Beyond Blessed

February 18th I had my first shower.  It was just beautiful and given by my high school girlfriends.  And their Moms were invited plus a few guy friend Moms that we were all close with.  It was so wonderful to see everyone!!!  On top of that, they totally spoiled me and baby girl with so many amazing gifts.  I was overwhelmed by how generous they were.  And it was just a fun time - long awaited - and I had worried before hand that I would get all emotional.  But I didn't - it was just fun and happy!

That weekend we were also prepping for the house to be painted and carpet done.  So Bear had been working on that while I was away at the shower.  I came home and he had moved most of the 2 extra rooms into the garage, and was cleaning out the kitchen and the living room.  My pregnant brain was completely overwhelmed by the major mess everywhere!  I was happy he was doing it - it had to happen - but I thought my nesting pregnant brain may explode at the sight of it all.  PLUS, I had a car full of gifts to unload.  I tried not to freak out.  And I did hold it together, but barely.  I decided to put all the shower gifts in my closet - thank goodness we do have quite a bit of storage space in our house! Then I proceeded to clean out baby girls closet and the guest closet into various places in the house.  I managed to fit it all in the hall closet and coat closet by the front door for the most part.


Then February 23rd, my coworkers hosted a shower for me.  It was also completely amazing - above and beyond anything I could imagine!  Plus, my old RF friends came over too.  They gave me even more wonderful baby items - so cute! - and even had diet punch for my GD.  It was a lot of fun!  And when I got home those gifts had to go in the kitchen - I just wasn't OK with putting them in the garage at that point.

Then on February 25th my sister and cousins had put together a family and friends shower in Lexington.  It was once again amazing!  My sister did a fabulous job of getting it together.  Aunt Amanda :-) She did the cake and made a very cute bouquet out of socks and wash cloths!  And everyone there once again spoiled, spoiled, spoiled us all with amazing things for baby girl.  My cousin gave me TWO amazing gift baskets packed full of everything little girl.  My favorite - the cutest little flip flops ever.  So cute.  And everyone else gave amazing things too of course. (I haven't gotten the pictures yet or I would share)


And my final shower was on March 3 in Dime Box.  It was just as wonderful and amazing as all the others.  They gave us our stroller and we had fancy drinks with real stemware and we ate on real plates!  It was just really nice - and once again everyone went above and beyond to shower us and our little girl with so much love and so many cute CUTE baby things.  There were also fabulous favors - decorated sugar cookies.  And yes, I did eat some.  And no, I won't tell you what my blood sugar was after :-)

I have been truly overwhelmed by everyone's generosity.  I don't even know how to accurately describe how it feels.  We are very thankful.  And this baby is truly loved :-)

State of the Pregnancy

I really wish I had been writing more here just to remember exactly what has happened with this pregnancy.  So many things I think I will remember vividly forever, disappear so fast!  I guess that is all part of life.  Last night while going to sleep I had this FEAR come up that Bear would forget or not take pictures when she is born.  Because he would be so excited and get caught up in it, which is totally understandable, but then the memory would be gone and that would make me sad.  Or we would end up with all blurry pictures because he shakes so much!  I was wracking my brain to think of who could take them - the nurse, the doctor, family member?  I mean these are some of the crazy stupid things that keep me up at night.  But admittedly they are pretty funny.  Or they will be one day.

So this post is just a general recap of things so that I can remember later, so it might be pretty boring.  Not that any of my posts are riveting! And admittedly, it is going to include some complaining.  Sorry.  But it's all part of it, right? I couldn't be more HAPPY to be pregnant.  I love it.  But lately, there are certainly some uncomfortable developments that I am sure will only get more glorious in the next 12 weeks.  And every single one will be worth it.

First, more bump pictures to get us all the way up to date on those.

24 weeks

26 weeks

26 weeks from front

28 weeks

Within 4 weeks, the belly is now well passed the boobs.  LOL!

So what's been going on?

