Was that who I think it was?

I think I saw Andrew Firestone while I was browsing in Cost Plus World Market today- his family's vineyard is only a couple hours north of here, so it just may very well have been him. You never know who you might see when you're in Westlake Village!

Ultrasound #4

This evening I had my 4th and last ultrasound. And yes, she is still a girl! We've made sure to confirm that at the last 3 ultrasounds- especially since the nursery is 95% finished and very pink and green. Pictures will come, but I still have to pull it all together.

All is good, Baby Michel is in a head down position and I was told that she will stay this way since there is no more room in the womb for her to move around. Her stomach, kidneys and heart all looked good. Her heart rate was about 142.

My OB said that Carl, the ultrasound technician, has about a 95% accuracy rate when it comes to guessing the birth weight. Based on her measurements tonight, he said if she comes on time she will be somewhere between 7-8 pounds. I'm hoping for closer to 7 pounds for the obvious reason!

Now that her kicks are more pronounced, it was fun to point to a spot on my tummy and ask him what it was. I have been feeling a lot of movement up under my right ribs. He put the ultrasound wand over that spot and sure enough it was a foot! I have been feeling a dull, achy feeling at the very base of my tummy and sure enough it's her head (which is sitting on my bladder!). Her hands still move around a lot at this point, so sometimes I'll feel a sharp kick in my ribs and at the same time a dull thud down low. This is her kicking with her feet and punching with her hands. Funny, but I don't remember enrolling her in kickboxing :)

I go back next week for my 36 week appointment. I have a funny feeling this next month is going to go by very quickly. And not that I'm superstitious or anything, but I find it very coincidental that recently I've had 3 girlfriends deliver their babies on July 24th, November 24th, and December 24th! I've told Franz that we will have the nursery in order, the car seat installed in the car, mine and baby's hospital bags packed and in the car by January 24th- just in case!!!

New things I've learned

I've been trying to come up with a new topic to write about, but haven't really thought any of my ideas were all that interesting. Plus, it's been pretty busy the past week as we have been getting ready for Christmas. I hope you all had a merry Christmas!

Tonight I was reflecting about the past 8 months, and I realized that being pregnant has made me discover new things about myself that otherwise I never would have known. Here are just a few:

I have discovered a love for flat shoes! Normally during this time of year, I like to wear "dressier" shoes or boots with some kind of heel. I'm not a high heels kind of gal, but I think that a little heel makes me look super tall. For some reason, I've always thought that flat shoes made me look 'frumpy'. It only took about 3 leg cramps in the middle of the night to realize that there was no way I was going to put on any shoe with a heel again- until after Baby Michel is born! And guess what, there are super cute flat shoes that aren't frumpy looking at all! I'll probably continue on with this look even after she's born- I feel so liberated!

Now, eventhough I like wearing dressier shoes with a heel, it has always created a problem for me. I'm 5'-8" and most "tall" sizes that the stores carry aren't really tall enough for me. Which means that every year I spend lots of time trying on pants that aren't long enough. I order tall length styles online, but the choices are limited. I always wished that I could just go into a store and buy a pair of pants right off the rack! Now that I have found my love for flat shoes, I have been able to buy quite a few pairs of pants in the store, and they are just the right length!

I don't know if there's ever been a time when I've gone somewhere and haven't thought about taking a jacket with me. I'm usually cold most of the time. During the summer, the air conditioning is always too cold (restaurants are the worst). During the winter, I can never seem to get warm enough. However, with these extra 30 pounds or so I've gained, I'm warm most of the time now! When I'm out in public, I've been paying attention to how much (or how little) clothing people have on- and I'm usually about the same. For once, I don't feel abnormal!

And lastly, sometimes you just have to settle for "good enough". With my waistline expanding outward by the second, I've realized that the house isn't going to be spotless, stuff will stay on the floor that I normally would bend over to pick up. Sleeping comfortably and soundly is a luxury- if I get 4 hours of sleep at one time instead of the 8 or 9 I was used to getting- I am thankful. I'm pretty sure this will continue to be the case for quite awhile so I better get used to it!

