Saturday, July 10, 2010

Adventures in Pregnancy

I'm now just about 21 weeks pregnant with baby Plantinga #2, and in contrast to my first pregnancy, for the most part this one seems to be flying by.  Now that the morning sickness and exhaustion have passed, sometimes I even forget that I'm pregnant!  That is, until I try to squeeze into a space I normally could and realize my expanding belly won't let me.  Eric and I decided to find out the gender of our second child because we're terrible at waiting, and because it seemed practical to know if we needed to stock up on blue the second time around.  Between 16 and 17 weeks, we had a nurse on Eric's floor who used to work as an ultrasound technician give me a quick exam.  This revealed that we were going to be the parents of a little baby boy!  We were excited to hear the news, and also to know that everything seemed to be developing normally.

Then, yesterday, I went to my official mid-pregnancy ultrasound at my doctor's office.  After carefully measuring the heart, brain, kidneys, lungs, arms, legs, and several other body parts, it was determined that our baby is healthy and all looks great!  But then, when she asked if we wanted to know the gender, a funny thing happened.  She happily declared that we were having a girl.  Um, what?!  I was having a boy.  Where did he go?  It seems that our first results weren't as accurate as we would have liked, but this second set of pictures, taken with better equipment and at a later stage in the pregnancy, should prove to be much more reliable.  So, now we're adjusting to having a second daughter join the family in a few months.  And, we're trying to teach Emily that it's no longer a baby brother in mommy's tummy.  So far, that hasn't been successful.  She's a little confused, and to be honest, so am I!  But we're happy, ecstatic even, that our baby girl is healthy and growing.   Here are a few pictures!





Thursday, July 8, 2010

Pickerel Lake Triathlon 2010

On Saturday I had the opportunity to compete in the sixth annual Pickerel Lake Triathlon.  After whetting my appetite last year with my first ever PLT, I was eager to try another.  Organized by Jason and Randy and company, this is a triathlon where everyone knows each other, there are no entry fees, the course is slightly adventurous, and when you finish, Uncle Marv hands you a t-shirt.  I did very little training this year, especially with regard to running, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  My goals were to (a) not get a speeding ticket on the way there (like last year), (b) not accidentally start the race from the bathroom (like last year), and (c) finish strong.  As luck would have it, I achieved all three.


The weather was great, and the water was just the right temperature for swimming.


Despite veering off course several times during the 1/3 mile swim, I was out of the water in a respectable 12:00.


After that, it was transition time and off on the 9.5 mile biking leg, which I finished in 39:58. I had a good solid bike ride, except for the home stretch, where I accidentally took the wrong road, costing me several minutes of carrying my bike back and forth through the woods. The 5.5 miles of running was much tougher, since I was both tired and not well trained. The highlight of the run was the aid station where Sarah and Emily cheered me on, and Emily ran at me yelling "Daddy!".  After that, I tried to just keep moving until the end, and finished the run in 46:33, a pace of 8:28 min/mile.  I finished 7th overall, with a time of 1:38:31, a mere 5 seconds faster than last year.  If nothing else, I am consistent. My three clear areas for improvement this year were (1) deviating from a straight line during the swim, (2) a wrong turn on the bike course, and (3) a slow run.


After everyone had completed the triathlon, we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon with friends.  We went out on the motorboat with Jason, Melissa, and Esther.  Emily loved it, although she was a bit nervous at first.


Emily loved playing in the sand even more than the boat.  She especially liked playing with Esther.


They ran around together like they were sisters.


Emily also discovered the Elenbaas's jumbo dog, which is almost as fun on land as it is at sea.


It was a fun day, and a great way to celebrate the independence day weekend.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Emily "Reads"

Recently Emily has begun to "read" books to us.  She amazes me with how much she retains, almost word for word sometimes, from some of her favorite books.  A few notes of explanation on the video - 1) We are sitting on the air mattress because unfortunately our central air didn't get the memo that it needs to cool the second floor too.  2) Eric taught Emily to snuggle the other day, so she's not actually attacking her mommy in the video.  She is enthusiastically encouraging me to snuggle while she reads.  3) When she forgets or doesn't know the words on the second to last page, she says "I can't read".  Hilarious!

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/13141612]

Monday, July 5, 2010

Happy Fourth of July!

We enjoyed a wonderful holiday weekend, beginning with the Pickeral Lake Triathlon (post to come) and then in true West Michigander form, we spent the day on Lake Michigan yesterday.  We drove down to visit our best friends, Peter and Susan, who were staying at Peter's parent's condo in South Haven.  Emily had a blast playing in the water, at the playground, in the sand, and walking along the pier.  We wish we could have seen even more of our friends and family, but we hope you all had a great time celebrating Independence Day!


From Summer 2010

Friday, July 2, 2010

Friday Afternoon Nap

My peaceful little family. From left to right: ages 29, 20 weeks, and 2 1/2.