Dear Rice and Pasta,
I miss you...

Things are coming along nicely. Peter has put down the floor in the bathroom. It looks good. We have also cleared out the used to be computer room to turn it into a nursery room. We have chosen the classic Winnie the Pooh theme. I'm not a big Pooh fan, but the classic Pooh Bear just screams nursery. Besides, Peter insisted on them. I thought I was lucky just to get him to go to the store with me, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that he actually cared enough to have an opinion about the nursery. Doesn't it look cute though?

Aunt Suzy and Lynne got us the bedding set, a Pooh Bear plush toy, some decorations, and some baby clothes. They are so nice and soft. What a lucky baby. Tomorrow I will continue my search for the perfect car seat and stroller.

I'm playing with gif files. Never knew how easy it is. It's kinda fun.

I was going to have my first baby shower today, but it was canceled due to the untimely winter storm. Boo~ I was looking forward to see our Kansas cousins this weekend. Of course I'm disappointed, but I'd rather them be safe and stay home. Peter finally put together the crib. I'm at 34th week now, technically I can give birth anytime now without any risk. I think tomorrow we are going to shop for stroller and car seat. I can't believe how many choices there are. We want one that's sturdy but not bulky. We still haven't decided if we are going to be cloth or disposable diapers. Personally I prefer cloth, but I'm not sure how leak proof they are. I can't believe how many things we still need to get. I'm so grateful for baby shower.

The hospital gift shop and salon were having a sale today. Everything was 30% off. Didn't really need anything, but I went to check it out anyway. There I saw this tourmaline ceramic flat iron marked as $120. My first reaction was "what the?!", and it's not even a CHI. After listening to my co-workers who have this kind of flat irons, though not the same brand, telling me how well they work and how much they love theirs blah blah blah... I was convinced it's worth the money. I thought I had a good deal when it ended up being $84 after the discount until I looked it up online tonight. They cost less than $70 every site I looked at. Needless to say, I'm pretty pissed right now. I feel like a SUCKER. I'm going to call them tomorrow and demand a refund.

I'm sure anyone who reads my blog can sense that I have been a little down lately. To perk myself up, I went to get myself some new makeup. I'm quite happy with my purchases. After much researches online, I decided to try Laura Mercier's foundation stick and foundation powder.

I have used Laura's foundation before. I was very pleased with it, but I'm a makeup junkie, so I never just stick with one thing. I had since then switched to Bobbi Brown and Cliniqe. I'm glad to finally be back with Laura again. I wore the two foundations all day at work today, and I was very happy with the result. Not only did they not feel heavy on my face, my complexion was completely evened out giving me a "flawless face" look (Laura Mercier's signature look). I also bought a new blush from NARS called Orgasm.

Such a beautiful color that will compliment any skin tone. I feel a little better already.

Bathroom renovation updates. We still got a long way to go. My favorite part is the glass block window. All done by Peter. The tiles are not perfectly align. Peter said it adds a little character. I don't know about that, but I'm just gonna have to deal with it. It's too late to take it all down and redo it now.

This is the color we picked for the wall. It's called plum passion. It's hard to see in the pictures, but it's a light green, and it goes well with our salmon color tub.

I hope to be able to post the final product real soon. I miss taking baths.

Feeling nauseous this morning... I have been up for 18 hours. As I'm yawning in front of the monitor, I try to think of anything to do besides going to sleep. I'm being irresponsible.

I have not been watching my diet as closely as I should. Even though I have only gained 1lb in the past 3 weeks, I feel like a bad mom already. This baby sure knows how to put a guilt trip on his mama.

(Yawning...)

It's been an emotional roller coaster day today. I had a doctor appointment today. Everything is fine, but before the appointment, I had a nervous breakdown. I'm not sure what pushed me over the edge. All of a sudden I had this unexplainable and overwhelming anger. Instead of controlling it, I let it control me. I was hysterical. After 20 minutes of crying, throwing and kicking things, I finally calmed down. I still don't know what came over me, but sure it would be concerning if I wasn't pregnant. These days I blame everything on hormone.

