Today is cool.  I’ve always liked leap years.  For all of us who always wish for an extra day to get things done, well, here it is.  An extra 24 hours packed in the middle of an otherwise busy year.

What are you doing with your extra day? 

Since Kevin works four 10 hour shifts per week, he gets a 3 day weekend with Friday being his normal day off when there is no overtime available.  We’re sitting at home today enjoying the laziness of this extra 24 hour leap day.  

This morning started off great too.  I snoozed until about 10 am (my energy levels have been zero so I try to get as much sleep as possible when I can, especially now that I’ve been waking up during the night for emergency potty breaks) and then my chow, Gabby, jumped in the bed with me to snuggle.  She had puppies nearly 3 weeks ago and all 5 of them are inside this 3 x 5 cardboard box we turned sideways in the corner of our bedroom.  It makes for a neat little hut, but Gabby is starting to get a little stifled having to stay in the house with them 98% of her day.  She’d much rather be roaming out in the back yard with our other dog Pup Pup.  She’s a great little mother though, I must say.   After a few minutes of snuggling with Gabby, Kevin walks in and we all 3 have a nice family snuggle.   He then gets the puppies and puts them on the bed with us (after all, they were born on there!) and the puppies start to feed on Gabby.  It takes them about 30 minutes to fully eat their fill - and they are sooo stinkin’ cute when they eat, with their heads bobbing back and forth, making little gutteral squeaks as they hungrily munch their mommy supplied breakfast. 

After eating, Kevin comes back in a puts the puppies back in their box and we play with Gabby for a few more minutes (she loves being the center of attention).  Then I get up, get dressed in a warm sweater and jeans and head to our (freeeeeeezing) living room - and that’s where I am now.   It’s a little past Noon - we watched a bit of the Maury show (one of those silly paternity episodes) and now Kevin is playing a bit of his new WWF boxing game on PS2 (It’s the first game I’ve seen that I want to play too, but I haven’t yet)  and waiting on me to finish up on the computer. 

We’re about to head off to the bank and then to the “Floor It Now” store.  We’ve been wanting to redo our home flooring since we moved in 2 years ago and finally saved up enough money to do it.   A few months after moving in we had the not-s0-bright idea of putting in a hardwood floor by ourselves.   That was before we discovered that we were NOT the do-it-yourself types.  The carpet in our hallway is ripped up, with subflooring exposed and tiny nails across all the door frames where the old carpet use to be pinned down (we tried to get them all out but our feet find them every now and then).  We do have some scrap carpet and padding tossed over the plywood, but it’s ugly.  Completely ugly.   The rest of our carpet in the living room is pretty terrible looking too.  It’s a very light, almost-white grey berber, which is NOT good when you have 2 inside dogs, a ferret, and are very hard on your carpets yourself.   We just want something nice before the baby (and all the visitors) arrive in May.  I’d also love to have more people over and do entertaining, but that’s just not doable the way our carpet is.   We haven’t decided if we’re going to just get more carpet installed or if we’re going to go for professionally installed hardwood (or maybe just laminate).   No matter what we get, I’m very excited about it.  It’ll feel good to be able to walk down our hallway once more without walking on torn up flooring!

After we finish up window shopping at the Floor It Now, we’ll probably get something to eat and drop by my parent’s house.  I’d also like to get some yard work done today, or maybe find a strawberry window planter for the kitchen window.

So anyway.  That’s what we’re doing with our “extra day”. 

Happy Leap Year!

Last Wednesday, during my 29th week visit to the OBGYN, it was discovered that the doctor’s office completely missed doing the 20 week anatamy ultrasound.  Being that this was my first baby, I had no idea that a 20 week scan was needed (yet I was still blamed by this office for “not reminding them”).

But anyway, today’s ultrasound at 11:45 am was my first scan since 13 weeks.  It was also my first “tummy” scan!  Personally, I prefer a transvaginal one because the images are clearer but the tummy one was my only option this time.  I really couldn’t tell what in the world was going on though, but whether it was the fault of the new tech or the fact that my baby is now big, I really don’t know. 

I did get some clear views of his ribs, his heart beating (viewing the 4 chamber heart beating was awesome), his forearm, his butt (which confirmed that he was indeed a boy…whew), and…

…HIS ORBITS!

