Greek Fest & New House!

Sorry my postings have become irregular…I tried to post on Sunday, but either the computer froze, or blogger did, and I pretty much lost everything. So, here I am, trying to recreate the wonderful, insightful, witty entry that I had—and I’m sure I won’t quite be able to match the genius that flowed from my fingertips to the keyboard, but I’ll try.

I also promise to post a couple belly photos in the next day or so—in the past month I haven’t really felt, well, photogenic (unless you call feeling like a beached whale “photogenic”). But, I do think it’s important to document these stages, so I’ll get Patrick to take few snaps in the next day or so—if he can fit my belly in the frame, that is.

We went to Greek Fest on Saturday—it was a lot of fun, and I never knew you could play the Holy Trinity of Rock –n- Roll (for those of you who don’t know “Kids in the Hall,” that refers to the opening chords of “Smoke on the Water”) on a bazouki. Heck, I don’t even know how to spell “bazouki”—it’s basically a Greek mandolin. But, play “Smoke on the Water” you can, and I’m not sure if that thrills me or terrifies me. We also saw some children doing some native dancing, which as far as I can tell just involves walking around in circles to some really bad music. I DID hear a couple people yell “OPA!” which made the dancing bearable. My blood sugar levels have been low—maybe a bit TOO low—but it enabled me to enjoy a wonderful lunch of Greek meatballs, spanikopita, a bite of Patrick’s lamb, and the piece de resistance—Greek doughnuts. I just love that it seems like every culture has fried dough. And they were yummy.

We’re buying a house…no, the one in Finger hasn’t sold yet, but we figured we can get into a house for less than we’re paying for rent and the storage unit…we’re trying to close on June 9, a couple weeks before the Bean’s scheduled entrance into the world, and I’ve promised Patrick that I’ll keep my knees together as long as I can until we get moved in.

The house is really great—it was 3 bedrooms, but they took down a wall and opened up the living room, and so it’s just 2 bedrooms; 2 full baths. The house is old, and the current homeowners have redone some of the hardwood floors. We’ve talked about refinishing the hardwoods in the living room/what used to be the 3^rd bedroom and is now the dining room—but that can wait. The home is pretty much move-in ready—anything that we’d like to do would be cosmetic (changing out some of the light fixtures, for example). In the main bath there’s only a bathtub, but it’s a nice cast iron tub that just needs a little refinishing & an overflow cover…and the home inspector said that the overflow cover wouldn’t be an issue until the Bean gets older—and then that’s where he/she would be putting things. Like keys and maybe small animals. The homeowners have done a lot of updating—it’s got a nice, open kitchen, and the bedrooms are a really great size—the master bedroom is really big, there’s a nice master bath that they’ve redone with a nice vanity (and it does have a tub/shower) and there’s a nice deck out back. They also have an outbuilding that’s wired for cable, has heat & air, and we’re thinking it would not be hard to turn it into a guest cottage. There’s also a “dollhouse” that they bought for their little girls—one of those really cute playhouses, and Patrick said that it could be turned into a fort if we have a boy without a problem. There’s also a storage shed, too! The back yard is fenced, and has a swing set (that I’m pretty sure is staying). The house is on a corner lot, so the front yard is a good size, too, and the homeowners have done a good job of landscaping. There’s a wood-burning fireplace and a gorgeous mantle (so I don’t need to lay claim to yours anymore, Janet!). It feels like home to us…and we can’t wait to move in! Lots of windows, so it’s bright and airy. The front porch is big enough to put, say, a glider or double rocker on one side of the front door, and maybe a small table and a couple chairs on the other side.

Here are some pictures of the outside; we swung by on Saturday—we missed the yardsale, so all the furniture (including some nice antique pieces) were already gone, and I didn’t want to intrude by going inside (I know how I’d feel if we threw a yard sale, people bought the furniture my underwear was stored in, and then someone wanted to take pictures!), but we did get some outside shots.

Can’t wait to have y’all visit!!!

(Looking at the front of the house from the road)

(From the left of the house)

(From the right of the front yard)

(Patrick, wondering where he’ll put the new Smoker he plans on buying—this is on the back deck…it has recessed lighting that comes on at dusk!)

(Looking at the back deck from where Patrick was standing in the previous picture)

(This is in the corner of the back yard, looking towards the house; the “Guest Cottage” is the larger building next to the Sheriff’s car, the dollhouse is just to the left of that.)

(View of dollhouse)

(Patrick, walking the back property line)

(Big tree—oak? hickory? maple?—in front yard; Patrick is there for scale. If you’re standing on the front porch, it’s in the right corner of the front yard. Nice, big & shady…perfect for putting a blankie down & letting the Bean have some outside time in a nice, cool spot!)

33 weeks...Wow.

Yup. 33 weeks this Wednesday. Holy crap. That means we have less than 2 months until we can see this whirling dervish inside my belly. By the way, I do think that this child is breakdancing, and I swear the Bean is putting his/her head squarely on my bladder, and spinning, arms and legs akimbo. At least, that's what it feels like.

Glad to see that my cousin Pam posted--welcome!!! The more family & friends, the merrier!!!

Had a bit of good news come to the mailbox today--our Claim Check from Allstate (do you hear the angels singing? Because I do....)! They've reimbursed us for the money we've already shelled out, PLUS enough, it looks like, to get the house back to "ready to sell" mode. I'm going to call our realtor tomorrow, make sure he's got a copy of the estimate, and hopefully he'll be able to find someone who can do the work for a bit less than what Allstate is allowing for.

We've started looking at houses--even though the Finger house is still on the market (and I still have faith in Mr. Naylor to sell our house soon!), we figure that if we can get into a house, a real, actual house with more than 700 sq. ft. of space, maybe I'll feel a little less stressed, maybe we can actually save a little money (depending on the price of the house, we may be paying less for something that's ours!), and maybe some things will work themselves out.

