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."