Pregnancy Update

Here's the lastest pregnancy news. If you're tired of reading about all this, too bad. :)

Today was my doctor's appt. I normally go on Monday's so that Dan can join without taking time off work. However, since Monday's a holiday, the lady scheduled me for today. At this appt, I was getting another ultra-sound and taking the 1hour glucose test.

The ultra-sound was fun and baby girl is doing well. Everything looks good. She's just so active. I'm hoping that's not a foreshadowing for things to come. Dan and I may be in for it....

And then came the lovely glucose test. For those of you who don't know, they make you drink a 10 oz bottle of this sugary drink to see how your body handles the sugar and if you'll have gestational diabetes. Oh, and they only give you 5 minutes to get the whole bottle down. FUN!

I am able to drink the whole bottle fairly quickly and then I have to wait and wait and wait. Finally I see the doctor and she's looking over my chart and tells me that they scheduled me too early for the glucose test. At 25 weeks 4 days, the results won't be accurate. So, I have to retake the test at my next appt. GREAT! This was so much fun that I now get to do it again! My question is, why didn't the receptionist know that she was scheduling me too early. She knew I was getting a glucose test! She handed me the slip of paper with the "rules" on them. She should have known!!!!!!

On the plus side, I get a few more weeks of eating whatever I want and not having to worry.

Oh, and for those of you keeping track, I only gained 2 lbs this time! Yahoo!! So that puts me at a total of 19 lbs.

Trip to Mayberry

I just got off of the phone with a man from Babies-r-us. If he hadn't told me his name, I would have sworn I was talking to Gomer Pyle from Mayberry. I was trying not to laugh as he was telling me the crib we ordered had come in. I just kept waiting for him to say "Shazam" and "Goooolllly".

That made my day!

My first "splurge"

I was looking for a coming home outfit for baby and finally found one at Babies R US in St. Louis. It was more money than I ever expected to spend on a baby outfit, but I just couldn't resist. It's off white with pink bows and made out of a sweater material. It's totally impractical from the stand point that it has all buttons. It'll be a pain to button her up, but she'll look so cute. This outfit also came with matching booties but they look like they're a size 9 months or so. I guess she'll wear those later....

To Market, to Market

Dan and I just spent the last 2 days in St. Louis at an investor education class. These were 2 full days of stock market 101. I did really well on Saturday. I absorded all the info and felt like I understood all they were teaching. I think I really learned alot. By day 2 however, it was a good thing Dan was there to absorb the information for the both of us! Let's just say, my brain was tired and I just couldn't focus as well.

strange encounter

One thing about living in town that I haven't quite gotten used to is that from time to time we'll have random people ring our doorbell and ask for work. Growing up in the country, the only time we had people stopping by was if they had car trouble or if the UPS or Schwans man stopped. Not true for city living. Yesterday was one of those days.

Early afternoon the doorbell rings. I typically don't even answer the door if I look out and don't know who's there or it's not a delivery of some sort. As I got to the front door and peeked through the sheers, I saw a lady I didn't know. As I said, I usually ignore them and they go away. This lady, however, had already opened the porch door and was standing on the front steps with the door wide open. Again, I probably would have ignored her if she hadn't been looking with great interest at the 10+ boxes on the porch that UPS had delivered a bit earlier. There was nothing of great value in the boxes, they contained cardboard mailers for Dan's business.

So I opened the door and this is the conversation we had.

Lady: "Can you come here a minute?"

Me: Not knowing how to respond to that said nothing and already had decided I wasn't stepping out the front door.

Lady: "I'm looking for work you got anything I can do"?

Me: "No"

Lady: "I'm from Springfield and we need gas money." "What about your yard?"

Me: " We have someone coming to mow it already."

Lady: "OK."

With that she left and I closed the door and locked it. It just seems a bit strange to me that you'd drive all the way to Decatur to look for work when you're short on gas money. I didn't see a car and I think she may have been with someone (cause she kept looking at the neighbor's house) but I'm not sure cause I didn't think to look out the window when she walked away.

