Ben's Adventures

Let's talk about the father of this child for a minute. The phrase I hear most now-a-days besides "wow looking ready to pop!" is "where is Ben this week?"

Ben works for a company that is hired to maintain, build, upgrade and check on cell towers. There are two sides in this field - radio and tower. He got this job back in January after being referred by an old co-worker in his electrician days. He was immediatley hired on the tower side which means he gets to be a climber. He has loved it and is genuinely exctied to get started on the day. He is already such a happy morning person which I love...but he really enjoys his job which makes it even better.

The company's main employer right now is Verizon. It has been crazy busy with all the changes from 3G to 4G and even with just regular expansion as Verizon grows. He's been out of town a lot and sometimes the days would run together for him. There is always work to be done at night and during the day so he gets his days mixed up. Recently he was on a project in California for almost 2 weeks straight. His AZ crew was called in to do a job that the CA crew needed help with. He pretty much hit up all the main cities up the coast and was eventually near the border of Oregon - 18 hours away! On this trip he wasn't much of a climber but instead worked in the shelter at the bottom of the tower. It holds all the radio equipment and luckily is nice and air conditioned. I barely talked to him the whole time because he was contantly entering in data, emailing/talking to the owner of the company and just plain busy! It was a great experience for him and I know it spoke highly to the owner because of the role he had to step into. It also helped that he worked 90 hours a week to get the job done in the time they expected. What, that's not normal?

So amidst the chaos of his job he was able to capture some great pictures on his new phone. Supposedly him and his co-workers all jumped in the ocean when it was like 50 degrees outside but I don't have proof of that yet.

Here's a great sight of the fog rising up from the ocean one morning. He said "those are the perks of waking up at 4am."

Ugh. Can you believe he sent me this picture? If you know me you know I hate windmills. They creep me out. I think they're going to break off and start rolling after me. And the ones that aren't moving look like they're staring at me. He took this from the tower and his disclaimer for sending me this picture was that "they weren't the big ones." Thanks honey.

My favorite. These trees are a part of the Redwoods in Northern CA. He said this one wasn't even the biggest one. I guess it's quite an amazing site and is definitely something we want to do together.


Here is another view from the ground up. Not only are they huge around but massively tall - over 300 feet. How cool!




And last a view from the bottom of a 200-250 foot tower. He wasn't the climber then but it's cool to get a perspective of what he does. Can you find waldo? He loves his job and we are grateful for all the work they have right now!

Update

We are in the final months over here. So close yet still so far away! This past friday was my 28 week mark, a check-up, my Rhogam shot and some lab work. I got to hear baby boy's heartbeat which is still so cool and unreal. My blood pressure is good and everything is right on track. I did my glucose test (which isn't has bad as some people say) and now I'll be seeing my doctor every 2 weeks. I am still so exhausted after working that I'll just eat a bowl of cereal for dinner and crash in bed. Besides getting to put my feet up, I love to just lay in bed because that is when the baby gets active. It's my favorite time of the day. I'm very lucky to be healthy and not have had any major problems. I just pray that my body will continue in this manner as baby boy grows and needs more room.

Ben has been traveling a lot and super busy on some projects in California. While I was out and about on Friday with my appointments I came home to a SPOTLESS house. Ben's out of town so who could it have been? My best friends Shelby and Dave and sister-in-law Alisha cleaned my whole house from top to bottom. Dave also did the yard in this blazing heat. Our den is the dedicated laundromat and holds all the clean clothes that I'm too lazy to put away and now it's empty and my drawers and closet are full! There were perfect vacuum lines in my carpet. Bathrooms were scoured. I couldn't believe it and am SO grateful for it. Alisha and Shelby joked that I probably wouldn't have noticed if they took some clothes because I have so many. They were right. I look in my full closet now and forgot about some of this stuff! Ben will be home tomorrow so I'm excited to show him what our family and friends did for us. To end, here are some belly pics.

28 weeks - 7mos

27 weeks

26 weeks

24 weeks - 6 mos

Family Pictures 2011

Here are some (21) of my favorites from our family pictures. Please note the one of Heber putting out the vibe. That kid kills me! I can't wait to have a little boy running around my house. Also the black and white of Jillian and Camille at the end. Oh my gosh those little pouty lips.

I love my cute family.

My lady lump

Well here is the progression of the belly. I pretty much knew I would show immediately because I'm barely 5'3" and my rib cage basically sits right on my hip bones. This boy has got no where to go but out! Enjoy my self-portraits. I usually take them before work so I'm half asleep in some of these. I think my smile got smaller as these pictures go on...don't worry I'm as happy as a clam. I just want to sleep all the time, that's all!
I'll have to get some pictures of Ben so you all know he still exists.
He has really been putting on some pregnancy weight for the both of us. *sarcastic tone*

5 weeks 5 days


7 weeks

8 weeks 3 days


9 weeks after Pat's Run


Mother's Day - 12 weeks 2 days


16 weeks


18 weeks


19 weeks


20 weeks

This is for real!

We have ourselves a bun in the oven, people!
Or should I say a little sour patch kid. So cute.

Ultrasound at 9 weeks 5 days

Ben and I are so incredibly excited. Baby Miller is due November 18th. I was moved forward to November 24th after one ultrasound but now I am back to the 18th. Everything so far is going smooth. The heartbeat is strong and I feel great now that I'm well into my 2nd trimester. The day after my ultrasound I got a call from my doctor wanting me to come in immediately and get the rhogam shot. On the ultrasound the doctor noticed a dark spot and concluded it was a subchorionic hemorrhage. This is bleeding between the outer most sac surrounding the fetus and the wall of the uterus. Since it was concluded that I am Rh negative my doctor didn't want to take any risk that my blood would mix with the baby's in the event that the baby is Rh positive. So I've been monitoring to see if there has been any spotting or bleeding and their has been nothing. Thank goodness. My doctor thinks this hemorrhage could have been there before getting pregnant and maybe caused by heavy periods. No matter what I'm Rh negative so I'll be getting the rhogam shot again at 28 weeks.

