All About Me Meme

My friend Jessie over at Keep it Together tagged me in an "All about Me" blog meme. I have never participated in one before. Thanks so much Jessie!

There are four rules to this meme....

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Link back to the Blogger (or Bloggers) who awarded you.
3. Answer the following questions, down below.
4. Pass the award out and victimize recognize other Bloggers letting them know, of course, that you've nailed love them.

Now on to the questions:

-Favorite color:
Currently it's red. I've also like blue, peach, and purple during different times growing up.

-Favorite animal:
Stuffed ones. I'm allergic to animals so I prefer to stay away from them. I'll take a Webkinz pet any day.

-Favorite Number:
I don't know if I've ever had a favorite number. I guess I'll choose the traditional 7?

-Favorite drink:
I love a really good cookies & cream milkshake or mint chocolate chip milkshake.

Facebook or Twitter?:
Facebook - I forget about Twitter and rarely ever sign on to it.

-Passion?
I like baking a LOT. But I'm also passionate about my family.

-Getting or Giving presents?
I love getting presents. I like it when I can find that perfect gift for someone and really surprise them, but I have to say that I really like it when someone surprises me.

-Favorite Day:
Saturday. I get to sleep in and do whatever I want to.

-Favorite Flower:
Roses - I love the peach colored ones.

Interesting Side Effects

This trimester I've had some interesting side effects that you don't hear many pregnant people talking about. I thought I would list them out so I won't forget them:

1. blurry eyes
2. bad hip pains in the middle of the night
3. leg cramps in my calves in the middle of the night
4. stuffy nose - for 3 solid months now
5. carpal tunnel syndrome (I may have helped this one along in my right wrist over doing some baking during the holidays)
6. itchy belly
7. really sore belly button
8. swollen feet, ankles, hands
9. hungry all the time
10. tiny skin tags popping up
11. fast hair growth
12. painful heels and bottoms of the feet
13. sleepy
14. really itchy legs if I eat sugar
15. very thirsty
16. insomnia - waking up at all hours of the night
17. stretching and tightening of the stomach all the time
18. lots of baby movements rolling around in my tummy all day

With all that going on, I actually feel really good & am getting along great. I just didn't realize how many different things are affected in one's body when pregnant. I hope I continue to feel good for the next 8 weeks! All I really need right now is a nap.

31 Week Ultrasound & Check Up

I've gained 16 pounds so far. Baby is 3lbs 9 oz, which means that since 3 weeks ago, I've gained only 2 pounds, 1.5 of which was his weight gain. That also means he's growing about 1/2 pound a week now. He is in the 46% for growth (up from 44% last time), so right on target. His heart rate was 123. My BP was 114/60. My placenta looks good. They check older women in case the placenta tries to break down early. Mine looked really good.

I've had blurry eyes & swelling of the feet, which according to the doctor is okay since my BP is good & I have no protein in the urine. They will continue to monitor for pre-eclampsia. No handicap passes but she did recommend some of those compression socks to wear that diabetics wear. For my persistant stuffy nose, I can take Tylenol Cold not Sudafed. Sudafed can make swelling worse.

She checked my diabetes numbers on my chart that I do 4 times a day. She said they looked really good. Said to keep drinking lots of water (for baby & for swelling). I go back once a week now with next ultrasound in 3 weeks. Starting at 34 week, they will listen to baby's heart beat for 20 solid minutes each visit. As baby gets bigger, she said the ultrasound pictures won't be as clear. She is right as these are really blurry.

This one is his body that she cut & pasted next to his head.

This one is his head looking at us with his foot up near his head.

To see the 31 week video, click here.

New Appliance

Old dishwasher

Our dishwasher has not been doing a great job of cleaning dishes lately. It's been leaving little black dots on things and residue on others. Over Christmas break, mom & dad bought a new dishwasher & gave us their old one.

New dishwasher

It's a much better dishwasher than ours, but is the same GE brand. Vince spent Saturday installing it. This "new" one had a leak in it so we put a new seal on the door. Also, mom & dad's water has a lot of lime in it and it took a toll on a few of the parts so Vince swapped out a few of the lime-eaten parts off their dishwasher with ours. And it still leaked, so then he swapped out the entire motor unit. And now it works perfectly!

