Crafty Ladies

Two weekends ago, Sweetpea's daddy and I got to host a baby shower for a couple in our Happyfish fellowship group. The weeks prior, I had been looking up baby crafts, and coincidentally, Auntie Ang emailed me and mentioned that she saw some diaper cakes for sale that could potentially be used for the shower. I sent her one of the links for diaper wreath I had been looking at; then, I thought it would be fun to have the happyfish girls get together before the shower to do some crafts... mainly the diaper wreath and some cake decorating, and it's pretty cool how the wreath not only works as a nice useful gift to the couple, but it also doubles up as neat shower decoration! Auntie KL is a BIG fan of tigger, so we tried to have tigger incorporated into the shower as much as possible. The girls brought over different items to put onto the wreath and got to work while the guys hung out and played games :) Here's how it turned out... Tada...

I think it looks pretty cool, and the guys liked it too. Now, for the cake, I showed the girls some cake decorating techniques, and some of them got to do some lining, transfers, and filling in with stars. One of the trickiest part is mixing the icing just right to get the color we want, but in the end, I think we got pretty close to the right colors. What do you think? Now the girls are pros in cake decoratoring, right? :)




The shower decorations were almost done, and Sweetpea's daddy spent some time making a computer projected Jeopardy game where players can earn between one and five tigger points per category; I helped him with some of the questions, but I think presenting it the way he did took quite a bit of time. Overall, it was fun hosting, and we hope that Auntie KL and Uncle JL found their shower memorable. We pray for them and wish them all the best as they wait for the arrival of their first baby.

Two Year Anniversary & Baby Checkup

Happy Anniversary to my darling husband! Yesterday, March 18th marked our two year anniversary. I can hardly believe that it has been that long already. It seems like not too long ago that we just got married. Anyhow, it has been a wonderful, peaceful, and fast two years, and we look forward to spending many more happy years together along with Sweetpea as a new addition to our family this summer. We haven't really had much quarrels during our marriage; we've always gotten along pretty well... I wonder if kids will change that some :p As for what we did to celebrate, we didn't really do much yesterday since we had a carseat safety class in the evening from 7-9; we just ate at Shari's for dinner since that was one of the few places around that was still open late in the area. Not to worry, we'll be spending time in San Francisco this weekend, visiting some of the sites, as well as later visiting family while we are there. Because I'm getting bigger and starting into my third trimester, it'll likely be our last trip before the baby comes. It should be fun.

Today was our glucose test appointment. I had to drink the glucola fruit punch drink 45 minutes prior to the appointment; I got about a half way through and told Junior I didn't want any more. It made my throat feel uncomfortable and wasn't all that tasty; maybe, it's all that sugar in there. The doctor says the baby must have had a party this morning after I drank that. I'm not sure if she was too awake yet at the time, but she sure has been kicking and moving a lot more lately. Everything seems to check out okay in terms of my measurements and stats, and the doctor said that we should not be hearing from them if the results of the glucose test is not of concern, so pray that the test results will be good.

Recently, I decided to look up our engagement photographer online to see what she's been up to; it seems that she has a new website and new name for her photography business "Kiss of Life Photography"; there's a couple shots of us in the will you? section of the gallery if anyone wants a peek at a few pics from our session :) For those of you who didn't get to join us for our wedding, I'll leave you with some highlights as we walk down the urcia family memory lane.

Valentine's in Hawaii

Daddy had a conference in Hawaii, and mommy and I got to tag along during Valentine's week. It was like a babymoon for them before I make my appearance in June :) Auntie Grace and Uncle Wowwings also joined us in Oahu for the first part of the week before going to Kuai Thurs (valentine's day) morning. It was beautiful, sunny, and warm on the islands; quite a change from Seattle weather. During the morning, both mommy and daddy had to work, but afterwards they were free to enjoy the sites and sounds of Hawaii. We ate at a nice restaurant by the beach; we hadn't made a reservation ahead of time, but we decided to wait and hope that we'd get a table. After a while, we were seated on a table for two with a nice view of the ocean. One side of the restaurant was open, so you can feel the cool breeze, hear the waves of the ocean, and see the glowing light from the tiki torches; with the soft music in the background, the atmosphere was perfectly romantic for Valentine's day. Here's a picture of mommy and daddy as they sat in the waiting room, and here's a picture of mommy and me in the restaurant lobby.

