Merry Christmas!!!!
We did most of our celebrating on Christmas Eve with Becky's family between their house and our house. We had a great meal prepared by Becky and Fitz, and then headed to the Hoover's house for present opening and gingerbread house building. Becky got her Beach Cruiser Bike in pink that she had asked Santa for, while Fitz got a turkey fryer complete with a turkey to fry. The Gingerbread houses; as usual took on a life of their own; Becky's dad completed a military style pool complete with sharks, and drill sergeants with artillery rifles, Fitz's started out as a skate park and ended up being a tunnel in to the future with bears being lead to the future by swedish fish, and Becky and Bobby worked as a tag team on a more traditional gingerbread house. Hope everyone had a very merry christmas and safe travels over the holidays.

It's a Girl!!

Fitz and Becky found out yesterday afternoon that they will become parents to a girl (so long as the sonogram is correct). She has all 10 fingers, 10 toes, 2 feet, 2 hands, and all the other parts that she should have right now. She is in the 56% for her size at a whopping 9 ounces and she is right on target for all other measurements. Her due date has not been changed so she is still expected in Mid-May. Becky and Fitz have decided to change the nickname they have been using from "Chestnut" or "LadyBug." Becky is very excited about starting to decorate with all pink.

Week 18: Sweet Potato

Your fetus has become amazingly mobile (at least compared to you), passing the hours yawning, hiccuping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking and swallowing. And, baby's finally big enough that you'll be able to feel those movements soon.

So as usual it has been a while since Becky or Fitz has had time to post anything on the blog. We still need to load the photos from Paris....it will get done over Christmas. Everything is going really well for Becky and her pregnancy so far. We have OUR BIG APPOINTMENT 17Dec07, to see all of the parts via ultrasound and find out the sex of the baby. That will be posted also. Becky's bro, Bobby is doing well in Army Boot Camp and is looking forward to coming home for a visit over the holidays. He should be starting his training for his specific field in the new year and he will be pursuing either a diving program or an intelligence program to represent the good ole' USA. Otherwise, no news just keeping it going until the holidays.

Paris bound....so Fitz and Becky have been putting in some long hours at work and even on the weekends, but it's all in preparation for leaving tomorrow at 2pm for France. The bags are packed and the dog is taken care of...so tomorrow through next Tuesday...since us "posh, snooty" Parisian vibes and we'll bring back some sick pictures.

We will let you all figure this one out?! But here is a hint .... 30% of the way to 40 weeks!

Ladies, and Gentlemen....let me introduce you to the BIGGEST DOG contest winner in Cartert County at the PAWS October-Pet Expo. Sophie beat out another Great Dane and a St. Benard to take the title. Fitz and Becky were able to take Sophie over to the Expo after learning that there was a 4pm contest for the Biggest/Smallest Dog. The smallest dog winner was a 1.5lb Chihuahua...luckily there were no "incidents" that occurred between the winners. Becky and Fitz also met other owners of Great Danes and began making play dates for Sophie to get some time to actually be a DOG and play with other dogs her size.

Fitz was also able to get in his October surfing to keep with his resolution. Although it was a short (10min) session consisting of 1 shore break ride....it is done. Becky and Fitz are anxiously counting down the days until they leave for Paris in November.

Well, Sophie got to go to the vet yesterday and BOY was it a wake up call. She is up to a whopping 155lbs....how the heck did that happen...oh wait could it be the dog food plus people food along with no exercise......yup that's it! The worst thing about it is that now her meds have to be up-ed to because she weights so much. Time to start both Fitz and Sophie on a diet and exercise plan to get them back in shape. Prime example....Fitz had pizza for dinner last night so what did Sophie have-you got it- dog food PLUS pizza. Good thing Becky can try to help them out with encouragement. Other then the weight Sophie is fit as a fiddle so here is to the good health of a fat dog!

Well, this past weekend was the 21st annual NC Seafood Festival http://www.ncseafoodfestival.org/ in sunny Morehead City, NC. And for the 8th year in a row Fitz has managed to miss it....this time he was in Miami (South Beach) for a business meeting.

For anyone who had not attended the Seafood Festival it is a MUST DO.....it's like the NC State Fair only with less Red Necks and more Fisherman, not that you can understand what either is saying anyhow. Becky got to spend the weekend with her family and eating her favorite foods....as sea spud (seafood filled baked potato) and sweet corn on the cob drenched in butter. Other highlights for food included: funnel cake, alligator and black eye pea chili, shrimp burgers, crab sandwiches, and any other way there is to cook seafood. There is also a local 8K road race that is point to point, Becky just played the roll of support team for her parents, but they all had a great time. This is the ONLY race known to give a trophy for the person who spends the most time at the beer wagon after the race...no lie, this year is went to a couple who simple plopped down next to the coolers of beer and have a grand time. And they give out super cool door prizes to almost everyone there. Sophie did not get to attend the festival but did got to chase some bug on the beach and then take a long nap in the A/C...what more could a dog ask for?!

Hopefully next year Becky and Fitz can get a crew from Raleigh to come down and enjoy some people watching, and good seafood.

