not the best news

last week i was tested for gestational diabetes. we found out yesterday that my glucose level was higher than normal, which according to all the pregnancy books and websites means that the doctor will have you come in for a more in-depth 3-hour test. only 1 out of 3 women who test positive during the 1st test actually have gestational diabetes after taking the 2nd test.

so we were a little bummed yesterday, but we were gearing myself up to really kick the 2nd test's butt.

so... today a nurse called me and let me know that my level was so high that they don't need to re-test me. they are sending me straight to a diabetic center! she didn't say too much, except that i'd probably learn how to take my own blood and test it several times a day. there is more to it that i will learn later on.

it turns out only 3% of women have gestational diabetes. apparently i am one of them. we don't know too much yet - just what we've read online - but it could makes things more complicated for me and the baby during delivery. it usually goes away after the baby's birth, but not always, and there is a good chance i will have diabetes later in life.

obviously we are a little nervous since we don't have enough information yet. i am so used to being told i'm average and normal after each doctor appt, so i am kind of a mess having just been told i have diabetes. we are hopeful, and we are praying, and we could use your prayers too.

28 weeks

here we are at 28 weeks, just beginning the 3rd trimester. we are so excited yet a little shocked that we only have 12-ish more weeks until meeting our little one. luke took some photos of us this weekend.

so far everything is looking great. our doctor says i've gained the right amount of weight so far and that the baby is healthy. he/she is still kicking and hiccuping and moving around all day and all night long.

apparently i've had an easy pregnancy so far. now i have the pregnancy-heartburn after every meal and it hurts to walk and move since my hips are widening (according to our doctor), but those are just normal symptoms that we can definitely handle.

pain au chocolat

we made these chocolate croissants from trader joe's this morning for breakfast. so yummy! they taste just like the ones i would pick up on my way home from school each and every day in spain (yes, i gained a lot of weight that year). tj's sells them for only $1 each which is less than what the panaderia was selling them for.

you just take them out overnight, let them sit 9 hours, and bake them in the morning.

before:

after:

yummy, warm, golden, flaky, chocolate-y goodness

wear the world

our dear friend and old roommate, Heather, makes natural, creative jewelry inspired by her travels around the world. she recently launched a new website and etsy page where you can check out her work and order it online. we love how she incorporates nature and the outdoors into all of her pieces.


luke surprised me with a pair of her earrings for Christmas which i absolutely love.


heather and her husband jason are some of the most human, truly good people we know. they are an inspiration to us. so it feels great to not only purchase super cute handmade jewelry, but also to support a great couple.

click here to check out their website and etsy page.

1.20.09

a historic day.
we are hopeful!

detroit for a day

yesterday luke and headed east for the day. we had tickets from Christmas to see joel mchale doing stand up in detroit. we have been watching the soup for awhile now and it makes us laugh every week.

the only problem was that it happened to be a super snowy and icy day. we saw more cars in ditches and more accidents on the road than we've seen in all our time here. thankfully, luke is a super safe and calm driver and got us there and back slowly and safely.

we stopped first in ann arbor to have lunch at our favorite pizza place, and then we took a walk around the univeristy/downtown area. we love ann arbor and so wish luke's school could magically be relocated there. there is so much art and music and culture and diversity there that we are missing in lansing.

afterwards we headed to trader joe's to stock up yummy and cheap groceries. this time we left with the classic blue potato chips, some peppered salmon, super hearty blueberry bran muffins, thai food, tillamook, naan, and the famous chocolate croissants (just google trader joe's chocolate croissants and you'll see).


from there we headed to the fillmore theatre in detroit for our very first comedy show. the threatre was really amazing inside and located right downtown where a lot was going on. it felt so good to be in a big city. joel mchale was super funny and we had a great time.

today

Thursday, Jan 15

High: 2 °F RealFeel®: -22 °F

Mostly cloudy and very cold with snow at times, up to 1"; extreme cold can be dangerous

Thursday Night, Jan 15

Low: -4 °F RealFeel®: -27 °F

Rather cloudy, brisk and bitterly cold with a couple of snow showers; extreme cold can be dangerous

luke's 1st day!

luke's first day of the spring semester is today! i managed to get a shot of him this morning right before he left.

this semester is really momentous since it is the last semester of his phd where he will be taking classes. he is taking two classes - 1) formal approaches to second language acquisition and 2) qualitative research methods. after this semester, he will be working on research and his dissertation for the next 2 years. he is also teaching one class - spanish 201, and co-teaching another class. the one he is co-teaching doesn't have a subject yet and is decided by the students on the first day. or something like that. maybe he will explain it better in another post. on top of all this, he is presenting at a conference in denver this spring and planning a conference held here at MSU, submitting work to various publications, representing organizations and sitting on boards. oh, yeah, and he is also becoming a father in the midst of all this. :)

anyways, this semester promises to be a lot of work for him. but he seems to thrive in the stressful academic world so i am confident he will do a great job.

house update

we mentioned in early november that we'd had an offer accepted on the house on leslie street. our next step (in november) was to get a house inspection and depending on the results, we'd either move forward or walk away. if the results were good, we were supposed to be moved in by the end of 2008.

unfortunately, we discovered that there were several slow steps we needed the bank to have done before the inspection. the utilities had to be turned on, the house had been winterized poorly so they had to pay someone to de-winterize the house as well as fix broken plumbing. we also found out that the home had been previously condenmed because of a gas leak, so that had to be fixed as well.

