I Especially Like This

Because last Christmas at the end of Christmas morning we had in our possesion

• A star wars popup book
• Lots of Legos
• Sock Puppet Making Kit
• Several video games
  

Sleep?

No thanks I'll just be tired.

GRRRRRRRRR. Wow what a bad nights sleep last night

Working late and early this week and I am of course only drinking one to two cups of coffee. And even if I was able to drink more coffee this tired is not even breakable with coffee.

I'm so stressed out these days. I tend to get stressed out at times and then every little thing feels like a monolithic mess even if it's something as small as cleaning up a bedroom. Because in my head it's not cleaning up a bedroom. It's perfectly organizing all the crap in every corner of the room and making sure that I don't keep stuff I shouldn't keep or throw away things that I should be keeping. IT DOESN'T MATTER. IT'S JUST SOME CLEANING. THROW SHIT AWAY, KEEP OTHER SHIT. OR THROW IT ALL OUT. IT. DOESN'T. MATTER.

I have been missing working with Jason too these last few days. We worked together for 6 years and it was great. Not all the time. There were times when we were like.....um. GET AWAY FROM ME. But 90% of the time it was the best. He's my best friend and the best coworker I have ever had and sometimes I just miss working with him. Plus with the busy and the evening classes and all the stuff we have been doing, I feel like we haven't seen each other that much these last few weeks.

ANYWAYS. IN SHORT. It's been a stressful few weeks for LeahCMomToBe. But for no real good reason. Lack of sleep is contributor, and I have to try and get better sleep at night. But I don't know what to do when I just keep waking up.

Alright. The build is done and thus I must go see what's on the plate for today.

Running and Weekend Update

Well this is still by definition a running blog. And so perhaps one of us should talk about running instead of baby things.

Jason is running the Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon on Sunday. We both signed up for this race back in April when we were trying to get pregnant but didn't want to not do things or sign up for things just because I *could* be pregnant at the time. This goes for the super cute super skinny jeans that I bought too. Yeah, I got like 3 weeks of wear out of those guys. ANYWAYS. I am obviously not running the 1/2 marathon on Sunday but Jason is.

His training has been....eh...well yeah. eh. He has a pretty loose time goal and we have been busy this summer and he has been enjoying running with me, even though I'm slow and so probably didn't do all of his runs at the paces he should have done them at. He's missed some training runs but has consistently gotten in the important speed workouts and long runs. His 12 mile run on Sunday went really well coming in at about 9:30 min/miles which should translate to about a 2hr 1/2 marathon. Hopefully it's not too hot this weekend and he can go out there at a quick but comfortable pace and enjoy himself. This is the first time that he has raced without me and I'm sad that I won't be running with him.

As far as my running goes, I've been enjoying these lower ligament stretching pains which seem to come out more when I'm running. They annoy me to no end. And I miss running far and easy so much. I now walk quickly to the lakefront path. I think it helps to get my heart rate up and moving before I start running, then I just run a mile out and a mile back. I think I could go three on the path but it was really warm on Sunday morning and I get worried that something could go wrong and I would be out there without any support. Jason will be able to run with me more starting next week when he doesn't have training runs to do and so that should help a bit.

I was super busy last week and so I didn't run at all during the week, and so just ran on Sunday. Hoping to do better this week. We are walking home from work today, tomorrow we have dinner out, Wednesday I have a knitting class....SO maybe I'll do Thursday and Saturday. Then I have to get ready to cheer and chase Jason around the course on Sunday.

Had a great weekend. Got to see friends on Friday, stayed up till 2:30am (!!!!!!) but I still got up at 6:30 in the morning. After breakfast we went and checked out the Newberry Library Book fair, stumbled home because guess what.....I can't get 4 hours of sleep anymore! My cousin came by and picked up some stuff, and then when they left I tipped over on the couch and slept for 3-4 hours. Jason and I realized we hadn't seen each other for most of the week and so decided to stay home and be lazy for the rest of Saturday night. I got a ton of knitting done on a fair isle stocking I'm making (fair isle knitting is really fun and tons easier than I thought it would be). Pictures of the finished product to be featured.

