Week 38.5

Which of these pix is the most flattering for my Facebook profile?

probably not this one

heart hands

letting it all hang out

Pregnancy Progression Pix

I tried to put these pix in my last post, but it was proving more difficult than it should have been.  So, here is another post dedicated to my growing belly (and other expanding body parts as well):

Week 8

Week 16

Week 26

Week 36

I had my hair cut and colored last night.  My hair dresser and I were remarking on how fast my hair had grown in the last 6 weeks; the roots were much longer than normal.  

I'm currently at week 38, but we haven't uploaded that photo into the computer yet.  

P.S. I forgot to mention that about two weeks ago Matt uploaded the new Mac processing software and nearly deleted everything from our computer.  He was able to correct the problem, but figuring out where everything is now has me figuratively pulling my hair out.

Bean-Bean Journal

I have been super busy preparing for this baby that is growing within.  Much of my time is filled with getting the room ready (i.e. tons of laundry, buying and returning items), trying to figure out unemployment vs. state disability, going to doctors appointments and "working" (AKA being a part-time nanny).

I had two amazing baby showers and feel soooo blessed by all the wonderful and supportive friends I have.  Thank you: Jessica, Jackie, Mary, Clarissa, Patrice, Kelly, Patti & Rose for all your hard work.

This is an excerpt from the latest entries into our "Bean-Bean Journal":

Week 37

February 22, 2011

At our prenatal appointment, our Mid-Wife guessed that you might be 6 and a half to 7 pounds now.  Mommy is hoping you won’t be a huge baby as your Uncles Chris and Jimmy were both over 9 pounds.  Mommy was 8lb 6oz and Daddy was 8lb 7oz – that’s big enough.

February 23, 2011

At Bunco, Mommy’s friend Allyson Grant asked if she felt you hiccupping yet.  Mommy hadn’t thought about the possibly and realized that perhaps she had, but did not know what you hiccupping felt like.   That night, with Allyson’s description, Mommy did in fact feel you hiccupping.  It felt like consistent puffs of air inside where your head is located (very low in the abdomen).   That is the only constant movement you make, as you unpredictably move your legs around several times per day – sweeping them back and forth across the top of Mommy’s belly. 

You are most active around lunch and dinnertime, and often before Mommy goes to bed and usually early in the morning before Mommy gets out of bed.  Mommy is going to miss your internal movements the most after you are born (but not your random painful over-stretches).  You don’t seem to kick hard, just stretch out as much as you possibly can. 

Week 38

You are now considered full-term and could decided to come out at any time.  We will try to wait patiently for you.  If you are not out by March 27^th (41 6/7 weeks) they will have to induce Mommy and force you out.  Our fingers are crossed that you pick a date between now and then on your own.  We cannot wait to see you face to face.

Baby Shades?

All apologies about not keeping this blog updated.  

I'm a big fan of sunglasses as they protect your eyes from cataracts and I really enjoy seeing things now and forever.  I recently came across this product sold on realkidshades.com.  They wrap completely around your baby's head.

The question is: cool or creepy?

Would the fact that 20% of the proceeds go to Star Pupils to help fight blindness sway your opinion?

Think Pink

Here is an excerpt from the journal Hubby and I are keeping about our pregnancy experience for our Bean-Bean:

WEEK 22

November 1, 2010

“Pinky Bean,” we received confirmation at our private (non-medical) ultrasound appointment that you are in fact a GIRL!  Mom drank some orange juice, as was recommended, to give you what she likes to call a sugar high.  It worked!  Not only were you not being “shy” this time, you were quite a sight to watch: holding and sucking on your umbilical cord, lots of mouth movements and gulping of amniotic fluids, and quite possibly the funniest thing to see was you “licking” the placenta.  You were really exploring your surroundings.  At times it seemed the umbilical cord was tickling your face and you reacted with movement when it touched you. 

We learned that your placenta is located anterior, meaning in the front of the womb (Mommy’s tummy).  Which explains why Mom has not felt you move much yet.  It will take a few more weeks before she feels you kick and punch her, which for sleep reasons is probably a good thing. 

Mom can’t sleep tonight; excited happy thoughts of the Pink Princess Bean are keeping her awake. 

Ultrasound: Gender Inconclusive & New Shoes

I teased that an upcoming post would indicate the gender of the Bean-Bean growing in my belly.  I must have jinxed it somehow because I kept telling people, "If the baby cooperates.  If the baby cooperates."  Well, the baby did NOT cooperate!  He/she was sitting Indian style (crossed legged) and was being "shy," as they say.  The Ultrasound Tech. guessed it was a girl.  Unsatisfied with our results we have scheduled an appointment for a non-medical ultrasound in a few weeks.  Hopefully some orange juice and acrobatics will help in uncovering the mystery for us.

 In other news: Hubby has been in desperate need of some Rainbow Sandal replacements.  We took a ride down to the outlet factory in San Clemente this after and discovered our new favor kicks!  We each got a pair.  Mine are the light tan (as shown) and Matt's are a light whitish cream color.  They look super smooth and are oh, so comfortable!  I am really hoping they will be available in grey soon [ladies, size 6].  The color I chose and pink were my only two options. 

