Obsessions

So I'm back on the island and I'm back to work. It's quite the adjustment when I've been pampered all summer with grandparents taking care of the baby and me being able to come and go as I please. But I like the routine that is established when it's back to work. I guess I can't win them all...at least not now.

So after we came home and before I went back to work, there was a two week window where Jerome was able to take leave. So Jerome, Sophia, and I hung out 24/7 for two weeks. It was great! We went to Kauai for a few days and had a fabulous time. I really liked it over there. We didn't have time to explore the entire island, but we still got to see a lot and relax even more. Sophia is such a great little traveller now...even on the way to Kauai, she slept the entire 25 minute flight. Oh, man I love her!

So it's back to work and I feel good. My class this year is so far, so good. They're not as chatty and loud as my class last year...not yet anyway. They seem like a good bunch of kids and I'm looking forward to being with them. Can I tell you how much I love my partner teacher, Kelsie? Our personalities are really similar so it's really easy. I just love my school in general--the staff is amazing and our principal is just the greatest. Believe me, I've worked with quite a few principals and the one I work for now is amazing. Too bad he's retiring this December..boo.

So there are a few new obsessions in the Angsuco household. Jerome got a new bicycle...his new mode of transportation! I will have to take a picture of his new ride. It's pretty sweet. We spent a pretty penny on it, but I think it's so worth it b/c we're going down to being a one car family, so we're saving on gas, insurance, etc. He's loving the new bike and he gets to workout everyday--something he's been missing since baby came along. He's obsessed with his bike now...looking up bike trails on Oahu and even thinking about going on the Century ride here on Oahu. (100 mile ride across the island)

My new obsession: making baby food! I don't know why I enjoy it so much and I honestly don't know why more people won't do it! It's so, so easy and so much cheaper. Plus, I know exactly what is going in her tummy and I can limit sugars and other random ingredients. I have a cookbook that my friend gave me, but really--it's not that hard to decide which foods would taste good together. Anyway, I took a couple of pictures of my new obsession:

My tools: paring knife, small Cuisinart (I make small batches), Pampered Chef microwave steamer (and microwave)

Baby food storage: 2 oz. cubes! (you can also freeze individual servings in ice cube trays and pop them out and store in a zip loc)

Top 3 (yellowish) are pear/peach mix, bottom three (purple) are blueberry/banana mix, and green cubes are broccoli.

So I basically just wash, then remove the skins of the fruits, cut into small pieces and the steam in the steamer with some water. It takes about 3-4 minutes in the microwave steamer. Then I just pour out the water and put it in the Cuisinart and process it until it's pureed! Sometimes I add some water if it's too thick, but usually I don't have to. I wait for it to cool a bit, pour it in cubes and store in the freezer! That's it! It takes me about 20 - 30 minutes to make one batch. I started out with my big blender at first, but if I'm not making a lot of food, it was a pain b/c the blender was so darn powerful. I spent $25 on the Cuisinart Mini Prep and it's great. So easy to use and clean!

Sophia has been an eating machine and so far she's liked everything we've given her. She didn't really like apples, but I think it's b/c I chose a random variety...Braeburn? I'll try Red Delicious next time. She's eating little puffs now and we tried Mum Mums yesterday and she loves them! She is really easy to please and just so much fun right now. She's not quite crawling yet but she's trying really hard! She scoots around and ends up going backwards. She is always so happy and our lives basically revolve around trying to make her laugh. I don't want her to start crawling, so I'm not really pushing it. I don't want to her grow up so quickly...so she can take her sweet time with her milestones. :) She's done everything else so darn fast...Can time just slow down?

Great, I'm watching the news now and Hurricane Felicia is heading our way. Probably won't directly hit us, but we will experience the remnants of it. Oh, yay.

way too fast

Yay for another bloggy blog post. I'm still here in Cali...I have a week left of my trip and it's back to Hawaii for us. It's really bittersweet--I love being here, but I'm anxious to get back to Hawaii to Jerome and get back to "normal". I always long to be on the other side of the ocean....

