Don’t worry, I’m not going to start off with a bunch of excuses why I haven’t blogged in so long. So there. Let’s just catch up from where we left off.

So far, the nursery is still in a state of undone, but that’s because we are waiting for crib parts. We pretty much have everything we need, but it’s kind of like having the pieces and waiting for the glue to arrive. I’m not panicking yet, though, I supposedly still have 5 weeks until my due date. Which, if you’ve had a baby or known of anyone who’s had one or have been one yourself, you know that means almost nothing in the big scheme of things. Here are some latest pics of the nursery in quesiton:

See what I mean? Can I just tell you that this girl has EVERYTHING and she’s not even born yet? She’s got more clothes than me. I have to share a room and closets with someone else and she has her own and they are filled to the brim. Looks like she’s starting off on the right foot. Surrounded by lots of love and lovely outfits. What more could a girl ask for? Designer shoes come later.

I am about a week away from my last day at work for a long time. I’m off until mid-April and I can tell you that this is the one thing I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. Don’t get me wrong, I really love my work and I adore my coworkers, but in my current condition, It’s just really hard to do it all (yes, I’m admitting defeat, but don’t worry, kiddies, I’ll be back). So here I am at 35 weeks and feeling fine:

The baby is almost 5 lbs now and she is a squiggly one. I’m hoping the doctors can get a good hold of her when she comes out because the way she is inside my belly, you would think that I’m not carrying a baby so much as a bag of eels. My doctor assured me that she would be “itty bitty” and would be easier to birth — lets hope so. Then again, look at me, I’m not one to have a 10 pound baby. I was a small baby and so was my husband, this bodes well for my labor and delivery process.  And in case your wondering, hell yes, I’m having an epidural. I’d start it right now if I could.

So as an aside to my pregnancy, there’s also been the subject of my husband’s own nesting instincts. He has successfully transplanted our cats to the patio and living room areas and they seem happy about it. Well, maybe not Kessie, but she’s hard to please anyway. They have their potty boxes outside and when we are home they have open and free access to the fresh air. It’s been a seamless transition, the hardest part was keeping their curiosity at bay to what was happening to their old room. They seem pretty content now.

So aside from the baby madness which has swept me up in a hurricane, I did manage to celebrate my 35th Birthday with little fanfare — exactly what I wanted. My husband got me a brand new cute camera and my girlfriends lavished over me with another designer handbag (“you really shouldn’t have…but I’m glad you did”) and nestled in my box with my handbag was the latest obsession that will probably be my ultimate undoing: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer:

First of all, this is a book written for teenagers by a Mormon mother of 3 who admittedly did very little to no research on the subject of this book: vampires. Now I’m a long time Anne Rice fan, I’ve read each one of her novels and have pretty much decided that her depiction of Lestat and the other bloodsuckers in her universe are the gold standard. I am also a fan of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer which follows much the same conventions of Ms. Rice’s work. Arguably, these are the two most revered sources for all things vampire. Even if you are not a fan of their work you probably already know a lot more about vampires than you originally thought. Well, Meyer’s novel bucks a lot of these “standard characteristics” and at first I honestly couldn’t get over that.  But as I read on there was definitely something very very alluring about her universe. This isn’t Harry Potter, mind you. No, it’s something a lot more alluring. Where Harry was geeky and admirable for his bravery and smarts, the characters in Meyer’s book are not as multi-faceted. You actually find yourself saying “what’s the point?” to a lot of the characters. You find Meyer’s descriptions of the characters over the top and you constantly question their motives. But that’s secondary to what truly draws you in. The story is compelling, the Montagues and the Capulests of the vampire and human world trying to be normal teens in a dangerous world. Ultimately it is the love story between Bella and Edward that draw you in and keep you riveted. And for an easy read (remember, this book was written with teen girls in mind) and a mindless escape, this novel and the others that follow are the perfect mental vacation.

I’m already on the second book.

    The Nursery was painted this weekend! Of course we had massive amounts of help from our good friends Olga, Anita, Mary Ann and Leticia (all honorary future Aunties, of course). Here’s the pictorial transformation of the room.

Believe it or not, getting the walls to white was a chore in and of itself. This step was first accomplished by Donnie, Cara and Tommy the weekend before. However, due to our short-sighted intention of saving a few bucks, we sprung for the cheaper thinner primer paint and instead of using just one coat and one gallon, to cover the previous color up, we needed two coats — which, in the long run, cost us more money than if we just got the better quality primer. Oh well, lesson learned. Tommy actually put up a second coat a few days before the girls came over to paint color.

