31 weeks

2012.08.06

Just a normal "I'm pregnant. No, I didn't swallow a watermelon" week. :)

my photog was out of town this week, galavanting around alaska. 

oh wait, maybe he was working. eh. pregnancy brain ;)

Week 31 events and non-events: 

- Baby T is about 15 and a half inches long, and weights from 3.5 to 4 pounds. (what does C think that the baby is comparable to? same as last week. the size of the front wheel of a big wheel. just as awesome this week as it was last week.)

- Baby is continue to develop her layer of fat and is putting on weight. (get it girl!)

- my never-ending sources of information are telling me that I may begin to feel some Braxton-Hicks contractions. However, I am not feeling any, thankfully. From people I know that have been experiencing them, they are not the best part of the pregnancy. I AM however, feeling a dance party on my belly on a regular basis. Further confirming my belief that my little dancer is working on her moves. 

30 weeks

2012. 07.30

And we are now down to 10 weeks folks! It is really hard to try to figure out where the past 30 weeks have gone, even when you consider that I probably didn't even realize that I was pregnant for the first 5 or 6 weeks. C and I are still working hard on the nursery (mostly C), and are trying to get our lives together so I feel like when we bring this baby home from the hospital, that she is actually coming home to a place that will feel like home. 

This week, we also started our child care facilities tours. We visited a care facility up the street from our house. Considering that we didn't know anything about child care facilities, I had a zillion questions. C and I toured the infant room and spent some time with the director of the school. All in all, it was a good visit an we got some useful information. (Although, we were definitely overwhelmed and spent the next few days discussing what we wanted to do.)

Baby and I also had a dr appointment on the Friday. Not much to report at this one. The appointments seem to just be routine right now. Go to the office, sign in, take my weight, make me pee in a cup (you would think that this is easy by now, but I still get a bit skeezed out.) listen to the baby's heart beat, and measure my giant bump. 

my photog was in town this week, but i figured that I would snap a picture first thing in the morning so I didn't forget later. at the time that I made this decision, my husband had abandoned his post to go to work. I know... I can't believe that he would worry about being to work on time either ;)

Week 30 movin' and shakin':

- baby is about 15.5 inches long and weights about 3 pounds. (according to the men's baby info bible, our child is now the size of the front wheel on a big wheel. awesome.)

- baby can now tell the difference between light and dark, and can follow a light source with her eyes. 

- our little baby is probably going to be a music lovin' dance fiend like her mother. if you could feel that party that she is having in my belly, you would have the same thoughts too. Seriously, sometimes I want to tell her that martial arts are not something that I would like her her to incorporate into her dance routines. 

grow baby grow! and when you arrive, we will tell you ALOHA!

29 weeks

2012.07.23

Oh man... what a week! Chris was traveling for work Tuesday through Friday, so it was me and my fur-babies holding down the fort. Lucky for me, they are my secondary alarm system. Lucky for them, I remembered to feed them each day!

Week 29 on-goings and such:
- the baby is about 14.5 inches long, and weighs about 2.75 lbs (still a boot. she will transform into something else manly and cool next week.)
- baby is growing like  a weed right now, and continues to gain weight.
- her head is growing, including rapid brain growth.
- baby's muscles and lungs are continuing to develop and mature. (which is good, because up here at a mile high, she will need the strongest lungs she can get!)

seattle shenanigans

**This is WAY overdue, but I FINALLY got around to finishing this post. Sorry for the delay!

I look forward to going back to Seattle at ANY time of the year, the same way a child looks forward to Christmas morning. Basically, I don't sleep for a few days leading up to it and I plan, plan, plan so I ask for (pack) everything that I want (might need). The guest room becomes my battle field of well laid plans that miraculously all end up in a single (although, SUPER large) suit case.

We flew out on Thursday 07/05/2012. We were supposed to work that day and catch a flight out that evening, but my impatience got the best of me, and I begged and pleaded with C$ to pay the extra fee so that we could fly out earlier. Because he is SUCH an amazing guy, he agreed :)

After some crazy fingers texted, we arranged for my sister to pick us up from the airport bypassing the light rail ride into the city with my well-packed LARGE suitcase, followed by some frantic maneuvering to try to locate my dad so he could pick us up and bring us back to the homestead. Our princess in a blue Subaru swooped in to save us from SeaTac and delivered us safely (with a few white knuckle induced moments) to my parents house. We spent the afternoon and evening catching up and enjoying my mom's homecooking. I think that it was worth every penny to get in a few hours earlier to get more QT with my family.

