Sugar

I only had one day off this weekend.  The same have-to-still-work-5-days-during-a-holiday-week thing applied this week like Thanksgiving.  My doctor said I should probably take my glucose test (the test for gestational diabetes) by Christmas, and since the lab closes daily at 5, the only time I could do it was Saturday morning.  Way to spend my day off, eh?

I woke up at a reasonable time and had no idea what I should eat.  They said eat normally last time, but I didn't want to throw it off since I would be eating not too long before the test.  I looked online and half of the people said to fast before the test, and the other said taking it on an empty stomach was a bad idea. I decided on a scrambled egg.  I hope it doesn't throw it off!

I got to the lab and the guy gave me the option of lemon lime (I had that last time), fruit punch, or orange.  I settled on this:

You have 5 minutes to drink it, but he said it is best to chug.  I took a little sip to just see how it tasted.  Yum, not bad!  I started to chug.  About halfway through I had to stop and take a breath...and try not to throw up.  I have not been nauseous in 20 weeks, but this drink did it.  Imagine chugging straight sugar water. It took all I had to finish it and not throw it up...but I did it!  I took a sip of water and felt fine. Whew!

He told me to come back in an hour and handed me this

I went back in and as usual, he had a hard time finding a vein as usual.  On a scale of 1-10, 1 being transparent skin, I am about a 9.  They can never see veins on me.  I have a friend so transparent that she can tan every day and barely look darker, and this is one of the few times I envy that.  They always have to dig around, but luckily I am not very squeamish when it comes to needles. They wrapped me up and I was done!  I hope I pass, if you don't, you have to take the 3 hour test and you have to drink 2 bottles of the gross stuff.

Andy had gone downstairs the whole time because their walk-in clinic is on the floor below and he needed more prescription for his dry skin.  I walked in, sat down, saw and heard all the coughing people, and walked right back up to my floor to wait for him...where there was nobody else but me in the waiting room...and I could actually hear the TV.

Because I didn't have enough sugar for the day, we headed up to sub-zero.  This time we got peanut butter and brownie batter base with oreos and cheesecake mixed in.  Just as good as last time :)

I ended the night by cleaning the toy room.  We are having Christmas at our house this year, and the downstairs should probably be presentable.  Sawyer managed to move half the stuff around already :(

Today I worked all day until 7.  My feet always hurt so badly by the end of the day :/ At least it was all OT plus that 10% extra pay for working on a Sunday.  Just a short day tomorrow and the Christmas festivities start tomorrow night :)

2.5

Sawyer is 2 1/2 today and I feel like that is an important age, so I wanted to make sure to post about it.

-He dances a lot more than normal lately

-His sentences are super weird, the subject is always at the end and separated.  Example: "I want it, bagel" or "No like it, milk"

-He behaves quite well if you phrase things you want from him the right way.  You might have to try a few times though.  He has never had to go to time out.  If he does something bad he immediately looks guilty and says sorry right away.

-He apparently thinks he is a teenager.  I tried to get him to get up this morning and he would just roll over and pull the blanket over his head and say "No going Eli and LJ's" I said "yes". He said "no" and kept his eyes shut.  This yes/no continued for awhile until I just picked him up and baby carried him downstairs.  I think he would have faked sick if he knew how.

-He still loves Cars.  A lot.

-His favorite shows are Jungle Junction, Little Einsteins (particularly "firetruck rocket" episode), Yo Gabba Gabba ("two gabbas"), Jake and the Neverland Pirates ("Jake and pirates"), Curious George ("monkey George"), Sesame Street ("Elmo street"), and occasionally he will ask for Dora or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  He can sing a few parts of the theme songs to some of them.

-He still likes to read.  He just looks at the pictures, or repeats exactly what I say while moving his finger by the words. 

-His favorite food is eggs and favorite color is orange

-He is pretty good at playing with his car characters, he makes his voice all high pitched and they have conversations.

-He also enjoys conversations with himself in the backseat of the car.  I heard him arguing with himself the other day "Mommy said yes...NO! Mommy said no!"

I can't really think of anything else noteworthy that he does at the moment.  He is pretty great though, very polite, friendly and well-behaved.

Holiday Festivities

Can I first just say, IT'S SNOWING!  I still get all giddy like they're going to cancel school tomorrow, even though I know it means driving around in it now :)  It's just so pretty though!  Plus, I have 4WD.  We were looking out the window and Andy goes, "It's a Christmas miracle!"  Sawyer, trying to copy him, goes, "Its a Christmie......Santa......cake!" Close enough.

Anyway, this weekend we started some Christmas festivities.  On Saturday we went to Zoolights with Kyndyl and Joe, and Andy's new GM Seth and his family (one of their kids is even Sawyer's age).  It was very pretty, but I was annoyed that they had half the aquarium closed for a private party :(  It was packed there too but we managed a front row spot.

When Sawyer saw this rainbow, my heart melted a little.  He goes "Look! A rainbow!  It's so beautiful mommy!"

Sawyer loved watching the baby tigers.  They would even walk right up to the window!  I was never quick enough with the camera to get a picture though.  Here he is with some meerkats, which he also liked.

