When I first decided to challenge my dog to this six week challenge using Personal Trainer: Walking for the Nintendo DS, I really didn’t know what to expect.

If you listened to the “Guess Who’s Back” Wii Mommies radio show last week, you heard me talk about my reasoning behind this challenge.  As the first week comes to a close, I’ve learned quite a bit about both myself and my dog, Tribute.

Every day, at random times throughout the day, I measure how many steps each of us has taken while wearing our Personal Trainer: Walking activity meters.  I’ll tweet it (@Momspective) and I’ve added the hashtag #MeVDog so everyone can see how the race to good health is going.

I’m currently in Syracuse, NY, and my dog is at home with my husband in Fort Mill, SC for the next three weeks.  Every time I travel, I miss my pup.  After all, I had Tribute long before I had my children so he is in essence my first baby.

I’m finding that doing this challenge with him is a great way for me to keep updated on both my recovery following my hysterectomy and subsequent triple pneumonia from my hospital stay and it’s also a way to keep a healthy connection going with my dog while I’m gone.

The question I get asked most is how challenging a dog to a walking contest really fair, given the fact that he has four legs and I only have two.  This is actually the coolest part of this game, it KNOWS I have my dog involved!

Personal Trainer: Walking has the option to add Tribute to my system, I even have a little dog standing next to the Mii I downloaded from my Wii (Yep, you get to use your own Mii!) and if you put it on your dog, you’ll see that the activity meters takes into consideration that I’m competing against my four legged friend.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that my dog is LAZY!  I had him beat by a mile on day one!  I was tweeting our progress throughout the day and it was suggested to me that I take him outside to toss a ball around so I did.  We walked out together, I threw the ball and he watched it land.  He didn’t even pretend to be amused.

My next thought was to get a bowl of Froot Loops.  I took him back outside and tossed them one at a time in different parts of the yard.  THOSE he went after.  He wasn’t exactly running, but at least he was moving.

Tribute took the lead the second day though.  Being that he is terrified of everything, my 70 pound lab/chow mix paced like crazy during the Fourth of July. fireworks.   Meanwhile, I was enjoying my holiday outside with my neighbors and Tribute took the lead by almost 2000 total steps.

Sunday found me recovering from over-extending myself on Saturday, so I spent much of my time in bed.  I just went to the doctor and I was told that my lower right quadrant of my lung is in bad shape, so even though there are days I might feel good, combining that with a full hysterectomy means I really need to remind myself to take it easy.

That said, I had to take a plane Wednesday to NY (with a connection through Detroit) with my mother and two children (ages 4 & 1).  Talk about over-extending.  We had a bag to check, 2 purses and 2 carry-ons.  Combine all that with the children (who are missing naps) and you have yourself one miserable mommy.  I do have to say all that  upped my steps though, and I’m slowly catching up to my dog.

You can learn more about this awesome challenge by listening to me each week on the Wii Mommies blog talk radio show on the Role Mommy network.  If you can’t listen to us live, you can listen to any of the archived shows at any time on our website at www.WiiMommies.com.  If you’re on twitter, you can search #MeVDog and see what we’re up to.  I welcome your comments and support and I’m super excited to see what happens in the next few weeks!

Ahh…after all the operations, hostpital stays, conventions and traveling, I’m being honored as a guest at the Ocean Isle Inn at Ocean Isle Beach in NC when I return home in August.  I’ll be driving over to Ocean Isle from July 30 – August 2, 2009 with my family and I can not WAIT to Tweet, Blog and Facebook all the fun we’re having together!

This is going to be the first time I will be reunited with my husband after over three weeks of separation!  I needed to recover from surgery, so I took the kids to my mom’s yesterday in Syracuse, NY, and while we’ll talk by phone and Skype, we won’t actually see each other until we get to the beach July 30th!

Ocean Isle Inn wants me to share this experiences with TWO of my wonderful readers.   This is the official post to enter to win a two night weekend stay at Ocean Isle Inn (a $300 value each)!  I will be giving one of these away on July 23, 2009 and I will be giving the second away while I am on site August 1, 2009!

All entries for both giveaways will be accepted via a comment on this post.  Winner is responsible for travel and meal accommodations.  Valid to US and International Residents ages 18 and up.   On the selected drawing dates, a random comment will be drawn using the Random.org random number generator and the winner will be contacted via email and announced on this site.

How To Enter (Leave a comment for each action taken to qualify as one entry):

• Visit Ocean Isle Inn’s website and post a comment here about why you’d like to go to Ocean Isle Beach for your family getaway!
• Sign up for Ocean Isle Inn’s Email Newsletter
• Join the Ocean Isle Inn Facebook Group
• Follow @Oceanisleinn
• Follow @Momspective on Twitter
• Join Momspective on Facebook
• Join my Review network on Facebook
• Tweet about this giveaway (@Momspective so I can see it!)
• Mention this giveaway and link to it in a blog post and leave us link to that post in a comment
• Talk about this contest and link to it in your Facebook status and comment here
• Stumble, Digg or submit this to any social networking site and let me know!
• Add the Momspective Button to your blogroll and if you HAVE the button, please make sure it is up to date with www.momspective.com instead of www.coolmomguide.com
• Add the Momspective Website to your blogroll and again, if you have us in there please verify you link to www.momspective.com instead of www.coolmomguide.com

I’ll just add a word or two.  This is what my four year old wrote about me for Mother’s Day.  The bottom got cut off, but it says, “My mom likes to eat bread…different kinds like salad bread”.  I am also NOT 24 (more like 32) but I’m thrilled he called me otherwise.

I also don’t own a pink dress.  

I have been writing non-stop all day and my mind is currently blank.

I can’t believe how much I love my job.  I mean, I get to write whatever I’d like on a daily basis and have the honor of being a part of the Wii Mommies website and forums, so I get to do cool things like tonight’s Mario Kart race, Challenge my dog to Nintendo’s Personal Trainer: Walking and join EA SPORTS at Blogher 09!  For serious!

I love this job because I don’t A) consider it a job and B) have to drive anywhere.

I remember when I first met my husband, I was all dreamy and in love but had to take a flight to some foreign country for work.  I sat staring out the plane at the night sky, crying from my loss of love and found the brightest star and wondered if he was looking at the same star. (more…)

That’s right!  We’re having a party!  For detailed information about the upcoming Wii Mommies (#wiimoms) “Summer in the City”  Twitter party and the complete giveaway prize listing, please click on the image above or simply visit the Wii Mommies Website!

My prize for the party is KICK ARSE!  You’re not going to believe it.  I am giving away a Harry Potter Prize Pack including the brand new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for the Nintendo Wii and the DS! (more…)