Nothing terribly exciting from our 31 week appointment. Deb is in Eagle River and I met with Dr. Neal instead of Dr. Berger this time. We're rotating through the other Dr's for the next few appointments. Apparently there is no guarantee that we'll have Dr. B in the delivery room so it's good to at least see the other Dr's once. Dr. B is definitley our favorite so we've been telling the baby to focus on September 24th after 4:30pm so Dr. B will be on call. Hopefully it works! :-)
Dr. Neal mentioned today though that I was just under the radar for gestational diabetes, meaning I was one point away from testing positive and having to do a 2nd round drinking a sugary drink. She suggested watching my sweets and carbohydrate intake. Ouch. I'm not typically a sweet lover and being pregnant has definitely brough about cravings for chocolate cake and ice cream. I also eat tons of fruit daily so I suppose I should cut that back a bit. I've also gained just 2 lbs from our last appt. which put my weight gain at..........................drum roll please................29 lbs with 9 weeks to go. According to the Dr. this is not too shabby. It'll take quite a bit of running to get it off again but i'm really looking forward to running again and this of course gives me a reason to buy a new pair of running shoes and a jogging stroller! Wahoo!
Cheers,
Mic
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Ooops, I swallowed a WATERMELON!
Here are the 30 week baby bump pictures you've all been waiting for! You'll notice that not only do I look as though I swallowed a whole watermelon........I am also sporting a snazzy prego dress. Yes, Maria, that was just for your entertainment!!!
The hormones have clearly affected my brain as I have rarely, rarely, rarely worn a dress pre-pregnancy. Oddly enough though it was very comfortable and I'm tempted to add it to my work clothes rotation. :-)
So enjoy the pics and be happy that you don't have 10 weeks to go where the bump will continue to grow, I believe the Dr. mentioned something about quadrupling in the next 10 weeks, AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
I also forgot to mention in previous posts that I steered clear of gestational diabetes and everything is going as it should be. Just starting to get tired and the Iowa humidity is definitely less than friendly these days. We've been going to the Y every day to swim or water walk which has helped trememdously. Deb is up north, yes where black bears exist, for a week and probably her last week away before the baby arrives.
Cheers,
Mic
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Guthrie and Lucy checking out the baby room
Guthrie and Lucy decided to check out the baby room this past weekend and seem to really like the rug. Guthrie loves to snooze behind the glider when I read (the glider has become the most comfortable chair for me lately as my belly expands) and Lucy just loves to chill on the rug. We've found her toys in the room and under the crib so we may need to do a little extra training with her.
Reading to the baby.........
Deb has been reading to the baby for weeks now and we thought we'd share some of our favorites:
Rainbow Rob
And Tango Makes Three
What Makes a Rainbow
The Family Book
Feel free to make suggestions for any other books!! We've also got a book of all the old fairytales and I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, almost everyone includes someone being eaten, baked in an oven or kidnapped into the woods. Kind of frightening!!!!
Shorty's First Experience with a Black Bear
Well, we've just returned from a week in Northern Wisconsin that was quite an experience. Our intentions were to spend 4 days at the "old cottage" in Land O Lakes and after just one night, we were packed up and headed to the "cottage" in Eagle River. Let me tell you why................
We (Deb, myself, Guthrie, Lucy and our friend Mo) arrived around 2pm at the old cottage, unpacked everything, let the pups swim in the lake, and hopped into the row boat for a little afternoon fishing. We had a lovely grill out, threw the kong a gazillion more times for Lucy in the lake and settled in for the night. Everything was going along swimmingly and we had all been asleep for a few hours when Deb awoke to an odd noise. She had a few thoughts:
1) the dogs were running in their sleep and therefore their nails were scratching against the carpet.
2) our friend Mo was snoring up a storm, which she has been known to do
3) the screen was being torn off my some sort of nuisance animal
Can you guess which one it was????? If you chose #3, you were right!
Deb went to investigate the sound with our trusty labrador, Lucy. Standing in the cottage and looking out onto the porch she found that one side of the screened in porch was missing the screen on a large panel and the other side was missing the screen and trim on the door. Most important to mention is that the side with the door damage also had a large black bear still sitting next to it. Deb quickly closed the door and went back into the cottage. She thought briefly about her options:
1) Shoot the black bear with a 22 (I assume that is a gun of some sort), narrowly missing it to "frighten" it
2) Go back out onto the porch and calmly ask the bear to leave
She chose #2 to avoid scaring the bejeepers out of Mo and I by shooting the gun.
She went back out onto the porch and calmly asked the bear to "shoo bear, shoo shoo bear, go away". The bear slowly obliged and took a few steps away from the porch and then stood its ground. Have I mentioned that when Deb went out onto the porch the bear was approximately 4 feet from her???? Yes, this bear was all about the up close and personal experience.
