An ounce or two, what's the diff?

So, today was my weekly doctor appointment. This time around it was the non-stress test, an ultrasound (yes, even though we did one with the MFM high risk people last Saturday, not even a week ago), and doctor/nurse consult (i.e. tummy measuring). He cooperated well enough for the stress test (he's quite the mover and shaker) and did okay for the ultrasound, though he wasn't in a good position for pictures, sadly. They could measure things though. This time he measured 4 lbs. 15 ounces, which is just one (estimated) ounce up from Saturday. But the nurse and the tech said that ultrasounds can be w-a-y off (up to a whole pound), which is one of the reasons that they want to induce me early. That and the rampaging hormones that hit you the last month.

Today I worked on YABC and got all of the contest stuff ready for the next 2 months so that I don't have to worry about it in either Feb or March. I figure I'll be a little busy...I should probably set up April too, but we'll see. Just trying to get organized so I don't have to think about it much when things are too busy.

Tonight is our child care class, though I probably wouldn't have scheduled it if I'd realized how much of that kind of stuff we were going to cover in the child birth prep class. I figured that one would be all, you know, child birth stuff. But they did cover quite a bit of newborn care, so I don't know that we need tonight's class after all...but we're already scheduled and paid up and it's just on the other side of the neighborhood in the Lake Forest hospital building, so what the hey. I'll probably forget half of what I'm supposed to know anyway and put the diaper on the wrong end. Who knows.

Look! My book is on Amazon already!!??!!

So, I was just browsing around on Amazon and thought to myself, "Hey, hehe, I'll put in my book title and see what happens." I didn't actually think anything would show up yet since the book isn't coming out for months and months but...LOOK! It's already up on Amazon!!!! Everybody go pre-order it!! :-)

It actually shows a different date on Amazon than the one the publisher told me (Aug. 26th vs. Sept. 8th) so I have to email my editor (oh, heck, I have to email her anyway, just to go "OMG!"). And now I need to figure out how authors do all that stuff on Amazon where they fill in info and bios and stuff. Ack!

The Peanut has Furniture & other good news

Woot! Well, yesterday I spent probably 4 hours on the phone with Babies R Us (not to mention other furniture stores and the manufacturer) and the end result (I won't bore you with all the intricate details or frustrations) is that the furniture we wanted in the first place has officially been ordered and should be here in 7-14 days.

There's that whole counting chickens/eggs thing, so I'm not going to completely crow yet, but I'm also not going to worry about it anymore until I hear otherwise. They did at least take money, so I think we're fairly secure now.

So, presumably, the peanut now has a room full of furniture coming.

Had a strange sugar day yesterday; it was way up and way down. Not really sure why. The Dr. upped my insulin by a bit again, but not too much. It's *almost* where it is supposed to be.

On the writing side of things, my editor forwarded me this really nice note from the lady who is writing the discussion guide on my book. It seems she's not a big fan of vampire books, but took the work anyway and wound up really liking the book. :-) So that's really cool. It was nice to get that after all the baby-drama (dealing with salespeople is soooooo NOT my favorite thing). It was a good pick-me-up at the end of the day.

And that's about it for now.

And we're all prepped now

This weekend we had our "compact child birth prep class" which went basically all day Saturday and Sunday. It's only "compact" because it was a weekend instead of being one night a week spaced out over 4 weeks. We learned some things, saw a lot of videos, practiced breathing, all that good stuff. A few things stood out for me:

One, I'm not the kind of girl who goes in for the "visualization" method (for the same reason I usually hate yoga classes). As soon as someone starts going into the whole "imagine you are a tree" mantra or the "build your safe place, one brick at a time. Hear the voices of song birds calling out to you" stuff, my brain just goes immediately into hyperdrive making fun of it. All I can think are things like "follow the yellow brick road, follow the yellow brick road" in those high-pitched munchkin voices or "Everything is under control" from that b-flick Hardware. It just does not work for me. If anyone tries to do that to me while I'm actually in labor, I would be hard pressed not to whack them upside the head.

