Las Vegas Vacation

We went to LV for a wedding and to visit with Dad & Ginny......and it was a great time. We were able to spend 8 days there and boy was it nice! The last long vacation we took was when we were pregnant with Asher. So, this one was well overdue. Ginny was able to take off all but 2 days while we were there, so we did a lot of hanging out together and shopping. Ginny bought some really cute clothes for Aden and a few things for Asher. It was nice. Asher and Ginny spent one evening together when we went to the rehearsal dinner for our friends wedding. Then Asher got to spend the night with his Grandpa, which I think they all enjoyed!! It was such a nice trip and we were so glad to be able to spend so much time with everyone. Leaving always makes me sad and wish that we lived closer to each other. Until next time.......

Bear Necessities Family Shower

We had a nice family get together for Aden's baby shower. It was a lot of fun and Shelly & Melissa really made it nice! I was glad to see my Aunts and cousins on the Schnitzius side as well as the few family members of Stephen's that live in town. We received a ton of diapers, wipes, lotion & soaps. All the things that you really go through quick! Of course we also received some adorable clothes as well. It's so nice to have such giving families! We are so glad that everyone was able to celebrate the day with us.

Dr Appointment

I'm on schedule with the Dr for every 2 weeks now, so it's really starting to go by fast. I'm still at a total of 5 pounds gained, which is super nice! Aden's heartbeat was 142 bpm. I'm still measuring a little big, about 4 inches over where I should be. Dr said he wasn't sure if we should do a sonogram now, so he's going to get the opinion of one of the other Dr's and let me know. He said it could just be that Aden was laying a certain way, etc. We'll just have to wait and see what they say. I got an updated Rx for my Nexium, just in case I need it while traveling at the end of this month. No restrictions so far other than making sure I walk around for a few minutes every hour or so to help keep my circulation moving. Since I sit at a desk most of the time during the day we want to make sure I keep from having swollen feet and legs. If I want the same Dr that delivered Asher to also deliver Aden then that will be on a Thursday this time around. We'll discuss with Dr and hopefully set my delivery date at my next appointment which is on February 1st.

Diabetes Education Follow Up

I had my follow up appointment and the dietician was very pleased with my levels. She decided that I only need to continue monitoring my fasting levels. I was very excited about that. Much better than sticking myself 4 times a day. No other follow up appointments were scheduled.

The Countdown Begins!

With about 55 days (8 weeks) to go, I'm really starting to feel it! I've been having a hard time sleeping lately, since I can't get in a comfortable side position. Laying on my back seems to put so much pressure on my tailbone, so that's not fun. Aden moves around a lot when I first lay down for the night, which I enjoy. It's like our quiet time. I do feel like I'm getting bigger by the day and can hardly sit still. Stephen and I have committed to finishing some little "projects" around the house over the next few weekends. Just some small stuff that we've put off. I've got to pull out all the infant clothes and get it organized. This was so much fun the first time around, now I just can't seem to get motivated! Looks like we don't have a lot of time to mess around, so we'll be busy for the next few weeks. Wish us luck with our preparations!!

8 Month Checkup

Went to the Dr today, everything looking great. Daddy & Asher were able to hear Aden's heartbeat at 138 bpm. He was sleeping so we had a hard time at first. My blood pressure is still looking great as well. I've only put on an additional pound since my last visit which brings me to the grand total of 5 lbs gained! This has been a blessing, didn't want to gain too much with this one. I asked some questions about my glucose monitoring. Dr said to bring my log book with me to my next visit. We're hoping that I'll only have to check it in the AM for the fasting levels. This would be a nice change from 4 times a day. I've had a bit of a hard time with all the food the dietician wants me to eat, so we'll revisit that at my next visit as well. I head back to the Dr in 2 weeks. Looks like the finish line is close!!

Diabetes Education

Well, I went to my appointment and boy are these people having me eat a lot of food! I'm on a schedule for 3 meals a day and 3 snacks a day. I have to check my blood sugar 4 times a day as well. It took me about 15 minutes this morning trying to pack my breakfast, snack, lunch and snack all in my bag just to bring with me to the office. I have to try and get 3 sessions of 30 minutes of exercise a week. Yeah, this sounds easy, but with high glucose and low iron there's no energy to walk up and down the stairs half the time. The dietician told me to do what I can and do not over-do it if I'm not feeling up to it. I'll go for a follow up on January 6th to see how the food is working for me. I've also got my 8 month checkup on December 28th. Will update then.

