Richmond Half Marathon

This past weekend, despite the chilly, damp, and slightly drizzly weather, Heather and I went down to Richmond and I ran a half marathon. That's right ... 13.1 miles. For me, that's quite a distance, and I've only done it once before. Heather originally planned on running it, too, and was doing an awesome job of conditioning, but then she found out she was pregnant and the doctor grounded her happy running feet. Oh well; now she plans on running next summer after our little jumping bean arrives.

The run went really well for me; I did it within my goal time. Below I've included some pics of the event.

Besides the race, we also went down to Richmond to spend time with Alyson, Nate, and their kids. We had such a great time, as always, hanging out with everyone. We had two sleepovers with Trey (it still counts, even if he was dead asleep in his room when we went to bed). Alyson made some delicious food, and we got a new recipe out of it. We watched lots of football. Even our friends from home, Kenny and Nichole, followed us down because they missed us so much. We all hung out on Saturday night and played board games. It was a nice, relaxing weekend.

Heather blames our unborn child for not being able to race. She's already planning how to ground him after he's born.

Our friend Kenny also ran the half marathon. Over the summer, he was in a horrible car accident in which he was hit. He suffered bruised rips and a smashed arm, among other things. Not even six months later, he's back in action and ran the half marathon is just over 2 hours. Impressive, huh?! I think he should be a motivational speaker, or at least the basis for a CBS family movie special.

Our friends Kenny and Nichole

Pics of our Baby

Last Friday, we had an ultrasound. It was the first time that I had been there for it (it was Heather's fourth time). Something that these pics do not do justice to is how amazing it was to see our baby wiggle around. The most incredible thing was to see his heart beating. (Just for convenience sake, Heather and I are calling the baby "he" until we know the gender because we don't want to refer to him as an "it.")

One other thing, we're rethinking the name Hanz. Instead, we really like names with L' in front of it. Like L'Shawn, L'Michael, L'Robert. If we went with L'Robert, we could can him L'Bob for short.

You can see his little fingers at the top of this one. I can't wait to hold those little guys.

We're Pregnant!!!

Due on May 23rd. We just started week 12.

An ultrasound picture will follow next week.

Our names: if a girl - Gertrude Hilga, if a boy - Hanz Fredrick.

We're paying tribute to Heather's land of birth and my ancestral heritage. : )

Here are some pics of my sweetheart and our little growing one. Heather wanted me to add that after she eats, it's especially obvious that she's pregnant, and she ate right before these pics.

Most people don't show this early on in a pregnancy, but Heather has already had three coworkers at her school ask if she's pregnant. She's even been trying to hide it really well. Oh well, no need to hide it anymore!

Bad News, Good News Part I

Bad News:

Tuesday morning around 2am, Heather woke up with a major migraine, the first in almost a year and a half. What's worse, her blood pressure was soaring. After calling a 24-hour nurse line, we decided to go to the ER. We were pretty anxious about it all.

Good News:

After about an hour in the ER, Heather's blood pressure came down to more acceptable levels. Her migraine also abated somewhat and we were able to check out after two hours. After some gentle urging, Heather took the day off from teaching and rested all day. She's feeling much better right now.

Fantastic News:

At an OB/GYN appointment that day, I got to hear our baby's heart beat for the first time. How cool is that!!! For all of those out there who haven't heard what that sounds like, it sounds like this: "WHOOSH whoosh WHOOSH whoosh WHOOSH whoosh ..."

Obviously, our big concern Tuesday in the wee hours of the morning when Heather's blood pressure was spiking was the effect that that would have on our little sweet pea. The doctor said that our little jumping bean was in good shape, though, so we were very relieved to hear that.

Oh, and for those we haven't told yet (which is almost everyone outside of our families), WE'RE PREGNANT!!! (Due on May 23rd. See the entry above.)

Bad News, Good News Part II

Bad News:

My car broke down on Sunday right as we were parking for church. Steam was pouring from underneath the hood and green, goo-ish radiator fluid was gushing from the radiator. Yeah, not good signs.

Good News:

Turns out, it was only the water pump that had died (not the radiator, thank heavens) and it only cost $300 plus to fix.

Fantastic News:

In the mean time, a friend from church lent me their extra car that they don't drive. It's a Mercedes E Class. So for the past two days, I've been cruising around in style like an impostor.