37 Weeks, 5 Days: 16th Wine & Dine

Last weekend was the 16th Wine & Dine. Jerry, a friend of ours in Boston, hosts an annual dinner party every October. Folks fly in from different cities in the US and the location changes every year. Festivities generally begin on Wednesday night with dinner at a restaurant, and end on Sunday at brunch. Thursday and Friday are usually filled with sightseeing activities and eating at places where the food is particularly good. Saturday starts with pizza, then a touch football game, before we all get cleaned up and dressed to the nines for Wine & Dine on Saturday evening. Each person brings a bottle of wine (this has grown to about 3-4 bottles per person, yikes!) and we tell Jason, our appointed sommelier, why we like these particular wines we brought and what they go well with. Jason tries to remember all of this before he gets too drunk to care. It's his responsibility (again, before he gets too drunk) to make sure our glasses are filled. This event has grown a lot since Jerry started it 17 years ago and the food has only gotten better. Adrian is now the official cheese monger and is responsible for choosing the cheese course after dessert.
This year W&D was supposed to be in Richmond, VA in October, but was moved to Boston in August because Jerry and his wife, Dawn, are expecting their first child in October. 


Baby Shower, Friday, August 21, 2009 (36w5d)
Since all the Wine & Diners were in town for the weekend, Sandra (a fellow Wine & Diner in Boston) very generously decided to throw us a joint baby shower on Friday night. Jerry and Dawn Budde are expecting their first baby (also a girl) just 4.5 weeks after us. Here is a photo of me and Adrian opening shower gifts (you can click on all of the photos to enlarge):

And here's one of Jerry and Dawn Budde opening shower gifts:

Thanks again to Sandra, who threw an awesome baby shower and served a boatload of fabulous food including: chocolate bourbon balls (regular and super-extra strength), three Filipino desserts (bibinka, turon, and brazo de mercedes) (Sandra is half-Filipino) and five (count 'em FIVE) homemade pies. I have to extol the virtues of Sandra's pies. She won a pie contest with her apple pie in Ithaca while she was at Cornell. For the baby shower she made 2 blueberry pies and 3 nectarine-strawberry pies. The nectarine-strawberry pie was absolutely within the top 3 best pieces of pie I've ever had. She made so much food that Adrian and I got to take a complete nectarine-strawberry pie home with us. Pie heaven! Check out all the food Sandra made (you can see the five pies):

If you'd like to see more photos of the baby shower, click here.


16th Wine & Dine, Saturday, August 22, 2009 (36w6d):
We decided to forgo the football game this year because it was just too darn hot. Football is a fall sport, anyway, right? Instead of the football game, after a few slices of pizza, we helped put up the tent. Here is a photo of the lovely tent being put up. Adrian is on the right. Being the architect, they put him in charge of tent building. I think they did a good job.

While the tent was being put up, Jerry and his sous chef, Robyn, were busy in the kitchen making homemade pappardelle:

Here's another photo of the pappardelle, one of the coolest photos I've taken of food, I think:

Believe me, that photo of the kitchen does not convey just how blazingly hot it was in there. It was about 90 degrees outside, Jerry had the stove burners and the oven going, and he has no air conditioning!

Now onto dinner. Here is a photo of me with two girlfriends, Rachel and Amy. I used to work with them and introduced them to the W&D group. Rachel met her husband at W&D and they now have an adorable 1-year-old girl. Yes, I am holding a very large wine glass, filled with very sparkling water. I figured if I couldn't have any wine, at least I could hold a cool glass.

Here's a photo of Adrian and Kevin in the kitchen shucking oysters:

Other than the oysters, the other appetizers included lobster rolls with a spicy sauce and grilled salmon and cole slaw pockets. 

After the hors d'oeuvres, we all sat down under the tent and had dinner. 

Jerry and Robyn plated everything throughout the meal and we were all served at the table. The first course was a sweet pea soup with egg, caviar and smoked salmon. 

The next course was a calamari and white bean salad (forgot to take a photo of it!). Then came the papperdelle with sun-dried tomatoes in a creamy sauce (I am horribly mis-remembering the details from Jerry's well-thought-out menu, sorry Jerry!).

Dessert was a cantaloupe and honeydew granita with a minty yogurt sauce.

This was absolutely delicious and perfect for a hot summer evening. Lastly, was Adrian's cheeses. He chose 5 different cheeses, 3 of which were pasteurized, which meant we preggies could eat them. One the cheeses was a pretty good substitute for one of my favorite cheeses that I've been unable to find in pasteurized form and so have not had in about 9 months, Taleggio (the substitute is the one on the right, super pungent):

And here is a photo of Adrian and me enjoying our soups. Sadly, mine was missing the caviar and smoked salmon because I'm pregnant, but I put two pieces of lobster on the eggs instead!

