33 weeks

We've been quite busy these last two weeks. It seems like we have something going on everyday; between doctors appointments, baby classes, house stuff and preparing for our wedding.

We officially married last week on Thursday, April 19th. We had our good friends Brandy, Dennis, Diego, and Julie attend the ceremony. The ceremony was in Beverly Hills at the courthouse and afterwards we celebrated at a spanish restaurant called La Paella. The ceremony itself was quite short (but sweet) and afterwards we took photos.

The day before the wedding, we bought our rings in the jewelry district in Los Angeles. A couple of days before the wedding, I bought a new dress at Motherhood Maternity and had my nails done as well. I also bought new silver sandles from Aldo, since all of my dressy shoes have heels.

I am still waiting for the official marriage certificate to come in the mail, so I have not changed my name. I am thinking about keeping my maiden name, but having it as my middle name. I would have two middle names and then Valencia as my last name.

Here are some photos from our wedding:



Alfonso and Diego





Exchange of rings





Us with Diego and Julie



Myself with Brandy and Julie

We recieved a beautiful vase from Diego and Julie, along with a photo scrapbook of our wedding made by Julie. The scrapbook is really nice, and I look at it at least once a day. My parents sent us flowers along with a card. The flowers are in the new vase and it looks really beautiful. We also recieved a card and money from our good friend Ro and his wife, and then the other day we got a card and money from my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Mike.

This weekend my good friends Lenny and Luba are driving down from San Francisco to come visit us. I am so excited to see them! I haven't seen them since September, and this will be the first time that Luba and Alfonso will meet.

I have another three weeks of work left (6 shifts) and I am literally counting down the days. Work has been fairly decent, but I am experiencing quite a bit of back and joint pain. Alfonso is helpful with easing the lower back pain with his massages. I have also been taking baths to help ease some of the muscle tension. Generally I feel large and clumsy. I am still sleeping well, so I am thankful for that.

The other day I had a doctors visit, and she confirmed through ultrasound that the baby is head down. Hopefully he will stay that way and not flip back over. My OB doctor told me that I look great and so far everything is looking normal. She prescribed me iron tablets to help with anemia, especially after the delivery.

How your baby's growing:This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds and measures 17.2 inches from the top of his head to his heels. His skin is becoming less red and wrinkled, and while most of his bones are hardening, his skull is quite pliable and not completely joined. This will help him ease out of your relatively narrow birth canal.

Tomorrow I will be starting my 31st week. I can hardly believe that we are almost to the end. In some ways this pregnancy has gone by quickly, but in other ways it has been slow. I've been feeling pretty good lately. I've been having some mid back pain, but this week I have felt better. I went to go see my OB doctor on Tuesday. She said everything looked good and that whatever I am doing to keep doing. Now I will be going every two weeks X3, then every week until the baby is delivered.

My blood count from last month looked normal, but she wrote me a prescription for iron tablets because women generally become more anemic in the 3rd trimester and I will loose blood during the delivery. I asked her if she could tell where the baby was positioned due to the movements I have been feeling lately. When she palpated my abdomen, she thought that he was lying head down but couldn't really tell because he is still pretty small. I think that he has his head down, because occasionally I will feel his head turn from one side to the other in my pelvic region, especially when I am sitting upright. Also, when he is super active, he will kick and I can see two different sides of my upper abdomen going up and down. Christopher's waking hours seem to be in the evening when I am watching television, at night when I am trying to fall asleep or in the morning when I am finished with breakfast.

I am still waiting for my desk to arrive from Pottery Barn. It was supposed to come on Tuesday, but they had to reorder it because it had been damaged during the delivery. So, we are still typing on our laps, and the printer remains on the floor in the guest room. This weekend Alfonso is going to paint the guest bedroom. I hope it turns out ok. We chose a light green in hopes that it will look nice with the cream/white colored carpet. We still need to buy a bookcase for all of our books, but it's not a big priority at this moment.

Lately I've been checking out craig's list for baby items. There are some items that I do not need brand new since the baby will grow out of it so quickly. The other day I bought a Baby Bjorn carrier and Snugglenest for $65 total from this woman in Marina del Rey. Brand new, these items would have cost $180. Now I am looking at a second infant car seat base that normally costs $40, but a family in Van Nuys is selling it for $10. Next I have my eyes set on mini co-sleeper (it's like a bassinet that is connected to the side of the bed) that normally runs $120, but is being sold for $60 by a family in Chatsworth. After I have bought my mini co-sleeper, I think I am set for now. My parents bought us our car seat and stroller (which I prefer to have new and we can also use it for another child later on) and I am waiting for it to be delivered.

I am still working by two days a week (24 hrs), but I will be taking maternity leave at 36 weeks. Work is really exhausting for me, not only are the night hours are hard on me, but the running around is getting to be difficult. Alfonso has been working a lot lately, so that we are prepared for when the baby comes. He worked extra last night and is going to be working extra tonight.

Overall we are doing well. :) Until next time.

Love, Becky

Our weekend together

I started to feel kind of punky last week and ended up getting sick over the weekend. I just had a lot of sinus congestion, sore throat, fever and body achiness. I called off from work Friday and Saturday and spent my time resting and with Alfonso. Alfonso painted the baby's room this weekend, so it was quite productive. We are both really excited and happy with the finished product and hope to start decorating it in the next month or two. Hopefully our baby furniture will arrive in the next couple of weeks.





We went to Costco on Saturday and bought $300 worth of toilet paper, diaper wipes, zip lock baggies, dish washing soap, dish pads, toothbrushes, shampoo, lotion, razor blades, gum, and other sorts of items. We also bought two lbs of crab meat that was $10/pound. We had quite a feast Saturday night; this was the most crab that we had ever eaten. It was literally coming off in chunks. It was sooo good. Here are some photos of our crab feast:













At night time I like to light candles on top of the mantle. My sister gave me a little statue of a pregnant woman for my birthday that I have sitting on the mantle. When I light the candles, the pregnant woman statue creates a shadow on the wall. It looks really cool. Here is a photo of her: