Bump Update - Week 37

Mostly a good week here! Only downside was someone keyed my car. Boo. First time that's ever happened to me. At least it's a smiley face? :-/

Trying to look on the bright side here. But we also had a company holiday party to attend in San Francisco which was amazing. I've never really been to a party like that. Where I worked before, they had a really nice event at a Caps game which was kind of fun, but it was much smaller scale compared to this. This party was at the Exploratorium and was just... immense. A fantastic band to start, then a great DJ. We could play with all the exhibits during the event. The food was amazing, it was a little bit like being on a Top Chef episode. Cocktail attire was suggested so the outfits really ran the gamut as well, full gowns to dresses that I swear women could only be sewn into and cut out of! I didn't get to take many pictures because I was trying to really enjoy our time there, but here are a few highlights:

As dressed up as one gets 9 months pregnant :)

Makin' good use of that wedding suit :) I approve!

The Exploratorium at Pier 15

This was actually after the event, the rain was coming down allll night long

I can't even remember what this was for but we couldn't resist a picture. If I could've lifted myself up there I would've done the same!

A 'mood lighting' experiment. This blue color made me soooo sleeeepy!

The distortion room

One of the desserts... a truffle space pop? With some sour cherry insides

Clockwise from lower left - a lemon bar, some sort of creme pot with golden raisins, and a peanut butter cup with a chocolate container and crunchy gold topping

I really wish I had taken more food pictures. There was this short rib dish with a side of mashed sweet potatoes. I have been in love with sweet potatoes this pregnancy, so I sent Ed back a couple times just for more servings of that.
Other than that, I finished another 2 books, still working on Dragons. I've got a couple other books I'm working on but nothing is grabbing me yet.

This week we've got lots of exciting stuff on tap - our last birth prep class, my birthday, Valentine's Day, and theoretically, our last group prenatal session before baby comes! Next week's post should be a very good one :) To celebrate Valentine's Day a bit early, treat yourself to the Pentatonix cover of Jesse Ware's "Valentine" (they put out a video but I can't figure out how to load it from youtube - it's on their facebook page currently!):

For now - bump update!

How far along? 37 Weeks

How Big Is Baby? 19.25 inches, as long as a bunch of swiss chard, and probably 6ish lbs

Sleep: More of the same here, waking every two hours or so and consistently waking at 3am almost every single night, staying awake for at least an hour and reading my kindle. My midwife said the consistent waking at 3am sometimes indicates when things might go down in the future!

Best moment this week: Hands down the company party. It was just such a fanciful, elaborate event and was nice to revel in being just the two of us, hanging with coworkers and enjoying the evening in the city.

Movement: These days we're still just as active in there, but we've apparently decided that it's more fun to make it hard for me to eat, kicking and punching my insides when I try to eat my meals.

Symptoms: I've been a little irritable... Sometimes it's out of discomfort but most of the time it's out of sheer lack of patience. I feel like all of a sudden my fuse is super short for no reason at all. Otherwise things are about the same with the carpal tunnel and some belly pain from the weight of this little one.

Food cravings/aversions: Meat! This munchkin has me craving bloody steaks and pretty much all kinds of animal products. Unfortunately, I'm still out of room for eating and this baby starts to dance when I eat, which then makes the eating uncomfortable. Bah. 

Gender: I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to share this with you guys. Counting down the days :)

Belly Button in or out? Half an innie? All of a sudden I've got a little belly button hood going on... does that count as an outie yet?

What I miss: Being without all these aches. They went away for awhile after adding in some magnesium over the past few months, but they seem to be kicking up again. I know it's just late pregnancy woes and I just have to roll with it.

What I am looking forward to: My birthday! I'm a sucker for birthdays. I have no idea why, we're not doing anything crazy this year, but I just enjoy celebrations so much!

Funny moment of the week: Realizing all of the women were the dd's for the holiday party while the men enjoyed the sake and sushi pairings. :) Can't wait to partake in stuff like that again!

Labor Signs: Not really. I did drop a significant bit of weight (nothing scary, just a bit more than what one would consider the normal 5 lbs fluctuation in a day). I looked it up online and several moms said they had that happen in their pregnancies and that labor followed 2-3 weeks after...

Weekly Wisdom: I wish I had more new words here, but just to enjoy the moments because they go by so quickly. I still wake up surprised I'm so far along. I try to envision what this baby will be like and it still feels like I must have more time... that it can't possibly be only 2ish weeks away or so! 

