Goodbyes and hellos

Ann Arbor is a great place to live. It's a vibrant, intellectually-stimulating town, full of fabulous people. But one of the downsides of Ann Arbor is that many of its residents are simply transients. People from all over Michigan, the Midwest, and even the world come to the University of Michigan for graduate study, and then, after they finish their M.S., Ph.D., M.D., or fellowship, most of them leave. Melissa and I fit right into that mold. Yet, even though we'll be moving away in a little over two months, it's still not easy to say goodbye to friends moving away before us. Yesterday we spent much of the day helping our dear friends Geoff and Ashley move out of their Ann Arbor residence. Our time with them here was relatively short, but our friendships with them will be long lasting. We will really miss you both, Geoff and Ashley!

But while we must say goodbye to friends, we can say hello to other things--most notably, Melissa's baby bump! She is now 15 weeks pregnant. Her days are still touch-and-go, punctuated by moments when she feels pretty good and then later by moments when…well, she doesn't. We're hopeful that she'll continue to see improvement in the coming days. After all, we'd really like for her to begin to actually enjoy growing this Peanut!

Tough Little Peanut

So still not feeling well and I will be 15 weeks on Friday. Unfortunately I have another bacterial infection and have to start round 2 of antibiotics this morning which tends to increase nausea. My doctor also encouraged me to increase my fluid intake while I take said antibiotics. So I literally have a timer to tell me to drink every hour and my bucket next to me for the increased nausea. My little Peanut is one tough little kiddo.

A grand old time in Grand Rapids

Last weekend, for the second consecutive year, my parents Bill and Cheryl and their friends Bob and Pam met us in Grand Rapids to participate in the Fifth Third River Bank Run. This year, my sister Britani and her husband Charlie joined us as well. After a delicious and filling pre-race meal at Pietro's on Friday evening, we woke up at around 5:00am to a cool, drizzly Saturday morning. Those of us running the 5k at 7:00am endured the heaviest rain of the day (mostly during our 1st mile), but it pretty much rained all morning. Here are some photos from the race:

5k runners warming up indoors

Dad and I during the last mile of the 5k

I was clearly enthused...

...as was Britani

Pam and Mom lining up for the 5k walk

 All of the wet and tired racers post-race

After the races and some warm showers, we all headed out to Frederik Meijer Gardens for the afternoon. We had a delicious lunch in their Taste of the Gardens Café, and we enjoyed seeing all of the exotic plants. (As always, my favorite area was the Carnivorous Plant House.) We spent a good deal of time goofing around in the Lena Meijer Children's Garden, before taking an entertaining (though cold and windy) tram tour of the outdoor sculpture park, featuring an older gentleman, who liked to put his foot in his mouth, as our tour guide. Here are some of the highlights:

 A pitcher plant in the Carnivorous Plant House

An artificially blue orchid

Britani and Charlie in the tropical conservatory

Red-legged honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus)

Melissa and I in the tropical conservatory

Britani posing in front of a statue that resembles her as a child

Brit and Dad

Brit and Charlie creeping in the mini hedge maze

Pam and Mom next to a sleeping dragon

Charlie and Brit on a cool suspension bridge in a tree house

Mom and I on the same bridge

Scary-looking giant beaver with a sharp implement

We're already looking forward to River Bank Run next year, and we hope that everyone else is too!

I was wrong

So I thought that I was in the clear, but I think between the cold and wet weekend, less sleep and rich food...I found out I was wrong. I did not keep my dinner down, nor anything that was leftover in the morning. I think this reverse in my digestion has a lot to do with possibly coming down with a cold since the coughing seems to be setting off the bucket needs. Oh well, the weekend was great and an update on that is coming soon.

Could I finally be able to eat again?

So I woke up feeling okay...which has happened before. But what really surprised me was that I continued to feel okay. I started to wonder if I could eat a little larger variety...so I ate a cucumber! Well, not the whole thing, but a couple of slices and it stayed down okay. I was so excited I did a little happy dance right there in our kitchen, which Duncan did not know what to think of. As the day went on, the nausea usually becomes more and more apparent but even a little queasiness was so much better than what I was feeling. I know that I should be excited and I should finally feel relieved, but to be honest, I am AFRAID that it will come back with a vengeance. It has happened before when I thought Zofran was a drug given directly to me by God, and a week later heaved into my own royal throne. I guess only time will tell.

