Randomness

Ok, clearly I’m terrible about keeping up with the Thursday posts. But anyway…
So here’s what’s been going on in my life lately. First up, the 3 hour glucose test I took last Tuesday: um, I don’t know. My doctor’s office still hasn’t called me with the results. I think that’s kind of weird, because the results should have been in Wednesday at the latest. I’m sure I’ll hear from them tomorrow, and if not I’ll call them Tuesday. To be honest, I haven’t called them already because I threw a baby shower for my friend A yesterday, and I just didn’t want to have to know about it before then if I failed.

Despite some problems getting funding, I think the shower was a success! Originally I had hoped to get donations from 7-10 people of $15-$20 each, hopefully totaling around $150. That’s about what my mom and I figured it would take to cover food and decorations, and If we had anything left over we would just give it to A and her husband as a gift. Unfortunately we were only able to collect $70 total from 4 people, and it looked like we weren’t going to be able to do very much for her. I knew that I just didn’t have any money to put with it, and I was really praying that God would help us pull it off within the budget. We found some really good deals on some of the food, and A's SIL came through and picked up some favor boxes and a few extra tablecloths. We ended up serving chicken salad sandwiches on french bread, a veggie and dip tray, cowboy sushi, cupcakes, cream puffs, snack mix wrapped in pink napkin diapers, and the BEST coffee punch (I’m having it at my shower in a few months). For the favors we had little clear plastic boxes topped with pink bows and filled with pink candy pearls. I also got her a balloon bouquet, and for the centerpiece on the table my mom brought her antique silver tiered plate stand to display the cupcakes. We managed to get everything for right at the $70! I didn’t have a whole lot for her in the way of a baby gift, but the night before I was cleaning out Daisy’s closet (I’m working on turning her room into a boy’s room!) and I found 5 or 6 little dresses and sweaters with the tags still on them! They were things that my mom or I had bought on sale but that Daisy had  outgrown by the time the appropriate weather rolled around, so they rounded out the gift bag nicely! I’m so glad I was able to throw the shower for her, and I’m especially grateful for all the help I got from my mom and A's SIL!

Tomorrow Nick and I are shooting a wedding together. I'm both dreading and looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to the fact that the money from it will finally mark having made enough to pay off the initial investment for the camera (and then some). We also really need the money this week (and will still need about $300 besides). But weddings are just very, very stressful, not to mention a ton of work. I’d much rather do portrait work any day, but I’m very, very grateful for the income!
We have had one hiccup already that could have been a real problem, but thankfully turned out okay. B, the wife of one of Nick’s best friends has the exact same camera as I do. Months ago when I booked the wedding (and they wanted two shooters), Nick asked her if she would be willing to rent us her camera for a few hours for $50. Nick’s sister also has a DSLR, but hers is a Canon, not a Nikon, and it’s an older model. We thought it would be best to use B’s camera if we could, just because that way I would be completely familiar with it, and all the images would be of the same quality. Anyway, she agreed, and in fact Nick brought it up with her several times, as recently as two days ago, at which time she very specifically assured him that she was still on board with it.
Tonight he texted her husband several times to tell him we needed to come get the camera, but it was taking forever to hear back from him. Finally (18 hours before the ceremony), he texted back saying that she’d changed her mind and didn’t want to rent it to us after all because the fee for the rental wouldn’t buy her a new one if we broke it.

First of all, of  course it wouldn’t – if we were spending that much we would have just gone and bought a second one for ourselves. The whole reason you rent a camera is because  you can’t/don’t want to invest the money to own it. Plus, she agreed to the $50! Second of all, if anything were to happen to it we would replace it, even if we had to take out a loan to buy her a new one or (gulp) give her mine (which is actually a few months newer). And lastly, it was a really crappy thing to do to someone at the 11th hour. If she had said this 2 weeks ago, or a week ago, or even 3 days ago, I would have still been irritated that she was backing out after agreeing to it at first, but I wouldn’t have been really mad about it. But to do it on a Sunday night, less than 24 hours before the wedding was just incredibly rude and inconsiderate. There is not a single place in our city where you can rent a DSLR (I checked before we even thought of asking her), and this obviously left us with no time to rent one via an online provider.