Milestones: Last holiday party? Nothing big this week, I think all our milestones are coming up this week!

And to top it off, a little Emilia and Carolyne cuteness :)

Nick Offerman

This past weekend was fantastic. We took a night to stay over in the city to see Nick Offerman do "you have no fucking idea what" according to him. And it was awesome. It was essentially him giving an honest and hilarious lecture about how to be successful in life - because clearly he is, as he has a job where they "pay you to gaze at Rob Lowe's magical face."

His opener was his wife Megan Mullaley's band Nancy & Beth and I really enjoyed them. Unfortunately the volume on the mics was a little high so it could get a little overwhelming but I can't wait to see more of them. They even did "Please Mr. Jailer" from CryBaby and we all know how much I love that movie.

We were all cat-calling her taking off her jacket and she said oh just wait until Nick gets out here, then you'll get the nudity you signed on for.

He fulfilled Megan's promise and came out carrying his American flag shirt.

Glowing in a way that only a pale, shirtless man would under bright stage lights.

Some shirtless posing to make sure stage right and stage left 'got a good view of his package.'

His flavor of comedy is not for everyone... it's definitely not for the conservative or the religious. At least, the religious that would be offended by someone spending a good chunk of time expounding on the bible as a fictitious work. He also stressed that he is not truly Ron Swanson, and that if Ron Swanson did the things he was doing, namely giggling and dancing around in a silly manner, that the time space continuum would rip apart and Teddy Roosevelt would step through and punch him in the face.

He gave a list of 10 things that were his tips for a prosperous life:
1. Engage in romantic Love
2. Say 'please' and 'thank you'
3. Carry a handkerchief.
4. Have a hobby. Or discipline.
5. Eat red meat.
6. Go outside. Remain.
7. Avoid the mirror
8. Maintain a relationship with Jesus Christ (as long as it's getting you laid)
9. Use intoxicants
10. Paddle your own canoe

Another aside he made but didn't make it a full tip, was to avoid the internet and smartphones in general. It was partially attached to tip #7.

I'm gonna link their second to last number but it is very. clearly. not suitable for work. Yes, I'm gonna spell it out just in case there's any confusion about what nsfw means and the link doesn't tip you off. The whole show, Offerman talks about how important it is to find and maintain romantic love. How lucky he is to be married to such a beautiful, amazing, sexy woman. How he wakes up in the morning and stares at Megan 8-12 inches from her face. So at the end of the show he re-introduces Nancy & Beth. Megan comes out and starts off by saying after sitting backstage and "listening to Nick say all of these sweet, romantic things about her" she just wants to repay him with a song. Which leads to:   Nancy and Beth feat. Nick Offerman - "Smell Yo Dick"

And to close the show? That's right, they played "5,000 Candles in the Wind"

It's a song from his show Parks & Recreation which really, everyone should watch.

The next day we cut it a little short and didn't stay in SF for long. Ed ran through the city and I hit the treadmill. Sometimes I look back on all the training I did on a treadmill last year and think, how awful. I know I'll have to readjust to treadmill running when we move back to the East Coast especially on days like today when ya'll got that bizarre snow storm! Anywho, afterwards we made a stop by Swan's Oyster Depot finally. It's been on our to-do list since moving here but it's such a commitment. It's like Salumi in Seattle. We had to wait in line for a little over an hour to get a seat at the bar.

There is only the bar, no other seating available. It was worth it... delicious cherry stone clams and a variety of oysters and even a combination salad with a side of chowder.

First cherry stones we've had since having them in Boston

The most delicious green chile sauce. Spicy as all get out.

Combination salad

We made our way back to Campbell and met up with Dad and Debbie that evening. It was really nice seeing them. Debbie asked if we were tired of visitors because we just had Brian and Michelle here. And the answer is no. way. We hardly see anyone so we're always glad to see familiar faces. Last night was also my first time having steak in AGES. And by ages I mean at least a month. It was delicious.

Coming up next for us? Not too much. April will be a very quiet month. Ed's going to try making a duck or goose again for Easter and hopefully it will not end up a scary fireball like that first time years ago... We're going to try and sign up for ballroom classes again and hopefully they don't fall through. Training wise, I'm adding a mile every week from here on out. Yesterday was the longest run I've ever done. Ever. 8.4 miles. I'm still slow but I'm ok with that. I'll improve speed when I finish all this distance training. 13.1 here I come!

Just a little bright sunshine for your Monday courtesy of Ed!