One Month to Go!

Holy. Cow.

Today is August 30th.  The baby boy is due September 30th.  WHICH MEANS ONE MONTH TO GO!  Pardon the caps, but we are so excited.  I can't wait to hold the little bugger...and Katie can't wait for him to stop breakdancing in the womb all hours of the night!  Katie has been so amazing throughout this whole experience; I seriously couldn't be more impressed or in awe of how she has handled it with such grace.  Let's be honest, if I had to pee six times a night I would be one unpleasant SOB every day...

Not to mention she continues to be productive and somehow manages to get so much done.  One would think that working 12 hours a day with a 25 pound medicine ball glued to your stomach would be enough, but no.  Why not refinish some furniture for fun?

Mask? Check. Glasses? Check. Sander? Check. Pregnant belly? Double check. 

Hopefully she will take it a wee bit easier this coming weekend as I am off to Des Moines, Iowa for my last race of the year.  Luckily, Katie's parents are coming to town so that should distract her enough that I don't have to worry about the power tools getting a good workout.  It is probably pushing it slightly for me to travel this weekend but Des Moines is a direct flight from Denver and I won't even be gone for a full 48 hours.  Basically, fly -> build bike -> check in -> sleep -> race -> repack bike -> EAT ICE CREAM SUNDAES -> sleep -> fly home.  Easy.

Katie has been amazingly supportive of me doing this race as I qualified for nationals at the NYC Tri and earned a free spot at this race.  It is an iconic race called the HyVee Triathlon and I'm hoping to throw down in a major way.  But the pressure is largely internal this weekend as the best of the best will be there so I can't worry about where I place...it's all about how I perform relative to my own expectations.  Here's to hoping that a rising tide floats all boats.  It has been a great season for me (knock on wood) and I'd like to finish it on a positive note.

Hopefully my standard race week issue/dilemma/concern has already occurred as I got stung by a bee on a ride last weekend.  It flew into my helmet and I couldn't get it out before it got me.  Direct shot to the forehead.  No big deal, right?  True, except that the swelling got slightly out of control, eventually inflating my forehead and then draining between my eyes.  Katie was calling me a "cute caveman"...some other comparisons mentioned:

Luckily, the swelling is completely gone now...fingers crossed that will be it for this pre-race week.  

Knowing that I have such a supportive wife and a life-changing experience awaiting me when I get back certainly provides the best perspective and inspiration. 

Baby Update and Nursery Construction

Greetings all!

All is well in sunny Colorado.  We are now less than 6 weeks away from the little guy joining us - at least according to the due date.  As we learned in birthing class (whew, that was an eye-opening weekend!), only 10% of babies come on their actual due dates so who knows?!?!  Katie had an OB appointment this week and everything is right on track though - weight is good, belly size is good, stats good.  All a relief after Katie had been experiencing a fair amount of Braxton Hicks contractions over the weekend...she was even courteous enough to have one while on the table at the OB's office and the doc let us know that everything is just fine.  The OB also said that our young spaz - who particularly likes to "party" (in Katie's words) in the middle of the night - is happy and healthy as evidenced by his activity.

Hopefully he will continue to cook in there until his due date because his nursery doesn't have walls yet.

Blue tape is from the furniture planning night...fun times.

So yes, we are bad parents.  We have had the plans drawn up for the nursery since we moved in.  Unfortunately, the basement flood - and resulting two months of renovations - kept us from getting to the nursery until now.  The contractor promised us it would be complete in time...fingers crossed.  The good news is that the framing is up and the electrical is mostly complete.  All that's left is...a lot of stuff!  But it will happen.  Right?  Right?  Bueller? 

Jersey Boys

With our two year anniversary coming up, it was time for Katie to collect on her one year anniversary gift: tickets to see Jersey Boys.  Since the first anniversary gift is "paper" I chose to interpret it literally and handed her a piece of paper saying that we would go to see the show when it came to town.  (Katie gave me a NY Times subscription - another creative interpretation of paper.)  We really enjoyed the show and it was cool how many iconic songs those guys put together.  My favorite part of the evening, though, was the sign outside the theater:

Classic Jersey.  Also classic Jersey was the text message conversation I had with Nick R. about that picture...he offered me his own modern Jersey vocab lesson.  Thanks Nick. 

8 Weeks to Go...Lookin' Good!!!

Katie's Mom was in town last week and she snapped a picture of us after dinner one night - I'm obviously biased but man my wife looks amazing! 

Still working on getting Wendy to remove dates from her pictures...

Making it Stick

Wes here.  It's time to start ramping the blog up again...because we need a way to communicate and show pictures of our son!  In around eight weeks, we will welcome a new addition to the clan. 

A small sample of the baby shower decorations

We found out Katie was pregnant in January and could not have been more thrilled.  As posted previously, we were lucky to find a great house soon thereafter and someone's nesting instincts have been going full tilt ever since.  According to the sonogram lady - "there's his little package" - it is a boy after Katie and I were both convinced it was a girl.  Katie is due Sept 30th...which is still scary to think about but man are we excited! 

So in the interest of being a proud parent, let's get this party started again so you know where to go for pictures and updates on the wee one.  We will make it stick this time...