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George Zimmerman was found not guilty. Not guilty. A jury voted to find him not guilty.

You can look at this case in so many ways. And regardless of what you believe, at the end of the day, 2 things remain true:

1) Mr. Martin is dead and his parents will have to leave the rest of their lives knowing that there son is no longer here. And that he was more importantly, he was taken way too soon.
2) Mr. Zimmerman will have to live the rest of his life knowing that he took the life of Mr. Martin.

I am a firm believer that as individuals, we are all entitled to our own beliefs and those beliefs should be respected. And that being said, regardless of what view you take in this case, a young man’s life was ended.

I am not a lawyer. I am not someone that has followed this case as closely as others. I can only look at this from the stand point of a parent and tonight, Mr. Martin’s parent’s mourn the loss of their son, again.

Tonight, Mr. Zimmerman is found not guilty. I just hope and pray, that those in the state of Florida, know and respect the verdict and avoid any further violence.

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Almost every night before the boys go to sleep, my wife will sing to them and the songs vary every night. Lately, she has been singing Old McDonald and encouraging the boys to say what animals and the sounds that the animals make. Usually, the boys just sit and smile and call out names when asked. Well, this past Friday while we were driving, Baby A out of the blue started singing Old McDonald. Well, it was his version of Old McDonald, but never the less, it was close.

My wife loves to sing, as did her mom, so to hear one of her children sit and sing Old McDonald definitely moved her to tears.  Over the course of the weekend, I was able to actually capture Baby A singing and I have to say, I’ve never smiled so much. It was so innocent and sweet and he was so proud as he sang.

Old McDonald had a farm, ewww ooooo ewwww ewwww ooo. Or that is at least how Baby A sings it.

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What are you grateful for?

A few weeks ago, my wife created a blog and has decided that for the next 6 weeks, she is blogging about what she is grateful for that day. It is amazing in reading her blog, how many little things I take for granted in my busy day. Looking up at a sunset. A quiet moment while drinking a cup of coffee. Listening to the boys talking to each other before they go to sleep.

I am trying to slow down my life. Look at things differently. Prioritize my day and most importantly, be grateful for the little things.

So, what are you grateful for?

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This has been a weekend that we have been looking forward to for awhile, because it is one of our two weekends a year that we get to spend in the country.

For 2 days, we get to sleep in, as our friends will take care of the boys so that we can rest and relax. We will play with the boys, let them run around with the dogs, play outside in the open backyard.
The last time that we spent the weekend in the country, I slept for 12 hours. I can not remember the last time that I got more than 6 hours of sleep.

We don’t get many chances to take a weekend to get away to the country, but this is one that I’ve been looking forward to for about 6 months.

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Happy 4th of July.

If the weather permits, spend some quality time at the grill. Flip some burgers, if you are a fan of beer, then drink a nice craft beer. But most importantly, be safe and spend time with your family and friends.

 

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With two boys, there is always a competition, even at the age of 2.  Who can talk the loudest. Who can say the first word. Who can run. Who can throw a ball the furthest. And the list goes on and on. But, I realized something this week, Baby B has done the majority of the major milestones first: rolling over, crawling, walking, talking and now, learning his alphabet. But, Baby B still isn’t talking as much as he needs to. Whereas Baby A, did everything second, but doesn’t stop talking. Ever.

Baby A can now piece together between 2 and 4 word sentences. He can ask for things. He can do simple tasks that we ask, giving things to his brother, picking up toys, etc. Baby B, well, he is getting there. But, Baby B walked up to me the other day and pointed to my St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital Hey St. Jude t-shirt and said “U”. So, I figured, why not just ask to point to other letters. I asked letter by letter, mixing up the order and each time, Baby B correctly pointed to each letter. The next night, I while wearing my University of Texas football t-shirt, I asked Baby B to point to the different letters, and each time, he got them right.

Each night, we ask the boys certain letters of the alphabet at dinner and often times they get them right. But, this was the first time that I had tried to ask specific letters of the alphabet and have him point to letters. So, even though he isn’t talking as much as he should, he is definitely pointing to the letters that are asked of him.

 

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Hearing is something that most of take for granted. Hearing sounds for the first time or a new sound, is just a fleeting thought.

But for this little boy and his family, hearing is became really important, because for the first time, their son could hear.
Take a moment and watch this YouTube video – there are a few gross scenes, so turn your head.

But seeing that moment, when the little boy heard his father for the first time is just an amazing this.

I take for granted so many things, like hearing or seeing, but through a medical break through, their lives are forever changed.

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It is very easy to bring a bad day home from work and allow frustrations to carry over. But what do you do when you get mad?

Today I was getting frustrated with work, I had to pass up a great concert and 2nd row seats.  My wife was on call, so that meant that I was going to have to go home and prepare dinner and all I could think about, was how frustrated that I was with work. I wanted to be mad. I wanted to have some downtime to clear my head. And then I came across this video clip about Mister Rodgers getting mad.

And Mister Rogers is right. Everyone makes a mistake and it is ok to be mad, but it isn’t ok to take it out on your kids. They didn’t do anything. And even if they did, it still doesn’t warrant taking your frustrations out on them.

We need more life lessons like this from Mister Rogers and less from the reality tv shows.

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I knew that it would eventually happen, I had been able to put off a business trip with work for almost a year, because I didn’t want to be away from the boys. But, it was time. So, this past Sunday night, I kissed the boys, I kissed my wife and I was on my way. It was my first business trip since the boys were born and my first time away from the boys, alone.

I was going to only be gone for 2 days, but those seemed like a long two days. While I was gone, I was able to FaceTime with the boys and see them laugh and run around the living room. I was able to hear their voices, see their faces and interact with them. Being away made me appreciate how much I love being around the boys and how much I hate not being there. But at the same time, it made me realize how I need the downtime too.

So, I returned yesterday from my business trip, to be greeted at the door by both the boys. As soon as they saw me, they both started screaming “Daddy”, nothing better in this world than hearing that word.

Being away is hard, and I am really lucky that I don’t have to travel that much, but coming home to two little boys, smiling and ready to jump all over me, is even better.

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We all struggle with it at some point in time, especially when the Dr. mentions it. But my wife and I were having a conversation two weeks ago and I’ll never forget her statement, “If you don’t lose weight and get in shape, you will not be here to watch the boys grow up.” And there it was. Some might call it a guilt trip, I call it a slap in the face with reality. Of course I want to be here for my boys. Of course I’ll do anything for them, including, getting in shape.

Now, I will be honest to say, that since moving to the East coast from Texas, I’ve put on 40 pounds. I’m not happy at all about that. In fact, it frustrates me, because, since the move here almost 7 years ago, I’ve also torn the cartilage in my knee and have had my left knee scoped twice.  So I am really limited in my exercise program, because my left knee has torn cartilage again and I am pretty sure that my right knee does as well. So, I have to do other things to help lose weight.

I’ve started going to the gym 2 nights a week and get in at least 20 minutes on the treadmill of a solid walk. Then I have a routine for upper body and lower body. And then on the weekend, I try to get in the pool and either swim or try to use some resistance from the water to exercise. But to keep myself honest, my wife and I both installed the My Fitness Pal app to keep us both honest with our eating as well.   My wife purchased a fitness band for her arm and after I looked and tested it out, I figured that I too would get one, but I went with the less visible Jawbone Up.

So, two weeks into a more strict diet and exercising more and I’m already down 4 pounds. It is a start, but 4 pounds down and 36 pounds more to go.

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