I'm sure there are quite a few more things I've discovered, but it's 8:30 and I'm pooped. I think I'm going to go watch some mindless tv with Franz and then head to bed.

It snowed!!!

This week we've had some rain, which I won't complain about because we need it. Our hills are still brown, and usually by now they are at least starting to turn green. Once they turn green, they are gorgeous! But it is usually short-lived and before we know it we are back to the brown.

The past two nights have been especially cold- Franz said the thermometer in his car said it was 40 degrees! That's really cold to us Californians. I know it's cold when I can see my breath and last night was one of those nights.

This morning I went into our living room and pulled back the curtains. I could hardly believe my eyes!!! We got "snow" last night :)

I patiently waited until Franz got up a few minutes later, and when he came into the room I said excitedly "Look honey, it snowed last night!" He sauntered over to the window, looked outside, scratched his head, turned back around and just looked at me. I could tell he was less than amused at this California girls idea of "snow". He said "Jen, that's not snow, that's frost." Now, I maybe a native Californian, but I know the difference between snow and frost. I just wanted to get a rise out of him and I knew my snow comment would do the trick!

Franz grew up in upstate New York. From what I hear, the winters there are miserable and unbearable. Our winters here are nothing compared to what he has seen and experienced. When I hear his stories of frosty eyelashes, temperatures below zero, wind chill factor and frozen boogers I know we have it pretty good here!

How many of you will have a White Christmas this year? To all of you I say, I don't know how you do it!

Food, food and more food!

Wow, this weekend was a preggo's delight! I had my 32 week routine check-up appointment last week, and to my ecstatic surprise I had only gained 2 pounds since my last visit a month ago!!! I decided to reward myself on the way back to the office with a burger and some fries from Burger King- tasty!

Saturday for the most part was spent doing chores around the house. There was a ton of laundry to do, vacuuming, dusting, windexing, cleaning the kitchen- it seemed neverending. The other task I wanted to get accomplished this weekend was putting together the crib. I realized something as I was putting it together. As a child, I loved legos- I was always playing with my legos and building something really cool. Not to toot my own horn, but I was really good at following the picture instructions for whatever cool thing I was building. I guess because I'm right-brained my mind just works that way. Fast forward about 25 years or so, and here I am sitting on the floor of the nursery with all the crib parts laying around me and nothing but picture instructions to follow to put the thing together! I had flashbacks from my childhood of putting together this lego remote controlled 18 wheeler semi-truck.

That afternoon, Franz and I met up with my parents for lunch because they were in the area. They went to the "Grandparent Orientation" class offered by the hospital. It's a refresher course so to speak, they said it was excellent and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They remarked at how things have changed so much since Kim and I were born. We all wanted a light lunch so we decided on Panera Bread. The best part about Panera during the winter is their combos- a bowl of soup and half a sandwich. Their soups are the best, I think I've tried almost all of them. I settled for a bowl of tortilla soup and half a smoked sierra turkey sandwich. At least I chose the apple for my "side" instead of the potato chips. After chatting with mom and dad for awhile and catching up on things we decided to head out. Franz was standing outside talking to my dad when he realized I wasn't with them. That's because I was still inside in line getting a chocolate chip muffie to go! Have any of you tried their muffie's? It's basically the fluffy top of a muffin minus the cakey bottom. Sooooo yummy, and lightly dusted in powdered sugar.

Later that night, I knew we'd have to figure something out for dinner. But by then I was pooped, and the last thing I wanted to do was dirty up dishes in my clean kitchen and cook! Baby Michel was craving some fresh vegetables, so I dragged Franz to Souplantation. He doesn't love this place for a couple of reasons. First being, I think it kind of grosses him out- all the germs and cooties and stuff from everyone touching everything. That bothers me too, but I try and just block that part out of my mind and convince myself everyone else is just as clean as I am. Secondly, it's not a place most guys generally like because there isn't any meat! It's hard for them to feel full on just salads, soups and breads. But my very loving husband indulged me.

