MY MARATHON!!!

Which city marathon should we keep?
One marathon alone might be stronger, but deciding which gets the nod could be tough

I'm partial to the Waterfront marathon because it's prettier, and well, I've run it before. In any case, regardless of which one they eliminate, I hope they mix the courses so that it'll still cover the beach.

In FOUR...

J.J. Abram's board game...can you get through one of his twisted stories?

(note, there are more than just references to Lost here)

What do you know about Seaside?

My cousins and a few friends have been telling me about Jersey Shore for months. Only when my cousin showed me the fist pump last week, did I decide to actually watch it.

For the past week, I’ve been catching up on episodes. I haven’t been able to finish this season as quickly as I usually would since I’m preparing for Lost’s premiere next week (5 DAYS!!!), but last night I managed to fit in 3 (and a bit because I wanted to know what happened, but I didn’t wanna sit through an entire other episode or I’d be up all night) more episodes. Then I went to bed.




Then I dreamt I was packing up some stuff to go to the beach. Snooki was telling me to hurry up so we could go and find a place by the boardwalk that was no where near The Situation.

A word from Captain Obvious

Mr. S and I were driving me to work from my doctor appointment the other day and I had a thought. It was no epiphany or anything, just a true realization of how extraordinary the experience will be in the coming weeks.

As we drove by the hospital where we will welcome our first child into the world (and where I was first welcomed!), it dawned on me:

That hospital is where I will walk in with our child inside me, and walk out with our child outside me.

That doesn’t happen on any other occasion. You don’t go to the dentist for a tooth extraction and come out with the tooth, expected to love and care for it. Same goes for your appendix or any other such thing inside your body that you have removed. No one walks out with their tonsils wrapped in a warm blanket. No one cuddles with their dysfunctional kidney. (Or at least, no one I know of!)

So, how blessed are we that we, like so many other couples, get to go in, with the intention of having something removed from my body, only to walk out, with that thing being our baby?

Too cool, man. This is TOO COOL!!

Is it a Girl? Is it a Boy?

Everyone's been asking and we've been curious. We decided well before the pregnancy that we'd find out what sex our babies were, or at least, for the first one. (Now that that's the case, I can't imagine what it's like to want to be surprised -- what the heck stuff do you buy in advance?!)

Of course, everyone has their own suspicions. I've heard some pretty ridiculous things over the past few months, some nice, some offensive, some downright outrageous. I'm not sure if it's just Filipinos who tend to have all these weirdo secrets about how to know the sex of your baby. If you look at the table below, there’s one there about the colour of your armpits. My sisters warned me about this one, and because of it, I’ve been shaving my pits even though it’s winter. Usually I really don’t care what they look like this time of year (what a gorgeous mental picture, isn’t it?) – It’s all about long sleeves! And you know what? If they’re actually dark, it’s probably because of my over-shaving, dangit!

And now that we have a clue about the sex of the baby (the ultrasound technician told us what she thinks...twice), I've been thinking about these things people have been telling me and checking out if any of them are true.

It's a Girl!	It's a Boy!
Mommy looks prettier	Mommy doesn't look so good
Mommy's looking wider	Mommy's looking pointy
Mommy's skin looks nice	Mommy's got dark spots by her neck, her armpits, and/or any other crevices
When you ask Mommy to show you her hands, she shows you them palm UP	When you ask Mommy to show you her hands, she shows you them palm DOWN
Mommy chooses a sweet snack when presented with a choice	Mommy chooses a salty snack when presented with a choice
Baby's heart rate is greater than 140	Baby's heart rate is less than 140
Daddy's gaining weight	Daddy looks the same
Mommy's left boob is bigger!	Mommy's right boob is bigger!
When you swing a necklace over Mommy's belly, it swings in a circle	When you swing a necklace over Mommy's belly, it swings back and forth
Mommy's linea nigra goes from navel to pubic area	Mommy's linea nigra goes from navel to pubic area but also from navel up to xiphoid process

So yes, we know the sex of our baby...or at least we think we do. And looking at this list, I can say, if the technician was right, some of them are pretty true. Or at least, my pregnancy supports some of them.

And you know by now because every so often I use the pronoun...

♥ It's a Boy ♥

Dance like no one is watching...SERIOUSLY.

A good sermon

Mr. S and I have been going to the same church we got married at even though we no longer live in the area (or well, I no longer live in the area since he never lived in the area in the first place). We find that when we go to some other churches, the masses and the experiences just aren’t the same and we don’t feel as spiritually enriched as we usually do when we leave our parish. We love feeling spiritually enriched.

