Pumpkin Carving

On Sunday afternoon we carved pumpkins. This year was Makayla's first year carving her pumpkin by herself. She did a really good job but needed a little help when it came to carving out the letters of "Meow". Mister was very curious this year.

Haunted Woods Trail

On Saturday afternoon, Makayla's friend Harper came over to play. We had dinner at McDonalds before heading to Rosemount's Haunted Woods Trail, an annual event put on by the local businesses. 

Mister even got in the Halloween mood!

 

Family Photo Session

Thank you to an up and coming photographer, Gina Meixner, for taking these wonderful photos. Like me, she loves to take pictures and all her friends kept telling her to do it professionally so she just started.  She will also come to this hospital the day Allie is born to get some pictures of Makayla meeting Allie for the first time.

Rosemount Elementary School Newsletter

2nd Grade School Picture

I thought about doing a retake but decided not too ... the picture was taken after lunch and recess, at least it wasn't too windy that day ... lol!

Baby Allie Update

I had a 21-week doctor's appointment on Friday and it went very well. My sugars and ketone levels are under control and my blood pressure has been phenomenal! I've only gained 2 pounds now and was told that I will start gaining more weight over the next several weeks. We listened to Allie's heartbeat and it was very strong, she kept moving a lot and my doctor commented on that. She moves all the time, she'll end up being one of those babies who never sleeps ... mark my words!

 

We also talked about narrowing down a high-risk pregnancy doctor and I actually chose the doctor that made me cry at my last appointment, Annelise Swigert. I was told she is harsh but she fights for her patients and I could tell that from when she called me with our 2nd trimester screening results. I will be seeing her for the rest of my doctor's appointments. I have a follow up in 3 more weeks.

 

Otherwise, I am feeling great!

 

Top Reader!

Principle, Tom Idstrom, informing the school of how much money was raising during this year's Read-A-Thon. Unfortunately the goal was $25,000, not enough for Mr. Idstrom to sleep on the roof tonight.

The whole elementary school read a total of 206,293 minutes, which equals to 3,438 hours, which equals to 143 days. He picked a fifth grader out of the audience to take the sheet back to his classroom and figure out how he came up with the hours and days figure. He is to report it tomorrow morning during the morning announcements.

Makayla receiving her top reader out of 2nd grade award, she earned her classroom an extra recess! 

Congratulations Makayla

I received an email last week letting me know that Makayla was the top reader out of the whole second grade class during the two week read-a-thon! They are having a special ceremony at the school on Thursday morning for the top readers out of each grade and the families that raised the most money. MK will be presented with a Rosemount Irish sweatshirt, book fair book voucher and a read-a-thon t-shirt!  Way to go MK!!

Baby Allie Update

We are slowly getting Allie's room put together. We got the dresser and changing table yesterday, Dwight was able to put the dresser together yesterday afternoon and then he put the changing table together tonight.

On Friday I reached the halfway point, 20 weeks! I can't believe how fast it's gone so far and the next thing we'll know it will be March. We have registered at Target for those up-coming baby showers my friends want to throw.

Allie is getting stronger by the day. I have felt movement for a while now but on Wednesday morning Makayla was actually able to feel her kick. Every time Dwight would go to feel she would stop moving so eventually he was able to feel her for the first time on Friday.

OMG IT'S VICTORIA JUSTICE!

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to MOA so Makayla could see Victoria Justice and Thomas Mann who starred in the movie Fun Size. Victoria Justice is also a singer and stars in her own show, Victorious, on Nickelodeon. Makayla loves her show and music.  Also, Carly Rae Jepson made an appearance. You may know Carly from her hit song "Call Me Maybe". She did a song for the movie and she was in town because she is the opening act for Justin Bieber.

I asked our marketing department if there was anything they could do as far as getting autographs and they told me that they will have a few wristbands set aside for us. There was a limited amount of wristbands and if you didn't have a wristband you couldn't get an autograph.

We couldn't take pictures once we were on stage but Makayla asked for a hug from Victoria. Dwight told her that the best episode was the Breakfast Bunch, they spoofed the movie The Breakfast Club. I do have to admit that was as a pretty good episode.

Makayla shown here with her poster of autographs!  We had a quick lunch at Tony Romas and we headed to the movie theater. We had free pre-screening passes to see Fun Size. The line was extremely long but we made it in, they had many theaters showing this movie. As we got in, we each received a free soda, popcorn, wristband and another Fun Size poster. We had good front row seats as Victoria and Carly introduced the movie. Carly even gave away a few Justin Bieber tickets but unfortunately MK didn't win ... bummer! This showing was the first ever pre-screening of the movie!

