Strollers and breast pumps

The last couple of days have been pretty busy- dropped off dad at the airport, went and bought more baby stuff at Buy Buy Baby, drove into Chicago for a doctor's appointment and dinner meeting with T's potential collegues.. PHEW!! On the plus side, we have a new stroller, car seat, and breast pump. I swear, if all our purchases from here on out are baby related and not for us, I would still be extremely happy. It gives me so much pleasure to buy anything and everything for our lil guy.

We bought the Graco car seat because I was told by our Real Estate agent that its compatible with the BOB jogging stroller (as long as you get a car seat adapter). We also made sure this was correct info with the Buy Buy Baby consultant before purchasing this car seat.

Now the real test is figuring out how to use this thing!! I love/hate reading manuals!

A hands free breast pump for the days when I can't breastfeed because
a.) I'm too tired
b.) I'm trying to wean
c.) I need to step out during the day/night and someone else has to feed
d.) Hands free so I can do some catch up on blogs, reading, texting, whatever!!

http://www.amazon.com/BOB-Revolution-Single-Stroller-Orange/dp/B004DC9TAI

I bought the BOB stroller SE because I heard great reviews from people and the web. When I tested it out at the store, it felt like butta!! Moving around with it and turning it proved to be a cinch so I'm super happy with our purchase :)

After baby shopping, we went to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch. We started with fried mac n cheese and southern style chicken sliders- yum!

the chicken sliders were my fav!

Poor momma- she got sick during our lunch!!

I could only finish 1/2 of my old fashioned burger because I was so full! Plus, I wanted to save a little room for cheesecake.

Their red velvet cheesecake was delish and not super sweet considering all that frosting.

On Monday, we went down to Chicago and I had my first meeting with the doctor that might potentially be birthing my baby. I say potentially because our of the 6 doctors at their practice, it depends on whether I go into labor at night (different doctor maybe), and if I have the baby on the weekend (again potentially a different doctor). Dr. Muchandani was nice and approachable. I felt she really cared about my well being because she asked me a lot of comprehensive questions to get the full scope of my pregnancy thus far and also did a full exam, which I didn't feel I got while being looked after in London.

Dinner was at Mastro's, a steakhouse in Chicago. I didn't take any pictures since this was a dinner out with T's potential work colleagues. My appetizer was the mushrooms with lump crab, which I thought was perfectly cooked but the crab didn't really sing in the dish. The petite filet for my entree was delicious but not really anything out of the ordinary. I did think our sides were delicious though (lobster mash- I got 4 huge chunks of lobster!!), and our dessert (butter cake- accompanied with strawberries and fresh whipped cream). Overall, I thought the food was good but I couldn't really justify the prices IF we would have paid for the dinner ourselves.

Something about a boy..

My sweet baby boy chose not hide anything during our scan earlier this week. In fact, it took less than a second from when the ultrasound tech put the jelly on my stomach and when the probe touched my skin to find out what was hiding between my baby's legs. I couldn't believe my eyes, I swear it was a hand or another nub!!! Te he he he..

The appointment lasted literally 10 minutes and we were out of there in no time. I sort of wanted to stay in there and watch the baby forever, but alas, our time was up! Not only did we find out the sex, but it was sort of a mini check up to see how he was doing. His growth measures up to par from our last scan at 12 weeks. He is now 17 weeks and 7 days.. :-) Our next scan AND last scan is at 22 weeks before we head off to the states. Sweet home Chicago here I come!!!

Feelings about the gender:

While growing up, I definitely thought about having kids one day. I always babysat kids when I was younger, and I can say that from an early age, I felt a strong maternal calling. I feel very very very fortunate to be in this position I am today, because I know how unlucky some women are. It's a lot of heartache, but SO worth it in the end to get such a beautiful, clear picture of a growing baby. So my initial preference was having a boy first so I could (hopefully) have a girl second after a few years but after some thought, I reevaluated what was important and decided that I didn’t care which gender I had and this was my feeling up until my scan. Now that we have the gender figured out, I'm super excited to start doing some shopping- baby clothes are the cutest!

Prior to my scan, T picked us up some lunch- a falafel salad for me and my mum (as the Brits would say). Hers included eggplant and mine had guacamole.

For dinner, my mom cooked me a really lovely salmon and Korean soup dinner.

