Weekend Review

We had a pretty good weekend, despite it being still short on sleep. I'm not sure if it's the third trimester or the breakneck pace we've kept up, but I cannot get enough sleep lately. Pete says he's tired too, so that's comforting -- it's not just me!

We set up the baby room/guest room/office on Friday with mixed success; we realized we really could use more space, and we have to move my beloved bookcase out and find a place for it. In 2009 we might have to move to a 3-BR apt. The crib is put together, without a mattress for now -- we're expecting to get a gift card for BabyEarth.com at the shower my office is throwing for us on Aug. 7, so we're going to use that towards the purchase. The glider is arriving in the next three weeks or so. The bedding is also arriving in the next few weeks.

Today we went to childbirth class, which I didn't want to go to at the last minute, but Pete talked me into it. I think we both found it informative. I found it fairly terrifying. I suspect there's a chance I will be induced early because of the gestational diabetes -- as much as three weeks early. That'll put us right at Labor Day. Funny, last Labor Day we were having our big family wedding. I'm trying not to hypervenilate over the thought of having the baby that soon, but frankly, I'm tired of the diabetes diet and blood testing and am just ready to meet Little Girl.

We got the crib!

The crib is here!!! I checked IKEA's stock today and whaddya know, they had one in stock. I drove over and got the last one! I had someone help me get it off the shelf, into the car and into the apartment (but not the same person, that would be weird).

Pete gets home tomorrow night from Chicago, hooray! I can't wait to see him. In the meanwhile, my favorite aunt and cousin are coming to visit tomorrow; I'm so excited to see them. I have the apartment looking relatively sane. I used the Bugaboo tonight as a laundry cart - I'm crazy like that.

This weekend we're going to get the room ready for baby girl. I'm really excited -- I've had trouble sleeping lately thinking about all the stuff I need to do before she gets here. Now I can get started!

We're Just Fine

Sorry for not posting more, we've had a busy week. I'm adjusting to the diabetes diet and testing my blood 4x a day. It's going ok, I guess. My blood values have been within range every time I've tested, so that's good. 

We got the baby's stroller this week, which was exciting. We took it for a walk and didn't mind the double-take from our neighbors. 

The crib is still out of stock; we're hoping it comes in sometime in August. Our glider, which you can see the shape of HERE, (we ordered it in an orange modern textured fabric), is expected to arrive sometime in August as well. 

The baby bedding pictured HERE should be here any day. 

Letsee what else is new over here:

• Pete got new glasses and contacts -- apparently the doctor was a jerk, which is unfortunate. 
  
• Pete's up at Clearlake this weekend for a party weekend, sponsored by Absolut vodka. Then he leaves for Chicago until Thursday for his first work trip. 
• We paid off our credit card debt and took out life insurance policies. We're really grown up now! 

That's all I can think of. Hope you're having a good weekend! 

Weekend babyshower

The babys hower was a great success. We had great food, weather and no games!
Our friend Kelly arranged pretty much everything and helped us out quite a bit to make it a memorable event. A few pictures from the event can be found on Frogstar.

Miata update: Meter hood 1

For quite some time I have had a loose "Meter hood" that has rattled since somebody at a car wash broke a piece on it. I tried to fasten it but I decided to pull it completely off when that didn't work any more, glue it back together and just wrap some of my leftover leather over it, sounds cheap and easy. - Few things are, including this.

In trying to pull it off, the whole thing broke in something like 23 different places, it was mega-brittle! I had to buy a brand new one.

Weekend Preview!

We've got a crazy weekend planned, of course. Tonight we're going down to Santa Cruz for dinner with Josh, then tomorrow I'm getting a manicure-pedicure, and maybe looking at apartments with Josh. Things are going really well for him; he expects to have a formal job offer today and he's thrilled at the prospect.

Pete is going canoeing tomorrow with the YSC. On Sunday we're having our baby shower, and are expecting 18 people to come over for a mexican bbq and pool party. Fun!

In the meanwhile, I hope to sneak in some naps and walks with Mrs. B.

Have a good weekend!

New Sofa!

