Take A Guess!

I know I've got 12 weeks to go until my official due date- August 21- but humor me and take a guess as to when Ali will grace us with her presence! Use the orange and purple button on the top right-hand side of my blog to play along!

P.S. My crib is in at Wal-Mart!!!!!!! I'm going to pick it up this weekend- FUN!!!!

28 weeks and I flunked!

Well here I am at 28 weeks! I went to the doctor today and FLUNKED my glucose test. I failed by 25 points, which I have no idea what that means exactly, but what I do know is that on Tuesday I have to go sit at a lab for 3 hours while they feed me more sugar water and poke my arm a bunch of times. I'm pissed at myself for not passing, even though I'm not sure if I could have prevented it in any way. It upsets me that I have been trying to take care of myself by not over-doing the sweets and exercising on a pretty frequent basis, I've been self-conscious of being a fatso pregnant lady, and now I feel totally unhealthy. I'm kind of worried, but I won't let myself get too worked up over it until Tuesday is over and I find out my true results.
On the positive side, my uterus measured exactly on target for 28 weeks, and our little Ali's heartbeat was strong and regular! So at least I'm carrying a healthy baby, even if my body sucks at breaking down glucose.

The best weekend!

We had the best Memorial Day Weekend ever! We did not have school on Friday, so my mom and I started the day out with mommy-daughter pedicures at one of the local beauty schools. After that, my mom and I met up with KK at our house, packed up the truck with all our cabin stuff, 3 dogs, and ourselves, and headed north to our cabin at the Moyie River. (I will hopefully post pics this afternoon). Later on that day, my little bro and dad met us up there.


We had a blast!! It was so nice to get away from the stresses of every day life and relax with family. KK brought his drift boat and rowed my mom and I around 2 lakes to fish. We caught 15 trout total and BBQ-ed them up one night for dinner- sooooo good. Kris also took my dad and bro down the Moyie River, which was traveling about 15 mph with all the snow melt. They had a pretty wild ride full of beer drinking and rapids!


We also took a ton of walks, and I am reading a great book from the library called The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck. I would recommend it highly!


I love being with my family, and I am so happy that Kris gets fits in with us so easily. We laughed so hard and relaxed together. It was so fun having no schedule, and simply deciding what to do based on what we wanted, instead of work or time constraints.


It made me so thankful for the wonderful life I have been blessed with. I really do have a great husband, great parents, and a great brother. It's not very often you find a group of people who enjoys each other so much. I take them all for granted, but I am so thankful for each person and how much they each bring to my life. I can't wait for Ali to join our crazy bunch!





Now, it's back to reality! Here's the highlights:

• Only 2 weeks left of school- whooo hoooo! Now begins the frantic review days to get my students ready for our district end of course exams, fun times !


• We finally got our tax refund + stimulus check!!! YEAH!!!!!! I ordered Ali's crib yesterday at Walmart.com, thanks to the great head's up from Nanette- it will be delivered next week sometime- I'm so excited to finally get the nursery started! Here's what I got (crib on left, bedding we bought when we found out she was a girl on right):

• I also finally paid the freaking $350 "graduation fee" to my university to get my actual Master's Degree diploma! We are totally framing that sucker!!
• KK is going to start on the landscaping this week- I can't wait to have grass and a patio!
• Tomorrow is my 28 week (!) appointment: I have to drink that awful orange glucose drink before going in to see if I have the dreaded gestational diabetes- keep your fingers crossed it all comes out good!

Holy Crap- only 13 weeks left!

I cannot believe tomorrow is the beginning of my LAST TRIMESTER of pregnancy!!! Really, it has gone by sooo quickly. I find myself thinking more and more of what we need to get done to be ready for our little girl in August- and I feel like we have so much to do !!!!!!! The good news is we are out of school in 12 school days (not that I'm counting) and after doing a little extra work for the school district, I will have almost 8 weeks to prepare for my sweet angel to come home.
Here is a list of what I can think of to do:

• buy a crib
• make husband put crib together
• move dresser into baby's room
• buy new knobs for dresser
• buy a pack n play for our bedroom
• buy a car seat/stroller
• put up decals that match bedding in baby's room
• wash all bedding/clothes and put in dresser
• give mom list for baby shower
• start registry (where ?)
• set up delivery with diaper service
• order blinds for nursery

And I'm spent. I'm overwhelmed and can't think of anything else right now. But don't worry people, I'm not really that stressed about it- I know myself- I'm a doer. It will all get done in plenty of time, then I'll be complaining about being bored. It's the nature of the beast

I'm talking bout boogers

** If you are grossed out by boogers, then do not read this graphic post! You've been warned!

Here is the latest and greatest on the pregnancy front: I am having sinus/nose problems. I have had weird nose dealings for about 2 weeks now. Over the weekend, I woke up and got a bloody nose. Now I seem to have stuffy sinuses all the time, and what feels like huge boogers in my nose at all times! When I wake up every morning, I blow my nose and DO have huge boogers,-bloody gross ones! The only time I can get a productive booger producing blow is in the morning- after that I always feel the need to blow my nose, but nothing comes out. I can press my nostrils together and they will stay shut- that is the severity of this problem, people.

