Baby Face

Here is an ultrasound photo of baby Cali at 32 weeks. The mean ultrasound lady only gave us one photo and it is a scary one (she looks just like her mommy)...so here it is:

Kitty Nipple

I thought that title would get your attention.

I wanted to update you on Sienna the Kitty. Cheyenne recently discovered a bump on her belly. After a $125 vet bill we were told the "bump" was an infected nipple. No explanation as to how that occurs--I would like to know so it doesn't happen to me...OUCH!

Don't worry, she was given antibiotics so her nipple should return to normal within the next couple weeks. Please keep Sienna in your thoughts -- we are accepting gifts, flowers, and cash to help Sienna and her loved ones through this debilitating condition. 

But really, she is fine and the only reason I am typing this is purely out of boredom. 

Birthday fun continues

On the day of my birthday, John definitely spoiled me.  I think he had been feeling guilty that he hasn't been paying much attention to me lately (i don't know who gave him that idea... but come on, i AM carrying his CHILD; i deserve a little attention right?!)  Work, school, and hockey have been keeping him busy and I guess he decided to make it up to me all in one day.  
I awoke to breakfast in bed, arrived to flowers and chocolates at work, was taken out to dinner, and even got my favorite cake for dessert--John made the cake I made my mom make every year since I can remember.  John ran into a few problems with my cake, but it turned out great in the end--I loved him for even trying.  Dinner out was interesting too--Cali got her first sip of alcohol because I ordered a virgin margarita, but was given a regular one.  They then brought me a virgin drink, but the wrong flavor...AND they brought me the wrong entree.

Over the weekend we met Celia and Sean at the Santa Cruz boardwalk.  

Celia and Sean rode some rides while John and I hung out.  

The next morning, Sean made us all an elaborate breakfast...mmmm...and then John and I headed for Capitola, another small beach town with lots of cute boutique type shops and cafes.  

And these crazy pastel homes on the waterfront.

Then we went to John's cube-mate's baby shower.  The joke is that she is his "work wife"...and her and I are due only a couple weeks apart, both having girls.  So if John doesn't get enough hormones at home, he can get his fix at work too-ha!  He'll have fun with 2 more girls soon enough too!

Vegas Hockey Tournament

I thought I would add a 4th blog for today...

This past weekend, I traveled to Las Vegas for my first hockey tournament. I thought that no better place would be suited for me to lose my tournament virginity than Las Vegas! My only concern of the trip was that some people would have too much fun, and yes there is such a thing, and miss a game or two due to puking or just being MIA -- but what are the chances, right?

The first game was Friday morning at 9am, which is early in Vegas. Most of the guys showed up Thursday to get the party started early. On Friday morning we stumbled out of our rooms at Planet Hollywood down to the van. We were all there, minus one guy. Now, we just figured that Rob had too much to drink last night and just passed out; but our concerns increased since he wasn't answering his phone and his roommate said that he never returned last night. Regardless of the situation, we had to play in our first game. Unfortunately, we lost that game 4-3 in overtime. We returned to the hotel to eat lunch and to begin a search for Rob. Luckily, Rob strolled into his room around 12:30pm...

Rob got drunk the night before at Caesar's Palace and blacked out. Apparently, he was kidnapped, robbed, and dropped off in the desert 4 miles from our hotel. The cops woke him up at 9am and interrogated him like he was the criminal. The cops didn't even offer to give him a ride back so Rob, after getting roughed up, had to walk 4 miles back to the strip. Needless to say, Rob needed a nap before our next game!

The next game was at 4:45pm that same day and we rallied to win 3-2. That night we had a team meal at P.F. Chang's and then we all went our separate ways. Saturday we had a game at 4:30pm which was great since Andrew, Jim, and I (roommates) got up at 12:30pm. This game was important...we had to win to make it to the championship game the following day! We ended up winning that game 3-2. We were pumped. Some of us celebrated by having a fancy steak dinner that night. 

We woke up the next morning for our Championship Game -- we all made it to this game just fine. It was a battle, but we won 1-0. It was fun and a great experience. 

Here (above) is the room we rented specifically to store our equipment....Sorry, cleaning lady!

Here (below) is our sponsor, Barracuda Networks, van that carted us and our gear around Vegas.