I didn't think I was craving Korean food but this proves otherwise!!

salmon, brown rice, and spicy paste for my lettuce wraps.

a mix of Korean/Japanese influenced soup- she used red miso paste since she didn't have daenjang, which is a Korean bean paste. The veggies included pak choi, mushrooms, onions, and garlic. YU-MMY!!

scrambled egg and avocado breakfast prior to more Christmas shopping! I'm done w. all my shopping but my mom had a few more things to pick up. Time to do some wrapping! We stopped by the Korean store at Centrepoint to pick up some ingredients for dinner and meals for the week.

bulgogi- beef sweetened with asian spices, honey, and rice wine vinegar with onions, mushrooms, and spring onions.

http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/tofu-stew-doenjang-chigae

spicy doenjang chigae with the right bean paste, tofu, and veggies.

As usual, T made us a delicious bulgogi omelet with the leftover meat and additional yellow peppers. Excuse the shadow- it was too early in the morning for me to care!!

Time to get my study on... I still have finals to prep for!

List

Things I really miss right now (most of these will relate to food since this is FOODIE in the UK!!)

• taco bell- of all friggin things, I could really use 3 hard tacos right now from TB
• sushi
• oysters- is it weird my mouth seems to be watering at the thought of 6 raw oysters with shallot vinaigrette :-)
• The last time I ate deli meat, I got violently ill with a stomach bug, and was later reminded that I shouldn’t be eating it in the first place. Doesn't mean I still don't miss it! Blergh..
• Chicago
• Corner Bakery- on top of that deli meat, I really could go for either corner bakery's cobb salad (amazing!), and any of their soups/sandwiches. 
• Portillo's- Enuff said!
• my cats- I've thought about them passing away a few years ago about 2 times now during my pregnancy and had a really good cry about it.
• energy level- this mostly because I want my fitness level back. I used to feel such a high either running, weight lifting, kickboxing, or doing something simple like pushups. Lord knows all I've done these past few months is just shuffle food in my mouth.
• dancing- Yep, in addition to not having worked out, I've pretty much shoved dancing to the side as well. I did put on some Marc Anthony while doing the dishes today and attempted to dance. Now that's what I call multi-tasking!

Things I can't wait for

• Baby dancing in my tummy. I think I'm supposed to feel flutters at first, but that doesn't even come until 16 weeks or later. I'm only at 13, going on 14!
• Shopping for baby EVERYTHING. Is there nothing cuter than clothes the size of your head? Adorbs!
• Decorating baby room- not sure where we're going to move to, but we're definitely not staying in our flat when the baby comes. 
• My belly flab turning into an actual belly. Right now it just looks like I ate two overstuffed burritos!
• Christmas, New Years, my birthday, because it means I'm that much closer to meeting this lil bean. 
• Finding out the gender- We have a private gender scan scheduled for December 19. Can't. Wait.
• 2nd trimester glow- everyone keeps talking about how much better they feel once they hit the 2nd tri mark and all I feel is more tired and I've been having these awful headaches for the past 2 days. Boo!! 

Back to the weekend's eats

She's got a crazed look in her eye as if she'll be getting some of this!

Man, I love my smoothies! I also added in some fun toppings like sprinkles and chocolate covered candies.

On Saturday, we ordered some Thai food and I caught up on episodes of American Horror Story. I love that the show has everything I love about horror movies, yet it is on every week!

Thai takeout @ Thai Aubergine.

duck wraps

T's plate O' food.

lek tom yum- rice noodles, and seafood

I mostly ate this soup since curries make me sick, and I wasn't in the mood for anything else that night.

lamb curry

best chicken pad thai eva! I had some leftover Sunday night after watching Breaking Dawn Part I. I dragged T to go see it with me, and I'm not going to tell you who enjoyed the movie more! O-b-v-i-o-us!

I've been trying to get my green on for breakfast lately. This time I had some roasted broccoli with my scrambled eggs and toast.

lunch was a medley of vegetables sauteed in dark soy, sea salt, evoo, and black pepper.

Yum! My seabass formed a really nice crust in the oven. I used olive oil, sea salt, garlic powder, pepper, and cayenne pepper to season it.

Time to lounge on the couch!

