Update to Name-the-Baby Contest

Okay, we realized that the name-the-baby contest is far too difficult given the parameters we set forth. Maybe "European in origin" is a little too broad, so here is the new clue.

The name is Scottish or Welsh; the middle name is not.

Any new guesses?

Update on Baby Stuff

Tummy shot at 30 weeks

Ahhhh...savoring the last sounds of silence...

I look like a sickly pregnant angel swathed in all of this white...

A lot has happened since I last wrote about baby stuff.  First things first, though.  We had a second ultrasound today (week 30), and Baby Boy is doing, well, swimmingly.  He is no longer breech and is now pressing on my bladder full time (I never knew I could pee three times in 30 minutes...I feel like a trick pony.  Do it again!).  All of his organs seems to be in great working order (good full bladder on his end as well and a strong heart beat).  He weighs about 3 1/2 pounds and is the 44th percentile for weight (Yay!  I may have normal sized baby despite the GD!).

The primary reason for the ultrasound today was to take a look at the fibroid.  It has not gone away, nor shrunk, but it doesn't appear to have grown a whole lot.  I thought this would mean they would sign me up for a c-section right there and then, but the specialist wants to keep watching it and is having me come back in six weeks to take another peek.  There is hope yet that I won't have to go under the knife!  Thanks for your prayers about this; God is answering. 

In nursery news, we are just about finished with this massive project, which is quite exciting.  We are just waiting on a mattress, a chair, and a rug and we are ready to download an infant.  I hope he is happy in his new little abode!  I have attached some fun photos taken by my excited and happy husband, so enjoy.

A Tour of Italy

I had to post some photos of the Tour of Italy dinner party I hosted at my house on Friday night. Mad props to Joan for serving as my partner-in-crime for getting this going after many months.  Each of the ladies brought a dish from a different region of Italy and provided us with culinary history.  Tasty and educational!  It was a delicious night to remember, even if it was impossible to calculate my GD after that many carbs.  It was so worth it.

MLK Fun!

Over MLK weekend, we enjoyed our usual three-days of R & R in a cabin by the lake with Judy, Justin, Alan, and Sherry.  We were a bit incredulous when we realized we've kept this once-a-year getaway a tradition for ten years!  And I know we say this every year, but this year was, for us, the best ever.  There's nothing better than sharing life with people you care about and plan to know forever.  And it doesn't hurt that they will break into spontaneous dancing in the kitchen at 1 a.m. and make fun of your Taboo prowess.

A Bit of Bad News

My fears were confirmed this afternoon--I do have gestational diabetes. What a bummer. I'm told that it has nothing to do with all the See's candy and gingerbread lattes, so I take cold comfort in that fact. I spent 3 1/2 hours yesterday at the hospital alternately drinking sickeningly sweet fizzy orange liquid and having my blood drawn (four times!) while lying propped up on a chair similar to those in a dental office. It wasn't that bad since my veins were easily found (I never thought I would have track marks on my arm and now I look like a pregnant junkie) and I had a personal TV on which to watch The View and that show on TLC about looking ten years younger through a makeover. It was, in a strange way, a bit relaxing since I couldn't use either my phone or the internet. Unfortunately, the results were not quite as relaxing as the medical experience.

And so I have an appointment on Friday morning with a dietician and an endocrinologist to find out what sort of special diet I will need to adhere to and how to stick myself with a needle five times a day to test my blood. I'm so excited.

Name-the-Baby Contest

Just for giggles, Joe and I have decided to host a Name-the-Baby contest exclusively for Lola Living blog readers. We are pretty sure we have a boy's name in mind, so whomever comes closest to guessing either the first name or middle name (more points for first name) wins a huge Starbucks drink of their choice, redeemable even over cyberspace. Each person can submit up to three guesses (both first and middle). We will announce the winner the week of the birth. Have fun!!

