Couch to 5K (C25K) app on Sara's Ipod.  It's basically a training program for folks like me that aren't exactly in tip top shape to run a 5K in 9 weeks.  Sounds like an attainable goal to me.   I think that is the key, attainable goals. 

Thus far this week I have hit the pavement each evening.  I am not breaking any land speed records, but that doesn't matter at this point. 

I have drawn inspirations from a couple of places.  Those being Sara's friend Beckey, who first introduced me to C25K, and then she introduced me to this blog.  

I'll keep you posted as to how I'm doing with the training.  Wish me luck.

Searching for bears (and Swiper).

Sara and I loaded the kids into the car this weekend and drove to Georgia to spend some time with friends.  Our journey took us to Big Canoe, which is a fantastic resort type of community in the mountains.  To our chagrin, the weather did not really cooperate with us yesterday, as it rained for nearly the entire day.  There was a brief break in the rain shortly before dusk so we abruptly put the kids jackets on and took them out to explore.  It was so much fun.  Lleyton and Parker were intently searching for bears (as usual, Lleyton also had his eyes peeled looking for Swiper).  While we weren't doing our homemade bear calls, the boys were racing each other up and down the hills or searching for the perfect stick.  Addy, of course, looked on with amusement. 

Pictures to prove it...

The boys were able to corral a couple deer

The perfect stick.

Lleyton clearly came out ahead in this race.

The boys were able to take a break from the bear hunting to get a picture with Addy.

Tracing the scent.

Me and my boys.

As it turned out, the only bears the boys found were on Addy's slippers.

The weather was perfect this morning as we were leaving, so I couldn't resist pulling over and get a few more pictures.