First dentist visit

Amanda had her first dentist appointment today. She is approaching two years of age and we heard that it would be a good idea since she has all her teeth now. Turns out, it wasn't such a good idea. I wasn't able to attend the appointment because, you know, I have a job. Well, I don't have a job for much longer, so in hindsight I should have been there. Either way, Katie filled me in on all the good details.

Amanda was friendly with him (after all, he is a pediatric dentist) and giving him high-fives right up to the point where he put on the latex gloves and mask. It all went sideways. She stopped smiling and locked her jaws. He was not allowed to check anything. DENIED!

The moral of this story is...wait until your child is three years of age. In the end, everyone parted ways with a good-natured laugh.

I'm trying this workout; running is getting old

Circuit One:
Air squats (20 reps) Feet shoulder-width apart, squat deeply with weight in heels.

Stationary lunge (15 per side) Hands on hips, feet staggered, slowly lower back knee until almost at floor level, then press up to straighten legs.

Core-band rows (15 reps) Wrap a resistance band around a post; bring handles in to ribs, elbows pointing back.

Bent-arm plank Hold a pushup 20 seconds,then bend elbows to lower body and hold for 10 seconds.

Circuit Two:
Side lateral lunges (12 per side) Step to right side; bend right knee 90 degrees. Repeat on left.

Core-band chest press (15 reps) Wrap band around post, turn away from post, extend both arms straight and shoulders height.

Chair dips (12 reps) Sit at chair’s edge, hands outside hips; slowly lower and raise body.

V sits Raise arms and legs into a V position, balancing on tailbone. Hold 45 seconds. Rest. Repeat.

Circuit Three:
Fit-ball hamstring curls (15 reps) On your back with heels on a fitness ball, lift hips off floor into plank position. Pull ball toward you, then push back.

Knee pushups (12 reps) Lower chest while sliding shoulder blades back and down toward spine.

Core-band tricep extensions (15 reps per arm) Stand on one end of a resistance band, grab the other end; with band behind you, extend arm up overhead. Using elbow as a hinge, lower hand down toward back, then up to full extension.

Rotational oblique crunches (10 reps per side) On floor, put right hand behind head and extend left leg straight from hip. Crunch right elbow across and draw left knee in.

I think I have SAD

Or Seasonal Affective Disorder.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/seasonal-affective-disorder/DS00195/DSECTION=symptoms

I have the following symptoms from their web site:

• Loss of energy
• Social withdrawal
• Oversleeping
• Loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed
• Appetite changes, especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates
• Weight gain
• Difficulty concentrating and processing information

Which means I really need a vacation to some place warm and sunny!

Full-night's sleep

It must be weeks since we have been able to report this...all family members slept clear through the night last night. It's nothing short of glorious. I always thought that I would awake more refreshed; I'm really in no better place this morning waiting for my train.

Pain in the back

I moved a queen-sized bed from my house to my mother's; now my back hurts. Pretty stiff. Damn.

Bed time

It's 9:00 PM and I am in bed; ready to end the day. Why am I in bed, you ask? Well, it seems that no matter how early or late we put our little angel to bed she is ready to start her day anywhere between 5:00 and 5:30 AM. While this is a wonderful departure from the newborn every-two-hour-feedings that we endured for the first six months of her life, we need to have more sleep.

Projectile

I just got back from picking Amanda up from daycare. She vomited just BEFORE I was about to buckle her into her car seat! How nice of her; projectile and all. So there I am, in the parking lot with a child covered in carrot vomit trying to determine where I can put her down to strip off her cloths and clean her up. It's 50 degrees outside and I decided the best course of action was to open the tailgate of the 'style and strip her bare right there. It's obvious that she was not feeling too well because she put up very little fight. I was pretty proud of myself; there was no transfer of excrement onto the interior of the car. What would I care, I have WeatherTech mats protecting my car!

Milk

I reintroduced milk into my diet for the first time in seven years. As an adult who needs milk? Let me take you back a bit into why I removed milk from my diet.

Back in 2001 when I had just moved out on my own with my roommate Ross, we would eat breakfast together and gaze out our apartment windows at Lake Shore Drive; enjoying the start of another work day.

Our breakfast was made up of cereal of course and many bowls of it. Every once in a while, while riding the 136 bus crammed into the middle, my body would tell me that it did not agree with my milk/cereal decision. Panic would set in as I scanned LaSalle street for a safe haven to rescue me from the dire straights I was in. It didn't take me long to decide that milk in the morning wasn't the right thing for me.

Instead of switching to something else and eating breakfast at home, I decided to bring my breakfast with me to the office and eat something there. I switched to dry cereal, ceral bars and pop tarts. To this day, that is my morning routine. That is, it was my morning routine untile I decided to give milk a shot.

My office stocks food supplies for us - a carryover from our start-up days where we worked longer hours just to make ends meet and keep the lights on. Each month, there is a threat that this perk might be taken away. Part of the monthly food purchase is milk and cereal. I've been eating dry cereal (dry) for years now until today. I'm glad to report that all is well and my body has not rejected the dairy.

Tooth!

I was at my sister's Sunday afternoon in Winfield. They had a parade to celebrate their weekend of "The Good Old Days" celebration - http://www.winfieldchamber.biz/GoodOldDaysSch.pdf. They have dunk tanks and all that jazz that jerks at our memories of days of yore.

