I had my baby shower today at our house. It was so much fun! My sister, Sharon, and Sue did all the planning, decorating, and organizing. Everything turned out so nice. I was so happy. It was a good gathering of various friends - one from Jr. High, 4 from high school, 1 from Oakley, 1 who I met through Duke, my mom, my sister and Duke's mom, sister and niece.
Sue went early in the morning to the LA flower market just so we could have nice, fresh flowers. That was really sweet. We had a beautiful assortment and it really made it look special. My sister also had all these cute jungle-themed items - little note card holders to label the food, animal candles and lollipops with personalized stickers for party favors. I love monkeys (and I am one too) and there were lots of them all over.
My sister brought some veggies & dip and fruit assortment for snacks. We also catered in Buca di Beppo and my sister's husband was so nice and drove the food over from 40 mins away! The kids were with him, and Dylan was sad he couldn't stay to play but it was ok - we'll play tomorrow. :) Duke's mom also baked me some zucchini chocolate bread and it was really delicious! She got the recipe from her cousin in Michigan (the first time I ate the yummy goodness) and it really turned out great. Everyone was raving about it.
We all hung out for a while, then it was time for games. Sue made this poster board with labels for us to go through old wives tales of how to tell if you're having a boy or girl. There were lots of weird random notions in there which I didn't fit. They are wives tales, after all. Haha. We then did Baby Jeopardy where she went through various tidbits about babies and then shared some interesting facts about names now vs. when we were growing up. Meg was pretty funny since she said this was the smartest baby shower she'd ever been to. Usually it's about melted chocolate bars in diapers and guessing what kind of candy it was, but we were playing trivia. Haha.
We did do a non-intellectual game where everyone cut a ribbon to guess how big the circumference of my belly was. Most people guessed way too big but my junior high friend was extremely close. :) Everyone kept apologizing they thought I was so big but I didn't care - I think I'd be wrong if I played the game myself. Ha.
After games, I opened gifts and got lots of awesome stuff. I'm so thankful for all the friends I have and their generosity.
One by one, people had to go on their way. Duke's family drove 4 hours to come here and another 4 hours back to Vegas all in the same day. Hopefully they had fun and were happy they were a part of the shower. Crazy!! Sharon, Sue, and my sister hung out for a bit longer before cleaning up. It was a long day but it went by so fast. It was great to catch up with everyone, and I'm glad everyone got along so well even though they don't know each other that well. I continue to just feel blessed to be around such great people.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Pregnancy Updates - 3rd Trimester!
I'm now in the 3rd trimester so that means doctor's appointments every 2 weeks! I can't believe the pregnancy is almost over. Time really has flown by.
Caution: There are some TMI moments in the post below. So if you don't want to know all my details, then stop reading! Haha!
December 27 - I had my appointment with the NP today. She basically talked to me about kick counts. Once every morning and once every evening, I'm supposed to count the number of kicks/movements I feel. If I feel at least 5 in an hour, then everything is fine. If I feel less, then I have to eat/drink something, then wait 30 minutes and lie down to try and see if he kicks me at least 5 times after that. If still nothing, then I have to call the doctor and have them check if the baby is under stress or anything else that might be wrong. She then measured my belly and listened to the baby's heartbeat which all checked out fine too.
Otherwise, she also confirmed my suspicions that I have a yeast infection. YUCK. I've been pretty uncomfortable for a few weeks and thought it was just me being hyper-sensitive to the changes in my body but when she checked me out and took a culture, she confirmed that it was definitely yeast. She prescribed a cream for me for 3 days and said the symptoms should go away.
January 13 - I had a doctor's appointment this time, and told her that for the most part my symptoms were better but I'm still having some "leaking/discharge" and there was still itchiness while I shower. She took a look and basically exclaimed that it's definitely yeast still. Very classic presentation (whatever that means - I just imagine a yeasty mess down there) and she didn't even need to culture it since it was so obvious. Grrrreat. She apologized and said that some women don't react to the 3-day treatment so I had to do the 7-day treatment. Oh, boo. That cream is inserted vaginally and it is NOT pleasant. I hate it. It makes me itchy and it gives me a headache every time, not to mention that it's just plain gross. Blecchh... It better get rid of it this time!!
Otherwise, she measured my belly and said I'm measuring fine and checked the baby's heartbeat which was great also. She also told me that I've gained 31 pounds so far (!!) and told me that I would probably gain another 10lbs by the end of the pregnancy. Normal weight gain is 25-30lbs so I'm already above that. She said that I need to start walking...to which I replied "I already have been..." and she didn't really have much to say about that.
I'm not really sure what else I can do about the weight gain. I haven't been eating much more than I normally do, and it's not like I'm going to go on a diet since that's not healthy anyway. I'll just try to do more walking, I guess. The one thing I am guilty of is snacking and craving baked goods (cookies, muffins, pound cake...) but it really is in moderation so I can't really blame that...
January 27 - I had another appointment with my doctor and told her my yeast infection symptoms are gone now so that's good. She measured my belly, listened to baby's heartbeat and said all seemed fine. She also asked me if I had picked a pediatrician yet and I told her I had but he doesn't go to the hospital I'm going to deliver at, so I asked her to recommend one. She gave me her kids' doctor so I'm going to check her out and maybe I'll go to her if I like her at the hospital. The other doc is my sister's kids' doctor but I've never met him so it's not like I'm tied to him or anything. She also didn't comment on my weight gain so maybe it's ok?!
Next steps are to read about birthing and breastfeeding classes. I can't believe baby is coming in a couple months!
Caution: There are some TMI moments in the post below. So if you don't want to know all my details, then stop reading! Haha!
December 27 - I had my appointment with the NP today. She basically talked to me about kick counts. Once every morning and once every evening, I'm supposed to count the number of kicks/movements I feel. If I feel at least 5 in an hour, then everything is fine. If I feel less, then I have to eat/drink something, then wait 30 minutes and lie down to try and see if he kicks me at least 5 times after that. If still nothing, then I have to call the doctor and have them check if the baby is under stress or anything else that might be wrong. She then measured my belly and listened to the baby's heartbeat which all checked out fine too.
Otherwise, she also confirmed my suspicions that I have a yeast infection. YUCK. I've been pretty uncomfortable for a few weeks and thought it was just me being hyper-sensitive to the changes in my body but when she checked me out and took a culture, she confirmed that it was definitely yeast. She prescribed a cream for me for 3 days and said the symptoms should go away.
January 13 - I had a doctor's appointment this time, and told her that for the most part my symptoms were better but I'm still having some "leaking/discharge" and there was still itchiness while I shower. She took a look and basically exclaimed that it's definitely yeast still. Very classic presentation (whatever that means - I just imagine a yeasty mess down there) and she didn't even need to culture it since it was so obvious. Grrrreat. She apologized and said that some women don't react to the 3-day treatment so I had to do the 7-day treatment. Oh, boo. That cream is inserted vaginally and it is NOT pleasant. I hate it. It makes me itchy and it gives me a headache every time, not to mention that it's just plain gross. Blecchh... It better get rid of it this time!!
Otherwise, she measured my belly and said I'm measuring fine and checked the baby's heartbeat which was great also. She also told me that I've gained 31 pounds so far (!!) and told me that I would probably gain another 10lbs by the end of the pregnancy. Normal weight gain is 25-30lbs so I'm already above that. She said that I need to start walking...to which I replied "I already have been..." and she didn't really have much to say about that.
I'm not really sure what else I can do about the weight gain. I haven't been eating much more than I normally do, and it's not like I'm going to go on a diet since that's not healthy anyway. I'll just try to do more walking, I guess. The one thing I am guilty of is snacking and craving baked goods (cookies, muffins, pound cake...) but it really is in moderation so I can't really blame that...
January 27 - I had another appointment with my doctor and told her my yeast infection symptoms are gone now so that's good. She measured my belly, listened to baby's heartbeat and said all seemed fine. She also asked me if I had picked a pediatrician yet and I told her I had but he doesn't go to the hospital I'm going to deliver at, so I asked her to recommend one. She gave me her kids' doctor so I'm going to check her out and maybe I'll go to her if I like her at the hospital. The other doc is my sister's kids' doctor but I've never met him so it's not like I'm tied to him or anything. She also didn't comment on my weight gain so maybe it's ok?!
Next steps are to read about birthing and breastfeeding classes. I can't believe baby is coming in a couple months!
New Year's Eve
I'm a bit behind on my blogging...but our NYE was spent with Sue, her husband, and Liane. We went to Patina for their NYE early dinner. We had been meaning to try out Patina since we were so happy with our catering for our wedding, and we were not disappointed!
The restaurant was tastefully decorated with hundreds of balloons lining the ceiling. It was nice and not overdone. We were definitely the youngest table there though since most of the folks were older and doing a pre-theatre dinner. We wanted an early dinner so we could enjoy some good food and company, then get the heck out of LA before the madness began!
We all had the 4-course meal:
- I started with a vegetable mosaic which was a delicious assortment of locally grown vegetables from a Santa Monica farm. This really was a 2nd course menu option but I couldn't eat either of the two 1st course options (raw oyster and a chicken with foie gras - I'm not supposed to eat liver and I don't like foie gras anyway!). Everyone else had the raw oyster, topped with uni and caviar. The oyster was set on a bed of salt. Definitely very interesting presentation but ungodly how much salt was there. Haha.
- I then had the truffle risotto. This was really yummy! I had been longing for some good risotto since the last few meals I've just had so-so risotto. This was done right! :) Duke said that it was very much like the best risotto he ever had (at Le Cirque in Las Vegas - a meal I didn't partake in so I always wondered what he raved about, and now I know!).
- Third course was lobster with some potatoes and a truffle custard. The lobster was served almost medium and almost tasted under-cooked since I'd never had it prepared that way, but it was really good. The truffle custard was rich and really to die for. The other option was venison - Duke wished he had gotten that since he wasn't a fan of the "medium-cooked" lobster...
- For dessert, I had chocolate bar which was just ok. Duke ended up being allergic to both options so they brought out a special lime dessert for him and it was way better than mine! Haha.
All in all, we were happy with the pre-set menu. I'd like to come back for a regular meal some time, and also when I'm not pregnant so I won't have any dietary restrictions! :)
After dinner, we headed back home and I watched the ball drop on TV. Duke didn't stay awake til midnight. We are getting old!
The restaurant was tastefully decorated with hundreds of balloons lining the ceiling. It was nice and not overdone. We were definitely the youngest table there though since most of the folks were older and doing a pre-theatre dinner. We wanted an early dinner so we could enjoy some good food and company, then get the heck out of LA before the madness began!
We all had the 4-course meal:
- I started with a vegetable mosaic which was a delicious assortment of locally grown vegetables from a Santa Monica farm. This really was a 2nd course menu option but I couldn't eat either of the two 1st course options (raw oyster and a chicken with foie gras - I'm not supposed to eat liver and I don't like foie gras anyway!). Everyone else had the raw oyster, topped with uni and caviar. The oyster was set on a bed of salt. Definitely very interesting presentation but ungodly how much salt was there. Haha.
- I then had the truffle risotto. This was really yummy! I had been longing for some good risotto since the last few meals I've just had so-so risotto. This was done right! :) Duke said that it was very much like the best risotto he ever had (at Le Cirque in Las Vegas - a meal I didn't partake in so I always wondered what he raved about, and now I know!).
- Third course was lobster with some potatoes and a truffle custard. The lobster was served almost medium and almost tasted under-cooked since I'd never had it prepared that way, but it was really good. The truffle custard was rich and really to die for. The other option was venison - Duke wished he had gotten that since he wasn't a fan of the "medium-cooked" lobster...
- For dessert, I had chocolate bar which was just ok. Duke ended up being allergic to both options so they brought out a special lime dessert for him and it was way better than mine! Haha.
All in all, we were happy with the pre-set menu. I'd like to come back for a regular meal some time, and also when I'm not pregnant so I won't have any dietary restrictions! :)
After dinner, we headed back home and I watched the ball drop on TV. Duke didn't stay awake til midnight. We are getting old!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Christmas
We had a really nice Christmas this year. It was the first year Duke and I spent it together too. My brother, Duke, and I spent Christmas Eve hanging out at the house and cooking some food. Duke made some goulash and my brother made some chicken stew. This was the first time I'd ever had my brother's cooking so it was a treat. Haha. My parents, sister & family ended up coming over for dinner, so we had a full house. My dad brought over some lobster too for dinner.
I played some Super Mario with Dylan, we chatted during dinner, and we let the kids open up one gift each. Dylan got a Sonic race car, and Brandon opened up his book that I made for him using his picture so he was with all his favorite Sesame Street characters. Both of the boys loved the gifts, and we spent some time playing with them and taking some family photos.
After everyone left, my brother, Duke, and I tried a new game called Galaxy Truckers. It's actually pretty fun but it takes FOREVER to learn. There are a ton of pieces and rules, and Duke was pretty tired of it. Haha.
On Christmas day, Duke cooked some waffles for breakfast (which my brother had with his stew which sounds gross), and we hung out for a bit before heading over to my sister's. She just moved into her new house, so this was the first Christmas we'd spend over there. My parents joined us soon after we arrived, and we had some of Duke's pasta salad and my dad's lobster for lunch. We also brought over the Wii and all the games so that Dylan could play.
The day was pretty relaxing - just some conversations, goofing around with the kids, and opening gifts. I think this was a rather successful gift-giving year - Dylan loved all the toys we got him (Transformers, Super Mario Chess, Sonic Car, and Thundercats sword). The sword took the cake though. He did not let go of that thing the entire day/night and kept saying "Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats...Whoa!!!" It was hilarious. He even went into the dark just to see the little Thundercats symbol light up and kept saying how awesome it was. It was really cute.
Brandon also had a huge smile on his face with every gift (Elmo, Yo Gabba Gabba keyboard). He was very excited until my parents gave him a box of clothes. It was so hilarious. He kept yelling "No!" and throwing the clothes out of the way so he could play with his toys. Haha.
We also gave my sister some goodies from Michigan (chocolate non-pareils which are her favorite and some summer sausage) which got a good chuckle, along with some clothes and miscellaneous other things.
Dinner was made by my sister's husband, and it was a huge success. He made Korean-style short ribs and it was delicious! We played Scattergories for a little while with my mom, and earlier, my brother had tried to play a money game with Dylan to help him learn how to count coins, etc. That wasn't overly successful but the game was for age 7+ and Dylan's only 4. No excuses, according to my brother, but I thought Dylan did a good job for what he did understand.
My brother was watching a basketball game that he had bet money on, and Dylan was picking up some of the terminology which was pretty funny. He would boo the Magic, and cheer on the OKC Thunder (which coincidentally matched the whole Thundercats phenom so that was appropriate). After that game was over, another game came on, and Dylan asked who were the bad guys, and said "Someone is going to get paid!" Haha. So silly.
It was getting late, so we headed back home after the kids went to bed. Duke went to bed just as we got back, and my brother and I stayed up a little, playing a little bit more of Scattergories.
The day after Christmas, we played some more Scattergories - Duke had never played this game before this weekend so he wanted to practice. Mark came over, so we played a couple rounds with him and then tried another go at Trucker's Galaxy. We played the full game this time (the previous night was only a practice round - that's how cumbersome the game is - they actually go through a practice round with you in the instructions), and it was pretty fun.
We all then headed to dinner to get some Chinese food, and Duke and Mark headed off to Vegas so that Duke would spend Part 2 of Christmas with his family.
My brother and I worked from home today, and he left in the afternoon, so it's a quiet house yet again. A bit messy which I haven't fully cleaned up yet, but that's ok. It was a really fun, nice last few days. Everyone got along really well, no drama anywhere, and lots of good memories. What else can I ask for.
I played some Super Mario with Dylan, we chatted during dinner, and we let the kids open up one gift each. Dylan got a Sonic race car, and Brandon opened up his book that I made for him using his picture so he was with all his favorite Sesame Street characters. Both of the boys loved the gifts, and we spent some time playing with them and taking some family photos.
After everyone left, my brother, Duke, and I tried a new game called Galaxy Truckers. It's actually pretty fun but it takes FOREVER to learn. There are a ton of pieces and rules, and Duke was pretty tired of it. Haha.
On Christmas day, Duke cooked some waffles for breakfast (which my brother had with his stew which sounds gross), and we hung out for a bit before heading over to my sister's. She just moved into her new house, so this was the first Christmas we'd spend over there. My parents joined us soon after we arrived, and we had some of Duke's pasta salad and my dad's lobster for lunch. We also brought over the Wii and all the games so that Dylan could play.
The day was pretty relaxing - just some conversations, goofing around with the kids, and opening gifts. I think this was a rather successful gift-giving year - Dylan loved all the toys we got him (Transformers, Super Mario Chess, Sonic Car, and Thundercats sword). The sword took the cake though. He did not let go of that thing the entire day/night and kept saying "Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats...Whoa!!!" It was hilarious. He even went into the dark just to see the little Thundercats symbol light up and kept saying how awesome it was. It was really cute.
