So, I finally put together my “hospital bag”. It is ready and waiting near our bedroom door. I feel better knowing that it is there since I am sure a lot of other things will be on my mind when the time comes.

I was also able to buy the last few things we needed for K’s room. I would still like to make some curtains and I need to clear more stuff out of there.

Side note: The windy weather is putting a spring in my step. I think I will put the flannel sheets on our bed tonight.

Thanksgiving was a little different this year because D and I were not on the road. Usually we visit my relatives in Paso Robles or his relatives in Nor Cal. This year we decided to play it safe and stuck close to home. We had the traditional Thanksgiving feast at my parents’ house, along with my youngest sis and her boyfriend. I made a cranberry punch, cranberry jello (with pineapple, yum) and yams (with a pecan-rice crispy topping). My mom made everything else, including the turkey pictured above. I thought everything was quite delish even though my mom claimed that the turkey was too dry (it wasn’t). D even looked forward to the leftovers today–he usually refuses to eat leftovers, so that is a big deal.

Just as Rachael Ray calls herself a “stuffing girl”, I am a self-proclaimed “cranberry sauce girl”. Today I had a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce. Tonight I plan to make turkey quesadillas with cranberry sauce (as suggested in the LA Times on Wed.), and tomorrow morning I want to toast up some bagels and spread them with cranberrry sauce mixed with cream cheese.

This morning D and I attempted to take part in Black Friday, but we didn’t have too much success. We woke up at 5:30 (which wasn’t too difficult, as that is our normal weekday wake-up time). First we hit up Office Max to buy a 1 GB SD digital memory card. It was a pretty good deal, especially since no mail-in rebate was required. It will definitely come in handy to take lots of pictures of K when she arrives.

Next we kept it real and went to Westminster Mall. Although it’s not the fanciest of malls, it does have a Macy’s, which was our main destination. We were armed with our coupons, but did not find anything that was worth standing in a long line for. We also went to Old Navy and GAP, which was very hot and stuffy, but no luck. It didn’t help that I’ve been feeling under the weather the past couple of days…we just did not have the energy to keep going.

D and I will be spending the rest of the weekend watching football (him), cleaning/decorating our place (me) and napping (both of us). We cannot believe that in approximately four weeks we will be parents! Thanksgiving has been a good time of reflecting on all that God has provided for us.

Today D’s co-workers threw a baby shower for us during lunch at Maki Maki in the Irvine Spectrum. There were close to 30 people so they sat us at a long table outside. It was really warm out–it did not feel like mid-November! I thought it was nice that they organized the shower for D since it seems that dads often get left out of the whole pre-baby celebration. I was also glad that D was feeling better today because yesterday he was pretty sick.

We received a lot of nice gifts…Keilah is a lucky girl.

There was also a cake with raspberry filling and a cute little lamb on top.

Here’s a picture of my side profile for those who haven’t seen me in a while.

I guess it doesn’t show much since I’m wearing black. I’ll post more pics later–the “bump” is definitely getting bigger. Only 5 more weeks to go!

Please read about D+L’s past weekend in C-Willis’ blog. See “Monday Nov 13th, 2006”.

It was a lot of fun hanging out with my buddy from B-school. However, it was also very tiring and I am glad I had today off!

Just want to update my readers about my recent workouts. I ran 4 miles in 38 minutes. The trick was to increase my speed 0.1 mph every 1/4 mile. Also I swam 800 free and 400 breaststroke in 30 mins. I swam 200 free and then 100 breaststroke; four times. The reason I switched to breaststroke is because using a kick board is boring and really slow. I am not good at breaststroke, but I am hoping to get better and it works your legs more than the other 3 major strokes.

