Homestretch.

Feels so good to get to this point! Some of my most exciting realizations about making it this far in my human growing:

1. Minnow has a decent chance of making it in this big, bad world with the little gills it has already grown if it accidentally swims down my soon to be shredded to pieces creek at this stage in the game. Even its creepy alien face looks ready for anything:

2. The preparations/nesting urge has finally blossomed into action – resulting in things such as buying actually necessary baby items and not just hilarious onesies, some mild food hoarding behaviors such as the 15 jars of cheese incident this month – I feel like a chubby squirrel preparing for winter, extremely satisfying – and also building and/or crafting practical things for the nursery, such as this diaper changing station I whipped together in an afternoon of paint fumes I probably should have ventilated better for:

3. And especially: Fall beers. I’m coming for you.

Much medical excitement these past few weeks as I bombed my first glucose screening test. I should have known something was up when I legitimately loved the sickeningly sweet glucose liquid you get to chug before the test. Yea I liked that a little too much. So I got to haul my walrus self back to the hospital to sit through a 3 hour test… but guess what that meant… MORE GLUCOSE JUICE! This time the orange flavor. Just delicious. I think my love of disgustingly sweet things stems from the fact that we grew up in a very healthy household. Mom did things like using half the amount of sugar suggested for Koolaid, cutting fruit juice with water, etc, so my exposure to unnecessary sugar was really well limited as a child. When I was older,  I remember being at a friends house and watching her scoop heaping spoon after spoon of sugar onto her cereal and being like… WHAT. IS. THIS. And following her lead, my healthy world was promptly ruined forever with that first bite of crunchy, sugary sweet goodness. It’s honestly unbelievable that I never really had any weight problems considering my love of all things terribly unhealthy. Regardless, I have mostly cleaned up my act for the sake of the squirming shrimpette, so I was more than a little annoyed about the thought of gestational diabetes and the giant babies it often helps create. I also had no interest in having to count carbs and check my blood sugar multiple times a day so it was a huge sigh of relief when I passed the 3 hour test with flying colors. Here I am minutes after drinking my glucose treat, look at that gleam of satisfaction in my eyes:

I also found out that I am anemic and also my blood pressure is once again doing its fun game of being totally unpredictable and all over the place – so – more meds WOO and more bloodwork and tests WOO! At this point nothing surprises me so I just say bring it. And at least I don’t have to count the carbs in the Cheetos I stress eat on the way to the endless appointments, or have to lie about the reason my fingers are perpetually orange. We will consider that a win.

It’s safe to say that summer flew, and it was a great one. We made it State Fair and ate the following things:

1. Deep fried old fashioned.
2. Cream cheese stuffed deep fried olives.
3. Poutine tater tots.
4. Pretzel coated deep fried cheese curds.
5. A hot dog wrapped in spiral potatoes with cheese and bacon.

… I should have lead with this and not my bitching about gestational diabetes haha. Ok, I totally would have deserved that diagnosis.

We FINALLY traded in my POS bad-luck mobile and I got a proper mom car. I knew from the second I purchased my old car that I was going to have trouble – within a minute of driving off the lot with it a few years ago a greasy little teenager rear ended me at a red light. And then panicked and tried to drive off, and then panicked about driving off and drove back, and then cried for like a billion years SO dramatically. Unbelievably, there was no damage to my car except for a little scratch on the rear bumper and their much nicer car they got for their 16th birthday had the brunt of the damage. But that was just the first fun in a long line of fun surprise and expensive events that car had in store for me. From random dents left in parking lots, to a rude keying incident across the entire body of the car, to a hit and run to my front bumper, to blown tires on the freeway, dead brakes, constant slipping and sliding into things the second there was a little hint of moisture in the air, botched transmission repair job, etc etc – I shed nary a tear when I finally unloaded that hot mess onto someone else. My only criteria I had used when searching for a new car was “safest on rain, snow, and ice”, since “isn’t cursed” wasn’t an available option, so I went into the car search with only one car in mind based on that sole criteria. Although I had been cool with risking my own life through 6 gorgeous, slippery Wisconsin winters, I definitely wasn’t willing to put my kid in a car that can’t even come to a rolling stop on flat terrain in the colder months. And of course at the dealership I was too scared to test drive anything so Gates took the literal reigns and I was happy as a clam when he loved the car I had  decided sight unseen was safest for our unborn. So we are now a sporty little Subaru family who loves to hike and bike and do yoga on the beach and climb mountains and braid each other’s hair and wear Birkenstocks and eat granola and whole grains! Except mostly just the eating part. And less of the grains in a conventional sense and  more of them in just the liquid, alcohol form. Beer. So really, just our normal selves, but now in a SUV!

