Pictures

Dad took some nice pictures of Fogg and I before the baby comes. Thought I'd share a couple with you. Don't make fun of how fat my face is - ok?

Baby Shower

On Sunday, March 1st, a good family friend threw me a baby shower in Chicago! It was great fun to see some old friends again and to meet some new people. Mostly, the party guests were friends of my parents, but still a great time.

Sue had beautiful tables set for lunch. We had chicken salad, fruit skewers, pasta salad, and croissant rolls. Sue brought out here fine china and antique table linens, she sure doesn't skimp on anything! Then we had cheesecake, banana cream pie and chocolate cake for dessert. We only played one game - just my style - guessing how many inches I was around my belly. I didn't even know so it was interesting to find out! I don't think I need to publish that number now though... Then off to open gifts, which of course was so fun. People sure did give me some fantastic gifts and it was so thoughtful of everyone. Here are a few highlights in photo form.

Here are the placesetting cards, they are names on little bottles - cute!

One of the beautifully set tables.


Yummy fruit skewers!

Sue Herrmann (the host) and me.

Fran, me and my mom.

Presents! This is from Fran actually. There is a Fogg family tradition with the sock monkey (which they call Jocko), but because I'm doing a moose theme, she found a sock moose! The best part is that I saw this sock moose before the shower and mentioned it to Fran telling her how much she was going to love it, all the while it's from her and I didn't even know it! I died laughing when I opened the card and saw it was from her and I went on and on about it to her the day before! Anyway, super cute, we'll have to come up with a name for it. Maybe I'll let the kid name it.

Me with the "New Mom To Be" crown on - it stayed on as long as it took to take this picture.

Super cute gift from my sister in law, Georgette. It has a matching blanket, hat, booties and onesie.


This is a hat and sweater made by (two different) guests! The sweater has owls knitted in it, so cute.

Opening another great gift - a baby monitor!

Then the next day, at my parent's fitness club, their running group gave me a great gift of an organic stuffed bunny and a very large gift card to babies'r'us! How very thoughtful of all these people that don't even really know me! I am so grateful for all of the wonderful gifts I got over the weekend in Chicago. Thank you everyone!

Xterra

Dad and his friend Dawn, and our friend Katie, did the Xterra race at Snowbasin on Sunday, March 8th. It is a 10K of mountain biking (on snow), then a 5K of snowshoeing, then a 5K of running (on snow), then an 8K of ski mountaineering. For those of you that do not know what ski mountaineering is, it's putting skins (a piece of fabric that has hairs that move in one direction so that it stops the ski from sliding backwards) on the ski, then walking up, then taking the skins off and skiing down, then putting them back on, going up... Well you get the idea. The race had them putting them on and taking them off three times. Each time they came down, they had to go through gates. Anyway that you look at it, it's quite crazy and I would never do it! But they did! Katie finished second in her age category, unfortunately Dad and Dawn didn't finish. They made it in the transition for the skiing just in the nick of time (they were the last people to make it) but took too long on the ski and were kicked off the course. They made a monumental effort and it was really hard! I got tired just walking up and down the hill to the transition/start/finish area!

At the start line!

Dad and Dawn finishing the 10K bike.

Dawn and Dad starting the 5K snowshoe.


Here is Katie starting the 5K run.

This picture cracks me up. This is Dad and Dawn starting the 5K run, but it looks like they are doing a little dance!


Dawn and Dad in the last transition, after the run, getting ready for the ski. Dad is trying to recover a little.


Dawn putting her boots on.


Here is Katie (in the green) passing Carla (she smiled the whole time). Carla ended up coming in third in the age group, Katie got 2nd!


Katie at the finish! Yay!

And here is a videa of Dad coming up on the transition to the ski. He is hurting a little bit. Listen to the announcer at the end, he is saying his name and then saying that Dawn should be there soon. All day, they were coming in at the same time so the announcer knew that when he saw one he would see the other. Dawn had come in just before Dad, so she was already waiting in the transition area.

So that is the day at the race. It was a ton of fun to watch and don't know what possess these people to do stuff like this! Katie's first words when she finished was "I'm going to volunteer next year - don't let me do this again!" As you can see, it was a nice sunny day and we ended it with Frito Pie!

London and the b

This speaks for itself.

Baby Room

Well, it's not finished but I thought that if I waited until it felt finished then you would never see any pictures of it. The before picture is non-existent but you can imagine these pictures with white walls instead of color and there was almost no furniture in it (well a futon and some small dressers but nothing special). My mom and I painted the two colors and Fogg put the chair rail up. Work still to be done is getting decorations on the walls, get a chair and lamp for the below noted picture area, get curtain holders, then place baby in room. Easy enough right?

New dresser (thanks to Fran!) that will also be the changing table (just put a pad on top).

The crib and window seat.

This empty space will be where the chair and ottomon will go and I'll put a lamp between the chair and the dresser. I'm also hoping to get a small bedside table the matches the dresser to put on the left side of the picture there as well.

Well, that's it, nothing special but I really like the colors, cute, calm but not overly "baby".

Third Trimester

Well, it's official, I'm in the third trimester (just barely). I'm in the middle of my 27th week and will have only 3 months to go on the 22nd. It sure is getting faster each day. Each week goes faster than the week before did and each day goes faster than the day before. As far as size, I've stabilized out a bit, for a few weeks there it just seemed to pop out quickly. Now, I'm just generally big. There is no doubt to anyone at this point that I'm plain old pregnant.

We got the baby room painted and ready for furniture and the many other things we must acquire before the baby arrives. As soon as I get the dresser (thanks Fran!) I will hang some decorations on the wall and post some pictures.

I'm feeling pretty good, actually sleeping alright for now, I had a few bad weeks during my second trimester but I think I've got it resolved, at lease this week I do. The baby continues to move a ton and is loving the kick in the ribs it gives me. Apparently at this point it weighs about 2 and a half pounds and is about 16 inches long. It can open it's eyes and is practicing breathing (from what I've read). I get one more ultrasound in only a month from now (at 32 weeks) to see how it is growing.

To be in the third trimester means that I'm in the home stretch right? In three months, we are going to have a newborn in our house. Our lives will be different than any other day before it. We will no longer have a life without children. We will learn a lot about each other through the process and experience the amazement of bringing a life (half of each of us) into this world. And our parents will swoon over this child as it should be. My brother will become an uncle for the first time ever. Our niece will have a new cousin with the last name Fogg! So the true countdown now begins for our new addition in the third trimester - I guess this pregnancy is for real...

Steelerdogg

London got all ready for the big game yesterday and wanted to show you all. He did lose a little interest in the game once it started, spending most of the time curled up on his bed. He did get up to celebrate with us as we all stood up to scream at the players, he would stand up too and stare at us. He also liked to wave the terrible towel, wish I took a picture of it for you. He would grab the towel and thrash it around. Notice the Steeler socks, beads, bandana and banner behind him.