Baby @ 31 weeks

30 weeks: 7 more weeks to go ’til Baby Cal will be a full-term baby. By then I’ll be praying “Lord -sana lumabas na siya di ko na kerry!!!”. I feel as if my tummy is all baby. I’ve gained 23 pounds dammit!!!! so much for my goal of 25 pounds all in all. He has been kicking everywhere especially my lungs. My breasts are sore (it grew again hurrah! mahigpit na bra ko eh) and I’m aching everywhere i.e. backache, bladder ache, rib ache, pekpek ache at kung ano-ano pa. Last Saturday, we bought a lot of onesies, 2 blankets, some cutie sweaters and overalls and very very small booties. I opened one sample diaper and I still could not imagine myself handling a baby. Huuuwwaaa, I feel I’m not ready yet! I’m not ready!!!! Yet I really really want “THE” day to come sooner. How confusing can I be? I’m having pre-baby jitters if there is such a thing.

Week 31: I bet Mommy feels like I’m trying to claw my way out! 6 more weeks ’til full term. Can’t wait! We now have a cutie fisherprice rainforest playard, this will double as his bassinet and crib. I figured this is more economical than a crib since babies usually outgrow it quickly. The playard plays 6 jungle mixed lullaby songs and the mobile toys are really cute! I can’t believe how expensive baby clothes are, already I have spent $100 for his clothing and its still not enough. The cheapest that I found so far were a set of 4 onesies for $5. Sus, kung nasa pinas lang ako, bibili ako sa divi no! Also, I’m pretty confused on whether I should buy NB size or 0-3 months. I bought more 0-3 months stuff anyway just so baby can use it longer. I’m not spending more than $50 on his clothes this weekend, so help me God! They are all so cute and those girly stuff? Like those cute pink sleeper or the cute flowery onesie, Yiek had to drag me out of there. LOL! I’m sick of blue!!! Also Yiek’s officemate gave us a Ralph Lauren sleeper, wow buti pa si baby sosyal!

Thanksgiving 2007

The long weekend past by so fast.

Thursday – Thanksgiving day was spent with my cousins. We went to NY to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade (only saw Charlie Brown because we came in late and there were too many people) and had lunch at a Filipino resto in Queens, NY. We didn’t get to enjoy our lunch because Yiek and I were so full from our Yoshinoya brunch.

The evening of thanksgiving had us trooping to Yiek’s company’s staffhouse where lechon was served. We then had a BINGO game where I almost won an ITouch. Dammit! Kala ko ba buntis swerte? Di pa rin ako nanalo sa mga raffles at ng kahit ano!!!!

We went home and perused all the blackfriday ads and decided to wake-up early 4:30 AM, to buy a video cam at BestBuy.

~~~
When Yiek saw how cheap the tv ads were Thursday morning, he was nagging me that he wants a 46″ inch LCD TV because they would never be that cheaper! When he learned that my cousin also bought one, he didn’t stop pestering me until we got home. He said we were the only one without an LCD tv, boohoo! (Di naman totoo na kami lang wala, gawa2 lang). We later realized that those deals were just some black propaganda. If you look at the prices of those tvs at amazon, you’ll find out that they are cheaper and they weren’t even deals for Thanksgiving. Yiek became obsessed with finding a perfect TV and can I just say that when he wants one he’s obssesive-compulsive about it. Who cares about clouding, dead pixels and built? Well, you care at some point but not to the point of being too OC about it. He declared that he wanted a SONY Bravia 46″ inch LCD TV, the most expensive LCD tv there is, compared to SAMSUNG, Panasonic, Toshiba etc. He reasoned that it’s going to last longer, the picture quality would be clearer (truth is for me all picture quality is comparable), built is excellent and would last longer. Oh c’mon, last longer? X years from now he’s going to want another one. He browses the forum for 4-6 hours a day, looks at the tv when we go to shops. This guy is obssesed! I tell you.

