Michael & Liz are Bloggable

This evening I sat down with Cole while Liz went out to the garden to pick some veggies. For a few weeks now I have been messing with Cole and hoping he would imitate me. Well today he finally did it!! I've been sticking my tongue out at him and bubbling my lips. Usually it draws laughs or smiles from him, but tonight he started doing it himself. His best few were before I busted out the camera, but I caught a couple good ones. I feel bad he's doing these firsts while Liz leaves the house, but at least I'm catching them on camera. Someday he'll start walking while I'm at work, and that'll make up for it.



I love spending time with this boy!

Liz took this picture last night. I love Cole's expression in it. It's like she walked in and said "hey look here" and they all 3 look up at the same time. Too funny.

This evening, while Liz was at the gym, Cole was on the ground and was being super active. He was kicking his legs and scooting on his stomach as he pushed himself inch by inch. I thought it was funny so I got the video camera out. Early in July, Cole perfected the rollover from his back to this stomach. We have been concerned though because he has yet to roll over from his stomach to his back... until tonight! How often do you catch a "first" for your child? I feel so lucky to have caught it on camera, and it was a wonderful surprise for when Liz got home. Now you get to enjoy:

Last night I said to Liz, "Have we ever pulled vegetables out of the garden this late into the season?" This is the 3rd year of our garden, and during the previous 2 years, when the July heat came around, our garden died.

Admittedly, the first year we over watered like crazy. It was our first garden, we knew nothing about gardening, and basically drowned the plants. By late June/early July, our garden was over. Our second year we perfected the watering and were hoping our garden would bloom, but it died out just like the year before. So we had a new plan for year 3, take the garden to a new level, and give it more sun.

In the Spring, we took our garden and went from this (keep in mind it's the early Spring and there are no leaves or foilage of any kind):

While I was at jury duty today, Liz sent me a picture that I couldn't resist posting. It was so cute it became the background on my phone:

Before Cole was born, a friend of ours gave us their high chair and Liz's Mom made a lining to it to give it a little cushion. He tried it for the first time today and loved it! He just sits and plays with his toys. It's a good way for Mom to be in the kitchen and Cole to be able to watch and only be a couple steps away. It's also a good way to give him practice sitting up. I just love this picture.

This past Saturday I ran the Grandfather Mountain Marathon. It goes from Boone, NC to near the top of the mountain. It is advertised as one of the toughest marathons in America. I didn't really take that seriously... which was a mistake. It has easily one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. Check out the details:

Did you read that right?!?! 3068 feet in elevation gain!!

To the average hiker, that doesn't sound bad, but to a marathon runner, that is about as miserable as it gets. If it wasn't going uphill then the downhills were so steep that you were trying to slow yourself down. After the first 2 miles, there were very few flat parts. But in the end I finished in 4:06 (I forgot to stop my watch, so that's why it says 4:08). I am THRILLED with that time. I probably could have done better if I didn't walk as much in the last 6 miles, but that's what I do. Someday I will break through and run the whole thing. This wasn't the race to do that.

 There were 2 highlights for me though. The first one came around mile 4. A puppy, very similar looking to the dog we met in Mexico named Bubbles, started following me. He was probably a good 20 or 30 pounds, but very clearly a young pup. At first I tried to "shoo" him away because I was worried he'd get hit by a car or run too far away from home. He had a tag, but his safety consumed my thoughts for a few minutes. I did have visions of just letting him follow me the whole race and taking him home. But after a mile he started trailing off and I lost sight of him. I only hope he got back home OK.

The other highlight was the finish line experience. It almost made up for the difficulty of the race. It was in the middle of the world's second largest Scottish Highland Games. There were thousands and thousands of people crowded around a track. We enter on one side, run all the way around and then finish on the other. It was so cool to be a part of that and be cheered in that way.

Once we finished we sat around for a few hours watching the games. They had things like the caber toss, stone throw, hammer throw, sheep herding, duck herding, and track and field events. It was a perfect ending to the race.

Will I run this race again? Maybe in a few weeks I'll start thinking it's a good idea, but I haven't yet forgotten how tough it was. If I do run it again, it won't be for the accomplishment of finishing the race, it'll be for another chance to finish in the midst of the Scottish Highland Games. I will never forget how awesome that was. I can't imagine a better finish line experience than that. Here is a picture of me coming around the track:

You can see some pictures using our photo album link at the top.

