Great Expectations

This morning, we went to our first pre-baby class that my doctor recommended we attend. It was called Great Expectations and it was all about what to expect when you're about to give birth; what the different phases of labor will be like, how to time your contractions, where to park your car, what to bring to the hospital, and your different birthing options.

The RN who led the class was a witty Australian woman that made a 6 hour class seem like 3. She also knew so much about pregnancy and labor that I thought she was a doctor at first. In between discussions, we watched two videos; the first video showed three women giving birth naturally and the second was a woman who requested an epidural. It's really interesting how different your labor experience can be, depending on which route you choose to take. I've heard that most women who get an epidural these days don't really feel any pain, just a lot of pressure and those that go natural...well that's a whole other story!

All but two women (there were 20 couples or so), me included are wanting to "try" going the natural route. I was a bit surprised at how many were firmly decided on getting an epidural. I thought at least more people would be open to the other option, but I guess not! But after seeing the videos today, I'm rethinking this whole "try" natural thing. I always had in mind that using an epidural would take away from the experience of labor, but really, what would it be taking away? The excruciating pain so you can actually enjoy the process of giving birth? That doesn't sound too bad to me! I feel like having some medication, as long as there are no complications seems to be the more favorable option, at least for me. The only reason I'm leaving it open is because I don't know what my pain threshold will be like and I don't like eliminating a possibility without knowing all the facts.

Recent eats

We made use of a groupon T recently purchased. For $18, you get an appetizer, two entrees, and two beers. Needless to say, I didn't get to drink any beers :(

Chicken wings to start

 

I ordered the Dutch burger which came on a pretzel roll and had applewood smoked bacon, caramelised onions, and some sort of cheese I forgot the name of. I couldn't finish the burger but it was pretty tasty!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/lees-chop-suey-chicago

My plate of Chinese delivery that we ordered tonight from Lee's Chop Suey. T wasn't a fan but I thought it was decent. 

Agenda for the night: HIMYM, and an early bed time!

10 weeks left!

Saturday night eats- Beef tortellini with steamed veggies, all prepared within 30 minutes! After dinner, the hubs and I watched the updated Conan, the Barbarian, which really was an AWFUL movie. I would not recommend it!!

This was by far the best part of my night, minus the stinky movie!

It's good to be back home with the pack :-)

On Sunday morning, I got a text from my brother at my mom's asking if we wanted to come over for dinner. We packed our overnight bags and made the 1 1/2 hour trek with lil Noms.

On the menu: huge ass steaks, salad, rosemary potatoes, shrimp fried rice, and garlic bread- yum!!

T picked us up some lunch yesterday from Nick's Pit Stop near our place. We had a lovely meal of chicken, corn, mash potatoes, and mac and cheese. http://nickspitstoptogo.com/

We made it back home in time yesterday for my 30 week appointment. I'm starting to rotate doctors now so that I can meet everyone just in case my regular doctor isn't available when I go into labor. The appointment was super short with her only taking my belly measurement and listening to the heartbeat. She asked if I had any questions and honestly, I didn't! I'm hoping these next 10 weeks go by quickly because I can't wait for the lil guy to get here!!

For lunch today, we had homemade chicken caesar salad with cranberries, red peppers, chicken, croutons, and red wine vinegar dressing.

 

I made some Hummingbird red velvet cupcakes for a meet up I'm going to tonight; the meet up is for April-May-June preggo ladies. Hope to meet some nice ladies!

Dining in Chicago

This weekend, we ate at two never before eaten restaurants, Cemitas Pueblas, a Mexican restaurant and Pequods, a deep dish pizza joint.

Our first stop at Cemitas Pueblas for lunch was in the Humboldt Park neighbourhood. We found out about this restaurant through one of our dining cards we purchased that allows us discounts at 30 restaurants for lunch and dinner. Apparently, this Mexican joint was featured on Guy’s Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives, which I occasionally watch but didn’t happen to catch this one episode.

When we first walked in, a really friendly man, presumably the owner greeted us and gave us a rundown about what we were there for; the sandwich featured on Guy's show and literally said this is what we should eat. He was pretty cute It’s a real casual restaurant with many locals and other first timers alike. You order from the counter and they bring you out the food very quickly.