~~~

Anyway, I’m ranting so back to my Black Friday story. Black friday was dissapointing for me this year. I didn’t buy much, in fact the only thing I bought that were on early bird sale were 2 memory pillows and 2 cheap towels. We didn’t get the camcorder because we woke up at 7:00 am and all of those items were already gone by the time we got to the store. I also forgot to buy those dirt cheap dvd-r. I didn’t get to buy my vacuum. Why? Because we were too sigurista of a shopper. We don’t buy just because they are cheap, we buy because of online reviews and price (online vs. store). We woke up early to buy nothing! I was really, really disappointed that I took Amazon by storm and got addicted to online shopping. Oh well, maybe next year the deals would be better and I would have more fun . I’d surely wake up earlier (pramis) if I were to go home to Pinas next year. Shopping for pasalubong without care for online reviews should be fun. Lord, sana maaayos na papers namin para makauwi.

Baby Shower

Last night, Yiek’s friends gave me a baby shower. How cool is that?

We had lots of games such as “who sucks the best? -sucking coke/sprite from a bottle, “who feeds he fastest” – a team of two is blind folded, one of them feeds the other with yoghurt and “Fastest to change a diaper”. It was hilarious and fun!

After that they gave me lots of baby items, a travel system stroller, diaper disposal system, avent bottles, bottle rack dryer, bottle brush, avent sterilizer and a box of 96 pcs pampers. Woowee! Halos, complete na rin ako, kulang na lang mga damit, blanket at anu-anu pa which I will soon buy this Friday. Thank you! Thank you! I feel so blessed.

We’ve just finished with the stroller assembly and it took us an hour! I never knew a stroller could be that complicated. I tried lifting the car seat and without a baby its already working up my muscles. I kidded that it would take us an hour just to take baby home, because it is so damn complicated, i.e. fitting the car seat into the stroller, making sure that baby is properly belted etc. etc. We can only imagine how we’d look like on the way home! We’d probably call some nurses just to help us. LOL!

We are getting pretty excited, what with all the baby items that we’ve received and will soon buy. January/Feb seems so far away.

See pictures here.

Whew! I’m safe..

I’m safe from the lay-offs, I guess being pregnant has its advantages. Now, I can finally think of other things!

Last Tuesday we had our first LAMAZE session, there was one woman in there due in two weeks, heck! she can give birth anytime. I soo envy her. I’m getting antsy and I’m too excited to see this little kicker. Anyway, I got reprimanded by Yiek for giggling too often, I feel like a silly goose, breathing in and out while massaging my tummy. There was even one technique wherein we have to face each other and the partner will give instructions as to how many breaths I have to take.I jokingly said, if this were a true labor I’d be shouting “ah pisti ayaw ko diktari!”. I can only imagine how bitchy I will be.

We didn’t have a tour of the the delivery suites because there 10 mothers in labor at that time. It would have been nice to see the place, I read from their website that they have a really comfy suite. Unfortunately their Virtual Tour is not working so just read the description below. Di ba parang hotel?

“Our all-private Mother/Baby suites have been designed to create a comfortable, “homelike” setting for our families. Each suite has been carefully designed with a décor of rich woods, new furnishings, soothing colors and subtle lighting. This design allows new moms, dads, siblings — and the entire family — to enjoy their time with the new arrival in a warm, cozy setting.

Each suite features a pull-out bed for overnight guests, a comfortable rocking chair for mom, an all-tile, beautifully appointed private bath with shower and hairdryer, TV, VCR, DVD, and high-speed internet access in every room. Our suites also afford mom the opportunity to have her baby with her at all times. All suites are equipped with the latest security and monitoring technology to ensure the security and health of mother, baby, and family.”

Anyway hiway, next week is going to be a short week. Just 2 1/2 days of work.. woohoo!!! We will be spending Thanksgiving day with my cousins to watch Macy’s Thanksgiving parade in NY and then have dinner with Yiek’s company mates (kasi iba iba sila ng client so di considered officemates) sponsored by Yiek’s company (Hello lechon and other pinoy foods!). Friday we will be up early for the sale! I haven’t listed the items that I want yet, I have yet to see the brochures this Sunday. This is one good thing when subscribing to Sunday’s paper, getting coupons, ads for the week and a lot of trash too! In fact I don’t even read the newspaper, I directly attack the brochures and coupons. LOL! This Sunday is going to be extra special, I can finally list my wants and needs. Mabibili ko na rin ang gusto kung vacuum! Nesting instinct na ba ito? Ilang beses ko na napapaginipan ang vacuum eh! I’m also excited to buy little boy’s layette, clothes and drawer.

