Thank god for three day weekends

This weekend was pretty awesome. Not that a ton has gotten done or anything but I've finally been able to just do things, relax and just hang out. Three days off was much needed! I made towels, cleaned a bit, put together a shower caddy thing for the guest bathroom, semi organized my desk, went couch shopping, napped. It's been great! Couch shopping has been rough, we found one we Loved and it's on backorder. I seriously wanted to cry. Ok, I'll admit it, I did cry. I know it sounds stupid, but I'm hormonal and I was upset. Mostly because we have so many people coming over this weekend for the baby shower and our couches are yucky and pee'd on and it's embarassing. Whatever.
The diabetes is going well. I have an appt tomorrow for her to go over how well i'm keeping it under control. I've sucked at writing what I eat but have been pretty good about remembering to check my blood.
I'm going through our wedding photos. I've uploaded ALL of them to shutterfly and am now going through one by one and deleting duplicates, blurries etc. It's crazy time consuming, but I really want to make a scrapbook for us and some wedding books for our parents. Maybe I'll be done in time for Christmas haha I've got about 1200 to go through.
The baby seems to be doing fine, next appt is in like two weeks. She's moving around a lot, not really kicking, more like pushing. Pushy kid! I put away all the clothes my sister gave me and other stuff that friends have given us. I can't believe there's so much already in her room. It's starting to really look like a baby room. A baby will be living in there in like TWO MONTHS! Wowzers.
Other then that, just preparing for lots of visitors this weekend! And here's some old wedding pics to bring back memories :-)

Messes.

Why is it that the mess always seems to get bigger when I'm cleaning? I need to do a Massive office/craft room purge. Jeez.

Duh.

What was I thinking? There is no way I'll finish this in 10 weeks! Maybe for her first birthday!

Diabetes

Today was my gestational diabetes class. It's out at Desert REgional (30 min away) and was supposed to start at 10 but started 30 minutes late. Lame. I apparently was the only person that did research on anything. They went over what gestational diabetes is, how we get it and nutrition and keeping it under control. Basically as a pregnant women, your hormones are all wacky and prevent you from producing enough insluin to balance out sugar intake. Also your placenta can prevent you from making it. It's all very strange. Anyway, as we are now, I will not need to take medication, we'll be controlling it with diet and exercise. Since my feet are like balloons and often hurt to walk on, I'm not sure exactly what exercise I'll be doing but I'll figure something out. Anyway, so she went over things to eat and not eat and stressed that they know no one is perfect and that making good choices and keeping my blood sugar pretty even is the most important. So I'm supposed to eat every couple hours, no fruits or milk in the morning and stay away from the obvious candies and such.
We got two goody bags while at the place. One had formula, coupons, milk holders, a insulated bottle holder and a teeny tiny diaper that just looked so little and cute. It looked like it was for doll not a baby!

I also got my blood testing kit, which comes with the tester, the poker stick and strips.  It's not the worst thing in the world but the first time the anticipation was brutal. I thought it was going to hurt MUCH more!

 

You prick your finger, plug the strip in the machine and put your blood on here. Here's a bloody strip:

And here's my owie fingers:

I'll go back next week for her to look at my stats and make sure I'm not all over the place. I need to go grocery shopping and buy some healthy snacks, bc I don't have much morning stuff. I always ate cereal. Which is like all sugar (that's why it's delicious).

So bloody fingers crossed that we have this all under control, that the baby stays healthy (and doesn't grow huge) and that this goes away when she's born!

Bad News, Fun weekends and some stress.

Well the tests came back and I have gestational diabetes. I don't know much about what's going to happen other than I most likely will not have to take insulin, just watch what I eat. I feel like I've been pretty good about it so far in my pregnancy but I'm sure they'll find areas that I'll have to cut back on. I have a class on Wednesday to teach me about eating and to get my blood tester thingy. It's going to make the next couple months a bit harder but I think we'll be ok. I've been reading up on it and my main hope is that the baby won't get too big and that the diabetes will go away after she's born. Fingers crossed.
The fun news is that I went up to Chico this weekend. Drove up with my mom and dad and we got to be there for Ellie's first birthday! It was awesome. She's such a big girl! Ava was a sweety and shared her room with me. I brought my ginormous body pillow and we all (me, Ava and baby belly haha) snuggle up on her bed. The drive was super fun, I love trips with my parents, we sing and laugh and are weird and it's awesome. Road trips with my mom and dad are amazing. I wish I could hang out with them more! Maybe when we win the lottery and can move closer :-)
Sunday was a LONG ass day, leaving Chico at 8:15am and finally getting home (with a couple short stops) at 10pm. But I don't mind because it was all to be with my family so totally worth it! Here's some pics:

