Getting restless

I'm getting restless... the house is not ready for baby... I know I have around 8 weeks left but, really that's not that far away. I guess all we REALLY NEED right now are some bottles, formula (since I can't breastfeed), diapers, and a stroller and he will be good for a while. We already have the carseat (mandatory to leave the hospital) and a cradle. But some how there are over 100 items on the registries. That's just crazy! Babies need sooo much stuff.
Sleep is a luxury these days. I can't remember the last night I slept all night. It's amazing how the body preps you for a baby.
So I know this is going to sound crazy- I'm running the Run for the Pines 5k next weekend in Orlando. I will probably jog 10+ minute miles and walk the water stations but it will be funny to watch this 33 week pregnant woman finish the 5k. Half marathon while 15 weeks pregnant and then a 5k almost 20 weeks later. Oh how I love to run!
Next week is my baby shower in Orlando, I'm really looking forward to seeing all my friends and family. Though it will be a long drive down and most likely solo.
Before I leave for Orlando though, we have an ultrasound on Tuesday, a tour of the hospital, and a doctor's appointment on Thursday. So we get another peek at him!!

Hello Baby Boy!!

Since I'm considered high risk (because of Crohn's), I get more ultrasounds. I call them peeks at our little man. On Tuesday we got another peek at him. He was head down and has been everytime we've gotten to see him. Hopefully he will stay that way or at least be that way come delivery day.

Everything looks great, he weighs 2.1 pounds and looks to be very healthy. The doctor was happy with his progress. We go back in 4 weeks to make sure he's continuing to gain weight like he should. The worry with Crohn's is that I may be gaining weight and eating enough calories but is that nutrition making it to the baby. Added bonus at this visit was we were able to get a 3D image of his face.

Craig and I both think he kinda looks like Craig and my brother. It's amazing how much can be seen in an ultrasound now. We are in the last 3 months now, I am really starting to feel my belly getting bigger. I am still jogging, though I need to go get a support belt for it. During the runs I am fine but as soon as I stop I can feel the pressure in my back and under my belly. I am looking forward to running a 5k Feb 20th in Orlando with several of my friends.

2009 Review

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Run a half marathon while pregnant!
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I believe my New Year’s Resolutions were run more, stay healthy, and grow savings. So I would say I did a pretty good job of that. With my fastest 10k in memory and a half marathon in the hills of San Francisco while 14.5 weeks pregnant. Build up savings- definitely!
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Most of my close friends had their babies at the end of 2008.
4. Did anyone close to you die? Thankfully, no.
5. What countries did you visit? USA, I don’t even have a passport so it will be a while before I go out of the country.
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? A healthy baby boy
7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
February 20- Craig’s dad got remarried to a wonderful woman- Carol and they are going to enjoy retirement so much together.
August 6- Found out we were having a baby!November 25- Found out we were having a boy!
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Getting pregnant then following thru on the half marathon I signed up for in March.
9. What was your biggest failure? Making more friends in Atlanta, definitely one of my new year’s resolutions this year.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Had a Crohn’s flare up and pulled something in my neck while moving but other than that not too bad.
11. Something wonderful that you bought? Canon digital SLR, Craig’s car, new mattress, couch, and coffee table
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Lots.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? A few.
14. Where did most of your money go? Probably mortgage and rent.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Getting to have a baby. :)
16. What song will always remind you of 2009? Not sure a lot got added to the ipod but I’m not sure one really sticks out.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
Happier, fatter (6 months pregnant will do that to you), and richer.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Enjoy free time instead of always filling it with another project.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Stress and worry over things.
20. How did you spend Christmas? With Craig, low key but we did have Filet Mignon- YUM!
21. Did you fall in love in 2009? Everyday with my husband, growing baby, Peanut Butter, and life!
22. What was your favorite TV program? Florida Football (had to see that coming right?), Psych, Bravo reality, I’ve gotten sucked into General Hospital.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I’m not a hateful person.
24. What did you want and get? A baby.
25. What did you want and not get? I can’t think of anything other than maybe wishing we would’ve had consistent renters in our house in Orlando instead of several month of an empty house after the last bailed on her lease.
26. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 30!! My birthday weekend we went to Flip for burgers and milkshakes with Josh and Blaire and on my birthday Craig and I went to Canyon Burger for lunch! Baby and I love burgers! We went to San Francisco which was our big present to each other.
27. Who did you miss? Janet- Craig’s mom.
28. What’s something important that you learned? That I sometimes need to step back and refocus on what’s important not what others may think is important for me.

Merry Christmas Happy New Year

I know! I know! I know! What's up with the post from 2 months ago?!

A lot has been going on. Work has been extremely busy, which is a good thing!

Since my last post we have found out we are having a boy! We are very excited, a name has been picked and we will reveal it when he arrives! It's a name I picked out before we got married, one I told Craig's mom about (before she passed), it jumped out at me while I was studying the bible before I got baptized.
The little guy is a mover (surprised I know), I feel him ALL day! To see pictures and journal entries of the baby's progress visit: www.babysites.com/sites/babyneubauer

We are officially registered at Babies R Us, Target, and http://www.kellyscloset.com/ (cloth diapers). It was a daunting task but I am glad it is over with. Now we can begin shopping off the list and check them off as we go. I am such a list person so this will help keep me on track. I got a lot of input from friends and family, which was really helpful.

I am so excited- we recieved a gift from one of my co-workers yesterday- 2 bumGenius! cloth diapers! I've also ordered 3 bumGenius! and got a free Econobum, they should be here any day now! So we are officially on our way to cloth diapering! We will still have to use disposables at daycare but it will be nice to not have to buy so many diapers all the time and save on the amount a waste leaving our house.

