36 Weeks

Just a quick pregnancy update- we're now at 36 weeks, but still just the two of us. I have a sneaking suspicion that this baby is going to make us wait for her grand entrance...in typical girl fashion.


I had a doctor's appointment yesterday morning and my blood pressure was elevated so I had to get some blood work done to rule out any serious causes like pre-eclampsia. I also have to do a 24 hour urine collection (Sorry if this is too much info, but I'm trying to document everything). Mike had to do this for his kidney tests a few months back, but he didn't have a cool sample collector like me. It looks like a wide-brimmed pilgrim's hat and because of that, my husband- who is a little boy disguised as a grown man- went about putting the thing on his head. Thankfully, BEFORE I had started using it.


Not all things are nuisances though. There are some perks to being 9 months pregnant, one of which is having someone else clean my kitchen floors. Here's my house cleaner...

I'm hoping he'll stay on in this capacity even after the baby's born, but somehow I find it very unlikely, so I'll enjoy it while I can.

Strange Dreams

People warned me that when you're pregnant, you can have some crazy strange dreams. I had one this morning. I dreamt I was in labor and when my baby was born, the doctor showed her to me and she looked like this...



I gave birth to a Cabbage Patch doll!! How's that for crazy? I'm sure this dream was caused by my readiness to have this baby already and my recently renewed obsession with Cabbage Patch dolls.

Mike got Virginia Grace (really, me) a Cabbage Patch doll for Christmas. She's adorably cute and bald, but I know that with the both of our genes, there is no way we're going to end up with a bald baby. So I went online and found a doll that I thought would look most like our baby....a tuft of curly dark hair and brown eyes.

At least in my dream I gave birth to something cute. If my daughter does end up looking like this baby doll, I wouldn't mind- she's precious!

Merry Christmas

Last Christmas I spent a lot of time cooking and cleaning preparing for a house full of friends coming over for Christmas Eve dinner AND a Christmas Day get-together. It was tons of fun, but I knew I did not have the energy for that this year.

So we decided to keep it simple this time- I prepared an intimate Christmas Eve dinner for two followed by Midnight Mass and then Mike made dinner reservations at the Officer's Club for Christmas Day.


Opening presents on Christmas Day is always fun, but this year, it was all about baby. Mike and I decided to get each other baby gifts instead of personal gifts. Here's Mike with his presents- all Virginia Tech baby stuff, of course!


But if you look very carefully, you'll see I couldn't resist getting him one personal gift. He had talked about this one Nerf machine gun type toy that he really wanted and I scoffed and made fun of him for wanting a TOY. But in the end, I realized that all men are really just young boys in disguise and if something as little as that could make him happy for Christmas, then so be it....

Here are some of my presents. I got a few personal gifts too- The Twilight series of books that I've been dying to read, a cute Vera Bradley bag, and an iPod docking station. The Cabbage Patch is supposed to be for Grace, but in reality, it's really a mommy gift too. I LOVED my Cabbage Patch dolls and I'm hoping Grace will love hers as much as I loved mine.

We had a lovely Christmas this year, but we both look forward to next year when we can celebrate Christmas not just as a couple, but as a family of three!

Random Happenings From the Past Week

Nothing exciting going on here lately...just getting ready for Christmas and waiting on the baby. Here are a few pictures that pretty much summarize our week.

This is how I spend my evenings now- feet propped WAY up because of severe swelling. One night, Mike was so concerned that he ended up calling the doctor, but I was instructed to just prop my feet up above heart level. Sometimes my feet get so swollen that when I walk on them, they feel like they're blistered and ready to pop. It's an odd feeling, but the propping does help.


This is my view from my propped position. At least it's pretty...


This is the reason I like to have my camera with me at all times- you never know what kind of strange and bizarre things you'll come across. In this case, it was a motorcycle gang of guys dressed up in strange costumes. At least one was festively dressed as Santa Claus...


And finally, probably my greatest accomplishment of the week- I put together the baby's hospital bag. Here's all the stuff that will be going in it. Mike picked out her going home outfit on the left. I know it's a lot of pink, but I'm a girly girl and there's no guarantee that my girl's going to end up a girly girl, so while she's still too young to make any decisions about her wardrobe, it's full on girly girl for her!

"What's Wrong With Your Feet?"

It never fails in my life that just when I start feeling good about myself, I get knocked down again. God has a way of keeping me humble, and in this case, it was a painfully honest young child.

