Pregnancy Update- Week 32

Week 32 was a heckuva lot better than week 31. I'm still on bedrest- and so is Ted. I haven't had to take meds for my contractions in a week, I'm feeling great, and every day that goes by is a day closer to the "safety zone" for little girl being born. As you can see. Romeo is also doing his best to make the little one feel cozy in the belly-house for at least a couple more weeks!

Nesting is still in full-swing. Hubby has been very good at taking instructions and putting together the baby's room. We have the mattress now, so it'll be improving day by day. I can't wait for our big shower next weekend, as I'm anticipating getting some of the gear we need to really feel prepared for her big entrance. I'm also finding myself nesting in ways that don't involve physical labor for myself.... including calling the management of our complex to see if we can upgrade our flooring mid-lease. The idea of having laminate downstairs is VERY appealing.

Upcoming this week.... not a whole lot. I'm getting a haircut and a facial in a couple of days, which will hopefully make me feel a little bit more like a human, as opposed to the bump on a log feel I've got most days.

I Wanna Be a Foodie Review II- Kitchen Confidential

Okay, so I'm on bedrest, and I can't actually go out for great food, but I can read about it, right? I just finished Anthony Bourdain's book Kitchen Confidential. Let me start by saying that this guy is one messed up bastard. He's a foul-mouthed, chain-smoking, decorum-lacking, frigging genius. The stories he tells are of the "I can't believe he lived to tell it"variety. And I am totally fascinated by the man. I mean, this is a guy whose website features a video clip of him eating the still-beating heart of a cobra. He has a natural inclination toward storytelling, though, and the book was highly, highly enjoyable.

I've seen his show on the travel channel a few times, and have really enjoyed his guest blogs on the Top Chef website. A few months ago, I found a blog where he railed on every Food Network chef. It was entertainment of the highest and snarkiest form.

I don't feel it's right to share any of the details of the book, because it would ruin the fun of reading the book. If you loved the TV show, Kitchen Confidential you will love this book as well, and hopefully, like me, you'll end up putting Brasserie Les Halles on your top ten Must Eat restaurants.

Pregnancy Update Week 31

This has been an exciting one, folks. At my doc's appointment a week ago, we determined that my Braxton Hicks contractions were too close together for comfort. So, Dr. G pulled me out of work, which was a bit of a shock, but not too disappointing. Doc said to put my feet up most of the day, and to call in a couple of days if they didn't slow down. Well, they didn't. So, on Saturday, I called the on-call guy, who told me to come into the hospital to see him. I was strapped to monitors for 3 hours, given two shots of a drug to calm the contractions, then sent home with a prescription.

Don't jump to conclusions, now. I'm not in real labor. Women have Braxton Hicks contractions all the time. This is just "threatened labor."

At my doc's appointment today, Dr. G said that he'd say there's less than a 50% chance that this little girl is coming early, and that I'll start feeling better a week or so from now, when I realize that how I am feeling is the norm for me, and that every practice contraction isn't the real thing.

So, in the meantime, I'm bonding with my Tivo and my Netflix, doing a bit of reading, and doing my darndest not to go stir crazy. As long as things remain calm, hopefully, I'll have more time for the blogging.

An LA Landmark Gets Another Chance

So, the Queen Mary has been bought by a group of investors that are planning to add more hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues to the area, making it more of a "destination." The article didn't mention any refurbishment to the ship itself, but I have to hope that such work is included in the plans.

Hubby and I went to visit the ship last year, and were disappointed to find it mostly rundown, with horrible gift shops, etc. It looks like they haven't done any refurbishment, let alone maintenance in the 40 years the ship has been docked in Long Beach. I'm sure it was dazzling in its day, but now needs work. No customer is going to be willing to pay over $100 a night for a musty, small stateroom with peeling paint. The touring exhibit of artifacts recovered from the Titanic, however, was absolutely amazing. If it comes near your town, I highly recommend going. But I digress. It'll be great for the City if they can do some refurbishment and start bringing in some dollars to this gre

at piece of history again.

My parents spent their wedding night on the Queen Mary, and someday I'd love to stay onboard too – preferably when it doesn't so closely resemble a roach motel. And as long as they never make me go in the propeller room again. That place has some serious bad juju. It is the place on Earth that I am most frightened of. I didn't have a bad experience in there or anything, it just felt so wrong. Bad, bad juju. Karma don't lie, people. Look at this creepy picture!

