Our first Thanksgiving together!

Gerardo and I were pretty excited about making our very first turkey together. I have, in the past, helped make the turkey. But I have never had the responsibility of making it all alone, without the help of an experienced turkey maker. G has had no experience in making a turkey.

At first, it was a very intimidating task to think about.

We found a simple turkey recipe on www.allrecipes.com. It had 5 stars out of 5, as far as the reviews, so we decided to try it. We actually went grocery shopping on Sunday night and had all of the tools and ingredients ready! Including some items I never thought to buy for myself, for example: A meat thermometer and food and pastry brush.

Here's our turkey. 10 lbs.

This was a special event for a couple of reasons: It was our first time making a turkey together, and our first thanksgiving with our son. We wanted to remember this day and share it with our son in the future. Look! There he is in the belly :) So close to the food all night.

Isai had to work and we had no idea when he would come home. We asked him and he kept answering that he didn't know. Sucks that they made him work on a holiday. But he was pretty happy about it (pay.) Isai got home at about 8 pm. He said that he could smell our food cooking from the door and that it smelled good!

Guess what? The turkey came out really delicious and moist. Gerardo really helped make a difference. He turned it and brushed it halfway through. I kept basting it every once in a while. We even learned how to brine a turkey with kosher salt!
We learned so much and feel confident that we could make another thanksgiving feast, if we were ever asked to ;)
We would have made more food, but we knew it would only be us 3. So, we kept the menu very modest. Aside from a turkey we made, mashed potatoes, buttered corn, dinner rolls, garlic bread, turkey stuffing, turkey gravy (which we learned to make from the giblets and turkey neck), praline yams, we bought a pumpkin pie and bought brownies. All 3 of us enjoyed cider (our favorite holiday drink.)

Zero had some turkey gravy poured over his dog food.



Thanks for reading!

Building a savings for my LOA

As you all know, I am putting money away for my leave of absence in January '09. I hope to stay with our baby for one month (at least.)

I talked to my employer, with whom I have been for almost 9 years, and they agreed to work "something" out with me (exclusively) so that I can earn a portion of my income while I am out.
Of course the details cannot be finalized until we know how long I will be out. Actually, they said that realistically, I cannot be out for 1 month only. They suggested I should take at least 2 months off, if not 3.

An example of what we agreed upon is: Say I was out for 2 months, they would pay me 50% of my salary for those 2 months (or 1 month's pay.) If this were the case, I agreed to be available via email for questions or concerns. I think it's only fair considering their exclusive generosity.

I will also be relying on my savings account, in which I have been putting all of my extra pennies away. I have not had money for myself in MONTHS and it has been tough! I want to spend spend spend! I want to buy clothes and shoes and get my hair done and get my nails done and buy perfumes and lotions and blah blah blah :) But no :D I will focus on my goal!
The only thing I continue to spend on is food.

I also have about 2 weeks of vacation pay left over. (After taking a couple of vacations this year: Miami and Yosemite + random vacation days off)

I have paid off all of my bills except for one small one (under $200), which I plan to pay off before December is over.
I put all of my monthly expenses on hold. This includes my monthly supply of Pro Activ. I also will be pausing my gym membership until I am ready to workout again. Monthly donations will also be put on hold :(
All other accounts are at a balance of "0." *phew!*

And finally, I am relying on the disability insurance from the state. Which, you know makes up for about 50-60% of the salary (of course, they will consider the income the company has agreed to pay me and reduce the insurance pay).
I've always heard, though, that some women don't get their payment until weeks, sometimes months later. That's a concern and the main "just-in-case" reason I am piling up my pennies in the savings account.

I am hoping that with all of these items tied together, that G and I will be OK financially. So far, I feel confident that we will be.

In the previous years, G and I have spent TONS of money on gifts. And you know what? I LOVE it! It's so much fun to give everyone we love, gifts! But this year, I have to really budget.
I really am going to miss splurging. But, I am looking to next year-I know that by then, I will be more stable and will provide better gifts to all of you, that I love.

I know you will all understand and support this move. I do plan to take a holiday picture and mail them out to all of our friends :) So, please look out for that :)

Thanks for reading!

Why we are embarassed to accept more gifts

I have been thinking of ways to word this blog WITHOUT sounding like:

1) We're bragging

2) We're asking for more items

3) We're ungrateful
4) We don't need anything from anyone

Yeah, these goals sound contradicting. This is why it has been tough to find the right words.