Lay-offs (an update)

This has been one nerve wracking morning, a few minutes after I came in, my seatmate was packing his stuff along wtih one dba and one project leader. Around 11:00 AM, three more people were let go. Of the 8 people here in my area, there are only 3 of us left. One of them even celebrates his birthday today. What a cruel, cruel gift.

Its not over yet. Just to ready myself, I’ve searched over the net and asked my colleague if it would be possible to extend my insurance. It seems we are registered in COBRA, a way for us to extend our coverage.

I know this for a fact, if I weren’t pregnant then I would be the first one to go. Which makes it unfair for the others. It makes me feel guilty because I know those guys know more about this company than I do, heck they’ve been here longer that I am. They are much more involved in project work than I am. They know the framework more than I do. I am guilty but relieved because it would save me from the heartache of trying to make our ends meet.

But as I was saying its not over yet and I may have to pack my stuff maybe not today but on the days on come.

Baby @ 28 weeks

Week 21: Officially 5 months today. 19 more weeks to go! My clothes do not fit anymore! I look like a butiti, arg! So far so good, I’m on target with my weight. We also purchased baby’s first toy, a prenatal educational system BabyPlus, expensivo but we figured we can still use it for baby #2 (4 years later pa naman). If its claims are true then the cost outweigh the benefits. Its sound is pretty loud like a hearbeat beating and baby likes it so much, he kicks often when he hears it, Mommy though gets sleepy LOL!.

Week 23:
I’m worried that our baby is growing too fast and too big! It seemed to grow overnight and I’m still on my 5th month! I got peeved when someone told me that my tummy is big, dammit ikaw na lang pagbuntis! So no more twix, no more cheesecakes and no rice please! This Mommy-to-be is on a diet.

Week 24:
Baby ticker note: I’m getting my cute baby fat. I guess Mommy’s finally decided to share the wealth. I figured, I better start saving those cute ticker notes. I’m having leg cramps and my oh my baby kicks everywhere my ass, my flower, my belly button everywhere! If I really look at my tummy while his kicking, I can see some sort of wave like movement and my tummy gets lopsided when baby shifts his position. Yiek is having fun disturbing baby boy from his sleep, he nudges my tummy and gets really excited when baby responds with a kick. Sometimes the kicks can really get distracting especially if its kicking my bladder!

Week 25: Baby ticker note: My ears are much more sensitive this week. So would you mind keep it down out there !?!. Some of us are trying to grow. Officially 6 months today! The wait is killing me! I want to see our baby now pronto! I’m excited about the delivery, this bitch is weird, whoever gets excited about THE pain. I am now dead set on having an epidural, why suffer for goodness sake! The memory thing, they said that happens with general anesthesia so I guess epidural is ok. My joints hurt a lot, I get leg cramps easily and I am becoming too limited with my movements. I can’t bend like I use to, I need to get down on my knees, I can however try to bend the standard way but I get tummy cramps I’d rather not risk those cramps.

Week 26: Now that my eyes can open, I’m already rolling them to prep for my teenage years. Nothing much to update except that I’m getting HUGE day by day and I mean HUGE! Me thinks I’m bigger than I’m suppose to be *hikbi*. So far I’ve gained 18 pounds and I’ve maintained it for the last 2 weeks. Halloween tomorrow, I’m not donning a costume(spoil sport) even though there are prizes at stake here at the office, maybe a witch hat will do. Appropriate I think, Yiek thinks I’m becoming more of a witch these past few days, baby is the tiyanak and hubby well, he does not need a costume as he already looks like an alien. LOL!
Week 28: Yay! Now I’ve got more brain cells that Paris and Nicky Hilton put together. 2+ more freakin’ months to go or less if I go to labor by 37th week. I’ve been feeling TIRED, my hips are aching, my back is aching and if I stand for more than 10 minutes, I feel like my legs can’t take the pressure so I get cramps. It is getting harder and harder to bend, ack! I cramped my back yesterday while trying to wear my boots. Also, my gums are also bleeding every time I brush my teeth, Pregnancy Gingivitis.

Tonight, we will have our first session of Labor lecture (Lamaze), this will be funny. I’m sure Yiek and I will be giggling all the time while practicing how to breath. This week will also be my glucose test, so I will be fasting for 12 hours (I will be hungry as hell). It sort of smacked me on the face that I’m already on my 3rd trimester and it got me worried that I might deliver early with still no baby items to boot, so I’ll be buying baby Cal’s first layette this Thanksgiving, I’ll try to include some mittens, onesies and a receiving blanket too. My nickname na ako hehehe!! sekwet muna kung ano ang full name.

