Wake Up Call

When I was pregnant with Matthew, I had Gestational Diabetes. To be honest, it sucked. I hated counting carbs, always eating a protein with everything, and checking my blood sugar four times per day along with my dreaded night time insulin shot. After Matthew was born, my blood sugars returned to normal and I had a normal A1c reading at my follow-up appointment in October. Everything looked good and I promised to start exercising and eating better.

Then life happened.

My baby was fussy and had a lot going on for the first year. Every time he would seem to get better, he would start crying again and it was enough to drive you batty. I was constantly asked what was wrong with him and it was rough. We had plenty of good moments and he grew out of it and finally started sleeping through the night consistently after his first birthday, but it was a rough time.

During that time, I decided that I was too tired and overwhelmed to watch what I ate and really exercise. It's sad and such a bad decision looking back, but as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

I went in for a physical a few weeks ago because I needed to get my A1c checked and everything checked out well! Then, I got the dreaded phone call that my number had gone up and they needed me to make some changes.

Metformin ::check::

Eat Less Carbs ::check::

Cut Back on Sugar ::check::

Exercise ::check::

I have to admit that it was a rough call to get. How on earth could my number be that high? It's not in the diabetic range, but it's close enough for comfort and the good old internet would tell me that it's considered "prediabetic" {shudder}.

So, I've been counting my carbs, eating balanced meals and snacks (carbs:protein) and just doing my best. I haven't started working out yet and I plan to get on that when my foot is back to normal, but let's just say this sucks, but I made my choice and this is what happens.

It took a few days for me to not feel sorry for myself and I've been doing better with this transition. It's been a few weeks and I've already lost a little bit of weight so that's definitely positive, but it's still hard. I'm working on the right decisions one day at a time and know that this has to be taken care of now so it doesn't develop into diabetes. It's reversible at this point and that's the plan...to reverse the effects and get my A1c down.

If anyone has any suggestions, encouragement, advice, or anything, please feel free to share!

Lately

I haven't really sat down in a while to write out what's been going on in our lives lately, so this will have to count as a catch-up.

Here's what's been going on...

• My husband has been in a walking boot for the past few weeks from breaking his foot. At first, they thought it was a couple of toes and a possible foot fracture, but it is actually just the top of his foot. It's healing well and we're praying he'll be boot-free this next week.
• I have joined him on getting to wear a walking boot. Apparently wearing flip-flops 99% of the time with no arch support coupled with over pronation caused an inflamed tendon in my foot and I woke up in pain and with lots of swelling last week. Good news, it's manageable and I'll just need good arch support from here on out, but I'm still booted for at least a couple of weeks.
• Matthew is getting so close to walking! He's been crawling for a while now and can easily pull to stand, cruise, and has started trying to climb certain things. He's also now letting go and balancing for a few seconds and can almost stand without holding on, but not quite yet. We're hoping he's walking by Halloween so that his raccoon tail won't be squished!
• I've signed up for a craft show with a friend for the end of November and I'm thrilled! I'm going to bring a lot of embroidered and sewn Christmas items so we're looking forward to that. I've been considering getting back into the swing of things since sewing seems to be good for my soul.
• Matthew has been recovering from hand, foot, and mouth and I am looking forward to getting out of the house more! He's had a really mild case and we're thankful for that.
• I've been container gardening on my deck. We have tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, broccoli, and I just planted sugar snap peas. I can't wait to harvest all of the yummy veggies!

What have you been up to lately?

Finding Myself

In the midst of moving in with my in-laws, getting pregnant, and being a mom to an active little boy the past year I really felt like I had lost myself. There wasn't a lot of time to do things for myself or just because. Someone always needed something and when I did have some time to myself all I wanted to do was lie around and relax. I didn't like feeling like I didn't know who I was becoming so I decided to change that.

This past week I've taken up one of my hobbies again...sewing. Before Matthew was in the picture, I sewed and sometimes I sewed a lot. I went to craft shows and was a vendor, I did custom orders, and was always thinking of the next project that could be done. I loved it, but once we were living with my in-laws and our space was limited, all of that changed. I had a couple of orders to complete, but for the most part, I haven't done much sewing in over a year.

I have a whole large bookshelf filled with fabric in the sewing room and it's just there. I decided that I need to start working on projects again and I've already finished a few projects this weekend! I'm currently working on Matthew's Halloween costume that will be done this week and finished some "unpaper towels" to make kitchen clean up faster and more cost-effective.

Since sewing, I've noticed my mood has increased and I've been much more productive in general. Matthew usually plays while I sew and will come over for a hug and I can keep an eye on him from the dining room where I set up the machine. He loves playing independently and this way we both get what we want and are happier.

I'm really happy that I took this step and decided to do something for me. Having something for myself has been such a good thing and the whole family is benefitting from it.

What do you when you want to feel more like yourself?

Weekend Wrap-Up

This holiday weekend was amazing for our little family. We had the best Saturday we have had in months and it felt good to just hang out and not have too many stressors.

Friday night Phil and I had a date night! We hired a sitter to come over for a couple of hours while Matthew was in bed for the night and we went out for a casual dinner and to Joann's to get some fabric for a project I wanted to work on. It was nice to get out just the two of us and we didn't have to worry about our little guy not liking the sitter!

Saturday we hung out around the house. Matthew played and did his own little thing, Phil got some chores done, and I mowed the lawn and made some unpaper towels. Did I mention that we got a tractor?! That made mowing the lawn so much easier and saved a lot of time.

Sunday morning Matthew decided he would not nap at all so we stayed home until it was time to visit Phil's parents at the campground they went to for the weekend. We had lunch, tried to take a cranky baby swimming, did a Target run, and came home for the night where Matthew slept through the night!

Since it's a holiday weekend, Monday we were able to get some things done and just spend some time around the house mostly.

I love that we are becoming homebodies and not feeling the need to leave the house and be out just because. I want to start incorporating fun things as a family once a month or so where we go out and do something new, but for now, I'm loving where we're at. I've got bread rising and waiting to be put in the oven, the baby is sleeping, and my husband is cleaning up the kitchen. Life is good.