Brandon also had a huge smile on his face with every gift (Elmo, Yo Gabba Gabba keyboard). He was very excited until my parents gave him a box of clothes. It was so hilarious. He kept yelling "No!" and throwing the clothes out of the way so he could play with his toys. Haha.
We also gave my sister some goodies from Michigan (chocolate non-pareils which are her favorite and some summer sausage) which got a good chuckle, along with some clothes and miscellaneous other things.
Dinner was made by my sister's husband, and it was a huge success. He made Korean-style short ribs and it was delicious! We played Scattergories for a little while with my mom, and earlier, my brother had tried to play a money game with Dylan to help him learn how to count coins, etc. That wasn't overly successful but the game was for age 7+ and Dylan's only 4. No excuses, according to my brother, but I thought Dylan did a good job for what he did understand.
My brother was watching a basketball game that he had bet money on, and Dylan was picking up some of the terminology which was pretty funny. He would boo the Magic, and cheer on the OKC Thunder (which coincidentally matched the whole Thundercats phenom so that was appropriate). After that game was over, another game came on, and Dylan asked who were the bad guys, and said "Someone is going to get paid!" Haha. So silly.
It was getting late, so we headed back home after the kids went to bed. Duke went to bed just as we got back, and my brother and I stayed up a little, playing a little bit more of Scattergories.
The day after Christmas, we played some more Scattergories - Duke had never played this game before this weekend so he wanted to practice. Mark came over, so we played a couple rounds with him and then tried another go at Trucker's Galaxy. We played the full game this time (the previous night was only a practice round - that's how cumbersome the game is - they actually go through a practice round with you in the instructions), and it was pretty fun.
We all then headed to dinner to get some Chinese food, and Duke and Mark headed off to Vegas so that Duke would spend Part 2 of Christmas with his family.
My brother and I worked from home today, and he left in the afternoon, so it's a quiet house yet again. A bit messy which I haven't fully cleaned up yet, but that's ok. It was a really fun, nice last few days. Everyone got along really well, no drama anywhere, and lots of good memories. What else can I ask for.
Friday, December 16, 2011
One More Pregnancy Snafu
A couple days ago, I stood up, and yowzers! I felt a shooting, sharp pain down my butt and through the back of my right thigh. Definitely felt like sciatica or something. I could barely walk and was limping my way everywhere. Super painful. Today is day #3, and the first half of the day was the same severe pain but the second half, it seemed to wear off. Maybe baby has moved, and isn't pinching my nerve anymore. I'm not 100% recovered, but I'm hoping it does get better from here on out. It's no fun feeling like a cripple! :(
Random Things I Notice About Michigan
Here's my list of observations about Michigan:
1) Cars are dirty here...like an abnormal percentage are covered in dirt over halfway up the car. It turns out that many people live on dirt roads, which is bizarre to me since all the roads surrounding the area are paved. Car washes seem to be a big business here, but it seems like most people really don't care if their car is dirty since there's no point in trying to keep it clean.
2) There are a lot of weird pronunciations. Mackinac is "Mak-i-naw", the ice cream place Sanders is pronounced like "Saunders", and there's a store that's like a Walmart which is spelled Meijer but it's pronounced like "Meyer".
3) I knew Michigan people love cars, but wow, there are a lot of car dealerships everywhere. We drove through towns where there was nothing but fast food restaurants and truck stops...and there would be multiple gargantuan car dealerships.
4) Michigan people love American cars. I'd say a good 90+% of cars are Ford, GMC, Buick, or Pontiacs. Funny that they still love cars. Haha.
5) There is a thing called a "Michigan left" where there are two roads, say one going left and the other going right. There is a middle intersection thing but you can't turn left there. You have to make a right to go make a left, stop at a curved stoplight, and continue making the left/U-turn to go left on the original road.
1) Cars are dirty here...like an abnormal percentage are covered in dirt over halfway up the car. It turns out that many people live on dirt roads, which is bizarre to me since all the roads surrounding the area are paved. Car washes seem to be a big business here, but it seems like most people really don't care if their car is dirty since there's no point in trying to keep it clean.
2) There are a lot of weird pronunciations. Mackinac is "Mak-i-naw", the ice cream place Sanders is pronounced like "Saunders", and there's a store that's like a Walmart which is spelled Meijer but it's pronounced like "Meyer".
3) I knew Michigan people love cars, but wow, there are a lot of car dealerships everywhere. We drove through towns where there was nothing but fast food restaurants and truck stops...and there would be multiple gargantuan car dealerships.
4) Michigan people love American cars. I'd say a good 90+% of cars are Ford, GMC, Buick, or Pontiacs. Funny that they still love cars. Haha.
5) There is a thing called a "Michigan left" where there are two roads, say one going left and the other going right. There is a middle intersection thing but you can't turn left there. You have to make a right to go make a left, stop at a curved stoplight, and continue making the left/U-turn to go left on the original road.
Michigan Trip (December 3-10)
We wanted to take one last trip before the baby was born and before 3rd trimester, so we racked our brains on where to go, and we decided to come to Michigan. We debated tropical locales which sound nice, but what can I really do? Lounge around with a pregnant belly and not use the hot tub? Haha. Then we thought of some more adventurous places but would probably be too strenuous...So we came up with Michigan, so I could see where Duke grew up and meet some of his family.
Day 1, December 3: Mark picked us up at the house at 9am so that we could catch our flight at 11am. After about 10mins of driving, "Uh...I have to turn off the car. My engine just stopped." He tries to start the car after a few tries to no avail. I give AAA a call, and as they're getting all the info, the car starts. Ok, let's see how far we get. We get on the freeway and proceed in the slow lane, and it seems like we're going ok. Then, the engine starts misbehaving a bit, and then we pull over to the shoulder. Dead again. We give it a couple minutes, and Mark is able to start the car again. Ok, let's see how far we get this time.
We're able to exit the freeway, and we start traveling north towards the airport. It's about a couple miles away, and we hit a red light. Uh oh. Car's dead again. It starts, but then immediately dies again. The car doesn't start again. We figure that the airport is walkable, and it would be more likely to catch our plane that way vs. waiting for AAA who may not be able to fix the car anyway, and would just tow the car to Mark's mechanic...in which case we'd definitely miss our flight. So, we bid Mark good luck with his car, and we start on our trek to the airport.
It's about 9:45am when we leave Mark, and boarding starts at 10:30am. We walk for a couple miles, and are getting close to the airport. We see the rental car area, so we head over there to catch the shuttle to the terminal. We see one bus but the driver wouldn't let us on-board since it wasn't an official stop. Boo...there was no one anywhere near the road! We lose a good 5-7mins waiting for the next shuttle, but we finally arrive to our terminal. Security lines were thankfully short, and we arrive at the gate literally a few minutes after 10:30am, and they were just boarding all the 1st class and priority passengers. We took a quick stop at the bathroom, picked up a muffin, and headed right into board. Whew! We made it! Duke texted Mark to let him know that we got there. What a relief!
The plane ride was fine, aside from the fact that it was completely full and jam-packed. I was in a middle seat, and out of all the seats in the plane, the seat in front of me didn't adjust forward so it was permanently reclined. Yay! Luckily I'm smaller than say, Duke, so it was ok.
We land in Dallas for our stopover, and had an hour to get some food. We stopped in at PappaDeaux's which is a chain of restaurants (PappaDeaux's, Pappacitas, etc) which I had been to before when I used to travel to Dallas all the time for work. Duke had never had it, so we gave it a go. I ordered the crawfish etouffee and Duke had the Po Boy sandwich. The etouffee was delicious! The Po Boy was a bit dry, but who orders a Po Boy anyway.
After lunch, we had about 15 minutes before boarding, and then we were off. This plane's only snafu was that the chief who was supposed to enter in our cargo load data didn't, so they were busy trying to track him down to enter the info so we could have proper takeoff data. How careless...so many people out of work, and of course, the guy who has a job can't do it. Luckily though, we had an 80mph tailwind which helped us recover all that lost time, and we landed on schedule anyhow. Overall, the plane rides were fine - between dozing off for 10 minutes here and there, we knocked off a number of crossword puzzles, which has been our obsession of late.
After we landed, we headed over to pick up our rental car, and began our 2 hour drive up to Bay City. Along the way, we stopped at Walmart to pick up some drinks and toiletries, and we had forgotten one of our bags. The cashier actually ran out in the cold to get our attention and give it back to us. Duke was happy to see the Michigan hospitality. At first, I was convinced it was a homeless man trying to get us to give him money, but it was just another customer yelling over at us to tell us the cashier was trying to chase after us. Haha.
We then went over to see where Duke's old house was. He was shocked at the commercial development that had happened with major retail chains, etc. right off the exit, but once you got further in, it was more like home again for him.
We took a turn into the woods and onto some dirt roads. They were flat and well-kept for the most part, but the further in we got and the closer to his house we got, the potholes got huge! Duke had to drive like a maniac to avoid these giant holes. It felt like riding on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.
We took a quick look at his old house, and saw that the owner there had a phone booth in the front yard. How bizarre. Apparently, it was there 2 years ago as well when Duke came to take a peek at the house last time he was here, so that booth is a permanent fixture.
We stopped in Flint to grab some White Castle which was one of the only places open at this time of night. It was after 11pm at this point. We grabbed a couple cheeseburgers and chicken burgers to eat in the car. The burgers were fine but the chicken burgers were dry. We won't be going back though b/c Duke had some imminent bowel concerns after eating it. We were about 10 minutes outside the hotel, and Duke was having some major issues. Oh no...What else can go wrong today?
We barely make it to the hotel, and as I check in, Duke does his business. We stayed at the DoubleTree, and I have to say I'm always pleasantly surprised and happy with the DoubleTree. I was greeted with the warm chocolate chip & walnut cookies, and the beds were especially soft and comfortable. For the price, you really can't beat it. The beds were so comfy we both slept in until 11am, and for Duke, that is amazingly late since he's usually up by 7am.
Day 2, December 4: We headed over to the lake recreation area to see Lake Huron. It's overcast and dreary with random bouts of rain. The lake was pretty green but the campgrounds were empty. We took a quick stroll over to the water, and then we were soon on our way to Frankenmuth.
We stop at Halo Burger for lunch which is a local Michigan fast food chain. Duke was very excited about it. The burger was pretty standard, in my opinion but the fries were pretty good. They also sell a Boston Cooler which is Vernor's ginger soda & ice cream (like a soda shake) and that was pretty good. I don't think I want to go back though b/c it didn't sit well in my stomach. The burger was pretty greasy or something...
The main town of Frankenmuth is nearby, so we take a quick drive up there. We walk along the river and into some stores. It's a German town, so there's lots of Wilkommen signs and other things in German. Knick-knack stores are plentiful, and we stop in the Bavarian Inn which is the main place to be (a cousin of Zehnder's which is the other main spot in town). We look in the gift shop and this is where we'll have dinner later. We continue to walk along the streets to look at more shops, and decide to check into the hotel. We stayed at the Drury Inn. Nothing to write home about here. Pretty standard, lower-quality place but people are nice enough.
We head back to the Bavarian Inn for dinner, and Duke is uber-excited. We both ordered their famous chicken plates which is basically fried chicken but the fried skin is lighter and more breaded in nature. The chicken was tender, and the skin did taste good but a little bit salty for me. The one thing about this place is the amount of food that they give you. Before you get your entree, they give you a cup of chicken noodle soup (which was excellent), sides of cranberry/orange hash, chicken pasta salad (very very salty), cole slaw (pretty tasty), navy bean salad (just ok), bread & stollen bread (fruit & nut bread) with strawberry jam. Then you get your entree....Plus mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, and more sides - mashed squash (this was yummy; tasted like mashed yams), butter noodles (the noodles were huge and thick so it was very egg-y), and of course you get dessert which was soft-serve ice cream coupled with some ginger cookies. Holy cow, I was stuffed. I had peppermint ice cream which was different and Duke had his vanilla.
The place was packed, and definitely seemed like a local favorite for sure. We headed down to the bakery and chocolate shoppe to see what things we'd like to bring home, and of course we decided to eat some more! We split a cinnamon roll which had a flaky crust, but was very yummy. Duke got some cookies and a couple of his Danish crisps which he loves.
After that, we headed to Zehnder's. Duke was very against this place, saying it was where the "rich" would go for dinner at Frankenmuth's and wasn't even going to take me, but every time we went by, the place was packed. How could we not go? We headed over, and the menu was the same price, if not cheaper for very similar foods. Bah, for the "rich". That didn't even make sense! We might try it for lunch tomorrow so I can see for myself if I like it better or not. Haha. This place also has a large bakery and shops, but we didn't pick anything up here.
We drove over to Bronner's to see the light decorations. Bronner's is the world's largest Christmas store, so we're going to check that out tomorrow. It has a parking lot that is reminiscent of a theme park, and it was full earlier today. I'm hoping tomorrow will be less packed since it'll be a Monday. We shall see!
Day 3, December 5: We woke up around 10am, and missed our free breakfast at the hotel but I'm sure it probably wasn't anything spectacular anyway. We went over to Zehnder's for lunch, and wanted to really compare how this place stacked up to the Bavarian Inn. We ordered the dinners instead of the lunch sizes so we could get all the different side dishes (we referred to it as "ponchon" or however you say it in Korean since it's the same idea - we just don't know what it is in English).
Duke ordered the chicken plate and I had chicken shnitzel with a side of spaetzel. The sides this time around were chicken noodle soup, cole slaw, cranberry relish (these 3 were the same as last night), cottage cheese, and crackers with a cheese/vegetable spread & chicken liver pate. Everything was superior here. The soup was the same - both places were great. The cole slaw was a bit more crisp and tasty, and so was the relish. I also preferred the cottage cheese and crackers with cheese spread to the pasta salad we had last night. Duke even had to concede that the sides were better.
Then, the entrees came, and his chicken was a little less breaded and less salty, so I thought it was better, and his stuffing was much better. I didn't even eat it last night since it was pretty gross, but today's was much more edible. The mashed potatoes were overly salty though so last night's was better on this front though Duke disagreed and like the mashed potatoes here more. My dish was completely different, so nothing to compare there except to say that it was fine. The sides with dinner were the buttered noodles (more buttery & less eggy here) and a vegetable medley of peas, green beans, corn, and carrots (this was similar to frozen veggies that were microwaved for too long since it was pretty gross and mushy).
To me, I have no nostalgia with the place, so it's not like I put this meal in the highest regards in terms of taste, but I can see the old-style charm that this place would bring for people. We finished the meal with vanilla ice cream for Duke and cheesecake for me (dessert wasn't included in this meal, so that's not as great as the Bavarian Inn). I blew out my candle since it's my birthday, and we went on our way.
Bronner's was the next stop for us. It is ridiculous in terms of how much Christmas stuff there is. If you can think it, it's probably there. There were beautiful ornaments everywhere, albeit not cheap, but unique enough. They have sections for everything from "I just bought a new car" to "I like bowling" and a whole section of ornaments to go along with it. Pretty amazing. We bought some pretty neat fiber optics lights for the tree, and a handful of ornaments. There is free personalization there so we got a couple ornaments done with our names and 2011 on it. We also bought an ornament for baby's first Christmas 2012 and a back-dated ornament for our first Christmas at our house in 2010.
We then took a quick stop over at Birch Run which is a huge outdoor outlet store center, and then had an early dinner at Pizzeria Uno. I haven't had deep dish pizza in a long time...perhaps since the last time I visited Chicago which was almost 5 years ago! It was tasty for sure, and a great birthday dinner.
We then drove by some of the places near Duke's house on the way back toward Detroit, and ended up in Novi where our hotel is located. We're staying at a Sheraton this time around, and got upgraded to the club floor which supposedly has "better than average" free breakfast. If we get up in time, we'll be sure to check it out. :)
After unloading some of our belongings, we headed over to Laurel Park Place which is a nearby mall. There is an ice cream & chocolate shop there called Sander's and I got their well-reputed "Bumpy Cake" which was a devilishly rich chocolate cake topped with Mackinack's Hot Fudge ice cream with actual hot fudge topping. It was really yummy but so sweet, my stomach actually felt really sugary afterward. Duke had a chocolate soda which made him very happy since it's the only place he can find that understands what a chocolate soda is (made with seltzer water and vanilla ice cream).
At this point, it was snowing, making this trip a pretty darn complete Christmas trip. Duke caught some snowflakes on his tongue, and he had a good time out in the cold. Overall though, I can't complain about the weather. It's been in the 40s the last couple days, and even though today was in the 30s, there really was no heavy wind so it's not too bad. :)
Day 4, December 6: We woke up around 9:30am, and I headed over to see what the big fuss the free "above average" breakfast was about...Ha, what a laughable affair. It was basically some fruit and one serving area of pancakes. There was no one in the club room, and I didn't see any syrup or anything else. There were some cartons of milk and some sodas and waters, but I find that to be funny that that was supposed to be a big deal.
We went over to Leon's for breakfast which is known for their homemade soups. We both got the chicken noodle soup, and Duke had an omelette while I had the "mini-breakfast" which was actually quite filling (1 egg, 2 sausages, and 3 pancakes). The breakfast was average, but the soup was quite good. The place is next to Miller's Bar which we will be going back to try out at some later date.