These are the magazines I am planning on reading on a regular basis. Forbes (I get it from my in-laws), ESPN, and Outside. I like magazines that come once every two weeks like Forbes and ESPN. I have been getting Business Week, but I don’t get to read it as much as would like and it piles up. Forbes is a really good mag. I like Outside even though it comes every month (I get bored of a mag after 2 weeks), because it has fun exercise/activities like skiing and hiking. But also it has natural park/travel ideas. L doesn’t think I will do any of the activities it describes. It will give me ideas. ESPN is interesting. However, I only really like college football and college basketball. So a lot will be boring, but I am glad it only comes every 2 weeks.

There is a Bible Study at Mazda as well as a Bible Study at Ford’s Premium Auto Group. This week at PAG they played the first part of the movie; Invisible Children. It is a really sad situation. We should pray for the children of Sudan; that they do not get kidnapped and forced to kill people.

Last Saturday D and I took a childbirth class at the hospital, called the “Super Saturday” class. It lasted from 9-5 and is designed for those who cannot or do not want to take the class on a weeknight for three weeks. Since it would have been a challenge to get D to the classes after work, we opted for the all-day version. There were 11 couples total, and 8 couples were expecting girls! (2 couples were expecting boys, and 1 couple was leaving the gender a surprise). The class was a nice mixture of lecture, movies, and exercises. I was a bit apprehensive about the graphic “movies”, but they were ok. However, I did cheat by closing my eyes for parts, especially of the C-section. I was surprised that the breathing techniques were not that technical–they are more designed to make you concentrate on breathing instead of the pain. I feel a little more prepared, but thinking about the actual labor is still very daunting. Hopefully having D by my side will make it more bearable. One prospective dad 1/2 joked about wishing it could be like the good ol’ days where the dad just sat in the waiting room until the whole thing is over. I think having D being involved in the process will be a good thing for both D and me. I don’t expect D to cut the umbillical cord, though–ew!

It was a long day, but we made it through. One good thing about taking the Super Saturday class is that they provide breakfast and lunch! I liked the turkey sandwich on jalapeno cheese bread–D couldn’t even finish his. Hopefully the food they serve to the patients is just as tasty.

The Mazda CX-7 is a new crossover from Mazda. I am blessed that I work for Mazda and get to drive a new vehicle every year. This year I was planning to drive a Mazda 3, which is a great car, but I am really excited about this new crossover. It came in handy when I wanted to bring home the baby crib. It had plenty of room, and with 244 hp the CX-7 has some punch. I notice it gets a lot of looks on the highway.

Here are the aforementioned pictures of our new newphew, adopted from Taiwan by D’s brother and his wife. His name is Shaun and he’s almost six months old.

Flying in the air!

D’s getting practice 🙂

This past weekend D went up North to visit his family, including our new nephew! (Pictures to come). I didn’t feel comfortable flying in my condition so I stayed at home. It felt kind of weird not having my “other half” around, even for a couple of days. I slept in the middle of the bed instead of “my side”. I arrived at church a few minutes early, instead of 15 minutes early, as D usually insists that we do. I kind of had a lot of errands to run, so I wasn’t exactly bored, but I just felt a little empty inside–hard to explain. Now that I tend to take my time with D for granted, it’s hard to imagine how we made it through our long distance relationship in the past.

In my off-season I haven’t been working out very hard. However, I am working out. I have been alternating running and swimming. This alternating has worked out really well.

I have been running 4 miles on the treadmill with a 0.5 incline and the last 2 times I have been running it in under 40 minutes. This is my fastest 4 miles on the treadmill so I am happy about that; however I would like to get faster to help with my 2007 half-marathon pace.

Today I swam 200×4 freestyle and 200×1 with a kickboard. I swam the total 1,000 meters in under 27 minutes. I don’t really care about my time in swimming, but I would like to keep my heart rate up.

Also I have been improving my eating since I need to watch my cholesterol. I have eaten oatmeal almost every day for the past 1.5 weeks. Also I have eaten turkey tofu sandwich, turkey tofu spaghetti, chinese chicken salad, & healthy choice for dinner this week. For lunch it has been sandwiches; the best one being Lee’s Sandwiches (Chicken).