Getting the Meal Plan

So, since I have GD (Gestational Diabetes), I needed to go to the dietitian today. I spent an hour and a half listening to what the rest of my pregnancy is going to be. Originally, I was okay with it. But, I saw my numbers... they aren't that bad. Why am I going to need to go through this nonsense? Not that getting on a good diet and forcing myself to be healthier is a bad thing. I just don't know why I will have to test my blood sugar. I am trying really hard to see the bright side of all of this.

My Test Results:

Fasting = 76 (must be less than 95)
1 Hour = 180 (must be less than 180)
2 Hour = 157 (must be less than 155)
3 Hour = 64 (must be less than 140)

My Meal Plan:
1800 calories (might get boosted if I lose any weight)

Breakfast (30 carbs)
- Suggested meal is 2 pieces of whole grain toast, 2 eggs, and one bottle diet coke.

Lunch (55 carbs)
- Suggested meal is sandwich w/ meat of some kind & cheese, baby carrots, 12 oz whole milk

Snack (45 carbs)
- Suggested meal is one apple, cheese stick, 12 oz glass of milk

Supper (60 carbs)
- Suggested meal is 3 oz meat choice, starchy vegetable, free vegetable, cup of rice with butter, and one bottle of diet coke.

Ricky and I will have to go shopping for some of the choices, but overall I think it isn't so bad. Not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Mainly I just have to watch the carbs and I will be good.

Pregnancy: Gestational Diabetes

So at 25 weeks it is normal to get the one hour glucose test. Yesterday, I had that appointment and had to drink the sugary solution. It wasn't so bad. However, I did get a call this morning that I didn't pass. Boo me.

Today, I went in for my three hour glucose test. Now, this wouldn't be so bad if they didn't have to prod me with a needle four times... and because the first needle was too big for my veins they had to do the first one twice. I had fasted, so I guess it was good that I checked my phone messages before eating breakfast - otherwise I might have had to wait a day. The first blood draw was taken (it was excellent). And then I had to drink the 100mg glucose solution and wait...

12:20, 1:20, and 2:20 - I had my blood drawn every hour. Have I ever mentioned that I hate needles. They are awful. They hurt. And when only one arm has a good vein so they repeatedly go into that arm... it hurts even more. The last one they had the courtesy to go into my hand for blood. But, it still hurts.

Anyway. I failed and have met the requirements for Gestational Diabetes. Tomorrow I get to go to the hospital... again. I will see a dietitian to help me with diet, guidelines, and how to take my blood sugar.

Other than that... my pregnancy is going well and I am thinking about going to have an elective ultrasound done because I just can't wait til the birth to find out what the baby is. I don't think I am a Team Green kind of person. I am just too much of a planner. I want to shop. I want to know.

The Holidays Are Coming!

I love the holidays. I love Thanksgiving. I like Black Friday. I love Christmas. And this weekend is the Holiday Fair. It is the biggest craft show of the year and I go every year. It is where tons of vendors sell all sorts of fun things and I get new ideas for crafts. I am really excited. So... Most of my Flashbacks for the next two months will be about of Holidays past.



The first family tradition I will talk about is the matching pajamas. Oh yea. I have a small family. It is just two cousins and me. Every year we would get our matching Christmas pajamas on Thanksgiving. I don't know where they all went now... but I think it is so cute. When I was little they had my cousin, Sarah, and I match quite often.

I know I will be doing this to my kids. And they will enjoy it. I promise. I don't care if it will take some coercion... but at least for a couple nights a year they will match like I did when I was little. Maybe Santa only comes to children who wear their matching pajamas... yeah. That is plausible.

In the picture above it shows what happened last year when they once again gave Sarah and I matching pajamas. I made her put them on and take pictures... she didn't want to. However, I am extremely persuasive. And I love it!!!! Hahahaha... I am sinister. Christmas is on the way whether you like it or not... but I haven't sung Christmas songs yet and I walk out of stores who play Christmas music before Black Friday.

About My Pet: Tazmerie

I know she used to be adorable right? I brought her home from school in 7th grade. Okay... the true story. I took the kitten to the principals office so that I could call me mom and ask her if we could get another cat. While I was on the phone and while my mother was saying no - the mom of my classmate who brought the kittens in left. Therefore, I ended up having to call my mom back and tell her I had to bring it home. I really had no choice. That is how we managed to get this adorable bundle of joy.

When she was little she really did love water. The picture above is of her jumping into the hot tub when it was being filled. Really, she jumped in. I did not put her there. Taz is special. BTW, she grew out of the love of swimming in water.



Okay... so she ended up being overweight. I had another cat growing up, Patches. Patches needed special diet food and that wasn't right for Taz's metabolism. However, there was no way to feed the cats separetly - so she got fat. She was at most 16 pounds. And let me tell you, her legs are tiny. She is not meant to be 16 pounds. Poor kitty, but I think she carried it well. But, she had a habit of laying around the house like the photo above.