30 weeks

I can't believe I'm 30 weeks!  Most days I still can't even believe I'm pregnant.  Things are going really well, I don't have too much to complain about.  I am craving a good margarita at a Mexican restaurant and a little better sleep, but other than that, I shouldn't complain.  I haven't had much back or sciatic pain, calf cramps, heartburn, swelling, acne, stretch marks or whatever else I'm forgetting yet...but I know I still have 10 weeks for all that to kick in.  I do feel pelvic pressure every time I walk though--I swear I'm carrying her really low...I have yet to feel her kick me in the ribs.  She seems to be growing only out and not up.  It took me awhile to get the weight gain going, but I seem to be steadily gaining a pound a week now, a total of 15 so far.  I'm having fun "playing" with Cali--she makes her presence known all the time now.  The other day I either saw her big head or her big butt protruding in a major way on one side of my stomach--the asymmetry was amazing to me!  The name Cali seems to be here to stay, we basically call her that now, so I guess we just need to decide on a middle name.  As for being mentally prepared, I'm not sure we're there yet, not that I think you ever really can be, but it's definitely becoming more real.  We're looking forward to our trip home to WI in a couple weeks for the shower and then our next ultrasound when we get back.  Can't wait to see what she looks like now!  

Girls Weekend

Since Celia and I both have birthdays mid-week this week, we decided why pick one of the weekends on either side, why not just celebrate during both weekends?--there are 2 of us anyway right?  Plus, this is only the 2nd year in the last 10 years that we've been in the same state for our birthdays, so we have a little making up to do!  :)  This past weekend was originally thought to be our "girls only celebration" as John was going to be in Vegas for a hockey tournament (I'll let him blog about that later) and Sean was going to be in Tahoe, but Sean's trip got canceled, so we "let" him join us for a few activities.  I drove down to Monterey on Saturday and the 3 of us had Thai for dinner (a treat I only get to have when my picky husband isn't around) and then saw a very small play about the Great Depression that evening (depressing, yes, but good).  

On Sunday, after a quick brunch, Celia and I went to have "Afternoon Tea" at this cute cottage, followed by a youth program performance of "Aladdin" (fun to sing along in our heads and reminisce about the days we would sing the songs into our perfume bottles), and then onto the spa for massages.  Sean then prepared dinner for us when we got home.  Now if that's not a perfect Girls Day, I don't know what is!  And the best part?--we get to do more celebrating next weekend--the boys are planning our adventures this time.

Winter Wonderland

Here are some of our favorite pics from our long weekend in Yosemite National Park.  We (or at least I) almost didn't go because the weather forecast predicted snow storms all weekend and stated traveling could be "hazardous to impossible".  But...it cleared up Saturday AM, so we decided to try it, and it was actually a beautiful weekend--a mixture of sun and huge heavy snowflakes.  We didn't want to miss it as this might be our last winter in CA and we had never seen Yosemite covered in snow!

The infamous Half Dome that we climbed last summer

Bridal veil falls

What you don't see in this picture is a tree branch right above John's head.  As he was trying to take a picture of Celia and I, a large snow mass fell on his head.  We thought it was funny :)

Celia and I very annoyed after standing in a parking lot for an hour waiting and waiting for the sun to set which was supposed to light up this TINY waterfall behind us a bright red color--something our boys just HAD to photograph.  It didn't happen.

Trying to entertain ourselves in that parking lot.  Celia's snowman was our mascot for the rest of the weekend--he slept outside our cabin.

The boys putting snow chains on the tires so we could make it up the mountain in the snow!  It's quite the ordeal.  John is mostly providing moral support if you can tell.  :)

The girls went snow-shoeing  while getting heavily snowed on

and stopped to make snow angels,

while the boys went skiing/snowboarding.

Here's Sean after one of his jumps didn't turn out so well :)

The lovely little heated cabins we stayed in

And a winter experience wouldn't be complete without...ice skating!  

To all those in WI, you're probably wondering why we would travel to the snow on purpose, but when you don't see it for a long time, it's nice!...but don't get me wrong, it's nice to leave when you're ready too!

29 weeks

Photo courtesy of Maxine Bauer

Rainy Day

Celia's brother, Brad, is visiting her this week from PA, so they came up for the must-see San Fran tour.  Unfortunately, it was a pretty ugly day.  The highlights this time? 

the Golden Gate bridge

Lombard Street (the "crookedest street") which we decided to walk to (steeply uphill) after a near-death experience when the car's tires started to smoke and refused to go any further, making for an emergency U-turn!--turns out their car tires didn't have any tread left on them!  Good thing we had snow chains for the snow in the Yosemite mountains!

a cable car ride and a quick lunch of Sourdough bread-bowl clam chowders at Pier 39

and the Broadway musical "Wicked"--which we were lucky enough to WIN $25 lottery tickets to!

John had to stay home to work on some homework--he's pretty overwhelmed this semester, but is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  He's done with his 3 year MBA endeavor mid May!--we're hoping baby Heltemes doesn't come early!   

We're waiting to get a few pictures from Celia and Sean, and then we'll post pictures from our Yosemite trip a couple weekends ago.