Anyway, I've been hanging out with my family a lot. Sophia is having a great time with her cousin, Brandon, everyday. I love watching my parents play and interact with Sophia--it really makes my heart happy. She is such a great baby, it's hard to not love her!! She is always so happy. I love playing with her and I got really sad the other day because I realize that she's growing so quickly. She's already scooting along and learning to crawl. She reaches out for my food and watches me eat. She's on solids and I feed it to her twice a day now. It's all too fast!! I just want to hold her and keep her small forever. I want time to stop and I don't want to let her go. She's so freaking cute and loveable....I actually miss her when she goes to sleep and sometimes just go in to watch her. *sigh*

Fourth of July was this past weekend and I must say that it was one of the best 4th of July's I've had in awhile. (surprisingly enough, the last time I had a great 4th of July was in SC!) I went to a family party at my cousin's house and we went down to the street fair first. Afterwards, it was just fun, family and tons of yummmmmy food. Everyone adored Sophia and she was happy happy as she got passed around from one person to another. At night, we walked down a few blocks to the local high school and watched fireworks. Sophia slept through the enitre thing! It was so loud...with people all around, the music blaring and the fireworks blasting away....and she just slept through it all. Gotta love her!

Other than that, it's been pretty mellow on my end. I don't have much planned each day, which is nice. I do have some lunch and dinner dates planned within the next couple of days, so that will keep me busy. It's been a fabulous trip and I cannot wait to come back in December...Sophia is going to be so big by then!!

Oh, we're also going on a family trip to Kauai when I get home. We are going for 3 days because Jerome was able to get 2 weeks of leave and we're taking advantage of that break. It's great timing because I will be preparing to go back to work and he will be there to help with baby. I can't wait to spend more time as a family...I never take these opportunities for granted! Can't wait to be with the 2 loves of my life for 2 whole weeks. :)

Here is Sophia's 6 month pic...She's so freaking adorable!

I'm back!!

Hello!! It's been about 7 months since my last post and I've had numerous people tell me that I have to post. Why??? The people who read this thing already knows what's going on! :) Whatever the case, I'll have to recap the past 7 months.

I had my baby on December 30, 2008. Sophia Isabelle Vuong Angsuco came into this world 6 days late and let us all know that she was in charge from the start. I was in labor for 22 hours, starting with an induction at 6pm on 12/29. After starting and stopping my contractions for 22 hours, I was 10 cm. dilated at 2:30pm on 12/30 and I pushed exactly 5 times and she arrived at 2:59pm. Epidural was administered at 10:30am. I don't know why I waited that long (and the only reason why I remember this exact time is because The Price is Right was on!) but after I got it, I was in heaven. I'm actually glad that I was able to feel contractions because now I can truly tell you that IT HURTS! Oh, man...never in my life have I felt that kind of pain/pressure. Moral of the story: get the epidural.

It wasn't an easy labor experience. Every time I had a strong contraction, the baby's heart rate would drop. I had contracted on my own after the induction medication, but we had to stop the contractions completely out of concern for the baby. Then they'd put me on pitocin, first at a higher dose, but then the contractions came too quickly and too strong. So they stopped the pitocin. They started again with a lower dose, but the baby's heart rate kept dropping, so they stopped the pitocin. Talk about yo-yo! I wasn't ready to push yet because by 12:30pm, I was only 3 cm. dilated. My doc came in and talked about a possible cesarean. Right when he uttered those words, I started to cry uncontrollably! I didn't want a cesarean and I begged my doc to do everything possible to get her out without any surgical measures. So he said they'd try the pitocin again, this time slowly. (I was fine with stopping/starting the contractions b/c I didn't feel a thing! Epidural = my bestest friend) After the started the pitocin once more, the doc came in right before 2:30 and checked my cervix...I had fully dilated in two hours. After that, it was a whirlwind of people coming in my room and the nurse getting me ready. The bed collapsed/pulled apart, spot lights came one, my doc was dressed in scrubs within a matter of minutes. I pushed when they told me to push (oh, and by this time my epidural was wearing out, so I was able to feel something. Still didn't hurt as much, but I still felt it all!) and in 20 minutes, she was out. It was at this point that I noticed how many people were in my room--about 15!! 8 with me, 7 with my baby. Apparently, my doc almost called a crash cesarean because baby's heart rate went waaaay low, but with forceps and an episiotomy, they got her out. She was perfect--Apgar scores were 8, 9 respectively. We were in love from the start!!

