Baby Apple

Gabe and I had our Prepared Childbirth Super Sunday class this morning at 9:00am. I was a little worried that neither of us would wake up this morning because we had Natalie’s 2nd birthday party in the day until 8pm and then went to Joey’s 30th birthday party and got home at 2:30am. Gabe was playing poker and was at the final table so we were there for a while.

Anyways, we were actually able to get up this morning and drove down to Newport. We had breakfast first at Shirley’s Bagel’s in Costa Mesa (we used to go to Shirley’s a lot when Gabe lived in Costa Mesa) then we headed to Hoag and surprisingly we were actually the first couple to check in. There were 14 couples in our class. I was a little worried that we wouldn’t make it through the whole thing since it was until 4:00pm.

So the class started and so far so good. We were both tired but were attentive since there was so much to cover. The lights were dimmed and we watched slides and video clips and then the mats came out. Oh no, we needed to lie down with the dimmed lights and do some relaxation visualization techniques. I had a feeling Gabe wouldn’t make it through this one since we had to close our eyes. The women had to lay on one side and the men had to lie behind them and we both had to practice these techniques. With the dimmed lights, the soothing music, and calming voice on the recording I knew Gabe wouldn’t make it for too long. All of a sudden I hear heavy breathing and then some snoring. I had to elbow Gabe to wake up since he snores pretty loud when he’s sleeping and I didn’t want him to fall into a deeper sleep. That exercise was only about 10 -15 minutes. Thank goodness it wasn’t longer because Gabe would’ve totally been out.

We broke for lunch and had pizza and salad delivered and I was worried about having food coma and falling asleep after lunch. They pumped up the a/c after lunch so I think that’s what kept me awake. We also had to practice breathing techniques and I kept laughing the whole time. The OB nurse was probably annoyed that I kept laughing but Gabe kept making me laugh. He was so serious and it was funny.  I guess I need to practice at home since all I kept doing during class was giggling.

Besides giggling I was also crying when when we watched those videos. I guess it’s the hormones but I was very emotional and a lot of the videos touched me. Thank goodness the lights were dim and Gabe didn’t see me because he would’ve been making fun of me the whole time. Gabe saw his first vaginal birth on one of the videos so that was cool. Gabe doesn’t do well with blood so I wanted to make sure he knew what to expect.

The class ended a little early and we were both thankful so that we could go home and take a nap. I think Gabe was relieved because by the last hour of class Gabe kept nodding off. I bet the couple in back of us was laughing because he kept doing the head bob. At the end of the class the nurse gave all of the couples a little onesie from the children’s place as a gift.

So overall the class was very informative. I’m still nervous and anxious about the whole thing but I feel a little better kinda seeing what to expect. I head that your labor is usually like your mom and sister’s experiences. My mom’s longest labor was 2 hours (which was with me) that’s including the time she started contractions until she delivered. My brother and sister were delivered within an hour. My sister had Kaylee 30 minutes after she got to the hospital. I give my sister props because she didn’t even have any drugs and they didn’t even have time to give her an iv. I guess Kaylee was ready to come into this world. I just hope and pray that my experience is similar to my mom and sister’s.

We have our baby basics class on Saturday. That’s where Gabe gets to practice changing diapers since he’s never changed a diaper before. Gabe’s also going to start working on Apple’s room soon. So I’ll update and post before and after pictures with the progress. Until next time, have a great week everyone!

So I had to take that blood sugar glucose test today to see if you gestational diabetes. My doctor’s office actually gave me the drink at my last appointment so that I can put it in the fridge and keep it cold and I can drink it before I go to take the test so that I don’t have to wait a whole hour at the lab. I thought that was cool. I almost forgot to take the drink on my way out the door. Must be Mommy brain. I had the Orange flavored one and since I don’t drink soda it was kinda hard to drink it fast but it actually wasn’t as awful as I thought it would be. I just hope I don’t have to take the 3 hour one. Not sure how long it will take to get the results back. I guess I just want and see.

We have our Lamaze class on Sunday so I’m looking forward to that. I’ll write an update on Sunday after our class. It’s ALL day long. Hopefully we’ll be able to last. I hope Gabe doesn’t get grossed out on the videos. So until Sunday… Have a great weekend everyone!!!

We got our Baby Shower invitation today and they are sooo Adorable. Cynthia did a wonderful job making them super cute! It’s an animal print invitation with pink, orange, and yellow as the colors. Those are the same colors that we are using for Apple’s room and her room is girlie baby animals so it matches perfectly. We’re going to frame an invite so that we can put it in her room. Thank you Cynthia for the beautiful invitations and thank you Mon for helping assemble them. We can’t wait for Apple’s shower!!!

