The Grays

Mile 17

At the finish line!

Congratulations to Bill, who completed his second marathon today!  He finished the Detroit Free Press Marathon in 3 hours and 43 minutes (8:32 mile), shaving 11 minutes off of last years time (even better than his goal time and with negative splits)!!  Grandpa Bill and I saw him at the start, mile 9, 13, 17, 25.5, and the finish.  I have to say he looked cool and relaxed at every point in the race, perhaps with the exception of the very end.  Bill and I went downtown yesterday to spend time together before the big event.  We stayed at the Westin Book Cadillac hotel while Grandma Judy watched Lilly.  It was a great event and I am SO proud of Bill!  More marathon’s to come, I’m sure…

For the complete set of photos click here.

9 Weeks

12 Weeks

So excited to announce that we are expecing another baby!  Lilly and her sibling will be 21 months apart.  ‘Lumpkin’ (thank you, Uncle Todd, for the name) is due on April 15th – hard to forget because it’s also Tax Day!

I am 13 weeks along today and things are going very well.  I was feeling nauseous accouple times a day from weeks 7 through 11 but it was never very bad and seems to have subsided.  More tired with this one than I was with Lilly – probably because watching a 15 month old seems to be more work than watching 150 high school students!  Definitely have occasional food aversions (my favorite green curry is a thing of the past) and have been craving SALT:  salads with ranch dressing are my new favorite food and -gasp- white rice (we normally only buy brown) is a common lunch.  This is definitely a change from my pregnancy with Lilly, when I craved nothing but fruit and sweet stuff.

We are ‘undecided’ as to whether we will find out the baby’s gender.  Ultrasound is scheduled for the day before Thanksgiving.

This is an especially exciting time because FIVE of the moms in our parenting group are expecting between March and May.  Lots to celebrate this Spring!

Keep posted for changes to our blog and updates!

This morning we ran the Run for the Ribbon for prostate cancer at the Detroit Zoo. It was a beautiful day for the run and I beat my time from last month by another minute. We didn’t actually run through the zoo like we were hoping, but we still plan to participate again next year. A great event!

Lilly’s newest cousin, Tevin Lawrence Sessoms, was born yesterday at 11:40 pm, weighing 6 pounds, 9 ounces and 19 inches long.  We can’t wait to meet him!

Race for the Cure 5K

Yesterday we ran Detroit’s Race for the Cure with Lilly in tow.  We’ve walked the 5K several times but this is the first time that we ran with Lilly.  I knocked 6 minutes off of my previous 5K (Turkey Trot in November) – Bill and Lilly did a great job setting the pace and Lilly flapped, kicked, and squealed her way through the entire race.  She loved it!  We plan to run this every year as a family.  So fun!

My grandmother passed away today at the age of 93.  She had hip surgery last week and did not come out of it well.  She seemed to be doing very well earlier in the week but was transferred to hospice on Friday afternoon.  I was very fortunate to see her Friday morning in one of her last lucid states.  She told me over and over that she loved me and called me her ‘sweet girl’, which she often did.  I was very close to my grandmother.  We had a special relationship and it was difficult to watch her struggle these past four years.  I know that she is in a better place now.

Congratulations to Jerry, Karen & big sister Heidi!  Tessa Elaine Gee was born today at 1:42am, weighing in at 7lbs 12 ounces, 21 inches.

We can’t wait to meet her!

Congratulations to Barry and Laura!  Arbor Victoria was born today at 11:08pm, weighing 5 pounds, 5 ounces.  We can’t wait to meet her!!!

Update:  I visited them in the hospital on Wednesday.  She is a true beauty…and a very lucky to have such great parents!

Bill and I woke up extra early to run the 5K Turkey Trot together.  I began running very recently and had never ran more than 2 miles, but was certainly up for the challenge.  The race began at 8am and it was so much fun!  Most people were dressed for the holidays and people lined the streets to cheer us along.  We look forward to running with Lilly in the stroller next year!

Last week Bill informed me that he had made the decision to become a vegetarian.  We have been cutting meat out of our diets for awhile now but he made the final decision mostly based on health & fitness reasons.  We have been experimenting with vegetarian meals at home and have really enjoyed the Veganomicon cookbook.  Let us know if you have any recipe suggestions!