Today we celebrated Lanay’s pregnancy at work. Elia, the momma hen at work, thought it would be nice to throw Lanay a baby shower since both her family and Yeniv’s family live quite far. So we gathered the party planners and the wheels quickly started turning. We had beautiful decorations, cheerful balloons, yummy food and thoughtful Thank You gifts for gifts. The party was a great success. Lanay was so overwhelmed with happiness she even shed tears of joy. Yeniv was able to join the party after class, so the soon-to-be parents could celebrate together. Congratulations to Lanay and Yeniv. May you have a safe and healthy delivery of your baby boy, Itay.
We met with Dr. Mats this morning for another follow-up and an ultrasound. The ultrasound was awesome! Baby is getting quite big, 4 pounds and 14 ounces so far. Whoo whoo! Healthy weight for this phase in the pregnancy. Baby looks a bit squishy in there, but Susan assured me that Baby’s got enough amniotic fluid maintain a comfy living situation for the next couple of weeks. We got to see Baby’s profile and all the tiny little body parts. It’s so weird. I love love love baby feet and she showed us footage of Baby’s little toes. So cute! Dr. Mats measured Baby’s heart rate at 134bpm . Everything looks very positive according to Dr.Mats. I asked about the possibility of having a Cesarean birth over the traditional vaginal birth because of my small frame. He said as far as he can tell all signs point toward a successful vaginal birth. I just gotta keep stretching.
I’m hoping to go the full 40 weeks. If Baby and I don’t make it to 40 weeks, I’m hoping to make it to at least week 37. That marks the beginning of a “Full Term” baby. Delivering anytime before that means that Baby will be premature, which could be difficult for our child. So I’m hoping to stay healthy and make it all the way to April 19th. Please keep us in your prayers for a safe and healthy delivery.
For over a month now we’ve had “Dinner @ 3pm” scheduled into our calendar on Sunday March 7th. Marc told me it was to celebrate Kim’s birthday, which is March 17th. I thought it was kinda strange that it was so early, since we usually schedule birthday dinners on the actual day or at least within that week.
So after Marc’s basketball game we came home and I took a nap. I woke up around 130pm and he was telling me that I should start getting ready. I asked him if he knew where we were going for dinner so that I could dress appropriately (let’s face it, rain + preggos = yoga pants and sweater). He claimed he didn’t know where we were having dinner yet, but that we should dress up a bit. So I picked out a green cotton dress to match the checkered shirt he picked out for himself.
On our way to the house Marc gets a call from his mom saying we needed to pick up something from Ninang Nora’s house before heading home. I asked him what we needed to get and he said that his dad needed paperwork for church. We headed to her place and when we got there Marc passed her house and made a right turn on some random street. He was driving all into the hills. I was like, are you kidding me, we just passed her house. He claimed he was looking for parking and suddenly got lost. I mean cmon, lost in the neighborhood he’s lived for nearly 20 years? I shrugged it off blaming it on him being tired.What a crazy guy. haha
We finally found parking 5 minutes after passing Ninang’s house. When we got to the door, Ninang greeted us and said that the stuff was in the backyard. We made our way to the backyard and then people yelled “Surprise!” I was so confused. haha. I had to collect my thoughts and put the pieces together. I see Marc’s mom with a camera taking pictures of us, I see tons of familiar faces and then I see rubber ducky baby shower decor hanging. I was like, “huh? no way!”. I was so embarrassed. I quickly turned to Marc who was laughing at me. Gosh! I totally hit him since he tricked me, but I quickly grabbed his hand to join me in the “congratulations” greetings. It was such a great surprise.
Everything was wonderful! From the food, the decor, the flowers, the cake, the games but especially the guests. It’s incredible how blessed Marc and I are to be surround by so many people that continue to show their love and support. I had to stop a few times just to soak it all in. I am so thankful for the thought and effort put into this party. Courteney, Kim and Marc’s Mom are the best!
We are also lucky for how generous everyone is. Marc and I received such wonderful presents for our baby. The gifts will definitely help us with upcoming baby expenses. Baby stuff is so super cute! Everyone was so thoughtful and giving.
We are truly blessed. I am so thankful that our child will be surrounded by such wonderful people.
How big is my belly game
Courteney and Marc racing with animal parachute jumpers
Marc in disbelief that he lost
Opening presents for Baby
Of course we played a bunch of fun games, but there was one game in particular that had me cracking up. As part of the decoration Kim and Courteney picked up a few 6 piece animal puzzles. We decided to turn all the pieces over and race to see who could put it together the fastest. I was able to get some footage of it, please excuse my amateur videotaping. If you look closely, you can see Claro (on the right) totally cheating and putting Courteney and Marc’s pieces under his left thigh. HAHAHAHA. It was great!
Whoo whoo! The guys won another basketball game! It was great. They started off super strong. They were up by 10 points! Then the game started getting a bit rough; the other team was making some gnarly fouls. It was annoying. I could see the emotions getting intense. But in the end, we won 65 to 58. So take THAT stupid intentional fouler guy.
Marc bought us a new video camera toy. He’s hoping to use it for the delivery, but we’ll see how that goes. haha. So I was able to play with it a bit during their game. I videotaped a few short snippets, but I’m hoping to get better footage in the coming games. Of course I took photos, but I still suck at indoor gym lighting and fuzziness. I kept messing with the settings. I need to practice more. I’m hoping to take that photography class once things settle down with baby and all.