Two, no matter whether you do medication or not, labor is likely going to suck pretty bad. And will probably take longer than you want it to. But it does end and whoop-dee-do, it's not like I can get out of it now. And I'd really rather not get a c-section and have another lovely 6 inch scar across my belly. Recovering from an emergency appendectomy was bad enough, I can't imagine trying to recover while also trying to deal with a newborn. So hopefully the c-section doesn't have to happen.

Three, I am a small pregnant lady. Most of us in the class were all due in March, though there was one in February and one in June. Everybody was pretty much bigger in the belly than me. I guess that's good. I dunno. So far, as of this morning, I've gained 16 pounds.

And the peanut, incidentally, is up to almost 5 pounds. Ack! We had another ultrasound on Saturday before class (long story; essentially, hospital equipment screw up so we had to repeat the last one, even though I'm supposed to get another one this week at the Lake Forest office). The peanut was up to 4 lbs. 14 ounces (up from 3 lbs. 8 ounces on Jan. 10th, if anyone is keeping track). So even though I've not really been gaining any weight to speak of, he has. Well, he can have it. As long as he doesn't get too big.

Everything is still measuring well. I was officially at 32 weeks, 5 days and he is measuring slightly ahead of that at 33 weeks, 5 days (he's a week ahead of me...ah, time travel). His head, though, is slightly bigger than the rest of him (which revelation came, of course, with the obligatory jibing between myself and Tony). He'd better calm that down though since that head's got to fit through a not-so-big opening.

Anyway, ahem, speaking of other things...Tony managed to get the car seat base installed last night. Whoo-hoo! It wasn't too bad once you figured it out, it's just the figuring it out part. And the fact that it was really feckin' cold out in the garage.

And in the last bit of baby-related news I have to impart...we may (probably) have to get a different crib. It seems Babies R Us won't actually let you order furniture until it is in their warehouse. And the set we want is a new one this year that everyone seems to want. So even though we were supposed to be next in line or whatever, they still haven't gotten it (and looking over the lady's shoulder at her computer, there's a big note of "this set is being oversold" right in the BRU computers).

So I did some research and it seems that the Baby Cache brand is actually sold at both BRU and at JC Penney's, though they carry different looks. And it's actually made by Munire furniture, which makes some higher-end baby furniture (this is their first foray into having stuff carried by more mass-market retailers). So there's another set from them that's almost the same that I can see if we can get from anywhere else. We'll see. At this point, they are all starting to look the same to me.

Le Vichyssois

Le Vichyssois
220 West Route 120, Lakemoor, IL (815) 385-8221

Tony took me out for my birthday last night. We went to a little French place that I'd heard about on the PCHO (i.e. PSYCHO) list. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere, but it is a cute little place. Elegant inside (all cream and white and silver and bronze) with lots of oil paintings (all of which are for sale).

I gather that it has been there for a while. They feature an a la carte menu and a "bistro" 3 course menu. We wound up doing the a la carte since I was trying to keep my sugar/carb intake low. Tony had foie gras with brioche, a house salad, and the venison. I had a warm cabbage and bacon salad (nice, faintly reminiscent of sauerkraut) and veal medallions in a black truffle sauce. We split some dessert. All-in-all, even with the dessert, I didn't do too bad. My sugar level for the 2 hour post-prandial measurement wasn't all that off the charts, just a little bit high. 146 when I'm supposed to aim for under 120.

The people were friendly and the service was good. It was a pretty quiet night, but I imagine that's due in part to the location and a good deal more to the temperature (it was -4). Definitely a place to try again. It wasn't the best French food I've ever had, but it was good (and we've been to some really, really nice French places). And for being out here in the suburbs, it's darn good.

And the stroller is here...

The stroller and infant car seat (and bassinet and toddler stroller seat) all arrived yesterday (Wed). Ack! We got everything unpacked and more or less figured out where things go. It's the biggest baby-focused thing that has arrived so far. The furniture will hopefully be here by the first week in February.

The stroller, incidentally, completely terrifies Harley. Just wait until he finds out what goes inside it.

