Week 33 (1/8-1/14)

This week is my first full week back at work since the holidays. I have to say, I am less than thrilled to be back. I was getting really used to staying home and cooking and fixing things up at home- basically being Suzie home-maker. I don't think I need a PhD to do that but I may end up doing it for a little while after I graduate.

This week we meet up with a man to get our life insurance policies in check, we need to make sure either of us would be in an OK position if something happened to one of us or if something happened to the both of us we need to make sure that the baby would be OK. Along the same lines we need to get going on writing a will and determining guardianship of the baby and having all that sorted out. Talk about awkward conversations to have with people... "Heyyyy so I was wondering, if we both die would you be willing to raise our kid? There would be some life insurance money so the baby would have a college fund and a paid-for place to live"

The baby is moving around this week a lot, it looks like I am a living massage chair. You can see things rolling under the skin around my belly like the massage chairs at nail salons. I am still super congested which is stupid but we are in the home stretch!

Also this week is the baby shower my mom is throwing for me! I go down to Miami on Friday night and come back Monday morning. The shower is on Saturday. I'm anxious to see all the things she has been up to, she has been very sneaky and very excited about all the DIY things she's done. The only thing I know is where is will be (at the Rusty Pelican) and what the colors are: yellow, white and green. I need to figure out what I'm going to wear, I think I have a yellow dress that may still fit but at this point- whatever goes on is a contender for outfit even if it doesn't match the color scheme. The picture on the right shows the view from the ballroom at the Rusty Pelican. Can you say AMAZING?!?!?!

So I went down to Miami Friday night, my grandparents picked me up at the airport. The flight was uneventful, I tried to pack as little as possible (or so I thought) but my carry-on was still totally full. I took three dresses to try on since I feel and look like a house in everything. This last part of pregnancy is not the lovely glowing part, it's the giant, swollen, sweaty part. Pictures are no longer cute to look at. Having said that, I'm still going to add the pics of the baby shower, I'm just not pleased with how giant I am. Take this as a warning to all people who are planning or maybe not planning but end up getting pregnant. Look at me in these pics- this is what happens when you let yourself eat whatever you want during pregnancy. You get squishy. Don't get squishy.

My mom and I in yellow with the Abohasens

My grandma in yellow with some
of her crew

Saturday was the day of the baby shower. My mom and John left early so my mom could go to the salon and John went to the venue to start setting up. Apparently my mom had him working hard doing all the projects for decorations and setting up (my grandpa helped too) but then none of the men were invited. I stayed at my grandparent's apartment so my grandmother and I got ready in the morning and headed out to the Rusty Pelican like half an hour late. We arrived and I hadn't been to the venue since it was renovated and it's gorgeous! Love it. When you first walked in my mom had set up a little sign-in table where guests signed a little book, took a pin she had made with a daisy on it (for a game) and also took a guess as to if it was a boy or a girl. She had two vases, one with a blue ribbon and one with a pink ribbon and she also had hershey kisses that were either in blue or pink wrapping and if you thought it was a girl then you put a pink kiss in the pink vase etc. A lot of the women there didn't want to vote until I had arrived so they could see my belly and make predictions based on that. The boy vase had way more kisses in it at the end of the party.

Walking in the first thing you noticed was the amazing view, that place is unbelievable. The buffet was already set up with brunch. There were some more breakfasty things like pastries, parfaits and fruit and then there also was some lunch stuff- free-range chicken, mashed potatoes and salad. It was all delicious. Simple but delicious and more than enough. The ladies were all enjoying mimosas so I of course joined in (virgin of course) with seltzer water instead of champagne. It was very refreshing. The tables were set up with the cutest center pieces and favors. For the center pieces my mom did the fish-bowl type vase with sunflowers in it cut really short and it was adorable. Then on each plate was a little pail that had a chocolate flower sticking out so it looked like a little garden pot with a flower growing out of it. Also each place had a little box with the eos lip glosses in them, the round egg-looking ones. Adorable. She also had custom pencils all around engraved with the date and Claudia's babyshower so people could use them for the games. Lastly was the cupcake stand, with mini-cupcakes. All so delicious. I ate four. There were three flavors: red velvet, vanilla and coconut. They really were delish.

Pat Rojas (Abohasen) won the pin game
She was a sniper catching people!

We mingled, ate and played a few games. The first one started with the pins that all the guests picked up as they walked in. The game was that you couldn't touch your hair, if you did someone could take your pin. Whoever had the most at the end won. The second game was the belly measuring game which actually ended in a tie. The third game was the game where you had to come up with things that the baby needed that started with every letter in the alphabet. Whoever filled out theirs entirely the fastest won. That was funny, you could tell the different professions based on the answers (bankers said H=hedge-fund). My mom also had these little advice cards that everyone filled out and I read those later on in the day. They were very sweet. All in all, it was an amazing day. I couldn't have asked for anything better. My mom and John really outdid themselves with all the decorations and the attention to detail. It was out of control. My mom and grandmother hosted the event so a lot of their friends came who I've known my whole life and so it was wonderful to see so many people and so many generations celebrating together. It was really sweet and humbling to have such an amazing day. I am so thankful for my mom and grandmother for throwing it for me.

Saturday ended with us opening the gifts at the apartment, we didn't have enough time to do it at the party but my mom was a diligent gift-note-taker and she made sure I had the list of who brought what so I could write my notes. We got a lot of things off the registry but since I flew down my mom and John took the gifts with them and will be making a trip up to visit us and to bring the gifts so I can settle all them in the nursery.



Sunday began with a lovely breakfast at La Boulangerie (a French bakery) on the Key. It was delicious and then my mom and I headed to the Ritz-Carlton for a mother-daughter spa day. We both had massages and then were looking forward to relaxing. My mom had a regular massage and I had the special preggo massage. The therapist had me lay on one side and then switch to the other halfway through. I wanted her to go harder with the massage but she said since I was pregnant she couldn't use more than medium pressure. Ugh pregnancy rules. I couldn't use any of the facilities in the spa (steam room, sauna, jacuzzi) so they made an exception and let us hang out by the pool. We relaxed and had a few drinks- a virgin passion fruit colada is absolutely delicious btw. We spent the afternoon there and unfortunately all good things must come to an end. My mom and John left so they could drive back to Ft. Myers and I stayed at my grandparent's house. I took advantage of the spanish grammar nazi to start writing my thank you cards. They are all done.

A pina colada well deserved! Bravo!!

I got back to Tallahassee Monday morning. We were late going to the airport (shocker) but the lady let me in the priority security line because of the belly (score!!) so I made it on time. Barely. Hovik picked me up and took me home to pick up my car and I went straight to lab. Thank goodness I don't have to teach tonight although I do have the phone "interview" with the life insurance people. Hov has his tonight too. I'll be happy once it's done and settled.

Coming up next week: Hov and I go to VA to visit my dad's side of the family!! Stay tuned...