No Baby Yet

BUT...

I did eat a hamburger yesterday!  (First time in 7 1/2 years!)

A friend of ours took us to Bobby Flay's Burger Palace yesterday for dinner.  We drove all the way across the bridge to New Jersey to get there.  I wouldn't have done it, but Bobby Flay (you know, from the Food Network) has the best burgers anywhere and I decided that if I am ever going to eat a hamburger, now is the time.  Plus John told me that he would give me 5 massages if I ate one!  So I did.

And in the end, I mostly regretted it.  It wasn't that good.  I was able to eat it without gagging though, which surprised me.

Next time I will order the grilled cheese sandwich, which is what I had last time (the best grilled cheese I have EVER had, by the way).


Anyway, we are anxiously waiting for our baby to come.  My due date is in two days, but I am ready NOW!!  I keep telling her, "I'm ready whenever you're ready!"  I don't know what I'll do if I go a week over.  Probably deep clean the entire apartment again.  :)

By the way, we are taking name suggestions.  We have yet to come up with a name that we really like.  So feel free to help me out.

  

Some Gifts

Here are a few of my favorite gifts that we've received from family members.  I can't wait for our little girl to be able to use these things.  

First of all, my cousin Jody and Aunt Clea came to visit me a few weeks ago.  Wow.  That was a great gift.  It was probably my last great adventure before the baby comes.  We packed everything we could into the five days they were here.  Including Wicked, which was the highlight (other than getting to spend time together.)  But anyway, they also brought gifts with them from my family in Utah.  

My cousin Sam (and Jody) made this cute car seat canopy:

And Aunt Beverly made this absolutely beautiful, soft, cozy, afgan and booties!!!

And I am SO blessed that Aunt Beverly also sent a blanket that Grandma Bowen had started years ago, but never was able to finish before she passed away.  Aunt Bev finished it for her and now our little baby girl gets to have something from her Great-Grandmother:

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Aunt Clea and Jody also bought me a cool "mom-bag" while they were here.  All the ladies in New York carry these huge purse/bags around with them (maybe in other places too, I don't know).  I never thought I would do that but... they talked me into it because I will need the extra purse space with the baby.  (And guess what--I've already started using it and the baby isn't even here yet!!)

 And, just the other day I got a great gift in the mail from Mattie, my sister-in-law:  a homemade nursing cover!  So cute!

And finally, a gift from me.  And my mom, actually.  My mom made a baby quilt for me while she was pregnant and I wanted to do the same.  She brought some cute fabric with her when she came out to visit back in April.  And with the help of a really nice lady in our ward, I made it into a quilt.  My first one!  It is so soft and snuggly, I hope she likes it.  

37 Weeks!

Well, I can't believe I've made it this far.  I've been told that 37 weeks is full-term and I could have the baby at any time.  Wow.  It is starting to sink in that my life is about to change completely.  I hope I can handle it.

This was at 35 weeks

Taken today, 37 weeks

We almost have everything we need for the baby.  People in New York don't like to hang on to stuff they're not using any more because of space issues so we have received so many hand-me-downs.  We have an Arms Reach Co-Sleeper that we are borrowing for the first few months.  We have a car seat, a dresser packed full of clothes (plus more that I still need to wash).  I even have a one or two-week supply of diapers. (How many diapers does a newborn go through in a day?  I don't know, we'll see how long they last.)  We also have a swing, a stroller, a crib (a new one actually--thanks Mom and Dad), and three different baby carriers: an Ergo, Baby Bjorn, and a Maya Wrap.  

We have also received some really really neat homemade gifts which I have taken pictures of and will post here soon!

There are only a few more things we need  but I am resisting the temptation to go shopping because I have a baby shower tomorrow!  I never expected that anyone would throw me a baby shower out here because we don't have any family in New York.  So I was surprised when John's co-workers organized one (this last Monday) and some friends in my ward are also putting one together (tomorrow).  Can you believe that?  Two showers.  We are so lucky.  