A Sweet Treat in an Unfriendly Land

Bakersfield may not be the greatest place on Earth. There's not a lot there. But one thing that IS there is Dewar' s. This confectioner makes the best taffy chews ever. Because my mom and her sibs grew up out there, we generally have a few boxes around at the holidays. Here at work, one of the bigwigs makes an annual trip and brings each department a box. I think I destroyed our department's box in 72 hours. I especially like the peanut butter and almond flavors. Peppermint is good, as is the caramel. The chocolate caramel, I can take or leave. Y'all should really try this stuff.

Pregnancy Update- Week 30

And friggin falling apart..... Pardon me while I bitch and moan for a few minutes. I honestly had my first moments of "GET THIS THING OUT OF ME!" this week. Sleeping on my side has caused me to throw out my neck so that I get a searing pain if I turn it wrong, or particularly if I laugh. And I like to laugh. I've been sleeping on my back to try to relieve this, which has left me waking up totally out of breath each morning, because the baby is resting on my lungs.

I've also started to experience calf cramps the likes of which I didn't think existed. Yesterday, I was nearly screaming while trying to work it out.

For these ills, I have gotten a membership at Massage Envy, and taken advantage of my first massage. It was nice, but didn't do the trick. Tomorrow, I try the accupuncturist. Yes, me, the girl afraid of needles. Should be interesting to say the least.

My vision is also going downhill. Everything seems to be blurry these days. I'm getting that taken care of this week.

Braxton Hicks contractions are getting more frequent, some days nearly constant (2 an hour), and others just in reaction to doing too much or getting stressed out. We'll see what the doc has to say about that on Thursday. I can't say I'd be disappointed if he put me on medical leave. I'd just rather not be on total bedrest.

There were good parts to these last couple weeks as well. As hard as it is to get around now, I love my big belly, and love the connection I have with the little girl in it. I'm getting so excited about the things we're going to get to share with her- particularly books. Today I ordered her the Beatrix Potter anthology. Oh how I love Beatrix Potter. Oh, that reminds me.... I need to put Ms. Potter on my Netflix queue. But I digress, I can really feel Baby Girl each time she moves, Hubby has felt her a few more times now, we think there may be a name.... maybe.... and I started a Theater Glut that will last for the next 4 weeks. I saw Wicked with a friend on Thursday, we have tickets for next Sunday, and will be seeing Jersey Boys next Sunday, and have tickets for Avenue Q in early September. I figured we won't be getting out to the theater terribly often after the little one arrives, so find cheap tickets and do it now. Lucky for me, Hubby agrees. I just hope I keep this level of mobility. At least for a while.

The nesting instinct has also kicked in with a vengence. I spent yesterday out with Mom and got just about everything I need to create a baby's room. Art is on order, and linens will wait until after the showers (I'm certainly not going to spend the money if someone's going to buy it for me!) . Other than that, we'll start putting the room together this week. To the left is a picture of the empty crib.... it's about all she's got going on in her room for now. More pictures to come as I do some decoratin'.

Busy week coming up that will hopefully solve some of these issues. Like I said, Monday, I'll be going to the accupuncturist, Tuesday is the eye doc, Wednesday I meet the Pediatrician I've been referred to, Thursday I go see Dr. G for my 31 week appointment, and Saturday Hubby and I go for our Hospital Orientation. Lots of fun, but all things that will make me feel more in control of this whole situation.

P.S. On another happy note, Hubby just helped me figure out how to show my line breaks in my entries. This should make it easier for those of you out there that read this. All three or four of you.

I Wanna Be a Foodie Review I - craft

I don't know what happened to Hubby and I recently- maybe it's the hours of watching Food Network, Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Maybe it was the amazing gourmet meal we had in Hawaii. Maybe I'm just appreciating food more now that I'm "eating for two." Whatever it was, we've decided that we have a passion for simple, well cooked food. Food can be better than what you find at Friday's. And should be.

So, to celebrate our anniversary, Hubby and I took a drive down to Century City to visit craft , the newly opened Tom Colicchio restaurant. If you aren't familiar with this guy, he's a judge on Top Chef, and certainly not bad to look at. Bald-by-Choice is a brave look for a white dude. The location of this restaurant isn't ideal, at least not for those of us who don't work in the buildings immediately surrounding the restaurant. However, we were going on a busy Friday lunch hour, so I can't give it points off for that. The décor is simple and elegant, from what I could see. It was an ideal SoCal day, and we were seated out on the patio, so I didn't get a great view of the dining area. I can tell you, as a pregnant woman, that the restroom is lovely, and the stalls are spacious. A nice change from having to waddle in and straddle the bowl to get the door closed, as you have to in most public restrooms.