Fortunately Nick’s sister graciously agreed to rent hers to us for the same price, so I made a 10:30 PM trip to her house to pick it up and shower her with gratitude. If you happen to think of it, Nick and I would really appreciate your prayers that things go well tomorrow. Also, Daisy and I were both feeling really lousy this morning at church, and I was really afraid we were coming down with something. But we stayed home from church and rested this evening, and it seems to have helped us both.

I’ll get caught back up with the ABC’s of Gratitude, but I need to head to bed, so I’ll leave you with my baby update for now:

Week 25 of Pregnancy: Baby's Lung Development

At nine inches and more than a pound and a half in weight, your baby is taller than two juice boxes stacked one on top of the other, and almost as heavy as four of those little boxes (an analogy you'll find particularly apropos in a few years, when those juice boxes start taking over your refrigerator, your pantry, your car.…).
Don't look now (as if you could), but your baby's skin is turning pinker. No, not because he or she's getting overheated (in fact, the amniotic fluid is perfectly climate controlled, keeping your baby at an always comfortable temperature), but because small blood vessels, called capillaries, are forming under the skin and filling with blood. Later this week, blood vessels will also develop in your baby's lungs, bringing them one step closer to full maturity — and one step closer to taking that first breath of fresh air. But at 25 weeks pregnant, those lungs are still very much works in progress. Though they are already beginning to develop surfactant, a substance that will help the lungs expand after the baby is born, the lungs are still too undeveloped to sufficiently send oxygen to the bloodstream and release carbon dioxide when he or she exhales.

The lungs aren't the only system that's gearing up for air intake. Your baby's nostrils, which have been plugged up until now, are starting to open this week. This actually allows your little one to begin taking practice breaths. (Of course since there's no air in there, your baby is really only "breathing" amniotic fluid, but it's the practice that counts, right?)

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Birthday Musings

Warning: some admitted whining ahead, followed by my normal sunny outlook.
Today was my birthday. Honestly, it didn’t start off very well. I stumbled out of bed this morning and got Morgan off to school, then went back to sleep for a couple of hours. I was woken by my doctor’s office calling to tell me I failed the glucose tolerance test I took on Thursday, and I’ll need to come in this week to take the three hour test.

If you’ve ever had this, you know how much it sucks. You start off by fasting for 8 hours or so. Then you go in first thing in the morning and have your blood drawn. Then they make you drink this awful syrupy glucose drink that tastes like flat orange soda that’s been sitting out for a few days.  And they want you to drink it really fast. Then you wait around for an hour. Then they draw your blood again. Then you wait around for another hour. Then they draw your blood again. Then you wait around for another hour. Then they draw your blood again. Of course during all of this you feel really crappy, because you’ve been fasting, then you have to down the gross drink, and you’re dealing with all the fun of hanging out in an uncomfortable waiting room in between getting repeatedly stabbed with a needle. So basically you’re tired, bored, hungry, sore, and usually a little nauseated.

So anyway, I called my mom to see if she could watch Daisy one day this week (because that adventure is not happening with a two year old in tow). She and my dad were on their way somewhere and just seemed really distracted and irritated to be bothered with the call, but she said, sure, she could watch her, but only tomorrow. So, I get to end my birthday by fasting. And neither one of them remembered that it was my birthday. I know that’s a really immature thing to complain about, but it kind of hurt my feelings anyway.

Also (and this is way petty, but I’m absolutely venting here, so just overlook me), Kate told Nick a few days ago that she was putting my birthday gift in the mail that day. Since all my gifts were opened at the family fall birthday get together a couple of weeks ago, I was really excited about having something to open on my birthday, something that rarely happens. Then she texted me this morning to tell me that she’s absolutely going to go to the post office tomorrow to mail it out. Honestly not a big deal (it’s not like she had to give me anything at all, and I gave her hers over a month late, when we went to visit them), but it was just something that added to the disappointing way the day started. But that just means I get to open a gift in a few days, extending the celebration a bit!

