Pelvis has left the building!

Yesterday Baylor, my mom, and I cleaned the inside and outside of my van. It looks great! We worked for two or three hours on it. The whole process involved taking EVERYTHING out of it, cleaning the inside surfaces with armor all cleaner and windex, vacuuming all carpet and seats, scrubbing floor mats with carpet cleaner and scrub brushes, throwing away unneccessary items, organizing what had to go back in, and scrubbing the outside with car wash.
My pelvis didn't particularly enjoying getting down on the ground to scrub floor mats or squatting down to scrub the bottom of the van, but I managed as well as I could.
Nadia was adorable. She chose one spot on the van to call her own, and scrubbed it for about ten minutes solid. (It is the cleanest spot on the van!)
She did fall face first into the wash bucket, and came up with a face full of bubbles. She gave Granny quite a scare. (I guess I would have been scared too if I had seen it!)
This morning I went to the doctor for my 33 week checkup, and found out everything is okay. I got to hear Dawson's heartbeat again, which is always a nice sound. I talked to him about my pelvis/double jointedness issues, and he said that we could probably induce up to ten days before my due date just to make sure he fits and doesn't stretch out my pelvis too far out of whack. I guess I get to pick Dawson's date of birth. He also told me to avoid doing anything too strenuous.
This afternoon Baylor, Nadia, and I went to work in my classroom. I was already feeling a little sore from the van washing marathon, and pushing desks, tables, and books around my classroom didn't help. My classroom is upstairs, and we had to make two or three trips up and down the stairs to unload some stuff out of my van that needed to go to my classroom. I'm not done, but I'm pretty sure I'll be too out of whack to go back tomorrow. By the time we went to my mom's house after diving class got cancelled I could barely walk. I had to hold on to the sofa to walk to the table. I couldn't pick up my leg enough to step over something that was on the floor in the living room...I had to shuffle around it!
Scott and Kim stopped by for a little while, and I could tell she wasn't herself. She's having a rough day or two, so we'll definitely be keeping her in our prayers. She's come such a long way, and she's getting stronger and stronger. I'm really worried about her, and I wish there was something I could do. We love her so much, and we are so proud to have her in our family. My brother really did a great job when he picked his wife!
I am going to bed soon, and I hope my pelvis starts feeling better soon. I do need to go back and finish my classroom, but that will probably wait until Monday. Teachers have to report to work on Wednesday, so I really don't have much time.

Today is Baylor day.

I brought Nadia to Kasie's today so Baylor and I could hang out and go see a movie. When we turned onto Kasie's street, Nadia started saying, "No Kay-Kay Momma. No Kay-Kay." Then as soon as we drove up and she saw Adam, Evan and Ethan playing in the backyard she said, "Momma, Play!" It was so funny how quickly she changed her tune. She did cry a little when I left, but I'm sure she was fine within minutes.
Baylor and I decided to go see Wall-E even though Baylor has already seen it. I haven't seen it yet, and I've heard that it's very good.
I think we're going to go to Ground Pat'i for lunch just because we haven't been there in ages. I think Nadia was a newborn the last time we went. I'm in the mood for something different.
I'm working on the blog while Baylor completes his Summer Bridge Workbook pages for today. I told him we aren't leaving until he's done, even if we miss the movie! That seemed to be some pretty good motivation for him to work faster than normal. He's even humming while he's working...what a pleasant sound!
Baylor went to his dad's this weekend, and seems to have had a good time. He came back in a positive mood for once. Let's hope that continues!
He still has diving class all this week, and he's really enjoying it. He's really good at swimming, and I'm glad he has something he actually enjoys on his schedule.
It's time to start working on my lesson plans for school. I'm planning to have both my English II and my English IV classes do the same thing for the first week. They change kids around and dissolve classes during the first week, so there really is no point in starting any new academic content.
School starts next week for us already. I just can't tell you how fast this summer flew by. It kind of makes me sick. Whose idea was it for us to start in the first week of August? Not mine, I assure you.

GiGi

This was a difficult weekend for us. We drove to Pasadena to say goodbye to David's Grandmother. We last saw her in December 2007, and she was basically her normal self. She was talking, eating, laughing, and enjoying the visit from her grandkids and great-grandkids. Friday when we walked into her room she was in her bed propped up by pillows, and basically unresponsive. The whole family was there, and her five grandkids got to tell her goodbye. You could tell she could hear us because she'd raise her eyebrows when you'd talk to her, and she'd move her eyes around (even though they were closed most of the time.) She did open her eyes a few times, and she would say an occasional word or two.