Sunday we went to Indiana to visit with my mom who is in town for the week and her husband's family. His son lives on a farm near Fowler, IN and wow, is it funny when the city mice visit the country mice. They have a ton of animals and I am hoping that next summer when I'm not pregnant they could teach Jason and I how to ride horses.

And thus it is Monday. Happy start of the week.

First Half of the Last Half

You know...that part. You've crossed the half marathon point and you are all, "Whoah I'm halfway done!" Then you run another block and you go, "Holy hell, I'm only 1/2 way done." Then you put your head down for the next 6 miles or so and look out for that 20 mile marker where you can feel like there could be a possibility of an end in sight.

I hate that part of the race.

I got better at racing it as the years went on, but I never enjoyed that part. Especially in the Chicago marathon as miles 13-17 are not the most exciting parts of the race.

So I just finished week 22 of this pregnancy, so I'm finding it very similar to that point in a marathon. Wow, it looks like she'll never get here! I know I know we have a ton to do and the time will fly and blah blah blah. But that doesn't make it seem any less endless right now.

My friend Corey once told me that when she was pregnant she just missed wearing jeans and drinking coffee. I totally feel that. I have two maternity skirts and a couple of pair of shorts. AND I'M SO SICK OF THEM. I want to wear regular jeans. I know it's stupid. But I love jeans. I love MY jeans. With buttons, not elastic. And coffee ooooh the pots of coffee how I miss them. With all the extra work I've been doing and classes I've been taking I could use more than one cup of coffee....and I might have mentioned it here before, but they say that excess caffiene lowers head circumference and birth weight. Now looking at what I need to do in the 18 weeks or so, those seems like two good things. Especially with the head size that runs in my family. Perhaps Lucy will have her father's perfect normal size head.

So yeah, for me being in the first half of the last half is a little annoying, but then last night I had my hand on my stomach and Lucy gave me a nice big kick. Which was nice.

Hey Little Lucy

How's it hanging in mom's uterus? Good? Comfy? I know you don't like sour filled twizzlers or when I sleep on my back so I'm trying my best to stop the sleeping on the back thing. Wow do you know how to cause some pain little girl. I know it's not you...but rather you sitting on all my vital organs. Don't worry I still like you a whole lot.

So I'm guessing you are wondering why we are naming you Lucy. Well actually your full name will be Lucille Jean, and those two names come from my grandmothers. Now you are going to say,"But Mooooooom that name hit it's peak of popularity in 1910, don't you know it's a century later." To which I'll respond, well the Cubs haven't won the World Series is *over* a century, so consider yourself lucky. Also the name Lucy is making a comeback as it's currently listed at number 112 in popularity, so you'll have that going for you. Plus you get lots of cute nicknames : Lu, Luce, Lucy, Lulu, and of course when you're bad the full on Lucille will come out. But you are never going to be bad so we won't have to worry about that. Right now your Dad and I are enjoying calling you Little Lucy.

I am enjoying being with you very much these days. They say that the 2nd trimester is the best part of the pregnancy and I have to agree with these people. I have a ton of energy and doing all kinds of things. I'm working late hours at the office, taking knitting classes, meeting friends for movies in the park and all kinds of other exciting things that fill most hours of the day. I like when you let me know you are in there, it's such a strange feeling but I really enjoy it.

This weekend your Baba will be home and she will for sure be talking to my belly (well she'll be talking to you *through* my belly...which at this point I say is still just at my belly and kind of weird). Then in two weeks your grandpa and grandma Sue will be coming home to stay with us for awhile. They will be with us for about a month and then they'll just be living about a 1/2 mile away. You'll be seeing a lot of them in the upcoming year.

Alright, well my 30 minute build at work has finished and so I need to figure out if my changes are the things that were breaking things last night.....probably but I don't see why they would. Alright, kiddo enjoy the rest of the day!

It's an X, so a gal is next

Hey Lucy* -

Your mother just called me over to the fridge to look at your first baby picture. Do you remember? You were 8 weeks old and not quite two centimeters tall (long? wide?) and now you're so big you make your mother's ligaments stretch and force her to make the occasional old lady noise.