Before we headed out to San Diego for our little babymoon, I had my 24 week checkup on Friday and we had another ultrasound. Apple was eating during the ultrasound; it was so cute! She is approximately 1.2 lbs and is almost a foot long! She is developing her taste buds and usually moves around right after I eat. Here is the latest picture of her:

After my checkup we went to the District and had lunch at RA Sushi and did a little shopping before heading out to SD. We got to SD around 5pm and checked into The Westin San Diego in downtown. After settling in, we got ready for dinner at The Oceanaire Seafood Room. Before making reservations, I did some research on Open Table and it was voted as the #1 Seafood restaurant in San Diego. I asked Gabe what he wanted to do in SD and all he said was he wanted to eat good seafood. One of Gabe’s favorite things to eat is raw oysters and this place has a good selection of oysters so I was sold and made the reservations.

We headed to the restaurant and walked straight upstairs to the classy, wood-lined, ocean liner themed dining room. We started off with their famous Chesapeake Bay Crab Cake which was awesome and Gabe of course had a sample of 1/2 a dozen oysters which he said was really good. Their seafood is flown in fresh daily so I had to get some kind of fish. I ended up ordering a Soy/Miso glazed Ling Cod and Gabe ordered surf and turf (lobster tail and fillet mignon) and we shared creamed corn as a side. After stuffing our faces, we still left room for dessert. We had the fruit crisp which was this scrumptious, fresh baked fruit cobbler type dessert filled with peaches, blueberries, and raspberries topped with vanilla ice cream. It was delicious! After our gluttonous dinner, we headed back to the hotel and watched “Made of Honor” which was cute. Can’t go wrong with a Patrick Dempsey film.

On Saturday we were able to sleep in and had the breakfast buffet at the hotel. We didn’t really have plans so we decided to just wing it. After breakfast we headed back to the room to figure out what to do. I read that book that hotels always provide about the city that your in and asked Gabe if we could go to Old Town since I’ve never been there before. Gabe agreed and said he wanted to show me where he first went shopping for my ring.

Before getting engaged in 2003, Gabe did a lot of research on rings and the 4 C’s etc.. Our friends Kathy and Jason lived in San Diego at the time and Gabe took a day off so that they could help him find a ring. So he drove down to SD and Kathy and Jason took him to this jewelry store in SD to look at some rings. Apparently, there was this one store in Old Town where Gabe got the inspiration on what he wanted my ring to look like so I thought it would be fun for him to show me and see if it was still there.

It was nice and sunny when we got to Old Town and there was an Art Festival going on so there was a bunch of booths set up with artists selling their goods. Old Town isn’t that big so we ended up walking around the whole street and found this cute framed picture of an apple with a heart in it. I asked Gabe what he thought and we both agreed that it would look cute in Apple’s nursery. After walking for about an hour or so we built up our appetites again and ended up eating Mexican food at Fred’s Mexican Cafe and we both feasted on steak tacos and shrimp tacos. It was very yummy.

After a day out in the sun, we decided to head back to the hotel to take a little nap before going out again at night. I think I had too much sun that day because we ended up staying in that night and ordering room service and watching “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” which was hilarious. It’s from the same makers as “40 Year Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up”. Be forewarned though, there is full frontal male nudity a couple times in that film. I couldn’t believe it. It was a romantic comedy and they never show that stuff in romantic comedies. I forgot the name of the actor but Kristen Bell was the main actress and sorry guys but no full frontal on her. It was a pretty funny movie though.

Sunday, we got to sleep in again. It must be that heavenly bed that Westin’s are known for. We got ready, packed, checked out and headed out for brunch. In that San Diego hotel room book, there was this restaurant that was highly recommended for breakfast. They said that there’s always a line but it goes by quickly and is worth the wait. I absolutely love going out for breakfast on the weekend right now so I really wanted to go to this place. It’s called RIchard Walker’s Pancake House and it was just a couple blocks from our hotel.

When we got there, the book was right, there was definitely a line and it looked like a long one. I also hoped that the book was right about the line moving fast and it did. We had to wait about 25 minutes but it wasn’t so bad. It felt like we were in line for a ride at Disneyland because they even had this sign that said “10 minute wait from here”. There’s a guy who passes out menus while your in line so you know what to order when you are actually seated. I think that’s a great idea and that’s part of the reason why the line moved so fast. Once seated I ordered the Dutch Baby which was awesome. If you’ve never had a Dutch Baby you should totally try it. It kinda taste like Yorkshire Pudding but a little thicker and a little sweeter since it’s sprinkled with powdered sugar. They give you a of bowl lemons and more powdered sugar to add to your taste. It was delicious! Gabe ended up ordering Spinach Crepes which also had onions, mushrooms, and cheddar cheese inside served with potato pancakes on the side. We also ordered a side of eggs and bacon. The bacon is some of the best I’ve ever had. Thicker than normal but not fatty and very, very crispy – just the way I like it. We were both very satisfied with our breakfast and plan on going back there every time we’re in SD.

