Week 36

In due time, photos will come, but I am literally just too tired to get up and walk over to get my camera to upload pics of my big tummy and of the almost complete nursery. =) All in all, I still feel okay but I am really struggling in the fatigue department. Work has been a bit of insanity lately and Emma seems to have enough energy to power a small city. =) Oliver has earned the nickname of being my little "starfish". He is in constant motion these days with arms and legs spread wide in all different directions. He doesn't have those painful kicks like Emma did but he pretty much constantly digs his little heels into my ribs. I know, pleasant, right?

I'm feeling ready to meet him soon, but not QUITE yet. My water never broke with Emma so I don't know what to expect in that department. My nether regions leaked through my shorts after a long car ride yesterday making me question if my water had broken or if I was experiencing the greatness of Niagra Falls discharge that is common in late stages of pregnancy oooooorr if I had somehow managed to just pee on myself. Since no more leakage occurred, I settled for option 2 and drank a lot of water to help the gnarly Braxton Hicks contractions subside. We've still been dealing with quite a bit of heat so I'm sure dehydration has contributed to my over-active uterus these days.

I have my 36 week checkup on Thursday. I can't believe I have reached the final month already and will be considered "full term" on Friday. Due to yesterday's little scare, I decided to finally pack a hospital bag, pick a "going home outfit" for Oliver and pack it, devise Plan A/B/and C for when I go into labor, purchase the last needed items for the baby and finish the nursery. I am primarily concerned about keeping things as "normal" for Emma when the time comes to go to the hospital.  I want to labor at home as much as possible, but not if that means she is going to see mommy in pain. The thought of how everything is about to change soooo drastically is both exciting and frightening. I adore my daughter and can't imagine loving someone as much as I love her. She will be the best big sister ever. I have no doubt about that. It's crazy and emotional for me to think that I have less than 30 days with her as my only "baby." I'm ready for the change but of course, change is hard for me and imagining things as being "different" both excites and overwhelms me. I am eager to see if my beefcake looks more "asian" than his sister and if he really has daddy's laid back personality like I imagine. I am ready to leave work because it is seriously kicking my ass right now but I am overly anxious about having "all my ducks in a row" before I go on leave. I know I can't control how everything will pan out, although I wish I could. I am ready to see what my "new family" will be like. Soon enough. Soon enough.

33 Weeks and The End of Summer

Well I guess I didn't quite get my ass in gear to actually finish this post two weeks ago. Here are some end of the summer photos of my favorite girl having fun at the Children's Museum and engaging in her new favorite thing, swimming! Glad she didn't end up drowning during lessons after all!

33 weeks and feeling much bigger in this photo. I will try to post baby shower pictures soon. Being back to work the past two weeks has sort of kicked my ass, in addition to the fact that we had NOTHING ready for the baby so our free time has been rather occupied lately. I will do my best at a more thorough update this weekend!

Pregnancy Deja Vu

Yep, Oliver has to copy his sister. Belly is measuring small (although it sure doesn't feel that way!) so they are sending me for another ultrasound to make sure he is growing okay. I'm glad I went through this with Emma so I am not the least bit worried. At least I will get to see him again and make sure he is still a "he". =) Too lazy to post pics from our last weeks of summer so hopefully I'll get around to that this weekend. We have been working diligently on the nursery and things are coming together. I went back to work today *sniff sniff* and I am exhausted so I will update more thoroughly soon!

Kiddie Love

Emma has had a fun summer getting a chance to play with her friends!

Swim date at Kayla's house. I LOVE this photo!

 Chalk time with "Heya" (Mahalia) at Araiyah's birthday party

 Stomping in the pool

 Warming up in the sun

 Jello time!

 Music concert time with Dominic. The mommy's LOVED this performance! LOL

 Piano duet

 Incredibly adorable game of Candy Land before bed time. Dominic was so sweet and patient with her!

First day of swim class. If only she listened this intently to her mother!

Yesterday we drove up to Playa Vista to visit Dave, Hilary and Baby Mason. Emma was very in love with Mason and we got a lovely glimpse into her as a big sister! =)

 Lui family of 4 preview!

 Smothering Mason with kisses. I almost died of laughter when I saw the look on his face! =)

 Snuggle time!

 She was very eager to help feed him. He would not take his eyes off of her! The one bonus of me holding him this was was that Oliver finally decided to move for a bit. I don't think he liked his buddy sitting on him. =)

 "Bleh, Emma! Get your big ol feet off of me!" I barely remember when her feet were as small as his!

Smothered this poor boy with kisses all day but it sure was sweet to see!

29 weeks...Adios Milkshakes =(

My pregnancy is becoming sort of like deja vu. I re-read my post from 29 weeks with Emma and I could have written the same exact post this time (minus the part about actually getting my leave of absence from work approved). Sugars high. Too rapid of a weight gain in recent weeks. Rho-gam shot. Instead of goodbye carbs, the doctor said no more sweets (especially my milkshake addiction). I felt like a girl going to rehab and needed one more fix. Since I had already decided in the waiting room that I was going to get a milkshake on my way home, I got my last one (and made it a freaking LARGE!) Take that!


