Texas Sate Time Trial Cycling Championships

During our morning puppy parade two weekends ago, KZog and I encountered the Texas State Time Trial Cycling Championships. Conducted this year by the North West Cycling Club, they chose to organize the ride to begin and end in our little town. We knew nothing of the event before we saw dozens of cyclists corralled in the parking lots of the middle and high schools near our house.

Why the middle-of-nowhere? Or, at least, why our middle-of nowhere? The race organizers actually made a solid selection in their 40 kilometer route, as the powers that be had this particular road recently resurfaced; it also has light morning weekend traffic, save for the occasional farm implement.

As many know, KZog and I met at a bicycle shop and have spent many a mile on the road/trail together. We enjoy watching races as well, and what better venue that practically one's own backyard?

KZog loaded up Pepperoni Pizza and a cooler, and we drove about one third of the way from the start to set up our vantage point. As an "out and back" race, we caught riders both near the beginning and near the end of the race. I took the opportunity to practice my camera skills on moving people/objects. Although I appreciate the convenience of the auto setting, I have found that I typically take better - clearer, more carefully framed - photos if I take the time to focus and choose my settings manually. I figured snapping photos of cyclists traveling upwards of 35 miles per hour would offer sufficient rehearsal for taking photos of a mobile LZog.

In the meantime, I still take lots of pictures of my current favorite subject:

Roni Rearin' to Go

Roni So Over This

Stationary wildflowers prove good for honing focusing skills, too:

Texas Summer Wildflowers

Texas Summer Wildflower 

We watched the team time trial, hence the tight packs of four riders. Some of the teams really whizzed down the road, sounding more like cars on the highway than two-wheeled human-powered machines.

Heading Out

Flying Tight 

Catching Up

Happy weekend, all!

XO,
JZog
Click Here for the Herzogenrath Baby Registry 

A Nursery Project and the First Special Deliveries for LZog

As anyone who has talked with me for more than ten minutes realizes, I am a person of many projects. Even though I have only today wrapped up the final edits to the dissertation for submission to the thesis office, I have several somethings at various stages of progress in preparation for LZog. Hats, leg warmers, blankets, newborn gowns - all begun but very few finished. Though my focus has mostly settled on wearables,  it seems one of the first questions anyone asks (following "When are you due?" and "Is it a boy or a girl?") involves the theme of the nursery.

Theme??? I find it funny to respond with something like: "Sure! The theme is 'This is where LZog will sleep, along with some guitars and other random stuff that won't fit in a closet.'" Most people - women AND men, I should add -  have not shared my cavalier attitude on the matter.

In fairness, I should explain that we do have a couple of factors that prevent us from adopting a whole hog approach to decorating. First, of course, we do not know how much longer we will stay in this house. It does not make sense to emblazon the walls with jungle murals only to have to paint over it in the next six months. Second, which bothers other people more than it does us, we have decided not to discover or divulge the sex/gender of LZog. According to any baby store and many people who have had babies, this is the deciding factor in how one decorates a nursery. Nonsense, I say.

While I have refrained from fully capitulating to slathering a theme all over the nursery, I have developed a couple of ideas that I plan to incorporate into LZog's room. The one of which I am most proud involves creating an area dedicated to baby photos of the immediate family. Not only will this keep the family close, but we will also see: from whom exactly did LZog acquire that nose/eyes/hair/expression? We think there lies a contest in this as well - whoever LZog favors most wins the privilege of a year of diaper changing, courtesy of LZog . . .  Maybe?

So far our quest for photos has proven successful, but we have a few more to collect before I begin organizing them.

In other baby news, yesterday LZog received their first special delivery! Aunt DBom and Uncle GBom (a branch of the Missouri Zogs) sent the adorable Snugabunny Bouncer, to encourage a restful LZog, and a Banana Brush (toothbrush), to help keep LZog's teeth clean. Thank you, thank you!

XO,
JZog
Click here for our Baby Registry

It Takes a (Virtual) Village

As most already know, I have returned safe and sound to the US from Doha. My time there has officially ended and now KZog and I have settled into a mad, mad mode of preparing our current house for sale and considering where we will settle down in anticipation of LZog's (Little Zog) arrival and my entrée onto the academic job market for fall 2015.

As we move into LZog's third trimester, many have asked if someone will host a baby shower. While some have offered, because of the far-flungedness of most of our friends and family, we have decided instead to hold a sort of ongoing virtual baby shower. KZog and I very much want everyone, near and far, to be involved in LZog's life and found this the best option for us at this time. Though some websites exist to formalize a virtual shower as an event, we will keep everyone updated through the blog. Each week or so, I will share the wonderful ways in which you all have helped create our (virtual) village for LZog.

Rather than registering at Target and/or Babies 'R Us (I have to confess, that place sends me into a panic - one cannot possibly need all those things. . . . right?), we have chosen to use BabyList, an online registry that allows us to compile products from across the web. At the click of a browser button I may add that fantastic book sling I found at Bed Bath and Beyond as well as our preferred diapers from the Honest Company. If interested, click here for the Herzogenrath BabyList Registry.

I'll admit that I am not the biggest fan of "baby bump" photos. But, our 20 weeks coincided with Easter, so we have some photos of me rounding out for those who require proof. Suffice it to say my roundness has become far more pronounced here as we approach week 28 . . .

Sassy as Usual - Will it Run in the Family?

Squinting, but Smiling

                                        
   

XO,
JZog
Herzogenrath BabyList Registry