The Bay Area

I am reminded every time I come back to the Bay Area just how big the Bay Area really is. I can only imagine how its geographic giantity would stump those who've never been here. For example, yesterday I drove from Sunnyvale to Sonoma and back, covering over 200 miles in 1 day and neither of those destinations are considered the "tip" or the "edge" of the Bay Area. Having lived in Oregon for the last 3 years, I now consider a drive from Portland to Salem (45 min.) to be "far," and from Portland to Eugene (approx. 2 hours) to be a bona fide road trip.

In addition to its titanic territory, I am also reminded of how many people live here. Adding 1 hour to google map's estimates results in a more accurate travel time on account of the traffic. There are people everywhere - no matter what day it is or what time it is or which direction you're going- you will always get stuck in certain trouble spots. And of course, there are great reasons for living here as well, which explains the plentiful population - it's hard to beat world culture at your fingertips with nearly perfect weather all year round.

3rd Trimester

Long gone is the "Golden Trimester," or more commonly referred to as the 2nd trimester. Now that I'm in my 3rd trimester, my recent list of complaints to my doctor includes back aches, hip aches, swollen feet, breathlessness, fatigue, acid reflux, and having trouble bending over to do anything! Ah, but in exchange, I got a big belly (this is very Faust-esque).

In mid-January, my doctor thought that I was measuring small (height of fundus), so she ordered an extra ultrasound just to make sure that the baby had enough amniotic fluid. The ultrasound revealed that my fluids were normal and that the baby was growing well. It was probably just a fluke that I measured small that one time - the baby could have been laying sideways.

At the end of January, not one, but TWO strangers asked me on the same day when I was due. I was so elated that I had tears in my eyes. Finally, someone had recognized that I was carrying a human being, rather than some junk in my trunk. If you'd look at me now, there's no denying it.

In February I did a glucose screening test to check for gestational diabetes. My doctor told me that my sugar and blood count looked good. In addition to a rotund belly, I can feel the baby move all the time. Like most fetuses, she's very active in the evening, right before I'm going to bed, and not-so-active in the mornings. I check her movement pretty regularly, especially after I eat something. It seems as if my left hand is permanently planted on the left side of my belly, where I tend to feel most of her movements. I think she also recognizes her dad's voice. The other day her daddy was singing an old country song to her with his hands on my belly and she gave him a nice strong kick. Oh baby, we love you so much already - we can't wait to meet you!

A couple of weeks ago, Tom and I also took a tour of the Family Birth Center at OHSU and we will be taking a weekend-long Childbirth class next week. I am also in the process of interviewing potential doulas and mom has booked her plane ticket out for the baby's birth. Uncle Rob & Aunt Marian's stroller and carseat (a baby shower gift to us) has recently arrived, and Tom's parents are looking to fly out here at the end of May. Things are shaping up in anticipation of the little one!

2nd Trimester

In November, I announced I was 3-months pregnant. Now I think it's only fair that I give my readers an update on my pregnancy. In mid-November my doctor did a "Quad Screen," a test that checks for neural tube defect in the fetus, including Down syndrome, and the test came back negative.  

My next appointment in December was on the one of the iciest days in Portland. Tom and I managed to get to the doctor's office and back on the bus but it took us about 3 hours! Well, it was a good thing we did though because we found out that we were having a little girl!!! Our parents, Tom's mom especially, could not have been more elated.

The rest of the 2nd trimester passed without much fuss. It really wasn't until the end of December that I started to feel the baby move, which was absolutely magical. In New Orleans, where we celebrated New Years, the baby was particularly active after some powdered-sugar beignets and chicory-flavored cafe au laits!  

Another noteworthy event - Mary (Tom's mom) threw us our first baby shower in Texas, where nearly all of Tom's relatives attended, including one of Tom's aunt from Alaska. It was an all-day affair and Mary really went above and beyond herself. We truly enjoyed ourselves.

My only complaint about the 2nd trimester was that I felt extremely chubby, but otherwise I did not feel physically prohibited. People who knew I was expecting could tell that I was pregnant, but I was dying for a stranger to ask me when I was due. I can tell you now...I didn't have to wait too long!

Grocery Shopping

The weekly grocery shopping trip is a chore I dread. But, it must be done as we gotta eat. I usually put off this tiresome task until Sunday, the day before the work week begins. I find that if I don't do it on Sunday, then it never gets done and my Saturdays are strictly reserved for "fun." My sojourn begins with Trader Joe's, where I like to buy our meats and other novel items such as marinara sauce, canned sardines, nuts, rice, and the like. I do not, however, buy our produce there as it sucks!