And today is my birthday. Pretty low-key day planned - I have to go for a doctor appointment (there's a pretty good chance of that on any given day, anymore, since I've got at least one and sometimes 2 or 3 a week now). This will be the first stress test, which is supposed to take a 1/2 hour, so I guess I'll be taking along some knitting or something.

Other than that, I suppose I'll continue cleaning and working on my book and working on the website stuff.

I opened my present from Pam (I didn't wait for Tony to come home -- but hey, it is my birthday). She sent a Book Lover's Cookbook. Pretty neat. It's got recipes and the passages from books that inspired them (all kinds of books - everything from Charlotte's Web to more lofty works of literature).

The forest for the lamps

Well, I finished up the lights for the baby room today (just, oh, a few days later than I had planned. Ah, well.). I cut out leaves from felt and fabric glued them onto the shades of a floor lamp and a table lamp. The first picture shows an in-progress shot.
And here's the finished floor lamp...
And the finished table lamp. I think they came out pretty good. We just have to decide whether or not we want to leave the bases white or whether we should paint them brown like tree trunks. At the moment I'm leaning towards leaving them white, but I'm not sure. So, anyway, another project down. Now I just need to do one more curtain.

Earthly Goods

Earthly Goods, Inc. Health Foods
Gurnee Town Center, 6951 W. Grand Ave. (847) 855-9677

Was cleaning off my desk and found the card for this place -- went to it while Christmas shopping and wanted to remember it since it's the closest place I've found to buy essential oils for making soaps and lip balm.

Actually, a pretty nice health store all the way around. More spiffy than a GNC and has a wheat grass bar too.

Things are looking up...

Things are definitely starting to look up. My sugar is finally (!!) coming down after the latest insulin increase, which is giving me more energy and definitely making me feel better. And today was the first day that my keytone reading wasn't too high (negative, in fact!!!) and my fasting sugar was below 90. Woot! I'd talked to the nutritionist yesterday and she suggested a late night snack with at least 20 carbs. So I had a sugar free carnation instant breakfast at midnight and it really seems to have worked!

I know, I know, kind of a crazy thing to get all excited about.

And I went to the exercise room with Jill at lunch yesterday and did 30 minutes on a treadmill & elliptical, which helped with the blood sugar levels too (it dropped by 50 points after I was done). We're going to go again sometime on Friday. It helps to have someone to go with, especially when it is cold and nasty outside and you don't want to leave the house.

AND I had a little bit of a spa day yesterday in the afternoon -- I went to Mario Tricoci for a facial with Emme (she's awesome), which really helped my skin out and made me feel better. The high sugar levels had been fighting it out on my face too (stuff takes longer to heal when you're hyperglycemic). I have to get Tony in for one of those. He'd love it, he just doesn't know it.

And...yesterday I posted on the YABC blog that I was looking for a new reviewer or two to add to the volunteer staff because I'm sure I'll have less time for updates after the baby gets here. Last time I posted a similar thing, I got a few responses total. I've already gotten over 10 this time and some really impressive ones (former editors, current authors, teachers, librarians). It's going to be really hard to narrow down to just a couple of people. But it is good to know that people are reading the blog. ;-) The pageviews on the site are over 250,000 a month now and I get tons of email, but sometimes you still feel like you are operating in a vaccuum. So it's nice to see people actually paying attention and wanting to get involved.

And today I'm going to run out and do some shopping so I can finish up some baby projects (like the lights for the room -- I'm cutting leaves out of various shades of green felt and putting them on the shades so that they look all forest-y and also sewing leaves on some window sheers). I can hopefully finish all of that up tonight. And I need some nightgowns that will a) cover my belly now and b) work later on when breastfeeding and c) be comfortable. I feel ridiculous walking around in my normal nightgowns with the front all hiked up high because of all the extra belly.

And I need sour cream so I can eat taco salad! Taco salad, taco salad, taco salad! (I love taco salad! And if I'm sparing on the chip part, it actually works really well into the whole diabetic diet thing.)