finally, over two months later, we heard the news that we could finally have the house inspected. we met both our house inspector and pest inspector yesterday morning at the house. we were super nervous and while we hoped for good news, we were anticipating bad news since it is a very old, previously condemned home. surprisingly - amazingly - we heard good news from both of the inspectors. the house needs a few minor things - a certain cap on a pipe, some mortar on the fireplace, a new valve on the water heater. as for pests, there is a tree in the backyard that could be home to some carpenter ants that they recommend we get rid of.

we were so shocked and pleased at this good news. and a little nervous since it means we are moving forward! things could always change, but currently it looks like we could be closing by the end of the month.

we took some photos of the inside of the house. let us just warn you: these are definitely the *before* photos. we are planning to majorly clean/update/and especially paint everything. i think there is potential.

the front porch

the living room - the glass door is the front door of the house, and the one on the left leads to the upstairs

the other side of the living room, which is what you see when you first walk in

the dining room

the kitchen, and pantry to the left. the closed door leads to the backyard.

more kitchen. after taking these photos, we ripped off the fruit wallpaper. the door in the corner leads to the basement.

the first bedroom upstairs. we would use it as an office/guest room.

the second bedroom upstairs. we would sleep in this one.
and the third bedroom upstairs. this would be the baby's room.

there is a (randomly placed) door in the upstairs bathroom that leads to a stairway and an attic that we love. we could use it as is or eventually finish it since it is roomy and has windows.

other side of attic.

and finally, the back yard and garage.

matthew in chicago

our friend matt is always at the end and the beginning of something new and exciting. he's often on the move and one of our favorite people. we were so happy to catch up with him this week in chicago in the middle of his current journey. he just returned from living in england via arizona, stopped over in chicago to be sworn in as a lawyer and now he is headed to washington dc.

luke and i managed to slip away for 24 hours for an overnight in chicago. it was super fun, but super fast. we were planning on staying at the youth hostel but got a cheaper room by using priceline.com. we stayed at the hilton right downtown and had a city view for only $50! (we forgot our camera that night so we have no photos to share)

we walked a lot downtown and in the wicker park neighbood where matt was staying. he took us to his favorite mexican restaurant in chicago, la pasadita (above). we had a feast of chips and salsas, quesadillas nortenas (quesadillas soaked in salsa), chuchos (crazy stacked nachos), tacos and tostadas of barbacoa, and rice and beans. sooo yummy, especially outside of the southwest.

so good seeing you, matt!

week 25

here's me and the little one 6 months along. he/she has been kicking me all through the day and (especially) night for about a month now. it's so wonderful. luke has been home on his break and been able to enjoy it as well. he can feel the kicks and movements and even seems to communicate with the baby. he'll ask for a kick and the baby will kick back, he'll ask again and the baby will respond, over and over. it makes me laugh. which makes the baby kick more. :)

apparently my uterus is about the size of a soccer ball now and the baby is the about the size of an eggplant. he/she should be about 13 inches long or so and weighs about a pound and a half. here is a close up of us:

happy new year, happy anniversary!

today is not only the first day of 2009, but for luke and i it is our anniversary of 3 beautiful years of marriage!

we love reminicing of the crazy week (and months) before our wedding - we'd just moved back to the states 6 days before our wedding day. we were finishing wedding plans, tasting cakes, buying a suit for luke, decorating, as well as buying a car, finding an apartment and searching for jobs. it was crazy. we were also super broke. amazingly, God totally provided for us. months before the wedding, without asking anyone, we would get calls and emails from family members and friends who had specific things in mind that they wanted to give us. dean & kathie offered their beautiful garden to us, my grandparents asked to buy us a cake, sarah bought us a photographer, my coworkers in puerto rico surprised me by raising over $300 to go towards my dress. susan & sil wanted to give us flowers, my old church in phoenix offered to make an authentic mexican meal for everyone, my incredible uncle offered rooms at his hotel and luke's uncle and aunt gave us an unforgetable honeymoon in cancun. and there was so much more, so many gifts and acts to list. friends and family came together and gave us such an amazing day. and it all just seemed so perfect - everyone offering us exactly what we needed without realizing it - it felt like God was letting us know that He was definitely behind what we were doing.

we were just searching for our old wedding photos but apparently they are locked up in storage. we'll post some old pre-wedding favorites below.

we first met in january of 2002, when luke was a spanish conversante (tutor) in my spanish immersion class at nau. we went on a hike in sedona, arizona over spring break where we sat on the edge of a mesa and talked and laughed and began to fall in love.

we couldn't tell our class about us until the semester was over. here is a shot of us at luke's year end party where we finally came out as a couple. :)

a few months later i left for a year in spain. despite the odds against us, loneliness, and super expensive phone cards, we stayed together. luke even managed to visit me twice over the year. here we are in front of the market in valencia:

and now on a hiking/camping trip on the east coast of spain:

below is our first Chistmas card photo, so this must have been during the fall of 2003. we were hiking on the weatherford trail in flagstaff, az.

this next shot is an emotional one. it was taken during our last few minutes in flagstaff before driving across the country to nyc and shipping our car and ourselves (can you see unica in the car?) to puerto rico. it was a huge step and a huge adventure for us.

our friend aaron caught us in front of el morro in old san juan:

and another puerto rican moment. this one is from whale watching in rincon, pr:

these next few are from a trip we took to costa rica. i had originally planned to go solo but as the trip grew nearer, luke and i kept thinking about how much fun it would be to go together. i was SO HAPPY when he finally bought a ticket, and so happy after the trip since we had such an incredible tropical time together. i can't imagine having gone alone.

it's been such an amazing 7 years together. i never thought a relationship or marriage could be so wonderful. i will always feel so blessed that luke is my husband.