So....wow I've let this go a long time....here goes nothing

Where to start....I didn't really mean for my absence to last 4 months. To sum it up - my baby fought an ear infection for close to a month and then she graduated from a baby crib to a toddler bed and we battled that for a few weeks. Anyone who has had a strong willed child that decided she no longer wanted to sleep in her room - you know my pain. If that wasn't enough fun for one man I also battled bronchitis for 3 weeks and my wife has been sick a time or two. Just wasn't really a good time to either blog or workout. I guess in all honesty I could have blogged - but I also had a serious case of laziness when it came to sitting down and writing out what was going on. But..here I am. On the fitness side I have been pretty diclipned this week in getting up at 4:45 every morning to get either a run or bike ride in before work. I've also kicked in a much lower calorie diet to jump start the weight loss. Other than that - I really don't have that much triathalon training news. I will complete one this summer. I will. This summer.
On to better topics... namely my wife. Her birthday is today and we are kicking off the birthday extravaganza tonight. The plans are top secret for now. More on the details next week. What I would like to do is to take a few minutes and write down exactly how I feel about my Love. I am a very lucky man. God has blessed me beyond anything I deserve. I am married to the one person he put me on this earth to meet and together we have the most beautiful, healthy little girl that I could ever hope for. For anyone that knows me - they know I am not the easiet person to live with. Hence why I was single for 37 years...... It takes an angel to put up with my quirks and she is the epitome of an angel. She basically runs the house on her own. I take of the yardwork - but she is the domestic queen that keeps our house running like a finely oiled machine. She cooks, she cleans, she schedules, she's home with Rylie most of the time, she pays bills, she takes care of my mountainous dry cleaning, and more than all of that - she's always there when I need her. She's sweet, she's loving, she's beautiful beyond words and she's my best friend. She completes my sentences and she knows what I was going to say when my mind blanks out on me half way thru a sentence. She cheers me up when I get depressed (often) and she calms me down when I road rage (way too often). She knows when I need a hug and she can give me the kick in the seat of the pants that I so often need. She pushes me when I can't push myself and even though she's only 125 pounds; she catches me every time I fall. I wouldn't walk a step without her and I couldn't live a day without her by my side. She doesn't know it but I try to watch her sleep for a few minutes every night. It calms me down when I see her sleeping. If it's possible - she's even gracefull when she sleeps. I don't say it often enough but I love her like my life depends on it. I may not ever be rich and most certainly will never be famous but I won more that 100 lotteries combined the day she walked thru the doors of Healthsouth for a job interview. Love like that is priceless. It's deep, it's sincere and once it walks into your heart there's no turning  back. Yep - I'm a lucky man and I thank god every night from the bottom of my heart for my wife.

Till next week - if you're in Birmingham - don't get hit by the birthday extraganza that's rolling thru town this weekend.

Steve

Christmas....the aftermath

Well....where do I start. It's been a couple of weeks since I posted due to A: holidays, B: sickness and C: laziness. I had a great Christmas - got to go home and spend a way too quick weekend with my family before we all had to head back to the real world and return to work. Got to see my nephews for a few days. I find it unbelievable that I have a nephew who will graduate from high school this year. Where did the last 18 years go? It seems like yesterday that he was calling me from spending a week with his grandparents one summer wanting me to buy him a turtle and keep it at my house since his mother wouldn't let him have one.... "But Uncle Steve she won't know if you keep my turtle for me"........Hard to argue with that logic from a 5 year old. Anyway - I'm old and he's going to graduate next June. Wow.
My 16 month old, Rylie, had a great Christmas. She is particularly taken with a baby doll that makes sucking sounds if you get her pacifier near her mouth. She's a little protective of the baby, so best of luck getting to take a long look at the baby doll - you'll get her mean face quickly. She got so many toys I'm not sure where we're going to put them. They are scattered all over the house at the moment and it's making our small cluttered home claustrophobic. We're trying to sell our house now to upgrade to more storage space - but in this market you might hit the lottery before you can sell your house. All in all - I'd say her second Christmas was a rousing success.
My wife finally got over her cold just in time to give it to me. But not only do I have it but my dad has come down with it as well as Rylie. But then again - just about everyone we know has had it in the last 3 weeks. It's kept me out of the gym and out of the pool for over a week now. Tough to train when you can't breathe. Other than that things have been great here. I'll get back to running and swimming this week. I did manage to send in a video of my running to Runners Warehouse and they pointed me in the direction of a pair of Saucony Stabil CS in an extra wide since, according to my lovely wife, I have fat feet. They happened to have them at a really good price as well - so double score! Hopefully my feet will thank me and my running will improve. My goals for January are:
A. Work up to a 2 mile run
B. Work up to a 600 meter swim
C. Purchase a bike and get started riding.
D. Eat better meals
E. Get started with my wife on P90X again at night

We'll see next time how this year has started off............