Today's The Day

I have a busy day today. This morning we had another baby appointment which went well. The doctor said that Adrian exploded in the size department and is right on track. We have a sono on Feb. 7th to get exact weight and measurements that should be very exciting. Marilyn is a little worried about why the doctor chose the words exploded and is a little nervous about birthing a big baby which is to be expected. I would be nervous and she is handling it a lot better than I would. I just have to keep up her spirits. I would recommend WhattoExpect.com. They have a section for dads that has really helped me stay on top of my part in the pregnancy. It also helps the dads feel more involved when it is so easy to forget your role while the wife is having all the fun with the unborn baby.

This afternoon is back to the gym I am pretty proud of myself for not ruining my week of hard work with a weekend of low activity and high food intake. i was able to go out with Marilyn and reign myself in. COME ON SELF CONTROL. Today I start the Total Body Training that JJ set me up with. In his words I will spend all day getting my mind ready to DIESEL through all these heavy workout. I have some metal core loaded onto the phone to really pump me up. I can't wait to get going. I have a long way to go but I have motivation and drive fueling me. I will reach my goal and I will be healthy for my family.

Yesterday I went for a 10 mile bike ride. It was awesome! I got my but kicked and my legs were jelly afterwards but I recommend mountain biking to anyone that is looking to find a fun cardio exercise.

Hello Mr. Frost

Winter has finally hit Texas. To all my friends that live back home this is one of the reasons I like Texas, it took forever to get cold. There may not be mountains to shred in the winter but we have camping and shorts weather for about 10 mths a year. In the summer, I am jealous of you, the rest of the time I win! I woke up this morning and was very glad that I only had to scrape the windows of a light frost instead of scraping snow then thick ice then waiting forever for the truck to get warm (Poor Marilyn took the truck this morning I was trying to be a sweet heart and scrape the windows but I didn't let it warm up for her and she was frozen when she got to her sisters this morning.). Jealous much? Probably not, because the friends I still talk to in Colorado are very out doorsy and would be the people that love the snow. OK I am the one that's jealous now. Why do I do this to my self. I miss Colorado!



Yesterday I hit up the racquetball courts with a buddy of mine Levi and he worked me over pretty good. I did hit the row machine right before and it took a game to loosen the muscles up a little but he gave me the extra work out I needed. A lot of running with that game. I can tell that I am just starting back to the gym because I am sore. I purposefully picked "easy" exercises this week and they all turned out to be some of the hardest you can do. Rowing is full body I forgot that, Swimming also full body and I am paying for it now with sore muscles. They hurt so good though. I forgot how good it feels to know your sore because you worked out. I earned every bit of this soreness and love it. My buddy JJ (who needs to move to Dallas ASAP. Anyone want to hire an awesome engineer?) hooked me up with a work out the looks like its going to kill me but I can't wait to start. I go back to Colorado next Christmas and want to be able to actually keep up with him when we tear the local gym up. I really appreciate all the peoples help that are trying to keep me motivated. I lean on your support more than you know and its nice to know that people are there to help you when your at your lowest. If anyone else wants to hook up at the gym I am looking for a weight lifting partner.

Holy Baby Cloths!

I wouldn't call my self a very fashionable person. If it wasn't for my wife my daily check list for getting dressed would be:

1) is there more than one hole in my Boxers.
2) do my socks fit
3) Do my shoes feel wet
4) do my pants stink
5) do I stink

well I guess if I am honest this is my daily check list. Thanks to her though my smelly pants look ok on me when I wear them. I say this because last night we decided to go through all our baby cloths that have been given to us. Hang them up and organize them. I figured this wouldn't take long and would be relatively easy. Boy was I wrong. MY son is not even born yet and he has a closet full of cloths. I have exactly 6 t shirts and two Polo's that I swap out all year round for my personal cloths. They are all one size and they all aren't severely stained. Adrian has so many out fits for his first three months of life I don't know if we will actually have to wash them. That may be a little exaggerated but still. They are all so cute and we are very thankful for all the people that donated their sons old cloths to the cause of "not having a naked baby in the Russell house" fund. When the makers of said baby cloths made them why did the sizing system have to be so complicated? I mean why isn't there just New born, 0-3, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12 and then start toddler sizes. I mean is it really that big of a deal if my kid looks like he is wearing a potato sack for the first half and a leotard for the second half of the article of clothing's life? It would sure make organizing the closet for my OCD wife a little easier. She almost made me a list because I couldn't understand the difference in location in the closet for up to 3 mths, 0-3 mths, and just plain 3 mths. We did finally get it all sorted out and I am list free but just barely. I think the only reason I am list free is that the paper and pen were down stairs and Marilyn was to tired to go back down and get them. After we finished putting the cloths away and got some of the boxes out of the way, we realized that the walls in there are still pretty bare. I guess we need to make another trip to a store with cool baby decor. Just so that when we are spending time in there we have other stuff to look at instead of the baby. Well on second thought maybe we will leave it bare if I am not sleeping I will probably be staring at Adrian any way.