After my salad, I had a small piece of foccacia pizza, a small bowl of their festive holiday stuffing, one small blueberry muffin, one small apple-cinnamon muffin, and then for dessert I had some of their special cranberry-apple cobbler with some frozen yogurt on the side! Franz's comment was "that was a lot of dessert"! I had to force myself to pass on the chocolate brownie muffin on our way out, it looked really yummy.

Then last night my dinner group, the Gourmands, came out our way. For those of you who don't know about the Gourmands, it's a group of 4 of us that have been meeting about once a month since 2002 to try out new restaurants in town. We take turns choosing the restaurant and the rules are simple. You can't pick a restaurant you've ever been to before, and if someone picks a restaurant you've been to, you have to order something you've never tried there before. It has been a great way to broaden our palette and try out some of the smaller local, independently owned restaurants. We keep a journal and write down what each person ordered, a few observations about our meal and then score our meal between 1-10. Anyways, it was my turn to choose the restaurant so I chose Wolfgang Puck's LA Bistro. The prices were reasonable and the food was pretty decent. At least that was the overall general concensus of the group. I played it safe and ordered the margherita pizza, and of course finished the whole thing.

This week I will be continuing on with the food theme as my office party is on Thursday evening at Musashi's. In addition, one of our vendors from work is also taking us all out to dinner on Saturday evening to the Bistro Garden in the valley.

My next doctors appointment is on Christmas Eve, so I'm anxious to see how all this eating out will affect things! Oh yeah, I forgot to add that Carl's Jr. has new handmade shakes made with real ice cream! I stopped yesterday on my way to Target for one of those too :)

It's December 12th already...

Where are all the Christmas cards? Franz and I are starting to feel like pathetic losers. Every day I rush home from work and the first thing I do is check the mailbox for cards. Nope, no cards- only catalogs and bills.

Is anyone sending Christmas cards this year? Our wall of cards needs some help!

By the way

For those of you who read my blog and would like to post a message- feel free! You don't have to sign up for a google account, just post using the "Anonymous" option and sign your name at the end of the message. Then I'll know if anyone (besides the few regulars) actually reads my posts or if I'm just talking to myself...

We have a tree!

I have lived on my own for about 11 years now, give or take a few years. Some of these years I had a roommate, others I lived by myself. The last time I had a Christmas tree was with my very first roommate- so almost 11 years ago! She loved decorating for the holidays- any holiday would do! Our apartment was always decorated depending on the holiday. Eventhough none of the decorations were mine, it was still nice coming home to the sight and smell of a freshly cut Christmas tree.

I guess I never wanted to go to the trouble of going to a tree lot, picking out a tree, buying all the lights and ornaments and then going home by myself to decorate it. It just seemed like a lot of work for one person. But I would always wonder if the next year would be the year that I would have a tree again.

Franz and I didn't "do" Christmas at our house the first year we were married because it was only a month after we got back from our honeymoon and our place was still a mess from me moving in and with all the wedding gifts, etc. Last year we skipped it as well because it seemed like the holidays snuck up on us and we ran out of time. So this year I was determined to have Christmas at our place.

I've been prepping Franz for a few weeks now about getting a tree. I'm not sure he knew whether I was being serious, or just pulling his leg for fun to get a rise out of him. I told him Saturday was the day, we were getting our tree. I figured we would just go to Lowe's or Home Depot, it's the easiest most convenient way to get a tree. But sadly, there is no "experience" to remember if you go to Lowe's or Home Depot, and being this is our first Christmas at our place together, I wanted the "experience". Franz likes to support the local guys, the mom and pop stores, anything other than big box stores. So he got online and found a local farm near our house and off we went. As soon as we parked the car and opened the doors, we were enveloped with the fragrance of fresh trees. We took in a few deep breaths and trotted off towards the lot.