I brought my camera with us, but I didn't take any pictures with it. I decided that I didn't want to have pictures of her in that condition. I'd rather remember her like this:

We stayed in Pasadena until about 9:30 last night. That was later than we planned, but we decided to eat barbque from Nanny's friends. It was some awesome food, let me tell you! We knew we were going to gas up in Pasadena because the gas is about 20 cents cheaper per gallon! We filled up last night for $3.65! I haven't seen gas that low in months. (Doesn't that seem retarded? I can't imagine that gas that price is even normal to us now.) Since I'm now 8 months pregnant, a trip to the bathroom during a four hour drive is a must. I asked David to stop at a safe-looking, clean place for me to use the restroom. By the time we got to Orange, TX, (and about 12:30 am)I couldn't wait any longer. David pulled into a Holiday Inn. I asked him if they even allowed people off the street to use their facilities. He said they kind of frowned on it, but they would be able to see I was big and pregnant, and should let me use it. Wrong. There were two sets of glass doors, and the second set wouldn't open without a card. I kind of stood there in shock for a second, and then went back out to the car. We had a little chuckle, and then got back in the truck. Next stop was a nice-looking, well-lit Chevron station. The lady working walked up to a little speaker thing, and motioned for me to talk to her. I told her that I needed to use the restroom. Her reply? "Oh, I'm sorry, I can't unlock the doors, so you can't use the restroom." I started laughing hysterically, and got back in the truck. David and I giggled for a few minutes before I REALLY had to go. (Laughter doesn't really help at a time like that!)

We ended up stopping at the Louisiana Welcome Center rest stop. It was clean, had security officers. At that point, I would have settled for a bush on the side of the road!

Symphysis Pubic Dysfunction (SPD)

There is an actual name for my pregnancy pain issues! Here's some information that I found online... (ignore the underlined words)

The pelvis is made up of 3 bones. The theory is while it is normal for your body to produce Relaxin and Progesterone ( both hormones) while pregnant to loosen those ligaments sometimes the body produces too much, causing the bones to rub together when moving. Woman who exhibit symptoms of SPD often have excessive levels of hormones, are more sensitive to hormones, or their pelvis is out of alignment. It has been estimated that 1 in 35 woman have problems with SPD while pregnant.

The pain that is associated with SPD effects the groin and pubic area of pregnant woman. Activities such as walking, rolling over in bed, sitting up and getting in and out of vehicles is particularly painful. Any activity that involves lifting one leg at a time, or parting the legs causes pain. Often times shooting down from the pelvis, down the legs, or in the sciatica area. Another common pain is severe round ligament pain, while round ligament pain is normal with pregnancy, it can be worse or more aggravating when the woman also has SPD.

Basic coping measures for the pain include sitting with the legs together, getting in and out of vehicles bottom first ( IE sitting down, then putting your feet in) and using pillows as support. Warm baths and ice packs may also offer some comfort measures. However SPD rights itself after the birth and within a year's time. More extensive measures can be taken, such as seeing a chiropractor for alignment or an osteopathic when the pain is bad, but it will not cure the pain. Wearing a pregnancy belt is often helpful, but again, it will not cure the pain. Having SPD while pregnant is definitely painful and uncomfortable. It makes getting things accomplished around the house difficult. It means walking is slow going.

This is EXACTLY what I've been experiencing. I've mentioned it to my doctor, and his response is always, "It'll be all better in September." I'm not sure if he realizes that this is not at all helpful. I think he thinks I'm just whining. I'm not even going to do the physical therapy this time (even though I did it for Baylor's and Nadia's pregnancies) because it honestly only offers relief that actual day. I do have a pregnancy brace, and it is helpful if I'm going to be standing, but it hurts to wear it when I'm sitting...like driving in a car or being at home.

One thing I experience is an inability to put my pants/underwear on one leg at a time. Getting in and out of the bathtub is also particularly painful-apparently because these activities involve putting all my weight on one leg. Coughing and sneezing also cause similar problems.

Friends, Food, and Fun

The kids and I got together with my good friend Jackie for lunch today. We met at Hub City Diner, and it was great. We don't see each other too often anymore, and it was so nice to catch up. Nadia had a good time eating her "noon-als", and Baylor was fascinated by the juke box (or "juice box") as he called it.

