The San Francisco treat

And what a treat it was. We loved our time there and we made the most of it. Of course we missed Mirabella, but thanks to our parents, she was in good hands allowing us to enjoy a solo trip. The traveling companion in my tummy could not have been more accomodating too, leaving me feeling very well. Aside from some nose bleeds, I couldn't imagine feeling better at five months pregnant in San Francisco.

We lucked out with our hotel view, overlooking Union Square. Lights were being strung on the giant tree on the square, but we settled for the skaters to get us in the holiday spirit since the tree was never fully lit at night during our time there. It was still pretty. The weather was nice the whole time as well. It was sunny and in the mid 60s during the day. Not California hot by any means, but San Francisco warm for November.




Some more of Union Square, right outside our hotel's door



Seeing San Francisco wouldn't have been complete without a trip to The Rock, Alcatraz Island, the most famous federal prision around. We did the night tour which started at 4:20, so it was really cool seeing it during both the day and night. It was a highlight for us.




View of the Bay Bridge from the ferry...


...and of the city


Sea lions










Night views




We rented a car for a day and drove just outside of the city to Muir Woods. The beauty of the nature that surrounded us was breathtaking. Our pictures couldn't do the place justice, so I only included a few, but we'd highly recommend going there. It felt like we were in a rain forest. It was a completely different world from the city limits, and just a short drive to get there. The sun was shining brightly before we arrived and after we left, but in between, we were enveloped in browns and greens.






These are from the car on the way out



Some veiws of the Golden Gate Bridge while we crossed it on our way there and back





And two other views, not from the car



Saw plenty of cable cars...







...and finally, it was time to ride one for ourselves



In motion


Enjoying the scenery




Coit Tower







No idea why


Fisherman's Wharf


We explored a horse track too


I indulged in plenty of chocolate, Ghiradelli being among San Francisco's best known brands




We made a stop at the Buena Vista, home of the Irish Coffee, for a taste. I watched. Jeff started without me while I tooled around Ghiradelli Square.




One of our favorite food items in San Francisco was ice cream from Bi-Rite Creamery. And it wasn't just any old ice cream, it was Salted Caramel ice cream. It was unbelievably, sinfully delectable! If someone can figure out how to send us some, we will smother you with kisses. And cash.


This is our light breakfast (light for one of us) at a cafe called La Boulange where I had an egg, cheese and veggie croissant (both Jeff and I said it was the best croissant we had ever tasted), fruit and a canelé (one of my favorite patries in the world!) and Jeff had a cream cheese pastry that was outstanding. We both had hot chocolates which were also delish.



Another morning, we had an awesome breakfast at Mama's, where we had been warned of a line outside. Now that's some good grub when people wait outside for a seat. We got there five minutes before it opened, and at 8:00, we were inside. The line was just about as long when we left, so we concluded that going on a weekday was key. The place was packed.


This just may have been the best French toast I had ever eaten


He loved it, but I know Jeff's omelette took second place


Any food lover should make a stop at the Ferry Building Marketplace, containing a level of shops dedicated to my favorite pastime.



From outside the back doors


Very stiff competition when it came to food, but one of the very best things we ate during our trip was...brussel sprouts. We mean it. It won't surprise anyone that we found a Mexican joint to hit up, and Mamacita was fabulous. It was upscale Mexican for sure, and we made the most of trying as much as we could. We saw the chimichurri brussel sprouts on the menu and had to add them to our order. They were (and I don't use this term much) to die for. We had so much food coming, so we tried to refrain from eating the whole mess of them since we ordered them as a second appetizer. We could not resist them. I could go on and on, Jeff could too I swear, but I'll end with saying they are a must try for anyone who goes there. Worth a trip to Mamacita just for those and a cocktail.


Not pictured was the fine cuisine we indulged in at one of San Francisco's top restaurants, Michael Mina. Good for us, it happened to be located in our hotel. The food, the service, then entire experience was exemplary. Every bite was scrumptious. I even tried cod and liked it, which says a lot. For my main course I had the lobster pot pie and I'm telling you all, what a masterpiece. I wanted to lick the plate. I say plate because it comes in a bowl with the crusty top as you would picture a pot pie to look like, but then it is reconstructed on your plate by your server. The presentation was impressive, but the taste, mmmm. Jeff had some beefy entree that he also really liked, but I don't know how anything could compare to that pot pie. We both had the signature root beer floats for dessert, made with sassafras ice cream, root beer sorbet and IBC rootbeer served with two, big, warm chocolate cookies on the side, one light and one dark oozing with chocolate. Oh my word.

I think I can feel myself getting fatter just writing about the root beer float and cookies, and all of the food we had in general. Obviously I'm attributing much of my nine pound weight gain between doctor appointments to this trip!

We couldn't leave San Francisco without picking up a couple gifts for the highlights of our lives. I saw this and fell in love with it. It had a similar feel to the book we had gotten last year for Mirabella in Paris, so we had to buy it for our baby. Interestingly enough, we found it during our Alcatraz visit, in the gift shop. We can't wait to read it together once our family of three turns to four.


