Two Months Old

Happy Two Month Birthday Sophia!


Here is a picture from her one month birthday. Look how much she has grown!

Star Wars, Flippers, Legos & Red Robin...

...must be a birthday in the Bellamy house! Mason's 7th Birthday is tomorrow and we celebrated tonight by going to Red Robin with the Grandma Lisa, Grandpa Jay, Papa Ron & Auntie Ali. As Mason would say, "We celebrate all birthdays at Red Robin". His favorite part is when they sing happy birthday. We typically pass the time waiting for our food by counting how many times we hear the birthday song. Mason smiles every time he hears it.

Happy Birthday Mason! We love you so much!! You are a bright, smart, kind and caring young man. Thank you for being a great big brother to Sophia and an amazing son!!





Mason put on his new snorkel gear as soon as we got home tonight. He LOVES it and can't wait to bring it to Florida this summer. Thanks G&G!


Once we got the snorkel gear on, we spent the rest of the night playing with our new toys. Mason beat me at a rowdy game of Trouble (the Star Wars version, of course) and we decided which lego set we were going put together this weekend. I am pretty sure Mason is having a fun birthday. Before he headed up to bed he said, "Today was a great day" :) I couldn't agree more.

There is one more present to open in the morning. Mason has been guessing what it could be. He thinks it is a Star Wars Double Light Saber (he is right, btw), but I told him it is a Barbie Car. :) He smiled and headed off to bed. Nighty Night.

Babies on Couches

Over the past two weekends we have had so much fun hanging out with other babies. And the funniest thing to do with a group of babies is to line them up on a couch and take their picture.

Here is a picture of all of the babies at my best friend Heather's baby shower. The meltdowns, missing socks and babies tipping over make this picture super cute. Babies born from Jan 16th - May 1st (in order)


Yesterday we had a reunion with all of the parents from our birthing class. It was wonderful to see all of the parents again and especially great to see all of the little babies. The babies in this picture were born Feb 14 - March 31 (not in order). Sophia is the youngest of the group.

Playing

Sophia had a very busy morning playing with all of her toys.

Last week we got a new play mat and she loves it!




She isn't a big fan of her bumbo chair, but she will sit there for a few minutes without fussing.


And all of that playing makes her very sleepy.

Road Trip!

Last weekend the Bellamy family took a road trip to Vancouver, BC to watch Jeff run the Vancouver marathon. It is about a 3 hour car ride, but to Mason it seemed like we were driving all the way to Florida. He probably asked "How much longer?" or "Are we almost there?" about fifty times :)

We stayed at the Four Seasons, the host hotel for the marathon, and when we arrived we were greeted with a lot of goodies. Mason was able to pick a toy out of the toy box at the front desk, they placed a basket full of baby products/supplies in our room for Sophia and there was a bag full of running stuff for Jeff. Fancy! Within 15 minutes of getting into our room Mason had snuggled himself into his bed and was channel surfing (something he doesn't typically get to do at home). He was in heaven with his new toy in one hand, a squishy ball he named Bob, and the remote in the other hand. Here is a pic of Mason zoned out watching TV...



The next day we went to the Vancouver aquarium and the marathon expo. It was a beautiful day in Vancouver which made the aquarium very fun. We were able to watch a couple of different shows including Beluga Whales, Dolphins and Sea Lions. Very fun. We all agreed that the dolphin show was the most entertaining.






Sunday was the marathon and Jeff had an amazing run. Here is a pic of Mason and Sophie cheering him on at the finish line.





Overall we had a great road trip, but realized we need to optimize how we pack. When we checked out of the hotel the bellman told us we had 17 pieces of luggage. Yes, 17 pieces of luggage for 4 people and 3 nights. Crazy.

Finished Vancouver Marathon

Finished the Vancouver Marathon in 3:50 today. It was a few minutes off my goal but about half an hour faster than New York. I'm happy with the result. Although the last few miles were tough it was much less painful than New York.

At the start of the day it looked like the weather was going to be perfect. It was cool and dry; right around 50 degrees. It started sprinkling early in the race; no problem. Then it started really raining. The rain came harder and harder and continued through about mile 18 or so. At times my sunglasses were so fogged up and wet that I could barely see a thing. I didn't have a pocket to put them in and didn't want to carry them in my hand so I just ran blind for a while.

I felt great through most of the run. No pain. No problem running my goal pace. At about mile 21 I started losing energy and slowing down a bit. At mile 23 I got a cramp in my left hamstring that brought me to a screeching halt. I stopped and stretched it quickly, then started running again. I found I could run with a shorter than usual stride without cramping. That muscle threatened to cramp on every incline for the rest of the race, which included a long, steep bridge in the 24th mile. My self-talk switched from something like, "Stay on pace. Run strong." to, "Just keep running. Run whatever pace you need to to keep that muscle from cramping."

Other than that hamstring threatening to cramp, the last 3 miles felt pretty good. Again, SO much less painful and much stronger than New York. Definitely an encouraging run today as I continue toward my goal of qualifying for and running Boston in April 2012.

Many thanks to our family and friends for all the well wishes and support!

Jeff