First doc Appt

Geoff and I had our first doctors appointment for the baby! Since it was our first appointment we spend most of the time talking about baby stuff and family history. I was reminded of what I should and shouldn't be eating and doing. The big excitement for the day is we heard the babies heart beat for the first time! I was amazed by the sound. It was more of a swooshing sound then a heart beat. But the doc reassured us that was it! It's all real! Our baby has a heart beat and is growing bigger everyday!

I also got a recommendation for the nauseousness. Boy was I excited! So right after we headed to the food store with a list of medications (I have a nasty cold too) and nauseous recommendations. The two suggestions she game for nauseousness was Vitamin B6 and Sonigramm. That evening at dinner I took the B6 and then before bed the other. What a long night. I should know to never take sleeping medication as that's what it was. I was up most of the night with muscle spasms and extreme drowsiness. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep before I had to get up and coach TNT that morning with Geoff.

Gail is Here!

Here is a picture of my girlfriend Gail and me at Geoff's parents house on Christmas Day. It was so nice outside! Gail is spending Christmas and New Years with us. She'll be here for around 3 weeks. It's great to have her here. I'm a bit sad I can't do as much as I would like given my nauseousness, but it seems she's enjoying the downtime too. Today we headed to DC and looked did some biking around Hains Point then headed to some museums.

Week 9 & 10

Our first baby appointment is on Friday! According to my calculations I will be at 11 1/2 weeks. We'll see what the doctor says. Hopefully we'll get to hear the heartbeat and get our first ultrasound.

My days are going by slow. I'm still feeling really sick and like a bum. I am just trying to take one day at a time. The picture for week 9 ended up being a really bad video so we'll skip it. Although the week 10 picture is pretty bad looking too. I wasn't feeling good at all when this was taken so forgive the horrible look!

You definitely cannot deny the belly has grown in this picture if you compare it with the first one.

Bye Wells Fargo

Big news. I finally quit my job, the software development one that is. I am going to miss parts of it, but am ready to move on. Thanks everyone at Wells for being so wonderful to me! It truly is a great company to work for. I would recommend it to anyone. It worked out with timing, as there is no way I could work very well feeling this sick. My mornings are tolerable, but by afternoon into evening I am sick as a dog on the couch.

I am still coaching with Girls on the Run and Team In Training. With Team in Training we kicked off the season two weeks ago and Geoff and I will lead workouts every Saturday from now until May! I am also going to spend some time enjoying life and my freedom before I become a parent. :) I'm looking at taking a pottery class and maybe a drawing class. Plus I'll still be in school in the spring. I'll have plenty to keep me busy! Thanks Geoff for letting me accomplish my dreams!!

2 Months Along

This week I officially reached 2 months pregnant. Right now I can't wait for it to be done and I have barely started. :( Or I should say, I can't wait for the nauseousness to be done. Here's my week 7 picture. I don't look much different in the picture from last week. Except you'll notice I am trying out the sea bands on my wrists. It's suppose to help with the morning sickness (more like all day and all night sickness!)

Nauseousness All Day Long

Oh to not be nauseous! Starting week 6 I suddenly found myself nauseous from when my eyes opened in the morning to when my head hits the pillow at night. I knew it was going to be bad from when I was on birth control, but this is something else. In trying to accomplish things I spend a lot of time telling myself 'it is mind over matter. No you don't need to go lay down on the couch, it won't make you feel any better'. So why not be up doing something to take my mind off of it.

Here is my week 6 picture from this past Saturday. I can certainly notice a change in my stomach size, but I'm guessing no one else really can. I went swimming this morning and my little tiny belly stuck out in my tight suit.

As for cravings & gross foods, here's my current thoughts:
Cravings = nothing
Grossness = ALL food

Big News

I've decided no reason not to blog about this. It's a huge part of my life now.... Last Saturday morning, two days after Thanksgiving I was having a hard time sleeping. Thanksgiving had gone well. Friday was relaxing, but I still felt strange. I was awake most of the night tossing, turning, thinking. Could it be? I couldn't take it anymore. I had to know. I had to take a pregnancy test. 4:10am Saturday morning I found out

I'm Pregnant!

Geoff is so excited. We both can't stop beaming. This is a picture Geoff took of me Saturday morning with the positive results on the pregnancy test.

Here are some stats:

• Due Date: Around July 25th, 2008
• Current Time line: 6 weeks and 4 days
• Energy level: Medium. Not bad, high in the morning, fade fast in the evening.
  
• Nap: Yes. I never did before but now it is definitely needed daily
  
• Nauseousness: High. Sick every afternoon but luckily no throwing up.
• Mental Sharpness: Low. I'm having a total lack of mental sharpness. It's strange. I keep forgetting to do things. Nothing big, just small things. Like two times now I've tried to drop off a form at my Girls on the Run school and I keep forgetting.
  

I knew something was going on, but couldn't believe it was true. I had convinced myself otherwise, not wanting to get too excited about the idea. I justified the signs. The upset stomach, the missed period, the hormonal hurricane. It wasn't until Thanksgiving morning that the sign was big enough for me to really consider it. I felt really tired and out of breath running 2 blocks when warming up for the 10k race. I'm in tune with my body and this was strange. Something must really be up. And it was!

