About Me

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Kids Ages: 2
Relationship Status: Married
Gender: Male
Birthday: 16/12/1978
Hometown: Berwyn Heights
About me: I blog at http://rob.mdmonroes.com

Contact Information

Mobile phone: 3013560819
City / Town: MD
Country: United States
Website: http://rob.mdmonroes.com

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robmonroe

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Member since
Friday, 11 April 2008 06:00
Last online
93 days ago
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4 days ago

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:Bilobed Placenta in the forums.

Sounds like you've got a good medical team that caught this early. No personal experience here, but I'm interested to learn more if you feel like sharing.

I know that first pregnancies are anxious enough without bonus worries. Hang in there.

08:28 AM

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:Betting on Baby in the forums.

Sorry, Miranda, but I'm going on the late end as well (though the 7th is a full moon). With tall people, techs tend to over-estimate the gestational age of the baby.

I'm going with Ides of March -- the 15th. Big first baby means a bit of a long haul, so I'm guessing overnight labor and an early morning birth at 4:35 AM.

08:25 AM

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:Marathon to Fit Fatherhood 2012 in the forums.

Weight 186.6 Up a fraction.

Super Bowl Party at our house. Wings. Sliders. Nachos. Not a fresh veggie in sight. Everybody needs a day off now and then.

We're headed on the road for a few day starting tomorrow, and for some reason that seems easier for weight loss then being here at home. Go figure. I'd really like to be at or under 185 on race day (less than two weeks!), but with miles tapering and a bit of carbo loading -- seems doubtful.

I had just finished my 16 miler on Saturday on the popular Lady Bird Lake trail, when I ran into a former student -- an amazing track and cross-country athlete who ran for Rice, her sister is an Olympian in steeplechase -- she was with her husband and wrestling her baby into a jog stroller. She didn't recognize me at first, then said, "Wow, there's a lot less of you!"

Those little moments are a nice reward.

Marathon update:
That 16-miler felt great -- right at my race pace. But when you finish a run like that and consider adding another 10 miles. Butterflies. What's going to happen at mile 23? What if I hit a wall or cramp up? Uncharted territory. Nerves are already setting in a bit.

I'm looking forward to tapering -- to feeling fresh and not sore, but also a little wistful about the toughest part of training being over. Going to have to do some research about the timing of tapering strength workouts. When should I stop lifting/TRX? To the internets!

08:08 AM

1 week ago

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:Marathon to Fit Fatherhood 2012 in the forums.

Weight: 186

Up a pound. Amazing.

I'll be posting this week on this topic, but here's a preview.

This was the peak week in my marathon training: 53 miles in roadwork, 3 strength workouts and a boot camp (today is a rest day). As an experiment I logged all my workouts and all my calorie consumption for the week.

The week actually closes out tomorrow morning, but assuming I have a normal food day today, I'll finish out the week with a deficit of about 8500 calories.

Using popular/accepted calculations (Funky, I will disclose all my assumptions and methods for your deconstruction soon), this would predict a loss of between 2 and 3 pounds.

I'm up a pound.

The result tomorrow will be less flagrant (I usually weigh in after a run so Mondays are always my high weight), but still what this points to is a confirmation of what the research shows -- if you spend a lot of years overweight, losing back to "normal" is extremely challenging.

More thought, data and analysis soon (I know, you can hardly wait).

@krellpw I'm very interested in what this process is like for you, and I share you exact concern when it comes to the kids -- one reason why I've never done a similar program. I think Funky's proposed response is an excellent one.

The takeaway from this whole process is that it's extremely important the the kids *never get overweight in the first place.* Or they will face the fight we are fighting.

Jan 30

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:How to Correct an Over-Reader in the forums.

Awesome outcome. Thanks for the update.

Jan 30

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:Soon to be dad in the forums.

Although I never thought I'd say it, Welcome Buckeye! (Texas fan here.)

I roomed with one of the founders of Cafe Mom in college! Hoping that what you find here is more applicable to your experience.

There might not be the avalanche of comments that you get over there -- I've come to really value the opinions of the dads that hang out here.

Jan 30

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:Expecting a second one!! in the forums.

Daddy R--

Congrats on this fantastic news. I found the second pregnancy to be magical compared to the first -- much lower stress and anxiety levels. You can really sit back and enjoy the process! Keep up posted.

Jan 30

2 weeks ago

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:Location Based Services - aka Tracking in the forums.

I like location apps and have had fun with some of them -- though I'm sad about Gowalla. Obviously, I like pretty much out in the digital open and I'm not shy about sharing.

