My little peanut

Born: November 18, 2006 at 8:44PM
6 lbs 9 oz, 19.5 inches

What does one do with themselves?

I technically started my maternity leave last Thursday. It was pretty good, I got some stuff done around the house and all. Come Monday of this week, I was getting stir crazy. I'm not one to sit around and clean and cook and wait. I was sort of hesitant to go out and run errands so for the whole day I was stuck at home, twittling my fingers, on the verge of going crazy. I made phone calls, went online, watched tv, took a nap, but I don't know how people can do it. Be home all day and like it. I expressed my frustrations to Nick, who had class that night and didn't get home until close to 10. On Tuesday, I woke up and thought about what I was going to do that day. I laid there in bed and thought, great another fun-filled day of being home alone and trying to find things to keep my mind occupied. Nick called a few minutes later that morning and left a message, asking me to call him back. I did and he said he was going to pick me up at noon and he was going to take me out to lunch. Really?!?!?!? I was completely surprised that he was going to leave work and meet me. I was thinking he'll take me to lunch and then he'll probably go to school and study for the rest of the day and come home early in the evening. When noon came around, he picked me up and we went out for Indian buffet. It was very good but later it gave us horrible heartburn. While waiting for the bill, I asked him if he was planning on going back to school or work. He told me he had taken the rest of the day off and was planning on spending his entire day with me. I was really surprised and happy and almost close to tears. He was so sweet for thinking of me. He knew I was somewhat upset and sad about being home and with the emotions and waiting for the baby, he decided to take the day off and take care of me. Isn't that awesome?!? I felt so special and happy and it's reinvigorated me. Today, I'm feeling much better. I've made plans to go run a few errands close to home and to try to do constructive things. I went and rented a movie to watch later this afternoon. I feel very lucky to have him.

It could happen anytime now...

Last Friday Nick and I visited the doctor and she checked to see how the pregnancy was going. She did a pelvic exam and informed us that I was at 1-1/2 centimeters dilated and that the baby has started to go down. Wow!! I had no idea. It's all starting to happen and it's so exciting. So what does that mean? She said that it could happen anytime now; in a matter of a couple days to a couple of weeks. It's a huge range, but the fact that it's all beginning to take place is pretty amazing.

Today is my official first day of maternity leave from work. Actually, with Veteran's Day last week, my last day was Wednesday. I've been doing the usual stuff around the house -- organizing, preparing, washing baby's clothes, etc. I have to pack my overnight bag and have started filling the baby's diaper bag with things she'll need. Other than that, I'm just pretty much waiting. We're almost completely done with the nursery. We have to go exchange the crib mattress because I read it's better to get a mattress that's a bit firmer with a coil count of at least 150. Yeah, I've been reading a lot about that stuff, so I'll have to wait until Nick has time or if someone else can take me to get it exchanged. I can't really leave and go by myself to run those types errands now. My brother is taking a week off from work Thanksgiving week, so that will be good.

Nick still thinks she's coming Thanksgiving weekend, around Nov 27th. My due date's the 28th. My family and I have all made bets that she will come earlier. I think I had predicted that she'll be here Nov 19th, my sister said Nov 16th and my Mom and Dad were saying Nov 20th and 21st. My brother was the only one who thought she was coming a little later at Dec 1st. Since his birthday's Dec 14th, maybe he's hoping she'll be a December baby like him. I guess we'll find out eventually when the day finally comes.

Baby Update #2

I went in for my routine checkup and everything is progressing very well. Nikki's growing and I'm sort of using my belly button as a marker to check how much she's grown. The belly button hasn't popped out yet but, ummm, I'll give it a month or so. We started our lamaze classes last Thursday. It's a 2 and a half hour class and we have to meet for a total of 5 classes. In the first class, I think the most pertinent information that was told could've taken just an hour or less. What I got out of it was that I needed to practice squatting and breathing. Since getting pregnant, I haven't really been excercising a whole lot. When the times comes and I have to deliver Nikki, muscles that I haven't been exercising will get a shocking surprise. So essentially, I need to practice squatting so when it is time, I'm hoping the pain won't be as bad and I'll have better stamina. But who the hell knows if all this is true?!? I'm just hoping that what they're telling me will help and if I prepare enough, it will ease the pain and discomfort. Just 8 more weeks to go until baby comes! I'll be on my 8th month next week and so the count down continues.

P.S. I'm blessed with an amazing husband. He threw me a surprise Baby Shower last weekend and it was wonderful. There were maybe 70 or so people that attended and he had Hawaiian dancers perform. Although, I wasn't completely surprised, he still managed to pull it off and did an awesome job at that. I'm very lucky!!!

