Gloom, despair and agony on me...

Sing along with me if you know the words.

...Deep dark depression excessive misery
If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all
Gloom, despair and agony on me.

So maybe life isn't quite that bad...but I'm feeling mighty low. I think I need a good moan.

It's been hot the last couple days. Really hot. And for you mommies out there, you know what it's like to be pregnant and hot. Not fun. Pregnant hot is a special kind of hot. A pregnant woman can never truely escape the heat because she is generating the heat itself. That's why pregnant women like ice cream so much. It's the only thing that can cool us off from the inside.

I feel pregnant....REALLY pregnant. The belly gets in the way. My back aches. My legs bother me. I can't even put a band-aid on my toe without resorting to circus-like contortions. My energy is sapped. My motivation is lower. There is stuff I need to do and want to do and there just isn't enough time or energy in me to do it all.

It's frustrating....and I still have 12 more weeks to go. Heaven help me! July 25 can't come fast enough. But by then I'll be recovering from major surgery, have a new infant keeping me up at night, a full time office job, a five year old who still requires a great deal of attention, a spouse attending graduate school two nights a week and the house will still be a wreck. If there was ever a time I needed divine intervention, it is now.

Give me strength!

On the bright side, my clown walk is getting funnier…

I reached another clowning milestone this week. Instructor Dude and I entertained the preschool kids (3 – 5 year olds) at church and taught them all about how to be clowns.

Two days – four presentations. We taught them how to tell a joke, how to do a magic trick, how to laugh like a clown, how to make funny faces like a clown and finally….how to walk like a clown.

Walk this way. If I could walk that way, I wouldn’t need the talcum powder…
Who knew the last would be the most difficult? We started off showing the kids examples of funny clown walks – kind of a John Cleese The Ministry of Silly Walks bit.

Anyway, there was one particular clown walk I don’t think I’ll be doing for awhile. I pulled my sciatic nerve down my left leg. I added insult to injury when I slipped getting into the car to go home – stupid rain.

So now I have a little hitch in my get-along but at 27 weeks and counting I guess that should be expected. It’s not a constant thing – more of an occasional (not so) gentle reminder I’m not as spry as I was a few months ago. Maybe I’ll change my name to “Gimpy the Clown.”

Smiling through my pain
It was all worth it! The kids really had a great time and we had a blast! The teachers took pictures and I’m told we’ll be in the church bulletin this week. I’ll see if I can swipe some jpgs to post.

Next clown adventure – a church fund raiser Thursday night and a March of Dimes walk on Saturday. I better find some time to practice my balloon twisting!

I know - a lot of clown stuff going on but when the baby comes, I’ll have no choice but to slow down. I guess I feel like I need to take advantage of the opportunities while I still can.

Am I crazy?

Sugar rush

Just a quick post to say….I PASSED MY GLUCOSE TEST!!!! Hooray! They didn’t even keep me for the full three hours.

In other news, I now know the date for my c-section. Junior will arrive on July 25th, two days before my due date. I suppose he could always make an early arrival but at least I have and end date in sight.

Thanks for sharing your stories and for the encouragement. Blogging about stuff can be very therapeutic!

Because I didn’t have enough to do already…

I failed my glucose test Thursday (test for gestational diabetes) so now I get to go back for a three hour glucose test on Friday. I hadn't really planned on a long doctor's appointment this week (in addition to all the other things I am doing) so I'm not terribly happy about this surprise.

Don't get me wrong - I am concerned about the test but right now I am more annoyed than worried. I didn't have any trouble passing the glucose test with my first pregnancy so it came as a bit of a shock when I failed this one. As an eternal optimist, I just naturally assume tests like this will come back okay so when the odd test comes back goofy it tends to knock me back on my heels a little. Maybe I should try to think more like a hypochondriac.

If the second test comes back okay, then great, perfect, fabulous.... If not...crap.

Gestational diabetes is one of the most common pregnancy complications and when treated and monitored correctly it really isn't a big deal. But the prospect of having a science project (multiple daily blood sugar tests and a strict diet) in addition to surviving all the aches and pains of the third trimester does not having me jumping for joy.

Who am I kidding...nothing could make me jump for joy right now. Pregnant mommies can't jump.

The good news is even if I have gestational diabetes I am not condemned to diabetes for life. In most cases, once the pregnancy is over your blood sugar levels return to normal and everything is hunky dory again.

That concludes my personal pep talk from me to me.

Any mommies out there who have gone through the three hour glucose trial and the test came back okay?

...sigh...

Letters! We’ve got letters! We've got lots and lots of letters!

Okay, I have one letter - so sue me.

I’d like to introduce a new segment on Des Moines 360 – Blogger Mail!

I received a question from Phungus Amongus:

Do you NOT pronounce the S in "Des" or both "Des" and "Moines"?

Please advise.

Thanks.

Thank you Phungus for your question and a very good question it is!

Both the first and second 'S' are silent. To properly pronounce Des Moines, you must say it like this "Deh Moyn."

Hope this clears things up. Feel free to send me more questions!

Picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Pbalson_20060527_IMG_3615.JPG

Easter miracles

…6:40 a.m.…

The clock was telling me it was time to get up but I was still enjoying that minute between sleep and awake. If I didn’t get up soon, it would become a mad dash to make it to church on time…nothing new there.

We wanted to get to church early. Easter, like most holidays, meant we’d have lots of extra people in church – a good thing for sure – but it makes parking difficult.

I rolled over and looked at Hubby. He was still sleeping. I wasn’t the only one taking my time this morning. Then it hit me like a brick to the back of my head. “We didn’t do the Easter Bunny thing yet!”

Panic!

We had gone out the night before with friends and had completely forgotten to put little girl’s Easter basket together before we went to bed. It was an Easter miracle she was still asleep.

The Easter candy was still in the trunk of my car so while Hubby ran out to the garage (still in his boxers) I went to the basement and found darling daughter’s Easter basket. Luckily, I knew right where to look. Then Hubby stood guard at the bottom of the steps while I ripped the packaging off pastel colored plastic eggs and tore into bags of chocolate. Eggs were hastily hidden and her finished basket placed prominently on the fireplace hearth.

Now the clock was really running against us. I jumped in the shower while Hubby roused darling daughter. I heard squeals of delight even over the sound of running water. Little girl came into the bathroom while I was still rinsing my hair.

DAUGHTER: Mommy! The Easter Bunny came!!!!

DMG: Really? WOW!!!

Two more showers to go - Easter outfits were thrown together, hair combed and accessories were found. Little girl agreed to put her candy down without a complaint – Easter miracle #2.

The clock said 8:13 when we piled into the car….two minutes ahead of schedule. After catching my breath – I was still in awe of how we managed to pull off getting everyone ready on time - I finally had a chance to turn and look at little girl in the back seat. She looked very sweet in her Easter hat and white shoes. She was holding her little bunny purse on her lap.

DMG: (to little girl) Do you remember why we celebrate Easter?

DAUGHTER: (enthusiastically) It’s when Jesus rose again and came out of the tomb!

Candy and eggs are cool but the over commercialism of Easter hadn’t made her forget – Easter miracle #3.

Hoping you all had a very blessed Easter! :-)

Picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BambergApocalypse09ThreeMarysAtTomb.JPG

St. Pat parade pics!

Check out the pics on http://epicstatus.com/, Des Moines photo blogger extraordinaire! Two of his last three posts have pics from the parade. Sorry - no pics of me but he did get one of Z. See if you can spot the clown!