We have a couple of sweet readers, here on my blog, who want to buy us more things. One person offered to buy us a very luxurious baby room furniture set!!!! I wanted to show those people this picture, so that you can see how showered we were at our shower!

For this reason, we want to decline any additional gifts offered. But some of you are insisting and I feel so embarrassed to accept...

What can we do?

We have decided that if you want to continue to send gifts, then go ahead. Thank you. But I just wanted to make it clear (in the above picture) that G and I were very much showered with mostly all we need for the baby's first days at home!

I want to write blogs about things we need and I don't want to sound like we are ASKING for things. It's just a way to document and remind us of the things we want to buy.

With this said (above), I wanted to share with you some of the things that we have already purchased and some of the things we still need. This is not a wish list :)

G and I bought a crib, changing table, book shelf and glider chair.

Now all we need to do is buy the crib mattress, nursery bedding set and other nursery decor.

G built the crib and put it in the bedroom. Isai's things are still in there, so now it's a little crowded. G got rid of some furniture in there to make some room. I will be taking pictures of it, once it looks a little more organized. Right now, it is not ready for pictures :)

It was very gratifying to see everything put together and placed in the room. G stocked the bookshelf with all of the books we received at the baby shower. They look so nice in there.

Before Friday, I needed a diaper bag. Then we got one at my company baby shower. So, I filled it with things from an online diaper bag checklist. It was so much fun. We pretty much have everything that belongs in a diaper bag thanks to all of your gifts!

We will be fulfilling our baby shopping list in the next few weeks. :) I plan to take pictures and update you on what we have fulfilled. I hope you enjoy shopping with us!

FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bradley Method Class 11/23/08

We are going to be making up class 2 next week (on a weekday.) It will be in the evening and will involve food :) I think she mentioned class 2 will be about nutrition.

Anyway, this was class 3.

Today, we learned about the details of how the baby is well-protected, from infection, illness and harm in our wombs. This doesn't mean we do whatever we want. It is just a nice reminder of how our bodies are built to create and protect our creation.

We watched another video about birth. This one was a little more graphic than the previous videos we've watched. This woman was in pain and it was very obvious. It did scare me. They always do. Then, the baby comes out and everything is OK. (Oi!)

We also discussed the role of a Doula. Also, how hospitals nowadays are all about the rhythm of getting patients in and out of the hospital, like an assembly line-rather than give each patient individual attention.

I took the information in, that I felt I needed and rejected any information that I felt didn't apply to us.

To teach us about communicating our needs to our husbands, the instructor started us on an exercise. She made the women give the men a massage that WE would like to have, so that the men would know what our needs are and not have to read our minds or guess. Then, we switched off and the men mimicked our massage. This was VERY nice!

One thing that we were all reminded of in class is that this is the last trimester. This is not a time to be worrying about weight gain and/or weight loss. This is the best time to be giving my body and our baby the best nutrition-Even if it means gaining weight. Weight loss can happen AFTER. I loved hearing that, because of the recent doctor visits. I plan to continue eating my servings of vegetables, fruits, proteins, grains, dairy and water.

We also talked about the anatomy of the body and the changes we go through. Most of the changes I have been experiencing were discussed in detail. And we discussed remedies. Some of which I already knew of, from reading online.

The importance of the coach/husband was also emphasized. She gave the guys some tips on how to handle different stressful situations.

They followed up on our at-home exercises which we are required to do. I have been doing all of mine. They were all upgraded a bit and now I will have to do more. AY AY AY!

Class was over before I knew it and G and I were on our way home.

AKA "Company Thanksgiving Potluck"

Today was the company Thanksgiving potluck, but when I arrived, there were blue balloons and people with cameras! A surprise baby shower for ME!

I work for a toy company with an office and a distribution center. We usually have our casual company events in the distribution center (warehouse area) to accommodate the number of people.

Here is the decor AFTER the shower. I didn't have an opportunity to take the picture during the shower. (All pics taken with my cell phone)
The blue balloons say "It's a Boy!"Someone asked me "What are you having?" when we were eating together at the table. LOL !

These baby shoes with mints were placed on each table:

There was tons of food! While people ate, they played a baby shower game. The gist of the game was to mold a baby out of Play Dough. At the end, I would choose the best "baby."

In the below pic are the final products. As you can imagine, everyone was almost peeing their pants from laughing so much at the babies. The winner I chose was the orange one with the diaper. Can you see it?

