Katiebird's Garden & Wildcraft

I created a new website! It has my blog and the herbal products that I'm creating from the home grown herbs and flowers that I grow. Please come on over and follow me at: www.katiebirdsgarden.com   My husband loves loaded baked and mashed potatoes.  I decided to create a soup based on his slight obsession.  He loves this too.   Loaded Baked Potato Soup 2 Yukon Gold potatoes, diced 1 rib of celery, diced 2 small carrots, finely diced (adds a bit of sweetness, but aren't totally necessary) Small yellow onion, diced 1/3-1/2 c. bacon bits/pieces (REAL bacon, not the fake kind) 2-3 green onions/scallions, chopped 2 T butter 1 c.-1 1/2 c. (more or less) chicken broth  1/2 quart cream (skim milk if you want to make this sorta healthy, but it's just not the same) 1 can cheddar cheese soup Pepper Melt the butter at med-high heat, add yellow onions and cook until almost translucent, then toss in the bacon during this to warm up the flav...

I've been a little busy since my last post!  Only 6 days after my last post, we welcomed our son into this world!  He arrived 12/11/12 at 4:37 in the morning.  He's a true joy and is a wonderful baby.  I will be working on some better posts soon, but as most of you know babies keep you busy!  

So after the scary appointment and hours in the L&D triage on Tuesday, I had my normally scheduled BPP appt on Thursday.  My hubby met me at the front of my office building as usual at 2-ish and we went to my appt.  Well, my blood pressure was in the 150s...which is bad.  So they let me sit and rest a bit and did the other normal appt. things like measure my belly, etc.  and then at the end it was even higher.   My OB was not smiling or sugar-coating anything when she said we need to go to the hospital ASAP and get monitored for 24 hours and I am in no way going back to work.  Bedrest for sure.  We were a little freaked out, as she said if my BP didn't go down and stayed around 160 as it was, they may have to induce!  Eek, I was only at 34 weeks!  We went quickly back to my office so I could grab my laptop, cords and clean my space up a bit, since I probably wouldn't be back until April!  Also told everyone that I wouldn't be back ...

As I read over my last post back in mid-November...I was happy to have no BP issues or protein in the urine...blah blah blah.  Well, the shit hit the fan, starting on my birthday (the 27th) of all days!  I was 33w5d. I had a regularly scheduled endo appointment and my blood pressure was elevated, which it had been just a couple random times at previous appts.  But never continuous.  I thought it was from the longer hike from the parking garage to the office, but guess not.  We then were looking at my insulin dosages and told my Dr. that the total daily dosage had gone waaay down the past couple days.  That worried her.  Other than that, my BG numbers had been pretty darn perfect the past months.  A1c was still at a 6.  She said she'll send an IM to my OB doc to discuss me.  I went on my merry way to head home around 4:00 pm.   Then, I had a thought to check my work voicemail   just in case  I had any messages.  I ...

Sorry I've been gone!  We've been working on getting lots of projects done around the house and my pregnancy brain is trying to stay focused on working, house stuff and cooking a healthy baby!   The diabetes has been terrific still, the A1c was a 6 at my last appt and my BG averages for 7-14-30 days have been in the 120s.  I am poofing up though and my cankles are disgusting!  No BP issues  or protein, just poof!  I will start my NSTs (non-stress tests) twice a week with an u/s thrown in each week for good measure, on the 15th.  So things will really start moving along!  Baby is doing wonderfully and at our growth scan he was at the 60th percentile.  I'm happy with that!   The nursery is getting gorgeous, the crib was put together the other night.  I will be posting pictures when we are done with the room.  Shouldn't be too long!  My Hoosier cabinet is also finally in the kitchen!  We're using it without the doors...

I'm 26 weeks today!  Baby boy is a kicking fool. After about a month and 1/2 of wrangling my boluses and basals I FINALLY have them working for me!  My averages, courtesy of the Ping meter are a doctor's dream, or at least not a nightmare.   7 Day: 122 14 Day: 128 30 Day: 135 60 Day: 146 I'm happy with these as they're pretty REAL, with hardly any highs or lows to skew the numbers.  But, as everyone says...don't expect to rest on my diabetic laurels when pregnant, I'll probably have to change everything again next week.   My Thyroid TSH levels are also in perfect order.   ***Fun braggy note, my wonderful husband bought a Cuisinart Food Processor today!  I'm slightly geeked up about that :)  I'm hoping it matches the toaster...otherwise they can't live next to each other.   I'll be making homemade baby food for the boy, so this monster will come in handy!  I still have a bucket of tomatoes to process into a salsa so it will ...

The cabinet is painted...yes painted.  No stain for that little puppy made out of different types of wood, of different eras, and some old paint that just wouldn't come off without gouging out the areas.  So paint it is.  I chose a Valspar National Trust Historic color (a creamy color, can't remember the name off hand.)   This weekend I plan on rubbing off the edges and wearing some areas down and apply furniture wax to get that vintage look.  Pictures next week!   Instead of the original ceramic-metal, slider counter top, we're going to add a butcher block counter.  My husband hates the metal top for some reason, it grosses him out.  I think butcher block will be lovely and will help it match whatever our kitchen looks like in our future house.   I really would like a Boos counter with the name showing on a side!