Christmas 2009

I had a llllllong draft all about the holidays so far, and I decided that it might be better to do it with pictures. Here goes...

We had our office holiday party at The Sultan's Tent. This is my boss with the belly dancer.

With some of my work GFs

Then we had our annual Christmas party with our friends. Here are some pics of our super-fun Gift Card Yankee Swap.

Linda started -- which is the worst thing in a Yankee Swap. BUT, she did happen to pull out the envelope with the CASH instead of a gift card!

Dee picks out my gift card...to Anthropologie!!! (I was so tempted to steal it!)

Mr.S' turn -- he steals the cash from Linda...and then even though it's all the same, I stole the cash from him.

Miss L2B gets Mr.S' Toys R Us card...They ended up swapping later on (for a Tim Horton's card) because well, we're really the only ones who could use a Toys R Us one right now!

Linda picked up a Best Buy card, had it stolen, re-picked and ended up with an Esso gift card. I think she's the only one of all of us who does NOT drive.

Then came time for the annual get together with my BGFFs (best girl friends forever haha!). We did pot luck again, since, well, we're all pretty gifted in the kitchen!

Our buffet (clockwise from the top): baked mac & cheese, caesar salad, veggie lumpia (is there an actual name for this? lumpiang gulay maybe?), lumpiang shanghai, naan, beef pot pie, butter chicken, potato salad, inihaw na baboy (pork BBQ). MIA: mini quiches, stuffed mushrooms, red velvet cake, truffles, chocolate-covered cheesecake poppers

The Gals, armed with our accessory for this year, antlers. We all go back at least 12 years.

Miss H2B and me, sporting our matching feather head bands.

Christmas Eve was held at home, as usual. I didn't go overboard this year with the baking, and instead devoted my time to cooking, both for our dinner and the various potlucks we'd be having at family Christmas parties over the next few days.

Our Christmas eve dinner -- I made a mean clam chowder, I have to say. I think it's so good, I'll add it to my list of "potluckable" dishes. Also here: Mr. S' scallopped potatoes and my baked spaghetti (which was actually fettucine because my brother boiled too much fettucine earlier, so I decided to just use it)

Us, by the tree.

And now, some pics of our gifts...

Mr.S with his stocking stuffers.

Baby brother likes to wrap gifts in mysterious shapes to throw us off. This is how he does it. (It was actually a pair of what will soon be my favourite pair of pants.)

Baby brother and his gift from Santa for his new hobby (that I hope, hope, hope he doesn't end up loving...geez, he likes dangerous things!)

I was good this year. Santa got me a Dutch oven, which has been on my wishlist for.ev.er. OMG.

My gift from Mr.S. Ally McBeal is my most favouritest show of all time. This is what I'm doing with my spare time while on maternity leave. (Can "spare time" and "maternity leave" even be in the same sentence?)

Mr.S with his gifts from Santa -- a Jack Johnson package, which also came with an autographed poster!

My gift to Mr.S -- for timing his runs (as in running, not diarrhea). This also came with a video game.

A cushy cushy blanket from Baby Brother for the Baby.

My very first gift from our baby. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. Needless to say, I cried...and cried and cried when I opened it.

Mr.S' gift from our baby. A fetal doppler to hear his heartbeat.

Then came Christmas day and parties with our families.

With my in-laws, we decided to do Kris Kringle this year, which was an excellent idea!

Then we played a game, sorta like Hedbanz. I was so disappointed -- I didn't guess mine :(

Mr.S, on the other hand, got two rounds because he and our cousin were so good (and I didn't help him cheat).

Poor Vader, our "nephew" just wanted some turkey.

Then it was off to my sister's house for the gathering with my side of the family.

We're BIG.

MAYHEM!!!!

Some of us were so amused by our gifts, we didn't even open them completely before we used them. (HAHAHA!! Sorry Lei, I had to...look at how amused Dad is by you!)

Then, when the night died down, it was time for marshmallows by the fireplace.

Then we were pooped.

We slept over at my sister's house and early in the morning, the Autobots (i.e. my brother, Mr.S and the brothers-in-law) went Boxing Day shopping. They came back with some awesome deals.

They're so pretty.

One of the boxing day deals: a guitar for my niece.

Nail central - where you get yo nails did.

Karaoke. Thanks to these guys, I dodged it this year. PHEW!

And that's all for now, folks. Just a few (even though I know it's a LOT). Hope your Christmas was full of blessings and love.

And here are some pics of my baking...

Kara-OH NO!-ke

I have an issue with karaoke. It's not that don't like it. It's not that I'm afraid of it or that I'm afraid of singing. I just have an issue with it. I did it once though, but I was on the other side of the world, drunk, with a bunch of people I had just met along with my fiance and one of our bffs, singing Wannabe by the Spice Girls. I sounded worse than Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend's Wedding, or at least I thought so when I thought about it the next morning.

