Round Two

We made an offer on a second house.  And we've had the inspection.  And we're very excited!  If it all goes according to schedule, we should be moving in Thanksgiving weekend.  Wahoo!   And because I forgot to take pictures (again), here is one that I took while staying with my Grandparents this past weekend, while in town to find our house.

Yikes!

You know how I blogged a while back about winning a Grand Champion at the county fair?  With my wheat bread?  The recipe that I got from my mom?  She just realized that she'd forgotten to put 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt on the recipe card.  A pretty vital ingredient.  Or so I've always thought.  And I still won Grand.  Oh, and I've been making the bread from that recipe card for well over a year now and I never noticed a difference.  Which leads one to wonder, how vital is salt?  Or have I just been really lucky to not have tasted the difference?  And how bad were the other breads that were entered into the fair?  Because you'd think that the judges ought to have been able to tell that SALT was missing.

Fall

A and I found ourselves alone for a while yesterday.  It doesn't happen often.  We took the opportunity to play in the leaves - each in our own way (i.e., he played, I played with my camera).  Fall is such a beautiful time of year.  I think I've finally decided that it's my favorite season - and not just because it's where my birthday falls.  I love the colors, the smells and the sounds.  

In other news, we had our inspection and decided not to take the house.  So we back to the hunt.  DH is currently working over there, so he's working with our real estate agent to find something that we'll like.  I'll keep you posted...

Accepted

We put an offer in on a house and it was accepted!  Hooray!  Now, pending an inspection, it's ours!  So I thought I'd share pictures.  We didn't think to take pictures of the inside, but here is the outside.  After some work and water, the grass will turn green and beautiful.





The inside also needs some work, but we're excited about it.  It's a tri-level split, which apparently we both really like, since there were more than one on our favorites list after looking at all the homes.  Inspection, here we come!

Newborn Stage

I've heard people say that they miss the newborn stage when it's gone.  I've NEVER felt that way.  EVER.  Now, though, I get it.  J is such an easy-going little newborn, that I'm loving the newborn stage.  She snuggles right into me, and falls asleep without a sound.  She takes good naps during the day and sleeps at night, going back to sleep after eating.  She's incredibly patient with her older siblings, who love on her with enthusiasm (we're working with A on the concept of GENTLE.  I can understand his confusion, though.  What's a boy supposed to think when he sees his mom hitting [i.e., burping] the baby?).  J's okay with tummy time, is mostly happy when awake, will accept a pacifier if she isn't fed immediately....  It's a first for me.  And I will miss the newborn stage.

In other news, DH got a new job, so we'll be moving again.  To Utah.  We took a whirlwind trip this weekend to go house hunting, found one we both like, now we're just waiting to see if our offer is accepted.  I'll give more details on the house is we get it.  So, DH starts work tomorrow, and the kiddos and I will stay here until we close on the house (moving twice in a month or so with 3 young kiddos sounds ludicrous to us).  

Blurb

A while back I came across a promo code for a free book at blurb.com.  So I followed the link and was actually able to create my own book and have it published.  For free!  The only part that I had to pay for was the shipping (isn't there always a catch?).  I'd had an idea in mind for a book for a while, so I decided to go for it.  The entire process was easy!  And when my book came, I loved it!  I still do, in fact :).  And though I know that I'm probably the only person who will ever own a copy (the prices are rather high), I'm still happy about it.  And I'm counting it as getting published, even though I didn't have to go through the harrowing process of finding a publisher, etc.  And even though I haven't written down my bucket list, it's in my head.  And getting published is on there.  Except now, I can cross it off!  When I actually get around to writing it down.

Surprise!

That's what J did to us! 9 days early. More than a pound lighter than either of the other kiddos. Cute as can be! We're back from the hospital and getting accustomed to being at home. Working on getting all of the last minute things ready that didn't get ready prior to her coming. To get a personal invitation to her blog, for pictures and updates, leave a comment on this post or send me an email.

Happenings

I've taken up baking with 2 "helpers". I try to have A watch N to see what to do, and sometimes it works. A loves to eat flour. He will stand on his chair and eat pinch after pinch of it. N doesn't like to share all of the "helping", but she's getting used to it. And we still have a good time. I just have to plan on a lot longer prep to get things done on time. These cookies that we made yesterday were delicious. And the dough was great!

We recently had a BBQ Championship in town. Turns out, they're not all that exciting. Maybe I just missed the point. It was fun to see how far people came to be part of it, though. And this group (from FLORIDA) had a serious number of awards. We didn't try their BBQ, so I don't know if I agree with all of the awards, but it was impressive. It kind of makes you wonder, though, if they do anything else with their lives?

And we got new chalk. Which might seem like a silly thing to blog about. But it's really cool! They're called Chalk Crayons, or something and they're way brighter than normal sidewalk chalk. The kiddos were both colored themselves by the time we were done.

