I forgot to mention.... that my preliminary glucose tolerance test came back positive last week, which means I may have gestational diabetes. I have just returned from the second, more intense test this morning. I had to drink some super-sweet liquid and have blood drawn once every three hours. Apparently there are a lot of false positives with the initial test and only 15% of the second tests come back positive. I'm hoping to avoid this little complication, but will deal with it if I must.

have you ever seen a sloth in action?... That's about how this week is going. Slow. And I seem to be relating to the great and powerful Sloth in many other ways, as well, as the afternoon tireds are starting up again. My boss, Melissa, swears it's the little baby's fault, doing all that growing. Poor Macy, she gets blamed for everything. Although most of my little physical quirks of late are caused by the fact that she's growing in my belly, but still...

Actually, I've been studying most of the week for the midterm I took last night. And studying, after all, does not do much to make the clock tick faster, nor does it assist in one's feeling of excited wakefulness. But I'm hopeful it paid off because I have a somewhat positive hope that I at least got a B on the test. I'll find out next week. One day before I get married. That's right, I said one day before I get married.....

Otherwise, the week has been uneventful and happy. My heart has grown, my mind has grown and my baby has grown. But unlike my heart and mind, little baby proves it by kicking and squirming, (wouldn't it be wierd if our organs did that?). All is right with the world. I even slept really well last night for the first time in about a week. But I won't complain, for as Mike always says - it's always a good night when you make it through without a ventilator. I think that's medical humor, but even so, it's quite funny.

the story of the little, red dress... I awoke Sunday morning, very excited because I had planned on shopping most of the day. My primary goal was to buy a suitable dress to be married in. I also needed some bigger maternity clothes, including more underwear. So I set off, first stopping by Target for the underwear and more toothpaste. I ended up with quite a cartful there, including a whole new outfit. Then I was happily off to the mall. First to Motherhood. I was hoping that they might just happen to have some nice dresses in there, but they didn't. Unless you count the numerous black dresses that I liked. Please keep in mind that my initial thought for a wedding dress was to be something very simple, not formal. The simple black dresses were catching my eye, but they're just not suitable for the occasion. To ease my disappointment, I bought lots of other stuff. Then, off to JCPenny. The tough part about that place was that there was no maternity section. So I did the next best thing and went to the plus sizes. Again, besides the cute black dresses, nothing. Off to Sears, where a nice little white dress jumped out at me first thing. It had a jacket over it that I didn't like so much, but the dress underneath seemed, at least at first glance, alright. I took it and another similar dress to the dressing room and was astonished at how one dress can make someone look so hideous. Not only did I look huge, but frumpy and old as well. I quickly re-dressed and practically ran out of that dressing room. Back upstairs where I tromped down to Dillards. Cousin Christie was working at the Lancomb counter, so I chatted with her for a few minutes. Again, Dillards did not have a maternity section either, so she held my bags for me while I journeyed upstairs to to the big girls racks. I ended up being drawn to a crowd of women and girls in the formal dress section. There was quite a clearance going on with racks upon racks of sparkly, colorful prom-like dresses smashed so tightly together that you could barely pull them down. I was pleased to find not only one dress that I fell in love with, but 6 of them in a rainbow of colors. I carried them all back to the dressing room, strategically ignoring the "three garment limit" sign and snuck into an unused room. The first two dresses fit (which in itself was an exciting thing) but something about the way they hung on my lumpy body just wasn't right; but as I tried on the third one of the long, red persuasion, I knew that this was something I could definitely make some vows in. Just for fun I tried on the rest of them. Big mistake for I could not even get the zippers up half way on any of them. I think any girl can relate that this is not a good feeling and I left the dressing room feeling like one of those big bouncy red balls - the really big ones. But as I lay my red dress down on the counter, I smiled, somewhat nervously. It was exciting knowing that I would soon be marrying my best friend, and I would be wearing red. I could feel the beginnings of some deep emotions as I took the two escalators downstairs to the men's department and picked out a matching red tie for Mike.

At this point, I could feel my introversion side taking over. My feet were throbbing and I needed to get out of there fast. I picked up my bags and bid farewell to Christie, not forgetting to set up a make-up appointment for the wedding day and lugged my heavy bags and even heavier body out of Dillards. On the way to the door, I walked by Gymboree and impulsively thinking I should maybe buy something red for Macy on my way out. A first-time Gymboree shopper, I was in awe of the tiny little outfits, especially the little socks! My eye was drawn to the color red toward the back of the store and I headed there. The first thing I noticed was the cutest, tiniest, red dress. Without even looking at the price I snatched it up, along with the tiny leggings that went with it. As I stood there holding the mini-garments, I could feel tears rolling down my eyes. It hit me, I was buying a dress for my daughter. The salesgirl walked up behind me as I was trying to sober myself up, but I was too late. She asked if I was ok and I explained to her my recent realization. She ooh'ed and aah'ed and led me to the cash register, asking all sorts of questions like due date, name, etc. She also told me that the little red dress was her favorite thing in the store right now and called her co-worker up to the desk to confirm her story. So as she wrapped everything up, she handed me a gift box and told me to wrap up the dress to put under my christmas tree. And I think I will.

