March 2012

My wife and I have been very blessed when it comes to our boys sleep patterns. For the first 3 months, they slept for 2 hours at a time, had a bottle, would sleep for 2 more hours and so forth. At our 3 month Doctor visit, I asked the Doctor how long before they would sleep through the night. He laughed and told me that we had a while. I guess a week was a while, because the following week, both boys on the same night, started sleeping 6 – 8 hours at a time. Oh, what a beautiful thing.

Then it happened.  At 10 months old, Baby A started waking up at 11:30pm on the dot every night, screaming. So what changed? Was he teething? Was he growing? He wasn’t talking and telling us what was wrong, so we were left to guess. Everyone told us to let him cry it out. Normally, that would be ok. But we live in a townhouse and the next door neighbor likes to beat on the wall when he starts crying. So, that really didn’t help the situation at all. We called our Pediatrician and asked for advice, they too said to let him cry it out, but they also suggested to give him extra food before he goes to bed. That night, we moved Baby A downstairs into our living room, setup the pack and play, put on some classical music, feed him, gave him extra food, kissed him on the head and off we went. 7:00am the next morning, I go downstairs, there he is, sitting up smiling. This goes on for 2 more weeks. A full night sleep.

Then it happened again. Now, we are at 11 months old and he started waking up at 11:30 pm. So for almost a week, every night he would wake up. What changed? He was still downstairs. He was still listening to classical music. He now had 2 more teeth to come through. So what was it? What changed? Well, before calling the Pediatrician, I did some Google searches to see if this was a common issue or not and it was – Read about it here on Baby Center . Was he hitting a milestone? He did just start to walk. There might be a few more teeth coming in. It does look like he is growing. Wait, that might be it. If he is growing, could that mean that he is waking up at 11:30pm, which is 4 hours after he last ate, which is about the time in between his bottles during the day, was he hungry? That night, I gave him 4 oz. of formula and what do you know, he slept through the night.

I am not saying that this will work for you if your child is crying. I’m not a Pediatrician, so always ask them first, which is what we did. But, so far so good. We have given him the extra formula and we are all able to sleep through the night again. Let’s just hope that this continues.

Sleep, it is a wonderful thing.

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I’ve been asked by both my wife and several close friends if I had a bucket list. Well, I don’t know if I would necessarily call it my bucket list, but here were things that I wanted to do before I turned 30:

1) Meet an Ewok
2) Drive across the countryOK
3) Go to the Playboy Mansion
4) Meet Cal Ripken Jr & Don Mattingly
5) Meet Jimmy Buffett
6) Get married and start a family
7) Take a major chance in life
8) Go to Key West, Fl

So, from that list, here is what I was able to accomplish:

1) I did in fact meet an Ewok. I don’t remember which one it was, but he taught a CPR class.  I kept asking Star Wars questions, which I think bothered him.
2) I drove from Wilmington, NC all the way to Barstow, CA and it was the time of my life.
3) While I was out in LA for a long weekend, a friend of mine took me to the front gates of the Playboy Mansion. And then we drove around the back and got to see the limos, which was pretty sweet.
4) I was able to meet both Cal and Donnie Baseball for work when I was 31, so I missed it by a year. But both men upheld my faith in baseball and what I had envisioned that they would be like.
5) Though I have not met Jimmy Buffett, I have seen him over 35 times and I was able to get an autograph photo from him. One was personalized to me and one was personalized to my sons.
6) I did something that most have done, I put my career in front of my personal life. So, this one took a little longer than I was expecting, but I did get married at the age of 33 and had my sons when I turned 35. Very glad that I waited until I did.
7) I shocked a lot of people when I announced that I quit my job and was moving to Houston, Tx. This was without a doubt, one of the best moves that I ever made and was 6 of the best years of my life. God Bless the Great State of Texas.
8) I mentioned in #6 about getting married. Well for our honeymoon, we went to Key West, Fl as it was a destination that we had both wanted to visit. And yes, we did take the Jimmy Buffett tour while we were there, visiting the Chart Room, Captain Tony’s Saloon, Jimmy’s first house in Key West, the house on Caroline Street to name a few.

So, all in all, I was able to take care of the majority of my bucket list, but now, I’m working on a new list, so this will be an an on going list:

1) Reading the Bible
2) Developing my first iphone app
3) Volunteer more
4) Be a better father and husband

What is on your bucket list?

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Today is Health Care Day 2 for the Supreme Court and their hearing of oral arguments on whether or not the Health Care plan that President Obama signed into law was constitutional or not?  And at the center of the arguments today is the highly contested and most often questions, Individual Mandate. I discussed yesterday my views on Health Care and what I thought that should be done, but I was asked by a friend, what does Health Care have to do with your sons?