It wasn't until after, the game was over, that I learned that the one with the potato chips (top of pic/blue baby) was actually a cherub baby with wings!

The green one actually had a penis LOL!
(Nice! Making a penis baby for the pregnant Human Resources lady LMAO!)

And look! Gifts!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are the co-workers responsible for the planning:

They said they had been working on the planning since October! And were so nervous that somehow something would go wrong. Here I was on MY side, planning the company Thanksgiving potluck the whole time :) Sending emails and getting people to sign up for the potluck LOL!

I feel so blessed. I feel like everyone has made us ready for our baby, even before he arrives. I don't know what to do to show my gratitude. I just have to smile big. Tonight, I plan to say a prayer to God to say thank you for everyone in our lives who have made this experience a SUPER HAPPY one. I NEVER in a million years thought that a baby shower could make one feel so loved.

*skipping away*

First thing we bought for our son

As some of you may know, we plan to attempt to have our son sleep with us in the first couple of months. We will eventually move him to a crib. During this co-sleeping time, we HOPE for a few benefits (I say hope because we have no idea what his needs or personality will require from us):

Benefits of co-sleeping-

1) To be close to him. Have him near us both. To wake up and be able to feed him on demand, and reduce the time between hunger cries and feeding.

2) Allow him to hear my breathing. "Evidence from studies on co-sleeping shows that a mother's breathing can regulate her baby's breathing. Babies who co-sleep tend to face their mothers and the sleeping pair is responsive to one another even in sleep. The babies slept more lightly, which could help protect them from SIDS. This research was done in sleep labs by Dr. James McKenna, PhD."

3) Bonding time for dad. G will go back to work long before I do. When G and I go to bed, we can both spend time with the baby before he falls asleep.

Concerns of co-sleeping:
Getting trapped by the bed frame, headboard or footboard (We have neither)
Getting trapped between the bed and the wall, furniture or other object (We don't have anything around the bed)
Falling from the bed onto piles of clothing, plastic bags or other soft materials (He would be sleeping between us and we don't plan to use this product while he is unattended)
Suffocating on a waterbed, mattress or soft bedding (pillows, blankets, quilts, etc.) (We bought a product to prevent that)
Having a parent (especially a parent who has used alcohol or drugs) roll on top of the baby (G and I don't roll around in our sleep)

A product recommended to prevent co-sleeping concerns is what G and I decided to buy.
Here is the sleep positioner we picked out together tonight:

After reading good and bad reviews of this product, we learned this is NOT a product to leave an infant unattended in-such as in a crib all night alone. The bad reviews went on and on about how the parents would find the baby shifted into a dangerous position-such as with its face pressed onto the bolsters. Also, some parents said that the infant would wiggle its way out of this positioner and eventually end up on another part of the crib. The last bad review I read is that the positioner goes flat after time-Well duh! :)

The good reviews were all about how this product is perfect for co-sleeping.

So, there you have it. The first baby item G and I bought together. It was our first time in the Target Baby aisle for OURSELVES. We usually stop by the baby aisle before the many baby showers we'd previously been to.

We will be sleeping with the positioner between us for the next few nights to get us used to having it there. I'll update you on how we did.

Sore Hips/Leg Cramps/Video of 31 week old baby

I woke up this morning with sore hips. I felt like I had a strenuous work out the day before. My pelvic and hip bones and muscles were very sore.

I did some research and found this:
During pregnancy the body releases hormones which relax the ligaments that support your joints. This happens virtually from conception as Nature's way of preparing the body for labour. The extra movement this allows around the pelvis is helpful for giving birth. However, it can lead to some discomfort earlier in pregnancy which may get worse as you increase in size and weight.

Here's what it recommends to remedy the pain:
There are a number of simple remedies which you can try for yourself which may be helpful. It is important to adopt a sleeping posture in which all the joints around the pelvis and hips are well supported. This would mean sleeping on your side with both legs bent and a pillow between the knees supporting the whole length of your leg. A pillow under your bump is also needed to stop you rolling forward. Putting an extra layer of padding, such as a sleeping bag or quilt, under your bottom sheet can also improve matters. You may also find gentle heat in the form of a hot water bottle or wheat bag on your hips helpful.

I already sleep with a pillow between my legs, but I am going to start adding the pillow under my belly to support it too. At least now, I am not rolling over to my back like the past nights. G has had to wake me up to roll me back to my side.


