15 weeks

Mexican baby bump. Playa del Carmen view from hotel balcony.

Pumpkin Gut

Almost to the 14 week mark and the belly is a growing...33 and a half inches around to be exact.  Thank goodness for the invention of stretchy pants.  

Oh Baby!

Whew, we made it past the 3rd month, so we can breathe a sign of relief and share our big secret. Little baby Vedder will be making his/her appearance around April 19th, which just happens to be Tim's birthday!!!! I bet he didn't know he'd be getting that for his 30th birthday.

We now have seen the little alien creature twice on ultrasound and heard it's heart beating strong. Things are moving along quite well and my pants are getting very tight.

We will now hopefully be much better at keeping our blog up to date.

My Marathon Man

He did it! Tim ran his very first marathon yesterday - the Twin Cities Marathon - at an astonishing 3 hours and 40 minutes (the average is 4:22). Laramie and Lynn were nice enough to let me tag along to watch the event. We braved the pouring rain to support the runners and it was worth every rain drop and soaking wet clothes. We cheered Tim and Brian on at mile 8 near Lake Harriet, where we were also lucky enough to see the very first runners, including the big winners and amazing wheelers.
After warming up with croissants and coffee we headed over to Saint Paul where we just missed Tim at mile 21. After taking a while to find a parking spot, as we were walking up to the race Tim just zoomed on past....he was too fast for us to catch. Even though we sadly tried. I wish he could have seen me running as fast as I could screaming his name, but no luck there. Laramie and Lynn (being runners themselves) got to get a look from Tim, but I was slower than a turtle and just missed him! I made up for it though at mile 26 when we got his attention and cheered him on to the finish line. That is where we also discovered that insane bloody nipples are infact true!!! I always thought they were kind of a joke, but after witnessing several runners with huge bloody spots on their shirts I now know that bloody nipples do happen.
Congrats to Tim and Brian!!! I am so proud. To everyone who runs marathons, you simply amaze me. Oh and please remember to protect your nipples.

Mora Visits

Last weekend my sister Mora flew in from Olympia to spend a little time with her big sister. Our Mom was here as well, fixing up the old house in Saint Paul before the renters moved in. We worked our butts off cleaning and preparing for their arrival. The house looks great and the people seemed very excited to move in. I should have taken some pictures! Oscar was happy to have his Auntie visit, and of course his best friends Edgar and Millie, and let's not forget Grandma Mindy too!

Edgar, Millie, & Oscar

The dogs tend to get exhausted after spending the day together. Looks like someone got kicked out of his bed.

Our friend Jay Cooke

Okay, so we don't really know who Jay Cooke is and he isn't really our friend, but we did go to the state park named after him and spent the night in his wild backyard. We put the Honda Element to good use and packed it up with our camping gear and coolers, picked up the Lockner newlyweds and hit the highway going north towards Duluth. Sam ended up taking over the driving midway (thanks Sam) so I could sit in the back with Sarah and look at respectable Hollywood gossip magazines. Can you believe Brad and Angelina used IVF to have twins?!

We were a little unprepared for our 2.5 mile hike into the wilderness of Jay Cooke State Park. I guess the best way to explain is by showing you a picture. Sam prematurely won the award for best sport, but then I had to revoke it since he threatened to leave me on the trail when my cooler busted open and would not close.

Somehow Sam got stuck with the largest cooler and two backpacks.

Tim may look more prepared than Sam, but you do not see the second cooler in this picture.

Note: This is not the trail, it is the park entrance. The trail was filled with cliffs, rocks, swamps, bogs and fallen trees. Oh and biting blood-sucking horseflies.

Once we got to our remote camping site (a strenuous hour+ later), we cracked the Sparks, explored our surroundings, cooked up some food and played a killer game of devil ball with a log bat and a perfectly shaped rock ball. Note: this is not a safe game, nor is climbing 20 feet into a tree on a cliff, and forging a rushing rapid filled river just for the sake of seeing what the rocks look like on the other side. Sassy boys!!!!

I also feel the need to mention how much we learned about each other while spending the night under the stars with just nature's backyard to entertain ourselves. The dominating topic somehow turned to super powers and we found out that Sam would choose to be invisible (I won't even go there, stay away from mysterious air-floating cameras) and Tim wants to fly. Sarah and I just want to destroy evil with our fire throwing and laser shooting selves.

What would your super power be?

Oh how beautiful you are Jay Cooke.

Pass!

I passed! I passed! My long awaited and longer feared CFA Level 1 exam results came out yesterday morning, and they were gooooood. This means I can enjoy football season and the holidays before starting in on Level 2, which will be June 2009 and a even deeper level of hell.

Special shout outs to my friends and family that put up with my erratic behavior and reclusiveness in the final months leading up to the exam, and a huge thanks to my lovely wife who not only put up with my zombie-like lifestyle, took care of all the house(I couldn't tell you where the towels go but I can now value a bond using spot rates and bootstrapping), but also made sure I was stocked with Twizzlers and soda at all times...thank you thank you I love you!