Don't let that position fool you. She does not want you to pet her belly. Touch her belly and she will bite your hand off. Trips to the vet are always an adventure. She hates it there. They need hawk gloves, towels, and at least two helpers to hold her. I love my Tazmerie.



After Patches passed away, Taz was put on a diet and she lost weight. In the first year she was down to ten pounds. Woo Taz. Now if only I could lose a third of my body weight in a year... yeah right. Don't cats have the life? Anyway... recently she has gone down to about six pounds. Way too skinny. She was diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism. She needs a cream in her ear daily and gets to eat wet cat food like a special kitty. Lucky her. We are still working on getting her weight up - but she seems happier and younger than ever when she plays with her new friend Tagomei.

When I moved in with Ricky, Taz came with me. Since it has been about five or six years since Patches passed away, Taz didn't seem happy about living with another cat. But, they have grown to be nice to each other.



Taz doesn't always make me happy. Most recently she ran out the door when I was giving kids Halloween Candy. She spent the night somewhere. I don't know where. I wish cats could talk so that she could tell me where she went. It had gotten down to 28 degrees that night. Very cold and like I said she is still very skinny. She returned November 1st at about 3:30pm very dirty. She now meows all the time wanting to go back outside... FML. She is meowing annoyingly right now actually. If I didn't love her so much, I would be mad. But, she is the best furbaby ever and has a crazy personality to boot.

Ten Quick Facts About Taz...
1. She loves peanut butter, popcorn, and Doritos (nacho cheese is her fav).
2. She growls a lot. Sometimes she sounds like a motorcycle.
3. We call her Toothless sometimes - because of her abnormally large green eyes. And she reminds us of the dragon in How To Train Your Dragon.
4. She is declawed because she ripped up the back of a couch, otherwise I am generally against declawing cats.
5. She comes when you whistle.
6. Her favorite toy is the foil wrappers from candy - like mini Reese's cups.
7. She needs a sedative when taken to the vet and still needs to be held down by gloves, towels, and extra help.
8. She is 13 years old.
9. She gets really bad acne when sad. She had bad bouts when our dog Bud died and when Patches died. It appears on her chin - and dude... not even a teenager gets it this bad.
10. She loves me... but not necessarily the rest of the people in the world.

-Sorry about the bad pictures of pictures. I don't have a scanner and it was the easiest way to transfer them... don't know why my camera is being so blurry today.

Another Week of Phone Photos

So this week was interesting and well.. there were many times that my animals were doing hilarious things - but by the time I grab my phone they move. This has always happened though. Not just now... Somehow I always miss on out on the cool things. So - most of my things this week have been photos that I have taken to show my mom things. Enjoy. And don't forget to check out other people's phone photos HERE!!!


All the gallons of milk I have drank
in like... the last two months. I
did start writing down the dates on
them - but gave up. Pregnancy and
heartburn make me crave milk.

All my Avon stuff that is going to eventually
be Christmas gift baskets for family and friends.
I just have it laid out... next step organizing
it into the gift boxes.

Isn't he just the cutest golden retriever
in the whole wide world? That duck didn't
stand a chance. And yes... I watched him
do this knowing I would have to pick it up.
But, it kept him occupied for a good 2 hours
so in the end it was worth it.

This is the cross stitch I am working
on for my grandmother. And I make myself
do a thread at least every day so I don't
give up by Christmas.

Yeah, I went at Midnight, I'm a geek.

Sooooo... when Ricky got home from work Monday night he surprised me and told me we could go to Walmart (the only place open at midnight in this rinky dink town) and get Black Ops! I was beyond excited and got dressed even though it was an hour away from midnight. He had originally told me that I could wait and I didn't need it right away. What a tease. But, I love my boyfriend. I do. And he bought me Black Ops.

Monday night we stayed up til 4 am playing. It is amazing. I love the new maps and I love the new weapons and most of all I love the customization. I played almost all day Tuesday. Zombies is pretty fun too! What can I say... I am obsessed. So when I am not blogging or cleaning the house - which hasn't gotten dirty since we just play the video game right now - I am playing Black Ops. I love it. I heart it. I wish I had more friends who liked to play it.

Right now I am level 33 already. Woot woot! My favorite maps are The Villa, The Jungle, and Nuketown. Zombies... I wish I could see the other maps and I still love the dialogue when you get a head shot. So yea... that is what I have been up to lately. And as you can see in the picture above, next to my PS3 I have a lot of games that I have started and not finished. And right now they will remain unfinished.

Hump Day Bump Day - 23 Weeks

Ricky took the day off yesterday... so I didn't get anything done that I wanted to. I will do a post about what we did all day later. Every Wednesday I plan on getting bump pictures up. This one is a day late, but I am sure you will enjoy it either way.

