Sobremesa Stories

Letting stories unfold around the table

Five on Friday: Sweet Community And Not-So-Sweet Snacks

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Happy weekend, y’all! I hope you had a great week and didn’t get slammed with TOO much snow if you’re up in the northeast.  We’re heading into a beautiful, sunny weekend with weather in the 50s and are so excited for a few days of rest! Here are some updates from our week.

1) Baby Snuggles

Jordan’s whole family lives in KC and we love getting to share life with them on a weekly basis.  And even more fun than that? My brother-in-law’s girlfriend just had a sweet little baby boy named Merritt (see below), Caleb will be born in March, and my other sister-in-law is pregnant with their third child, due to arrive in late June.  Our family will grow by three babies in six months and I am so excited for all the cousin playdates and memories our kids will have.  Living by family is oh so sweet!

Five on Friday Baby Merritt

Ha and sorry to everyone who commented on my Instagram of this picture thinking we’d had our little man.  Caleb still has a few more weeks to cook but get excited to see some pictures soon!

2) Low-Carb Snacks For Days (BLAH)

Remember when I shared in my eight month pregnancy update how I was gestational diabetes free? Wellll, I met with my doctor last week and she said I had just barely passed so she’s a little concerned.  She suspects it’s genetic since I’m already pretty healthy, and said I just needed to make sure I limited sweet juices, soft drinks, and extra desserts and switched everything to whole grain (which we already do).  I did a little research, and even though my mom was never tested for gestational diabetes, she did have an 11 pound baby (who is now my 6’4” not-so-little brother shown in the picture below).

Five on Friday Alex

My brother and I at his wedding this past summer!

Long story short, I am trying to change my diet to include less carbs and sugar to lessen the chances that I do develop gestational diabetes or have a huge baby that makes it more likely I’ll be induced.  It’s been kind of rough to make the transition since so many of my go-to snacks are actually really high-carb, even though they’re healthy things like dried fruit, fruit, and pretzels or whole-grain crackers.  I’d love some prayers that I’d be consistent in that without worrying too much about it or refusing myself the occasional brownie or bowl of ice cream.

3) Date Night With The Hubby

Last weekend we dressed up and headed down for KC’s Restaurant Week, a fun week where lots of nicer local restaurants offer some of their best food on a fixed menu with lower prices.  We were super excited to have some yummy steak at a local steakhouse but we had accidentally made our reservation for the wrong Saturday (woops) and had to switch plans at the last minute! We ended up eating at a local BBQ place we love (Jack’s Stack…so good!) and got some delicious crown prime rib with amazing baked beans and other BBQ fare.  So even if it didn’t turn out as planned, I’d say it was a date night success!

Five on Friday Jack's Stack

4) Lots of Googling

We’re trying to buy any essentials left on our registry and I’ve found myself Googling all sorts of things this week.  Number one? ‘What do babies wear when they sleep?” These are the kind of mysterious questions that moms seem to know instinctively and I have no idea about.  Swaddles and sleep gowns? Mind-boggling to me.  I’m extremely grateful for Google, mom blogs, and mom friends who answer all of my ridiculous questions.  I have a feeling Caleb’s surviving the first few weeks will largely be due to their help!

5) Starting Up Small Group Again

After a long break over the holidays, our church small group is meeting again! I can’t say enough how much we love sharing life with these folks.  One of the couples from the group actually went to the hospital to give birth to their little one that night, and it was so neat to see how the group joyfully and intentionally prayed for them.  These people make me laugh, ask real questions, and challenge me to live more deeply for Jesus. I am so excited that Caleb will grow up with these folks loving on and snuggling him!

Five on Friday Gospel Community

I hope your weekends are wonderful and full of sweet time with the people you love!

 

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Comments

  4. Looks like you had a great week! Definitely sending prayers for you while you have to watch what you eat. It sounds silly, but when the doctor told me I had to go completely gluten-free overnight, I definitely freaking out and worried about it way too much. I completely understand how hard it is to alter your diet! Hang in there though! Our restaurant week got completely snowed out, which was a bummer. But I’m glad you got to check out KC’s! (:

    • Thanks, Annie. I would have had the exact same reaction! It’s hard to make the shift and my body definitely feels different. Not eating so much sugar really has shown me the impact it has on me though. I’ll have to try to be more intentional about it post-baby!
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  5. YAY for family fun and a growing family! My brother has 3 boys and I have 2 so family get-togethers are fun, loud, and great memories! I can relate to lots of googling – we are 3 years into this parenthood journey and I still seek other mom’s advice – we can all learn and grow from each other.
    Erin recently posted…Let’s Chit Chat – Five on FridayMy Profile

  6. My sister had gestational diabetes with her first baby, so she watched her diet more closely with the second and she didn’t have it with him. She still allowed herself to have treats, though! 🙂 I love the picture of your church small group. I work for a church of gospel communities and I attend one of them, but I’m looking at another small group with a different church that I also attend that’s a little closer to home and has more people in the same place in life that I’m in right now. I love my community and miss them when I’m not there, but I think it’ll be nice to also have a group of Christian friends who I have more in common with. (I’m single, but my community is filled with a lot of young families, so parenting is a big topic of conversation at times. :))
    Crystal // Dreams, etc. recently posted…January RuminationsMy Profile

    • Ahhh that’s so hard. I’m still allowing myself the occasional treat as well, although I’m trying to keep it to weekends only! That’s so great that your church has awesome small groups! Ours is mixed with singles and marrieds to and it’s been so cool to share life and learn from each other. I hope yours is going well this semester!
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  7. I have my gestational diabetes test on February 15 (the day after my birthday–life is cruel sometimes!), and I have been really nervous about it. I am relatively healthy (I’ve dealt with being overweight my whole life but I’ve never had any other complications), but my mom does have Type 2 diabetes, which I know ups my chances. I definitely have eaten lots of high-carb things since I’ve been pregnant, so I know that’s been tough to change that up. Praying for you, friend!