Your clues are:

• The name is European in origin
• It is not Joe's name

Praying for the Test Tomorrow

Tomorrow is D-day...literally! Yes, it's gestational diabetes testing day. I'll be at the hospital from 9:30 - 12:30 p.m. drinking corn syrup and having my blood drawn, so I'm beginning my fasting diet now. If you read this sometime before noon tomorrow I would really appreciate your prayers for the outcome. It would be so great to pass it this time and not have to worry about a special diet and insulin shots while pregnant, not to mention the risk of having a humungo baby. Besides that, I haven't had my Gingerbread Latte all week and I'm cranky!!

As a relatively unimportant side note (particularly given the scheme of things), don't forget to watch American Idol tomorrow night. It's the season premiere. We look forward to exposing our baby to some scary singing in-utero.

What A Bummer

Drats!! I flunked my test.

Another Day at the Doctor

Today was my 27 1/2 week doctor's appointment (I know, what's with the random half weeks, right?) and my first opportunity to partake of the flat acridly sweet fruit punch beverage the medical community calls THE GLUCOSE TEST. It was pretty disgusting, but not as bad as I thought. The label on the bottle of my adult beverage said I wasn't supposed to drink or eat anything (especially coffee) for 12 hours before the test. It also said that I might throw up or faint. Lovely. My doctor didn't give me the fasting instructions before my appointment, so I chugged a latte while in line to pick up my drink. And I ate a bowl of raisin bran and a banana earlier in the morning. Oh well. Maybe the added sugar will help the test results. One can only hope. Because I sure don't want to by classified as gestational diabetes positive because of an errant drink from Starbucks.

To kill time while I waited the hour to have my blood drawn, the nurse had me fill out some paperwork describing my overall mental state in relation to becoming a mother. It's a nice thing for them to do since they compare the paperwork with more that I fill out at my six-week postpartum checkup to assess whether I am blue, down, or downright depressed after giving birth. I guess the past week's crazy transitions put me in a very emotional state (at least on paper) since no more than two minutes after walking in the door from doctor's apppointment, a liscenced social worker from the hospital called to make sure I was doing okay!! You've got to give a girl props for pre-natal honesty, right? Of course I'm crying more than usual...I'm pregnant for the first time and I graduated from high school more than 20 years ago! A baby is totally going to rock my world.

Don't get me wrong. The baby is a miracle, no doubt, and hands down probably the biggest thing that has ever happened to me. But my selfish side creeps in as I imagine giving up my freedoms and vices...no more lazy Saturday mornings, no more free time with friends at my leisure, no more reading a book for three hours straight, no more dining out on a whim, no more flat stomach. Maybe having a baby is like getting married. You don't realize how selfish you truly are until you have another person standing in front of you, constantly reflecting your humanity back in your face. I'm guessing having a baby does this 100 times over. Maybe I'll become a selfless person yet.

Lisa Gets Married

My former assistant, Lisa, got married this past weekend at the Crystal Gardens at Navy Pier. Isn't she beautiful? She and her new husband, Jonny, are moving to the Czech Republic next week where Jonny is currently serving as a missionary.

So I don't forget

Just so I don't forget (pregnant brain), here are my pregnancy cravings to date:

• See's Candy (a given if you've been reading my blog)
• Nutmeg (usually sprinkled on a Starbuck's Gingerbread Latte)
• Pineapple, oranges, and pears (specifically the pears from Harry & David)
• Cinnamon roles
• Indian food

What does this mean?? I haven't been craving my usual quota of chips and salsa, although I could definitely put a pound or so away, but my already high tolerance for spice is now off the charts. Nothing tastes very spicy to me, which is the only way I can explain polishing off an entire plate of chicken vindaloo without getting sick. I'll be interested to see what the Baby Boy likes to eat based on my very eclectic cravings.

Thursday Photo

Rock Stars of the Week

The rock star of the week award goes to Jason, Chris, and my husband for getting up early on New Year's Eve morning to come help me move out of my office! Not only did the three guys get the entire move done in under an hour, Jason also very cleverly devised a plan to drop loads of garbage out of my second-story office window to a waiting dumpster below. Awesome!

Everything is Changing!

A new wall in the kitchen, where there was none before.