Every year, at Christmas time, karaoke rears its horrid head. I realize it's all in good fun, but for some reason, I can't take the (magic) mic into my hands and sing. It happens at my in-law's Christmas gathering and then again at my family's gathering. I'm not tone deaf and I think my voice is decent so it's not that I have issues with singing. And, I don't really get stage fright, so it's not that either.

There was one time I found myself in a very uncomfortable karaoke situation, and I ended up mentally compiling a list of things I would rather do or have happen to me than sing karaoke. Here are a few items on my list (note that at the time, I was NOT pregnant):

• Get hit by a car (mildly, of course)
• Run a marathon in the dead of winter
• Get a full body tattoo
• Go through 20hr labour, without an epidural, delivering decatuplets
• Participate in a polar bear dip
• Go back to being 12 and playing piano in front of people I barely know for my parents' satisfaction, making 20 mistakes per piece performed
• Smell my brother's worst fart...for an hour

Just a few. The list got pretty long, as that night, karaoke went on forever...

BUT, I think this year, I just might try it out, face my "issue" and then maybe it'll be easier from here on in. We'll see.

Must get bootleg

(because I won't be able to see this in the theatre...)

COLLABO...

This whole thing not only makes me laugh really hard, but it makes me happy. Here are two from my list of my most favouritest celebrities in the whole wide world, collaborating, something that I would never expect would happen. Enjoy!

Click here.

Third of Three

Today, I begin my third trimester. It’s kinda bittersweet. While I’m SO ecstatic about the baby coming in three months or less, I feel a little sad that this is sort of the beginning of the end of feeling the little movements inside me along with all the little pangs of joy that have been keeping me extra positive and full of faith and gratefulness over the past six months. I know that when the baby arrives, these will be even more amplified by the baby, outside my womb, but I still feel a little sad about it.

Being pregnant is hands-down the best I’ve ever felt. It’s a crazy thing to know that there is life inside me; that there is a person inside me; that I am housing a miracle in my body and for nine months, I am his/her home; that this being in my body was made by God with the love my husband and I share. And in three months, this baby will be ready to live with my husband and I to witness in person and experience the very love that helped to create him/her.

I know this won’t be the last third trimester I’ll experience, as we are already looking forward to having and hoping to be blessed with more children. But for now, this is my last trimester and I’m going to enjoy every crazy moment of it.

Here comes the torch!

One of our old friends from high school (and elementary school) was blessed to have the opportunity to be one of the Olympic torch bearers yesterday. Too cool!

YAY! JOANNE!

Aren't you sleepy, Baby?

Today is Thursday. I feel like the baby hasn’t slept since Monday afternoon. My belly has been looking like it’s housing a wild animal, eager to get out and run around. It’s bizarre. At the same time though, I’ve never been more pleased to be kicked, punched, elbowed, kneed and poked.

I don’t know how some mothers have been telling me that the movements get annoying. It really doesn’t, or at least to me it doesn’t. One of my friends told me she thinks it’s one of the best parts of being pregnant and I agree (or at least for this pregnancy so far).

A lot of the time, when I’m at home, I sit around with my shirt bunched up above my belly so I can watch the movements. It’s most amusing, really. (And the men of the house don’t mind my bare-bellyness.)

Here's what I've been looking like all week (note: this isn't me...I really wouldn't shoot a video with me, lying there naked with the parts covered)

A Petty Dilemma

So I’ve mentioned before that after 2007, Mr.S and I have a shortlist (or well, it’s not really that short) of artists whose concerts we MUST go to, however, there are some events going on in early March. We also have some films we’ve been waiting for that just happen to be coming out at that time as well.

To Mention Two...

I just found out that Alicia Keys will be in Toronto. I’m dying to see her in concert. She’ll be here over a week before our due date, but I don’t want to run the risk of my water breaking and making a mess all over the theatre seats. How nasty! Who knows, maybe the baby will love her music so much, he’ll wanna come out!

There’s also Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland which, as you know, I’ve been waiting for eagerly. It comes out on the 5th of March and I’m hoping I can hold out that long.

And if I find, as March approaches, that I can’t handle sitting somewhere for too long, I can wait for the DVD and next Alicia Keys concert. For now I’ll just enjoy the ads, trailers and Element of Freedom CD.

My Guilty Pleasure

It's Tuesday night, my lip has been bleeding for over half an hour* (what the?), and because of this, I can't start baking yet. So, what do I do? Flip channels until I'm intrigued by something enough to stick with it. So after deciding on Mickey's Christmas Carol, I decide I need a commercial channel.

Flip, flip, flip. MTV it is!! There's an update on the mamas from...

I admit, I've seen every episode, so really, the update isn't really and update. It's more of a recap with footage I've already seen. I cry again when they have a segment on all of their labours and births. And then I find out there's a spin-off: Teen Mom. Some of the moms from 16 and Pregnant are in the spin-off, and it pretty much showcases the drama-filled rollercoaster of life as a teen mom with a new baby. The first two episodes are on tonight and I'm watching them. And just like with the original show, I forget that I'm 27 and pregnant and not 16.

*I wasn't peeling it, I swear. It just started bleeding while I was eating dinner and I noticed it when there was blood dripping down my glass when I went for a sip. EEK!