That’s right folks.  His orbits.   Throughout the entire scan, the tech kept using the official words (i.e. lateral right disbobulating fibula?) for everything we were viewing.  And she was saying it as if I knew exactly what she was talking about - and the few times I asked for clarification (the common name) she looked at me as if I was a lobster with no intellect.  Seriously.  Finally, I just resolved to keep my mouth shut. 

Well, that is, until we were viewing his head and she said “Awww and there is his orbits!”

I had taking about as much as my pregnant nerves could take and said in exasperation “Uh…you mean his EYES???”.

*sigh*

My mom was in the room with me, keeping quiet this whole time.  She told me after the visit that she assumed I knew what the lady was saying, although she wondered why I was keeping quiet!   I told mom I definately did not know what she was talking about during 95% of the scan. 

At the end of the scan, she gave him a clean report - he looked perfect from what she could tell (no cleft lip, heart looks great, bones formed well).  Thankfully, their video recorder was working this visit and I got a great video tape for my husband too!

I then cleaned up my tummy, and me and mom said thanks to the tech, then left the room.  Mom headed on back to the lobby while I stopped by the check out window and handed the receptionist lady my chart.   I also asked her if I could get prenatal vitamins now.

See, at the beginning of my pregnancy it was recommended that I take the Walmart Equate brand of prenatal vitamins, then later on at the end of my pregnancy I was to transfer over to taking the stronger doctor prescribed brand.  So, the other day I ran out of my Equate vitamins and seeing that I was already at 30 weeks I thought it was now time to make the switch.  I briefly explained this to the receptionist after she looked at me as if I were an alien asking about taking KHDHFIEJLDOK Bonb Bonk or something.

She then raised her eyebrow at me and said “Are you still pregnant???”.

It was about all I could do to stop from jumping over the half wall and attacking at that point.  This was the same lady who blamed me (the worst) for not reminding them about the 20 week scan.  But I kept my cool, composed myself after about 5 seconds of shock, glanced at my chart (in her hand) that I just handed to her and said “Yes, I am only at 30 weeks”.

She then smiled and said “Oh, well you know you can take the over the counter ones”.

And at that point I proceeded to repeat the fact that I’ve been taking the over the counter ones for 7 months and it was recommended by their office that I switch to prescribed doctor vitamins (aka “the stronger ones”) near the end of the pregnancy.

She then called over Dr. Nancy (one of the 2 women doctors in the office that I see regularly) and I had to repeat my question - and my reason for asking for the vitamins.

I kept thinking, should getting vitamins from the doctor be THIS hard????

Dr. Nancy finally understood (whew) and sent a nurse to the back who returned with 40 days worth of sample boxes of the stronger pregnancy vitamins that I had been shown way back in August.  I was expecting to actually purchase some but wasn’t going to look down on my good fortune of free samples.

Truely, I don’t think I’ll be returning to this particular OBGYN with my next baby. 

On a lighter note, when my mom and I returned to her house after the visit we popped in the video and was happy to see it actually worked this time (as opposed to what happened after my 13 week scan).  Kevin was very excited to see the ultrasound tape tonight too!  He sat on the couch with a huge smile on his face trying to point out everything he could (”there’s his foot!  there’s his finger! there’s his…uh…”). :)   We also did a frame by frame slow play and was able to pause it on a great (although upside down) view of the baby’s face.   He looks just like his daddy, even in the womb.

Througout the whole pregnancy I’ve heard and read about feeling hiccups from the baby.  I’ve been looking forward to that for 7 months now!  Finally, I was sitting at my mom’s house tonight reading a book and feeling like a participate in a karate ring (the baby was kicking me to pieces!) when I started to feel this weird rhymic kick at the bottom of my stomach.

It took a few moments but I finally realized he was hiccuping.  It was so adorable (although the rhythm of it was annoying).  They were quite fast, about 3-4 seconds apart each.  Once I realized what was happening I was so excited I made my mom come over and feel.  She didn’t believe me at first - until she felt the rhythmic jumping as well. 

It was too cute…much too cute.

I attended a private, conservative baptist christian school my entire life - from the moment I started Kindergarten until the day I walked down the aisle as a high school graduate.  During these 13 years I learned, memorized, and read thousands upon thousands of Bible verses - all of which were in the King’s english.  The school I attended believed in reading the King James Version only.  We were even taught about the various “evils” of other translations (especially those that left out reference to Jesus’ blood).