After the movie was over we headed back down to my office to go to the restroom and to grab our jackets. As we passed by the conference room, Security was in there taking pictures with Victoria. One of my officer friends told us to come in so MK could get her picture taken with Victoria! How awesome was that ... talk about star struck!



Granny Kay and Mary Lee Visit

Today Granny Kay and Mary Lee made a visit to our home. I had originally taken the day off but had to go in for a meeting so they met me at the mall around 10:30a.  We enjoyed a nice lunch at Cadillac Ranch and visited some stores that contained Elvis merchandise ... for Mary Lee, she is pictured above with Elvis himself! Afterwards we headed to IKEA, a place where Granny and Mary Lee have always wanted to visit. They enjoyed walking around, Mary Lee picked up a new duster and some chocolate. While we were there, we picked up a dresser and changing table. We weren't going to get a changing table but the more I thought about the way the cribs are designed now (due to safety reasons, cribs do not have the drop down sides anymore), there was no way I was getting on the floor to change Allie's diaper in the middle of the night. Granny is going to make us a padding for the top so we don't have to buy one.

Granny brought up a few outfits she found during a store closing and made some blankets, crib sheets and bibs (shown below). She also got us a few diapers and wipes ... those will eventually come in real handy!

Mary Lee made Allie this blanket, she made Makayla a pink one when she was born. We have a lot of crafty people in the family, wish I had that talent!

Thank You Dee and Doug

Aunt Dee and Uncle Doug sent a couple "Dear Know It-All" books, Makayla is excited to start a new series and frankly I am too ... I'm getting a little tired of Goosebump books! Thanks Aunt Dee and Uncle Doug!

Also, in the package was a few things for Allie: a couple pairs of socks, a "Daddy Makes Me Smile" onesie, "Got Milk" bib, an adorable hat and cat bag and an Alice In Wonderland t-shirt ... that one is compliments of Cousin Andrew ... inside joke!  Thanks Aunt Dee and Uncle Doug!



Thank You Jill, Josh and Andrew

You can't go wrong with a cat mask, stickers and of course GUMMY BEARS! Thanks Jill, Josh and Andrew for this fun Halloween stuff!

Growing Pumpkins

A few weeks ago Makayla went to the Arboretum on a class field trip. She brought back with her two planted pumpkin seeds. The experiment, the kids planted one seed face up and the other face down. Makayla thought for sure the one planted face up would have roots coming out of the top. She was wrong but the one face up did sprout first. She has been keeping a journal of how much they are growing every day. Between the two pictures is one day, the top picture was taken Saturday morning and the one on the bottom was taken Sunday afternoon.

 

We also haven't thought passed the ice cream bucket ... not sure what we are going to do with these things during the winter months ... if we can keep them alive : )



Visit From Nana and Papa

 

My parents came up on Thursday afternoon and spent the rest of the weekend at our home. It was nice to see them, they haven't been to our house for two years. This was Mister's first time meeting Nana and Papa and as you can see Mister took to Papa right away ... not to Papa's liking of course.

 

Mom and dad were able to watch Makayla while we attended my friend's wedding Friday night. Makayla wasn't happy that she couldn't attend the wedding and didn't want us both to be gone at the same time. She is a very stubborn little girl and refused to eat or have any fun while we were gone.

 

Earlier Friday, Dwight took my mom to play cards with the seniors ... something Dwight does on a regular basis. MK and I took dad around to some of the local thrift stores and then met Dwight and mom at Culver's for lunch.

 

Pumpkin picking on Saturday morning, enjoyed some delicious cheese soup on a cold rainy day and board games in the afternoon. It cleared up by the time dinner rolled around so we were able to grill some steaks for dinner. Rented Dark Shadows for our evening movie ... which, unfortunately, was a horrible movie!

 



Picking Pumpkins

Saturday morning there was a little break in the rain to pick out our pumpkins. Over the last three years we have visited Pahl's Market instead of heading to the pumpkin patch.  This time Papa was able to go with us, Nana had stayed behind to take a nap

 

Baby Allie Update

19 weeks along and feeling a lot more movement, those kicks, of course, are not strong enough for others to feel yet.