Eh, so I guess that's a boring enough update for today. I'll post more pictures tomorrow if I get the lamps done. They are coming out pretty cute so far (I've got one side of one of them done). Besides, I'm feeling like the "And then..." lady with all the "And's" in this post.

Where the Wild Things Are Mural

Well, I can't wait any more. We're not actually done with the mural yet (it's about, eh, 75% complete), but I figured I'd post some in-progress pictures (more pictures'll be posted as we make progress, so check out the archives for Jan-Feb 08). You can click on 'em to see the larger size and really see the detail (like in the first picture, where you can actually see the penciled-in outlines).

Tony has done most of the painting part, since I'm supposed to stay away from chemical-ly stuff (I did just a little bit of the painter-y paint, not any of the wall paint). I've done most of the detail stuff (using paint markers) since that was the least smelly bit, but Tony has done some of that too (one of the pics is of him detailing Max). The quote at the top is directly from the book and is very fitting since we're naming him Royce Maxwell (Max).






Moishe, the funny guy in the striped shirt, is my favorite so far. But overall, I'm really happy with how the whole thing is coming out. We still have to add some more leaves at the top and the grass at the bottom and we're thinking about doing another smaller mural on the other side of the room too (I bought this moon nightlight thing that goes up on the wall and does the phases of the moon and there's a picture of Max in the book where he's howling at the moon). Tony's going to blend the blue paint so that it's darker on the other side of the room so it'll look more dusk-y on that side.

My book!

I got the okay to post it -- here's what my book cover is going to look like. Well, the ARC (Advance Release Copy) version, anyway, but it is almost the same as the final. It'll just be missing the little yellow bit on the back and one sentence on the front. Anyway, isn't it cool??? I'll post some more details later and maybe a blown up shot so you can actually read it (though, if you click on it, you'll get a slightly bigger version where you can read some of it). The official release date is September 9, 2008.

The 30 Week Scans of the Peanut

These are from when they did the scans to measure everything and see how big he was and do the echo cardiogram. Didn't get a lot of good shots, but there will be two more ultrasounds since I'm all high-risk now, so I'll add more shots later.

The Peanut Pictures to Date...

I've got a new one to scan in, but here are the peanut pictures so far. Here's the 9 Weeks picture where he literally looked like Mr. Peanut.


Here's the 20 week pictures.
And here's the one showing it's a boy...
And a bitty foot.

The peanut rocker

And here's the glider/rocker I'm ordering for the baby's room. It's really starting to come together now. We're almost done with the mural and I've got the curtains and lighting half done (cutting out felt leaves for both of the latter). I'll take pictures when it is a bit more done.

Ze Peanut's Furniture & Update

I went to Babies R Us today to order the furniture for the baby room. Of course, it's on backorder, but it is supposed to come in by the end of January, so we should be fine. Here are all the pieces. The dresser doubles as a changing table. I actually bought the changing pad today and a few other things.

Let's see...the other big news for the day. I went to the doctor today for my regularly scheduled checkup. I wasn't expecting anything much, but I got a few big pieces of news. The biggest being that they want to induce me at least a week early (if I don't wind up going earlier than that on my own) because of the gestational diabetes. And I have to switch hospitals from Lake Forest to Lutheran General because I have to go on an insulin drip during labor and LF isn't set up to do that. And I have to go to the dr. weekly from here on out and do a stress test (a Fetal Non-Stress Test to be exact) each time. There will also be two more ultrasounds so they can monitor stuff. So right now we're looking at the week of March 10th or thereabouts.

Paying It Forward

See how good I'm being...3 days...3 posts! I'm trying to get back in the habit.

I also need to Pay It Forward...This is a simple "game" (is it really a game? Maybe a social experiement...). Someone posts something on their blog they are willing to give away to three other people and, if you are one of those people, you agree to do the same.

See, I was cruising around on the zakka life crafts blog (which is a very cool blog if you are all crafty) and decided to participate. The lovely lady over at zakka was giving away mizuhiki knots.

So, in turn, I am going to give something away in exchange for one.