Anyways! Enough of that talk. Everything so far is great and doctor thinks the hemorrhage has healed itself. So back on Mother's Day my family got together to 'cut the cake'. If you don't know what this is....it's a ritual adopted when we lived in Baltimore. This is what you do if you want to have scientific fact on the sex of your baby. You bake a pink and blue cake. Cut them in half and put them on top of each other. Frost it so you can't see the colors. Then the preggo cuts a slice after the hubby spins the cake. The color you cut is the gender of the baby. For you psychology people, this is a double-blind experiment. Less then 5% human error I'm sure of it. Here's how ours went...

I cut it smack dab on the line...all pink.

So was the cake right???

IT'S A BABY BOY!

Look at those cute little feet! I can just see them in soccer cleats. We are indeed having a boy. Ben was able to come to my appointment amidst his busy work schedule. We got to watch our little boy move and kick and show off for us. Toward the end when the technician was ready to look for the gender, he covered himself with both hands! He Michael Jackson'ed himself. I don't know if that means he's shy or what. But it was hilarious! I have been feeling him move a little now, mostly at night. I also have been swelling in my feet and ankles a little when I get home from work. My doctor said all my vitals look good but to just keep drinking water and put my feet up at night. No problem!

Ragnar Relay Del Sol

Team Running Wild: 200 miles, 33:21:13

This is what I’ve been training for since September! To tell you a little about this race…it started in Wickenburg and ended in Tempe. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of teams. You have 12 runners with 3 legs each. If you are an ultra team you have 6 who obviously run double. We had 2 vans…Van 1 with legs 1,2,3,4,5,6 and Van 2 with legs 7,8,9,10,11,12. As Van 1 ran their legs in order, Van 2 would be getting ready and making sure we were on time at the exchange for runner 7. We would be contacted by the other Van to let us know when that runner started, then based on the runners average mile we could calculate how much time we had to be at the exchange. I was in Van 2 and runner 10. So we reported to the first exchange for our runner 7 to get ready about 10am Friday morning.

You may recognize #11 my London's Run friend Becky!



How it would work is that we would all wait around the exchange, cheering on the runners coming in for each team. There would be a Ragnar staff member like 20 yards before the exchange with a walkie talkie that would relay the team number of the runner that was approaching. So back at the exchange we would hear "Team #198 get your runner ready!" And this would happen at each exchange....once runners 7 and 8 were done we got the my exchange where I would wait for runner 9.

The proof of the bi-polar tendencies coming out when I'm running. Cracking up telling a story one minute...

...serious face the next...


Ok I got the slap wristband and was off for the first run. 8.4 miles. I averaged about a 10 minute mile. I felt pretty good. I struggled a bit with my bowels which made me have to walk for a few minutes. I specifically remember singing a song from my ipod sooo loud then out of nowhere this guy passes me and pats me on the back. Uuuuhhh oh well. I was able to get a honk from my van 2 peeps as they went on to the exchange where I would end my run.

My van sistas waiting...it was kind of chilly!






After my run I was able to relax and hit up a porter potty. We climbed into the van and proceeded with runners 11 & 12. I think the hardest thing mentally for me isn't before the run, it's after when you know you have to it all over again. After our van was done with the everyone's first legs we were able to shower, eat & find the major exchange where a sleeping area was provided. It was crazy to see how many people and vans were everywhere. The facilities that allowed us to use showers and gym floors were pretty nice. It was about 9 pm when we arrived at the exchange that our runner 7 would start. This would give us a few hours to try and get some shut-eye.

There weren't very many pictures of the night time. I know for me I was too tired and too focused on getting any sleep possible on the gym floor with hundreds of other people. I stole these of the big field that people slept in and the beautiful scenery we got to enjoy.





So about 12 am Saturday morning our van had get ready for the second legs. You always had to run with a headlamp, back lamp and reflective vest. It was about 3am when I ran my second leg. 4.3 miles. I think this average was around a 9:30 minute mile. On the way to my exchange we got lost for about 15 minutes. Poor Steph (runner 8) had to wait there wondering where we were. I freaked out because I didn't get any stretch time. We go screaching up to the exchange and I jump out of the van, get the wristband slapped on and start my leg all in one swoop. It was the most invigorating run. It was chilly and dark and I loved it. My whole training was all in the dark so I was used to it. Occasionally I'd see the headlamp of some guy passing me. But other than that it was rather peaceful.

So about 5-6 am is when our van was done with the second legs. We were able to eat and get to the next major exchange to sleep...which actually turned out to be Fountain Hills High School. This time we got about 4 hours of sleep. My last leg was only 3.8 miles and my best average...about a 9:20 minute mile. The majority of the run was in this park/greenbelt along a lake in a Scottsdale neighborhood. We had some signs for the runner to give the van if we needed water, a porter potty, if were good or if we dying. Thumbs up of course was the "good to go" sign.



Last leg done! The best feeling.

Macaia gave me the best and most needed hug.

It was nice have massage therapist as a driver! I got some major butt cramps bringing it in on the last leg.


Phew! I was finally able to really relax, change clothes and try to make myself presentable for the finish line. We got to run the end with runner 12 (Crazy Stacy) and cross the finish line as a team. It was so exciting and emotional! We got all decked out in our best zebra/leopard/animal garb.





I have never bonded so quickly and deeply as I did with the 6 other girls in my van. Running is such an emotional thing for me, and at this magnitude it just makes everything much more memorable. I'll be doing it again and again.