Here is the inspiration for the wall design I created in MS Word. Yes, Word. I do everything in Word. It might take a bit longer, but I pretty much can do anything in Word.  I came up with several ideas, but this one won out over the others for the simplicity and the whimsy.

The first day was all about getting the solid blocks of color up on the walls and giving them enough time to dry so we could see the real color both during the day and lit up at night. I really loved how the colors came out, especially the lilac color on top. The best paints in the world are Kelly Moore paints. The quality is unmatched. Originally the two colors were supposed to meet in the middle with no break but after removing the tape we decided that it looked really good with the thin white band going all around the room and kept it instead of painting it pink.



Although this was not the original idea for the floral design, what we ended up with actually turned out a lot better. Due to the wall texture, it was a lot easier working with the stencils than what we had originally intended to use: foam stamps. I thought it turned out great!

Here’s Anita and Mary Ann putting the rest of the stencils up. Although the spread of each flower looks random, it was actually very calculated. The extra tape on the walls marked off the eventual placement of the crib and where the slight “S” curve of the flowers should go. These ladies are geniuses!

Aside from some touch up work that needs to be done, the painting is pretty much completed. Now the real decorating will begin. Curtain panels will cover the area where the window is pretty much from ceiling to floor to diffuse the light coming from the window. I’ve put my nursing chair in the room with the baby’s quilt on it to tie everything together and I must say, it looks pretty snazzy! I’m not sure if I’m keeping that table but for now, it’s going to be there.

I love this little cluster above the door. We will probably place a few more once the furniture gets in the room as little finishing touches.

That futon loveseat will probably end up finding a home with my parents. As much as I love it, it really doesn’t have a place in my house anymore.

So there you have it! More to come as we get things done. It was a busy weekend and I tried to take it easy and leave it up to others, but it was hard for me to put down the paintbrushes. I did pay for it on Monday when I woke up achy from crouching and sitting on the ground and getting up so I really took it easy and stayed out of the room for the majority of the time. I did end up watching 3 episodes of the Rachael Zoe show which was quite pathetic of me, but at least it kept me out of trouble. Here’s my favorite picture from the entire weekend, a gratuitous belly shot:

I am a lover of cheesy pop songs, over-produced music videos, gorgeous men and ANYTHING by John Barrowman. That’s all I have to say about this:

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Here are some recent pics of my new niece, Elizabeth! She’s about 3 weeks old now and it really starting to look more and more like my brother in law every day! These were taken at my in-laws’ 50th Wedding Anniversary party. Anyway, obligatory baby pictures are always worth staying up to post. I promise not to complain about being tired tomorrow…maybe.

Was it not just yesterday I told the world I was having my first baby? It seems like it was yesterday. Well, look how far I’ve come! 

Here I was at 17 weeks, barely looking like I’m cooking anything in the oven there. I was finally over my morning sickness and I was feeling pretty good.

At 18 weeks I looked more pregnant in my bum than I did in my belly, but I think that was because of the skirt (yeah, right!)

I don’t know what happened at 19 weeks but we forgot to take a picture, so here I am at 20 weeks looking might spiffy in maternity clothes (finally). At this point, I was still feeling really awesome. I had energy to spare and spent a lot of time cleaning out the baby’s room.

At 21 weeks I’m turning heads and people who previously did the “is she or is she not” thing finally have stopped guessing. This is the annoying period where everyone felt like it was ok to start rubbing my belly. I usually don’t have any qualms about touching, but for some reason, I am actually pretty annoyed if you touch me a) without  my explicit permission, either in the form of me standing there and sticking my belly at you with my arms open gesturing “go ahead, rub it for luck” or if you ask first and I say “go ahead!” enthusiastically  b) if you are male and you are not my father or my husband and finally c) if you are a complete and utter stranger and don’t even know my first name — Please, don’t reach out to touch my belly, no matter how inviting it looks.

Here I am at 22 weeks feeling grand! Grand like the Grand Old Opry — it was here that I started to feel the weight of carrying a baby. I kept saying to myself, “I have HOW many more weeks left?”

At 23 weeks I started growing out of my maternity clothes. Let me tell you something about maternity wear for todays modern woman. It’s not cheap, but we all knew that. But if you look hard enough and you swap your silk preferences to polyester, you can find affordable clothes. And honestly, I only plan on spending a few weeks in them at the most so it really doesn’t matter if it’s poly, right? I am reluctant to spend more than $14 on a shirt or even pants because I’m going and growing through them quickly. I also get bored of my clothes so I tend to like separates that I can mix and match. Then there are basics that I am super reluctant to buy like t-shirts and fancy underpants and to some extent even maternity bras, because seriously folks, what you all don’t see underneath my clothes isn’t too much of a bother if it hikes up a little or if I bulge a bit out of it. I know though, the time is coming that I will need these things, but I’m holding off as long as possible.