I've come to terms with the whole weight thing and have even been quite proud of myself the past week and a half because I've been faithfully keeping up my daily exercise regimen of walking on the treadmill for an hour and eating healthy- absolutely no junk food. It's killing me, but in the end, I suppose it's what's best right now.

I even got a pregnant woman's dream compliment on Friday night when I was introduced to someone and she exclaimed, "You're so tiny!"

So the next day, with my renewed self-esteem, I attended an art auction and decided to doll myself up- high heels and all. None of my dress shoes fit me properly at the moment and I had to buy myself a pair of granny shoes last week, but I do have one last pair that I can fit into if I shove my feet in and ignore the numbness.

I walked into that place feeling good. My hair and makeup was done, I had on a pretty dress, and I even managed to wear heels! I said hello to the people I knew and took my seat. Then Aliyah, my friend's adorably cute 7 year old daughter, came to say hello and sat next to me talking for awhile. Before she left, she looked down at my feet and with all the innocence of a sweet child asked, "What's wrong with your feet?"

Since I haven't seen my feet for a few weeks now, I just figured I probably had dirt on them since I was wearing an open toe shoe. But the moment I caught a good glimpse of my feet, I knew exactly what the child was talking about.

Because I had shoved my swollen feet into too-small shoes, my feet looked like they were going to explode! And at that same moment, I discovered that my ankles had disappeared. It's official- I now have cankles. I knew my feet were swollen, but I hadn't realized they were THAT swollen.

Just another thing to add to my growing list of pregnancy humiliations.

Thank goodness I only have 6 weeks left.

Here I am at 34 weeks wearing what I thought was my 'sexy' outfit- as sexy as you can get for being eight and a half months pregnant anyway. If you look carefully at the picture though, you might be able to spot them...

My 'Last' Birthday

When my brother and I were younger and didn't have any money to buy each other birthday presents, we came up with the 'Week of Birthday Privileges' idea as our gift to each other. Basically on my birthday, and for the next 6 days, he had to do whatever I asked him- do my chores, let me have complete control of the tv remote control, fetch me snacks and drinks, etc. It was fabulous! I think one year, I was even able to convince him to give me a week of pre-birthday privileges for a total of 2 weeks of fabulousness. He's an awesome brother, I know.

I tried to implement this idea with my husband, but was quickly shot down because he said I get those kinds of privileges year round anyway.

A friend of mine told me to enjoy this birthday since this would be my 'last' one. Every birthday here on after will no longer be about me, but about the baby. How right she is. It didn't even feel like a birthday this year, but Mike helped me to celebrate anyway.

He took me out for a romantic dinner at an Italian restaurant by the beach that I've been dying to try.

My only request for my birthday was to put my 'healthy eating' on hold for a day so I could enjoy my favorite: ice cream cake!

I wanted to start a nativity set this year so Mike got me the beautiful Willow Tree set. The stable, however, was handmade by my skilled husband. It's gorgeous and I absolutely love it!

A Few Silly Tears and a Christmas Party

I've been feeling pretty bummed since my last doctor's appointment but I'm slowly making peace with the fact that while it's true I've put on more than a few pounds during this pregnancy, at least that's ALL I've got to worry about. The baby is healthy and doing great, all my prenatal tests have turned out fine, and Mike still swears that he'll love me no matter what- even plus-sized.

Despite all that, I had a bit of an emotional meltdown last night while getting ready for Mike's work Christmas Party. Mike found me in the bathroom, all dressed up and ready to go, but sobbing like crazy. I don't even know why the tears started. Maybe it was thinking back on all the past years when I thought I was fat and how ridiculous I was for thinking that when I now know what it truly feels like to be big. I was also thinking how everyone at the party would be beautiful in all their Christmas outfits and I would look like a cow draped in a red dress.

Basically, I was carrying on a one person pity party. It was not a pretty sight.

Eventually, Mike was able to calm me down and after reapplying my make up, since I had cried off my first application, off to the party we went. Being amongst friends and all the festivities lifted my spirits and I can honestly say that by the end of the night, I had a fabulous time. It was fun seeing everyone dance and I even got out there and danced to a couple songs, even though dancing with a huge belly can be a bit of a challenge.

Mike and the guys. I gave him permission to wear his VT Santa hat. It is, afterall, a Christmas party and if you can't wear it to a party, when can you wear it?

And just to torture myself a little more...




Here I am with Kazumi at last year's party when I thought I had put on some pounds.










