Hooray for your disability!

My short-term disability FINALLY got approved last Friday (man, the insurance companies really don't want to have to pay people to NOT work), and one of my cousins wrote me a note that said: "Hooray for your disability!" And I have been cracking up about it ever since. Cause, clearly she isn't excited that I am, in fact, basically disabled. But rather for the fact that for the first time in nearly 7 weeks I should, in the near future, be receiving some fraction of a paycheck. Phew. It's been rough, and our poor, already sad savings account has taken a beating, what with the move on top of things. But we're confident we'll find out way back to a good, stable place. Eventually.

Our appointment today with Trish the midwife was great - thanks for all the well wishes from everyone! My glucose tolerance test came back negative - no diabetes! But they want to recheck me again in a month. Fun. I also learned that the genetic screening I had done also came back negative, so I can rest a little easier about some of the scarier baby concerns like Downs and neural tube problems. (Note: I opted out of that screening when I was pregnant with Owen and several times had seriously convinced myself that something horrible could be wrong - so this was more of a sanity-saving move for me than anything else).

I'm measuring at almost 28, so a little higher than my 26 weeks, but she was thrilled with the growth and said everything was great. She also walked us through all the notes from the specialist from my ultrasound appointment last week. It was very reassuring to hear that she didn't note anything abnormal with my amniotic fluid, other than there was one somewhat-large pocket of fluid. She put "Normal" in that category, which was a relief to me. I need to be better about listening to the doctors when they say everything is fine, rather than running home to Google the possible, potential negative outcomes of a possible, potential, yet un-diagnosed issue. It's a problem.

In house news, my latest obsession is what to do with this weird "shrine hole" in the wall in our dining room. It looks like this:

Many people are speculating about the shrine hole. Both about what it was originally intended for, and what we should do with it. We are pretty sure it was put there to hold some sort of Virgin Mary statue, or one of my aunts suggested it would be a good place for holy water? Cause in the 20s every house needed a religious shelf in the dining room? I don't know. I actually find it kind-of charming, and think it would be a great place to put one of my little Pewabic vases with some flowers. Except that it is RIGHT at Owen height, so, we can't put anything valuable or breakable there. For now, Buddha is doing a good job of representing in the space. But his head is just a tad too small for that big opening.

I'm thinking some other, larger Buddha would be pretty cool there, though. Or a photo of some sort? Or a candle? We shall see...