Saturday, June 18, 2011

Last Days in Miami June 12-14

The Sunday after my baby shower was an equally eventful day. I'm not a beach person but I really had my heart set on going & getting a few pictures of me with my pregnant belly playing in the sand. Well, that morning it would not stop raining. We were all exhausted from the party the day before and I honestly thought it wasn't going to happen.

I underestimate how awesome my family is. My aunt packed a cooler, grabbed some chairs & towels & jammed us all in her mini-van. We went to grandma's to eat & then to Macy's to shop & kill time because it really was raining cats & dogs. After we dropped off grandma, my aunt decided we'd go anyway & I'd get my picture in the sand even if it was in the rain.

Well...I'm not religious, but my mother had a beautiful sentiment regarding how things turned out. We parked at the beach, still pouring, everyone with an umbrella and I swear the minute my feet touched the sand...the rain just stopped. My mom said it was God's gift to me & my son that week.

We stayed at the beach for an hour. I even went in the water! (I'm deathly afraid & don't know how to swim). I definitely got my pictures & I have another special memory with my family. It also occurred to me to write my son's name in the sand while we were there. My cousin Gabriel did a much better job as you'll see in the pictures, as he supplemented the grooves of the sand with sea weed. I had a beautiful afternoon.


With Gabriel, my cousin

My mommy 

Belly shot with toes in the sand!

Laying down belly shot

Writing Teth Adam in the sand

My son's name with my feet ^_^

Teth Adam is from Yami written by Gabriel

Yes, I am THAT scared of the water :)

Playing with my cousin

He REALLY enjoyed the beach!

With my mommy again :)

My last two days in Miami were pretty relax, me at my mom's house & a few visits from friends. I'm hoping this entry puts me back up to date. :) I hope everyone has enjoyed the pictures & reading about my Miami adventures!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

My Baby Shower! (Miami June 11)

Anyone who has been following me on twitter is familiar with the ups & downs that I've had about my baby shower. From not wanting one, to trying to plan it myself in NYC, to being completely depressed about my family missing out on it to just saying F* it & flying to Miami so that my aunt could throw one for me. Even when that was settled I created drama over food, decorations, games, guest list and CAKE. I think we all remember my vegan cake/cupcake issues. But I'm happy to say that it ALL turned out wonderfully!

My aunt did a lovely job with the decorations & party favors, the food was delicious (that of which I was able to eat of course), the cake was gorgeous even though I wasn't able to taste it and my friends & family were all there which is what mattered to me the most. :)

My banner :)

Party favors/games table

My beautiful (but non-vegan) cake

Half dozen vegan chocolate cupcakes just for me ;)

With my mommy <3
My baby shower was the same day as my mommy's birthday & DH's sister had turned 16 the day before. We had a triple celebration! I don't have all of the pictures yet but we played baby shower bingo, everyone cut a piece of string trying to guess the size of my belly (everyone also tried to cheat by hugging me prior to the game!) and the one I probably had the most fun with was that we couldn't say the word "baby". A lot of people, especially Elsa, DH's sister, had great strategy for getting people to mess up and she ultimately won the game. :)

My family <3 Grandma, mom, auntie & cousin

Another family shot :)

Two of my best friends Barbie & Griselda

About to enjoy my cupcake!

Mom always taking a picture of me eating. That's my friend Natalie from high school, so thankful she went! 

Opening gifts! That's a baby einstein turtle, so cute. 

Singing happy birthday to my mom & SIL

Family & friends :)

My friends poking Teth Adam the whole night ;)

Dancing with my mom
Those are the main pictures I have from my camera. Luckily my mom & Elsa helped a lot taking pics with my camera, the rest are on my aunt's friend's camera so I am anxiously awaiting those! She's the one who captured us playing the games & me with the rest of the guests who were able to go.

I feel bad because about 30 people had RSVPd yes but only half showed up so my aunt had a lot of leftover food & party favors. But honestly, those who did go are all people who truly love me, people I've known for years & I'm just so thankful that they were there to help make my shower such a special memorable day.