Another funny thing that is happening to me during sleep: Leg cramps. BUT I have great control of stopping them. It's so funny to feel myself wake up to see that I've already started working on stopping the cramp-I do it in my sleep. What I do is a put my heel down and point my toes up. The cramps stop immediately. I am eating a banana every day with my bran cereal. They say banana aids in reducing the cramps.


OMG I was browsing the internet and found this video of a 31 week baby.

I will be 31 weeks tomorrow:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S3VAINUI94

Amazing!

Dr's visit 11/17/2008

My appointment was on 11/17/08 at 3:50 pm. I arrived at 3:30 pm. They made me wait like 1 hour just to see the doctor because it was a late appt. They are always busy with late appointments.

Anyway, blood pressure is great 107/55, urine test good (no protein or sugar etc.) Doppler to hear the heart beat. Belly tape-measure to make sure the belly is growing well. Heart beat sounds fine and strong. Belly is growing fine.

Weight... not so good. They told me once again, I need to slow it down. I am now at 153.5 lbs. I gained 6 lbs since my last appt 10/29/08.
I have gained a total of 26.5 lbs in this pregnancy.
He said I should only gain 30 lbs total. So I have less than 4 lbs to gain from now until January 24th, 2009.

I asked him what I can do to slow it down? I mean, I know I do "let go" on the weekends, but I am totally kicking ass with a sensible and wholesome diet during the week. Also, I am at the gym working out almost every day, and I walk every morning with Zero. He said, just keep doing what you are doing. I giggled and said, "OK." But I thought to myself, then I will keep gaining too.

He said their biggest concern is that I will not be able to lose the weight, if I gain too much.


When I got home, I had planned to make a veggie filled beef stew: squash, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, carrots, corn, oregano (No SALT) I ate a bowl with a squeeze of lemon and a tall glass of icy cranberry juice. After dinner, I had Big Red gum for dessert. I don't see anything wrong with that!

I am thinking positively because I know I feel healthy, the test results say I am healthy, I am eating healthy, drinking a lot of water and exercising. Overall, I feel very happy and can't believe this is almost over :( I am going to miss being pregnant.

Thank you for reading.

What if it's a girl?

"What if you go to deliver and end up having a girl?"

I keep hearing this question.


Here's my answer: Well, if it's a girl, we will have a a lot of clothes to donate and then shop for :)

How sure are we that it's a boy?

Well, so far, we have had 2 ultrasounds at the doctor's office, with 2 different tech's that showed and said it's a boy. But that's as sure as we are.

Everything else falls on the wive tales.

I talked to a girl last month who was supposed to be a "boy" She was so cute about it.

There are some funny stories online about it.

And yes, we have plenty of back up names for girls. It's all we chose in the beginning.

Bradley Method Class 11/16/08 (should have been)

Class Two Bradley Method-Sunday 11/16.

Saturday night 11/15, Isai asked Gerardo if he could give him a ride to work the next day (Sunday). Thing is, Isai's shift started at 6 am! And Isai wanted to get there at 5:45 am to make some time to try to get another shift. Usually, Isai gets a ride from one of his co workers. But since they now have different shifts, Isai didn't have a ride this time. AND not only that, but buses don't run that early on Sundays.

Sunday, Isai knocked on our door at 5:15 am, I heard G get up. I wanted to go with them. I didn't feel comfortable leaving G alone to drive in the dark, that early in the morning. Besides, I heard G come to bed pretty late Saturday night. I know he hadn't slept much. I also was a litttle scared to be home alone awake and waiting for G to return.

When I was getting into the car, it was still night dark and I smelled smoke. I told G, "If the neighbors see us, they will think I am going into labor heh heh!" I thought the smell of smoke was due to the Yorba Linda fires, turns out, it was the Chino Hills fires (which we didn't know about until that morning) Isai works in Chino. We could see the flames on our way to Chino.

G took some pictures with his phone, but they came out blurry.

When G and I got home at about 6 am, we fell back to sleep. We set the alarm for 11 am, to be out of the house by 12:30 pm for our BM class in Chino at 1 pm.

Well, it was about 12:30 pm, when we were getting ready to head out to class, when we got the message from our instructor: "Class is cancelled due to the fires." Some mom's weren't comfortable going out into the smokey atmosphere. I don't blame them.

I was looking forward to class though.

With the extra time, I decided to do the laundry I wasn't able to finish the day before. In the news, they instructed people not to do laundry to conserve water. G tried to relax too-Our sleep was interrupted.