The first three months

Surprisingly, pregnancy so been a mixture of ups and downs, and definitely more downs than UPS! Here are some of them
Ups:

• I actually feel morning sickness this time, instead of wondering omg, is there still a baby in there?! Uhm yes, my symptoms tell me so!
• My face has cleared up a little as in I don't have nearly as much acne as I did pre baby/
• I'm grateful that my symptoms aren't as bad as some of those I've read about.
• Eating makes my nausea go away so at least I have a remedy for it! 
• My body image hasn't changed and I'm not sure if it will. I really want to take the unselfish approach and look at my changing body as doing something amazing and good for the benefit of someone else (babes!). I hope my tune doesn't change and I'm not crying that I'm FAT and look at this belly!! 
• We're PREGNANT!

Downs

• I haven't made it the gym in months! I think I've been a total of 4 times in the past 3 months? My energy levels have dipped so low that I can only manage to wake up for class, go to class, eat lunch, nap for 2 hours, and then study. 
• Constant waves of nausea. thankfully, it's not to the point of hugging the toilet bowl, but I'm not sure what's worse-feeling like you have to puke or actually doing so! Morning sickness is such a deception- it's all day and night sickness! 
• Tiredness ALL.THE.FREAKING.TIME. During the first two months, I could barely make it past 9 p.m. AND that was including my afternoon naps. Seriously baby, could you make me less tired!? :-)
• Constant eating. Okay, this isn't really a down because it helps keep the nausea at bay, but I often feel I eat TOO much because my mind has associated eating with feeling good so I find myself constantly nibbling throughout the day. I haven't gained TOO much weight, so I guess it isn't a worry spot yet.
• Speaking of eating, I think I need a separate section for this one.
• I crave unhealthy food all the time. Thankfully I have enough willpower but I seriously would be a mcdonald's junkie if I didn't care about feeding my baby the proper nutrients.
• My emotions haven't been TOO out of control, but most recently, I've had a few crying fits. It makes me sad that we're seemingly alone here and I don't have any pregnant buddies :(

Eating and lifestyle habits
-Certain smells bug me now more than EVER like the smell of my fridge that is loaded with kimchi and korean spices- YUCK. I literally have to hold my breath whenever I open the fridge.

-I can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke. Everytime I walk by someone smoking a cigarette, I politely try to hold my nose and steer clear of the stream of smoke blowing my way. It's very difficult now whereas before I had no problems. I was a past smoker for gosh sakes! But now, I'm so much more protective over what smells I'm taking it.

-This doesn't happen all the time, but sometimes, I get extremely turned off by the smell and sight of fried foods. I tried eating a fried polenta stick last weekend, but I found my body almost rejected it. Eeeww.

-Heavy foods such as Indian curries and sauces do not sit well with me. The last and only time I ate Indian food, it felt as if I was putting sludge into my body. Anyone that knows me knows that I don't reject good food, but afterwards, I felt as if I had drank too much and then put food into my body so that the food was sitting on top of a whole lot of liquid. Yuck!

-I don't crave sweets anymore. I mean I'll eat a candy bar here or there but it doesn't taste as good or as sweet to me. Sad. haha!

-Eating chips and pretzels out the wazhoo. I was craving salt and vinegar chips and diet coke in the beginning of my pregnancy a TON! I don't drink diet much anymore and I've cut out coffee. Only sometimes will I have a sip here or there.

-Obviously, I don't drink anymore. I thought this one would be a lot harder to quit but I've found it almost too easy. I like my glass of wine ya'll! T has stopped drinking in front of me because he feels bad, but I honestly don't mind when I see my friends drinking. No one has to quit celebrating on my account!

-I've read that if you eat ginger things it'll make your nausea go away so T bought me these ginger chews, but I don't really find that it helps that much. Except for the fact that they're pretty tasty! hehe :)

All in all, it's been a hectic 3 months, but I can't wait for the next few months to follow. I'm so grateful that we've made it safely this far as I know all too well the other devastating roads this can go. I will try whenever I have "freak out" moments to remember those ladies that suffer from infertility and multiple miscarriages and be thankful.

We find out the gender on January 19! I've been calling the baby a she so far because it feels somewhat unnatural to say he right now, but I'll be grateful for whichever sex.  I can't wait to see that ultrasound screen again. I could watch that baby move on the screen for hours!