Glucose FUN!

Well, except for in this case. The glucose challenge test, as they call it, is just about the only time that glucose is not fun. In case you don't keep up to date on Pregnancy magazine, the glucose test is a test given to make sure that my pancreas is still producing adequate amounts of insulin during pregnancy. If not, they diagnose me with Gestational Diabetes and either severely restrict my sugar/carbohydrate intake or make me give myself insulin shots. So, yah: for the test they make you drink a very sugary drink and take your blood, and all the while you know that if it doesn't go well then you could be drinking some of the last sugars you'll get until after delivery. It's a messed up head game, as far as I can tell:-)

I chose the fruit punch flavor. It tastes mostly like Hawaiian Punch, only there's something a bit strange or "off" about it. In any case, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but I definitely wouldn't want to drink it again. Drinking 50 grams of sugar in five minutes gave this mama-to-be a headache.

After drinking the "Kool-Aid," meeting with my doctor, and then having my blood drawn, I was ready for a real lunch. I headed to North Boulder for Breadworks, which is a locally-owned bakery/cafe. The truth is that I want to love Breadworks, but most of the time it's just "meh." Today was no exception. I got a big side of their summer panzanella salad

a tub of hummus

and a lemon seltzer water.

My baby is probably dying of boredom from the menu I feed her. Sometimes I think I should just hit up a Burger King drive-thru and down a flame-broiled something something just to change things up. But, that probably won't happen.

I will, however, enjoy something tasty for dinner tonight, since David and I are going to the Boulder Farmers' Market to meet friends for dinner. Cross your fingers that it cools down a bit before then...

P.S. Working tomorrow and Friday; will try to check-in on Saturday or Sunday!

*Pop or soda? And do you drink the stuff?

Scorcher

Holy pot pie it's freaking hot up here in CO. Is it hot where you are? All of a sudden it's really, truly summer. Part of me is glad because that means that after summer ends I'll almost be done being pregnant. The other part of me is slightly dreading more hot days since my maternity clothes shopping has been minimal and my current maternity wardrobe is a pair of jeans and the same two t-shirts worn over and over. And, in case you can't imagine, maternity jeans are not very cooling. That thing that holds your fetus in place while you run, dribble basketballs, or chase cars is just another layer of stuff that makes you feel hotter when your body is already cooking at a higher temperature due to the pregnancy itself.

Whew.

Luckily, my mom likes air conditioning, and today I spent the afternoon with her. She's still babysitting my niece Ella and today I went down to her house for lunch and a shopping trip.

We went to the mall, where Ella was entranced with this little kid doing acrobatics.

I was just as entranced by our attempts to buy new shoes for Ella. It was just about the cutest thing ever to see the salesgirl trying to fit Ella's little foot into the metal sizing thingy.

I told the girl helping us that Ella's thighs usually aren't quite so plump--she must be retaining water:-) I really like plump baby thighs.

I also bought a new purse. I almost bought a purse from the Saks Fifth Avenue outlet, but quickly changed my mind when I learned that it was originally $570 and still only on sale for $240. I mean, it was leather, but $240? I'm barely mature enough to have a purse (i.e. instead of my school messenger bag); I can't fathom spending that much money on an item that I still feel slightly uncomfortable carrying around. Although, I guess I've spent that much money on this little baby I'm carrying around...hmmm.

She looks very mischievous, doesn't she?

After shopping and driving home, I decided to treat myself to a pedicure.

So sad. These babies are definitely starting to swell. If I'm already swelling and retaining this much water now how much can I expect to swell up by the time I'm finished cooking the baby? Luckily I don't wear stilettos as often as Kim Kardashian: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2325813/Kim-Kardashians-swollen-feet-severely-pinched-squeezes-sky-high-perspex-stilettos.html

*How much would you spend on a purse?

Sigh

It's going to be a near-wordless Monday, people. In other words, in lieu of complaining I'm just going to avoid writing too much today. Heh.

Mid-morning stop at the Social Security office, where I had hoped to change my name:

Needless to say, today wasn't meant to be my last visit to the Social Security office. It's a good thing, since I like bureaucratic time sucks:-)

Afterwards, an enjoyable lunch with my Uncle Mike, my Mom, and my niece Ella. I remembered in just the nick of time to photograph my lunch, which was a Greek salad with falafel.