At this particular lot, you have two options- either pick from one of the pre-cut trees right out in front, or grab a saw and a cart and hike up the hill to choose your very own tree that you cut down yourself. Any tree under 10 feet was the same price, so that made it easy and the price wasn't bad! I was so excited, this was just the 'experience' I was looking for! We figured we would walk up the hill and check it out before we hauled the cart and saw all the way up. I changed my mind a couple of times, but in the end we found the perfect tree. Here's a picture of Franz standing next to "the one".

And here he is cutting it down. I felt a little sad at cutting down a real tree, but I noticed that everywhere a tree was missing, a new one had been planted. And not all the trees are cut down each year. Some were very tall and had been growing for quite awhile. Others were still small and will have a few more years before they are ready.

Now it was back down the hill. Shake it, bag it, load it and pay!

We got it home and put it in its stand and filled it with water. I turned on KOST FM (I know, gag me, but at least they are playing Christmas music) and hung the lights and ornaments. It's weird to think that all these "firsts" for Franz and I are the beginning of traditions that we will pass along to this little one I am carrying. Next year we will most likely go back to the same tree lot, hike up that hill and cut down another "perfect tree", only this time we'll have a 10 month old in tow.

I wanted to get a picture of the tree how we see it at night, when the rest of the lights in the room are off and it's just the glow of the tree that illuminates the room- it's very peaceful and just so beautiful. But, I don't think my Canon point and shoot can do that. I tried turning the flash off, only to end up with blury pictures. So, I guess this is the best I can do. It really is very pretty at night and it smells so good everytime we come home and walk through the front door. I can't wait until it gets dark now so we can turn on its lights and enjoy our first tree together.

Thanksgiving- just a tad overdue

I've been wanting to post about our Thanksgiving week, but I keep forgetting to bring my digital camera to work with me where it's easier to upload photos to the blog. So today I finally remembered!

This year we had a very special treat- two of Franz's relatives, his cousin Sara and her oldest daughter Megan come for a visit all the way from Rochester, NY. The last time Sara came for a visit Franz was single and still living in Marina Del Rey, I'm guessing it has been about 5 years or so! Megan had never been to California, until now. The other two members of their family, Steve (husband/dad) and Jonna (youngest daughter) came out for our wedding two years ago.

We picked Sara and Megan up from LAX on Monday evening and took them home via PCH through Malibu. Eventhough it was dark and we couldn't see the ocean, it gave Sara and Megan a chance to see another side of Malibu. The restaurants, the clubs, the homes along the waters edge, etc. Of course there was no traffic at that time of night so it was hard to describe how crazy it gets during the summer months along that stretch of highway.

Tuesday morning they picked up a rental car and I showed them where the Trader Jo's was near our house. Megan is following a vegan diet and wanted to stock up on food items to snack on throughout the week. After that they went to the Regan Library in Simi Valley where they got to see and go on board the Air Force One plane Regan used during his years in office. This is something we have yet to do and we are only 5 minutes away! That evening I made vegan pasta fagioli for dinner and we stayed up chatting away.

Wednesday they went to the Getty Museum- we never tell out of town guests that inorder to get there they have to take the busiest freeway in the country, the dreaded 405. But- to be fair, they weren't having to drive the 405 during rush hour traffic, that would just be plain cruel. We knew they'd be okay at the time they were going. They had a great time there and by the time they got back to our place Franz and I had gotten home from work and we were all off to dinner at Buca di Bepo, treated by Sara and Megan. The portion sizes are huge here, so there was plenty to go around.