For kids, I remain convinced that there are lots of things way more dangerous than stalkers and pervs -- mostly guns, pools and, when the kids get a little older, cars. It's that last one that has me thinking a lot about GPS and physically tracking kids.

I'm not too worried about kids disclosing their physical location, but there is no need to be sloppy. We should be thoughtful and default to privacy.

I also don't want to compromise my relationship or the trust I've established with my kids by monitoring them too much.

But when cars come into play...

I think I will not track as a starting point. But if there is trouble, I'm plonking my money down for ATT's Family Map.

Jan 26

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:Highchair recommendations anyone??? :) in the forums.

Cool. Thanks for posting this.

Jan 26

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:New and expecting with a friend in the forums.

I wish I could tell you that there were more resources for guys in your position, but sadly there aren't many. There are some single dad bloggers out there, but most are single by divorce.

Obviously, marital status isn't what makes a guy a good or bad dad. I'm not sure we need any more evidence of that as a culture. One thing that is important to being a good dad is commitment and a willingness to put in the time. The fact that you showed up here is a really good sign that you want to make that commitment.

Another thing that I know for sure -- this baby is going to change your life, maybe even more than for a married guy that conceived intentionally. Get ready for that. Signal to the baby's mom that you want to be involved early on -- maybe by asking to attend doctor's visits, or by helping with putting together the nursery and gathering the gear the baby will need.

You might want to check out "The DadLabs Guide to Fatherhood." *Shameless plug* for info on the pregnancy, labor and delivery from a guy's POV. And you can heck out the site for practical stuff. Don't be shy about asking questions. Plenty of opinions around here.

Good luck and congrats!

Jan 26

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:Categorized Videos? in the forums.

Here's one other trick. "Spotlights" in the forums are little collections of videos on a single topic. So if you go into the forums, click Expecting/Newborn Dads, then click on a topic like Babyproofing or Building the Nursery and you will see a "Spotlight" area. You will find 4-8 videos on the topic collected there. Not ever topic area has a spotlight, but several do.

Jan 24

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:Marathon to Fit Fatherhood 2012 in the forums.

Today: 185

Up a bit, but not a cause for worry, but I am amazed that I gained fractional weight in a week that featured 47 miles of roadwork, including a 20 miler on Saturday.

What will happen when the marathon is done? A huge weight bounce? Is a goal of CDC normal (179 lbs.) simply impossible? It does make me wonder abut the recent research (and Tara Parker-Pope's article) that shows how hard it is to keep weight off once you've been overweight. It certainly feels like my body is fighting to keep every single ounce at this point. 185 isn't bad as a race weight for me, and it puts me in 1985 territory. But the idea of "normal" is so enticing. As an experiment, I am desperate to know just what it takes for a guy who's been overweight all of his adult life to make that ideal.

Towards that and other goals: this is my peak week for marathon training. 53 miles this week, with another 20 miler on Saturday. Then time to taper. It's a week that will have some bad weather to contend with -- major rain storms mid-week. I'm hoping to get on the course (particularly the 2nd half which I have not run) some time in the next week or 2).

I think it's time for a full blog post on the subject of training, so look for that early this week.

Jan 23

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:Categorized Videos? in the forums.

MrSamNC--

Thanks for the feedback about the videos. We hear you! so many in the catalog, it's time to make search easier. We have a "faceted" search module designed for the site, but implementation is very expensive. I'm hoping that 2012 is the year that we can fire that up. In the meanwhile, Nik's suggestions are pretty good ones.

Cheers,
Clay

Jan 23

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:New Dad in the forums.

Welcome, Big D.

Glad you found us. Hope you find some useful stuff around here.

Let us know if there is anything we can do.

Cheers,
Clay

Jan 23

Daddy Clay replied to the topic Re:Habits gained while being poor. in the forums.

That's a really funny post. Thought provoking, too. Thanks, Ben.

For us and our kids, it's really hard not to *feel poor* even though we clearly are not -- because we live in the land of the 1%ers.

Many of the kids that attend the school where we live, and all of those that live in the surrounding neighborhoods are among the wealthiest people in the world. This can have a powerfully distorting effect. ("Happiness" studies show two of the most powerful factors: how well-off you feel in comparison to your immediate neighbors, and the amount of time you spend communing.)

I can't convince my wife not to talk the "poor teacher" talk in front of the kids no matter how I present the numbers to her.

And where we go overboard as a result: Christmas. Our gift giving is out of control because at some level we are trying to compensate for our kids being "poor" compared to their peers. It's a pretty tough calculus for them to figure out. I try to keep talking to them about it.

Jan 23