26 weeks .. and some photos from the week before and this week.

My spring break is just flying by! I was so excited (and relieved) to have a week and a half break from work. I didn't have big plans but I wanted to accomplish a few things:

1) quality time w/ The Bun
2) relax AKA sleep
3) clean up The Bean's soon-to-be-nursery-but-currently-a-storage-unit

I'd love to say that this is the order of importance but as I get along in this pregnancy, I feel like like #2 is really my #1 (Apologies to The Bun & The Bean. I promise I'm actually a decent mama.) Even though I was feeling heavier about a month or so ago, I felt like I hadn't slowed down much. Maybe it's because I'm taking it easier this week but I feel quite slower now. How ironic - I'm excited because I get to move at a slower pace this week since I don't have to rush off to work each morning. But now I feel a lot slower.

Everything else is good. I've gained 19 lbs to date - pretty middle of the road. I gained 30 lbs w/ The Bun so I just have to be mindful not to go all balls out.
Speaking of which, here is a photo of me and my little one waiting in line at CREAM:

Being silly. Some chick behind me tried to photo bomb but didn't have the skills. Humph.

If you can't be bothered to click on the link, it is the simple yet wonderful notion of fresh baked cookies and ice cream to make one delectable (and huge) ice cream sandwich. The line was out the door when we went to check it out. We have to cross the San Mateo Bridge to get to it so it's not exactly on our way to anything. In fact, we were in the area for a play date and decided to check out what all the hype was about. Well, when I saw the line, I was ready to ditch. But The Bun insisted we wait in line. One of the (many) great things about my little is that she can be a very patient kiddo. We waited for about 25 minutes before we were rewarded with our big ass treats. We didn't know they were going to so big. But did I finish it? Uh, YAH.
Then, because I tend to easily obsess over things, I told The Man a week later that he had to check out CREAM for himself. I had bought him his own sandwich from the first visit but I was totally craving and we were kind of in the area. Well, we were on the peninsula because we dropped off my folks at SFO.

Made The Man take an obligatory photo w the ice cream cookie sandwiches. His hands are large so you can't really get the scope of these treats but trust. They are b-i-g. I also love The Bun's expression;)

So yahhhh, I have to keep myself in check. See, prior to this week, I kind of thought I was a shoe-in for gestational diabetes. I had it with The Bun and the doctor let me know I had a higher chance of getting it again. This is probably the absolute wrong outlook to take but I thought to myself, "Well, if I'm going to get it around my third trimester, I might as well enjoy myself up until that point." I was pretty liberal with my carbohydrates and sugar intake. I figured I was going to have to restrict myself soon enough, why not live it up until then?
I know, not the most healthiest (or healthy-at-all) outlook.
I wasn't at all surprised when my one hour glucose test  result was too high. It was deja vu. The three hour glucose test really drained me. Between having to fast the night before, a huge sugar rush and then blood drawn four times, I felt like hell. There was no doubt that I must have gestation diabetes.
Then lo and behold! My results came back negative. I didn't have GD. What?! The Man swears I must have "worked the system." I asked him, "How the heck could I work several blood tests in my favor?" He said he didn't know but he was sure that I should have GD. Truth be told, I was pretty sure, too. Anyway, I decided to scale back my carbs intake and am currently working on my chocolate. That one is a toughie.
Here is my 26th week w/ The Bun & The Bean ... in utero, of course:

How do you like that little leg pop? All her. I tell you, this kiddo knows how to pose at 4 years of age better than her mid-30s mama! She is soooo camera ready.

Although I haven't been able to relax as much as I had hoped, having a less hectic morning each day has been nice. And the furry babies appreciate it, too:

They were just so cute that I had to snap a photo of them. They love the extra bed time in the morning.

Last week, I was allowed to work from home one day because The Bun's preschool was closed. I decided to check out venues in the South Bay so that I was legitimately working. There was no way I could have truly worked from home if the kiddo was also home. This way I was doing something that I needed to take care of but was kind of dreading to do because it took me away from the office and able to take The Bun with me.

Besides fundraising, I plan meet ups and other events for my constituents. My boss wanted the next one to be in the Silicon Valley. I narrowed it down to three places. The Bun, again showing her extreme patience for a four year old, accompanied me to these places over the course of four hours. I took some snapshots along the way to document our day as well as the venues. I won't bore you with the many venue shots but here are some cute ones w/ The Bun:

Us getting our decaf coffee & hot cocoa pick me up before hitting the highway. OK, freeway;) There's this church (yes, church!) in my town that makes their own almond milk. Seriously! That's what I like in my latte so we had to check it out. It was delicious.

Us at our first destination, BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse. Although it's a chain (some people do not like chain restaurants for their meet ups) & in a shopping center, this was my top pick. The manager was readily available to chat with and answer questions, parking was super easy as well as free and the food is always good albeit large portions. But in this situation, large portions are a good thing.

Cutie pie showing off the nice outdoor area we could use from venue #2 if I chose this place.

 The second venue was Blackbird Tavern in downtown SJ. Unfortunately, they were closed. Not their fault. But what this one lacked was parking. We aren't going to comp our constituents for parking so I was not comfortable picking a place that  had no free parking. In fact, this was the only option:

Maybe most people are used to paying for parking but, unless it's San Francisco, I just think it's a bit inconsiderate to expect people to pay for parking.

Ah, venue #3 in Santana Row. Straits - very nice restaurant in a very nice area. But I was really turned off when the manager on duty couldn't be bothered to talk to me. Instead, she told the hostess to give me the banquet manager's phone number. By this time, I was tired. And their lack of customer service confirmed #1 was the best choice. 

