Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone!

2011 couldn’t come soon enough for us! We are off to the Ostroot’s for a steamboat dinner.

(my christmas present by the way! )

Macarons

Ooh…. I love them so much!!! We went to Paulette at Beverly Hills to try some macarons. I’ve never had these before… I know what you’re thinking, I am late to the game! I read about it a lot on the internet but never actually thought about trying it. After hearing everybody raving about it, I knew I had to try. So I dragged the Husband to take me there last Monday (we were both off work this week). We bought a few different flavors to try… John agreed, they were YUMMY!

So I heard it is very hard to get the perfect macarons. I guess that’s why they are so pricey. It has to be the perfect temperature, the right cookie sheets, the perfect aged egg whites, oven, the amount of strokes when mixing the batter… and etc. However, they are not impossible to make. I’ve seen recipes everywhere on the internet, but I am definitely not going to even think about attempting to make my own. I am pretty sure I will be wasting my time and effort to attempt to make them. I cannot even make the perfect cheesecake (sometimes, depending on luck ) let alone macarons! If you decide to make some, don’t forget to send some my way.

I am sure they will be very big and popular just like the Pinkberry was once before. Pretty soon, there will be more stores popping up and we don’t have to drive to LA to get ‘em. Come on… come on… come to Santa Clarita!

36 weeks update

Wow…. 36 weeks already. 4 more weeks to go… I am counting down each day. I think we are 95% prepared? I have my hospital bag all packed… sort of. There’s still some miscellaneous stuff to grab at the last minute but I think we are good now.

So at my last doctor visit, we found out that baby has finally turned head down. Phew… finally! :) Good job… baby, good job. My doctor’s appointment from now on will be every week. I think my next visit, the doctor will perform an internal exam, which I heard is very uncomfortable. Oh well, I better get used to it now.

We also picked our our pediatrician this week. Well, we didn’t actually do much research. Just through word of mouth. Most of our friends use her and they all like her. So we scheduled for an interview with her yesterday, and she seems very nice. She’s an Asian lady. Not that it matters, but that would be my preference. hehehe… plus she has 3 “Amerisia” children herself. lol… yes “Amerisia” babies= American +Asian. That’s the term she used when we were chatting. That’s the first that we heard of that term. I guess it sounds a lot better that “mixed” babies? lol…

I, as usual, am getting bigger, no surprise here. I get tired very easily. Thankfully, I have 2 weeks off during the Christmas break which helps me get all the rest I needed. Unfortunately, my 2 weeks vacation is almost over. I am not sure how I can adjust my body back to working mode next Monday. So not looking forward to it. If baby M comes right on due date, I will be back to work for another 2-3 weeks before I go on my 3 months maternity leave. It all depends on baby M’s arrival.

God Bless America!

12.16.10- Officially got sworn in- I am now an American citizen! John took  a day off from work to drive this pregnant lady to LA Convention Center for the oath ceremony. Thanks babe!

My in laws later took us to dinner to celebrate. I have also officially taken on my husband’s last name.

A baby shower update

12.04.10- Had my baby shower (sort of ) hosted by Jocelyn. Had a great time with friends and family. Many of my friends haven’t been to our new house, so we gave them a tour- kinda like a housewarming party.

Since our christmas tree was put up early this year (the day after thanksgiving), we placed the gifts under the tree. I love our tree this year, this year color is blue, white and silver as opposed to past years, gold.

Left: With Ivy and KC                                       Right: With Jocelyn & Johann

I didn’t have a traditional baby shower, as you can see, guys are welcome as well! :-) No baby shower games and etc. Just a few of my close friends got together and had a great time catching up.

35 weeks update

I forgot to take a picture of my belly at week 34. Then it has been raining like crazy at Southern California, so I had to take a picture indoor this time. My belly has grown super large. I know I’ve been saying this on every update, but I am still very amazed at how my belly is capable of growing this big. I am swollen like a pig, on my face, fingers, legs and everywhere.

According to thebump.com this week:

Your Pregnancy: Week 35

With baby's head pressing squarely on your bladder, you're probably clocking some quality time in the bathroom. On a similar note, if you're finding it tough to poop, load up on the fiber. Whole grains, veggies, and dried fruits (but not all at once!) should loosen things up.

Baby's now the size of a honeydew!
From now on, baby's growth is mostly in the plumping up department -- though he won't get much longer, he'll put on a pound or more of baby fat before birth. (He's about 15 percent right now and will be about 30 percent by full-term.) His hearing is totally developed (tip: baby responds best to higher pitches), and if he really is a "he," his testes have probably completed their descent.

********

Symptoms: I think I am suffering carpal tunnel syndrome. I wear a wrist brace every night when I sleep to prevent my hands from getting numb and tingling. It helps a little but I still feel numb and tingling on my hands throughout the day on certain tasks that I do. I feel pain when I bend my fingers or move my arms around. Hard to explain… it’s weird. I hope it will go away after baby is born.

John and I have been reading baby books every night on how and what to do during the first few weeks of baby’s life. It suddenly dawned on us that there is A LOT to do and it is not easy. We will not be able to sleep thru the night like we are used to now. There will be a lot of crying, throwing up, feeding, cleaning, washing, sleepless nights… etc. I mean we knew about all these but as the day comes closer, we are not sure if we are prepared for these. Is it normal to feel this way? I know... it’s not like I can return him or anything but suddenly I just feel like maybe the pregnancy part is not as bad as when after the baby is born? Regardless, we are very excited to meet our little bundle of joy. As scary as it may seem, we are sure we can get through it especially when he hit each milestones of his life. It will be all worth it… correct?