Anyway, as far as being pregnant, I feel great.  I almost have nothing to complain about.  (Ok, I guess I shouldn't be complaining about anything--I'm having a BABY!  It's the best thing that could ever happen!) It is just REALLY hot here.  It's not as hot as Georgia, and definitely not as hot as Vietnam.  But hot.  Last weekend I survived (barely) a major heat wave.  This week it hasn't been as bad but we don't have central AC in our apt. (hardly anyone does in NY) because the building was built in 1920.  We do have window coolers which are OK.  I've discovered that the best thing to do is 1. don't go outside for more than 15 minutes at a time, unless I'm swimming.  2. Go to places that have industrial AC.  For example: Target, Borders, Babies R Us, the library, etc.  It really helps to go to those places and cool off for a few hours during the heat of the day.  The only problem is keeping myself from buying things...

The only other thing is that I have such a hard time sleeping at night!  It's hard to find comfortable positions to sleep in.  Oh well, I am doing my best and I do usually get 7 or 8 hours a night. 

But ANYWAY, those things aside I am doing so well.  As long as I keep myself cool during the day I can do lots of things.  My feet have even stopped hurting so much.  The baby has been moving and squirming more than ever.  It's really fun.  One of the BEST things I've done lately is joined a prenatal water aerobics class.  I never thought it would feel so great to be in the water.  I'm so light, I can just float.  And it feels sooooo good to be in the cool water.

I'm not babysitting anymore so I have had lots of time to get ready for the baby.  I have been cleaning, cooking, shopping, and reading books.  I even made a baby quilt that I am really proud of.  My mom picked the fabric out and brought it when she came out to visit in April.  It's not perfect, but I hope the baby likes it anyway.  :)

Here's to three more weeks (maybe less, maybe more)!

Two Blissful Years (and a pregnancy update)

Yesterday was our two year anniversary!  We both almost forgot about it.  Neither one of us had time to plan anything or even buy any presents, so we just enjoyed dinner at home together and rode the scooter up to Target for some ice cream.

 On the scooter

I know I probably shouldn't be riding the scooter while pregnant but the traffic moves very slowly here so it's not scary at all to me.  We saw so many pregnant ladies in Asia riding motorbikes that it seems normal to us.  The only thing that bothered me was going over the bumpy parts of the road... it felt like the baby was bouncing up and down on my bladder... very uncomfortable.  So I may be done riding the scooter for now!

My latest tummy picture, 29 weeks (I'm going on 31 now!!)

There aren't really any updates about the pregnancy except that everything is going GREAT.  No gestational diabetes, thyroid is normal, blood pressure is great, etc.  I've been getting lots of exercise and eating my vegetables.  My feet always need a massage at the end of the day and thanks to John I always get one.  Getting enough sleep at night has been the biggest struggle but now that I have figured out how to get comfortable (thanks to a body pillow!) my sleep has been much better.  John is already such a great dad and the baby hasn't even been born yet.  We are excited for our baby!!   

Birthday Haircut

Before

After

This year I wanted to keep my birthday a secret.  Mostly because John had a HUGE birthday party two weeks ago and it WORE ME OUT.  So I didn't tell anyone here that it was my b-day and I just took the day off from babysitting and relaxed and enjoyed my birthday secret just between John and I!  It was wonderful.  My one birthday wish this year was to get a haircut.  I honestly could not live with my long hair a minute longer.  I saved it in a ziplock bag to donate.  Even though I am so happy to have it off my head, I have had a hard time parting with that dead ponytail.  It is 12 inches long!  I need to hurry and send it in the mail before it's too late.  Anyway, John thinks I look like a different person and keeps thinking that there is a stranger in his house!!  Hopefully he will get used to it.  I love my new hair.  It was by far the most I'd ever paid for a haircut and so far it has been worth it.  

He also brought home a peach pie for me (my favorite!) and tickets to Billy Elliot (a Broadway musical we've been wanting to see) for later this month.  I'm so blessed to have such a great man in my life!  

