Filed under: The Week
You might be wondering what’s been hannenin with me lately (that one’s for you J.L.). Do I plan on updating my blog anytime soon? Am I still alive? Good questions folks. My answers: life, yes, and yes. Monday and Tuesday were chest/back and plyometrics days respectively with P90X, and guess what… I actually worked out! Both days were definitely hard, but I’m trying to pace myself a little more instead of pushing myself as hard as possible right out of the gate. So yeah, I’m sore, but not the kind of sore you get when you’ve been tortured like Westley in the Princess Bride (that scene always freaked me out when I was younger).
Tuesday was Jen’s birthday, and it was a full day. We had our first (and hopefully only) ultrasound appointment Tuesday morning and WOW… it was amazing. I didn’t really know anything about ultrasounds. I thought they just took one picture and got all kinds of information from that, but no… they definitely took around 60 shots of different parts of our baby’s body. Some of the coolest things for me were seeing the spine and seeing the four distinct chambers of the heart. Not to mention watching our baby open its mouth and move around. Crazy stuff I tell ya. We were very clear that we didn’t want to know the sex, so at the end, the lady told us that she hadn’t looked around that area too closely, so she didn’t even know. So yeah, I’m quite excited to share one of the best profile shots of our baby. There’s actually a person in there!!
First things first… THE HOKIES ARE HEADED TO THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIP!! WOOHOOOOO!
In other news, this is turning into “Ross’ blog about why he’s not doing P90X.” Hey, cut me some slack… I’m just easing into it, folks. Today, I did 3+ hours of very active yard work, so I don’t really feel guilty about it. We got some fun news at work this past week. They’re allowing us to come in a half hour late or leave a half hour early as a “thank you” and for some extra time to do the daily mound of paper work we have. In other words, I’ll be starting my workouts at 5:45am instead of 5:15. It’s the little things.
Some friends from church have a one-year-old and some dormant maternity clothes, so Jennifer spent some time at their place yesterday evening picking out several maternity shirts and pants. One of the most-needed items she found was a pair of jeans with the stretchy spandexy stuff at the top. Oh, and they also lent us a support brace type thing. Basically it will wrap around Jennifer underneath her belly (much later in the pregnancy) and should relieve some back pain and some pressure on the bladder. So we’re continually getting ready, little by little. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a photo!
I know I know, I’m a day behind. Until sometime today, my entire body was in an immense amount of pain. As a result, I took yesterday off (or maybe it was because yoga day is the opposite of the bomb diggity). Today was legs and back… it’s definitely an intense day, but my chest seems to be the sorest part of my body right now, so at least I could do it. My least favorite is the wall push. Basically your back is against a wall, and you’re in a position similar to sitting in a chair. And you have to stay that way for a very, very long time. It hurts. A lot. Still don’t really see a difference in my belly, but it hasn’t even been two weeks yet, so I’m being patient!
Jennifer was away at a conference from Wednesday until tonight, and even in those two days, I can see a difference her belly. Apparently “Angel Rae” is growing quite well! We keep waiting for a little kick, but nothing yet. I’m determined to be the first to feel it. Yes, the odds are slightly against me, but maybe I’ll get lucky.
Filed under: The Week
I feel like my body is waking up from a very deep and very long sleep. I feel everything… every reach of my arm, every step I take. I tried to complete the shoulders and arms workout yesterday morning but it was clearly a battle I wasn’t going to win. But I got through some of it, and I’m even more proud of getting up on my own! I’ll post later about today’s workout.
In pregnancy news, I had a little dream the night before last. So Jennifer and I are here at home, and somehow we realize that I’m actually the one who’s pregnant… and I’m going into labor. So I have the baby, and everything goes great… it was really easy. We’re holding the baby and I announce that we’re naming her Angel Rae. WOW. When I was telling Jennifer about the dream, she said, “Did we have mullets?” Where the heck did that dream come from?? Anyway, that’s it for now… gotta get ready for work. Talk to you this evening!
Picture it… Sicily, 1912… wait, that’s the Golden Girls.
Picture it… 5:10am on a Tuesday. His wife’s cell phone yanks him out of a dream and into the realization that yes, it is indeed time to wake up and do P90X. She has somewhere to be in 50 minutes where someone will be expecting her… he just has to walk down to his basement alone to put his sorry excuse for a body through an hour of hell. He closes his eyes. Minutes later, she walks in to check on him and sees that he hasn’t moved. At 5:15, his alarm goes off. Everything hurts from the day before… everything screams at him to be still… stay in bed as long as you possibly can! His wife gently encourages him out from underneath the warm, soft covers… out into the cold, dark world that awaits him. He puts on his shorts and wannabe tough-guy tank-top, and he stumbles down two flights of stairs, pops in a DVD labeled “Plyometrics,” and begrudgingly mimics the really annoying, way-too-chipper dude on the TV.
Plyometrics. I’d rather take a steel brush (the kind you use to clean a grill) to my face than do plyometrics. It’s a very full hour of jumping, lunging, squatting, and torturing that nearly threw me head-first into a coma during the first 20 minutes. I did complete the full hour, but I definitely faded early on and many times found myself either scowling at the TV in contempt, or laughing at it in disgust. By the end, I felt a little sick to my stomach, so I just sat on the couch for, oh, about half an hour… which meant I was, oh, about half an hour late to work. Oh, and did I mention that I can barely put a jacket on thanks to yesterday’s chest and back workout? I also had immense difficulty using my steering wheel on my way to and from work today. So yeah, I’m in pain, and I’m not happy about it. But really I mostly am happy about it because it means I’m actually doing something. Go me.
Jennifer’s doing great. I’m too grumpy to type anymore. But it doesn’t mean I love her, or our baby, any less. So shut it.