Deb quickly realized he would need more of a deterrent for this bear so she picked up a metal dog bowl and threw it at the bear. She was successful and the sound of the bowl hitting the bear was much like that of someone hitting another person on the head with a pan. (I had been awake this entire time thinking that Lucy must have had to go potty and Deb couldn't get her to come back in because she loves the lake so much. Upon hearing this noise though I decided to find out what was going on and got up). After being hit with the bowl, the bear ran off only to return to lick the dog bowl and Deb returned inside. I met her in the kitchen where she informed me that we had an uninvited guest. I immediately responded with "shut the $#!*&! windows" and ran about the cottage closing windows. I had no idea that bears don't climb in through windows. Or do they????
We woke Mo up to inform her of our guest and we all stood in the kitchen wondering what to do next. Have I mentioned that our trusty, protective labradors have done nothing at this point??? Guthrie, being 9 has somewhat of an excuse as he was terribly pooped from all of the swimming and slept throug this. Lucy, however, standing next to Deb the entire time, remained silent. This is a dog that barks at her own shadow. Clearly she realized the bear was no match for her.
Deb decided it was best that we all try to get some sleep, SHHHHAAAA RIGHT, and we returned to our beds. I decided that it was best to set the car alarm off to warn the bear that we meant business and he/she wasn't meant to return. Deb then fell back asleep and I laid in bed for about 3 hours waiting for the sun to come up. All the while holding the key fab to the car with my thumb on the emergency button. I slept for about 45 minutes and dreamt about bears and wolves coming into the cottage. All the while, the Shorty, kicked, punched, rolled and tried to tuck a limb or two under my ribs. As you can imagine, my anxiety had definitely given the baby a little does of adrenalin and neither of us slept that night.
We were up and out of bed at 7am, Deb offering to make us pancakes and Mo and I refusing as we packed up our belongings. Even a walk up the hill to the outhouse, was too scarey, remember how unafraid of us the bear was. I used a small pail in the cottage to pee and being pregnant this happens A LOT. We left the old cottage around 10:00am and were in Eagle River, WI at the cottage by 11am.
Feeling much safer in our new location, we settled into 5 days of swimming in the lake, playing with the pups, reading books and cleaning a gazillion pails of strawberries that Deb and her parents had picked.
In the future, I would prefer that the Shorty's meets bears and other wildlife from the other side of the glass wall at the Zoo. :-)
We (Deb, myself, Guthrie, Lucy and our friend Mo) arrived around 2pm at the old cottage, unpacked everything, let the pups swim in the lake, and hopped into the row boat for a little afternoon fishing. We had a lovely grill out, threw the kong a gazillion more times for Lucy in the lake and settled in for the night. Everything was going along swimmingly and we had all been asleep for a few hours when Deb awoke to an odd noise. She had a few thoughts:
1) the dogs were running in their sleep and therefore their nails were scratching against the carpet.
2) our friend Mo was snoring up a storm, which she has been known to do
3) the screen was being torn off my some sort of nuisance animal
Can you guess which one it was????? If you chose #3, you were right!
Deb went to investigate the sound with our trusty labrador, Lucy. Standing in the cottage and looking out onto the porch she found that one side of the screened in porch was missing the screen on a large panel and the other side was missing the screen and trim on the door. Most important to mention is that the side with the door damage also had a large black bear still sitting next to it. Deb quickly closed the door and went back into the cottage. She thought briefly about her options:
1) Shoot the black bear with a 22 (I assume that is a gun of some sort), narrowly missing it to "frighten" it
2) Go back out onto the porch and calmly ask the bear to leave
She chose #2 to avoid scaring the bejeepers out of Mo and I by shooting the gun.
She went back out onto the porch and calmly asked the bear to "shoo bear, shoo shoo bear, go away". The bear slowly obliged and took a few steps away from the porch and then stood its ground. Have I mentioned that when Deb went out onto the porch the bear was approximately 4 feet from her???? Yes, this bear was all about the up close and personal experience.
Deb quickly realized he would need more of a deterrent for this bear so she picked up a metal dog bowl and threw it at the bear. She was successful and the sound of the bowl hitting the bear was much like that of someone hitting another person on the head with a pan. (I had been awake this entire time thinking that Lucy must have had to go potty and Deb couldn't get her to come back in because she loves the lake so much. Upon hearing this noise though I decided to find out what was going on and got up). After being hit with the bowl, the bear ran off only to return to lick the dog bowl and Deb returned inside. I met her in the kitchen where she informed me that we had an uninvited guest. I immediately responded with "shut the $#!*&! windows" and ran about the cottage closing windows. I had no idea that bears don't climb in through windows. Or do they????
We woke Mo up to inform her of our guest and we all stood in the kitchen wondering what to do next. Have I mentioned that our trusty, protective labradors have done nothing at this point??? Guthrie, being 9 has somewhat of an excuse as he was terribly pooped from all of the swimming and slept throug this. Lucy, however, standing next to Deb the entire time, remained silent. This is a dog that barks at her own shadow. Clearly she realized the bear was no match for her.
