The first blanket I started was with a super soft purple yarn and from that tiny square that she started for me, I ended up making a really large girly blanket, which I always thought would be for my baby girl. It was purple, pink, yellow and blue. I actually slept underneath it when I was home in March for my NH baby shower and was surprised how comfortable it was–not only was it the perfect weight, but it covered my entire body! I was never too adventurous when crocheting and always went around and around the center square so as a result, the blanket is a perfect square.

As I was looking through the nooks and crannies of my childhood bedroom in March, I found another afghan that I had Grammy help me start and the colors were very cool–all different shades of blue, except for a small section of light purple. I forgot that I had started making this blanket on the off-chance that I had a baby boy. And now look at me! Just about 38 weeks pregnant and I’m having a boy! I’m so glad my childhood instincts steered me in the right direction!

This bluish blanket, however, was not finished. I think I had lost interest or forgot that it was still in progress and stuffed it in my over-stuffed closet. When finding this unfinished afghan, I was surprised that I could grab the crochet needle and continue working on it–as if my fingers never forgot the moves to make with the needle & yarn. So I packed up this blanket with the 5 others that I had gotten at my NH baby shower and decided to finish it before my little man was born.

Since April, every other night in front of the TV my fingers were diligently crocheting as if racing to get another row of blue done so that I could switch colors and continue to the end. There was no rhyme or reason to the number of rows for each color or what color I would choose–I would just take the blanket into JoAnn Fabrics or Michaels and try to find a shade of blue that would blend nicely with the previous blue.

Last night, I was finally satisfied with the size of the blanket and laid it on top of Ryan. He is 6’1” so if it can cover him, then it is finally big enough! I straightened it out on the floor and two misfits jumped on top…

Cali had been lying on top of as well as underneath this blanket the whole time I was making it so I wasn’t surprised when she anxiously laid on top of it once it was finished. We have another afghan at the house that Grammy made out of off-white yarn, which we call the “Grammy Blanket” and every time we pull it out of the closet and put it on one of the downstairs couches, Cali jumps up on top of it and makes herself a little nest. There’s something about the soft yarn and smell that she just LOVES.

I wanted this blue blanket to be bigger than all the other afghans that I got at my NH shower. Although they are wonderful blankets for a baby, they are very small and not ideal for a growing child. I plan on putting this blanket on my son’s bed; I think Cali is going to love curling up on this Blue Blanket as much, if not more than the Grammy Blanket.

The company I work for is pretty awesome when it comes to maternity leave. I get 2 weeks off before my due date, full pay, and an additional 10 weeks off after I deliver the baby–at full pay.  A lot of businesses only offer 6-8 weeks and sometimes at partial pay! I have heard of some mothers-to-be who work up until their water breaks. My office is about 25 miles from home, which is 1.5 miles from my hospital, so I couldn’t imagine working until the very last minute–no way! Not if I don’t have to!

Another great thing about my company is the health insurance. We did increase the coverage at the beginning of the year because we were expecting the new addition to our family and with so many OBGYN visits, the more your insurance pays for, the better. But they also offer a program called Maternity Support. As a part of this program, I participate in monthly phone calls with a registered nurse and earn points. By last month, I had enough points to apply towards one of about 20 baby items, free of charge! I did not have to pay for any portion of the item, no tax or shipping either. I ended up choosing a high chair. Although he won’t be able to use it right away, I know I will be glad that I have one for when he’s ready.

The calls are actually really beneficial. I always get all my questions answered from my What To Expect book as well as from my doctor, but the nurse with the Maternity Support program always brings up something I didn’t think about. Although she doesn’t have access to my medical files, she does know all about my health insurance and gives me insight into what is covered and what isn’t.

Everyone at work is pretty bummed about me leaving, especially my boss. He’s so worried that something will get missed while I am gone. And you know what, I kind of hope it does! I want them crying and begging and crawling on their knees for me to return. Which, of course, I plan on doing.

Ryan and I have a nanny lined up to help out with Baby Woods once he arrives and I need to return to work. She is a real find. Not only is she in our price range; but she has a lot of experience with babies, infants and toddlers;  she has great references; and Ryan didn’t scare her away when he first met her–thank goodness!

The sad thing about hiring a nanny to stay at our house to care for the baby is that we had to fire our dog walker. The nanny is going to take Cali out for her mid-afternoon bathroom breaks so we decided to save ourselves a little bit of money and put it towards paying for the nanny. But we looooooved our dog walker. She was so great with Cali and always left us a daily note about how Cali was doing, if she had any issues or seemed sick or unwell. She also took Cali out on “dog park” days every-other Friday. These days were more hiking and/or swimming and less dog-parking, but either way, she took Cali out of the house for about 4 hours on these special days and we could always tell when returning from work on those evenings that Cali had a full, fun and exciting day with the dog walker.

Two more days and my maternity leave begins, can’t wait!!!