And it's all true. You forget about all the pain and everything else once you lay eyes on your baby. She is amazing. We were able to leave the hospital the next night because I didn't want to spend New Years Eve at the hospital. With my doc's ok, and the Pediatrician's ok, we were discharged from the hospital at 7pm on 12/31/09.

The first few days were difficult, but manageable. I think the hardest part was sleeping, not because the baby was crying so much, but because I would constantly wake up to make sure she was ok. Yes, it was hard and we had sleeping issues....especially when Sophia had her days and nights mixed up for about a week. But my mom was with us and so were my in laws, so we had tremendous help. Jerome and I took care of her at night and they all helped during the day. :)

Sophia is 6 months in a few days. She is truly amazing. At six months, she can:

- sit up on her own (starting at 5 months)
- roll over both ways (tummy to back at 3 months, back to tummy at 3.5 months)
- hold her own bottle (starting at 4.5 months)
- laugh, laugh, laugh
- recognize her name
- recognize mom & dad (can even recognize dad on Skype!)
- play with Bella
- eat solids (only rice, sweet potatoes, bananas and carrots so far--starting at 5 months)

She isn't sleeping through the night. She sleeps well, but wakes up 1-2 times a night to feed. She falls right asleep after she finishes though. She is a reletively easy baby and so, so happy. She only cries/fusses when she is tired or hungry. When she wakes up from naps or sleep, she plays until someone comes to get her. Sometimes she will yell if no one is around, but is all smiles when you get to her. She lets anyone hold her and loves to look at faces. She hasn't had any indication of seperation anxiety yet. We are really blessed to have such a great baby. Oh! And I may be biased, but she is DARN CUTE!

As for Jerome and me--we are doing well. Life with baby is definitely different, but we love it. I am currently on summer vacation and in California. Family and friends met Sophia for the first time and everyone loves her. I am getting spoiled as well--my parents are watching her so I can run errands and get things (like going to spa and getting mani/pedis) done. My family is trying to convince me to leave Sophia her so that my life can be "easier" and to pick her up in December. hahaha--no way! It's super nice to see that she is so loved though. I will definitely be taking full advantage of what I have now! It's all back to the real world when I go back to Hawaii!!

I love how everything I talk & write about just goes back to Sophia. *sigh*

Here are some pictures of the bugger. (most are recent b/c the older pictures are on the external harddrive at home)

finally holding her head up

Happy Baby!!

4 months old

5 months old

Mommy & me

Daddy & me

For more pics, go to my profile on Facebook. Here's a link to the album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=91345&id=648845189&l=723ad8ad14

Alrighty--that's all for now. Hopefully, I can keep up this blogging!! TTFN!

10 days to go...

I had my weekly dr. appointment today. Zero cm. dilated. nothin'...nilch.

Good thing b/c Jerome won't be home until later this week. We had a talk with Sophia last night..."stay in, baby. Wait for Daddy to come home."

Think "stay in" thoughts until Friday!!

My mommy is coming in on Wednesday!!!!!!!!! :)

38 weeks pregnant and it's finally happened...

So....it's happened. I got the dreaded stretchmarks on my tummy. :( It's so ugly! I can't even see them because they're between my belly button and pelvic bone, so I can only see them in the mirror. BLAH. I've been so good with the belly butter, vitamin e....oh, well.

We're 2 weeks away from my EDD. (expected due date) I still feel pretty good--well, as good as I can be at 38 weeks of pregnancy. Sitting on the floor is no longer an option, my feet are no longer normal size, (thank goodness for Hawaii and being able to wear my slippahs to work everyday!) I get winded just getting into bed, and my back is achey, but manageable. But other than all that, I'm still walking around nicely, able to cook dinner (by choice!), and get things done at work and at home. Christmas shopping is finished and gifts are wrapped and are being sent out tomorrow! I feel good...