Duke then brought me over to Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford museum. Unfortunately, Greenfield Village was on the winter schedule so it's closed except for some holiday nights during the weekend but it's apparently a pretty cool place that has old style houses and people dressed up back in the colonial days.
The Henry Ford museum was open though, so we figured we'd go check that out. After $35 (2 admissions + parking fee), the lady tells us that the museum is under construction and we won't see as many cars...and "very few, in fact". Uh, thanks for telling us, lady. Anyway, so we start walking around and we see some of the presidential cars that were used. There were a lot of cars there but yes indeed, they were behind a barricade and many cars were draped over with a cellophane so you couldn't see anything. Most of the museum that was open dealt with planes, trains, and steamboat engines. Not exactly what we were looking for since this is Detroit and everything is about cars, but what can you do...
After this disappointing stop, we headed over to Ann Arbor to check out University of Michigan. We stopped at Le Dog which is a little red shack that is only open from 11am-2pm on weekdays for a hot dog. The hot dog was pretty good, but it was noticeably soft...I ate mine first, and Duke said "What do you mean by soft?" but I didn't know how else to describe it. He ate his, and he said "Wow, yeah, it is really soft." You don't really get the crunch of a hot dog skin, and the meat just kind of melts in your mouth. Definitely a unique hot dog, if anything but I liked it.
We then walked down the "Diag" which is a diagonal pathway through campus, and made our way over to Zingerman's Deli which is quite well-known. We shared a reuben sandwich and got an "old pickle" and a "new pickle" - the old is more garlic and pickled, whereas the new is more cucumber-y. The reuben was really good. The spread/dressing they use is quite delicious, and their motto is that you really can taste the difference. And, you can!
Afterwards, we walked over to the M Den which is a U of M store with all the paraphernalia you could ever think of, and Duke picked up a hat. We were soon off on our way, and we headed over to Deluca's which is where we would meet Duke's mom's cousins for dinner.
We ended up arriving an hour before we were supposed to meet, so we took a detour over at Starbucks, picked up a Detroit mug, and had some drinks while we waited. At 5pm, we met up with the crew, and had dinner. I had the spaghetti & meatballs - the meatballs were kind of dry but the spaghetti was really good, and most of the rest of the table had their gnocchi. We ended up staying until close to 8pm there, chatting with the 4 ladies. They are all super nice women, and had a lot of stories to share about how they grew up, kids these days, etc. I didn't get to spend that much time with them at the wedding, so it was nice to be able to hear more about their lives and be able to distinguish each one's lives and personalities.
We're now back at the hotel, and unwinding with some crossword puzzles. Tomorrow will be some more family visits but this time, on Duke's dad's side of the family.
Day 5, December 7: We headed over to Duke's aunt's place, and hung out with his dad, aunt Ann, and her son-in-law Dave. We took his aunt over to eat lunch at Highland House which is a nearby joint whose previous owner had their same last name. One of the original owners is still there, and recognized Duke's dad and sister. Anyhow, I had some fish & chips there which were actually fresh and light & crunchy. The fries were good too. Duke had the mastaccioli which I thought tasted bad, but we also had some pizza which tasted like a good Pizza Hut. Apparently a lot of fast-food pizza chains (Little Caesar's and Domino's) came from Michigan so I guess this was my first go at "Michigan pizza". It was yummy.
We then parted ways, and Duke took me around Milford and back to his old house. This time it was light out, so I could actually see the neighborhood. Duke marveled at the Christmas trees that they had planted in their yard b/c he used to jump over them as kids, but now they're gargantuan in size. Oh, what 25+ years will do to a tree. I think it's pretty neat that people grow Christmas trees in their yards.
We stopped by downtown Milford and got some pretty gross hot chocolate (but it was good enough since it was so cold outside), and walked around a park where Duke told me this terrible story of a girl who was walking there with her boyfriend, and the boyfriend got duct taped to a tree while she got kidnapped and was later found in pieces. That's so scary.
We continued our drive around and went to Fowlerville where his mom's parents used to live, and Duke kept saying it was the boonies but honestly, the town looked just like Milford so I don't know how to distinguish the boonies from the rest of the countryside we've been spending time in. Haha.
We then headed back to his aunt's house, and Dave made us some ribs and criss-cut fries. He also offered us some deer sausage with jalapeno & cheese which was actually pretty good but a bit too spicy for me. He also told us that he bought some venison and was going to make some jerky which would be ready in a couple days. Haha. I had never heard of venison sausage or venison jerky, and this guy was offering both!
They have a really nice basement which is a weight room, game room (pool table & darts), and bar which Dave built. It was a pretty sweet lay-out so Duke played a couple games of pool with the kids (they're twins who are juniors in high school). Lots of old stories were swapped, and the game room had lots of old paraphernalia from Duke's dad's family so that prompted a lot of memories too.
It's late back at the hotel now, so I've got to get some shut-eye. I'm beat.
Day 6, December 8: We went to Miller's Bar for lunch today, and it's actually a lot nicer inside than outside. On the outside, it's just a red door and nothing much to it, but inside, there's a lot of bustling and old pictures of Dearborn everywhere. The waitress comes by and says "What are you having?" with no menu, etc. Duke orders us cheeseburgers and fries, and they come out on wax paper. No plates or anything. Haha. The burger was simple and classic, and you put on your own ketchup/mustard/pickles. The other big deal about this place is that there's no check either. You just go up to the cashier and tell them what you ordered. An honor system - what a concept.
After lunch, we headed over to see Duke's dad's family again since everyone would be home at around 3:30pm. We decide to hit up the local deer meat market before dinner - a place called DJ Meats. The place came highly recommended by Dave who gets the summer sausage there with jalapeno and cheese. Unfortunately all the meats have to be refrigerated so we didn't get any, but we'll probably order some when we're back in CA. I figured my brother might like some for Christmas. Ha.
We then headed to dinner at Uptown Grill with the whole family - Duke's dad, aunt, cousin, her husband and two kids. The food was good - I had a shrimp pasta and Duke and I shared a huge side of mac & cheese. Ah, more carbs, so much food.
After dinner, Duke and I headed up to Rochester to the hospital where he was born. We then stopped in downtown which was beautifully lit up for the holidays. Every store participated along Main Street, so there were different colors lights lining every single store. It was really nice. I think more small downtowns should do something like that - gives it a lot of charm and worth a visit. We took a short walk over to LiPuma to do what? Eat more, of course! They're known for their Coney Island hot dogs (hot dogs with chili & onions; no beans). We each ate one, and shared the fries. The fries were super good here - similar to McDonald's fries but a little less oily. Yummy.
On our way back down Main Street, we saw a Sander's, so of course, we took a stop there so that I could try the cream puff hot fudge that everyone raves about. Duke got another chocolate soda, and we confirmed their secret ingredient of adding half & half. I didn't particularly like my cream puff hot fudge. It was good, but the cream puff was a little dry for my taste. I much preferred the bumpy cake which was moist and rich. Oh well, at least I tried it.
We then called it a night after Rochester, and got some much needed rest.
Day 7, December 9: We headed straight to pick up Duke's dad and his sister to meet Duke's mom's cousins at her house for lunch. Barb made some homemade chicken noodle soup, some Italian sausage subs, zucchini & chocolate bread, coconut cream pie, and some pineapple. She said "Oh, it was nothing!" Wow, if that's nothing, I'd like to see something! Everything was delicious and it felt really nice to have a home-cooked meal. Lots of old stories were shared with her and Heide, and soon enough, a few hours had passed and it was time to get on our way. We hung out with Duke's dad's family for a little bit, and then Duke and I headed back to the hotel to pack up the stuff we had bought to ship back home. We took a little break doing some crossword puzzles, and then headed over to Greenfield Village. It was closed when we last went, but we heard that they open for weekend nights for the holidays so we were going to brave the cold and see what was going on.
We get there, and it is packed solid...and then we find out that they're sold out for the night. Duke was pretty pissed off since this is now strike #3 (1 for being closed during the week, 2 for duping us out of a lot of money to go see a half-complete museum, and now 3 for being sold out while they were open). We lost time driving, but what can we do. We tried...
We opted for plan B since we had heard that there's a nice drive along Hines Road where you pay $5 per car to see the light decorations. We figured it'd be nice, and we saw a huge line to enter. It took us almost an hour to get through it, and it was terrible. The decorations probably have been the same for the last 20 years - very old-school, tacky designs, and not much to see. We took a 20 minute video of our drive which I'm sure Duke will edit down to about a minute. It was pretty boring and bad and another waste of time.
It was close to 10pm, and we hadn't had dinner yet so we stopped by Buddy's Pizzeria. They're voted as the top 5 pizza places in the US by Food Network and seemed to have gotten a ton of accolades from other media outlets (Oprah, etc). They have a square pizza, and Duke's sister had told us that the mac 'n' cheese was the best.
Overall impression, it was a nice place but nothing too great. I didn't particularly like the pizza. It is different for sure, but I wouldn't say it's better than a regular old Domino's...The shape does psychologically throw me off though since I kept associating it with cafeteria or TV dinner pizza. Haha. The mac 'n' cheese was really good for traditional mac 'n' cheese. You can taste the sharp cheddar cheese. I liked it but Duke wasn't a huge fan.
We're now back at the hotel, and it's time to rest and get ready to pack up for tomorrow. Goodbye Michigan! It's been a good trip, and really nice to finally see some of the places that I've been hearing about and to meet all the people. I wouldn't say I'd want to ever live here, but it's definitely a nice place to visit and have some Midwestern hospitality. :)
Day 1, December 3: Mark picked us up at the house at 9am so that we could catch our flight at 11am. After about 10mins of driving, "Uh...I have to turn off the car. My engine just stopped." He tries to start the car after a few tries to no avail. I give AAA a call, and as they're getting all the info, the car starts. Ok, let's see how far we get. We get on the freeway and proceed in the slow lane, and it seems like we're going ok. Then, the engine starts misbehaving a bit, and then we pull over to the shoulder. Dead again. We give it a couple minutes, and Mark is able to start the car again. Ok, let's see how far we get this time.
We're able to exit the freeway, and we start traveling north towards the airport. It's about a couple miles away, and we hit a red light. Uh oh. Car's dead again. It starts, but then immediately dies again. The car doesn't start again. We figure that the airport is walkable, and it would be more likely to catch our plane that way vs. waiting for AAA who may not be able to fix the car anyway, and would just tow the car to Mark's mechanic...in which case we'd definitely miss our flight. So, we bid Mark good luck with his car, and we start on our trek to the airport.
It's about 9:45am when we leave Mark, and boarding starts at 10:30am. We walk for a couple miles, and are getting close to the airport. We see the rental car area, so we head over there to catch the shuttle to the terminal. We see one bus but the driver wouldn't let us on-board since it wasn't an official stop. Boo...there was no one anywhere near the road! We lose a good 5-7mins waiting for the next shuttle, but we finally arrive to our terminal. Security lines were thankfully short, and we arrive at the gate literally a few minutes after 10:30am, and they were just boarding all the 1st class and priority passengers. We took a quick stop at the bathroom, picked up a muffin, and headed right into board. Whew! We made it! Duke texted Mark to let him know that we got there. What a relief!
The plane ride was fine, aside from the fact that it was completely full and jam-packed. I was in a middle seat, and out of all the seats in the plane, the seat in front of me didn't adjust forward so it was permanently reclined. Yay! Luckily I'm smaller than say, Duke, so it was ok.
We land in Dallas for our stopover, and had an hour to get some food. We stopped in at PappaDeaux's which is a chain of restaurants (PappaDeaux's, Pappacitas, etc) which I had been to before when I used to travel to Dallas all the time for work. Duke had never had it, so we gave it a go. I ordered the crawfish etouffee and Duke had the Po Boy sandwich. The etouffee was delicious! The Po Boy was a bit dry, but who orders a Po Boy anyway.
After lunch, we had about 15 minutes before boarding, and then we were off. This plane's only snafu was that the chief who was supposed to enter in our cargo load data didn't, so they were busy trying to track him down to enter the info so we could have proper takeoff data. How careless...so many people out of work, and of course, the guy who has a job can't do it. Luckily though, we had an 80mph tailwind which helped us recover all that lost time, and we landed on schedule anyhow. Overall, the plane rides were fine - between dozing off for 10 minutes here and there, we knocked off a number of crossword puzzles, which has been our obsession of late.
After we landed, we headed over to pick up our rental car, and began our 2 hour drive up to Bay City. Along the way, we stopped at Walmart to pick up some drinks and toiletries, and we had forgotten one of our bags. The cashier actually ran out in the cold to get our attention and give it back to us. Duke was happy to see the Michigan hospitality. At first, I was convinced it was a homeless man trying to get us to give him money, but it was just another customer yelling over at us to tell us the cashier was trying to chase after us. Haha.
We then went over to see where Duke's old house was. He was shocked at the commercial development that had happened with major retail chains, etc. right off the exit, but once you got further in, it was more like home again for him.
We took a turn into the woods and onto some dirt roads. They were flat and well-kept for the most part, but the further in we got and the closer to his house we got, the potholes got huge! Duke had to drive like a maniac to avoid these giant holes. It felt like riding on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.
We took a quick look at his old house, and saw that the owner there had a phone booth in the front yard. How bizarre. Apparently, it was there 2 years ago as well when Duke came to take a peek at the house last time he was here, so that booth is a permanent fixture.
We stopped in Flint to grab some White Castle which was one of the only places open at this time of night. It was after 11pm at this point. We grabbed a couple cheeseburgers and chicken burgers to eat in the car. The burgers were fine but the chicken burgers were dry. We won't be going back though b/c Duke had some imminent bowel concerns after eating it. We were about 10 minutes outside the hotel, and Duke was having some major issues. Oh no...What else can go wrong today?
We barely make it to the hotel, and as I check in, Duke does his business. We stayed at the DoubleTree, and I have to say I'm always pleasantly surprised and happy with the DoubleTree. I was greeted with the warm chocolate chip & walnut cookies, and the beds were especially soft and comfortable. For the price, you really can't beat it. The beds were so comfy we both slept in until 11am, and for Duke, that is amazingly late since he's usually up by 7am.
Day 2, December 4: We headed over to the lake recreation area to see Lake Huron. It's overcast and dreary with random bouts of rain. The lake was pretty green but the campgrounds were empty. We took a quick stroll over to the water, and then we were soon on our way to Frankenmuth.
We stop at Halo Burger for lunch which is a local Michigan fast food chain. Duke was very excited about it. The burger was pretty standard, in my opinion but the fries were pretty good. They also sell a Boston Cooler which is Vernor's ginger soda & ice cream (like a soda shake) and that was pretty good. I don't think I want to go back though b/c it didn't sit well in my stomach. The burger was pretty greasy or something...
The main town of Frankenmuth is nearby, so we take a quick drive up there. We walk along the river and into some stores. It's a German town, so there's lots of Wilkommen signs and other things in German. Knick-knack stores are plentiful, and we stop in the Bavarian Inn which is the main place to be (a cousin of Zehnder's which is the other main spot in town). We look in the gift shop and this is where we'll have dinner later. We continue to walk along the streets to look at more shops, and decide to check into the hotel. We stayed at the Drury Inn. Nothing to write home about here. Pretty standard, lower-quality place but people are nice enough.
We head back to the Bavarian Inn for dinner, and Duke is uber-excited. We both ordered their famous chicken plates which is basically fried chicken but the fried skin is lighter and more breaded in nature. The chicken was tender, and the skin did taste good but a little bit salty for me. The one thing about this place is the amount of food that they give you. Before you get your entree, they give you a cup of chicken noodle soup (which was excellent), sides of cranberry/orange hash, chicken pasta salad (very very salty), cole slaw (pretty tasty), navy bean salad (just ok), bread & stollen bread (fruit & nut bread) with strawberry jam. Then you get your entree....Plus mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, and more sides - mashed squash (this was yummy; tasted like mashed yams), butter noodles (the noodles were huge and thick so it was very egg-y), and of course you get dessert which was soft-serve ice cream coupled with some ginger cookies. Holy cow, I was stuffed. I had peppermint ice cream which was different and Duke had his vanilla.
The place was packed, and definitely seemed like a local favorite for sure. We headed down to the bakery and chocolate shoppe to see what things we'd like to bring home, and of course we decided to eat some more! We split a cinnamon roll which had a flaky crust, but was very yummy. Duke got some cookies and a couple of his Danish crisps which he loves.
After that, we headed to Zehnder's. Duke was very against this place, saying it was where the "rich" would go for dinner at Frankenmuth's and wasn't even going to take me, but every time we went by, the place was packed. How could we not go? We headed over, and the menu was the same price, if not cheaper for very similar foods. Bah, for the "rich". That didn't even make sense! We might try it for lunch tomorrow so I can see for myself if I like it better or not. Haha. This place also has a large bakery and shops, but we didn't pick anything up here.