I do the bulk of my grocery shopping at Winco, which is sooooooo cheap it's ridiculous. With the exception of meat and some gourmet items, Winco has everything you need. Unless you are shopping for a family of 10, Winco meats are enormous. The bad thing about Winco is that it is always crowded and there is really no good time to shop. If you go real early on Sunday morning, you run into employees with flat-bed trucks who are stocking items and blocking the aisle. If you go any other time of the week, you run into retirees and stay-at-home moms with their screaming kids. And if you go Sunday afternoon, well, be prepared to see everyone you know and their mothers there. So far, I've narrowed down a "decent" time to go and that is Sunday between 8:30-9:00am, for all of us sacrilegious folks. 

I occasionally do my shopping at Lamb's Thriftway (located conveniently across the street from our house but too pricey compared to Winco) for any last minute items I may have forgotten, or else New Seasons. I love New Seasons - it's like a gourmet foodie heaven there. But honestly, who in the world can afford to shop there regularly? Once I bought ingredients there for ONE meal for a party of four and it costed me $90 dollars. Ridiculous! However, having said that, I appreciate the wide variety of Brown Cow yogurt they sell there as well as their meats and breads. We also once ordered an enjoyable turkey dinner for two for Thanksgiving there and it worked out well.

NOLA - Day 4

We began our last day in N'Orleans with breakfast at the hotel and packing our luggage afterwards. Then we strolled along Canal street while stopping at Starbucks to get a cold drink (decaf for me). We were both surprised at how hot the weather had gotten and the streets were littered with Utah and Alabama fans here for the Sugar Bowl. I thought we'd give Central Grocery Co. a third try since the store was closed the two previous times we visited. This time, it was open. We stood in a long line in order get a large muffuletta sandwich (pictured). 

We then walked along Esplande avenue hoping to catch the bus to the City Park. No bus came, so we finally waved down a taxi. The taxi driver drove us to a nice shady spot in the park and we ate our sandwiches and chips there. The New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) had free admission until Jan. 18 for a special exhibit they were doing, so we were able to take advantage of the nice strong air condition they had while enjoying some art too. ;-) The best part was the free museum shuttle, which dropped us off blocks away from our hotel. I should mention here that we had the best experience at our hotel - the Quality Inn. They extended our check-out time to 2:30pm and were always so friendly and helpful to us. It is fitting that our little vacation should end the same way it began - a bus ride back to the airport.

NOLA - Day 3

Happy New Year!  Tom and I spent our New Years watching The Terminator and Tom's first Law & Order. I congratulated myself for staying up past midnight. On New Years day, we had jazz brunch reservations at Court of Two Sisters (pictured), a restaurant a classmate of ours recommended. They had over 60 hot and cold dishes with live jazz music playing in the background. 

After breakfast, we headed back to our hotel and did some laundry (romantic, no?). Due to some circumstances not within our control, we did not take a cruise on the Steamboat Natchez like I had planned. Everyone, it seemed, is in town for the Sugar Bowl, which resulted in crowded streets and tortoise-like lines that formed everywhere. We didn't do much for the rest of the afternoon except nap and going to Cafe du Monde for the third time (!!!). 

NOLA - Day 2

We woke up early, had breakfast by 8am, but lazed around for a bit and did not leave the hotel until 10am this morning. We walked down to the corner of Canal and Carondelet to catch the street car, which is kind of like the San Francisco cable car ($1.25). It was a beautiful and sunny day as the street car hummed along St. Charles street and we got to see a many gorgeous Victorian homes in the Garden District. We hopped off at the Audubon Park (pictured) and had a nice picnic of crackers & cheese and apples. We walked along the edge of the park, which, incidentally, is also a golf course, and ended up at the zoo. We didn't have any plans to visit the zoo today, but it being such a wonderfully warm day, I couldn't resist the pink flamingos. I enjoyed the zoo, and I have to say that it was much better than the aquarium, even though there were twice as many kids running amok. 

After spending (and walking for) 3 hours at the zoo, we headed back downtown. I had been thinking about the beignets and cafe au lait from Cafe du Monde all day so I wanted to go. Because we'd been walking all day, Tom wanted to go back to the hotel and relax but...we ended up eating at fried donuts. =) I wanted us to eat mufflettas at Central Grocery Co., but who wudda thought they closed at 5pm?!? So we ended up eating at Cafe Maspero, which is another restaurant on my list to try. We shared a cup of their jumbalaya and a huge muffletta sandwich. The portions are so big that I couldn't even finish my half. We got back to our hotel by 6:30pm to rest our poor feet and I think we are here to stay.