Washington Family Baby Shower

Yesterday was Tadpole’s Washington family baby shower! My cousin Kelli hosted it for us, and many of the women and young ladies in my family were able to make it. It was such a fun time and I am so happy my cold subsided enough to be able to make it and not have to cancel. That would have really sucked.

Andrew dropped me (or should I say “us”?) off at the shower, which Kelli had decorated with cute little jungle animals. I loved that one of the main animal characters was a tiger. ^_^ It was really cute. She had a baby sign up that she let me take home. I’d like to put it on Tadpole’s wall if we move into a place where she has her own room. 

I was able to see my Aunt Karen for a bit who built this wonderful Diaper Cake, before she had to leave due to her getting over a cold and not wanting to expose me and everyone else to it. Check out all the baby things she put on the cake. She made all the bibs and the bonnet. You can't see it in the picture, but she even made a Superman bib. Yeah, my aunt knows I like comics. ^_^

Kelli had planned three games for us to play. For the first game, everyone had to guess how many cotton balls were in baby bottle piggy bank. My guess was 72. The actual amount was 81. I guessed closest though, so I won! Whoohoo!

The second game had to do with baby food! Kelli had 9 containers of unlabeled baby food. Everyone had to do their best to try and guess what kind of food was in each container. The only hint we were given was that each container of baby food was only a single item, and that it was a vegetable or a fruit. So we didn’t have to worry about it being “chicken mango risotto,” “plum banana brown rice,” or “tender beef spinach.”  I was able to guess 4 out of the 9 (I got peas, green beans, apples, and pears correct). My Aunt Gail and niece Katie tied with guessing 7 of the 9! Gail graciously let Katie take the winning.

For the last game, everyone was given a paper plate to put on their head. They then had to draw a baby (at any age, and in any position) without looking. This is similar to the drawing game at Tadpole’s first shower, but this time the baby didn’t have to be in a womb, and I was the only one picking which drawing I thought was best. There were some that were really funny. Some that were totally abstract, but you could see the baby in the art work. It was hard to decided, but in the end I picked my Aunt Janet’s drawing. I was very impressed with the hair she drew, and that it was all actually on the head.

After the games we took a little break to fill up our plates with some yummy snacks. And then the gift opening began. Tadpole was blessed with a wide variety of types of clothes, music and some toys. And! We are looking forward to receiving her crib bed set in the mail later this week! It was fun to open all the gifts from those who will be Tadpole’s family, and thinking about who they will be to her (aunt, cousin, great aunt, great grandma). Tadpole indeed has a very loving family who is awaiting her arrival. 

The shower ended with dessert: homemade chocolate chip cookies that you could make into ice cream sandwiches! Kelli had the choice of “real” ice cream, and non-dairy ice cream for everyone. It was so good! I love how each shower so far has featured a dessert having to do with chocolate chip cookies, but all done completely differently. 

Thank you so much, Kelli, for throwing the baby shower for Tadpole! And thank you ladies for blessing the next addition to our wonderful family! It was so great to be able to celebrate Tadpole with you all! I love each and every one of you (and of course this includes those who weren’t able to make it). 

**After Andrew and I got home from the shower, I showed him what each people gave us at the shower. We played music from a compliment that my cousin Joel gave us while we looked at each gift. Andrew got so excited (it was so cute!)! So excited in fact that he pressed down on my baby bump a bit too hard for the way Tadpole happened to be position at the time, that it hurt. He of course immediately apologized and asked if I was okay. I told him yes, but to remember to be a bit gentler. Andrew then said one of the cutest things ever during my pregnancy:

“But I just want to hold her! And see her dancing around in her cute little clothes!”

February’s Bump and Tadpole’s on Goings

It’s March already??? Gosh, time sure seems to be flying by! It’s already time for another monthly picture. But before that, I thought I’d list off a few on goings with Tadpole.

• I have had the pleasure of “tickling” my daughter’s foot. Well, as close to actually tickling it as I can get while she’s in the womb. Tadpole was having fun kicking up towards my ribs during bible study last week, and I was trying to direct her kicks elsewhere (it sort of works sometimes). While doing this I was able to feel along the side of one of her feet as she pushed outward. She retracted her foot a bit and then kicked out again so I was able to feel along her tiny little foot again. It was so cool! I started laughing with pure delight in the middle of bible study. I of course apologized and explained what happened. The ladies at study all “awed.” Heheh

• Also during bible study, Tadpole literally kicked a burp out of me! She kicked upward really hard with what felt like both her feet and then I burped. So random!

• Tadpole is helping my body show more evidence that I am indeed in the midst of the third trimester. How you ask, besides my bump getting bigger? Well, she loves to cuddle and dance at night when her mommy is trying to sleep. This results in two things occurring: 1) It’s hard to get comfortable to sleep and 2) I have to pee every two hours it seems because of her dancing on my bladder.