1. First, and very thankfully, so many people have been SO GENEROUS.  Baby Girl already has so many nice things handed down or bought just for her.  Can't be thankful enough for wonderful friends and family.  And of course I am guilty for buying clothes when I shouldn't.  But OMG they are too adorable, and for the most part so much on SALE, that I just can't pass them up.
2. Sleep - Sometimes good, but most of the times never sleep like I used to.  Never really get in a deep sleep and most of the time this is OK.  I don't feel really tired unless I get absolutely NO sleep.  In early December, started with some hip pain on my right side only that would wake me up early.  That has continued and is on both sides now.  I am sure it will continue to get worse the heavier I get and the bigger she gets.  Oh well, gets me out of bed!
3. Also in early December, and progressing to now, my hands fall asleep.  This is pregnancy induce carpel tunnel I am told due to swelling.  So at night I wear a brace on my right hand, but even still it falls asleep.  And I don't mean in away that is comes back to life by wiggling it around.  I mean it is prolonged numbness.  And most of the time during the day, my right finger tips remain numb.  It's a strange feeling!  A little annoying, but manageable.
4. December 23 - Bear felt first big kick!  But I wish he could feel them more.  She usually stops once I get him to come over.  And I think he really wants to feel it too.  I am sure he still has plenty of chances.  I LOVE the baby kicks.  I love when I know she is there and doing whatever it is she does in there.  Only lately has she really started dancing on my bladder - which is a really new strange sensation.
5. December 24 - pretty sure she woke me up with hiccups.  But I haven't felt them since.  So either she was in the perfect position for me to feel her, or that wasn't really the hiccups, haha!  She had those and was moving all around about 5am. Even now she is usually starting to be active about 4:30 to 5am.  I joke that she is Carla and that's just the time she gets up for the day.  Pretty sure getting up so early on Christmas Eve, plus no good nap that day, going to bed realllyy late, all contributed to my Christmas Morning Meltdown.  Or that's what makes me feel better about it anyway.
6. January 4, failed 1 hour glucose test at 170.  They wanted less than 140.  Gah.  January 10, failed the 3 hours glucose test so yep, have gestational diabetes. (1 hour 201/190, 2 hours 174/165, 3 hours 135/145). I was upset at first and needed a day for some tears and to be mad that I couldn't eat what I want.  Bear does not like tears.  Which fine, but let someone tell HIM he has diabetes and can't eat what he wants and lets see how he reacts.  But I just needed ONE day and by the next I was fine and ready to deal with it.  I watch my diet according to an eating plan that limits the amount of carbs you eat at one time and check my sugar 4 times a day.  The finger pricks are not terrible, and so far with diet (after testing a few foods of course - hamburger, chips and salsa, fried okra) my levels seem to be looking good.  I just hope it stays that way.  Some days I am resentful of what I see Bear eat, but for the most part it is OK.  I probably should be on a diet like this in general anyway.  The only thing is that I crave sweets.  I would love a big piece of chocolate cake with chocolate icing right now.  OR a sugar cookie.  Or a cinnamon roll.  You get the picture.  And I CAN have that stuff if I plan and only in a small amount.  Meals and snacks just take a little more planning than before.  And I just pray that things stay looking good and don't get worse in the next 12 weeks.  If things are looking OK the doc will let me check sugars less often.
7. In the last week, I have started to have to go pee a LOT more often.  And I will feel like I HAVE to go and then barely anything will come out.  It's pretty funny to me actually.  Not too annoying, YET.  Sorry if that is TMI.
8. Yesterday, January 21.  For some time if I lay on my left side my rib cage at the bottom, sorta slightly to the left from the middle, it would hurt.  I thought it was just my weight and not sure what it is actually.  Well this weekend my allergies seem to really be bothering me so I have been sneezing.  Yesterday morning I sneezed and thought I had cracked my chest open.  I hurt SO BAD.  Then this morning when I sneezed it hurt SO BAD again.  I have been trying to be careful, but it feels like I have some sort of fracture there.  That is how bad it hurts.  It feels bruised if I touch it.  Not sure at all what it actually is.  But whatever it is - it does not feel good.

And that is the current state of this pregnancy starting the 3rd trimester.  

Ok, OK, OK!

I know I suck at posting. BUT, luckily I am not as lazy as my other friends and you can see what I did for Valentine's Day at Dee's blog. It may not be fun for her to read, but for the rest of you maybe it will be!

Maybe after Spring Break I will have something interesting to say and pictures to post about what we did. Until then...

Project: Sorry that I left you hanging

The project is over and turned out OK. Excuse the the whole porch and columns on the house because I did those in 5 minutes. The 5 minutes AFTER I arrived at the party so go figure that they look kinda dumb. But I was DONE and that is all that mattered. Then I had a couple of cold beers. Love being from a small town German family where it is OK to have a keg at a 90 year old birthday party ... and drink with or in front of your preacher. HA!

So here is what it ended up looking like:

It was by no means perfect or an exact replica as I had hoped, but my husband did keep complementing me so that made me feel good. My mom thought I should have cut out all the places where windows and doors were so that they would be flush with the house "siding". I told her she could do it next time then.

Now, who wants a gingerbread house to decorate for Christmas? It is sitting on my kitchen table. I don't have the heart to throw it away but I don't want to keep it. Maybe this weekend I will finally throw it away!

Project: Why it is good to follow directions

With a title like that you might get the wrong opinion about this post. But I assure you I am probably going away from the obvious direction the title might take you.

