Wallace Family

Chad's mom was so nice to paint our nursery for us.  She did a great job! Then we bought these monkey wall decals and put them up. I really like how it turned out.  Now we just need our little boy to come join us!

 Two days to go! Or more or less - hopefully less! I thought for sure this baby was coming early, but it doesn't seem like it anymore.  At 37 weeks I was dilated to a 1.5 and 80% effaced. The doctor thought I was going to have no problem going into labor on my own when the time came (hopefully she is still right). Then at 38 weeks I was a 2 and 90% effaced and the baby had dropped and his head was engaged. One night around that time I woke up every 15 minutes with contractions that were hurting my back - not too much though - I could still talk and walk through them, but I thought labor was close. Then after a few hours they all of a sudden stopped. Three days later I was having a lot of menstrual type cramping and not feeling well and again thought it must be close.  Wrong both times.  Then at my 39 week appointment I was still only a 2 and the baby had moved back up to a -3 station, so he is no longer even dropped into the birth canal.  Oh well, he'll come when he's ready. We can't wait!

Come on down, baby!  We are ready and waiting for you! You've got your own room at our place, and lots of people have helped us get things ready for you; we even painted the walls green for you so they match your crib and other furniture. We know you are going to love it here, please come soon, we can hardly wait!!!

I participated in and completed the Kinetic Half Ironman Triathlon on Saturday.  The race was at Lake Anna State Park in Spotsylvania, VA.  This is the same place where I did my very first Triathlon last year, the 'Rumpas in Bumpas.'  My only real goal was to finish the race in a better time than I did my first Half Ironman in New York last year.  I finished the Kinetic Half on Saturday in 5 hours and 16 minutes, which was over an hour faster than my time last year so this was a great success for me. 

This race was the first open water swim of the year for me so it was a little bit tough at first but I completed the 1.2 mile swim okay.  Then it was on to the 56 mile bike ride where I biked at an average of 20.6 miles an hour and finished the ride in a time of 2 hours and 43 minutes.  I consider anything over 20 mph a great time.  To top things off and make the race a great success, I ran the last leg of the race -- the half marathon, which is 13.1 miles -- in 1 hour and 49 minutes.  My legs withstood the biking and running and I even picked up the pace for the last couple miles of the half marathon.  I think all the effort I have put into improving my running skills has paid off. 

The following are pictures in chronological order of the race day, beginning with a volunteer marking my race number on my arm and ending with me crossing the finish line.  Special thanks to my mom who is in town visiting and helping us out right now and woke up at 3:00 am with me to drive to the race and take all these pictures!

Overall it was a great race. I had a great time and scored a new personal best at this distance and at each of the individual legs of the race.


 Putting a wetsuit on is quite an ordeal; and if you don't get it just right, it will be too tight or too lose somewhere on your body and you will be uncomfortable for the duration of the swim.

 My classroom aid, Ms. Rivers, planned a wonderful baby shower for me a couple weeks ago at school! We had pizza and cupcakes, visited, and opened presents. Chad and I were overwhelmed at the generosity of my fellow teachers and friends. We received so many wonderful things and can't thank everyone enough! 

This is me opening the most adorable baby book - jungle themed to match our nursery and everything.

Jas, one of my favorite students from last year, is on my left. She came to my shower with her family.

This is the gift from Melanie, another one of my favorite students from my first year- Jasmine's sister.

Apparently, it's a baby shower tradition to wear a silly baby shower hat.

Edible arrangement and flower bouquet from Ms. Rivers - she was so generous in planning and making this special for me.

 My good friends Jenny and Tana planned the perfect baby shower for me a few weeks ago.  They decided to make it a school theme since I'm a teacher and it was so cute!

After snack time was "recess" or game time. For the first game, I showed everyone a picnic basket full of assorted baby items and then left the room. Everyone thought they were going to be quizzed on the items that were in the basket, but instead Jenny asked everyone questions about what I looked like/was wearing that day.


Next, we played baby shower Price is Right, which was perfect because that is probably my favorite game show.  Jenny had everyone guess that prices of the assorted baby items from the previous games. I was happy to realize that my guess was way too high and baby things are a little cheaper than I thought.

For "singing time," we played a fun game where we got into 2 groups and then went back and forth naming a song we could think of that had the word "baby" or "babe". We kept going back and forth until a team couldn't think of a song and then the opposite team won.

Amber, Chelsea, Jillaine, Andrea, and Megan

Kim, Kaylyn, me, Rachel, Emily

 Next was "Show and Tell" when I opened presents. Thank you so much to all my great friends who were so generous. I got so many adorable and useful things.  I can't wait to use them!  Thanks everyone who came - it meant a lot to have so many great friends there!


 Here are some more of the cute decorations by Jenny and Tana.  Thanks again for all of your hard work and thoughtfulness in planning the perfect shower. I can't thank you enough!

Jenny had everyone write a little good luck message or message of advice to us and then she put it in this cute book. Great idea!