So that whole Running thing...

Yeah, I'm gonna have to go ahead and have you pretend that I am running today. Great thanks! (that was to be read in your best impression of Bill Lumburgh from Office Space). Yes, I had planned to do my long run today, but as you can see, my shoes are not on my feet and even worse, they appear to be UNDERNEATH Elizabeth's running shoes! What does that tell you about my commitment to running?

Really I am just going to run tomorrow instead. We have been trying to get someone out to the house to look at a TV issue and have had to push it back weeks already. He came today and we have house guests. Nicolai stopped by a little after 8AM and our guests arrived late last night so they were asleep. Can you imagine waking up at a friend's house to the sound of a seemingly Russian man explaining the intricacies of the computer equipment in a powerful voice marked with a strong, almost overpowering Russian accent! I hope they slept through it!

Elizabeth is doing well. She has been working her tail off and deserves a few month off! I guess she'll have to wait until January and I don't think that will really be considered "off." In the meantime, I think she is pretty amazing for what all she is handling at work and in the cute belly of hers!

She is at work today and that is why I get to spend this marvelous morning sipping lavender earl grey tea, reading, and photographing my underused tennis shoes. Talk about
living the dream!

Back to school!

We took a picture of Elizabeth's belly! She is 20 weeks now! How exciting is that! We have our ultrasound on Thursday! Unbelievable. So she is doing pretty well right now. She seems to be in a good place right now. Baby is the size of a can of Red Bull!

In other news: School has started and I am back to work. I love what I do and I love being at work. I do hope that the whole year will not be quite as busy as the first few days have been. It already feels like summer was ages ago and I am not a huge fan of 11-14 hour days. I know I can't do that for the long run. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. I need to pace myself.

Speaking of running. I have not been keeping up with running as well since starting work again. I have a hard time motivating myself to go for a run after I get home when I know that it will be dark before I get back and that by the time I get cooled down and cleaned up I will need to go to bed so I can get up early the next morning. Last night's run was nice and I should have another nice one tomorrow.

Look at that cute belly!

I am now 28 and living the dream!

For all 4 of you voters out there!

Well, for the few of you who weighed in on the whole diaper situation, we have decided to go cloth diapers. That is right, we will be washing tons of poopy diapers in hopes that we can save the planet, and in the process, a few dollars too!

For your information, I have been guaranteed that

washing poopy diapers = living the dream!

My new favorite spot

It is the couch! Yes, I spent much of the day sleeping and resting on the couch. Lazy? Maybe. My run this morning was supposed to be 16 miles but the website I used to map out my run was not as accurate as I would have hoped and so I ended up doing a bit over 17. It was an out and back so when I was at 8 miles out and, according to the website, I still had a way to go. That was a bit discouraging. In my head I kept thinking, "this has to be more than 8." Between this and running out of gatorade on the way home, I was ready for the couch the rest of the day.

Last night we had our fantasy football draft and I believe I have a very good team. The picking order was randomly generated though some thought it was fixed when I was called as the first pick. Ladanian Tomlinson will be my best friend this year if he lives up to expectations!

There doesn't seem to be any baby news. Baby is the size of the pickle you might buy at a carnival. Elizabeth is still not showing or feeling the baby move. We have determined that she is not showing but is starting to get a "bump." It is kind of typical of a first pregnancy to not have these things happen by week 18.

Ok, back to the couch and back to
living the dream!

Baptism by fire (or poop)

Dirty diapers!
Elizabeth is really excited because the first diaper I will ever change will be a diaper filled with fun by our baby! That's right folks, I have never changed a diaper. I guess January will be as good a time to learn as ever!

We have been deciding between cloth and disposable diapers. Here are the stats:

A newborn baby needs to be changed as many as 10-12 times per day. Yes, they are poop factories! So this gives a sense for the sheer number of diapers gone through.

Disposable diapers are more expensive over time. They are not great for the environment, but when the baby has done duty and the diaper has done it's duty, it is gets taken off and tossed.

Cloth diapers are a large investment up front but cheaper in the long run. They are more environmentally friendly since they are reused, though each time it is filled up, someone has the duty of rinsing it out and laundering the dirties!

Here is an interesting article on the debate for those interested enough to read on.

Hmmmmmm. What to do! Either way, I plan on changing thousands of diapers! Welcome to living!

Taking it in stride!
In running news, I have been slacking a bit on training. You may have noticed (if you follow my running log) that I have skipped some of the shorter runs lately. Part of this is due to other engagements. Part of it is due to my unwillingness to run after eating. Part of it is shear laziness!

