Pumpkins, Needles, and Mexicans

OcToBeR FuN

First, 

Luis and I went to a pumpkin patch.

Despite careful planning, we got there too late at night and weren't able to pick our own pumpkin...lame.  So we had to content ourselves by pretending to pick our own pumpkin instead.  Yes, there were people walking by wondering what we were doing squatting in the middle of the picnic area.

Later, we carved our dear pumpkin.  Have you noticed Luis often gets this manic look in his eyes?  I have.  It's creepy!

Second,

Question:  What do you do when your final is over and you have an entire day off school?

Answer:  Go to your wife's 2 hour pregnancy glucose testing for moral support!

Yes, this appointment was scheduled to last 2 hours, and yes, I did convince Luis to come with me.  We actually had a TON of fun thanks to some smart planning by yours truly.  We started off with several rounds of Battleship (which we brought from home), much to the curious glances of the entire waiting room.  Next, we raced each other with some Halloween word searches and crosswords.

Then, we tried our hands at creating mazes for each other.  The difference between our creations was quite comical   Surprisingly, mine is the one on the right.  Luis's attempts are on the left.  I had to remind him that I'm not 3.

2 1/2 hours + 4 needles later we finally got to go.  

We ended our "date" with a trip to the not-so-local Cafe Rio.  It was yum yum YUM!

Third,

Speaking of food, check out my random Halloween-themed grub.  Next year, I plan to try even more throughout the month.

Spiderweb Pizza

Candy Corn Cookies

Witch Finger Pizza Sticks

Finally,

this month we had some Halloween parties to attend.

We've been thinking for months now about the perfect Halloween costumes, but since we couldn't think of anything, we just decided to be ourselves.

Despite my Hispanic roots, I've never had black hair.  For a more authentic look, we used black hair spray to get me some black hair.  WARNING:  BLACK HAIR SPRAY IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!  I like long, hot showers, but 45 minutes spent in black water is not my idea of a relaxing evening...not to mention having to spend another 15 minutes bleaching our stained tub.  

Pink Pink Pink

September 14 - ultrasound #1

Apparently there IS such a thing as too soon to break out the For the Strength of the Youth pamphlet.  Baby really took the message to heart and was extremely modest at our first ultrasound appointment.  The technician ended up giving us a 51% chance of the baby being a girl.  The best part was telling family members and hearing the "girl congratulations" flow... some family members not comprehending that 51% pretty much meant 50/50.

October 15 - ultrasound #2

Since insurance wouldn't pay for another ultrasound, I made an appointment at a nearby ultrasound school where appointments are free.  I was a bit nervous when we were handed a paper informing us the ultrasound would NOT be supervised by a medical professional; would NOT be verified by a teacher; and may NOT be performed by a student with any experience/knowledge.  However, as soon as 9:00 rolled around, an experienced professional took us back and conducted the ultrasound himself.  He was very kind, but spoke in a mumbled whisper, so I'm hoping the "It's a girl" I heard was in fact that particular phrase and not something else entirely.

I think I was shocked to have an actual gender associated with our baby because I kept repeating "GIRL GIRL GIRL" to myself for the rest of the day.

And already, the pink is flowing in...

Birthday Celebrations!

I am so spoiled!!!

In my childhood, I remember feeling sorry for mom and dad when their birthdays came around.  Their birthdays/gifts seemed so boring compared to my childhood ones.  Plus, they still had to do chores like cleaning, cooking, and going to work.  Blah!  Well, now I'm an adult, and although I did have some chores to do, AND I went to work, I thought my birthday was pretty much fabtastic!

My actual birthday is October 18th, but birthday celebrations began clear back on October 8th.  You see, Luis asked me what I wanted for my birthday as well as the dreaded question, "So what's my $ limit?"  All I really wanted was a rocking chair, and since it's something we were planning on buying anyways, I didn't feel bad asking for such an expensive present.  Luis didn't want to get me one because he said that was a present for baby, not for me.  I then tried convincing him to buy me one that is a little more expensive than the one we had picked out, and it worked!

We headed out to some furniture stores and ended up finding a super comfortable rocker/recliner for only $30 more than the chair we had picked out previously.

We bought it!!!

As soon as we set up my new chair, I turned to Luis and said, "Honey, I know we just spent a lot of money on my birthday present, but would you please get me something little to open up on my actual birthday?" What can I say, I'm greedy.  BUT, as I explained to Luis, we WERE going to buy a rocking chair anyways, and since we only spent $30 more than our original chair, technically, he had only spent $30 on my gift.  I think Luis liked that explanation.

A week later, I got my second birthday surprise when my friends, Brandi & Jen came bearing gifts and kidnapped me for the night.