We also had a get-together to go to at 4 pm in an area that we knew was blocked off due to the fires and traffic.

We ended up arriving at our destination almost an hour and a half late. But we called ahead and told them we would be late.

Anyway, we are to be updated soon on how we will make up the class. Not sure how, but we will.

I have a Dr's appointment today, so I will update you all on that later on or tomorrow.

Oh and yesterday, at the get together, I had two plates of lasagna, a plate of tiramisu & ice cream and a bowl of fruit! We'll see how I do with weight gain LOL!

Thanks for reading!

Fathern00b - Worries

Hello.

My name is Gerardo and in just a few short months I will have a little kid that looks kind of like me. I plan on making a lot of unplanned mistakes. I plan on doing my best to resolve them as quickly as possible. I plan to ask a lot of people a lot of embarassing questions that I don't know the answer to.

For my first blog here I will talk about some of the concerns I have as a new parent.

Circumcision - There is no definitive information for or against and this was a very difficult decision to make. Was it the right one? No one will ever know. We will not share our decision since it really isn't our decision to share. He might be upset about that private information being posted even before he was born in his later years.

Birthing - I am a little nervous about my "performance." I don't think I will faint or anything but Iris is really good at reading me so I don't want her to think I feel things are worse than they really are just because I'm feeling a little wobbly kneed.

Booting Isai - I feel terrible about moving Isai out of his room but we really don't have much of a choice in the matter. This is going to be a terrible experience for me to see him sleeping in the living room. He has had such terrible luck with stuff like that. I really hope he gets on his feet soon for his own sake.

School - Public school. I don't have much else I feel the need to add but I really hope things have improved since my drugs and guns experience in my High School.

Belly Buttons - One thing I have always been weird around is those little tiny wounds on their bellies. I don't want to see him suffer through that.

So Quick - It felt like just yesterday that we found out. Now Iris has a pronounced belly and a little creature moving around inside it. I feel nervous and unprepared but I know there is never any amount of preparedness that would remove the anxiety I feel.

Those are just a few of the concerns I thought I would jot down for later reference. I look forward to writing about different topics soon.

I wonder if Zero knows I am pregnant

Gerardo and I have wondered about this recently. I did some reasearch online and found this:

Question: My dog is acting really weird and clingy. Is it because I'm pregnant?

Answer: Nobody can really know what goes on in the minds of dogs, but I think it's safe to say that yes, your dog does know there's something different about you. He may not comprehend the nature of the change (or maybe he can), but because your body chemistry changes when you're pregnant, it's guarranteed he can smell the changes. Behavioural Changes (in your dog, not you):Your dog might go through some personality shifts when you are expecting. It shouldn't be alarming, but it could be noticeable. A normally aloof dog might suddenly become clingy and cuddly. Your usually cuddly dog might become more so, and fixated on your belly, nosing it, smelling it, and wanting to be on it. Which is fine if you have a small lap dog, another story altogether if your "lap" dog weighs almost as much as you do. A dog who is typically content to lie at your feet and watch as you wander around your home may suddenly decide you need to be escorted everywhere, even to the bathroom.
*************************************************************************
Dogs are connected to their people and their daily routines. They know when they wake up, when and where they do certain chores, if it’s the weekend etc. How? Well, actually it’s quite simple…they are GREAT observers and creatures of habit. Dogs have such a keen sense of sight and smell that helps them to monitor life around them. It is with this in mind that I believe dogs do notice the changes of pregnancy. Pregnancy creates hormonal changes that affect the scent emotions and routines of their dedicated female human.

The only difference Zero has shown in behavior, since I have been pregnant, is:

1) When I get weepy, he runs to Gerardo with his ears tucked back. He'll raise his paw and nudge Gerardo constantly.

2) He follows Gerardo a lot more than the does me anymore.

3) He sniffs or barks at anything that gets close to us when we are on walks (people, other dogs etc.)

So does he know if I am pregnant?
I don't think he actually knows I am, but I think he senses a difference in us.

Here's a video of Zero

Update 11/13/2008

Today, I have officially reached the 30's (in weeks of course)

I only have about 10-12 weeks to go!

Bradley Method instructor said if this is our first pregnancy, take our due date and add 8 days. "That's a more realistic due date" she said. Doing that brings us to February 1st as a possible due date.

Today, a lady at work asked me when I am due, when I told her, she said "If this is your first, you will be deliver 1-2 weeks earlier."

OK so which is it? We will have to see.

