Thanksgiving friends

In a last minute change of plans, we stayed at home for Thanksgiving day instead of traveling to Florida. We were fortunate to be invited to not one, but two dinners-- one on Thursday and one on Friday. Both were with good friends of ours. On Friday, Evan got to spend the afternoon playing with his friend Tai. They both had a great time and we had so much fun watching the two boys goof off.



Later in the weekend, Evan and I visited Heather and her family. Evan and Bella played non-stop. Heather, Sophia and I just sat back and enjoyed watching the two of them. Evan loved Bella's kitchen.

Preggo update

I'm at almost 19 weeks and apart from [yet another] sinus infection/cold, I'm feeling pretty good. The baby (boy!) is moving around a ton and has been for a few weeks now. According to the ultrasound, he weighs 8 oz. No telling yet though, if that will yield another 8 pounder (or, dare I suggest it, even larger!). At the request of some loyal readers, I'm posting a belly pic. If you can get past the fact that this is a bad picture and that at the time, I was feeling miserable from sinus pain, it does show a growing belly.

Well, It's a....

We had the "big ultrasound" this afternoon and found out that we're having







a little








baby








BOY!

Yep, another boy! I was really surprised because I had such a gut feeling that it was a girl. So much for a woman's intuition! Now Evan will have a little brother to play with (or fight with). Other good news is that the ultrasound revealed a healthy little baby with all organs in place, etc., and I'm right on schedule at 18 weeks 2 days. The baby was moving around during the ultrasound, but it was very hard to get a good shot. So no cute profile or feet pics this time around to post. Oh well, you'll have to wait until April!

What's been going on...

Nearly 2 weeks since Ironman and there are lots of reasons for my lack of posting, none of which are too thrilling. Evan has been back and forth to the Dr. for the past couple of weeks with a horrible cough (going on for weeks now), wheezing and then spiking 103+ fevers. After seeing a pediatric pulmonologist on Friday, we finally got the official diagnosis of asthma, which we had figured. The fevers were being caused by an ear infection. The asthma symptoms were brought on (and made worse) by the colds he keeps catching from daycare. And, the colds he keeps getting, I keep getting. Right now, I'm fighting some sort of sinus infection that has really dug its heels in. Miserable. So, after a slough of medications (amoxicillin, albuterol, pulmicort and singulair), Evan is feeling so much better and his asthma symptoms are improving ten-fold. He's learned to enjoy sitting and using the nebulizer. Unfortunately, until/unless he outgrows the asthma (most children do), he'll be on most of the medications daily, although in smaller doses as he gets better. And so, in addition to his good looks, Evan can also thank his daddy for good health genes. Jason had childhood asthma (exercise induced), but now only occasionally has symptoms that are brought on by allergies.

Adding to this fun, Jason had his first major paper due for his Master's class last weekend. What he thought would have taken him a full day or so to write (after having done all the research), took three full days and nights to finish. It was a fun weekend for all of us!

Evan has started a new phase lately where he gets attached to a toy and will play with it over and over, and gets really frustrated (read: fit) if you try and take it away or ask him to do something, like take a bath. Here he stands his ground, buck naked, after being told to go and get in the tub.

The other thing that's been keeping us busy was preparing for Jason's birthday/post-Ironman party that we had last night. In addition to the typical pre-party preparations, we had to finish remodeling the guest bathroom. Every night for the past week, Jason came straight home from work and started work on the bathroom. At about 3 hours before the party yesterday, it was finished. Apart from crown moulding and some paint touch ups, it's finally done. No more wallpaper in the bathroom! I'll have pictures of the bathroom (for anyone interested) a little later. For now, I'll leave you with some party pics. We had a chili bar and hot spiked cider, both of which were gone before the end of the night.

Jason cutting the cowboy hat cake, provided by our culinary artiste, Yuki.

Some pics of the party-goers. I was told I had to take pictures of someone other than Jason, or people would think that no one came to his party.

Rockstar Ironman

This past weekend, Jason completed his second Ironman triathlon in Panama City, Florida. At a finish time of 13:02, he shaved more than two hours off his race time from last year! Thankfully, Jason had no nutrition issues this time and so the race went as smooth as possible. In fact, when I saw him between the bike and run and asked him how he felt, he said just one thing: "Rockstar!" That seemed to sum up the race. Evan and I were very proud of his accomplishment and so happy that his hard work paid off for such a great finish. His final stats were:

Swim (2.4 miles): 1:05
Bike (112 miles): 6:15
Run (26.2 miles): 5:37

















An aerial view of the swim start-- it was a mass start into the ocean. Very cool to see.


Meanwhile, during the race, Evan and I enjoyed the beautiful beach and weather in Panama City. The sun was hot, but the water and breeze was very cool, making for a perfect Florida weather. Evan was a great Ironman spectator. Technically speaking, this is his second race as a spectator, so he has had some practice.











Evan's first swim cap.... awww.
























One afternoon we opened a window in our little beach bungalow to let in some fresh air and along with it came a friendly cat. Evan was so intrigued.




The Ironman was a tough day for everyone!