Swimming ... The devils new Gym tool.

How many people like swimming? Raise your hands if you do. Now look around the room and count how many people have their hands raised. Just you? If I had heard that I would have raised my hand. Well that was until yesterday. I was talking with a buddy I work with about starting working out again and he said maybe find something that’s low impact to get back into the grove of things. So I started thinking, “what is a low impact workout”. I got it, Swimming! So all day I was pumped about working my way into working out again with a nice relaxing swim. I get to the gym hop in the warm pool and start stretching. The first lap I took easy and just a nice free style swim. About five minutes in I realized I underestimated the intensity it took to propel my not so aerodynamic self through the water. I was slowly drowning myself. So for the next 20 minutes I just switched from back stroke to breast stroke to doggy paddle to anything that kept my head above water. When I finished with the 30 minute cardio drowning I tried to think back to what had led me here to try this self inflicted water boarding. It was the fond memories of lake swimming, or free day at the pool when the water has a semi yellow tint to it. The diving boards, the water slides none of which can be found in this humid chamber of sweat, and yes you can sweat in a pool. (kind of nasty if you think about it) While this sounds a little complainy I woke up this morning tired with a tight back but realized though it was a difficult work out it really was a full body work out. It took every muscle in me even my toes were hurting last night from being flailed though bad swimming technique. Swimming holds a new place in my work out regimen right above leg circuits. (This will only be used if my friend JJ ever works out with me on leg day again. I hope that’s not soon.) I reccomend that every one try swimming as a work out not hard on your joints but good for your heart.

Water. The sneaky health option.

So on the new journey to a better life style I have been reading and asking lots of questions about changes to make to my diet. The thing I read about most is drink lots of water. This is every where and on every healthy persons tongue. While most of the benfits are obvious I think I have come up with a few new ones. We all know water helps digestion, hydration, and many other bodily functions but, I think it is a trainers sneaky way to get you to move around more. Think about it, how many people work right next to a water fountain or bathroom? Not many I would hope. That sounds like it would be pretty lonley on the most part but I digress. To get water you have to walk. For me its not a long walk but more than I would be doing espically when I have to make about 10 -15 trips a day to keep my water bottle full. From what I hear every little bit of extra movement can help. Then when your drinking a gallon of water a day give or take a few liters you have to tinkle potty a ton. So that a good 7 or 8 extra bathroom trips a day. While annoying to always have to piss it does help me move around more. I am not sure if it is really all that helpful but I will count it any way.

Also as a side note, I think that the little extra bits and studdying I have been doing at work is about to get noticed. I have a manager that keeps asking about if I think I could handle sales. ARE YOU KIDDING YES I CAN HANDLE IT! That would be another pay bump that I could definatly handle. So if that works out free water shots for everyone. ha.

New Begginings

Well look at that they don't just delete these things after years of neglect! I think that I will try again to start using a blog. I have had people ask me why I stopped and I really couldn't tell them why. Probably because only 6 of my friends read this. Well those 6 seem to like my blabbering on here so I guess I can try and type my thoughts when they hit me. I am a little more outspoken on here than one on one I guess. Well maybe not one on one but I am opinionated in both situations on here I try and class it up a little bit. HA. So if you don't like me when I get rolling in person here's a fine substitute.

Today I was hit with a realization that still makes my head spin. For the people that may accidentally end up here reading my thoughts I will have to bring you up to speed. My beautiful wife and I are expecting our first baby. His name is Adrian Gene Russell and he is already our whole world. Yes even though he can only kick me through my wife's belly he is loved and adored by two pretty awesome parents. ( tooting my own awesomeness horn a little here) For those of you who have had kids or are going to have kids in the future nine months seems like for ever but let me assure you they fly by! We are down to two and a half months left and I can't wait. Today I was sitting at my desk at work reading about week 29 and realized that we only have 11 weeks until he is here! I teared up a little thinking about holding him for the first time and pretty much planned out his whole life with his mother and I. When I thought about how active my friends kids are I got checked a little. I am WAYYYYYY out of shape. Well I would make an excellent water balloon shape but I need to drop some weight and now. I realized that I am slowly killing my self and I remember growing up without a father and realized how selfish I am being by eating any thing and everything I can fit in my mouth. My actions and lack of self control are costing not only me now but my wife and my little boy. How big of a douche am I that I care more about how cookies or peanut butter tastes than the moments I am costing myself with my son. Talk about a wake up call!! Turns out I can ignore doctors, God and my wife but when thinking about my son I get some renewed motivation.

I am a firm believer that God can do anything except make my fat ass get off the couch but I would still like to ask that my friends and family keep me in there prayers. Even if it is just God get that fatty out of the house. Maybe nicer though not sure how God takes prayers. I wanted to just let all six of you out there know what was on my mind. There are a lot of new things coming into my life and I can't wait to start me new life with my son healthier and ready to treasure every experience that I share with him and my wife.