day 12

hey y'all, i just figured out how to work multiply and been working on my site since last night. here's a link to it: http://teray620.multiply.com/

i know, i know, another website...but i think i'm gonna blog here and post pics there. multiply has this really cool feature of being able to cross post from blogger to them. plus i can post videos, reviews, music, and other stuff on multiply so i'm gonna put a lot of content there except my blog...the only feature that's not there is people's ability to comment on your site even if they don't have a multiply account. this is why i'm still keeping my blogger because i don't want to force anyone to sign up for multiply and have to remember another username and password, just to make a comment to an entry or say hi to me -- i have a ton of those, i've lost track already. anyhoo, i posted some pics from the moran's wedding last june 24th, here's the link: http://teray620.multiply.com/photos/album/6 enjoy!

day 13

didn't do much. stayed home all day and fiddled around with my camera and took pics of the apartment facade. my sisters got the cookie thank you cards i sent to them...yea, there's a website you can order from, it's kind of a unique twist -- like, instead of sending the traditional thank you card, you send a cookie card. isang's gonna photograph it so she can show me how it looks. tomorrow i swore to myself i'll be more productive. baby's still kicking up a storm in my tummy. i have grown in epic proportions. mark and i will do a photoshoot on ourselves soon (we're gonna be guinea pigs for the new cam) so i have to purchase a tripod and a remote control maybe tomorrow or friday. we'll see. but i'll be sure to post pics so just watch out for it =)

8/1/06 - day 14

today was a good day. mark and i started our day early to have lunch with jong since he's leaving for japan (navy) tomorrow. we had dimsum in chinatown and lia came with us as well. after the much needed msg rush, we drove back to noho to hang out. the weather's not been that bad these days. last two weeks the valley felt like a rotisserie! oh yeah, i got my dream camera today!!! mark and i finally broke down and purchased a canon rebel xt digital SLR camera (yes, the one i blogged about last april 4th!). we needed to retire my itty bitty casio exislim because we need a better cam with high resolution to take pics of Vaughn. we also got a videocam so we can record our baby's milestones (first cry, first laugh, first steps) sigh! we're such excited parents!! this kid is gonna be super spoiled but we already agreed that we're gonna try our hardest to not go overboard. anyway, here are some test shots i did at the baby's room. it's not done yet so i only took pics of the stuff around the room. there's a recurring disney theme in there because well, i work for the company hehehe. the pics are ok...i have to practice, do a lot of reading and really learn to use this camera so i can justify all the money we paid for it =) heeheehee. oh yea, it was also steve's birthday (mark's cousin) today and damon's as well. steve had a mini bbq at his house and damon's probably seething cuz i haven't called him. damon: i didn't forget, i was just really distracted today. i'll call you tomorrow promise! don't be mad =) ok i gotta hit the sack. we're gonna try to pack our day with activities tomorrow as well so we won't think so much about counting the days. i'm really excited to take my camera outside and take pics in natural light! thank you everyone for the encouragement and the texts. i'm almost there!

the countdown begins - day 15

our days are spent anxiously waiting...and waiting...and waiting...we usually try to distract ourselves by going to mark's mom's house and watching wowowee for two hours straight -- they have TFC (the filipino channel) and we don't. after watching a couple of episodes with luningning jiggling her thang on national tv, i finally got the gist of the premise of this show. and it works, the pressure and intensity they put on the poor people who are lucky (or unlucky?) enough to be chosen for "pera o bayong" really gets you glued to the television. one woman won a taxi cab and she almost passed out. we laugh our asses off, then go home again to the apartment with the wowowee song stuck in our heads "wowowee sinong di mawiwili..."