Filed under: The Week | Tags: baby, back, chest, maternity, muscles, pull-ups, push-ups, snooze, ultrasound, workout
This morning, I wondered… am I destined to fail? Will I ever have muscles?? What have I become?!? I hit my snooze button several times, knowing each time that I was dying a little more inside. Suddenly, it was 6:30, and I knew I couldn’t fit an hour+ workout into 30 minutes (allowing time to eat, clean up, and get dressed). Don’t worry, I worked out when I got home. So I’m not a failure, I clearly have some muscles since they’re screaming at me not to move, and I have become a success… at least for today. Chest and back: a BEAST of a workout (in fact, I think that’s what Tony Horton says on the DVD). I did push-ups, I did pull-ups, I did other random stuff… then I did the whole thing all over again. This workout goes through 12 different exercises twice in a row. The second time through, I struggled immensely… especially on the decline push-ups (I did 1). It hurt, but it hurt good. Hope to have more good news for you tomorrow!
Jennifer and the fetus continue to do well. Jk, jk, bff. It’s totally a baby. She’s been rigging up all of her pants with her fancy Bella-Band (which I so thoughtfully bought for her), and she’s to the point now where she’s about to break down and buy some comfy maternity pants. Also, we’re very excited… we’ll have our first ultrasound in two weeks! We’re hoping we won’t be able to distinguish a little hot dog or hamburger when we see the image. That’s that… check back tomorrow for the latest!
This one’ll be short because I’m about to head out the door. Set my alarm this morning to get up for yoga… snoozed several times… didn’t do yoga. I was able to fit in about half of it this afternoon though. It’s so painful!! Legs and back tomorrow, I believe.
Jennifer’s doing grrrreat. Not much to update at the moment. But fyi, she wants a boy, I want a girl. Of course I’d be overjoyed with a boy, but you know.
So as I said, Jennifer and I are celebrating our anniversary tonight through Saturday morning. The cabin we rented doesn’t have internet, so I won’t be able to post tomorrow, but I packed P90X stuff with me, so I WILL be doing it! Here’s to a very relaxing and rejuvenating couple of days!
Filed under: The Week | Tags: anniversary, arms, baby, p90x, photo, pregnant, shoulders, ultrasound, workout, yoga
Got a little story for ya. Jennifer and I “recognized” our 4th anniversary on October 7th of this year, but our October was insane and we really didn’t get a chance to actually celebrate. Not to sound sketchy, but it’s kind of become a tradition to have a few rum-and-cokes on our anniversary. It’s a drink I enjoy occasionally, but it has to be Malibu rum. Anypoo, we’re actually celebrating our anniversary this Thursday and Friday night, so I stopped by the local ABC to pick up the usual. But I started thinking, “I’m not sure rum and coke is necessarily her fave, so I’m going to buy apple schnapps and Sprite.” I did so, placed it on the kitchen counter, and waited for Jennifer to arrive. After she’d been home awhile, I asked, “Did you see what I got for this weekend??” She wasn’t sure what I was talking about, so I pointed it out to her. “Oh, yeah, I saw that. I was wondering if you were just trying to tease me or something.” “Nope, wasn’t trying to tease you,” I said. “I kinda forgot you were pregnant.” What I actually meant was, “I knew you were pregnant, but I just didn’t connect the two things. Little disconnect. Little mistake. No big deal.” Yes, I know I sound like a typical guy. Oh well.
On to the important stuff. I’m back in the saddle again. Today was shoulders and arms, and boy do I know it. I fully expect not to have use of my arms tomorrow. But I’m cool with that… means it’s working. Looking back at my previous P90X records, I’m starting out this week right around where I started out last year, so that’s good. I also looked at my beginning photos from last year. Wow… I didn’t realize how far I’d back-pedaled in a year physically. Tomorrow is yoga… ugh. It’s the hardest day, and it’s a 1.5 hour work-out, but Jennifer is going to do it with me! Good times.
This is turning into a longer post than I’d intended, but I want to catch you up on the basic details of our pregnancy. Jennifer is now in her eighteenth week. She’s due on April 11th, 2011. She’ll have her first (and hopefully only) ultrasound on November 30th (her birthday!!), but we don’t plan to find out the sex of the baby. Jennifer is definitely showing these days! No movement has been felt yet, but I keep asking the little tyke to give me a kick or something. Ok, I’m done for the night. Talk to you tomorrow after having suffered through yoga!
Well folks, I’m off to a rocky start. Yesterday was day 1 of my P90X resurgence, and it was intense. I didn’t push myself as hard as I could have, but I’ll work up to it. Today, well, I haven’t done it and don’t think I’ll be able to. With my new job as a counselor for middle schoolers, I usually leave the house around 7:30 and pull back in the driveway at 4:00ish. I figured 4:00 would be a great time to fit P90X in, but I’m realizing that many days that’s not going to be the case. Today I need to finish up youth group planning, including picking songs to sing, tidying up the lesson, and writing a custom mad lib (so much fun)… and then we’re gone from 7:15 to 9:30ish for youth group. Anyway, I’m thinking I’ll have to get up at 5:15 in the mornings to pull this off. Not something I want to do, not something I’m fully confident I can make myself do, but I gotta do it!
In pregnancy news, Jennifer is doing quite well. She hadn’t gotten sick in nearly two weeks, but she woke up this morning, having had less sleep than usual, and made two separate trips to the barf bowl (my witty name for a toilet). But she feels great other than that! Our baby is the size of a sweet potato! How cool is that?? Its vocal chords are forming, and it’s six inches long! Anyway, exciting stuff. Ok, peace out for now… gotta get back to not doing P90X.