 

Gestational diabetes is going as good as it could be. I've lost a lot of weight and according to what I weighed before I was pregnant, I've only gained three pounds. I guess if anyone wants to lose weight they should go on a diabetic diet. My meal plan is as follows:

 

Breakfast: 2-3 carbohydrates and 1 oz of meat or meat substitutes

Morning Snack: 1-2 carbohydrates

Lunch: 2-4 carbohydrates and 3 oz of meat or meat substitutes

Afternoon Snack: 1-2 carbohydrates

Dinner: 3-4 carbohydrates and 3 oz of meat or meat substitutes

Bedtime Snack: 2 carbohydrates and 1oz of meat or meat substitutes

 

1 carbohydrate = 15g of total carbohydrates

 

Free foods are: non-starchy vegetables, 1/2 cup vegetable juice, sugar-free Jello and sugar-free, fat-free condiments.

 

Meat and meat substitutes are: I slice of cheese, 1 egg, 1/2 cup tofu, 2 tablespoons peanut butter, 1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese, 1/2 cup tuna, cooked chicken, turkey, fish, lean beef, pork, lamb or wild game.

 

It's been extremely hard this time around because I was diagnosed early and I've been craving sweets non-stop! Meat is more tolerable this time around but still don't have the stomach for lunch meat.

 

I have to test my blood when I get up in the morning, that's my fasting glucose. My fasting numbers need to be below 95. I then need to test my blood one hour after I start eating, it needs to be below 140. If I forget to test my blood one hour after I eat, then two hours needs to be below 120. 

 

I also need to test my ketone levels in the morning, a ketone test checks for ketones in your blood or urine. Ketones are substances that are made when the body breaks down fat for energy. Normally, your body gets the energy it needs from carbohydrate in your diet. But stored fat is broken down and ketones are made if your diet does not contain enough carbohydrate to supply the body with sugar (glucose) for energy or if your body can't use blood sugar (glucose) properly. When I wake up in the morning I pee in a cup, dip a test strip and it turns a color. The color I want needs to be negative or trace. Since mine have been at the highest reading I needed to make sure I add my protein at night and to drink plenty of water. Over the last week it has been negative.

 

Baby Swanson Update ... It's A ....

GIRL ... Introducing Ali Lynn Swanson!

 

Of course we haven't decided on how we are going to spell Ali yet but when you put Ali and Lynn together it sounds like Alan, in memory of Dwight's dad. Her nickname will be Al!

 

She has her arms over her face, she doesn't want her picture taken!

 

Dwight and I attended the level-2 ultrasound today and had genetic counseling. Our baby looks normal and no signs of downs, since they didn't see anything on the ultrasound the chances of the baby having downs is 1/265.

 

We haven't told Makayla yet, we are going to wait until tonight to surprise her ... she still thinks our appointment is scheduled for next week.



Baby Swanson Update

Well, my doctor's appointment on Friday didn't go well as planned. I haven't, until now, narrowed down a doctor at my OBGYN office. Since my regular one moved out of state a few years ago, I haven't found anyone that I liked. The doctor that saw me wasn't the nicest doctor that I've seen, in fact I have started to refer to her as evil but she has brought a few things to my attention that wasn't any concern of the other doctors that I've seen.

I had to bring a few things with me to this appointment, a week of blood pressure readings and my blood sugar numbers. My blood pressure has been spot on during this pregnancy, and actually it's been exceptional! My sugars on the other hand, according to her, wasn't what she wanted to see. Apparently, my fasting sugars are high and I should only be testing myself one hour after I eat, not two. I had been getting conflicting information from several doctor's regarding this. My fasting sugars are supposed to be under 95 and I was initially told 100 ... evil doctor was right on both things, I found that out yesterday when I attended my diabetic class. Because fasting sugars are out of my control we talked about possible insulin to get it under control. I meet again with my diabetic nurse next week so I'm hoping I can get my numbers where they should be.

While at my doctor's office I took my second trimester blood tests to test for birth defects. I received a call from evil doctor yesterday and she was very pleasant with me on the phone. Based on my age the odds of our baby having downs is 1/250 but based on my cells it's 1/109. She wants me to see a high-risk OBGYN and asked me when we have our level 2 ultrasound scheduled. It's scheduled for next Friday but she is going to try to get us in sooner. Also, there is another blood test that they can perform that will give us better information. So, now it's the waiting game until I get a call back from the office sometime today.