And here I am with Mike at this year's party where I really have put on some pounds. But like everyone keeps telling me, it's all for a good cause. A big thank you to my wonderful friends for all their words of encouragement!

Anti-Depressant Flowers

My sweet, sweet husband came home with these gorgeous flowers last night in an attempt to cheer me up. I had a doctor's appointment earlier that day and was once again dismayed at the number on the scale. It's one thing to joke about getting big, but it's quite another thing when the doctor starts in with a 'healthy eating habits' talk.

Apparently, I'd gained a little too much weight too quickly since my last appointment. Ooops...

To my defense though we had just gotten through Thanksgiving and a weekend full of leftovers and doesn't EVERYBODY gain a little too much weight too quickly during this time of year?? My situation is just compounded by my pregnant state which seems to hold on to every caloric intake and instantly turns it into fat.

So now I'm on a new eating regimen. My newly bought half gallon of ice cream was unceremoniously dumped into the trash, courtesty of my "sweet" husband, and the pantry was cleaned out of any candy and cookies. My walks around the neighborhood that I admittedly let slide the past couple weeks has been reinstated. Thank goodness I only have 7 weeks left.

I'm just in a grumpy mood right now because although I enjoy being pregnant since the end result is the beautiful blessing of a new life, the actual state of being pregnant is not so much fun- nausea, morning sickness, swollen feet, numb and painful hands, stretch marks, weird line down the belly, and no cute clothes to wear- to name a few. There are precious few things that I actually enjoy about being pregnant: Mike spoiling me, feeling the baby moving, and being able to eat goodies guilt-free. But that last one is now a privilege I am no longer able to enjoy.

So although I love my husband for trying to make me feel better with some beautiful flowers, in truth, I'd feel a whole lot better if I could just eat a chocolate chip cookie. But I suppose that attitude is why I'm in this predicament in the first place....

Thanksgiving Recap

Forgive me for posting this a few days late. I really have no excuse other than I've been completely exhausted the past few days. I've been tempted to not make the bed lately because I know that a few hours from when I first get up in the morning, I'm going to want to crawl back in for a nice little nap. Is this normal? Being exhausted from doing absolutely nothing? I'll make breakfast, tidy up a bit, do a load of laundry, and then feel like I could sleep for a couple hours because I'm so tired!

We spent our Thanksgiving with the Francisco family and friends. Melanie and Al cooked up all the meats: fried turkey, honey glazed ham, and roast duck. I brought the sides and a pumpkin swirl cheesecake for dessert. It was all fabulous and we were super stuffed by the end of the night. After dinner, the guys hung out in the backyard doing guy things (smoking cigars and having some drinks) while the girls stayed cozy and warm inside watching a cheesy Filipino romantic comedy movie.

I realized after I got home that I didn't take many pictures and none at all of me or Mike. But here are the two I did manage to take...

Al carving up the fried turkey...yummm.

The girls- Aliyah, Melanie, and Wintai. Elijah in the back.

Shy Girl

When I imagine what my baby will look like, I try to combine the best features that Mike and I have. My hair, his eyes and eyelashes, my eye brows (not that mine are particularly nice, but his on a girl would be a tragedy), neither of our noses, but her Aunt Megan's would be lovely, and it's a toss up on the lips. With the 3D/4D ultrasound technology available today, I thought for sure I'd be able to get a sneak preview.

Unfortunately, I seem to have a shy girl.

Despite the copious amounts of cold water I drank, the gentle prodding of the Japanese technician, the shimmy-shake I tried to do to get her to change positions, and the sweet coaxing of her daddy with "Come on, Sweetheart", Virginia Grace just refused to give us a good picture of her face. She also seemed none too pleased that we were trying to get a peek at her, as evidenced by one of the last pictures we got. Watch the video to see what I'm talking about. Although I have a shy girl, apparently, she's a shy girl with some attitude.

A big thank you goes out to our friend, Yoko, who graciously took time out of her Saturday to bring us to the Japanese clinic in Yokohama and served as our translator.



And although I don't enjoy getting my picture taken anymore now that the baby fat is no longer just in the belly area, I figure I should continue to document it all- the good, the bad, and the ugly- until the very end since I've already started. So here it is... me at 31 weeks.

The Nursery: Cherry Blossoms Galore!

