On Vegetables and Peanut Butter

Pregnancy hormones are a strange phenomenon, and in my case prove to have an ironic sense of humor.

In my first trimester, I could not stand to eat or smell - or think about eating or even hear Jim talk about eating - lettuce or raw veggies and peanut butter. If he said "salad" I felt queasy. If he ate peanut butter on a cracker and came within 10 feet of me, I felt queasy. The main items that I could stand to eat were fresh fruit, cereal and yogurt. I went through a grapefruit phase, an orange phase, a pineapple phase, a strawberry phase, and am currently in a watermelon phase. (I never really liked watermelon before.) Back on week 16 when I finally returned to peanut butter and had a toasted PB&J, I celebrated the end of 1st trimester woes! (and called Jim at work because I was so excited to be feeling better) Since then I have eaten quite a lot of toasted PB&J sandwiches, and still love milk, yogurt, and my bedtime bowl of cereal.

(Last week I had a hankering for some banana-blueberry muffins, Mom G's recipe. Yum. This was before my test results came back...)

And then suddenly last week I found out that my hormones are running amuck with my insulin and causing high blood sugar levels - yep, I have gestational diabetes. Do I fit any of the risk categories? No. Did I have any idea before I found out? No. Does this mean I now have to limit my intake of my favorite food staples? Yes. The good news is that the proper diet for a woman with gestational diabetes still allows her to eat carbohydrates and sugars, but in a very controlled way. The bad news is that fruit and yogurt and milk are classified as carbohydrates because of their high sugar levels and the way our bodies process them. And here I thought I was being healthy for eating so many servings of fruit and milk every day! Alas, no longer. I can still eat these things, but I have to limit my portions (especially in the morning) and space them out throughout the day. Since my portions of these healthy 'high sugar' foods are limited, that does mean that eating unhealthy high sugar desserts (oh! the ice cream!) or adding sugar to my tea is out for now.

To add to the humor, the diabetes dietitian who I met last Friday (at an educational class with other pregnant moms) explained that the new diet considers certain foods "free" - primarily foods with protein and foods with low sugar content: Meat and Veggies!! We can eat as much veggies, meat, cottage cheese and regular cheese, and nuts as we like, no restrictions. (Somewhat bad news for a person who prefers beans and quinoa over beef.) And of course, what low sugar food fits this category? Salad. And what high protein food falls in this category? Peanut Butter.

Hopefully my new dietary regulations will properly manage my blood sugar levels (so far so good, as I check my levels four times/day), and once our little girl is born, she will be healthy - a proper weight and with normal blood sugar levels herself. My own prognosis is that the gestational diabetes will cease after the delivery and my insulin levels will return to normal. Oh, Naartjie*! Just over 2 months to go until we meet our little clementine!

Here's me at 30 weeks with friend Melanie Brasher, who is due in October.

*Naartjie: an Afrikaans word for a small South African citrus fruit similar to a mandarin or tangerine. How ironic that our nickname for this girl is a fruit.

And 3 days in the Twin Cities!

After our short time in Wheaton we flew up to see our "long lost" Wheaton friends!! It had been almost 5 years since spending time with our former college roommates - too long! The first stop was with Ben & Erica, whose family now also includes Micah and Savannah.

On our first evening we four (plus a very agreeable 3 month old) went out to dinner and dessert. Tremendous chocolate-peanut butter tart and turtle-chocolate cake. Oh...I'm dreaming about it again...

Here's Savannah showcasing her eating technique, hand on brow. What a task, she says, I'm so exhausted.

The older brother with his baby sister. Look at those pretty blue eyes.

When the rain and chill finally cleared on Friday afternoon we were able to take a walk around a nearby lake. Jim and I agree that one of the the Twin Cities' greatest attractions is the recreation areas so nicely laid out around the many lakes in the area.

Despite the "action" photo, we were actually walking pretty slowly...the baby belly is making a difference these days. (Don't worry, Savannah was wearing clothes. You just can't tell from this photo.)

On our 2nd evening we had some hilarity over two rounds of ladder golf (boys vs girls, of course, and the girls were finally victorious after about a 9 year drought in games).

