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!