Ugh, my blog has turned into an "I heart Baby Bear" bore-fest

It may appear that I have no life or that my life is centered around the care of Baby Bear.  I assure you that is not the case.  Just to prove my previous statement wrong I'm now posting yet another silly picture of, you guessed it, Baby Bear.  I'm so predictable.

This is the result of bringing the boys in when the sun started going down at 5:30.  I think we're all going to get cabin fever once the time changes. 

What I loved most about the empty plastic bucket on Baby Bear's head is that I clearly recall doing pretty much the exact same thing at his age, but in my case it was a beach bucket.  Picture a community pool and a purple bucket.

Coming soon: Bean-Bean ultrasound photos and a declaration of pink or blue in our near future. 

San Antonio (Catholic Church) FIESTA!

Our dear friends are co-chairing the Fiesta this year, and asked if we would help by dressing the stage up with decorations.  I was working Friday, so I brought Baby Bear with me to "help."

Here's a pic of my Hubby and Baby Bear blowing up balloons.  

My amazing Father-in-law not only helped up out by tying the ribbon on the balloons, but he also entertained Baby Bear with what pretty much made the little guys' day: a ride on the orange utility cart.

Toddler Mustachios - Oh, & I'm Pregnant!

Sorry for the delay in posting.  Summer has flown by, and nothing too exciting has happened... Oh, except that fact that my husband and I are expecting our first child!  Woo hoo!   We're due March 12, 2011. 

Since my mother and her sister, Mary, didn't have any morning sickness (they had daughters), and my Aunt Linda only had it with her sons, I am assuming we have conceived a boy.  If this is so, my husband expects our child to be born with his father's infamous handlebar mustache.  Below is a picture paying homage to amazing facial hair.  However, Baby Bear's is made of chocolate frosting from the cupcake he was enjoying the other day.  Sweet ~ in more ways than one.

I asked the boys I sit for what I should name the baby.  Little Bear suggested, "Poop-a-tee," which my husband loved.  Henceforth, he has referred to our baby as such. 

Popsicle Toss

Baby Bear was eating a "Big Stick" popsicle this week and ended up dropping it into the dirt while playing.  When I asked him to hand it to me so I could dispose of it, this is the way it landed when I missed his toss:

Try doing that twice!

Toddler Story Time

I was feeling a little sleepy when "Baby Bear" awoke from his nap today.  So, I grabbed a pillow and laid on his bedroom floor.  I asked if he would please read me a story and he was happy to oblige.  Here is a shot of him reading to me about bunnies. 

2nd Week of Summer Vacation as a Sitter

This is a little of what we did last week:

This is a space plan of the obstacle course we made (but never used) in the garage.  The creative process was the fun part.

Here's a pic of the sign directing neighbors to our obstacle course.  I love that the word "center" is spelled "centene." 

We made name tags for all the neighborhood kids too, but I failed to photograph those.  Basically, they were star shaped and colored with markers (much like the sign). 

I know it's not much, but this was a busy week for me.  We celebrated my dear friend, Theresa, in Palm Springs for her bachelorette party.  And we had a small birthday party for my father-in-law at Tacos Jaliscos - Mmmm! 

I need to learn how to put my foot down with the 6-year-old.  The 2-year-old & I want to go to the park, but older brother doesn't want to leave the house.  Time to toughen up, Em.  (personal pep-talk). 

My 1st Week of Summer as a Sitter

The 6-year-old, Little Bear, that I watch graduated from kindergarten on Tuesday.  Yay for him, boo for me.  Gone are the days when I chilled out in the backyard tanning while the 2-year-old, Baby Bear, napped.  My break-time is now at the beginning of the day when they are still sleeping.  What I will miss most, however, is the daily trip to the park.  Baby Bear  and I had a routine that we both enjoyed.  Time to create a new one...

The first photo was taken on day 1 of summer vacation.  I call it "Child Labor."  The neighbors down the street were having their sidewalk demolished, which became the greatest attraction for the boys.  Little Bear spent no less than four hours that day watching and helping move broken cement from the lawn to the driveway.  Which was about as interesting as watching paint dry, back when I was a kid.  But, to each their own, I guess.

Side note: the French Open was on this morning and it brought back painfully boring memories of my childhood summer vacations.  Tennis and the Noriega trial ruined my afternoons!


It is my mission to bring as much arts & crafts into these boys lives as Emily possible.  I would say humanly possible, but knowing what people are capable of (i.e. Guinness World Records) I can only provide enough creativity as I find on Google, various blogs, suggestions from friends or random thoughts.  Here some examples of what we did with "our own two hands" this week:

 

• egg-cartons masks
• We collected various leaves and flowers from the neighborhood.  Later that day we glued some flora down to make collages, that were not so photogenic.  
• toilet paper roll nose makers

My budget for arts & crafts is non-existent, so everything we use is reused scrap or things we happen to have around the house. 

By the way, I am open to any and all suggestions for things to do! 