Things really did look up after that. I went and had lunch with Nick (with Daisy along for the ride of course), and we had Jet’s Pizza, the absolute, hands down best pizza I’ve ever had anywhere. And after that I got to go do some light shopping, and I bought myself a very nice (and deeply discounted) purse, as well as knocked out a couple of Christmas gifts for Morgan and Daisy (using a coupon of course!).

Nick very sweetly made me a delicious birthday cake last night, and I found out that 34 candles makes for an impressive blaze, but I got them all blown out in one breath. He also made dinner last night and tonight, and a couple of days ago he let me do some thrift store shopping. He worked incredibly hard this past weekend hauling off scrap metal and doing some mechanical work for a few different people. God really provided for us, allowing us to pay some bills we otherwise would not have had the money for. And my mom did call later to wish me a happy birthday and apologize for forgetting to earlier.

Since I missed Thankful Thursday, here’s my baby update for the week. Also, we finally settled on a name. I won’t post it here for privacy reasons (my girls go by alternate names here too), but I’ve decided to call him Jack on the blog. My last visit was this past Thursday, and everything is going well, although my doctor would like to see me gain a little weight. I’m about three pounds down from where I started when I got pregnant, and she’d like to see me gain those three pounds back by my next visit That’s hard for me to hear because I’m so used to hearing that I need to lose weight! I gained a ton of weight with Morgan and frankly never quite got back to where I was, so I was super careful about weight gain when I was expecting Daisy. With her I lost 10 pounds before I knew I was pregnant, then gained back those 10 plus 1 by the time she was born. She was perfectly healthy (in fact, her APGAR was 9), so I was really proud of doing such a good job keeping it in line (for the record, I’m um, voluptuous to start with, so it’s okay for me to gain less than average sized women). Anyway, since there’s a good chance I may be gestational diabetic again, it’s going to actually be a challenge to put weight on now (at least if I follow the diet like I’m supposed to!).

Week 24 of Pregnancy: Fetal Hearing

Your baby weighs more than a pound and a half right now and sports a crown-to-rump length of about eight and a half inches (standard letter size!). At this point in fetal development, that beautiful face (though still tiny) is almost fully formed.

Your baby weighs more than a pound and a half right now and sports a crown-to-rump length of about eight and a half inches (standard letter size!).
Wondering what (and who) your baby will look like?  If you had a baby cam at 24 weeks pregnant, you'd almost be able to tell by now.  That beautiful face (though still tiny) is almost fully formed.  What's still missing from the picture is the fat that will be piled on under baby's skin.  Until those fat deposits are made, that very tender skin is still very transparent, which means a close look would let you see clear through to all the organs, bones, and blood vessels. Fortunately, that see-through look won't last much longer. Babies at this stage of fetal development are gaining about six ounces each week — with much of that gain coming from fat, in addition to growing organs, bones, and muscle.
What's been playing on your little rocker's stereo system these days?  All kinds of sounds can be heard by your baby in your womb: from air exhaling from your lungs (deep breath now), those gastric gurgles produced by your stomach and intestines, your voice and your partner's (which your baby will be able to recognize at birth), and even very loud sounds such as honking horns, barking dogs, or a wailing fire truck.

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Thankful Thursday

Yesterday was my sweet little Daisy’s 2nd birthday. It’s so hard for me to believe that it’s been 2 whole years since God brought her into our lives! She has been an even bigger blessing and source of joy than we could have ever imagined, and it just fills my heart to see the happiness and love she has brought to our family!
God has once again really blessed us this week.
First, the ABCs of Gratitude:

• Kids – I love kids, especially (but not only) my own. All I ever wanted to grow up to be was a wife and stay at home mommy, and thanks to God and my precious husband, I’m finally living out that dream!
• Kisses – from Nick, from Morgan, from Daisy, and still from my mom and dad!
• Kink – No, there’s not a whole lot of it going on these days, but I certainly still have an active fantasy life, and I look forward to the day when we have a bit of time to get back to it in real life!
• Kittens – we actually can’t have one because Nick’s allergic, but I’m thankful for the one Kelly got for her birthday last month. She and Grant have lost two dogs in the last year, one to illness and one to accident. Kelly was absolutely devastated by both deaths, and I’m so glad to see her with a sweet pet she can cuddle again.