My rash for example. No, this isn't going to be one of those times I post a picture, so no worries. But it looks like I'm one of the lucky few to have developed PUPPS. I forget what the acronymn stands for, and it sounds god-awful...and it isn't very pleasant, actually. It starts off all itchy around your stretch marks (that are, in themselves oh-so-attractive), raised little bumps, that spread to your belly, your thighs, your arms, your legs...thank goodness it doesn't seem to go to the face...but it itches something fierce. It sorta feels like you strolled through poison ivy, rolled through poison oak, took a detour through some poison sumac and then, just for fun, sat on an ant hill. From what my doctor said, they don't know why some women develop PUPPS and some don't--but it goes away with delivery of the child, and that's about the only cure. I think he said that it was something about your body's immune system is attacking the extra amino acids floating around.

So what's a preggo girl to do, then? Take steroids. 80mg of Prednisone, to be exact. Yeah, that sounded like a lot to me, too, but apparently Prednison is safe--it doesn't cross the placenta, won't give either me or the baby excessive facial hair...but Prednisone and I do not get along. I did not know this before I started taking it. But last Tuesday, I had a total & utter meltdown. I would like to give Prednisone props, though--it did clear up the rash (and now I think it's more dry skin than anything), but made me a basket case. We had a nice evening with Mom & Dad (who were down visiting) and as soon as I got in the house, I lost it. I had about a 5 hour crying jag, and just could not stop. Poor Patrick was asking if it was him, if it was me....and I just felt like I'd lost it. Now, granted, there were lots of things going on, and I still am not 100% convinced that what I had wasn't a stress-related rash, but that's just a theory, but I so wasn't myself. And to top that off, Prednisone makes your feet swell--mine got so big I had "cankles"--my calves just morphed into the tops of my feet. Fun and attractive! The swelling wasn't fun, and I could have dealt with that, but the steroids also caused my ankles to swell to the point of pain. I couldn't bend any of my little piggies, and Tuesday night (during one of my many trips to the bathroom) I realized that I could not put weight on my left ankle. I called the doc on Wed. morning, and he prescribed staying at home with my feet up, and decreasing the Prednisone dosage.

So, I'm down to 10mg now, which is very do-able, my ankles are back and are not sore, and I feel much more like myself. (And Patrick is just happy that I'm not crying anymore.)

But why would I think that the rash may be stress, and not this PUPPS? Well, I've also been one of the lucky few who develop gestational diabetes, too! Yes, folks...I've either angered the pregnancy Gods...or I don't know. I know that going into the 3rd trimester is when things really get hard on your body, and if you're going to get "the diabetes" (hey, something the cat & I have in common!), now is when it'll happen. I just felt so betrayed by my body, though--I'd had a FABULOUS pregnancy up until then, everything just textbook. Then all of a sudden--BOOM, no more bread for me!

We tried to control my blood sugar levels with diet & Glyburide, a pill that is virtually painless, that prompts your pancreas to make more insulin. Usually diet modification works, and when combined with the Glyburide, most women are just fine. Unfortunately, I'm not "most women." So, I'm shooting up twice a day--insulin in the morning, and insulin in the evening. I don't, however, have to do it three times a day any more...they've pulled out the big guns, and I'm mixing a regular insulin with a longer-lasting one, so I can skip the afternoon poke. Luckily, though, the needles are very, very small, and it's usually pain free (every once in awhile I don't get the needle at the right angle and it smarts a bit, but then I get to use that to make Patrick feel sorry for me).

And, as my doctor appointment confirmed today, I'm also unusual in that the foods that I'm eating don't always correspond with my blood sugar levels. The nurse did agree that the foods that should send my blood sugar levels through the roof (Mexican food, BBQ...) don't really affect it all that much, but then if I eat a bowl of Cheerios & have a piece of toast, we're looking at the 200-300s. Go figure. So, I did receive confirmation that I'm a little odd in that respect. But at least I can still have my Mexican food & BBQ.

So, for the past few weeks we've been dealing with my itchy rash, with "the diabetes"--and of course the tree falling on the house--so I think that a lot of what I've been going through is stress-related. The two days that I couldn't walk on my ankles & where I stayed home, watching crappy Lifetime TV movies and sleeping--did a lot for my peace of mind.

And, now that we're in the process of looking for a house, hopefully we'll have more room (which would be nice to get before the baby is born), and won't have the Stompy McFightersteins training their tap-dancing elephants at 2 am (or whatever it is they do when they're not drunk & fighting with each other) above our heads. I'll feel more settled, with something that's ours, a place where we can really raise our family...and maybe I won't be so itchy with high blood sugar.

I'll keep everyone posted on the house hunt, will post my 32-33 week picture of The Belly in the next day or so, and will try to be a bit more regular about posting on this thing.

I will have to say, too, that I work with some very generous people--the Firm hosted a baby shower for us (and I am so happy that Mom was able to attend!!!), and we ended up with so much stuff...in fact, the majority of it is still in the car trunk, because I have no idea where we'd put it in the apartment... We got the stroller and the bouncy seat, and lots of blankets (a few hand-made and will become heirlooms--Kristina, I'm putting your blanket in this category, too!); onesies and sheets and bibs and socks...just so much stuff!!!! So, we are very appreciative of the generosity of my coworkers!

So everyone, keep your fingers crossed that we find a great house soon--and maybe we can actually have a nursery and display some of the wonderful gifts we've received. The realtor & I will be looking at 3 houses tomorrow afternoon, and if they're nice, we'll bring Patrick by to give his opinon. Although, I'm sure if it would keep me from crying like last Tuesday night, he'd let me pick out any house I wanted....