One of the drawbacks of being pregnant and having a baby in a foreign country is the lack of cute and readily available maternity and baby items. I thought putting together a beautiful nursery would be impossible. I was resigned to the fact that my baby wouldn't get a pretty room until after we moved back to the U.S. and I could freely roam a Target and Babies'r'Us. Sure, there's online shopping, but I'm a tactile person. I like to touch things and feel how soft they'll be. I want the option to buy something, take it home to see if it works out, and if not, return it. With online shopping, I had to take a gamble on some things and pray that they would work out because returning things from this side of the world is too much of a hassle, not to mention expensive.

Luckily, everything has worked out pretty well. My worries were all for naught. Despite the challenges, and with the help of my awesome husband, I was able to put together the baby girl nursery of my dreams- EVEN in Japan. The theme for Virginia Grace's nursery is cherry blossoms. She is, afterall, going to be a 'Japanese' baby.

A Baby Project

When I first met Mike, I knew he was the one for me. He was witty, he was charming, he was a gentleman, AND he had dimples. What more could a girl ask for? It's now four years later and I've long since realized that he's got a lot more going for him than just charm and good looks. He also knows how to build stuff.

One of the things I planned on when designing the baby's nursery was to have hanging letters that spelled out her name decorating the wall. I was going to just order them online, but when Mike saw what it was I wanted and how much it would cost, he assured me he could make them himself. I was skeptical. Very skeptical. Don't get me wrong- I knew he could build stuff. For Christmas one year, he built me a beautiful stepping stool for our very tall platform bed. But what I wanted for this project required an artistic hand and a little bit of finesse. I wasn't sure if he could pull it off in the way I envisioned the finished product.

I should learn not to doubt my husband. He did a beautiful job! I love the way the letters look and it means so much more now that he made them for the baby than if I had just ordered them on the internet. The nursery is pretty much done and I hope to update the blog with pictures of the finished room shortly.

The designing stage of the baby project.


Hard at work cutting out the letters at the wood shop.


Almost done. (Notice the embarassed look on his face...he hated that I was taking pictures of him working in the wood shop. Apparently, it's uncool for a wife to be impressed with her husband's skills in front of the other guys.)


The finished project! Isn't it beautiful? And cost just a fraction of what I was going to spend. Now that I know he can handle this kind of job, my mind is coming with all kinds of other projects for him to work on....

Clothes, Clothes, and More Clothes!

I got a surprise package in the mail today from my dearest friend, Michelle. Inside were 12, yes TWELVE, outfits for Virginia Grace and some maternity clothes for me! I was shocked! If I knew Auntie Michelle was going on a shopping spree for Grace, I would've slowed down my shopping sprees (maybe). Thank you, thank you, thank you Auntie Michelle!

And since I'm on the topic of clothes, I might as well show you the fruits of my recent ebay obsession:




As you can see, I'm crazy about sailor dresses, I can't resist outfits with smocking- much less outfits that come with matching bonnets and bloomers, and anything in hues of pink and purple are irresistible. How can you not be obsessed when the outfits are so precious and only cost about $5 a piece?

"Big, neh? GIANT!!"

We have the sweetest little old Japanese custodian lady in our building and although we don't speak each other's language very well, we somehow find a way to communicate with each other. Usually our conversations are limited to "Ohayogozaimasu" (Good morning), "Konnichiwa" (Hello), and various forms of hand gestures/signals and bowing. Since finding out I'm pregnant, she's added "Baby daijoubou?" (Baby okay?) to which I respond "Hai" (yes).

Today she added another one to her repertoire. I was coming back from my walk around the neighborhood when I ran into her in the lobby while I was waiting for the elevator. We went through our usual greetings. Then she took a good look at me and with her eyes wide open said, "Big, neh? GIANT!!" with a tone of disbelief and amazement. To which I responded, "Hai."

Previously I would've just shaken it off as miscommunication or lack of English words, but the number on the scale at the doctor's a couple of days ago is proof that I am indeed big and, apparently, gigantic. See if she gets a Christmas present this year. Just kidding! Thank goodness for my sweet husband and my dear friends who lie to me and tell me I still look fine or else my self-esteem would really be in the toilet.

You'd think comments like that would slow me down in the eating department, but nope, I still chowed down on the monkey bread I made earlier that morning. My main motivation for going on a walk anyway was to let the bread cool down enough so I could come back and eat it.

3rd Trimester Here We Come!

