Are You Gelin'?

I've been meaning to blog about this since Friday but kept forgetting. I decided to take a nice relaxing bath tonight and the bottle of gel on the counter reminded me. Lil Cam Cam is starting to put gel in his hair to be like dad =o) Apparently we are doing this at his mom's too because when we picked him up on Thursday he was complaining about how hard his hair was lol. How frickin' cute is that! Of course he has to have the blue color gel... would you expect anything less? His excitement about the baby coming is getting better as well. Lately he has seemed real concerned that he may not get as much attention from daddy once the baby comes. I found out tonight that Frankie had a talk with him and I've already noticed a difference. We purchased a few gizmo's from Babies R Us and Cam wanted to help open them and he took an interest in the items that are already in the nursery. He also said he can't wait to teach his little brother how to drive his go cart and make fart sounds (go figure... what do boys love most... well at least this one).


Pregnancy changes. Well sleep is getting to be less and less so I should be very prepared for the sleep schedule I will have once the baby arrives. My belly button... ha! It is literally becoming a button now and I'm not excited. I'm starting to develop an outie :( lol. I've also got some Fred Flintstone feet going on right now but I think that is just a side effect of being on my feet for a few hours yesterday and shopping today... I'll be taking it easy the next couple of days until the swelling goes down. Other than that things are about the same. My sugars have been very well controlled. I've only had 3 "high" readings in the last week. I don't think that's bad considering I've checked my sugars 32 times lol. Anywho... below are a couple pix I took... I was bored and playing around with the camera the other day... enjoy!

Yay for hail damage!

Lately we have noticed several people in the neighborhood getting their roof replaced on their home. We discovered that they had hail damage and that insurance was covering the replacement. So Frankie decided it couldn't hurt to have insurance come out and do an estimate to see if we could get a free roof as well. To my surprise, considering how things have gone the past few months, we have hail damage!! It will be so nice to have a new roof to make the house look even better. We will be asking for a different color shingle, most likely a brown of some sort, to go with our paint color scheme.


Now onto baby updates. I had an appointment with my OB on Monday and things are still going strong. Lil Joey's heartbeat was 145 and I'm still measuring according to my weeks of gestation. (Thank goodness because this whole diabetes thing could cause me to have a large baby and I don't want that lol.) We had our third baby class last night and now I'm more confused than ever. I've always said I want an epidural when I deliver because of how intense my menstrual cramps have been in the past. Now I'm not sure. There are side effects to the epidural (which I knew) but I don't know if I want to risk it given our luck lately. I could try the IV pain medicine but supposedly that just "takes the edge off" and if I receive the drug too late the medication will be in the babies system, which could cause him to breathe less strong at delivery and would require him to get a shot. I've thought maybe I will try the IV medication and if that doesn't work enough I can always get the epidural still. The thought of a needle going in my back is scary but from what I've heard, I may not care at that point because I will be in so much pain. Ahh decisions, decisions.

32 weeks

I can't believe I am now 8 months pregnant!



Our lil man should be here in about 8 weeks and we are so excited! I've started having some back pain and difficulty getting to sleep but I feel lucky to have made it this far without those symptoms. The heartburn is getting out of control! I feel like I need to sleep sitting straight up in order to prevent it. The only other change I've noticed is that I'm starting to itch from the stretching on my stomach but lotion fixes that =o)


My diet is still irritating but I plan to talk to my OB at my appointment tomorrow. I've tried experimenting with different foods and some of them aren't panning out too well. I have now discovered that I cannot do baked potatoes. It made my sugar shoot through the roof even though I went by the recommended serving size. I can however do chicken nuggets from Chic-Fil-A which is wonderful because those things taste delicious! Hopefully I can make it through these last 8 weeks with no complications.


We were hoping our luck would change for 2010 but it really hasn't. I think we have both become numb to bad news because neither of us have been phased by it. We got our energy bill for December and it was almost double what it normally is. Come to find out we have a leak in our unit. Frankie's cousin came out to take a look at it and said we could try getting a coil but that would be like putting a band aid on a 27 year old unit. So the best thing would be to replace the unit inside and outside. I also noticed something strange about the house. Frankie was picking up leaves so I was outside talking to him. I looked at the house and noticed that the wood was starting to separate on the side of the house. I really hope that doesn't mean that the foundation has shifted :(.


Below are pictures to show my belly growth. This documents from 3 months up through now, at 8 months =o)

Showered with Love and Gifts

Whew! What a busy weekend. My mom and grandmother got here Thursday evening. On Friday we went shopping and just spent the day together. Saturday we got the house cleaned up, started cooking the food, and decorated for the baby shower that was on Sunday.
It was nice to have so many people attend the shower. We got so many amazing gifts which is wonderful considering my current job status. We got all the necessities and then some. We were able to get the rest of the "necessities" with the giftcards and money we had received. It was a great day! Little Joey is going to have so many wonderful things and that is a great feeling. It's very comforting to know that so many people have pitched in to make this a wonderful and memorable experience for Frankie and I.
I was sitting down after the shower trying to think if there was anything else we needed and there wasn't anything. We have enough diapers to last us a little while. The only thing I have to get is a pump and we will be done! Thanks to everyone who came!

