Saturday is officially the weirdest day of the week now. It used to be a busy day, filled with helping in the kitchen and all over camp while wearing Zachary on my back, and all such things. Now Z & I go to camp and eat with the staff for breakfast, and then we come home and do housework. If we are low on staff, sometimes we stay in the kitchen after meals to help out, or at least wipe the tables in the dining hall. But this weekend there are plenty of staff. And when we do stay to help, it's kind of a toss-up on whether it's actually helpful or not - you have to balance my helpfulness with Z's destruction to figure that out. :)

So today we ate breakfast at camp, played on the playground, came home & did housework, ate lunch at home and gave Z a nap, did more housework, and headed to the nearby town park around 5:00. We played there for over an hour and left when all the town's teenagers started to show up, guys and girls, hand in hand.

We only saw one other group of people while we were there. There was a pair of sisters, probably around 11 and 14, the older one with a boyfriend tagging along, and they were watching their nephew, who was just about Z's age. The older sister was more interested in the boyfriend than the little guy, though, and kept leaving him with her little sister, and then yelling bossy things like, 'Watch him! Don't let him fall off of there!' repeatedly across the playground.

After a little while, they were all near where Z & I were playing on a slide, and I overheard the 14-year-old girl say, "I want to have my own baby someday, I think. Like when I'm thirty." "Whoa, thirty?" the boyfriend asked. "Okay, yeah, maybe like twenty. 'Cause thirty's old", she replied. HA! I totally wanted to laugh, but I refrained. On the outside.

And then I loaded up my Mommy-mobile, complete with goldfish crackers, child-view mirror, car seat, and sippy cups, and came home and plucked some more gray hairs. :)

And thanked God that I made it past 14, and that 30 doesn't seem old any more.

FAIL

So, I ended up having to take my 3-hour glucose test this week. (I wanted to refuse it, but my ob said that if I did have gd & it was too bad, it might have to be treated by insulin/meds instead of just diet, so she didn't want me to refuse the test. Then she used the kicker: 'it could affect your daughter's long-term health...', so of course I took the test, right?) Anyway... You can probably guess from the title of this post how the results came out.

Yeah, I failed. There are 5 separate blood draws where they check your sugar - before you drink the nasty glucose stuff, 1/2 hr after, 1 hr, 2 hr & 3 hrs after. And I guess I failed 2 of them, and passed 3. So the good news is that my gestational diabetes should be manageable by a special low-carb diet & exercise (30 minutes of walking each day). AND today is the start of week 27 of my pregnancy, which means that in 13 weeks, I get to meet my little girl, AND I get to eat ice cream again. Two great reasons to look forward to Dec. 18th. :)

The test is always quite the experience for me, though, because I have TERRIBLE veins in my arms. They can rarely get anything on my left arm, and this time my right arm only held up for one stick. That means the other four had to come out of my hands. Ick. They're actually not as bruised as I expected them to be!

I scheduled my test for 6:30 am, so that Hubby could get up with Zachary, and watch him until he went to work, then we had a friend come & watch him until I got home. I didn't get done with my test until after 11:00, just because that's how long it takes (a friend told me to plan 4 1/2 hrs for the 3-hr test & I'm glad they did - it really did take that long)! Also, as an aside, if someone is in the lab for a 3-hr. long test, and has an appt., wouldn't you call them in for their initial blood draw before the people who are there for quick one-and-done blood work, no matter who was in line first? I would. But that's just me. I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, when I got done with my test at 11 am, having only eaten (well, drank, technically), a bottle of sugar solution 3 hrs ago, I was hungry! But I didn't want to take the time to stop anywhere on the way home, so I thought, 'Hey, I'll get something out of this vending machine on the way out of the building. Hmmm...these vegetable baked crackers sound tasty & healthy'. So I put a dollar bill into the machine. And it said: "Insert Exact Change". But it would not give me my money back. So I warily inserted the exact 85 cents required. And the machine rolled the crackers out, and gave me my dollar back, in quarters. EXCEPT that the bag of crackers got stuck. Sigh. I mumbled something along the lines of, "of course it would", feebly whacked the machine a couple times with my bruised hands, attempted to rock it a tiny bit (ha! - with my strength??? - um, it didn't move at all) and eventually fumbled around in my purse for another dime. I inserted another EXACTLY 85 cents, pressed the button again, and my initial bag of crackers fell to the bottom. And the 2nd bag of crackers did not. Of course. I growlingly (me AND my stomach) grabbed the bag and left. And do you know how cheap I am? I considered trying for the crackers a THIRD time. Because, people, I paid $1.70 for a bag of 25 baked vegetable crackers. Ridiculous!

