Baby Shower was a blast

Sue hosted the baby shower at her house on Saturday. It was perfect! Most people came, including family and friends from out of town. Ddonn came all the way from Vegas. We had fun having her and the girls here for the whole weekend. The baby has a lot of essentials now - some of which I hadn't even thought of. Those who wished to stick around longer helped put together scrapbooking pages for the baby book. The kids even chipped in.

Ddonn blew everyone away, including myself, with all her preparations and gifts. She wrote out rhyming cards for each box, bag and basket she had brought. There were outfits and toys for the baby, pampering and food stuff for me during my recovery (yummy cucumber melon lotion...), and lots of those essentials that we needed for the baby. The gift that made me cry was the baby's blessing outfit. (Sue told me later that she also cried when I opened the box.) I had only picked out the pattern less than two weeks ago, but Ddonn had already finished it. She used buttons from the wedding dress on the vest, as well as material from the dress for the baby's shoes, which makes it even more special. It's so beautiful. I will post pictures soon. (right now I am on my laptop, which doesn't have the right port...)

I think the shower put me in super-nesting mode. Today, I had fun going through and organizing all the gifts for the baby. Yesterday, Werty and I went to 4 different stores and narrowed down our choices for a crib. (Ddonn - I bought that turtle set, but then took it back this morning...I'm going to go with the Target Jungle Friends set after all.) Looks like we are going to have to order the basinette pad online, since none of the local stores seem to be stocking the 2 inch ones. I also cleaned the swing and playpen Klari gave us. Next, I will continue going through boxes in the back bedroom, so we can start moving baby stuff in there. (My parents might want space to actually sit down in my living room when they arrive.)

Must Sees

On our trip to Idaho, I discovered that Rena had not yet seen the Oscar winning Disney short based on the children's book "Ferdinand the Bull." This got me thinking...and sure enough you can find it on youtube. So, here are three shorts I grew up watching that I think people should see and enjoy.

Ferdinand the Bull:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGTVRbpAuRo
Lambert the Sheepish Lion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lhuuitUzd4&feature=related
Dude Duck:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEtWCSQDu8c

With that, all I have left to say is "Moo."

Week of Traveling

Our week of traveling is now over. We went to Vegas to see Ddonn and meet my great uncle. He is one of the two living members of the Enola Gay. I hadn't realized that the pilot, the General, had passed away a few years ago. We had some great discussion, and he showed me photos from Tinian, including a snapshot of the bomb that I had never seen before - and told me where the firing plugs were located (it was his job to arm the bomb and make sure it didn't go off prematurely). It was nice to share with him what I had been taught and what I teach my HS kids in IB 20th Century History, and get his additional insight and confirmation. Of course, I learned some new things. For example, back then they still used vaccum glass tubes, and the bomb had a bunch of them. He said that he was worried about the rattling from the thick fins, it was so loud, he was sure that some of the glass tubes would break and the whole thing wouldn't fire.

Werty finally got to see Ddonn's house - it had been that long since he actually came with me to Vegas. Jr. showed me her awesome rock and shell collection. Fred showed us her latest filming ventures - who knew that her toys traveled to so many planets? I got to see some of the designs for Ddonn's upcoming projects. And we will see them all again at the end of this week when they come here for the baby shower.

On the way home, we drove through Valley of Fire, something I had seen in Ddonn's pictures from HS, but never seen myeslf. We were so tired, that I did laundry and vegged when we got home. Then we went up to Idaho on Saturday, leaving nice and early and arriving by 10am. It was a hard day for me and my diet - lunch was served an hour later than the posted schedule, so they put out various candy items for people to munch on instead which I didn't dare touch (even though I was hungry!), and then we drove back to Provo before stopping to eat dinner, and eating that far between and that late screwed up my numbers a little (6 points over, not really a lot, but my record has been so good that the doctor said I don't have to go to the diabetic clinic at the hospital every week, she will just check my numbers every two weeks instead at my regular visits).

We had fun visiting everyone, inlcuding those in Idaho we don't get to see as often. Rena came with us, and we enjoyed the company so much that the ride up seemed to fly by. She even played the "Name Game" with me on the ride home. This is the game where we try to come up with the best and worst names for the baby. At the reunion, they took photos of family groupings and updated our information. So, a picture of me pregnant has been recorded for posterity. O-kay. Yay? (See this picture? That was you in Mommy's tummy before you were born...that means this photo was taken in 2009...) Poor Rena, she kept being asked where her husband was by all the small children, causing her to realize that even her younger siblings are turncoats. When we got back to Provo, about 10pm, we had dinner with Rena and (I need a nickname for your husband, Rena...) were having so much fun that we didn't get home until 1:30am. The week was a blast. Now it's time to get to work (those lessons won't get planned by themselves!) and get space ready first for Ddonn and then my parents the following week to come stay with us.