After that we went home for naps. Why do I sleep so much better in the daytime than I do at night? What am I going to do when school starts and I lose my afternoon nap? I don't even want to think about it because it makes me tired.

We were in the car driving to Baylor's diving class when the phone rang. It seems Hurricane Dolly's rain deposits on Louisiana caused diving class to be cancelled. Since we were already all loaded up in the car and on the road, we decided to just keep on driving. We went to BabiesRUs to register for a few things we still need/want for Dawson's arrival. I've had a few people ask me, so I decided to make it a little easier for everyone.

Then I hit the jackpot at the Dollar Tree. They have a whole section of teacher supplies, and I bought a few things for school. So much cheaper than the teacher supply stores! I was really looking for a CD/DVD wallet, but they didn't have any. Oh well!

I brought Baylor to Best Buy so he could start dreaming for his birthday. He really wants a PSP. Actually he's been debating between the PSP and the Nintendo DS, and he finally decided on the PSP. They are kind of expensive, but we do have some Best Buy dollars we could use, so that will help. I spoke to Raymond today, and he said he'd go in with us on it. Baylor had a blast playing guitar hero and the other games set up in the store for people to try out.

It was then time for a trip to Walmart. I try to avoid this at all costs, but in this instance cost was a deciding factor. I was just going to buy diapers at ToyRUs, but a box of 80 Huggies was $37.00.....Um, hello people, the exact same box/brand/count of diapers at WalMart is $19.34!! Definitely worth the gas and the time to drive to Wal-Mart, wouldn't you say?

Baylor and I try to have a Momma/Son day every Tuesday. Well, last night Baylor said, "Mom, you know how you spend the day with me on Tuesdays? Do you think I could have an Abba/Baylor day too?" I thought that was really sweet. When I mentioned it to David, he said that Baylor had already talked to him about it as soon as he walked in the door. Baylor is going to work with David tomorrow.

There is something funny that happened Tuesday that I forgot to blog about. We were in line for the movies, and I said something about how much money the tickets were. I told Baylor that he was using all my money. His reply? "Well, Mom, at least you have ME!" The lady behind the glass just burst out laughing and repeated what he said to the other employees. As we were walking away from the window Baylor looked at me and said, "You see? I just spread joy where ever I go." Isn't that hysterical?
Baylor is so great with Nadia. Here's a picture from the other day showing Nadia and "Tere" playing together. (Nadia will call him "Frere", but for now, Tere is how it comes out!)

This is how we roll!

This is a close-up of Nadia that I was playing with using some photo editing tools. I added the "1960's" effect, and I think she looks a lot like my brother Scott in this picture. This picture was taken the same day that she was playing in the water puddle in her pink rubber boots. Isn't she cute?

Here's an edited photo of my family from last month...We spent an afternoon at UL having lots of fun. David wanted roller blades so that he and Baylor would have something fun to do together. Nadia, of course, had her own set of wheels! I was the photographer, as it is NOT a good idea for a very pregnant woman to skate.

Painful Pelvis and Purple Toe.

My double-jointedness has been really bothering me these last couple of weeks. I can actually feel my pelvis moving and separating when I walk, get up, stand, or lay down for too long. Turning over during the night is especially excruciating. Sometimes I have to wake David up so he can help me turn over. Not fun at all!
On top of all of this, I'm pretty sure I broke my pinky toe. The wierd thing is I have no idea when or how this happened! Last night it started bothering me, and I realized I couldn't bend it at all. When I woke up this morning, it was purple. Seems like I'd remember hitting my toe hard enough to do that kind of damage, don't you think?
Baylor started diving class today, and he was so excited! It was so cute to see him running around getting his stuff ready to go. I mentioned to him that next year we may have to find a place on this side of town because his lessons are all the way in Carencro, and he said, "No Mom, we know those people. They know that I'm a good swimmer, and that I can show the rest of the class how to do stuff. I don't want to go anywhere else." I guess we'll have to see how much gas costs next summer!
Nadia has been doing some really cute things lately. My personal favorite is when she comes up to me and says, "Tiny, tiny baby, Momma." This means she wants me to hold her across my chest and act like I'm rocking her back and forth (the way you hold a newborn baby.) I tell you, it just makes my heart melt. She also now says, "I yuh you." We say, "Nadia, I love you." and she replies, "I yuh you." It's wonderful.
When we ask her, "Nadia, who loves you?" Her answer is, "Je-sus." Then we say, "How much does He love you?" and she responds by opening her arms out at her sides and she says, "Big, big."
We've been working on her colors, but so far everything is blue. We'll ask her what color something is and her answer is always "Boo."
She has been getting a few bites from ants and/or mosquitos. Even a week later, after the bite is almost gone, she'll point to the spot and say, "Bad Bug."
I've been looking through my cookbook for ideas for my monthly menu planning. I think I'm going to have a few family favorites, and then try a few new recipes every month. I get really tired of eating the same thing over and over. It can be especially repetitive for us considering we can have no poultry or seafood, and very little rice in our meal rotations! Lots of ground beef, pasta, and bread.
I registered Baylor for Fall Soccer tonight online. We're actually going to have time to do it since he won't have any homework next year. It will be wonderful to actually have some family time, and time for Baylor to actually be a kid. He's growing up so fast, and I'm loving the fact that these last few years before his teen years will be spent playing outside, riding his bike, and playing soccer. (That's the way it should be, if you ask me!)
Nadia is going to Kasie's tomorrow, and Baylor and I are going to spend the day together. Right now the plan is movies and lunch, but it may change. (Probably not though, since we both really like movies and it's too hard to go when Nadia is with us.
David has jury duty tomorrow. Guess what? He can't bring his phone in the courthouse with him because they don't allow camera phones. What in the world do you think David is going to do all day? He can't work, and he can't play with his technology! I'm thinking I'll offer him a good book to read. I'm reading Searching for God Knows What by Don Miller. Maybe he'd like that!

