Ideas to Save Money (and We Need Your Help)

Posted on April 4, 2009 by Jon

Earlier this year my wife and I both found out we wouldn’t be getting raises at work this year. We both work for the same company, and its budget year starts on July 1st. That means the earliest we could possibly get another raise won’t be until July 1, 2010!

Don’t get me wrong, this is much better than losing our jobs, or having to take a pay cut. So by no means am I trying to complain. It’s just that since we’re also having another baby this year, we’ve decided it was time to take a hard look at our monthly expenses to see if there are areas we can cut back. Continue reading →

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Should Husbands Attend Prenatal Checkups?

Posted on March 29, 2009 by Jon

Have you seen the movie Nine Months? In the middle of the movie, Hugh Grant’s character forgot about the doctor appointment, so Julianne Moore’s character stopped talking to him for a long time afterwards. To her, his failure to show up to the appointment was the last straw!

What about you? If you miss your wife’s prenatal checkups, is she going to be okay with that? Or will you be in the doghouse? Continue reading →

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Adventures in Potty Training

Posted on March 22, 2009 by Jon

Some toddlers are potty trained before they’re 2 years old. Some toddlers even managed to get potty trained in less than one week. Then there’s Olivia…

Olivia has been potty training since late summer, and she’s definitely make some progress. In fact just last week, she went poop and tried to wipe herself without any help. Before she was finished, she did call out from the bathroom “Daddy, can you come help me?” I went in there to find she was holding soiled toilet paper in one hand, a clump of poop in the other hand, and there was another clump of poop smeared on the bathroom floor. But no matter… at least she tried.

She does great going poop in the toilet. I can’t even remember the last time she pooped in her pants. The problem we’re having is going potty. Continue reading →

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How I Got Sick From P90X

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Jon

I‘ve been doing P90X for five weeks now, and each week I’ve gotten extremely run down and sick. It’s gotten so routine that I finally asked for help on the BeachBody community forums.

What’s Been Happening

I feel great at the beginning of the week. I try to eat right and stay positive. When we get home from work, I put on my exercise gear and do my P90X as intensely as possible. However by Thursday or Friday, I start feeling run down. My energy levels get very low. All I feel like doing is laying around on the couch doing nothing.

So I skip one or two workouts, and then by Monday I’m feeling okay again. Then the cycle repeats itself.

I suspected it had to do with my diet, so I found a nutrition thread on the forum and shared my situation. A really friendly community member named Troy analyzed my situation, and gave me some excellent advice. Continue reading →

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Olivia’s Trip to the Emergency Room

Posted on March 14, 2009 by Jon

Earlier this week we were enjoying a normal day. Olivia went to daycare, Shan and I went to work. At 5:00 PM we got off work, picked up Olivia, went home and had a normal evening. Then when Shan was tucking Olivia into bed, she noticed something green in Olivia’s right nostril.

Shan: “Jon… there’s something up Olivia’s nose… I can’t get it out.”

Continue reading →

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