Baby Shower (take 1)

Today we had our first of 3 baby showers. The party took place at El Nido Park in Torrance, CA at 1:30P, and was mostly attended by friends and a few family members. We were very happy with the turn out and received so many cute outfits, shoes and hats that we're sure baby Bam-Bam will always be 'dressed-to-impress.' We also received the cutest little shoes and two banks (named: Mommy's Shoe Fund" and "The College Fund"). The day started out very sunny with calm winds, but that all changed around 3p when the coldness sprang out of nowhere and began freezing the hot wings! (Here are a few pics)



Thank you to everyone that made the drive to come and hang out with us at the park. We had a great time and we hoped you enjoyed all of the desserts!

Better late than not at all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sorry people... I've been extremely busy (and therefore too tired) to blog lately. This holiday season is kicking my pregnant butt. With peeps in town, presents to drop off, family to visit, gifts to wrap and hide, re-hide and then ultimately surprise the family with, I just couldn't take anymore.

Christmas weekend recap: Saturday morning we were up cleaning and moving refrigerators. By the afternoon we were sitting in traffic to return the pick up truck we borrowed from Uncle Tom (in Palm Springs). By 9p we were on the road (from Palm Springs) to Temecula to spend the night at Papa Jones' house. Sunday morning we were at church service (for 3 hours) and then it was time-out on the sofa for the Chargers game. At 5p we were headed to San Diego to play Santa to our neices/nephews and by 8 we were sitting on the 405N heading home. The kitchen was in full swing by 11:30p to prepare Monday's dinner, and by 2a we were asleep.

By 9:30a (Sunday) we were headed to the hospital for our fetal monitoring doctor's visit then we picked up my mom at 11a. We stopped off to pick up the kiddies (in Inglewood) and then it was off to Uncle Teke's house for early dinner and family time in Victorville (last city before Las Vegas :). We were back on the 15S by 6P so that we could try and make it back to Torrance in enough time to actually open up Christmas gifts at home.

Here are a few pics...




Phew!... I think that covers it.

The game of LIFE

Well, well well. It's been quite some time since I've been able to blog. Please forgive me. It's not that I haven't wanted to, but the powers that 'be' (mostly my kids; my husband and Bam-Bam) have not allowed me a moment of rest. As a result any available down time I've been using as my sleep time. Let me see if I can re-cap what's been going on:

12/11 and 12/13 I attended Parent-Teacher conferences for both kids. Everything is going good. Just a few things we have to work on (shaking my head at the thought of my 1st grade son).

12/16 Clif and I took the kiddies bowling. As you can see, the game was very entertaining between "Sugar Raye" "Sparkle" and "Flash Gordon"... (lord help us).



12/17 I had brunch with my SFAMily. These are my buddies from the Knot. We met up in South Pasadena at Firefly Bistro (um delish)for our first ever Holiday gift exchange. Although I didn't 'officially' participate in the gift exchange (I kept my attendance 'hush' until I arrived) I did manage to pick up something for my sistas! Thanks to 'Wan-terrific' sibling for planning such a wonderful GTG. Sorry there are no other pics... but this one should do!


When I got home we had our weekly 'Game Night.' Do you remember the game "Life?" Man, this game can take forever. It is very funny to see my daughter complain about 'having' to get married, and ending up with a car load filled with children. She even had the nerve to complain about paying for them to go to college. Ha! Maybe I should have her sign a contract or something to let me off the hook when the time comes.



12/18 I dropped off the Quest for a full body detail. There were a few scratches on the drivers side that were there when we purchased it, so we had to take it back for repairs/detailing. I picked up a 2006 Toyota Camary... I'm not impressed. I want my van back damn it.

12/18 Clif began his new job. He's only 10 minutes away (20 w/traffic) from home and we were able to have lunch a few times this week. I love it!

12/18 I had my first of several hospital visits for fetal monitoring. The baby passed all of the tests he was given, and we're all set for the next appointment (Thursday).

12/20 I completed the family calendars I volunteered to do this year. They turned out great... I hope the family enjoys them.

Today I baked 50 cupcakes for Raye's class' Christmas party and I finished up my Christmas Day dinner grocery shopping and now I'm ready to relax. Clif is off tomorrow (he gets every other Friday off) so we'll be hanging out and enjoying life (after we drop off pizza for Ryann's Christmas party at school).

Infant CPR Class.....CHECK!

So last night we took our Infant CPR class at the hospital where we'll be having our little Bam Bam (sorry no pics). The class began at 6p and was suppose to last until 9 (ouch). Chris was a wonderful instrctor and his assistant (who was basically on "mute" the entire evening) kept the class fast upbeat, quick and painless.

Aside from Clif trying to inflate the Goodyear blimp inside the lungs of our infant dummy, he did great. I'm proud of him. I've been certified in Adult/Child/Infant CPR before so this was a refresher course.

