WHATer!

38 weeks and waiting...

So it's waiting time now, I'm hoping sooner, and the hubby is hoping later. We'll see when baby chooses his time of arrival. I've always been early, and the hubby is notorious for being late, so we'll see who the baby chooses to take after in this category.

In the meantime, the surprises just never end do they? Even now, while we're in the very very last days, all of a sudden, I'm retaining water like CRAZY! I'm swollen everywhere, my hands are so swollen it hurts to bend my fingers! My poor feet are so swollen they can hardly fit in my regular shoes! And the ironic thing is...I drink. I drink a lot of water, which is supposed to combat water retention, but nope, I'm still retaining.

I love water, everyone who knows me well knows how much I love water =) Why would water turn on me?

Oh these last days are just so uncomfortable. And the recent water retention is not helping at all.

WHAT is happening? WHAT is going on? Right now, it seems to be all about WHATer!

A Little Ham - A Golden Pig!

Talk about luck, timing and pure coincidence! For those who know us, we've always referred to our baby as "a little ham" - both an acronym play on our initials, and of course, a play on how my hubby, myself and of course our baby, are all hams, in the theatrical sense, hamming it up.

Anyhow - little did we know how appropriate the nickname "a little ham" would be.

At our last birthing class, we were informed by one of our classmates, that today, feb 18th marks the beginning of the chinese year of the pig! BUT even better, this year, not only is it the year of the pig, it is the "year of the golden pig!" which happens only every 600 years!

In China and Korea, people born in the year of the golden pig will experience super luck and wealth! It is considered a very fortunate time to be born, so much so that they expect the birth rates in both China and Korea to skyrocket this year, and our classmate who recently visited Chinatown here and showed off her pregnant belly, said that all the Chinese people there were rubbing her belly and were in awe and jealous of the fact that she would be fortunate enough to deliver in the "year of the golden pig."

Learn more here, and here.

Who knew our little ham would turn out to be a golden pig!

Home Stretch

We're ending our 36th week now - so that means we're 9 months! And at the end of this week, we'll officially be considered full-term - so after that, it can be anytime now. Any time now!

Yup folks, near the finish line, and so you would think by now, I've escaped any other unpleasant pregnancy surprises since I'm almost there. WRONG! Up til now, I've enjoyed 35 weeks of successfully evading, escaping and avoiding those dreaded stretch marks. But now, ugh, they finally caught me!

Of course I would get them, I'm very tiny to begin with, and so with all this stretching, and with the baby experiencing his major growth spurts these last couple of weeks, I'm a fool for thinking I could get through this pregnancy without them paying me a visit. I was in denial.

I've read it in several places, but still I didn't believe it, but let me tell you all now: Even if you lather yourself in oil, even if you cover yourself in lotions, creams, and tummy butter, the stretch marks will come. And they can appear in a number of places, not just the belly! I was so buttered up, I was worse than a bucket of AMC's popcorn, and still, the stretch marks found me!

Fortunately, I read that some stretch marks will fade post partum, and hopefully will not be as visible. Even now, I really shouldn't complain, mine are not that bad, nor that evident. I've seen several belly pics of other moms-to-be, and their stretch marks are really obvious. Maybe buttering myself up every day did pay off. =)

And really, I don't predict that I will be wearing bare midriff tops or anything, I think its safe to say that my clubbing days have long been over. And I don't plan on belly dancing any time soon. But of course there are tropical, island and beach vacations to still enjoy, and so those stretch marks better be gone!

Now I know why they call these last couple of weeks the home "stretch!"

Wicked

The hubby surprised me with a very special valentine's weekend - since we knew this was our last one - just him and me. He's the best!

On saturday evening, we enjoyed dinner at Jiraffe in santa monica. We both have heard rave reviews about this place and so this was a treat to finally try it out ourselves. It was delicious. As we sat there during dinner, I paused and realized this may be our last fancy french restaurant date in a while, and our last outing just us two, spending time, in a while, and so a part of me did get a bit sad, but then the baby kicked and I realized we're gaining so much more.

Then tonight, the hubby had another surprise in store, the best surprise! I had asked for this about 8 months ago, but since we knew that at this time, I would be just about ready to pop, we decided we wouldn't get it. Hopeless that I would never see it, I just read the complete story online and purchased some songs from it on iTunes. So ever since 8 months ago, I've just imagined.

But tonight, it all came true, the hubby bought us tickets for the sold out opening weekend of WICKED! I was on a high! I was "defying gravity" (see the musical to know what I mean =). Yes I am ready to pop, but the hubby got us great seats, center section, but aisle seats so I can make my frequent trips to the ladies =) The hubby worked hard to get these tickets, it's opening weekend, it's sold out, almost impossible to get. So we made a deal with the baby to just let us get through this musical and he'll get something special. He kept the end of his deal. It is an amazing show, I highly recommend it.

So for our last valentine's that's just us two, this was a great one, a perfect one.

And for our future valentines, with our new family, I'm sure they will be just as great, just as perfect and just as wicked.

Baby just kicked, baby agrees.

Chili Cheese Fritos

If I have to admit to one weakness in this life, it is Chili Cheese Fritos.