The old one had no insulation at all around it and was really noisy. Vince put new insulation inside against the cabinets. The new one also had thicker insulation around it. It is so much quieter now. We can actually watch TV with it on now & we don't have to turn the volume way up.

Vince has some mad skills when it comes to rebuilding and repairing appliances. So if he ever needs a side job or something to fall back on, appliance repairman can be added to his resume.

Vince Cooking

On Friday, Vince's co-workers all brought food in. The condition was set that the person bringing it had to be the one to make it. I was told I could not make food for him to bring. Vince gave me the coolest ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid for Christmas. He was the first one to use it. He decided on raspberry sorbet. He actually ended up making raspberry muscadine sorbet as raspberries are quite expensive during off season & we still had some muscadines to use in the freezer.

The recipe called for pureed fruit and simple syrup. So Vince learned how to puree and how to make simple syrup.

The sorbet turned out great! The only problem was that in one tiny little scoop, it had 57 carbs, so I couldn't have any.

And for fun, I did happen to have some extra chocolate cake batter from a cake I was making, so he took 12 cupcakes along with it.

4D Ultrasound

Sleeping face

Covering his face with his hand

SMH! (Smack my head)

Giving us the finger while his left foot is resting on his head.

Open mouth - trying to chew the umbilical cord.

Open mouth

Face

Sticking tongue out to make lips look bigger

Resting

Resting some more

Foot & leg with fist

Holding his foot above his head

Profile - pushing his hand against his confined space

On week 29 day 3, Vince & I went to a clinic in Richmond, VA to have a voluntary 4D ultrasound done. We invited the family to come join us. Mom, Dad, Kim, Elise, Rachel, Pat, Ravyn & Cody got to see the baby moving around. We found out some very interesting facts. The baby has a lot of hair already! He may need a hair cut as soon as he's born. He has full lips and likes to push them out more with his tongue. He likes to try to chew on his umbilical cord. He plays with his feet a lot & can put his feet on top of his head (he's very flexible). He is definitely a boy. The technician kept referring to his boy parts as the "turtle". He even touched his "turtle" at one point proving he already has that male instinct. He is very muscular and put on a gun show for us. He has chubby fingers (and shot us a bird at one point). We think he has a cleft chin like my dad. He has long eye lashes.

My placenta is directly in the front of my belly so it shields him from seeing much light. My fluid levels looked great. He shielded his face most of the time with his hands and feet, but we were able to see a lot of him. His heartrate was about 140.

I go back to my doctor on Jan 10 for my 31 week appointment & growth ultrasound. From then on, I go once a week. Only 10 weeks left to go (or less!).

It took me about 6 1/2 hours to upload the video to YouTube from the clinic. Click here to see it.

I'm hoping to upload the live version that Vince took soon, when I have time to do so. You can here us all talking about it & it's one continous stream.

More from Christmas Week

Cody's favorite pastime was trying to feel the baby kick. Even when the baby kicked him hard, Cody never could feel it. But Ravyn thought it felt like an alien in my belly.

The family gathered around for the 4D ultrasound. Rachel took the picture. Click here to view the video.

The guys did so much work this past week I can't even remember what all they did. All of mom's appliances died this past week so she got a new fridge. The guys replaced the dishwasher twice (the one from Sears scratch n dent leaked worse than the first one). They built a winch in the attic to lift things for dad. They replaced the garbage disposal that got a crack in it & sprang a leak. They fixed the doorbell. They cleaned out the garage & put together dad's new tractor he got for Christmas. Vince also put together dad's new leaf blower/sucker. Vince cut down dad's new cane by one inch to fit him better. John & Pat replaced a two plug outlet with a four plug outlet. It was a very busy week for the guys, but I could tell they had a good time hanging out together.

We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Maggiano's with Rachel, Pat, the kids, and mom & dad.

Vince & I surprised dad at work one day.

Kim, Rachel, Mom, Billy & I worked in the kitchen to clean out all her cabinets since she got all new dishes for Christmas. We also ended up cleaning out the fridge & freezer to get ready for the new fridge. It was a very productive vacation!