We drove over to Bronner's to see the light decorations. Bronner's is the world's largest Christmas store, so we're going to check that out tomorrow. It has a parking lot that is reminiscent of a theme park, and it was full earlier today. I'm hoping tomorrow will be less packed since it'll be a Monday. We shall see!
Day 3, December 5: We woke up around 10am, and missed our free breakfast at the hotel but I'm sure it probably wasn't anything spectacular anyway. We went over to Zehnder's for lunch, and wanted to really compare how this place stacked up to the Bavarian Inn. We ordered the dinners instead of the lunch sizes so we could get all the different side dishes (we referred to it as "ponchon" or however you say it in Korean since it's the same idea - we just don't know what it is in English).
Duke ordered the chicken plate and I had chicken shnitzel with a side of spaetzel. The sides this time around were chicken noodle soup, cole slaw, cranberry relish (these 3 were the same as last night), cottage cheese, and crackers with a cheese/vegetable spread & chicken liver pate. Everything was superior here. The soup was the same - both places were great. The cole slaw was a bit more crisp and tasty, and so was the relish. I also preferred the cottage cheese and crackers with cheese spread to the pasta salad we had last night. Duke even had to concede that the sides were better.
Then, the entrees came, and his chicken was a little less breaded and less salty, so I thought it was better, and his stuffing was much better. I didn't even eat it last night since it was pretty gross, but today's was much more edible. The mashed potatoes were overly salty though so last night's was better on this front though Duke disagreed and like the mashed potatoes here more. My dish was completely different, so nothing to compare there except to say that it was fine. The sides with dinner were the buttered noodles (more buttery & less eggy here) and a vegetable medley of peas, green beans, corn, and carrots (this was similar to frozen veggies that were microwaved for too long since it was pretty gross and mushy).
To me, I have no nostalgia with the place, so it's not like I put this meal in the highest regards in terms of taste, but I can see the old-style charm that this place would bring for people. We finished the meal with vanilla ice cream for Duke and cheesecake for me (dessert wasn't included in this meal, so that's not as great as the Bavarian Inn). I blew out my candle since it's my birthday, and we went on our way.
Bronner's was the next stop for us. It is ridiculous in terms of how much Christmas stuff there is. If you can think it, it's probably there. There were beautiful ornaments everywhere, albeit not cheap, but unique enough. They have sections for everything from "I just bought a new car" to "I like bowling" and a whole section of ornaments to go along with it. Pretty amazing. We bought some pretty neat fiber optics lights for the tree, and a handful of ornaments. There is free personalization there so we got a couple ornaments done with our names and 2011 on it. We also bought an ornament for baby's first Christmas 2012 and a back-dated ornament for our first Christmas at our house in 2010.
We then took a quick stop over at Birch Run which is a huge outdoor outlet store center, and then had an early dinner at Pizzeria Uno. I haven't had deep dish pizza in a long time...perhaps since the last time I visited Chicago which was almost 5 years ago! It was tasty for sure, and a great birthday dinner.
We then drove by some of the places near Duke's house on the way back toward Detroit, and ended up in Novi where our hotel is located. We're staying at a Sheraton this time around, and got upgraded to the club floor which supposedly has "better than average" free breakfast. If we get up in time, we'll be sure to check it out. :)
After unloading some of our belongings, we headed over to Laurel Park Place which is a nearby mall. There is an ice cream & chocolate shop there called Sander's and I got their well-reputed "Bumpy Cake" which was a devilishly rich chocolate cake topped with Mackinack's Hot Fudge ice cream with actual hot fudge topping. It was really yummy but so sweet, my stomach actually felt really sugary afterward. Duke had a chocolate soda which made him very happy since it's the only place he can find that understands what a chocolate soda is (made with seltzer water and vanilla ice cream).
At this point, it was snowing, making this trip a pretty darn complete Christmas trip. Duke caught some snowflakes on his tongue, and he had a good time out in the cold. Overall though, I can't complain about the weather. It's been in the 40s the last couple days, and even though today was in the 30s, there really was no heavy wind so it's not too bad. :)
Day 4, December 6: We woke up around 9:30am, and I headed over to see what the big fuss the free "above average" breakfast was about...Ha, what a laughable affair. It was basically some fruit and one serving area of pancakes. There was no one in the club room, and I didn't see any syrup or anything else. There were some cartons of milk and some sodas and waters, but I find that to be funny that that was supposed to be a big deal.
We went over to Leon's for breakfast which is known for their homemade soups. We both got the chicken noodle soup, and Duke had an omelette while I had the "mini-breakfast" which was actually quite filling (1 egg, 2 sausages, and 3 pancakes). The breakfast was average, but the soup was quite good. The place is next to Miller's Bar which we will be going back to try out at some later date.
Duke then brought me over to Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford museum. Unfortunately, Greenfield Village was on the winter schedule so it's closed except for some holiday nights during the weekend but it's apparently a pretty cool place that has old style houses and people dressed up back in the colonial days.
The Henry Ford museum was open though, so we figured we'd go check that out. After $35 (2 admissions + parking fee), the lady tells us that the museum is under construction and we won't see as many cars...and "very few, in fact". Uh, thanks for telling us, lady. Anyway, so we start walking around and we see some of the presidential cars that were used. There were a lot of cars there but yes indeed, they were behind a barricade and many cars were draped over with a cellophane so you couldn't see anything. Most of the museum that was open dealt with planes, trains, and steamboat engines. Not exactly what we were looking for since this is Detroit and everything is about cars, but what can you do...
After this disappointing stop, we headed over to Ann Arbor to check out University of Michigan. We stopped at Le Dog which is a little red shack that is only open from 11am-2pm on weekdays for a hot dog. The hot dog was pretty good, but it was noticeably soft...I ate mine first, and Duke said "What do you mean by soft?" but I didn't know how else to describe it. He ate his, and he said "Wow, yeah, it is really soft." You don't really get the crunch of a hot dog skin, and the meat just kind of melts in your mouth. Definitely a unique hot dog, if anything but I liked it.
We then walked down the "Diag" which is a diagonal pathway through campus, and made our way over to Zingerman's Deli which is quite well-known. We shared a reuben sandwich and got an "old pickle" and a "new pickle" - the old is more garlic and pickled, whereas the new is more cucumber-y. The reuben was really good. The spread/dressing they use is quite delicious, and their motto is that you really can taste the difference. And, you can!
Afterwards, we walked over to the M Den which is a U of M store with all the paraphernalia you could ever think of, and Duke picked up a hat. We were soon off on our way, and we headed over to Deluca's which is where we would meet Duke's mom's cousins for dinner.
We ended up arriving an hour before we were supposed to meet, so we took a detour over at Starbucks, picked up a Detroit mug, and had some drinks while we waited. At 5pm, we met up with the crew, and had dinner. I had the spaghetti & meatballs - the meatballs were kind of dry but the spaghetti was really good, and most of the rest of the table had their gnocchi. We ended up staying until close to 8pm there, chatting with the 4 ladies. They are all super nice women, and had a lot of stories to share about how they grew up, kids these days, etc. I didn't get to spend that much time with them at the wedding, so it was nice to be able to hear more about their lives and be able to distinguish each one's lives and personalities.
We're now back at the hotel, and unwinding with some crossword puzzles. Tomorrow will be some more family visits but this time, on Duke's dad's side of the family.
Day 5, December 7: We headed over to Duke's aunt's place, and hung out with his dad, aunt Ann, and her son-in-law Dave. We took his aunt over to eat lunch at Highland House which is a nearby joint whose previous owner had their same last name. One of the original owners is still there, and recognized Duke's dad and sister. Anyhow, I had some fish & chips there which were actually fresh and light & crunchy. The fries were good too. Duke had the mastaccioli which I thought tasted bad, but we also had some pizza which tasted like a good Pizza Hut. Apparently a lot of fast-food pizza chains (Little Caesar's and Domino's) came from Michigan so I guess this was my first go at "Michigan pizza". It was yummy.
We then parted ways, and Duke took me around Milford and back to his old house. This time it was light out, so I could actually see the neighborhood. Duke marveled at the Christmas trees that they had planted in their yard b/c he used to jump over them as kids, but now they're gargantuan in size. Oh, what 25+ years will do to a tree. I think it's pretty neat that people grow Christmas trees in their yards.
We stopped by downtown Milford and got some pretty gross hot chocolate (but it was good enough since it was so cold outside), and walked around a park where Duke told me this terrible story of a girl who was walking there with her boyfriend, and the boyfriend got duct taped to a tree while she got kidnapped and was later found in pieces. That's so scary.
We continued our drive around and went to Fowlerville where his mom's parents used to live, and Duke kept saying it was the boonies but honestly, the town looked just like Milford so I don't know how to distinguish the boonies from the rest of the countryside we've been spending time in. Haha.
We then headed back to his aunt's house, and Dave made us some ribs and criss-cut fries. He also offered us some deer sausage with jalapeno & cheese which was actually pretty good but a bit too spicy for me. He also told us that he bought some venison and was going to make some jerky which would be ready in a couple days. Haha. I had never heard of venison sausage or venison jerky, and this guy was offering both!
They have a really nice basement which is a weight room, game room (pool table & darts), and bar which Dave built. It was a pretty sweet lay-out so Duke played a couple games of pool with the kids (they're twins who are juniors in high school). Lots of old stories were swapped, and the game room had lots of old paraphernalia from Duke's dad's family so that prompted a lot of memories too.
It's late back at the hotel now, so I've got to get some shut-eye. I'm beat.
Day 6, December 8: We went to Miller's Bar for lunch today, and it's actually a lot nicer inside than outside. On the outside, it's just a red door and nothing much to it, but inside, there's a lot of bustling and old pictures of Dearborn everywhere. The waitress comes by and says "What are you having?" with no menu, etc. Duke orders us cheeseburgers and fries, and they come out on wax paper. No plates or anything. Haha. The burger was simple and classic, and you put on your own ketchup/mustard/pickles. The other big deal about this place is that there's no check either. You just go up to the cashier and tell them what you ordered. An honor system - what a concept.
After lunch, we headed over to see Duke's dad's family again since everyone would be home at around 3:30pm. We decide to hit up the local deer meat market before dinner - a place called DJ Meats. The place came highly recommended by Dave who gets the summer sausage there with jalapeno and cheese. Unfortunately all the meats have to be refrigerated so we didn't get any, but we'll probably order some when we're back in CA. I figured my brother might like some for Christmas. Ha.
We then headed to dinner at Uptown Grill with the whole family - Duke's dad, aunt, cousin, her husband and two kids. The food was good - I had a shrimp pasta and Duke and I shared a huge side of mac & cheese. Ah, more carbs, so much food.
After dinner, Duke and I headed up to Rochester to the hospital where he was born. We then stopped in downtown which was beautifully lit up for the holidays. Every store participated along Main Street, so there were different colors lights lining every single store. It was really nice. I think more small downtowns should do something like that - gives it a lot of charm and worth a visit. We took a short walk over to LiPuma to do what? Eat more, of course! They're known for their Coney Island hot dogs (hot dogs with chili & onions; no beans). We each ate one, and shared the fries. The fries were super good here - similar to McDonald's fries but a little less oily. Yummy.
On our way back down Main Street, we saw a Sander's, so of course, we took a stop there so that I could try the cream puff hot fudge that everyone raves about. Duke got another chocolate soda, and we confirmed their secret ingredient of adding half & half. I didn't particularly like my cream puff hot fudge. It was good, but the cream puff was a little dry for my taste. I much preferred the bumpy cake which was moist and rich. Oh well, at least I tried it.
We then called it a night after Rochester, and got some much needed rest.
Day 7, December 9: We headed straight to pick up Duke's dad and his sister to meet Duke's mom's cousins at her house for lunch. Barb made some homemade chicken noodle soup, some Italian sausage subs, zucchini & chocolate bread, coconut cream pie, and some pineapple. She said "Oh, it was nothing!" Wow, if that's nothing, I'd like to see something! Everything was delicious and it felt really nice to have a home-cooked meal. Lots of old stories were shared with her and Heide, and soon enough, a few hours had passed and it was time to get on our way. We hung out with Duke's dad's family for a little bit, and then Duke and I headed back to the hotel to pack up the stuff we had bought to ship back home. We took a little break doing some crossword puzzles, and then headed over to Greenfield Village. It was closed when we last went, but we heard that they open for weekend nights for the holidays so we were going to brave the cold and see what was going on.
We get there, and it is packed solid...and then we find out that they're sold out for the night. Duke was pretty pissed off since this is now strike #3 (1 for being closed during the week, 2 for duping us out of a lot of money to go see a half-complete museum, and now 3 for being sold out while they were open). We lost time driving, but what can we do. We tried...
We opted for plan B since we had heard that there's a nice drive along Hines Road where you pay $5 per car to see the light decorations. We figured it'd be nice, and we saw a huge line to enter. It took us almost an hour to get through it, and it was terrible. The decorations probably have been the same for the last 20 years - very old-school, tacky designs, and not much to see. We took a 20 minute video of our drive which I'm sure Duke will edit down to about a minute. It was pretty boring and bad and another waste of time.
It was close to 10pm, and we hadn't had dinner yet so we stopped by Buddy's Pizzeria. They're voted as the top 5 pizza places in the US by Food Network and seemed to have gotten a ton of accolades from other media outlets (Oprah, etc). They have a square pizza, and Duke's sister had told us that the mac 'n' cheese was the best.
Overall impression, it was a nice place but nothing too great. I didn't particularly like the pizza. It is different for sure, but I wouldn't say it's better than a regular old Domino's...The shape does psychologically throw me off though since I kept associating it with cafeteria or TV dinner pizza. Haha. The mac 'n' cheese was really good for traditional mac 'n' cheese. You can taste the sharp cheddar cheese. I liked it but Duke wasn't a huge fan.
We're now back at the hotel, and it's time to rest and get ready to pack up for tomorrow. Goodbye Michigan! It's been a good trip, and really nice to finally see some of the places that I've been hearing about and to meet all the people. I wouldn't say I'd want to ever live here, but it's definitely a nice place to visit and have some Midwestern hospitality. :)
Sunday, December 04, 2011
Pregnancy Update
I went to the doctor for my check-up, and everything looks to be a-ok. We heard the baby's heartbeat which sounded fine, and she measured some length from my hip area up above my belly. Not really sure what that was for but she didn't say anything, so I'm sure it's fine.
I've gained 20lbs so far, which is now above normal. I was a little freaked out b/c I was right on target for weight gain, but this past month, I really gained a lot without even knowing it. I haven't been eating the best, but I didn't realize I'd put on so much. The doctor actually then told me that it's really common for women to experience sudden weight gain during this part of the pregnancy b/c my blood volume doubles so the extra weight isn't really from fat, but really from the blood. That made me feel better, but I still want to try and keep up with my exercise and everything so that I don't get too heavy and increase my risks for a C-section or an oversized baby, come delivery time!
That's all to report for now on the baby front!
I've gained 20lbs so far, which is now above normal. I was a little freaked out b/c I was right on target for weight gain, but this past month, I really gained a lot without even knowing it. I haven't been eating the best, but I didn't realize I'd put on so much. The doctor actually then told me that it's really common for women to experience sudden weight gain during this part of the pregnancy b/c my blood volume doubles so the extra weight isn't really from fat, but really from the blood. That made me feel better, but I still want to try and keep up with my exercise and everything so that I don't get too heavy and increase my risks for a C-section or an oversized baby, come delivery time!
That's all to report for now on the baby front!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
20 Week Ultrasound & Then Some
November 10: Duke and I went to the imaging center for our anatomy ultrasound. I'm officially 20 weeks, so we should get a good picture of everything since the baby is a bit more developed. We got the same tech as last time, and we asked her for a copy of the images for my dad to look at.
When we walked in, she asked if we were finding out the gender today, and I said yes. Soon enough, we saw the baby up on the screen, and the tech says "Oh, hmm. I can't get a good picture of the penis." Haha. So we say "Oh, so it's a boy?!" and she says "Oh! Yes, definitely a boy." She pointed out the penis and the "little ball sac" but then corrected herself and said nothing is small. Haha, and the jokes ensued with Duke commenting on how "hung" the baby was.
The rest of the ultrasound went through to confirm that the baby has two legs, two feet, two arms, and two hands. There was also no cleft palette so that was good news. The tech then took a number of pictures of the heart, brain, and a couple pictures of the kidneys. She measured the baby's femur and said it was on the tall-side which was no surprise to her, given Duke's size.
The appointment was fun, and we came out happy that we were having a little boy. We always preferred a boy first just b/c I grew up with an older brother, and well, Duke is an older brother. We called our parents to tell them the news, and I texted my brother and sister as well. Yay!
November 11: I was heading over to a happy hour, and had a message from the doctor's office. Usually a nurse leaves a message to tell me everything was fine, but this time I had a voicemail from my doctor. Something came up. She called to tell me two things: 1) my placenta is a bit low, so she wanted to make sure I didn't have any cervix activity or pelvic exams. The placenta implanted low, and should move up as the uterus grows, but just in case, there should be precautionary measures. I'll need to get a follow-up ultrasound to confirm that the placenta moves up. Otherwise, I'll have to deal with a c-section and possible bedrest if I start bleeding.