At 24 weeks I officially start my 6th month. Whew! Hard to believe I’ve been pregnant for 6 months already!! Well, then I remind myself that I didn’t really find out I was pregnant until I was 8 weeks so I misse 2 whole months of the experience. I feel slightly jipped, but I think I’ll be ok with that. So at my 24 week appointment I had to take a glucose challenge test to find out if I could have gestational diabetes. This actually worried me a bit because I was overweight before becoming pregnant and that was an added complication. So I’ve been really watching what I eat and trying to excercise more. Well, all that paid off because I am pretty much in the clear for developing GD! The doctor even told me that I had not yet reached my pre-pregnancy weight yet, which I was very proud of.

And here I am, 25 weeks. This picture was taken today. I’m starting to slow down more and more, especially this week. I do have borderline anemia and was told to eat more red meat and leafy greens to bring my iron up, but it’s not bad enough that my doctor is willing to prescribe any supplements yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to maintain my iron better with diet alone. The anemia could be causing a bit of my fatigue, but I’m thinking that the baby is getting bigger — she weighs about a pound now. What started out at 22 weeks as “flutters” or “Popcorn popping” are now full fledged kicks and bangs around my belly. She most kicks me pretty low, around my lower pelvic region and stomps on my bladder. She’s kicking low because she’s currently in a breech position (feet down) which doesn’t worry me too much since she has a good 4 months to turn herself around. If by 37 weeks she’s still breech, the doctors will attempt an External Cephalic Version (ECV) which is basically pushing on my belly until they can coerce her to turn. Otherwise, I would have to get a c-section. And speaking of which, I plan to fight tooth and nail to avoid.

So there you have it, the last few weeks of my pregnancy in a nutshell!

   For those of you who thought I’ve abandoned my blog for the easy candy-like attractiveness of social networking can relax now. I have taken a bloggin’ break but I think I’m ready to return. I have to admit, it’s a lot to keep up with my own life sometimes. I will tell you though that it’s been very quiet the last few weeks and so I’m sure you will understand that I’ve maintained a blogsphere silence in the name of entertainment value instead of incesantly complaining about my swollen ankles or the weather (you’ll thank me for this later, I promise).

Let’s talk TV here, shall we? No, not content (this time) but hardware and connectivity. For years we’ve bounced around with Comcast and Direct TV as our providers both out of desire for better quality and selection to areas we’ve lived in with limited availability. Most recently we have been Comcast customers and while we have not really been disappointed with their features their shoddy equipment and pricey bills have since discouraged us to shop around. We were thisclose to jumping back on the Direct TV bandwagon again when an opportunty came to us unexpectantly.  Ever heard of ATT U-verse? Yeah, me neither. It’s brand spanking cat playing in the crinkly paper new. Using the technology of fiberoptic cabling we are being introduced to a new way of watching TV. Who knows if this will fly? What I do know is that going in on the TV deal along with our current internet plan saves us over $50 a month. That’s $50 we could use to buy diapers and formula.  I’ll know more after our Sept. 14 installation date. We are one of the few limited areas that this service is available to so trust me when I say that I will be lending a very very critical eye to this. Stay tuned for more.

So weeks of blog silence and the only interesting thing I can come up with is a lame story about switching cable TV providers? Wow. I’m so losing my touch! Well, here’s a cute picture of my niece who was born yesterday:

Elizabeth was born on August 28, 2008 weighed 6 lbs 4 oz and is 18.5 inches long. She belongs to Tommy’s brother Lam and his wife Hoa. She is the 10th grandchild on my husband’s side of the family with our daughter to be the 11th! Proud Uncle and Auntie got to spend some quality time with her and loved every second of it!

Sometimes I think I’m having this totally textbook pregnancy. For example, the books say, “you’ll start showing right around your 15th week” and literally the morning I woke up on my 15th week I had this baby bump and my normal pants refused to cooperate but zipping up like they used to. Then this week (my 18th week) the books say “you may feel out of breath if you lay on your back” and as I was watching tv this evening on the couch, I came to a sudden realization that I couldn’t breathe very well. Then I sat up a little and was fine. See what I mean? Textbook. Or it’s psychosomatic. Whatever.