Wait, what's that? Oh, right, the name. Yeah, you're a girl! We just found out today! I guess I just assumed you knew, but I suppose it's dark in there and you're probably not coordinated enough to feel around. Plus, sex ed isn't until 6th grade, so you wouldn't even know what a boy part or a girl part is. Well, you have the girl parts and so you're a girl. YAY!

Now that we know what you are (and as it slowly sinks in), it's getting really exciting. I like to think about all the things you're going to do while you grow up. You can put on routines with your cousins at family gatherings (3 hours of preparation, 30 minutes of arguing, 14 seconds of routine). You can dance around the apartment to whatever crap pop music 11 year olds listen to 11 years from now (although if we have our way, you'll just listen to the oldies like your loser parents). And, of course, you can go to Cubs games. Just like your mom when she was a little girl.

It's going to be a blast.

One interesting little fact is that, if our 3D ultrasound is to be trusted, you look exactly like your mother. I'm not sure about the eyes, but everything that below is exactly your mother. You have her nose, mouth, and chin...but hopefully not her teeth. You know, you could do a lot worse. As it just so happens, your mother is quite the looker, so you're already off to a good start already.

Oh, and the Cubs won on your Gender Day, so you've got that going for you. Which is nice.

Pictures of you:


(* we're 99% sure you're a Lucy, but reserve the right to name you Mabel or Mirabelle should you look like one of those name)

Today is the Day

Well, littlest one...in about 2 hours we'll know if you are a boy or a girl and if you are a healthy one of those. Last night you suddenly got a lot more real, because I said to your dad, wow tomorrow we'll have a son or a daughter.....which sounds like it takes a lot more responsibility than I'm pregnant with an 'it'. I don't know why, but it had me freaked out a little bit.

Our appointment is at 8am, and I know you don't love to be awake in the morning, so if you can make sure that your important parts are facing the right way so that we can see what you are that would be great. Also if you could give you mom a little dance that also would be appreciated. While I don't think you are a weeble wobble anymore...I would still like to see those arms and legs moving. Yes...you read that right, when I wasn't feeling you move I thought you were a weeble wobble, that might be mean, but your dad responded to that bit of crazy with well that's not going to be fun to play catch with. You'll see. He's really funny.

Alright, well I am off to give you some honey nut cheerios, and start drinking some water as apparently they need a full bladder for this deal. Can't wait to see you!

2 Weeks later...

means that I'm at the 20 week mark. oooooh baby! 1/2 way there. I'm feeling the best I have felt yet in this pregnancy and finally starting to enjoy it a bit. The baby is wiggling around in there and so that's been fun. Jason can even feel it if he touches my stomach. He'll say, wait was that it, and I'll say...yeah I think so, I felt something too.

Running has been good....or maybe "good" is the right word. I went running on Tuesday for 4 miles and had some pain and annoyances during the last mile so I had to run and walk. Today I went three and felt a lot better so I might shortening my runs down a bit. Jason's runs have been fine. He hasn't been on top of the training as maybe he should be, but he's getting enough runs in. He had 10 miles today and I guess it went pretty good.

Work has been busy for both of us which makes the weeks go pretty fast.

Today Jason is 30 (! 30!!! people really live that long) and he's currently playing Fallout 3 on the new Playstation 3 that his awesome wife organized to get for him. Yay for fun kid presents when you are an adult...and an old adult too!

My Dad and stepmom come home in 26 days (that's almost here!) and I can't wait for them to get here. My Dad is planning on running the Chicago marathon in 2010 and he's already really jazzed up about it. He's been running down in the islands and hasn't had any muscle stiffness...how about that for a 59 year old man. Oh yeah....his birthday is today too! It's been fun reading about his runs. He's up to about 30 minutes now, and when he started about 2 months ago, I think he could run for a few minutes. Like I always say...just move that stick slowly and you'll get there faster than you think. Look out for a joint father daughter running blog in the near future.

Thursday is our 20 week ultrasound and so we'll get to know a) that everything is ok with the little one and b) find out the gender!!! I am so so so excited about this appointment. We weren't going to find out what was in there and then realized that 40 weeks is a long long time and so finding out was a nice thing to look forward to. Plus with all the knitting that I've been doing lately I want to knit some gender specific clothing.

So that's all from JasonLeahRun land.