It's a girl!

So we opened the envelope on Sunday, November 2! For those of you who haven't heard, when we had our 20 week ultrasound, we had the doctor determine the gender but not tell us and instead write it down on a piece of paper and put it an an envelope. She sealed the envelope and we brought it home with us where it stayed on our bulletin board for 5 weeks!

I'm not sure exactly what the deciding factor was, but we finally decided to open it and we are so glad we did because we were so surprised! (For some reason, we both "intuitively" thought that we were having a boy!)

We went on a hike (my favorite time to hike in the redwoods is after a good rain, which we definitely got that weekend!) and opened it there. We took a little video and lots of pictures to document the occasion.

8-week ultrasound

I forgot to post this ultrasound picture from our 8-week appointment on June 18. He's a pretty cute little guy, isn't he?

Wharf to Wharf

Juan and I walked the Wharf to Wharf today. It's a great race in Santa Cruz County every year that goes from the Santa Cruz Wharf to the Capitola Wharf (thus the name "Wharf to Wharf"). It's actually an incredible event because there are about 15,000 participants. It was cool and foggy and just great weather for doing an event like this. I got a few fun pictures, too.

We walked the Wharf to Wharf in 2005, but both Juan and I have improved our fitness significantly since that time, so this was a great experience for us. We walked about 16 minute miles, which is faster than we were walking when we did the Nike Women's 1/2 Marathon in 2005 and also is good because the rather small roads are super-crowded with so many people doing the event.

While we walked today, we talked about doing the Wharf to Wharf again next year...only next year, we'll be pushing a stroller!

1 month ago today

It's been one month today since the day we found out we were expecting! It's gone by fast - will the next 7 months go by this fast...or faster?

Pregnant in Orlando

Today I flew from San Jose to Orlando to attend the International Christian Retail Show, hosted by the Christian Bookseller's Association. I'm excited about some of the training I'll get to do at the show, but I'm not excited about being away from Juan for 5 nights. It's weird – for the first time when we found out I am pregnant almost 4 weeks ago – to be away from the person I'm sharing this experience with.

After several weeks of maintaining my weight, I've begun to gain a few pound over the last few days. Specifically, I was floating between 193-195 (192.8 was most lowest weight in recent years – just a few days before I found out I was pregnant), but this week, I saw 197 on the scale. Yikes! I'm hoping to only gain about 15-20 pounds during this pregnancy, so I want to be careful not to gain too quickly. I think that I am exercising enough, but eating right has been more difficult. I am not having “morning sickness,” per se, but I am feeling somewhat nauseous most days. When this happens, it's easy to eat to make the nausea go away. I just need to eat the right things! It's also easy to let down my guard in general and eat more just because I'm pregnant. This will be my challenge for the next 7 months, so now is a good time to focus on making healthy choices!

Post-Fitness Ridge Update

So my plan was to start posting weekly weigh-ins after I got home from Fitness Ridge and to keep tracking my weight on the blog and writing about the continuation of my weight-loss journey. After a busy couple of weeks with work, I was just about to begin doing this 2 weeks after I got home from Fitness Ridge, around June 17, which just so happened to be the day Juan and I took this picture of ourselves:


I'm not sure if you can see exactly what's in Juan's hand but you are probably thinking it might be what it is: a home pregnancy test with a positive reading! Those two pink lines have changed our world.

The best way to describe this news for us is that it was unexpected but welcome! We are at a great time in our lives to be having kids, and we have been focusing on our health for the last year for just this reason. We are thrilled and excited, even though it still seems very surreal.

It's still so new - in fact, I'm just at 7 weeks (we just happened to find out about as early as you can that I was pregnant) and we know that many people don't announce their pregnancies until at least 10 weeks (when the risk of miscarriage goes down significantly). But we've decided to let our friends and family know earlier because we just can't keep it in! And if something bad were to happen, we would want to have the love and support of our family and friends. I still haven't even been to the doctor - but I have an appointment scheduled for July 10. We can't wait to talk to the doctor. It seems like it will make it a lot more "official."

Now, with all this said, I've decided that I'm not giving up on my health, fitness and weight loss journey or blogging. In fact, it's really just as important (if not more important) now to focus on these things.

In talking to my regular doctor (I just happened to have an appointment the day after we took the drugstore test) and doing quite a bit of reading online, I've found that I can continue to exercise well into my pregnancy - and that I don't need to "eat for two." So I'm planning to do just that - to exercise, count calories, and continue my journey - just keeping in mind that there's a new little guy along for the ride. Of course, I'll have to adjust my calories as well as my exercise just a bit, but it's clearly no reason to stop.

Now about that weigh-in. Since getting home from Fitness Ridge and finding out the pregnancy news, I've fluctuated from 192-194. My hope is to start posting here once a week with my weigh-ins as well as my thoughts and some pictures along the way.

I think we're in for quite a ride. Glad all of you are on it with me.

Jeremy and Angie's Wedding Reception at Crow's Nest

Last weekend Juan and I went to the wedding reception of our good friends Jeremy and Angie. It was a really fun time-and a fun chance to dress up, so I thought I'd post a couple of pictures.