Diabetic Rant

Another excellent potty day. Wee Laddie seems to be getting the hang of this just fine, aside from the late-night poops. Not sure quite how to motivate him to use the potty for pooping… he still seems very uncomfortable about that.

So I know I’ve been whining a little about the diabetes diet. (I have a whole new appreciation for diabetics, especially in a country like Germany.) Last time it didn’t seem to be that big a deal. Once I figured out how many Chipotle chicken tacos I could eat, I was all set. ;) I have concluded that over here, for me at least, it means eating most meals at home as it’s very difficult to get the info you need from the food labels. You know, American food labels look like this:



German labels look like this:



So how many carbs is that per serving? How much sugar? Protein? Fiber? All things that are helpful to know when dealing with diabetes. I’m just saying.

Potty Weekend

Guitarman was on shift today (and is tomorrow, too) so Wee Laddie and I were solo. We decided to tackle potty training, since we can just stay home all weekend and practice. The need to do this has become urgent.

A few weeks ago, the changing table (a cabinet kind of thing) at the commissary suddenly became wobbly. Wee Laddie was upset by it, but I didn’t think it was anything major. The next time we went back it was still wobbly… Wee Laddie talked about falling off so I tried to use my foot to keep it from rocking. (Didn’t work.) He got very upset, and at his next two diaper changes on changing tables in other places, he came absolutely unhinged. We had one change at the mess hall that was so traumatic that I was also near tears and we were both exhausted. No amount of reassurance will convince him that it’s okay to stop clutching my neck/arms/hands/whatever he can reach… that I will NOT let him fall. He is completely terrified, and as my belly gets bigger it gets harder to bend over far enough to change him standing up. Not to mention that it’s not the best way to get him really clean after a change.

Day 1 went quite well. We’ve discussed it a lot, and I know he knows how to use the potty… it’s always been a matter of motivation. He didn’t have a single accident today, but saved his poop for after I’d put him in his nighttime diaper at “bedtime,” which is currently AKA “the 2-4 hours Wee Laddie spends winding down before he’ll fall asleep.”



We watched a new kids’ movie we got from the PX: “The Little Cars in the Big Race.” It’s an animated movie from Brazil. It was bad. Way bad. So bad that it was significantly overpriced at $5. I won’t even take it to the thrift store here, as this movie shouldn’t end up in anyone else’s hands.

My blood sugar was rather high after eating chicken-bean quesadillas. Waaaaah! I did use flour tortillas and I did eat a little more than I should have (for some reason I get full on smaller-than-normal-for-me quantities of food these days and that, combined with the fact that I loooove quesadillas, led me to overeat), so I haven’t given up entirely yet. Will try corn tortillas next time & see if that works.

Ladies Who Lunch

Went to Laaber to have lunch with the lovely Christina and the very cute baby Oliver. We ate at the Greek place again since we knew I could get a big plate of meat with some salad there, as opposed to ordering around pasta or potatoes. (She was going to cook a Thai meal for me—rumor has it she’s quite a good cook—but it was tricky to work around the sugar avoidance.) The food was very good this time, too. Oliver is very cute and very alert & interested in everything. Much like Wee Laddie was as a tiny person. He’s sure going to keep his mama busy as he learns all about this big world! Christina seems to have eased comfortably into motherhood. (When we first met, she wasn’t so sure about the whole maternal instinct thing.)

I always feel more like a “regular” person after seeing Christina since, even though she’s American, she’s not connected with the military base. That may sound weird, but she so actively chose to live here and has integrated herself well and grown to love it here. I think we probably would have become very good friends if I were living the life I’d planned to in Germany (or at least were staying longer), rather than having 90% of my social interactions on the base with many people who don’t like it here and probably didn’t have that much choice about coming.

Today’s bonus: Christina let me pick through her maternity clothes, so I got some much-needed long-sleeved shirts. Hooray! New things to wear without shopping… doesn’t get much better than that.

Bow Wow Wow

This morning, out of the blue, Wee Laddie asked to hear “the pink CD” in my car. It’s a compilation of ‘80s hits (re-recorded). He said he wanted to hear the candy song (“I Want Candy”). I’m so proud that my little boy is already requesting Bow Wow Wow.