September 11, 2002... Driving to work this morning, I was reminded of my drive to work exactly one year ago for it was then that I first heard of the plane crash into the Tower. I remember thinking it was some sort of accident, but clearly remember how I felt later, as I knew the truth and watched the fires on TV. Today will be hard for a lot of people. I'm glad we're commemorating the occassion, but, personally, I do not wish to re-live the events. I have no desire to watch those burning buildings again, although I am almost sure I will see it being re-broadcast throughout the day. They have already re-broadcast the radio shows of last year. My plans for the night will be babysitting my friend, Mary's, little girl, Emily, while her and her husband play with the National Guard band at Pioneers Park. Is that patriotic enough?

rings and other things... did not make the river this weekend, but instead, we took the neighbor kids, Drew and Kyle, to see MIBII. Having not seen the first one, I was sufficiently amused with it. Afterwards, the boys gave us a glipse of what parenthood may be like to some people, Kyle, entertaining us with his computer downloaded rock songs and Drews demanding that we "watch!!" him play several video games. It was fun, but draining. I wonder how it'll be different for us having a girl.

On Saturday, Mike and I watched to husker game at the Rococo. We had a nice booth and were joined later by Aunt Kat and Uncle Bob. We headed to Sidetrack at halftime. I was so excited to return there after a whole year. I even braved the stage to sing my traditional "Under the Boardwalk" this time being completely sober and obviously pregnant. Joyce and Paul promised to hunt down the guy that did it to me and beat him up... I thought that was funny. As we left the bar hand in hand, i realized that this was the first time ever that I left the Sidetrack with my boyfriend. I usually had to go alone or with other friends. Life is becoming so nice...

We returned to Plattsmouth on Saturday to pick up our wedding bands. It is hard to believe that the big day is less than three weeks away. The only thing I really have to do is find something to wear, which will be great fun. I'm anxiously awaiting becoming mollie miriovsky. nice ring.

i love dave... the concert was wonderful, of course. It's the second time I saw dave in concert, the first time being during his Crash tour about (oh my god!) 6 years ago when I took my little sis and her friend. We had general admission tickets back then and ended up being pushed up to the front row - center. I took a lot of great pictures and wish I had a scanner so I could share them. Anyway, although this concert was just as good and we had pretty good seats, it was disappointing to be so far from the stage compared to last time. What made it really special though was that Mike got to see him. He's a big fan and I like to take the credit for introducing him to it. Another funny thing was that after standing for 2 hours, my feet began to swell up and I had to sit down, at which time I could see nothing but the cute little couple in front of us.

But I digress, for I haven't yet mentioned my wonderful Labor Day weekend. Mike and I took the boat down to Milford Lake in Manhattan KS on Saturday. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday on the lake. It was hot, but with enough breeze and cloud cover to make it just about right. Every so often I had to jump into the lake to cool myself off, though. It was then that I realized my irrational fear of deep water. Every time I jumped in, it seemed as soon as I emerged from the water, I swam as quickly as I could toward the boat and could not relax until I had grasped the ladder. When I'm in deep water where I can't see what's beneath me, I feel as if something is going to grab me from beneath and pull me under. yikes! Thinking back, I've always had this phobia, which would account for me quitting swimming lessons as soon as I graduated to the deep end. Ah, the irrationalities. We enjoyed ourselves tremendously, Saturday night eating Mexican and relaxing at the Ramada in Junction City (we're not big campers), heading out again Sunday for another day on the lake. This time parking along the beach amongst about 40 other boats to frolic there. More irrational girl-thoughts as I stood there, pregnant, amongst others who weren't. Thoughts going through my head thinking Mike is checking out the skinny, tan girl with big boobs. Is it hormones, or just the fact that I'm a woman? One may never know...

We had another appointment with Joann on Wednesday. I'm in my 24th week of pregnancy and ironically, my belly measures 24 inches (top to bottom). They are supposed to correlate.. the wonders of nature will never cease to amaze me. Her heartbeat is 152 bpm and she's kicking away like crazy. In fact, last night Mike was able to feel a whole gammut of pokes and jabs as we lay in bed. I think he was excited about that. For me, it just felt good to lay in bed after 4 1/2 hours at class, where the air conditioning continues to be non-functional after last week's flood. Even with three fans, it was quite warm and my feet once again began to swell. I made it, though and here we are at Friday already. The weekend looks quiet, which means we will do whatever we want to. I believe there was discussion of a boating trip down the river. We'll see...

busy... I have a lot to say, but no time to say it. Funny how I'm never really busy at work except for the days when I want to leave early. I'm scheduled to leave at noon today because Mike and I are heading to KC with Jen and Matt for the highly anticipated Dave Matthews concert. We've had tickets since March and I really can't believe it's already September...

With more time I'll relate my labor day weekend, but for now, I have to go bug my boss for one last bit of info before I can leave....