flip the tv on at home, and we catch an episode of survivor man. it's this crazy guy who goes to the arctic or canada, or in the middle of the ocean -- he videotapes himself and gives tips on how to survive in case you got stuck somewhere with no food, drink, shelter, and tv. i ponder this thought...yeah, what would we do if there was no tv? this is the most tv i've watched in all my life. i putz around the house and try to be productive but it's really difficult maneuvering a huge belly, swollen feet, and an aching back (not to mention i'm supposed to be on bedrest). today we at least got around to hanging curtains in the baby's room. tomorrow i'm going to make a valiant effort to wash the baby clothes we got from the showers. i write daily to-do lists but we're such slackers it actually becomes a to-do list for the week. sigh! i guess it's just weird for me because i've worked and always had something to do ever since i came to the US, that was 11 years ago. and now not working and just being home is forcing me to slow down -- maybe this is the precursor of having a child. maybe life's trying to prep me for the things to come.

baby showers

it's been a while since i blogged and i really don't have a good excuse since i was put on bedrest since the beginning of july. yes i had premature labor two weeks ago. i had contractions while i was at work and ended up staying at the hospital for five hours! they gave me two shots of terbutaline, a drug that will stop the contractions. it worked but my doctor had to put me on bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy. it's not really complete bedrest, i.e. i can go to the store and get one thing but i can't shop for three hours --- which suuuccksss so much because now i have all this time to cruise the malls but my legs and my back aren't strong enough to do so. it also ruined my plans to take my cousin karyn to santa barbara and solvang, she came to california for a conference and she wanted to go wine tasting and tour SB...oh well! so i thought my troubles were over when i suddenly developed this rash called PUPPP (Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy). it's pregnancy related and it's super gross! check out the before and after pics of this website http://rainiersoapworks.com/puppp_relief.htm yeah...mine started on my tummy, then spread to my arms and legs. i was soooo miserable! to the point where i was only getting 4 hours of sleep. my doctor prescribed something but it didn't work so i did some research on the internet and found rainier soapworks which is a god send! it's been a week since i've been using their herbal soap and cream and now my skin is better and i don't itch as much. i've never ever had skin problems in my whole life so now i have newfound sympathy for anybody suffering from psoriasis or eczema. hmmm, so i do have an excuse for not blogging! lol!

anyway, i know it's tmi (too much info) for some people so i'll stop talking about it and change the subject =) last week was the week for baby showers...work threw one for me on july 13th and i got some amazing presents! my coworkers really went all out! i got this three layered cake looking gift package that they made, it's made up of painstakingly rolled up diapers! it's really crazy! check out these pics ... mark and i had a lot of fun opening gifts for baby vaughn and all my co-workers teased me that i'm gonna give birth before my due date 'cause i'm so big! they even have a baby pool going (on an excel spreadsheet pa!).

sunday, july 16th my friend stephanie (teptep) threw a baby shower for me and mark and invited all our friends. it was a blast! she went crazy and decorated their patio with streamers, baby blocks, balloons, bubbles, rubber duckies and GI joe's as centerpieces. our friend drew was the dj for the afternoon and did a fantastic job spinning! tep tep also came up with hilarious games like sucking OJ from a baby bottle (cham won), eating melted chocolate on a diaper -- gross but extremely funny (dammasch won), identifying mark's ankle (i was debating between the real thing and champ, i guessed wrong!), guessing the size of my belly using toilet paper, and a cotton picking contest (gary won). we also entertained ourselves with the bubbles and the electric fan that i brought along. with all the bubbles floating around, it created this relaxing environment on a very hot day. fun fun fun! check out the pics below (click on the link):

baby shower pics at tep's

this sunday my family is hosting another baby shower and i'm really looking forward to it because my college friends are gonna show up and my friend lori is bringing her baby over (born last March)! i've only seen her in pictures so i'm really excited to meet her =) i even bought an outfit for the ocassion heheheh.

so more baby update: we went to our last ultrasound to have the baby's weight checked...and to our surprise, our doctor told us that she's estimating that we are going to have a 9 lb baby! i was really shocked because mark and i are super skinny and how on earth did we create a 9 lb baby? so i'm gonna end up having a c-section per my doctor since the baby's too big. i wanted to have a natural birth but oh well, i've already accepted that this baby's in control...hahaha! anyway, i'm scheduled for august 15th, a week before my due date, unless baby vaughn decides to come early. will definitely blog and post pics on my family's baby shower. till then!