Food food food

Tim always loves the strangest pictures of me. Here are some that he took a week or two ago when he brought some hamburgers home for lunch. They are HUGE burgers from a shop just down the street... huge and messy!

I guess I was getting sauce all over my face (thought I can't really see it).

Lovely... :P

Wedding

Last Saturday--a day before hitting the "safe zone" (meaning 36 weeks)--our friends got married. It was nice to REALLY get out of the house and go do something. :)

It was a really good wedding... the bride was gorgeous! Here are the bride and groom "at the altar" of their Methodist church:
*Note: The organist was a Korean girl... she played well, but was off-tempo a LOT! ESPECIALLY for the bridal song at the end! Maybe I should practice my organ... I hear you can make buko-bucks playing it...

Here I am outside of the church after the ceremony:
(Look how huge my belly is!!!)


We then headed over to the reception. Here's my place setting:

Here's the bride and groom entering the room:

After lunch, the bride and groom made their way around the room. Isn't her dress beautiful?

It was quite refreshing to attend such a traditional reception. (With so many people not wanting to have a "traditional mormon reception", you end up attending some very interesting "non-traditional-mormon" AND "non-NORMAL-traditional" receptions.)

The wedding ceremony was also very nice.

36 Week Appointment

STATS:
135 lbs
Uterus measured 35
90% effaced
3 cm dilated

SO:
My doc was like, "Well, would you like to go the hospital to be monitored?"

We came home instead. She said that I didn't look like someone in labor, so just wait until my contractions begin to get more intense. (While waiting in the waiting room for about an hour, I measured some of my contractions... they were about 10 minutes apart... but I didn't measure how long they lasted).

My sister is hoping and hoping and HOPING that the baby will stay in until Thursday so that she can be there for the birth... but I guess we'll see if we'll even make it through the weekend. :O HOW CRAZY! :)

We stopped at A&W afterwards to grab some grub.

34 Week Appointment (34 weeks and 3 days)

My appointment was originally for later this afternoon, but the PA I was going to see had a family emergency, so we went in earlier to see my actual doc.

Since it was earlier, Tim came home and we went to grab some fast Chinese food.

After waiting in the waiting room for about 15 mins, we were called back to the exam room. Urine sample. Weight (133! Must be all the rice). Blood pressure. Etc.

Then we waited for almost an hour for the doctor to come in.

My cervix is the same as it has been...about 80% effaced and 1 cm dilated. I'll go back in two weeks for another appointment. Phew!

I asked her some Q's about doulas and epidurals...

She said that the hospital I'll be delivering at has one nurse for each patient, as opposed to other hospitals that might assign 3-4 patients to one nurse.

My doc has two kids, and had epidurals for both. She said with the second one, she was thinking of doing natural, but her contractions were harder than the first so she still got an epi. She said she'd allow me to get an epi from 1cm to 6cm.

Hmmm...

Yogurt and Granola

I had Tim get me some Yoplait yogurt this past weekend (with coupons!) to eat during this week. Yum yum!

I don't know if it's the yogurt, but I've been pretty regular the past three days! For the past bit, I've been going once every couple/few days... but the past three days--every morning. Niiice. :)

Random LIFE pictures... during my bed rest...

This is me (well, my belly) lounging on the couch watching T.V. (Good Eats, to be exact). There's Tim playing WoW with his new "brotherhood". :P hehehe...

Speaking of Good Eats, here's something good we ate recently... Greek food!

And for some reason, I got a bloody nose in my left nostril the other day. Wierd! I haven't had one of those in...forever!

32 Week Appointment

Tim took a pic of me in the waiting room...

Let the fun begin...

We went in for my 32 week appointment today.

Weight: good. 30 lbs.

Blood pressure: good.

Urine sample: good.

Uterus size: good. 31 inches.

Baby's heartbeat: good. 151(? Don't remember what it was exactly).

Things looked great! Chatted with the doc a bit, then Tim was like, "Okay. Cool. Are you going to check her cervix now?"