Today I went to Safeway to gather items for dinner and as I pulled into the parking space, the dude next to my passenger side decided to open is door as wide as possible. You guessed it, I totally grazed his door with my bumper. He looked PISSED. So I got out of the car and puffed my belly out as much as I could and walked over to him with all the innocence of a pregnant woman could and say, “Did I hit you?” and he literally did a double take at me because I think I swelled up my belly to such outrageous proportions he must have thought I was ready to give birth right there in the parking lot. Then he said, “Oh, I’m fine, are YOU ok??” I almost laughed out loud as I knew I HAD him. I took a look at my bumper and sure enough there was a 5×7 graze of white paint on my bumper on it. Then I said, “it’s just paint, I’m really sorry.” And he totally let it go. It gets better, when I got out of the store I went straight home to confess everything to Tommy knowing that he would be upset about another nick in the Lexus. So I told him and after his initial concern for me (I’ve got this whole preggo sympathy thing down to a “T”) he went to look at the damage and saw…nothing. No paint, not scratch and certainly no dent.  After a few puzzling moments I figured out that not only did the guy let me totally off the hook for HITTING his car while he tried to get out of it, he actually CLEANED my car of his door paint after I went into the grocery store. And they say chivalry is dead, I am quick to disagree!

This weekend I had the worst sciatica back pain since the Arizona Missions trip. I was barely able to walk or sit up comfortably. Apparently, my growing uterus has decided to push on some nerves in the back of my pelvis and it was not a good feeling. Then after my afternoon nap today…*poof!* it was gone! The doctor said that my sciatica would return with a vengeance and warned me that it could come and go as it saw fit. Something tells me this baby’s gonna be a handful.

There is something extremely humbling about the sudden inability to paint one’s own toenails.

By the end of this post you will know the sex of our baby! But you have to kind of hang in there, ok? I promise, the payoff is worth it. Or…quite possibly, you don’t really care and I’m just humoring myself here, but honestly, I don’t care because today was a big day in my pregnancy. Today, I had my amniocentesis (dun, dun, dun!). For those of you who don’t know what that all entails, let me just hit the highlights to get you up to speed. An amniocentesis (or just “amnio” as we preggos like to call it) is a medical procedure where a trained professional (preferably a doctor) takes a long hollow needle to extract amniotic fluid from your uterus for genetic testing. Amnios are usually performed on women who reach a certain point on a statistical chart that says a) you’re old or b) we think your eggs may be rotten — let’s check and see! This is normally a point of anxiety for most women because some of the risks are quite scary and severe, the worst of it leading to miscarriage. Although cases are rare, they do occur in about one percent of women who get them. Why do we go through this? Well, some of us like to be prepared if there are any abnormalities on a genetic level that we need to know about. Let’s just say I don’t like surprises.

Honestly, though? I think the point (pun intended) of anxiety for me came with the words, “long needle.” Yikes. Well, as it turns out, the anticipation was much worse than the actual procedure. It was just as bad as having blood drawn. I’m serious! It was not a big deal at all. You would think that sticking a long needle through the middle of well, my middle would be excruciating, but I think God is saving that for labor and delivery. I have been experiencing the mild cramping that they said will happen, but I have not leaked any fluid so that’s a good sign that everything is a-ok. So here’s a little video Tommy made of the ultrasound part of today. Today was also significant and exciting because they were able to tell us the sex of the baby! It won’t be confirmed until the amnio results are back (those results are definitive since it is genetic mapping) but both the technician and the doctor think it’s going to be a…..

(yes, you have to watch to the end to find out — yes, I am aware that I am slightly cruel and evil…bwahahhahaa!)

Did you catch that at the end?

Wow, it’s been a while since I last video blogged. I can’t believe I used to do these every week. Where did I find the time or the energy? Well, I’m back, bad lighting and all. Enjoy!

If you don’t know the viral internet sensation known as LolCats, then you’ve been living under a rock the last few years. Basically a LolCat is a funny cat picture with an even funnier caption (or capshun) that is often spelled wrong and the use of grammer has gone by the wayside (kind of like my friend Amy – I kid, I kid, her grammar’s ok, it’s her atrocious spelling that’s usually a problem). Anyway, here’s a LolCat that has been uploaded to my favorite LolCat site, www.Icanhascheezburger.com.

Lots of contributors to this one. Laurenkaz wrote the capshun, BethA forwarded the picture of Eddie, her tabby cat who is the offspring of my cat, Missy. Gael is Beth’s neighbor who took the picture while her cat, Elsie (the calico) stood at the cat door talking to Ed. And I am only taking credit for uploading it.