2) There were choroid plexus cysts in the baby's head. While there is no certainty that there is anything wrong, these cysts are a soft marker for Trisomy 18/Edwards Syndrome. This freaked me out. I called my dad, and then called my doctor to speak to her live, and was told that I'll need to do further testing and get a more detailed genetic ultrasound. My blood genetic screening came back at 1 in 100,000 so I have numbers on my side, and plus the cysts were the only thing that were found. Usually, Trisomy 18 has other symptoms - clenched hands, club foot, or a misshapen chest. None of those other symptoms were found, but of course, we need to do a further exam and double-check everything.
The cysts are actually more common in Asian populations, but they're still not very common. About 1-2% of babies have these cysts, and 50% of those with Trisomy 18 have these cysts so that's why there's an association. The cysts will go away, but we just need to make sure everything checks out ok with the perinatologist.
When I first heard the news, I thought of it very matter-of-factly, but when I started to talk to my dad about it, I just got really emotional and started crying. I know you bond with your baby while you're pregnant but I never really felt it b/c I've had a smooth pregnancy and don't really feel the baby much. The reaction took me by surprise but it is natural to just be scared and worried about your baby, I guess.
My dad was actually pretty mad about the doctor b/c he said she shouldn't have left a message about the cysts like that, especially b/c regular people have no idea what the cysts signify. If you hear "cysts in the brain, chromosomal abnormalities, and genetic testing" in a message, you're probably not feeling too comforted. But anyhow, when I spoke to her, she said that she actually wouldn't have called on Friday but wanted to make sure I didn't have any cervix activity b/c of my low placenta, and would've called on Monday. She said she was concerned I'd be worried all weekend but she wasn't concerned about the cysts at all and was more concerned about the placenta moving up.
Lucky for me, I'm able to talk to my dad about this stuff, and he was able to give me some more facts and key words to look up and read about on my own.
When I got home, I told Duke, and I started crying again which freaked him out. I then had to talk him off the ledge and explain all that I had learned, and he said I need to get better at telling someone news like that. I should have started with "Everything is ok, but ..." But, to be honest, I don't know if everything is ok. Odds are on our side, but until we get the green light from the genetic center, I'm still feeling uneasy about it.
So, of course a smooth pregnancy has become a more complicated one but I just hope everything checks out ok with the baby and that my placenta moves up so I don't have to worry about bleeding out and losing the baby. Stressful...
That's the update for now.
November 18: Duke and I headed to the genetic center to get the follow-up ultrasound done. The tech did her original screen, and everything looked fine. Apparently there was just one cyst now which was quite small, and she didn't seem concerned about it. At the previous ultrasound, my dad saw 3 cysts on both sides of the brain. They weren't abnormally large but bigger than what we were seeing this time around. The tech also said I have some fibroids in my uterus but they were still small, and they're actually quite common in women. Most don't even know they have fibroids but they can grow bigger since they flourish in the same environment as a pregnancy (with the hormones, etc).
I asked her about the placenta, and she said that it didn't look very low, and that it'll just move up higher over time. So, maybe the issue is fine there now too but I'll have to wait til I see my OB and see what she says.
The ultrasound machine was really nice and clear this time too. The baby was moving around, and had his hands up around his face a lot, refusing to take a picture. Haha. The tech tried to get us a good 3-D picture but we see the babies hands up blocking some of his face. Oh well. The 3-D technology is pretty amazing though. This center didn't allow me to take a disc home with the images, but gave me some hard copies of some generic photos. I really wanted my dad to see all the images, but that wasn't an option for me this time around.
The tech re-confirmed that the baby was a boy, and that everything looks fine. She then told us that the doctor would do some additional scans and come to talk to us. When the doctor arrived, he took a very close look at all the warning factors - the hands, fingers, feet, toes, heart, and brain. He was able to identify the 10 fingers and 10 toes (so mark off the deformed hands and feet which would be associated with Trisomy 18) and confirmed the blood was flowing through all four chambers of the heart. He also took a long look at the brain, and also told us that he saw just the one cyst which was very small.
You could tell this was a doctor doing the ultrasound vs. a tech though. The baby was pretty low, and the doctor wanted a clear picture of the head, and he pushed down pretty darn hard in my pelvic area. It hurt! Small price to pay though to make sure everything was checked out as it should be.
The doctor then told us that he sees these cysts a lot, and Trisomy 18 is one of those diseases that can be identified via ultrasound 80-90% of the time b/c of the significant physical characteristics. He contrasted this with Downs which is harder to identify in an ultrasound. So, after factoring in that my blood tests screened so positively, there were no other indicators of Trisomy 18, and that the cysts were resolving themselves very quickly, he really had no worries at all for us. He said usually the cysts are resolved by week 28, but the baby's cysts seem to be resolving much faster than that. He didn't recommend any additional testing - no amniocentesis, and not even another ultrasound unless my OB wants to re-confirm how the baby is growing.
After speaking with us, he pretty much left the room immediately which we found strange since we didn't really have an opportunity for questions, but I guess it's good that he was so confident that nothing was wrong that he didn't need to spend more time counseling us. That's how I'm justifying it anyway:)
So after that whole ordeal, we can happily say that baby is fine and healthy. Yay!
I can also feel baby moving around now too. We went to Duke's friend's birthday party and another girl was pregnant, and she described the baby kicking like "little farts" or like "popcorn popping" which I find to be a much more accurate description than "flutters" or "butterflies in your stomach". I definitely feel the little farts. Haha. Sometimes I feel some larger "kicks", and Duke was able to feel them too at one point which was cool. :)
When we walked in, she asked if we were finding out the gender today, and I said yes. Soon enough, we saw the baby up on the screen, and the tech says "Oh, hmm. I can't get a good picture of the penis." Haha. So we say "Oh, so it's a boy?!" and she says "Oh! Yes, definitely a boy." She pointed out the penis and the "little ball sac" but then corrected herself and said nothing is small. Haha, and the jokes ensued with Duke commenting on how "hung" the baby was.
The rest of the ultrasound went through to confirm that the baby has two legs, two feet, two arms, and two hands. There was also no cleft palette so that was good news. The tech then took a number of pictures of the heart, brain, and a couple pictures of the kidneys. She measured the baby's femur and said it was on the tall-side which was no surprise to her, given Duke's size.
The appointment was fun, and we came out happy that we were having a little boy. We always preferred a boy first just b/c I grew up with an older brother, and well, Duke is an older brother. We called our parents to tell them the news, and I texted my brother and sister as well. Yay!
November 11: I was heading over to a happy hour, and had a message from the doctor's office. Usually a nurse leaves a message to tell me everything was fine, but this time I had a voicemail from my doctor. Something came up. She called to tell me two things: 1) my placenta is a bit low, so she wanted to make sure I didn't have any cervix activity or pelvic exams. The placenta implanted low, and should move up as the uterus grows, but just in case, there should be precautionary measures. I'll need to get a follow-up ultrasound to confirm that the placenta moves up. Otherwise, I'll have to deal with a c-section and possible bedrest if I start bleeding.
2) There were choroid plexus cysts in the baby's head. While there is no certainty that there is anything wrong, these cysts are a soft marker for Trisomy 18/Edwards Syndrome. This freaked me out. I called my dad, and then called my doctor to speak to her live, and was told that I'll need to do further testing and get a more detailed genetic ultrasound. My blood genetic screening came back at 1 in 100,000 so I have numbers on my side, and plus the cysts were the only thing that were found. Usually, Trisomy 18 has other symptoms - clenched hands, club foot, or a misshapen chest. None of those other symptoms were found, but of course, we need to do a further exam and double-check everything.
The cysts are actually more common in Asian populations, but they're still not very common. About 1-2% of babies have these cysts, and 50% of those with Trisomy 18 have these cysts so that's why there's an association. The cysts will go away, but we just need to make sure everything checks out ok with the perinatologist.
When I first heard the news, I thought of it very matter-of-factly, but when I started to talk to my dad about it, I just got really emotional and started crying. I know you bond with your baby while you're pregnant but I never really felt it b/c I've had a smooth pregnancy and don't really feel the baby much. The reaction took me by surprise but it is natural to just be scared and worried about your baby, I guess.
My dad was actually pretty mad about the doctor b/c he said she shouldn't have left a message about the cysts like that, especially b/c regular people have no idea what the cysts signify. If you hear "cysts in the brain, chromosomal abnormalities, and genetic testing" in a message, you're probably not feeling too comforted. But anyhow, when I spoke to her, she said that she actually wouldn't have called on Friday but wanted to make sure I didn't have any cervix activity b/c of my low placenta, and would've called on Monday. She said she was concerned I'd be worried all weekend but she wasn't concerned about the cysts at all and was more concerned about the placenta moving up.
Lucky for me, I'm able to talk to my dad about this stuff, and he was able to give me some more facts and key words to look up and read about on my own.
When I got home, I told Duke, and I started crying again which freaked him out. I then had to talk him off the ledge and explain all that I had learned, and he said I need to get better at telling someone news like that. I should have started with "Everything is ok, but ..." But, to be honest, I don't know if everything is ok. Odds are on our side, but until we get the green light from the genetic center, I'm still feeling uneasy about it.
So, of course a smooth pregnancy has become a more complicated one but I just hope everything checks out ok with the baby and that my placenta moves up so I don't have to worry about bleeding out and losing the baby. Stressful...
That's the update for now.
November 18: Duke and I headed to the genetic center to get the follow-up ultrasound done. The tech did her original screen, and everything looked fine. Apparently there was just one cyst now which was quite small, and she didn't seem concerned about it. At the previous ultrasound, my dad saw 3 cysts on both sides of the brain. They weren't abnormally large but bigger than what we were seeing this time around. The tech also said I have some fibroids in my uterus but they were still small, and they're actually quite common in women. Most don't even know they have fibroids but they can grow bigger since they flourish in the same environment as a pregnancy (with the hormones, etc).
I asked her about the placenta, and she said that it didn't look very low, and that it'll just move up higher over time. So, maybe the issue is fine there now too but I'll have to wait til I see my OB and see what she says.
The ultrasound machine was really nice and clear this time too. The baby was moving around, and had his hands up around his face a lot, refusing to take a picture. Haha. The tech tried to get us a good 3-D picture but we see the babies hands up blocking some of his face. Oh well. The 3-D technology is pretty amazing though. This center didn't allow me to take a disc home with the images, but gave me some hard copies of some generic photos. I really wanted my dad to see all the images, but that wasn't an option for me this time around.
The tech re-confirmed that the baby was a boy, and that everything looks fine. She then told us that the doctor would do some additional scans and come to talk to us. When the doctor arrived, he took a very close look at all the warning factors - the hands, fingers, feet, toes, heart, and brain. He was able to identify the 10 fingers and 10 toes (so mark off the deformed hands and feet which would be associated with Trisomy 18) and confirmed the blood was flowing through all four chambers of the heart. He also took a long look at the brain, and also told us that he saw just the one cyst which was very small.
You could tell this was a doctor doing the ultrasound vs. a tech though. The baby was pretty low, and the doctor wanted a clear picture of the head, and he pushed down pretty darn hard in my pelvic area. It hurt! Small price to pay though to make sure everything was checked out as it should be.
The doctor then told us that he sees these cysts a lot, and Trisomy 18 is one of those diseases that can be identified via ultrasound 80-90% of the time b/c of the significant physical characteristics. He contrasted this with Downs which is harder to identify in an ultrasound. So, after factoring in that my blood tests screened so positively, there were no other indicators of Trisomy 18, and that the cysts were resolving themselves very quickly, he really had no worries at all for us. He said usually the cysts are resolved by week 28, but the baby's cysts seem to be resolving much faster than that. He didn't recommend any additional testing - no amniocentesis, and not even another ultrasound unless my OB wants to re-confirm how the baby is growing.
After speaking with us, he pretty much left the room immediately which we found strange since we didn't really have an opportunity for questions, but I guess it's good that he was so confident that nothing was wrong that he didn't need to spend more time counseling us. That's how I'm justifying it anyway:)
So after that whole ordeal, we can happily say that baby is fine and healthy. Yay!
I can also feel baby moving around now too. We went to Duke's friend's birthday party and another girl was pregnant, and she described the baby kicking like "little farts" or like "popcorn popping" which I find to be a much more accurate description than "flutters" or "butterflies in your stomach". I definitely feel the little farts. Haha. Sometimes I feel some larger "kicks", and Duke was able to feel them too at one point which was cool. :)
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Pregnancy Updates
October 4: I had a check-up with the doctor today, and it was short and sweet. The doctor basically used a little device to hear the baby’s heartbeat. We heard a couple static/scratchy noises and she said that was the baby kicking. We heard that twice. Otherwise, she said everything sounded fine, and told me to set up my 2nd trimester blood screen appointment, and that she was sending in an authorization for my anatomy ultrasound which I’ll schedule between weeks 19-21. That’ll be the important ultrasound to make sure all the organs are looking good, and we’ll also find out gender at that point too.
October 19: No appointment to speak of, but just to memorialize the fact that I pulled my back! It was sad. I bent down to put some lotion on my legs, and yikes!! Pain, pain, pain!! I actually wasn’t sure if I could walk for a little while but my back limbered up, and I was ok. The pain was pretty bad, especially while sitting. I’ve had chronic lower back pain for most of my life, but I’ve never had this sharp pain before. I was sad. It was also strange since standing/walking wasn’t nearly as bad as sitting, and massaging didn’t seem to bring any relief or pain, so it was bizarre. It’s now been 2 days, and I’ve surely getting better. Each day is better than the last, and I still have a subtle pain but it’s definitely more bearable than the first day. I feel pretty lucky since some people experience severe pain for a few weeks, and it looks like I’ll recover for the most part in a few days.
November 3: I'm 19 weeks today, and had my doctor's appointment. She said that I'm right on target for my weight gain, and that my growth is spot on when she pushed down on my belly. She said I'm about 1cm from the umbilical line - not really sure what that means but it sounded like it was what it was supposed to be. :)
She also gave me the 2nd trimester screen results, and everything came back negative. 1 in 100,000 which she said was the best I could hope for. I'm glad everything continued to check out well.
She did listened for the heartbeat which we heard, and the baby kicked once. She asked if I felt it but I did not. It seemed she was a little surprised that I haven't felt any kicking at all, and she kept asking "Really? No flutters or feelings of butterflies in your stomach?" "Nope...I do feel cramps though from time to time." "Oh, but nothing in the front of your belly like flutters?" "Uh...no." "Well, you will."
I also told her about straining my back and she said I should do some stretches in the morning before I go about my day, and if I have pain to take Tylenol but no Advil.
Otherwise, everything seemed fine. The appointment was very fast again but I guess that's a good thing. Next week is the 2nd trimester ultrasound!
October 19: No appointment to speak of, but just to memorialize the fact that I pulled my back! It was sad. I bent down to put some lotion on my legs, and yikes!! Pain, pain, pain!! I actually wasn’t sure if I could walk for a little while but my back limbered up, and I was ok. The pain was pretty bad, especially while sitting. I’ve had chronic lower back pain for most of my life, but I’ve never had this sharp pain before. I was sad. It was also strange since standing/walking wasn’t nearly as bad as sitting, and massaging didn’t seem to bring any relief or pain, so it was bizarre. It’s now been 2 days, and I’ve surely getting better. Each day is better than the last, and I still have a subtle pain but it’s definitely more bearable than the first day. I feel pretty lucky since some people experience severe pain for a few weeks, and it looks like I’ll recover for the most part in a few days.
November 3: I'm 19 weeks today, and had my doctor's appointment. She said that I'm right on target for my weight gain, and that my growth is spot on when she pushed down on my belly. She said I'm about 1cm from the umbilical line - not really sure what that means but it sounded like it was what it was supposed to be. :)
She also gave me the 2nd trimester screen results, and everything came back negative. 1 in 100,000 which she said was the best I could hope for. I'm glad everything continued to check out well.
She did listened for the heartbeat which we heard, and the baby kicked once. She asked if I felt it but I did not. It seemed she was a little surprised that I haven't felt any kicking at all, and she kept asking "Really? No flutters or feelings of butterflies in your stomach?" "Nope...I do feel cramps though from time to time." "Oh, but nothing in the front of your belly like flutters?" "Uh...no." "Well, you will."
I also told her about straining my back and she said I should do some stretches in the morning before I go about my day, and if I have pain to take Tylenol but no Advil.
Otherwise, everything seemed fine. The appointment was very fast again but I guess that's a good thing. Next week is the 2nd trimester ultrasound!
Baby Pumpkin
October 5: Duke and I went to see the Smashing Pumpkins at the Wiltern in LA. We went to Koreatown to eat some dinner at Hodori – it was pretty subpar which was sad since we usually like it there, but whatever. We ventured over to the Wiltern which is really close to the restaurant, and stood in line for doors to open. There was some talk about Steve Jobs since we had heard he just passed away, which definitely put a damper on the evening…But, the concert was still spectacular! It was actually one of the best shows I’ve been to in a number of years. Sure, it’s still not the same as the “good ole days” but they played *a lot* of the older songs which made me really happy. I haven’t been a great fan per se, since I’ve been lacking in downloading all the free new songs off the site, and keeping up with all the latest and greatest, so I really just know the old stuff (when I was a crazy person back in the day…haha).
