36 Weeks

Marathon Pictures - They did it!

Greg and his twin brother Matt ran in the Chicago Marathon this morning and they did AWESOME! They had a goal of finishing in 3 hours, 10 minutes, which is the qualifying time for the Boston Marathon. They met and exceeded their goal, finishing in 3 hours, 8 minutes and 42 seconds (to be exact!). Just in case you don't want to do the math, here's the breakdown - they ran an average of 7 minute 11 second miles for 26.2 miles...this is unthinkable for a non-runner like me, and pretty impressive no matter what. Great job guys!

Joel and I (and Brian & Emily) braved the 36 degree weather and went to the 10-mile mark to cheer them on...here they are running up to where we were.

They were ahead of pace enough to stop and say hi and take pictures for a minute - they made it look effortless and fun!

Pumpkin Patch...

Ok, so it's not really a pumpkin patch, more like pumpkins in a parking lot, but Joel didn't know the difference and had fun picking out a little pumpkin!

Gymnastics!

Joel has been taking gymnastics classes for almost a year now, and today Greg and I both went with him so we could take pictures. He gets more confident and adventuresome with each session, to the point that he is running and jumping and balancing on EVERYTHING - in and out of the class! :) Here are a couple of pictures - some may be blurry because he was moving so fast!

Each class starts with stretching...

At the end of the stretching time, they jump up and say ta-da!

Kicking over the candlestick...

Joel can do two summersaults in a row now!

Doing the bear walk up the parallel bars...this took some time to learn, but he has mastered it now!

Jump in the "pool!"

Walking on the balance beam - every curb has become a balance beam since starting gymnastics!

33 1/2 Weeks

Ok, so you may be thinking - "she looks the same in all these pictures!" Well, the truth is that I HAVE gained weight (20 lbs so far) and the baby IS growing! We did just find out, however, that she is small for her age :) and there is not as much fluid in the womb as normally would be at this point - these things are both contributing to my small size. The fluid level is important, and they will be watching it closely (it is "at the low end of normal" right now) over the next several weeks to make sure she stays healthy and happy in there - which she is at this point. Also, she is in breech position (head up) right now, and with the fluid a little bit low it is not as likely that she will turn...which means a c-section is probable. So, there's the update on us - please pray for the health of this baby and the wisdom of our doctors!

Trains & Boats

We went downtown with a group from the seminary to take a boat tour that highlights Chicago's architecture. It goes on the river and also out into Lake Michigan pointing out interesting facts about Chicago's buildings and history. We did this the first year we were here, but this time Joel was old enough to enjoy it. He loves riding the train and looked forward to this outing for several days and has not stopped talking about it since.

Greg and Joel on the train.

Emily, Me and Joel waiting for the boat to leave the dock.

Taking it all in...

A view of Navy Pier from the choppy waters of Lake Michigan.

Rock Climbing

Joel is so athletic and has so much energy...one of his favorite things to do at the park on the North Park campus is to climb this rock wall up to the slide. He seems to be good at everything he tries - which must come from Greg because I am not naturally athletic like that!

30 Weeks!

Stitches...

Joel had his first major injury today...he fell off a swing face first and bit through his lip. We took him to the hospital and he ended up having to get three stitches. He was so brave, hardly cried at all, and the doctors and nurses were impressed at how good he was during the whole thing. I think he was a bit in shock, but he seems to be ok now that we are home and he had lunch. Here are a couple of pictures of our little guy.

Muscle Man

Joel is learning to use the potty and has gotten pretty good at it - he will go every time if we just leave his diaper off all the time (#2 is a different story...I'll spare you the details). So now we are trying to get him to remember to go in the potty when he is wearing big boy pants - the results are mixed. In any case we think he looks so cute, and grown up in these.

Our friend Emily taught Joel how to "flex" his muscles:)

Fun brushing teeth - Joel is so full of energy lately that he is costantly running, dancing, or jumping, and while he is brushing his teeth is no exception!