The proud Papa!

Why you....

I overheard a salesperson at Babies R 'Us make the following comment, "Yeah, they're better than the Dodgers. The Dodgers never win anymore." WTF?!?!? The Dodgers are in a freakin' penant race you stupid B@#TCH!!! Sorry, I just had to let that out. Come on, if you know nothing about a topic just keep your gums shut!! HAHA

Nick bought Nikki a pink Angels outfit. He says she can wear it on game day. It's very cute and all but I don't watch any of the Angels games. I'm going to have to find a Dodgers outfit for her, because whether he likes it or not, she'll be rooting for my team!

Tappa....tappa...tappa....

The baby sure is active. She keeps kicking and squirming in my tummy. I think she wants to come out, but she isn't done yet. Nick, for the first time, felt her kicks. I told him to place his hand on my belly and within a few seconds she gave me two BIG kicks. Pretty cool!

Baby Ticker

Baby Update

So I went in for my routine checkup yesterday. One of the items in the agenda was to discuss the results of the AFP test and the ultrasound, which I had done a couple of weeks ago. I looked down at the paperwork in front of me and saw the word "twin" written at the very top of the ultrasound results. I didn't think much of it at first because when they were doing the ultrasound, there were no signs that showed I was carrying more than one baby. Well, the doctor noticed this and said that it definitely looked like a mistake because the results on the ultrasound was only referring to one fetus. To confirm, she pulled out the ultrasound and we took a look at my little girl. She looked so cute! :) And she looked like she's grown! She was moving around and was very active. I actually feel her movements quite often in my tummy. Anyways, the doctor said that it appeared like there was only one baby and that the radiology department must have goofed. I'm hoping this was the only thing they goofed because everything else looked fine.

It was an interesting feeling, thinking for a split moment that you may be having twins. There was a feeling of slight elation at first, obviously. But when you start thinking of how much work would be involved with two, utter relief comes over you when they tell you there's just the one. Maybe we'd be fortunate enough to have twins the second time around but for now, we're just ecstatic with the little one on the way. I'm now half way there...

Cute little peanut nose

At almost 5 months, the belly is expanding a bit quicker and has gotten quite firm. The baby's still fairly small so I don't know if the size and firmness of the belly is all baby or some of it is from gas. haha We went in for the ultrasound last Monday before the 4th of July. We saw the baby alright, and it further confirms that there is something 'a brewing inside my stomach.

Prior to going into the examining room, we had to wait at least an hour. We were at Kaiser and so it wasn't a total shock that they'd be running late. I was supposed to have a full bladder to facilitate the ultrasound exam. I had been trying to hold my bladder for over an hour. How the hell are you supposed to do that and to top it off they're running late! I had enough of it and just decided to go. Right after I finished, I was finally called in. When we were about to go in the nurse tells Nick he'd have to wait an additional 20 minutes so she can do what she needs to do. Whatever that means. Poor Nick. So she and I go behind the white curtains and I laid myself down on the bed. She slathers this gel on my stomach, which I was expecting to be cold on first contact but it was the opposite. Nice and warm and soothing, it was. So the nurse is doing her thing. The probe is on my belly, she's moving it around and I'm watching her. I can't really see the monitor because she has it right in front of her and I'm at an angle. She's not really telling me what she's doing. So I start asking questions. Uhh, whatcha doing there? Does the baby look all right? Is it a boy or a girl? She tells me she's looking at the organs, bones, etc. and that she can't provide any results to me. The doctor would have to say what all these pictures mean. OK....so when can I check out my baby? So she tells me she's taking a bunch of pictures and she can't really talk now because she's concentrating.

Eventually, Nick is allowed in and he stands behind the nurse and has a better view of the monitor. Because of the silence, he starts in on the questions too. I ask him to shush because she's concentrating. He starts making faces and the nurse tells him she can see his reflection from the monitor. haha FINALLY, she is done taking the pictures she needs and turns the monitor towards us for a better view.

We see the baby moving around and are shown different views. We got to see the profile, the body, hands and feet, and even the vertebrae. It was all pretty amazing. Then the nurse asked if we wanted to know the sex of the baby. Of course we did! So, from what she can see, Nick and I will be having a baby girl!!!! Nick says he confirms it, as he can tell, obviously, that the baby appeared to be a girl. We do have a name for her. I'll share that name later.

Likey the new look?

The last couple of weeks have been busy, busy, busy. It's nice to be home this weekend and be able to take care of things around the house.