I don't know if the doc was planning on doing that, but she was like, "Okay, let's do it."

So she checks my cervix. Everything still seems quite fine and dandy... she mentions that it's thinned more and that she's glad that we've still made it this far.

Tim probes her about the thinning cervix thing, and my docs like, "Yeah, it's pretty thin now. Last time it was about 50% effaced, and now it's about 80% effaced."

What?! Tim was like, "Uh, so 'work'. Should she quit?"

And my docs like, "Yeah. Don't go in to work tomorrow. I'll write you a doctor's note."

Woah! Just like that. And I'm done. CRAZY!

She gives me a prescription for something that will reduce my contraction (Braxton-Hicks?), and then sends us over to the hospital across the way to get some shots to stop the contractions AND to help develop the baby's lungs (in case she decides to come sooner-than-later). It sounds like it should be a quick trip.

3 hours later... :P

Another urine sample. Then they put a baby-belly monitor on me and measured my contractions for a while. Then they gave me a shot in each arm (spaced out about 30-60 mins...i don't remember) to stop/reduce the contractions. They monitored my heartrate to make sure it worked right (it made my heartbeat race for a bit, and made me feel jittery for a little while), and then gave me a shot in my hip for the baby's lungs.

Those little shots "stung"! :) Tim couldn't watch the nurse give them to me (even though I asked him to...hehe). When the nurse was going to give me the shot in the hip, Tim's eyes went bug-eyed and he was like, "Woah! That's big!" TOTALLY freaked me out a bit...but it was pretty much the same as the two in my arms. I slapped him (on the arm) afterwards and told him not to scare me next time. ;)

Then the nurse brought me a menu to order some food. She never exactly said how long we'd be there. Tim was starving so he went out and found a vending machine. I ordered some food from the menu...they said it'd take about 45 minutes. So we sat around...and waited... and watched T.V. (Seinfield...the Nazi episode).

FINALLY, it's almost 8pm and the nurse finishes up. She schedules me for the final round of contraction-shots for the next day at 5pm. . OH! And I guess I have a urinary tract infection. Who knew?! She called our doc to let her know the results of our visit, and our doc called in a prescription for some UTI medicine for me. This is getting complicated. :P

On the way home, I called my manager and let her know my situation. We'll see if we can set me up to access my work emails and files from home so I can continue to do design work while on bedrest. Ugh. Bed rest.

It'd be one thing if it were like a "bed-rest-cation'...but I'm supposed to ONLY get up to use the potty, to shower, and to grab something to eat. Otherwise I'm to stay down. No walking around. No shopping. No eating out. No church! :(

My next doc appointment was supposed to be in two weeks, but she wants to see me next week. So more baby updates in one week...

Happy Birthday!

So for the past few days, Tim has been bugging me about what I want for my birthday. Usually I'd go for a shopping spree where I can venture from store to store and buy random stuff. But being pregnant and all, that didn't sound too much fun. Plus, Tim wanted to do something "different" for me this year.

I had no idea what he would do...ESPECIALLY since we spend most of our time TOGETHER.

Well, being the cutie that he is, he found a good way to surprise me.

This morning after waking up, he presented me with a pair of REALLY nice Yoga pants. Lululemons. I had never heard of them until this morning... I guess he went to the store and talked to the sales reps and they helped him pick out a pair for me. He said that there were a TON of other ladies at the store shopping the Lululemon line (while wearing their Lululemon items).

So today while at work, I did some research on this "Lululemon". (Pronounced "lu-lu-lemon").

It's a company based out of Canada...and a TON of yoga fanatics (and celebrities) LOVE their line of clothing and accessories.

Tim bought me a pair similar to the ones below... Black Capri's with a blue/turqoise band-top-waist. Their reversable, so on one side, the band is all blue. And on the other side, it's blue and white-and-gray striped.

They look like this on a mannequin (from a Japanese website):

And the long pants look like this on a real person (a very slim un-pregnant person).