It is good to follow directions. Things work when you follow them. Things go as planned as you follow them.

Which is why I am SOOOOOOooooooooooooooo thankful that my mom has let me stay at my house these past 2 weekends to do my part of this project on my very, very own. Hell freakin' yeah, people. I love her, she is my mom and I act SO MUCH LIKE her. Except in some ways that I hope are good ways. Like I DO READ AND at least try to FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS. And let me tell you. It works. My mom merely takes them as suggestions. And once she reads them she kinda just forgets that possibly whoever wrote them knew what they were talking about. Now maybe I am bragging a little early here... and I hate to jinx it, but so far so good on this project. And that is a wonderfully nice thing.

I finished the model and cut all the pieces apart this week. Then Friday made more gingerbread and cut out and baked all the pieces. I would like to credit some of the very good tools I used this time: A pizza cutter, a fang shaped knife I have, a Pyrex rolling pin and parchment paper. First, if I would have had the pizza cutter the first time I did this, things would have gone MUCH better. And second, parchment paper is the bomb and worth every.single.penny.

I also read online (See DIRECTIONS that might possibly be helpful to follow) that it is helpful to dry your pieces in the oven at 200 degrees over night. This worked great for a few pieces that came out softer than I wanted. However, when you do this, make sure that all your pieces are on a flat surface. I didn't have enough space in the oven so I stacked pieces on top of each other. So for most of them it was fine, but for some that were in between or on top of smaller pieces, they ended up unlevel and misshapen by the morning. So I had to redo those this morning.

Then I took a break and we went to lunch at Chili's. Gave the MIL our truck so she can finally get her wrecked car fixed this week. WOOHOO, I will be glad to no longer think about that. At least hopefully, it will all be done after this week. She has already gotten 6 warning tickets for driving like that AND anyone who wants to ride with her has to ride in the back seat. If you know her, you know this doesn't bother her in the least. Which, LOL!

So back to work... I made royal icing with meringue powder for the glue to hold all the pieces together. This is where, OMG, following the directions is amazing. A-maze-ing. It turned out perfect. Like cement! It is going to be so much easier just because of THAT. Last time I guess we tried to make our own royal icing with egg whites? Because we didn't have meringue powder or ran out or didn't want to run to town? I don't know. All I know is what we did do, IT DID NOT WORK FOR THIS PURPOSE. Maybe for flowers or something, but not this. I remember having it dripping everywhere and having to hold pieces together for 15-30 minutes to get it all to stick. This time, none of that. YYYYYAYYYYYYYY! I think there are 2 other factors here, the weather is not humid and I have an awesome mixer that made it peak like it is supposed to. I am going to have to get mom one of those.... I really think it might be an important factor.

Supplies:

I forgot to mention these supplies ;-)

The house I am trying to model. Yes is it very old... run down and dirty. I am trying to paint it in a different light. But, this is where my grandfather has lived his whole entire 90 years. So pretty cool if you ask me. If I had money, I would repair this house so it could make another 90 years.

Building.....

Done with the structural part. Sunday I will tackle the real decorating. I wish myself good luck!

Pretzels

Sunday night I made some soft pretzels. They were awesome. So awesome I ate 4 of the 6 myself. That was probably not good...

I made some with salt and some with sugar and cinnamon. The recipe is pretty easy.

1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast

3/4 cup warm water

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Coarse Salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar and salt. Stir in flour, 1/2 cup at a time to form soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Punch dough down and divide into six parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll each into 14 inch rope. Twist into pretzel shape. Brush with butter and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.

Project: Not regretting it YET

So... all of you know, that I get myself into things. Somehow. Someway. I get in involved in my mom's "projects". This can be good. Or this can be bad.


I have agreed to help with the cake for my grandpa's 90th birthday. The day I agreed, I was all pumped up about it. But by the time this weekend rolled around, I was kinda dreading it. It just gets overwhelming and my mom never takes a break! She will just keep going and it eventually annoys me and then I get cranky and we get in a fight because I just want her to stop already. And she can't let some ideas go...


Saturday morning before I was supposed to leave she called to say she had my little cousin K (2.5) at her house because his mom had the flu. Well I was not happy that she wanted me to come and be exposed to the flu bug (which the doctor had said was NOT a strain they were vaccinating for this year) and I was upset with her for then taking K over to my Mema's (who just had heart surgery 2 weeks ago). So of course we got into over that. Am I alone here, am I the only person who takes the flu seriously? I do not blame my mom for trying to help KM, I am all for it, but then contain the kid who has been exposed. Sorry, but that is how I feel. BUT I was gonna go anyway.