The uncertainty of the future..

*Warning this is a pity-me post*

As most of you know U.S. economy is doing pretty bad these days, the dollar is performing low which means that the peso to dollar exchange rate is getting lesser and lesser. We still have a lot of bills to pay back home (our numerous insurance and condo) and it hurts every time I have to up the value of money I have to send.

Because of the bad economy, financial companies were being hit and that would mean laying off a couple of people. Yiek’s client is a big financial company and 300 people were let off 2 weeks ago, thankfully he wasn’t one of them. Now, I initially thought our company is safe since it’s a semi-financial company but I heard from the grapevine last Friday that they were going to do a reorganization and well, some people would have to be let go.

An officemate told me I was safe because I was pregnant, they would be afraid of me suing them but I searched the net today and that isn’t always the case. If the company were really cutting back and my being laid-off was not because I’m pregnant then I don’t have a very strong case to take legal actions. In fact, I don’t think I can win at all.

I think my job is in peril, One: I am the newest developer and they haven’t hired a new one ever since, Two: I don’t have a fix project, I keep getting random tasks just so I have something to do and Three: we are a company (at least this office) of less than 50 employees so the chance is pretty high! This is the worst time to be out of job because I’d lose my insurance coverage, I’d lose my NJ Disability benefits and I don’t want to think about the financial impact it will have on us. I can’t very well apply for a new job because I am on my 7th month what company will take me? I can however try to work in department stores and supermarkets since they are hiring for the holiday season but still the salary that I’ll be getting will be very meager.

I’m just hoping that the heavens above will take pity on us, please wait until the baby is born and then we will be ok.

Drinking Sessions

I was browsing pictures through VPAL’s facebook account and I noticed a lot of tipsy/drank pictures of us in there. Damn! I do a LOT of things when I’m drank. What’s weird is when I get tipsy or drank with Yiek, I’m boring as a cow. All I do is sleep! The pictures were hilarious and I’m glad Ria kept some of those nakakahiya pictures to herself hehe. I’ll post the link here once the facebook account has been opened for public viewing.

I figured that I usurp my drinkmate’s vibes, so that would mean that Yiek is a boring drinking companion. LOL! If  my drink mate is madaldal and makulit then I’d also be that even more.

I got drank for the first time ever during an evening out by the beach. I was with my officemates from my first ever company straight out from college. I got so pissed with Yiek at that time that I took a swig of two regular glasses of tequila without salt and lime at that. I even tried smoking! I was so drank that I can only remember bits of what I did which was all silly, me tripping over nothing, saying bye-bye 100x and of course hanging out at the bathroom to puke. I usually drink a lot when I’m pissed off, so Yiek should have learned his lesson never to piss me off. LOL!

When I transferred to another company there were lot of B.I.’s there, so we also did a few drinking session. I remember swinging on some stairs, lying straight face to Yiek(talking on the phone) that I was only drinking coke and dancing the grind with William where I couldn’t care a hoot over what I was doing.

It has been a long time since I last had my glass of alcohol and even then it wasn’t as much fun as before, I’ve somehow mellowed and just do nothing but sleep. BORING! Pwede next na get together may inuman session?

What a stressful week!

I’ve been crazy busy this week, 2 projects and too many people to report to stressed me out a lot. What’s worse is that I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing, I’ve never done VBScript before and I’ve never evaluated a network performance so it doubled my stress. I had to go home past 7:00PM because we can only start testing at 5:00 PM (off hours), I even brought some of my work at home. Geez! I had numerous braxton hicks(painless contractions) this week because I was soo stressed!

I still have a lot of things to do but its Friday and I want to blog even though its really senseless.

Can I just say, congratulations to my friend Lenny Ting! She is 6 weeks pregnant and am sure her baby is going to be a real cutie, pano ba naman pure español ang Daddy! If its a girl, may boy ako dito!!! LOL!

A friend was asking how may more months do I have left and I said 3 months+. While I was driving to my office, I calculated my due date and its 88 days more to go or less if I go to labor early. That’s like 2 months++! Wow! So near yet so far….I’m not yet emotionally ready! It will just be the two of us for a month or two before help comes. I can just imagine my post partum blues..I know I’ll be a wreck and a complete biatch so watch out husband dear hehe!