One of the maladies of attending a christian school is that apathy and familiarity often sets in.  I hate to admit that it also happened to me, but it did.  As soon as a verse was read, the thought of “oh, whatever, I already know this” would creep in.  I could quote just about any passage you’d ask for, without missing a thee or a thou anywhere.  But did I fully understand it?  I tried.  Really, I did.  But familiarity with something often makes it seem boring.  In my mind, I knew the Word of God was alive and even reading it every day, one could continue making new discoveries throughout their entire life.  But in my heart, I just wasn’t “feeling it”.

And I definately wasn’t “feeling it” during my senior year of high school when some terrible things happened in my life, including the death of both of my grandmothers as well as the sudden death of my 17 year old boyfriend - someone who I had based my whole future upon.  I blamed everything on the supreme ruler I knew as “God”.  My whole world crashed in on me and I understood none of it.  How could all of this bad stuff happen?  I was the good girl - never balked authority, didn’t drink or smoke or do drugs, never partied, was involved in many church activities, had kept myself “pure” - yet my life seemed worse off than many of my so-called friends who were messing around with the darker and perverted side of adult life.  Even Isaiah 55:8 (”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD”) didn’t help. 

There was no comprehension in me as to why God would let such horrible things happen to me.  After graduation (2001) and up through 2005, the pain lingered as well as a deep abiding hatred for who I knew as the God of my childhood.   I still attended church and never told anyone how I felt - but it was all action and no heart. 

At best, one could say I became agnostic.  At worst, atheist.  I’m not sure however what prevented me from completely abandoning a symblance of faith - perhaps it was my own fear (born out of my years as a devout young believer) or perhaps it was the power of God himself that kept me from being plucked from Jesus’ hand (John 10:29). 

After my boyfriend died when we were 17, I had no inclination towards wanting to date.  In fact, my only date over the next 4 years was one blind date I had one night courtesy of my Aunt wanting to hook me up with someone.  My next date didn’t occur until my 21st birthday.  Every guy I knew was judged up to the standard of the guy I had loved & lost - and no one met that standard.  I cared for no one, and my heart was harder than diamonds (although not as shiny!).  From 2001 until 2005 I had one person who I considered a boyfriend (although that only lasted 5 months in early 2004 - we both knew we weren’t meant for each other in the long run), and only casually dated 2 other guys after that (never considered them anything deeper).  I knew in my heart that when I met the man that I was supposed to marry (if there was such a thing) I would know it instantly.  Playing games wasn’t my style, and I knew that if I didn’t feel the same deep connection as I had with my first true love, then I didn’t even need to bother too long with a guy.  Honestly, I didn’t even believe God had anyone else out there for me.  Mostly, I had resigned myself to a lifetime of singledom.

During this time I tried hard to open my heart back to God and would feel his tugging at times - but the pain was far too great and my understanding of why he had let things happen was far too shallow.  I ventured out and purchased a New International Version of the Bible (my first time reading outside of the KJV) in 2003 and for a time thought I was back on the right path.  But it didn’t last.  The verses were all too familiar, all too contrived, all too lofty and uninspiring.  To me they were something I’d learned years ago, and represented an unfair, hateful God who took away those I loved with no thought for my future.

The last pure pain moment I had was in the middle of August, 2005.  The last words I wrote in a journal entry was “I hate my life”.   Two weeks later in late August, while at a Tuesday night revival at our church, I met Kevin and it felt like peace entered me immediately.  Growing up, my mom use to tell me “you should go to church every time the doors open - you never know who you’ll meet!”.  Imagine how surprised she was at her own “fulfilled prophesy”!  I knew that night that this was the man God had set on earth for me.  Our first date was one week later, and we were engaged on October 1st, 2005.   I went from never dating to being engaged in less than 6 weeks - and we were married on June 17, 2006.  

The more I learned (and continue to learn) about Kevin, the circumstances of our lives, the weeks leading up to our first meeting, our character traits, our strengths / weaknesses, and our needs, the more I realize how much of God’s hand was at work in bringing us together - not to mention the fact that no guy my age had ever crossed the doors of our very small church in the 16 years I had attended. 

My soul then opened up for the first time in over 5 years as my focus shifted from blaming God for taking away “my future husband” in a tragic death, to realizing that God had different - and special - plans for my life all along.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.  10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:  11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.  12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

After meeting Kevin I found new meaning in Isaiah 55 and a renewed faith and awe in God.  Yet I still could not shake the apathy and familiarity I felt with the KJV.   Reading it reminded me of nothing more than my years at a private Christian school that had ended so terribly.  It was lofty, sounded snooty, and was for the most part hard to understand in many areas due to the language differences (despite the fact that I had spent 13 years memorizing it in school). 