And for Mirabella, we picked up this book during our trip to Muir Woods. She has been having a lot of fun reading it since we've been back!


It was fantastic to have had this travel opportunity, but it was really nice getting back to Mirabella. The best was coming home to four more days of vacation-we were especially looking forward to Thanksgiving-before having to return to the daily grind of working. We'll treasure the lovely time we had.

Food.

I like it. I love it (I want some more of it...to continue to tune). I’ve always felt badly for those people who don’t seem to care much about food, or eating for that matter. What a tragedy! I used to think when a person said that sometimes they forget to eat, they were lying. Now though, I believe there actually are some people who really don’t care that much about eating. Maybe that’s why they look so darn good in skinny jeans. I bet they don’t know that Joe’s makes skinny jeans in "curvy". But, I do.

Next to my family and friends, the joy of eating is third on my list for what I enjoy most in this world. I’ve been accused of being a picky eater, but really, meat is what I’m picky about. I’m not a big fan of it, especially during pregnancy. I don’t like mushrooms and (besides lobster, crab and blue marlin thus far) most types of seafood. It’s a short list in my opinion. What no one has ever accused me of though is starving myself. Words I don’t hear very much: "You really should eat something."

I’ve never been the healthiest of eaters (someday maybe I’ll get on one of those health kicks I’ve been hearing about), but during pregnancy, I’m worse. Sweets are doing me in. Cake, cookies, candy, pretty much most desserts in general, pancakes and syrup, they’re my ally and my enemy in one. The sweets are my craving, coffee, hot chocolate and cider too. I baked a cake two nights ago and ate five pieces that night. My disclaimer is that they were brownie sized pieces. I can’t be trusted, not around chocolate.

Breakfast calls my name lately. Not the peanut butter toast, the cereal or the oatmeal (although I eat all three), but nothing calls my name at breakfast right now like pancakes. Well, maybe an Egg McMuffin and hashbrowns or an egg and cheese bagel, but a good sit down breakfast calls for circular sweetness. I haven't always been all about pancakes, but now, it's like I can get enough. I'm not sure if it's the syrup, or the chocolate chips, blueberries, bananas or the like added to the batter. It must be the syrup because French toast always sounds good too. But for some reason though, I keep gravitating toward pancakes. This happened some with Mirabella too, but not as badly from what I recall.

Speaking of sweet, four of my girlfriends were kind enough to oblige my craving last weekend when we met up for brunch at the OPH. I ordered two meals: chocolate chip pancakes and cherry crepes.


There’s been room on the savory side though too. No surprise that Mexican food remains at the top of my food list and Taco Bell has been sneaking in, well, coming in at full force. (I've been meaning to get a Taco Bell post up because I have a great story about it, but if I don't, remind me to tell you about it.) I eat it two to three times a week, usually at lunch. It’s convenient, and those cheesy bean and rice burritos are fantastic. One used to be enough, but with pregnancy, I had to add an order of chips and cheese for the baby. I take three vitamins for him or her daily, so I feel it’s my duty as a mother to provide something yummy to balance it all out.

In my first trimester and even into my second, there honestly were times I’d get full really fast. Those days have passed. This explains why at my last doctor appointment (during my 20 week ultrasound appointment) at 21 weeks, I gained nine pounds in the six weeks since my previous appointment. NINE pounds! Even the lady that did my weigh-in grinned when she looked at the chart to write it down. I’m going to make myself feel better by saying I provoked her because I was shocked and was masking the shock by laughing, acting like it was humorous. I continued the sentiment when I blurted out the number to Jeff and my doctor before he even opened my chart. My doctor slightly chuckled with me, with us, and after doing some analysis, I felt good when he said the weight gain didn’t worry him at all. Thank goodness. That would mean I’d have to give a hoot about what I ate and I really don’t want to do a silly thing like that, not while pregnant. I think he said I was tracking six pounds more than what I weighed at this time with Mirabella, and by the looks of my 20 week photos back then, I’m going to tell myself it’s all baby and all in my belly. I know by looking at my face, neck and body in those photos that my reasoning isn’t at all the truth, but I’m running with it.

It may take me longer to shed the pounds once our baby arrives, but besides one hardened brownie cookie I should have spit out (but instead at the whole thing), I’ve enjoyed every bite (and every ounce of my little bundle) that has led me to put them on. And now that I’m having a tough time fitting into my Joe’s Honey booty cut skinny jeans, most maternity jeans are curvy by default, so for now I’m all set. Live in the moment is a motto I’m sticking with.

Doctor appointment: 20 week ultrasound

Click here to compare these with Mirabella's ultrasound photos.

Just as awesome the second time around, Jeff and I got to see our bouncing baby during my ultrasound on Tuesday (Tuesday, December 1st)! It truly is amazing all that can be seen in general, but then when you really stop to think about this being a living human being, our baby, growing inside of me, it’s unbelievable. The fact that I am making bones, a heart, an entire body constantly leaves me in awe. Everything looked really good, according to both the woman doing the ultrasound and my doctor, the best news we could have asked for. Our nerves started to kick in the day of the appointment, hoping all was going to check out. Once you see everything pointed out on the monitor, all the fingers and toes, the bladder and kidneys functioning as they should, the heart beating and all four of its chambers in tact, oh, that feels incredible. They can even check for a cleft lip and palate, and she analyzed the nasal bone which if abnormal, can be a key indicator for common birth defects, mainly Down syndrome. Much to our relief, all appeared to be normal.

