What do the Grand Canyon and a Baby Have in Common?

You'll see pictures of both in this post!! It's getting harder and harder to fit things in. And the baby is still months away! It's true I have been up to a lot lately. One of which is feeling the baby kick! It was very surreal at first, and I was sort of in denial that that's what I was feeling but now it's pretty clear. Still, the idea that this is going to result in a human being still blows my mind.

The trip to Arizona was great! This entry is going to be very picture intensive! And I'm sparing you the vast majority of the hundreds we took! So we arrived and stayed at The Boulders, just outside of Scottsdale, for the first few days. Our time here was all about relaxing. Unfortunately I didn't make it into the fitness center once. Well, that's not true, I did peek in just to see what it looked like, but no workouts. The grounds, our room, the spa...it was all heaven.

This is an early morning picture from our balcony.

And here I am enjoying the spa pool. Best thing about the spa. No kids. I know, soon I will be one of those parents doting around a loud little one, but for now, I'm enjoying the peace and quiet.

Lots of cacti in Arizona and they are so cool! Here's Miguel next to an old bugger.

And here he is looking out the window by the front door to our "casita".

I just love that picture for some reason. Next, we have a picture of the grounds at night. I got all fancy with our tripod for this one!

We fell into a little routine. Each morning Miguel would get up at the crack of dawn to go do this...

And I would rise, ahem, a little later in the morning and order breakfast from room service. They had this really delicious omelet that came from the spa menu (which meant it's supposed to be really healthy). Then it was off to the spa for a treatment (the first day I had a prenatal massage, the second a pedicure) and a day by the pool. Finally on our last morning Miguel enjoyed the room service routine with me. Breakfast for two:

We left The Boulders and started our road trip to The Grand Canyon. On the way I got to see lots of cacti. Here's a shot from our car.

We stayed in Williams, a little town about an hour outside of the park. It really was a cute little town...really little. I can't imagine what it must be like to grow up in a small town like that with little diversity where everyone probably knows everyone and the whole place closes down by 8pm.

Okay, are you ready for a ton of Grand Canyon pictures? What can one say about it? It is appropriately named that's for sure. I just stood there in awe of the size that I know I wasn't really grasping. It's just too big for words, or for pictures, but we try. Here I am trying to take it all in.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect. The morning started out with a chill in the air and it never really got "hot" all day. Lovely blue skies. Can you spot Miguel in this shot?

The moon was out.

I hope you're enjoying these 5,000 pictures :)

Here's the Colorado River.

Are they all starting to look the same yet?

As the day went on the canyon became more and more orange.

And as the sun sets the the sky starts changing colors...purple, pink, blue. Beautiful.

We were not disappointed at the beauty and the grandeur of it all. And Miguel even spotted a California Condor! It was sleeping on the side of a cliff. So cool. Alright, one last shot of the grand canyon at sunset.

After the grand canyon we headed back to the Phoenix area. As far as we could tell things to do in Phoenix include sunbathing, shopping, dining and golf. We did our fair share of all of those things but I wanted to do something different too. So we thought a tour of Chase Field, where the Diamondbacks play, might be cool. Here we are in the dugout.

We're baseball fans and had a good time checking out the locker rooms and such. Our last couple of days there I spent...you guessed it, lying by the pool reading my book while Miguel golfed. As our vacation was wrapping up I was ready to come home. I'm not that into shopping, or golf, and I can only get so tan and eat so much. Come Friday I was happy to be home.

So, what's inside my growing tummy? I had my 20 week ultrasound today. I'm happy to report the little guy is growing right on target. His heart, spine, and all other little parts are totally normal. Normal sounds just perfect.

Can you see his little heart there? My mom and Miguel were there. This is the last time we get to see him until he's born. I'm excited to see him!!

Last but not least...the weight. It's going ok. Well, not good really. I've gained at the rate an underweight woman should be gaining. Soon I'll be off the charts altogether. I could be doing a lot better. I'm still going to my swimming class twice a week and trying to keep my food choices within the sane realm but I need to be doing more. I don't know what's going to change things but for now I'm just doing what I can. I weigh about 175 right now. That's an 11 pound gain since I got pregnant at 164 pounds. I'll be happy to go back to Weight Watchers after the little guy comes. Nursing Points here I come!! I'm halfway there...20 weeks down, 20 to go. I can't believe we're having a baby!!

Marin Triathlon (Relay) 2008

I had my triathlon today. This was the Olympic distance Marin Triathlon. My husband's boss did the swim, a colleague of mine did the bike and I did the run.

And they're off! Even though I haven't done that many triathlons it was still a bit strange watching the swimmers go off without me.

Miguel ran with me as an alternate in case I got a cramp or something and couldn't go on.