I also got a ton of baby clothes and stuff from my sister. SCORE! I'm going to try to put it all away and get the baby room more settled this weekend. Maybe make a crib skirt with this awesome fabric I bought recently. We shall see.
So lately, been a lot of ups and downs. Just worrying about health and stuff, but enjoying family. Behind on bills and want to get a small loan but don't have good enough credit to get it, because I'm behind on bills. It's like uhm, hello, that's why I need it! But I'm going to just keep on keeping on and hope something comes up that will help us out. Need to start looking into day cares and stuff too because so far not a lot of them take newborns. Jeez la weez. The countdown is definitely on! 11 weeks and counting!!

Staying Positive!

I slept pretty crummy last night and had to wake up pretty early. I got to Labcorp at 6:20 and started my testing. First, I hadn't eaten in around 12 hours so they took a fasting blood sample. Then, on an empty stomach, I drank more of that orange soda-y stuff.

It was a LOT harder to go down this morning. But I read online that if you throw it up at all you can't do the test, so I just kept my mouth shut and wouldn't let it come back up. At 7:30 I had my second blood draw, then at 8:30 and 9:30. I have four new holes in my arms now. So my three hours at lab corp did offer some free time that I usually don't have ANY of. I brought my knitting! I really enjoy knitting but I just can never find the time to do it. I tried taking it to Villagefest on Thursdays but I was working on a dress and just ended up making a ton of mistakes bc I couldn't keep count with all the people constantly around. So, there it sat. Sadly, waiting. Well I'm proud to say that today I Almost finished it!! I need to weave in a few more ends (which I HATE doing) and embroider on some flowers and we'll be all set!! Check it out!!

  

And I've officially entered the Third Trimester! The 12 week countdown is ON! It's still really super duper weird to think we're going to be parents soon but I'm sure that's what lots of people feel! Brendan and I were talking about how the weekend of the baby shower he's going to be surounded by girls bc my mom, sister, two nieces and his mom are coming to visit. He better get used to it! He's out numbered in this house!! haha

Thursday night I'm driving to Santa Maria then Friday up to Chico for Ellie's birthday! Can't wait to see my sister and her family! I miss them all a ton! And it's always fun driving with my parents. I know my dad LOVES to hear my singing. I'ts really quite beautiful.

and yes, I still have heartburn and crazy swollen feet. But my friend Amanda and I went and got pedicures this weekend so at least they're pretty and swollen! :-)

Strollers and tests.

I had my one hour glucose test on Wednesday. It consists of drinking a yucky little orange drink and sitting in the waiting room for a hour then having blood drawn. No exactly exciting. I witnessed a kid have a full on meltdown. Ironically it was when they were getting a urine sample. He didn't cry when they took blood. I think he was cried out at that point.
ANYWAY, fast forward to doctor appointment today. Apparently a normal reading of glucose tolerance test is around 130 and I was slightly high at 169. That sounds more than slightly to me but regardless this means I get to do the THREE hour glucose tolerance test now. Monday morning at 6:30am. Joy oh joy. If that one comes back bad it means I have gestational diabetes. Which would super fucking suck. I mean it's three more months, but still. I've read that usually it's just controlled with diet but some cases require insulin shots. So the test says the three days before to eat a bit more carbs than normal (which sounds counter-intuitive to me but I ain't no doctor) so I want pasta. yummmm.
Another awesome part of all this is my continued feet swelling. I now only wear my flip flops (which are a size freaking bigger than normal) and cannot fit into regular shoes. SO where does that leave me and my 5K I was supposed to walk this weekend? At a bypass. I asked my doc about it and she said walking 3.1 miles in flip flops with the way my feet are is probably not a good idea. I'm super bummed. I really love this event and hate to miss out on it. So bummed.
Other then that, nothing much here. The baby shower is in like a month which means lots of people coming to visit and I'm super excited. I'm suddenly super unsure about the stroller I picked out. I did a lot of reading and I really like it. I know a couple people who have the super fancy bug a boo type strollers and they seem great and all, but there is just no way I can spend $800 on a stroller. Not even if someone else was buying it. It's just too crazy for my brain to wrap around. The travel system one I picked out has good reviews and the car seat will last until the baby is 30 lbs. I just for some reason felt like I needed to check again if there was something better and cheaper. All this baby stuff is so expensive. And yes, I know it's only going to get more, but with having to pay $350 every time I see my doc once a month and all the tests and extra crap we have and paying for that, it's just hard to catch up. Thank goodness for family and hand me downs. And presents. :-)
So next test is Monday and hopefully we'll know more mid week. I'll keep y'all posted.
Happy Friday, Friends!