Good thing we have an exceptionally comfy sofa (and a new chair) to deal with all that bad news..
Here are some pictures of the old and the new sofa, the new one is about 1 foot (34cm) deeper and much softer than the old one:

Gestational Diabetes

Yes, I have it. It's been a rough 36 hours. I will have to test my blood 5-6 times a day, and I have to completely change the way I eat. As an example, I've been eating Fiber One cereal with a banana and milk every morning for the past year or so. I found out today that it's the very worst thing I can be eating since my glucose levels spike overnight (thanks to hormones). So now I'll be eating natural peanut butter and berries in the morning, hard boiled eggs for a snack, protein and vegetables and milk for lunch, cheese and a piece of fruit for afternoon snack, protein and vegetables for dinner, and another serving of protein (!!) with milk before I go to bed. Absolutely no sugar, sweets or fruit juice. 

Needless to say, I'm a little overwhelmed...

But if I stick to this - and trust me, I will -- Little Girl will come out healthy and normal sized. If I don't, it increases the chances of her being abnormally large, which increases the chances of me having a c-section. 

Miata update: New leather!

(Click on images for larger view.)
So this has been a project in the making for some time, but it wasn't very hard to to, I was just nervous to do something wrong.

First find a good leather supplier, that can save you hundreds of dollars right away. I was looking at $200 for the leather alone which is called "Estate Leather" it's more durable and is thicker than the ones found in Acuras, Mercedeses. I got away with it for $50.

First I had to disconnect the airbag, which was a nervous hassle but necessary for obvious reasons. Here are pictures from the wire harness (mess) under and beneath the steering column. (Click on image for larger view)


















1 Disconnect the battery, wait 30 minutes for any voltage in the airbag system to dissipate.
2 Then remove the airbag from the steering wheel and remove the steering wheel itself.
3 Cut off the leather with a razor blade. What you want to cut is the thread because you want to use the old leather as a template for the new.

Once the leather was cut, the new leather was put through a sewing maching without thread so that the stitching would be even and easy on the fingers.
The stitching was the most laborious part of the whole process and took, due to my skills or lack thereof more than one day to finish. I therefore had to drive the car with the leather only partially fastened, and no airbag, but that was actually no problem since it was already sitting pretty tight, and it was only a temporary solution.
The last steps involved using vulcanizing glue from a spray gun that must have belonged to Frankenstein it was old, but it worked very well.
Putting everything back in its place was easy, and in order to make the airbag work again I just left the car sit with the battery disconnected for 35 minutes before I mounted and reconnected the airbag essentially resetting the computer.
I also carefully noted all my saved channels in my radio.
Heres the "new" wheel:
















I also decided to replace the vinyl that had adorned the shifter with some of the leftover leather. My upholstery friend pretty much made it from my cutouts in less than four minutes.



















For more pictures and comments from the work process go to my Frogstar site.
(http://frogstar.smugmug.com/gallery/5427258_U8pwB#331842121_NzNpw)

Weekend Review!

It was a mixed weekend for us:

The good:

• My brother came to visit and arrived Friday night. Fun! He's interviewing for a job this week and we may have found him a potential apartment if things go well. The job would be a transfer with his existing company.
  
• We made awesome flank steak Friday. And I do mean awesome. It was insanely good. 
• We sold our old sofa for 25% of what I paid 10 YEARS AGO! Woo-woo!
• We had our friend Essie over for dinner Saturday night.
• Our new mattress arrived Saturday morning. 
• We cleaned the apartment and it looks really nice. 

The bad:

• The crib we want from Ikea is backordered for another 6-7 weeks (or so they say). Yikes.
  
• Ikea was also out of the bedding we agreed on and didn't have any throw pillows or rugs we liked.
• I failed my gestational diabetes test and had to go today for a three-hour additional test. I should find out the results Monday. Google gestational diabetes if you want to know what a positive result might mean or click here. Again, yikes. 
• We had to reset our Tivo. Devastating. 
• We had to say goodbye to our friend Essie, who's moving to Oslo. Bye Essie. We will truly miss you. 
• He-man the cat moved out. Nuff said. 

The ugly:

• My brother, Pete and I all felt sick after Saturday night's dinner of burgers. We suspect the meat or the grill was the culprit. I still feel sick, frankly. But it could be that horrid super sugary drink I drank for the test today. 
  
• Pete is not a fan of the new mattress; we had another one delivered last weekend, and it was horribly uncomfortable for me. After two trips and about 2 hours in the mattress store, we finally thought we had compromised and got the right one. 
  
• After saying goodbye to He-Man, I broke out in hives all over my face. Dang. 

That's the update people. 

Updated Belly Pics!

Here I am! I'll be 29 weeks pregnant tomorrow. That's just over 7 months, for the math-challenged readers. 11 weeks to go! 

And yes, it appears I had spilled something on my shirt. I couldn't see it until I saw the picture. Oops.