I passed my 3 hour glucose test but apparently one of my levels was elevated. Two elevated levels and you get a gestational diabetes diagnosis. Apparently there is some other blood test that measures your blood sugars over a three month period (not sure how they do that!) but the doctor said my levels on that were actually very low so  it is just time to watch my diet. Yeah yeah yeah. =/

I did ask the doc about when I should be concerned about the amount of movement (or lack of it.) I feel Oliver on a daily basis. He is actually very kind to be most active around 9:30 or 10 at night. It is just odd to me because he is soooooo much more mellow than crazy Emma was. Emma NEVER stopped moving and sometimes I need to prod him to get him going. She said it was probably how he is positioned and I shouldn't be concerned unless I didn't feel him at all for 24 hours. Speaking of positioning, she also said there isn't much I could do to get him to move higher up. The bladder/pelvic riding is a bit uncomfortable. I noticed myself waddling the other day. Waaaah. I'm not sure what position he currently is in, but he has been transverse for most of my pregnancy. The other night he must have been doing flips because my stomach was moving all over the place and the kicks were all over my belly. Then he went back to sleep, all snuggled up in his favorite spot below my belly button. I can't believe he will already be here in 11 weeks and no, I am NOT ready for him yet. Perhaps it is second child syndrome, but there is still a lot of preparation needed for his room. I at least got the infant car seat out, but besides that, we have some work to do. =) I will start posting photos of his nursery as we begin that project. Here are a few pics from last week, just over 28 weeks along.

Hair Dye History

Those of you that have known me for a long time are probably well aware of the fact that I can't stand all the gray hair that I have. I'm not gray by choice. At times I have embraced my developing salt and pepper locks, but lately, all the gray has really bothered me. It especially bothers when on my lazy days when I throw my hair back in a headband and look pretty much like a skunk. So here's the hair dye story if you haven't heard it before...

I've dyed my hair on and off since I was 18ish. I usually opted for reddish hues. An old roommate somehow convinced me that bleach blonde was a good look on my very short hair at the time. I wound up looking like Bon Jovi instead of Eve from Dawson's Creek. (She was roomie's coloring inspiration). I spent 4 hours in a salon trying to fix the Bon Jovi disaster...I think I was a sophomore in college. So that was my life's first hair coloring disaster.

 

My second disaster was in the form of the world's worst allergic reaction. I pretty much always had MILD reactions to hair dye. Usually a little redness around the hairline. Sometimes a bit itchy. For some reason, shortly after Larry and I were married, I literally wanted to die after coloring my hair. (no pun intended). The rash was not just around my hairline, but pretty much anywhere that the dye had touched...my wrists from where it dripped, down my back from where I rinsed in the shower, my ENTIRE scalp. It was more than a rash. I had horrific blisters everywhere. My eyelids were red and itchy. On top of that, the lymph nodes behind my ears were the size of golf balls. My head itched uncontrollably. I was miserable. I had to sleep with towels on my pillow because my scalp was literally oozing fluid. Sexy, right? Well, this catastrophe literally wound me up in urgent care more than once and at an allergist at one point for several rounds of prednisone and steroid injections to help me get through the worst 8 weeks of my life. I basically continued to react to the dye until enough time had passed for me to cut it all out of my hair. Fricking sucked so gray hair definitely sounded more desirable than going through THAT ever again! I actually freaked so much about letting the hair dye touch me for extensive allergy testing to find out which exact ingredient was so horrific for me, that I skipped out on my last allergist appointment and just decided to NEVER dye my hair again.

I found one hair product about 5 years ago (Clairol Loving Care, semi permanent...no ammonia, no peroxide.) I didn't react to that which was great but it only lasted about 6 washes. Lame. They ended up discontinuing it but I was bummed because I could at least darken my hair up for special occasions (weddings, photos, birthing a new baby). 

My hair dresser was convinced that she had two products that were "much more natural". She did two test patches on my inner arms about a year ago, swearing that no one in her 20 years of being a hair dresser had ever reacted to. I went back the next day to show her the quarter size patches of inflamed itchy rashy redness on both of my inner arms to prove to her that I wasn't crazy. She was flabbergasted. Yep, gray it was.

Well, over the past year "some gray hairs" has turned into "A LOT of gray hairs". Several people have noticed and mentioned "wow, you have a lot of gray for being so young". I'm not sure if such people are aware of how much it really bothers me deep down to have such heavy patches of gray. Lazy hair days with headband and ponytail reveals a lovely developing skunk stripe right in front. Grrrrreat. I decided while off this summer that there is no way in hell that I am the ONLY person in the world THIS allergic to hair dye. My research began and my research led me to Light Mountain Color the Gray.