I was originally going to knit something and then my brain kicked in (going: are you insane?? you've got 3 unfinished scarves and a baby blanket just sitting there, not to mention all the other stuff you've got to get done before the baby gets here!!).

And then it occurred to me, "hello, you just made a batch of all-natural organic peppermint lip balm by hand, doesn't that count as a crafty gift??" and my brain concurred, so I'm instead going to offer up for your Pay It Forward approval my homemade lip balm (or chapstick, if that's what you like to call it).

It's pretty cool (if I do say so myself...and Tony even likes it and he's a lip balm commando since we moved up north) and all natural, with ingredients like vitamin E, coconut oil, and sweet almond oil. So, if you'd like to play in this game/social experiment, please either leave a comment on this post so I can email you or just email me at kim@yabookscentral.com Maybe I'll even stick an extra something in the package (like some of my homemade soap or something else I've made). Total strangers or friends okay! I know there are at least a few people who read this blog every now and then!

The Peanut Update

We went for an ultrasound and echo cardiogram for the baby today so they could check everything out and make sure that the gestational diabetes stuff hadn't mucked anything up. Everything looks good; he's trending at the 50th percentile (which is good; that means he isn't too big or growing too fast, one of the big dangers of GD). Right now he's 3 lbs. 8 ounces. Which is bigger than I was when I was born, so there you go.

No problems in the heart either and he actually really cooperated, giving them a good view.

Now, if I could just get my sugar levels to, well, level out.

We're officially at 30 weeks and counting (actually, almost 31, since Monday will be 31). So just 9 - 10 weeks to go.

I finally registered for a few things at Babies R Us, though I need to go back and register for some more stuff (and sort some things out; haven't decided which sling-y thing yet, for instance, so there are two sitting on the registry...I swear, reading the feedback from other moms and dads actually makes it harder to pick stuff out). One of my (experienced mommy) neighbors is going to help me add more stuff since I only have the vaguest clue as to what I actually need to register for.

I put the crib and other furniture on the registry too (not that I expect anyone to buy it for us -- in fact, please don't, since I'll be ordering it soon) so I could remember which pieces we picked out and so people could see what they looked like if they wanted to. I also (gulp) ordered the stroller/car seat (it also has a bassinet attachment that you can use on the base or seperately on a rocker thing I can put in the office) and that should be here in about 2 weeks.

And we bought some blue paint (Disney's Blustery Day) for the baby's room, though it isn't up on the walls yet. Maybe this weekend. I've got the room partially cleaned out now.

So, whew. The peanut is costing us some peanuts already.

The Big Family Visit

Somehow, we didn't manage to take too many pictures while everyone was here. Royce and Janet came and Rikki, Danny, Christian, Cameron, and Kylie. Everyone was here for a week. We packed quite a bit in, though I'd had some more things planned. But that's how plans are. :-)

Here's a shot at Christmas dinner. Tony made turkey and all the traditional stuff. Happily, I didn't get the gestational diabetes diagnoses until AFTER this.

If you're wondering about the hats...we did traditional Christmas crackers before dinner. If you're wondering why I even posted this picture of myself, considering I look like some kind of round, deranged Christmas elf, I really have no defense. Posterity, I suppose. Just remember, I'm like 6 1/2 months pregnant here, alright? And tired. And have no makeup on.
While Christian was here he had to pay up on a bet he made with Tony last year (UF vs. Ohio State...we all know how that turned out). He was supposed to actually eat 24 hot wings but Tony had pity on him since he never eats hot stuff. It was reduced to 2 hot wings and a few medium ones. Even so, I think it took him a good 1/2 hour to do it, along with some yogurt and strawberry milk. You can see how happy he looks about it. I betcha he won't be making any bets with Uncle Tony again anytime soon.

So...while they were here...