Nursery colors, blue and green

Nicky and I visit Cozy Thai

Goodbye, sweet office!

The 25-week bulge

I feel like my life has changed more in the past week than it has in years. And it's all because the idea of a baby is now becoming a reality. First of all, the nursery is almost finished (just needs doors) and the furniture has arrived. Yes, lots of ripping of boxes and assembling of pieces was reqired yesterday afternoon. And I found out that I am mighty handy with a screwdriver. My husband tells me this is a fairly impressive quality. It must be so sexy watching a 6 1/2 month pregnant woman crouched on the floor muttering under her breath and trying to determine whether a flat head or Philips is best.

Second change was moving out of my office of 1 1/2 years. It doesn't sound that bad except I seem to move offices at a rate of once every 18 months, so this was my fourth office move since moving to Chicago. It's not that I am kicked out of said offices, it's just the by-product of CoOp officing and needing more space pretty consistently. It's a good thing usually. But this move was a bit depressing for me since it was the move back home. For those of you who know me, I'm sure you realize that I don't do well working by myself all day long since I am a fairly social person. In other words, Oprah should not become my best friend, nor should I begin to carry on one-sided conversations with Dr. Phil or Ellen. It's just not healthy. But, the reasons for my move to home office are in part financial, in part practical. Someone needs to parent a baby boy in about three months, and that includes being at home during the day. I don't believe infants are very good at hanging by themselves for eight hours. So, home officing it is for the time-being. This move back home means that I will no longer have the pleasure of working with my assistant, Nicky, three days a week, and she is going freelance from this point on. Happily, we will still be working on some projects together. But we were both a bit sad on last day of regular work last Thursday and had to go to both Cozy and Starbucks to visit all of our working day haunts as a cheer up.

The third change this week is my rapidly expanding belly. I can't imagine how it will keep growing for another three months!

I need to get off the change bus for a while. Can someone send a limo to pick me up?

Happy New Year!

On our way to an early New Year's Eve dinner (yes, at 6 p.m.) at Campagnola restaurant. One of the best meals we've had...ever!! We were on the couch by 8:30 watching Dick Clark. My, how things have changed. I'm definitely a lot rounder in this photo--and it was taken before we ate! And, no, I didn't cut my hair.

At Vermilion restaurant with my good friend, Melissa, from Atlanta.

A post-Christmas Christmas party hosted by our dear friends, The Krons. The Eternos and Hendons were also there to party it up.

I hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house, and this was my secret winter salad.

Christmas Eve - our last as a family of two.

Small group Christmas party!!

Happy New Year, everyone! 2008 has a definite air of excitement for me since I can now say that the baby will be born "this year." The time is really flying by. I'm also excited by the possibility of all that may happen this year...things that are yet t be determined. Some of my friends may get married or have babies, family members may experience big life transitions, and some of us may even celebrate significant birthdays, new jobs, and life-altering journeys. I can't wait to see what happens!

While we're all waiting to see where 2008 takes us, enjoy my little holiday photo essay above. Many of you who read my blog are out-of-state or country, so I hope this catches you up on my Chicago holidays.

Just a note on New Year's Eve. It's such an anti-climatic holiday with undue pressure put on the universe to have the best time you can possibly have in one short evening. This year, instead of trying to find something fabulous to do, we took the relaxed approach and simply booked dinner reservations at a local restaurant--Campagnola--for the 6 p.m. seating. I know that's practically the early bird special normally, but the restaurant was packed by 6:30, and it was fun to see a lot of families enjoying the evening together, as well as couples and larger parties. The best part was the meal, which was one of the best we have enjoyed in a very long time. My four courses included spinach salad with warm bacon dressing (read: pancetta), lobster & shrimp risotto, red snapper with creamed leeks and sun-dried tomato tepanade, and blood orange sorbet with Italian cookies. It was so delicious and filling that by the end of the evening I looked like I was carrying twins: one real baby and one food baby. And it was nice to be sitting back on my couch by 8:30 p.m. Happy New Year!