Garden weekend!

We bought some new plants and flowers this weekend. Trying to get the yard looking great before we are busy with the baby :) We bought perennials that will get bigger and grow over the years. Can't wait to see it all fill in! I also got to plant some flowers in the big flower pots on our front porch for some colorful decoration.

Early Bloom Progress!

I came across some pictures of our flowers from last year, and I couldn't believe how much better everything looks this year! Here is a little comparison of the early blooms, can't wait to see the rest of the flowers this year!!

Made in 2010

Something has come over me, I have this new motivation to actually finish projects that I start! It's kind of a first for me, and has been most satisfying so far. Below are some shots of an Address box I made this weekend. I updated all the addresses from our friends and even put a red emergency card section in the back!

Up north 2010

Darin and I just got back from our trip up north for our 2nd anniversary. Can't believe its been 2 years already! This last year has gone by fast. It was so nice to get away for a nice relaxing trip, pre-baby. The first day we were there, it was really cold with flurries! We spent the day inside watching the Simpsons, eating delicious food, and napping whenever we happened to fall asleep. The next two days were sunny and it warmed up enough for us to go into the downtown area to browse the antique shops. I got a really cute apron, which is much needed! You should see my big belly when I'm done cooking, it is always covered in ingredients. I also got a sewing book filled with projects for pregnant moms and babies. There are so many cute things to make, I cant wait to start making them!! Darin got an awesome DIY sustainable type book that got us really excited about new projects we can start this summer.

I spent the early mornings with Lincoln. Its really the only time of day he isn't sleeping. He got me up every morning to get food and some quality out door time. Even though it was freezing in the morning, I bundled up and went out there with him anyway. How can I say no to those big buggy eyes? He loved running up and down the dock, I think he did that about 10 times every morning.

Overall, it was really relaxing and it was so nice to spend the whole weekend with Darin. We took turns cooking for each other, and got to continue our Simpsons marathon (trying to watch ALL of them, we are almost done with Season 3 now). I think I cried every day because of pregnancy hormones, and always because my body ached, or I ran into something, or did something clumsy (sidenote: when I got home, I dropped an egg, and dropped a big container filled with pens and markers. Both spills were messy, and left Darin helping me clean up my mess and reminding me that I can't do certain things I normally could do, like carry 6 eggs at once, haha).

Here are some pictures capturing the wonderfulness of up north at the cottage (including my new apron!!).

wait, what? 6 weeks, 5 days? really?

Can't believe that in about 6 weeks, 5 days, I will have a baby.

So, lets see whats happening now? My wedding rings don't fit anymore :/ but my grandmas wedding band now fits on my ring finger, so that will do for now. I haven't slept through the night in god knows how long. Starting at about 3am I will get up every hour to do something, bathroom, blow my nose, flip sides, stretch legs, etc.

This non-sleep, along with the increase in anxiety levels has made me incredibly clumsy, forgetful, and hot tempered, all in all a wonderful person to be around haha. I love my husband for his incredible patience with me, I can't even think how many times we have this conversation:

Darin (in his most calming voice): *sigh* "We already went over this"
Me: *sigh* "oh yeah..."

Even though this has been the most un-enjoyable trimester of my pregnancy, its still pretty good. There are some great parts like seeing my belly move all over the place (weird, kind of like alien). I can't wait to meet our little daughter, I'm hoping this last month or so will go by fast. <3

Transition

For the past 6 months or so, I have been trying to transition from 'burning the candle at both ends' to getting a whole new set of candles ready to light. (does that even make sense?) Pre-pregnancy, I had many obligations like a full time job, programming for AIGA Detroit (a.k.a. my second job), designing a magazine for a non-profit and being actively involved in that non-profit (a.k.a. my third job), helping Ferndale start an entrepreneur support group/networking event, oh yeah and of course spending quality time with my wonderful husband, dog, and cat, oh! and friends, spending time with friends.

ugh! Too much, no? I was worried how I would juggle all this during the pregnancy, and I have actually succeeded in only keeping the time for family and friends part. Of course, anyone who knows me knows that I didn't really walk away from any of those completely, except for maybe the Ferndale thing.