This week in pregnancy I had an appointment on Monday and found out that that bitch who did the ultrasound is just that way. She doesn't believe that people deserve to know or should want to know the gender of the baby. Well, shit - I think she needs to get a new job. My weight is right on schedule... but it is a bit scary to be over 200 pounds for the first time in my life. I know that I am pregnant. But, I just worry about having the focus to take the weight off once the baby comes. I wasn't able to stick to a plan before pregnancy... how will I stick to one after?

Other than that... nothing too interesting. Current craving is donuts. I run to the gas station every day for a donut. I can't get enough. Ugh.

The Living Room is... done?

So you might remember that I had a living room in the house that was so hideous that I never wanted to even clean it... much less spend time in there. The Living Room Before didn't look like anything anyone wanted to live in. Well, I have finished making the walls acceptable enough to have company.







So on the upside.. it even looks good enough that Ricky wants to keep the living room open through the winter. Last winter we put foam board up and kept it closed. We watched television and just lived in the bedroom. Don't be dirty. It was to save on the heating bill.

So, there is a question mark on the end of that title... yea. It isn't finished. I still need to get things on the walls. I have some shelves to hang and some picture frames with no pictures. I just don't know what to put in them. Ricky and I aren't married so we don't have engagement or wedding photos. We don't have kids yet... what exactly do you put in picture frames in your living room before you have that???? Please help.

Also... I really need a slip cover for that ugly floral couch that you can sorta see in the one picture. I have one picked out. Now I just need to order it. Bah... more money spent.

I Have Pictures on my Phone?

What is on my phone? Well... for the first installment of this I figured I would just get out my phone and look at what I have. I have a lot of pictures of my dog Alexander and none of them are cute. They are all of him just sitting there. Because my mom always wanted updates on what he looked like. I figured I wouldn't put any of these on here... unless he were doing something cute. The cats are far more interesting.

I made this post after reading Untypically Jia's Blog and saw that her newest Blog Hop was this from Jessica, aka the Hussy..


ABOVE: This summer. My road. My house.
Road Construction is evil and makes life difficult.
I complained about this crap everyday.

ABOVE: The only picture of my Baby Bump so far.
I haven't been real good about taking photos.
This is probably around 18-20 weeks I think.
So cute... yea.

ABOVE: Me amused by the cats that decided to
take up residence above my head while I as
on the laptop. Taz on one side and Tagome
on the other.

ABOVE: SHOWDOWN! Haha. Taz is my cat
who is 13 and Tagomei is Ricky's cat who is
two. When I moved in... Taz came with. They
don't always get along. But, it is getting
better.

Still a Papaya!

Alright, it is week 23 and I have given up on trying to write about the past and catching up. It is just easier to live right now and write about it. I guess that is the point of the blog anyway.

On The Bump ticker I realized that I have hit the weeks when one fruit continues to represent the baby for more than one week. 22 and 23 weeks is the Papaya. The baby is now about 8 inches long and just over a pound in weight. That is right! A whole pound of my weight is the baby. This is the start of the Sixth Month. Woo hoo! I am so excited and I figure that with all the holidays coming up that it will go quickly.

My favorite thing about being pregnant right now is when the baby is kicking and moving around. It is amazing to think that the little one is in there.

Right now, I am annoyed with looking over baby names all over again. I thought we had it all set and all picked out, but Ricky is unsure - which has made me unsure. I am having second thoughts about the girl's first name and Ricky has second thoughts about the boy's name. What are we going to do?

Name choices right now: Boy - Vance Dean, Girl - Alina Joy

The Big Anatomy Scan!

This is a little late, but I have been busy and apparently not in the writing mood. However, on October 21st I woke up at 6 in the morning to make sure to pee and then refill my bladder as directed. I never get up that early. I never drink that much water in one sitting. The morning was pleasant, but I was too excited to see my baby to care. I woke up Ricky at quarter to seven and we were out the door and to the hospital in time to wait for our 7 AM appointment.

Waiting in the waiting room was awful. I was so tired and they were so slow. We must have been the first people to come to the damn hospital for the day. I will never make another appointment that early. But, I thought it would be easier than waiting half a day for the appointment to come to me. Finally, it was our turn. It was time to go into the dark room with a big ultrasound machine.

She started looking at everything and taking pictures. The technician didn't really have that much to say. She just kind of gave an overview of what she needed to take measurements of. This took about twenty minutes. She left and then we waited. The doctor came in and looked over some of the pictures and then started at the head and explained what all the organs were, showed the beating heart with four chambers, showed the umbilical cord, and the spine and other bones. It was amazing. We have a healthy baby. This also took about twenty minutes.

At the end of the appointment when she made it to the feet... I asked about the gender and the doctor said "I didn't see anything dangling, but I don't pay to redecorate people's homes." How unprofessional! I was so angry... but it was too early in the morning to protest. Or to tell her to try again. I guess for now we are Team Green. I am coming to terms with it... but I am still complaining about her at my next doctor's appointment.