P2's Gonna Be An October Baby

I was having mean contractions all night (anywhere from 4 minutes to 25 minutes apart) and early this morning. Called the doula and she came over and then around noon everything just kinda stopped! So for the past 7 hours I've been having only 1 or 2 contractions per hour. Some are really minor and others hurt like hell. So I guess I"m just stuck in a waiting game right now. Tired and sore but hanging in there!!!

Update & Advice

Yes... for all my readers, I am STILL pregnant. Hopefully not for much longer! Today I haven't felt quite like myself and had extremely low energy. I'm hoping that my body is storing my energy for use getting this kid out! hehe

On another note... Ry has said she wants to be a "crabby" for Halloween. So I want to make the costume myself but I have zero sewing talents. So I was thinking of doing a red leotard and tights (I'll buy that part!) and getting some red pipe cleaners and googly eyes to make a headband for the eyes. Anyone have any advice/ideas?? Shoot me an email! dagupionohana@gmail.com

40 Weeks + 5 Days

Here I am in all my overdue glory! LOL

So I'm thinking the pattern on the shirt makes me look bigger.... Notice behind me all of Ry's beautiful artwork from pre-school!

Hanging in there!

Having little contractions but not leading to much just yet! At least that's promising that something will happen soon. Staying positive here!

It's been a good day - spent time with the munchkin and went swimming this afternoon. It feels so good to float!

Doing Everything I Can

Yesterday I hit the 40 week mark. I really didn't think I was going to get to this point. So I'm just doing everything I can to evict P2! Walking, Swimming, Walking up & down the stairs, dancing, squatting, raspberry leaf tea... This little one doesn't want to leave!

My next appointment is on Monday. I hope the midwives will help me get this show on the road!

Yearbook Yourself

So we're putzing around online and Peter came across this site called Yearbook Yourself. You upload a picture and you can put it into a face anywhere from the year 1950 to 2000 as if you were in that years yearbook. We were cracking up laughing so hard about all of our pictures!

Here they are.... enjoy!

Nick's Pictures





Peter's Pictures






Mariah's Pictures

Cruizing in Texas

Pops made it to Austin safely and we've been loving having him here with us. We took a drive out to Driftwood, a small town not too far from us. It was beautiful countryside! And we stopped along the way to pet the most beautiful horses. Their noses were so incredibly soft! Next time we'll take some carrots. Ry absolutely loved those horses.

We had a great time getting her tired outside. I want P2 to come OUT so we ran around a lot today, did some walking... I think Ry might be interested in soccer someday. She had a great time kicking the ball all around. And she learned how to say "Hike!" from Pops.

She keeps asking when Gams is coming (Mom, she misses you!). It was a really great day today.

39 Weeks and NOTHING!

Well I made it to 39 weeks! Seriously I thought P2 was going to be here already. But I guess the little one is super comfy in there.

Still feeling lots of pressure but not much else. So for now I'm just taking it day by day. Ry has been an angel baby and is so good every day. We've been dancing, playing ball, chase around the couch. I'm just trying to stay active as much as possible because I feel like such a slug! I'm so slow and feel so heavy. Earlier today we were playing ball outside and she kicked it and I was like "Where is it?" and I turned and looked all around me. It was by my feet. HELLO! I can't even see my feet. hahahaha

Critters

Last night before me and Ry went to bed (Peter was at work) I let the dogs out and they were going totally nuts barking.

So I go outside to see what all the ruckus is about and Dexter is slamming himself into the fence. So I look up and Holy Sh!t there's this HUGE animal on the fence that looks like a giant rat. It was a Possum (is that how you spell it?). That thing was HUGE! I've never seen one before so it freaked me out at first. Poor Ryenne came running out and screamed and ran back in the house.

I got the dogs inside and then explained to her that the animal wasn't going to hurt her. I told her that they wake up when the moon comes out and that he was just hungry and looking for food in the trees and she had nothing to be scared about. But poor baby kept repeating "Animal is hungee (hungry) and he won't bite Ryenne" over and over for about an hour. I hope she wasn't traumatized!

Hurricane Ike

Thanks to all of our friends and family who've called and emailed making sure that we'll be fine for Hurricane Ike!

We're located about 220 miles from the Texas coast and are not expecting the hurricane to be "hurricane force" in our area. We are anticipating LOTS of rain tomorrow and some tropical winds. We have all the supplies we need in case the power goes out.

On a positive note, the rain is coming on our watering day! So I guess we won't need to water the lawn. hehehe

It's About Time!

