35 weeks....31 days to go!

I have officially one more month left, and Baby Siri will be here with us....woo hoo!! As each day, week and month passes, the anticipation and excitement just gets bigger!!! I had my doctor's appointment this morning and everything is going well. I'm measuring around 35 weeks even though I'm closer to 36 weeks, which is okay. Baby Siri is estimated at around 5 lbs right now...her heartbeat is 132 bpm. The doctor checked my cervix this time to see if it's open at all.....and Whoa!, that was a weird experience!! But anyway, nope, my cervix is closed which is fine since I still have a month to go anyway. I'm going to go process my state disability paperwork today as well....my last day of work will be May 16th so that gives me two weeks to prepare for Siri's arrival. Still lots to do....but we'll get it done!! We're starting childbirth classes tomorrow.....every Thursday night up until I give birth. I'll tell you how that goes. I have no new pictures so here's our little Princess framed :)

Maternity Tour

Charles putting up the chair rail

This is what Siri's nursery will look like.....we didn't want the whole room pink though.

We just got back from a 2 & 1/2 hr Maternity Tour at the Kaiser Hospital in Anaheim. It was a very informative session talking about all the different prenatal education classes they have available, the different hospitals you can choose to have your birth, what to do when you start going into labor and about what to expect once you get to the hospital. You know they actually advise us not to go to the hospital until your contractions are about 2-3 minutes apart....good to know...you always see on TV that they go once their water breaks! Great news is that all rooms are private....so no sharing. Also, all the rooms are nicely decorated and all have a flat screen TV, restrooms and showers. I can have up to 3 support persons during my delivery......but even so, I think it'll just be my mom and Charles. I can't imagine anyone else who would want to experience my pain of going through labor!! Well next week we start Childbirth Preparation classes every Thursday night for the next 5 weeks....basically up until I give birth so that should be really helpful. This past weekend was great.....I spent Saturday with Vanessa and we had breakfast, did a little shopping (been buying Baby Siri lots of clothes and other things) and ended our time together with a nice massage in Brea :) Then on Sunday we did some more work on Siri's nursery with Charles putting up the new baseboard, chair rail and crown molding. I helped whenever I could with measurements and painting. My work will come once all the furniture is put together......when I can start decorating! I can't wait, I'm so excited to get that done :) Here are some pictures of Charles hard at work!

33 weeks.....47 days to go!

Me, Cat and Debbie...check out Cat's funky socks and her tutu!!
Me & Cat

Thanks to the BabyCenter, I get weekly emails to remind me of when Baby Siri is expected to arrive.....so right now, she's less than 50 days away!!!! She's supposed to be a little over 4 pounds right now. I've been feeling especially big these days.....and I'm finding myself wanting to waddle just because it's more comfortable to walk that way! Well this past weekend we finally made progress on her nursery...woo hoo :) Charles did most of the work prepping the room for painting but I did help clear a few things. We went to Home Depot Sunday to pick up paint colors.....tan & pink. Charles says the pink looks like Pepto Bismol....and well, it actually does. But we only have it on the bottom half of the room so it's not overpowering Pepto Bismol! Just bought all the furniture online last week so once Charles puts up the new base board, chair rail and crown molding, we'll start putting the furniture together, yay!! While Charles was painting on Sunday, I spent a few hours out 'n about, met up with Debbie and we both headed over to Golden West College to watch Cat perform at a Dance concert. My dearest Cat, you were amazing, I loved watching you dance!!! I thought she was clearly the best dancer out of ALL the dancers. Here are some pictures we took afterwards.

Baby Talk

Mamma Lilly, Mamma Celin (she's got 8 years on us!) and Mamma Corinne
Look, we're baby belly buddies!
Lilly at 32 weeks.....8 more weeks to go :)

It's been months since we've seen our good friends, Corinne & Dan (Corinne and I were pledge sisters at USC and we did almost everything together back in the college days!!!) They too are expecting a baby girl....3 weeks after me & Charles! Us 4 all went to dinner last night at the Yardhouse in Brea and spent much of the night talking about babies of course. Baby Siri and baby Chloe are gonna grow up and be best buddies!!! They'll be living far apart but I'm sure we'll make time for lots of playdates. Even though Corinne is only 3 weeks behind me, she's hardly showing......but I know that I've grown much bigger just in this last month so she'll be getting bigger in the next couple weeks too I'm sure. Yesterday was Celin's birthday and although she couldn't join us for dinner, she did come over to our house afterwards (we'll be officially celebrating her birthday next saturday). Happy Birhday Celin, we love you!

Today's OBGYN appt (31 weeks)

With my brother Nando...he hasn't seen me in 3 months!

Today was my day off and I went to see my doctor again this morning. All is well with baby Siri......same thing as last time, her heartbeat is normal and she's been a real active one, using mommy as a punching bag, hehehe!! My doctor asked me to count how long it takes for her to have 10 kicks....normal is about 2 hours or less. I know Siri kicks a lot so I just have to pay attention to how many times she does it. It's cool because now I actually feel her elbow poking me on the side....and when she does it, I like pressing my belly to play with her! My brother and his friend came down and had lunch with me today so it was nice to see him. We haven't seen each other since January so he got to feel my big ol' belly for the first time.

Our babymoon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

This is our view of the resort from the balcony..on the 6th floor

Just posing with my belly
Charles doing the cucaracha!
the beautiful infinity pool
Momma Lilly posing again with the belly...like my shirt?! It says, "dying for a drink", hehehe!!!