After Baby Basics Class Marc and I ordered some pizza from Fresh Brothers for dinner. I think it’s starting to become one of our favorite pizza spots. They make pretty good Chicago style pan pizza and they use super fresh ingredients. We picked up our dinner and headed home so that we could walk Nikki and head to Pablo’s new house.
Pablo and Jesus recently purchased a new house in Westchester. They’ve been doing a bunch of renovations and upgrades on their own and they were finally letting friends come over. What better way to celebrate a new house than with Pablo’s 30th birthday?! He even had a keg to start the festivities correctly.
When we got there the rain started to pour so we quickly made our way into the Padilla Palace. The guys did such a great job with the renovations thus far. They’ve refinished the floors, painted the bedrooms, added molding, knocked down a few walls and are in the process of fixing up bathroom number 1 of 2. It looks great! I can’t believe they’ve been doing the upgrades themselves. Such a great skill to have.They should be super proud.
After our tour of the house the keg was pumped and the food was served. It was yummy!
Unfortunately the sleepiness kicked in shortly after and I had to go home. We were hoping to make it to Susan’s birthday dinner in LA, but no go. My little body just wanted to get into bed and sleep.
Marc and I headed to St. John’s for our next class: Baby Basics. This class is designed to teach new parents fundamental baby care techniques that include feeding, diaper changing, diaper counts, learning baby cues and much more. Jude, our instructor for Childbirth class, was our instructor for this class. She shared more incredible stories and gave us some advice collected from her 30 years in service. There are some things that Marc and I knew already, but there were definitely some things we were like, “OOOOOhh” about. I got to see the difference between a 5 pound baby and an 8 pound one; and boy oh boy. I’m hoping that my baby isn’t 8 pounds upon delivery, ouch! I did learn that I’m all for baby clothes with snaps; zippers are no bueno and pullover onsies can be quite a struggle. I l realized that I’m going to need a watch because my blackberry isn’t going to cut it as my means of time telling. It was a great class with tons of information that will be useful for Marc and myself.
I decided to take a much needed day off from work. Work has been quite busy and frankly I needed a break from it. I’m 33 weeks into my pregnancy and my energy level has dropped dramatically. After working hard all day, I pretty much head for the bed after dinner now a days. Maybe I’ve been pushing myself too hard? I guess I didn’t realize how much I was working until I actually stopped to take a break. Since being pregnant, I haven’t taken a single day off for myself. I’ve always had a doctors appointment or something else to take care of. I’ve decided that I need to really start taking it easy at work. If I need a break… I’m taking it.
Today, I just wanted to relax.
I spent the morning resting and relaxing at home with Nikki. Then I went to the post office to pick up a package and headed to Target for some gift wrap and other essentials. I had lunch with cousin at Daphne’s and was able to visit Ina and her family.
Ina had a home birth a few months ago and I wanted to catch up with her and see the new baby. Her daughter Ahnya Mars is suuuuper cute. One of the happiest babies I’ve ever seen. She’s got smiles and a giggles that are contagious. Ina shared her experience and it was totally inspiring! She’s one tough momma. She gave me little hints that worked for her and generously lent me CDs, books and relaxation techniques. It was a great visit.
Afterwards, I went home to wrap a few gifts and take a nap. I woke up just in time to pick up Marc and head to dinner. He was craving PF Chang’s so we ate dinner there. The lettuce wraps are the best! Then we headed home and I called it a night.
I met up with Dr. Nishi today to check up on my hemoglobin levels. She’s been monitoring my levels and will continue to do so until after I have a safe delivery. She’s a great doctor; very personable. I’m lucky to have been able to find great doctors. Thankfully, my hemoglobin is stable / slightly going up. I’m at 9.7 now. Still not within the ideal range, but at least it’s not getting worse. I have to continue to eat iron rich foods.
Marc and I decided to have Tommy’s for dinner. We haven’t had Tommy’s in years (at least 3 years ago), so we were excited and kinda scared too. haha. Tommy’s is so not good for you… but it’s quite tasty. Marc ordered a double double with fries and I ordered a cheeseburger without chilly and chilly cheese fries. Luckily, our tummy’s didn’t hate us afterward and baby seemed unaffected too. It was fun to re-experience this high school favorite, but we probably won’t be having it again for another couple of years.
Our wedding photographers Nicky and Eric just launched the new redesign of thier website: www.eight20photography.com. It looks amazing! They’ve been featured in tons of magazines lately. I’m really happy they are doing so well. They’ve got major talent and are super duper to work with. So you if need a photog for any reason check them out.
I was perusing some of the entries and stumbled upon a pleasant surprise. Their entry “Publications. Ceremony Magazine“ features a photo they took of my wedding bouquet! It made it into a magazine. Awesome.
The old site featured a picture of Nikki from our engagement session. I LOVE this photo of Nikki.
Baby looks a bit squishy in there, but Susan assured me that Baby’s got enough amniotic fluid maintain a comfy living situation for the next couple of weeks. We got to see Baby’s profile and all the tiny little body parts. It’s so weird. I love love love baby feet and she showed us footage of Baby’s little toes. So cute! Dr. Mats measured Baby’s heart rate at 134bpm . Everything looks very positive according to Dr.Mats. I asked about the possibility of having a Cesarean birth over the traditional vaginal birth because of my small frame. He said as far as he can tell all signs point toward a successful vaginal birth. I just gotta keep stretching. 
