Griffin goes to the Aquarium

We were invited to join a couple of friends of ours to the Aquarium this past weekend, and even though I was hesitant to agree, we all had a great time.  I was a little worried that Griffin would decide that he didn't want to be there, or that he would tell us that he wan't going to eat out of his bottle in the midst of the long day.  

I really should learn one of these days that Griffin loves to be out, and I mean really really loves it.  

He was awake most of the trip and happy to be rolling around in his stroller.  After a while he started to get hungry and Dave tried to feed him while walking around a room full of tanks.  Griffin was too distracted to eat, even though it had been four hours since his last meal.  (He is usually STARVING at three hours)  Finally when he decided to eat, he had no problem at all with the bottle.  Yay!  Afterwards he was in a great mood and was alert to all his surroundings.  

It was so much fun to watch him stare at the animals swimming around in the tanks.  

At this particular tank, he was overcome with excitement.  Not sure what it was that caused this, but it was the cutest thing we had seen all day.  (Even cuter than the river otters :))

Watching the penguins swim around.

Finally he was worn out.  (Did I mention it was a long trip for him?)  He was able to fall asleep on his dad's shoulder through the rest of Aquarium.  That too was cuter than the otters.

It's so nice to get out of the house and stretch our legs a bit, especially when in the company of good friends.  Maybe one of these days I'll get over my silly anxiety and take him out much more often.

More pictures from this trip here.

When life gives you snow

MAKE A SNOWMAN!

I had been feeling the winter blues lately and I've been wishing for the Spring and Summer to hurry and get here.  When the rumor of snow was going around, I wanted nothing of it.  It wasn't even supposed to snow today, just a chance of ice pellets.  What are ice pellets anyway?  At some point this morning I found out that it was snowing via a facebook status.  (and I had a window right behind me!)  In just a matter of minutes, it was coming down pretty hard.  GV happened to be napping, so I went out to take some pictures.  Then in the process the kid in me came out (oh wait, GV is already came out?) and I built a snowman.  I was really excited about this snowman, like really really excited.  I'm hoping that my neighbors didn't notice me through their windows, since I'm sure they would think that I was neglecting my baby.  Rest assured, GV was in a state of slumber the entire time.

This is the third snow of GV's life, which is odd since we're lucky to get a single snow here.  I just heard on the news that this is the hardest snow that we've gotten in 14 years.  This one is particularly beautiful, making me forget about my winter blues for a while.   It just keeps coming and coming, now much harder than earlier today.  I hope that next year GV's able to help me with a snowman; it wasn't that much fun doing it by my lonesome.  But trust me, he won't be in sandals.

Why did you have to end so soon, September?

September is usually my favorite month; however this one seemed far too short. My birthday falls on the 29^th, and usually I start counting down in June. Basically I end up counting the summer away, but that's always been okay with me. This year I made it a point not to count down and speed the summer, let alone the month of September, away. My goal has been to absorb as much time as I could before Griffin decides to come, as I have realized that life is far too short to rush along. One of the benefits of this blog is to give me a place to record the going-on's of my life so that I don't forget the important things or even the little things. Even though time seems to slip away so quickly, I hope I can hold onto each memory that is made with Dave or family or friends or even strangers.

This past weekend we headed to Charlotte to be a part of Dave's best friend's wedding. I am so grateful that my body was functioning enough to allow me to join in the festivities. The wedding was held at a rock quarry and was beyond gorgeous. The wedding itself was lovely and very much "them." The beauty of the wedding and the tasty food helped to hide how exhausted the weekend made me. Unfortunately it rained for the whole day, which lead to being water logged and made the preparation and clean up just a little bit harder. By the time that we were finished cleaning up and ready to leave every single joint in my body was on fire. I can't wait till I am able to move in double time without feeling like I am about to fall apart at the seams.

It feels like there is still so much to get done before Griffin's birthday; and now it's almost October. October! Only one single month left—ONE! I do hope that we're able to get everything complete, since it's driving me a bit crazy not being. It's going to be hard keeping myself from playing outside since the weather is playing nice. All the rain that we had over the last couple of weeks brought an overcast to my mood. It was especially disheartening because my grandparents were affected by the nasty flood. Thankfully the storms are past us and the leaves are making the transformation from green to yellow to red and orange. This will make the last six weeks of my pregnancy a lot more cheery.

33 Weeks

Once again not much is new, just growing my waist line and my anxiousness.  I am blessed to feel pretty good now and I feel like we're (hopefully) smooth sailing here on out.  Thankfully the heat is gone, yet I consider the humidity my worst enemy.  I am hoping that the rain subsides soon and brings a nice cool Fall.  Sadly rain is in the forecast till my birthday, and that's NINE days away! 

I think I have a got a hang of my new diet.  Honestly it's a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.  I am allowed three full meals a day plus two snacks.  Basically I avoid all concentrated sweets: cokes, cakes, pies...However I was given permission to have a little cake at my baby showers.  The basic premise of the diet is to keep my blood sugars under a certain amount (120).  Once in the morning and then an hour after each meal I stick my finger and use my handy dandy blood-glucose meter to tell me my blood sugar level.  At each meal and snack I am given a basic guideline to follow to make sure that I'm not giving myself a sugar overload.  I've kind of made a game of trying to figure out what my level is going to be after I eat, and it's kind of neat watching how my body responds.  So far I haven't felt deprived of anything and I have even felt satisfied for longer periods of time because I am eating the right kinds of foods together.  Most likely I'll be continuing this diet after pregnancy, well....I may  probably will be taking a little break for Thanksgiving.

