Bedrest

I haven't blogged much about my pregnancy because it has been pretty uneventful, in that everything has been normal. Other than a few occasional back aches and headaches, I never got morning sickness or anything. Well I guess my luck has run out because at my last appointment I got a pretty big scare. Apparently my blood pressure had gone up considerably since the week before, and they found protein in my urine. Now, I wasn't sure what this meant but the doctor started telling me that it could be a sign of pre eclampsia and how dangerous that was and that it could cause me to have seizures and put the baby in danger. Then she started saying if this was the case that they would have to induce me. So they sent me over to labor and delivery to have some blood work done and hooked me up to a monitor for 2 and 1/2 hours. The monitor showed that I was having contractions every 3-5 minutes, however that is normal at this point in pregnancy. My blood pressure came down finally from laying there and the tests came back fine. However, my doctor still decided to put me on bedrest. This was really annoying. In the first place the doctor that sent me over to L&D was not my normal doctor. And when they told me I could go and that everything was fine, they didn't even look at all the recording this monitor was doing. I felt like I was there for no reason and I'm sure we are going to see a heafty bill for it. Needless to say the extra rest has helped my swelling which can get pretty bad if I'm moving around a lot and am on my feet. However, it's so stressful because I'm not done Christmas shopping, I need to clean my house to get ready for my inlaws to come, and need to finish getting everything ready for the baby. However, I have to say thank you to my wonderful husband who has really stepped up and done a lot for me. I am realizing that I can give up a little control and let him help with shopping and cleaning, even though things are not done exactly the way I would do it, it still gets done. And thats all that matters, right?

Christmas Party

A couple weeks ago we went to Lake Tahoe for my dental offices Christmas Party. They have been going to Tahoe every year for a few years now and choose a different theme everytime. This year it was a disco party and it was crazy to see how much everyone got into the costumes and they even had a dance instructor that taught us The Hustle. My boss, Dr. Tse is down in front in the yellow shirt, wig and all. There is usually over 100 people at these parties because his wifes pediactric office also joins us. My favorite part of course is the overnight accomodations they provide! The next day Jeff and I went to a Christmas tree farm in Apple Hill and got our tree... and of course a few caramel apples...okay and some apple donuts.
Of course the tree was a lot bigger when we got it home than what it looked like sitting there with all the other trees around. So over the course of a couple weeks, little by little we finally finished decorating it!

1 Year Anniversary

I can't believe it has been one year already! Jeff and I decided to spend a few days in San Francisco for our anniversary. We stayed in Union Square at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. Jeff had them decorate the room with rose petals and also had a chilled bottle of sparkling cider by the bed. Our room overlooked Union Square and we were able to watch the annual"lighting of the christmas tree" right from our window.


















Here is the huge tree in Union Square that they trucked down from Mount Shasta.

It was a little foggy (as usual for SF) but the next day we drove down the bay about 20 minutes to Jeff's favorite surf spot in Pacifica, (Lindamar) and the weather was gorgeous.

The VERY first thing we did when we got into the city was go to Jeff's favorite food spot near his dental school, UCSF. I wanted to go to our favorite Thai restaurant and Jeff was willing to take me there but unfortunately it was only open for dinner that day. It was so hard for him to hide his enthusiasm upon that discovery.

The weather was perfect in Lindamar, however the surf was terrible. Poor Jeff had been dying to go surfing since we moved away from the beach in July, and it was so sad to see him struggle to paddle all the way out there and then come back 20 minutes later. The waves were coming one after the other and according to him they were closed out which makes it hard to paddle out and get a long ride.

Jeff's gift from me was a new wedding band. He picked out the original one but which we ordered online but it has always been a little tight and was really getting on his nerves. So I decided to relieve his frustrations and picked out an even more handsome ring. You can see the old one in the picture below.

The very best part of anniversary was cutting into that year old top layer of cake! Actually, I didn't even want to save it because as a gift to us the place that made our cake gives a complimentary one on your first anniversary. The frozen one wasn't bad, we had to taste it...but the fresh one was so much better!

Thanksgiving and my birthday

My birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year so the day started with breakfast in bed which Jeff so lovingly made for me. He made an omlet, sausage, hasbrown and served it with grapes and O.J. I especially liked the smiley line of ketchup. We then went to my sister Jackie's new apartment where she made us lunch which was panini's and tomato soup. It was so yummy. Unusual meal for Thanksgiving you say? Yes, well read on...

So since my birthday was on Thanksgiving, I did not want to spend it in the kitchen. We celebrated the Sunday before with Jackie, Eric and the nephews. My parents were out of town this year so I decided to attemp my first Turkey. The meal turned out really good if I say so myself.

Baby bump

Here is a picture of the baby bump a few weeks ago. I get bigger every day it seems like and I can't believe I have less than 8 weeks to go! Ugh, what happened to my toned arms?

Trip to Idaho Falls

My sisters and I took a trip to Idaho Falls to see our other sister Stefanie. It was pretty crazy with 7 kids running around, but we had fun together.