Charles and I just returned last night from a nice and relaxing 4 day weekend in Puerto Vallarta. We left LA in the early morning on Thursday and wasted no time to have lunch and spend many hours down at the pool when we arrived at the resort. Thanks to Wells Fargo, we had a free "babymoon" at an all-inclusive resort called the Grand Velas Resort & Spa. Twice a year, Wells Fargo hosts a fantastic recognition event and this first half of the year was in Puerto Vallarta. We did a whole lot of eating and drinking (well, Charles did both, I only did the eating!!) and everything from the service, the food, the amenities to the weather was amazing. Despite it being a bit breezy, it was sunny all day so we both got a nice tan (okay, Charles just gets red!) It was so nice to spend these 4 days together before our little baby Siri arrives. Here are some photos from our trip.

Look at our little baby Siri!!

On Wednesday night after work, Charles and I went to get a 4D ultrasound of Siri at "Before the Stork" in Costa Mesa and so here are the pictures we got from our session. Normally it would only take about 10 minutes but we were there for quite a while because Siri was hiding behind the placenta almost the entire time! We were lucky to get the extra time since we were the last customers of the day. I had to get up and move around to see if she would be in a different position to be able to capture her face....but that really didn't help. Then I drank some Pediasure and that didn't do much either. Finally towards the end we got some decent shots of her face.....and once we finally saw her, it was just AMAZING!!! I was sooooo happy to see her. It was so cute because you could see her eating and then constantly grabbing on to the placenta (it looks like a blanket). When we saw her face, you immediately could tell she has my chubby cheeks.......she looks just like her mamma, don't you think?!!

Update on today's check-up

I saw my ob-gyn this morning for a check-up and all is going well. Baby's heartbeat is around 140 beats per minute and I'm measuring 30 weeks. Now that she's grown so big, she looks different through the ultrasound.....I caught a glimpse of her face, so cute!!! I asked my doctor for a picture but because she's big now and moves a lot, it's hard to get a good photo. No worries though, I just made an appointment for a 4D ultrasound tomorrow....I have no idea what the difference is between a 3D & 4D but anyhow, we'll be able to see her so much clearer, I can't wait!!! I don't have gestational diabetes so that was good news but I am a little anemic so now I have to up my iron dosage. No wonder there have been times I felt lightheaded.....and so tired all the time. I just thought it was because I was working a lot and just tired from a long day. Now you know what iron can do to you right? It can cause constipation so I'm not too thrilled about that! Oh well, if that's the worst of my pregnancy problems, I'm okay with that :) I know this is silly but I'm sharing with u a picture of this baby girl I saw on a website for Baby's R Us....she is just SOOOOO adorable and I thought, "my baby could look like this!" I kinda looked like her as a baby as u can see from the 2nd picture with my mom holding me......Siri would just have lighter hair and lighter eyes like this baby.

This is what I think Baby Siri might look like, hehehe!!

My mom and of course, Baby Lilly :)

Lilly at 29 weeks...76 days to go!

Baby Siri has sure been an active one lately....she's movin' and kickin' much more frequently. It's a great feeling though.....well, so far it is, I hear it becomes painful and annoying as the due date gets closer and the baby gets bigger. Right now I enjoy them :) I usually feel as I'm eating or right after I eat.....I guess she gets excited to get her nutrients!! I finally took a picture of myself.....so here it is, Mamma Lilly at 29 weeks. I didn't realize HOW big I was until I saw the picture. Charles just took it last night and from my profile, WOW, I look pretty darn big!!! My butt actually looks small compared to my belly, hahaha, that's a first. This past month has been filled with so many bodily changes, it's just crazy to me. Well I have my next doctor's appointment on Tuesday the 18th.....I hope this time I get some ultrasound pictures....it's been a couple months now. Probably next month we'll go get 3D ultrasound.....I can't wait to see what she looks like......I know baby features change but it'll still be exciting to see her face. Will she have a big nose and big cheeks like me or Charles sharp nose?!

Still doing well :)

Sorry I've haven't been updating this as frequently....but no worries, all is well with the happy parents-to-be and our little Siri. Yes, if you didn't know, we have chosen Siri as her name. My brother Nakia has suggested Siriya....and although I like it, we've gotten used to calling her Siri (the first 4 letters of my real name!). I also like Siriana....I think that's pretty too. But we'll see. We're still searching for a middle name though. Charles likes the name Charlize.....go figure! If it was going to be a boy, he wanted to name him Charles just like him. Well a couple Tuesdays ago I went for a doctor's visit and everything is going well. I didn't get ultrasound pics though so I don't have anything to share, sigh :( And with my poor memory, I can't remember what my doctor said about the baby's vitals......but all I know is, she's doing great! Oooooh, we finally went to register for baby stuff last weekend...wow, there's a lot of stuff to get (Thanks Larissa for sharing with me your extensive list of helpful baby items.....it was REALLY helpful)!! We mostly registered at Baby's R Us and got a then got a few things at Target as well. We didn't register for any furniture or bedding stuff because we're probably just going to get that ourselves. Right now we don't even have room for baby furniture until we move or until we clear out the guest room. Once we do though, I can't wait to start on Siri's nursery.....my thoughts on theme is pink, chocolate brown and polka dots! Can't wait!!!