County Fair

This week has been our county fair. I LOVE SMALL TOWN COUNTY FAIRS!!! I entered 5 photographs, 1 bread, 1 jam, and 1 hair-clip. My goal was to get a GRAND CHAMPION ribbon. N received one last year and I didn't want to be out-done by a 3-year old. So, bread my fall back. The bread last year looked pretty sad, so I was confident that I would do well in that category. Besides which my bread tastes good (not that I want to sound conceited. But it really does!). Of course, I hoped that one of my photos would do well, but with the advent of digital, EVERYONE is a photographer (including me. Without digital, I'm pretty sure I would still be dreaming. Film and developing are not cheap). So it was a dream. I mainly wanted to be compared with other photographers to see how I'm doing. As you can see by the photo posted here, I won a GRAND CHAMPION with one of my photos. You can see the whole picture by clicking here. I received another GRAND CHAMPION on my bread. 2 of my other photos got blue ribbons, and one got white. 1 got nothing. My hair-clip received a"Congratulations" (you know, one of those 'You didn't get a ribbon but we don't want you to feel bad' things). I think I must have been having fun marking the preschool age group for N's entries and marked mine preschool. Oops! My jam was disqualified because I didn't properly label it. Ummm... yeah.

N had 5 entries, received 2 blue ribbons and 3 "Congratulations!". She's most excited about the "Congratulations". Oh, the bliss of being 3. A didn't enter anything this year. Maybe I'll give him my "Congratulations!".

So we've been hanging out at the fairgrounds off and on all week. We saw some of the animal competitions - goat, sheep and pig. The pig show is my personal favorite. There is no way to really control a pig. I think it's fun to watch their owners try to get them to behave and showoff, when all they really want to be doing is taking a nap, or digging in the sawdust. The older showmen are pretty good and their pigs mostly behave. The younger showmen are great for entertainment. We saw one boy get knocked down by a pig, another run away when his pig started fighting with another pig. The kiddos were done being patient before we could watch the Peewee show. Sad.

This goat was great! Very willing to let the kiddos pet him (N came up with a strange fear of animals this week. She would only pet the rabbits, which oddly enough, is the only animal that A wouldn't pet. Strange!), he climbed up so that I could get a good picture of him, instead of one through the bars of his cage, and then he posed, as if he knew that I was going to take his picture and wanted to show his good side. He was classic billy goat. I could see him being the third billy goat to cross the bridge, throwing the mean troll into the river. The other billies just couldn't hold a candle to him. But now they know what they have the potential to become.

A Busy Week

On Tuesday I had my routine appointment with my OB. The previous week I had a taken a 3 hour glucose tolerance test. Which I had to fast 12 hours in preparation. A total of 15 fasting hours. Luckily water isn't counted in the fasting. 15 hours is a long time for a pregnant lady to not eat. Let me tell you. No, don't. That isn't the story here. Just trust me. At my appointment, I learned that 3 of my 4 blood draws were abnormal. Which means that I have gestational diabetes. It's something you hear about, but don't really know anything about. Well I've been learning. Learning about how to poke yourself 4 times a day and what the numbers on the machine mean and learning about good nutrition. On Thursday I met with a nutritionist, who told me that I needed to limit myself to 200 grams of carbohydrates a day. Sound like a lot? IT ISN'T. 1 slice of bread- 15 grams. 1 cup of milk - 18 grams. They add up pretty quick. And when you start keeping track, it gets rather sad. Especially if you're favorite foods are bread and milk. LIKE ME. The nutritionist gave me a book that has a lot of foods and how many carbs are in a serving. And serving sizes. She told me that I need to have regular snacks. So, since Thursday, I've been more careful about what I eat. And I feel better. For the past month or so I've been super tired and not very patient. Since Thursday, I've had an amazing energy boost. So I'm not drinking as much milk or enjoying toast every morning. But life is good. I feel good. And I know that it all doesn't just affect me. J could have serious problems if I don't take care of myself. And really, she'll be here in less than 8 weeks. 8 weeks isn't that long (at least that's what I keep telling myself).

What I keep wondering, though, is why didn't they test earlier? As I've been reading, gestational diabetes is best diagnosed between 24 and 28 weeks. But common practice (at least with my 3 pregnancies) is to test at 28 weeks. Why not test at 24 weeks? J would have been better off, I would have felt better, N and A wouldn't have needed to wonder what happened to their mother (constantly tired and out of patience). Seriously, one night, we put the kiddos to bed at 7pm, and I followed them, asking DH to wake me in 30 minutes. He tried, but I just couldn't get up. I slept until 7 the next morning.

It's nice to know that I'm not crazy. That there really is a reason for how I've felt for the last month. It's also really nice to feel good and to know that I can control it, even if I don't get to eat everything that I like all the time. It's funny, but having 2 rolls at dinner can be as much of a treat as a bowl of ice cream. Trust me.