We ordered what the owner recommended which was the Cemitas, a sesame seeded sandwich with avocado, chipotle peppers, Mexican cheese, and your choice of meat (ours was carne asada). The sandwich was delicious and surprisingly very filling- I only ate one half!!

My brother and gf came to visit us and we went to dinner at Pequods, a pizza restaurant in Lincoln Park. The place was super packed with lots of people there watching either the Blackhawks game (it's a home bar for the team) or the NCAA tournament (don't remind me Mizzou lost!!!). Even though we made a reservation for 9, we weren't seated til 9:40. We were able to put in the order right as we arrived so that we didn't have to wait too long when we were seated.

http://www.pequodspizza.com/home.html

Lord knows which camera man I was looking at!!

Waiting outside on a beautiful evening weather wise was fine by me. :-)

We ordered a house salad and an appetizer of cheesy garlic bread to start.

I could only house one slice of this ginormous pizza. Toppings included: olives, green peppers, spinach, and mushrooms.

I had a small slice of the thin crust which we ordered with only basil. It was simple and good but I still think I preferred the deep dish over it.

Time to spend the rest of the weekend snuggling with this pretty lady- boy I missed her while we were away!!

More sights and eating in LA

Only I would be this happy going into Roscoes!!

I had been talking about going here since we came to this lovely sunny state.

We shared 2 combination platters- one with 1/2 a chicken and 2 waffles and the other with mac n cheese, greens, corn bread, and 2 thighs.

but I really dug into the buttery waffles and greasy chicken com bow. I swear the baby was doing a happy dance after this meal.

On Thursday, we took a trip to The Huntington- home of Botanical gardens and library/art collection

the weather was perfect during our entire stay (minus the chilly mornings of course) and we couldn't have asked for a better day to walk around the Botanical Gardens.

Our last lunch stop on Wednesday was a pick your own ingredients sushi place

I ordered a standard California roll and had a side of seaweed/cucumber salad

I liked the concept of the place but the roll tasted like anything I would find in a higher end grocery store premade-http://www.yelp.com/biz/u-sushi-beverly-hills

Eating in LA

We're back from LA and I've got a bunch of photos to upload! On Monday, we spent the day doing touristy stuff such as the Hollywood walk of fame, Chinese theatre with the handprints, and walking by the Kodak theatre where the Oscars are held. We would have gone inside but stupidly, we parked in a one hour parking zone and had to rush back back to our car.

There were a ton of tourists, as expected at the Chinese Grauman theatre with everyone looking for their favorite handprint. I wasn't too enthused about finding a specific person as I was just taking some pictures of whoever I stepped on.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/master-chef-restaurant-los-angeles

After Hollywood, we stopped at Chinatown and ate at one of the restaurants we found on Yelp. Too bad we were later told San Gabriel Valley is where the good Chinese food is at because what we ate was the worst meal we had during our entire trip!

 

The rice was the only thing that was decent!

spicy squid

honey walnut shrimp

Tuesday agenda: Drive down PCH (Pacific Coast Highway), stop at Malibu Seafood Inn, go to Venice Beach, meet a friend for Korean bbq at Soowon Galbi in Koreatown

 http://www.malibuseafood.com/

The sun was in my eyes so I look a bit disgruntled but I was super excited to eat some fresh seafood near the water.

Everything we ordered was DELICIOUS!!

steamed clams in garlic broth

fish n chips

jumbo shrimp cocktail

clam chowder

Venice Beach skate park

Muscle Beach

Chicken Matzo Ball soup

a quick yummy snack at Nate and Al's in Beverly Hills- http://www.natenal.com/

New York style pastrami sandwich with potato salad

http://www.yelp.com/biz/soowon-galbi-kbbq-restaurant-los-angeles-2

We met a friend of T's at Soowon Galbi in Koreatown and were amazed at how HUGE Koreatown is and how many restaurants and businesses exist here. Apparently, you can move from Korea to the United States and not have to speak a lick of English- just move to K-town in LA!

 

The food here was really authentic, flavorful, and the service is excellent, once you get seated of course. A heads up, you are pretty much ignored til you get seated at your table, and that might take a while even WITH reservations!!