Nursery Progress

Here are some pictures of the progress we are making on Liam's nursery.  We have ordered the dresser, but it may not be in before he's born.  But the paint is up and the crib is put together!  Slowly but surely we are getting there.  The photo with Lars is the best representation of te paint color.  I took the others at night with a flash and the color looks much different than it does on the walls.  

Hope everyone had a great Holiday and Happy New Years!

Belly Shots

Here are a few pictures of pregnant me.  This is at 33 weeks.  

Wonderland Cyclocross and The Iron Cross VI...

Last Saturday, November 22nd, I competed in the Cat C (Beginner) race at Wonderland Cyclocross in Lancaster, PA. The weather provided nearly perfect cyclocross conditions; as it was in the mid-20s, snowing, with fast changing cloud cover, and a windchill factor making it feel like it was in the 'teens. I say near perfect, because the temperature caused parts of the course to freeze (the sandpit and a number of corners that could have been really fun and mucky) making those areas far too easy to negotiate. Apparently the conditions favored me, because much to my surprise when I checked the posted results on Tuesday I discovered that I had placed 4th.


Ami and Zoe accompanied me to the race. Zoe got cold and started shivering, so Ami had to put her back in the car before I finished. However, that did give Ami a chance to take one photo of me on the course. Unfortunately, I neglected to point out to her that I had mounted a zoom lens on the camera and did not demonstrate its operation to her. The fact that we arrived at the course about 10 minutes before the start really was not very helpful in our preparation - I was unable to review the camera with her, warm up, or use the restroom after the 2 and 1/2 hour drive north. No, I do not believe that needing to use the restroom helped my finish and I do not plan on using that as a technique in the future. I've highlighted myself in the race photo; I'm just remounting my bike after one of the post barrier run-ups on the course.


While writing this post, it occurred to me that I neglected to write anything about the Iron Cross VI race that I competed in back on October 12th. I had been waiting on getting together some photos from the race and then I guess I just got distracted with all of the other things we have going on (baby preparations, job search, etc.).





The Iron Cross was definitely the most exciting race that I had the fortune to participate in this year. It is the longest cyclocross race held in the United States at 62+ miles and it covers the trails and roads up, down, and around the mountains/big hills of Michaux State Forest in Gardners, PA - about 25 miles north of Gettysburg.




The race promoters bill the race as 62+ miles because, although they go to very respectable lengths to prevent such disasters, it is still somewhat easy to get stupid and find yourself off the course and lost in the woods or Amish Country. I personally added about 10 miles to the distance I covered after touring some rustic cabins at the top of one of the hills and then later took a detour to race the horse buggys down at the bottom of another mountain.











This is a topo map of the race.












I think the best part of the course is a "run-up" called Wigwam Hill. This consists of a portion of a rocky hiking trail that ascends about 500 feet over the course of about a tenth of a mile, necessitating that your bike be carried as you use your free hand to staedy yourself while climbing the hill. There were also loose, rocky descents that necessitated the carrying of my bike.








Although I finshed 98th out of 105 in my category at 6:51:06 (some who finished ahead of me had actually been behind me when they had been forced to take a shorter, easier road route back to the finish after failing to make it to the final checkpoint before the cut-off time) I still had a blast and hope to ride the race
again in the future. Here are the results and more info about the race.





I would like to extend a special thanks to Element of the Eye Photography and Judy Allison for their great photos of the race.

Photo Shoot

Here are some of Liam's first photos!  We had a 4D ultrasound today and it was great!  He was not terribly coorporative at first, he had his hands and feet in front of his face, but we were able to get some pretty decent facial shots eventually.  Lars' Dad Sheldon and my parents Bill and BJ were able to watch remotely on their computers while they were conferenced in on a call so we were able to share this experience with them.  It's so hard to be far from your family at times like this, and it was wonderful that they were able to be involved!  So who do you think he looks like? 

And the Winner is...

Liam Anders!  This will be the baby's name.  It's been in the top choices since the beginning, even though Lars was really pushing for something with Magnus in it.  But this name won in the end because it has familial meaning on both sides.  My Dad is William (and my Mom is Billie, as she ointed out the other day) and Anders is a good Scandinavian name that is in Lars' family.  So we fnally have name!  

Another Dr.'s Visit

We had another Dr.'s visit today and it went really well.  My cervix is unchanged from my last appointment (which is GREAT news!) and he told me that the bedrest will only last until I'm 34 weeks, which would be December 17th.  Just in time for Christmas!  He has also scheduled our c-section for January 22, 2009, so that look like it will be the baby's birthday!  Unless he shows up early, which is entirely possible.  But it's so great to have that date scheduled!  Now if we could just decide on a name...

Bedrest

I went to the Dr. today as a follow up to our hospital visit on Thursday night.  She has recommended bedrest indefinately.  The good new is that my cervix still looks pretty good.  When she did the physical examination she said it felt very, very short (she estimated it to be less than 1cm) but with the ultra sound it actually measured almost 4cm, which is great!  She also said there was no funneling, meaning my cervix is not currently opening from the inside, which is also good news.  The bad news is that I continue to have quite a few contractions, some so painful they are waking me up at night, despite being on a medication called Pro.cardia to stop them.  I know the medication is working because they always start to get worse when it's time for another dose.  

In other news we are finally buying our crib today (thanks, Mom and Dad!!!).  I have been given permission to accompany Lars to the store to make this purchase as long as I don't drive and I don't lift anything.  We'll make it quick and hopefully it will arrive before the baby!