Cafe Green Green and other stuff

Wednesday I had my 32 week checkup. Baby had a great heartbeat, I measured exactly at 32cm, baby is now head down and have gained 2 pounds since my last appointment (here on out, I can expect to gain 3/4-1LB each week!). My Dr said everything was coming along perfectly and baby is growing right on track! I got a new heartburn medication and I hope that helps but other then that, my symptoms are all pretty normal even if not very comfortable. I'm also officially starting to get hot flashes too! It is so weird and for the first time in my life I've been the warm one in the house! I can't even sleep under my blankets! So that has been really different!

Afterwards, I met up with a couple friends at a cute cafe called Cafe Green Green.  The food was just ok but I'll still go back because it was so beautiful and I loved the atmosphere!

On our way walking back to the cars we passed this little store. It was so fun to check out! Plants outside, office stuff, house decorations and lots of kids' toys and books.

When I saw this book there, I just had to get it! I think it is the perfect souvenir and reminder that we had our first baby in Japan. I can't wait for my dad to come out to read it to my baby boy!

28 weeks

Monday I had my first doctor appointment at the US Navel Hospital (big military hospital about 25 minutes away) for my 28 week check up. I was all ready and went out to start the car and it was completely dead! Turns out the Brake Light Stopper had broken (a little piece of plastic the size of an eraser top). Without it in place, the brake lights stay on even when the car is off and it killed my battery. The part costs less than 5 bucks but when you have to get to an appointments and don't have it, it really makes it difficult. Long story short, with Logan's help I got there 5 minutes after the cut off time and they made me reschedule.

I was so upset because I'm a crazy pregnant lady I called Logan who was back at work and cried - even though they scheduled me for the next day. Its just that I tried so hard and it is not very close so I had wasted all that time. To help me feel better, Logan took lunch off just to be with me and we tried a new place down by the sea wall. It turned out to be a beautiful day and the food was great but best of all, Logan knew it was just what I needed to feel better.

Tuesday I actually had my appointment and it went really well. The dr said baby is doing great, he had a heart beat of 130 and lots of good movement. With a fundal height of 28 cm, she said he is right on track to be born on October 25th (the earlier of my due dates!). I also knew that baby had changed positions but didn't realize that he has flipped a 180! That little stinker! Instead of head down like he was for a long time, his head and shoulders are tucked up under my right ribs! No wonder it hurts!

One thing that was a little scary was the night before I had my first contractions. Thankfully I was able to talk to my dr about it so I know what to do the next time. They have not happened again since then. She said it was probably because I don't get as much water at night while I am sleeping and I had a full bladder.

By the time my appointment was over the lab was closed (where I have to do the Glucose Tolerance Test and Blood work) so I would have to go back to the hospital again to do that and get my second Rhogam shot.

I then headed back and watched Logan's softball game. He did good in the out field but his team lost.  When we got home, there was a beautiful sunset from our front porch and I took a pick of our snail infested bush because it think it's funny. I also got a text that evening letting me know that my friend Annie was at the hospital having her baby!

Wednesday I went down to the hospital AGAIN but this time for a much better reason - to meet little baby J. Annie is my size and her belly never got very big so we were all surprised she pushed out a 9 pound baby! I sure hope that doesn't happen to me!!!

I should have taken the glucose test while I was there but I hadn't eaten very well that day (sometimes I'm just starving all day!) and Annie's dad offered me some yummy chocolates from Utah that I happily ate, so to get better results I decided to come back the next day with another friend who had to take it too.

The next morning I met Mickelle (we are less than a week apart in our pregnancies) at the lab and we both did the glucose tolerance test together. It was not too bad drinking the stuff but it sure made me sick!!! I was grateful I kept it down and didn't have to do it again. I was originally told that I could get my Rhogam shot the same day but it they said they were too busy and I would have to come back the next day. Annoying! At least Annie was still at the hospital so I went and hung out with her (and ate the labor and delivery pebble ice) until I felt better enough to drive home. The rest of the day was spent just taking it easy and resting.

Friday Logan had a family day off! There also happened to be a typhoon not too far off but so far it hadn't don't anything at all. Very disappointing. We decided to go on a scenic drive down to the southern tip of the island. On our way, we stopped at the hospital for my shot (yes I was at the hospital every single day this week!). Logan watched and said it was the thickest needle he ever saw and he thought it was going to hit my bone when they jabbed it in. It did hurt a lot. I got a nice bruise and had a sore arm the rest of the day.