One of the neat things about doing a relay was that we got to watch all the other folks, including the Elite racers, come in for transition. The other, as Alex and Tom can attest to, is that when you do your leg you're done. They were both happy to flop down and rest after their respective legs.

I did a run/walk based on my heart rate. I kept it down the whole time. I had wanted to get a "Baby on Board" t-shirt to wear for the race but never got around to it. Even though it was the slowest 10k ever (not to mention my only 10k ever) I still had a great time. Here I am coming in for the finish.

The whole event was serious about being "green" so we got neat canvas goodie bags and finisher's "medals" made from bike gears. But the coolest thing were Kleen Kanteens with the Marin Triathlon logo on it!

How cool is that?!! My legs got really sore later in the day. I know it's shocker but my inactivity these past few months really didn't really prepare me well! Okay, one last shot. I have to show off my ever growing tummy!!

Stress, Changes, and a Good Time for All

Wow, time flies when you're having fun. Or when you're crazy stressed out. Unfortunately it's been more of the latter for me. But things are settling some now so I can finally share some updates. The biggest update is I got a job!! Taking this new position was a very big decision for myself and my growing family. At present I work in the next town over. My commute, depending on when I leave for work is anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. And I'm never that far from home. The new job is in San Francisco. An hour commute, minimum, plus being far from home. Miguel already works in The City so we might be able to carpool together. Still, we're talking a 10+ hour day. The thought of that with a new baby really caused me to take pause. But then I watched the news, remembered that the economy is going down the tubes, and realized this is not a good time to be jobless.

I was also nervous about starting a job already pregnant. Would my new boss be upset that he hired a pregnant woman without knowing it? I decided, after a lot of thinking, just to tell him. He responded wonderfully. He strongly encouraged me to take the position and assured me we would work out any issues around the pregnancy. Now this is a man I want to work for. Further, this a great opportunity, working for a well established institution with a great compensation package doing an interesting job.

So, this is my last week with my current employer. I am taking two weeks off between jobs and have a lot to squeeze into that time. Miguel and I decided to take a final pre-baby vacation. We were all over the map as far as where to go, at one point furiously planning a trip to Egypt! But, we settled on Phoenix. A long way from Egypt I know. In the end we didn't want to spend a ton of time (or money!) getting to our vacation and recognized that what we most wanted was to relax. So, we're off to Phoenix at the end of the week. We're spending about half the time at a spa/golf resort (The Boulders) and the other half at the Grand Canyon. I am so, SO, SO ready for a vacation. The next week will include visiting my grandparents in Huntington Beach, getting my 20 week ultrasound (at 21 weeks actually) and maybe squeezing in a visit to the new California Academy of Sciences. Then the new job starts. Whew, it tires me out just thinking about it.

So the health/fitness goals have been moving along at, well, let's just call it an acceptable pace. I have not missed a swimming class, something of which I am very proud. I basically make myself go and am almost always happy I did. The two weekends before this last one involved a lot of nesting type activities and no fitness type activities. We almost have the baby room completely cleaned out, the garage is a lot neater and our living room has been pared down to make room for a pack-n-play or baby bouncer or whatever stuff will be coming into our lives.

Finally this past weekend I got out there again and had a fabulous day!! We rose early on Sunday morning and met at the SF Ferry Building for a group ride. We rode over the Golden Gate Bridge, through Sausalito and to Tiburon. This ride is often called the Paradise Loop, and I've been wanting to do it since I started riding. Only difference being we took the ferry back into SF from Tiburon instead of riding our bikes back. Still, it was over 30 miles and enough to kick my butt.

Here we are re-grouping on the other side of the bridge before we head into Sausalito.

Am I looking preggers or what? Everyone was so nice about waiting for me since I was a bit of a slow poke. I wore my heart rate monitor and anytime my heart rate got to the high range I slowed down. All in all I felt great and it made me very optimistic about my upcoming triathlon run.

To top it off, it was Fleet Week in SF and we were treated to a fabulous air show by The Blue Angels. Days like that just make me so happy and grateful. Miguel is a wonderful husband, we had a great day together. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and the pregnancy is going along without a hitch.

Speaking of the little stowaway, we purchased this doppler and have been listening to his heartbeat whenever we feel like. It's an amazing, miraculous sound that we never tire of. If we can figure it out a way, I'm hoping I can post a sound file of it to share. We are nowhere near a name for the little guy. But as Miguel keeps reminding me, we have time.

I'm going to see the nutritionist tomorrow and I'm guessing I'll have gained about 5 pounds. You might recall I was supposed to gain no more than 1.5 pounds. What can I say? While I'm not doing the best I can I am trying. I'm hoping that with my stress now going down I'll have more energy to resist the "bad" comfort foods I've been wanting. I'm going to strive to eat healthy and exercise during my vacation. At least I know I'll be relaxing, which is good for all of us too.