Recent Blessings:

• Remember the electric bill we didn’t have the money to pay last week? God brought the money for it in right on time! My parents gave me $100 for my birthday, and Nick was also able to haul off some more scrap metal from my papaw’s property, and his part of the profit paid the rest of it!
• About a week ago Morgan injured her toe while she was playing outside. By Sunday it was still very painful, so we decided to take her in to the doctor. She’d also been complaining about some headaches and dizziness recently. Now she can be a bit of a drama queen, and none of this had hampered her desire to play outside with her friends any, but the combo of the toe, the headaches, and the dizziness all together concerned us, so I got her in on Monday. Now I didn’t have the money for either gas or a co-pay, so I called my parents to ask if they would care to let me borrow $30 to cover both if no other money came in in the next couple of days. They not only agreed, but they insisted on giving me $50 flat out and having me buy me and the girls lunch too while we were out.
• The doctor’s visit went very well. The toe was just bruised, not broken. And the culprit for both the headaches and the dizziness was Morgan’s tendency to not wear her glasses if she could get away with it.
• We had another bill that had to be paid by yesterday to avoid a late fee, and Nick was also very low on gas. Tuesday he made $110 from another junk car haul. With that we paid the bill and got him gas, and had a little left over to go toward the rest of the week.
• Last Saturday we had our family fall birthday gathering, and I got some really neat gifts! Kelly and Grant got me some ribbon (they know me so well!) and a travel cup like this one (except mine has pretty pastel flowers all over it).

Anyone who knows me knows I don’t leave the house without a drink, so I love it! Nick’s grandparents got me a bottle of Bath and Body Works lotion and a ring that looks like this:
Nick’s cousin A has the same birthday as Daisy, and she made me a delicious loaf of zucchini bread on a cute little loaf plate. Nick’s parents got me a divided organizer box for some of my craft supplies, a medium storage tote for some of my fabric, and a set of metal punch stamps for jewelry stamping (something I had asked for). Nick’s aunt and uncle got me a very pretty pair of earrings. Daisy got a number of neat gifts as well, and everyone loved the gifts I got them (all handmade except for a book for Nick’s papaw and a journal for my brother).

• This is a small thing, but still pretty neat. At the dealership Nick works at, a lot of times they will get in a used car that comes with a first aid kit. They have a certified used car program, and if they certify a used car, the first aid kit has to be replaced if it’s been opened at all, even if nothing has been used. The old kits just get tossed. Yesterday Nick came home with about six discarded first aid kits, full of the kinds of things we tend to constantly be out of (band-aids, gauze, tape, etc). Yay freebies!
• Tonight my parents had me, Nick, and the girls out for dinner, cake, and ice cream to celebrate Daisy’s birthday. It was a  sweet time with family, and nice to not have to cook dinner!

Baby update:

Week 23 of Pregnancy: Fetal Weight Gain

At eight inches and slightly over a pound, your baby is the size and shape of a small doll. You've probably heard your developing baby's heartbeat through a Doppler a number of times, but by now you can also hear it through a standard stethoscope. What a heart throb!

At eight inches and slightly over a pound, your baby is the size and shape of a small doll when you are 23 weeks pregnant. (But then, you already knew that you were carrying a living doll, didn't you?) This week marks the beginning of some serious weight gain. Your baby's weight in the next four weeks alone should double (and you may feel as though yours is too).
You have probably heard your developing baby's heartbeat through a Doppler a number of times already (though you never get tired of hearing it), but by now you can also hear it through a standard stethoscope. What a heart throb! 
Your baby's skin is reddish in color now because of the developing blood vessels underneath (remember, the skin is very thin still). It also hangs loosely from his or her little body at this point. That's because the skin grows faster than the fat develops during fetal growth. But don't worry.  By the time your baby is born, he or she will be pleasantly plump and filled out — from chubby cheeks to chubby toes.

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