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.