I'm not really sure what to do about this- it is quite uncomfortable and I have never experienced nose problems before in my life. Perhaps I have allergies? Or are my sinuses going crazy because of the baby in my belly?

Thankful Friday

KK and I went in to the doctor to hear our sweet baby's heartbeat yesterday afternoon. I hadn't felt a prominent movement from her since Tuesday. Now this baby usually is movin and groovin all day long, so that startled me a bit and I wanted to make sure she was still a healthy little gal in my tummy. I knew in my heart all was well- but this just isn't something I feel comfortable messing around with- so we went to see the doc after school. I've decided that the sound of our baby's heartbeat is the best sound I've ever heard in my life. I contemplated stealing the giant heart monitor to hook myself up to each day at home, but the darn thing wouldn't fit in my purse, let alone be lifted off its cart :)
The doc's conclusion was that our little babe has flipped herself around most likely, and is now kicking me in the back, which fortunately I cannot feel.... I'm biding my time on that one.

On another note- it is supposed to be in the 80s all weekend- FINALLY nice weather!!!! Waking up to sunshine these past few mornings has been the best way to get up. I hope it lasts through our final 3 weeks of school!
Enjoy your weekends everybody!

The diaper dilemma

My husband and I are trying to decide whether we are going to be cloth diaper parents or throw-away diaper parents. Believe me, I am not an environmentalist by any stretch, but I do live in a beautiful part of America and would like to keep it that way, if not for myself then for my offspring. I figure anything I can do at this point makes a difference.
To me, plastic diapers seem such a horrible thing to put into our landfills. They do not decompose and that makes me nervous. I want to do my part and have a functioning role in making our world as beautiful as I can for future generations. Therefore, I am going to use my plan period today and call the only diaper service offered in my town. Hopefully the price of cloth diaper delivery is something within our meek teachers' budgets and we can factor that into part of our darling baby's routine when she graces us with her presence in 14 weeks.

Because, in reality, if cloth diapers are too expensive for our budget, we will have to be part of the waste-growers in North Idaho and use plastic diapers like everyone else!

Things that annoy me

Here is what I am annoyed with on a Tuesday:

• My husband did not even get me a card for my 1st semi-Mother's Day
• Something is wrong with the internet at work- so every time anyone on the network tries to access an https site, the internet boots you off. It's been this way since yesterday.
• My cell phone slipped off the couch arm last night and of all the places it could fall, it fell into my glass of iced tea sitting on the floor. Now it is not functioning and therefore is for sale on ebay for parts.
• The cell phone that we had at home for me to use right now is a crappy phone that I do not like. Annoying.
• We still have not gotten our tax return or stimulus payment. I really want to work on our landscaping, pay down credit card debt, and buy a crib for my sweet baby-to-be. But no, I have to wait on our sloooow government
• It is May 13 and we are still having shatty weather in North Idaho.

The good news: the tax return will come; the weather will change; and after all this, my life still doesn't suck so bad!

Family

I have a half-sister on my dad's side. She is 14 years older than me, and was born from a summer fling that my dad had while in college. She was never really apart of our lives- her mother remarried and that man adopted her. She lives 6 hours away from us, and needless to say we are not close. She is a nice person :has three children, no education, a minimum wage job, and a kind of dead-beat husband. What bothers me about her is that she thinks my dad is her bank. She asks him for outlandish amounts of money all the time for various activities her children are involved in. She even had to ask him for gas money to come to my wedding! It is just ridiculous. Thankfully, my dad is a little smarter then that and does not give her money. I do think she has formulated this idea of my brother and I- I think she thinks my parents are loaded and give us everything. Well I'm here to tell you they don't.

So, here is the latest and greatest with my sister. Apparently, she is coming to visit with her three children in August. August 17th, to be exact. I'm a little pissed about that. Let me remind us all, my due date is August 21st. I figure I will have had the baby, be in labor, or be really not to fun to deal with around August 17th. Let me be blunt: I don't want her here during my time. I know that is selfish of me and she is "family" after all, but it pisses me off that my dad wasn't smart enough to figure out an earlier date with her. Now her and her kids will be infringing on our family's time- totally burdening my mom by staying at her house, loitering around the hospital room, not to mention distracting my dad from the most fabulous moment for our family. She is not a part of my family. She has never been involved or seemed to care about my life. My dad didn't even tell her I was pregnant- I stumbled upon the subject with her via email when I was 3 months along ! It's crazy and bizarre- and I tried to talk to my dad about it. He thinks it isn't a big deal and doesn't want me to worry about it. He acts like I'm a jerk when I bring it up. I am going to be soooo mad if they ruin this for me. I don't want my dad to feel like he has to bring them camping or something and not be there for the birth of his grand baby. It is out of my hands at this point and I need to learn to deal- but she ruins everything!

Week 25!