On Friday, my mom and dad each took some time off to hang out with us. My sister also took the day off, but she informed us that she had "things to do" which included arts and crafts for the shower. (!) With my parents, we headed off to our first stops, the Glasshouse Studio and Cafe Umbria in Pioneer Square (with the top down, natch.) As a little girl, my sister and I spent quiet a few weekends in Pioneer Square raising hell ;) Both the Glasshouse Studio and Cafe Umbria (formerly Torrefazzione) have been there since we are kids. We used to watch the artists blow glass followed by a caffine buzz while watch the beans roast. The Glasshouse also created the flutes that C and I drank out of at our wedding reception. Both places hold special places in my heart.

backseat convertible cruising.

cafe umbria and the glasshouse studio on a bluebird sky seattle day. perfect. 

Our next stop was The Elliot Bay Book Company, my fave bookstore in the entire world, to spend some dough. Thankfully, Santa Clause has been giving me gift certificate for as long as I can remember, and now that C is a member of the fam, he too gets gc's. I picked out some good reads, but C picked out better ones. His entire purchase was books for our baby girl so we can spend time reading to her! (if it weren't my own husband and future daughter, I might be making gagging motions right now.) After we finished satisfying my intellectual needs, we headed downtown to satisfy my retail needs :) Sadly for me, it was pretty unfortunate. Unless you count the g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s. Kate Spade purse I tore myself away from. Self control is a virtue in my eyes. We also headed to Pike's Place Market where we loaded up on some goodies for the shower and for the BBQ that my parents hosted on Saturday night. In typically Seattle summer fashion, it was a beautiful day and the market was filled with yumminess and prettiness. (Yep, those are words. In my dictionary anyway.)

typical tourista pic. don't pretend like you don't take them too. 

fruits, veggies, and pepper and garlic garlands at a produce stand. 

After some market fun, we headed down to meet some of our friends and my sista for a seattle happy hour, complete with seafood! Sadly though, I didn't take any pics. :( 

On Saturday, my mom and sister threw an AMAZING baby shower, while Chris spent the morning and afternoon doing some super sweet dude stuff. Read more about the first part of the day here. In the evening, my parents threw their annual summer BBQ. It typically involves a lot of food, friends, and LOADS of fun. This year, we all maintained, but there was still fun to be had. The guests included new and old friends of all of ours, and concluded with the traditional bonfire. Additionally, C was able to fulfill his need to do "man" things and was given the incredibly important, and some may say the most important part of the BBQ, the transporting of the beer cooler from the house to the bonfire. Thank the lord above that my dad had a tractor that C$ was able to utilize to transport the cooler. Once the beer arrive safe-and-sound, the evening continued and concluded with my parents, my sister, and my loving husband closing out the day with a little family time around the fire. 

libation transport in progress. 

bonfire!

On Sunday, all us kids, and S's friend piled into S's car and drove on up to Snoqualmie Falls. Crazily enough, in all my years living in Western Washington, I had never been to the Fall. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. After a 45 minute drive, we arrived to gorgeous falls on a beautiful day. We walked around, took a few family photos, and stopped for ice cream on the way back to my parents. Sunday was a really laid back day of family, and concluded with my favorite dinner. Salmon and my mom's pancit. Pancit is a noodle dish that originated in the Philippines. Growing up, it was always something that we got on special occasions, and only if it was requested. On Sunday night, my dad grilled up some salmon and my mom "whipped" up some pancit. Typically, we only get through about half of it, but with both C$ and my sister's fiance T-Bone, we devoured every last bite. It was a perfect way to end the trip!

snoqualmie falls

 the husband at i at the falls. 

my sister and her fiance

 sista, SISTA!

And in case you want to know what it looks like to bring luggage home from a long weekend home with pressies for baby....

isn't my husband the greatest?! He corralled and moved everything except my purse!

28 weeks

2012.07.16

This was a busy week! On Friday, we had a Dr's appointment, where I had to do a glucose test, and we also had birthing class.

First, the glucose test: not as bad as I thought it was going to be! I had heard horror stories about how terrible the drink tasted. And I am not going to lie. That bottle of orange liquid definitely stared me down for the past 4 weeks and it was not a nice stare.