Gosh, is it really Septmeber already??? Where has the summer gone...oh that's right traveling between MHC and RDU for living and working. So, to do a bit of recapping for the last few months. We have been living and working like in May, but the arrangement has been extended to the end of the year. Fitz has kept up his surfing at least once a month since May, the only difference is Becky has been able to tolerate the water temperature also so she has not been able to take photos for posting. In August, Fitz got a chance to surf on both coasts in one day....thanks to the help of our dear friends Karen, John, and Miles. Nothing too exciting, but we did book a trip to Paris in Nov of this year as a late anniversary present to each other.....how romantic ;)!

Becky's Dad and Becky's Brother have signed up to compete in a 75 mile foot race in Canada during August, deemed the "Canadian Death Race." Yes, something as crazy as this actually exists and as for all large races, Becky's Dad needs some sort of body modification to mark the event. The decision was a tattoo was not "man" enough so the boys decided on branding. Now for those of you who don't know; branding is where you pay someone to burn you with hot metal to make an imprint and eventually a scar so an image can be seen on your skin. The photos below show the course of events for the branding. In this case a cautery iron (like they use in surgery), is used to open the flesh and create a wound in the shape of whatever you want. Becky's Dad chose the letter of the race "CDR" and Becky's brother chose the emblem for the race; a skull. And let me just tell you the best part: the whole room smells like burnt flesh and then so do your clothes, it's a great way to return to finish experiments on the Friday before Memorial Day. Enjoy!

So, Fitz did get his surfing in for the months of March and April both on weekends right at the end of the months and in not the nicest weather, but the photos below are of the May surfing where out friend Dustin made the trip to the Crystal Coast for the first time. He had never surfed before and "claimed" to be scared of the ocean, but armed with a 8'6'' fun shape and a wetsuit he braved the waters for his first surfing lesson. He is now hooked and trying to find a board of his own but being over 6ft tall is making that a bit of a challenge. We hope he had a great time and that he will come back for lesson number two sometime.

These are from the surfing in February. The weather was not nice nor were the waves, but when you make a "resolution" for new years you have to keep it. It was in the high 40's with water in the low 40's, no sun, and less then 1ft waves. Notice in picture 3, there is a small orange blob on the left that's a wipe out by Becky's dad on the only good wave of the session (which only lasted 20 minutes or so). Enjoy, hopefully it will be better in March.

Keystone CO....what a beautiful place. Becky was sent to Keystone for a siRNA symposium, and Fitz flew out for the end and then some vacation time after the conference ended. Becky was able to go cross country skiing and down hill skiiing with some co-workers from GSK. Then with Fitz there was more downhilling, and some moonlight snow shoeing. Then we were able to visit Kristian Agnew and his fiancee' Ann in Boulder, CO for the super bowl. If you ever have the chance go and join the mile high and two mile high club!!

SNOW DAY!!

So we woke up this morning at 6:40am to start getting ready for work, only to look outside and see SNOW!! And what do we do....grab the camera, put on some running gear, and take the dog out for a run. Of course the Triangle Area is all freakin' out with the snow, so we are staying home until the roads clear. No need to get in an accident because some Southern can't drive in the snow. Enjoy the photos! We had a nice 20 minute run and Sophie loved the weather...she HATES to be hot, so this was perfect for her.

Fitz has decided for his new year's resolution he wants to surf at least once a month, each month of 2007. We are glad he made this known during one of the most beautiful weekends in January...is was in the 70's, light winds, lots of sun, 55 degree water, and small clean waves. Here are some photos...Sophie did not like the water and hated it when Fitz went in so we had to stand guard on the beach until he was done for the day. Becky's dad, not to be out done by his son-in-law caught a few waves of his own. Then it was off to lunch at El's Drive In... for those who have experienced it, you know why! Surfs up!

We must get more camera savvy…we managed to not take any photos either at Christmas or New Years , but had a blast both places. Christmas was with the Fitzula’s in NY, there was tons of eating and eating, and eating. We did manage a trip into NYC for a quick shopping trip for Becky (it was her Christmas present) where she preceded to buy a Coach purse that had just come in that day. We finished the day with dinner at the 21Cluband seeing the Wedding Singer on Broadway. It was awesome, very 80’s. Any of you “children of the 80’s” need to see it. Then it was out to Morehead City for Christmas with the Hoover clan and some relaxing at the beach. We were able to spring Sophie from the kennel…she was so happy to see us, but she some how ended up with a deep rooted skin infection that caused her some real problems and us some $$$$!! We ended up at the emergency vet on 30Dec06 at 11:30pm with a dog who had a fever and was thought to be in real trouble..but not our Sophie-girl. She just needed some SERIOUS antibiotics and she was “good to go.” Then we were able to spend New Year with at Tara and Matt super special pad with Katie, Dugan, Melissa, Josh, Rachel, Dan, Jen and Neil. We partied like it was 1989 with Meatloaf blearing from MTV. Since ringing in the New Year, Fitz has been a super traveler from Boston, to NY, then Flagstaff, AZ and St. Antonio, TX. More exciting things in our future (hopefully) and pictures too!