Your sweet dulcinea attains a momentous milestone this week: if she were born at this point in your pregnancy, she would probably survive, but would require lots of assistance from doctors. Her organ systems are formed well enough that she would be all right, albeit tiny. As if that weren’t enough, other big changes are happening: her skin turns opaque and the pigments start depositing, hair color starts developing and her spinal structure is forming. She may even begin to rotate out of the breech position in preparation for her upcoming gondolier-ship, where she’ll make the journey down the birth canal.

That, my friends, is exciting news. It is a GOOD FEELING knowing that my sweet angel girl would probably survive if I went into labor at this moment. Believe me, I want her to cook longer for sure, but it does make for a calming moment to know she has made it past the crucial growing period! I'm so proud of her :)

On another front, my mom wants to start stocking up on diapers when she makes her trips to Costco. She wants to have a hefty inventory for Kris and I when Ali makes her appearance into this world. While I cannot help but want to jump all over the generous offer- I have no idea what sizes to tell her to start buying. I know newborns and ones are what she will wear the first period of her life- but how many boxes of each is a good amount????

¡Ay, Mis Pies!

In recent weeks, my little feets (pies en español) have been killing me. To describe the exact feeling I would have to say that it feels like the heels of my feet are being pressed through the bone. So basically it feels as if I am walking around on skeleton feet. My heel-padding has given up on cushioning my feetsers- not too comfortable to say the least. It also doesn't help that I teach-on my feet- for most of my work day. I have been trying curb the throbbing pain while at work by teaching from a chair- which doesn't really work for me, as I consider myself a pretty mobile teacher.

Therefore, I have begun my quest for a cute solution. And by solution I of course am meaning new shoes! Here are the shoes I ordered today online:

Some sweet mary jane Crocs. I ordered black to be safe, and allow for diversity in pairing with my small variety of pregnancy outfits. Crocs do, however, offer a great variety of colors and styles. I am hoping these Crocs will prove to be my feet's salvation. I figure they will last the duration of the school year, can be worn with skirts, pants and capris, and will also be most useful throughout the summer. My feet can breath and be comfy in my new rubber shoes.

*Disclaimer: This isn't my first experience with crocs, I have been a lover and wearer of them for some time, I am just anxious to be stylish in these mary janes ! The Crocs I currently own are light blue clogs, not too stylish if you get my drift.

If anyone has any other cute spring/summer shoe wear for the pregnant woman, please pass along the insight!

Boo to the IRS-

So I called the IRS this morning to check on our tax return, which was filed March 13th. It seems at this point that all returns are taking the full 12 weeks to process at this point, meaning we will not see our money until around June 5th. And the fun stimulus check everyone seems to be spending!? Ours will not come until after our refund has been processed. Sweet. Did I mention I love having dirt for a back yard?

A productive weekend

We finally had some springtime weather around here! The hubster and I took advantage and got a lot of things done around the yard, or what will be the yard. First, KK finished about thirty feet of fencing along the back of our property that had not been filled in because the house behind us is still vacant. That sh*t is expensive! We have vinyl fencing in our neighborhood, which I totally love because it is super nice, but c'mon, it's highway robbery what you pay for it! Oh well, at least we will only have to install it one time... now we are waiting for the house to the west of ours to sell so we can talk its tenants into sharing the cost of that side of the fencing with us.
We also started the process of raking the billions of rocks up out of our yard to prepare it for hydro seed. The nice part is we are doubling the purpose of the rock and using it as fill gravel for a flat stone patio KK will install, as soon as we get our stimulus check.
I was a busy bee out in the front of the house and planted perennials and bushes around the perimeter. I will post pictures of that ASAP. Still no grass in the front either, but at least adding some color spruced it up for now.

Overall, I'm pleased with the productive weekend, which I wrapped up by thoroughly cleaning the inside of the house, top to bottom. It feels good to be making process of what used to be a mountain of work. Don't get me wrong, we've still got a long list of yard projects to start and/or complete, but the end is in sight. We hope to have everything ready to rock by the end of May- perfect timing for summer BBQs- whoo hooo!

24 weeks!

R.E.M is not just an alt-rock band from Athens, Ga., it’s also something your little rocker is doing this week. Because her sleep cycles are set, she’s finally experiencing rapid eye movement.She’s also hard at work filling out that skin of hers, and is looking less like Iggy Pop every day. Her inner ear is fairly well developed, so even though she might not know what it means, she’ll be able to sense when she’s upside down or on her side.Not to be left out of the loop, her marrow is busy producing white blood cells which will enable her to combat infections and disease later on. And, over the next weeks, she’ll be adding blood vessels to her lungs in preparation for oxygenating her blood supply and not, as you may come to believe, to increase the decibel level of her crying.

I went for my 24 week check-up yesterday and am proud to report I am harboring a healthy, super-active baby girl! The doc said she must really be moving and groovin' in there, because her heart rate was up and very strong! I'm so proud :) I'm also happy to report I am right on target for weight-gain: and the nurse told me I am gaining all in my belly- the perfect, and correct, place for pregnancy weight to go!
Next month will be my last monthly appointment, in which I will consume the awful orange glucose drink to check for gestational diabetes. After that, I will go in every 3 weeks for check-ups.. we are chuggin right along- and I'm so happy because I want to meet this girl already!