When I told my hubby this story, he said, "With all the technology we have today, you'd think they could invent a vending machine where the food never gets stuck." Someone needs to get on that. Or a 7-month-pregnant woman with gestational diabetes might just keel over waiting for her baked veggie crackers. Hey, it could happen, you never know. :)

MIRL

This week, I FINALLY got to meet Denise from Musings from Mommy Land in real life!!! I feel like I've known her for a while, just from reading her blog, but in truth we had never met! She and her hubby & little Parker came over for an afternoon & dinner, and it was so much fun!!! Parker was such a smiley little guy - all you had to do was look his way, and he just smiled at you with this big grin - totally adorable!!!

We sat & let the boys play in the living room for a while, and they had fun - Parker more so than Zachary, I think. Although Zachary loved Parker, he wasn't really sure about sharing his toys. But he did okay, with only a few 'interventions'. (By the way, today, Denise, Zachary picked up one of the toys Parker played with a lot - that heart Pez dispenser - & said, "Parker toy." I had to tell him he could play with it!) :)

Then we strapped the boys into their strollers, and went for a tour of the camp. We let the boys play on the playground for a while. Parker enjoyed crawling around & eating rocks, and Zachary ran around & they both managed to get plenty dirty. :) Denise and I enjoyed chatting while they played, and our I think our hubbies enjoyed their 'guy talk', too.

The guys grilled us hamburgers, and hot dogs for the little ones, and the boys played on the porch while Denise & I chatted & got stuff ready inside. After we ate, the boys were having a great time banging on a cookie sheet together, just making all kinds of noise. :) Zachary loved to watch Parker play, and squealed his name lots of times during their visit.

We had a great time chatting together, and I'm so thankful that Denise & her family were willing to drive down to see us while they were on vacation! What a blessing to be able to actually get to know more of God's family!!!

Here are the only good pictures I got of Zachary pushing Parker in the baby swing (with Denise's hubby, Drew, watching):


I guess we were having so much fun that we forgot to take many pictures! It was a great time! Thanks for coming down to see us!!! :)

Things I Have Said Today

This post by MckMama the other day was SO totally hilarious, I spent HOURS reading the comments, literally. And it inspired me to write my own. Now, mind you, this is just what's in the forefront of my mind because these are truly actual statements that I have said to my son in the last 24 hours or so! So here we go!


"Why don't we put the shape sorter DOWN before we flush the potty next time?"

"Please don't lick the mirror, honey, icky."

"Get out of the fridge."

"Oh, my goodness, don't bite the roll of raw sausage!!! It will make you sick!"

"No, you do not have a baby in your belly. No, Daddy does not have a baby in his belly. Only Mommy has a baby in her belly."

"No, we are not going to go outside right now, we have work to do inside the house today." (do you know how many times a day I say this one??? and we do actually go outside occasionally!)

"Please don't stick your hand in the potty...Okay, well, now your hand is dirty, and we have to wash it."

"Yes, your belly is very nice."

"Please don't put your head under the faucet. Yes, I see that your hair is wet now." (while doing dishes together)

"Wow, what a mess you have made!"

"Yes, Mommy is going pee-pee in the potty."

"Oh, my, are you alright? Well, let's not pull on the oven door anymore, and then it won't hit you in the head."

"No, we are not going to watch 'Peanut Butter Jelly Time' on the computer right now. Mommy's working on her computer."

"Please take that out of your mouth and put it back in the garbage."

"Honey, put the remote down. It is not yours. No, take the remote out of your mouth and put it down."

"I see that there is a hole in the bottom of the toilet. But I do NOT want you to put your hand down there again. Now come here and let's wash our hands again."

"Thank you for wiping the milk spill up off the floor."