 

Meet my new best friend!!!! Well, my high maintenance new best friend! It was quite the process. I ordered it from Amazon and was super eager to get going when it arrived in the mail yesterday. While it is a two step process using only pure henna and pure indigo, I still did the patch tests. No reaction.  Good start. The reviews stated over and over how messy it was and how much time it would take. The super stinky powders had to be mixed with hot distilled water using non-metallic supplies and the colors has to "cure" for 3-4 hours. Then I was ready to start after lining the bathroom with trash bags and putting vaseline around my hairline to make sure I didn't stain my face. So the four hour extravaganza began. I felt like I was slathering mud all over my head and it was like a scene from Encino Man in my bathroom. 

 

Step 1 with the henna was complete after about an hour and a half. Emma woke from her nap during this time and looked at me like "what the hell are you doing". I rinsed the smelly, gritty crap out of my hair and embarked on the two hour journey of applying the second step and "letting it cook". And alas, I rinsed out all the stinky and underneath it all, I must say I was sooooooooooo happy with the results. Golden/reddish highlights where the gray used to be and overall shiny, silky NON-GRAY hair. Finally. But I don't know if I really want to go through that whole process again before the baby is born.

Grumpy Mama

Well, this WAS going to start off as a happy post of all of the fun things Emma and I have been doing together (birthday parties, playdates, Sea World, beach). However, I have now decided to make it the grumpy mom post because that is how I feel today. My emotions have been relatively even keeled during this pregnancy but I've gotta keep it real. My shit is unraveling today. Here is a list of my bitches of the day:

1) My pinchy neck is killing me. My neck has been all outta whack for the past two weeks. Should be an easy fix with a visit to the chiropractor, but he selfishly decided to take a vacation for crying out loud. He's got some nerve going to Norway during the summer. Sheesh. The only reason my neck hurts so bad is because of the glory of sleeping on my side all the time. Hooray. He said I could make an appointment with another doctor in his office while he was gone, but quite honestly, I'm not really a doctor whore. It takes me awhile to get comfortable with people so having Eugene Levy's creepy look alike adjust me while pregnant just makes me nervous. Needless to say, I am pillow shopping in the meantime. Please don't suggest some sort of preggo body pillow either. They suck. So many people rave about them. I tried one while pregnant with Emma and hated it. And I super hate it still. And Eugene Levy still creeps me out.

2) Well my neck hurts and I have to pee all the time again, so I am not sleeping very well. Fortunately I'm not working right now, but it still sucks to feel dang tired all the time.

3) The office explosion is making me insane. If you've been to Casa Lui, you have likely seen the "office o throw up". Not having a garage is great for the additional living space but sucky when it comes to storage. We technically have a four bedroom house but use the third bedroom as a spare room and keep the office open for storing random shit. Well, obviously Mr. Oliver will be occupying room #3 so the office needs to become habitable again. I don't know where to start. There is just so much shit. It's a sneak peek into my life on an episode of Hoarders. Except I'm not a Hoarder. Let's just say that Larry still owns shirts from when we first started dating. Yeah, that was thirteen years ago. Nuff said. The office needs a major intervention. Don't worry, there isn't any food or fecal matter to be found in there. (And this isn't an ACTUAL picture of the office, which I'm too embarrassed to post on here!)

4) Emma's daycare drop off was a bit rough today. =( After a wonderful first week at her new school, today there were almost tears. When I picked her up last Friday, she said, "Mom, I love my new school! It's so fun." Today, not so much. More like "Mom, please don't leave me. I feel scared." To her credit, her teacher wasn't there this morning and she had never seen the sub before. And here it goes, if I'm going to keep it real, I'm going to say it....she fit the stereotypical bill of a true east county woman, missing a few (or more) teeth from her grill. Nice as could be BUT a little scary. After 10 minutes of heavy clinging, she ventured off. They mentioned to me when I picked her up that she had a bit of an emotional morning. Yeah, so did I.

5) After getting home from crappy drop off, sitting in the middle of the office crying at the disaster before me, the doctor's office called. F*@$! I KNEW this was regarding my one hour glucose test from Friday. Yep, failed. Awesome, get to go back Wednesday for the 3 hour. Hooray.

So those are my bitches and here is how I problem solved them.....

I said eff it to any organizational tasks and plopped my ass on the couch and immersed myself into episodes of "Parenthood" on Hulu. Pretty good show. The kid with Asperger's made me briefly think about WORK, but then I stopped and went back to vegging out. I vegged until I decided I needed a milkshake to cheer me up. I am usually pretty partial to Carl's Jr. Oreo shakes, but the Java Cookie shake from Jack in the Box has been rather delicious lately. So to celebrate my glucose test failure, I set out for a milkshake and am now happily snuggling with my pumpkin on the couch. Life isn't bad, but life isn't ME without a little bitching sometimes. =)