Gift from God

Grandpa and Grandma's Visit

Marc's parents were recently here for a visit from Minnesota. They usually make it here twice a year. This trip was filled with lots of fun for Abby! She got to do lots of fun things with them including swimming every day (sometimes twice a day), a trip to the Children's Museum, and a Lowe's kids workshop with Daddy and Grandpa! I think she really enjoyed having constant entertainment from either Grandma or Grandpa for 10 days! ( And I am not gonna lie, I also greatly enjoyed her having constant entertainment. haha!)

Here's the gang on one of the many days they spent at the pool!

Abby LOVED listening to Grandpa read to her!

As is becoming tradition, Marc put his poor dad to work while they were visiting. They painted Matthew's room, put up the chair rail, and put together the crib! A huge shout out to Marc Sr. for all his help in that room while he was here on "vacation"!

Such a great picture of Abby and her "Munga and Parkie"

32 Weeks

32 weeks today!!! Only 7 weeks to go and I feel crazy stressed that it is not nearly enough time to get stuff done. The nursery is coming along nicely, but I still have 4 projects to get done. One of those projects is stenciling and that, unfortunately, happens to be very time consuming. Yes, I know what you are thinking....this is my second baby and I should know better now than to think the nursery HAS to be completely done before the baby comes. Well, there are two reasons why it does need to be. #1) The one project I left unfinished before Abby was born, still sits in her room unfinished. #2) It will DRIVE ME NUTS if its not done :).
Next week life gets even crazier as I start going in to have the baby monitored twice a week. When you have gestational diabetes they watch the baby very closely. Part of this is twice weekly Non-Stress Tests and once weekly Biophysical Profiles. For the Non-Stress Test they will hook me up to a fetal monitor for a half hour and monitor his heart rate (which should accelerate during movement) and monitor any contractions. The Biophysical profile is essentially a high tech timed ultra sound where they check for five signs that the baby is thriving. It checks heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tone, movement, and the amount of amniotic fluid. So what that means for me is a lot of time in doctor's offices and a lot of driving time. And of course I will still have my normal OB appointments to go to which are every two weeks for the next 4 weeks and then every week after that.
Oh Boy! So much to do and so little time to do it in! Although if I didn't have a cute little 3 year old on my heels all day and I could actually find a nice burst of energy it would be a piece of cake!

30 Weeks

Only 8 weeks to go from tomorrow! ( I am a little late posting this and will be 31 weeks tomorrow). Getting closer and closer to being cut open on that table. Yikes. I have never had a major surgery so I really have no idea what to expect. Hopefully the excitement of meeting my little boy will calm my nerves a little.

I am really starting to feel very pregnant now. I feel very large and heavy and some unknown force has magically sucked every ounce of energy right out of my body. Crazy to have such a desire to nest, nest, nest and not be able to convince my body to keep up with my mind! All in all I can't complain though. I just feel so blessed to have this little miracle in my belly regardless of the toll on my body. I seriously LOVE every minute of it and every little kick and punch. This little boy is so much more active than Abby was and I love it!

The gestational diabetes is still a huge battle. I am having so much more trouble controlling it this time around. I can eat something one day and my blood sugar is fine and then I will eat it again the next day at the exact same time and it will be super high! So frustrating for me because every time I get a high reading I just think of that sugar coursing through my baby's body. Grrrrrr! Very little carbs and NO sugar and I am still having issues. Seems there is very little I can get away with eating. I think if I ate all protein and zero carbs it might be better, but not sure I could stomach it and pretty sure I would start to lose weight. Still haven't gained a pound since 20 weeks. I need to gain a least another 4 lbs to get my total weight gain to 20 lbs, but it seems Matthew is growing just fine because my belly sure is :).

On the bright side, this last week has been sooooo exciting for me. I was so blessed to have amazing friends who threw a baby shower in celebration of my sweet boy. I am so thankful for the family and friends who were able to attend. (I will post more about this day and pictures soon). The other super exciting part of my week? Matthew's room was painted and the crib put together! It looks super cute and I will post more when it is complete!