I was going to wait for a while to take a test because if God wanted us to have a kid, he would and nothing would change that. I didn't need to know right away. At least not until it kept me up at night thinking about the possibilities. :)

Here's my first belly picture. It is week 5, when I first found out. I plan on taking one every week and watching my belly grow!

TNT Spring 08' Season Underway

Today was the kick-off get together for the TNT Spring 2008 season. Wish I had a picture of the group....but I don't yet. This season Geoff & I are going to coach the TNT Gulf Coast 1/2 Ironman team. We currently have around 15 people. I can't wait! I am super excited about the group of people we have and the fact Geoff and I get to do it together.

Last season I coached without Geoff and was sad to go our separate ways for half of Saturday. We just have SO much fun together, especially being active. So I think this is going to work out perfect. I'm going to do more of the administrative/speaking/run side (lead clinics, weekly emails, run technique, etc) and he is going to more of the ride lead/bike side (fix flat clinic, workouts, bike technique, etc).

Thanksgiving Day a Success

Thanksgiving is a great time. A time to reflect on everything we are thankful for in life. Which I have much to be thankful for! It's also a time for good food and company. Both of which I hoped to enjoy. The problem was, I was cooking a Thanksgiving meal for the first time ever and with company coming over. Thanks to Geoff it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had thought. He was a co-cook in the whole operation. Also Cyndie, his mom came over early and helped us out. First of course we ran a 10k race Thanksgiving morning to add to the excitement.

Here's what we made:

• 9 lb Organic Grass Fed Turkey
• Enough Homemade Stuffing to serve a small army
  
• Gravy
  
• Mashed potatoes
• Fresh steamed green beans
  
• Spinach Salad with carrots and green pepper
  
• Sweet potatoes
• Cranberry Orange Walnut salad
• Rolls
• 8 lb Ham (Geoff's mom brought)
• 2 Pumpkin pies & whip cream (Geoff's mom brought)

We were so hungry we forgot to take a picture of the table before everyone started eating. So here's a picture afterwards. Left to right: Geoff's Dad, Geoff's Mom, Geoff's cousin's husband, Geoff's cousin, their baby, Geoff, me and one of our dogs.

I finally own Bookshelves!

Here are our new bookshelves from Room and Board. We love them. Thanks Mom for helping us with the purchase! It's been absolutely wonderful having our books in one place. I think the shelves and the fact it is getting cold out, will increase our reading time. :) As I was putting books on the shelves I realized there are a number of them that I have started reading but never completed. Time to dig in...

Also the pictures on top of the book shelves are a wedding present from Kyle and Laura, thanks guys! They are perfect!

Hike In Maryland

Geoff, the dogs and I headed out for a hike last weekend. It was cold but beautiful. The leaves were in full color, partially on the ground and partially on the trees. The dogs had a great time. I think their favorite activity is running around in the woods. Well that is after eating and sleeping. Those are definitely higher on the list.

Our Halloween Costumes

Here are our Halloween costumes. We headed to D.C. for the a party on Halloween and then all strolled around Georgetown. Crazy time. The sidewalks were overflowing with people. There were barracades up so people would stay out of the streets, but to not much luck. The cops where pushing everyone back onto the sidewalks. There was about as many tourists gawking at all the dressed up people as people dressed up.

There were some really good costumes. I wish I had brought my camera. But I was just glad to had made it down there given I was flying out to MN the next morning at 5am. Geoff & I had our pictures taken so many times by others. Almost felt like a movie star for a moment... I was a little nervous about all the folks there with REAL Afro's, but luckily they all loved our costume & wigs & wanted their picture taken with us.

Geoff & I in costume


Geoff & I without the wigs

Life Update

I am crazy busy these days, as I knew I would be. Lots to juggle with work, wedding planning, coaching GOTR (Girls on the Run), coaching COT and EFFD TNT (Team IN Training) triathlons and doing my own Ironman training for IMUSA.

I've wanted to do more reading and research on coaching athletes but I think that is going to have to wait until after the wedding and Ironman. I bought some really good books. Here's the two sitting on my desk:

• Scientific Training for Triathlates
• Advanced Sports Nutrition
  

I'm finally getting around to spending my Xmas giftcard. I'm thinking of getting this and this. The top is useful the dress is just fun. :)

I uploaded some of my wedding ideas/ favorite photos to a Picasa Web Photo Album. Here's a link...

Wedding Prep

Doggie Snow Time

Well all headed out to play in the snow this last week. What fun. The dogs wore their coats to stay warm and their booties to protect their feet from the ice, as the field was all ice. Total slip and slide! We've had snow and ice for over a week! It is finally starting to melt today.

 

 

 

 

Wedding Location Pictures

Briar Patch Bed and Breakfast
The location of our wedding.















Reception Hall
Brand new building for receptions. It is located right next to the main building and cottage.















Reception Room
This is the reception room I am thinking of using. There are actually three rooms, two of which are finished. Picture is from the bar area. Door on left goes into the kitchen.















Bar Area
This is the bar area between the two rooms. The wood and glass doors in the backgroup goes into the unfinished room.















Reception Room
Picture of our reception room from the ktichen area.















Other Reception Room
This is the unfinshed room. I was hoping it would be done and ready to use as it's gorgeous! There is still a chance it will be done by May but not sure if I want a last minute change if it is.















Arch for Ceremony
This is the arch I am thinking of using. I can decorate it however I'd like. These decorations are left from a previous wedding. I still need to pick the location of the ceremony outside. There are many options.