milestogofromhere.com | Jeff Miles's personal blog | Faith, Family, Fitness, and Fun

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  • Baby update…or lack of baby update…

    If you have been following my Facebook or Twitter updates then you know we went to the hospital today because we thought today was the day for little Carrie to arrive.

    To get the full story we need to actually back up to last week, here is what has happened up until this point…

    Some time in January…just kidding…we won’t go that far back.

    Last Wednesday (9/2/2009) Mandy began having contractions to the point where they were about 5 minutes apart.  We are advised by the on-call physician to head into the hospital for monitoring.  After running around and getting everything ready to go we head towards the hospital.  We take Caleb to a friend’s house and another friend stops by to pick up Buster.  When we arrive at the hospital we are sent to the OB triage unit for monitoring.  After a couple hours they decide that the contractions are not productive and that the cervix is completely closed.  So we go pick up Buster and head home (Caleb was already asleep so we leave him at the friend’s house).  The next morning we pick up Caleb and go about our merry way.  All during this time Mandy is having sporadic contractions.

    On Tuesday 9/8/2009 Mandy has an OB appointment and she is dilated to 1 cm and we are told that the Dr. doesn’t think that this baby will go the full 40 weeks (Yay!).

    Fast forward to today (I guess it is technically yesterday at this point, but I haven’t gone to sleep yet so for me it is still today).  Around 9 am, Mandy starts having more contractions.  At 10 am, she is to the point where the contractions are 5 minutes apart and lasting around 60 seconds apiece…so according to our handy dandy discharge papers from last week, it is time to call the doctor and the doctor said no more monkeys jumping…(oops, that’s what Caleb would say) anyway, the doctor says that it is time for Mandy to head to the hospital.  I do the stupid thing and alert the whole world via Facebook and Twitter that today is the day….then we finish packing and head to the hospital all the while making arrangements for our two boys (similar setup to last week with a couple different characters thrown in).  Once we get to the hospital we head to triage again (we know exactly where to go this time) and are checked in for monitoring.  At this point the contractions are still pretty regular but after about two hours (about the time it takes to watch 13 Going on 30) the resident checks Mandy’s cervix and reports that she is still at about 1.75 cm so we are sent “home”.  We decided that instead of going home we will try to get something to eat, then run a few errands so that we can stay close to the hospital in case we need to head back (at this point we are still thinking Carrie is still coming today).  So we go to Panera, Home Depot, Madison Lighting (there is no way we are spending $180 on a light fixture for Carrie’s room to replace the one I broke), Menards (2 for $25 works for us, we’ll replace the one in Caleb’s room also), Josh Wanta’s (from Legacy Custom Remodeling) so that I can drop off a key so he can get started on our basement repair from our basement flooding since I “might” not be there in the morning, then on to Borders so that Mandy can get a new book and I can pick up my door prize for my presentation in the morning.  After we get done at Borders I call the hotline because by this point the contractions are taking Mandy’s breath away and are about 2-4 minutes apart.  They advise us to come back in.  We go straight to triage (we’ve been there before, have I told you that?) and get checked in and set up (in the same room as before).  They hook the monitors up to Mandy, the heart rate is great and she gets rocked by a big contraction right after they put the monitors on, here we go…(or so we think).  Mandy gets one more smaller contraction, then they mysteriously vanish for about an hour (but her uterus is doing something, because it is not happy).  The resident comes in and chats with us about what is going on

    and it is decided that we will head home for the night since the contractions are gone.  Mandy was also advised to take the rest of the week off from work, but we will see, she wants to see how she does tomorrow.  We’re not happy at this point because we just want to meet our daughter and had gotten our hopes up and then nothing, but we head home anyway (making arrangements for us to get Caleb and Buster back).  We get not even 5 minutes from the hospital and the contractions start back up.  So the short and skinny is that no one really knows what is going on, but we don’t have a baby girl in our arms yet.

    Hopefully you are still around after my long winded telling of the story.  I will try to keep people up to date via Facebook and Twitter as much as possible.

  • Taking a breath…

    So, if any of you are still out there reading the blog, you will notice that I have updated the theme.  I was waiting for something to finish copying and I have a new tool that lets me generate basic themes really quickly so I built the new theme quickly one night and have decided to debut it.

    For those of you who want to keep closer track of what we are doing, Jeff is on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and Mandy is on Facebook.

