A couple days ago I picked up the Nike + iPod Sport Kit hoping it would work with the 5th generation 80GB iPod I had just picked up. I was 99% sure it would only work with the Nano, but that 1% of hope forced me to buy it. For the record, the Sport Kit only works with the Nano today. Lesson learned.

Fortunately my wife has a 4GB Nano that I was able to use instead. I also do not have the official Nike shoe that has a place to store the device, but I just worked it under my shoe laces and headed out for a 2 mile walk this morning. I started walking outside this week because I just can’t stand using the treadmill and I really have to do something. All the extra weight is causing me to snore really loud and my wife says I stop breathing 100 times an hour when I sleep. I really don’t feel like dealing with Sleep Apnea right now, and since the main cause of it is obesity I decided to try to cure myself through exercise.

If you like to walk or go for a run you will really like this little device. It’s so small you never notice it is there and it is constantly communicating with your iPod while you walk. A piece of advice though, the first thing you should do on your first run or walk is calibrate it with a distance you know. I didn’t do that this morning and after my first mile my Nano said I had gone 1.14 miles. I decided to calibrate it for my second mile, and I’ll know how well that worked out when I go for my walk tomorrow.

After you walk or run, you can then sync your Nano and it will upload your data to the Nike website and you can track your progress and set goals. This is really pretty slick. I never cared about it when Apple announced this new device, but now that I have used it I think I am hooked. I’m looking forward to the next time I walk with it. I especially like how it talks to you. Nice touch. For me this was definitely worth the 30 bucks.

It’s hard to believe that 11 years ago Megan came in to our life.  Time is really just flying by.  It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time.  That’s to be expected with any first time parents, but Megan made things a lot more interesting.  She was born prematurely at 28 weeks, weighing in at a whopping 1lb 15oz.  She quickly lost 3oz and dropped to 1lb 12oz.  When you’re that tiny, 3oz is a lot of weight.

Valerie had preeclampsia and had to spend a couple weeks in the hospital before they had no choice but to induce labor or we would lose Megan.  We later learned that Valerie’s preeclampsia was due to a blood disorder called Factor V Leiden – she basically over clots.  Thankfully they learned all of this before we had Bailey, so Valerie had to give herself injections every day during that pregnancy.

Megan spent the first 56 days of her life in an incubator.  Every day we would visit her in the NICU.  I’ve never washed my hands so many times in my life, but it was all worth it.  It’s hard to believe looking at her now, but my wedding ring would fit on her ankle.  She was so  tiny – any furry!  At that age they have not yet lost all of their fur, so that was a little interesting.  That’s where she picked up the nickname of “our little monkey.”  It was weeks before we got to see her without all sorts of tape on her face from the tubes keeping her breathing and fed.

Today Megan is a beautiful, normal, goofy 5th grader that I couldn’t be more proud of.  I can’t imaging how boring life would be around here without her.  It’s funny, but all the headaches that came along with the “terrible two’s’ (and three’s!) are gone.  I barely remember that stuff now.

So Happy Birthday Megan, and a huge thank you to the staff at Magee Women’s Hospital for doing everything they could to make sure Megan survived.  We’ll never be able to repay you.