On Saturday morning Karin drove down from the northern side of town and joined us for brunch. Hey, three senior-year roommates together again! (We missed you, Joanna!)

That afternoon the three of us braved the rain and had a good time meandering through a (free) local indoor gardens and zoo. (There was a lake too but we'll save that for next time.)

We match, Karin. Nice.

Here is Karin's dog, Maple, a real sweetie.


The following day we headed back to the airport, flew down to Wheaton, and drove home to Bloomington. It was SO good to spend time together and have extended conversations about our life's journeys in recent years. Thanks Gores fam and Karin!!

Two days in Wheaton

Last week we journeyed up to Wheaton and spent 2 days seeing some friends and family (and of course...the baby shower...but that for another post). It is always SO encouraging and affirming to continue our friendships over the years as life & families also continue to change.

Pete and Fo now have a son: Hayden August!! He was two weeks old here, and though the new parents were a bit bleary-eyed from little sleep they were certainly full of joy too. Pete did a real nice job feeding & burping him while we were there.

BJ & Ester also have a new addition to the family, Gabriella! She's now 3 months old and has some of the cutest cheeks I've ever seen.


The Wisdoms showed us the 'hammock' that Gabriella sleeps in - so cool! They are safe for children up to 2 years and can be hung from the ceiling or a stand. This Kanoe also claims to help fussy babies get more sleep as they soothe themselves with rocking. Pretty interesting.

What a lovely morning with Susie, Jack and Abi...sitting in the backyard under their big trees, discussing life and faith, snacking on cheese and bread and grapes, and going for a stroll in the park.

One evening we spent with Peter & Elizabeth and their four kids, who kept busy the whole time racing around the backyard playing T-ball and soccer and lighting sparklers, then stoking the S'mores fire (while wearing sunglasses). What was for dinner? Elizabeth's amazing calzones of course!!

Here's Jude, Luke, Ben and Sarah Jane, in various stages of consuming their S'mores.

Memorial Day Weekend with Noah & Katie

The Brinks were here for Memorial Day weekend! It was a 7-hour haul up from Memphis - but we are SO glad they came. The weekend marked the end of the school year for Noah, the end of Jul's nanny job, and the start of multiple house projects to prepare for baby Gies. Hopefully this will be the beginning of many more weekends together in upcoming years.

Naturally we had to begin our first evening together with homemade pizza.

Excellent eating approach, Noah. (I'm pretty sure we have a similar shot of Byron eating his pizza this way over Easter weekend.)

After pizza we walked on the Clear Creek Trail, just a short distance from our house. It was a pretty evening and the trail was quiet as we walked along the creek and by some old farms.

The big project for the weekend was to re-paint the 2nd bedroom, which had been yellow and desperately needed a new coat. With Katie's help we decided to go with a light blue, and with those three working, it took only a couple of hours. Of course, moving all the furniture around and re-packing the closet (one of our only storage areas) took even longer than the painting.

Meanwhile I stayed downstairs (to keep away from paint fumes) and did a bit of tending of our plants on the back patio. Our tomatoes are getting huge!

On Memorial Day we headed down to the Monroe Reservoir for a picnic. It was our first time down there too, and we discovered that it is a large lake less than 20 minutes away with multiple recreation areas. Ahh how nice to see boats out on the water and reminisce about our water-skiing days gone by. Next time we will come better prepared to spend the afternoon and jump in the water, too. Or rent a boat!!

Then we toured around IU campus. The landscaping team does such a nice job with flowers and keeping all the paths clean. (and it was nice to be on campus when it was deserted) Yes, it was hot. Yes, we rewarded ourselves with ice cream at The Chocolate Moose afterwards.

Aww the newlyweds. Thanks for coming up, you two!

Saying Good-bye...one year ago

It was exactly one year ago - hard to believe! - that we had to say good-bye to Cape Town and so many good friends, and begin the transition (via NC and Wheaton) to Bloomington and studies at IU. We still feel the 'agony' of the separation; as life changes so do our friendships, and so does our definition of home. We continue to be increasingly grateful for our two years there. We miss you guys!

(I love that Wolfgang is crying in this photo.)

We also really miss the mountain!!