I. Am. Exhausted.

This was a LONG weekend for me. It all started Friday when I had a rough patch at work. I made a huge error that will cost my company almost a couple thousand dollars. My boss didn't yell at me or anything, but it's like dissapointing a parent. I try so hard but mistakes happen. I was biting my tongue just to keep from crying. I was so mad at myself for letting it happen.
ANYWAY, Friday night I drove to San Diego. I arrived at my best friends house pretty late and after chatting for a bit went to bed. But Rocksy has other plans. You see, Jennifer's mom and step dad were visitng and they had their new puppy with them. And apparently Rocksy NEEDED to see that dog. All. Night. Long. I went to bed almost 12 and had to wake up at 4am. And she woke me up like 4 times. I wanted to strangle her! She was just sitting at the door whining. I thought she had to pee, but no, it was a ruse to try to sneak into Anabelle's room.
Needless to say Saturday was rough. No makeup, hair barely brushed but WHATEVER. I had to be set up by 6:30 and set up usually takes us an hour. But I was alone at the event this weekend and almost 7 months pregnant so I gave myself extra time. And I needed it! The event went great though, there were thousands of people there! After, it took me almost 2 hours to tear down and I was beyond tired. My back hurting and my fingers hurt. It feels like I bruised liek the inside padding on my fingers from picking up the totes and tables. I think it has to do with the swelling.
After the event, I found a yarn store. Only, it wasn't just a yarn store. It was a store of Awesome. It's called the Groves and they sell a TON of random stuff. You can find their store here. Look yarn is color coded. I LOVE when things are color coded.
Cool books, yarn, kitchen stuff, clothes, I mean I could've spent forever in there! And the owner lady was so beyond nice. She asked what I was making, then asked about the baby and genuinely was excited. After I bought all my yarn (More than I probably should've spent but it was SO squishy and heavenly) she offered to wind it all for me. So I took a walk and found a bunch of cool stores with handmade stuff and a surprisingly good shave ice. Here's the yarn I got:

The colors look terrible via my iPhone picture. The 6 left-most yarns are Spud&Chloe Sweater in gray and a lavender. The 5 right are Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Cotton (100% organic grown), a light gray, light pink (called frosting!!) and a deep purple. Looooove the purple.. The 5 on the right are for the zig-zag pattern from the last blog and the ones on the left are for the other babay blanket pattern. Who knows if I"ll get to them but I figure, I can be a 1st birthday present haha. Or I'll take it to Comic Con with me and knit while I'm standing (or more sitting) in long lines.

That night had dinner and desert with my best friend and her family. She's moving soon, so it's nice to see her. And her family is like a second family to me so  I don't mind hanging with them too!
Sunday I drove to Temecula for the 3rd Annual Wine Country Weiner Fest! I've done it all three years and it's a really fun event. The people are all really nice and there are SO many dachshunds! It was at a new winery this year, Mount Palomar Winery which was seriously beautiful! And SUPER exciting, we got to see one of Rocksy's puppies! His name is Ziggy now, but he was Leonardo to us. I haven't seen him in person since he left us and he is GORGEOUS. He's got big beautiful ears and deep chest, great markings. I mean he is beautiful. I couldn't get a good pic of him, but here he is:

So that was Really awesome to see him. After the event I slowly packed up. I was the last person there besides the guy who runs the event. I think he was lolly gagging so I wasn't the last one there haha.
And now I'm home. But instead of relaxing, I'm making towels. Because there was a miscommunication and the big Canadian order that's supposed to ship out tomorrow? Only like 1/3 of it is done. So I'm trying to make as much of it as I can tonight. It really super sucks. My feet are killing me. OH and my hands are swelling now too! So I'm going to have to not wear my engagement ring for a while. How sad!
So I bitched a lot about this weekend but it was good overall. And in two weeks I'm going up to Chico with my parents to see my sister for Ellie's first birthday! Yahoo! One already! So exciting! Lots going on over the next few weeks! :-)

Knit-stravaganza

My blog title might be a misnomer. I've found Three things I want tot knit for baby PLUS the dress I've been "working" on for months. I put working in quotes bc I haven't barely even picked it up at all in the last couple months. And yet here I am pining over knitted baby blankets. Seriously? Like Im going to have time for that. The first baby blanket is a zig zag. I want to do it in 4 colors, purple, grey, pink and white.


