Let's see, where should I pick up - so much to talk about! And once again, it has been more than 4 weeks since my last update. I have lots of excuses, but I will not go into them. I think an update per month is frankly not too bad. We'll start back up around the beginning of May, where tons of family visited and we celebrated our niece Hayden's first birthday on Mother's Day. It was a super cute celebration and we are so glad that our house is centrally located enough for everyone to gather at. We got to see Nick's parents, of course, as well as my sis-in-law Brie and baby Hayden. Nick's aunts Jenni and Lucy made it, as well as Jenni's husband uncle Bill. The grandparents Shirley and Dick also came for the day from Michigan. We had a fun but busy time and I can't believe Hayden turned one year old, how quickly the time goes by.
I finally started my basic instructor's class at the brand new building where BRAC has consolidated all aerospace medicine studies. That was about mid May or so when we started school. While I was glad to start the class it was hard being back in the classroom all day again - some things never change I guess but there is something to be said about being a life-long student. After all, what can beat the joy of learning new things and being a better instructor for my future students?
We had a Memorial Day cook-out where we invited friends over and had lots of fun. With his credit card reward points Nick purchased an early anniversary gift for me, well, for the baby: a step 2 slide system. Only later did he realize it was for kids 2 years and up - oh well, I'm sure the baby will be able to use it in no time. Seriously though, they have so many fun toys for kids these days!
We started our Lamaze childbirth class as well at the base hospital. While it is a good class with lots of information I have either already seen or read just about 85% of it - but still, the extra 15% is nice. Nick has been supportive in going with me, but not always the happiest of campers. I may go to the rest by myself - we'll see. Mostly it as been hard for me to completely alert after a long day as the class is every Wednesday from 6-8:30 pm -- for 6 weeks! Plus I have another nursing class to attend by myself. Still, I'm very appreciative for all the resources that the base hospital is providing - especially their general attitude toward a more natural birth without all the crazy interventions.
During the first class a few weeks ago a tornado warning was actually called - meaning a tornado had actually been seen in the area. We arrived home to find hail as large as the size of small peaches, only flatter. Nick and I had been painting our garage floors with epoxy so we had been parking the cars outside. Luckily we both drove our cars and they stayed on base for the evening and there wasn't hail in that area. Our wonderful neighbor, who has been taking care of the dogs on Wednesday nights, describe how crazy the storm was. She also said they had lots of roof damage at an earlier storm with smaller hail. Sure enough, our insurance adjuster came out a few weeks later and totaled our roof as well as three of the five skylights. Our older plastic "bubble" skylights had holes from the hail! Even with a 1% deductible on the insured value of the house we should be okay once the claim gets finalized. Our house was built in 1988 and a new roof was installed in 2001, so it'll definitely be a nice selling point when we go to sell the house. Nick couldn't differentiate roof damage but the adjuster sure could. I guess this is why we pay home insurance!
So about the baby - she's a super active baby! I don't even have to count fetal movements because she pretty moves around most of the day! I've gained about 20 pounds and I'm hoping not too much more with the 7.5 weeks left. I've also really fallen off the exercise wagon. I walk on most days and house and yard work keep me active. But actually devoting time to exercise has been tough - hopefully I can go back to at least 3 to 4 times a week before the baby's here. Other than that I'm having some more difficulty getting good rest at night. My bulging belly makes it difficult to get comfortable, as well as the nightly trips to the bathroom - at times it has increased to 2 times a night. But I better get used to that with night time feeding coming up in a few weeks. I've also started to do some packing just in case, although that's not completed.
I have some other good news to share: I passed my gestational diabetes test with flying colors! My level was at 73 (not sure what the units are) but my midwife told me they don't get concerned until the levels reach around 130 - so essentially I'm only a little over half of what they would worry at! I was pretty sure I wouldn't have too much problem with this with my generally good diet and exercise, but you never know after drinking the equivalent of 2/3 of a can of super sugary water - who wouldn't have high blood sugar levels after that?
My brother Aleck has graduated from high school. My mom has been somewhat stressed with his high school years but he's made it through. He's probably enlisting in the Air Force and going to college about 4 years later, which all sounds like a good plan.
I think this is about it, it's hard to believe we have less than 8 weeks to go, and I feel like I still have so much work to do. Our good friend Jackie and Mark are throwing us a coed baby shower at the end of the month, so hopefully whatever we have left to get we'll receive at the shower - baby needs so much stuff! I will once again work on getting pictures posted...
