Bicycle Race

This past weekend, Andy competed in his favorite bike race of the year, the Powder Monkey in Duluth. He had a great race-he ended up getting 6th place in his age group and 19th overall in the Sport Class, which is a new division he has jumped to this year. He finished with a time of 1:17:58.14 and was 8:35.63 seconds back from the leader, which is phenomenal considering that his competition is much tougher than it was in the Citizen Class. He was winning in the Citizen Class year after year which was great, but he felt like he wasn't pushing himself so he entered in Sport and had a great showing! Andy loves to bike every week with his friends and his bike club, and he has really enjoyed racing. As long as his body cooperates, he can continue to race for a long, long time. There are middle aged men and even older still competing! They even have races for younger children. Andy was commenting that in a few years we can enter our little boy in the Kid's Division. It was fun to watch the little ones race too- of course with mom or dad holding onto the back of the bike and pushing them up the hill! Andy is already poring over catalogs to see what Trek has to offer for the youngest riders!

Andy has started to get our house ready for Baby, painting our bedroom this weekend so he could move my closet units out of the spare bedroom that will become a nursery in a few short weeks. We went to our first class this week at the hospital and have started to buy things, so we are getting more and more ready for Baby. As far as how I'm feeling, I have felt more aches and pains the past two weeks. I have been feeling more back pain and achy at the end of the day, and I've been slower to move at night. If I don't push myself at work physically I'm fine, but as soon as I start taking on too much, I'm on the couch for the entire night. I should learn sooner or later! I have also felt Baby moving with more and more strength as the weeks pass by. I can now see body parts move as Baby moves inside my tummy- I wonder if the doctor can help me identify those soon (if it's a head, a leg, or a butt????). He loves to stretch out too and push as hard as he can on my belly, as if he's trying to make some more room for himself!

The next few weeks will be busy for us. We have a doctor appointment on Thursday (cross your fingers-this month is my diabetes screening! It wouldn't be fun to give up my Hershey bars!) We also have 2 back-to-back showers coming up. The first one next weekend is the Hoffmann family shower in the cities and the following weekend is in my side of the family's shower in Fargo. I'm really looking forward to them- they should be fun!! I will post pictures once those happen!

Bust a Move

It has been a busy week for Baby Hoffmann. He's really been a busy boy! I feel him moving now all the time and he's been kicking like crazy! It's so much fun for Andy and I to feel him- before we'd wait and wait and wait but now he's moving most of the day. He still tends to be less active when I'm at work, but for the most part he's working those muscles pretty well!

Andy started work this weekend on cleaning out the baby's room- moving desks and bookshelves out of there to begin work on converting it into a nursery. We have quite a bit of work to do to get it ready. There's a lot of texturizing on the walls that's pretty rough to the touch, so Andy is going to sand and smooth that out. We also have to clean the carpeting and paint. I thought we'd go with a chocolate brown/blue color scheme. That's the part that I'm excited for- to really get into the decorating. I realize the room won't look like the Pottery Barn room I'd like, but I'm going to try my best to make it cute but not spend an arm and a leg! I love challenges!

I am really starting to get tired physically now. I've noticed that walking or taking hikes is really wearing me out much more than I thought it would. It's a bummer to have such a nice summer and just be outside and sit instead of attacking those trails! Andy's constantly reminding me it's temporary, and once the baby arrives we can put him in the carrier and hike as a family. It's just been so hard to have to cut back on things that I love to do in the summer. It's all for a good reason though!

In other news- my mom is doing much better. She found out last week that she is completely infection free! She got home from the hospital a few weeks ago and is comfortable at home. Her eyesight still hasn't returned to normal yet- she's still seeing gray. We're not sure what the next step is to restore that eyesight. The first priority was to lick the infection, which she did! Thanks be to God!

Shameless plug time- Andy's mom and his aunt Gail have launched their website this week for their business venture. They have been making mini foldable scrapbooks for the past few years and selling them at local craft shows. They are now online @ http:www.crazyquiltphotoalbums.com if anyone would like to check them out!

Enjoy your week!

Kick a Little

Our baby boy has finally started to kick mommy! I am now 23 weeks along and after waiting so long to feel our little boy kick regularly he has been pretty active the last 2 weeks. I first felt him move or have the hiccups in May, but now in the fast few weeks I've been feeling some pretty big kicks! It's pretty remarkable to see my belly move now every day. The kids at work want to always feel for kicks but our little boy is pretty quiet during the day. I wonder if he's either sleeping or hiding out in there when he hears kids. I think I would be! Even though he does seem to respond Metallica and Guns 'n Roses-- we had Heather and Joni up to visit for the 4th, and the four of us played quite a bit of Guitar Hero. The heavier the music, the more the baby moved! I hope that he certainly has a love of music (I've been singing to him a lot). I'm not sure though if I can handle the heavy metal coming out of his bedroom at full blast in 15 years!
I had my prenatal doctor appointment yesterday. Everything is still going well. We will do another ultrasound around 32 weeks to check on the status of the fibroid. Everything else is progressing nicely. According to what I've been reading, the baby weighs 1 pound and is 7 inches long. He is apparently about the size of a large mango, even though I'm feeling like I'm carrying a small cantelope in there!

Like I said, Heather and Joni were here over the weekend. It was really nice to have them both here! We went for a few lakewalks, hikes and went to FouthFest to watch the fireworks. Luckily we had really nice weather for the weekend to be outside! We also received good news yesterday- Mike and Jess are going to have a boy to add to the family this fall. Their due date is Nov. 4th, which means our 2 little boys are going to be really close in age, if not born the same week or DAY! WOW!!! Congratulations- those boy cousins hopefully won't get into too much mischief later on down the road!

We Are Family

This past weekend we traveled to Bemidji for our first-ever Hoffmann family reunion. Since the family is expanding, we felt the need to start a yearly weekend in which our family can get together and visit, play games- enjoy each other's company. The weekend went really well. Andy says officially "It was fun". Most of our outdoor activities that we had planned were rained out, so we focused more on indoor games to accumulate points towards the Hoffmann Family Trophy- the "Hoffmann Cup" as I like to call it. Andy and I were really close to taking it home this year each winning 2 events- Andy's in archery and mine in dominos, but ultimatly Jake won out. We're no match for his Guitar Hero skills!
The weekend seemed to steer towards our youngest Hoffmanns- those already here and those on the way. It will be great to see the youngest ones play the games and have fun in a few short years! I feel so blessed to have married into such a great and supportive family!

Right now I'm still feeling good. I have a doctor appt. coming up on Monday. I really feel pretty physically "done" at the end of the day at 23 weeks. I have to start cutting back at work- sitting down a lot more and not taking on so much. It's tough though because mentally I feel like I can tackle anything. My sore back reminds me otherwise!