We did not find out if we are having a boy or a girl; we wanted it to be a surprise again on delivery day, so the ultrasound technician told us she wouldn’t try to figure it out. I was happy to hear that so she wasn’t tempted to spill any beans. She called our baby cooperative and cute. I know she said he or she was cute or called him or her a cutie many, many times. I’m sure I heard it at least ten times. Ok four times, maybe three. Wouldn’t it be nice if he or she holds true to that cooperative trait in the real world? Yes, yes it would be (you hear that, baby?)!

After the ultrasound, we met with our doctor and he concurred that all looked great with our baby. And after shooting the breeze about funny stories for much of the appointment, non-pregnancy related stuff mostly (San Francisco, wine country, talking to children about drinking and swearing, the latter provoking vast amounts of laughter amongst the three of us), we came back to discussing why we were there. My pregnancy is fortunately going very well, so there wasn’t a whole lot to talk about this time. We’ll be better able to pin point when the baby is coming probably toward the end of January when my doctor knows his April schedule. My next appointment is in the beginning of January.

Oh, and we talked about my weight gain. Stay tuned for how much the scale tipped this time!

20 weeks: Photos

We're back from an awesome vacation in San Francisco (photos to come) and I'm at the halfway point of my pregnancy!

Over and out (west)

It wouldn't be fair to the new bundle if we didn't take him or her on a trip after taking Mirabella last year at this very same time, so that's what we're doing. We're going on vacation! Actually, we bid on two travel vouchers at a silent auction, so we were extremely lucky to be able to make it a reality again. Tomorrow (Saturday, November 21st) through the morning of Wednesday (Wednesday, November 25th) we'll be in San Francisco, California! Jeff was there when he was younger and I've been to California a few times, but never to San Fran. We're very excited for a little getaway.



We had fun picking out our destination since our vouchers were good for anywhere in the US. Originally our plan was to take Mirabella with, so it limited a few options and because of some goofy flight schedules, San Francisco was taken out of the mix. We had almost decided on a spot (leaning towards New Mexico) and then my mom threw out a very generous offer. The three weekdays of our trip she had taken off from work to start her Thanksgiving holiday early and offered to watch Mirabella if we wanted to go just the two of us. After going back and forth, we decided to go for it! After all, it'll probably be a while before Jeff and I are able to travel alone once we have two young children. I'm hoping we'll be surprised and it'll be easier than we think, but right now we're not trying to fool ourselves!

Nana and Papi were also so kind to pitch in and they offered to take Mirabella for a Saturday-Sunday shift. We can't say often enough how fortunate we are to have two sets of grandparents in Mirabella's life that are so quick to offer their help in taking care of her. We know she loves it, but it makes things so great for us too. Many, many thanks to the four of you for giving our baby so much love and affection and for graciously allowing her mama and daddy much appreciated adult time!

The big V

With all the H1N1 and pregnant women hoopla, I decided to take the plunge and get the vaccine. My doctor said it was being recommended that I get it, but at my last appointment, my clinic didn’t have the vaccine. Three weeks later, which was last week, when I called, I was told they didn’t have it and didn’t know if they’d even be getting it. What? A clinic geared towards women, several of whom are pregnant or taking care of babies under six months old, isn’t getting the vaccine when all the talking heads seem to agree that pregnant women (and those taking care of infants) should get vaccinated? Interesting. So, I began my quest to find it.

Even healthy kids are getting the vaccine now, but my first inquiry into getting it (aside from the one to my clinic) for me proved to be a dead end: no more appointments at that clinic, for anyone, even those deemed high risk (me), were being taken. After a couple other inquiries with no success, I was getting a bit concerned. At this point, Jeff and my family were champions of the cause for me to get the vaccine, so the more they talked about it, the more I felt like I should get it. But a big reason that I was on my mission in full force to get it now though is because we’re taking a little vacation (yippee!) and the idea of sitting in a germ infested plane began to make me cringe some. It made me a wee bit nervous. After a few calls, I finally learned of a (make-shift H1N1 vaccine) clinic I could go to, so I got the shot yesterday (Monday, November 16th) and besides an hour wait and today, a sore arm, all went well.

As I said when writing about Mirabella’s vaccine on my other blog, it can be tough to know what to do when it comes to this vaccine, but I do feel a lot better now that I’ve gotten it. So take that all you shivering, coughing, snot-nosed, plane-taking travelers!

(If I get sick after that last comment, I'm gonna feel real stupid.)

Update: After writing this post, I called my clinic to check on the time of an upcoming appointment, and a recorded message said they had received the vaccine.

16 weeks: Photos

Once again late on posting these now that I'm 18 weeks as of Sunday (Sunday, November 8th), but here are my 16 week photos.





And the real belly shots (my belly button had popped out within my first month of being pregnant this time I think!)...