Last week our family celebrated a couple big moments in our lives. Saturday was Liz and my 5 year anniversary and Tuesday was Cole's 3 month birthday.

We went to dinner on Saturday and sitting behind us was a couple who were celebrating their 25 year anniversary. We had a few laughs at their expense mainly because they were sitting in a rounded booth very far apart from each other and neither one dressed up for the occasion. The guy had the audacity to wear a tank top to his anniversary dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in the area. But turning and hearing they were celebrating their 25th, made our 5 seem too easy. I'm not impressed though, I have no doubt we'll hit 25, only instead we'll sit close to each other and dress up for the moment.

Here are some pictures from June and the beginning of July.

The above picture was taken at my cousin Flynn's wedding. It was hot for the ceremony, but we had a wonderful time. They are such great people and we were so lucky to be a part of their day.


Look at Cole grow! I don't think the change from 2 to 3 was as big as 1 to 2. I love that we are documenting his first months this way.







Before Liz and I got married, we had the conversation of "where will we be in 5 years?" We both agreed we'd be married with 1 child, financially stable, and living in the same house. We certainly stuck to the plan! At our anniversary dinner, it was fun having the same conversation. We both agreed on our plans, so if our ability to dictate our life stays true, it proves to be another wonderful 5.

As many of you know, at the beginning of the year I tried to be as ultra healthy as I could possibly be. I followed the "Eat to Live" lifestyle for 2 months and then went vegan after that.

At the end of February I felt as fit and healthy as I ever have in my entire life. I had lost 30 pounds, slept fantastically every night, and had more energy than ever before. I would call that the peak of my year, as far as my physical body and fitness goes.

Since March I maintained or undid my healthy ways a little bit at a time until June. Around that time I started discarding the vegan diet for what I like to call "eat what I want". I started drinking a lot of soda. I gave up veganism at first, then I started giving up on even vegetarianism. Around my birthday at the end of June I fell into it full boar, pun intended, by eating chicken sandwiches, burgers, and anything else with meat.

That leads me to today. Easily the worst I have felt physically in the last 6 months. I have fallen off the wagon in a monstrous way. It has been a week full of food that I would have called a good/delicious week only 7 months ago. I've had cheese coneys, pizza, steak, french fries, and more soda than any human should have in a month, let alone a week. It has all culminated to tonight, where I ate a full slab of ribs at one of my favorite places in the world.

To be candid, I have slept horribly this week. My allergies have never been worse. I feel sluggish and tired all the time. Only 1 week until one of the hardest marathons of my life, and I haven't run 1 mile in the month of July yet. My stomach is uneasy and there's more to say about that, but I'll let you deduce what I mean. I've had a slight headache for the past few days. And my breaking point in this madness was sitting at dinner after finishing the ribs, I actually felt dizzy and nauseous. I was not satisfied or comforted or any other word you could use to describe how food should fulfill you. I was DIZZY.

Let me be clear, it's not the quantity of food I am struggling with. I don't want to hear the cliche "all things in moderation". There have been some days I have done moderation very well, and it hasn't helped. There have also been other days in which I have eaten my face off with vegetarian burritos or tofu lasagna and still felt great. I know what full and stuffed feels like, but I'm far beyond that.

You can see where I am going with this. Food absolutely matters. This little "experiment", if you can call it that because I certainly did it involuntary, has made me realize just how much my diet matters. The "Eat to Live" book asserts that you can stop and even reverse the growth of cancer and heart disease just by changing your diet. I have never been a bigger believer in the that approach or the vegan diet than I am right now.

I believe now that once you start healthy eating, it's even more difficult to go back without feeling like a train wreck. I want to feel good. I want to feel energized. I want to undo the damage I have just done. I want to take back the last month and prepare again for a marathon I very much care about.

So starting now I am back on it. I'll be vegan for the next week and starting on July 14th, Liz in both her support and curiosity is going to be embrace the "Eat to Live" lifestyle as well. It's not easy, but I'd give anything to feel that way again, or scratch that, I'd eat anything to not feel this way again.