The cake (not sure why it's sideways)

Walker, bassinet, and travel system

Big pile of clothes

Toys, mobile, rattles, etc

Diapers, wipes, bottles, safety/grooming kits, bath accessories

Diaper genies, baths, blankie made by Wendi

Clothes hamper, jumper, and amazing swing (goes from swing, to infant chair to toddler rocking chair)

Update and Some Touching Words

First off... my doctor appointments for the week are done =o) My sugars are under control but now I need to get more protein. That shouldn't be too hard to correct... I hope.
Also, we had our first Child Birth class last night. I learned a good bit. Learned the signs of going into labor and Frankie learned a technique to help relieve lower back pain if I have any. At our next class we will learn breathing and relaxation techniques. I'm glad we signed up. We met some new parents to be and had a pretty good time. There were 8 couples in there and only one of the couples was expecting a girl! There are going to be a lot of little boys coming in March apparently =o)

I've been meaning to share the following for quite sometime but kept forgetting. I came across it again while cleaning so I'm taking the time to share now. It is a poem that my grandfather wrote back in 1982. I wonder if he knew how deeply his words would effect people when he wrote it? My dad read this at the funeral and it was the first time I've seen him cry. It was one the hardest things for me to witness and I'm sure one of the hardest things he's had to do.

"Reflections"
If by chance along life's way
you pause awhile to rest
come visit me in Canaan Land
high on the mountain crest

I roam this land of sparkling skies
through spirit willed on high
where kindred thoughts and moments
shared really never die

No words need to be spoken
we sense and thus we share
our past times brief with life's span
but meaningful and rare.

Life's game played through- some won, some lost
the challenge leaped to meet
sweet victories brief, elusive taste
true learning in defeat.

I pray that all your thoughts of me
however brief they be
are ones of love, fair measure given,
truth, tranquillity

For man I was, a speck of dust
a sand grain by life's sea
no longer now as I once was
but just a memory

The mountain's thrust, streams greenish-blue
all nature wild and free
a "Mountain Man" and with God's grace-
through all eternity.

H. Douglas Preble 1982

Happy New Year!

Well it is 2010 and things are going well for the most part. Actually the only rough patch right now is Frankie's grandmother. She is back in the hospital but she is doing well. They discovered she had E. coli so hopefully they will clear that up and she'll be home soon.
New Years was pretty quiet for us this year... in fact Frankie was asleep by 10:30 lol. We didn't want to take the chance going out this year, especially with all the fog.
I had a check up appointment today. It's hard to believe I am 30 weeks pregnant. My countdown is ALMOST in the single digits [weeks that is =o)]. Baby JD is growing on target and his heartbeat was strong at 156. My blood sugars are being controlled with the new diet so it looks like I won't have to take insulin. Thank goodness! I have an appointment with the Diabetes Center tomorrow just to let them look over my sugar results for the past week. After that I should be able to just fax them my scores.
Tomorrow night we have our first baby class. I don't think Frankie is looking forward to it very much but he's a trooper for going. I would rather take the class and discover I didn't need it than wonder what I might have missed. The classes will be every Tuesday for the next 6 weeks for 2 hours every night. After that my week is free until my mom and grandmother get here on Friday for the baby shower. I'm super excited about that!

Christmas and Then Some

Wow! Time flies when you're busy. Let's do some catching up shall we?
First off... my sugar test. I failed it miserably. I needed to be below 135 and I was 217 so I got to skip the 3 hour sugar test and schedule an appointment with the Diabetes Center. That appointment was on Monday (the 28th). They put me on a meal plan and gave me a monitor to check my sugars. My only issue so far has been that I'm having to eat too much!! Go figure. I'll have to talk to her about that because I can't make myself eat like that but my sugars have been good. Hopefully the diet changes will work =o)
Next... Mom came into town last Tuesday and is leaving town tomorrow. We've been busy but we finally have everything ready to go for the shower that is in a little over a week. We went to our friends house on Christmas Eve so it was great getting to see them. Unfortunately there was a little boy there who was sick and throwing up. Well... the day after Christmas guess what? My mom and I were sick. I got so dehydrated that my pulse was 160. To make a long story short I was admitted to the hospital over night so that they could pump me full of fluids. At first my mom and I thought we just had food poisoning from some banana pudding. (I didn't talk to my friend until I was out of the hospital to discover that just about everyone that attended the Christmas Eve shin-dig got sick.)
Now onto Christmas. What a great day. Cameron was so excited! He couldn't wait to open each one of his presents and once he was done he was ready to play with each of them. It was nice. We all got great gifts but I think the best was being together =o) Wish my dad could have been here to spend it with us but we will all be together next year. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Frankie and I on Christmas Eve

Cam opening his spy remote control car... his favorite gift I think

Mom opening her favorite gift... We got her DeAngelo jersey signed