I think one of the important parts of the mass is the sermon. I learned early on from my father how important it is that priests give good sermons at mass because the parishioners don’t take those words lightly. They come from someone they see as somewhat of a leader, someone who can explain the readings at mass, not just so that we can understand them more clearly but also accurately. There are a lot of people who will believe anything a priest says and if that priest is wrong, you’ve got a lot of misled people walking out of that church. (Believe me, my father has approached priests after mass many a time, to help them better understand the readings because some priests completely miss it…or don’t refer to them at all. I should also add that my father was/is a bible scholar, and was a seminarian, so he’s not completely out of line.)

We love the priests at our parish. We particularly love the one who married us (we hope he’s there forever!). Mr. S loves his sermons. He’s very clear and concise and gives the kind of sermons you can’t not listen to.

This weekend though, we had a guest at our parish, our archbishop. I have to say, he gave one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard.

After he explained he readings, he started to elaborate on why we go to church, why we pray, and other such things. If I had been attending mass as someone struggling with my faith, I think that sermon, alone, would have brought me back. The way he explained things made you realize just how simple faith really is. I don't believe faith is a complicated thing, and I guess that's one of the reasons I've been able to strengthen mine.

If you’d like to know more about his sermon, let me know. I know religion can be a touchy subject for some people, so I think it might be better to just talk about it. I'd be happy to know your thoughts too. I just couldn’t go without blogging about it. The whole mass was exceptional and had me in tears. I love moments like that where I remember.

Obamanation

Because there are 11 more days until Lost

AND THERE'S MORE!!!








Here, have some candy. Hopefully this will sustain you over the next 11 days.

Third trimester crazies – Part 1

It has begun. I think. So far, it’s manageable. I hope it stays that way.

Let me explain what I’ve been feeling, but first let me say that I still feel warm and fuzzy and all that good stuff. There’s just a certain level of discomfort that’s setting in. It’s more annoying, I’d say. But no pain or anything like that.

There are two ways I can describe it, and I don’t know if this is what it’s like for pregnant women in general, or if this is what pregnant women mean when they’ve been telling me that the third trimester is a female dog.

1. I have moments where I want to take my skin off like it’s a set of gloves.

2. I want to roll around on a carpeted floor because it feels like it’d be relieving.

I want to add that if I could summarize in one word how I’ve been feeling, it’s RESTLESS.

Regarding #1
I have these moments where I don’t want to sit still and after a while I feel like my body wants to “come out of my body” and go crazy. It wants to do sit-ups and somersaults, and my hands want to take off this skin that has trapped them in a fat suit for months. They want to make fists and play the piano.

Regarding #2
I’m not sure how I decided that carpet would be the best platform on which to roll my body. It just felt like it would feel exactly how I want it to feel. I don’t even know if I’ve ever rolled around on carpet before. And you would think that I could just go ahead and roll around on the carpet, but here’s the thing. I can’t do 360^o rolls because of my belly. I would end up rolling around on my back, and that’s not what I want (but it does make a funny mental picture, doesn’t it? HAHA!!! Okay, stop imagining now).

I’m just going to say what I’ve been saying all along in moments like this.

It’s okay, it’s temporary.

Bellywatch 2010 - 30ish weeks

If you give a mouse some popcorn…

...you'll end up with some free movies!

Not sure if you're familiar with these books but the first one was a favourite when we were kids...and then I found out there were others like this second one.

Mr.S and I had a very cheap date night last night. By cheap, I mean we went the coupon route and the gift card route and Cheaped. It. Out. I love coupons and I love gift cards. I’m not embarrassed to keep them in my wallet nor to use them because really, they’re meant to be used and they’re meant to save you money, and really, who doesn’t want to save money?

So after a half-free dinner at Swiss Chalet (thanks to all those Festive Special coupons!) or well, more than half-free because of the gift card we had, we headed to go watch a movie. (Thank goodness for their Garlic Cheese Loaf...I had a killer garlic bread craving and that SQUASHED it.)

Mr.S redeemed some Air Miles for 2 for 1 movie passes so we used one to buy tickets for the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. We were over half an hour early and so we went to the theater to just sit, read Famous and relax before the movie. We walked in and were the only ones there so we really relaxed and did the frowned upon thing of taking off our shoes and putting our feet up on the chairs in front of us.

We rocked in our chairs and heard the creeking and then we heard another sound. We’d pause and it’d pause, so it was confusing as to whether it was us or something else. And then we’d hear it when we were perfectly silent. Being the only people in the theater we were taken aback by the sound being made by something or someone other than us. It was a little freaky.