Another side effect of Ryan working these strange, early hours on Fridays is that it is hard to sleep through him being up and about. He does take Cali out on these mornings, but most of the time I am wide awake for about an hour after his alarm rings at 4:30am. Well, this morning was no different…

…we both kind of woke up around 4:15am. I had to pee, of course, and I think that Ryan’s body was anticipating his alarm to ring soon so he was up as well. After I returned to bed from using the restroom, I saw that Ryan had pulled Cali from the foot of the bed into his arms, both of them facing me. After they were done smooching and cuddling, Cali slowly pulled herself to her feet, did a 3-point turn and landed in my arms, her back to my chest in the cutest little ball-o-dog you have ever seen.

She stayed like that lying in my arms until Ryan was ready to leave and take Cali to the bathroom. Then she gingerly made her way off the bed, down the stairs and outside to the nearest patch of ivy. And then she was back in bed with me.

A couple of days ago, Ryan and I took Cali for a very long walk. Ryan, being the Alpha-male that he is, has total control of Cali with just a few commands when they are out for a walk. And because of this, he can walk her without a collar or a leash. Me? I could NEVER do that with Cali. She would run away without a second thought. But with Ryan? Once she gets more than about 10 steps away he says, “Hey–stay with us” and she stops walking and waits for us to catch up. If she gets really far away and he breaks out the, “You’re going to get a spank!” then she walks right back towards us and stays between me and him. It is the funniest thing!

Well, on this very long walk that we took a few days ago, we found our way to the Cal Lutheran campus, which is quite large and very pretty–a lot like Wheaton. There is a stream that flows through the center of campus and a bridge over the stream. Cali has so much fun running in the water, getting a big drink and eating thistles that were growing on the bank of the stream. It wasn’t long before she came across two ducks minding their own business and that is when she decided to terrorize them (because why leave a duck alone?). She chased these ducks that were flying low, as if to entice the chase even more. And to top it all off, there were some guys playing rugby near the stream and they were totally egging her on, so she kicked it up a notch and continued to run large circles on the ground, with the ducks circling up above.

When the ducks finally flew higher out of sight, Cali came back full circle to the stream and tried to leap from one side to the other. But she failed miserable, and landed very hard on the other side. Instead of stretching her body out long like a puma, she kept her legs bent and underneath her as if she was a bunny rabbit hopping along. We did not notice it that night, but the next morning, it was clear that she was sore. So now our crazy pup is limping around the house, but still with a smile on her face. Obviously, the excitement of the duck hunt made the pain totally worth it.

That is about all of the celebrating I ever do for this holiday. Ryan and I are both in agreement that it is a silly holiday to waste money on. I insist on him not blowing money on flowers for me. And I get out in front of the holiday months prior and let him know that I will not be getting him any candy or gifts or what-not.

We avoid leaving the house on the night of Valentine’s Day as well. We want to avoid every couple in the world that is out and about on this stupid holiday, throwing money at wait staff for a price fixed menu, smooching and being all lovey-dovey. I prefer a nice warm skillet of hamburger helper, sitting across from Ryan–both of us in our most comfortable sweats–with Cali peering up at us from underneath our glass kitchen table.

Last year I got Cali a small, stuffed porcupine holding a heart. She still enjoys carrying around this little pet of hers, that is now missing a nose, one eye and both arms. In the end, flowers die, chocolates make you fat and jewelry–well, jewelry is always welcome but that’s neither here nor there–but my point is, a stuffed porcupine will bring joy to that dog for hours and days and weeks on end.

The route he took us on was not one I had ever done before, so it was really nice to get a change of scenery and it was an added bonus having someone to talk to (other than myself) while exercising. It was a little bit longer than my normal walks, which are usually about 25-30 minutes. This walk was about 45 minutes. I felt great after we got home and totally wanted to do that walk again.

Tuesday night came and Ryan was working out on the elliptical at his parent’s house so I bundled up, got Cali ready in her blinking collar and leash with lights. We headed out and the first half of the walk was great. But there’s a point halfway through the walk where you have to cross a street and head up the hill to keep going a bit further and extend the amount of exercise you are getting–or you can take a right and head back to our house. Well, at that point I thought for a minute that I would cut the walk short and head home, but decided to keep going and do the exact same route Ryan took us on the night before.

When on that Monday walk with Ryan, I remembered crossing the street, walking up the hill and taking the first street on the right, which is what I did on the Tuesday walk. However, this street dumps you into a neighborhood with about four other streets that branch out and twist and turn into dead ends or cul-de-sacs–only one of them releases you out of the neighborhood onto the main street that leads up to our house. My goal was to take this street because that is the way we went on the Monday walk, but I had the hardest time finding it! I did successfully locate a couple dead ends and before I knew it, I was totally confused and did not know where to go. It did not help that I wasn’t wearing my glasses or contacts and it was getting darker and darker by the minute.

So I looked at Cali (who was getting as annoyed as I was) and we decided to turn around, find the way we came into this labyrinth of neighborhood streets and continue walking up the hill. Once we hit a major cross street, I knew where I was, took a right and continued to walk in the dark along a street I hardly traverse these days because the sidewalks are creepily filled with an overflow of bushes and there are no overhead streetlights to be found. Good thing I had the flashlight leash!

