Updates :)

I was just noticing it had been a while since we had updated.  Travis seems to be doing much better and recovering well.  Not sure if it was the heat or not, but he is back to running quickly and biking more and he feels just fine - he has agreed that this will be the last full ironman for a while just because we'll have a little one here soon, but he'll still figure out some races or something for next year.  We usually set the schedule in the fall and we'll probably race switch now, since one person will be watching the baby, but we can always arrange a sitter or daycare for a morning if we both want to do the same race!

Pregnancy wise, we are 25 weeks and 2 days.  I am definitely starting to gain more weight, I am now at almost 15 pounds, when I was just at 9 pounds a few weeks ago.  I have been going to the gym more, but I haven't been doing any heaving lifting.  A lot of fluid comes in the 6th month so I hear, so I'll be talking to my doctor about that next appointment.  They say you're supposed to gain between 25 - 35 pounds and I was on the "very low" end last time, but this time, I think I'll be in the middle range!  I'll probably weigh more than Travis, he's trying to get down a couple more pounds so that he can be faster (rolling my eyes here, give me a break...).  I don't think the difference between 158 and 155 is that big of a deal, but obviously, I am wrong.  And if it is 10, 15, 20 minutes, we're not pro racing here, but I'm probably bitter about weight numbers now and I'm definitely jealous of biking.  Anyway, I have my glucose screening for gestational diabetes at my next apptmt on August 11th.

We are heading out to Des Moines next weekend to visit family, so that'll be fun and a break from the heat!  Although it has been hot here and we've had 76% humidity, which is INSANE for Phoenix!  But then again, it is "monsoon season" down here and 10 minutes of rain can flood places.  We don't really have a great drainage system in place.  Oh, and Lindsey and Karen are throwing my first official shower on Saturday morning, so I am excited for that and to see a bunch of people that morning.  I am also going to bring my pregnancy/baby scrapbook that I've started.  Yes, that's right, I actually started a creative project, it's a miracle.  Hopefully it is finished by the time baby comes and I don't get bored ;)

This is my last week of teaching summer school - it flew by, I can't believe tomorrow is August already!  I feel like the baby will be here super soon.  Once school starts I'll be a lot more busy than I am now, so I would just like to hold on to these days forever...

Well, not too much else.  We've been praying for this little guy everyday and God has been really good to us and we've been staying on our budget, so hopefully we will be done with baby step 3 (fully funded emergency fund of 3 - 6 months expenses) right around the time baby is being born.  And we've already started a baby fund - to open a college 301b fund you need to start with $250 and we are planning on contributing $50 - $75 a month until we can contribute a little more.  Pretty sure college costs aren't decreasing anytime soon.  We've also been able to increase our regular tithing and giving, so that's been really rewarding for us too.  Hopefully we can take on a volunteer project again sometime soon.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

-Travis, Holly y el bebé

Travis is doing okay!

I wanted to get a quick update on the blog.  It appears that Travis has a bacterial infection behind his sinuses, so he's on some strong steroids and antibiotics.  He is still pretty run down, but he's been taking the medication for 2 days now, so hopefully he will start to feel better soon.  He has an apptmt with an ENT (ears, nose, throat) doctor tomorrow.  We're still wondering about the heart issue, so we will probably get a print out of his EKG or just do another one and take it to a cardiologist.  Travis went to bed early tonight and we will hopefully be back to our Monday night small group in a couple of weeks.  Thanks again for all of the well wishes and prayers!

Travis in hospital

Well, Travis has been having a lot of chest pains and headaches the last few weeks. He's been really tired lately, I knew that much, but I didn't know about the pains. He also mentioned that he hasn't been thinking very clearly, as in, able to think clearly, so he went into the clinic today. His EKG was irregular and so they sent him to the ER to get a cat scan and other testing done. He told me he wants me to stay here away from the sick people, but if he is still there in a while, I am going to take him something to eat or read.  I guess there's nothing I can really do for him, but it's freaking me out. People had said he might have valley fever or heat exhaustian the last few weeks.  I asked him to take it easy, but he didn't really stop too much of the activity, except the swimming.  Anyway, I will post again, once I know something more.  Thanks for all the prayers and positive thoughts. 

23 weeks in, school and training

Wow - 23 weeks.  I feel as though I had a growth spurt over the last few days, well, the baby did, but of course, it shows up in me.  I gained 2 pounds the last 2 days, which puts my total weight gain to 9 1/2 pounds.  My doctor isn't worried about me one bit, she said I am on the very low end, but I am still working out and eating healthy and she said for my body type it was just fine and that I am measuring right on track (a few days early at this point).  Maybe those few days will turn into a week or more by the end ;)  Here's a recent pic of me.  I have to admit, I was reading an article about women/moms that were bored with pregnancy and what they missed about not being pregnant and answers were along the following lines: I miss my in-shape body, I'm not being able to be intimate in certain positions, growing an extra chin (LOL, I totally feel like that now), not being able to bend over or shave and not feeling sexy.  So after I read that, I laughed 1, bc I felt better and 2 bc I think some people really enjoy pregnancy, but others are just okay with it and don't enjoy or not enjoy it.  I also talked to my doctor about that yesterday.  I told her I didn't feel pregnant enough bc I wasn't complaining or being demanding or getting all hormonal on Travis (and believe me, I spent a whole 4 weeks in Peru with one other woman and even she said to me that I wasn't hormonal/demanding or acting very different, and that was at the end of the 1st trimester, beginning of the 2nd), so I just asked why the pregnancy didn't seem to be "affecting" me, other than the whole chest/stomach growth and the peeing all the time.  The doctor told me there are just those people in life that act like every day is hard or have to complain/whine/have look at me/poor me syndrome, which really made me laugh.  Travis told me thank you last night for not "milking" the pregnancy...  hmm... maybe I need to start "milking" this thing.  Well, enough of that, here's my pic at 23 weeks:

