sitting pretty

Yay! She can sit! I love this stage. Soon, she'll be able to let go of the floor and tinker with stuff. With John, things moved pretty fast after that.

Just a quick update - sorry. Things here have been hectic. We've got association stuff out the wazoo, and Mike just finished his philosophy course. Phew! He has all his marks but his final exam, and figures he wound up with a 90 in the course overall. (He got 100 per cent on the mid-term, by the way.) Work has picked up, so he wasn't able to get his final essay in on time (he went two weeks without a single day off) but because he works and has a family - two stresses few of the other students had - the TA took pity on him, and gave him a five-day extension. So that's what we spent our weekend doing. He got his mark back already - he got a 90. His lowest mark the whole term was an 82, for his first essay. His arguements were fine, but I'm not exactly trained in academic writing, and Jer was too busy to help, so he lost marks for style. But we learned, and did much better the second time around. We made a good team. I think this year, he'll do even better.

We did something crazy yesterday. We joined a gym. We'll have to tighten up in other areas to fit it in, but it's gotten to the point where we can't afford not to. Sitting at a computer for school has really helped Mike pack on the pounds. He feels really tired all the time. We've been getting out more, but he finds it isn't helping enough. So we shopped around, and because it's July, when no-one goes to the gym, we got a pretty amazing deal. We looked into the Y, but the babysittibg hours were terrible, and the cost was rediculous. So we went private. He not only gets a discount through work, but they paired it with the July promotion. They wiped out the sign-up fees, and cut the membership almost in half. The real clincher was the councelling. As part of the promotion, you get nutrition councelling for free - it's usually a separate program that you pay extra for. It's eight weeks of sessions with a dietition. She goes over what foods we eat, and tailors a meal plan using those foods. She talks about portion control, healthy choices, all that stuff. It sounds like something we could use. It only gets done for one of us, so the trainer guy signed Mike up for it, because he has a much bigger goal, but because I do the cooking and shopping, I go too, and just adjust the portion sizes to myself, so it's like 2 for 1. They have daycare included, too, and John loved it! They have an assessment centre, too. They do a big fitness assessment, and tell you what you should be doing and what you should avoid and let you know if what you're doing is working. We can do that four times each year for free. All in all, pretty amazing for the cost, and they really seem to care about overall health. The meal plan looks pretty sensible. It doesn't look restrictive or out of balance. The other private gym has all the same stuff, but it was all as hidden fees. The membership for their summer sale was about the same, but they put you through mandatory fitness testing every 12 weeks at $100 per person per test! THAT's not happening! The nutrition councelling was optional, but cost extra as well. And they were very high pressure. The place we went with was much smaller and not nearly as fancy, but the price was right and they were very low key. And we have use of all four centres, including a 24-hour one, which will come in handy for Mike, with his crazy summer hours. The other place made you pay a premium for that. So all in all, I think we went with the right place for our needs. Mike's looking forward to the nutrition councelling. We have our first meeting with the dietician tonight. I wish we didn't need to do this, but it was a good move under the circumstances, I think. As Mike says, he's got a family, he quit smoking, and is close to a career he's going to enjoy. But it will have all been a big waste of time if he keels over from a heart attack at 35. His dad was an inspiration, too - especially that he has back pain, even though he lost all his weight. Mike figures if he gets his off now, maybe he can avoid long-term damage. Hopefully, it will work!

Anyway, John is here! Better go!