The Poor Timing of Little Dude

Oh, Little Dude.  For being 100% planned, you sure are coming at a busy time in our lives.  Well, it's really our fault.  We're (apparently) not good at math, and some things have changed in the past 8 months.

For starters, I found out I was pregnant with you 4 days before my first half-marathon.  Scratch that one.  In case you were wondering, it's a total drag to do all of the hard work and training for a 13-mile race and then not get the t-shirt.  Well, at least I got the half-marathon legs (you know, before I started retaining water).  Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be worth it.

Secondly, we planned for you to be born in May or June (let's just go with May, okay?) so that when Dad was going to graduate, you'd be 6 months old.  That way we could keep at least a few months between major life changes.  Well, the good news is that Dad is graduating sooner than we thought!  Hooray!  The interesting part is that his graduation ceremony is just two weeks before your expected arrival.  Hmm.  I guess if I can be picky, don't come on May 14th.  Or the few days before.  Thanks for understanding.

And third, you're kind of interfering with my love affair with this guy:

It's true.  Your nerdy mom is a Harry Potter fan.  Don't worry...I'll read all of the books to you and your sister someday.  But here's the thing.  The very last movie hits the theaters about 6 weeks after your due date.  Some would say that's perfect timing.  The problem is that I cannot leave my newborns babies toddlers offspring.  I'll admit to a little attachment parenting.  Hey - it works for me, and it worked just fine for your sister.  Don't get me wrong, Little Dude, dad and I enjoy the occasional evening away from sticky children, just not at 6 weeks of age.  Plus, I supply the nutrition.  If you're anything like your sister, I wouldn't be able to leave you for more than 2 hours at that age, anyway.  It's a good thing you'll probably be cute.

So what will I do about Harry?  I'm not sure yet.  I can either wait until it comes out on DVD (sad!) or I can somehow drag you along to the theater (I'm fairly positive that taking a newborn to a movie is included in the definition of bad parenting).  I've been seriously considering the feasibility of taking you to a matinee showing after the crowds have died down.

Even though your arrival is going to interfere with some other life events (yes, buddy, Harry Potter is a life event), we're positive that you're the perfect little boy for our family!

A Little Closure

 Image from the Disney Half-Marathon.  I'd like to do that one someday.

I got an email from a reader (that I don't even know!) the other day, curious about the half-marathon I ran in the fall.  Correction:  was supposed to run.

I was all ready.  I'd run 14 miles about 2 weeks before, so I was so ready to do this thing.  I had new gear, fuel for before, during, and after, and an iPod chock full of songs to keep me groovin'.

Then....I took a pregnancy test 4 days before the race.  Positively positive. After I discovered that, I kind of decided it would be best to skip the race, just in case, but a visit to my doctor confirmed that.  I know there are lots of preggers who run regularly, and it isn't necessarily a bad thing, but for me it would put the baby at risk.  My heart rate goes through the roof (normal for me, no worries), so the babe wouldn't really be getting the oxygen he needs.  You know, important stuff like that.

My sweet doctor bought my registration and ran the race for me.  Shhh....don't tell the race people.  And on race day, I did one final stint at the Barr Street Market and came home with $250.  Not a bad trade.

I was pretty bummed that I missed my first half-marathon, but I've got my whole life to do those.  Plus, I knew I could have done it, since I'd run 14 miles just a few weeks previous.  This sweet baby boy will bring me much more joy and satisfaction than a silly race.

I'll be out of the game this year, since I won't have time to properly train after poppin' this kid out (plus, I stop producing milk when I exercise...talk about a good excuse to take a year off!), but I'm looking forward to 2012.

So thanks for being so interested in my oh-so-interesting life!  I didn't blog about it right away because I wasn't quite ready to announce the pregnancy, and then when I did, I'd completely forgotten about the half-marathon.

Speaking of organized races, good luck to my friend Loni, who will be participating in the Ford Ironman in St. George in just 100 days!  I seriously can't imagine 140 miles, and on the second-toughest course, no less.  Go get 'em, girl.