These are Peter's favorite cookies "toffee crunch cookies". He has been begging me to bake these. They have oatmeal, toffee bits, coconut and almond in them. I know it may sound too much, but all the ingredients compliment each other very well. Because these are thin cookies, they are not as rich as you may think. I was going to bake a cake too, but it's 3am already. I think I need to get some sleep especially when I'm still dealing with some leftover bronchitis. Now I'm going to bed smelling like cookies. Um... how sweet.

Every year I look forward to Thanksgiving, but this year I'm a little freaked out. This Thanksgiving reminds me just how close I am to my due date. By Christmas, I will be in a state of panic. In a couple months, I will be holding a tiny person in my arms. That's just too weird. Before I start hyperventilating, I should remind myself how blessed I am. I truly am grateful for what God has provided me and my husband all these years, and now He has blessed us with our first baby. We indeed have so much to be thankful for.

Our bathroom renovation is going along nicely. Husband is doing a fine job, I just hope that it will be done on time. I can tell Peter is feeling the pressure too as the baby due date approaching quickly. Today he worked on the glass block window. It turned out so good. I will post some pictures later. We have subway tiles all around, and we picked out an elegant pedestal sink. I think when it's done, it's going to look awesome.

Good news! My mom got her visa, and it's good for 10 years. She probably won't stay the whole 10 years, but at least she can get in and out of the U.S. without problem. She plans on staying for 6 months this time. Can't wait to have mom's home cook meals again.

I'm sick again. I have gotten sick so many times since I have become pregnant. I was feeling fine all day, then while we were at Lowes picking out paint color, all of a sudden I felt very weak and achy all over. It was strange. My legs were so weak that they were about to give out. I had to get up in the middle of the night and slept on the couch because my throat was too sore when I was lying down. While I was lying semi-comfortably on the couch, I saw this news on TV talking about an outbreak of a mutated cold virus that has killed 10 people in the U.S. Being a dramatic emotional pregnant woman as I am, my first thought was that must be what I have, I'm dying. So I rolled off the couch and looked it up on the internet. Although I have some similar symptoms, I don't think that's what I have. If you are reading this, please do pray for me for an uneventful final stretch of my pregnancy. I can't believe we are almost there.

Amanda is hosting a baby shower for me. She even used one of the pictures she took to make the invite. How nice!

My friend Amanda took these pictures. I thought they were a little cheesy at first, but it's my first pregnancy, and I'd like to share this experience with my family and friends. There are more in my photo album.

So many updates, but so little energy. I have developed gestational diabetes, so I have been checking my blood sugar and counting carbs. Good thing I only have couple months left. So far I have been able to keep it under control most of the time. I let my blood sugar slip once a while, but not bad at all. I didn't gain anything, in fact I lost 1 lb since the last doctor visit. I will still have to watch it after the baby, they said most women develop type 2 diabetes few years later.

My mom is going to apply for her visa. I wish her luck, and hope that they will let her stay for at least 6 months. I will take as much as I can get.

So I failed my first glucose test, I FAILED! Now I have to go back to have the three hour test. A lot of women fail the first one and pass the second one. I hope I pass. During my last visit, the nurse practitioner said we have to watch my weight. I must have gained more than expected in the past few weeks. I feel like a big fat cow. I should probably start some light exercise like walking. I have been so inactive lately mainly because of lack of energy. Maybe some exercise will do me good and give me more energy.

Peter has done a lot of cleaning and fixing up around the house lately. I'm so grateful to have such loving and wonderful husband.

This my new go to video when I need a good laugh. So adorable and contagious.