True, I am still giving my time to AIGA, but not as a programming director. I am in charge of Super Script, the new AIGA Detroit blog. I am so excited about this because I can update from home, write things in advance, and its the AIGA Detroit blog! I will be more of a director than the author. We have many writers for the blog, including almost all the board of directors. I'm very excited and I know I will be a lot better at this than programming huge events.

The magazine and non-profit I was working on has taken a small break, so I'm sure when that is ready to go, I'll try to jump on it. If I have a newborn though, I will have to ask someone else to take over the next issue. I love the non-profit though, its called YE 313 Magazine. It gives kids the chance to create a magazine, interview local celebrities and politicians, and helps them get involved in solving social problems in their community. The magazine content is completely done by the kids (photos, interviews, articles, etc.). I also get the chance to teach the kids about graphic design and how it can help push their messages and help give them a stronger voice. Read more about it here

Perhaps that still sounds like a lot, but I've already felt like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I am only giving my time to the things I love the most which is the best feeling. I know when we have the baby, I'll take a break from all the 'jobs' until I'm in a comfortable spot taking care of our little one. It's going to be a nice summer if my only obligations will be family and friends. <3

The Dia-beet-us (30 weeks)

This week I got the results back for my gestational diabetes test. I had failed the first one, so I had to go to the three hour test, ugh! This involved fasting for 12 hrs, then drinking a sugary drink that tastes like flat sprite, but sweeter. No pregnant woman should ever have to do that. Oh then they take a sample of your blood every hour for 3 hours. After the first blood draw, I was so nauseous and sleepy, I almost fell asleep in the waiting room. After the second, I passed the time chatting it up with the other 2 pregnant ladies getting the same test. It's always fun to talk to other pregnant women, so that was fun :)

At my doctors appointment, they told me the results of my test. Before the midwife came in, I started to feel light headed and hot. I took off my shoes and laid down, but still felt weird. The midwife came in and I sat up trying to shake off whatever it was my body was doing (probably not the best idea). "Your test results were abnormal," she said. Gestational diabetes, ugh! She went through the whole speech of what I had to do, take a class the next day, get a monitor, poke my finger 4 times a day, talk to a nutritionist, visit with the doctor 2 times a week! At some point, it got hard for me to listen to her and I asked her for some water. She had me lay down, and she took my blood pressure, it was way low. She felt so bad, she thought it was the news that made me freak out, but I told her I had been trying to shake it off since I got there. She gave me some juice and told me not to worry, it was a lot of info to take in. She had me rest for a while until my blood pressure got back to normal.

I knew gestational diabetes was serious, and that it was not the worst thing to have while you're pregnant, some women just get it. As long as you eat a good diet, the only side effect can be having a big baby, (ouch!) The thing that scared me the most was when she said that if you have gestational diabetes while you're pregnant, you can often develop Type 2 diabetes when you are older. I do not want diabetes when I'm older. My grandma had it, and all I could picture was my fridge being filled with insulin and orange juice. Poor Darin would have to help me get shots 4 times a day! Thank goodness there are ways to prevent Type 2 Diabetes, I feel like I have to start prevention starting now! Diet and exercise, ASAP!

The midwife came back in and told me that I was going to hate her. I guess someone had stapled the wrong test results to my chart, and I did NOT have gestational diabetes. YES! I was so happy, but she felt awful. I told her that it was a good thing, and not to worry, I still like her. At least it wasn't the other way around!

I guess seeing my grandma go through diabetes effected me more than I thought. This was a big wake up call, it was really scary being that close to diabetes, even if it was just gestational. On the drive home, I looked at my belly and thought about Lily. I felt that she was safe and it made me so happy that I was getting teary eyed. She wasn't going to be effected by any bs my body was going through. I think it might have been the first time I felt like a parent. I told Lily how happy I was and that we're going to be okay. <3

30 Weeks, 6 Days