I got the results of my 24 hr. protein test this morning. 238 mg. mild pre-e. No intervention at this point; I'll be carefully monitored and continue to do 24 hr. protein tests (how often I don't know yet). My blood pressure has been around 135/75-80 at my appointments. At home it comes out 125/70, I don't know if my monitor is off or if I am all wound up at the doctor's office? Blood pressure of 140/90 and protein over 300 mg in 24 hrs. is cause for concern, from what I understand.

Pre-e only happens in 5-7% of all pregnancies. They think maybe it has to do with the woman's body rejecting the foreign genetic material, but no one really knows the cause.

I am grateful for no complications so far, and I trust God to take care of the baby and me until it is time for him to be born. The baby is big for his gestational age, about 2 weeks ahead. So obviously, he is doing great! :-D And actually, I feel fine too - pregnant, but fine. I would have no idea anything was not within normal values except for my prenatal appointments.

PS - We are flying to Philadelphia tomorrow morning to pick up our new (new to us) van! I am very excited and happy about this mini-vacation. We'll be driving back to Kansas after seeing some of Amish country and a little of DC. Please pray for our safe travel. Our kids will be staying with Great-Grandma and Aunt-Gail in GC, so they basically get a vacation too.

bunk beds part 2

I was looking through some old pictures and found this - a picture of the night my brother Jeff got his bunkbeds. We were about 3 and 5, too, I believe. Sorry Jeff doesn't have his PJs on - he was too eager to play on the beds after his bath.

bunk beds!

We arrived home with the new bunk beds around 7:30 pm. Heath had just enough time to put together the bottom bunk before leaving for a meeting. I don't know what I was thinking, really... but I finished putting it all together myself. The kids went to bed late, and my body is sore, but I am still glad it is finished. :-)

Vote in our baby name poll!

Here is an anonymous way to let us know what you think about a few names we are considering for our baby.

Our Baby Name Poll

It had to be his idea

We have tried to potty train Ethan a couple of times over the last few months. We would put him in underwear, and despite taking him to the potty every 30 minutes or so, we ended up with pair after pair of wet underwear. Well, Monday morning, Ethan came upstairs and said (talking to himself on the way up, not to me), "My diaper wet. I need underwear." He took off his diaper and put on underwear, and there has been no turning back. The first day we had lots of puddles, and we went through a little power struggle when I tried to remind him and force him to "try" to go a few times. But once I stopped reminding him and let him take himself when he felt the urge, he has stayed dry! I am so proud of him. He still has trouble with a certain aspect of pottying, and prefers to take off his underwear and go out on the deck to take care of that part. I've had a couple of unpleasant surprises when I opened the door to the deck. (Don't worry, we'll make sure the deck is extra clean before we have any of you over for a bbq.)

if you read Nattyman's blog...

I thought it might be appropriate, for the sake of all of you who read both Nattyman's and my blogs, to clarify something. Although he posts some articles debunking global warming alarmism, it isn't to justify our energy-hungry lifestyle. We already do most of the things recommended to conserve energy and water. We use compact florescent blubs in every light fixture that will take them; our house is well insulated and has double pane windows; we turn the thermostat up or down (depending on season) when we are sleeping or not home; we turn off lights in unused rooms. We have low-flow plumbing fixtures; we only wash full loads of dishes and laundry and wash on cold when we can; we try to water the lawn efficiently in the summer. We even cloth-diapered Ethan for quite a while, until the British government nappy study came out showing that the environmental impact is about the same with cloth or disposables (and we simultaneously moved and had a less energy-efficient laundry situation). The only way we don't comply, really, is by driving our SUV, which is, at least, only a mid-size SUV. Not like we own a Hummer or anything. :-) I figure the SUV uses 150-200 gallons of gas per year more than a compact car would. We take Heath's compact car whenever we don't have the kids with us, but we purchased the Explorer for its extra weight/safety so we always use it with the kids.

I don't want to mislead you - we are not spectacular conservationists, who reuse all our gray water for watering plants, grow our own organic produce (although we did try with dismal results), and recycle or compost everything.

However, we don't mind doing some basic things to conserve energy and water, because it saves us money and doesn't cause us much trouble. So, just so you know, Nattyman isn't looking up those articles to try to justify our lifestyle or anything.

And now you have the rest of the story. :-)

Edit/PS - When we lived in our quaint older home in GC, we didn't realize how energy inefficient it was... it cost $50/mo. MORE to heat or cool than our house here, despite the fact that our house here is 60% larger. Don't tell the insurance company but the heater in that house is probably at least 30 years old... Maybe the new owners will replace it right away, put up some storm windows, and save a bundle on their energy bills.