Meal Planning?

Church today was about relationships. We're still studying the book of James, written by the brother of Jesus, and it just amazes me how relevant it is to our lives today. Dennis said something like 80% of all people who lose their jobs don't lose it because of technical incompetence, they lose it because of relational incompetence!

The bible verse we studied today was James 1:19-21
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Right here in the bible is the key to keeping and repairing relationships with our family, our friends, our co-workers, and our God! So many times I realize that I'm talking way more than I should be, and sometimes the greatest thing I could be is a listener. When you really listen to someone you show them that they are worthy and valuable. It's a sign that you are respecting them.

Today after church I realized something...It's always a rush to figure out what we're going to eat for lunch on Sundays. We're starving by the time we get out, and eating out every Sunday is not an option in our budget. I stood in front of my freezer today trying to find something quick and easy for my family to eat. I finally decided on Pizza Rolls, Tator Tots, and Lima Beans. (I know, not very appetizing, but I was thinking quick and easy!) I preheated the oven, stuck the pizza rolls and tator tots inside, and cooked the lima beans on the stove.
We sit down to eat, and after a few minutes David says, "I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to something in the pizza rolls." Baylor retrieves the bag from the freezer and we investigate. Sure enough, it's the three meat variety, and the sausage is made with chicken. UURGGHH!
He's fine, of course, but I really need to make a plan.
I was talking to Suzi last night when we were visiting, and she does weekly meal planning. I was thinking with Dawson coming and me going back to work on August 6th, I really should look into this. Suzi said they tried having the same thing every Monday, every Tuesday, etc..., and that it got pretty old. They now plan for a month of meals. I've been investigating online, and apparently this is not a new "kahn-cept!" Ha Ha :)
I even found this cool meal planner. (Check it out, Suzi, I know how you love lists!)
http://www.menus4moms.com/pdf/MenuPln.pdf
We hung out again at the Kahn's last night, and as usual, we enjoyed ourselves. We ate supper together, and then watched a video from Louie Giglio about how great God is. He used a LOT of science to support his ideas, and I thought about my friend Jackie the whole time. She would have loved the video, and I'm sure she would have written some stuff down to go research later. Elliott told us that he read that something like 80% of all astronomers are Christian, and Jackie always has told me that the more she learns about biology, the more she believes in God.
I knew this before, but was reminded from this video that there is NO WAY life just randomly happened.
Then we listened to a sermon from Denton Bible Church in Texas on the history of the church. It's a 13 hour sermon series, and I know my dad and my Uncle Doug would love it. I learned a lot about people and places I wasn't familiar with, and it gave us some interesting food for thought.
After nap time today, I worked with Baylor on cleaning and organizing his room. We threw out 5 garbage bags of stuff! I was ruthless, and his room looks great. He is so excited about his clean room that he made Abba come and see it as soon as he walked in the house. Now I just need to keep coming through the house and do that in every room!
Baylor has been in a really good mood tonight (probably because his domain is all in order!), and he's just happily running around the house getting his laundry done. Of course, David did promise to play xbox with him, so I'm sure this has something to do with it. He has been having some serious issues with his Dad, so it's nice to see him in a good mood.

