News From Today's Visit

So I'm 30 weeks, woohoo!!! Today I had a doctor's visit and I must say I'm very happy with everything. I'm down a total of 5 pounds now, blood pressure was 149/91 when they checked it using their electronic machine but only 130/75 when they checked it manually. Of course the manual method is far more accurate so that is the number that they used which is much more normal that the first number. My sugar levels are excellent as well and both myself and the doctor have concluded that when I don't cheat and eat what I shouldn't then my numbers are fine! So since everything has been going so well lately, I asked him if he still predicted that he would be inducing me really early. He said that all the factors that would give him cause for concern and lead him to induce (large baby, excessive weight gain, high blood pressure, high sugar levels) seem to be under control (whew) so as of right now he predicts that I will probably definitely go full term (which is 37 weeks). He did say though that if after that, say 39 weeks, he checks my cervix and it seems ready then he would go ahead and induce me at that point because he wouldn't want to risk my blood pressure increasing. Needless to say, I can definitely live with that!

I also had a friend tell me something that I kinda found a little gross so I asked him about that. She told me that during labor, you're pushing so hard that you can poop, so not to eat anything prior to labor that would cause me to have loose stools (gross I know, but I was curious), so I preceded to tell the doctor this and ask if it was true. He then explained the physics of it to me and well now it makes perfect sense. He told me to imagine 3 tubes that are side by side with no give whatsoever. Then imagine that a abnormally large object is squeezing through one of those tubes. Then he asked me what I thought would happen to anything that was inside those other 2 tubes. Honestly, I found it extremely humorous at that point. B says that if that happens he's leaving the room. I laugh even harder when I picture his face. It's classic!

So yeah, now that I've stopped laughing, I'll end this post by saying that I had a great Dr. appointment today! And you'll get to have more of these updates because now I'll be going to the Dr. every week with NSTs (non-stress tests) starting every week after 32 weeks. I'm looking forward to it but for now I have to get back to packing...ttyl.

Yanna!

Okay, so I have finally finished Y's name! We have about a week before we move and once we do I'll be happily setting up her room! So I'm taking this opportunity to show you guys the options and have you choose which setup you like the best! If you look to the right you will find the poll. Thanks!

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Patience & Temptation

*Sigh*

Okay, so I'm really excited about being a mom and being pregnant and all that stuff, but I am really really getting impatient. There are several reasons for my impatience though. First is just sheer curiosity: what will she look like, what will be her temperament, what will her personality be like, and other things like that. Another reason that I find myself growing impatient is just because of this diet that I am following. Now don't get me wrong, for the most part it's fairly easy to follow. It's less about what I can/can't have and more about the amounts that I can/can't have. So mostly it's not a big deal, plus I'm pregnant and down 7 pounds (who's ever heard of such a thing!) so trust me I'm not complaining. But sometimes my emotions kick in and I just get extremely upset about little things, like yesterday I was in the middle of the grocery store and I was really upset (to the point of crying) that I can't have apple juice. So, it's not the cake and brownies that I miss, it's apple juice, orange juice and more than anything...Welch's Grape Juice!!! More than all of my sugar-filled desires I want a healthy and happy (and less than 16 pound) baby, so I will continue to fight off all these temptations. For the next 10.5 weeks (give or take) but let there be no doubt after she's born I want apple, orange and grape juice for a week!!! The things we do for love!!!

Soliciting Thoughts and Advice

It's been hitting me lately that I'm not only going to be a mother soon but I'm going to be a mother to a little girl. This scares me! Not only because I wonder if I'll be a good mother or if I'll teach her all the right things but more so because of all those outside, worldly influences. It was hard to be a girl when I was growing up and it's even harder now.

So my question for you and the advice/opinions I seek is concerning what you think is/are the most important things that you feel a mother should teach her daughter.

I've been thinking about this for a while and a situation I experienced helped me form a conclusion. I think the most important thing to teach a daughter is to love and accept herself no matter what those around her say/think/do. I mean, for the most part, parents think that their kids are beautiful no matter what. But it is so important to help our kids know and understand that.