About a week ago, I pulled out a copy of the new testament in “The Message” version from my bookshelf.  It had been purchased on a whim 3 years ago but never read.  And I began to read it this time - and I am so glad I did.  I’ve read more, and understood more, in the past few days than I have in many, many years.  This particular version is set in modern day english language verbiage and idioms, translated directly from the greek / hebrew language, and is meant to be more of a “reading” version than a serious study version.  Ancient text wasn’t written in thee’s and thou’s, but in the every day language of the prophets, laymen, tax payers, doctors, and fishermen.   The translator’s goal of this version was to convey the message of God’s Word in the same manner that it was conveyed thousands of years ago - in the street language of the people of the time.  How many of us truly and deeply understand the King’s English, with it’s medival poetic prose?  Not too many, if you’re willing to admit it.  This modern version, The Message, speaks to the hearts of many who have trouble understanding (or feel apathy towards) the King James Version.  It has brought so many things alive for me in a way I haven’t known in over a decade and it’s created the hunger to do something I’ve never really done - read the Bible for pure pleasure and understanding.  Isn’t that what God wants in the first place?

Since starting, I’ve read from the beginning of Matthew all the way through the end of 2nd Corinthians (a feat I’d never done in all the years of “KJV theology study” at school).  Last night, my husband took me to the Bible bookstore and bought me a beautiful leather bound full copy of The Message (containing old and new testament) for me as well and I dove into it as soon as we arrived home.  By 2 am this morning I had made it through Genesis and Exodus.  We also read a “daily proverb” chapter before bed - and my husband loved it (he has more trouble than I do understanding the King James English).  We hope to do the proverbs chapter reading each night now.  It is just so refreshing!

After I finish up this post I’m headed to my mom’s house to visit for a few hours and will be taking my new little leather copy with me to read some more - and what’s great is that I’m thoroughly excited and anxious to begin reading it again.  Everything just seems brand new to me all over again.

I had my 29 week prenatal visit this past Wednesday, February 20, at 10:15 am

After arriving, I did all of the normal stuff like the weigh-in, blood pressure, and peeinacup deal.  Then I was taken back for the little talk with the doctor.  This time I saw Dr. Ann (she’s really sweet). 

We went through the typical “Do you have any questions” routine, and she went over my vitals.   Thank goodness my home scale was wrong - I wasn’t 140 as I thought this past Saturday.  My official weigh in was at 145 lbs.  That’s still not good though as it means I lost 3 pounds since my last visit.  Since the baby now weighs over 2 lbs himself (not including the placenta), it means that my actual body weight is less than my pre-pregnancy starting weight of 143.  The doc wasn’t very pleased.  They want me to stop losing weight (too bad they didn’t tell me how??).  She thought I might be a bit dehydrated as well, which surprises me because I drink over 6 glasses of water each day (not including other beverages such as milk).

I also have protein in my urine, which she said could be a sign of hypertension.

Hypertension is where your blood pressure shoots too high.  It’s a side effect of gestational diabetes and can lead to preeclampsia - which means a guaranteed early delivery (not good).  Great.  High blood pressure??  For months now, my blood pressure has been running too low - down to 70 over 50 during one visit.  So low in fact that I passed out during church one morning.  My blood pressure at this visit was 80 over 52.

Now I have to worry about high blood pressure?   She assured me that I probably do not need to worry about that given my previous low blood pressure record, but “please be sure you are drinking more fluids”. 

What should I do?  Carry around an olympic pool?  I feel like I’m swimming in water already.  *sigh*

My gestational diabetes issues seemed to take a back stage.  I get the feeling that they just don’t care and there’s really not much guidance coming from their end.  Really.   It was only discussed maybe 30 seconds at the most and brushed to the side.  All I was told “don’t worry too much, just eat in moderation”.    

Ok.  So I have this condition where I could have early labor, high blood pressure, a 13 pound baby, and I’m now at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life - and all they tell me is “don’t worry too much“???  I’m carrying my first child.  Ever.  And I have something only 5% of pregnant women develop.  Of COURSE I’m going to worry.  I want guidance.  I want support.  I at least want to be told something more than “don’t worry…” and maybe a finger prick or two to keep a check on my sugar levels.  GAH!! 