Long runs have gone ok. This past weekend I forgot to put vasaline on the areas that rub while running and I paid for that for a day or so. My knees have been holding up though and that is a miracle. Fifteen miles this past Saturday and 16 this weekend. I'll let you know how that one goes.

Baby athlete?
We had a doctor's appointment today and heard the heartbeat again. Interestingly enough, we also heard a lot of kicking going on in there. Elizabeth still doesn't feel anything and doesn't seem to be showing. I wonder if all that kicking means that baby will be an active one! Imagine life in the womb, not a care in the world. Eavesdropping on all our conversations, sucking thumb, kicking a bit here and there, and living the dream!

I'll take NY.

Brett Favre in NY? Ok. I am just glad that this whole ordeal is over. I'll watch him play, I'll cheer him on, I'd even pick him on my fantasy football team. No hard feelings from me Brett. I hope we're still friends. Call me!

So I am pretty much back into the swing of things at work. I don't forsee having another full day at home between now and the time school starts. I'm ok with it though. I am excited for the year. I have some exciting new things going. I think it is going to be a great year.

As seen to the right, we are in week seventeen of the pregnancy and things are good. She is sleeping on the couch and I went for a run. The baby is the size of a baked potato. Anyone else hungry when thinking about a baked potato? She is still not showing but I think it won't be long. We have our next appointment soon. Before you know it we will be halfway there. HALFWAY THERE? UNREAL! I suppose the second half will fly like the first and before you know it, I'll be a daddy!

I went for a run today. 6.6 miles and it felt really good. I am not worried about the marathon. I think it will go quite well. I feel like I could run a slower pace and finish feeling very good or I could try to push it a bit and shoot for a better time and risk having a bit of recovery time. We'll see.

Finally, I am really excited about this. I just reserved a campsite for a weekend in September. We went out to Devil's lake last fall and it was one of the best camping trips ever. I love camping in the fall. I think I got the same site and look at it... how could you not be
Living the dream?

Target Run

Went to Target for this...




Came back with this!

You've gotta love Target! We were not planning on getting anything baby but Elizabeth, always prepared, brought along a baby buying guide book. We happened upon some baby stuff on clearance and this was one of the items. Sure enough, after looking through the book and all the options, it was the best option and was quite a bit cheaper than other options when it was about 30% off! Baby stuff is never 30% off. Great bargain!

So now we are looking at other baby things! It might still be early, but if we keep finding things on sale, we'll be in really good shape!

In other news, I ran my 13 miler last night. I though that eating a hot dog, chips and dip, and three bean salad before running would come back to haunt me like last weekend. Not the case... it was probably my best long run ever. Yes, I was quite a bit slower than usual, but I felt like I could have gone another ten miles. No sore muscles today, no intestinal distress, no dehydration headache... great run. I was not sure how well it would go, so i was hesitant to run out and back fearing that I would get out pretty far and not be able to run back. So I ran four loops around the area. I ran past State Fair Park three times and on the third time past, I ran into a young man that I had just spent the last week with at Reach Out Reach In... small world.

At RORI, I worked really closely with my friend Jon. He and I spent hours upon hours together two weeks Friday through last Friday. Saturday morning he calls me and asks, "do you miss me?" The answer was actually yes. We really worked well together and after having the blessing of working so closely with my former roommate for a week, I definitely did miss him when he was no longer by my side.

Well, it is back to school for me. School does not start until late this month but it looks like tomorrow I will be back into the habit of getting to work most days. There is a lot to do between now and then. Should be fun.

Loving my stroller (and toilet paper) and
living the dream!

Well booo to the Brewers!

And so it seems that the Cubbies have shown us up THIS TIME. I guess I picked the perfect week to be out of town and unable to watch the games! It is as if they never happened! Now if only the rest of the world could catch on to my ignoring of the history of the past week.

Well, I had a wonderful week at Reach Out Reach in. The kids were amazing. I came to some new insights. I met some beautiful people with different life situations at St. Ann's Intergenerational care, Easter Seals, Catholic Charities, Sojourner Truth House, an organic and a small family farm, and I got to revisit my stomping grounds from last year at Meta House. What a great week. I would love to speak all about the different organizations but I am dead tired right now and supposedly, I am to run 13 miles tomorrow... we'll see.

Finally back at home with Elizabeth and, as always,
living the dream.