I've been wanting to document this pregnancy with some great photos for a long time. But it's so hard because here I am - the photographer - and I never have pictures of myself! So I enlisted Peter's help.

We took a bunch and poor Peter... He really tried his best but I think I made him feel bad. So out of about 40 pictures there were a couple that I thought were ok. I needed to adjust exposure in photoshop and some cropping and fix some of the tulle that I was wearing that was - ahem - exposing panties that should not have been seen! haha

So here they are.... Ryenne the crazy two year old (who we had to bribe to come touch my tummy and some of me by myself (38 Weeks and 5 days). Enjoy!

"I Found Feathers Mommy!"

Feathers in the backyard... hmmmm dog accident? Not sure!

Dex & the Squirrel

There's a squirrel that lives in one of the huge trees behind our house. It drives Dexter insane!!!

He comes and sits on the fence and taunts Dexter - it's hilarious!

Updates...

Well we began the day with Ryenne crying that she didn't want to go to school. "I don't like school." is all she kept saying.

"Do you like the sandbox?" I asked. "-Yes"
"Do you like your teachers?" "-Yes"
"Do you like painting and playing with the kids?" "-Yes"
"Okay, well do you like taking a nap?" "-NO MOMMY! No Nap! No school!"

Bingo... my non sleeper!

So Peter couldn't bring himself to follow us to school this morning. So he put her in her carseat for me and I took her to school. She cried all the way inside. We said hello to her teacher, put her lunch away, washed her hands. She was crying the entire time. So then the teacher starts bringing out their first morning project and she cried, then looked at the paints, cried, then looked at the paints... it was pretty funny! I kissed her goodbye and told her we'd be back in just a while and that she was going to have fun. Big, huge elephant tears... by the time I exited the room and was slightly down the hall I didn't hear one bit of tears from her. I'm sure she already had her apron on and was painting!

So then I came home and made me and Peter some breakfast. Sat on the couch and caught up on a couple of shows I'd recorded that I wanted to see. Cleaned the living room (toys were everywhere!) and cleaned the kitchen a bit.

Then it was off to my pre-natal appointment! It was a good appointment. Gained no weight since last week which is good! Baby is moving around a lot and has a good heartbeat. Blood pressure all good. No swelling. Had a pelvic and I'm 2cm and 60% effaced. Baby is at a -1 position. So really all of this is just information and P-2 will show up when he/she is good and ready! But she did give me some advice for things to do to try to speed it up. I need to go get some red raspberry leaf tea and do lots of squats. Which will also be good for my thighs anyway! haha

After the appointment I came home and it was time to pick up Ry. Peter wanted to come for this part (of course!). We got there just after 2pm and Ry was just starting to wake up from her nap. She must have been worn out cause her pillow was wet with drool! So she was definitely in sleepy land!

Her teacher said she had a great day and really loved painting, playing in the sandbox, blowing bubbles, and she learned new songs at chapel time. Ry gave both teachers a hug and said bye to her friends. She was a happy camper and we got no complaints about the day!

It's just after 5pm right now and Peter left for work a little while ago. Just me and her for the rest of the night. When it gets a little cooler we'll go on a walk around the block and then make some dinner. Hopefully off to bed early tonight for a fresh day tomorrow!

Aloha to my summer highlights!

I thought it would be fun to get highlights for spring/summer and I really enjoyed having the blonde streaks on my head.

Well over the summer, my hair grew FAST and I had this zebra-like line on my head with my almost black roots. I looked pretty silly. I really don't have the moola to keep the highlights up, so I picked up a box of dye that matched the rest of my hair and took them out myself. Came out pretty nice, yeah??

And just for kicks a tummy shot in there too.... 38 weeks + 3 days.

Pardon the Manners Here

WTF is Mexi-Moco?

"They" always say that pregnant women crave the craziest things! Well if you follow my blog you'll know that P-2 craves cheese enchiladas at least once a week. By the way, the best frozen enchilada's are Amy's Organic...

Well I usually go grocery shopping on Mondays, so Sundays are kinda slim pickins for food. I was trying to think what to make for me and Ry and I thought that enchilada's sounded good. But I only had one box left and Ry can easily eat one herself so I had to think of how to stretch it.

VOILA! I created "Mexi-Moco"! It's like Loco-Moco but with cheese enchiladas. So we have rice, enchiladas and sauce on top, a fried egg, and some sour cream. It was soooo ono (that's good for all you mainlanders).

Ry loved it too. Video is on a separate post.