"Be still and know that I am God." Psalms 46:10

I had to go shopping last night to get a larger maternity bathing suit. When we went swimming yesterday I realized that my suit was just too small. My belly kept peeking out from the bottom of the top. Even tucking it into my swimshorts didn't do the trick! Luckily, I found a top on the clearance rack at Target. It was missing the bottom, so it was discounted a lot from the original price. I thought it was silly to pay full price for a suit that I'm going to wear another two months. I decided to just accept the fact that my body is housing and incubating a miracle from God, and as long as I cut back on the ice cream and candy, my weight is just going to have to do what it needs to do until Dawson is born. After all, I do not have small, teeny-tiny babies!
I'd post pictures, but I fear I may make someone nauseated. I'm sure you all appreciate being spared the agony.
I actually have no where to go today, and I'm enjoying every second of it. Nadia and I are just hanging around the house getting laundry done. I'll cook supper later so my husband has something besides Ramen noodles to eat, and that's about it! I may get cabin fever later, but for now I'm enjoying the appointment free calendar. We are going to REST today.
Last night I read the book of James before bed. That's what our church sermons have been about these past few weeks, and I decided to follow our pastor's advice and read it everyday. I've done one day so far...(Hey, better late than never!) David and I discussed the difference between being tested and being tempted. God will test our faith and our comittment, but will never tempt us to sin. Temptation is not from God. For some reason I found this thought to be very comforting. It erases that whole "God is out to get me" feeling that sneaks into my thoughts sometimes. I'm sure when I read it again tonight I'll notice something else.
I got an email that Suzi has started a blog of her own. I really enjoy reading other blogs, so I'm delighted to have a new one to check out.

Doctor's Appointment; Swimming

I had my 31 week doctor's appointment today. Everything looks great. I got to hear the baby's heart beat again, which is almost routine, but still nice to hear. My weight is behaving, but I'm getting heavier than I am comfortable with. I guess as long as I don't weigh more than David I'm doing okay. The good news is that I PASSED my three hour glucose test, so I do not have gestational diabetes for this pregnancy. Yeah God! I'm so excited.
When we got back from the doctor's appointment, we got dressed to go swimming at our neighborhood pool. I dressed Nadia in a bikini that I found in a bag of hand-me-downs and went in the other room for the sunscreen. When I came back, she was tugging on the top and trying to pull it over her belly. She looked up at me and said, "No Mommy!" You could tell that the fact that her belly was exposed was really bothering her. I asked her if she wanted to wear her other bathing suit that covered her belly and she said yes. So I guess we have a very modest girl on our hands! I changed her into her more modest bathing suit, and she was as happy as she could be.
Baylor is leaving today to go to Lewisburg until Saturday to visit with his grandparents. He had an appointment yesterday with Carol Pierce, a local Christian counselor to deal with some issues he's having with his dad. He actually requested the counseling session (he does this every 6 months or so) and Carol was very impressed with how perceptive he is.
My anniversery present for David arrived yesterday finally. It was a day late, but David really liked it anyway. I went to mypublisher.com and had a photobook made of our honeymoon pictures. I placed captions and descriptions on most of the pictures. He liked it so much, he got up this morning at read through it again, and then brought it with him to work today so he could show people that he works with. This should be the link to look at the book if you're interested:
http://www.mypublisher.com/bookshelf/bookviewer.py?d=tq%3Ey-cppl%60je%3E3383152

Baylor Day and Our Third Anniversery!

Baylor kind of needed some emotional restoration after his weekend with his dad, so we planned a special Baylor/Momma day yesterday. I brought Nadia to Kay-Kay's house (my friend Kasie from high school who is also Nadia's babysitter while I'm at work during the school year) and I went back home to pick up Baylor. Our first stop was to grab our change jar and go to Midsouth bank to pour it into the change machine. We actually had $76.18 in our jar! I couldn't believe it was that much.

After the bank, we went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D. It was really good. Of course, it helps that I'm a science fiction nerd, but I thought the movie was very action packed and family friendly. (I knew this ahead of time because I always read the reviews of movies on http://www.pluggedinonline.com/ before I take Baylor to see any movie.) Baylor would reach out and grab my hands during the intense parts. It was so cute.

We went to an educational supply store afterwards just for a minute because they have an awesome toy selection and Baylor enjoys checking out all the new stuff.

