Thinking of Michigan and winter

The front yard of my parents house in Michigan.


I took this photo of the ice (it was a partially frozen over river) near Lake Tahoe in northern California.


This is the backyard of my parents house with the AuSable River in the background. The wooden swing was a gift to my mom from my dad when she graduated from nursing school.

New Haircut

I want to get my hair cut before I leave for MI. I am looking at a new salon because my hairdresser at my old salon has not listened to me twice now and I end up disappointed with my haircut. Then I hate my hair and pull it back into a bun. So, I was doing some research and this is what I have in mind:

http://beauty.about.com/od/hairstylephotogalleries/ss/hairgallery_2.htm

It's a layered cut with fringed bangs. I like the length (skims the collarbone) and the sweeping effect of the bangs. It's an ideal cut for an oval shaped face. I may even add some highlights for dimension. I really want to stop pulling my hair back into a bun (I keep getting mistaken for a 20 year old) and I want to try something new.

What do you think?

For the sake of an A

Yarrghh.. I am in the last week of classes and then next week we have finals. I have three papers due in the course of 10 days. Not to mention an upcoming presentation, and a final. Last Friday I turned in paper #1 at a whopping 10 pages in length. The minimum was seven pages, but I went over a little bit. I am working on paper #2 that is due tomorrow. I have about 75% of it completed, and I should be finished within the next couple of hours. The minimum is four pages, but it looks like I am hitting the eight page mark. Then I have paper #3 due on Monday along with a final exam Monday morning. Lastly, a presentation on Wednesday, but that should be easy. I know that I shouldn't complain because I am sure much of this stress is due to procrastination, but with the continuous amount of work I've had this semester, (and my fatigue d/t pregnancy) I haven't had much time to work on anything else. I think after class on Friday I am going to take a nice nap, go shopping for some Christmas gifts and then go to Diego and Julie's Christmas party in the evening. I am going to take a break for one day to regain my mental sanity. Then onwards all day Saturday and Sunday.

Yes, I want to have an A in the class, but I also want to do a good job. I feel that I am in competition with myself and I want to perform well for my instructors. I want to present interesting work for them to read and I want to learn from these assignments. I know.. I sound like a nerd. I wasn't like this in nursing school (which was a bad thing) because I just wanted to complete the assignment and hope for a good grade. Maybe in my more mature state, I have changed and my outlook on learning has changed.

Back to my paper on Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Movement. I am going to finish up my idea, take a break for an everything bagel toasted with a thin layer of cream cheese, tomato, red onion and lightly sprinkled with salt and pepper on top. I am starving!

I need..

I need a body pillow. I feel so uncomfortable when I sleep and no longer can I sleep on my stomach. Maybe a body pillow would support me more when I am sleeping on my side.

Still craving sour stuff (especially lemon). I changed my toothpaste from the regular crest mint to crest lemon. It's really good. And I like to mix lemon spread from trader joe's into my nonfat plain yogurt. I really like macintosh apples. I eat at least one macintosh apple a day. Ralph's had a sale on blackberries. One carton for $2.00 . I bought two of them and ate them in two days.

I am drinking a lot of water, including water from the faucet. It tastes good, especially when it's freezing cold.

When pregnant, don't look at old photos of yourself....

I shouldn't have done this, but I was looking at my old photos of myself taken from this summer. After gaining 8 lbs in the last 13 weeks, it was depressing seeing a thinner self. I know I shouldn't be saying these things, because it sounds really vain.. I'll get over this. I feel very fortunate to be pregnant and to be carrying a little baby inside of me that depends on me for it's growth and nutrition. This only happens a couple of times during a womans life.

I am officially in the 2nd trimester, so I am feeling better. No longer nauseated and crazy fatigued. I am looking into starting some prenatal yoga classes just down the street from me. http://www.angelcityyoga.com/ The classes are 90 minutes and $15 per class. The prenatal yoga class will help strengthen my pelvic muscles and expand the pelvic cavity. The postures exercise the spine and reduce backaches, elleviate edema, and prevent varicose veins. I will also be able to meet other pregnant women too!