On the note of daycare, we found one! The little man will be at an Open Arms Lutheran program about 1-2 miles from where I work. I was really happy with it and I think he will be too.

For the holidays we are sticking to Atlanta for Christmas and Craig went and picked up our meat for dinner Christmas day- Filet Mignon! Since it's just the two of us we splurged this year! YUM! I can't wait!

I had to take a break from running for a little bit but I hope to get a mile or so in this weekend. I have missed it! I've gotta get back into it though if I'm going to run the 5k in Orlando, February 20th with a few of my friends when I go down there for my baby shower.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Nike Women's Half Marathon

Sunday was RACE DAY! I got up feeling good but knew I was going to take it easy. The race was more emotional than I thought it would be (I did do it with baby gator on board). But I felt good and it's amazing even to me that I can finish a half marathon 15 weeks pregnant. I finished in 2:18:18 (about a 10:30 pace). Not my fastest half marathon but still such a big accomplishment!

Now to breakdown the actual event.
Getting to the start I had figured I would just catch a cab from our hotel to Union Square, I walked around outside our hotel for 10 minutes with no luck and another girl from Colorado walked out and I asked if she would like to go call a cab together... well come to find out she actually had a towncar waiting that was already paid for. She said jump in and we'll go to the startline together. I offered to pay something but she said it's already paid. So I took her picture at the start and emailed it to her after the race.

It was in the fifties during the race. There was a heavy fog on the bay in the morning keeping the temps down along the water. The “scenic” parts weren’t that scenic due to the fog but I drove the course the day before and got to see it without the fog. Other than running stadium steps for a mile+, I don’t think there was any hill in Atlanta that would compare to the hill I encountered on mile 6. I started running up the hill but realized I was probably running just as fast as I could walk it so I began the uphill trek at a quick walk. I had brought my ipod (no headphones) with me to sync up to my Nike+ and keep track of how my pace was throughout the race but at the start it froze up and became useless so I tossed it to Craig at mile 3. I was surprised at how quickly each mile went by, especially since I was running slower than normal, I was by myself and I walked a mile of the race> I saw Craig at mile 8. When I got to the Cliff House at mile 10 I couldn’t believe that there was only 3 miles left. I definitely listened to my doctor and took it easy for the entire race.






Firemen in tuxes handed us our necklaces


The race is definitely all about the women running it and had spectators all along the route. The expo (which they called an expotique) was really ALL about Nike, if you had forgotten bodyglide or any other race supplies you were on your own for tracking it down in San Fran but overall it was a fun race. Merchandise was available at Niketown if you wanted to wait 30+ minutes in line.

The runner tracking and timing was not the race’s strongest point. They used eternal timing devices, which was the first time I’ve ever used that brand. Most races of that size are moving towards the D-tags that are disposable or the timing chips. I couldn’t find my official time until Monday night when I googled for race results and they weren’t posted on Nike’s site until Thursday. I also signed my husband up to receive text messages of how I was doing and they came randomly and actually said I finished in the future. They charged people a couple of dollars to track and are refunding everyone for the mixup. The actual texts were something like this... "Melissa Neubauer has passed the 10km location of NWM at 8:08:44 today." and "Melissa Neubauer has completed the NWM Race at 16:24:54 today" and those were the only 2 texts he got. The one saying I finished was delivered to him at least an hour after I had finished running.

San Francisco and Wine Country!

Craig and I flew to California last week for a vacation and for my half marathon race. San Francisco was so much fun, the people and the city were better than we expected. We did a lot in our little time there.

We flew in late on Thursday and started Friday with a drive through town and walked to the Wharf saw the sea lions, had sandwiches from Boudin YUM!, rode the trolley to Union Square to pick up my packet and info for the race, walked thru Niketown to buy me a short sleeve shirt to race in (it was warmer than I expected), took a taxi back to the pier for Alcatraz. We walked around Alcatraz for about 2 hours. It was really cool and the views of the city from there were amazing. We had dinner along the water and hot chocolate from Ghirardelli.



Saturday we got up and went back to

Union Square

to actually look around the expo and some shops. We met up with my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Mac to tour the city by car (wanted to keep walking to a minimum since I was running 13.1 miles the next day). We drove the back half of my course and stopped at the Cliff House, they took us to see the row houses that are in the commercials and from Full House. We had dinner at a neat little Italian place. And got me back to the hotel early so I could get to bed for my race.



Sunday was RACE DAY! I'll write a whole separate entry about the race.
After the race we drove up to Santa Rosa to our hotel and I took a quick nap then we went to Healdsburg, a suggestion from Lisa and Mac and walked around the town square and shops, Craig had his first tasting and it happened to be a couple who moved to Sonoma from Atlanta to start a wine business.
Monday we drove thru Napa starting at 2 more suggestions from Lisa and Mac which involved a gondola ride and great views. Craig had fun tasting more wine. The weather was rainy and gloomy but not too bad that we couldn't drive around and see everything.
Tuesday we went to Sonoma and had a private vineyard/winery tour at Sabastiani. It was gorgeous and really interesting. At the end of all the tastings we came home with 6 bottles of wine to enjoy after baby gator is born. We even visited a race track that had Audi Driving School classes going on. The new Audi R8 V10 cars were racing around the track.

If you have never been, I highly suggest San Francisco and wine country. It was a great trip and so much fun!

I've been getting ready...

...For just a few "little things" like a baby...

Our Baby Gator at 13 weeks 8 cm (3.1 in)

A half marathon in San Francisco...
Nike Women's Half Marathon

Busy times in the Neubauer household!