Here it is in a nut shell.  If the law, as it is today, stands and goes into effect in 2014, there are a few things that could have an effect on the boys:

  1. If everyone is required to have medical insurance, getting an appointment if the boys are sick, will be that much harder with their Doctor.
  2. If small businesses are required to pay more for health care, then jobs could be slashed from employees.
  3. If jobs are slashed and cost of goods and services go up, that means, that as the parents of these boys, we have less money to spend on them.
  4. If we have less money to spend on the boys, that means less spending on family outings, meals out, baseball games, college savings, etc.

So, yes, this current Health Care bill does have an effect on my sons. It has an effect on all of us. I think that most agree that we have a health care issue, the difference is, I think that what is being proposed is going to do more long term harm than good. All American’s deserve the right to have Health Care, but it is the individuals right if they want it or not.  And I for one, would rather keep my discretionary income for my family, then see the cost of goods and gas go up higher due to the Health Care bill.

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Today and I found out that after 10 years, I was able to complete the last signature that I needed for my Hootie and the Blowfish signed Cracked Rear View cd cover (I’ll post a photo later).  Growing up in NC and seeing Hootie and the Blowfish in Raleigh and Chapel Hill and then down in South Carolina in Charleston and Columbia, I had been able to meet the guys after shows, but I was never able to get lead guitarist Mark Bryan’s autograph. Fortunately for me, a close friend knows him and after some time, he was able to have Mark sign it for me at a benefit that they were attending.

I just hate that my boys will  not be able to experience seeing Hootie and The Blowfish live like I did. But here is a video that brings back a lot of memories.


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Today marks a historic day in our country.  Today, the United States Supreme Court begins hearing oral arguments on whether or not the Health care that President Obama signed into law is constitutional or not. The Affordable Care Act is designed to help those that do not have insurance currently, the ability to obtain insurance at a reasonable cost regardless of pre-existing conditions. Now, I am really paraphrasing this, because this law is really a lot more than this. There are a lot of things within this bill that are great. There is a WHOLE  that I disagree with.

And for today’s purposes, I only want to address 1 portion of this bill pertaining to Individual Mandate, my suggestion for an alternative proposal to health care, and how I think that the Supreme Court might rule on this bill.

There is a lot of controversy over the topic of Individual Mandate. Curious to know what the Individual Mandate is? Here it is in it’s simplest form: By 2014, if you, a private citizen, does not have insurance, you will be forced to either purchase insurance or pay a penalty. So, what does this really mean? If you, an individual, does not have insurance by 2014, the United States government, if this bill passes, will require you to either purchase insurance from a private company or pay a penalty for not having insurance. I believe strongly that if you are an American citizen that you have certain rights that are guaranteed under the Constitution and no where does it say that you have to have insurance.

Now, do I think that American citizens should have insurance? Absolutely. However, this gets to be a tricky issue.  Currently, in many states, there is a shortage of Doctors, Nurses and Nurse Practitioners. Why is this a concern? Well, let’s say that 1 million new patients come into the insurance system and start going to the Doctor, because for the first time in 10 years, they have insurance. What happens? A serious backlog at Doctor offices, which means, longer waits to be seen and treated.  US News and World Report had a story that Three Quarters of Americans could not afford Health Care and that roughly 9 million Americans lost their health insurance over the last 3 years due to the economic conditions and job loss.

This only backs up my thought that by adding 9 million new patients, a new problem is created, an even greater shortage of Doctors. So, unlike most that disagree with legislation, I have an alternative solution and though, it is flawed, it does make sense:

  1. Strike down portions of this bill, especially as it pertains to the Individual Mandate. Allow private citizens to choose what they would like to do. Give them the option to opt in or not, with no penalty. But give them the option, that if they have a pre-existing condition, that they are not denied coverage or charged an astronomical amount for coverage.
  2. Let’s provide affordable options that are affordable for individuals and/or families, to ensure their medical care.
  3. Let’s address the shortage of Doctors in this country. I have often heard that Doctors have huge student loans after they graduate. Let’s help them, as they treat patients. Create a medical health care system, that allows those that do not have insurance a free or subsided clinic that provides 24 hour care.  But, just as residents do at hospitals, they work with patients under the supervision of a Doctor, let’s do the same thing. Give these residents that choose to work at these clinics a stipend salary and allow them to reduce their overall student loans.
  4. By creating this new system where uninsured patients are treated by residents (oversee by an attending Doctor), this frees up our ERs in our America that are often filled with uninsured patients (hospitals can not turn away people that need medical treatment if they are unable to pay or not), thus allowing ERs to treat those with insurance that need immediate help.