After breakfast we headed back home but made a pit stop at the Carlsbad outlets. We didn’t plan on staying there long but I found a Maternity outlet store and went crazy. They were having this big clearance sale and had this $1 rack. I bought 4 things from there and a bunch of other stuff but everything was on sale. Gabe was great holding stuff for me and waiting for me patiently. I think we were in there for about an hour. I felt bad but he ended up getting some Etnies shoes so at least he didn’t leave empty handed. It was a great way to end our babymoon, well at least for me it was.

So we had a great 3 day weekend sleeping, relaxing, eating, and sleeping, relaxing and eating some more. We love San Diego even though it’s only an hour and a half away. It always feels like we’re somewhere far and the weather is always nice. We want to bring Apple back to San Diego so she can visit Shamu and all the animals at the San Diego zoo and wild animal park. We heart SD!

So I started a list of baby girl and baby boy names that I like.  I’ve heard stories where couples think they are having a girl and when the baby comes out it’s a boy so I just want to be prepared. Gabe has to come up with his list and then we’ll compare and probably finalize something soon. We decided to keep Apple’s name a secret until she is born.  That way there will still be some anticipation and a sense of surprise when she gets here.  The name will only be known to Gabe, Apple, and I.  We’re not even telling our families.  They can wait a couple more months. I hope we both can last until then.

My friend Jolene (Hi Jolene!) asked me the other day how we came up with Apple’s nickname. In case anyone else was curious I though i would blog about it. We found out what we are having on August 11th. I wanted to come up with a nickname to call our baby girl before we actually came up with a real name for her. I wanted to name her something cute that we wouldn’t really name her.

That following morning after we found out, I thought about it and was going through what the stars babies names were because it seems as if they have all these different names as their real names. So I was running all the baby girls names through my head such as Coco, Sunday Rose, Harlow, and then I came across the name Apple, Gwenneth Paltrow’s daughter. Maybe Apple would work because she’s the Apple of our eye. I know it’s kinda corny but I thought it was cute. Later that morning, Gabe and I were heading off to work and I asked him what he thought if we nicknamed our baby girl Apple until we came up with a real name and he quickly agreed and I thought that was weird but was I also thought it was cool that he liked it. So we both left the house and went our separate ways.

On the drive to work, I kept thinking about why Gabe agreed so quickly and how come he didn’t even object to my suggestion and come up with other suggestions like he usually does. On my way home from work that day, I was driving along and I figured it out. Gabe is an avid Apple computer fanatic. We have three Apple laptops, – well 2 now since I spilled milk on mine a couple weeks ago and it got fried , 2 iPods and Gabe has an iPhone. Gabe is a Big Apple advocate and with our last name it works out to be Apple Phan.

When Gabe got home that night I asked him if that’s why he agreed to the nickname so quickly. At first he denied it but had a big grin on his face. I think he must’ve sent me some vibes that morning and I picked up on it somehow and we were on the same wavelength. He finally admitted that it was the reason why he liked the nickname and continued to say that if we were having a boy his nickname would be Mac. What an enginerd!

We have different reasons why we like the name but at least we agreed on it and fairly quickly too. So that’s how Apple got her nickname now hopefully it will be this easy to come up with a real name for her.

This morning Gabe and I started our Baby Registry at Babies r Us. It was fun but exhausting at the same time oh and it was kinda overwhelming too. There’s so many things to choose from and you want to make sure that you are choosing the best things for your child. It’s kinda nice to have lots of friends and family with kids so that they can give you advice and hand me downs. We have 3 nieces, 2 on Gabe’s side and one on my side so there’s lots of girl cousins for Apple to play with. It will be trouble once the girls start their teen years but that’s still a ways so for now they can all have playmates.

So back to the Babies r Us story. We were walking around registering for stuff and I lost Gabe. He walked ahead of me and I didn’t see where he went. I was in this aisle and I guess I looked confused or something because the nice salesman asked me if I needed help finding something. I replied, “Yeah, my husband” and we both laughed. I just kept walking around and I finally found Gabe and told him the story. I guess it was obvious that I needed help finding something.

So I think our registry is off to a good start. I’m going to check out the Target baby registry thing as well. although I heard their return policy kinda sucks so we’ll see. Our shower is going to be in November so I hope you all can make it.

Gabe and I are going on a little babymoon in 2 weeks. We’re going down to San Diego for the weekend. It will be a nice little getaway. I soooo need one right now. I’m really looking forward to it. San Diego is kinda special for us because that’s where Gabe asked me to be his girlfriend 6 1/2 years ago and that’s where we took our mini honeymoon after our wedding. Can’t wait to go back for our little babymoon. Until next time!

I’ve been feeling little flutters for the past couple weeks but really wasn’t sure if it was Apple moving around or not. I’m 20 weeks now and today I felt the kicks constantly so I think it’s her doing her martial arts in my belly. It’s so weird! It kinda feels like popcorn popping around. Gabe said it’s like an alien inside me and I guess it kinda is. It’s really weird but really cool at the same time.