28 and 29 weeks

Here are my belly pictures from 28 weeks and 3 days and 29 weeks:

So what's going on now?  Well, we had our 28 week appointment where I had to chug 5 ounces of this sugar drink so I could go in to get my blood drawn to test for gestational diabetes (and I guess iron deficiency at the same time).  So that morning I could only eat bland things for breakfast and then drink the sugar water one hour before my scheduled appointment.  After drinking the sugar water I was not allowed anything else to eat or drink - not even water.  CLEARLY, I should have drank way more water before I drank my glucose drink because I was so thirsty AND once I got to the doctor's office my blood wouldn't come out.  The nurse stuck me in my good arm (geez do I sound like a junky?  You get poked enough during these exams you know where the good veins are...anyway) and she couldn't get anything out so she's moving the needle up and down and around and I was highly uncomfortable.  While I'm whining and complaining she tells me she's going to try another arm which prompted Ryan to recount a time when he got poked SIXTEEN times before they got blood.  I looked at the nurse and I said "Do not poke me 16 times to get this blood."  I guess she took my not so subtle hint because after she couldn't get any blood from the second vein she called in another nurse who got blood on the first try.  Thank goodness!  I am a squirmy patient!  I was black and blue on the insides of my elbows for a week after that!  

But the good news is I don't have gestational diabetes or an iron deficiency.  And everything seems to be going just fine with baby boy.  We were supposed to do another check on his size this time to make sure he wasn't getting too huge but the previous doctor hadn't scheduled an ultrasound and this doctor really wasn't too worried about it.  She said based on my measurements I seemed right on track with perhaps a slightly larger than average baby.  But just to be safe she scheduled an ultrasound for the 32 week appointment.  

Let's see, what else baby related has been happening.  Well, I gained 4 lbs between my 24 week and 28 week appointments, which is apparently right on target.  I continue to enjoy sweets but I think my cravings aren't quite as pronounced and I seem to get full much faster than before.  Could be the squished stomach.  Baby boy is still extremely active and now I'm so big that practically everyone I see who I don't know makes a comment about my belly/baby.  Someone today asked me if I was hiding a basketball in there.  My feet and hands are poofy so I wear right hand rings on my left hand and am wearing pretty much exclusively sandals on my feet.  My level of poofiness depends on the day and the time of day so there are times when I am in public and need to expand my sandal straps but because of my large belly it would be indecent for me to adjust my own straps so Ryan has to help me (you don't want to know the contortions I have to put myself into to get these sandals on):

He has to help me at night too because it seems like my belly is bigger at night after eating, drinking, and swelling throughout the day.  Poor Ryan.  But what a lucky girl I am.  It might not be too long before I can't get these shoes on by myself in the first place!  Giggle.

Fourth of July Weekend

We were so lucky to have 4.5 days off over the Fourth and we were able to spend a lot of time with friends and have a lot of fun together as well.  On the actual 4th we were at a friend's house for a barbeque and fireworks. Their house is right by the lake where the fireworks were being set off so we were able to sit out on the deck during the show.  Not very long into the show we noticed a strange glow near the ground where the fireworks were being set off.  Turns out they set some brush on fire!  I guess the fire department wasn't too worried as they let the city finish the show before they put out the fire but we were close enough that we all smelled like smoke for the rest of the night and the fire made the news considering how everyone in this State is on super high alert regarding fires.  We also enjoyed another barbeque with Scott and Sue over the weekend but just like on the Fourth I didn't take a single picture.  I don't know what is wrong with me but we had a great time at both events.

I do have a couple pictures from the Pink Martini concert we went to at the Arvada Center outdoor amphitheater with some friends.  Pink Martini is such a fun band that has about 12 members with instruments ranging from violin to trumpet to piano.  Their music makes me feel like I should be drinking a fancy cocktail in some swanky club in Havana or Miami in the 40s.  Each instrument was featured prominently during different songs throughout the night and the lead singer was wonderful.  She reminded me of Charlize Theron only with some serious pipes.  It's kind of fun that most of the songs (mostly covers) are not in English.  For a couple of the songs they let people come up onto the stage to dance and for the final song they had everyone form a conga line.  What a fun atmosphere.