Last week we got another ultrasound because my doc thought I was measuring too small. It kinda freaked me out a bit, but it all turned out well. Our baby is small--she's in the 35th percentile, but not small enough to be of concern. The doc predicts she'll be about 6.5 - 7 lbs if she goes all the way. We got more pictures and this time Jerome was able to be there! We also got reconfirmation that it's a girl! :) She was moving so much that it was difficult for the technician to get pictures of he needed.

We're just about ready for her. We're stil getting furniture moved around, but it should all be finished by tomorrow. I just need to wash her clothes, get some diapers, and pack my hospital bag. Our generous friends and family have sent us everything that we need. My mom is coming in next week!! It's all coming together so quickly...I just want my baby already!

My birthday has come and gone. It was very quiet this year--I actually got really sick on my birthday and slept for most of the day. We eventually went to get a Christmas tree in the evening, but that was all I was up for that night. The next day, however, I felt great and we were able to celebrate then. The house is now all decorated for the holidays...inside and out. :) That's how I celebrated my birthday...my phone and email was bombarded and that's all I could have asked for. I didn't mention it at work at all because I didn't want anyone to make a big deal (my kids made enough of a deal!) and also because my work gave me a baby shower, so I didn't want even more attention. :) I had a great day, even though I was sick--it was just as it should have been.

Here's my belly at 38 weeks. Apparently, it looks like I've dropped today, so picture my belly a bit lower....

And here is Bella in front of our tree. :) Why, oh why, do I love to torture my dog...??

34 weeks, 2nd Anniversary

Many changes occuring these days--including Jerome being home now! After being gone for almost 2 months, he's finally home now. Life is now getting back to how things used to be, although I have to admit that since he's been back, it has been a bit difficult for me! It's just so weird to not have to do everything for myself anymore....it's refreshing, so I'm not complaining. :)

So I'm 34 weeks pregnant this week...that's 8 1/2 months! Just 3 more weeks and I'm officially full term. How scared am I!? Jerome and I went on the hospital tour today. We will be delivering at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children. It was a great experience and now my mind is a bit at ease as to what to expect. The Labor and Delivery room was really nice! I think Jerome was a bit overwhelmed, but who wouldn't be?

We've also purchased all of the necessary baby furniture, including some not-so-necessary. We had to rent a van to purchase and take home our crib, dresser, and a glider. (the glider was our luxury purchase and I LOVE it!) It was a huge weight off my shoulders, as I've waited for Jerome to come home to get that all done. Jerome's finished building everything (I love him) and now we're just going to have to move some furniture around the house. And when I say "we", I really mean Jerome and his friends. :)

Today is our 2nd wedding anniversary--Veteran's Day! The greatest thing about getting married on a holiday? We both get the day off! The bad part? The restaurant we were SO LOOKING FORWARD to eating at today was CLOSED! Oh, well. We found another restaurant and was very happy with that decision. It was a great day--nice and relaxing, ending with a great dinner at a beachfront restaurant. Happy Anniversary, Jerome!

Oh, and that means Bella's birthday is in 2 days! :)

Here is the long awaited picture of the belly...at 34 weeks. Enjoy!

Anniversary

This week marks the one year anniversary of Jerome and I moving to Hawaii. I can't believe it's already been a year--it went by so quickly! My 13 months in South Carolina felt like fooorrreeevverrrr and these 12 months on the island has just FLOWN by. In one year, we've done so much. Jerome made rank and has gotten his dolphins (yay!). I found a great school to work at that treats me just like ohana and I love going to work. We're expecting our first baby in about 10 weeks. We've made some really good friends who I'm starting to be able to depend on and trust more. Jerome's career as a sailor is in full force and I'm adjusting (much better than I had imagined) to the Navy/deployment lifestyle. We've had numerous visitors, so home is never too far away. Life is good--and a year ago today, we were scared to death coming to the island, to a new life. I look forward to the next couple of years to see what this Navy life and island has to offer us.

On an even more cheerful note, WE'RE HALF WAY THROUGH THIS DEPLOYMENT!! WEEEEEE!!!