Making apples for the baby shower

Our baby shower was on September 26th, so instead of going with pink and blue favors, I decided that I wanted to dip apples in caramel and chocolate, decorate them and bag them up for my guests. On September 23rd an Army of about 8 gathered at our church social hall for an evening of apple dipping and decorating. After a rough start, we finally got into a groove and started dipping and decorating. What a great time! It was so cool that no two were alike and that everyone there was able to dip and decorate their way, whether it be with fancy swirls and stripes or just dipping and throwing some sprinkles on. Some had more chocolate then others; some were dipped in all 3 kinds of chocolate and some had more caramel then chocolate. We even had two "junior" helpers, Samantha Yost (almost 6) and Lilah Nagel (2 1/2), The girls probably ate more decorations then what they put on the apples, but they had fun and that's all that mattered! Here are a couple of pics of our helpers and all of our handy work.

33 Weeks and some insomnia

I went to the doctor for my 33 week check up with Dr. Brickman. Thankfully I have only gained 3 lbs since my last appointment, therefore I didn't get a lecture--yay! I was all ready to tell the doc to BITE ME if necessary, but thankfully I didn't have to use that kind of unlady-like language with the man! My BP and the baby's heart rate were perfect and my belly measured right on track. I was concerned about my swollen feet, but Dr. Brickman, the nurse and my main doctor, Dr. Migdal all said it was normal and everything was fine. Just need to try and keep them elevated a little more. Hopefully with the weather cooling off the rest of the week my feet will go down a bit and I won't look so Fred Flintstone-like. I haven't seen Dr. Migdal since I started the rotation of doctors, so it was good to run into him and catch up. He seemed pretty happy with my progress so far, even commenting on how great I looked. Whew! Another lecture dodged. I think I have 2 more doctors to meet before I go back to seeing Dr. Migdal exclusively until Baby Sopala makes his/her appearance in less then 2 months.

My mom and I are having lunch with Cathy and her mom, Diane this Saturday. Cathy and Diane and the Simpson/Wezner families are headed to Disney on the 20th and will sadly miss our baby shower. So, we are getting together to see each other before they leave, have lunch and catch up. I am really looking forward to it.

Oh yeah.....it's now 3:30am on Wednesday morning. Baby Sopala isn't even here yet and he/she has me up in the middle of the night!!! It's inevitable that I will need to get up to pee at least once a night. For the last week, maybe 2, when I get up, all of a sudden I am wide awake! I try and lay back down, clear my mind and drift back to sleep, but no. I toss, turn, toss, turn and then after nearly 1 hour I decide to get up and putz on my computer. I fully know that in the next 2 months or so this will be a nightly occurance,this will be my life, but not now!!! I loves me some beauty sleep, so let me get it now before it's all taken away from me! You will be well worth it, but until then.....SHHHHHHHH!

Labor Day, 32 weeks, Dawn's Shower

Last week I hit the 8 month mark. Things are still progressing well, however, I now have Fred Flintstone feet. All. The. Time! If I can find some time, meaning, hours, to sit down and put my feet up, I would, but with the constant visits to the bathroom, the getting up and down because I forgot to do something the last time I was up, etc., just seems to get in the way! I finally took my wedding ring off a few weeks ago and John bought me a stunning replacement! It's amazing what you can buy for $10.99 these days! Ha! Actually, the ring looks very real and I've had a few people comment on it already! I've fessed up though....there's no way we could afford that kind of bling with a baby on the way! I have to say though....I am getting used to it! I love, love, love my wedding band though and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Dawn's shower was on Sept. 12th at her house and we had a great time. This is a picture of Jenn and I during the shower. My shower is coming up on September 26th, so we are in the final stages of planning. Waiting on responses, getting prizes together, coordinating schedules to make chocolate/caramel dipped apples as favors (YUM), etc. I cannot believe the shower is just around the corner.....we just booked the hall in May! Where the heck did May go? Wait....where did June, July and August go? This has got to be one of the fastest summers on record.

I made huge headway on the baby's room this weekend. John was sick this weekend, so we weren't able to do the things we had planned, so I headed up to the baby's room while he watched football and I started putting the decals of the trees on the wall. Although it's time consuming, I had fun, and am totally amazed by the results. I LOVE these decals. They look like they were painted on and look so adorable on the wall. I am so glad I had to order a 2nd tree because it just makes all the difference in the room. There are still a few finishing touches and then I will post some pictures.

I have an appointment on Tuesday, September 15th. Hopefully everything goes well and I don't get any grief from the doctor about the swelling or weight, or anything else. I wonder if a doctor has ever heard the words "BITE ME" from a pregnant girl before. If not, and he catches me in a bad mood, he just might hear it for the first time this week! Ha!!!