Also over the weekend we used more of our yummy produce from the farmer's market.  I was using tomatoes on everything and have made jalapeno/anaheim poppers, tuna nicoise pasta (using red potatoes and green beans), and Ryan made pickles, pickled jalapenos, and fried eggplant.

He also made yummy banana bread, which had nothing to do with farmer's market produce, but it was delicious.  He recently got this new foodsaver that he is obsessed with so he packaged up the banana bread just like he's been packaging up every other food item in the house.  However, the bread didn't stay sealed long considering I'm in the house scavenging for any sweet item I can find.

We decided over the weekend that we were tired of taking the girls in for grooming and thought we could do just as good a job for a one time investment in some clippers (which by the way, is about the cost of one professional grooming).  So we decided to work on China first since she is the calmer personality.  She was a perfect little client!  I thought "WOW those groomers have it easy with China - we are paying too much!"  The little sweetie even fell asleep in the middle of grooming!

Isn't she tuuuuttteeeee?  Even though we're not yet great at grooming I think China looks pretty stinking good for this being the first time we've ever groomed a dog.  Here's before and after:

Peanut...Peanut doesn't look as good as China.  Peanut was an awful client and squirmed and wiggled and huffed and puffed and she ended up looking like a freaky baboon/Clydesdale/bird hybrid.  I accidentally shaved her entire behind area (hence the baboon) once when she was squirming and then her legs were so difficult to do that from the elbow area to the foot are pretty bare but then the actual feet are really poofy and then on top of those basically shaved legs is a slighlty poofy chest and body area.  So I feel like everything we were overpaying on China we were probably underpaying on Peanut.  Here are the best before and after pictures I could get.  At least her little face looks good. 

A fun delivery we got over the holiday weekend was the crib and dresser for baby boy!!!  Courtesy of the excited Grammies and Grampies (Ryan's parents).  Ryan got everything set up in the baby room and since we already had all the stuff from the baby shower and from our friend Amy we're pretty well situated in there already!  We still need to hang the valance that we got and I still want a chair but we are definitely getting things ready bit by bit!

Surprise!

A week ago last Thursday I got such a fun surprise - my brother Clayton came out for a quick visit!    He packed up his motorcycle that morning and drove all day to meet us at home after work.  It was so good to see him and we got to go out to eat at a couple yummy restaurants (Namiko's and Bang), go cruising in The Church Lady, and we went to Krispy Kreme and I tried my very first hot doughnut.  YUM!  I snarfed two immediately.  The best though was just being able to spend time together and catch up.  We don't usually get him all to ourselves so it was a real treat.  Even though we were running around all weekend I failed miserably at getting pictures.  This is the only one I took:

Unfortunately the weekend came to an end much too quickly and I was sooooo sad when Clayton had to leave a little earlier than planned to try to beat the rain.  But, I'm just glad I got to see him.  :)  Love seeing my big brothers.

After Clayton left that Sunday morning we went to the farmer's market and got all of this through the CSA program:

And Ryan made his first batch of baby food:

And here is my 27 week picture from that Sunday - I missed my 28 week pic this past Sunday.

Oops - missed a week

Here is my 26 week belly pic because I forgot to take a 25 week belly pic:

I don't really have any changes to report since last update.  Still have a sweet tooth, still a bit swollen, still feel really well, and still have a very active baby who is more noticeable by the day.  He likes to wedge himself deep down in my pelvis area, which I find slightly uncomfortable because it makes my belly feel all hard and makes me have to go to the bathroom, so I always try to push him out of there.

