Browse Month: March 2012

4 Months Later

On Friday I drove down to San Jose to visit Ishya (my cousin), Billy, and the twins who just turned 4 months.  It’s amazing how much they’ve grown since the first day I saw them.  When I arrived, they were finishing up a morning nap and then I helped feed them and played with them before going out to lunch. Thanks for sending me this photo, Ishya!!

All 5 of us piled into the car with Billy crammed in the middle of the two carseats in the back.  It was comical but seemed to work out.  Ishya and I grabbed lunch at Whole Foods while Billy had to take a work call.

The twins were in their stroller napping pretty much the whole time and we got to do some catching up in the sun.

After lunch, we headed back to the house and found both Grandmas already there.  Since I was going to be around for a little longer, we also called my uncle to come over.  It was nice to see them and they were just as excited to see me (and my belly).

Here are the twins up-close.  They took turns fussing this afternoon but had their moments to shine too.

This is Sadie.

And this is Theo.

Here are the rest of the photos.

Staying Busy

It’s been a couple days since I last posted and no, I didn’t have the baby yet.  I’ve just been out and about more than I had expected these past few days.

On Thursday, I went to work to take care of some payroll stuff and drop off some donated clothes while Ranee met me there to show off Baby Sophie.  Everyone took turns holding her and she was NOT having it after a while.  Poor Steph ended up with a crying Sophie who needed a diaper change.  Afterward we went out to lunch and did some catching up.

We went to our usual lunch spots including Bakesale Betty and Peet’s afterward.  After dropping Steph back off at the hospital, I went over to Rockridge Kids with Ranee to take a look around at the stuff they sell since I have a $25 gift card that I received in a raffle basket last November.  They’re stuff is so cute yet so expensive!  So, I decided to hold off on getting anything for now since I have all that I need for a newborn at the moment.

At the end of our little stroll, Sophie woke up from her really long nap and was all smiles again.  It was weird going back to the hospital but good to see everyone again.  I know it’s only been a week since I’ve gone on maternity leave but I really miss my friends already.

Little Details

As a part of my “nesting”, I ordered the Nikkor 40mm f/2.8 Micro Lens and it arrived yesterday!  I’ve been wanting to buy a lens for close-ups for a while but they’ve always been so expensive ($500 and up).  This new one just came out and it costed me less than $300!  AND they threw in a free polarizing lens too! Yay!  I’m hoping to get some close-up shots of Kumquat when she arrives and I think I’ll be able to capture every wrinkle in her tiny feet.  For now, I’ll have to practice on the dog.

Here are a couple sample photos I took yesterday and today.  It might take a little practice to get the focus area just right on my photos but it’s already doing more than my little Canon point-and-shoot can do.

37 Weeks

Kumquat is thriving and kicking and my contractions are getting stronger and more frequent.  In fact, during my Antenatal Testing this afternoon, I had a pretty strong contraction at the beginning.  That’s the big peak on the lower squiggly line on the paper. It’s not a real labor contraction but it was a good one and Kumquat handled it like it was nothing.  Good girl. She was also awake and kicking on her own this time around so she didn’t need to get buzzed like last time.

The nurse was also nice enough to let me take a video of the ultrasound.  I had it taken just for my mom since she’s been wanting to know what happens after every doctor’s appointment that I have.  It’s a quick scan but if you look carefully, you can see her little face.  And turn on your sound so you can hear the nurse narrating.

This is me on the exam chair.  I had to have the probes on my tummy for twenty minutes so I figured I could get a photo taken for the scrapbook.

Here’s Jes in his chair.  The hospital has free WiFi so he gets to surf during the boring part of the appointment.  I guess that’s when the Macbook Air comes in handy!

Life Without Cable

Back in January, we canceled our cable service.  It’s a little experiment that Jes has wanted to try for quite some time and so far it hasn’t been that bad.  I’ve always been the type of person who liked to turn the TV on for background noise so that was probably the only thing I had to get used to.  The silence in the house is really weird.  Not only do we have the TV off most of the day but the constant hum of the cable box is also missing.  Now I can hear everything that that goes on in the house and outside.  The neighbors upstairs walking in their shoes, the shower running in the next unit, and the occasional dump of ice in our freezer are new sounds that I didn’t know existed before.

So, how have I been keeping up with my favorite TV shows?  Well, first of all, we have AppleTV.  I buy all the episodes I want to watch at about $2.99 per episode.  If I want an entire season, it ranges between $30-60 depending on its popularity and demand.  Since we started this mid-season, the only full seasons that I’ve purchased are those that started after January: “Top Chef” and “MadMen”.  All others I’ve been just downloading individually.  It seems like a lot of money initially but our cable bill was almost $90/month.  We also have Netflix Streaming (under $10/month) and it plays on our TV as well.  We play both movies and old seasons of “How I Met Your Mother”, “Futurama”, “MadMen”, and “Arrested Development”.

I also use the free account on Hulu.  It’s useful for watching current network TV shows but you have to watch on your computer.  It’s the paid account, Hulu+, that allows you to stream to your TV but we have enough computers in the house that one can be used for watching shows while another is used for surfing at the same time.  Each show is on for about 8 days after the initial showing so if you have been keeping up, it’s actually a really inexpensive way to watch some of your favorites. I started watching the new season of “Dancing with the Stars” and some Food Network shows like “Giada at Home” and “Good Eats”.  Just yesterday, I got back into watching an old favorite of mine: “Days of Our Lives”.  Heh heh.  The farthest back episode aired on March 12th so I’ve got about 2 weeks of catching up to do, which is easy when you have an afternoon of nothing to do.  Yesterday, I watched 3 in a row while I tidied up the house.  What fun! I like this option for watching shows that aren’t really worth $2.99.

Now, the only bummer is that I haven’t been able to watch any sports or specials like the Academy Awards at home.  So, I’ve had to rely on my friend the Internet for tracking March Madness and how the Lakers are doing.  You can, however, buy a season pass for all the major sports teams.  I can’t remember how much a season costs but I know it’s an option.  I may also need to figure out how I’m going to watch the Summer Olympics.  I’m a sucker for the Olympics.

And what about the local news?  Well, I wasn’t much of a news watcher in the first place but the other day I discovered that there’s a live feed of the morning news on KTVU.com.  It’s just like watching the TV only it’s on your computer with the up-to-the-minute weather and traffic report.  Nice!

So there you have it.  I haven’t actually done the math to see if we’re spending more or less on television but it’s definitely given me a new perspective on my TV-watching habits.  Let’s just see what happens when my mom stays here with us for a month.  This roundabout way of watching TV might drive her nuts.

Crumb Catcher

This morning, we both woke up hungry since we skipped dinner the night before.  In fact, I found myself up at 3:30 this morning eating a peanut butter and jelly sammich.  Since we were up early enough, we went out for brunch at Plow.  It’s becoming one of my favorite brunch places.  This time I had the French Toast with kumquat and bananas and a side of sausage.  And yes, my breakfast came with bananas.  I think the whole combination and eating only the burnt banana pieces made it doable for me.  I also ordered the Meyer Lemon Tart for dessert and it was sooooo tart and yummy.

Anyway, when I sat down to eat, I placed the napkin on my lap as usual.  Then I looked down and realized it was completely useless since my baby bump was going to catch whatever falls before it has a fighting chance to get down to my lap.  So, Jes said to just place it on my tummy instead.  I felt pretty silly but it totally does the job.  I look like I’m wearing an apron.

On another note, after a long day of rain yesterday, the sky cleared and the sun came out.  I took this photo as I was walking the dog this afternoon.  Aaaah…a little Vitamin D feels so good.