The best part of the evening was Brian's marriage proposal to Nicole! I think I managed to get the whole thing on video. I was conveniently sitting almost directly across from them. The video is huge, though, so I have to figure out a way to cut the size down before uploading it. Congratulations, Brian and Nicole! If you'd like to see more photos of Wine & Dine, click here.

We went to see my OB this week (now that I'm in my last month, I see my doctor weekly) and everything is looking great. She thinks I'll probably deliver around my due date, though that could mean anything, right? And apparently, I'm currently 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I'm not going to explain what that means, some of you know and those of you who really want to know can look it up! Though I am surprised I'm effaced so much, with a whole 2.5 weeks until my due date. Here is a final photograph for this blog post, it is a profile shot of me at exactly 37 weeks. 

37 weeks is what the doctors consider full-term, which means if I deliver now, the baby is not considered premature. But I would prefer she stay in there for at least another 2 more weeks, just for good measure. I promise that the next post will have nursery photos in it. Have a great weekend!

Michelle Obama and Elmo say, "You're your child's best role model"

A public service announcement from Michelle Obama and Elmo from Sesame Street. This is something I will always try to keep in mind as a parent. And this applies to everything, not just healthy living. Parenting comes with so much responsibility!

36 Weeks, 3 Days: Dad's Visit

This past weekend my dad came up to Boston for a quick weekend visit. Since he'd been to Boston a few times already, I was wondering what we could do (other than eat all kinds of seafood). The answer came in the form of an email from the head of our Boston Fil-Am Book Club (BFAB for short, fabulous acronym, isn't it?), Bren Bataclan. Bren's email invited us to an Artist Talk given by Rick Rocamora. Here's a blurb about the talk and Rick:

Award-winning documentary photographer Rick Rocamora, who took pictures of

Filipino WWII veterans for 18 years as they wait to be recognized as equal

to US veterans, will sign books and show a slide show about his work.

Rocamora has documented the lives of the Filipino veterans, still clinging

to hard-won medals, military commendations and scraps of uniforms as they

make their way in San Francisco's toughest neighborhoods. Rocamora's deep

connection to the veterans allows a rare view into their difficult but

always dignified lives, and creates a poignant story of pain, persistence

and hope.

Rocamora's images have been part of investigative stories on the abuse of

veterans in North Richmond, California, Medicare scam in San Francisco that

used them, exhibitions in the US Congress and other venues and countless

presentations and photo essays about their plight. His images have been part

of their struggle and have been credited in inspiring others to advocate for

equity for the veterans.

His photo-documentary work, including words of supporters, historical

anecdotes and chronology is now part of the book "AMERICA'S SECOND-CLASS

VETERANS".

Thinking this would be a perfect thing to do with my dad, I showed my dad the email and asked him if he was interested. To my surprise, he said, "I know that guy, he's your Tito Totoy." (To the non-Tagalog speakers, Tito=Uncle.) Apparently, my father knows Rick! They used to work together in Manila. Small world, isn't it? Also, my mom and Rick's ex-wife were sorority sisters together in college in Manila and are still very good friends.

Needless to say, we checked out Rick's talk and loved it. If you'd like to know more about him and his work, click here. His photos are very powerful. We enjoyed his talk and photos very much. My dad and Tito Totoy did a bit of catching up. I even got a photo of the two of them:

Other than seeing Tito Totoy, we did a lot of walking around Boston. Here's a photo of my dad checking out the Holocaust Memorial in Boston:

We also did a lot of seafood eating, including oysters (raw and fried) and lobster rolls. Delicious.

As for pregnancy/baby news, everything is going well. In my 36th week, I'm finally starting to really feel heavy. The baby has started to "drop" and I'm really feeling that. It seems like I visit the ladies room pretty much every hour. Here's a profile photo I just took (a bit blurry because I used my phone camera):

Summer has finally decided to come to Boston and we've been having 90-degree weather for about a week now. Not so comfortable for me, but I'm trying to cope. The nursery is almost finished. The crib now has a mattress. We are just putting the finishing touches in terms of what we want to put up on the walls. Adrian also got an awesome lamp for the nursery. Plus, we commissioned our artist friend Bren, whom I mentioned earlier, to make a painting for the nursery. We can't wait to see it! I hope it's done soon. The nursery will not be complete without it. We have a few pieces of his artwork, one of which can be seen here (2nd row, last painting). This painting is already up in the nursery. If you'd like to know more about Bren, click here. He's not only an amazing artist, but an amazing guy.

We are gearing up for Wine & Dine this weekend. Guests are starting to arrive tonight and festivities will last through Sunday. It will be our last big hoorah before the baby comes. So I should have more pictures to share in the next blog post. Hope you are all doing well!

35 Weeks and a Haiku for You

That's baby's booty.

A lopsided baby bump.

My baby's got back.

(In case you can't tell, that's my baby bump as seen from my point of view. I wasn't going to post it, but Adrian and my mom said I should. My mom also suggested I put the haiku I composed. Sorry the photo is so dark, but I had to be quick with the camera before the baby bump moved again. She is rolling around and poking me in the side a lot these days. Amazing and totally trippy at the same time.)