The menu looks to be changed often to incorporate fresh ingredients. Everything is ordered a la carte and is meant to be shared. I like that. A lot. Here's the rundown of our meal:

Hubby started with the Heirloom Tomato and Basil Seed salad, which he really enjoyed. We're both struggling a little to get over the "picky eater" syndrome of our childhood, and it did not escape our notice that the basil seeds were periwinkle blue and a little slimy, and that there was a small cube of clear jello-like something in the middle. Hubby said both were pretty tasteless, and that the flavor of the tomatoes was the real gem.

For the main course, Hubby had seared diver scallops that were like CANDY. Simply but perfectly, cooked in butter, they just peeled apart and were unbelievable. I had braised beef shortribs with root veggies. So tender, so flavorful. Probably would have tasted a little bit better had it been a cool, rainy day rather than 80 degrees and sunny, but that's not really important. We also shared a side of roasted assorted mushrooms. YUMM-AY. The dishes, served in individual sized cast iron pots, were just the right size to fill one person, and offer a taste to another. Two entrees and a side was more than enough for us, and I ended up taking home a little bit of the beef, and enjoyed it on a sandwich the next day. One small complaint- the food could have been a little warmer. We're assuming the heat level of our food was an anomaly.

Biggest downside for craft at lunch was the crowd. "Power players" from the surrounding offices peopled the joint, and we were unable to escape their inane chatter about how they just landed this huge deal. Coupled with the name dropping, it wore on our nerves, and perhaps caused us to rush, just ever so slightly through our Salty Chocolate Tart with Vanilla-something (nutty, coffee taste) Ice cream. Which was delish, by the way. Maybe the tart filling was a little too close to tasting like cake batter, but the juxtaposition with the salt was really interesting and yummy. Leave it to me to try the chocolate dessert. I couldn't bring myself to order the Olive Oil gelato. Yes. Olive Oil. I'm not that much of a foodie, yet. I would have ordered a glass of wine and two or three of the artisan cheeses on the menu if I weren't in such a delicate position. I've come this far, I can't cheat now….

All in all, I give craft high, but not ideal marks. I'm sure we'll be trying the food there again.

Going here is my next goal. Oh, and I want to try Sprinkles bakery. And go back to Enterprise Fish Co. for some amazing lobster bisque. And Lares for the best Mexican food in LA. Mmmm. Food.

Baby Einstein.... or Window Licker? (Hubby's Expression, not Mine, but funny just the same)

Hubby and I have already decided that TV is not going to be something that our baby will be exposed to all that often. Sure, it may be on to give mom something to do while feeding, cleaning, etc., but she's never going to be plopped in front of it as a babysitter. Turns out this instinct is right on.

A study by the University of Washington came out today saying that for every hour per day that babies (8 - 16 mo.) were shown "educational" videos, they knew 6 to 8 fewer words than their peers. Yowch. We're going to read to our baby. All the time. Reading is good. Books are to be worshiped/respected. TV, not so much. It's amazing. This same group had a study last year that showed that by 3 months old, 40% of babies are regular TV watchers and that by age 2, 90% of babies were watching TV 2-3 hours per day. 2-3 hours! This is appalling. When the TV is on in our house, it's only going to be Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers and Reading Rainbow, but it certainly won't be for 2 or 3 hours.

Will we resort to Baby Einstein or Baby TV every once in a while? Probably. I'm certainly not a Saint. It's not going to be a daily thing, though. No way!

In Case 8 Wasn't Enough... Try 9 More... And Counting!

Yes, it's true. Michelle Duggar, of Discovery Channel fame, has been pregnant for over 10 years of her life. She has a reprieve for now, having just given birth to her 17^th child. I just don't get it. Sure children are a gift, but if you want so many, why don't you spread the wealth and adopt a few from the 3^rd world. I think that an opinion writer for the San Francisco Chronicle put it best in a column written after the birth of the 16 ^th Duggar child: If God wanted you to have a massive pile of children, she'd have given your uterus a hydraulic pump and a revolving door. Stop it now.

My new mascot...

So, hubby returned from his weekend at Comic Con totally blissful, geeked out, and with a few new action figures in tow. Next time, I totally want to go with him. He even returned with a giftie for me. He tried for the Deathly Hallows tote bag, and for an Ugly Doll for baby girl, but both were sold out. No biggie. He brought me the C-4 Hamster. "What?' you may ask. Yes, indeed, I am now the proud owner of a small, plastic hamster, who carries an expression like he's just had enough and a load of C-4 on his back. He sits on my desk as a warning to those who may want to hassle the preggo. He may not be the most politically correct toy, but I love him. He makes me giggle uncontrollably.