Anyway, some embarrassing things are happening to me; I will spare you the details. All I can say is pregnancy definitely isn't sexy.
I sure do feel beautiful though :)

More people are giving me looks at the gym. When I walk up the stairs to the 2nd floor treadmills, the looks come from rows of faces that look something like this:

Advice is never scarce; Today, a lady recommended oyster shells for the prevention and treatment of stretch marks. She said "Use empty oyster shells, fill them with brown sugar and leave them out over night. Use the morning dew on the shells all over your skin." She SWORE by it. And she is bringing me some oyster shells next week.

I told a recent mom I wanted to do natural birth, yesterday. She laughed in my face and threw some statistics at me. She said "90% of women who want natural birth, end up using an epidural. You won't be able to. TRUST ME."


Everyone, I really WANT to do this naturally, but if I can't, I am going to try not to feel bad or make myself be upset about it. Wish me luck or pray for me. Really though. I will be thinking of the fact that my mom had natural births with all 4 of us.


This week, I am back to being super hungry again. Today, I wanted pizza but ate my lentil soup instead. I also ate a carrot raisin salad.


Kick counter: Baby kicks 10 times in less than 5 minutes. I was told to call the Dr. if he kicks less than 10 times in 2 hours. So far, so good.

Baby now reacts to G's voice. No longer stops moving when G talks. Also, he plays a game with him.

G and I heard the baby's heart beat today, with a monitor my MIL let me borrow.

I fall asleep at about 9 pm, after keeping myself from falling asleep before that hour. And I wake up several times a night. Today, I was wide awake at 5 am. Ready to rock the day.


Anyway, thanks for reading my updates.

Love you all!

Iris

Baby Shower Blog

I took the day before the shower off (Friday), to clean the house. It was a very tiring task, but I got it done little by little. I actually cleaned each and every room. By the time I was done, I was pleased. It feels really good to get the house cleaned up.

That night, my cousin Dina and Deborah arrived from up north (Bakersfield)
It took them more than the usual 2 hours to get here, due to Friday night traffic rush hour. Took about 3 hours to get here :(

When they arrived, G and I were ready. The first thing they wanted to do, even before unpacking their things, was to shop at Party America and Michael's for some last minute items.
It was funny to walk around with them at the store. We were just laughing and having a good time.

When we were at Party America, there was only one cash register open and three workers working behind the counter. We were in line, trying to place our balloon order. Behind us were 2 people. After a few minutes of standing around and getting our order together, the 3rd lady in line asks in an annoyed tone "Can someone else help me? I mean there are 3 of you back there."
So, one of the workers replies, "There are 3 of us but only one register. I'm sorry." Deborah looks back at her and says "I'm sorry! I can cancel my order!" Then the 2nd lady behind my cousin (in front of the annoyed lady) says "Well, if you're in that much of a hurry, you can get in front of me!" The lady quickly returned with a "No that's OK" and continued to wait.

We then drove to Albertson's for some needed munchies and not so needed ;) There was more shopping to do, but I asked to be dropped off. I was tired.

While we were out shopping, my in laws stopped by to drop off some tables they loaned us. They also dropped off a few LARGE boxes of gifts. I was trying very hard not to look through the translucent wrapping paper, but I REALLY wanted to! I kept ignoring the boxes every time I walked by them. I wanted to open them at the shower and be genuinely surprised.

When they returned from shopping, my cousins, my brother and Gerardo started putting together some necklaces for people to wear around their necks for a game of "Don't cross anything." Then Dina and Deb had the idea to make a diaper cake.

I had put a frozen lasagna in the oven. By the time we got back, I was ready to eat it. We sat down and ate it with some cold root beer. Yum!I started to get sleepy around 9 pm, but instead of going to bed, I was too busy enjoying the company and I was excited about the next day.
I ended up heading to bed around 12:30 am.
I know it was about 1 am when I actually fell asleep to far away sounds of my cousins and brother laughing in the kitchen. I woke up to laughter at about 5:55 am. My cousins and brother were awake and heading out to Starbucks. When they came back, they immediately started to set up for the baby shower. They sure did work hard at setting up. It was about 10 am (one hour before the baby shower) when they started to get themselves ready for the shower. And even still, the set up was not 100% done.