I was lucky enough to have a friend give me a lot of her baby stuff and my colleagues at work had a shower for me so we are well on our way to having a very well supplied baby!  The shower at work was so lovely.  They did such an awesome job hosting for me and another colleague that is 8 weeks ahead of me in pregnancy.  The cake was beautiful AND delicious and it was so kind and generous of everyone to celebrate with us.  Ryan was able to join me too so it was really nice for him to be a part of it and be able to thank everyone directly.

I have to admit - I had to ask a few of the mommies there what some of the items were used for!

So I have a question.  My goal is to not bring baby boy into our bed during the night and I have had various friends tell me that they loved their gliders for night time nursing and I have wanted one ever since I got pregnant; however, I have other friends who have insisted they would have hated a glider and they prefer a lazy boy.  Thoughts?  I need something for the nursery but want to think carefully through my options because those are not small purchases!

Other stuff going on:

Well, I posted about the condo earlier.  We have it up and ready for rentals!  We've had a few inquiries so far and I am slowly learning lessons as we go.  For instance, I learned a very valuable lesson already that we need to allow online payment for renter's ease.  I have updated the site to allow that.  Also, I learned that I need to be very quick to respond to any inquiry in this digital world where everyone is by their device every minute of the day.

We've had some nasty fires throughout the state.  I was so hoping we wouldn't have that this year. Here is a picture from my office window on one of the days where the smoke was especially bad. Usually you can see mountains but not that day:

This last Sunday everybody decided to drive their Mustangs to church.  We had to laugh at Jodi and Sue about their nearly identical convertibles.

The farmer's market has started up again!  This year we signed up to be a part of the CSA (community supported agricultural program) with Miller Farms so every week we get to pick out an entire bucket of produce.  The produce is so good and it's so much food!  We won't have to buy veggies in the store for the rest of the summer...and I'm sure we'll have enough to can/freeze that will last us well into the fall/winter.

So far this week we've had grilled corn, various veggie salads, sliced tomatoes, grilled asparagus, boiled potatoes, cantaloupe, and kale chips.  Yum.

Oh, and wabbit update - yep, they are still there.  We never see them so we thought they were gone.  Ryan decided to throw a little more mulch in the garden and the next day...new holes.  Good thing we signed up for the CSA.

Condo

Well, we finally got it listed.  Here is a link to our condo:  http://www.vrbo.com/481766

I will post details of the condo and other life happenings later...and a belly pic.  I know I'm behind!

24 weeks

I still have one very active little boy on my hands!  Pretty much anytime I am sitting still I can feel him moving around in there and he's by no means subtle about it.  Also, he's apparently gotten big enough to to do kickboxing on my bladder so sometimes I feel the need to go immediately.  I had heard this would happen and it is no joke!  I can go from completely fine to "Ryan you need to pull this vehicle over now" pretty quickly.  Hehe.  We had the 24 week appointment this week and everything is moving along great.  Next appointment at 28 weeks is where we'll do the glucose test for gestational diabetes and also remeasure baby boy to see if he is still ginormous and if that means a revised due date.

Let's see...any symptoms I'm having?  I do think I'm a bit more emotional than before considering something in "The Hulk" made me tear up (Ryan can not stop laughing about that - cut me some slack it was where Hulk's Dad was trying to kill him when he was a baby!).  I'm still swelling in my hands and feet and I don't think that's going away as long as we stay in this record breaking heat.  I still have a sweet tooth.  And that's really about it other than I'm growing.

Other news:

Rabbit Update:

Ryan was watering the garden the other night and the hole to the rabbit den must not have been covered very well because one huffy baby bunny came shooting out of there sopping wet.  It was the cutest little thing and I wanted to keep him but instead just took lots of pictures and then walked away.