Again, I am not saying that my idea is the greatest, but it solves several needs and addresses our shortage of Doctors. But by going to a system like this, patients are treated, new residents are able to learn, and ultimately, citizens are not told or penalized if they do not have insurance.

As for what I think the Supreme Court will do? My best guess is that I don’t have the first clue. If you look at this down party lines, there is a 5-4 vote for more Conservative Justices. My guess is that the bill maybe sent back to Congress and certain parts of this bill will either be re-written or removed completely, i.e. the Individual Mandate. My thinking is that the Justices’ will view the Government forcing citizens to purchase insurance from a private company will be viewed as unconstitutional. But at the end of the day, I do believe that people have a right to be treated and they should. I just do not believe that the Government can force an individual to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty for not doing so.

More to come on this very controversial topic, but take a look at this Consumer report to read a little bit more on the health care law that will be heard tomorrow.

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We are only a few months past Christmas for this year and we are already talking about the next Christmas. Why? Well, for many reasons.

1) staying at home instead of running around
2) planning meals around feedings
3) first year, go less on presents
4) start buying gifts early and throughout the year to save money

Staying at home instead of running around
This past year, we spent the holidays with family. But next year, we have decided that since the boys will have more of an idea of what Christmas is about, that we will be staying home. It is important to us to establish traditions as a family. So, family will be invited to come over next year, instead of us going to visit everyone.

Planning meals around feedings
The boys feedings last year were different last year, but this year will be different.  Now that there feedings have changed, only 3 bottles a day, we will be able to plan our family meals better.

First year, go less on presents
We only purchased a few gifts for the boys this past year.  We will more than likely continue this again this year, primarily because the boys still really will not need a lot.

Start Buying Gifts Early
We have already started buying gifts for family members now. By spreading out the gifts, we are not scrambling to find gifts for family and friends in December right before Christmas. It spreads out the cost throughout the year and not just in 1 month.

These are just a few things that we are looking at for Christmas 2012.

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I grew up playing sports. I honestly, can not remember a time where I was not playing a sport, primarily either basketball or baseball as a child. Every Saturday morning, we played basketball. Mondays and Wednesdays were baseball. Soccer was Thursdays. So Friday and Sunday we had off, however, we were usually playing basketball at the gym.  Some of my most vivid memories were playing sports, whether it was the friendships formed from playing or the coaches that took the time to teach us the love of the game.

The times have changed. There are actually games that being played on Sundays, time that should be devoted to church and family.  As much as I love sports, there has to be boundaries. I want my sons to play sports, but I want them to have their priorities in order: church, family, and then sports.  So as my wife and I have talked about this, we have decided that we want to encourage our children to play sports at the YMCA, where Christian values are placed as the core values and sportsmanship are the top priorities.  But, they also do not play games on Sundays, which is important to my wife and I.

 

 

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Last night, I was playing with the boys and even though they are only 11 months old, we took a vote and it was unanimous, tomorrow is PJ Day! That’s right, another Saturday in our PJs.

Saturdays have started becoming a fun day, watching sports and wearing our PJs. I know that these days will end in a few years as the boys grow older, but for now, I will treasure out PJ Day and enjoy playing with the boys.

Enjoy your PJ Day!

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At the boys 9 months Doctor visit, he suggested that we start introducing new foods to the boys.  Our pediatrician recommending starting off with soft foods such as peas, eggs, breads (wheat bread), potatoes (sweet potatoes), etc. The boys had started pushing away the spoons as we feed them and enjoyed eating their puffs, so this was just a great transition.

In the first weekend, we’ve been able to get the boys to eat eggs, peas, and potatoes. We have started slowly introducing new foods to the boys, but only 1 thing at a time, just in case they are allergic to any of the foods.  The boys have really seemed to enjoy trying the new foods and have thus far, had no breakouts. We are trying to feed them these new foods, instead of their pureed food at night and they seem to enjoy feeding themselves too.

The first time introducing new foods for your children might be met with resistance, but keep trying.  The more that we give them, the more they seem to enjoy feeding themselves. But talk with your pediatrician first, as they might have more insight and suggestions about the foods that you give your child.

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We are in the middle of winter and there is nothing better than comfort food to help keep you warm.  So another simple recipe that we like to make, that usually makes about 4 meals is an easy Pot Roast.  So here is our simple crock pot recipe for Pot Roast

1 Pot Roast (we used a 3lbs Pot Roast)
6 red potatoes
1 medium onion
1 package of dry onion mix
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

Cook for 7 – 9 hours  in the crock pot and that is it.

Feel free to check out other recipes here.

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