Anyhow, the Wiltern is a pretty intimate theatre so it turned out great that I actually went out of my way to try and get seats (and not get General Admission) b/c of my pregnancy. Our seats were pretty high up relative to the rest of the theatre, but we still had a great view and the sound was great. Duke tweeted at Billy Corgan before the show (who knows if he’d ever read it) that we were bringing our unborn baby to hear them live for the first time. Haha.
Here’s the setlist:
Quasar
Panopticon
Starla
Geek U.S.A.
Muzzle
Window Paine
Lightning Strikes
Soma
Siva
Oceania
Frail and Bedazzled
Silverfuck
Obscured
Suffer
Thru the Eyes of Ruby
Cherub Rock
Owata
My Love Is Winter
For Martha
Panopticon
Starla
Geek U.S.A.
Muzzle
Window Paine
Lightning Strikes
Soma
Siva
Oceania
Frail and Bedazzled
Silverfuck
Obscured
Suffer
Thru the Eyes of Ruby
Cherub Rock
Owata
My Love Is Winter
For Martha
Encore:
Pissant
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
I was actually shocked that so many Pisces Iscariot songs were played. I’ve heard a number of them played at various shows but never so many back to back in one night. It was a real treat. It felt like a show where Billy was playing what he actually felt like playing, and not bending to what “the generic crowd” would want with all radio hits. The setlist did give me hope that they’d play Mayonaise, but no such luck. Of course, tracks #7, 8, and 11 were played from Siamese Dream and I needed track #9! :P
Duke didn’t really realize that this was a great show since he didn’t recognize most of the songs (he only knew Cherub Rock and BWBW), but I think a lot of the crowd was like me…People who grew up with the band, and really appreciated all the older classics. There really weren’t a lot of young teens – most were like us, in their 30s or even older… I guess it’s a sign of our times. We’re getting old…
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Pregnancy!!
The news is public, so here's what's been going on! :)
July 22: I woke up at 4am with extreme nausea. I felt terrible all day with aches and pains, much like the flu. I also had a fever of up to 101.3. This was really similar to a couple weeks ago when I had a fever with flu-like symptoms but after 24 hours, it subsided. I decided to get a pregnancy test b/c I had never felt that sort of nausea before without actually throwing up. My period was supposed to come any day, but it didn't yet so I figured I might as well check. The pregnancy test said that it would take 3mins to reveal the result, and close to 1min, it popped up as "Pregnant". I was in a bit of shock since I was really concerned that we couldn't get pregnant - a fear that many women have, I guess. We'll see how this pregnancy goes and if it is viable. On Monday, I'll call my OB to set up an appointment and confirm everything.
We are really happy. We've been wanting to have kids, and that's what triggered our desire to get married. I'm glad it only took a couple months to get pregnant! :)
Duke and I have been talking about names, and he keeps wanting to use names from Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings. He's crazy. Haha. Either that, or he wants to name a girl Meg (short for Megatron) and a boy Optimus Prime. Like I would ever let that happen!! Haha.
August 15: I finally was able to go in for my appointment. I've had to cancel 3-4 times b/c of work conflicts (and no one at work knows yet!). I went to see the Nurse Practitioner, and it was actually a frustrating experience. They called me on time to take my blood pressure, weight, and ask me a few questions. They tell me to just wait in the room, change in the paper gown, and the NP would be in with me in 15 minutes. Uh... 15 minutes became 45 minutes!! Why didn't they just let me wait in the waiting room if they were that behind? It's not exactly the most comfortable situation to be sitting in an exam room wearing a paper gown! Grrr... Anyway, I poked my head outside of the room to ask if they knew when the NP was coming (I wasn't sure if they had forgotten all about me), and the NP yells "I'm coming in right now!"
She comes in, and is clearly annoyed that I was "impatient". She literally spent 3 minutes with me. She did a chlamydia/gonorrhea sample test then asked if I had any questions. I asked who would be delivering me if my doctor isn't on call and she told me that there are 4 other doctors that may potentially be the one. I asked if I would meet them, and she gave me this annoying look, and was like "We don't do that. You can look at the brochure if you want to place a face to a name." And then I asked if there was any information they give about what they recommend as do's and don'ts, and she says to go read "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and some Mayo Clinic book.
She may as well have just said Go Google It. Ugh.
I then went to the lab to get my blood drawn but they were packed, so I decided to go to the lab next to my house in the morning.
Thank goodness I set an appointment since that lab was also full of people. I was in and out in 20 minutes so it was fine.
August 17: I got the phone call that says my blood test shows I am positive for pregnancy. It's now official! There wasn't really a doubt since I have some symptoms but it's always nice to get the official word. I have my first OB appointment next week, so hopefully that will go well.
In general, I feel completely normal. I did feel constipated for a while and also a lack of appetite but both of those have passed for the most part. I do also get quite bloated (and look pregnant) after eating so that's been kind of weird. I've always had a "big" stomach relative to the rest of my body so it's really unclear if I'm looking pregnant or if I'd look like this anyway! Haha.
I did have a couple boo boo's already though.
- A few weeks ago, I had a piece of ahi tuna sashimi (I was at a work event and I always gobble that stuff up, so I felt like I had to eat some of it to not raise any suspicion). I had one small cube so I'm sure it's ok.
- Duke and I went to Ricky's, and I told them that I was pregnant so they did a cooked food omakase for me which was pretty darn cool of them. I got some fried tofu, cooked salmon, seaweed salad, etc. But then he gave us monkfish liver sashimi. I didn't eat any of it, but then Ricky says that he prepared that especially for me b/c it's really good for pregnant moms, and that his dad would always give that to him growing up b/c it's very nutritious and good for your health. So, I had probably 4 pieces...Then I later found out that it's packed full of vitamin A and you're not supposed to have too much vitamin A b/c it can cause birth defects!! :( Again, I'm sure it's fine but I felt bad.
I'm sure the list will continue to grow as the months go by. No one can be perfect, but I'm sure there will be a lot of women who would probably yell at me and disagree with that.
I did go to the gym this morning, and I couldn't run for longer than 3 minutes! How sad! I was so winded. It was pretty unbelievable actually. I'm going to try to stick to the elliptical b/c I can do that for an hour and at least still get a decent workout in!
Oh, what else. I get sleepy around 10pm every night now which is a far cry from my normal time of going to be around midnight or 1am. It's now 11pm so I'm pushing my limits here, but I don't like that all my conscious time is at work! :P
August 23: First OB appointment. It wasn't very eventful - the doctor handed me a bag full of random magazines, sample prenatal vitamins, and some other random marketing items. She then went through a lot of disclosures about my rights to genetic screening and what I can opt in or out of. We spoke briefly about what I can eat and she said that I should limit to 12oz of seafood per week. That's nothing! I think I've broken that quite a lot already, and honestly feel it's ok as long as I avoid those high-mercury fish like tuna and bass. She asked me if I had any nausea and I said no, and just told her about my other symptoms that are all normal. The new symptom I had was that I get a cramp in my lower stomach when I sneeze, and she said that's normal since my ligaments are pulling.
Otherwise, I stuck my arm out yet again and got tubes and tubes full of blood drawn. I don't even know what they tested for but I guess I'll find out if anything doesn't come back right. I'm supposed to meet with the NP again next week for a nutrition appointment but I think I'll have to postpone it b/c work is crazy right now.
August 29: I had my first ultrasound this morning. Duke met me at the medical center, and it was a really neat experience. I was told to drink 32oz of fluid before my appointment so I'd have a full bladder. I drank 1 liter of water which turns out to be 33oz and I had to pee so badly. We went into the room and the tech started showing us some of the images on the screen. It was kind of uncomfortable since every push down was really hard for me since I had to pee. The tech then asked me to empty my bladder and then they did the more invasive ultrasound to get a better look at the baby and to take better measurements. The picture was a lot better, and we even got to see the baby wiggle around a lot. It looked like it was dancing. Haha.
Both Duke and I thought the body was the head, and the tech soon corrected us and labeled our pictures for us. We saw the two arms, two legs, and one head...and just one baby! Duke has some twins in his family so we're glad to hear that there's only one baby brewing. Hehe.
The tech took some more pictures and measurements of the baby and my ovaries, and that was pretty much it. I'm 9 weeks and 4 days, with the weeks counting every Thursday. Due date is around March 27-28. The next ultrasound will be for the first trimester screening followed by some bloodwork, but the next major ultrasound to see the full anatomy will be at 18-20 weeks. That's when we find out about gender too.
It was really cool to see the baby and feel that it was real. The heart was beating really fast - Duke says he saw the screen say 180 bpm which is normal. Pretty awesome to know this living thing is in my belly.
Here's the little bugger:
September 6: I had a pretty frustrating appointment today. I met with the nurse practitioner for a nutrition & exercise appointment as well as hospital info which was supposed to be "very informative". The medical office wouldn't let me just do it on the phone, so I figured it was going to be some in-depth talk. Uh...not so much. The whole appointment was basically a push for cord blood banking (definitely felt like they would get some kickback from these companies), and that was all the NP talked about. Then she said "Well, we're supposed to talk mainly about nutrition & exercise...Do you have any questions?" Huh? Questions about what? She didn't go over anything with me.
This is the 2nd time I've met with the NP, and I think she's just a rude person. Before this appointment, I got a call from the office that my iron was a little low, and to start taking iron supplements. Then, I went to this NP appointment, and she told me the same thing, so I said "Oh, can you go over the rest of the results?" and she just snapped back "That's what I'm doing right now." Sheesh. Excuuuse me!
Anyway, I really debated calling the doctor to explain my frustration but I think I'm just going to see if they make me have any more appointment with the NP or not. If they do, I'll just ask the doctor if I can just see her instead of the NP since both appointments with her were a waste of time coupled with a bad attitude.
Aside from that unpleasant experience, the rest is all good news to report. I continue to feel very normal with no nausea at all. I am still very tired and sleepy but I can't complain.
September 9: I went to get my blood drawn for the first trimester screen. The doctor's office told me to get this done 2 days or the same day as my ultrasound but the ultrasound clinic told me to get it a week before. I called the office but no one answered so I left a message. They didn't call me for 3 days, and ended up just saying "Oh, just listen to the clinic." Um...you'd think they'd know not to tell me 0-2 days when the bloodwork should be done 7-10 days before the ultrasound. I'm not too sure I like this doctor's office but I have an HMO plan and a lot of doctors don't take it. Plus, the office is close to my work. Bah.
September 16: I had my first trimester screen ultrasound today. There was a 40 minute wait past my appointment time, but I'm so used to waiting for forever that it really didn't bother me. The tech was super duper nice. I loved her! She was so enthusiastic, and overly comforting about how great the baby was doing. The test was called nuchal translucency which is to measure the space between two layers of skin on the baby's neck. The thicker this is, the more likely the baby is to have Down's. That measurement is coupled with blood test results, and also factors in my age.
The news was great. The cutoff for Down's was like 1 in 100 (I don't really remember) and my result was 1 in 100,000, and the cutoff for Trisomy was 1 in 50 (or so?) and mine was 1 in 47,000. Hearbeat was strong and steady at 162bpm. The baby was also a good size for its age.
The actual test was just an on-the-stomach ultrasound and I didn't have to have a full bladder for this one so it was quite fun. The baby was sleeping when we first started, and to get an appropriate measurement, the baby has to be face-up or face-down with a flat back. My baby was face-down and curved, so we had to wake up the baby to get it to move to a better position. She tried putting pressure with the ultrasound device but the baby didn't wake up, so she asked me to cough which woke the baby up. Haha.
The baby started moving around so she got some good measurements, and we got to see some nice activity as the baby moved its arms a lot. There's one picture where the baby's arms are both up and the tech wrote a caption of "Hi!" on there. Pretty funny, especially b/c this morning, I woke up and said "I'm going to say hi to you, baby!" and the tech ended up having the baby say hi to me. Haha.
Here's the pic - hard to make out since I took a photo of the photo:
I'm really relieved that everything checked out. I've been feeling so normal that I always have this paranoia that something is wrong, but the baby is growing and seemingly healthy so I'm happy.
The news also gave me comfort to break the news more publicly. I told my boss today, and the rest of the office knows now. I'll have to deal with all that later to figure out what I'm going to do after the baby is born, but at least I don't have to keep this secret anymore. I also e-mailed a few friends, gave my mom the ok to tell the rest of the family, and Duke is going to do a Facebook post soon to let all his peeps know. :)
September 18: Duke spent hours compiling this video which is a scene of King Kong fighting a big snake. It was basically a "What do you get when you have a monkey and a snake?" And it was supposed to be a dragon baby... I didn't think anyone would get the video without any prompting or hints. Duke thought 10%. No one got it. Haha.
We ended up having to be explicit on FB, and got a ton of heartwarming congratulations and well wishes. It was pretty awesome. :)
September 27: As far as how I'm doing - everything is pretty normal still but I did start getting lower back pain. :( I also woke up probably 4 times last night which wasn't very fun. I think it was a combination of having to go pee, having a hard time breathing, and having a dull ache in my back. I just couldn't get comfortable. My pants are getting pretty darn hard to squeeze into so I really have to figure out what I'm going to do about my work wardrobe. Haha. It's 14 weeks on Thursday!
July 22: I woke up at 4am with extreme nausea. I felt terrible all day with aches and pains, much like the flu. I also had a fever of up to 101.3. This was really similar to a couple weeks ago when I had a fever with flu-like symptoms but after 24 hours, it subsided. I decided to get a pregnancy test b/c I had never felt that sort of nausea before without actually throwing up. My period was supposed to come any day, but it didn't yet so I figured I might as well check. The pregnancy test said that it would take 3mins to reveal the result, and close to 1min, it popped up as "Pregnant". I was in a bit of shock since I was really concerned that we couldn't get pregnant - a fear that many women have, I guess. We'll see how this pregnancy goes and if it is viable. On Monday, I'll call my OB to set up an appointment and confirm everything.
We are really happy. We've been wanting to have kids, and that's what triggered our desire to get married. I'm glad it only took a couple months to get pregnant! :)
Duke and I have been talking about names, and he keeps wanting to use names from Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings. He's crazy. Haha. Either that, or he wants to name a girl Meg (short for Megatron) and a boy Optimus Prime. Like I would ever let that happen!! Haha.
August 15: I finally was able to go in for my appointment. I've had to cancel 3-4 times b/c of work conflicts (and no one at work knows yet!). I went to see the Nurse Practitioner, and it was actually a frustrating experience. They called me on time to take my blood pressure, weight, and ask me a few questions. They tell me to just wait in the room, change in the paper gown, and the NP would be in with me in 15 minutes. Uh... 15 minutes became 45 minutes!! Why didn't they just let me wait in the waiting room if they were that behind? It's not exactly the most comfortable situation to be sitting in an exam room wearing a paper gown! Grrr... Anyway, I poked my head outside of the room to ask if they knew when the NP was coming (I wasn't sure if they had forgotten all about me), and the NP yells "I'm coming in right now!"
She comes in, and is clearly annoyed that I was "impatient". She literally spent 3 minutes with me. She did a chlamydia/gonorrhea sample test then asked if I had any questions. I asked who would be delivering me if my doctor isn't on call and she told me that there are 4 other doctors that may potentially be the one. I asked if I would meet them, and she gave me this annoying look, and was like "We don't do that. You can look at the brochure if you want to place a face to a name." And then I asked if there was any information they give about what they recommend as do's and don'ts, and she says to go read "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and some Mayo Clinic book.
She may as well have just said Go Google It. Ugh.
I then went to the lab to get my blood drawn but they were packed, so I decided to go to the lab next to my house in the morning.
Thank goodness I set an appointment since that lab was also full of people. I was in and out in 20 minutes so it was fine.
August 17: I got the phone call that says my blood test shows I am positive for pregnancy. It's now official! There wasn't really a doubt since I have some symptoms but it's always nice to get the official word. I have my first OB appointment next week, so hopefully that will go well.
In general, I feel completely normal. I did feel constipated for a while and also a lack of appetite but both of those have passed for the most part. I do also get quite bloated (and look pregnant) after eating so that's been kind of weird. I've always had a "big" stomach relative to the rest of my body so it's really unclear if I'm looking pregnant or if I'd look like this anyway! Haha.
I did have a couple boo boo's already though.
- A few weeks ago, I had a piece of ahi tuna sashimi (I was at a work event and I always gobble that stuff up, so I felt like I had to eat some of it to not raise any suspicion). I had one small cube so I'm sure it's ok.
- Duke and I went to Ricky's, and I told them that I was pregnant so they did a cooked food omakase for me which was pretty darn cool of them. I got some fried tofu, cooked salmon, seaweed salad, etc. But then he gave us monkfish liver sashimi. I didn't eat any of it, but then Ricky says that he prepared that especially for me b/c it's really good for pregnant moms, and that his dad would always give that to him growing up b/c it's very nutritious and good for your health. So, I had probably 4 pieces...Then I later found out that it's packed full of vitamin A and you're not supposed to have too much vitamin A b/c it can cause birth defects!! :( Again, I'm sure it's fine but I felt bad.