I guess "in the nick of time" is actually somewhat relative. What's not relative? How much I can't stand red onions now that I'm carrying around this fetus. Maybe that's a good thing anyhow.

Even without the onions, I had a good time at lunch since this little girl sat right next to me and smiled like crazy:

And a view on the drive to lunch:

*What did you eat for lunch? If you work in an office, do you usually pack your lunch or go out? Seriously, I'm curious to know.

Weekend Hike

Hiya friends, and happy Sunday! I hope you are all enjoying some relaxation and/or time with the peeps that you like the best. My day has been filled with some of that, and also with sleeping in a taking an afternoon nap. Working three long days in a row really takes it out of me now, though I suspect that I'd feel like I needed a nap whether I was working or not. Whomever said you stop feeling tired in the second trimester was apparently "just joshing." (Blech. Isn't that the worst phrase, perhaps right behind "cool beans?")

Despite being sleepy I did manage to take a hike with David and Haruki this morning, and I thought I'd share some photos since everything around here is going to wilt and die due to the upcoming heat we're expecting.

This is a picture I took while driving home from work the other day.

Pretty right? Things have really greened up since all that late snow and rain we got.

Ruki likes it too:-)

This was right before she plopped herself down in the stream. Guess it's better than the poop she rolled in last week. And, I might add, the smell on her yesterday after she found a dead baby doe and David let her carry it home:-(

And now I'm off to read a bit before David and I go to meet friends for dinner and a movie. David's BFF Jud and his girlfriend Erin are actually staying in Boulder for almost two months, so tonight is our first test drive on our couple relationship. We are also seeing the movie _Star Trek_. Heh. I'll give you a review tomorrow, but you can expect that I won't be seeing my new favorite-ist movie tonight.

*Have you or are you going to see _Star Trek_?

Some Summer

Some Summer this is shaping up to be! I don't know about the weather where you are, but here in Boulder, CO, it's been strange. Today it was cloudy, rainy, and foggy all day. It really felt like winter again. Ruki celebrated by running around a lot, getting really muddy on our walks, and then finally rolling herself and rubbing her head and neck into some poop. She's done this twice recently, so we're hoping that she starts to negatively correlate that rubbing one's self in poop = bath time!!!

In other news, today was a good day because David finally returned from a business trip to China. Yes, freaking China. It's for Popsockets, of course, but that didn't stop it from being difficult to have him gone. Normally when he's out of town I really try to savor all the alone time. You know, plan out special movie nights with "treat food," etc., etc. But this time--I'm guessing because of all the pregnancy hormones--I was really not happy about him leaving the country for a week. In fact, I was downright sad and emotional about it, partly because it was difficult to talk much being that it was China and not San Francisco or something.

Ruki gets really sad when David is gone too.

I swear she looks at me with such disappointment when David is gone. Like, "What, You? Couldn't you be the one who travels for business?"

The good news is that David is back safely from his travels, and his trip to China was a success.

Here are a few photos that he sent me:

Apparently the main engineer at the Popsocket's factory was pretty impressed that David set up these forks and this match.

And with that I'm off to read a bit before going to bed early. I have to work 8-7 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday, but I'll try to pop in on Sunday with a "makeup" post.

*How do you feel when your "person" is out of town? What about when you're out of town and away from home?

Cereal Sadness

Bad news, my friends. Yesterday I was wandering around Target and I happened to go down the cereal aisle to see if some of my old favorite cereals might be edible to me now. Obviously I didn't think that Captain Crunch was going to be anything less than sugar + enriched flour, but I was rather disappointed to find that Cracklin Oat Bran isn't doing so hot in the sugar and nutrition stakes either.

I kinda figured that it was mostly healthy but with a little sweetness thrown in. Sadly, the second ingredient...well, made me sad:

I mean, it's not like I don't eat any sugary things. Since becoming pregnant I find myself saying "OK" to foods that I would never have touched before, either due at first to food aversions or recently due to some crazy hormonal-ness. 

