26 Weeks

The school quarter has ended and Brooke's crazy schedule finally has eased up. With our newly acquired free-time, we spent much of the weekend in the LA-area shopping for baby items. Here's Brooke, with our friends A & C, testing out the gliders at Babies 'R' Us....

Our next stop on Saturday was at Wonderland, a small baby boutique in Brentwood. The service was great and it was the first store we've seen carrying the Market Sling. It's double the cost of an average sling, but when we saw the embroidering, we both agreed we had to have it. Unfortunately, they were out of Brooke's size in the Sky Blue color. We ended up getting only one item: the Bebe au Lait nursing cover. On our way out of the store, we saw Meg Ryan pull into the parking spot two cars away. Her face, with the surgically enhanced lips, was unmistakable.

Here's C trying on a man-bra at Wonderland. (No real babies were harmed in the process)

Our next stop was the Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade, primarily to purchase a B.O.B. jogging strollers at REI. But for the second time that day, the item we wanted was out of stock. The computer kiosk at REI showed it was available online, so we decided to wait and just purchase it through the internet. (there's more to this story which I'll discuss later in the post)

Lunch in Santa Monica...

Leaving the 3rd Street Promenade, we continued onto Kid's Land in Koreatown, The Grove Shopping Center, and finally to Pasadena for dinner. Here's Brooke at Gap Maternity in The Grove....

We had planned to have a relaxing Sunday, with our usual walk to the farmers market. But when we tried to purchase the B.O.B. stroller at REI.com in the morning, we saw the stroller, which had been available yesterday, was now out of stock. To make things worse, this was the final day of REI's offer of 20% off any single item. We immediately called the REI stores in the area and the closest one to carry our stroller was in Manhattan Beach, 110 miles away.

Here's Brooke with the smile and joy of having completed our first major baby purchase....

On our drive back home, we stopped at the Babies 'R' Us in Calabasas to add items to our baby registry. Brooke, eagerly awaiting the barcode scanner gun....

Over the past couple of weeks, I don't think Brooke's belly has extended noticeably in the forward-direction, but it's definitely bulging more on the sides. She now definitely looks pregnant when viewed from behind. Her belly has also become as hard as a rock.
Here's a belly photo taken this evening at Carpinteria State Beach...

24 Weeks

This photo was taken by our apartment on Sunday morning...

The Solvang Half Century.

With only two 20-mile training rides under my belt, I completed the 50-mile ride on Saturday. On the drive into Solvang, we could see all the Century riders already on the course were wearing full sleeve jerseys and full length pants. On our walk to the registration area, we could hear riders complaining about the cold. I especially remember one guy saying, "I can't keep the handlebar straight because my arms are shivering so much". Expecting much warmer weather, I had only worn a thin t-shirt and biking shorts. So a quick spin through a booth at the bike expo and $200 later, I was equipped with an additional jacket, gloves, and knee warmers. Check out my new outfit...

The stats from my ride, although I forgot to turn on the GPS for around 5 miles....

Overall the ride went very well. I felt great through the first 3/4 of the ride, but by the time we hit the hill in mile 42, I was hating myself for not training more. The continually rolling hills, with elevation gains and drops of about 150 feet, had finally gotten to my legs.

At 100 meters before the finish, a complete stranger (pictured below) turned to me, put his hand up for a high-five, and said "woohoo. we did it.....one hundred miles". I gave him the high-five anyways, but boy did I feel like a loser when I said I had only done the 50.

Lu shortly before finishing. Some of you might remember her as Brooke's half marathon and triathlon training buddy....

While I was riding my bike, Brooke was on a self-guided tour through the Solvang bakeries. At both Olsen's and Mortensen's Bakery, Brooke had an apple danish and a cup of coffee. Olsen's had the better coffee and ambiance, while Mortensen's had the better pastry and better customer service. Brooke thinks she needs many more studies to conclusively determine the best bakery....

Lu, Brooke, and I then went to a mid-afternoon breakfast at Paula's Pancake House. The Danish pancakes were pretty good, but it's hard to judge how good anything tastes when your body is trying to replenish the 2500 calories it's just burned. However, Brooke and I were both disappointed in the buttermilk pancakes. They're nowhere near as good as our beloved Family Pancake House in the Seattle area...

23 Weeks

Last weekend we drove down to Pasadena to meet up with some friends and do some shopping for the baby. Our primary goal was to pick out a stroller. We spent a lot of time at Currant, a baby store in Pasadena's Paseo Colorado mall. The folks there were great, giving us a full demo of the Orbit, Bugaboo Cameleon, Uppababy Vista, Quinny Buzz strollers. So far we are leaning towards the Uppababy....

Checking out cribs at Pottery Barn Kids....

Bubble Tea...Yummmmm.....

Having fun with the features in Photoshop....

The more time we spend in Pasadena, the more we like it. I wish Brooke had applied to graduate school at Cal Tech instead. We took this photo of City Hall on our walk to the car after dinner....

The next day I went for one final training ride before the Solvang Half Century. I started in Goleta, went down to the SB waterfront, headed up the Mesa via Shoreline Drive, down to Las Positas and then back home. I felt much better during this ride than the previous ride. Maybe I'm getting in better shape, or maybe it's just because I avoided Carillo Hill this time. Here are the stats...

This week's WWWT event featured 3 wines from the Wild Horse winery. The identities of the wines, including the varietals, were not revealed until after the tasting. Everyone had to rank their favorites and guess the varietal. The Merlot was the group's favorite, followed by the Cab, then the Pinot. I didn't do so well in guessing the varietals. My guesses were Syrah, Merlot, Pinot.

22 Weeks

Can you believe I've gone a whole week without taking a picture of Brooke's belly? There's nothing exciting to report regarding the pregnancy. Brooke's been having more back pains, but otherwise, no problems.

With only 2 weeks notice, I decided to sign up for the Solvang Half Century, a 50-mile ride from Solvang to Lompoc and back. I suspect all the real bikers are signing up for the Solvang Century (100 miles) and I'll be riding with a bunch of 12 year olds on the kid's course. Oh well. It's the best I can do right now.

For my first ride of the season, I biked down to Santa Barbara, averaging around 17 mph. I was still feeling pretty good by the time a got to Carrillo, at which point the delusional half of my brain took over, telling me to head up to the Mesa. I wish I had worn a heart rate monitor because I'm fairly sure I reached my maximum limit within 30 seconds of starting up the hill. At the first break in the traffic, which happened when I was about halfway up, I quickly pulled a u-turn and headed back down. I still have one more weekend to do a long bike ride, so hopefully I'll be in shape by the Half Century.

As proof we've been working a lot, here's a picture taken at sunrise (6:30am) this weekend. I was dropping Brooke off at her lab before heading to my own work.

Just a random dog at the Farmer's Market this weekend....