Annual Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner

John’s friends get together for Thanksgiving Potluck every year the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It was a tradition that started years ago by John, so I heard. Started with very small group of friends and each year the group grew bigger and bigger, especially now that all his friends have kids. So the numbers tripled!

Anyway, I’ve been joining their Thanksgiving Potluck every year since we started dating. For the past few years, Eric ever so kindly offered to host the dinner. This is the second year we’ve been having Thanksgiving at the clubhouse by his place. Here are a few pics, Eric took of that night.

Everybody mingled and play catch up.

Left Pic: Large group pic. Can you spot me? I’m hiding. Right Pic: Last year preggos popped their babies. I remember last year, there were like 9 preggos, ready to pop.

So, this year, there were only 2 preggos. We didn’t get the memo. I am so jealous of Annie. She is about 2 weeks behind me, but boy! She looks so small compared to me. I feel huge standing next to her. To add salt to the wound, this is her second baby! I mean come on…. I thought you are suppose to be bigger when you have a second child. Biatch!

We had a great time catching up with everyone. We cheated this year. We bought a pumpkin pie from Costco and called it a day. Last year, we actually brought some home made stuff. Oh well… being pregnant is a good excuse.

Good times, till next year….

32 weeks update

Look at how much I’ve grown!!!!!! I cannot believe it myself either. My sweater is stretching for dear life to cover my belly.

I think for my next update, I will have to wear something else. It was very smart of me to pick my backyard as the backdrop for my belly pics. The weather is getting crazy cold nowadays. I had to run out and have John snap this picture of me real quick, so I can run back inside quick!

So according to thebump.com, the baby is the size of a squash right now.

From thebump.com

Baby's now the size of a squash!

Ready or not, baby's getting ready to emerge. She's probably in the head-down position by now, with her bottom facing up. This is the comfiest way for her body to fit in your increasingly cramped womb and will make her eventual exit (only a few months away now!) much easier. (If she's still head-up, don't panic -- there's still time for a flip before birth.)

I have a feeling that baby M is still in breech position.  

So my heartburn is getting worse each day. I rely on tums to get some relief when my symptoms get unbearable.

Tums- my life saver!

My cravings, as I’ve mentioned previously is chocolate milk. I still have cravings for fruit. I want fruit all the time. I eat watermelon, oranges, tangerines, mangoes, apples, persimmons, strawberries, bananas, papayas, pears, etc. Can’t live without fruit. My appetite also seems to grow tremendously. I can’t stop eating. I eat and snack all day which scares me. I’m not going to lie. I don’t eat very healthy, although I try to sometimes. I snack on potato chips, cheetos and eat Maggi Mee (ocassionally). I feel so quilty that I make it up by eating cereal or fruit right after I eat junk. So, you see…. I am constantly eating no matter eating healthy or junk. I’ve gained so much that I am afraid to jump on the scale anymore. I’ve gotten to the point where I am too embarrassed to disclose my weight gained.

Our nightly entertainment is watching baby M move in my belly. Before we turn the lights off, we sit in bed and watch baby M do summersaults in my belly. Pretty entertaining. He is definitely getting a lot stronger. When he moves, he pulls my belly. You can see my belly get pulled from all directions. Pretty amazing…. and WEIRD!

My handy husband

My 6 year old Mazda 3 finally hit 100,000 miles about a month ago. Since I’ve never done any major maintenance service to my car, I took it to the Mazda dealership for an oil change. They are slightly more expensive but it’s worth the price since they also do a full inspection on your car. We had them diagnose the problem, then we fix it on our own.

Sadly, within a month, I’ve spent about $400 in car parts. On the bright side, I saved about $700 in labor cost by using John’s labor. I bought new shocks and struts online (cheaper than getting it from the store) and in order to save money, John decided to take on the task himself  (even though he had not done it before). He did some online research and asked around for some tips. He spent almost all day replacing all 4 of my shocks and struts. That saved us about $400 in labor cost.

We also need to replace a broken engine mount and transmount. Again, I bought the parts online after doing some comparing with the car parts store here. The parts arrived tonight. My loving husband who just had a late night from work, decided to work on it right away. It was 9 something at night! Thankfully, replacing the engine mount was a small task. He was able to complete the task within 15 minutes. And the dealer wanted $115 in labor cost to replace that for us!? This weekend, he will work on the transmount which is a little more complicated. Mazda dealer wants $195 in labor cost to replace the transmount. Again, I will save the labor cost by having my hand dandy husband fix it.

Working in the dark and cold. You can see in the picture that one of our neighbors has already put up christmas lights. We put up our Christmas lights & tree the day after Thanksgiving. We are ahead of the game as well! Our Christmas lights are not as nice as our neighbors, just some simple LED lights around the roof of the house. We decided not to spend so much on the lights this year and wait till after Christmas. They usually go on sale after Christmas. We will buy more lights and Christmas decor after Christmas for next year! Yes, we are realistic people, in other words, cheap. 

the broken engine mount

Sure is nice when you have a handy husband. Saves lots of money from hiring somebody to do it. Labor cost is outrageously expensive here. When I see him working on the car, I almost (keyword= almost) forgive him for not having a passion to cook. Then again, it would be nice if he can cook…. especially chinese food for me AND be handy at the same time. Wouldn’t that be perfect??? hahahhaa…I am just kidding. Don’t worry babe, I love you the way you are! His handiness does come in handy sometimes!