I'm sure the list will continue to grow as the months go by. No one can be perfect, but I'm sure there will be a lot of women who would probably yell at me and disagree with that.
I did go to the gym this morning, and I couldn't run for longer than 3 minutes! How sad! I was so winded. It was pretty unbelievable actually. I'm going to try to stick to the elliptical b/c I can do that for an hour and at least still get a decent workout in!
Oh, what else. I get sleepy around 10pm every night now which is a far cry from my normal time of going to be around midnight or 1am. It's now 11pm so I'm pushing my limits here, but I don't like that all my conscious time is at work! :P
August 23: First OB appointment. It wasn't very eventful - the doctor handed me a bag full of random magazines, sample prenatal vitamins, and some other random marketing items. She then went through a lot of disclosures about my rights to genetic screening and what I can opt in or out of. We spoke briefly about what I can eat and she said that I should limit to 12oz of seafood per week. That's nothing! I think I've broken that quite a lot already, and honestly feel it's ok as long as I avoid those high-mercury fish like tuna and bass. She asked me if I had any nausea and I said no, and just told her about my other symptoms that are all normal. The new symptom I had was that I get a cramp in my lower stomach when I sneeze, and she said that's normal since my ligaments are pulling.
Otherwise, I stuck my arm out yet again and got tubes and tubes full of blood drawn. I don't even know what they tested for but I guess I'll find out if anything doesn't come back right. I'm supposed to meet with the NP again next week for a nutrition appointment but I think I'll have to postpone it b/c work is crazy right now.
August 29: I had my first ultrasound this morning. Duke met me at the medical center, and it was a really neat experience. I was told to drink 32oz of fluid before my appointment so I'd have a full bladder. I drank 1 liter of water which turns out to be 33oz and I had to pee so badly. We went into the room and the tech started showing us some of the images on the screen. It was kind of uncomfortable since every push down was really hard for me since I had to pee. The tech then asked me to empty my bladder and then they did the more invasive ultrasound to get a better look at the baby and to take better measurements. The picture was a lot better, and we even got to see the baby wiggle around a lot. It looked like it was dancing. Haha.
Both Duke and I thought the body was the head, and the tech soon corrected us and labeled our pictures for us. We saw the two arms, two legs, and one head...and just one baby! Duke has some twins in his family so we're glad to hear that there's only one baby brewing. Hehe.
The tech took some more pictures and measurements of the baby and my ovaries, and that was pretty much it. I'm 9 weeks and 4 days, with the weeks counting every Thursday. Due date is around March 27-28. The next ultrasound will be for the first trimester screening followed by some bloodwork, but the next major ultrasound to see the full anatomy will be at 18-20 weeks. That's when we find out about gender too.
It was really cool to see the baby and feel that it was real. The heart was beating really fast - Duke says he saw the screen say 180 bpm which is normal. Pretty awesome to know this living thing is in my belly.
Here's the little bugger:
September 6: I had a pretty frustrating appointment today. I met with the nurse practitioner for a nutrition & exercise appointment as well as hospital info which was supposed to be "very informative". The medical office wouldn't let me just do it on the phone, so I figured it was going to be some in-depth talk. Uh...not so much. The whole appointment was basically a push for cord blood banking (definitely felt like they would get some kickback from these companies), and that was all the NP talked about. Then she said "Well, we're supposed to talk mainly about nutrition & exercise...Do you have any questions?" Huh? Questions about what? She didn't go over anything with me.
This is the 2nd time I've met with the NP, and I think she's just a rude person. Before this appointment, I got a call from the office that my iron was a little low, and to start taking iron supplements. Then, I went to this NP appointment, and she told me the same thing, so I said "Oh, can you go over the rest of the results?" and she just snapped back "That's what I'm doing right now." Sheesh. Excuuuse me!
Anyway, I really debated calling the doctor to explain my frustration but I think I'm just going to see if they make me have any more appointment with the NP or not. If they do, I'll just ask the doctor if I can just see her instead of the NP since both appointments with her were a waste of time coupled with a bad attitude.
Aside from that unpleasant experience, the rest is all good news to report. I continue to feel very normal with no nausea at all. I am still very tired and sleepy but I can't complain.
September 9: I went to get my blood drawn for the first trimester screen. The doctor's office told me to get this done 2 days or the same day as my ultrasound but the ultrasound clinic told me to get it a week before. I called the office but no one answered so I left a message. They didn't call me for 3 days, and ended up just saying "Oh, just listen to the clinic." Um...you'd think they'd know not to tell me 0-2 days when the bloodwork should be done 7-10 days before the ultrasound. I'm not too sure I like this doctor's office but I have an HMO plan and a lot of doctors don't take it. Plus, the office is close to my work. Bah.
September 16: I had my first trimester screen ultrasound today. There was a 40 minute wait past my appointment time, but I'm so used to waiting for forever that it really didn't bother me. The tech was super duper nice. I loved her! She was so enthusiastic, and overly comforting about how great the baby was doing. The test was called nuchal translucency which is to measure the space between two layers of skin on the baby's neck. The thicker this is, the more likely the baby is to have Down's. That measurement is coupled with blood test results, and also factors in my age.
The news was great. The cutoff for Down's was like 1 in 100 (I don't really remember) and my result was 1 in 100,000, and the cutoff for Trisomy was 1 in 50 (or so?) and mine was 1 in 47,000. Hearbeat was strong and steady at 162bpm. The baby was also a good size for its age.
The actual test was just an on-the-stomach ultrasound and I didn't have to have a full bladder for this one so it was quite fun. The baby was sleeping when we first started, and to get an appropriate measurement, the baby has to be face-up or face-down with a flat back. My baby was face-down and curved, so we had to wake up the baby to get it to move to a better position. She tried putting pressure with the ultrasound device but the baby didn't wake up, so she asked me to cough which woke the baby up. Haha.
The baby started moving around so she got some good measurements, and we got to see some nice activity as the baby moved its arms a lot. There's one picture where the baby's arms are both up and the tech wrote a caption of "Hi!" on there. Pretty funny, especially b/c this morning, I woke up and said "I'm going to say hi to you, baby!" and the tech ended up having the baby say hi to me. Haha.
Here's the pic - hard to make out since I took a photo of the photo:
I'm really relieved that everything checked out. I've been feeling so normal that I always have this paranoia that something is wrong, but the baby is growing and seemingly healthy so I'm happy.
The news also gave me comfort to break the news more publicly. I told my boss today, and the rest of the office knows now. I'll have to deal with all that later to figure out what I'm going to do after the baby is born, but at least I don't have to keep this secret anymore. I also e-mailed a few friends, gave my mom the ok to tell the rest of the family, and Duke is going to do a Facebook post soon to let all his peeps know. :)
September 18: Duke spent hours compiling this video which is a scene of King Kong fighting a big snake. It was basically a "What do you get when you have a monkey and a snake?" And it was supposed to be a dragon baby... I didn't think anyone would get the video without any prompting or hints. Duke thought 10%. No one got it. Haha.
We ended up having to be explicit on FB, and got a ton of heartwarming congratulations and well wishes. It was pretty awesome. :)
September 27: As far as how I'm doing - everything is pretty normal still but I did start getting lower back pain. :( I also woke up probably 4 times last night which wasn't very fun. I think it was a combination of having to go pee, having a hard time breathing, and having a dull ache in my back. I just couldn't get comfortable. My pants are getting pretty darn hard to squeeze into so I really have to figure out what I'm going to do about my work wardrobe. Haha. It's 14 weeks on Thursday!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Just Working and Spending Time with the Family
Not much to report right now...I've just been working a lot and traveling back and forth from LA. I hate the commute! But at least I've been able to stay up in LA for multiple day visits, and I've had some good meals while I'm up here. A slight consolation prize...
Otherwise, the past few weeks have been spent with family. My parents watched Dylan for 3 weeks, and he came over to my house 1-2 times per week to play some Super Mario Bros. He's pretty darn good at the game, and lives and breathes it. I've been pretty impressed how much his skills have improved though. He's becoming a better sport, and isn't giving up as easily if we don't beat a level right away. I'm pretty proud of him. :)
My sister moved recently out of LA, so now they're in a rental home. They're closer to where I live now but it's still a good 45 minute drive. The place is pretty old and less than desirable but it's a 6-month accommodation before they move into a brand new house! I can't wait for that since the model homes are so gorgeous! :)
Duke and I have otherwise been doing stuff around the house. We got a nice wine bar rack, and have been working on the yard. For the parts of the yard that we've put Amend on it, it has made a difference, so we know all this effort is worth it and we should continue working on it. Duke is doing most of the heavy lifting though but I'm doing my fair share too! :)
Otherwise, the past few weeks have been spent with family. My parents watched Dylan for 3 weeks, and he came over to my house 1-2 times per week to play some Super Mario Bros. He's pretty darn good at the game, and lives and breathes it. I've been pretty impressed how much his skills have improved though. He's becoming a better sport, and isn't giving up as easily if we don't beat a level right away. I'm pretty proud of him. :)
My sister moved recently out of LA, so now they're in a rental home. They're closer to where I live now but it's still a good 45 minute drive. The place is pretty old and less than desirable but it's a 6-month accommodation before they move into a brand new house! I can't wait for that since the model homes are so gorgeous! :)
Duke and I have otherwise been doing stuff around the house. We got a nice wine bar rack, and have been working on the yard. For the parts of the yard that we've put Amend on it, it has made a difference, so we know all this effort is worth it and we should continue working on it. Duke is doing most of the heavy lifting though but I'm doing my fair share too! :)
Thursday, July 14, 2011
June/July Catch-Up Post
Since the honeymoon, life has sadly come back to normal. I guess I shouldn't complain too much since my life ain't so bad, but having something to plan and look forward to is always more exciting than the run-of-the-mill comings and goings. One of my best friends just got engaged though, and she's asked me to be a bridesmaid, so wedding stuff can still continue! Hehe.
Otherwise, my recap is as follows:
The Yard
We bought a cool patio furniture set from Crate & Barrel! I've been eyeing it for over a year now, and finally caught it on sale plus the 10% off from registering there. :) Yay! My backyard is pretty much complete now, as far as furnishings go. We still may want to get a shed of some sort but that's a nice-to-have and not really a necessity. We do still have some landscaping to do though since my back wall is ridden with weeds & grass. It's impossible to keep up with it, but Duke has been helping me rip everything up and lay down some Amend (a special soil to help break down clay). The dirt that is in my backyard is beyond bad - most is hard clay and is full of large rocks and/or concrete. Whoever laid it down was so lazy and just filled up the land with no regard to what it was filling it up with!
Oh, and I also bought a lime tree but it's a sweet lime so it actually looks like a lemon. I haven't tried any of the fruit yet since it's just growing now, but hopefully I can make some nice summertime limeade. Yum yum.
We had also planted some tomato plants and a squash plant, and all of those have been growing like crazy. My dad put down some fertilizer and I had the largest squash I had ever seen. It tasted pretty good too. The tomatoes are growing faster than I can eat them as well. They taste fine but the insides look kind of strange (more reminiscent of a brain than the nice half-moon shapes you find when you slice grocery store tomatoes). Not sure if that's b/c mine aren't ripe enough or if it's b/c I don't pesticide treat them or something. I made a tomato & cucumber salad the other day with some rice vinegar, sesame oil, and salt, and that turned out really well. A nice cool, refreshing treat so I'll probably make that again soon since I have too many tomatoes to just garnish a sandwich with.
BBQ
We had some friends over for the 4th of July, and it sort of was a party for the kids. My sister came with Dylan & Brandon; John & Susan brought Avery & Wyatt; Dan brought Quyen. We put out the kiddie pool, slip 'n' slide, and this turtle spritzer thing, and the kids had fun. The adults wished they were kids, and fried in the hot sun. The rest of the time was playing some video games inside and hanging out. It was fun though spending a lazy Saturday with friends.
Family Stuff
My sister had her Fellowship Graduation, so I got to finally meet the people she had been telling me about for these past few years. A bunch of speeches, etc., and it ended up being a sour evening since my sister's mentor wasn't able to make it due to travel plans, so she didn't have anyone really sing her praises like everyone else did. After working so hard, it's hard not to get recognized alongside your colleagues like that. What a bummer.
In other family news, the kids have been over quite a bit lately. Dylan has taken on Super Mario Bros. and is officially an addict. He loves coming over and just wants to play the game all day. He is getting a lot better though than when he first started, so his hand-eye coordination is pretty darn impressive for a 3 year old. When we were at my sister's graduation, he was laying on my lap and was getting restless b/c of all the speeches. Then he whispers to me: "Auntie, Auntie!" "Yes, Dylan?" "You know that one hot lava level..." Hahah. It made me laugh. That's what he's daydreaming about.
Aside from Super Mario, we did head to Legoland after the BBQ. Dylan and Brandon had some more time with Avery and Wyatt. As a higher-priced theme park, it was pretty disappointing. The rides were really basic, and the lines moved sooo slow. Brandon was pretty upset the entire time, and Dylan didn't want to go on half the rides since he was too scared to. All in all, I don't think I'd be going back. It's a whopping $61 ticket price, but luckily I had free passes from my friend who had gone with her nephew previously (2nd day for the ticket was free within 90 days).
The Worst Race in the World
Duke and I signed up for the Great Urban Race. I was so excited to do this race since it seemed like the Amazing Race. Challenges, both mental and physical, were promised. An intricate clue sheet was promised. And a darn good time was promised. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The clues were dumb. The most mental thing about it was a word search which took a whole 2mins to complete. Then we realized what the race was all about. Sponsorship.
The OCTA was a sponsor so lo and behold, these secret locations that we were supposed to go were clustered 5-10 miles away from each other so you were forced to take the bus. The OCTA is not like the BART - it doesn't run very frequently. It runs every 30-45 minutes if you're lucky. So, for a race that was going to be finished in 5 hours but required you to take the bus which is that slow...just doesn't seem like a great set-up.
The YWCA was a charity associated with the race. One of the "clues"? To go buy an item on their list (dryer sheets or other random items), and drop it off at the YWCA. Ummm...I'm all about donating but shouldn't that be of my own accord? Why am I forced to do that as part of a race? What kind of "clue" just tells you what to do? That's not really a clue.
The final straw: We went to JT Schmid's which was another clue location - you had to go there and pick up a fake mustache and take a picture with someone who actually had a mustache. Ok, fine. But what happened? We go to JT Schmid's to get the mustache, and find out that we *have* to sign up for the JT Schmid's mailing list in order to get the mustache. Umm...ok, so I paid a registration fee for this race and am forced to sign up for mailing lists? Completely absurd.
We left after JT Schmid's. We had already wasted an hour, grumbling the whole way, and it wasn't going to be worth wasting the rest of our day and potentially riding a bus 10 miles away from our own car, only to find out that we can't make it back in time for the race finish b/c the buses are too slow.
Don't ever sign up for this race. I'm so surprised that this race has been going on for 5+ years and has expanded to cities across the US. I e-mailed a complaint and they apologized for how I felt about it, but in no way did they seem surprised by what I described.
This race would be much more suitable in true public transit cities like NY, Chicago, or SF. Don't put one in Orange County. But aside from that, no race should ever force you to sign up for advertising or buy mandatory items. That's completely bogus. I'm going to stick to more traditional running races from now on!
Otherwise, my recap is as follows:
The Yard
We bought a cool patio furniture set from Crate & Barrel! I've been eyeing it for over a year now, and finally caught it on sale plus the 10% off from registering there. :) Yay! My backyard is pretty much complete now, as far as furnishings go. We still may want to get a shed of some sort but that's a nice-to-have and not really a necessity. We do still have some landscaping to do though since my back wall is ridden with weeds & grass. It's impossible to keep up with it, but Duke has been helping me rip everything up and lay down some Amend (a special soil to help break down clay). The dirt that is in my backyard is beyond bad - most is hard clay and is full of large rocks and/or concrete. Whoever laid it down was so lazy and just filled up the land with no regard to what it was filling it up with!
Oh, and I also bought a lime tree but it's a sweet lime so it actually looks like a lemon. I haven't tried any of the fruit yet since it's just growing now, but hopefully I can make some nice summertime limeade. Yum yum.
We had also planted some tomato plants and a squash plant, and all of those have been growing like crazy. My dad put down some fertilizer and I had the largest squash I had ever seen. It tasted pretty good too. The tomatoes are growing faster than I can eat them as well. They taste fine but the insides look kind of strange (more reminiscent of a brain than the nice half-moon shapes you find when you slice grocery store tomatoes). Not sure if that's b/c mine aren't ripe enough or if it's b/c I don't pesticide treat them or something.