At this parade they throw LOTS of candy. After the parade, I was enjoying some DOTS and oops, my crown popped off of my lower left rear molar. Damn, what a buzz kill. I had some temperature sensitivity, but not much general pain. It's really hard and annoying to chew on only one side of your mouth. On top of that, it was really difficult to drink beer during the Bears game Sunday night! I survived.

I called my dentist and alerted my coworkers Sunday night that I would be working from home as I did not know when I could get an appointment. It was not an emergency so I did not feel the need to contact the dentist himself after-hours. After all, I know what that's all about and it's no fun for anyone. Their office hours on Monday are 1-8pm so I knew that I would not have resolution until after lunch. I was okay with that and left a message to call me.

I got in at 3:30pm to have the crown cemented in. I figured it would be a quick in-out; I was wrong. The crown had worn a hole on the tongue side and that caused all the cement to loosen and it chose Sunday afternoon to pull loose (my DOTS did not help). That said, I now have a temporary cemented in, have the taste of cloves in my mouth (they flavor the cement with cloves?) and the dentist needs to send the crown out for repair if that's possible. After that, I need to go back in and have the temp removed and the crown put back in. I feel like I could use an oil change, too.

Bucket List reflections

Entertaining movie; worth the watch. As it started to unfold and death was chasing both Edward and Carter I started to think about my father's experience with cancer. I did not expect this to happen when the movie first began, but the parallels were so striking that I had no choice.

His experience was nothing like theirs. He was given six months to live upon diagnosis and six months he got. There was no jet setting around the globe or random acts of fun. There was hospital, chemo, bed, repeat. All along, we were fortunate enough to watch his quality of life steadily decline.

I was a senior in college at the time and came home when I could. He was diagnosed shortly before Thanksgiving in 1998 at the ripe age of 60. That means I spent Christmas, New Years and a few random moments with him that I now savor as my last. He did not make it to see me graduate from college; the saddest part of the whole story. He missed Commencement by four days.

I struggled to enjoy my final days as a college senior before the big, bad real world would come down upon me. Several changes were all about to happen at once. I graduated from college thereby losing my current circle of friends and way of life that I had gotten used to for the past four years, my sister moved out of state to pursue her dreams and my father passed. For those at home, I lost three things when I gained my diploma:
1)College
2)Sister
3)Father

Sice then, Mom and I have been keeping the clocks on time and trying to make sure all is good. I lived with Mom for two years after graduating before I ventured out on my own. It was time and she was stable. Finances were in order and we needed time apart.

I'm in a much better place now. It's been 9 years since I lost my father to pancreatic and liver cancer and every day is a new challenge. I still carry the torch he passed on to me many years ago and it continues to fuel my fire in my personal life and professional career. That torch has pissed off more than a few individuals along the way. That's their problem. They need to toughen up and get with it. Your life is not that bad. Neither is mine; this is not a "woe is me" post, but rather a reflection upon how some feel that life is tough for them. It can get a whole lot tougher in one instant; one announcement - Daddy's sick.

Allergies - revisited

So I don't have allergies (as some have suggested). I know this because 1)Claritin did not help me and 2)allergies don't create yellow/green phlegm (AFAIK) or body aches and pains...

I haven't been able to sleep for more than two consecutive hours since Tuesday and it's taking its toll. I can't talk (work was hell Thursday and Friday) and I have a sore throat so I cannot swallow anything. I can't smell so even comfort foods don't help.

At the suggestion of my co-worker Roger, I have started taking Mucinex-D. I have to say it gets things moving, but it's no miracle worker. I've taken three tablets (read horse pills) so far.

Allergies?

I've felt bad for the past week with body aches, a sore throat, sinus congestion, shivvering and a general malaise. I don't have allergies to anything that I'm aware of. I've tried Dayquil/Nyquil, Sudafed and a Walgeens generic. Today I start with some OTC Claritin. Let's see how that goes.

UPDATE 3:30pm - Claritin was no help. Pain everywhere. Need sleep. Can't communicate.

Night out

Tonight was my first night out after work in quite some time. It felt real good to be out and about on my own. After a while the guilt sank in that my wife and child were home and I was out drinking. On top of that (for those keeping score) I have not been sleeping lately and working long and odd hours which probably lead to the sinus congestion I currently experience...

In sickness and in health

We're both awake vomiting. She first and then I followed at the sight, sound and smell of it. Good thing we have Dr appointment for Amanda tomorrow so the doc can check her out, too. She has not shown any signs. I think we had some bad chicken (that I cooked on the grill [for the its first use this season]). Not sure.

Energy

Three weeks w/o caffeine and (other than less selection in beverages) I don't really notice. I do miss the high, though.

Risky behavior revisited

So far, so good. Everyone is healthy at home and I'm feeling much better after a few days at home on the couch getting caught up on Heroes. Damn the writers strike. Because of that, Heroes won't return until the fall. All this cramming I've been doing and I now have all summer to sit on it. What a joke.

Risky behavior

Working from home sick with coughs, aches, sneezing while Katie goes to court to testify against drunk driver. I'll be Daddy Daycare today. I can't see anything wrong with this picture; can you?

Health

I feel pretty crappy today; feel something coming on. I have a cough (which produces no phlem), light sensitvity and some aches. Could be ugly. I'll power through it. I hope to avoid making any of my coworkers ill. On the bright side, I'm caffeine-free for 6 days and still alive.

Root canal

I have a root canal tomorrow morning bright and early at 8:00am. Fun times. The sad part is that since I've been taking antibiotics (to bring down the infection in the roots), there is no more pain - temperature sensitivity, pressure, nothing. Unexpected. The roots must be dead.