We went to Chicago a couple different weekends – once before I had a reproductive health conference so we could have a little weekend together, and then once to see Book of Mormon with the step-cousin-in-laws who happen to have their own little tadpole cooking.

Both trips were quite fruitful on the delicious food and drink front, involving barbeque, frito pies, deep dish pizza, Italian beef, poutine, smoked hot links, and a delightful variety of local IPAs for Gates that I shared sips of… I should go back and rename this post “I can’t believe I don’t have gestational diabetes”.

We finally found a few free weekends to hit up our favorite farmer’s market at South Shore, and we checked out the one in Kenosha we hadn’t been to before. We went camping with friends over the 4th of July weekend and loved getting back up to Door County and to a bunch of the places we discovered there during our first camping adventure last summer. We welcomed home the much missed Scottie from his work assignment abroad in Brussels at the end of July and have been loving having his stupid Kanye-worshipping butt back home safe with us. I’ve beer pressured Gates into many a Saturday of day drinking for two, since weekends of zero responsibility are quickly coming to a literally screeching halt. Since I no longer partake in the consumption and only in the aiding and abetting of Gate’s BAC, my new vice at the bar is pull tabs. Gates drinks, I pull. And so far we have both come out winners. Diaper money!

Our first year as season ticket holders got off to a grand start with a trip to Lambeau for the pre-season game with Scottie and Lauren. Our section is awesome, the seats are perfect and on the aisle – a clutch situation for those of the knocked-up variety.

Can’t wait to get back for the first regular season game! And to mow on the pulled pork and smoked brisket nachos that are located at the concession stand directly outside our ticket section! GPG!

We made it up to Hayward for one final trip of the summer to celebrate our anniversary, and to bid Fred adieu and bon voyage on her collegiate adventure in the great west. Well, Minnesota. I really think that we do married well, and this has been an amazing year for us. It was great to look back and reminisce on all we’ve accomplished in the past year – from the little things like minor home improvements and making a human with our genitals to the big things like job promotions and the biggest purchase we’ve made as a couple – Packer tickets! – this first year of marriage has been a breeze and full of blessings and the most fun I’ve ever had. I know it’s cliché to say it but Gates truly is the best friend I’ve ever had, and I can’t say enough about how awesome it is to be with someone you are so compatible with. I look back at all my previous relationships and seriously cringe about what I thought was good… If you aren’t with someone who you laugh with 24/7, who you can be your complete self with, who likes doing all the things you like to do, who thinks the same thoughts you think and believes the same things you believe, and wants the same things out of both the every day and the long term – don’t convince yourself you are as happy as you could possibly be. And if you have it already, never lose sight of the fact of how good you’ve got it! What a fantastic year and what a perfect summer. Excited to welcome in fall for many reasons, but mainly, because of how sweaty life has become as a plump walrus.

Up in Hayward celebrating our anniversary – burning Christmas trees, spending time with my family, hiking, and visiting some of the places we spent our wedding week!

 

 

PS want to see something gross? If you’re a girl, chances are at some point in your life you’ve “sucked in” – maybe when posing for a picture, or having to debut your pasty white bod at Bradford beach in front of your crush, etc etc. Anyway, ever wonder what it looks like to suck in when there is a monster in your gut that has nowhere to be sucked to? Behold:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! Lol.