• All of Tadpole’s dancing and kicking is developing her muscles tone. Andrew is hoping this means she’ll have a strong little core that will help her hold her own head sooner rather than later, and begin to use her limbs for large motor skills. I think he also secretly hopes this means she’ll be a strong swimmer.

• I have developed my third cold during pregnancy. My throat is sore, my glands in my neck are swollen, my throat and ears feel stuff, my neck hurts and feels stiff, and my head occasionally hurts. Looking on the bright side of things, I don’t have a fever, and I don’t feel as bad as I did the last two times. I’m hoping it will only last a few days. Tadpole doesn’t seem to be affected by it, which is good. The energy I’m not using to grow her, I’m using to make sure I get better fast!

• Tadpole has been growing! And I am sure you want to see February’s end of the month baby bump pic. So here it is! 

February Baby Bump

And yes, if you didn't guess from all the recent entries, I like pictures and I like to share pictures.

Cali Baby Shower Pics

I said I'd post more pictures from the Cali baby showers once I got copies, so here they are! Each picture has a caption to give you more of an idea of what went on at the showers. If you'd like to read about the Cali showers, you can check out the blog entries Cali Trip Day 2 for the Seaside shower, and check out Cali Trip Day 4 for the SJ shower.

~~~The Seaside Baby Shower~~~

The set-up for the Seaside baby shower! Karlyn and Lynn had tadpoles swimming around the room and used blue streamers to make it look like they were in water

Mark created a poster with what Tadpole's Facebook page might look like, and all the friends listed were the attendees of the shower. Mark and Karlyn also bought the baby girl balloon, and the frog, Prince Frederic the XXVII (the 27th because Tadpole is due on the 27th of April. I named him)

Karlyn knows I love chocolate chip cookies, so she made a huge one for dessert, with no dairy! Yay! And she used frosting to decorate it and "paint" a tadpole for Tadpole.

My mom won the first game, which was to find the most bottles hidden in the room.

In the 2nd game, everyone had to draw a baby in the womb. The catch of this game is that you couldn't look at what you were doing AND you had to draw the picture while the paper was on your head.

We all voted that Alicia's was the best drawing.

Valerie won at Baby Bingo!

The guys came back early from their pizza dinner to "crash" the shower and say hi. They let us be to continue in the girlyness.

I totally wanted this outfit for Tadpole! It's so darn cute! And it had a frog on the butt. hehe Thanks, Shilo!

Oh yeah! My daughter got her own pair of sunglasses! I always have sunglasses with me somewhere, so now Tadpole can be like her mother. ^_^

Karlyn made a blanket for Tadpole (left), that was a recreation of a blanket she grew up with (right). Cute isn't it. ^_^

~~~The SJ Baby Shower~~~

My mom also knows I love chocolate chip cookies. She made these, and they have Oreos in the middle! So good!

My mom decorated the room with toys, books, and clothes that were mine when I was little. For each item she had a picture that went with it to show me wearing it or playing with it. And yes, I'm a natural red head and proud of it!

The first game Amy planned was to have everyone guess how big my baby bump was. Alison guessed the closest! She was off by less than a centimeter!

For the 2nd game, Amy read off a series of questions relating to babies and pregnancy (they had multiple choice answers). Julie got the most correct!

For the 3rd and final game, everyone was given a small container of play-doh, from which they were to craft a model of a baby. I then had to vote on which one looked the most realistic and that I liked the most.

These were all the lovely creations which made it so hard to choose the winner! I liked Julies best, but since she already won a game, I picked my 2nd favorite, which Sarah made. And yes, the one on the top in the middle is a mermaid. hehehe ^_^

Ruth gave this to Tadpole. It was made by women who are part of Crafters for Christ at my church back home.I love the stars and moons on it.

This outfit is so cute! My mom found it. I can't wait for Tadpole to wear this!

Whoohoo! We got the diaper bag that matches Tadpole's bed set that we're planning on getting. Judy, Alison and Lindsey had it filled with other wonderful baby items for Tadpole

Yeah, I'd say Sarah know me. She knows I LOVE the Little Mermaid. ^_^

If you want to see a few more pictures from the showers, you of course can check out the blog entries I mentioned above. Hope you enjoyed seeing a bit more from the baby showers!

Again, thank you Mom, Amy, Karlyn and Lynn for planning the showers! And thank you everyone for blessing our little girl and us. I can't believe we are only two months away from her due date!

God bless you all! ^_^

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!

I love you very very much! So this blog entry is dedicated to you! 

I hope you have a blessed and wonderful birthday.

In San Fran

Mom visiting me in Seattle right after I moved

In NY right after we saw Beauty and the Beast on stage.

At the Japanese Friendship Garden

Me and my mom on my wedding day

At the Japanese Friendship Garden again, this time I'm preggers.

I love you mom!

Maternity Pictures!!!