On our drive we saw a ton of beautiful beaches we wanted to stop at on our way back. We didn't stop yet because we wanted to eat lunch first. We went to this place called Thai in the Sky. The food was ok but it had the most beautiful views! This shot was from the parking lot.

Sometimes you find the most random things here. Like how you had to walk through this little barn to get to the restaurant and it will filled with cool fossils/skeletons and live plants. 

My pad thai was a little different tasting and after a few bits I realized my food was looking back at me! Another Okinawa surprise- there was about a hundred miniature little shrimp things in it staring at me! I just couldn't handle it that day so Logan let me eat some of his curry because it didn't bother him at all.

Rudely, right when we finished eating thats when it decided to start pouring! So we didn't really get any cool pics out the back and didn't get to stop at the beaches. Oh well. We will just have to come back!

I got my lab results back. I don't have gestational diabetes!! Yay! but I am anemic (shocker - jk. I already was pretty sure) so I have to start taking Iron again. I'm super hoping it doesn't make me sick again!!

Lantern Festival

Before I get too far away from when we went, I wanted to post some pics of the Lantern Festival from two weeks ago. It was a little hard to get good pictures in the dark but I liked some of these. It was fun because so many of our ward friends ended up there. Sadly it was really windy so half of our lanterns didn't make it up into the air. Oh, well. It is all part of the experience I guess. 

Car Adventures

So last week we needed to get Logan's car a new JCI (like emissions/safety test on crack). Turns out it needed over more money then it was worth to get it there - and even if it passed it still would have a broken window and no AC. 

We really didn't feel good about putting that much into it so we started looking at other options. We could junk it for parts but that seemed too sad because it is still running and then we found a dealership that would let us trade it in! We got twice as much for trading it in - yay! So we left it with them while they got our other car ready. The pic above was the last we saw of our little Tiny Tim.

It took them a few extra days to get the car ready but finally this Monday we got to pick it up and drive it for the first time. It was an unexpected adventure but we are happy with our new car. Yes, they are both Honda Fits. I know it is a little silly to have two of the same car but thats what we ended up liking at the lot. So now we have his and her cars.

Keeping Busy!

So now that I am not working I have so much time to do fun things!!! A little of what I have been up to involves meal planning, quilting, sewing, sprouting an herb garden, and lots of cleaning/organizing of my new house - just to name a few! I couldn't be happier!!

In addition to all of this, I have decided to dedicate a blog for all that kind of stuff! So I will still have this blog that has all my life updates but my other blog will have everything else on it so that I can make it public. I have had to keep this one private for sensitive AF information and personal information. It is just smart I think but now I can let anyone know about recipes and crafts that I have been making!

Come and follow me at julieannapanda.blospot.com! I promise it will be a lot of fun!

Here are a few pics to show you some of what I have been up to!

 I needed something to cover the front window but it is really skinny... so I put some velum there! 

 My Craft Room - this is what happens when you start too many projects at the same time!

Learning some quilting techniques

 Challah Bread

 Crockpot Ribs

Whole Wheat Rolls! 

Crockpot Paella over Saffron Rice

Valentine's Day Dessert

 Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad

 Chicken Enchiladas made with homemade Tortillas

 Tortellini in a Sage Pecan Cream Sauce

Salami Caper Pasta

 German Pancakes - Every Saturday Morning! 

White Chili

Herb Garden

Calzones 

Valentine's Date

This year for Valentine's Day Logan surprised me by taking me to Oklahoma City for our date the weekend before the 14th. He tried to think of what I would love the most and he did a great job!

Our fist stop was the Oklahoma zoo! It was a pretty cold day, so we got in free! There were still lots of animals out or in their indoor enclosures and we had a ton of fun being practically the only people there!



After that we got dinner at Panda Express - my fav! and even if it is not the fanciest place I'd rather go there instead of PF Chang's or something because I really like their food even if it is not the most expensive!

Before heading back to Enid, Logan took me to the mall too. He hates malls so it really was a great treat!

On Valentine's Day I made Logan a cute card and some brownies with a printout I made for my neighbors.

Then that night I made Logan Ribs again and mashed potatoes! They were SO good! Plus I ended the meal with Chocolate Covered Strawberries!