They are scrumptious, delicious, the absolute B E S T! But...BUT I have not had some in YEARS. For a while now, I've been on this healthy eating trip, and I've been pretty good at it, even during this pregnancy, and for some reason, I have had enough willpower to resist a bag of chili cheese fritos every time they try to tease me at the supermarket, and trust me, they tease me. Every single time.

At the beginning of this pregnancy, I told myself and the hubby that during our third trimester, that it would finally be the time I would treat myself and the baby to some chili cheese fritos. But, now, even as I find myself at the tail end of our third trimester, every time I see them again at the supermarket, teasing me, I feel like I've come this far without surrendering, that I should just keep on resisting. I feel this brief surge of victory every time I am able to walk out of there without some in tow. I feel like if I give in, even if its considered a treat, a prize of some sort, I will have lost. And I hate to lose!

Oh dear chili cheese fritos, will I ever taste you again? What if throughout all these years of resisting, I have built them up to be better in my mind, in my memory than how they actually are? Maybe its for the best. Perhaps it's better that I remember them to be more than what they are, and never really try them again. No disappointment.

If I am ever to give in to temptation, the time is now. It's the third trimester and some chili cheese fritos shouldn't really make a big difference in the grand scheme of things. I've pretty much gained the weight I am going to gain in this pregnancy, and so why not?

After this baby arrives, you better bet I will be working hard to lose my pregnancy weight, and so chili cheese fritos will not, cannot be an option. And so, the resistance cycle resumes again. So I just need to convince myself to treat myself...now!

Well I'm off to the market, and I know they will be there teasing me. Oh how they tease me. Will I give in? Will I surrender? Did I mention they are located right across the freshly delivered krispy kremes? Damn this world!

Catcher of the Rye

Ok I admit it. I've never really been what you would call a neat eater. Ok fine, I'm a messy eater. But isn't that the best way to eat anyhow? =) Reminiscent of those awesome Carl's Jr. commercials. That's me. I take a bite, things fall out, drip down, it's really the best way to eat.

My hubby often has to wipe my mouth after a meal, or tell me to look in the mirror so that I could see all the crumbs around my mouth that I failed to wipe away. I don't know why, but I just can't feel em!

So this new protruding belly of mine is proving to be quite useful nowadays. In fact, it has become quite multi-functional. Currently, it has become my crumb catcher. Yep, everytime I eat, and of course, the crumbs will fall, they don't fall down to my lap or the ground as they used to, nope, now there is something blocking their fall...my belly. My belly catches all my crumbs, and so now all I have to do is slap a napkin on the belly and it's an easy clean up!

I've also found a new armrest. Whether I'm sitting or walking, my left arm just can't resist, it rests itself on my belly. I suppose it's the expectant mom pose, but it's definitely instinctive and automatic. Left arm rests over belly, it's a given.

So those are just a few of the new uses I've found in my new belly. Even as I write this, it's already helping me out. Every morning I have my whole wheat, whole grain toast with peanut butter and jelly , and of course, toasted bread equals crumbs. But I've got it all covered, with my new crumb catcher! Perhaps I should switch to rye bread? I could become the catcher of the rye =) J.D. Salinger has nothing on me!

Take a Seat

Yesterday, the hubby installed the car seat. And it sunk in even more. In 5 weeks or less, we're having a baby! So in less than 35 days, our lives will be turned upside down.

Seeing the car seat actually in the backseat of our car is really incredible. I haven't been in denial or anything, but clearly seeing everything come together recently is definitely hitting home. The hubby did an awesome job too! I've been watching all my baby shows on The Learning Channel (TLC) and Discovery Health, and all new daddies seem to have so much difficulty installing the car seat.

I also realized that my days of sitting in the front passenger seat will soon come to an end, as I will become a backseat passenger as soon as the baby arrives. I can't say I've ever rode in the back of my own car, it should be interesting.

I love my car, and as time passes, I find more reasons why I love it. While installing the car seat, we found a whole new element of our car! It has this built in LATCH system that was hidden, until now, that makes installing and attaching the car seat base real easy. Land Rover, you do think of everything!

It's funny, when we first got this car, it was all about it's renowned off roading capability. We would join in on the off roading excursions, give it mudbaths, and take it up to the snow, where it can really show off!

Now, it's all about its safety features. Side impact this, supplemental restraint system that, etc. Thats what matters right now. But of course, the hubby will still fit in an excursion every now and then.

A New Cult

35 weeks...coming soon!

My belly is in full force now! I can barely move around, it's so huge! I'm tiny and the belly is huge, not a good combination. Sleeping is difficult. I just can't seem to find a comfy spot. Walking is difficult, I just can't seem to maneuver around. Driving is difficult. I can barely fit now behind the wheel. Breathing is difficult. I get out of breath sooner than you can say it! Everything is just a bit more difficult!

I'm so used to this belly of mine now that I've forgotten what its like without it. How I moved before, freely and quickly. How I got up before, easily. It's a distant memory now. I remember I was a fast walker, a tiny, fast walker. I moved a lot, if I wasn't walking, I was running, or I was dancing, I just remember I kept active. Now, I'm slower than a snail on wheels. I really can't remember what it was actually like to just move around without needing to adjust to a protruding belly! I mean I have visceral memories, but not actual, real recollections of how I used to be. Very odd.

I'm telling ya, pregnancy, motherhood, you're joining a new sisterhood, a new CULT.

It's diffiCULT...but I hear it's all worth it.