16 weeks

16 weeks! We had an appointment with the midwife today and got to hear baby girl's heartbeat. It was strong and steady at 150 beats per minute. I had my blood drawn too and that was pretty much it. Our next appointment is at 20 weeks (June 24th) where we'll have the full anatomy ultrasound too. I can't wait!

The midwife also told me that I might feel the baby moving in the next few weeks. Eee! I'm so excited for that!

This week has been pretty uneventful. I had a retreat for work on Monday and told my Wellness Center colleagues that I'm pregnant. Everyone was super supportive, especially my boss. It was a really great way to make the announcement.

I ran twice this week. Tuesday I felt so tired that I had to do 3 minute intervals of running and walking. But Wednesday morning I ran the whole 3 miles with Natallie (though slowly). I'm looking forward to getting out there again tomorrow morning!

Last night, Conor and Lisa stayed with us and we told them the news after brunch this morning. I also told a few others that I hadn't told yet via text. It's such fun news to share! I still want to wait until after our 20 week ultrasound to post anything on Facebook though...

We're off to San Francisco tomorrow evening. I have the American College Health Association Annual Meeting there starting on Tuesday so we're going to go out a couple days early to explore. John and I visited San Francisco in Summer 2006 so it will be fun to be back and see what has changed.

15 weeks, 3 days

This post is a little delayed because I was in Disney World for the weekend! John's sisters suggested a girls trip before I got "too pregnant" so we decided to go to Disney World for a long weekend to celebrate my pregnancy, Natalie's graduation, and Mother's Day.

Backing up, after I wrote last week's post, we found out the results of the VisibiliT screen that we did, including baby's gender! There's a 95% chance that baby is a girl! I didn't have a gender preference at all. I was just happy to be pregnant. But, now that I've known for a little over a week that baby is most likely a girl, I'm super excited and love knowing that "it" is a she! (It felt so wrong to call baby "it.")

Natalie's graduation weekend was great except for the weather. We had lots of yummy food and time with family. The graduation ceremony was really nice. Russell Wilson's commencement speech was even better than I expected it to be!

Natalie with her awesome cap at her chemistry ceremony.

The Lenz Family

We walked by my senior year apartment and I just had to get a pic on the porch!

Sunday, John and I met Mary, Jeff, and Mitch (my aunt, uncle, and cousin) for breakfast and told them the news. They were all very excited for us...but Mary especially. This news is so special to so many people.

The weekend in Disney World was absolutely great! I'm so glad we went! We weren't planning to go to the parks but Natalie talked us into buying a one-day park ticket to go to Magic Kingdom on Friday. It was totally worth it! Besides that, we spent time at the pool, hung out at Disney Springs, and went to brunch at Boma in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. There's just something about Disney...

Could you get a better picture?!?

I found a little something for baby girl.

Simba AND Mickey waffles at brunch!

I wore my button to brunch...but that was all!

14 weeks

Woohoo! 14 weeks marks the start of the second trimester!

It's been a super busy week. I was up in Cochrane from Friday to Tuesday for the Spindler(ish) Girls Weekend with my mom, five aunts (well, four of my mom's sisters and one of her cousins), and five of my girl cousins. I took off Monday so I could stay a little longer and help Mom get Dad settled in at home. It really was great to be home. We helped Mom plant the garden, visited a local greenhouse, and had lots of laughs with the whole crew. Then I helped Mom plant a bunch of flowers and mow the lawn. We had a couple of really nice, warm, sunny days. It was great to be outside!

I told all the relatives, plus Grandma Rohrer, and a few of the neighbors about being pregnant. Everyone was super excited! I also told one of my coworkers this week. I'm looking forward to telling my Aunt Mary this weekend!

We also Facetimed with Laura and I told her with the M&Ms I had given Mom and Dad to tell them the news. She was so excited! It was so fun to be able to tell her "in person." I also told Zulay, Laura's mom, with this little note:

"Guess what? You're going to be a Costa Rica grandma!"

Her response was so sweet. I had tears in my eyes!

Translation: Emily CONGRATULATIONS...My tears flowed when I saw your message. Today in the morning I asked the Virgin to bless you with a pregnancy. We celebrate it as if it were Laura. Receive our congratulations for you and John and for Jul and Lonnie.

I love my Costa Rican family!

Mom got me a really cute Mother's Day gift:

It lights up!

This weekend we're heading up to Madison for Natalie's graduation. We're going to both the chemistry-specific ceremony and the big ceremony (Russell Wilson is the commencement speaker). The weather is not supposed to be too great which stinks for the big ceremony outside at Camp Randall...oh well.

It's time for a new prayer!

13 weeks, 6 days

Oops...I had been doing a good job of writing these posts on the actual day but last Friday I drove up to Cochrane and then had a busy weekend and just didn't get to it.

John and I had an appointment for genetic screening and with the midwife last Friday. We're doing a genetic screening test that will also tell us the baby's gender. So, we'll know if baby is a boy or girl with 95% certainty early next week. The genetic counselor told us not to paint the nursery based on this test but to wait until the 20 week full anatomy ultrasound...ha! We heard the baby's heartbeat at the midwife appointment. Nice and strong at about 150 beats per minute.

In other news, my dad went home from the hospital last Wednesday. Woohoo!

The tulips are finally blooming!

Race Report: Crazylegs Classic 8K

Saturday was the 2016 Crazylegs Classic. Once again, we met Mark for a reunion weekend in Madison. I really love this tradition!

Friday evening John's little sister Natalie had a chemistry award ceremony and poster session so we met her, one of her friends, and John's parents there and then went to dinner. John and I were still recovering from a stomach bug we had last week. Dinner tasted so good but left me feeling not-so-good. I had told Natalie that if I wasn't feeling 100% the next morning, I'd run the race with her. (A friend had talked her into signing up but was running in a faster corral.)

We hung out with Mark and Amber for a bit after dinner Friday evening but went to bed pretty early so we could be up for the race. We drove down to the Kohl Center to pick up our race packets and then took the shuttle to the Capitol. We attended the Wisconsin Alumni Association Member Appreciation breakfast on the Square again. It's such a nice event! A nice warm place to wait for the race to begin, a great view of the Capitol, and all the bagels and bananas you can eat.

I was actually in Corral P but moved back to run with Natalie in Corral W. Mark and Amber ran together in Corral X. We left the breakfast about 9:45 or so to walk to our corrals. As soon as I got to Corral W, the corrals started to move...but it took a good 35 minutes or so until we actually started the race. Natalie did a really good job of keeping a steady pace and only requested that we walk once when we got to the top of Bascom Hill. I was super impressed that she made it all the way up Bascom without stopping or walking.

I've run by myself every year until now and I always get a little bored when we run out by the hospital. This year, Natalie and her friend Kellyn kept me entertained. Our pace was probably a little slower than I would have run by myself but it felt so good.

Running in to Camp Randall

The weather wasn't great. It was cloudy and chilly before the start. I warmed up enough in the first mile or so to take my windbreaker off but it started to rain towards the end. It wasn't terrible weather for running but it was terrible weather for the post-race party. We didn't stick around for too long.

The rest of the weekend was great! We had lunch with Lisa and Conor at Lisa's parents' house, swam in the hotel pool with Jamine, Cade, and Blake, had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings with Jamine, Brandon, and the kids, played some games, and had a delicious brunch at the Old Fashioned on Sunday morning. It's always so fun to be back in Madison!

Distance: 8K
Time: 54:33
Cost: $45
Pros: Reunion tradition, great course through UW-Madison, fun post-race party at Camp Randall, easy transportation to start line, 10am start
Cons: Weather
Would I run it again?: Yes!