    • Aw Maegan that is NO fun! I’m all about the carbs too so it’s a rough transition. Keep me updated! I’ll be praying and keeping fingers crossed that you don’t have it and can enjoy all the sugary carb goodness your heart desires 🙂
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  8. We had Jack’s stack on our road trip from Maryland to Colorado. We went through Tennessee and detoured up just to eat Jack’s stack. Going through Nashville and Memphis, we had already had about a week’s worth of BBQ. Would love to go back to try it again once we aren’t grotesquely stuffed with delicious Southern food. I’m really excited for Denver’s restaurant week in February!
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  9. I was just telling Jon on our anniversary how much I miss being able to get dressed up for a date night with him! I don’t fit into ANYTHING nice and don’t want to spend anymore money for something I’ll be able to wear for 5 weeks, especially because I may get pregnant in a different season next time around! Our big question this week was what do you do with breastmilk when you’re out and using a bottle! If I’m there, we’ll have the main source, but if Jon takes Jackson out, do you just use cold milk? We had to buy a little freezer pack to keep bottles in our diaper bag because we bought one that didn’t have that insulated area. I bought some of those onesies that are just elastic at the bottom that you can pull up and I bought a swaddle sack thing too that his arms can stay out of since I’ve heard it’s not great to keep their arms wrapped up. I’ve been eating a TON of fruit and dairy lately. So I’m sure my sugar intake is much higher than it ever used to be, but I’m just going to be glad I’m even still eating at this point since nothing sounds good!
    Liz recently posted…Anniversaries, Nesting, and Other Life HappeningsMy Profile

    • Haha Liz I TOTALLY feel your pain. I have a dress or two that I really like so I rocked that, even thougH I have gotten stains or food on the belly of it every time I’ve worn it 😉 That’s a great question about breastmilk! I haven’t really thought through all that yet. And yes, it’s so hard to not eat sugar and carbs, especially when they are in things that seem so healthy like fruit or whole grains! I guess once the babies are here it will be worth it 🙂
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  10. Trust me, no mom knows what babies are supposed to sleep in! However, we used a swaddle blanket that had velcro and put Benson in a onesie under that. I think it really depends on your baby. After a while Benson hated being swaddled, so we put him in those sleeper gown things that zip up. He could move around in it but stayed warm. 🙂
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    • Hahaha well good! I’ve heard good things about those swaddle blankets. I ordered a few of the nice Aden and Anais muslin ones but we’ll see if we can handle those! I figure it will all just shift and change based on Caleb and what he actually wants, so all my plans might be for nothing anyway 😉
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  12. I am not a mom, but I am a nanny and I do have a piece of advice: If you do get a sleep gown, I recommend getting the kind that is completely closed at the bottom. Some have ridiculous elastic at the bottom where they can stick their legs out, but as soon as they start moving around and fidgeting (I guess after a month or so? The baby I nannied was two months old when I started) the gown will creep up their legs and then stay there because the elastic is there. That may be weird, but I DESPISED the ones with elastic. haha.
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  13. Your date night looks yummy!! I’m not going to lie, I cried more over my gestational diabetes/diet changes than anything else in my pregnancy! I LOVE carbs and sugar and it was so hard for me to eat different. You’ve got this though, I know it!! If you need encouragement or meal/snack ideas, just e-mail me!! I’ve got plenty! I came out of pregnancy weighing less that I did when I went in and out of the pre-diabetic range that I’d been in for three or four years because I managed my diabetes so well with diet and exercise. I’ve since fallen off that bandwagon… but I’m trying to get back on!
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    • Thanks, Amberly. You are so sweet! I will definitely let you know. I’m seeing my doctor again this week so I’m going to ask her if the changes I’ve made are sufficient or if she thinks I need to do anything more. We shall see! I’m definitely eating healthier than I normally do, which I guess is a good thing even if it’s not fun!
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  14. I love love love the admission to the Googling. Mostly because I KNOW this will be me when I’m pregnant.

    PS – Props to the cut back of sugar and such, you can do it! And it’s only temporary 😉

  16. So, when I was pregnant with my first, I’d never even changed a diaper. Hadn’t held a baby since I was 6? maybe. I did a TON of Googling and reading, until it overwhelmed me and my husband forced me to stop. To be honest, it definitely comes naturally, for the most part. Yes, there are a million and seven gadgets and gizmos and fun things to make life ‘easier’ (though. remember, just because it made someone else’s life easier, it may make yours more stressful! That’s how I felt about those video monitors, at least.) but the basics of taking car of a baby haven’t changed in a million years. Feed, change, cuddle, sleep. You’ll figure it all out!

    • Morgan, thank you so much for that perspective! I definitely need to be reminded sometimes that so much of it is natural and just about loving our little one and meeting his basic needs. The gadgets and gizmos aren’t always as helpful as they seem! Thanks for sharing your mama wisdom 🙂
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