Then I decided we'd eat lunch at Piccadilly. I have memories of eating there for lunch when my mom and I would have our own mother/child days, and I was feeling nostalgic. We were very conservative in our lunch selections, and our bill was $23! I was astounded at how expensive that was. I would never have gone there if I would have known how much it would be.

We picked up Nadia at Kasie's and then headed home. Yesterday was our third anniversery, so my mom was coming over to babysit so we could go out. We went to eat at Texas Roadhouse and then went to see Ironman at the movies. I loved it. I love to go to the movies, and I haven't had much opportunity to do that since Nadia has arrived. We talked about how three years ago Nadia didn't even exist, and now she's almost two. It's amazing how quickly time flies.

Here are some pictures of us from our wedding day on July 15, 2005.

We met a cool couple today...

David and I normally attend the second service on Sunday's at our church, but once a week we work in the nursery. On those days, we work in the nursery during second service, and go to church during the third service. We always take Nadia to our church's playground after church to let her play. I said all that to say that after third service today David got to talking with this man named Doug, who told us that he and his family had just moved here from Ohio so that he could attend flight school. His wife came over, and we got to talking about schools, cultural differences, the heat, etc. We stayed about 30 minutes after church talking to them, and we were excited. We exchanged phone numbers, and I hope we get a chance to visit and hang out with them.
Trinity is doing a series right now about growing a deeper faith. We're in the 1st chapter of James, and the sermons have really given us a lot of food for thought. Today Dennis was talking about avoiding temptation, and the difference between trials and temptations. Basically trials come into our lives from God to grow us up and mature us, and temptations come from Satan to tear us down. The trials give us a chance to become more Christ-like by growing. I kept thinking about a song on one of our kid's Bible CD's about the fruits of the spirit, and I felt pretty convicted that my life really isn't bearing much fruit. I'm not patient, I don't have much self-control, and I don't feel all that gentle. When I'm in a frustrating situation, I give in to the temptation to lose my temper, yell, scream, etc... I really like sermons that take me out of my comfort zone and force me to analyze and delve deeper into myself. They are uncomfortable, but definitely necessary for spiritual growth.
After church, we ate lunch at Hub City Diner, and then went to David's office. I basically haven't been there since he moved in, and WOW, was I impressed at the progress he's made in there. It really looks like a real office! I was impressed to see his Father's Day present hanging on the wall.
At this point it was 3 pm and time for Nadia to nap, so we came home and all crashed for about two hours. Sunday afternoon naps ROCK!
Last night we went to Suzi and Elliott's for dinner. We had leftover Shrimp pasta from Catahoula's....can you say YUMMY! I ate two helpings. We watched the movie "Jumpers" which was really good except for the ending, and then ended up talking about the public school system, vouchers, homeschooling, etc until 2 am. We joked that at least we shaved an hour off from the last time we visited. Nadia was up at 7 am this morning, and that certainly was not fun, but we really enjoy those discussions that always end up happening when we hang out with the Kahn's.

Nadia's Rubber Boots

The other day (July 8th to be exact), I turned my little one loose in our front yard with her rubber boots on her cute size 7 feet. To say she had a blast is the understatement of the century. She simply walked up and down the water puddle over and over and over and over. I took several pictures and a few videos to capture her enthusiasm. I had as much fun watching her as she did playing in the "wah-dah", I assure you. Check out these cute little videos of Princess Nadia in her realm:

Once she fell in the water, she wasn't too interested in getting herself up because she would have had to put her hands in the water. It was so funny.

3 hour glucose test coming up Monday

I called this morning and scheduled it...I'm not looking to it at all! I'm hoping I pass so I don't have to follow the gestational diabetes diet. However, I'm pretty sure that I won't.

I picked Baylor up at soccer camp today, and we went to eat lunch at Golden Corral. It was really good. I ate one plate of really good food like spinach, pot roast, green beans, chicken, etc. Of course, I followed that plate up with one full of chocolate volcano cake, fudge, M & M's, chocolate covered raisins, vanilla ice cream, and cool whip. The whole time I kept thinking, "Great. This is really helping your diabetes results."

Tonight for supper we had lasagna, spinach salad, and sugar free/fat free chocolate pudding. It was pretty good. David was actually home for supper tonight, so that was nice. He left shortly after supper to go back to the office to finish his invoices.