Matt & Tevis' Baby News

Stephen's friend Matt, who was his Best Man at our wedding, just went in for their sonogram to find out the sex of their baby! He and his wife are expecting a GIRL!! They are very excited, to say the least. Baby and mom are healthy and doing well. They are expecting their little bundle of joy to arrive in May 2006

Disappointing News

I got a call back from the nurse at my OB's office. My test results came back positive for Gestational Diabetes. So, tomorrow I have to go and see a Diabetes Counselor and meet with a nurse. The appointment will be for 2 hours and we will go over diet, nutrition and how to monitor my sugar levels. The nurse made it sound like I would have to do my own blood test each day, but she wasn't real clear about the whole process. The regular nurse is on vacation, so I talked to one of the other nurses in the office. We will also continue to monitor the baby closely to make sure he doesn't get too big. I've only got about 10 full weeks left until delivery, so hopefully it wont be too hard to watch my diet. It sure is too bad that we discovered this right before Christmas! I guess that means I'll have to watch the desserts rather than eat them. :o)

So, if you're interested in doing some reading, here's a link. http://familydoctor.org/075.xml

Second Go 'Round

I went to the Dr this morning to have my blood drawn 4 times for the Glucola screening. The first one drawn is after fasting for 12 hours. Then another 3 times on the hour until 11:50am. Loads of fun just sitting in the waiting room. I wasn't feeling all that great since I had no food in my system, so I just sat there reading magazines. Luckily when it was all over with I went straight to our department Christmas Luncheon. I met everyone at Macaroni Grill and boy did that pasta taste good! Stephen has been fighting a cold or something for almost a week now, so he went to the Dr this afternoon. He was given an inhaler to repair his lungs and an antibiotic to get filled if he doesn't feel better in 24-48 hours. The Dr was saying that he thought he was just about over it all. I guess we'll wait and see. Asher and I are feeling great, so I'm not too worried about Stephen filling his Rx.

I got home from work and waited a few minutes for Stephen and Asher to get home, then we went out to pick up a few things. I drew Stephen's Uncle Patrick for Christmas and we still needed to go to Home Depot & Garden Ridge to get all the stuff to finish making his gift. I also had to stop by Best Buy for one of my Uncle's gift. Then off to Walmart to get my Iron supplement and some milk for Asher. So, for the rest of this week I have vowed to wrap a few gifts each night so that I'm not up all night on Friday getting things ready for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

I should have my lab results on Wednesday sometime and will post for everyone. Let's hope it all comes back normal!

Lab Results

I had some blood work done on Wednesday afternoon for my Glucola Test and got a call this afternoon with the results. I could tell from the Nurse's tone that it wasn't good news. Looks like my glucose levels are high, so I have to go in on Monday morning at 8:30 for a 3 hour blood test. We had to do this when I was pregnant with Asher, so I remember the drill. She also said that my iron count is really low and I will need to get on a supplement. I'm a little discouraged, but hopefully everything will come back normal after the test on Monday. I should have those results by Wednesday and will let everyone know.

Have a Great Weekend.

Happy Birthday Stephen!!

I can't believe that another year has gone by and it's time to celebrate Stephen's 32nd birthday. We are having dinner tonight with a few friends and we're really looking forward to it. We'll be dining at Bread Winners, which is Stephen's favorite restaurant. His very good friend, Vinnie, is the head chef there. We always have such a great meal and sometimes a dessert too. The atmosphere is so nice, a great place to sit and talk after you've finished your meal.

Again, Happy Birthday Sweetheart, I love you!!

Austin's Christmas Play

It's just that time of year, isn't it? Tonight we went to Austin's Christmas Play at school. All the kids were so cute. For the manger scene, there were kids dressed as sheep and camels, crawling up the main isle of the church. It was a hoot. We had a hard time seeing Austin from where we were sitting, the teacher who put the production on was right in our eye-line. Asher sat on my lap most of the time, and had a lot of fun. Of course, once again, after the applauding he would say touchdown. I guess that little kid is going to be a huge sports fan! After we got home I wrapped some gifts that we're sending to Ginny & Johnny so I could take them with me to work in the morning to box up. I put Asher to bed then tried to do a few things around the house.....then had to head off to bed myself. Stephen was working again, so he didn't get to go with us.

Meagan's Concert

Last night we went to Meagan's band concert and it was really nice. They played a piece that was Christmas songs, about 22 songs overall and just the first few seconds (just long enough for you to know what song it was) then onto the next. It was pretty neat, I'd never heard anything like that before. Asher had a great time, of course! He was sitting on his Papa's lap most of the time just swaying back and forth with the beat of the music. He would applaud with the rest of us then yell "Touchdown"! It was hilarious!! Another band went on after Meagan, then we all went to dinner. Stephen wasn't able to make it, he had to finish up some work at a clients office, so he didn't get home until about 11pm. It was a nice evening and Meagan did awesome!