I still can't help but wonder if she saw UPS deliver all those boxes and was coming in for a closer look. I've heard about "burglars" who will ring the bell to see if people are home before they try and break in. Wouldn't she have been disappointed to know that there was nothing but empty cardboard boxes in those 10+ boxes.

observation

Twice in the last week I have totally under-estimated the cost of food.

Example 1: When Dan and I were at the seminar in STL I grabbed a $20 bill and headed out to the concessions to get us some lunch. I went to the Pizza Hut Express and ordered 2 personal pizzas and 2 waters. When the lady told me "That's $22.50" I about flipped! Thank goodness my mom had come out with me and I was able to borrow the extra $2.50 from her. I had more money in my purse, but wasn't even dreaming that it'd cost more than 20 bucks. The bottles of water alone cost $5 each! That's insane!

Example 2: Yesterday, Dan and I went to Bloomington for 3rd Sunday Market. We grabbed some lunch on the way home. I wanted Subway, so we stopped there first. I had $7 on me and thought that would be enough. I ordered a chicken, bacon, ranch 6 inch sub with the meal. The total came to $7.15! So there I was again without enough money. I had to run back to the car and get more from Dan.
Since when did Subway get so expensive????? I used to be able to eat there for a little over $5. I think the Subway commercials about the fat wallet are false advertising. The Subway owners are the ones with the fat wallet.
I like being able to eat somewhat healthy when I'm out, but when I can go to McDonald's and eat for under $4, as compared to over $7 at Subway.... the cheaper food is going to win out most of the time.

Dan and I are MOTIVATED!

Dan and I attend a seminar on Thursday along with my parents. It was called GET MOTIVATED and was held at the Scottrade Center (formerly the Savvis Center, formerly the Keil Center) in St. Louis. My dad got some info one day in the mail on this seminar. It was for small businesses or sales people, although really, anyone can attend. We'd never heard of it before but it sounded really interesting. So we decided to go and see what it was all about.

The tickets were only $5 if you bought in advance. If you waited to buy at the door they were $225! So for $5 this is what we got.

We saw and listened to Steve Forbes of Forbes Magazine, George Foreman, Brian Tracy, financial expert Suzi Orman, Zig Ziglar, and former Secretary of State, Colin Powel!!! There were also several other speakers that we'd never heard of, but they were just as good and entertaining. We really learned alot of helpful information and found the day to be very worthwhile.









We're actually going back to STL in the upcoming week to take another course that was offered through this seminar. Dan and I are going to learn how to strike it rich in the stock market! :) It won't be quite that easy, but we're going to learn how to handle our own money and make our own investments online.

If you're interested in attending at some point. You can go to getmotivated.com and find out more about it.

Good-bye Grandma

Today's entry is dedicated to my Grandma Ryan. She passed away early Thursday morning in her sleep. While this is sad news to hear, we we're all prepared for her passing because she hasn't been well for many months. She lived a long life--she was 94 years old.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my grandparents.

Eva Ryan

Born 12-19-1912

Died 8-16-2007

8 more pounds

I had my 23 week doctor appointment yesterday. Very routine, pee in a cup, blood pressure, and of course the lovely weigh-in. I gained 8 pounds this month!!!!! YIKES. I've now gained a total of 17 lbs. I told Dan that it was the fault of these maternity clothes I'm wearing. They stretch so much that I don't feel like I'm gaining anything. Before I stepped on the scale, I really didn't think I'd gained much this month. W.R.O.N.G. I need to be more careful in the next 3 weeks.
I've also hit the mark in my pregnancy where my doctors visits are scheduled more frequently. Instead of every 4 weeks, I'll now be going every 3 weeks. I'm not sure when it changes to every 2 weeks??
My doctor is also letting me have another sonogram at my next visit. I was hoping she'd do another one, but you never know if they will or not. The reason she's doing another one is to check for growth. I really don't think there's anything to worry about. I had asked her about my belly growth and if I were as big as I should be for this stage. She thought I was a little behind, but for my height, I'm probably fine. But, to be sure, she's scheduling another sonogram. So we'll get to see our little girl again... it's so fun to see.