"Please take the dirty bowl off of your head."

"Please don't drink the dish rinse water."

"Don't eat your yogurt with your fingers. Don't you think your spoon would work better?"

"You are so funny."

"What is that in your hair?"

"Please do not put the rock in your mouth or your nose."

So, what's the craziest thing YOU'VE said today? :)



Also, we had a sort of exciting moment tonight - Z went pee-pee in the potty for the first time!!! We are nowhere near starting potty training yet, I just don't feel that he's ready (and I am definitely not), but I bought him a potty seat that goes right on the toilet, and he always asks to sit on it. Sometimes I let him sit on it during the day when he asks, and I usually put him on it for a few minutes before his bath. Tonight, before his bath, something happened for the first time! I think he was surprised, but, hey, it was a great first step! :) I was rather excited. :)

Ten Years Ago (yesterday)

Disclaimer: In case anyone wonders why this may be slightly disjointed, I’m sitting in the waiting room of the lab at 6:40 am, hoping to soon be able to drink a delicious bottle of Glucose solution, and ruing the fact that the lab does not have wi-fi.

And looking forward to the iced coffee I’m picking myself up on the way home.

Yesterday, Hubby & I celebrated ten years since our first date. Which was quite the experience. And, in thinking about it, I realized that I’ve never shared this hilarious story with you! So sit back and enjoy this little gem.

First of all, how Hubby & I met: As college freshmen, we were in classes together, one of which was called Family class. The teacher organized the seating chart by alphabetical order, boy/girl, boy/girl, and Hubby & I ended up seated next to each other. Looking back, the class was at 7 am, and Hubby usually isn’t overly charming before 8:30 or 9, so I’m not entirely sure how we ever got together… Our earliest memory of each other, besides the Family class, is that one evening, Joel was sitting with some friends in the campus dining hall, and I was playing a game with some friends, sitting on the other end of his table, laughing really loud. (Back then, I had this REALLY loud, ear-piercing laugh that Hubby later told me drove him NUTS. Pretty sure it drove most everyone nuts.) When I asked Hubby the other day if he remembered that, he responded dryly, "Yes."

One afternoon during the third week of school, I found a message on my machine from Hubby, asking me to go on a date with him. It was a double date, with a friend of his who Hubby had dared to ask a girl out, so when his friend did, he came back with a dare of his own - now Hubby had to ask someone. He later told me it was between me and a friend of mine, but I was the lucky girl. :) And that friend is also happily married to the guy SHE started dating just a week or so later, and pregnant with her third child. But I digress.

~~As an aside, my stomach is now FULL of delicious orange-flavored ‘glucola’ drink - Yummy! And back to the date!~~

Because the other female portion of our double date had to work until early evening on the night of our date, we began informally with a burger run and some off-road mudding (not exactly sure that was legal…) with a few guys. We were tooling around in a road construction zone, enjoying the mud wildly splashing the Bronco, when we hit an exposed manhole - there were hamburgers flying around the vehicle, and one passenger (a guy, NOT me and NOT anyone I’m married to) was so shook up (literally), he decided not to accompany us for the rest of the evening. What a great start to a relationship, am I right?

The rest of the evening was also a comedy of errors - we two couples were planning on going miniature golfing at this little place that the guys SUPPOSEDLY knew of. Instead, we drove around for a while, girls chatting in the backseat, guys solemnly discussing their driving situation, until finally one of them turned around and informed us that they could not find the mini-golf course. Instead, we visited Dairy Queen (always a favorite), and spent the rest of the evening in a park near the campus. So it was a salvageable date…and it gave the guys an excuse to ask us out again.

Our second date was the next night, and the guys brought a knowledgeable fifth wheel to direct us to the mini-golf course. This second date happened on a Saturday night, and then we went to church together on Sunday (twice), and the rest is history. Ten YEARS of history - it hardly seems possible! Time flies when you’re having fun - and for those of my readers who don’t yet have children, let me just tell you, once you have that first baby, your life will immediately fly by even ten times faster than before!

So, happy ten years (and one day) together, Hubby! It is amazing to look back and see how much each of us has grown personally, and in our relationship - how we have matured together. I can’t wait to see what the next ten years will bring!!! (and thank you for the gorgeous roses!)