Baylor finally came home today after three nights at my mom's house. He enjoyed the one on one attention from his Granny. He's home for tonight and then Raymond is picking him up for the weekend. I'm going to miss that little fart! We went to Prairie this afternoon so Baylor could take another AR test. He scored a 9 out of 10, so he was excited. So far this summer he's read almost 40,000 words! Pretty impressive for a boy who hates to read.

We talked briefly about maybe planning a weekend trip to Schlitterbahn soon. We'd definitely pick a weekend that Baylor is with us, and I need to look into travel times, ticket prices, etc, but it sure would be fun to get away for a little while.

To totally change the subject, here's a picture of what my belly is looking like these days:

3D ultrasound day

Today was an AWESOME day! The morning began with us going to have our 3D ultrasound session. We got to see Dawson, and oh my goodness....he looks just like Nadia.

He was pretty cooperative, and we got a cd with 114 pictures on it. We also got a DVD with about 25 minutes of video footage of our session. It was so amazing to see his little face, his big feet, and his cute dimple on his left cheek.

As a surprise, my Aunt Mary, SIL and friend Kiki, and my cousin in law Leslie joined my mom, David, Baylor, Nadia and me at the ultrasound. We had a roomful of people. The pictures were projected onto the wall on a huge screen. I'm 29 weeks pregnant, and Dawson is measuring 3 lbs 10 oz! He's already a big boy...Oh, and BTW, we did check, and he is definitely a boy. I was relieved to find out that we haven't been buying blue clothes for nothing.

After the ultrasound, I went and dropped David and Baylor off at home and joined the girls for some female bonding. We went to Goodwill first to shop for maternity clothes and dress clothes, and then of course, it was time to eat. We ate at McAlister's Deli, and it was delicious. I had the fiesta chicken wrap and I was almost licking my plate. Either I was really hungry at the point, or the food was great.

We then went shopping at Once Upon a Child, Plato's Closet, and then the mall. We found a few more items...One item of interest was from Mimi Maternity. My Aunt Mary found it and covered up the tag while she asked each of us what we thought it was. I guessed correctly after Kiki guessed it was a hat for a preemie and Leslie guessed it was a nipple shield for breastfeeding mothers. It was actually a PeePee TeePee! Apparently you are supposed to cover your baby boy's business with this little teepee while you are changing his diaper so he doesn't sprinkle you. (Why you just can't use a diaper to do the job like everyone else is beyond me!)

We all went to my Mom's house after shopping to find that the men had barbqued hamburgers and hot dogs for us to eat. It was so good!

The two pregnant ones were craving ice cream, so David was a sweetie and volunteered to go to the store for some. When he and my dad got back, we watched the DVD of the ultrasound to show the people who weren't there that morning.

We just laughed and cut up and hung out together as a family. How fun is that?

Happy 4th of July

We have a very busy and fun day. Our day started at Suzi and Elliott's 4th of July lunch. I didn't know their house could hold that many people. Elliott's dad took some wonderful family pictures of us with his fancy-schmancy camera. I can't wait until he sends them to us. The picture above was taken with my camera. I think you can tell that Nadia isn't really feeling well. It is a pretty decent family photograph though.

I should have kept a list of the food that I ate over there. Let's just say it was a ridiculous amount. I'm talking bordering on gluttonous.
Nadia wasn't really acting like she felt well. I think she may be cutting a new tooth or something. We left Suzi and Elliott's house and drove to my cousin's house.
They had an important announcement to make...Adele is 9 weeks pregnant! I'm so excited for them. So I'm 29 weeks, Leslie is ?? weeks (due in January, I think), and Adele is 9 weeks. Our family holidays are going to be filled to the brim with babies next year!
There was also a lot of food at Doug and Adele's house, and I grazed a little there, too. I tried to stay mostly with the fruit and a sandwich, but I hit the cookie plate and candy jar pretty hard as well. It's a good thing that my glucose test isn't in the next day or two.
Uncle Doug was telling me and Kiki that when they move here they are going to give our church a try. I'm so excited about that. It's such a great church, and I really think there's something there for anyone who is looking!
Nadia started running fever, so we gave her some Tylenol there. We went outside and watched the neighborhood fireworks. That was pretty nice because we got to see some awesome fireworks without having to spend any of our own money. Nadia would scream, "It popped." It was so cute.
She kept asking for Kakie long after my Aunt Kakie had left their house. Granny was so jealous! I don't know why Nadia does that.
She used the potty twice while we were there. Her diapers are very rarely dry, but she does at least catch the tail end of her pee-pee sessions and those make it into the potty.
Baylor was going to go spend the night at my parent's house, but decided at the last minute he wanted to come home with us. He was acting a little quiet and withdrawn by the end of the evening...not sure what was wrong. He just said he wasn't feeling right.
When we got home, I did 30 minutes of Wii Fit to try to counteract all of the food I ate today. I also did it last night, and am ashamed to admit that I gained 1 1/2 pounds since last night! I'm really going to try to continue to exercise with the Wii Fit daily to try to not break the 200 lb mark this pregnancy. At the very least, I can try pretty hard not to weigh more than David.
Tomorrow (well, today, actually) is my 3D ultrasound. I hope Dawson cooperates and lets us see his face. I'm guessing he is going to look exactly like Nadia. I don't think I stand a chance of having a child that looks anything like me. Baylor doesn't, Nadia doesn't, so why start now?