We enjoyed a yumm-o Pizookie from BJ's restaurant and then played some good old Mini-Golf.  My kidnappers were very protective of me all night and wouldn't let me bend over.  Needless to say, I'm sure their backs were breaking by the end of the night.

 Finally, my actual birthday came around.  I was spoiled by phone calls, texts, online messages, visits from friends, birthday wishes at work, gifts, AND a study-free night from Luis.  Yay!!!

As promised, Luis got me a little surprise to open up...but unlike as promised, he bought me 3 little surprises to open instead of the specified ONE.  (Hey, I'm not complaining!)

After a birthday dinner of...what else...pizza, Luis brought out my adorable "Tangled" cake he planned and created all by himself.  He is sooooo creative!

As you can see, I am now 27 years old.  This is going to throw me off, seeing as how it took me 6 months last year to remember my age of 26.  With baby girl taking all my brain cells, this change is going to be tricky.

Happy birthday to me!

C.L.U.E. Night

Who doesn't love Clue?  It's one of those classic games that I loved as a child and I love as an adult.  So, when I saw this Clue Date Night idea, I knew I couldn't pass it up.

I started by making the invitations and sending them out.

Inside each "confidential" envelop, I put the actual invitation, 2 scanned Clue cards, and 2 weapons.  It was completely random, so I didn't even know what cards we would get until I opened up our envelop.

Each person had to dress like their character and bring their assigned weapon.  Admittedly, Luis and I were not as inspired as the other couples and they completely outshined us.  I didn't even have on red lipstick as any good Miss Scarlet would!

We began with a "fancy" dinner...I even got to pull out my china and borrow some linen napkins for the occasion.  Afterwards, we delved into solving the mystery behind who killed Mr. Body.

After a while, things started getting out of hand and it was hard to tell who the murderer was.

Even dear, sweet Lu turned on me.

Then again, there was a lot of that happening throughout the night.

 It took all the way until after cheesecake for Miss White to finally crack the case.

Thanks to the McGarys and Mohlmans for a hysterical night!

(Sorry I coughed on you all night.) 

• Special thanks to the Mohlmans for providing an extra dinning room chair (Luis is espcially grateful since he would have been the one without).
• Special thanks to the McGarys for bringing the linen napkins (dinner just wouldn't have been the same). 
• Special thanks to Jen for taking all the pictures AND creating amazing photo shop creations.

Pregnancy Stories

I hate to disappoint my following, but I don't feel like I have much to post.

Unbelievably, I have had several requests for new cankle shots.  I guess some of you have less to do than I thought.

I guess this is the part where I fill up the rest of my post with deep insight.  First, let me just say, that pregnancy is not really like I thought it would be.  I pretty much don't feel any different than I used to feel.  I suppose the main difference is that now I can pat, cradle, and look with fondness at my growing belly whereas that would have seemed strange pre-pregnancy.

I wish I could say that another difference is that I am more emotional than normal, but truthfully, Luis has seen me cry far too often for me to be able to blame it on pregnancy.  I did have an experience a couple of weeks ago that perhaps was elevated by my state.  I had just returned from grocery shopping and had my usual trunkload of plastic bags to haul upstairs.  It was an evil, hot, day and I was NOT looking forward to multiple trips up and down the stairs.  However, a hoarder's got to do what a hoarder's got to do.  I made trip one and returned to my car for round two.  Suddenly, a meter-reader man was by my side and said, "You're pregnant and shouldn't have to do this.  Let me help you!"  He then proceeded to carry the rest of my groceries up to my apartment.  I thanked him and as soon as I shut the door, started BAWLING... just because he was so nice.  It took me 30 minutes to calm down.

 And now, for a story about weight!
I had a regular check up with my OB recently...only my doctor was out of town, so I was seen by her partner (whom I dislike).  When I was called back, I could tell the nurse was in a hurry.  I stepped on the "professional" scale and she barely flicked the slider before jotting down a number.  Later, when the doctor came in, she disapprovingly told me I had gained 23 lbs so far in my pregnancy!  She gave me that condescending "you've been naughty" look as she informed me that I needed to watch what I ate.

Okay okay, so maybe my pride was hurt, but I truly thought they had made some sort of mistake.  I've been carefully monitoring my cankles and haven't seen much development.  It's not like I've been sitting around all day long eating Twinkies.  Okay, so maybe I did eat that piece of cheesecake last week.  And maybe I did accidentally eat three chocolate chip cookies before bed last night.  But those are rare occasions that don't flare up THAT often.

Anywho, yesterday I had a different appointment where I was, again, weighed.  This time, I was 12 lbs less than what the good doctor had said.  In fact, I was right on track with normal weight gain for a 23-week pregnancy.

Take that doctor!

Still, I prefer to weigh myself on my own scale, for I always end up weighing the least:)


(Pretty brave of me to put my number on here, don't ya think?)