The baby's uncle-to-be, Cooper, mentioned that it was a good thing I am posing in front of that bike and that he's gotta start riding soon afterwards.  I am thinking that the Riley men are too obsessed with biking/triathlons a majority of the time, so this baby is going to be a dancer or a dramatist or a painter.  Okay, not really, but soccer and swimming are definitely on the list.  Obviously he'll be going biking with Travis I'm sure as soon as he's able to - little kids love to do what their parents do, so I'm sure he'll want to jump on that bike day 2.  And Travis does want to get a burley and he can pull that baby around all he wants, lol!  Hopefully I'll start biking more again once I am able to, but I definitely have my heart set on a jogging stroller :)

Travis was sick for a while, we're not sure if it was heat exhaustian or valley fever or what, he was just pretty tired and run down, so he took a few days off and he seems to be doing better.  He also finally went to the dentist and got this mouthguard thing he was supposed to get bc of his jaw growth - he has really grinded down his teeth and was in danger of starting to crack them.  He put it off bc it costed $500, but I guess he has needed it for 2 years now and I was shocked when I found out...  so needless to say, I told him to make an appointment.  Buy more bike/triathlon stuff versus health... tough question, I know.  I guess you can still bike and train with cracked or missing teeth, but I don't know how much fun eating would be.  I guess the whole process will take a while, with braces and then a surgery (that sadly isn't covered by insurance) and Travis won't be able to eat solid food for about a month, but health still comes first.

School is going well - I can't believe I've already been teaching for 2 weeks.  It's awesome and I love it.  Except for the disaster student that I have.  I could write a 1000 posts on him and the stuff he tries to pull.  He has been asking absolutely ridiculous questions the last few days trying to pretend he now cares about the class, sorry, dude, you're still failing.  It's just one of those things where he asks about the difference between "from" and "to" (that would be "de" and "a" in Spanish) and other weird stuff that he should've learned in 101.  Not to mention he's married to a Mexican woman who is bilingual...  but I'm not going to go there.  I love the rest of the class and we get to play games, listen to music, watch music videos and learn grammar in a fun way :)  I also got picked to be a part of a special project at the end of the month with fulbright TAs.  I am very excited about that, it will be a great experience.

Well, sorry it had been so long, I kept forgetting to update this thing.  Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

21 1/2 weeks

Well, Travis says my stomach is growing a lot, but I don't know, I think I can't tell too much anymore, so we took another picture in the same shirt...

So maybe it is a little bigger, but I can't tell too much, but I do know that my stomach now gets in the way of putting away some of the dishes that I can't reach bc of the counter and I do know that standing on my feet for a while wears me out more than it used to.  And I do know that sleeping is a little harder than usual, even with a pillow between my legs. 

This is a current picture of me and Travis together (he told me I needed to start raising my head more in my pictures and that I have a natural "tendency" to lower my head.  Whatev.)  I have to admit, I am definitely a little self-conscious of my new shape.  Even though I know something amazing is growing in there.  Even though I know that I won't be this shape forever, it's just a change.  I talked to a few other pregnant people that were workout a holics and they said the same thing, so I don't feel as bad as I did.  And I'll keep going to the gym and taking it easy.  Enough about my new body.

Travis and I sold some stuff on craigslist this weekend, which was kind of fun bc I got to post the stuff.  We forgot we had some pretty big expenses coming up and I haven't had a paycheck for 2 months.  We did decide to get my parking permit renewed which is a huge $750 expense, but Travis really thinks it's worth it bc the car will be covered and it's right across the street from my building. 

Travis got a professional bike fit this weekend, complete with video, strength exercises and a fitness evaluation.  He said he can already tell that it made a huge difference. 

I started teaching today!  I have 9 or 10 students and it looks like it is going to be a great class.  It's only a month long and I teach everyday - the class is longer than usual so it is different to plan for a longer class, but the first day went well. I have 7 guys and only 2 girls and normally I only have 2 or 3 guys in class of 25+. 

I hope everyone has a good rest of the week!

The ever growing belly (and chest...)

I need to stop taking these pictures late at night when I am so tired, I feel like I don't look very happy, but I am, just tired!  Here I am at 21 weeks: 

And here's a picture of the glider/ottoman that I put together last night (you can see it in the back of the above picture).  We love it too!  Travis and I both tested it out and it's super soft and both sides have pockets on the armrests.  It was $50 cheaper on walmart.com! 

We missed going to small group last night bc Travis' boss called a last minute meeting, so we were bummed about that.  He didn't get home until well after 8.  Oh, and on Tuesday night we went to Kira and Evelyn's place for a "beer run", it was a 5 mile run and everyone actually went and stopped and got a beer, except for Travis and this other guy, they were both stunned people were going to drink and keep going...  I stayed at the house and then we BBQ'd and hung out.  That was a late night - we didn't get home until 10:45, but I didn't have to work the next day, obviously, Travis did.  I feel like we're still both catching up on sleep.  Have a good rest of the week, everyone!!