She called back a little later and said just don't come and I know she was mad, but I said that is fine that I will stay at my house and work on it. Have I mentioned what it is yet? A gingerbread house replica of my grandfather's farm house. I have actually done it once before and I think I can do it better this time. But it is a lot of work. Luckily, we have 2 weeks to do it. So since I didn't go home, I told my mom I would get the ingredients and make the pattern and gingerbread pieces. So yesterday I made gingerbread and it has been in the fridge since then. The pattern is quite complicated and it is taking way more time that I thought it would. Which is how it goes with this type of project. However, it has been nice to just be here working on it alone. I know that sounds horrible, but I think it has been the best thing. I seriously doubt we would have gotten anything done with a 2.5 year old running around and "helping", as much as I do love him so.








So here is what I have so far. Got to use the ridiculously RED kitchen aid mixer. Oh ye-ah!







And then, I was almost done with my model. And then mom sent me the picture I needed and now I have to redo it. Oh well. I have the part without a roof all wrong. Better to know now though.


Stay tuned. This is bound to turn out interesting. There will probably be tears. And yelling. But hopefully, my grandpa will secretly like it. He is a man of few words. So if I get a smile, mission accomplished!

So far so good...

October is going by fast but there is also still alot left. Seems like a long month.

Last weekend I went to Fedor to spend the weekend with my mom for her birthday. Bear went to a bachelor party and we rounded out the weekend with a couples shower. We had a pretty good time for mom's birthday making Mexican martini's (wish I had one NOW) and then making fajitas. The couples shower was ok. It was a who's who of G-town and I was over it within an hour. I hate meeting people that think YOU should know who they ARE without introduction. I could care less who you are or what you do, you stuck up snobs. But whatever. I am glad to do a shower for Z&E but I think in some respects we got ripped off. I added up that we ended up spending $55 for our part. There were 15 couples. That's right, I said fifteen. We should have been able to give a shower for less than $20 per couple. But again, although this is very whiny, I was glad to do it for Z&E, we just could have done it much more economically in my book. I mean we ate hamburgers! Anyway... better move on.

This weekend mom and dad came over and dad and Bear cut down the dead tree in our back yard. It is nice to get it all taken care of. The neighbors might mind though that we have it all stacked out in front on the street and trash pick up for yard waste is not under Friday. BUT they do it too. Today we went to church and then we went to breakfast. Just been chilling since then piddling on the Internet. Such fun... no I found Hope Floats on TV. I really love that movie!

I found something cool on SouthernLiving.com. If you have a hard time finding new recipes to make for dinner and you want a grocery list that will make 5 things without off the wall ingredients then try these:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipes/gallery/0,28548,1844985,00.html

I made the Shrimp Salad and the Chicken with asparagus recipe. The salad was good once we got it all together. The chicken recipe was great! Except I ended up putting sugar snap peas in instead of asparagus because after the asparagus was in the fridge for ONE day it was already bad. I was not happy about that. But the chicken and the sauce are excellent!! Next up is the pasta salad.

Weekend please hurry up!

I am not down with being at work today. While I have a few things to do, they are not things I want to do and they are not urgent. I have a pretty big deadline coming up so I have been notified by most of those who will submit that day, but now they have all disappeared. Only to reappear later all at once demanding me to work! So I am trying to enjoy the downtime.

However, it is FRIDAY and I just want to go home.

And today is food day so I also want to go home to get away from all the food. I used to like food day but now it kinda puts me in a bad mood. It is just not fun anymore.
1) I don't feel like cooking for such a large group
2) we have groups for main dish, breakfast, dessert, ect. and sometimes I do not feel like making something that fits in my group (and the one time I was a rebel in didn't follow orders I brought the exact same thing as someone else)
3) I don't need to eat ALL DAY and it is really, really, really hard not to do that when the food sits outside my cube.
4) It is always at the end of the month when I have no extra money.
But everyone else loves it so I guess I am the only fuddy duddy in the bunch.

Tonight a bunch of my highschool girlfriends are coming into town. We are going out to Ninfa's for dinner. It should be fun, it usually is. I always just have a wierd anticipation when I get together with them. I think it is a mix of guilt for never talking to alot of them anymore and then also just thinking will they still like me? Stupid, really, because then we get together and have a good time. And it is not like I purposely avoid them or that they do that to me either. But I still have an awkward feeling about it sometimes.

Sunday I am going to be a baptism sponsor for one of my friends little boys. I have never done that before. It should be interesting. I hope she does not ask me to hold him during the process! I don't know who the other sponsors are going to be.

Bear is going to San Antonio for a coaching clinic this weekend. I just wish it was not so far away. Gas it too expensive! But at least everything else is paid for... for once by the school.

Well this took up a few minutes of my time. Now I am going to see if I can sneak out early...