Update from 1811

Hello Everyone,

I appreciate Emily going to the effort to make these blogs possible. I know I need to do a better job of corresponding. Emily put on the most weight in the past month and a half. She really has a tummy. You wouldn't know it by looking at the rest of her, but she is very pregnant. It is neat to see the baby move the belly with a good punch or kick. Emily sleeps a lot. She doesn't seem to have too many cravings, except for the time she ate the whole box of Klondike Bars. Emily is good to give credit where credit is due and often blames "Muffin" (for that is what we call her before she gets her real name), for most of the things she does now that she never did before. I now accompany Emily on all trips to the store because the cart can get fairly heavy, and so our "dates" are less extravagant than they use to be but a lot of fun. We saw a really funny baby-prep video the other day by a woman from New York with a heavy accent. She was actually quite hilarious. We got a real kick out of learning about birthing without being bored or overwhelmed by mindless or gruesome detail.

I am enjoying getting back into shape. It has been an interest of mine for a while to get back in shape and maybe give Boston a try in much better shape. This requires me to resume my high school schedule of early rising. Who knows how long that will last when the Baby comes, but I enjoy it for now and look forward to setting some goals. I ran a half-marathon the other week. It was tough, but I convinced myself that I had come a long way and then it was easier not to give up. I have a training partner and we routinely run at about 5:30 in the morning. I average 40-50 miles a week.

Work seems to be going well. We are very busy and the months seem to fly by. Although time goes by fast because we are busy things move pretty slow in the real estate world as it relates to projects. Especially in a smaller metropolitan area, but I am making contacts and hoping to find opportunities wherever I can. For now I am just glad I am not obligated to build out a condo project in downtown Miami. The Real Estate Market and Credit Crunch have been closely intertwined and so it has been an interesting time to be in the industry.

Our house is coming together. Emily is a master decorator and the house feels much more liveable than when we bought it. Back then it was still a nice home, but you could see the impact of years of renting on the premises. We have unified the color in the house, put up window hardware and put together some nice furnishings. Sister Emily came and visited and we are excited for any and all to come and visit. As soon as it stops snowing here and drys up for a couple of days I will be happy to cut the grass on our front lawn. It is the perfect size front lawn, I can mow it in five minutes. The backyard is another story. Well, thats all from here for now.

Love,

Ike and Em