Next is this ridiculously adorable hat:
A baby with bunny ears? That's too darn cute for words.
Lastly is this blanket. It looks just simple but sweet and I was thinking I could make it gray and do the eyelet pattern area in purple.

My last problem is that I want to make her a blanket with really awesome yarn but all the yarn stores in my area close at 4 or 5pm. And I get off at 5pm. So........ Thanks a Lot Local Yarn Store Buttholes. Yes I know they're open on Saturday, but remember my recent post, I'm freaking busy like EVERY weekend!
These are knitting pipe dreams. For now I'd like to just finish her dress before she's born. Fingers crossed.

An Ode to Heartburn

Heartburn can kiss my ass. I know it has to do with the baby taking up room and smooshing into my stomach and the muscles that usually keep acid down being loosened and whatnot. But it's irritating. Heartburn does not feel like my heart is burning. Does anyone watch Game of Thrones? Remember when Gendry was about to be tortured by putting a rat in a bucket holding it to his stomach and then lighting fire on the other end? Well it's not that bad, but it's still right uncomfortable.





In better news, I signed up for summer school. Only one class I need was availabe, but I emailed the teacher on another one. And I found out I qualified for the Bogg waiver for 2012 so my class was only $11. Freaking SCORE. So this summer I will be learning about the History of Architecture! At least it's transferable to a big school :-) Maybe one day I'll actually get a degree haha. We'll see!

Busy Weekends

Seems like every weekend I've got something going on! Busy Busy!
Last weekend I drove up to Santa Maria. Got in Friday night, and hung out with my mom a bit. I was in town for two reasons. Mini High School Reunion and Strawberry Festival.
I had decided to make cupcakes for the reunion. My mom had baked a bunch so they were all baked and cooling when I got there. I got a little crazy and made all the frosting and filling from scratch. We had cherry chip cupcakes with maraschino cherry frosting topped with a cherry, chocolate cupcake with PB filling and PB cream cheese frosting, yellow cake with pineapple filling and pineapple cream cheese frosting and strawberry cupcake with banana filling and cream cheese frosting. And I'm so bummed I didn't take pics of all of them when they were done. Here are some pics of the chocolate ones:

 I used a melon baller to cut out the centers of the cupcake then filled them with the yummy-ness insides. Then I piped frosting on top!

They were all super amazing delicious. We made extras to take to a bake sale for a girl that died. She was pretty close in age to me, worked with my mom for a while. Very sad.
So Sat morning I made all these (my parents kitchen was a DISASTER! haha), then hung out with my dad. We went for a walk in the riverbed. B-Bop had a BLAST running after animals and romping through the grass. Conan ALMOST got a rabbit. That would've been TERRIBLE. He was super close! Afterwards, my dad went surfing and I laid down for a while. My feet were swelling again. Here's Qi snuggling with me:

 

Saturday night was my reunion and I had a great time. Good dinner, great to see all the people. It was small because people were being cheap ass jerks about it all but Diana did an awesome job and I got to see a lot of people I wanted to see!

Sunday we went to the strawberry festival. It was really small this year. But I got some strawberries and petted animals at the petting zoo. They had all these cute goat crosses and deer and pigs and even wallabies. Here's some pics:

 

Overall a really great weekend. I miss my family a lot, I would give almost anything to live closer to them. I'm super excited too because I'll be seeing them again in two weeks for Ellie's first Birthday!! Woo Hoo!! She's going to be one! And it's the first time seeing my sister since I've been "showing". I still sometimes think I just look fat vs. pregnant but oh well. She's moving around a lot tonight. Must be the taco bell and strawberries I had for dinner. haha Yum!

I'm a Terrible Wanna-Be Blogger

Well it's true, I suck at blogging. I really wanted to make this an interesting blog, with new insights into my pregnancy and our life. But apparently I'm lazy. Mostly, I just forget and have a zillion other things going on. So I'm making up for it a bit today.
I'm about 6 1/2 months along now, this little girl will be here before we know it! Brendan put together her bedroom furniture yesterday. Look at him hard at work!

It's an awesome set from JC Penney courtesy of my mom and dad. They're the BEST! It's real wood and the crib is one of those ones that converts to a toddler bed. There's a highboy dresser, a changing table with shelves underneath and the crib itself. See:

There's going to be a tiny person in there soon! SO WEIRD! :-)

Next time, i'll tell you about the amazing cupcakes I made. Booyah!