34 Weeks, 4 Days: How do you like your Oeuf?

Hello family and friends! We've been busy the last couple of weeks, going to a wedding and trying to get the nursery in order. Let's see, what have we done since the last post?

On July 24, Adrian scored some really nice box tickets to the Red Sox game. What a difference box seats make when you're pregnant. The tickets we normally get are bleacher seats. The seat pitch (space between seat rows) is almost double in the box seats than the bleacher seats. Normally not a big deal for a shrimp like me, but when you're 2 to 3 times wider front-to-back due to the baby bump, that extra space is very much appreciated. Plus, you don't get as many (or as drunk) fools in the box seats. (The last game we had tickets to, we sat in the bleachers and one of our friends had to have the guys behind us thrown out of the game, they were obnoxiously loud and kept spilling beer on us, while sipping from their contraband liquor bottles. Classy.) Here are a couple of photos from the game, taken at 32 weeks, 5 days:

We went on our hospital tour on July 25. We were told where to park and where to sign-in when we arrive at the hospital and were shown the two types of rooms (1. Labor, birth, & recovery, and 2. Postpartum) we would be in. I took photos of the rooms, mostly for my own edification so I won't post them here. One of the other women on the tour with us was 37 weeks pregnant (that's considered full-term for you pregnancy newbies). She felt a bit warm and light-headed during the tour and had to sit for a spell. I suspect it was because there was a woman in OBVIOUS labor moaning and groaning down the hall. We were all valiantly trying to ignore the noises coming from that vicinity, but I think it might have been what got to her. Oy vey.

Last weekend was Janay and Maurice's wedding in Dallas! Janay is my best friend from high school and we were so happy that we were able to make it to her wedding. It was technically the last week I was allowed to travel so we cut it pretty close! However, my feet didn't swell up quite as much as on the plane rides to and from Seattle, though the plane trips were shorter so that may be the explanation. We had a wonderful time at the wedding and could not be happier for Janay and Maurice. Here's a photo of me (33w6d) in a rocking chair I scored during the ceremony:

And here is a photo of the newlyweds with Janay's mom, Patricia:

The next two photos are of me and Janay (doesn't she look fantastic?) and of the four of us:

Man, am I getting huge, or what? (More photos of the wedding can be found here.)

Speaking of getting huge, we had our most recent OB appointment a few days ago. One of the things they ask me to do is to weigh myself on the scale in the little room. I think it's hilarious they're trusting a woman who is gaining weight (at what seems like an astronomical pace to her) to tell the truth about how much she's gained! Though, I am a horrible liar and besides, why would I lie to my doctor? So I always tell the truth. However, this week I reached a particular milestone in my weight that I was not looking forward to. I now weigh as much as Adrian did when we first started dating in high school. When I pointed this out to him in the doctor's office he said, "And I was this height then." To which I replied, "Well, I'm two people!" But the weight is fine with my doctor so it's fine with me. She said I'm measuring right on target for how many weeks pregnant I am. Everything is going well. The baby is in the correct (upside down) position, and apparently she's starting to drop. I can tell this because I have to visit the bathroom much more often now.

We have been working on the nursery since getting back from Dallas. We finished painting a few weeks ago and managed to get all the furniture moved Tuesday evening just in time for the crib to arrive yesterday. We were so happy it finally came. My mom ordered it for us weeks ago. (Thanks, Mom! We love it!) The crib was back-ordered (apparently there are very few options for affordable-ish modern cribs outside of IKEA, who knew?) so we were worried we might not get it until after the baby came! But it finally came and Adrian had it assembled in mere minutes. Here are a few photos of the crib assembly and the crib itself, sans mattress (we still have to get that):

As you can see, we've painted the nursery a pale lavender color. We will post more photos once the nursery is finished. I've still got lots of organizing to do.

Last night, I washed all of the baby clothes we've been given so far. So many adorably tiny pieces of clothing. They're so tiny, it seems silly to fold them into something tinier. Three little dresses came out of the dryer wrinkled beyond all recognition so, against my better judgement, I hauled out my iron and ironing board and made them pretty again. And I HATE to iron. I barely even iron my own clothing! (It was a minor revelation when I discovered knits could look just as professional as button-up shirts at work, so I pretty much only wear my button-ups when I'm presenting something or have an important meeting.) Needless to say, that will probably be the only time I iron those. Why in the world would you make baby clothes that require ironing? If I ever run into a "Dry Clean Only" baby outfit, I will just laugh. Besides, many parents have told me that some outfits are only worn once before the kid outgrows them. How tragic! I guess that's why kids clothing is handed down so often.

That's the news from Boston for now. We're just trying to get the nursery in order and we've also got house guests coming over the next few weeks. We hope your summers are all going well!