Hrrmm Been a while. Too much to type up right now, but for those inclined, I've been using twitter a lot lately. Email me if you'd like the url. (Don't want to post it to keep the spam-scrapers from grabbing it...)

What a difference a year makes

What a difference a year makes. Last year, Noah was thrilled to get his picture taken with Santa Claus. This year, not so much.

Bike Commuting Again (Again!!)

I've been riding my bike to work sporadically over the last several years. I'll do it for a few weeks or months, then something comes up and I drop off again. Then a few months later, I'll start up again. Well, I'm on the upswing of that momentum at the moment. I rode to work a couple times over the last 2 weeks, and then again this past Monday and Wednesday. And I'm riding in tomorrow morning. I'm hoping to ride every other day (MWF) for a few weeks to get my legs and rear end back into saddle shape, then switch back to riding whenever I don't need to drive for other reasons.

When I rode in on Wednesday, I had one of those moments that makes you pause for a second before you see the reality of the situation. I was going on an uphill section, doing about 14 MPH. Since I've been off the bike for a few months, I was feeling pretty good about that speed on an uphill section. Then all of a sudden, this cyclist whooshes past me like I was standing still. Like, he must have been going at least 20. I got all despondent. But my train of thought brought me around eventually. It was like this: "sigh. I'm fat. I mean, I weigh 245 now, which is the heaviest I've ever been in my life. I mean, I must weight a good 70, or even 80 pounds more than that guy. Heck, I might even weigh 95 pounds more than him as short as he was. And this stupid bag with my clothes and lunch in it isn't exactly filled with Helium either. Huh. I bet with everything totaled up, I'm riding with at least 100 pounds more than that guy. Huh. He has a 100 pound weight advantage on me, and he only passed me going that fast? I guess I'm not doing so bad after all!!"

What makes it more challenging to ride into work right now is that we're trying to sell our house, so we've "de-cluttered." Which means my bike isn't kept here. I keep it at a friend's place down the hill in my neighborhood. I have a key to her place and she doesn't mind me getting the bike whenever I need it (as long as I give her a call real quick just to be sure it's an ok time of course). But it's still a hassle. With Noah toddling around, I can't just keep it in the living room leaning against the fish tank. He'll pull it over on himself. But it's not horrible either. Just another challenge for me to either whine and complain about, or shut up and do it. For now, I'm just shutting up and doing it...

more pics

It's been so long since I sent out pics of Noah. So, here ya go... http://seenoah.shutterfly.com/action/?a=0AbtWzFy0ZM2Lnw&notag=1

You know your kid is cute when...

...your wife gets his picture taken with Santa at the mall and the photographer asks if they can put the picture up to encourage other parents to get their kids' picture taken with santa.



As one friend said, "He looks like Santa's cute grandson!"

brrrrrr

I rode to work yesterday in probably the coldest weather of the season so far. Overall, it wasn't too bad. I had my long sleeved jersey, then a regular jersey, then my wind vest, an outer shell of my LL Bean Mountain Parka Jacket, and finally long fingered cycling gloves. So my upper body was quite warm. The night before, Heidi and I went to Tower Records' going out of business sale and stopped at Performance Bicycles and I got some long legged therma-fleece tights. So, my legs were pretty comfortable. Honestly, I could have used some windblock on the front sides of the legs, but they weren't too bad.

So, why do I title the post "brrrrrr" if I keep saying how warm everything was? It was my toes. I only have one pair of cycling shoes. And they have nice vents up around the toes to help circulate some air around my feet in the summer so they aren't soaked in sweat. Well, that works well and great in the summer and all, but it kind of sucks in the winter. Going 22 MPH into a 10MPH wind (I was going downhill...) when it's 42 degrees out is a significant wind chill. My toes hurt when I got to work. The warm shower did a nice job of warming them up, though.

I either need to get some booties of one kind or another, or alternately, remember to cover those vents with some tape.

(Although this post looks like a product endorsement/placement ad, I received no money... ;-)

hanging with Mr Stultz

Noah's only 2 months old, but at times it's like I don't remember what our lives were like before him. I was a little worried about the change, honestly. Like, we wouldn't be able to stay out with friends till all hours of the night on a whim. We wouldn't be able to go to a movie without planning ahead for a baby sitter and such. Even eating out would become this hassle where we don't wanna be "those people" with the screaming baby. But you know what? I haven't felt inconvienenced by anything like that once yet. But it's only been 2 months. Ask me again in 4 more...

On to more pics!!

While he's not standing on his own, Noah is supporting a good bit of his own weight when we hold him up. He's holding his head up on his own pretty well, too. Here's Mommy showing Daddy what strong legs he has.


Bath time is a fun experience at our house too. This was his first real bath. As in, the first time we sat him in water, and he wasn't suspended above the water in his "baby bath sling."



He's also smiling a lot now. Just like his mom, he smiles with his eyes. But he also smiles normally too.