Changing Expectations

So I woke up to another Monday morning and as much as I am having to constantly battle to keep food in my system, I have made sure to enjoy the sunshine! Being pregnant is not for the wimpy especially if you get morning sickness and there are definitely days I wonder if I really am tough enough to get through this. I know that the end result is completely worth it and I am looking forward to enjoying this pregnancy. Its funny, but before we were pregnant I had ideas of what I would be doing to make sure this baby would be as healthy as possible. I have been drinking organic milk for months and varying my diet with different fruits and vegetables. I thought for sure that I would be able to continue with such a healthy and clean diet, but this baby is already teaching me to not be a stickler to plans. My diet has been almost completely brown with the exception of Gatorade, which is definitely not a natural color =) Instead of salads, fresh fruit and whole grains I am eating Goldfish crackers, toast, and Cheese-its.

I also thought that I would be able to exercise throughout my entire pregnancy. I ran 8 miles two days before we found out we were pregnant, but after a week, I could not even make it a mile without gasping for air and my chest revolting. (By my chest I do not mean my heart either).  I am again changing plans, and now Duncan is a wonderful workout buddy on our daily walks. It will be strange to be at the 5/3rd River Bank Run and not running, but I know that I am doing something else just as worth while. I do continue to hope that as my energy comes back that I will be able to use the many prenatal exercise DVDs I have from the library and begin to eat a little more variety.

A busy spring

It's been a very busy spring for Melissa and me here in Ann Arbor. For the past several months, I have been pushing hard to finish writing my dissertation, often working 10-12 hour days, six days a week. But it all paid off, as I successfully defended my Ph.D. on April 21, 2011. It was fantastic seeing Melissa, my parents, my in-laws, my sister-in-law Lynsey, and many other friends in the crowd as I presented some of the highlights of my research from the past six years. But it might have been even better feasting on burgers from Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger and cupcakes from The Cupcake Station to celebrate afterwards. :)

However, this news pretty much pales in comparison to what's been going on for my wonderful wife. While I've spent the past few months writing about fossil whales, Melissa's been busy growing a human! She's currently a little over 12 weeks pregnant, making our little Peanut scheduled to arrive around November 19 (give or take a few days). We got our first glimpse of Peanut (see below) and heard his/her little beating heart just two days before my defense--talk about a monumental week!

 

In general, Melissa has been doing ok, though for the past 5-6 weeks, she's been stricken with pretty bad morning/afternoon/evening/basically-all-the-time sickness. For a while, she couldn't seem to stomach anything (including crackers, soup, and even cupcakes!), but thanks to the wonders of modern medicine, she's been able to eat more as of late. Unfortunately, she's still feeling pretty crummy most of the time. We're hopeful that she'll start to feel better very soon. We just keep trying to remind ourselves that when we hold that little bundle of joy in our arms in the fall, it will all be worth it!

While spring has definitely been busy, summer doesn't look like it will offer us many breaks! My job as assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Olivet Nazarene University begins at the end of August, but we'll be sticking around Ann Arbor until the end of July. In the mean time, I'm teaching two spring term biology labs at UM, while Melissa will continue working for the Department of Anesthesia at the UM Hospital until the middle of July. We'll be heading out to Illinois to look for housing in about a month or so--hopefully we'll find a place that works for us and our soon-to-be growing family. Your thoughts and prayers and we navigate the weeks and months ahead would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome to the Bebej Blog!

 

Hi everybody! If you're reading this, you probably know that Melissa and I will be experiencing a lot of change in our lives during the coming year. So we thought this was the perfect opportunity to start up a blog to keep our friends and family in the loop about what's going on in our lives. Please check back often or subscribe to the blog (either by RSS feed or by simply typing your email address into the "Follow by Email" box at the top of the page), and don't hesitate to post some comments as well!