"Mommy Brain" is Kickin' in Overdrive!

And for me... this means several things:

1. I have a mile long list in my head of things that MUST get done before this baby comes... even though it's a list that even Martha Stewart couldn't accomplish
2. I cannot for the life of me remember the right words I need when I need them
3. Some things (ahem, like blogs, for instance) are getting put on the back burner and finally...
4. My strangely creative but ridiculously cheap natures are working in harmony!
And it's because of #4 that I'm taking a break from #1-3 to post this blog. :-)

Part of #1 includes getting the layette organized for the baby. We've been incredibly blessed with some lovely new things... I have a stack of things that I've scored at consignment sales this year... and I've kept ALL of Sam & Lawrie's baby things. (So I've got quite a bit of work to do...) Anywho, one of the things I loathe is having the most ADORABLE little outfit for Junior that's about 3 mos. too big, sticking it in the closet where it gets lost in the abyss, and Junior totally outgrowing it before ever getting a chance to make an appearance in it!

So I scoured the Web looking for a solution and found these:
Perfect! Right? Well, yeah... for $7.95 + $5.75 shipping & handling. :-( So I looked around for a while in stores around me & came up empty handed.

Then, one night... while sitting at the computer... a totally innocuous stack of 4" x 6" index cards took on a strange glow... and after a little engineering... this is what I did: and....

Voila!

Week 31: Or... How Things Can Change in a Week!

Okay, so I never got my "May Update" posted on the blog last weekend... things were much busier than I expected with Sam's ballgame & Danny working Saturday AND Sunday. So I'm gonna go ahead and say it again... I hope to get some summary & pictures from May up THIS weekend! :-) (And it's more likely to actually happen, 'cause Danny's off this weekend & we have him all to ourselves! Yay!)

As for everything that I posted about being pregnant... I totally forgot to KNOCK ON WOOD! Or cross my fingers... or whatever other superstitious thing I should've done... Just when things are "boring" or "normal," the curveballs start flyin'!

The beginning of the week found me playing phone tag with the Doc's office... I finally had to tell them that there was a slim to none chance that I'd be able to actually answer the phone in time to speak to them in person (I know, I know... they've never met my kids...) and asked if they would PLEASE just leave these oh-so-seemingly-urgent lab results on my answering machine. About two hours later... during nap time... there was that message. I "failed" my glucose tolerance test. Ugh...

Not extremely detrimental in the grand scheme of pregnancy things... but I just was shocked! "What?!" I thought. So for the last few days, while waiting to head back to the lab for a THREE HOUR glucose tolerance test... I've been racking my brain to try to determine what's been different this time around.

I fasted since midnight... went in at 8:45 am... had my first (fasting) blood draw at 9:05, chugged down that gosh-awful "GluCola" syrup, and had three more blood draws after that hourly. In the meantime I finished studying my Sunday School lesson for Sunday... spent a little time in The Word... watched a little HGTV that was on in the waiting room... and drooled over terribly overpriced new fangled baby gadgets in a pregnancy magazine. Oh yeah... and I made a mental list of WHY I was there:

• Being a little overweight when I got pregnant
• Not paying one ounce of attention to my "nutrition"
• Battling anemia like nobody's business this go around

The phlebotomist agreed with me but also said that it could've just been something I'd eaten (or overeaten) the day/night before the test.

Oh well. I should have the results back in a day or so... probably beginning of next week since this is Friday... but it has been enough to scare me into taking my prenatal vitamins (even though they make my tummy yucky) and paying a little more attention to what and how much I'm eating! He he he... I was being a little TOO lax this time 'round I suppose...

Week 30: Posting for Posterity

Believe it or not, I actually have ANOTHER blog post in the "draft" stage as I'm writing this! Okay, yeah... it's not hard to believe... I'm a terrible procrastinator. :-)

That post is a family update about all the adventures we had in May. I hope to have it up sometime soon... sometime this weekend even. "Things" have slowed down for us (FINALLY!) I had several sizable commitments & projects up in the air throughout April & May... not to mention my sister's wedding (!) but now that those things are past, I've been at home more and it has felt so good. The timing has also coordinated well with my nesting instinct! 

And that brings me to the point of THIS post. When I was pregnant with Sam, I kept an online diary of sorts thru BabiesOnline.com, which used to host free blog kinda sites for expectant and new moms. With Lawrie, I was in the midst of finishing up my Bachelor's degree and barely had time to keep up the little notes that I was able to jot down in my Pregnancy Journal. And even after he was born, for some reason I had this totally irrational fear of disappearing into "Mommy oblivion" and made sure to keep myself over-involved in things outside my home, so that no one would forget about me. (I even helped lead Vacation Bible School at our Church when he was just 2 weeks old!)  

Needless to say, things change in four years' time. I've learned quite a bit more about myself as a wife & mother... One of those things is that "Mommy oblivion" is not that bad of a place! :-)  The few times I've been able to hide out there over the past few years, have been some of my favorite times. So from the moment I found out that I was pregnant with this little one, I knew that when he/she arrived the world would be asking "Where'd she go?!" about me! (And I won't care one bit...) :-) But I do love being involved at Church and so even though it hasn't been easy, I've tried to do as many wonderful & fun ministry-filled activities as I could before this little booger makes an appearance. The downside of that has been that I haven't made much time for journaling/chronicling this pregnancy... so, just indulge me for the next coupla months... :-p

This is week 30 and as of my Drs. appt. yesterday, I am measuring right on target for that and we have quite an active booger with a heartbeat that's still up in the 150s. I also had my glucose tolerance screening done yesterday & should have those results back soon... but I didn't have gestational diabetes with either Sam or Lawrie, so I don't expect any "bad" news. 

For the most part, I am a boring pregnant lady... which is probably why it's so easy to overlook journaling about being pregnant... especially after your first... there's just not much to report. The only thing I've had to deal with this go around is an earlier onset of something that I experienced late in my pregnancy with Lawrie: diastasis of the pubis symphysis. With him, it came on at about 36 wks. & I noticed it after a day of over-doing-it at Concord Mills Mall. This time around, it came on at 21 wks., the day after I played catcher in our Church's first co-ed softball game of the season. (I know what you're gonna say... so don't! Yes, I've played softball thru my pregnancy... more about that later... maybe...) Anyway... rest, exercise, and just plain being careful about how I position my hips & legs has minimized my pain and although some days the flare-ups are enough to keep me from getting much done, most days I'm perfectly fine.

So, 10 weeks to go! What will I be doing? Well, I'm leading the children's One Room Sunday School at Church for the month of June... this Sunday, I'm filling in for Preacher Rick in the pulpit... and June 22-26th I'll be leading the Assembly portion of Trinity's Vacation Bible School. And I'm really excited for us to make a trip up to Virginia for the Fourth of July (I am just IN LOVE with Yorktown, VA on Independence Day!) And that will pretty much be it for me. The trip to VA will be on my 34th week, which is the last week my midwife is allowing me to travel... after that, it'll be nesting, washing adorable baby clothes in Dreft, stocking up on some new cloth diapers & wraps, and cleaning like a freak!

Hopefully, all this fun won't impede my blogging a little more about this pregnancy! ;-)