Bellywatch 2010 - 25ish weeks

Bellywatch - Santa Edition...

Okay, really...

For my fellow Shorties

Has anyone ever been to Naturally Petite? I just found out about it and am thinking about checking it out just to see what they have. If you've been, let me know!

December 14

Even though they haven’t been “legally” married for over twenty years now, I still put my parents’ anniversary on my calendars. For some reason though, I’m not sure why I’ve never actually calculated how long they would have been married if my Mom was still here.

I calculated today and it would have been 41 years.

I wonder what it will be like 40 years from now with Mr. S. I have ideas and think about all sorts of things and I picture our kids to be a similar picture of what my siblings and I are like now. It gets me really excited.

And so, today, when Mr. S gets home, I’ll make sure to give him extra hugs and kisses, because I’m pretty sure that my parents didn’t imagine their 40-years-later to be what it is today.

xoxoxoxoxo

Is it too early to have a birthday wishlist?

I just found out about this:It's a Yudu product for creating your own graphics on t-shirts. OMG.

Imagine the things I can do with this thing. I usually make my own graphic tees with iron-ons, which crack when the fabric stretches :( I don't own a silk screen press. This would rock my socks.

Now if I can just manage to get it before the pregnancy is over so all these maternity graphic tee ideas in my head can be regurgitated on cotton.

Prenatal fitness

With the snow on the ground now, I've closed my prenatal running for this pregnancy. Although I didn't get to do it as often as I initially intended, it was quite an experience. When I started, it was pretty easy, but over the past month, I found it increasingly challenging. The extra weight on my knees wasn't easily welcomed and so I had to taper it off. I never did run a long distance; the goal was to incorporate cardio into my regime, not to achieve longer and longer distances, as I'm accustomed to. I have to admit though, that it was so tempting to tack on a bit more each time. I know next time I'm pregnant, if it happens to be the right time of year, I'd like to participate in at least a 5k. I know I'm capable.

Now though, I've got more time to do more prenatal yoga. It's a bit different from regular yoga in that there are a lot more easy asanas, more meditation, more stretches and more focus on breathing. Perhaps the biggest difference, though, is the emphasis on getting in touch with the baby. My favourite asana is sukhasana, with one hand over my heart and the other over my belly. I admit, the first time I did it, I cried. It's such a nice pose, and of course, quite easy.

The baby really likes exercise. Nearly every time, when I'm done, there's a LOT of movement. I guess it's entertaining from the inside. Maybe it's like being inside a working machine or something.

A White Blanket

Mr. S and I took a few days off work and headed to NY this weekend...BUFFALO, NY to be exact (just when you started picturing a post full of pictures of Times Square, Central Park and Serendipity yummies...). We did some crazy Christmas shopping and it was so pleasant. The malls and outlets weren't packed, people were in good spirits and we got a lot done. Excellent trip. We high-fived to that several times. (We high-five to everything good.)

As we were closing in on our shopping trip before leaving for home, we overheard some fellow shoppers talking about the snow outside. SNOW?!!? We took a glance out the windows of the next set of doors we walked by and there it was -- snow, and lots of it, coming down fast. This would certainly slow down our trip home, we thought to ourselves. We haven't gotten our snow tires yet and we haven't seen what Natalie (our car -- I never did write about her, did I?) can do in the snow.

We made our last purchase--scratch that, second last--(because a few minutes later, we found ourselves in Target buying a snow brush) and headed outside. We weren't parked far at all and by the time we got in the car and closed the doors, we were covered in snow. Mr. S tried to get rid of as much snow as he could with his sleeve and I opened and closed all the windows to minimize his need to do this. We sat in the car, thinking about how this was our first snow experience of the upcoming winter and how it's so strange that it was now, of all times and how it was so heavy so quickly.

Then we remembered that this white blanket that was draping itself on us was yet another sign that the baby's coming and coming fast. When this blanket decides it's been here for a long enough time and begins to melt away, our little baby will be here.

The drive home really wasn't bad afterall. It was kind of nice, warm and toasty in our seats, listening (and singing haha) to Christmas music (the Jackson 5 Christmas music was especially amusing to sing along to), admiring the snow falling and the drivers' extra caution all around us. And what do you know, crossing the border took us 30 seconds.

Let it snow.

How not to behave in church

(taking place in whispers before mass started...)

K: My feet are so hot and they aren't fitting in my shoes.

J: At least it's not summer, because then you'd be really swollen.

K: But if it were summer, I'd get to wear flip flops.

J: You can't wear flip flops everywhere though.

K: Sure you can! Where can't you wear flip flops?

J: At church.

K: You can wear flip flops at church. Jesus wore flip flops.

J: No he didn't, he wore Birkenstocks.

K: BAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Zzzzzzz

I found out today that I've been snoring...for the past month or so. Mr. S never told me. I only found out because I caught myself doing it and was shocked...and then he mentioned I've been doing it for a while now. Darn, just when I thought I was one of the exceptions to the "pregnant women snore rule".