In preparation of having to consume this liquid, I made sure to leave work with plenty of time to head home to down the scary stuff. C$ wasn't home yet, so the dogs were providing me with the moral support that I needed. I opened the fridge, pulled out the bottle, popped the top, and braced myself for the worst.

here goes nothing...

down the hatch!

halfway there!

all done!

Surprisingly, it tasted like melted orange otter pops. Orange isn't my FAVE otter pop flavor, but I was expecting this to taste like poison, so orange otter pop was a pleasant surprise. 

Once we got to the Drs, I had to tell them exactly when I finished drinking the wonderful orange concoction. The purpose of this, is that the Dr needs to draw blood exactly an hour after the liquid is consumed. The blood is them tested for any signed of diabetes. They have to send the sample off to the lab, but they know within 2 days if there are any issues. (Thankfully, for me, there were none.) If there WERE issues, I would have had to go back to do a 3 hour test. I don't know the details, but I have heard that the 3 hour test less liquid that is more concentrated, actually tastes like poison, and they have to draw your blood 3 times! I can't even handle once! Every time they draw my blood, I look away, close my eyes (yes, I know that I am looking away), and take deep breaths. C$ always seems to be amused by this reaction, but always tells me that I am going to be ok and gives me a big hug when it is over. (He had some great parents to teach patience. I bet they never thought that this would be how he used that lesson!)

This week, we also went to birthing class. This was a 1 time, 6 hour class. We could have done a 4 week class that was 3 hours each time, but with C$'s travel schedule, there was no way that he was going to be able to make every class. So we opted for the one-stop-shop.

Without going into details, I will give you a few descriptions of the class. As they were showing us the birthing video, I looked around the room. There was an awkward couple that C and I had been discussing all day. (Really, it kind of appeared to be a one-night stand that has unexpectedly morphed into a one-life stand.) She was nodding along with the video, and he was looking for the nearest exit out of that room. There was the couple that was more comfortable because she had been present at a few of her friends' birthings, and her husband how was thumbing through his phone totally ignoring the video. Then there was us.

We both watched the video, but we each saw it differently. C saw it as this amazing event where human nature takes over and women's bodies do what they have been doing for thousands of years. And the end result is a beautiful baby. And not that I disagree, but my response was watching the video with watering wide eyes, and my face a shade of white. (Thankfully, between the 2 of us, someone sees the event as amazing, because one of us needs a solid head on our shoulders when the time comes!) I am sure I will get over it, but it was a bit of a shock. Other than that, we did get a lot of great information from the class including background info for the different medication options that are available. The information definitely had us in interesting discussions since the class and will help shape our birth "plan". (Parenthesis because it will be more like a birth "wish list." For example, I told C that I don't think that I want an epidural. But if I am laying on the bed asking for one, he had better be running down the hall looking for the nurse and the anesthesiologist!)

Anyway, on to week 28 pics!

these was taken after I went to the gym and walked out swearing that it was hotter inside the building, than outside in the 90 degree weather. Come on LT! Work on that A/C!

Week 28 hoppin' events: 

- the baby is about 14 and 1/4 inches long and weighs about 2.5 lbs. (still the size of a 13 inch boot. And actually, everything is about the same as last week.)
- baby's brain is developing indentations and groves along its surface. (no scientific proof, but I am pretty sure it is because she is already thinking about how amazing she is going to be when she grows up. clearly.)
- the baby's hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes are still developing, but are now visible.
- she is also starting to look a little rounder as she develops some fat. (grow baby, grow!)

aloha! aloha! aloha!

27 weeks

2012.07.09

First week of the 3rd trimester! Let the freak-outs begin!

In all seriousness though, we are up to our necks in getting ready for this baby. We have been thrown a baby shower and now C is a busy-bee getting the nursery ready. As soon as it is completed (and he has proven his handiness with this one!), I will post some pics.

For now, a few weekly pics to meet your bump-growing desires :)

yep. big hair. (and some skin in need of some de-greasing!)

week 27: what's going on

- the baby is about 13 3/4 inches long and weighs about 2.5 lbs. (still a 13inch boot.)

- the baby is able to open and close her eyes. 

- she has a regular wake and sleep cycle. But as I am discovering, it is not necessarily the same as mine. She likes to have her dance parties after I have gotten up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and am trying to call back asleep. 

aloooooooooha!

showered with love

2012.07.07

And this baby was!