I went to get my dress out of the closet to put on, when I saw that it still had the security tag on it! You know those magnetic tags that release ink if you pull them off? Yeah! I was like "OH NOES!" I wanted to head out to the mall (down the street) to have the store (where I bought it) remove it. But Deborah's Suburban was in the way of my car, in the driveway. She handed me her keys and told me I could take her ship. HOLY! I have never driven an SUV before, let alone a friggin Suburban bus boat! I asked CJ my brother in law, who has plenty of experience driving huge trucks to please drive me to the mall and to Michael's to buy tulle to cover up the cupcakes.

When I got to the mall, I told the lady behind the counter that I didn't have my receipt but that I wanted to..."You can't return that without a receipt" she quickly cut me off. I said "No, I don't want to return it... you see I don't have the receipt but..." Again she cut me off "I can't give you credit either." I said "Please let me talk! I want to have this security tag removed. I don't have a receipt but I have the card I paid with and my ID. My baby shower is in 15 minutes and I wanted to wear this dress. I don't have another dress that fits right!" She was like "OH! OK" and removed it. When I was leaving she said "Have a great shower!"

I got back to the house and we had a few guests there already! The baby shower started shortly after. We played some games and ate. I tried to mingle with everyone but didn't make it to every table :( We received lots of gifts. I even stood up to say thank you to everyone and then in the middle of my feeling thankful, the waterworks turned on GRRRR! I wanted to let everyone know that I was appreciative of their presence! I couldn't believe how many people made it to our shower. By the time I knew it, the day came and went.


After the shower some people stayed behind and it was nice to have some time to sit down and chit chat with them. We watched old family movies (super 8), photo slide shows and ate a little more.

A special thanks to all of the people involved in making this shower happen:


Thanks to my cousin and hostess, Deborah -Thanks to my cousin and hostess, Dina
(I got many compliments about how organized and cute our baby shower was)
Thanks to my mother in law and cook, Martha
(I got many compliments from people about how delicious the birria was-YUMMY!)
Thanks to my father in law, Javier
Thanks to my brother in law, Carlos
Thanks to my sister in law, Natalie!



Click here to see the slide show of our baby shower





If you can't see it, let me know. I will also post a slide show later tonight on Rockyou or another slide show code.

Bradley Method Class 11/9/2008

Saturday was our baby shower. I woke up at 6 am to sounds of the "set up" happening. I will be blogging about the baby shower, but as soon as I get the pictures together. I went to bed at 1 am on Saturday night (after the shower), just cleaning up a bit, chatting and being excited and amazed at the day that just happened.

Sunday morning, I woke up at 7 am to say goodbye to my two cousins who were going to start their way back home (2 hours north.) After they left, I started cleaning the final mess that only I could clean. I was so sleepy and tired and almost wanted to tell G, I want to skip our class this day to just sleep in. But I knew it was going to be an important class (the first class.)

We arrived to class on time, 1 pm.

In this class, we learned about relaxation and breathing. How to ensure that we are not tense and freaked out during labor.

We also watched a DVD called "Birth Day." When I heard the title, I knew we were going to watch something that would make me squeamish. If it makes me squeamish, and I am more able to take watching stuff like that between G and I, I can only imagine what G was going to feel like watching this video.

It was an short (10-minute) documentary of a pregnant midwife, who lives in Mexico, with her 2 sons and Japanese husband. They show short clips of her going through labor and then they show her under water natural delivery. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was actually very beautiful. The only part that I found kind of weird was when she and her husband were in the tub, and the sons wanted to come in with them (naked.) OK I know it's all innocent, but I am not used to that being a part of family life in our culture.

At the end, seeing them altogether in the tub, was very sweet. The baby was born and she was so beautiful, although she was blue. They all had smiles on their faces.

We also learned about exercises that we should be doing every day, not only for the benefit of keeping our bodies fit, but for the benefit of the position of the baby. We are to focus working with gravity to help place the baby in the best position for an easier delivery.
She actually made us do the exercises. Some of the exercises felt very good, while others were tiring.

G said that he was yawning in parts of the class. I was too. We were both so tired by the time we left class. We came home and just went to lay down. I just wanted to sleep. We have so many things to do this week, including finding a place for all of the things we got.

We don't have an empty room yet, since my brother has all of his things in his room, which will become the baby's room eventually. So, right now, everything is in the living room.

I am so tired today and am ready to take a nap.
Thanks for reading.

Can't sleep

Hmmm...
Last night, I fell asleep in the living room at about 9 or 10 p.m. I woke up at 12 a.m. to get myself to bed. Then, I woke up at 2 am, fell back to sleep at about 2:15 am. I woke up again at 4 am, thinking I heard Zero barking outside-which is strange because, Zero is sleeping in the house at night, due to the cold night weather.