Here is Tucker and Taylor on a calf at a friends farm.

We also went to a baby shower for my cousin April. She is due about a week before me. We got a great picture of all my sisters and the girl cousins from my mom's brother Don. (April is in the very front)

And here is all the kids after church on Suday.

Trip to St. George

Jeff and I were able to go to St. George in October to visit his parents. We went to Zions National Park, Snow Canyon, and saw a play at the Tuachan theatre.

Baby Ticker

Ok I did it. I thought I wasn't going to do it, but I finally gave in to adding a baby ticker on our blog. I guess it let's those people know (who haven't looked at our past blogs) that we are expecting.

The rest of our summer

So this is how the rest of our summer went...

First of all, we found out that we are having a BOY! Sorry Mom, don't give up on us, one of us is bound to have a girl someday...

I was so excited to start getting his room ready. We painted it from a dull gray to a bright yellow and Jeff even had to paint the ceiling white so it turned out to be a big job. The yellow is a little brighter than I wanted, but hopefully once we start adding furniture and other stuff it will tone down a little.

So far we have the crib and crib sheets ready to go. I kind of wish I would have chosen a little lighter of a wood for the crib but it ended up being free so I guess I can't complain. The reason why it is free is because I ordered it online and when it got here a few pieces were just slightly damaged. I was pretty irritated about it so I called the company and they ended up refunding the price of the whole crib! If it wasn't for this I would have ordered a different one but we decided to just put some stain over the scuffs and use the money for other furniture that we will need.

Here is some of the fun we have had in our pool with everyone. Tucker decided he liked wearing my swim caps and of course Taylor wanted to be like his brother. So we have the pirate and...Scuba Steve? Any other ideas for that face?

Jack had fun getting in on the action too!

Jeff and I and my sisters and their husbands had a pretty intense game of night volleyball. Eric, Jared and Jeff vs. Jackie, Cindy and Kristy. The girls schooled those boys in game number one but they wanted a rematch to prove their manhood so we let them win...ha ha.

Girls are number one.

These guys sure know how to pose!

Over Labor Day weekend my mom and dad took us camping to Little Grass Valley Reservoir. I don't have pictures but the whole weekend we played kind of a weird version of Survivor and all the couples competed against each other. The challenges included swimming accross the lake, fluffy bunny competitions by the campfire, powedered donut eating, and the list goes on. I can't remember who won honestly but I know Jeff and I came in dead last. That was fun for us.

Jack knows how to keep cool.

Mom and Dad being picture perfect.


Here is Tucker and Taylor trying to get away from us in our kayak.

Earlier this summer when we were still living in Oceanside I surprised Jeff for his 30th birthday with an overnight trip to Laguna Beach. We had a lot of fun having a picnic on the beach and relaxing by the pool.

Peru, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands

These posts are way overdue, but as you read down you will understand why it has taken me so long to update our blog. I posted them all today, however they go back over the last few months. First of all, we went on a three week expedition to Peru and Ecuador with a non-profit organization called Wings Worldwide to provide dental humanitarian services. This trip was so amazing, the people were so humble and thankful, and we got to see so many magnificant sites. Sorry for all the pictures but I had to choose from the 300 we took. (I will put the descriptions under the picture so you don't get confused.)

This was at Equator Park in Ecuador where we actually stood on the real equator and Jeff balanced an egg on the head of a nail.

This was also at the park.

Jeff working away in one of the clinics. We had very make-shift stations with lawn chairs for the patient chair and we also had to use head lamps to see.

Me working away...and by the look on this girl's face, she knows I'm about to get her numb!

Children in the streets of Cusco, Peru. The elevation here was about 12,000 feet.

Ruins outside of Cusco, Peru called Ollantaytambo where they layed these huge stone bricks on top of each other and somehow formed them to fit perfectly.

Children at a school in Moray, Peru. This was about the highest elevation we visited which was almost 14,000 ft. It was a beautiful site with the snow capped Andes surrounding us. We were fortunate not to get altitude sickness.

Jeff and Rob pulling out teeth, which is most of what we did on these patients to help them.

Salt mines.

The famous Macchu Picchu in Peru. This was such a sacred site that only the most spiritual families could come and live here in the 14th century.

This was in Puno, Peru where we were on our way to Lake Titticaca to visit the Isles of the Uros which are man-made islands made out of reeds.

You can't see how thick it is but the islands float on 6 feet of mud which is covered by another 6 feet of reeds which they have to lay down weekly. There is a small community of LDS members on these islands as well.

And this was our yummy lunch we were served while working on the islands...fish, rice and a potatoe. I especially loved the fish head left on the fish!
To finish up the trip we went to the Galapagos Islands where we finally got some warm weather. If you look close, there is an iguana off to the right of the old boat.

This was a very friendly tortoise who posed like this for the whole group to take their individual pictures. He was so cute.

We got in some snorkeling time which was really cool. We were hoping to see some sharks or sea turtles but we only saw colorful fish.

These were real turtle shells so we just had to get into them.