When we were back visiting my family in Seattle (Snohomish), my mom and sister so generously offered to host a baby shower for baby T. They both put a TON of work into cooking, baking, crafting, planning, and setting up this shower. They were up late on Friday night cooking and baking, and back up before the sun on Saturday to finish up. They were so dedicated that my sister ran out at the last minute to pick something up, and STILL made it back in time to change and be a wonderful host.

The guests included a lot a family and friends, including my grandmother who came over from Spokane to celebrate her first great-grand daughter, and one of my best girlfriends from college who drove up from Portland. This is NO way discredits others who were there, but shows how far people came to celebrate this little baby who is on her way! Everyone that was there had cleared their calendar for this time to come and celebrate.

My sister and mom had amazing decorations and food, including a super cute wreath made of diapers and amazing pretzels with a hershey’s hug melted into it and a pink m&m on top. (I dream about those little chocolaty and salty morsels of deliciousness!)

 

homemade raspberry lemonade cupcakes (I LOVE me some cupcakes!)

amazeballs chocolatey pretzels and handmade flowers

how cute is this?! A clothes line with wsu cougar gear, an “I love my auntie bib” (and she does!), and a so-cute-you-could-vom baby bathing suit! All attached with pink baby clothes pins!

the awesome wreath made with diapers and decorated with baby toes, travel size toiletries, and pacifiers. my sister loves her arts and crafts!

Just some of the fabulous guests including my great aunt who used to pick me up from school when I was sick (or just pretending to be), 2 of my sister’s closest friends that I adore, my cousin who is already successfully raising 4 sweet babies of her own (her mom somehow managed to not get photographed in my batch!), my mom’s old co-worker who has ALWAYS been in my sister’s and my lives, some of our fun Filipino cousins who I always call when I am in town and an old family friend whose dad was in the same fraternity with my dad; I have known her since she was just a baby herself!

And some MORE of the awesome guests including 2 of my best girlfriends from college, my sister’s back, and some of other Filipino cousins  including the oldest who lives near us and I refer to as my child, even though I would have been 10 when I had her if she was really mine. (Their mom was there too, but she somehow evaded the pictures! We love you B!) And check out the pile of loot for Baby T! She is SO spoiled already!

My sister, myself, and our family friend (we don’t see you enough S!)

2 of my amazing college girlfriends whom I lovingly refer to as my sisters that I got to choose :) They are pretty great, and I consider them as important as my own flesh and blood sister who is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

 My cousin (my child), super-fantabulous husband, and myself.

And, just a few of the adorbs things that people so graciously gave to help baby T out of her arrival :)

cougar mania! baby T will be sporting this on cu/wsu game days if I have anything to say about it!

super cute little bathing suit for baby T's first trip to the beach!

  

her life is DEFINITELY sweet already!

bibs! 

clothes!

how amazing are these?! handmade burp clothes from my sisters's close friend! cotton on one side with softness on the other. and a notch to fit around mom or dad's neck! these were definitely made with love!

hand-knit headband and leg-warmers! these were made by my aunt's fiance's daughter. I have never even met her, and these adorbs litlte accessories someone how made their way to baby T. 

books! we wanted to make sure that baby T is being read to as much as possible so these are extremely welcome additions to her little library :)

blankets and towels to keep baby T clean and warm. She is gracing us with her presence just before winter hits and denver becomes reminiscent of the arctic tundra. 

For some SAD SAD reason, I didn’t get ANY photos of my mom. She is truly too good for words, and I regret not getting a photo with her and with my sister. My mom and sister are the best and I am SO grateful for them! The shower was perfect, and more than I could have imagined. Thanks to my mom and sister for hosting and for all of my family and friends for celebrating! And also, thanks to my dad for marrying my mom, and my husband C$ for being you. And thanks also for these amazing photos of what they were doing while the women-folk were at the baby shower :)

considered by some to be the best use of a bob thus far. 

26 weeks

2012.07.02


Last week of the second trimester! Next week, we start the 3rd trimester (and the last few months of freak-out moments.)


In addition to that, we also went back to Seattle to visit my fam and my sister and mom threw a baby shower! But I will do that in a separate post, just because it was THAT amazeballs and adorbs. :)

My regular paparazzi was out of town on a business trip, so these are my professional self-portraits on my way to my day job. 

week 26 happen'ings:

- the baby is about 13 inches long and weighs about 2 lbs. (or the length of a 13inch boot according to the man's description.)