Thursday we slept in, packed a picnic lunch and headed to where else? The beach! This time of year is freezing in Rochester, we had to show off a little bit for Sara and Megan. We headed up the freeway and stopped off at Franz's two offices. They had never seen his offices before, so it was fun for them to see where 'uncle Koz' works. We continued on up the freeway and pulled off at Rincon Beach, or the Hippie Beach as Franz and I like to call it. During the summer months, this place is packed. People bring their dogs and let them run free on the beach. This beach also seems to get a lot of driftwood, so people are always building these weird teepees or forts, that's how we got the name Hippie Beach. We had our picnic lunch overlooking the ocean and then it was down the path to the water. Sara, Megan and Franz meandered down the beach for a half hour or so while I stayed back. Actually, I took a quick catnap in the car! What more could you ask for on Thanksgiving- 75 degree weather at the beach in November!

We got home in time to catch some football (well for Franz and Sara to catch some football, Megan and I could care less about football) and put the lasagna in the oven. Yep, lasagna. Franz and I aren't that crazy about the traditional Thanksgiving spread. It's nice once a year, but he expressed interest about starting our own tradition- with something other than a turkey. He requested Italian, so lasagna it is! It was actually a really yummy lasagna, he ate it 3 nights in a row as leftovers. I will have to wait until next Thanksgiving to eat it again because unfortunately it gave me really bad heartburn and wasn't worth the pain. I whipped up a dish of tofu and garlic green beans for Megan and a vegan Gingerbread for dessert along with a loaf of cranberry orange sweet bread. We all ate till we were stuffed and then passed out early since we had to be up early the next morning to get them back to the airport.

It was a super fun week, and hanging out with Sara and Megan is always an adventure! We had good conversation throughout the week- some serious and some silly. Megan is off to China for 5 months to teach English, and Sara is busy getting Jonna finished with her last couple of years of high school. Soon enough Sara and Steve will be empty nesters- maybe we'll see them both again for a visit when the girls have moved out!

Thanks for coming and visiting us Sara and Megan!

Childbirth 101

"Childbirth 101- Having a Baby- Whether a first-time parent or a veteran, attending this class will help you understand the stages of labor, comfort and relaxation techniques, and the management of normal labor and birth. Bring a pillow. Part one of a three part series."

Last night was our first class. I was a bit hesitant because I was so unimpressed with the "Feeding Your Baby" class we had taken a couple weeks prior. I just kept hoping this class would actually be informative and teach us something. And, to my surprise it was GREAT!

Leslie is a former nurse for the maternity ward there at the hospital- she finally retired after twentysomething years because she has back problems (gee, I wonder why? How many legs has she had to hold up over the years?). She is very comfortable speaking in front of people, and she adds a bit of humor to her lessons.

What I liked most about the class was the way she went through and explained everything. She even demonstrated some things! I've had so many questions about giving birth, but haven't really found anyone that can give me the nuts and bolts kind of answers I'm looking for. So, guess who won the prize for asking the most questions last night? Yep- me!!! I was a little embarrassed at first, because in my mind I kept thinking "all these people must think I'm an absolute idiot, I can't believe none of them have any questions. Do they all really know everything there is to know about giving birth? Why am I the only one that seems clueless?" But, to my reassurance, after class on our way out the door, one of the other girls said to me that she loved my questions and was glad I asked them because they were very informative. I told her that I'd be sure to have more for next class!

The best part of the class was the last 2o minutes. We practiced some simple breathing techniques while our partners got to practice their massage skills! Franz did a great job- I think he'll be a big help when the time finally comes.

Next week we'll continue discussing labor and delivery and practicing our breathing techniques, only this time with interventions such as pain medications and epidurals. Now that's my kind of class!

It's for the birds...

H is for horrible, horrid, and horrendous- period.
E is for empty. That's what my stomach feels like because I'm too afraid to eat.
A is for annoying, because I've been lucky enough to never know what heartburn was until now.
R is for reflux- enough said.
T is for Tums extra strength, my new best friend- when and if they actually work.
B is for burping, the only thing that makes a difference- some of the time.
U is for unending- all day and all night, Ugh!!!
R is for no repeat please! I remember what I ate, I don't need to experience it again an hour later.
N is for neurotic. This is what I'm on my way to becoming if this continues much longer...