Failed by 1 Point

I went to the doctor this morning and discovered that I failed my one hour glucose tolerance test by one point. All that means at this point is that I have to go sit through the dreaded three hour glucose tolerance test.
Nadia did keep me and the entire staff at the doctor's office entertained this morning, though. She has two stuffed animals that she carries around with her. One is a worm, and one is a duck. Her favorite thing to do with these animals is to put them to sleep. She lays them down on the sofa or ground, covers the worm with a "canket"(which, by the way, is a dried baby wipe!), an pats the animals on the back while saying, "Night-night....shhh.....shhh." It's so incredibly cute.
The "canket" is for the worm only. I tried to make the duck and the worm share the "canket", but she immediately pushed the duck out in the cold.
I'll try to get a picture of this today to post so you can see it. It's so cute.
We are leaving in about 45 minutes to go and have lunch with a friend of mine from work. I haven't seen Rachel since school let out, so it will be so nice to catch up. She has a daughter who is Baylor's age, so they will be able to visit too.
We're still working on potty-training Nadia, and it's going pretty well. She actually tells us she needs to go about 50% of the time. I'd like to have her potty-trained by the time Dawson arrives, but I don't know if that'll happen. I guess we'll just wait and see.
I'm so excited that my first 3D/4D ultrasound is scheduled for this Saturday! This technology didn't even exist when I was pregnant for Baylor, and there wasn't a facility in our town when I was pregnant for Nadia. Plus, we were financially unable to get one for Nadia. I called this morning to schedule an appointment, and I figured I'd have to wait 2 or 3 weeks to get in. The lady on the phone said, "Well, we're closed July 4th, but we do have several openings on Saturday. Which one would work best for you?"
So far David, Kiki, and of course, Baylor and Nadia will be there. I sent out a boatload of emails inviting other family and friends, but I haven't heard back from anyone else yet. Mom and Dad are going to try to come, but they have out of town company and the bell south people coming over. I guess anyone who misses it can just look at the pictures. It definitely was short notice, so I completely understand if nobody can make it!

I guess we got told!

I brought Baylor and Nadia to our neighborhood pool to go swimming. Nadia was ready to leave before Baylor and David were, so I took her home. I decided I didn't feel like cooking, so I ordered pizza.
David and Baylor were pretty excited about the surprise supper when they arrived. We sat down around the table, and we all started to eat our pizza. Nadia, our precious little 21 month old, looked around the table, looked towards her daddy and said, "Pray?"
Wow! I guess she put us in our place. We stopped eating immediately, thanked her for pointing out the error of our ways, and thanked God for our food, our family, and our daughter who will hold us accountable.

Giving this a try!

I am 29 weeks pregnant today. I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy has gone by! I had to go to the lab this morning for my one hour glucose tolerance test, and I'm hoping and praying that I don't have gestational diabetes like I did for Nadia.

Baylor is playing Spiderman on Xbox, and N is trying to keep busy to avoid having to go down for a nap. I've got news for her, but naptime is rapidly approaching.

Today we had lunch with my mom and dad at Hub City Diner. I thought the food was fabulous (although that's probably because I'd been fasting since midnight last night!)

At lunch Nadia kept us entertained by writing her name. She's scribble something that didn't really resemble any letters but at least use small motor coordination and then hit me on the arm until I acknowledged her masterpiece. It was so cute! She was very proud of her writing abilities.

Even though this is July, our summer really hasn't started. I feel like I've spent the entire month of June in our van transporting Baylor from Fast Forword in the mornings or reading clinic in the afternoons. I'm ready for several days of just staying home. This isn't going to happen though, because Baylor has soccer camp starting next week. Oh Joy!