(Sorry.  I’m having an annoyed pregnant woman moment.)

One good thing I learned was that I am now starting my 2 week visits.  

One bad thing I learned was that they “forgot” to do a 20 week anatamy ultrasound on me. 

And guess who’s fault it ended up being?  Mine.   That’s right.  I was blamed for not “reminding them”.

Ok, please tell me - I’m carrying my first child.  I have never experienced this before.  I’m new to this whole pregnancy deal, am being bombarded with advice / tips / books / information from every angle, trying to disect everything, trying to get ready for a first baby, and have NO clue what the doctors do to expectant mothers behind closed doors.  Was I SUPPOSED to tell them how to do their job???   I didn’t even know I was supposed to have one.  All of my cousins have warned me that I need to take charge of my pregnancy health care because the doctors don’t - but I naively believed that people who spent 100 grand on master degrees to do this stuff would know what they were doing.  Dumb 25 year old that I am.

See, I received 4 ultrasounds between my 6th and 13th week of pregnancy.  During my last ultrasound, at 13 weeks, things were measured and we were told the baby was a boy.  Nothing else was ever said of another ultrasound and I naturally thought that everything was fine.  At my November 27th visit, I met with the man who will be delivering the baby and was told “During your next visit we’ll do an ultrasound and tell you what you’re having”.  I said “Oh, they’ve already told us!” and he said that was great then - and nothing else was mentioned about doing it. I just followed what the doctor was telling me and going to my visits each month and trying to take care of my health.  Afterall, I considered myself lucky to have had the 4 other ultrasounds so early on.  Even with all the pregnancy books and things I read, I don’t recall ever reading anything that would have tipped me off to the fact that a 20 week ultrasound was supposed to happen.  And I certainly wasn’t aware of how serious the 20 week anatamy ultrasound was - it’s when they do all sorts of measuring and make sure the baby is developing properly. 

In hindsight I feel so very very stupid for not paying more attention and learning everything for myself, yet at the same time it angers me very much because there was no clue from this doctor’s office - nocluewhatsoever - along the past 16 weeks that indicated I was missing a final vital ultrasound, even though I’ve been there 5 times since that last ultrasound in early November!!  I keep going back and forth between being highly angry at myself for having such naive dependance on the OBGYN, and being angry at this Doctor’s office who’s only explaination (literally) was “Whoops, we dropped the ball on that one, sorry.”

So, anyway, after some whispering of the doctors they scheduled me instead for a 30 week ultasound next Thursday, February 28.   I was also informed that beginning with my 34th week, I’ll be having an ultrasound done each week since I am a gestational diabetes patient.  (That was the only other time the diabetes was mentioned.)

My one bright point with this visit is that they assured me the video tape on the ultrasound machine is now working (an issue I dealt with at my Nov. 3rd appointment during the last 13 week ultrasound).  Now hopefully my husband can finally see his baby move on screen since he’s not able to get off work to go to pre-natal appointments with me!  :) 

I’ve been pondering all day what to use for this week’s Works for Me Wednesday (Hosted by Shannon, at the Rocks in My Dryer blog) and after American Idol tonight I had a burst of inspiration.  “Bread!” I thought.   “I’ll talk about bread”.

Sounds exciting, right? The life of a stay at home housewife has many thrills.  :) 

Ever since starting my sugar free diet over 3 weeks ago (I’m a gestational diabetic), I’ve had to completely change my way of thinking about the foods I cook and what I eat.  Some of our most favorite (and easiest) dishes at our house include homemade mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and white flour french bread made in my bread machine  Unfortunately, all of these are starches - and they turn right to sugar!

I have never cared too much for “brown bread” (whole wheat / whole grain) even though I knew it was healthiest for me even without this gestational diabetes thing.  My mom uses the whole grain bread (without high fructose corn syrup) at her house, and I’ve been eating that a little but otherwise bread has been pretty much non-existant in our house for nearly a month now and my poor bread machine has been crying in loneliness locked up in my flour cabinet.  I felt sorry for the poor machine, which has previously given us tremendously yummy french bread - but what could I do?  I like easy recipes that can be completely done in the bread machine (the kind with just a few ingredients) and the only ones I knew were with white flour.  I gave a half hearted attempt a few times to find whole wheat bread, but most recipes call for at least a cup or more of white flour mixed in.  I also read how whole wheat recipes usually come out very hard, thick, and too dense for newbie bread makers to try. 