Maui was glorious. Awesome weather, beautiful torquoise blue ocean, relaxing time. We swam, layed out at the beach, worked on our tan, and got to be away from the daily grind back in civilization.

Then it was off to Santa Barbara to meet up with some friends. Good times as well. We got to see live performances, make bracelets out of flowers, watch a marathon of Pride & Prejudice, and do a bit of cooking at home. Thanks for letting us crash you guys. You were so hospitable.
Trang showing me how to make bracelets out of flowers

Weekends

I've been so lazy lately, especially on the weekends. Lazy in a sense that I don't feel like getting dressed to go outside and run errands. Today I have a list of things to do....go shopping for my trip to Maui, buy a gift for a friend's little boy whose birthday is tomorrow, buy my Dad's Father's Day gift, go to the dry cleaners, etc, etc. Instead I'm here writing this blog about being lazy and not wanting to go outside. I think it's the whole having to get ready and dressed thing that's putting me off. I'm on my second trimester. Clothes are beginning to not fit as well as they used to. That's why I really need to go shopping. I need someone to just come to my house, pick me up, throw some clothes on me, make me go out and drive me to the stores. Ehhhh....Lazy indeed.

Little Nick(ie)

Nick's namesake....
At 8 weeks

Maui...here we come!

For a while now, I've been telling people that I need a vacation. More than anything, I'm in need of a vacation from work. I think I've complained about it before. My coworkers now are a bit on the dry side. I have only 1 buddy who can make me laugh out loud. He's someone who I can talk to about anything and everything. Yet there's another person who I just want to strangle. I've never disliked anyone before in a work environment. Sure, there's people that are annoying and that irritate you on occasion. But I've never said I really disliked like someone before. Unfortunately, he's someone I have to share an office with. He's just the most rigid, opinionated, stuffy, boring blow-hard that I've ever met. I'm at a point now that I no longer want talk to this person. I'm sure he knows I don't like him. And I don't really care anymore. There was a time when I just wanted to pack all of my things and move to the office across the hall. I'm sure I'll want to do this again. But now, I'm coping. I've come to terms with the fact that I don't need to talk to this person. If I want to have a conversation with someone normal and sane, I can leave the room and find people else where. I'm fine with that now. So, going back to taking a vacation. I was at work one day and I thought, the hell with it let's plan a vacation now. We were thinking of taking a vacation sometime in September or after the new year. But f*#$ it! Now that there's a new addition coming in the near future, we should do that before we're bogged down with new responsibilities. So, yes!! I've booked a trip to Maui and we're going in mid-June. I'm really excited!
Ahhhh...relaxing, laying out, and sipping my virgin Pina Colada....

So...tired...

I am sooooo tired. Lately, I've been plotting and dreaming about when I can take my next nap. I plan out my day so that I can find someplace to nap. I drove to my Mom's after work today so I can nap. I'm thinking about tomorrow. During my lunch break, I'm going to drive to the beach to.....guess what? Nap.

What the???

Have you ever known of anyone who acts too overly sweet and lovey-dovey towards someone and says things like, "Oh, you're sooooo wonderful" and "I'm sooooo glad that your my friend" and "You're soooooo caring" and so forth and so on that it seems completely and utterly fake? I'm sorry, but, ugghhh, that makes me sick. I almost threw up on myself. As a matter of fact, I think I did! HAHA People, keep it real. Just keep it real, please.

A Day in the Snow

So we headed off to the mountains on Saturday morning. It's amazing how you can drive just an hour away and the weather can change so drastically. I love California. One minute it's raining, another minute it's sunny and warm, and then another minute it's snowing. We drove to Snow Valley to do some sledding. Being very much a novice in both skiing and snowboarding, I thought it would be more fun for all of us to just go out and play in the snow and not have to worry about broken bones and torn ligaments.

We were very lucky that it wasn't too crowded. We were even more lucky to see snow coming down. I've been to the mountains a few times but I've never seen the real stuff coming down before. It made us all giddy!



And then it was off to do some extreme sledding.




I tried to make a snow angel and we even got into a snowball fight.



It was a good day! Thanks for coming with me!

'Bout time...

This puppy finally came in. The freakin' Tickle Me Elmo of 2006. I had to wait a couple of months until they had it back in stock. Pppffffffttt!! Well, now Nick and I will be occupied for the next few weekends.

We're currently playing:

Wow, is that the deal?