I tried them on this morning... Ooh, are they comfortable! AND they give me a nice bum! haha! (Granted, this pregnancy thing has already given me a more booty-licious bum... but those pants sure give it an extra kick.)

:)

At work, I received a beautiful bouqet of roses:

That (above) is my cubicle. We've been in the process of transitioning our systems... so I have two phones on my desk (one is behind the roses). Notice my garbage can with foam board and a blanket on top...I put my feet up every so often.

After work, Tim took me to a nice steakhouse (that his co-workers recommended to him... they had just gone their the night before). The place was so cute!! We sat out on the deck and enjoyed a view of the green bayou.

We ordered their restaurant special, which allowed us to order a 4-course meal, including dessert. This is what we ordered...

TL: My appetizer, some sort of onion and red onion dish. Yummy! Tim ordered a bowl of French Onion soup (not pictured).

TR: Our side dishes...I ordered some German Potatoes (left), and Tim ordered some grilled Cheese Macaroni (right). Double good.

ML: Tim's entree, a 6oz Filet Mig.

MR: My entree, salmon...mmmm...SO GOOD!

BL: My dessert, Apple Strudel with vanilla ice cream. Delicious! I would go back JUST for the dessert!

BR: Tim's dessert, Raspberry souflee...VERY good!

At one point during our meal, Tim was like, "Ugh...I think I'm done. I can't eat anymore." A minute or so later he burped, and said, "Ooh, I feel better now. I can keep eating." haha!

Girls Night Out

So the other night, I went out with my friend Jan for her birthday, then we met up with some gals from church at a nearby chocolate shop that only sells chocolate desserts. Yum!


This is what we all bought/shared.

Mexican Food

We've been on a Mexican kick recently. There's a decent authentic Mexican place nearby, but lately I haven't been a huge fan of it. So we've driven a bit further out to a nice sit-down place that's pretty good. These are some pics from our most recent Mexican-food-outings...

Tim and his queso fondido with chorizo.

My first torta... mmmm... didn't look like how I imaged, but tasted gooood! (Meat, lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado/guacomole inside of a nice sweet bread).

Some tacos (or something) that Tim ordered from our favorite Latin-fusion restaurant. :) More pricey, but still good.

Me (in a MOST unflattering picture) and my order of pork Papusas...DELICIOUS!

Back at our good-'ole far-away Mexican restaurant... Tim ordered a Tepatitlan Platter special, and I got two Sopes. Mmmm...

Last dinner meal with Mom and Dad...

So before Mom and Dad continued their journey home to Utah, Mom made a DELICIOUS meal of lamb, potatoes, and asparagus. Mmmm... It smelled and TASTED delicious!

Heartburn...again.

So after my first post on heartburn, I didn't seem to have heartburn for a few days afterwards. Oh how nice that was!

Then I came to work this morning (after staying up till about midnight last night because we were watching Australia), ate some oatmeal... few hours later ate one PopTart... 30 minutes later ate a free cinnamon roll (someone brought in)... and NOW I have heartburn. Ugh.

Maybe I can just ignore it. Haha.

Relaxing Sunday

This past Sunday, we finally took Mom and Dad to the nearby dog park. It was such a nice day!
We sat in the grass for a little bit watching all the different dogs run by. It was so relaxing!


Mom made a delicious meal for lunch/dinner using psuedo-"Cafe Rio" recipes she had gotten from Tim's sister. It was delicious! Tortillas, Pinto Beans, Sweet Pork Barbacoa, Cilantro Lime Rice, Lettuce, Pico, and the Creamy Tomatillo-Ranch dressing. Mmmm... I made an extra batch of the dressing later b/c we went through it so fast.

Another day at the rodeo...

I was the last to wake up this morning. But we were able to make it out the door to run an errand before hitting the rodeo. (Mom's cell phone was on the fritz, so we headed to a nearby Verizon store to get it looked at. Image on left).



