got milk?

Last week I had my routine thyroid and ob appointments. I continue to require more thyroid hormone as SPUD grows bigger. At the o.b. appointment we got to hear SPUD's heart beat and he says it sounds really strong. I've had some minor foot and ankle swelling. I need to monitor this so I can determine if it is cardiac or pregnancy related. However, neither team appears concerned, and now that our heat wave has subsided, I haven't had much swelling. My glucose test for gestational diabetes came back fine, which is excellent news. My iron however, is a bit low, and so I'll be starting on an over the counter iron supplement. It's also time for me to have more frequent o.b. appointments, roughly every two weeks. This is routine for most pregnancies, so we expected this, but just didn't anticipate it would start this soon. However, it does ease our minds to have me monitored closely.

A funny thing is, I could probably be the next star in the "Got milk?" commercials or magazine ads as I've been on a milk binge. I know this is due to the pregnancy, because most who know me know I'm not a big milk drinker. I'll have it with cereal, cookies, popcorn (Jay' got me doing that) or with chocolate, but you'd never find me guzzling down a glass of ice cold milk... until now. I'd never consider asking for it at a restaurant, but I have done that on a few occasions, only to be disappointed they didn't have non-fat. I just have to be careful as to when I have my glass of milk (or any milk products) as they interfere with one of my  medications. This week, I missed having a glass of milk one evening, but I dreamt about it that very night! The next day I made sure to have my glass of milk!

I started the Mothers Together group at my parents church today. What a great way to end my second trimester. It was fun to connect with other moms and I'm looking forward to developing more friendships and gain further support.

Tomorrow (Friday) I will start my third trimester. The time has flown by so quickly. Jay says "Spud is growing up so fast" and my response is "we'll be saying those words for the rest of our lives." We're really working hard now on the nursery; I'll do a full nursery post upon completion. However, here's the before/after of the nursery closet. We can't thank my parents enough for this custom made closet system.

Before- closet with no shelving = waste of good space

The storage cabinet mom and I put together

Behind door #1

Behind door #2 

Behind door #3

 

Other news this month is that I got another work gig. The adult daycare facility my office is located at, needed some temporary assistance with Medi-Cal billing paperwork.  This is a great opportunity to make some extra money to help pay for all these baby expenses as well as gaining a better understanding how Medi-Cal billing works. This part time job has great flexibility to work my own hours.  It appears that my tax background has helped me to become more versatile; therefore we find it essential that I continue to keep up my tax certification which is due the end of next month. So, I'll be back to hitting the books, but luckily I'll be studying once again with my friend and former tax colleague Erin.

August

August turned out to be a very busy month for us. We celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary with dinner and a walk at our favorite beach spot.

We also enjoyed free tickets to see reggae bands Steel Pulse and The Wailers (and probably got stoned in the process).

Spud must be growing because my belly sure is. I've had to increase my thyroid again, but all other hormone levels are fine. We saw the o.b. and nurse practitioner in early August. We heard the heart beat and had them answer some questions about planning for delivery, arranging for a hospital tour, and other preliminary things. Spud has been more active, often giving big kicks and swimming from one side to the other. Jay has enjoyed feeling its movements, and I do too, until it's uncomfortable, makes me queezy, or I'm trying to sleep. It sure is a weird feeling. They say it's like having gas, but for me its like having a heart arrhythmia in your belly. Sometimes I have to stop a moment and focus to be sure its my belly and not my heart. I also had the standard glucose labs done to be sure I'm not heading towards gestational diabetes.When I got my haircut this month, I was disappointed that my hairdresser found my first gray hair! I'm sure this will be the first of many thanks to Spud. It's like a milestone that you don't ever want to cross.

 

Here's Spud and I at 23 weeks.

 
Then we celebrated my mom's birthday with lunch at a new restaurant followed by a family trip to Ikea. It was fun to just all be together.

 

We've also been busy researching and shopping for those must have items (car seat, stroller, and crib), talking to colleagues about maternity/paternity leave, working on the baby registry and nursery. Additionally, we signed up for childbirth and baby basics classes.  I was grateful that with minimal effort I was able to get out of jury duty. The upcoming arrival has propelled us to get some things done around the house we've been putting off since moving in (like unpacking boxes in the guest/nursery closet). You can say we're pruning our nest, making room for Spud. Towards the end of the month, I had Salvation Army come take away a bunch of bags of clothing and household items along with our old couch.

 our empty living room

I couldn't find a place to take my old desk, so we placed it out front overnight, and by the morning someone had taken it. I'm sentimental to the desk as I remember getting it for Christmas. This Ikea desk didn't come in time, so I remember opening a jewelry box with a picture of it and picking it up after the holidays. I got it while I was in middle school or jr high. Lots of hours of studying went into that desk!

out with the old

 

in with the new

another of our month's upgrades

We celebrate Jay's mom's birthday with a family dinner at a local Italian restaurant.They serve their food "family style" so portions are large enough to go around. Sharing is required.

The funny part of dinner was after the servers sang to JoAnne, Nolan confidently and loudly said "that was annoying." We hoped the staff didn't hear what he said, only our laughter.

The last weekend in August we went to a bbq hosted by a former intern at Jay's work. We were treated to a mound of delicious food and Jay got to take his friend's Vespa out for a spin.

Jay's work gave all employees free tickets to the aquarium. I figured since I can't eat fish, mind as well go see them. We went late afternoon, then headed to Famous Dave's for delicious bbq dinner. We had a fun evening and it turned out to be a nice way to end the month.

 

I love how Jay's reflection is in this picture. It's like he's next to the shark.

                                                                             Smile!

Puffin

Strawberry Coral

Deadliest Catch

Check out the size difference between these two crab

Clown Fish

Sexy Shrimp

                                                                          Ooh la la!

The fish kept pestering the diver, poking at his mask; 

I think it was intrigued by the bubbles.

Artic Fox Pups

Roughhousing in their cage, 

while the staff clean up their messy room 

next door with toys strewn all over the place; just like kids!