We took them by Gurnee Mills where they ice skated, played some laser tag, and did game room stuff. Also took them into town and walked around Millenium Park and a bit of the Mag Mile and (after Rikki, Danny, and Kylie went back because Rikki wasn't feeling well) took the boys to Navy Pier to do the Winter Wonderland stuff and the Amazing Chicago Funhouse Maze (fun, though cheesy with a spinning tunnel that made us all woozy). The Winter Wonderland stuff was really cool. All indoors, with ice skating and tons of activities for kids of all ages (including Uncle Tony -- I got in some "mom" practice, being the one to hold everyone's stuff while they did the activities).

Cameron and Kylie got in some play time with some kids in the neighborhood, Cameron especially (I'm still clueless as to why 9 year-old boys will build this cool snow fort and then just knock it down...is this a boy thing?). We also played a lot of cards and family games and did some shopping, stuff like that. And the guys worked on the new guest room down in the basement (it's looking good).

I think that about sums it up, though I feel like I'm missing something. I think I'm already getting the mushy mom brain.

Ah, December

Sigh. I didn't make a single blog post (well, except on the YABC blog) during the entire month of December. It was a really busy month. So, as Inigo might say..."to sum up...."

On December 1st we went to the Mercer holiday party. I managed to fit into a pre-pregnancy dress (whoo-hoo!) so I didn't have to buy a new one. We went to the Marriott Lincolnshire and had dinner. It was a pretty low-key event, but it was nice to see everyone. Tony even managed to win a $50 Amex gift card.

We also tried a new place (or rather, new to us) called Jacky's Bistro in Evanston. Kind of a mini-celebration (got the galley copy of my book - another whoo-hoo!). Jacky's is a nice little French place with charm and not very many tables. If I was up-to-date on things I'd write bunches more about it (I'm much better if I write up something right away), but I'm sooooo not up-to-date right now. I will say that we liked it, though it was quite a hike from home (I picked Tony up from work, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but still). The service was decent, the food was good, and it is on OpenTable.

The next big event in December was our trip to London. This was my last chance trip before being cut off from long distance travel by the doctor. Sadly, I was sick during pretty much all of it (got bronchitis right before we left), but it was still good to get away. And Tony was working for most of it. But, we did get to see Stonehenge, which is something I've always wanted to see. We had quite the adventure getting there (part of the rail service was down, so a 1.5 hour trip became a 4+ hour trip each way). BTW, we were seriously wind-blown and freezing cold in this picture.

While we were there we also got to hit another top 50 restaurant (this a top 50 in the world, not US, obviously). We went to St. John. So far, I'd have to say it is one of the least fussy of all the "fancy" places we've been. It's located in old smoke house and basically, they just whitewashed the walls. I mean, hey, any place that'll do whole suckling pigs isn't all that fussy. Here's a picture of the head of one unfortunate beast.


It was a good time. We had all kinds of stuff you don't normally find on menus (like roasted marrow bones (which was really, really good) and pig's head fat). The chef believes in "head to tail" eating, which is definitely also Tony's philosophy. The service was friendly and casual and the dining room reminded me more of a down-home cafe than a fancified upperclass place. Great fun.

When we got home, things were pretty quiet for a while. We got quite a bit of snow, off and on. Grace actually braved it one day, though she never actually touched a paw to the stuff. Just sniffed it, going "hey, where'd all the grass go??" Tony even got to try his hand at sledding. Me too, actually. My first time ever. It was fun, but made me realize I seriously need to get some real winter clothes. As in ones that don't just get sopping wet.
And this is Tony's idea of a fun December picture...
Let's see...also in December we went to a caroling & hot chocolate breakfast at Connie's house on December 15th. That was fun, though I was still a bit stuffy, so my singing voice was not at its very best...ha, like it ever is. We also had a little neighborhood get-together with a few neighbors and played games.

Then there was the big family visit, though I'll do another post about that so I can post some more pictures of it.

The only bad news, which in the scheme of things isn't super-bad, is that I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at my last doctor appointment. So, from now until I give birth (though hopefully not long after that) I have to check my sugar 4 times a day and do insulin shots. Well, at least I know now why I was so godawful tired (it's one of the high sugar symptoms). There are some risks for me and the baby, but hopefully everything will turn out okay. I'll be glad to just get through all these doctor appointments.