For your enjoyment, here are some of my favorite maternity pictures that were taken during our Cali trip that have not been posted yet. The first two are ones my mom took of Andrew and I at the Japanese Friendship Garden. The rest were taken by Valerie in Marina. Enjoy!

Being goofy

Soaking up the sun as a family

Mommy and Daddy to be!

Me and lil Tadpole, next to one of my favorite things in the world; the ocean!

I love my lil Tadpole! Thank you, God!

<3 Love <3

Whoohoo! I'm gonna be a mom!

I have no idea what we're doing in this picture, but I like it

We love our lil girl. (Our new banner for the blog)

Thinking about my little Tadpole, and how precious she is

Lovin' on the bump

Us thinking about our lil girl and the blessing she already is to us

Andrew loves us! And we love him. ^_^

Doctor Update

Well, I had my doctor appointment today with Doc S. Everything is still going well. Tadpole’s lil heart was recorded at 146bpm, which is the same as last time. She’s still measuring at taking up the average amount of space in my body, which right now is 31cm. Here’s a little trivia for those who don’t know: starting at about week 20, a woman’s uterus tends to measure, in centimeters, the same number as her week in pregnancy. Of course this is an average. Some women’s uteruses are smaller, some larger. Not everyone has the same body build so obviously there are variations. But it seems Tadpole and I are right on the average mark. So if you understood all that, that means I’m on week _____. Yes, that’s right. I’m on week 31. Just started it actually. ^_^

After all the normal check-up stuff, I asked Doc. S. a few questions. One, I wanted to know how many support people he is comfortable with being in the delivery room. He answered that however many people I want/need that can fit comfortable in the birthing room is fine. Well, I’m not looking at inviting a lot of people in the room, but I was thinking of two people, possibly three. Not to say they’d all be there at the same time.

Anyway! Questions two was about birthing plans. Now-a-days, it seems everyone and everything is saying to write up a birthing plan, or fill out a birthing plan form that some doctors have. So I asked Doc. S. if he wanted me to create one or if he had a form or something. He said if I’d like to create one with my husband, I can. He said they bring up great things to talk about to make sure we’re on the same page. He also said that I don’t need to write one up unless I want to, but to bring up the topics to him that are most important to me and Andrew. So, I made sure he had one thing written down on my chart that I have decided upon; my view of using medication while giving birth. Right now my stance is that I don’t want to use meds to give birth to lil Tadpole. I want to experience it! Even though the thought of pushing a lil person out of me kind of freaks me out…. However, if I come to a point in delivery where I feel I need it, then I’m all for it.

And then I was brave and brought up a topic that really freaks me out: episiotomy. I really don’t want one, and any time I even think about the topic I literally start feeling sick or/and freaked out (that includes right now as I type this). Thankfully Doc. S. is a doctor who does his best at staying away from doing an episiotomy. He explained that he’d only ever make that incision if Tadpole’s life was in danger, or I just couldn’t push anymore and Tadpole needed more help getting out. To tell the truth, it was really hard for me to have this short conversation with Doc. S. I had to concentrate on my breathing and kept reminding myself that everything was okay and to calm down. For some reason I just really don’t like even the thought of an episiotomy…

Okay! Moving on! After all that I had some blood drawn to have my glucose level checked, and for a few other normal routine check-ups that occur during the third trimester. I believe the results should be in at my next visit, which will be in two weeks.

On a completely different note! I now have photos from my mom and two friends from our Cali trip. This means there will be a maternity picture post at some point, and probably another one showing a few more pictures from baby showers. You might have noticed the banner for the blog changed again. It’s a photo Valerie took for us of Andrew and I making a heart with our hands over Tadpole. We love our little girl. ^_^  Thanks, Val! I love that photo!

Giggles

At church yesterday, Tadpole was dancing around like crazy when Pastor Mike was speaking. I couldn’t resist looking down every once and a while to watch her movement when it was strong enough to make my bump bulge. My friend, Alicia, who was sitting next to me, noticed I was paying an ample amount of attention to my belly, so she started watching too and we were smiling back and forth at Tadpole’s little movement that could be seen. THEN! Tadpole all of a sudden kicked really hard on the right and then hard on the left, making my belly look like waves in the ocean. We both looked at each other and then started giggling in church (Mike, I swear we weren’t giggling at anything you had to share! I loved your sermon yesterday!), trying not to laugh too loud to disturb anyone. Alicia then wrote a note to me saying “she’s alive!!” which made me smile too.

Yup, our little one is alive! And still kicking strong. I have a doctor appointment on Wednesday with Doc. Slack for a check-up. I’m supposed to eat a big meal before I go in because they’ll be taking blood for the third trimester blood check-up and seeing how my blood sugar level is. If my blood sugar level is totally fine then I won’t have to take one of those nasty sugar drinks to see if I have gestational diabetes. It doesn't run in my family and I'm a healthy woman, so the chances of me having it are very minimal.