But seeing sugar as the second ingredient is kind of like a conscience barrier. I want the cereal. And at some desperate other time I could find myself buying it anyhow. But most of the time, I can't bring myself to buy it because sugar is so high on the list. Geez, Kelloggs--couldn't you have added in some fillers that might've pushed "sugar" down to ingredient four or five? Seriously, that might've worked for me.

Meanwhile, dinners around here are still looking pretty boring. Last night it was roasted asparagus with a piece of a demi-baguette that I treated myself to the day before yesterday.

That baguette is actually a good example of something I would not have purchased before becoming pregnant. I almost exclusively eat whole grains--especially bread--but for some reason I decided that it sounded good and that I ought to buy it. 

In case you're wondering, there are two morals to this boring story. 

1) My eating habits have changed since becoming pregnant. This had made me think more about how I plan to eat after pregnancy--whether I'll lighten up a bit on my food rules--and it's also made me think about the stereotype of the pregnant lady who allows herself to eat garbage for the entire nine months and consequently gains seventy pounds. I have not gained seventy pounds, or anything remotely close to that, but as I mentioned I have found myself eating foods on occasion that were previously "off limits." It's funny, because it's not like I just get in a "I don't give a damn" mood, but rather, I just don't feel myself getting quite as stressed about it. Perhaps it's because I'm stressed about other things, like WTF am I going to do with a newborn?

2) One thing that I do stress about a bit lately is sugar, the reason being that I'm taking my glucose test for gestational diabetes next week. Basically that means that they'll be testing to see whether my pregnant body is dealing with sugar in a healthy way; if it's not, I'll be on a diet from hell from here until baby turns up on the outside. My sister in law developed gestational diabetes and couldn't even have cake at her baby shower. That is just wrong on a lot of levels, so let's keep our fingers crossed for me...mmmkay?

*Are there any foods that some annoyingly conscientious part of you won't let you buy? What cereal did you eat while growing up?

Work Day

Happy Monday! I hope you all had really nice weekends. The weather here is still kinda wonky, but today it is supposed to get up to ninety degrees--the hottest day yet! Given that my pregnancy seems to be making me hotter than usual I'm not exactly thrilled about ninety degrees but it seems there is very little that I can do about it:-)

So last week I worked my first "real," non-training week. Woot. It was tiring. Being on your feet and walking, leaning, crouching, etc. for ten hours a day for three days in a row is tough on a pregnant chick! Actually, I wonder if it's not tough on everyone, excepting maybe a thirteen year old kid.

The job itself I like. While there are lots of people who come in and only want to adopt puppies or kittens, I met a woman this weekend who purposefully adopted old dogs--in this case an old obese dog--because, according to her, they need love the most. Seriously. I almost cried when she was nuzzling this old fat dog, whom I know would otherwise have a tough time getting adopted. That's some serious goodness in that lady's heart, right? Especially given that it's difficult to get pet insurance for old dogs and the likelihood that they'll need medical care is high.

These are the things that I think about while I'm on my lunch break. And speaking of my lunch break, I have a confession to make. I don't eat my lunch at the Humane Society. And I don't drive elsewhere to get lunch. Actually, what I do is drive my car two blocks away, park in the shade, and eat my lunch in my car.

Is that weird? It is, right? I mean, I like my coworkers, I do. But come lunch time, I really just _need_ to be alone. I really do sit in my car and think about how grateful I am that I don't hear dogs barking, that I don't have a clean-up project to take care of, and that I don't have to put forth the effort that (I find) it takes to have social conversation. I'm not a bad person, right?

Here's some photos of my lunch scene:

Lunch last week was a bunch of broccoli stir fry that I made especially for this purpose.

And the view from my side mirrors isn't too bad either:

The mountains still look really pretty because there is still quite a bit of snow left on some of them.

While I was thoughtful in prepping a lunch item for the work week, I didn't do so good on dinners, and ended up eating this a lot:

Yah. That's about as glamorous as it looks. It's half a can of aduki beans + frozen kale + hot sauce + parmesan cheese. I'm a cooking all-star, right.

But, after getting home from a long day and finding this girl waiting to go for a walk,

a can of beans was kind of an accomplishment.

*What is your go-to meal when you have to eat but have no energy whatsoever?