We listened more closely and it sounded like
1. A bag of popcorn…
2. …being moved around…
3. …because there was something inside it…
4. …in the row in front of us!!!

So, we looked at each other trying to read what the other person was thinking to do. We both got our stuff, walked out to the aisle and tried to quickly decide: Do we move to another row? Do we leave entirely? Do we get someone to clean it up and come back?

We decided to at least tell SOMEONE so it could be taken care of. We told the first staff member we saw who then got the manager for us. We told the manager the situation and right away, he offered to:
1. Let us watch any movie for free last night
2. Give us passes to watch Imaginarium at any other day and time (the one we went for was the last showing of the day)
3. Of course, get someone to take care of the situation

So, we decided to take advantage of both offers and watch a free movie AND get movie passes. He showed us a list of movies that were still available to watch at the time and right away he suggested Avatar, mentioning that since it’s in 3D, it’s actually more expensive than watching a regular movie, so we said, “Screw that it’s three hours!” and we took the glasses and walked in just before the lights dimmed*.

And now, I’m going to say the same thing that pretty much everyone who’s seen the movie has said.

Oh.
Em.
Gee.
I.
Loved.
It.

Really, there was nothing to not love. It’s not only visually stimulating (worth EVERY penny of those millions spent, seriously), but the story is pretty good (if you’ve seen it/when you see it, you’ll understand why I loved the story so much, being a tree hugger and all) and of course, I was entertained. And maybe it was even better because it was free (kinda like how free food tastes better than paid-for food). The one thing I found challenging was wiping my tears under my 3D glasses…I was NOT going to take them off for a second. But that’s probably an isolated problem. HAHA!

I loved the movie so much, I couldn’t sleep last night (er, this morning because we got home pretty late) AND I was having dreams all night AS AN AVATAR/NA’VI. I told Mr.S about it this morning and it turned out he was dreaming in the same way!! I’m excited to sleep tonight so I can visit Pandora again. Awesome.

Ugh, loved it, loved it, loved it.

I must thank that little mouse or whatever creature that was in that bag of popcorn. Thanks to him/her, we got free movies!! Yay!**



*We had intended to watch Avatar in Imax 3D but hey, it’s free, why not, right?
**Oh, and the manager said that they found the bag but not the creature and that he called to get someone in to look after the problem this morning.

Cankles

Yes, I’m swelling. We all know that. My fingers are numb, my toes are stubby (where are they, by the way?) and my nose…well, let’s not talk about my nose.

My ankles, however, are still nice and petite. I really, really hope they don’t get taken over by cankle syndrome. Cankles scare me. I had a teacher in high school who had cankles and I remember being so distracted in class from staring at them because I just couldn’t understand how there was no end to her leg and beginning to her foot. It baffled me, just like the phenomenon we call the Platypus.

I like that I have skinny ankles and I just hope that they remain that way. Let’s also hope that my phalanges go back to their original sizes too. Oh, and my nose. We all need to have some hope for my nose.

Happy New Year!

Momma let me write something on her blog so I could wish you all a happy 2010. I hope you're ready for me! I'm so excited to meet you! I have lots of things to show you but unfortunately, I can only do it from inside Momma's belly, so bear with me. I'm trying to wave hello to you!

See you soon and love you already!
Baby S

P.S. Don't mind the noise -- my parents were nesting this weekend and Poppa was busy putting stuff together.

__ days __ hours until LOST!

I added something over there

Get yours here.

What I learned in 2009

As is blog tradition, here are some things I learned in 2009. I'll try to keep it simple and short.

1. With some things, no matter how much you plan for them, they're just not in the cards for you. Or at least not at this time.

2. With some other things, you don't even have to plan for them. They just happen and you find that in fact, you are ready.

3. When stuck in a rut of a situation, figuring out what you learned from it is a very good way of beginning to get out of that rut.

4. With some people, you just have to take what you can get and be happy with that.

5. Recognition for hard work is an invaluable thing.

6. The more I bake/cook, the easier and faster it is to perfect a recipe.

7. Faith and your love for God are some of the most wonderful things you can share.

8. There are no words to accurately describe the phenomenon of crossing items off my "Life To Do List" (some call it a Bucket List, but I prefer to keep it focussed on living life rather than dodging death).

9. I've become a fan of delayed gratification, especially the kind that is delayed 9 months or so.

10. Some activities are better enjoyed after years of not doing them.