Junior Packer

Last night was the kick-off (no pun intended) event for Tim's pastors' conference. We attended a family event at Lambeau Field in Green Bay which was TONS of fun. Our evening started with a tour of the stadium. We heard lots of history about the team and the stadium, got to sit in one of the fancy (expensive!) boxes, and walked through the tunnel the players enter the field from.

They had a huge tarp covering the field. Thank goodness we had the stroller. Isaiah would have probably run clear across the field!

After our tour, we had dinner on the box level of the stadium and a visit to the Packers Hall of Fame. I'm not a big football fan, but I was most impressed! It was nice for the synod to have a family event to make all of us a part of the conference.

- becky

Chowing Down

I get to eat more!

I saw my dietician this afternoon. I lost just under one pound this week, which isn't enough to be concerned about, but is enough to let me eat more. Now I have to see if I can keep my blood sugar numbers low when adding more carbohydrates into my diet.

This would be so much less stressful on me if I were only worried about myself. The health of the baby is my biggest concern right now.

This week is a short week - thank goodness. Things are pretty stressful with progress monitoring, meetings, and leaving early for doctor appointments. It will be so nice to have some down time! I'm hoping Isaiah will let me sleep in a little on Thursday and Saturday. There will be no sleeping in on Friday because I have an 8:00 appoinment with my perinatologist. Counting the dentist yesterday, that's 3 doctor appointments for me this week. Ugh. At least I can read some magazine articles in the waiting rooms.

- becky

From the Front Row

I put Isaiah in his high chair this morning for breakfast and said, "Okay, buddy. Let's say our prayer." He put his hands together for prayer by himself! We're such proud parents.

I took this picture of Isaiah this morning in church. Tim said, "You took his picture in church?!" In my defense, I turned the flash off, it was during the opening hymn (one of my favorites - A Mighty Fortress for Reformation Sunday), and Isaiah was looking too cute.

Isaiah is SO WELL BEHAVED in church these days. I know what you're thinking - famous last words. We sit in the front pew so he can see his dad and everything going on. He has to have his own hymnal, and sometimes even stands when I stand.

- becky

Self Motivation...Where Can I Get Some of That?

Time really flies, doesn't it?

I have such good intentions every weekend. We usually start Saturday morning with a family breakfast. Our latest favorite has been breakfast burritos. Once the dishes are in the dishwasher, I get the laundry moving. It's amazing how quickly the laundry stops moving. I intend to get caught up. It just never seems to happen.

There are so many things that I want to get done before the baby comes. I'm sure it will be difficult to find the time for 90% of the things on that list. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic. I need to take baby steps. What I need to do is start making trip after trip to Goodwill to get all of the things that we no longer use out of this house. I don't want to call it junk because some of it is quite nice. I'm just realistic - I'll probably never wear those size 4/pre-pregnancy jeans again. After this gestational diabetes diet, though, who knows?! I just might. If I one day...hmmm...WHEN I one day fit into a size 4 again, I deserve to buy new jeans for all of my hard work.

Comment and let me know how YOU get yourself motivated to get things done. (And if you don't, what do you spend your time doing instead of those pesky tasks like laundry?)

- becky

One Day...

... Isaiah will be sitting here with a purpose.

- becky

Crazy Week

Monday

I took off Monday morning to meet with my dietician. If you haven't heard, I have gestational diabetes. We're controlling it with my diet, so thankfully I am not on any kind of medication. I have to check my blood sugar levels and ketones four times a day. It's kind of a pain, but I'm trying to turn it into something positive and develop some healthier habits.

Tuesday

Tuesday afternoon, Isaiah had a follow-up visit with the NICU at the Children's Hospital. It went really well. They were so impressed by his counting skills, even though he continues to skip the number 7. It's such a fun appointment - a physical therapist and speech therapist play with him for about an hour, and we talk about his progress. The NICU staff is such a wonderful group of people. We are so blessed to have a Children's Hospital in town with Isaiah's early arrival.

Wednesday

Yesterday was quite busy. I had choir in the evening, and Tim led confirmation class and high school youth group.

I did not get to go to the New Kids on the Block concert in Milwaukee. I won't say any more about that, though. I'm too depressed about missing it.

Thursday (Today!)

During reading this afternoon, a kid threw up on our guided reading library. We were able to salvage the books because they are kept in gallon zip locs, but the teachers cleaning it up were quite grossed out.

We went to Menasha Grill for dinner. It's a local place near Theda Clark with a cajun flair. I had a meltdown and cried while ordering because every dish was served with potato, bread, or pasta. Tim explained that I'm adjusting to gestational diabetes, and the waiter was very nice. He offered to have the cook prepare some vegetables for me instead of a potato. They were fantastic! We'll definitely be eating back there. (By the way, my blood sugar was only 96 after dinner. This a great - it's not supposed to be over 120 an hour after each meal.)

I was giving Isaiah his tubby after dinner, and he was so disappointed when I took him out. Well, what was I supposed to do?!?! Leave him in there with poop floating around??? That's right - oops, he did it again.

So, that's our exciting week so far. It's been crazy busy. I'm hoping for a quiet weekend to catch up on some e-mails and phone calls. (And the laundry.)