Her cuteness almost made up for the manager's shoddy customer service. But not quite.

We were both exhausted by the time we finished visiting the three restaurants. But The Bun was such a trooper. I'm so thankful for her easy-going disposition. Love my kiddo!

25 weeks ... and Easter fun!

Posting a day late but we made this week's photo by just a few hours.

The Bun loves wearing pretty dresses.

I realize that I need to wear brighter colors because the dark colors sort of minimize my bump. But I'm trying to wear all the dresses I own while I still fit them. Dresses I bought before pregnancy were meant to be flattering, though, so they minimize and conceal ... for the most part;) Anyway, this is what we wore to church on Saturday so that's why the Bun is gussied up!

In the afternoon, we were invited for an annual tradition, an Easter Egg Hunt thrown by one of the moms from my old Mommy Group! We hardly ever get together so it's a fun tradition. I'm very thankful to my friend who puts it on every year. This year, my contribution was homemade chocolate chip cookies w/ store bought ice cream to make ice cream sandwiches. Nope, I didn't take photos of them.
But I was able to take a couple of photos of The Bun! One of her playing ...

The other with her buds:

She's been pals w/ the two boys on the left since they were 1 month olds. (Moms I met at our hospital's Mommy Group!)
Little fellow on the right is one of the boy's baby brother. 

I'm very fortunate to have this week off. The Bun will be in preschool for three days so those are the days I'm devoting to clearing up The Bean's future nursery which is currently one of two junk rooms. We had two storage units and, bless The Man's heart, he cleared them out. Now those items that were there are in our garage and the two bedrooms we're not occupying. We've sort of avoided those rooms but, according to my pregnancy app, just 98 days to go! I've saved this daunting task for this week. I sincerely hope I get it done. On the two days I do have The Bun all day, I'm hoping we have fun. We've got a couple of play dates and I've got some ideas of what we can do. Again, I'm thankful to have this time off because having time away from work is always a treat.

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24 weeks.

Or ... SIX MONTHS!

Another non-maternity dress that I'm probably stretching to the limit.

It's hard to believe I'm already six months into this pregnancy. Hooray! On so many levels! One, excited to be this far. I think I was thrilled at every point to be further and further along in this pregnancy but six months feels ... more secure. Every aspect of a pregnancy feels up in the air, even birth, but it just feels so good to be this far.
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23 weeks. And some girliness;)

I took these photos last week but had a problem with my blogger app. It wasn't uploading photos! Finally had some time to do it this week. First thing's first - The 23 week photo (which was last week) -

It's sort of a cheat photo since The Bun is covering the bump of The Bean with part of her face!

She's been such a good sport about these photos. I admit, I take a ton of them before I end up liking one. They're either blurry, to dark, I don't like how I look or she's not looking in the camera's direction. The Bun would also much rather make goofy faces or poses so, depending on her mood, they can be a struggle. She was genuinely happy in this photos which is why I like it.
Every so often, I like to use my non-heat rollers (similar to these.) I don't know if it's because she wanted to procrastinate going to bed or genuinely wanted to do the same but The Bun insisted I roll her hair, too. I bought the old school pink rollers for her since her hair is thinner and shorter.
The next morning, she decided she didn't want any of mama's help and took out the curlers herself-

Pretty beach waves.

I think the curls would have been a little tighter if I had done them but they made for nice beach waves! She was also very happy that she took them out herself. I fixed her part, added a hair clip and she was ready for school!

The Bun arranged my hair for this photo. She thought it needed some help.

I admit, it's fun having a girly-girl who's into similar things as me. I love that she still plays blocks or tag with boys at school and has other interests other than girly things. But it makes it so much easier when I want to do her hair or dress her up;) I have girlfriends with daughters who squirm and make it difficult for them to do these tasks. I think it's so much fun to do these kind of things with her because she enjoys them herself which makes it a pleasant experience for both of us.

Sadness so great it's almost palpable.

Today my heart hurt for someone else going through so much pain.
I have a colleague who lost her husband a couple of years ago. I didn't know her then but I know that it still hurts. She has a tough time during those big events/anniversaries - their marriage, his birthday, the week and day of his death. Those are all tough times for her.
He was her soul-mate.
Today I heard her on the phone and, shortly after she hung up, her soft cries turned into sobs. Another coworker asked from her own office if she was OK. She couldn't answer, she was crying so hard. I got up and went into her office. Her head was resting in her folded arms which were on her desk and she was sobbing into them.
I was at a loss. Some people want to be left alone and untouched. Other people want company and a hug. I didn't know what to do other than pat her back. Other coworkers came in and offered to get her water and tissue. We just didn't know what to do.
When she could talk, she let us know that the organization who handles organ donations called because they received a thank you note from a family. They wanted to know if they could mail it to her. I could tell that this literally took her breath away. That this outreach made the loss of her husband fresh, like it just happened. She couldn't get through relaying the phone conversation without breaking down crying again.
I hate it when people take other people's sorrow and try to make it their own. I try really hard not to do this because I dislike it so much. But tears sprang in my eyes because I can only imagine how much pain she was feeling and I felt terrible. I can only imagine how hard it is to keep trucking along and then something you don't see coming can just knock you off your feet again.
My marriage isn't perfect but I love The Man so much. He's my soul-mate. It's not hard to imagine how she must feel. But that's all it is - just an imagined feeling. Her pain is far greater and deeper. I wish I could help her feel better but that's impossible. So just like the rest of my colleagues, I helplessly tried to comfort her knowing that it will hardly make a dent.
I hope that she can find some sort of solace and that, miraculously, it somehow gets a little bit easier.