The other two photos are from Labor Day weekend up at the Higgins Lake house with the Nagel Family. We had a great weekend and great weather-finally-since it normally rains or snows when we are up there!!! There were a few minor incidents during the weekend--Lilah wanting John to burn her baby because she was broke; Lilah screaming in the middle of the night and staying asleep until the air mattress her parents were sleeping on deflated due to a hole; Lilah falling down the last couple of steps (scared, but not injured), baby Eli trying to adjust to new surroundings, and a car full of stuff that every 2 1/2 year old and 3 month old needs just for a couple of days. I told John we needed to take inventory of their car because that is going to be us soon! WOW!!! Other then all that, it was a great weekend with great friends.

30 down, 10 to go

I have now hit the 30 week mark. It's gone by very, very fast!!! I am racing towards the finish line at blazing speed. Although everyone has been complaining about the sucky summer we have had, I have actually enjoyed it. The cooler temps have made the pregnancy much more manageable and I haven't had to deal with a lot of swelling, until a week or so ago. Now I have permanent cankles and I can't see my ankle bones anymore, as they have just morphed in with the rest of my foot. I've noticed swelling in my right hand, but not my left so much. I can no longer wear the ring I usually wear on the pointer finger of my right hand, and I am getting close to not wearing my wedding ring anymore, for fear that one day it will not want to come off!

I have an appointment on Monday with the doctor, we'll see what he has to say about everything.

My mom is coming over today to help me do some stuff around the house. If I am lucky maybe she will help me put the tree wall decal on the wall....I am dying to get that up!!!

My shower invitations have been sent and already there have been RSVP's--yay!!!! Only a month away now...need to get cracking on that too!

Glucose Tolerence Test Take 2!

On Friday, August 14th I had to go back to the doctor for the dreaded 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test. I had to eat a high carb diet for 3 days before the test, fast the night before and not eat or drink anything until after the test was over. By Thursday night I felt like the stay-puff marshmallow girl! The time of the test went by fast, I bought and read 3 magazines cover to cover and my blood was drawn every hour. I was finally out of there before noon. I came home and ate, thinking I would feel better but I didn't. I started to feel worse! So, I basically laid around, napped and felt like crap all day long.

Today I got the results and I passed! Yay! It's definitely worth it, but there should be a better way to find out if you have gestational diabetes. The route I went was crappy and I never, ever want to do that again!

I am now just over 28 weeks. Wow--the time is flying by. I went and registered at Babies R Us yesterday with Jenn. It was a great day and I had a lot of fun picking out stuff for the baby. Our shower is coming up at the end of September and I am looking forward to celebrating with our friends and family!

Here is a picture of me at 28 weeks and 5 days!

I got a F in Glucose Testing

Yep, I failed the glucose tolerence testing from Friday. I was 13 points over the maximum. Now I have to go back on Friday and do the 3 hour test, which consists of me eating a high carb diet for the next 3 days, then fasting the night before, a blood draw at 8:30am, the sugary drink and then blood draws every hour for the next 3 hours. Oh yeah, and, I can't leave the doctor's office! Oh joy! I guess I better stock up on things to read while I am there! I also have to take an iron supplement because mine is on the lower side. We went and bought the ones that were recommended to me and they are $9.50 for a box of 30 and I have to take them 2 times a day. Great.....I guess these are the baby Gods getting me back for having such a good pregnancy so far! Oh well, if this is the worst of it before birth, I guess I can handle it. It could be worse, that's for sure!!! Oh, the good thing is I can pee in a cup properly! My urine test came back just fine. Figures....I get an A in peeing, and a F in glucose testing.

Glucose Tolerence Test

Went for the glucose tolerence test yesterday. I had to drink this orange sugary stuff down in 5 minutes and then wait 1 hour to have my blood drawn. The orange sugary stuff had a good taste to it, it just left my tongue kind of numb from the sugar! Hopefully I will pass on the first try and not have to go back for the long, dreaded 3 hour test! I should know on Monday if I passed or failed. While I waited for the hour to go by I saw Dr. Leach. I've met him briefly in the past as well. He seems to be a nice guy. He said everything looked good--my blood pressure, my belly measurement, even my weight! Whoo hoo! My next regular appointment is August 31st. It's hard to believe that I am due 88 days from now! So excited, but so scared at the same time!!! The crib is put together and the changing table is here, now we only need to get the tree wall decal up on the wall and rearrange the room and decide what else we may need in there. We might need a chest of drawers and we will definitely get a glider and ottoman. It's a rainy day today...maybe I can get John to wash the wall and we can start on that tree!