CPR Basics: First, remember... anything you do will ultimately help your victim. They are in a better position if you TRY SOMETHING than if you do nothing..even if that's just calling 9-1-1.

ABC's of CPR: A=Airway (check to see if the person is breathing); B=Breathing (you may need to blow into their mouth to give their lungs some air); C=Circulation (compressions. You will actually be making their hearts beat by compressing their chest).

Don't panic. Do what you can. Scream for help while your helping the victim... call 9-1-1 from a landline if possible (so they can trace the call if need be).

It's in your best interest to take this class at some point in your life. Normal hospital charge $25 per adult.

Clif was happy that we took the class.... so am I. Next up, Breastfeeding on 01/03/07! [wake me when it's over]

It's been hot in my kitchen

Just trying out a few recipes that have caught my eye. This first one is chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and they're sprinkled with peppermint and chocolate shavings on top.

Here's some pictures:

Cream Cheese frosting (w/help of red food coloring)

Topping supplies

Naked cupcakes

Here's the finished product.
Thanks to CQ for her wonderful recipes and cupcake inspiration.

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Our next recipe comes to us from my wonderful SFAM buddy Nannette who loves to bake just as much as I do. These are 'Mexican Wedding cookies' and Clif gives them 2 thumbs up!

More pictures:

Into the oven they go!

Here's the finished product.
They're yummy!!!

False Alarm

So this morning at around 9:30 I noticed that I was having some slight cramping. This can be a normal thing from time to time because my uterus should be 'doing it's thing' to prepare for the birth of the baby. At around 10a I noticed that I had already had 3 contractions, 5-6 minutes apart, lasting for around 20-30 seconds. No big deal right. I sit there and begin to really look at the clock and see if this 'uneasiness' has a schedule. Clif turns over and asks if there is anything wrong. I tell him what's going on and the first sentence out of his mouth is.... "Do you think I'll be able to take a shower first?" [immediate desire to back hand him is what I felt]"Sure, go ahead."

While he's in the shower for 20+ minutes (yes... 20+) I have another 3 contractions. These ones are stronger than the ones I felt earlier. While he was still in the bathroom, I call the hospital and ask for some advice. 'Heather' tells me to drink lots of water, stay off of my feet (which I was never on to begin with this morning) and keep my bladder empty. Clif comes out of the bathroom, gets me some water and I begin to drink. Now the contractions are coming even stronger and they're at 3-5 mintues apart. We wait for a few more pains and then decide to head to LCoM.

Upon arrival I'm hooked up to the monitor. It's detecting both my contractions and the baby's heart rate. All is well with the baby and the nurse sees my contractions. After talking to my doctor's weekend replacement, I was given a shot of terbutaline to stop the contractions. One hour later we were released to go home, hopefully not to return for another 7-8 weeks. Phew!

Got Sleep?

I don't.

Little Bam Bam has decided to sleep all day and play soccer at night (until the WEE hours of the morning). To top that off he also likes to give his MAMA a horrible case of heartburn while kicking goals. Clif appears sympathetic in the beginning, but he always seems to fall asleep just as I'm getting more and more irritated. Complete the above off with me not being able to get comfortable (due to the fact that my stomach is now the size of a basketball) and you have a pretty darn good recipe for 'no sleep.'

Oh well, I guess I'll be able to sleep after he's out right?

Wrong!

Time to deck the halls (or at least the tree)

It's the time of year... full of laughter and cheer. Well, let's just say that after a long day of house-work, chores, homework, grocery shopping, washing clothes, re-organizing pictures/papers.... decorating the tree this year proved to be a TASK (to say the least). We still need to get a few more decorating items for the tree, but here she is... Ms. Green 2006, complete with a 'gangsta lean' ;)
[please excuse my son's ashy elbows]

Magic Bus 2.0 (well, it's a 3.5 actually)

Well, we did it. We purchased our first "family" vehicle a 2007 Nissan Quest, and we love it. Of course we didn't get all crazy when picking out add-ons and accessories, but it's ours all the same (note: moon-roof and dvd player to come later). It's been a 3-4 month long decision making process. We considered only 1 other van (Honda Odessy) and multiple SUVs. As it currently stands we would need something that would fit 5 comfortably (with Bam Bam on the way). Most of the other SUVs we looked at, and sat in, didn't have ample interior space. We even went so far as to look at the big-big Yukon, Tahoe and some large Ford models. If you can believe it the Quest had more 'room' on the inside than all of them. Clif is still confused over that (foreign cars with more space than domestic ones....go figure). Mostly the other vehicles just had more CAR than room.

For now, here are manufacturer's pics of the van... we'll upload our own in a few (we're getting it detailed first :)