Updated to Add: Just found out I failed my one-hour glucose test. Last pregnancy, I failed the one-hour, passed the three-hour, but my dr. made me go to diabetic counseling & take my blood sugar 5x a day & eat like a diabetic for 14 wks. anyway. So this time I am hoping to refuse the 3-hr. test (which is a HORRIBLE experience for someone who hates needles as much as I do), and just go ahead with the diabetic eating plan & monitoring instead. The dr. should be calling soon to discuss this plan of mine, so please pray that something will work out!

Hello, mojo?

I just haven't felt like blogging lately. Bottom line. I don't know why. Maybe I lost some undefinable 'mojo', maybe I'm just busy...I don't know. But here I am, with a little post just to share what we've been up to.

Let's see...I am now a full-time SAHM. I love it, I really, really do. But it still seems like I'm gone more than I'm home, between shopping trips, dr.'s appointments, etc. And, surprisingly enough, I don't really think my house is all that much cleaner than it was when I was working. But Z & I are getting into a routine, and enjoying being at home together every day. I'd like to do more 'tot school' learning activities with him, but I need to figure out when to make time for them in our days.

I had a birthday. Not a big one, just one. Another one. Found some (more) gray hairs - I have two patches where they're especially bad, right above each ear. You can't see them too much unless I have my hair up. We went to Cincinnati, visited the Creation Museum again (which we love), and got to spend time with Hubby's brother & parents, which is always a blessing. For my birthday, Hubby & I ate a nice Asian meal at home (a real sacrifice for him, he doesn't like Asian food very much), and he bought me ice cream & a brownie, which was delicious. For my birthday present, I used my birthday money from family, and Hubby chipped in to buy me an adorable pink mini-laptop! It's so nice to be able to tweet and check email & facebook, and look up recipes in the kitchen and living room.

Z is 21 months old now. Almost two years old. I'm so glad I have another tiny baby on the way, because wow. I don't think I could handle all this growing up if I didn't know I had another starting-over soon. Z is climbing on everything, and he loves to run and 'jump' like always. He says lots of words now, to describe what he sees, and what he's doing. He'll say, "running" and run across the room as fast as he can & back. When he hears a man or lady's voice on the radio, he says, "Man Inging" or "Lady Inging", which of course means a man or lady is singing. The other day he even said, "Man Tar" when he heard a man singing and playing a guitar (like his daddy does) on a CD. His new favorite superhero is Batman, who he calls Bat. Man. Two separate words. He says 'joker', too. And he also learned "Mickey Moush"'s name this week. It's pretty cute. And speaking of her tiny royal cuteness (really, I was at some point), she kicks like crazy. Constantly. She is just as active as her big brother ever was. And I have gotten several adorable outfits for her so far, shopping clearance & thrift/consignment stores - it is so FUN to pick out adorable girly stuff!!! :)

We've started the process of cleaning out our 'office' room, which is our only 'extra' room in our house right now. And so everything 'extra' is carefully, organizedly stored in there. Ahem. What I mean to say is that anything that doesn't belong anywhere else is stuffed in this room. And we have to empty it out so that Z has a place to sleep when the baby comes. So we've started. And we have so far to go. I know we'll get it done, in plenty of time, we still have almost 15 weeks, but at this point, it's a little overwhelming. There's just so much STUFF.

Today has been a nice day off for our family, though - we were all able to stay home & spend the day together. Z helped me wash dishes, as he's been enjoying doing lately, and I made a copycat McDonald's iced coffee recipe, which was delicious. It makes about 2 or 3 servings, too, depending how much you want to drink each time. We all napped after lunch, and then we danced & sang while Daddy played the guitar, and Z helped me put toppings on the pizza. He did a good job with the peppers & mushrooms, but somehow several of the olives mysteriously disappeared in the process. :) He LOVES olives & pickles & asks for them by name. :)

Well, if this isn't a random enough post for you, then I don't know what is. I've got a meme to put up sometime this week, too, but we've got a busy week ahead of us, so we'll see. :) If I get my 'mojo' back at some point, I may even write something worthwhile. Don't hold your breaths. :)