What will not be so fun at the next appt is the 1 hour glucose test I have to do. I'm really not that worried about it, but if I fail, I have to do the 3 hour test.

"There's no crying in baseball"

I love this movie and never get tired of watching it. Right now it happens to be playing on the Family Channel.

Anyone want to venture a guess as to what movie it is????????

Long overdue

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this, but I've lived in Decatur now for 2 years and last night was my first trip to the public library. They were having a lecture on Decatur architecture so Dan and I went to that. It was ok. I would have liked to seen more pictures of private homes and such. There was a greater focus on the commercial buildings here in town. But it was a worthwhile trip because I got a library card! I even checked out a book on cd. It's only 20 hours of listening!!!! It's a good thing I have 4 weeks before returning it.

I'm sure once baby Niebrugge is old enough, we'll be making lots of trips to the library. I look forward to those days.

making progress

So little by little we're getting the baby's room ready. I'm anxious to get it done so I won't have to worry about it. Here's what's been done so far...

Painting done, check
bought rug, check
got bedding, check
changing table, check
closet door fixed, check
outlets replaced, check
shades hung, check

Still to do.... fix hole in celing closet, paint closet, put up closet organizers, buy crib, buy dresser and paint it, hang valances, and ummmm..... I'm sure there's more.

Parade fun

Here are a few pictures from Saturday and the annual Mt. Auburn Farmer's Picnic Parade. I wish I had a few more, but the camera batteries died on me soon after it started. So here's what I got!

Dan's reward

I figured that spending 6+ hours in the hot attic last weekend installing my new vent hood deserved a little reward. I made Dan's favorite today. An apple pie!

When things go bump in the night.

This has turned into a funny story to tell, however as it was happening, it was anything but!

Last Friday morning at about 2am, Dan and I were jolted from our sleep by a loud crashing sound. We both jumped up out of bed and looked around. I grabbed the phone so I'd have it in case I needed to dial 911. I was scared to death. I thought someone had tried to kick the door in, or thrown something through a basement window. As my heart was about to pound out of my chest, Dan and I slowly made our way to each room and checked all the doors and windows. I wasn't about to let him go searching alone in case there really was someone in the house. I had the phone remember?? Everything was locked tight and all the windows were fine, so we made our way back to the bedroom completely puzzled as to what made that horrendous noise. We turned on the bedroom light and I checked my closet and then I suggested that Dan check his closet. I thought, maybe something fell off the shelf. When we opened the door we discovered what had made the loud crashing sound. Dan's entire closet system had fallen out of the wall and crashed to the floor. So there we were, after 2am picking up his clothes off the floor and trying to find room in my closet and the nursery closet to hang his stuff. Thankfully, that's all it was and we weren't faced with an intruder. However, it did take me a good hour to get back to sleep because it took awhile for my heart to settle back down, Dan on the other hand fell back asleep almost immediately.

Back in the groove

I've been planning my monthly grocery shopping trip this morning. I'm not quite done, but I won't be going till tomorrow so I have some time. I'm glad to finally get back in the swing of things after all the horrible pregnancy woes earlier on.

Since last fall, I decided to start planning my meals so that I wasn't faced everyday with the question of "What am I going to make for dinner?". I have to say that for me it works great and I love it when I'm organized. I made a template on the computer and so for each week I have a paper with the days of the week and plenty of room to fill in my menu. I usually plan for 4 weeks of meals and then I go shopping. Now, of course there will be a few things that I can't get till the last minute, but I get the bulk of my shopping done and out the way. I have found that I actually spend less money when I do this. Dan appreciates that!!!

I got out of the groove in April when the morning sickness began and even though I've felt good the last 10 weeks, my laziness took over and now it's time to get going again.

When I tell people about my menus I get some surprised reponses. Some are amazed that I can think about meals that far in advanced, and I often get the question, "What if you're not in the mood for you planned to fix"? Well, I'm flexible. I always have the option to switch meals around if something comes up or we just don't feel like having "meatloaf" that night. But for the most part, it's never been a problem.

I'm going to try and keep this up after the baby gets here. I will probably have to modify my plan a bit and do a bit of trial and error. I think it'll work though.