The dealings at lunch with your coworkers....I tell ya. We were at Marina del Rey, eating shrimp, dining outside on a balcony overlooking a busy street. We were chatting it up and then the conversation turned to my friend Niko's recent object of desire....a man that works in our building a few floors above us. Yes, I said man. Ok, now that that's established, Niko has been stalking him for the past 3 weeks, with my help. They've said nothing but hello to each other. We would bump into him in the elevator, in the parking lot, in the break room. I say "stalking" but it's not like we're scary or anything. It's all innocent fun. I have a great view of the parking lot, so when I would see his man, I would call Niko and give him the 411. Ok, while at lunch, his innocent crush over this much older man took an R-rated turn. It was like something from out of a movie. Foursome having nice outdoor lunch together, one brings up crazy idea, other three are skeptical, the one with the idea says he'll place a bet on it, the three says they'll need proof, talks of webcams and pictures are thrown out there, there's an agreement, handshakes all around the table, and a deal's been made. Did I really make a deal for that?

It all went down here...

Wooosh...wooosh...wooosh....

I want to go to the Mountains next weekend! My loves, would you like to go with me???

Put a sock in it!

I share an office with someone who can talk incessantly for hours on end about multiple topics and is by far the most boring person that I've ever met in my whole life. I just had to vent. I think I'm losing my mind. To hear someone just ramble on and on and on and on and on and on and on about something not interesting can drive one absolutely batty. I hate talking about politics and the guy talks non-stop about this stuff. I'm literally drained. Thank God for MP3 players and headphones!

St. Paddy's Day

Miles it took to get to Hennessey's Tavern in Hermosa Beach....60 miles (roundtrip)
Number of blocks we had to walk to get from parking space to Tavern....6 blocks
Minutes we waited in line to try to get into said Tavern....60 minutes
Seeing Nick drinking his beers out of a paper bag while walking to the Tavern and while waiting in line....PRICELESS

Man, was it crowded last night. Now I understand why people start drinking at 8 in the morning at the Irish Pubs. We froze our arses off trying to get into that damn hell hole. That place sucked. Our party was lounging outside and we were just within arms reach of them yet they wouldn't let us in. Anyways, long story short, we ended up at Jenn's pad, I drank Red Horse, a Filipino beer, and cocoa that was Irished up with some chocolate liqueur type concoction to warm me up. There were talk of pek-pek, and who did or didn't have one, Filipino pastries with sexual connotations, weirdos and trailer trash people, and a shouting match over who likes who and who detests who. It was pretty amusing but I was so disappointed that I didn't have my green beer. Oh well.

Umm, guys? A little help here?

A lesson learned

A friend at work today told me that he's the token nice guy. Even when disrespected, demeaned, or taken advantage of he would still try to be the bigger person and play nice with those that treat him poorly. I told him I could never do that. Instead, I'd probably plot to take vengeance on them and get satisfaction from watching them suffer. I'm mean no? Well, maybe it's the Capricorn in me. I hold grudges, I'm at times rigid, hard-headed, and a bit egotistical. I can't help it sometimes. But after talking with him, I realized that I shouldn't always act like I'm the center of the universe. I shouldn't have temper tantrums when I don't get my way and I should respect the differences of others. But is it wrong to want a little respect, consideration, and loyalty from those you consider your friends? Am I being too sensitive when I feel like I'm not getting it? I've been told I'm a nice person and no, I'm not always the person I described earlier. I never knew it, but I guess I am a sensitive person. And I do need to not let these things bother me. No one's perfect and I shouldn't take everything so personal.

Ahhhhh....

I am so looking forward to sleeping in this weekend. I am excited about vegging out at home and watching DVDs and getting re-aquainted with my best friend, TiVo. :) And it's supposed to rain too, which means it'll be perfect cuddling and snuggling weather. Boy oh boy, I've got my weekend planned out.

Homesick

The next night I decided to attend a reception and dinner paid for by one of our consultants. The reception was held at the Palm Springs Air Museum. I took care of my work obligations and did my share of shmoozing. Then it was off to a very late dinner where I tried the bouillabaise. Tyler Florence had cooked his rendition of the 'ultimate' seafood soup and I was hoping that the dish I was about to order can come close to it. When the waiter finally brought it to me, my first thought upon taking my first sip was that it tasted a bit too "coconut-ty." This was very different from how I envisioned this soup to be. Oh well, the food was free so it was all good. The wine was flowing, people were getting all tipsy and a bit too friendly for my comfort. Mind you I was at least 20 years younger than everyone at our large table. I was making small talk and all along I was hoping I could just stand up and go back to the hotel and in the sanctuary of my room. I do enjoy the cocktails but to be doing it with people as old as my parents, oh I don't know, it just wasn't my cup of tea. Don't get me wrong, everyone for the most part was nice but I missed Nick and I missed hanging out with people my own age. Acting like a 'grown-up' can be quite exhausting. Tomorrow I get to go home and I can see my dog, my bird, my house, my bed, and most importantly my husband.