After waking up at 4 am, I had to go to the bathroom. On my way back to bed, I heard what sounded like Zero barking outside, again. I walked to the back yard door and saw the back light was on! Zero was in fact outside! But I don't remember letting him out! He also didn't have his water or food bowl out there with him :( I think Isai let him out- I don't know. But who ever did, forgot to let him back in.

He was running back and forth in the backyard barking at any sound he heard.. I guess he thought he was on active guard duty.

When he sleeps inside, 99% of the time he won't bark UNLESS he hears something out of the ordinary. He usually won't even bark if he hears a cat. When he barks in the middle of the night, it's more than likely the neighbors next door, North of us, who are outside of their house with friends smoking or drinking and being loud at 2 am.

Anyway, I let him back in and tried my best to go back to sleep. I tried drinking warm milk. I tried thinking happy thoughts. I tried relaxing breathing methods. When I felt like I could fall back to sleep, the baby kicked me very hard.

I finally fell into a light nap at about 6:15 am. A few minutes later our alarm went off.

I woke up fine. I am not sleepy.

Funny thing, I got up for our daily morning walk (Zero and I) and Zero was also bright eyed, happy tailed and ready to go! (That's right, I was happy tailed too)


I've read up on this and apparently, this is normal and will continue to happen in this last trimester.

Bye bye beauty sleep!

My Mom-Repost due to error message

This week will mark the anniversary of my mom's passing, 7 years ago.
I think of her often, but I remember her on specific days like these.

There are a few practices my mom taught me that I promise to carry over to our son:
She actually wrote a lullaby for me, I plan to sing to our son, with some changes to it :)
When I was alone and scared as a young child, I found lots of comfort in praying. I plan to teach our son to do the same, until he feels he doesn't need it.
Vegetable purees for our son. She made them all of the time for me and I grew up loving almost all vegetables because of it.
Arts and crafts time. My mom and I used to spend time making things together, like drawings.I want to do the same with our son.
Time to walk together. My mom and I used to walk for miles together and just talk, mostly because she didn't have a car and we walked to school together. I hope our son likes to do the same.

Overall, I know my mom is happy for us. I like to imagine she had some say in who God sent us as a Son. I know she is always in my heart and is with me at all times.

Carnally, I am sad and miss her.
I wish she could be part of this experience here on earth, alive. I know what she would be doing if she were alive;She would just be with me while I go through this pregnancy. She would cook nutritous meals for me. She would give us advice, if we asked for it. She would pray with me and ask God to bring happiness, blessings and positivity to our home. She was a wonderful and extremely happy, positive person who strongly believed in family unity. I miss her so much.

At the same time, I thank God because, I have a husband who is dedicated to me and loves me. Also, I am blessed to know his family who is there for us, if we need anything. I hope that with all of the hustle and bustle at the baby shower, each of you will get to meet my father in law, mother in law, brother in law and family (if you haven't already). They are great people and are also always there for Gerardo and I.

I have lot of friends and family who truly care about our well-being and I am thankful for that.

I will be thinking of my mom this week and I will acknowledge her presence at the baby shower with my happiness.

I also promise to talk to our son about his grandma Maria, just so that he can know of her.

Personal update; First week of November 2008

This weekend, I had a moment where I felt irrationally weepy again. G and I worked on ridding it. I was pretty happy the rest of the weekend. I feel extremely embarassed once I get over it because I know I was being unstable.

I am happy and excited about seeing my family and friends at the baby shower :)

My belly button area feels raw :( Sorry for the TMI I am about to give you but it's inside out right now :( It hurts so much, so if you see me and want to rub my belly, please stay away from the belly button area. All other baby belly areas are fine to touch. :)

Work has been stressful, but I am doing a wonderful job, if I do say so myself, at keeping relaxed, calm and happy. No matter how many things go wrong or very right, to produce more work, I am cool!

Bradley Method Class 11/2/2008

Sunday 11/2/08 was the last class for our group. They are all due this month or next and plan to have a baby reunion after their babies are born. That is so cute! This class was about newborn care. Some things I already knew, while most are are new to me. I am glad we are learning about baby care.

G was a great participant in this last class, asking all of the right questions and answering all questions correctly :) I felt super proud.

We start the class from the beginning in the next one. I hope to learn about breathing techniques and learning to relax while in excruciating pain.