It's official- we're now in the third and final trimester. I had my 28 week appointment yesterday and I about died when I stepped on the scale. I always like to be in the dark as far as my weight goes because when it comes to that area, I believe ignorance is bliss. I mean, I knew I'd gained more than my initial self-imposed weight gain limit of 20 pounds, but I had no idea I had put on THAT much! I don't FEEL like I've gained that much and Mike always assures me I look great, but then again, what else are you supposed to say to the woman who's carrying your baby? And suffered through all day morning sickness for five and a half straight months??

The doctor told me I passed my glucose test with flying colors, for which I am completely grateful. I don't know what I'd do if I had to lay off the sweets at this point. They're my one and only craving that I can actually indulge in. Chick-fil-A is my other one, but I'm completely out of luck on that one- there are none to be found here in Japan. You know how they say 'girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice'? Virginia Grace is going to be one of those girls, literally, if she is what her mama eats. Mike left for a conference in San Diego today and won't be back for a few days and I was online this afternoon trying to find a copycat recipe for my favorite white chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory that I could try out while he was gone.

So other than filling out faster than planned, things are going great. There are many things about motherhood that I'm still unsure of, but I know one thing for certain- I've got a lot of work to do at the gym once this baby is born!

Optimus Prime and Cinderella

We don't have a little one to dress up yet, but we sure got a lot of great ideas at Mike's Halloween Party at work. A couple of our favorites were the Bach kids, EJ and Mimi aka 'Optimus Prime' and 'Cinderella'. They were just so precious and I couldn't stop taking pictures of them.

Optimus Prime won best costume that afternoon and it's no wonder- He can transform! How cool is that?








By the end of the party, Cinderella became fascinated with my baby belly and even exclaimed at one point, "I love your baby," while hugging and kissing the belly. She was so excited to feel the baby move and asked about a million questions about how and why a baby moves in their mama's belly. Eventually I ran out of answers and had to resort to, "That's just the way babies are, I guess."

Down to the Double Digits

A few months ago, my dearest friend, Michelle, recommended putting a pregnancy ticker (see left) on the blog so people would know how much longer I had to go. When I first put it up, I was at 180-some days to go. It seemed like forever. But the little baby has been steadily moving to the right and I fear will soon fall off the ticker. We're down to the double digits now! Sunday marked our 27th week, which didn't seem so scary until we looked at it this way....only 13 more weeks till our due date!

Our baby preparation has kicked into high gear. We got the last of the baby furniture, her dresser, a couple days ago and Mike has kindly put it together already. Her nursery is coming together and I just have a couple more finishing touches before it's complete.


I'm also working my way through the library of baby books we have to prepare us for life with a baby. Hopefully whatever these books don't cover, my mom and girlfriends with babies will be able to help me out.

In just a few days, I'll officially be in my 3rd trimester. I feel like I say this every time I do a baby update, but I can't believe how quickly it's all going by. I want to relish this time of being pregnant and all the excitement that comes along with it because I'll only get to experience it a few precious times, God willing, and I want to enjoy every single moment.

Picnics at the Park

We finally had a rain-free weekend so we took advantage by exploring some Japanese parks. On Saturday we drove to Kurihama Flower World to look at the fields of fall flowers. Then on Sunday we took a 2 hour train ride to Showa Park in Tokyo. I'm one tired pregnant woman after all the walking, biking, and exploring, but it sure was a fun weekend.

Who knew we'd find Godzilla and a giant Big Mac at Flower World???


Sunday picnic lunch at Showa park: edamame, tempura, egg salad sandwiches, Japanese fried chicken, glazed sweet potato sticks, and of course, rice.


I always thought it'd be romantic to be rowed in a rowboat, so my sweet husband happily obliged.


When's the last time you saw grown men playing jump rope?? What's hard to see in the picture is that there were bubbles blowing in the air too....


6 and a half month pregnant woman riding a bike.


And finally, a shot of us under the gingko trees that were described as a "tunnel of yellowing trees". I guess we got here a little early in the season- they hadn't quite turned colors yet, but it was still a pretty sight.

Barefoot and Pregnant!

So I came home from work today, and the moment I walk in the door, I see my beautiful wife just finishing up my dinner - but I couldn't resist the opportunity to take the picture illustrating the old adage 'barefoot and pregnant'!

I do also want to point out that during Cicely's Bible study class today, they discussed my favorite passage, Ephesians 6:22-24. "Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church...so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything."

Gender roles aside, this marriage is a resounding success!

I'm anticipating numerous comments on this particular blog entry - bring 'em on!