Business Trip

Right now, I'm in Palm Springs for an Airport Noise & Air Quality symposium. I spent the last few hours hearing interesting talks about the aforementioned subject. A few hours of that was just enough to keep me holed up in my room for the rest of the night. Actually, this trip initially was going to consist of nights at the Morongo and dinners downtown. Unfortunately, my idiotic co-workers didn't submit their travel requests in time and thus, resulted in none of them attending. Great. So instead, I'm here with other people from work who average in age of 50. Hmm. Sounds like hoot. Anyways, I've decided to spend my first night of three watching the Oscars and ordering room service. I'm actually really excited about it, if you can believe it. I've ordered Prime Rib and will be eating it on top of my king size bed. I might as well make the best of it. And to top it off, I have internet access and therefore, I can write this wonderful blog of my experiences here.

...knocking at the door...

Ok, I gotta go now, my food's here...

You can do it!

For the first time I'm actually going to give up something for Lent. Yeah, yeah, I'm two days late of starting, but gosh darn it, I'm going to do it anyway. But what should I give up? It has to be something that I enjoy but can be without it for 40 days (or now 38 days). It has to be something that would cause me to suffer from lack of it. I'm guessing it has to be something food-related. Ok, well, how about carbohydrates? I do need to lose some pounds, but for 40 days straight?!?! Ah-ha, I found a loophole in this whole Lent business -- Sundays are excluded! There ya go! Wellllll....how about no carbs after 3PM? Yeah, that's possible, yet hard enough to cause suffering and torture. Yep, that sounds like a plan all right. Okey dokey, starting Friday night, I will be carb-free....after 3PM.

Gen the Handy Man?

I remembered when I used to live with my parents and whenever something broke, whether it was my car, window, faucet, what have you, my Dad would instantly stop what he was doing and fix it pronto. Now, I can't necessarily say the exact same thing about Nick. Fine, he isn't my Dad nor does he have the time in his already busy schedule to be a handy man type of guy. So to be a trouper, I have decided to take on the role of handy man of the family...albeit temporarily. :o] I don't mind, especially when I'm able to fix something that I didn't know I could fix.

Anyways, here's one example from over the weekend:

For the last week the pool pump wasn't working all that well. The Kreepy Krauly which skims the bottom of the pool for leaves, dirt, and other nasty things wasn't moving and sucking like it normally did. We suspected that the filter was clogged and there wasn't enough pressure to allow the Kreepy to perform its usual sucking motion. Heh. So we cleaned out the filter, washed out everything, put it all back, and hoped that it would start working again. After about an hour....nothin'. Kreepy just sat there looking deader than a hung-over drunk after a night of too much partying. Anyways, Nick tried to do what he can but soon after gave up and just sat back down in defeat. I was pretty annoyed because who else was going to fix it, other than calling up some guy and forking over a couple hundred to do what?!?! Ok, so I rolled up my sleeves, assessed the situation and got some tools out of the garage. I turned a few valves, removed the plate from the pump, released the air from the filter, etc. After trying a few different combination of things, all of a sudden there was actually progress. Yes! I had earlier disconnected the Kreepy to fix the pool system first. When there was suction again, I reconnected the Kreepy.....but still nothing. Ok, there must be something stuck in the Kreepy.....so I reached in and grabbed it, looked at the mouth, which looked normal, then flipped it over, removed one of the hoses, and BINGO, a huge leaf was causing a blockage. Wooh! After all that, we are now back in business. All in a days work. :)

The sappier the better...

I found this awesome new site! Well actually my sister clued me in on it. The site's called www.youtube.com and I can actually say that I'm in love with it. I got an absolute kick out of watching all of these music videos that I've never seen before. I ended up doing a lot of searches on love songs such as Sade's "By Your Side," Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eye's," Howie Day's "Collide," etc. Then I found an old song that brought back some great memories, Edwin McCain's "I'll Be". That song is awesome and it gets me a bit teary eyed everytime I hear it. It's a song that reminds me of when Nick and I were first starting out and it was actually playing on, I believe, our second date. I always wanted to use it for my wedding but I decided not to. I thought that maybe it was too sappy for the first dance. Now, I wish I could have used it somehow. Man, I love that song.

New look, new style...

This here is a new blog site. I think this blogspot thing has a prettier layout than Xanga. Anyhoo, I'll write more later.