We will find out in February (20 wks) if it's a boy or girl. I have a feeling that it's a boy. And according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar, it is predicting that I am having a boy as well (this is based on my age of conception=27 and the month that the baby was conceived (September). http://www.thelaboroflove.com/chart/cal.html
So we might have a little Christopher Alfonso after all. :)

Alfonso is in Mexico with his mom. She has her citizenship interview on Wednesday, so now she will be here in the US. He will be coming back on Sunday night. I miss him, and I want him to be safe. He called me earlier today, so it was nice to hear his voice.

Love, Becky

Our first doctor's appointment

After weeks and weeks of being pregnant, we had our first doctor's appointment in Los Angeles next to Cedars-Sinai. Alfonso had worked the night before, and was going into work for another night. After four hours of sleep, I woke him up at 12:30, and we left shortly after 1:00 to drive to Cedars.

Besides filling out all the new patient information forms, I had to leave a urine specimen. I will be doing this for every visit. The nurse weighed me (I've gained 8 lbs during my first trimester) and had me undress totally. I was only wearing two paper drapes and it was freezing in the room. We then met our physician who is a female and she was really nice and energetic. She spoke a lot on normal symptoms including weight gain, eating habits, drinking water, and what other physical changes to expect. She did a quick pap smear and then turned off the lights for the ultrasound. She did a vaginal ultrasound which was kind of weird but painless. I quickly forgot the strangeness factor.

For the very first time we saw images of our baby. It was so unbelievable and exciting! We could see the heart beating along with the outline of the body. We could see the arms, legs and feet. No private parts are apparent yet, so we won't find out the sex until later. What was more amazing was all the movement the baby was doing! The baby was kicking his legs and moving his arms. At one point, he had grabbed onto the umbilical cord and was pulling on it. The physician kept commenting on how much movement was taking place. I could only think about what it was going to be like in a couple of months when I am starting to *feel* this movement. We have several ultrasound photos and Alfonso took them to work to show to this coworkers. I have one sitting on my dresser that I keep looking at.

Since the ultrasound, we have just been amazed. Just seeing the baby ( expecially while moving around) was just aweing. I can't believe that my body is supporting this baby's growth. It's such a miracle. During the ultrasound I was laughing and crying and Alfonso was excited too. (Sorry Diego if this is getting too mushy for you :))

Our next appointment is January 10th. I think they are going to do more blood work (they drew for a bunch of tests today) and we can listen to the fetal heart tones with a doppler. I won't have my next ultrasound until February and that is when we find out the sex of the baby.

By the way, the ultrasound measured the baby to be 6.96 centimeters (almost 3 inches) and gave a gestational age of 13 weeks and 1 day.

Love, Becky

This & that

This week has been really exciting for us. I bought maternity clothes at Target on Friday after I couldn't stand to wear my jeans anymore. After I buttoned the top button, my belly was squished and I felt really uncomfortable. I bought two pairs of pants (khaki and black), two tank tops, and three tops that are form fitting on top but skirt out a little after my bustline. The tops are really cute and look nice with the tank tops underneath. The pants are really comfortable and will give me room to grow. I bought size 6 & 8 since I wasn't sure if I will be able to fit into the smaller size in another three months. I also bought small and medium tops, but I think the medium is too large in the shoulders and arms so I may have to return it. I can't wait for spring so that I can wear dresses.

We have our first prenatal visit on Wednesday (finally!) and we are really excited. It may be a little early to find out the sex, so it might not be for another month. Last night when I was at work another nurse suggested that we listen to the fetal heart tones. She went down to the ER and picked up a handheld doppler. I was able to listen to the heart tones for the first time! It was so cool to hear the swish-swish-swish sound of the baby's heart beating. I wanted Alfonso to hear, so I went over to the ICU and Alfonso listened with the doppler. I felt that I could listen to the heart beating all day. It was amazing.

Alfonso is leaving on Friday for Mexico and he will be gone for 10 days. I am a little worried that he is leaving (just scared of something happening to him) so I just want to get through that time without worrying about him. I am at the end of my semester, so I will be busy with papers and studying. I am so ready for this semester to end. Then I will have five weeks of freedom and will restart at the end of January with two courses (instead of the four that I have now).

My sister was able to change some of my settings around in my blog and now the comment section is enabled. So now people can leave comments after each entry.

Love, Becky