    For the photo people…here are a few pictures…be prepared, there are a lot of them…enjoy!  (no, there are not two pictures missing, WordPress screwed up the alignment.)

    Caleb at Chuck-E-Cheese
    Caleb at Chuck-E-Cheese
    So he has a shotgun...
    So he has a shotgun…
    the two suits...
    the two suits…
    three miles at a wedding
    three miles at a wedding
    in the trolley
    in the trolley
    stud muffin on the steps
    stud muffin on the steps
    stud muffin on the steps
    stud muffin on the steps
    Mother's Day Brunch
    Mother’s Day Brunch
    Buster & Caleb
    Buster & Caleb
    Buster - the early days
    Buster – the early days
    Buster - the early days
    Buster – the early days
    Caleb and Michael Playing on the Beach
    Caleb and Michael Playing on the Beach
    Caleb buried in the sand
    Caleb buried in the sand
    Mommy and Caleb in the Pool
    Mommy and Caleb in the Pool
    Towel Boy
    Towel Boy
    He's a dancin, dancin, dancin, he's a dancin machine...
    He’s a dancin, dancin, dancin, he’s a dancin machine…
    Euchre Night at Four Winds Nursing Home
    Euchre Night at Four Winds Nursing Home
    Our Squirrel Companion
    Our Squirrel Companion
    Uncle Michael & Caleb playing in the waves
    Uncle Michael & Caleb playing in the waves
    Mommy & Caleb at the beach
    Mommy & Caleb at the beach
    Cool whirlpool tub
    Cool whirlpool tub
    What I did on my vacation...(part of the time)
    What I did on my vacation…(part of the time)
    Caleb and Daddy in the ocean
    Caleb and Daddy in the ocean
    The Miles Family on the Beach
    The Miles Family on the Beach
    In the process of burying Caleb
    In the process of burying Caleb
    Mama & Papa
    Mama & Papa
    Yes ladies, he is single
    Yes ladies, he is single
    At dinner the last night on the island
    At dinner the last night on the island
    Uncle Michael & Caleb
    Uncle Michael & Caleb

  • I need a puppy…order fulfilled

    I think I have mentioned this before, but Caleb’s first sentence was “I need a puppy.” Well, while we were in St. Louis for Mother’s Day we found the puppy we had been looking for.  His name is Buster and he is a soft coated wheaten terrier.  Take a look at the boy and his dog below (click the picture to see the full size image).

    Caleb and Buster at the Park
    Caleb and Buster at the Park

  • The Best Business Investment I Ever Made

    Updated 9/8/2009 to include links to amazon.com

    OK, with that title, I know the room just got silent as you eagerly await this knowledge that will revolutionize your business and your life.

    The best business investment I ever made was to get a library card.

    WHAT? I hear you screaming…but it is true…especially if you are a creative person or any person for that matter who has to have their mind engaged.

    I have recently joined a BNI group and as a part of being a member of the group you try to get to know the other members of your chapter by having what they call one on ones.  The sole purpose of these one on ones is for one member of the chapter to spend an entire hour learning about the other person so they can better understand who that person is and what they do. They ask questions about both your personal and your business life because they want to get to know you as a person, this is not just some business card passing group, they are truly and genuinely interested in getting to know you. Anyway, being the new guy on the block I have people coming out of the woodwork all over the place wanting to get to know me and one of the things that I ended up talking about a lot is that I love to read. My wife laughs at me but I usually have more than one book going at a time. Usually, a business book, a fun book, and a personal enrichment/enlightenment book. At the rate I go, I read about a book a week. I think I developed the habit from my dad who also loves to read. My dad always has a book with him. It just makes sense, especially when you are a parent and you always have to wait to pick them up. Why not use that time to read?

    Now that I have digressed, I will bring this post back to why a library card is such a great investment. Many people will say that with the advent of the internet books are irrelevant, but I would disagree (obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this post). My main reason that books are not irrelevant given that the internet is so prevalent now is that the internet doesn’t lend itself to the discipline of deep concentration. Many people don’t actually read webpages…they skim them and are off to the next page or site. When people read a book, they don’t skim, they usually devote all of their attention to the information on the pages, you just can’t replace that. One of the main things that productivity books focus on is our ability to focus and how to best create an environment that allows us to do so. A lot of us in the business world have a strain of ADD that I believe could be cured if we would only spend time reading because of the nature of reading. I am not talking about reading magazines, they fuel our ADD because the articles are so short.