He loved the fish tanks as well, they had all sorts of fish and even huge sharks.

Here he is waving to me from the carousel.

Afterwards we all went out to dinner at the Village Inn and Sawyer got some weird pancake face.  It cracked me up it was so goofy.  The first thing he did was stab his fork into the butter and try to eat the whole scoop.

Then he decided he was a dog.

We also experienced a small victory here.  He was wearing pull-ups all day (I don't take him far in just undies) and he told us he had to pee in public for the first time.  He pees in the pull-ups sometimes because they feel like diapers, so it was kind of a double victory there.


The next day was busy.   I woke up and had to make cookie dough to chill for the party that night.  I also made a batch of oreo white chocolate chip cookies.  I took a shower, and we barely made it to Tacoma in time to surprise Davey for his birthday.  Another victory there, Sawyer told us when he had to potty!

I ran across the street to half price books and luckily quickly found one for my Secret Santa recipient (complete book of vegan cooking).  We got home and rolled out dozens of cookies.  I had just enough time to make glaze frosting and have them harden before leaving.

We then went to my work Christmas party which was pretty fun.  We played minute to win it games, exchanged secret santas, and ate.  Sawyer came along and watched Toy Story like a good little boy.

Natalie and Grayson had to shake balls out of a tissue box on their booty

Here's me and Jake trying to move a Christmas ornament on a string wrapped in a loop around us just by spinning.

A fun one that we didn't get a picture of because I was on different teams as Andy is we had to catch 3 marshmallows in our mouth (can't swallow or spit them out) that our partner threw.  It had to pass through a wreath first.  I won :) (I was catching them in my mouth, Andy was throwing them for his team)

Quite fun, but such a busy weekend always leaves me feeling exhausted instead of rested. Plus this week we open an hour early, which means I have to do inventory at 6am tomorrow, blech!

Turning it around

This whole week has been a doozy.  It started with Monday morning's early last-minute meeting being called to tell us our beloved manager Chantal is putting in her 2 weeks, and ended by trying to hold back tears all day learning new details about the tragedy of the elementary school shooting this morning in CT.  I missed Sawyer all day, and Andy did not get off early like he thought, so I had to wait even longer.  (I think he's going to get gray hairs from this job...he's got to be working 70-80 hours this week.)  I was starving by the time work was done (I only ate a yogurt all day) and knew where I wanted us to go.

It was the Buttered Biscuit time.  It did not disappoint.  I like the "don't be a chicken" there.  It is a ginormous cornbread with their frosting-like butter, then big biscuits covered in the largest chicken fried steak with gravy, with their eggs (that include multiple things including ham), and special potato slice things.  IT. IS. SO. GOOD.  Downside: it is $13.  Upside: It is literally 4 filling meals worth of food.  Andy even got a complete second meal out of his slightly smaller one, and larger-than-me body.  He and Sawyer shared his cornbread, and I brought half of mine home.  The place is pretty cute too, with a kids play corner and all drinks come in mason jars.  It is all "gramma food."

They were taking a picture and Sawyer says to Andy, "No! Like this!" and leans his head in like that lol

It tastes way better than it looks here.  All the goods are under the delicious gravy

I hadn't eaten anything all day and at this point I was completely stuffed

Leftovers barely fit in a to-go box.

Hopefully this weekend can turn this week around.  We have plans for Zoolights, family dinner, and my work's Christmas party.  It is off to a good start at least!

24

We are at 24 (plus a few days) weeks!  We had a doctor appointment today, and they said I need to come in for my diabetes screening before Christmas.  Boo.  That is when you get to drink a gross sugary drink and wait an hour before they start drawing blood from you to see if you have gestational diabetes.

She always asks if we have questions...which we never do...but everyone's been asking about labor so I asked her about it.  I only had 3 hopes:  1. Avoid induction at all costs (unless baby or my life is in danger) 2. Avoid the regular shot-in-the-back epidural 3. Avoid c-section (well, duh).  All of these things come with great risks that I definitely do not want to risk after doing research.  I asked if there are any other methods of reducing pain that aren't that dangerous epidural.  Her response was "How long was Sawyer's again?"  "Well, we were only at the hospital for like a half hour, but I dawdled at home after my water broke"  She says "Ehhh..yeah...we aren't going to have time for any of that pain stuff".  LOL.  I was like "Well what if this one is longer?  I won't take a shower before coming so it will give more time" and she said "That is not likely, it is usually faster, and that shower you took is often 10 hours for other people after their water breaks...still not enough time."  I also asked if I could sit in one of their tubs...but then I remembered it was so painful once I was in the hospital that I couldn't even move the half inch for them to put that band around me so walking from a tub is probably not an option.  It always blows my mind seeing people on TV walking the hallways while in labor...that was not something I could do lol.  She pretty much told me to stop worrying about it because we still have so much time.  Ok, fair enough.  I guess there's nothing I can do about it all.  I was worried about having a tubby baby naturally, but I actually had a few people say it felt the same since fat is squishy and their 7 lb babies felt the same as their 11 lb babies.  Quite a relief lol.