Rental Property:

Ryan and I purchased a rental property in the mountains and are working away at getting it ready to rent out.  We stayed there last weekend to get some furniture delivered, get utilities set up, etc.  The location is superb and I absolutely love the place so I hope vacationers feel the same way.  I also like when Ryan makes me lunch there:

 

23 weeks

Please ignore my red, puffy face.  We had just returned from camping so I was tired and burnt and China had just squirted out of my arms like a greased pig during bath time which caused me to break down into hysterics until Ryan assured me sure she was okay.  Oh who are we kidding I was still a mess even when I knew she was okay.  Anyway, apparently pregnant women are more susceptible to the sun (overheating, burns, etc.)...at least that's what I've read/heard, and in my case that seems to be true.  I've never been one to get too hot or burnt but lately I've been doing both even without that much exposure (and I always wear sunscreen).  I also seem to swell and I'm thinking I might not be able to wear my wedding ring for the rest of the summer.  In exciting news, Ryan finally was able to feel the baby.  Baby boy was in there one night this week being as exuberantly active as usual and his movements were so dramatic I figured I could probably see them from the outside and I was right and Ryan was able to feel the movements!

Other non-baby news around this household:

Rabbit Gate Part 2 - Right before Memorial Day weekend we noticed a giant hole in our garden where a pepper had once been planted.  I immediately placed the blame on China but Ryan had checked her feet and she was clean.  After inspection of the hole he determined it had to be a rabbit hole because it was kind of a burrow.  He wanted to catch the rabbit in the act so he could chase it out of the yard and then place a barrier where it had been entering.  So one evening after work I hear him outside all excited that he had seen the rabbit (and had chased it away) and now knew where to seal the yard.  And then...silence.  And then..."Racccheeellll, um, you might want to come  here."

There were pink, blind, squirmy little baby rabbits down in that hole.  Sooooooo, we now have baby rabbits nesting in our garden.  So much for getting any veggies this year.  The mom sits right across the fence in our neighbor's yard (where there are no dogs) and comes to visit her babies about twice a day.  Each time she leaves she covers the hole back up so you barely even notice it's been disturbed.

Apparently the babies leave the nest after 3-4 weeks.  Then we can finally block off the wabbit access point although it will probably be too late in the veggie growing season to matter.  The one thing that still might produce is our tomato plant (or I should say plants).  We got a topsy turvy this year in an attempt to keep the juicy tomatoes out of our dog's mouths and so far it has been working great for that purpose and also the plants look pretty healthy.

Camping - We went camping for the first time this season at Springer Gulch.  It was a beautiful weekend for it and was some much needed time away from connectivity and the city.  It's a little different camping while pregnant as I'm not able to mountain bike or drink beer (two of our normal activities while camping) but I was still able to play games/throw checkers (I don't like when Ryan beats me), read, go on walks, and nap.  (The strange bump protruding from my belly is not the baby but plastic bags in my pocket.)

Memorial Day - We spent Memorial Day weekend doing a lot of work around the house.  We picked out all the plants for the season as well as some trees to place in the giant pots flanking our garage door.  And then of course we (Ryan) planted everything.  We also got the camper out and completely prepared it for camping.  We hadn't used it for a year so it desperately needed a cleaning and also we wanted to test everything out to make sure it was working.  I remember one year we didn't do that and we got up into the mountains to discover we needed a new faucet as the old one popped off the first time we tried to use it and water was spewing everywhere.  Over the weekend we also enjoyed a barbeque with some friends.

Eating - I am eating like a horse now and am really itching to go out to eat a lot as I hadn't done that (or eat much at all for such a long time).  One place Ryan took me was Joe's Crab Shack.  I was craving seafood and was thinking of Steuben's lobster roll but didn't have the desire to go that far for it so we went to Joe's instead.  I hadn't been there forever and I found it extremely enjoyable.  I got my own steam pot and it was nice enough we could sit on the patio which overlooks the mountains.  I was a pretty happy girl.

Ryan's Work Trip - his Dad would be proud that this is what he did on his latest work trip.

Adorable China - I don't recall why she's so wet here (I think she might have been stuck out in the rain) but I think it's cute that she's burrowed amidst all those pillows under the bed.  (Yeah so I never make the bed - don't judge.)