Putzin' Around in the Backyard

Such a pretty day today!! Sky is blue, grass is green, the wind is light... it's just a gorgeous day!

Me and Ry went into the backyard to run around a bit. Dexter came too. You can tell that Dex is Ry's doggy. Chico is nowhere to be found! hahaha

The maracas made it even more fun. We also took out a piece of string and played choo-choo train with it. FUN!

Let Me Make This Publicly Known...

Peter, words cannot express how happy I am at this point in our lives. Everyday I am so thankful that I get to stay home with our baby girl (and soon P-2 too) and you put zero pressure on me to go out and make money. I promise that at some point that will happen!

I am so proud of you for leaving your comfort zone on Maui and taking this wild ride adventure with me and starting our new life halfway across the country! You make me and our daughter so happy everyday. I love you sooooo much!

Toddler Bed

I've decided to stick more to a routine when it comes to Ryenne's bed time. Now, regardless if Peter is home or not, we're going to start our bed time routine at 8:30pm.

So last night we took a bath, with bubbles of course, and then got into jammies and read a story. I tucked her into her toddler bed and laid down next to her. When she fell asleep I got up and got to read a book in my own bed!

Peter got home at around midnight and she woke up and climbed into our bed. But at least this was a good start!

Sliding!

Slide Challenged

Darn Pampers!

Well we were running low on Ry's Pull-Ups so the other day we went to get more and the Pampers version was on sale and she said she wanted them because they had Go Diego Go on them. So she's been using them for a few days and there is a perfumey smell on them and she's broken out in a terrible rash! Damnit!

So I went to get her more Pull-Ups. My poor baby. She is all itchy and unhappy.

Hmmmm....

I picked up Ry today from school and she was such a good girl! Her teacher said she was a great helper and she only cried for 5 minutes after we left. She did nap for about half an hour, but when I arrived she was just laying on her nap mat staring out into outer space. Her daily report said she loved the sand box and see-saw outside and she loved painting!

So we got home and I started to feel really blah. My tummy was getting hard but I didn't feel any contractions. So maybe they were braxton hicks?

Anyway, since I didn't nap today, I was getting exhausted by around 6pm. I took Ry upstairs and we read some books and she finally fell asleep close to 7pm. I woke up at 8pm wanting to go get Panda's, but it's now almost 9pm and she's still sleeping! So I don't know if she's going to sleep through the night, or if she's going to wake soon and feel grumpy since she hasn't eaten in a while... we shall see.

I'm hungry. But all I want is Panda's. I need chicken, broccoli, and egg rolls. Whaaaa!

First Day of School!!!

Today is Ryenne's first day of pre-school! We had a bit of a rough night since she didn't want to go to bed. Then when I finally got her to bed, P2 was kicking me so much that I couldn't sleep. Then Peter got home super late and didn't come to bed until 3am... It was just a rough night!

We got up on time and Ry ate her breakfast and I got her dressed. Then it was off to school!





Putting her lunch in the cubby. We keep calling it a "puka".


Everyone washes hands to begin the day...





After hand washing, she noticed that one of the other kids got to start painting on an easel. She was VERY interested and wouldn't look at the camera. So I gave her a kiss and then Peter gave her a kiss. Then he asked for a hug and that was IT. She realized we were leaving and wouldn't let go. Her teacher Ms. Tracy came and got her and gave her cuddles while we left as quickly as possible! I'm sure that she's having super duper fun right now though and I can't wait to see the painting that she's making!

Peter and I are off in a few minutes to go meet a pediatrician that was recommended to us for P2 and Ry. Then hopefully I can get a nap and I'll pick up Ry at 2pm. Peter works 3-11 tonight so I need to be well rested for when Ry comes home.

Cell Phone Pics

So not the best quality pictures - but they're from my cell phone. Ry was making cute faces in her carseat.

Local Grindz

Here's Peter's Ahi Poke!!! He scoured the internet for recipes and here's what he came up with. It was great that HEB had sushi grade Ahi. He was one happy camper!!!


Here's the shoyu chicken "plate lunch". It came out sooooo good! Ryenne ate tons and was one happy girl.


On a separate note... it seems that every horizontal surface in my house attracts clutter. It's ridiculous. I try to keep things clean but Ry is messy and shhhhh... so is Peter, so it's a challenge for me. Anyway, I cleaned off the credenza in the living room and I did something that I haven't done in over 8 years! I put a wedding picture in a frame and have it displayed!!! So after over 8 years of being married, I FINALLY have a wedding picture up on my wall. Geez took me long enough! LOL