- the nerves in the baby's ears are developing allowing her to respond to what she is hearing. 

- the baby's eyes are starting to open and she may react to loud noises or bright lights near my belly. 

We are heading into the home stretch now and need to get cracking on prepping! C$ is knee-deep in getting the nursery ready so we can get some furniture and finish the guest room so the fam has a place to sleep when they come to visit the baby (because we all know that they are no longer coming to visit me!) Stay tuned!

Belly Pirates

2012.06.28

I keep getting asked by various family and friends if random people have started walking up to me without invitation, and decided that it was totally and completely acceptable to rub MY belly. Well, up until today, I would answered “NO!” with a horrified look on my face. But following my run in at work, I can now say yes, although not without a big of laughter in my voice.

People that I work with on a daily basis know that  YES, I AM pregnant, and NO, I have NOT been indulging in too many evenings of copious amounts of the rocky mountain water otherwise known as Coors Light, and pizza from Beau Jos. I frequently get questions of:

-          “how are you feeling?”

-          “how is the pregnancy going?”

-          “how far along are you?”

The usual for the anomaly of a pregnant girl in an office world of young people that either aren’t 1. married or 2. looking to have kiddos anytime in the near future.

Today, I was standing in the kitchen at work having “water cooler talk” if you will, with a friend. Another person walked in the room, and immediately walked up to me, put her hands on my belly and said “I was wondering if I saw a belly bump beginning to form under there!” It took everything in my power not to bust out laughing. This person has a habit of calling other people out for less than professional behavior and now she was putting her hands on MY belly. Talk about ironic. But needless, to say, I kept my cool and answered with “Yep. She is growing away in there.”

So yes, I can now say I have been accosted by the Belly Bandits. Almost like those pirates… Maybe I will start calling then Belly Pirates.

the dreaded "shopping" trip

2012.06.23


24 weeks. I can no longer hide the bump. It is "loud and proud". Being "loud and proud", it also demands a new wardrobe, much to my dismay. (Sounds a bit like an oxymoron doesn't it? ME saying that I am dismayed by a new wardrobe???? Shocks me each time too.) So, my supportive husband accompanied me down to Destination Maternity to find a few things that will get me through the next few months while not breaking the bank and allowing me to still feel a "*little bit* like my normal self. (Although, I am about to through that feeling out the window too.)


But to back track, this was not my first shopping trip. I have attempted to go a few times, but have been unsuccessful for a variety of reasons.
     - I like to shop on my own. I know what I like and I know what looks good on me. So when the sales woman keeps bringing things to my room after I have already told her that I am fine and don't need any assistance, I had to talk myself off the ledge. Either I pull myself together, or I let myself have a full on tear-filled meltdown and immediately drive myself home for a time-out.
     - I don't like the way that many things look. Frankly, I am not such a fan of the super-tight-directly-under-my-growing-chest-and-billow-out-from-under-it look. Unfortunately, that tends to be one of the few looks that actually fits preggers women like myself.
     - I really struggle spending a fortune on clothes that I have a limited time to wear.
     - The selection sucks. Let's be honest. I am used to having an unlimited number of stores and websites to choose from and being pregnant, the selection goes from TTTHHHIIISSS to this.


Mostly, I just don't like the way that I look and feel in maternity clothes. I am used to looking and feeling a certain way, and when I look in the mirror at the cute on the hanger maternity dress, I just don't like what I see. Don't worry, I know how ridiculous that I am being, but still, it is hard. We live in a society where women are held to a certain standard, and I have tried hard to be happy with myself and remain healthy. So having to put this little girl before myself, to ensure that she is healthy, has been a bit of a struggle. But rest assured, she IS healthy and I am moving on with my life. I have the rest of my life to look how I want to look. These are 10 months that I am going to sacrifice for this little girl.


Anyway, the shopping trip was a success and in addition to not spending a fortune, I was able to pick up a few things that can be mixed and matched, as well as worn to work, on the weekends, and other events as they come up over the next few months. And I fell good in the clothes that I got. I don't feel great, but we are working on baby steps. At least I am presentable in public and at work. And my bump is out "on display, on display, on display. Each and everyday, everyday, everyday." :)