    A second reason that reading books is so important is that it causes you to create images or scenarios in your mind which gets the creative juices flowing. This is especially true of fiction books, but is really true for any book. With fiction books you are required to create the image of the characters in your head. Every book requires you to interact with it, a business book causes you to think about how the content of the book applies to your business, a book about programming causes you to think about how what you are learning in the book applies to the problems you have to solve on a daily basis.  Non-fiction books are seen in the light of your present or upcoming circumstances and cause you to visualize putting the principles contained within the book into practice, TV or movies just don’t do this (don’t get me wrong, I love movies, but some of the fun in watching a movie that is based on a book is comparing how my view of the characters is similar or different than the view of the creator of the movie).

    Finally, the last benefit I will talk about in this post is that the right books help us to relax. Relaxation is somewhat of a lost art in our culture. We are always on the go and we are always reachable via cell phone but sometimes we just need to come to a complete stop and relax, shut off our cell phones, email, pagers (Does anyone actually use pagers anymore other than doctors?), and whatever other noise maker you have (this could include your children so find some time after they go to bed) and just read, you will be amazed at how refreshed you can feel after reading for awhile in a really good book.

    If you are not an avid reader at this point or you have forgotten the art I will give a couple of tips.

    1. Start with a fiction book. This may sound counter-intuitive to the business person who has a stack of business books they want to read but never has the time for, but the reason I suggest fiction books to start with is that you are less likely to give up on a good fiction book. Ask your friends what they are reading (if they aren’t reading anything, I suggest adding a few more people to your friendship circle) or go to the library and ask your librarian what their favorite fiction book is.
    2. Don’t be afraid to give up on a book. Some books just aren’t your cup of tea, and that is ok, that is why there are so many of them. If you don’t like a book get a different one. This is really easy if you are using your library card because you haven’t wasted any money on the book because it was free for you to borrow from the library. What you may find with some books is that it is just not the right time in your life to read that particular book and you will be able to come back to it in the future.
    3. If you are really having trouble getting in the habit of reading, ask a friend to join you in your endeavor. Meet with them once a week to catch up and talk about what you are reading and to encourage each other to continue to read and interact with what you are reading.

    Before, I close the post, many of you will probably ask what I have read recently.  Here is the list of what I have read in the last few months or am currently reading (all links point to amazon.com in a new window/tab).

    Good luck on your journey, stop by soon…

  • Daddy’s little stud muffin part 2…2 weddings and a funeral

    I know it has been a long time since I posted and I have a bunch of great Caleb pictures to show you as well as a little surprise for those of you who haven’t been paying attention to us on Facebook or MySpace…Mandy is pregnant again. She is currently due on 10/7/2009 (1 day before her 30th birthday)…

    The last few weeks have been crazy…Mandy figured it out, she has been in the car for over 60 hours in the last 2.5 weeks. First was a friend’s wedding in Virginia that we drove to from Madison, second was Penny’s cancer visit last week for Mandy, then another friend got married in Iowa so we drove there, and finally Penny’s funeral this week. We are ready to stick around the house for awhile.

    The funny thing is that it is our anniversary today and when I asked Mandy what she wanted to do for our anniversary, she said “sleep!” I don’t blame her…poor woman, during her first trimester she usually has to go to bed around 8 or 9, the last 2 weeks she has been going to bed after midnight most nights. I don’t care if she sleeps for the next week…she deserves it.

    Anyway, on to the pictures, the first ones are random pictures.  In May Caleb

    and I are in a friend’s wedding and we got Caleb’s suit the other day so we decided to have him try it on…Hopefully you enjoy the pictures…have a great week…

    Mommy's little helper
    Mommy’s little helper
    Caleb decided to try on one of his hats...he likes wearing it the way daddy does sometimes...
    Caleb decided to try on one of his hats…he likes wearing it the way daddy does sometimes…
    Caleb acting cute in the car
    Caleb acting cute in the car
    Caleb loved clapping for the wedding party as they entered the reception hall at Erica's wedding...
    Caleb loved clapping for the wedding party as they entered the reception hall at Erica’s wedding…
    Caleb in his suit
    Caleb in his suit
    This one looks like it should be part of a catalog or something...
    This one looks like it should be part of a catalog or something…
    Caleb decided to start posing...
    Caleb decided to start posing…
    He was done with pictures by this point...
    He was done with pictures by this point…

  • Did they really need to say it?

