From the Ciupak family

This gift came from the Ciupak family.. Yan and I were in the same doctoral program together and since then, she has had two beautiful boys and another one on the way. Thank you so much Yan, Brian, Andrew, Alex & Baby #3 for thinking of us and for the cute Twilight Turtle and Baby Massage book.

Twinkle twinkle turtle...

I want a 'mama' massage to go along with baby massage!

Cataloging Thank Yous!

The beauty of a blog is that we can log and acknowledge all the wonderful people we have come across, travels, milestones and wonderful moments & experiences we have encountered. With Baby Milizia on the way, we cannot thank everyone enough of all the outpouring of love, support, kindness and generosity you have bestowed upon our family.

With love always... XoXoX

Surprise package...

TGIF and it's a long Memorial Day holiday weekend! I arrived home and Peter called me into the house very excited to show me what came from Mr. Postman. It was a long tube package that usually carries blueprints, posters, etc. I inspected it and see that it came from our dear friend Ai Ling from Minneapolis. She got Baby Milizia a wall decal growing chart and it is so cute. The picture we took does not do justice to it (Husband, where is my Nikon? :P ) The decal is a light tan giraffe with orange striped legs and the other set of decals have clouds and little robin-like birds on it. Baby Milizia's room is painted yellow - so these decals will fit perfectly!

Thank you so much Ai Ling!! XoXoX

Week 27

I have to add another fairy to my maternity clothes fairies group - this is from another dear neighbor@girlfriend, Melanie S. She has an 18-months old daughter and we cannot wait to set up future play dates!

Peter really like this dress on me.

Perfect dress for a hot summer's day!

Summer reading...

Thanks to all the amazing and wonderful ladies in my life - Peter and I have a lot of resources to look through before Baby Milizia arrives. Our summer reading list has lots of informational, guidance and laughter tossed into it. Peter has been great reading up and as for me, I have a tendency to read up to the chapter/section where it coincides with how long I am along the pregnancy.

Summer reads... thanks to Michele C, Melanie S. & Diane G.

Being outdoors...

It has been nice and warm here on the weekends that I want to be outside - I try to help out doing yard work but mostly I 'supervise' Peter on what he does and mingle with the neighbors. I wear a sun hat to keep the sun away and cute summer dresses from my maternity clothes fairies!

Summer & Pregnant - Week 26

Glucose testing

Since I am around 24-28 weeks into the pregnancy, I was scheduled for the 1-hour glucose screening. The next day the OBGyn office called to say that they would like me to take the 3-hours glucose test because my 1-hour test results came out not so favorable. How unfavorable? Normal is to be under 140 and my result was 188. Yikes!!

I scheduled for the 3-hours glucose test immediately and they also had me set up to see a gestational diabetes doctor as a precautionary. The 3-hours test I did a lot better! Sitting at the doctors having your blood drawn every hour having been fasting for the past 14 hours was not too painful of an experience thank goodness to me being prepared. I brought a pillow, iPad, DVD player and 2 movies in tow. I was fairly comfy and time did not pass by too slow. After drinking this very sweet, cold and flat orange soda, the first of the three hour result was high but close enough to the desired level and the second and third hour reading, my glucose level was a a very good level. What does that mean? My body just process the glucose in my system a bit slower since being pregnant.

Peter told me that when Mom@Nancy was pregnant with him, she had gestational diabetes. So, I put this all on Peter :P

My OBGyn still had me keep the appointment with the gestational diabetes doctor. After meeting with him - he me set up with one of those glucose monitors where I am supposed to test myself 4 times a day and a guideline to dieting.

Peter and I thought this was rather extreme but better be safe! So here I am now, after each meal I wait out two hours not eating too much sugar (or space out my sugar intake) and then check my glucose level. So far so good.. if all is well, when we see the doctor in two weeks maybe he can prescribe something with less frequent testing. Gotta really cut down all that bread, potatoes and pastas!!

From our Canadian friends...

Mother's day, we hosted dinner for our Canadian friends who happened to be in town shopping. Sherene cooked up a very nice homey nasi lemak (coconut rice) meal for 10 people with all the side fixings a true nasi lemak has to offer including to the banana leave on the plate to accentuate the flavor of the coconut rice which already had a wonderful pandan (screwpine) leaf aroma when it was cooking with the rice.

Our Canadian friends presented us with a lot of clothing for Baby Milizia and her very first red packet too. Since it was graduation weekend at UB and Sherene had to attend graduation ceremonies, we could not head up to Aurora for our friend Bethany & Binh's son - Lex Ngo's full moon celebration. Mom@Nancy went on behalf of the Milizias' and we had her pass our red packet to baby Lex. So who came from Canada after the full moon celebration? Lex's grandparents who presented us with Baby Milizia's first red packet and a cute pink dress set. And the other set of pink and yellow attire came from Bethany's brother, Jonathen and his girlfriend Faye. The bib set and socks was gifted by Bethany's cousin KK and his girlfriend Sai. 

A growing wardrobe for Baby Milizia

{Pre-} Mother's Day

Peter had been hinting of a special 'gift' for me for this {pre-} Mother's Day... and this is what he is getting me! 

A NEW DSLR CAMERA

Nikon D3200

The sweetest thing he said to me after revealing what the gift was that next to me wanting one for some time now, it's about time I got it so that we can both use it to capture all the special moments in our lives and especially with Baby Milizia's arrival. I love you husband!! XoXoX

UB's Graduation weekend

This year for commencement - I got to see Laurel, Dominique@Niki and Xi at their graduation ceremonies. This entire weekend alone... I walked to and fro a lot and what an amazing workout it was for me. Fashion wise - I am also able to fit very comfortably to my summer dresses. With a pop of color, me 'waddling' here and there around campus was quite an achievement :P

 With Laurel

With Dominique@Niki

With Xi and Shu Fei - both my mentees 

Summer dresses...

I really have got to thank once again my maternity clothes fairies - here I am in one of the dresses bequeathed to me.

Thank you Michele C. for this dress!

Another early gift..

This one is from one of my amazing student staff - Mi Mi. She heads home to South Korea for the summer and she wanted to make sure Baby Milizia has her cute onesie and matching hat ready for her arrival.

Thank you Mi Mi - this is just too cute!

Week 24

Taken this morning...

From the Whittakers'...

We were invited to the Whittaker household for a scrumptious Aussie home made dinner with one of my favorite dessert ever - pavlova (meringue-like dessert). It was a nice relaxing evening with friends and what a surprise it was for Peter and myself when Andrew and Mandy gifted us with an early baby present for Baby Milizia.Thank you so much for thinking of us!!

Sleep Sheep to ease Baby Milizia's slumber time.

Minnie Mouse for Baby Milizia

Peter came home with the cutest mini baby Minnie Mouse for Baby Milizia. His co-worker Gia and her husband Dave were holidaying and thought of us.

Thank you Gia & Dave for thinking about Baby Milizia