Concerned Inventor

My personalDNA Report

It has been a miserable week. Starting Monday night, I started to notice my left big toe and the area around had swollen up pretty bad. I couldn't wiggle my big toe and it was very painful to walk on it. Actually it would be throbbing with pain even when I'm not on my feet. At first I didn't think too much of it, I thought maybe it's just pregnancy swelling or maybe it's caused by all the walking I did over the weekend. The next day I went to work limping. I was hoping it would get better on its own. In fact it got worse, so they let me be the secretary for the rest of the day. It almost killed me walking to my car after work. My colleague thought she might have to put me in a wheelchair. The next morning, it's still not better. I finally had Peter take me to the urgent care. The doctor thought it might be gout. When he pressed on the sore area, I thought I was going to kick the doctor in the face. They drew some blood to see if my uric acid level is up. The doctor told me I shouldn't go to work for at least a couple days. I felt bad because I knew without me, that would put them short at work. Besides, I don't want to use up all my sick time with my maternity leave coming up. After discussing with my supervisor, we decided I could sit in to be the secretary again. Not sure if that was a good idea, because my foot had gotten so big at that point, I couldn't even squeeze it into my shoe. I managed to get through work. When I came home couple nights ago, I went to bed with my feet elevated on couple pillows. It's supposed to help with the swelling. Few hours later, I was woken up by a severe leg cramp. It just happened to be on my left leg. My calf was hard like a rock. Usually Peter's here to massage it for me, or I can relieve it by flexing my toes and feet. There's no way I could do that this time. Not only could I not get rid of the cramp in my leg, my foot was also throbbing with pain. I was so helpless. That's why I'm still awake right now, I'm too scared to go to sleep tonight without my husband standby. Anyway, I checked my lab result at work, it was normal. That means it's not gout. I started to worry maybe it's infection. I feel much relieved now that the swelling finally went down, and the pain has subsided quite a bit. We may never know what was wrong with my foot, but I'm glad I can walk again.

I have to mention the doctor I had at the urgent care, Dr. Bremen, is without a doubt the best doctor I have ever met. Being a nurse, I have met plenty of doctors, but no one can match up to Dr. Bremen. He has such wonderful bedside manner. First of all, he came in with a big smile on his face, and he was cracking jokes the whole time. He called me and Peter by our names. He made eye contact with us, and occasionally he would put his hand on my shoulder. He must have spent at least 10 minutes in the room, that's a lengthy time in doctors' term. What was even more shocking, he called me the next day personally to tell me the lab result was normal and asked how I was doing. When he told me they were going to let me know the result, I was expecting a nurse to call me. He even told me to call him first thing next week to let him know whether my foot is better or not. Dr. Bremen used to be an ER doctor at the hospital I work, so when I mentioned him to my co-workers, they were all aware of how great he is. Even though it has been a sucky week, Dr. Bremen has made my week a lot better.

I'm an introvert. I never knew how introverts are misunderstood, until I read the article Caring For Your Introvert. I have an extrovert friend asked me in more than one occasions if I dislike talking to people and thinks that I appear to be arrogant sometimes. I suppose I can be mistaken as rude or arrogant to those that don't know me. My close friends and family know I'm nothing like that. I admit I'm slow to open up, and I hate being in a group social situation with lots of small talks. I can really relate to the author of this article. The majority of the population is extrovert, that's why the introverts are misrepresented. I don't think I'm a shy person. When I can't think of anything to say, I prefer to be quiet. I consider myself to have good social skills. As a nurse, I meet different people every day. It's up to me to make my patients feel welcomed and comfortable with my care. If I'm too shy or antisocial, I wouldn't be able to do that everyday. After work, I'd like to be me. Some people assume just because I don't talk much, I must not care. In fact, because I actually listen to others when they talk, I can get to know a person better than my extrovert friends do. I have been in so many situations where all these extrovert people keep talking, mostly about nothing, but in the end, they seem to have not heard each other at all. I often have to fill them in of what the others have said or correct them because they have misunderstood each other. I also think that introverts can read people better, because we actually take the time to observe. One of the disadvantages of being an introvert is often time people, the extroverts, assume you must be lonely and uninteresting. Introvert does not equal loneliness, nor are we anti-people. I don't need constant company to feel fulfilled. I enjoy having alone time to reflect. I also love making friends, but I think the introverts have a different friend making philosophy than the extroverts. I don't need to have tens and hundreds of people I can call friends, I just need a few people I can have close meaningful friendships with. In this case, quality is definitely more important than quantity. That doesn't mean I'm not friendly with people. I'm just not "in your face" kind of friendly. Most of us introverts are content with our trait, and we understand how the extroverts are different from us. Most extroverts seem to think the introverts should be more like them. They think maybe if we are more like them, we will be happier. No matter how uncomfortable and tiring my extrovert friends may have made me feel sometimes , I have never asked them to be less extroverted. In other words, I would not want them to change for me. Besides, there's nothing wrong with being an extrovert or an introvert. We just ask you to try to understand respect us and occasionally give us room to breath.