Finally, last night, I discovered what seemed to be an easy recipe on my favorite recipe site - RecipeZaar.com.  (Here’s the link to the original post on the site!  Try it out and give the cook a review!).

The recipe is for 100% whole wheat bread, made in the bread machine.  Here are the ingredients -

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder
1 1/2 tablespoons margarine
1 1/4 cups water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

It uses ingredients most of us already have (I used Country Crock butter in the tub instead of margarine), doesn’t call for much sugar (I only used 1 tablespoon…you can probably substitute for something else as all it is for is food for the yeast I believe), and was very “set it and forget it”.  Best of all?  No preservatives, I know exactly what’s in it, and there’s no high fructose corn syrup.

So, at 9:00 pm last night, I excitedly dragged my trusty $2.00 electric bread machine down (Goodwill second hand shop is great…my bread machine retails for $100 brand new).  Then I opened the first pack of whole wheat flour I’ve ever purchased and started dumping my ingredients into my bread machine pan.  The instructions say you can set it on “Whole Wheat” (if your machine has that setting) or “Basic Bread”.   I set mine on Whole Wheat and chose a light crust (I always choose light crust).   Then I turned it on and crossed my fingers.

The whole wheat setting on my bread machine takes 3 hours and 20 minutes - which means my bread wasn’t finished until 12:20 am.  I could have put it on a delayed cycle but I was so excited that I didn’t want to wait to try it out.  And honestly, I didn’t think it would do well - so I had low expectations anyway and figured I could just dump it out before my hubby awoke and found out I’d bombed a new recipe (I like for him to stay under the spell that I’m a natural whiz in the kitchen).

By midnight, the aroma of this bread made my whole house smell like a bakery.  It was honestly the best smelling bread I had ever..well…smelled!  And I was famished.

I hoped and prayed to God (literally) that my pregnant belly wouldn’t be dissapointed.  The faint trickling thought that “Hey, I hate whole wheat bread” crossed my mind a few times, but I quickly dismissed it in hopes that it would taste as good as it smelled.

Ok - so 12:20 hits and my dinger goes off to let me know the bread is done.  Using my trusty little blue flowered oven mitt, I pulled the pan handle up and lifted the bread pan out of the machine.  I tried to dump the loaf out on a plate, but it was  a wee bit stuck so I had to trace around the edges of the bread with a butter knife to loosen it from the pan and POP…out it came.  And out came my trusty bread knife ($8.95 from Walmart..yay!).

The first bite was absolutely heavenly.  The loaf sliced easily, didn’t crumble and wasn’t too dense.  I cut 3 thick slices (I love my homemade bread slices to be realllllyyyy thick) and couldn’t resist putting a small dab of honey on the first slice (although my 2nd & 3rd stayed au natural).   Paired with a glass of ice water, I must confess that this was absolutely the best wheat bread I’d ever tasted in my life.  It was a gazillion times better than loaf wheat bread from the grocery store.

After finishing off my 3 slices I went to bed a happy camper.  Then for lunch today, I ate 3 more slices (it’s addicting) and gave my mom and dad each a slice to test when they came over to visit. 

For dinner tonight, I cooked turkey, homemade mashed potatoes (for my hubby, Kevin…I, sadly, can’t eat them), and peas.  I cut 2 thick slices of the bread for Kevin - and quartered them, then slathered on cream cheese.  He used them as little bisquit cakes (and complained when he learned there was none left!).  For myself, since I couldn’t eat the potatoes, I made a turkey sandwhich with some lettuce and a bit of mustard spread on 2 sandwhich style slices of the bread.  It made a fabulous sandwhich - held together well, was very filling, looked pretty, and tasted better than any deli sandwhich I’ve had.  Needless to say, I am very very pleased with my newest discovery!

I would have taken pictures of the bread, but, well, I’ve already eaten it all - and didn’t think of using it for this week’s WFMW until American Idol went off and I realized it was time to think of a good WFMW topic.

For more great tips on tried and true things that really work for other ladies, head over to this week’s Works for Me Wednesday list.

Ouch.  My tiny, unborn son seems to have the thigh strength of Hercules.  He’s been kicking me in the ribs all day today!  At least it’s not my intestines that he’s kicking anymore.   I can live with a kick to the ribs. 

 But it still hurts.