That's my update. I have been neglecting your blogs as well as my own these past couple of weeks but I promise to stop by soon. I know you've all been up to incredible things and I want to know all about them!!

Good Intentions and Bad Habits

"I'm not going to walk to my appointment tonight. I'm tired. That's it, I'm driving."

"But if I don't walk I'm going to feel crappy later, I'll feel like a dud for skipping my walk and not accomplishing anything."

"Ah, but I'm tired so I'll just relax for an hour and then drive."

"But what will I do? Sit around on the couch for an hour? I should walk."

"But If I'm going to walk I need to leave now and I want to relax for a while."

"Though If I walk I might feel better after. Who am I kidding? I know I'll feel better. I'm just going to change and leave for my walk and stop thinking about it."

Oh those battles. Getting myself out the door for my walk on Tuesday was no easy feat. My good intentions and my bad habits had it out. My good intentions won! I had a similar battle to get myself to swim class this past Monday. At 5pm I was definitely not going. By 5:45 I was in my swimsuit and heading out the door. Making it to that swim class was no small victory. Fortunately it wasn't such a battle getting to swim class tonight. I wore my heart rate monitor again and burned 600 calories in the 1.5 hour class.

You win some, you lose some. That's what they say. And I lost some this week too. On Monday night I waited too long to eat and ended up giving in to a fast food hamburger and two tacos for dinner. Then in our 2 hour staff meeting on Tuesday I had a huge chocolate chip cookie, followed by a slice of lemon pound cake a 1/2 hour later and later, a mini brownie. I can't say I'm proud of these choices. I also didn't get any activity in this past weekend. First time in a long time I've been inactive all weekend. Proves that I need to have plans or I end up with nothing doing.

I realized on Monday that I'm under a lot of stress. The work thing has been stressful. I've never been jobless when I didn't want to be. I also have a family thing that is highly stressful (not pregnancy related at all). And then the pregnancy, diet/nutrition/exercise issue adds a little stress. Generally I think I was in denial about the overall stress level. I don't know if the food choices are related to that or not. Sometimes I think I have just so much fight in me and when times get tough and my fight gets focused on other things I give in to the food. Live and learn.

So the work thing may be resolved. I don't want to jinx it so I'll hold off on making any official announcements but my stress in that area is easing up. More to come.

Oh! I have all my plans for the Marin Triathlon firmed up. I've got a swimmer and a cyclist lined up and I'll be doing the run. I'm very excited!! When I got pregnant I thought that meant the event was out. I am very pleased to still be participating. I plan to do a walk/run combo based on my heart rate. It's 6 miles and I think that's very doable. Still, I plan to sneak Miguel on the run course with me - If I poop out or otherwise need to stop we're going to switch the timing chip and number to him and he'll carry the torch to the finish line. He's my pinch runner!

Well, I need to start thinking about my weekend plans. Don't want to end up doing nothing again. The weather is supposed to be rainy and chilly on Saturday so I'll have to get creative. Haven't been to the gym in months so maybe it'll be our time to get reacquainted.

The Good, The Bad, and the Wonderful

Forgive me Al Gore for I have sinned, it has been 6 days since my last blog post.

As far as my week goes...

The Good:

1. Tracked...for a full seven days!
2. Got in an extra day of exercise when I walked 3.5 miles to an appointment instead of driving.
3. Had vegetables with nearly every dinner.
4. Started process of changing workout room to baby room.
5. Received four bags of cute baby boy clothes from a friend!

The Bad:

1. Gave in to temptation at the office...more than once. No, I didn't have an affair with the geeky/sexy finance guy. It was See's Candy. And peanut M&M's.
2. Was insufferably irritable for 2 days straight and for the first time really wanted a glass of wine. I was so cranky Miguel informed me he's never getting me pregnant again. I had ice cream for dinner that night.
3. So far this weekend I haven't done any recreational stuff. And if I don't do something today that extra day of exercise will no longer be an extra day.
4. Am getting laid off at the end of October.
5. Chocolate covered peanut-butter-stuffed pretzel squares. Mitigating factor: There were about 10 left and I stuffed 'em down the garbage disposal.

The Wonderful:

1. Haven't gained any weight according to the scale this morning.
2. In the middle of the night last night when I came back from the restroom Miguel reached over and put his hand on my belly.
3. Mom offered to pay for my Cobra health insurance premiums after I'm laid off. Oh, and thank you in advance America, i.e. Taxpayers, for unemployment benefits.
4. Shoshana made goal! We all know what a huge accomplishment this is. Congratulations Shosh! You worked hard, you persevered, and you ROCK!