Long overdue UPDATE!

Ohhh man, I am SO behind!!  I've been meaning to write this update since we got home from the Feast... and then suddenly life got super busy again... although what was I expecting?!  Anyway, I am finally sitting down and plan on getting everyone caught up on what's been going on in our lives since the Feast... although it's likely old and moldy news by now ;)

First and foremost... LUKE GETS TO COME HOME!!!!!!  Can I scream that loud enough??!  We are DONE with Immigration!  Okay, in a couple days we will officially be done, but it's pretty much completely over as I write this :)  For those that don't know, we got an update at the Feast that they were *finally* actually processing our application - this was totally thrilling to us because that meant our app was finished sitting in a pile and was actually being LOOKED at!!   Just a few days later we got an email saying that they were done and that Luke's application had been approved and they were requesting his Passport be sent to them so they could insert his visa into it.   He went and got photos taken on his way home from the Feast, in Spokane, and sent off his Passport the very next day.  It got to Buffalo, NY on Monday Oct. 22nd and we began yet another wait for them to get the visa inside and sent back to us (we were beginning to wonder how long this could possibly take!!!)  We had sent them a prepaid overnight envelope to send it back, and we had the tracking number for it, so we checked it every single day.  And then just last week, after I got home from my prenatal class, Luke had been trying to text me to tell me that he finally saw movement on it!!!!!  That meant he would likely get it the next day... HE DID! :):)

He unfortunately had put in his notice at work for Nov. 15th, so he had to stay until today (He had a GREAT last day at work today, wooohooo!!!) but we've booked his plane ticket for Thursday Nov. 17th, so he will be here in just a couple of days!!!  I cannot even tell you how surreal and unbelievable this whole experience has been.  Luke and I have been dealing with immigration for almost 2 years now (it would be 2 years in February), so to have it be done... err, almost... is just mind-blowing to me :)  Luke will officially "land" on Thursday evening, and at that point we will be done with all of this.... over!!  He'll need to wait for his PR card in the mail (this could take a month or two) but there's no need for our lives to be on hold while we wait for this.  We can finally be together... we can finally live happily ever after... it's all coming together :):)  I'm going to share the photo of when we heard the news again - it makes my eyes water whenever I look at it - we were SO emotional!

Okay, now for some baby updates!  Things are going really good still - I'm keeping my energy up for the most part... I do get fairly tired by the end of the day, but I am still working full time, so I figure that's pretty normal :)   I'm in my 35th week right now, and the time is just sailing by... it's pretty amazing actually.  It's hard to imagine that we'll be holding a little teeny tiny person in our arms within a few weeks.  I can't wait to meet her :)  Here's a photo of me that I took last week, when I was in my 34th week:

You can definitely tell that the belly's getting bigger!!

I've been dealing with the gestational diabetes lately though - I had to be put on insulin, which I have to tell you, I was upset about it.  I had really been wanting to stay away from the insulin if I could, and really maintain it with diet... and I felt really down at first when they told me that it wasn't working well enough.  I know it's not my fault, and I know I'm not doing anything wrong, but I really felt like it was.  I felt like I failed, I felt like I did something to mess it up... ugh.  I got over that eventually - I guess it was just the hormones and emotions.  It's a tough thing - I of course want to do everything in my power to keep the baby safe and healthy, but I also want to do things as natural as possible, and I guess I just stress.  I do have to say though that since I've been taking it, it has leveled my sugars out, and things do seem to be doing better.

The insulin they use these days is so completely user friendly - it's like an epi-pen almost - you attach a needle, dial in the units that you need and stick yourself (which you barely even feel).  It's very simple.  I have to take the one on the left before dinner, and the one on the right before bed.  I do have to say, I am getting super sick of poking myself though - at least 4 times a day for my blood sugar and then twice a day for the insulin.... it's getting old!!

I've been extremely blessed with all the beautiful goodies that my wonderful family (near and far) have given to this little girl!  Let me share some of them, because they are too good not to! :)

This is a beautiful blanket that Jenene embroidered!  It reads as black in this photo, but it's a navy blue background with these adorable little girls embroidered on it - so sweet!  I can't wait to see it in person - it will be one of the many things that Luke gets to fly up here with :)

We got a super snuggly and warm sleeper for our little girl to come from the hospital in, and Mom made a gorgeous knitted sweater and toque to go over it.  It's the same sweater pattern that I wore home from the hospital 28 years ago, so this has very special meaning :)

This sleeper is SO soft, inside and out, and it sooo sweet with the little teeny polka dots :)

Such a gorgeous sweater - I love the buttons :)

Mom also made these really adorable booties - she has plans to make lots more too, in various sizes - I am very excited!

In other news, I've told all my jobs about me being pregnant and my plans for afterwards.  I'm keeping most of them - I had to downsize a bit though.  My plan is to stop working here in a couple of weeks (beginning of December) and to be off until mid-January.  It's a tentative plan, because how on earth am I supposed to know how I'm going to do in delivery, recovery, etc?  I don't know how baby's going to do, how well we're going to adjust... all these details that I have no idea about.  But the plan at the moment is to bring baby to work with me - I figure for the most part she's (hopefully) going to sleep a fair bit during the day, and when she's not, I'm hoping I can wear her in a sling or a wrap of some sort so I can be as hands free as possible and still clean.  I have plans to do only 2 jobs a day and work 4 days a week, so hopefully this all works out as planned!!  Most of my jobs have been really awesome about the whole thing though - not that I figured they would be mad at me or something!  But still, I was very happy to receive such positive feedback from most everyone (there was at least one person who was rude, but that was expected, and that was most of the reason why I was quitting her anyway! hehe).

I have a whole post planned about the backyard soon (I know, Alina, I need to show you those!) - there's a lot of photos to go through, and I simply don't have time at the moment!  Anyway, I hope this has been an enjoyable catch-up for you - I seriously should have done this weeks ago ;)  I'm hoping life will settle down a little bit when Luke gets here - at the moment we spend as much time as we can chatting on the computer and on the phone because frankly that's the only way we've been communicating, so with him being here day  in and day out, I think I might have some time to catch up on things I've been getting behind with :)  And then I get to snuggle with my husband every night forever and ever.... life is good!! :):)