I am 29 weeks pregnant today and galloping happily towards the big THREE-OH.  Finally, there is a light at the end of this long long tunnel!  Although I can’t believe in 11 short weeks I will be gazing happily down at a little tiny, perfect living creature that my husband and I created.  It just amazes me beyond words.  There is so much to look forward to and so many memories to make.  I am enthusiastically looking forward to every single one of them!

Last night I was reading a cute little blog last night called “Mommie Daze” and she talks about a moment where her little son grabs her face, says “Mommie, you ice cream!!” and then licks her cheek.  It had to be the most precious little blog post I’d ever read.  Pardon me for being a sentimental pregnant woman, but I began daydreaming about one day becoming ice cream for my own adorable little man.

Ok, it sounds silly, but all of you mothers out there probably know the emotion I’m talking about - the brand new mom emotion where even the sight of a Lightning McQueen toddler bed will make you weepy.  It’s just all so… sweet and new. 

And life changing.

The thought occurs to me over and over ….stronger each day… Hey, I’m going to be a Mommy.  

It’s just very very exciting.

My mom and I are fans of infomercials.  Before I married and still lived at my parents house, mom and I would have fun girly moments at midnight, eating peanut butter graham crackers and drinking milk while watching those silly infomercials selling us all sorts of junk.

We still like to watch them although it’s not quite as fun when we’re not together! 

Anyway, there’s this recent infomercial on lately that sells a Shark Steam Mop.  It is supposed to be much healthier than using chemicals, sprays out steaming hot..uh..steam.., and cleans your hard floors with an attatched microfiber cloth at the bottom.   It’s plug-in, has a refillable water tank, and weighs about 5 lbs (the infomercial shows balloons lifting it).

I always thought it was a bunch of patooey.  After having watched mom struggle through coutless numbers of new fangled swiffers, wet mops, and all those other gadgets out to clean hard floors, I sank further and further into my loyalty to my trusty string mop, bucket, and pine-sol.

This newest gadget, however, my mom just had to have it.  So, after countless attempts over the past 3 months at asking me to get it for her off the internet (I kept forgetting..sorry mom), she finally sent in a check for the total to the Fingerhut Catalog company and a few days ago her new Shark Steam mop arrived at her front door curtesy of the UPS man.

She tried it.  She liked it.  And it takes a lot for my mom to like something.

I still thought it was a buncha patooey.

Today, however, in a fit of spring cleaning I called mom up and asked her to bring her little purple steam mop over to my house so it could have a go at my dirty paw tracked floors.  The thought of being 7 months pregnant, lugging out my old mop & bucket, waiting for the floors to dry, and smelling pine-sol for hours had me sick to my stomach.  What could one little test run with this silly steam mop hurt.  Right?

So mom and dad (and Prissy, dad’s spoiled little yorkie) arrives at my house today at 4:30.  The mop is with them.

Mom had already filled the tank with water for me and I had already swept so we were ready to roll.   On goes the microfiber cloth (check) and in goes the plug (check).

“How long do we have to wait???” I ask.

Mom says it only takes 30 seconds to heat up.  So I wait.  30 seconds.

Then I had to do the initial pumping of the handle - 15 quick pumps to get the steam a’flowin’.  And with that, I start to work. 

I have linoleum rug in my butler style kitchen, attatched laundry room, and (small) attached dining room.  It’s got kinda small 70s style square designs and is yellow-y with brown spotches and brown outlines on the squares.  And it hadn’t been mopped in 3 weeks.  To my surprise the little steam mop cleaned the floor better than I had imagined it would.  In fact (and I feel disloyal saying this) it cleaned better than my old string mop & pine-sol usually does (and without the heavy scrubbing I have to do with the string mop!).  

On just one tank full of water, the little chugaluggin steam mop cleaned its way through my whole laundry room, kitchen and dining room.  Every 9 square feet or so I would have to repump the handle 2-4 quick times to recharge the steam output but that was pretty easy and was done during normal pushing and pulling of the mop.  It even dried in no time!  I don’t know about you, but I hate hate hate having to wait for a mop floor to dry.   Best of all, there was no smells.  As much as I like pine-sol, I’m not too fond of strong smells right now.  Plus I’ve gotten myself into the habit of worrying about how I’ll rearrange my life once a tiny baby is living in my household.  I don’t want my son breathing pine-sol for hours after a mopping session!