BBQ
We had some friends over for the 4th of July, and it sort of was a party for the kids. My sister came with Dylan & Brandon; John & Susan brought Avery & Wyatt; Dan brought Quyen. We put out the kiddie pool, slip 'n' slide, and this turtle spritzer thing, and the kids had fun. The adults wished they were kids, and fried in the hot sun. The rest of the time was playing some video games inside and hanging out. It was fun though spending a lazy Saturday with friends.
Family Stuff
My sister had her Fellowship Graduation, so I got to finally meet the people she had been telling me about for these past few years. A bunch of speeches, etc., and it ended up being a sour evening since my sister's mentor wasn't able to make it due to travel plans, so she didn't have anyone really sing her praises like everyone else did. After working so hard, it's hard not to get recognized alongside your colleagues like that. What a bummer.
In other family news, the kids have been over quite a bit lately. Dylan has taken on Super Mario Bros. and is officially an addict. He loves coming over and just wants to play the game all day. He is getting a lot better though than when he first started, so his hand-eye coordination is pretty darn impressive for a 3 year old. When we were at my sister's graduation, he was laying on my lap and was getting restless b/c of all the speeches. Then he whispers to me: "Auntie, Auntie!" "Yes, Dylan?" "You know that one hot lava level..." Hahah. It made me laugh. That's what he's daydreaming about.
Aside from Super Mario, we did head to Legoland after the BBQ. Dylan and Brandon had some more time with Avery and Wyatt. As a higher-priced theme park, it was pretty disappointing. The rides were really basic, and the lines moved sooo slow. Brandon was pretty upset the entire time, and Dylan didn't want to go on half the rides since he was too scared to. All in all, I don't think I'd be going back. It's a whopping $61 ticket price, but luckily I had free passes from my friend who had gone with her nephew previously (2nd day for the ticket was free within 90 days).
The Worst Race in the World
Duke and I signed up for the Great Urban Race. I was so excited to do this race since it seemed like the Amazing Race. Challenges, both mental and physical, were promised. An intricate clue sheet was promised. And a darn good time was promised. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The clues were dumb. The most mental thing about it was a word search which took a whole 2mins to complete. Then we realized what the race was all about. Sponsorship.
The OCTA was a sponsor so lo and behold, these secret locations that we were supposed to go were clustered 5-10 miles away from each other so you were forced to take the bus. The OCTA is not like the BART - it doesn't run very frequently. It runs every 30-45 minutes if you're lucky. So, for a race that was going to be finished in 5 hours but required you to take the bus which is that slow...just doesn't seem like a great set-up.
The YWCA was a charity associated with the race. One of the "clues"? To go buy an item on their list (dryer sheets or other random items), and drop it off at the YWCA. Ummm...I'm all about donating but shouldn't that be of my own accord? Why am I forced to do that as part of a race? What kind of "clue" just tells you what to do? That's not really a clue.
The final straw: We went to JT Schmid's which was another clue location - you had to go there and pick up a fake mustache and take a picture with someone who actually had a mustache. Ok, fine. But what happened? We go to JT Schmid's to get the mustache, and find out that we *have* to sign up for the JT Schmid's mailing list in order to get the mustache. Umm...ok, so I paid a registration fee for this race and am forced to sign up for mailing lists? Completely absurd.
We left after JT Schmid's. We had already wasted an hour, grumbling the whole way, and it wasn't going to be worth wasting the rest of our day and potentially riding a bus 10 miles away from our own car, only to find out that we can't make it back in time for the race finish b/c the buses are too slow.
Don't ever sign up for this race. I'm so surprised that this race has been going on for 5+ years and has expanded to cities across the US. I e-mailed a complaint and they apologized for how I felt about it, but in no way did they seem surprised by what I described.
This race would be much more suitable in true public transit cities like NY, Chicago, or SF. Don't put one in Orange County. But aside from that, no race should ever force you to sign up for advertising or buy mandatory items. That's completely bogus. I'm going to stick to more traditional running races from now on!
Plumbing Success
One of our guest bathroom showers stopped having hot water. We didn’t know why or when the issue started since we rarely use that bathroom, but nevertheless, it required some fixing. My house has a Manabloc plumbing system so there are these valves for hot and cold water to each room, so it’s easy to turn off water in just one room instead of the whole house. We were really worried that this valve broke somehow, and wasn’t letting hot water go through into the shower. We had read similar issues online with Manabloc so this was a valid concern. I tried calling Viega (the parent company who makes this system) to understand my warranty, but they said that they don’t deal with consumers directly, and I’d have to go through a wholesaler to see if my warranty could be claimed. I have no idea who installed the system so I figure my warranty is bunk.
I then call a bunch of local plumbers to figure out who has had experience with Manabloc, and 100% of them said they are familiar with it and are trained on it. I find that hard to believe since this system is only in a couple hundred thousand houses in the nation. Anyhow, I ended up having Rescue Rooter come to the house b/c they were the only ones who would provide a free estimate with no strings attached. Some of the other “free estimates” were gimmicky and actually would charge you if they had to turn a handle b/c that would then be considered “physical” for them and I’d owe them money.
Anyhow, Rescue Rooter didn’t seem promising at first. The guy never showed up during his time allotted window, and a 2nd guy was called in to take a look since the first was a no-show. The 2nd guy comes in and he’s never seen the Manabloc. He played it off like he was familiar with it but through the course of the inspection, he kept asking me what it was called and how it worked, so he clearly had no experience with it. I was preparing myself for disappointment.
And then he says that the problem is the cartridge which resides behind the shower handle. It seemed weird he would conclude this since he was asking so many questions about Manabloc, only to conclude that it had nothing to do with Manabloc. All he did was let the water run as he turned the handle back and forth to verify no hot water was coming through, but whatever, he said he was sure that it was the cartridge and quoted me a few hundred dollar estimate. Yikes but he was really friendly about it and said I could go investigate at Home Depot to see if it’s something I could do myself.
We looked at some online videos and then followed his advice to go to Home Depot. The employee was awesome! Yay for highly trained employees! He knew exactly the right tool for us to use to pull the cartridge out and knew exactly which cartridge we needed after we showed him a couple pictures of the shower. Everything cost a bit over $50 so we went back home to try it out. At this point, we were still skeptical that this was the problem but we figured we’d give it a go.
The cartridge is a beast to take out. That tool made it a lot easier but it was still tough since you really feel like you’re going to rip your wall apart since you have to yank and twist pretty severely. Anyhow, we finally fiddle around with it a ton to get it installed, and it worked! Hot water flowing through again. Hooray!!
We were really proud of ourselves and know how to fix these things now, and we were really grateful for the help we got from Rescue Rooters and Home Depot (plug plug)!! J
Thursday, June 02, 2011
The Honeymoon - Day 10/11 (Thursday/Friday)
Last day in Paris! We are both feeling like the time went by really fast, but we are also happy it’s the last day since we’re ready to go home.
We decided to have our last lunch at Café Imogene. It tastes great, and it’s around the corner from our hotel so every day, we’d see the old chef in there, and he’d nod and smile at us in acknowledgment. We also wanted to actually allow me to have a great meal there since last time I had that stanky Andouille crepe.
We both ordered the crepe du jour, and it was amazing! It was filled with ratatouille, topped with a sunny-side up egg and 2 different types of ham (think prosciutto). The place was busy as usual, but it was worth the wait. They even gave us some cider to drink while we waited for a table. For dessert, Duke got his caramel crepe with vanilla ice cream again, and I chose the dessert du jour which was a crepe filled with fresh fruit (strawberries, kiwi, peaches) with fresh strawberry syrup drizzled on top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We finished it off with a couple espressos, and it was time to go.
The rest of the day was filled with souvenir shopping. We headed to the Louvre area to get some of those junky souvenirs (my mom loves that stuff), and also picked up some random gifts for people in Carousel du Louvre. I did get this little plastic dude who is an eyeglass stand. It’s really cute. I got one for Sharon too, even though it’s not really Parisian.
After dropping off all the gifts at the hotel, we made reservations at Rino, a highly rated Italian place. We took a walk over there, and were seated outside on the “terrace” which meant we were out on the street. We tried to get a table inside, but they were already reserved. We had a four course meal which consisted of cheese dumplings in a pea sauce, cod with sacreur (flowers of some sort), pigeon with asparagus and fava beans, and a yogurt ice cream with fruit and semolina as dessert. Duke also had a cheese plate before dessert which was inedible in my view (except for a small piece of goat cheese that was ok).
Overall, I thought the meal was the best one we had in Paris. Not really for the experience, but just in pure taste. I surprisingly enjoyed the pigeon. I’ve never really liked quail or pheasant, so I didn’t think I’d like pigeon but it was much more steak-like than I had imagined. Duke didn’t particularly like it but he still ate it all.
The rest of the night and next morning was basically packing so we’d be ready to go to the airport. Roissybus proved to be another great deal but it was a huge pain b/c of the swarms of people. We got to the airport in one piece though. Time to board the plane.
Au Revoir!
The Honeymoon - Day 9 (Wednesday)
We woke up early! And then we realized that this had no benefit, as random stores were open but most were closed, and restaurant weren’t open for lunch until after 12pm. Oh well, we tried. We walked around Marais until Briezh Café opened. This was a place with highly rated reviews, and almost every tourist website listed it as a must for crepes.
I still have to say that I prefer Café Imogéne but Briezh Café was good in its own right. I had some sort of crepe which I don’t remember but it was pretty good, and I had a chocolate crepe with chocolate ice cream. The place is always super busy which is partly b/c of all the good reviews, I’m sure, but also b/c there are only about 10 tables in the place so it fills up quickly.
After lunch, we took a long walk towards the Opera area to Hard Rock Café to pick up my souvenirs. We stopped in a few shops along the way, and got some nice bath salts from Switzerland and some bath fizz balls and bath cupcakes (they melt to make a milky bath) from Belgium. The shop owner was a super nice man and even gave us a canvas bag since he knew that our items would probably not hold in a regular paper bag.
Along the way, we passed by a ton of Afro-hair salons. It was a strange street to walk down since it felt like a different country and almost a time warp as well.
We finally made it to Carousel du Louvre but everything was closed, including the bathroom. I’m sure Duke will have his own rant on this one, but this is really the most ridiculous thing. The shopping area closes at 8pm but the food court remains open until 11pm. This is a major tourist attraction as it connects directly into the Louvre. There is one bathroom in this public area, and it is a pay toilet…and it closes at 8pm. I even asked one of the food court employees about the bathroom, and they looked at me like I was an idiot for thinking a bathroom should stay open after its closing time…
Anyhow, we headed back to the hotel to use the facilities, and then decided to find a Vietnamese restaurant. It’s the one type of Asian cuisine we hadn’t yet had and Vietnam was a French colony so we figured it would be good. We went to Dong Phuong which was completely packed with people, and it’s a rather large restaurant. I had some pho and Duke had some chicken soup. We started with some spring rolls which were really good, but the pho had much to be desired. Their sriracha sauce has a goose on it instead of a rooster. At first we thought that was just an emblem thing but no, it’s much sweeter and not very spicy at all. Most of the food we’ve had in France has been very bland, and this was no exception.
I was pretty disappointed, but I can’t really judge the place since I don’t know if this was just bad for my taste buds or bad in comparison to other Vietnamese restaurants in Paris.
After dinner, we had a 2nd dinner at Leon. Yes, this is the 3rd time we’ve been to the place. It’s not –that- good but at the same time, it’s really hard to find fresh mussels in the US, and they’re my favorite shellfish. Duke doesn’t mind them either.
This time, I tried the mussels in a curry sauce which was pretty darn tasty – probably the best cocotte I’ve had out of all the times we’ve been there. For dessert, I had a waffle with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce which was ok.
The Honeymoon - Day 8 (Tuesday)
We woke up at 12pm. I think we figured out why we are still jetlagged after being here for so long. The sun doesn’t set until 9:30pm which throws our schedule way off. Everyone eats dinner around 8:30pm or 9pm, and drinks until midnight. We’re going to try a new strategy and go to sleep with the window shades open so that the sun can wake us up at a reasonable hour.
It’s really hard to do anything in France when you have a late start. Basically lunch is from 12pm-2pm; dinner is from 7pm-11:30pm. Certain places open at 9am (it seems only bakeries are open before then) and every store closes at 7pm (even though it doesn’t get dark until much later). Given our schedule, we eat around 1:30pm, and finally head out around 3pm which leaves a few hours to actually see anything that is open. I guess we’re spoiled in the US when businesses stay open all the time once they say they’re open.
For lunch, we headed to Café Imogéne which is just around the corner from our hotel. We almost didn’t go here b/c we tried the other creperie yesterday and thought it was so-so. We came to a conclusion that we didn’t like “savory” crepes (I don’t know if that’s a British term or not), but it turns out that maybe we do like them. Duke ordered the daily special, recommended by the chef, and it had the best tomato/bell pepper mixture with chicken pot pie-like sauce and chicken inside. The restaurant was a super cozy little place with a small kitchen right next to the tables. It felt like eating in this old man’s cottage.
My meal was the Andouille sausage. The chef actually gave me an “A to Z French Cooking in English dictionary” to make sure I wanted what I ordered. The definition said that it was intestine, and Duke and I both thought that was normal. Aren’t hot dogs just meat stuffed in intestine tubing? Isn’t Andouille just a type of sausage? Oh no, when it says intestine, it means intestine, just chopped up. It smelled like butt, was grey, and it tasted exactly like intestine. Luckily, the crepe was really fresh and good, and Duke’s was overwhelmingly good that I can’t judge the place on my crepe alone since it was my fault anyway for ordering it.
For the dessert crepe, I chose chocolate, and Duke had a caramel crepe with vanilla ice cream. My chocolate crepe was delicious, and Duke enjoyed his as well. The ice cream was real French vanilla and very yellow in appearance.
Overall, the place was charming, the waiter and chef were very friendly, and the food was great. We will probably be back again in the next couple days before we go. I will order the daily special.
So, our tummies were filled, and we had a long walk around the neighborhood, and headed to Pere Lachaise Cemetery. We stopped in a couple paper stores and bookstores. We picked up a portfolio book for Duke’s dad which he’s going to fill with brochures (his dad likes that sort of thing), and picked up a small dragon puzzle for Dylan. I bought a French character coin purse for myself, and Duke bought a few “Mister” books in French. Mr. Bump is M. Malchance; Little Miss Bossy is Mme. Autoritaire; and Little Miss Helpful is Mme. Catastrophe. Pretty funny.
Anyhow, I had no idea what Pere Lachaise was, but it was one of Duke’s places that he wanted to see. I’m glad we went. It is this amazingly large place with old crypts, mausoleums, tombs, etc. It felt very historic with all the grave monuments.
We went to go see Jim Morrison’s grave, which seemed to be the main attraction with a number of other tourists there, and it had various items littered in the grave (cigarettes, a joint, flowers, etc). There was also a nearby tree where people inscribed messages to him.
We then walked around a ton of crypts, trying to find the burial places of some other notable names but we didn’t have a map so just wandered around. We saw a crematorium with a bunch of drawers where people kept their loved ones’ ashes, and finally stumbled upon Edith Piaf’s grave. Duke has her song as his ringtone after becoming obsessed with the movie Inception, so it was a nice pitstop.
We didn’t make it in time to go see Frederic Chopin or Georges Seurat’s graves since they started booting people out at around 5:20pm. Apparently the cemetery closes at 6pm.
On our walk back to the hotel, we saw a lot of Chinese garment district type stores but nothing else too exciting.
We came back to the hotel for a rest stop then headed out for dinner at Deux Fois Plus de Piment, a Szechwan Chinese restaurant. We ordered Mapo Tofu and some chicken dish in black bean sauce covered in peanuts. We didn’t know that obviously, so I just ate it. The food was actually really good and authentic.
Everyone in the place spoke Mandarin, and the menu is only in Chinese and French so that made ordering very difficult. I tried my best at speaking to them in Mandarin but not with much luck. I basically was able to let them know that we couldn’t read Chinese or French b/c we were American. The waitress quickly scurried to grab another waitress who could speak some English for us, but that still didn’t work out too well given our peanuts in the dish. They did keep saying “No ABC” very happily, and I have no idea what that means.
After dinner, we walked to Place de Bastille which is the memorial marker of the former prison. Apparently the storming of the Bastille wasn’t to free prisoners but rather to collect arms and gunpowder that were stored there.
We walked around some more back towards the hotel, and ended up in what seems to be the main area of Marais where there are tons of little shops. The area is like Soho meets East Village. We’re going to head back there tomorrow to explore when things are open. This is the same place as the Restaurant of Robert & Louise.
We took a stop at a public toilet which we had never used. It’s actually quite sophisticated, as it self-cleans itself for a few minutes after each person, has an automatic side-sweeping door, and an automatic soap dispenser/water dispenser/air dryer.
We then went down a street fairly filled with people, and meandered over there to have a falafel. There are a number of falafel places throughout Paris – maybe there is a large Turkish and Lebanese population? This restaurant seemed pretty authentic with some Jewish people sitting at tables nearby, and the falafels were very tasty. Duke had never had a falafel before, and thought he didn’t like them, but it turns out that he does.
Tomorrow will be a shopping day and more wandering with no real destination. Hopefully we wake up in time!
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