Perhaps the only awkward thing of the day was that everyone was talking to my belly for EXTENDED periods of time, Lol. You all know I love getting belly rubs (from people I know anyway) but everyone was trying to motivate Teth Adam to kick or punch so they could feel him. It was sweet, but still awkward. :)

The baby shower started around 3pm and didn't finish til around midnight. It was a very typical hispanic shower with mojitos, presidente beer & tequila shots. I even danced reggaeton with my mom! It was an unforgettable day and I have no regrets of the path that led me there. :)


**EDIT**

I finally received pictures from my aunt's friend Bobbie's camera. She was an amazing help throughout the baby shower and I'm extremely thankful! Here are a few pics of people measuring my belly. :)

My grandma 

She was sad she didn't win ^_^

My auntie

Also not the winner

My mom (who cheated by the way!)

And she still did not win!

My SIL was the closest & won :)




Miami June 8-10

I'm not typically a nervous flyer. I have flown by myself on a few occasions & as long as I have some kind of entertainment I'm okay. However, something about flying while pregnant made me lose sleep the night before taking this trip. I did a lot of meditating to reduce stress & anxiety & even listened to my hypnobirthing tracks on the plane to stay in a state of serenity.

Once I landed, my mom was waiting for my in the airport. From the moment we greeted each other, we were glued at the hip the whole week!

Me & Mommy (grandma in the back!)
The first three days of the trip were mostly family focused. Wednesday & Thursday I spent the whole day with my mom, visited my grandma, got to see my aunt & cousin, even chatted up some of the neighbors. A few hours after landing on Wednesday we went to Whole Foods so that I could do my vegan grocery shopping, which I'm thrilled to say my mom actually ate all my cooking this time!

At Whole Foods with a vegan cookie, yum!

First time seeing my auntie since being preggers :)

Eating a vegan cold-cut sandwich at my grandma's

My 9yo cousin who's already my height!

It was amazing to see my family. My mom & my grandma I had just seen for Mother's Day here in NYC but it was of course wonderful to see them again. Seeing everyone else though was so much fun because  I got a lot of belly rubs & belly pokes. Seeing their faces when they saw my belly for the first time was just priceless. 

Thursday was the calmest day. I stayed home with my mom, just the two of us. I helped her with some laundry, her aunt, who I've always called grandma, stopped by to see me & we really just spent the day talking. Oh yeah, and she had me "model" around the apartment, hehee. 

Helping with laundry

Modeling on the couch

Showing off her new tv

My "grandma"

Sitting on my mom's lap 

Friday we went to my aunt's house since that is where the baby shower was going to be held the following day. We helped her finish up the decorations & started prepping the food. By "we" I of course mean everyone but me. I played with Gabriel (my cousin) on the Wii & he taught me how to play Yankee Doodle on the piano. :)

Playing Rock Band

Playing piano

With my auntie's hubby & his parents

Last modeling pose at my mommy's house

That about wraps up my first 3 days in Miami. Lots of quality time with my family. Next entry will be all about my baby shower!! I hope to post that one soon. Choosing what pictures to post will be difficult, there are so many to choose from! :)










Monday, June 6, 2011

New Milestone - We've Chosen A Name!

Mike has intuitively known from the moment we learned I was pregnant that we were having a boy. I refused to play the "name game" until we knew for sure. Once we confirmed (twice!) with the sonograms, we started what I thought would be a never ending battle of throwing out every boy name ever imaginable.

Yesterday, on our way to the movies, it just kind of happened. There was a name he really wanted & I had a few of my own. He fused his together with one of my favorites and I just fell in love with it! When we came home I started looking up the meanings & origins of the names, ensuring easy spelling & pronunciation and as little wiggle room for teasing as possible.

And with that, I am thrilled to say...We have finally chosen a name for our son! We're no longer calling him Peanut around the house. I haven't decided yet if we'll be sharing with family & friends, let alone our internet family.

If we do decide to share, I'll definitely be announcing it in the form of a blog entry. :) If not, then everyone will just have to wait until he's born! I just hope our son loves his name as much as we do.


When you chose your child's name, did you share it with everyone right away? Did you wait until he was born? If you could do it over again, would you make the same decision? And here's another fun one: other moms have told me to have a back-up name just in case when I see his face he doesn't look like the name we've chosen. Did you have a back-up list? Choosing one name was hard enough! I'd love to hear your thoughts, feedback, experience. :)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Thankful Thursday - 21 weeks pregnant

So much has been going on lately, so many ups and downs (these pregnancy hormones are no joke!) that it's nice to take a minute and reflect on a few of the very positive things in my life. I was inspired to do this now, besides, it'll be Thursday in less than an hour. ;)

I'm thankful for my growing baby boy (21 weeks)

I'm thankful for my other baby =^_^=

I'm thankful for being with the love of my life