Family Time

We had a nice relaxing weekend and spent time with family. Friday night we prepared food for Grandpa's Tree Trimming. Jambalaya and Chili (extra spicy) and some corn bread. It was all wonderful, but I have to admit that I wasn't able to handle the chili. Too spicy for me and the baby! We ate at Grandpa's, decorated the tree and watched Asher play with his Great Uncles and second cousins. It was a lot of fun. Asher was a little shy at first, which surprised me, but then after about 5 minutes he went straight for Uncle Mark. They played and had a great time. I know that he'll be happy to see his own little grandson at the end of this week. After Grandpa's we went over to Melissa & Nathan's house, hung out and watched a movie. Got up this morning and did a few things around the house. Ran to a few stores then came home to watch the Cowboy's play. I pretty much stayed out of the living room, cooked and cleaned most of the time. Overall, it was a good weekend. The weather wasn't too bad either!!

7 Month Checkup

I had my 7 month checkup yesterday morning and was happy to see that I have only gained a total of 4 pounds. Even after the Thanksgiving holiday!! My blood pressure is also still looking great, 120/78. Our little guy was moving all over the place, but we still managed to catch his heartbeat at 154 bpm. I'm measuring a little big, but nothing to worry about. Dr said to get ready for a butterball. It's doubtful that we'll have another little 5 pounder!! I've got 3 more appointments scheduled for December. Flu Shot, Glucola (diabetes) Screening and 8 month checkup. Then I will be heading to the Dr every 2 weeks. I can't believe that it's almost here. I was looking at the calendar and realized with the holidays and a vacation at the end of January, I will only be at work for another 10 weeks. If I blink I might miss the next 3 months!! Next appointment on December 14th.

Happy Thanskgiving

We had a fantastic day yesterday with family filling the house. We started out pretty early in the morning deep frying some Turkeys. 8 to be exact! Stephen did 3 for Genio's family, which is what he's done the last few years in a row. Adrian asked Stephen to fry 2 for him. We fried 2 for LoneStar Plastics, one of Stephen's clients, they ran their normal 2 shifts yesterday. Then we saved the last one for us. The guys were outside most of the morning, which made it quiet for me in the kitchen for a few hours. We did most of the preparing on Wednesday, so it was an easy morning for me. Asher slept most of the day, but was awake long enough to eat some turkey dinner. He had sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, devilled egg, dressing & turkey. He was ready for a nap before he even finished eating! It was funny. We had great food, great desserts and a lot of sitting around and talking. It was a really nice day and I'm thankful I was able to spend it with family. I missed everyone that lives out of town, I know they all had a wonderful day as well. I'm on vacation until the 30th, so I'm planning on getting some holiday shopping done and decorate my Christmas Tree!

Thanksgiving Potluck

Well, our potluck went great! It was a lot of fun and there was a lot of food too. It was nice to get together with friends and eat some turkey with all the wonderful sides. Stephen and I were up at 7am on Saturday morning getting the turkey ready to go into the smoker. It turned out delicious of course. He then fried a turkey later that afternoon. I did some baking, which I really enjoyed, and had some left over to snack on throughout the week. Asher tried some turkey and really seemed to like it. We've been trying to introduce new foods and textures. He also loved his Aunt Melissa's mashed potatoes! We may and try to schedule this every year from now on. It was a great idea (of Stephen's) and we're glad that all our close friends could join us. Now I've got a few days to let all that food settle in order to do it all again on Thursday!! Have a great week everyone.

Counting Down

With only 103 days to go, it still seems like an eternity. We still haven't picked out a name, it's been hard to find one that we both like! We need to get busy so Asher has time to learn it. Right now he just walks up to me and points to my tummy and says "Baby". It's the sweetest thing! We still haven't decided where we are going to put the new nursery either. I've thought about moving some rooms around, but we've just got too much stuff! It's a little frustrating when I have 5 bedrooms and can't manage to figure out where to put the junk so I can have another baby room. Ugh. We don't have a whole lot of time, so we better start brainstorming! I was doing some reading about this week in my pregnancy to see about how big this little guy is getting and this is what's going on with him: He is measuring 12 to 13 inches and weighs about 1.5 pounds. His skin is still thin, wrinkled, and pale, but he gets a bit plumper every day, thanks to the fat and muscle he's continually adding. Right now tiny blood vessels called capillaries are starting to develop below his skin, and these will give it a pink hue.

Mommy Weekend

Asher and I enjoyed our weekend together while Stephen was off on his "boys" weekend with Seth. We had fun and really did a whole lot of nothing. I did some major cleaning around the house. Boy, did it need it! This was the first time for Asher and I to be all alone without Daddy. It was a little different for us. Asher was so good, as always, which allowed me to do more than my normal weekend cleaning. He's getting to the age where he can really entertain himself with his toys. Sometimes I would just stand in the dinning room and watch him play in his pin. Just blabbering his ABC's and holding his toy phone to his ear. When we picked Stephen up, Asher was so excited! It made my heart melt watching his face light up when he saw his Daddy. I had a comp day today which made it extra nice to hang out with Stephen. We did our Thanksgiving shopping and got our turkey's. A 4 day week is just what I needed! We're looking forward to our Potluck this Saturday with our friends. Then just another week until Thanksgiving with the family!