I'll share with you the experience I was witness to that really broke my heart. There were these two females, one was 8 years old and the other was old enough to know better. Well the older of the two began to criticize the 8 year old girl's eyebrows. She told her they were funny looking and that she should do something about them. Well, we initially thought that this little girl just ignored her until days later when someone noticed that there was a patch cut out of this little girls eyebrow. When we asked her what happened she just started to cry, at first we assumed it was because she thought she'd get into trouble, but even after guaranteeing her that she would not be punished and that we just wanted to know what happened, she still continued to cry. I then remembered what had been said to her about her eyebrows and after prodding and asking if that was why she had tried to "fix" them she finally admitted what she had done and why she had done it. The hurt in her eyes as she continued to cry was heartbreaking. It was at that moment I realized that I will have a beautiful little girl and despite how perfect I think she is, there will always be someone somewhere that will find someway or something to make her feel inferior. It is truly heartbreaking.

So now you know what I think, please share with me what you think. It could be anything, I'm really just curious and kind of seeking to start a discussion. Although mostly women read this blog I welcome responses from those few males that read it too. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions.

I Never Thought I'd Say This

So for those of you who are reading this and are not quite familiar with our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and how we do certain things, I'll give you a little more information. For all others please just bear with me.

So members of our church are given callings which are ways that we provide service within the church, all of these callings are voluntary and we receive no pay for them. Well not long after we moved into our current ward, probably about 6 months after, we were called to serve in the nursery. Well in our ward there were so many kids at this time that they divided the nurseries into Junior Nursery and Senior Nursery, we were put in charge of Junior Nursery which starts at 18 months. Now I was very fortunate in that I was in there along with B who has always been much better and much more patient with children than I. I remember when they asked us to accept the calling I was none to happy with it and was extremely apprehensive about it but I knew I would be doing it with B so I accepted. On any given week we had between 10 and 14 children which we watched for 2 long hours. After a while the kids and the calling grew on me and by the time we were released and called to other callings I found myself a little sad.

So you're probably asking, what is this post all about? Well I have found that as I am preparing to welcome our own little child into the world, I am extremely grateful for the time I spent in that calling. I learned a lot of patience and I even found that as I visit my home in North Carolina that I am much slower to anger with my nieces and nephews (and trust me, that's no small feat). Now don't get me wrong, there are still some children that work my nerves like nothing else. But my patience and love for kids has increased at least tenfold if not more. So even though I never thought I'd say this, I must admit that I am grateful for the time I spent in nursery working with those kids.

Monday's Dr Appointment

Not a bunch to tell here but since I had an ultrasound I thought I'd post an update. I don't have a picture because I opted to have a printout instead of a CD so that I could put it in her baby book. But anyway, she is the perfect size, just under 3 pounds and the doctor is really happy about that since I have gestational diabetes! She is quite adorable as best I can tell from the ultrasound. Also, my blood pressure was really good this time 118/60. I'm thinking maybe I should go back to NC more often if this is the effect it has! Only I think I'll wait until summer is over before I do that now that my feet are finally deflating. The only other news from the visit is that I'm down another pound. That's about all I have to tell aside from the hilarious face my doctor made and the dance he did after I told him I had brought him some North Carolina style Barbecue (in MI they call it pulled pork) but it's a must have if you ever go to NC and since he's originally from Virginia, he is very familiar with it! So that's about all to tell for now as far as that goes.

Pictures from Home

Okay, so I'm finally unpacked and now I can blog again and boy do I have a lot to say. I have four different posts that I want to post but I'm not really sure that I'll do them all today, I don't wanna overwhelm you all at once with my random thoughts. So first things first, it's time to meet my family and friends (some of them anyways, the ones who actually let me take a decent picture of them).

This is the best picture I could get of my dad, haha.

This is my Brother.

Here you have my nieces and nephews .

This is J, she is the 2 year old that my mom watches. She is one of the sweetest and silliest little girls you'll ever meet.

This is my roommate from VT, LeAnn and Me at the baby shower.

This is LeAnn's mom, JeriAnn and Me at the baby shower

This is me and one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world, Tisha.

There ya have it, those are my closest family and friends with exception of my sister and my grandma!