Here I am as of now.  I have finally started getting strangers asking what I'm having :)

P.S. Now I know why you aren't supposed to ride a bike or horse while pregnant.  My balance was so off I kept falling off the tub edge as soon as I tried to take a picture.

Fondue

We went on a family date tonight.  We've had a $50 gift card to the Melting Pot for a year now, and an additional coupon that expired at the end of this month.  With the chaos approaching, we knew we had to use it soon after putting it off all year.  I had planned to use it for our anniversary, but being about 6 weeks (or I guess it was 7 but I didn't know at the time) pregnant with the flu, I could barely stand or enjoy food, and I really wanted to enjoy it.

Andy went in to work starting at 3am, so I figured he would be home in time to go tonight.  He usually works 10-12 hour days, and that would bring him home by 3.  Good thing I opted to give extra time, because he didn't get home until the second we had to leave at 4:30. :(  I dressed me and Sawyer somewhat nice in an attempt to make a family date, and fed him a "bo-nana" so he wouldn't be too hungry and eat all our expensive food.

We got there and chose our food.  The first course was cheese.  We got to watch as he loaded a beer base, mustard powder, garlic, and a pile of shredded cheese into our table pot and watched him melt it.  He brought by various breads, apples, and vegetables to dip.  It was SO good!  We let Sawyer play on the phone so that he didn't get antsy (fondue dinner takes a looong time) and he couldn't be bothered with any of the food...good for us! :)

Next they brought salads.  Andy got a spinach and mushroom, and I got a wedge.

Then it was time for the main course.  We ordered the "mojo" broth which was kind of caribbean spices with citrus flavors.  They squirted orange and lime in at our table.  They brought more vegetables, as well as various meats.  They had chicken, pork, steak, teriyaki beef, and shrimp along with 5 dips that were awesome.  I think my favorite was the shrimp in the curry dip.  By the end of this course, I was stuffed and couldn't even finish my half.  The darn bebe takes up too much space in my stomach ;)  Sawyer ended up eating quite a bit of bread eventually- they brought him a bowl of his own.

My favorite course was next- dessert!  We picked the turtle chocolate.  It was chocolate and caramel mixed together, and had delicious candied pecans in it.  You got a variety of dippers like marshmallows, banana, strawberries, rice krispies treats, cheesecake, brownies...mmmm!  I had just enough room left in me to finish the dessert.  They even flambeed it!

It was so fun and delicious!  We knew we'd still be paying a bit even with our $75 worth of gift cards.  Holy balls is that place expensive!  After the tip (which was $20 at that price), we still paid $50!  I was actually shocked how many families were there, because there is no way I'd pay a few hundred dollars for dinner (ours was just the price for 2 people!)  We will probably go back on a special occasion some time...probably during happy hour lol, but definitely not often at that price.  I am glad we got to have a family date night though, and it was so good!

hehe, I look like a sausage when I sit down in a thick sweater

so cute

A couple shoots

I haven't done photos in awhile (it is kind of an off season being colder weather) but I had 2 people ask me to do them this weekend, Tawni (who went to Natalie from work's daycare) and her friend Kourtney.  I was a bit weary because I can't get in my normal positions with the tummy (there's a lot of laying on your stomach), but figured I could figure it out as I went since it was nice to get an extra couple hundred dollars around the holiday. 

Saturday morning we headed to Wapato park to meet Kourtney.  This year the cold has been holding off, but I think it finally arrived.  We were frozen playing on the toys because we didn't bring warm coats.  Sawyer had a pretty good coat though, and loved the toys.  We even tried to get him to warm up in the car, but he wouldn't go!

Andy was making obstacles by karate chopping

I had to take a picture of Sawyer of course

Kourtney and family finally arrived, and we had a bit of fun.  Her husband's twin sister was pregnant, and his other one was up from FL, so they wanted family photos.  

Boy were my legs tired afterwards.  I can barely walk up stairs already, and I was squatting half the time!  It was fun though.

Afterwards we picked up Erik and Destiny on our way to Roy.  They were having a Christmas bazaar that we wanted to check out.  Sawyer got to see Santa again.  He was way cooler with Santa this time around, but dominated his candy cane immediately like last time.  I am surprised he didn't break his teeth!

Later Erik and Destiny came over and they all played Kinect all night while I worked on pictures the whole time.

This morning I met Tawni at the barns for their pictures.  I always try to suggest somewhere else since the barns are so played out by everyone, but it is what they want, not me, so I can't complain.  At least I am familiar with the place lol.  Some morons drew on the wall with chalk (those over-done maternity shots that have ___+___=6 or whatever) though that is just incredibly rude for everyone else, not to mention will cause the owners to put up the no trespassing signs again. UGH.  Little Kloe is Sawyer's age (like a week apart) and it is so funny seeing how they act and talk EXACTLY the same.  I took her 2 year photos and it was the same thing.  She is the cutest little girl though, if I didn't know she bites, I would steal her ;)

I spent the rest of the day working on Kourtney's photos.  I wish people realized how time-consuming it was.  Very relaxed weekend though.