Here's Mom and I in the blue parking lot, just before walking over to buy tix into the event (right image). Note to self: next year, we'll just take the trax...for some reason, I had read that parking would only be $7...but it ended up being $12! Plus it was a long walk through the parking lot!



We walked through different areas of the livestock show...saw horses (dressed up in cool "superhero" like bodysuits), a donkey-pulling thing, a Llama at the animal races, some heifers (sp?) and a heifer show.

We also stopped to get some BBQ... I got a burger, and everyone else got a sausage. We picked up a funnel cake afterwards. Yum!

After eating and walking around, we walked through some of the exhibits/shopping-areas, and Dad got his scuffed clogs polished. Nice! And not too bad for $7.

While Mom and Dad waited for a personalized item they had purchased, Tim and I rode a "golf cart" back to the parking lot to pick up the car...except we didn't have the car keys. Darn! So we waited for Mom and Dad to make their way back over to the car. :)

See my cowboy boots? Got a lot of good exercise walking around...the first time we went, I was so sore afterwards! This time I was fine. Yeah! Plus, my occasional Yoga sure helps!

What a fun day! Once we got home, I ended up taking a long 3 hour nap! Whoops! Luckily, I was still able to fall asleep at night.

Tim's parents in town!

Tim's parents are heading back home from their long trek across the U.S., and decided to spend the extra day-drive to come hang out with us. Hurray!

We took 'em to Chinatown and enjoyed a nice buffet/hot pot meal. Mmmm... I LOVE watercress!

Then we enjoyed a fun game called Trhyme. We're adding it to our "Want to Buy" list. :)

Moroccan Food!

Last night I went with some ladies from church to Saffron Moroccan Cuisine. Yum! Tim and I had gone there once last summer with some friends and were greatly impressed.

I head up a "Restaurant Group" with some of the ladies at church, and have scheduled a dinner every-other-month on the 3rd Thursday of the month.

So this month, we ate Moroccan. These are some of the dishes I (and the other ladies) ordered.

From top left, and clockwise:

1. Dej Medfoun - Sauteed chicken breast with onions and ginger tossed in egg noodles.


2. Couscous Malaki - Served with lamb, merquez sausage, and seven vegetables.


3. Azizia's Tagine - Braised sweet potatoes, sweet peas, tomatoes, raisins, and onions in cilantro ginger sauce. (This is what I ordered).


4. Djej Msharmal - Marinated and roasted cornish hen with olives and preserved lemon.
   
   
   Peggy and I. She has a seeing-eye-dog (Nelson) that Tim loves... it's the main reason Tim will go to Sunday School. ;)

Some of the ladies that were there...

We arrived at 6:30p, ordered at about 7:00p. Finished eating at about 7:50p, and sat and chatted until the belly dancer came out at about 8:30p. Left at 9:00p. What a late night for me!

The belly dancer was really good this time! (Last time, the belly dancer wasn't that good...but then again, this is coming from a pregnant lady that can NOT dance at all!) The gal was really nice, and let Peggy "see" her finger-cymbals (sp?) and the embroidery on her skirt.

Here's a short video some of her moves. Nelson the dog seemed to like her too. (Sorry, it was dark).

St. Patrick's Day

Happy Green Day! :)

Today at work, one of the manager guys brought in a ton of green treats... whenever free treats are brought in, my friend and I are the first ones in the kitchen to partake of the goodies. :)

So here are some of the treats I enjoyed... green punch, green grapes, a green snowball, a chocolate chip cookie-pie with green frosting (I threw it away b/c it was nasty!), and a cupcake with green sprinkles. Notice the green pen that I took from Tim (who brought it home from work).

Me in my cubicle (with all my green). A co-worker, Cheryl, had a great time going around pinching people that didn't have green. She pinched hard, too (from what I hear)!

Dinner with friends

Here are a few pix from us hanging out (aka eating dinner) with friends.

With the McQuays at Barnaby's Cafe.


They brought us a cute little outfit for the baby.

At a Mardis Gras Grill with some friends...

Our friend Matt enjoying his raw oysters. :P