Top Chef

I’m totally addicted to that show. Guitarman got major points for saying that I could be on the show, but to say that he's overstating my cooking skills would be an understatement. I’m a reasonably decent cook and have even prepared a “fancy” dish or two in my lifetime (souffle once—a microwave recipe if you can believe that—and some stew kind of thing in phyllo dough packets that were tied up all schmancy-like, biscotti—which at least sounds kind of fancy) but I’m so amazed by the things they come up with on that show! Even Wee Laddie likes to watch it, so I’m golden. I think we’re a season behind since it’s on the Armed Forces Network… I never have been able to convert Guitarman to watching TV in German.

I have re-adjusted pretty well to making most of our meals at home again. Actually, it’s a habit I’ve been out of since my old, single days. At first I was kind of grooving on the super-easy half-premade meals, but those got old pretty quick. I love to look up recipes, especially online, but I rarely follow them. I kind of use them more for ideas.

German food is good but it’s rather expensive with the dollar in such bad shape. Plus the gestational diabetes makes it difficult to eat out here since so many of the specialties are baked goods, noodles and potato dishes. Potatoes and white flour products jack my blood sugar up more than anything else… even ice cream!

In For a Scolding

I’m really going to have to stop mentioning minor symptoms to my OB, or we’re going to go broke from all the tests! I mention mild headaches and first she doesn’t say anything. Then I ask if there’s anything I should be concerned about, since I’m having mild headaches pretty much at least once a day. Then she orders a test to check for something. I don’t even know what… probably pre-eclampsia or something.

I had recently had a conversation via email with Kristin about the quad-screen results. She said her doc said they could do some checking on the quad-screen results to get an idea of the likelihood of a recurrence of HELLP Syndrome and/or pre-E. I’m not sure my doc got what I was talking about, but she did write a note for them to check on it when we get the level II ultrasound later this month. She wants me to take magnesium daily and to increase my salt intake. That seems counterintuitive to me as far as healthy diet goes (the salt part, I mean) and she didn’t say why, but she’s got the medical degree so I’ll try it.

I don’t think my OB thinks I’m taking the diabetes seriously. I mentioned to her that I’d had some readings that were a little bit high…like 10 points or so but that after a 2nd hour they’re pretty much always at or below 100, which is when they have you test in the US. She said she’s not an internist, but that she’s been told that the first hour is very important, too. Things went so well with Wee Laddie as far as the diabetes goes that I feel like I’m doing just fine if I adhere to the same guidelines as last time. And I probably should have explained something to my doctor: I’m kind of anal about some things, particularly if I’m “assigned” something to do. They told me that my 1-hour reading should be 140 or below, so although I play it off like, “Oh well, it’s only 152… that’s really close. And it’s the only time this week it’s been high,” it really does bug the shit out of me that it wasn’t where it should be. (I only got two B’s in college, so this is normal behavior for me.) So when I tell her that some readings were a bit high, I’m including the ones that were like 146… even though sometimes they’re like low 90s or even in the 80s after another hour. So it probably sounds much more alarming than it really is.

Aaaaanyway. We got another ultrasound and got to see Schatzi sucking his/her thumb. It was pretty cool… we could see the little jaw moving up & down and everything. And we again had the reassurance of seeing that heartbeat. :) The nose bone looked great to us… we’ll see what they say at St. Hedwig’s. The doc said the baby was still too small to tell gender. But everything looks good so far, healthwise.

Back to School

Tonight was our first night back in German class. Telise came by the house and I showed her where it is. Kelly was going to go too, but her hubby’s in the field and she didn’t have a sitter. She’ll try next week.

It was good to get back to practicing! It’s so hard for me to get opportunities to talk in German with Germans. My biggest chance is usually at the local markets, but we only go there once a week at most. And there’s usually a line. And it’s dinnertime.

Anyway, looks like there will be 7 of us in class. Some new, but only one of the asylum-seeker students is back. I feel so much better about my efforts while I’m at least attending classes. I sometimes feel like a slacker for how little German I can speak but, in my defense, I haven’t been able to take an intensive course (like I had thought about doing this fall if we were going to stay longer) and we have only been here for 9 months. That seems a shorter time when half your days are lost to naps & the related hoopla. I’ve been really lax on the CD listening lately, though.

Guitarman spotted this sight outside our bathroom window tonight. And yes, that orange thing on the left is the moon, partially hidden in clouds. The photo doesn’t do it justice… it was quite beautiful. (And since I’m posting this later, I can tell you that Guitarman will send a similar photo to his family with a comment that, as beautiful as this view is, we would both be much happier if our house overlooked a Chipotle instead.)