I had mentioned that when I met with the GD nurse they did a ultrasound to get all of Griffin's measurements to see if the GD had affected his size.  He weighed 4lb 2oz and is in the 30th percentile.  Like I had said, he's right where he needs to be.  His results put him on the small side of normal.  This was my biggest fear with the diabetes, now I really have no worries about this.

A while back I pulled out some of my baby pictures to try to imagine what Griffin would look like.  I then became aware that I had not ever seen a baby picture of Dave.  I had seen late elementary school pictures and I could remember him from middle and high school.  I had come up with my own mental image of what baby Dave looked like, and it was quite awkward.  With the 4D ultrasound, there was a bit of commotion that Griffin resembled Dave.  But here I was only being able to picture what Dave looks like now, just miniature.  Last night we were over at Dave's parents' talking about what Dave looked like as a baby, and then his Dad pulled out the slides from his birth.  I should say that I now feel guilty for the weird baby that I had pictured Dave to be; he was actually really cute!  And I can completely see that Griffin's going to look just like Dave.  Take a look!

I'm still in awe as to what we were able to see with the 4D ultrasound.  I don't think I'll get over that any time soon.  

At the end of this week we'll be heading to Charlotte, NC for the wedding of a very good friend.  I won't mind if Griffin comes a little early, but I really hope it's not the plan to come a month and a half early.  We've watched the YouTube video showing how to deliver a baby in a car, yet I don't think we are at all prepared for such a task. 

Updated belly collage.  Click to enlarge.

19 Weeks

19 weeks 2 days

19 weeks is most exciting because next week means that we're half way to meeting our little Bean Sprout. He has been growing and sticking out a little more every day. I normally rest my laptop against my tummy and it doesn't fit in it's usual place. I also noticed just today that my belly button isn't as deep as it used to be, not much but a little different. It's uncomfortable to sleep on my belly now. This reminds me of the Princess and the Pea, except my pea is a baby filled uterus and directly attached to me.

Actually I lied about the most exciting part of 19 weeks. The most exciting part happened Sunday night while I was lying in bed. For two weeks now I have been concentrating on the movements in my tummy. I haven't really felt anything out of the norm, just the occasional muscle twitch or tummy rumbling. Dave and I have both been poking at my belly (we're already awful parents) trying to get Bean Sprout to play with us, but with no such luck. However, Sunday night Dave had his arm across my tummy and when he moved it I thought I felt something. A few seconds later I felt a little "pop" against my tummy. This was unlike anything I have felt before and it instantly made me grin from ear to ear. Since Sunday I have felt the fluttering that I have been hearing about, but only felt the kick once I am anxious to feel him again. I didn't realize that getting kicked would ever make me so happy.

My emotional state is changing; as much as I didn't want it to, there have been little changes here and there that make me less predictable than before. For example, I RARELY (if ever) cry during movies and I RARELY want to watch "chick flicks," but Sunday night I just had to watch He's Just Not That Into You and I finished it today and ended up crying at the end. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME?!?! I understand the necessity of the physical changes, but why my emotions too? Hormones...ugh... Sometimes for "fun" I fake cry for stupid reasons, pre-pregnancy it was too obvious that it was fake, but today I made tears fall from my eyes. It was very convincing. I suppose I could use that to my benefit; but then again, I am not that conniving. (Dave says that I should add that he didn't like this very much and also says that I am not allowed to do again ;)

Next Tuesday should be quite an exciting day. In the afternoon I have my 20 week doctor's appointment and like usual I am excited about seeing how much Bean Sprout has grown in the ultrasound. I am very grateful that we have ultrasounds with every visit. Before having an OB I didn't realize the fortuity of getting to see our baby every few weeks, but now it's the most exciting part. I can't get the image of his little fingers out of my head from the last visit, and can't wait to see what new developments he's made. Tuesday evening we are grilling out with some new potential friends. I say potential because they may decide that we're too sarcastic or not funny or terrible cooks or any other possibility. "They" happen to live two houses down from us and we met briefly for the first time on Saturday. "They" also happen to be a young (I'm assuming around our age) couple with a baby daughter who will be one in October. We have seen them out and have meant to go out and introduce ourselves before now, but we're terrible neighbors and didn't ever do it. Our neighborhood is mainly older folks who have lived here for the last 20-40 years, so having a younger couple and built-in playmate for Bean Sprout is quite a blessing. I do hope that they like us.

I apologize for never adding pictures to my 17 week post, my photographer is slacking. I prefer taking the belly shots pre-dinner, so I am not showing off what I had to eat and just showing Bean Sprout. But I always "blog" after dinner while Dave does homework, so we haven't worked out a schedule for this yet. This said, I will make sure to get the picture taken and added tomorrow. UPDATE: I kept my word.

Dave trying out the baby carrier with Lucy, surprisingly she enjoyed it.