 

Baking "Beer" Bread

Technically, I modified a Honey-Oatmeal Bread recipe from my Better Home & Gardens cookbook by adding in a few "beer" ingredients. 

The orange package is the German Wheat Beer Yeast Matt did not use to make his hefeweizen home-brew, so I used it to make this bread.  I also used the Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale extract that we created when baking beer biscuits for the Super Bowl.

The downside: the prep, rise time and baking took nearly 4 hours! 

Aside from being very dense, it tastes yummy.  I have a feeling I didn't give the yeast enough time to "waken."

Will the real Tracy Morgan please stand up?

I find  Tracy Morgan hilarious!  My friend, Jackie, suggested I listen to his book on tape, The New Black (because it's waaay better read by him than reading his words).  Since I have yet to search and find this gem, Jackie recently mentioned that Terry Gross of NPR's Fresh Air interviewed Tracy about his life and fore mentioned book.

I have always wondered what Tracy was like when he's not "on."  And now I think I have some sort of idea.  Please click the link Tracy Morgan and enjoy the comedy and reality that is The New Black. 

"That rabbit's going to ruin my credit!" -- Tracy Morgan

Food isn't the way to ONLY a man's heart.

We like to cook brunch, with that special ingredient love, to honor our parents.  This year we showed our appreciation to my dear MIL with eggs benedict, asparagus, berries & cinnamon rolls.

Not Your Grandmother's Gymnastics

When I did gymnastics as a child I had no idea what Damien Walters does was humanly possible.    Damien Walters 2010  I love the creativity of this athlete.

(Please click on the link, as I do not know how to have the clip play directly from my site yet.)

When Things Are Not What They Seem To Be

I pulled this out of Andrew's backpack today and had to look twice before I realized what it REALLY was.  The text below the hand-drawn image explains that it is not a part of the male anatomy.  "Andrew be nimble.  Andrew be quick.  Andrew jump over the candlestick."

Get your mind out of the gutter!

Random Thoughts

A thought popped in my head yesterday, (if you know me at all you'll know my thought process is quirky) while watching Leona kitty roam the bathroom floor desperate for any kind of attention, "She must think I am the most vain person in the world."  They say not to anthropomorphize your pets thoughts, and that most folks think cats and dogs know nothing of vanity, but I beg to differ.  Maybe they don't go to the lengths and degrees that we do to keep up with current tends and fashion, but they definitely know when they are looking might dapper, I must say.  I digress, back to my thought...  It takes me at least three times as long to get primped and ready for the day as it takes my handsome husband.  (Thought leap: man, it sucks to be a girl.)  A good chunk of my time with Leona is when I am getting ready in the morning and preparing for sleep at night.  In both cases, I'm doing a long drawn out routine in front of the bathroom mirror, hence the thought.

Moving on...

I saw this picture in a free magazine I receive due to some affiliation within the interior design realm, Riviera Interiors.  It's of a community room in Culver City, California, designed by Angeleno Interiors for Upward Bound House which provides emergency housing for 18 families.

What caught my eye was the children's table in the middle.  How cool would it be to have that as your coffee table in your living room when you have (a) limited space and (b) toddlers?!  I'm inspired.

My Conversion to Cowgirl

PART 1
In their quest to convert this suburban girl into an urban one, my husband and the Welch's have me listening to a lot more country music.  I suppose this transition was bound to happen at some point, living with the son of two "Americana" enthusiasts.   Like my switch from Jew to Jesus, this choice was mine to make.  It started slowly with the introductions of a few crossover hits.

The day that changed my life forever was when I told Matt, "I listened to the country music stations on my way to and from Escondido [80 minute drive each way] because I like the stories I heard in the songs."  I'm  going to sound grey-haired here, but today's music lacks a narrative, twists, a theme and lessons that make me want to listen 'til the end.

Since that day, Matt has programmed 105.1 Go Country & KFRG to my car radio pre-sets, rekindled my childhood interest in Randy Travis and fed my musical brain current and classic country songs that I now unconsciously start blurting out lyrics to.

PART 2
Over lunch, yesterday, my in-laws mentioned the Boot Barn was hosting a radio station event and that there would be door prizes and discounts - proverbial music to this former Jew's ears!  Matt and I had recently been dreaming about purchasing "real" boots, so we felt this was a good opportunity to check things out.  When we arrived at the Boot Barn there was no crowd in sight.  We inquired within and were told that the event must be at the Corona store.  Not wanting to be rude, we continued to peruse the merchandise.  Each of the four of us found a nice shirt on the sales rack.  The purchase of the shirt, I knew, was a line I would be crossing that meant no return.

Matt had mentioned our interest in boots, so the four-some headed to the Orange Mall where fellow San Antonio [Catholic Church] goers own a store, The Corral.  Like my friend's custom Bra Shoppe in Bake-o, CA and North Carolina, the owners help find the perfect fit for your body, or foot in this case.  It was here that I was paired with my transformational 1883 Luchese calf skin (sorry PETA) American made cowgirl boots.

*Note Leona kitty in the background inspecting the box they came in.

Yee Haw!