Big Itchy Belly

Okay, so for the record, I am officially jealous of Julie. She saw Amy, Jenn, Emily AND went to Hawaii to visit the Drapers all within the last few weeks. I'm going to Vegas and...Idaho all in the same week. Um, yeah. Idaho really isn't Hawaii. and Ddonn went to Owen's Beach. More jealousy. Turning green here...

Being my first pregnancy, and being able to keep it under wraps for over 5 months, I felt like my belly was pretty small for a long time. Now, it's like whoa! hello! baby did some remodeling! I guess he wanted a more open floor plan with vaulted ceilings. Anyway, I have a real belly to show at the family reunion. My belly has been itchy a long time, that's totally normal, but this week I think I am molting. No amount of moisturizing can keep the skin from peeling off. (interesting note: Werty once had something similar happen to him when his mom took him to a doctor and put him on some funky medication combined with a no-sugar diet. It got so bad that he had to stop taking the meds.)

On a side note: my numbers have been really good today - the lowest was 97 and the highest 104. Tomorrow I am going shopping for the trip. I have to take appropriate snacks because I have to eat 6 times a day instead of the three meals my grandparents will eat. 6 tiny little meals. The plan is to go to a buffet for breakfast. A waste of money for me, but you go for the company, right? Speaking of breakfast, we will still go to get french toast when you are here, Ddonn. Werty can always finish mine after I have my allowed portion.

Being Lazy

I did go into work on Tuesday. I had to meet with the librarian about some IB texts and pick up keys to my new classroom. Unfortunately, these small errands took longer than I expected and soon it was time for me to run home, check my blood sugar and eat something. So, I have to go back to pick up ESL materials/textbooks so I can start making lesson plans. I decided to research my new IB topic first - way more interesting to me. So, today I started reading a book that I first started reading back in college for a class that I ended up dropping, but I liked the book enough to keep it...until it disappeared in the magic 'lost box' from coming back from my mission in the RS pres car. (She offered to take some boxes for me - the crate of my college history books never made it.) The HS library actually had it - not checked out much - "O Jerusalem!"

Yesterday I lounged around and watched way too many forensic/cop/lawyer shows. Today Werty cut my hair and then went to the barber to get his hair cut. Now he looks presentable for the reunion next week and the heat of Vegas. :D As he was explaining how the different layers of my cut were lining up with the curl pattern, I was struck with how lucky I am. When we went shopping for maternity clothes a couple of weeks ago, the sales lady was impressed that he knew what my colors were. Yup, he's that good.

Response to Nan

I never said I wasn't going to follow the diet. I am aware of the reasons, the weight of the fetus as well as the risk of under or over amounts of amniotic fluid that can also occur - my brother was 10 lbs, while the rest of us were only 8 lbs because the doctor didn't diagnose my mom's gd. My mom had it again with Crayola, and she was normal size because they caught it that time. Sue's first 2 kids were in the 9 lb range, her 3rd in the 8 lb range - keeping to the diet kept them from being 10 pounders. Like I said, I wasn't surprised that I failed the test - it was just a matter of whether or not I was going to be borderline or full diabetes. With my genes, I knew it was coming. I have no objections to following a diet, I'm just not looking forward to the extra weekly visits to the hospital I DON'T like so that someone can check my numbers like I'm an idiot. I'm just glad that it is summer vacation because my job isn't conducive to taking time off in the middle of the school day.

The group class I have to go to tomorrow uses scare tactics - when Sue went they made it sound like your baby would DIE because you have gd (no, really, Sue's doctor called them the next week and chewed them out...see why I don't like this hospital? Btw, I am not planning on having my baby there, I will go to Orem instead, since they try to scare everyone into having C-sections at that hospital) - so I told Werty to sit this one out, he was anxious enough when I failed the test. Bascially, since people who get gd usually have either a genetic predisposition or poor nutrition/lifestlye, they treat you like you are the latter. I remember at a RS Enrichment, gd came up and one of my friends made a comment to a girl that was expecting, "Don't worry, only really fat people get gd." I SO wanted to slap someone. Or at least point out that at the other end of the room was someone who was a slim Asian woman who had just had her 2nd child and had gd with him.

I know Nan that this is your professional field, and I appreciate your advice, and I know you are just being encouraging, but don't worry too much. I had to wait a long time to start having children, and that gave me time to study up on gd since I knew it was one of my risk factors. (Don't forget that I also don't want to fry my pancreas since that's what killed my grandmother - believe me, I know.)

Vegas Trip - Msg to Ddonn

So , here is the new proposal for our trip to Vegas. We drive down with the grandparents the next week, and stay only three days. It is a shorter trip than the original plan, but my Grandfather is having a huge birthday party that weekend and he needs to be back with enough time to make preparations. Ddonn, I sent you an email with more details.

Then, Werty and I are planning on attending the family reunion that weekend. So, it's going to be a busy week. I have no idea how tired I will be from a road trip, but it looks like I get to find out - twice in one week. :P