- becky

Raking Leaves

Isaiah was a big help to his dad on Saturday.

- becky

Buh-Bye Mullet

Last Saturday, Tim finally convinced me to trim Isaiah's hair.

Before

After

What a handsome boy!

Now give me a nacho! Yes, he even eats the salsa.

- becky

I Like to Move It, Move It

I had an OB appointment today to check on the baby. We didn't get to see my doctor because she had been called up to the floor for a delivery. Apparently, all beds are full at Theda Clark, and they are sending women coming in over to AMC! Must be the full moon!

Another doctor (who delivered Isaiah) came in to do the FFN test. No word on the results yet, but I should definitely have them by tomorrow. I also had my glucose tolerance test. After fasting most of the day today I better pass! I do NOT want to go in for the 3 hour blood test.

Baby's heart rate was 146. I attempted to take pictures of the ultrasound pictures. Sorry if they're a little fuzzy, but I did the best I could.

Profile of baby's face

Turning a little bit to show us more...

Baby with a hand near the nose and mouth

This is the best we could get of a front view of baby's face. It was moving all over the place - again. (Hence the title of this blog post.) The movement is the reason the right side of the picture is so difficult to see.

- becky

Blockhead

I am such a blockhead. Think New Kids on the Block, not Charlie Brown. I have been a fan 4 EVER. If I had a locker now, it would be wallpapered in pictures of Danny, Donnie, Joe, Jon, and Jordan. Unfortunately, Tim won't let me get out the old Big Bopper magazine pics to hang on the bedroom wall.

I still have pictures, boxer short, t-shirts, buttons, cds, fan club membership information, bed sheets, and even a fanny pack in storage. I am so lucky that my parents thought to hang on to all of that stuff for me. They must have known even more than I did that they would make a comeback!

I was listening to their latest cd on my way home from work today, and I decided to see what was playing on the radio. Right as I turned it off, I heard the DJ say that tickets were coming up within the hour! Woo-hoo! This was my big chance. The only way I would ever get Tim to take me to see them in Milwaukee next Wednesday would be if I won free tickets.

I was 8 callers away!!! They were looking for caller number 9, and I was number 1. Unbelieveable! Who ever heard of dialing too fast for a radio competition?!?!

I guess the fact that I was caller number 1 just proves that I am the biggest fan out there.

- becky

Pumpkin Patch...and Some Deep Thoughts

This weekend at church it is LWML Sunday. For those of you who don't know, LWML is Lutheran Women's Missionary League. I keep thinking I should join, but I'm having trouble digesting the thought of another meeting each month. I'm trying to figure out what to cut before the birth of our second child, not add to my plate. Maybe I should just check out a meeting. It is entirely possible (and likely) that I will find it well worth my time, as it does center around my relationship with Christ.

We had a guest preacher at church for this special event, and his message was outstanding. He said a couple of things in his sermon that I wanted to share with you. Isaiah did an outstanding job behaving, so I could listen. Except for the tiny little incident where he bumped his head on the pew. Ouch! Don't worry - he's okay.

1.) "It is the urgency of eternity that sets our hearts Ablaze with love for Jesus." How true!!!

2.) Keep in mind, the pastor (if anyone remembers his name, please remind me!) came to us from a Lutheran home for the disabled - Bethesda. "When some people see someone who is disabled, they say God had a special or different plan for them. Well, he does have a plan. Law and Gospel. Confession and forgiveness." Hello! It's the same plan for all of us - disabled or not. We are all the same.

So there's my deep thoughts. They really gave me something to think about. A good sermon is like a good movie. You walk around the rest of the day pondering it!

Enjoy the pictures!

" Look at all of the balls, um, I mean pumpkins."

Isaiah kept calling the pumpkins balls. So cute!

"I love my daddy!"

"I love my mommy!"

"I just can't decide which pumpkin I want to take home."

"Well, if I can only pick one, then I choose this one!"

- becky

Fall's Beauty

Fall is my favorite time of year. The weather was so beautiful, so we took Isaiah to the pumpkin patch and for a drive to look at the leaves this morning. The leaves are just about to peak, so they are just beautiful! (I'll post pumpkin patch pictures tomorrow.)

Lots of beautiful colors on the trees in the background

These trees are on a road behind Wal-Mart. The road is not very busy, so we could pull off to the side and take some quick pictures.

Of course, we couldn't go looking at leaves without letting Isaiah play in the front yard!

The trees in our front yard have lost quite a few leaves already, but they're still pretty full. You should see the sun shine through the colors!

- becky

Early Riser

My late sleeper is becoming a bit of an early riser. What is going on?!?! Isaiah was up and at 'em at 5:30 AM twice last week. This happened on Thursday and Friday, so naturally he went to bed early. An early bed time on Friday night translates into an early morning on Saturday. Ugh.

Isaiah hung out in "his spot" on the couch while I got ready for work.

You look tired, stinker! You should be sleeping!

- becky

New Words

Isaiah's vocabulary continues to grow very quickly. This weekend, he made his dad so proud when he said the words 'pizza' and 'hockey'.

One of these days I'm going to update the list of all the words that he says.

- becky

Nothin' to Say Today

- becky