I was so excited about what a superb job it did that I refilled the tank a wee bit and did my little foyer area by the front door.  We have square plank wood (or whatever?) that’s a light golden color as you come in our front door - so that means lotsa traffic and lotsa dirt.  The space is only about a 3′ x 5′ area or so and my string mop could never get it quite clean enough, especially with minimum room to maneuver without hitting the living room carpet (used, wet string mop + pine-sol + light living room carpet = yuck!!!).  But the job was just right for the little purple steam mop.  It got the job done beautiful.

Can you tell how excited I am?

By the end of today’s mopping expidition I knew I wanted one myself (a rare thing).  Although right now, with the $79 price tag, it will be a while before I can afford my own.  My next best thing is to beg mom to bring it over every week for my mopping.  :)  Thank goodness I have an awesome mom.

Well…at least, that’s how I’m starting to feel on this new sugar free diet. 

Three weeks ago I was diagnosed with the disease “gestational diabetes”, which means that my pregnant body is not producing enough insulin to convert the sugar in my body into energy.  Therefore the sugar ends up staying in my blood stream and builds up in unhealty (for me and baby) amounts.

I talked a lot about it and how I was diagnosed in this post.  It’s hard to believe it’s already been going on 4 weeks since that horrible testing experience.  In fact, I have another pre-natal appointment coming in this coming Wednesday, Feb. 20.  (Time is definately flying).

So anyway - being a gestational diabetic means that I must regulate my sugar as much as possible.  Normal pregnancy cravings of ice cream, chocolate, and comfort foods can no longer control me because I can’t have them if I want to stay healthy.  Reading nutritional labels has never crossed my mind until this diabetes thing cropped up, and now I’m practically obsessive about them (what, this has 12 grams of sugar per serving?! no way!).  Starchy foods that turn strait to sugar - white flour, white potatoes, pasta, corn - also do not cross my plate.  It’s been very very hard (to say the least!) to turn my hand away from the creamy, garlic mashed potatoes and homestyle macaroni & cheese that is so prevelent at the all-you-can-eat buffet’s we frequent.  But I’ve done good.  I’ve also been able to wean myself from mom’s sweet tea.

(Well….that is, until my gracious mother spent a buttload on a bag of splenda just for me so I could have her delicious tea!)

Now, with all of this sugar avoidance, I’ve discovered an unexpected side affect.  My body feels like it is melting away, and I’m conflicted over that.  Should I feel good or bad??  What women on earth complains about losing weight?  I’ll tell you.  A pregnant one does!!  I’m eating healthier than before (apparantly) and following my diet of whole grains and good wholesome sugar free foods, yet I now feel like the most abnormal pregnant woman on earth. 

I started out this pregnancy at 141 pounds.  Over the next 4 months of dr’s visits I weighed in at 141, 143, 142, and 141.5 resectively.  Finally, at my December 27th visit I was overjoyed to learn I weighed a whopping 148 pounds.  I was finally gaining weight!  I was in heaven.  I mean, wasn’t this what pregnancy was about?  After somehow avoiding the typical nausea of the first trimester, it felt “normal” to finally be doing something as…uh…normal as gaining weight.  I had truly been worried, especially when other pregnant friends all would make comments like “Oh, I’ve gained 20 pounds already!” or “I gained 50 pounds”, blah blah blah.  Hiding under a rock is what I felt like doing.  Somehow I must have been doing something wrong. 

I kept my fingers crossed and at the January 24 appointment, I weighed in at 148.5 lbs.  Not bad.  At least I wasn’t losing weight, right?

Well, that was before I went on the sugar free diet.  I just weighed myself on our home scale tonight and I’m back down to 140 lbs.  ARRRRGG.  Wasting away from this diet was not on my 9 month to-do-list.

It’s amazing at what you obsess with when you are pregnant.  Gaining weight (or the lack thereof) is just one of those many many weird mental worries that was unknown to me 8 short months ago.

Ok… I haven’t been on here in a few days (my dog Gabby had her puppies Monday night and a lot’s been going on in the offline world).  But I wanted to let everyone know that I am now happily carrying around a..

Chinese Cabbage. 

Yep.  According to my friend Lucy’s weekly pregnancy email, the site she reads now likens Little Jack to a chinese cabbage.

At 28 weeks of pregnancy (28 weeks yesterday!!), my baby boy is 2 1/4 lbs heavy and 14.8 inches from head to toe.  Whew!