My man, looking handsome in the park

Thanks for Visiting!

John and I are so lucky to have Josh and Madison, our brother and sister-in-law live so close to us.  They live in New Haven, CT which is a couple hour's drive from the city.

Their life is super intense because they are both medical students at Yale, so we are always honored when they take the time to come and see us in New York!

Here are a few pictures from their weekend visit a couple of months ago.

 Brooklyn Bridge

 A really fun game they brought to play--can't remember the name, but I think I won :)

 The Cloisters Museum.  It's within walking distance from our house!  

Josh and John

Last month my mom came and visited!  We went shopping, saw some sites, ate lots an lots of delicious food, and saw FOUR Broadway musicals!!!  And we didn't pay full price for any of them.  We either got last minute rush tickets or won the lottery. (Some shows save 20 front row seats for the day of each performance and allow people to put their names in a drawing to win the tickets for about $30 each, which is a huge discount from the full price.) The first night we got rush tickets to the Spiderman preview.  The next day we won lottery tickets to a new musical, Wonderland (the story of Alice and Wonderland with a cool twist.)  And that night we won lottery tickets again to see the Book of Mormon Musical!!!!  And the last one we saw was Rain, a musical tribute to the Beatles.  We tried as hard as we could to get rush tickets to How to Succeed in Business Without Trying with Daniel Radcliff, but that show is so popular right now, we didn't get in.  Actually we were really lucky to get into the Book of Mormon musical because it is hands down the most popular musical on Broadway right now.  There were hundreds of people who were there for the lottery and John one!

Here are some pictures.  See how fun New York is?

 Spiderman musical

 In the Subway (our cool rain jackets were Christmas gifts from my dad this year.  Thanks Dad, they have been VERY useful.)

 Getting some famous New York cheese cake at Times Square

 Mom cooked up some delicious salmon that we bought from the famous Chelsea Market.  My first time eating fish in like 7 years--I actually loved it!

An Irish session we sat in on at a pub.  It was just like being back in Ireland.  We were also really excited to see CillianVallely there, who plays the uilleann pipes in one of our favorite Irish bands, Lunasa.  By the time the session was over we had missed the last express train home so John, being his typical self, found someone with a car who was driving by our place on his way home and asked for a ride!  Mom and I were kind of weirded out to be riding home with a stranger but we got home in about 15 minutes!

Well I hope this motivates some of you to come visit.  We are pretty lazy about taking pictures so this is only a tiny representation of all the fun we have here.  And... we are VERY MUCH looking forward to Aunt Clea and Jody coming to visit us next month!!!!  We are going to make sure they have such a great time.  And of course we are also looking forward to having our parents (and any other family who can manage) come for the baby blessing in the fall. 

I am 24 weeks this week but the latest picture I have is 23 weeks!  We just have a hard time remembering to take pictures.

I only have a few minutes to post this so I'll just write a bit...

My mom came to visit a couple of weeks ago and it was FUN!  And she bought me some badly needed maternity clothes.  Oh--and she cooked Salmon for dinner one night and I ate it!!!

I have been feeling great lately, except for that super nasty ear infection I had a few weeks ago.  They couldn't give me the numbing ear drops because I'm pregnant but at least I was allowed to take oral antibiotics to get rid of it.  It was soooo painful.  It took twice as long to clear out than it usually does.  I eventually discovered that chewing gum was the best way to relieve the pain.  Lately my feet have started swelling.  I'm going to try eating less sodium and drinking lots of water and see how that helps.  And of course put my feet up when I can!

John is reading "Husband-Coached Childbirth" by Robert Bradley and has really been learning a lot about what goes on during pregnancy and labor.  He even teaches me stuff that I didn't know!  So cool.

Anyway, I'll have to write some more about what we've been up to and post a picture of John's new super handsome hair cut.  (Speaking of hair, notice how long mine is?  I can't decide whether to sell it, donate it, or just cut 6 inches off.  I hope I can decide soon because the length is really bothering me!)