Next month my Mom’s gonna have her visa interview and I hope it gets approved. Kahit na 2 months lang siya dito, I still need my Mommy!

I have yet to do my baby shopping, I have eyed a cutie chest from Ikea which I hope goes on sale before the year ends. I’m delaying my shopping ’til the end of this year because I know there will be a lot of clearance sales, so a few savings would be heaven to our pockets. Baby wag kang premature ha! Wala ka pang gamit. Gosh! babies can be expensivo and this one is wrecking havoc to our budget. Already, the list of items to buy are giving me a headache. I’m not a branded person and I always go for the cheaper brands, this time I found out that I am the opposite with what I want for our baby i.e. I have to use Avent bottles, Graco strollers, baby einstein items etc. Where as I can scrimp for Yiek and myself, I found myself wanting to buy lots of items for our little one. So this is what they say when babies change you and I’m only 5% there. LOL!

The weekend that was

Can I just say that I’m tired from my weekend? I am seriously energy drained and most of all money-drained.

We woke up really really early last Saturday, 6:00 AM!!!! I didn’t have enough sleep because of stuffy nose, frequent rest room visits and difficulty in finding a comfy position. I was seriously thinking of bailing out but hell, we have promised Nikki and Pipo that we’d drive them there so off we went. Know where we are going? If Georgia is going to London to visit the queen then we are going on a 2 hour++ drive to Connecticut to participate in Swiss Army’s yearly factory sale.

We were four cars in all, 2 vans and 2 sedans, trouping to Connecticut. All bisdaks and in one way or another connected to NEC. We arrive at 9:30 and it was so friggin’ cold!!!! The weather was around 10 degrees but due to wind gust it felt like it was around 4 deg. My hands and ears were freezing and I took refuge inside the building while the boys were lining up. I conveniently forgot my camera so sorry no pictures!

It took more than an hour for us to get inside the school sponsoring the event as they were controlling crowds. At first I thought that I wouldn’t buy much because all I know is that Swiss Army product only sells Swiss knifes hehehe, how ignorant! Yiek the shopaholic was picking items here and there, before I know it our first bag is full and we had to get another one. Can I just say that when they say SALE they really meant it. Yiek got a 325 worth of Bubble Winter Jacket for $79, some dress shirts for 200-300 for 19.99, shirts worth 80+ for 9.99, a jacket for me which I can’t wear this year (dammit) for 39.99 (325 worth), fitting shirts and two watches for pasalubong. Of course, we also got a utility swiss knife for 12 bucks (Swiss Army=swiss knife), I can’t exactly remember the retail price. There was a trench coat which feels so heavenly and fits quite nicely too priced at 450 (original price 2999) but me thinks its just too much for a coat even if it was slashed down. Our credit card was burning and I didn’t want to look at our bill after it was swiped (Blind eye na lang!).

After that, we trooped at the parking lot and ate adobo, kinilaw, embutido, bicho-bicho and cochinta, cowboy style. Went to someone else’s house and there we stayed until 10:30 am talking anything under the sun, mostly about having babies and how difficult it is to care for a child here in U.S. So adult now eh?

We were so sleep deprived that we immediately slept. Sunday was the end of Daylight Savings Time (DST) and I had to adjust our watches to +1 hour. I then demanded that we go to the mall since I wasn’t really able to buy much the day before, I got irked when the blouse I bought 3 weeks ago was on sale for 4.57 bucks. Oh well! Ganon talaga. Bought 4 maternity blouses at 4.57 each and promised to myself that those would be the last since its 3 months away anyway.

Bought some home/cleaning items at walmart, a 6.5 Pre-lit Christmas tree and some balls. This is our first tree ever in our almost 3 years of marriage so I was really really excited to assemble the tree. It still lacked some embelishments, I’ll buy more decors this coming weekend and a Christmas sock too for baby and me, nevermind the daddy.

No more spending! Susme, I got reminded by my mother that I have tons of insurance to pay for. The 1k that I sent was not enough. What’s worse is that the dollar is going DOWN!

Its almost Thanksgiving and I need more funds!!! Wala kasing 13th month pay and bonus dito, kainis! Mag part time kaya ako sa Macy’s as cashier?