For appetizer, we ordered a yummy coconut lobster dish. Then, mommy and daddy shared a seafood pasta, since mommy and I were in the mood for pasta.

Daddy wanted to get something for mommy, so he said they can try their luck and purchase a pearl in a oyster and pick out a setting for it while they are in Hawaii. This was one of the fun highlights of our trip. First, there was the oyster selection.


Then, they tap the oyster three times,
ring the bell, everyone says "Aloha", and the oyster is opened up to reveal a beautiful shiny pearl.

It turns out that we got the second rarest pearl, according to the vendor. I believe it was a golden toned akoya pearl. Even though there were many nice settings to choose from and different varieties from rings to earrings to necklaces; mommy wanted a really simple setting, so they selected a simple 14k gold setting for a necklace. This is how it looks like in the end. We'll try to share more pictures of our adventures in Hawaii later on when we get a chance.

Burp Cloth Projects

I finally got a chance to do some of the burp cloth projects that I mentioned in the previous post. There are several different kinds that I'd like to try, including the flannel ones with the curves, if I can find time. It's ridiculous how much some baby items can cost; the burp cloths go anywhere from $8-25 each at boutique stores and there are plenty of other items that are actually not too difficult to do if you have some basic sewing skills. Anyhow, here's my first attempt at the ribbon burp cloths that I've seen for $8-15 each at boutiques; I figure why pay a fortune if you can make this simple project yourself... and it was actually pretty fun to make especially after seeing the finished product. I did have one mishap while making these. I think being pregnant has made me a bit more clumsy and absent minded at times, and I ended up with a small boo boo on my finger... ahh, such is the labor of love. Below are personalized burp cloths I made for my coworker, Auntie Ang, and their new arrivals. Other than one of the ribbons on one of the burp cloths being slightly crooked, I'm pretty happy overall with how they turned out. I'll post up more pics of other attempts as I get to them and as I get to other projects. Meanwhile, you can also check out my friend Grace's blog under the July 27, 2006 and August 1, 2006 entries to see how she took matters into her own hands to create nifty baby room letters.

Flu Quandary

Last week, when I arrived in Virginia, I started thinking about flu shots again especially with traveling and everything, I really don't want to get sick. I've been hearing that it is recommended that pregnant women should get a flu shot, but then I decided to do a bit of further research to see what is being said about it. Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends it for women pregnant during the flu season. Seems that some say it is better and safer than not getting one at all, since it may have adverse affects on the baby if you get sick and your temperature gets too high or if you catch pneumonia. On the other hand, I found out that one of the concerns people have is associated with the same concern about vaccinating children. Many of the vaccines contain a preservative called "thimerasol" which has mercury in it which is linked to autism among other things. Well, it seems that pregnant people can ask and opt for thimerasol-free vaccines but not all places carried it. I had seen a sign at the Krogers here that they still had vaccines, and I was considering it until I found out more information and found out they didn't have thimerasol-free ones. I also checked my local doctor's office and was told that my best bet was to call the local health department, which it turns out only had enough dosage for a small child. The lady at the health department did still recommend getting it stating that flu season is far from over and that regular ones should still be safe according to CDC. I then decided to call my doctor in Washington, and it seems that the office directs their patients to the local pharmacies, so I would have to check around to see if any of them had it... which may not be likely at this point as many places seem to have the normal vaccine for regular people... so much bother. One of the things I read in a post on babycenter says the following that is also disconcerting, "The data that the CDC uses to cite that Thimerisol is safe was done in 1930 by the doctors at Eli Lily who make Thimerisol. No follow up tests in the US have been done to counter their claims. Thimerisol is banned in Britian, Japan, Denmark, Russia, Austria and in all of Scandanavia. They have no Autism in those countries. The national autism association's website points to thimerosol as a cause for autism. http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/thimerosal.php" Is it really safe? what do my pregnant friends think; did you guys get flu shots while pregnant? There seems to be lots of uncertainty that at this point I may just forego it and just try to be careful. Prior to me coming back to Tech, it seems that there was an awful outbreak of the flu on campus. The flu vaccines given this year was a different strain than the one that actually broke out! Thank goodness the students are on spring break this week, lessening my chances of catching something bad. Anyhow, Sweetpea and I are excited to be going back home to Washington tomorrow. Hopefully, baby and I will be safe and sound up till delivery and beyond. any thoughts on this subject?