    I really don’t have time to be blogging right now, but I ran across one of those moments today where I asked myself, did they really need to say it?  I read something along the lines of “be careful, the cup of hot coffee you are about to enjoy is hot.” today so I have to share it with you but first a little background.

    For those of you who know me, you know that since about my sophmore year of college I have been battling the bulge.  I put on a little extra weight while training for college football and it has stuck around ever since.  I gained even more weight after college when I started driving a desk every day as a computer programmer, but I digress.  I have made it a goal this year to lose some weight and I am actually serious about it this year.  To that end, I used some of the money that I received for Christmas this year to purchase some workout stuff for home for those days when I just can’t make it to the gym.

    One such piece of equipment was a medicine ball for doing core work and for use with some yoga/pilates type stuff I want to start trying to help with my flexibility and lean muscle strength.

    Toning Ball Workout Kit

    After I got done eating my delicious picante chicken from The Biggest Loser Cookbook and washing the dishes I began to unpack my new treasures.  When I opened the ball I thought to myself, this is pretty cool, this looks like a pretty well constructed medicine ball.  Then, I found the paper insert in the box and decided to humor them and read it.  Then I found this:

    SET-UP

    1. Remove the Fit Ball and workout DVD from box and check for shipping damage. (OK, I did this)
    2. Your Fit Ball is now ready for use. (HUH?!?!?!  Did they really need to say that)

    Really?  What scares me though is that they wouldn’t have had to put the 2 step wonder instructions if they didn’t think that someone needed them.

    Jim: Hey Bob, that’s a fancy lookin box you got there.
    Bob: Don’t I know it, that is a great looking box, it really helps me with that Pilates (pronounced Pilots) stuff that my wife got me into.
    Jim: Aren’t you supposed to take the ball out of the box though
    Bob: Shoot, I don’t know, it doesn’t say to on the outside of the box…they said it came with a workout video, but the box doesn’t fit in my DVD player.

    Here’s the kicker…the directions were in the box underneath the ball.  So by the time you got to the directions, you had already accomplished them…

    I don’t know what I would have done if I had gotten to the directions and they said:

    SET-UP

    1. DO NOT OPEN THE BOX FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER!!!
    2. IF YOU OPEN THE BOX YOU ARE SERIOUSLY SCREWED THE DYE USED IN THE RUBBER IS TOXIC TO HUMAN BEINGS

      AND WILL KILL YOU IN 24 HOURS…THE CARDBOARD USED IN OUR PACKAGING KEEPS THE BALL FROM KILLING YOU…GUESS YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT YOUR WEIGHT ANY MORE…SUCKER!!!

    If you don’t hear from me after 24 hours then you know what happened to me, call my wife…but wait, I got her a ball too…

    I hope you are having a great new year…I have to get back to work…

  • Blast from the Past

    We received this picture of Caleb from last Christmas, he has grown quite a bit since

    then…

    caleb

  • WAKE UP JESUS!!!

    2 Year olds can say the funniest things.

    I didn not witness this exchange in person because I was flat on my back sick on New Years Day, but when Mandy recounted this conversation to me I laughed really, really hard.

    Caleb (looking at the nativity scene in our kitchen): It’s a baby!

    Mandy: Yes, Caleb it is a baby.

    Caleb: It’s a BABY!

    Mandy: Yes, Caleb, it’s a baby.

    Caleb: baby sleeping.

    Mandy: Yes, Caleb the baby is sleeping.

    Caleb: Wake up baby.

    Mandy: That’s baby Jesus.

    Caleb (at the top of his lungs): WAKE UP JESUS!!!!!!!!

    Mandy: No, no, we don’t yell at baby Jesus.

    Caleb (very quietly): wake up Jesus.

    Maybe you don’t find that as funny as I do, but I hope you do, Caleb is so stinking cute.

    For those of you who keep up…my son is following in my footsteps…you know how I have the potato head gang…

    Potato Head Gang

    Well for Christmas, my son got a pirate spud and a winter spud…take a look…

    New Potato Heads

    I’m

    so proud…

    I hope your new year is off to a great start.  I hope to be blogging more this year.  Things have been pretty hectic lately but hopefully, they will slow down sometime soon.

    Jeff

  • Happy New Year!

    Welcome to 2009 from the Miles family. We hope you have a great

    year!

  • Happy Thanksgiving

    Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We are doing one of our usual holiday marathons and in Indiana right now. Eat some turkey for us.