My Catch 22

I love my husband more than anything. I also love my family very much. My husband is in Michigan, my family in North Carolina, my heart is in both places. As I prepare to leave North Carolina to return to Michigan tomorrow I find myself extremely sad and also very happy, but then again I have the same dilemma when I leave Michigan for North Carolina. On one hand, tomorrow I will be leaving my family yet again for several months, which naturally makes me sad. On the other hand, tomorrow I will be reunited with the love of my life, and that makes me happy. I always manage to adjust after a few days but the initial goodbyes really really suck!!! I remember when I first got married I thought it would get easier each time, at least that's what everyone told me. Well I lied to myself and everyone who said that lied to me, it doesn't ever get easier, we just grow to realize that it sucks and try to move on from there. Anyway, enough babbling from me, I'll post some pictures sometimes next week...I think.

Baby Shower #2

So today was a busy day, a hectic day, and a very good day! Today, my sister and I had our joint baby shower here in North Carolina. It was a really nice event with TONS of food. Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of pictures because I was running around town doing some other things and I arrived a bit late. But as for food we had: pasta salad, black forest ham, pork tenderloin, garden salad, cheese ball and crackers, watermelon, cantelope, red and green grapes, strawberries, fruit dip, 3 cheese & garlic breadsticks and I can't forget the adorable cake. I actually do have a picture of the cake but I didn't get to it fast enough so there are a couple of slices missing from it, so just use your imagination for those couple slices. We played a lot of games and just had fun socializing with everyone that attended. My old roommate from VT was able to attend because she was visiting her parents in Richmond for the week. I was able to spend time with her (LeAnn) as well as her mom (JeriAnn), husband (Jared) and their two children (Ella and Bryce). It was awesome to see them again, it's been about a year and a half since I've seen them. With the exception of Jared who I haven't seen since my and B's wedding almost 3 years ago.

If you're wondering what sort of presents we got, I'll try my best to list them all. And if I miss anything then you'll have to look at the pictures below, so here goes: sleepers, gowns, hooded towels, a memory kit (which includes: a porcaline heart-shaped box to hold her first tooth, another to hold her first curl, a picture frame, photo box and piggy bank), baby blankets, baby booties, a ceramic sign, socks, onesies, bibs, dresses, several outfits, baby wash, baby lotion, disposable washcloths (had never heard of those but seem really neat), washcloths, bath toys, a bath set, a grooming and healthcare kit, bath toy bag, tooth and gum cleanser, hats, diaper rash ointment, a gift card, a money order, dress shoes, diapers, wipes, rattles, bottles, headbands, a stuffed toy that plays music, mittens, q-tips, a baby bath bar and a tub that has a shower component. I think that's everything but I can never be too sure so you'll just have to take a look at the pictures below. Enjoy! (FYI: If you click on the picture you can see a larger version, just in case you didn't know).

Slightly Overdue

Okay, so I know this post is just slightly overdue, but I'm safely in North Carolina now (and have been since Saturday). This was actually my first time flying here on a direct flight and I must say I really liked it. The entire flight was only 1 hour 40 minutes gate-to-gate. So when my mom and sister came to pick me up we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch (one of many places on my list of places to eat while I'm here). Then instead of driving straight home we went to visit my grandma who lives about an hour from us. We stayed at her house for a while before leaving to head home. When we arrived I was greeted by my nieces (my nephew and brother were gone) needless to say they were extremely happy to see me, and I them. So we just spent the rest of the night relaxing and preparing for church on Sunday. It was really good to see a lot of the people that I've know since I joined the church almost 15 years ago. It's good to be home, my only complaint is the heat. I thought I'd beat the system by coming home in June but nope that didn't happen. I don't think it would be so bad if it hadn't been so unseasonably cool in Michigan which has left me completely unprepared for 90+ degree weather.

Other than that, I really miss B! We still talk and text each other all the time so at least we have that but it sucks to not be able to see him everyday or kiss him goodbye when he leaves for work, but at least it's only temporary. On a positive note we have our new apartment and will move in on July 19th. We had almost given up hope that we would get the one that we wanted but fortunately for us one became available. So whereas I'm really excited that we'll be moving and I can get Y's room ready, I'm not excited about the whole packing and cleaning process that comes with moving.

Well my laptop battery is dying and I really actually need to go and get some stuff done, so I'll talk to you all later!