Deb decided it was best that we all try to get some sleep, SHHHHAAAA RIGHT, and we returned to our beds. I decided that it was best to set the car alarm off to warn the bear that we meant business and he/she wasn't meant to return. Deb then fell back asleep and I laid in bed for about 3 hours waiting for the sun to come up. All the while holding the key fab to the car with my thumb on the emergency button. I slept for about 45 minutes and dreamt about bears and wolves coming into the cottage. All the while, the Shorty, kicked, punched, rolled and tried to tuck a limb or two under my ribs. As you can imagine, my anxiety had definitely given the baby a little does of adrenalin and neither of us slept that night.
We were up and out of bed at 7am, Deb offering to make us pancakes and Mo and I refusing as we packed up our belongings. Even a walk up the hill to the outhouse, was too scarey, remember how unafraid of us the bear was. I used a small pail in the cottage to pee and being pregnant this happens A LOT. We left the old cottage around 10:00am and were in Eagle River, WI at the cottage by 11am.
Feeling much safer in our new location, we settled into 5 days of swimming in the lake, playing with the pups, reading books and cleaning a gazillion pails of strawberries that Deb and her parents had picked.
In the future, I would prefer that the Shorty's meets bears and other wildlife from the other side of the glass wall at the Zoo. :-)
Pictures above:
The screen door
Guthrie and Lucy resting after a swim in the lake
Lucy in the lake
Our friend Mo after the restless night
The distance of the dog bowl from the cottage after Deb threw it and hit the bear
The side screen panel
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Polka Dots and The Poppen's
We had our favorite friends, The Poppen's, over for what was supposed to be a grill out last night but turned into a grill in when mother nature had other plans. Mike, Shawna, Ella and Ava joined us for dinner and some romping with Guthrie and Lucy when the storms let up. After Ella (1st grader in the fall) and Ava (3 on July 7th) had their fair share of throwing the duck for Lucy, giving Guthrie hugs and kisses and being licked to death by Lucy, they decided to check out the nursery. Here they tested out the new rug, glider and read a few books (Rainbow Rob and What Makes a Rainbow being their favorites). They gave the thumbs up sign of approval for the room before leaving and we had a fantastic night.
We were also attacked by a stray string of polka dots last weekend in the nursery. At least that's what I told Deb. It originally was supposed to be just the wall behind the crib but it looked so cute that we had to continue it on all of the walls. With the addition of the polka dots, the nursery is ready to go and now we just anxiously await the baby's arrival.
We head up north today for our last roadtrip before the baby's arrival. We are looking forward to teaching Lucy how to be a dock dog, watching Guthrie play in the water, fishing and reading books. Our friend, Mo, is joining us which I am very thankful for. She can spend lots of time fishing out on the lake with Deb which allows me to lounge around, reading books and an occasional trashy magazine like "us", "people" and possibly the "national enquirer". It's so important to stay updated on what's happening in the celebrity world! :-)
A few recent comments I've had from children regarding the baby:
Eliza Sunleaf...................... after checking out the nursery.........."well, what if you don't have the baby?" "It could just stay in your stomach forever you know".
Ella Poppen........................ after checking out the nursery......... "what are you going to do if there are two babies in there?". I explained the ultrasound and seeing just one baby. Ella's response..........."there could still be two and one could just be hiding but your crib should be big enough for both of them".
Ava Poppen............................. "when the baby gets here, I could be the baby-sitter". I explained that maybe her mommy could watch the baby and she could be a helper. This was received with a big grin, giggles, and bouncing around.
Have a great 4th of July and I'm sure we'll have stories to share after our week up north!!
Cheers,
Mic and Deb
We were also attacked by a stray string of polka dots last weekend in the nursery. At least that's what I told Deb. It originally was supposed to be just the wall behind the crib but it looked so cute that we had to continue it on all of the walls. With the addition of the polka dots, the nursery is ready to go and now we just anxiously await the baby's arrival.
We head up north today for our last roadtrip before the baby's arrival. We are looking forward to teaching Lucy how to be a dock dog, watching Guthrie play in the water, fishing and reading books. Our friend, Mo, is joining us which I am very thankful for. She can spend lots of time fishing out on the lake with Deb which allows me to lounge around, reading books and an occasional trashy magazine like "us", "people" and possibly the "national enquirer". It's so important to stay updated on what's happening in the celebrity world! :-)
A few recent comments I've had from children regarding the baby:
Eliza Sunleaf...................... after checking out the nursery.........."well, what if you don't have the baby?" "It could just stay in your stomach forever you know".
Ella Poppen........................ after checking out the nursery......... "what are you going to do if there are two babies in there?". I explained the ultrasound and seeing just one baby. Ella's response..........."there could still be two and one could just be hiding but your crib should be big enough for both of them".
Ava Poppen............................. "when the baby gets here, I could be the baby-sitter". I explained that maybe her mommy could watch the baby and she could be a helper. This was received with a big grin, giggles, and bouncing around.
Have a great 4th of July and I'm sure we'll have stories to share after our week up north!!
Cheers,
Mic and Deb
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