By the time we got home, we had been gone over an hour! Cali and I were both exhausted and thirsty so we made our way to our water sources and got a big drink. While she flopped on the cool tile floor in the kitchen, I flopped on the couch in the living room.

The worst part about the whole ordeal was revealing to Ryan that yes I went for a walk, but I had no idea where I was going!

For Christmas, from her grandma in NH, Cali got a new leash that has a light on it so that you can see what is in front of you (other than a basenji booty). It has a second light that shines down directly onto the ground and a third light that is red and blinking in the back of the leash. I use this to walk Cali at night so that we are both visible to other walkers and dogs, as well as cars passing by. She also wears a red-blinking heart around her neck on these nightly walks—I’m sure from a distance we are a sight to see!

I am afraid of gaining too much weight during my pregnancy and not being able to lose the weight after the baby is born. I know that being pregnant is a beautiful thing and (as one of my friends said) the bigger you are, the healthier the baby will be. But this fear has kept me moving, walking whenever I have the energy and working out with my Wii Cheer 2 video game. While I am sure the walking is more beneficial than the Wii Cheer-ing, the video game has kept my interest in staying active.  Hey, it can’t hurt, right?

Besides avoiding caffeine, sushi and whatever else is on my doctor’s list of food no-no’s, I don’t watch what I eat at all. If there are brownies in the kitchen at work, I eat them. If I am at a restaurant for lunch or dinner, I have dessert. I try to fit in some fruits and vegetables whenever possible, but I don’t make myself crazy over it. I eat when I am hungry and drink lots of water.

At this point, I am nearing my fifth month of pregnancy and all of the baby weight is in my tummy at the front of my body. It is like I am carrying basketball–I love it! My goal is to keep working out in an effort to avoid gaining excess fat on my hips and thighs. Though I wouldn’t mind if my butt got a little bigger. It’s always been so flat and blah.

Although she always followed me around before I was pregnant and would be at my heels or under foot throughout the house, she does so even more now than ever before. Even when I get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, she will hop out of bed and sit at my feet in the bathroom and wait for me to finish. Then she follows me back to the bed, does her circle-pace-circle-pace to find the right spot and lets her body fall to the mattress with a flop and a groan as she leans up against my leg.

Cali has also grown increasingly protective of me. Whenever Ryan and I are laughing and jokingly pushing each other around, Cali steps up and bites Ryan or pushes him away. She doesn’t ever hurt him, but she always finds a way to move him away from me to send the message–”Leave my momma alone!” We think it is the funniest thing and we will provoke this kind of behavior from her just to see how far she will take it. She is always serious about protecting me from Ryan–even if he is giving me a hug! She won’t let up until he backs away.

I think Cali is going to have the same protective instincts over my son. She has shown us that she can be very gentle around little people. Whenever we are out walking, Cali is always interested in strollers and wags her tail with and anxious look on her face as she tries to stick her head inside the stroller and see who is in there. This freaks out the mother/father pushing the stroller, which I think is a riot because the only thing Cali wants to do is give a smooch. She has so much love to give that if she doesn’t find someone to kiss every hour, she’d probably explode.

We have a couple of friends with 1 – 1 1/2 year olds and since they are already low to the ground at Cali’s level, she loves to walk up to them and give them a kiss, which also doubles as a tissue cleaning up a runny nose. She is very good about sharing her own toys with babies. One little boy was walking around our house, using her squeeky milk-bone as a telephone. As he was walking and talking into the bone-phone, Cali was following him around licking the bone from behind. He thought this was the best game ever!

I can see it now…my son sitting in his high chair eating cheerios and conveniently “spilling” them over the edge of the tray to the basenji that is patiently begging on the ground below. Cali loves cheerios.

Three days later I had to call him back (which was Dec 26 by the way) and explain yet again that the heat was no longer working. Being the day after Christmas, no one was on-call–AWESOMENESS! So we bundled up for another long and chilly night. Me in my hoodie and Ryan in his fleece, Cali in between us with fluttering feet.

Meanwhile, on Christmas morning (Dec 25) I walked downstairs to find a large puddle of water in our kitchen, right in front of our refrigerator. Low and behold, not only was the thing defrosting, but it was just about totally defrost-ED! All the frozen items were soggy–the only thing holding the klondike bars together was the chocolatey coating–I couldn’t resist and tapped one to see a mini explosion of liquid ice cream.

Instead of being able to look at all the gifts I had opened up the night before (remember, Ryan’s family tradition is to open presents on Christmas Eve) I was mopping up the floor and emptying the refrigerator. Nothing we did could get the old clunker to get cold. Awesome!

Later that evening, Ryan measured the refrigerator’s space in our kitchen, took his credit card upstairs and got cozy in our chilly bedsheets with his laptop. He went to bestbuy.com and purchased a brand new refrigerator 5 minutes later. And I thought that I was an impulse buyer! The good news is we got a very good after-the-holidays deal on the new stainless steel fridge, but it could not be delivered until 8 days later on Jan 2. Luckily, we have an old refrigerator hooked up in our garage to keep extra soda cold and just used that one until our new one arrived.

The connection from our condo to the heating unit was finally fixed on Dec 27. Since then our house has been oh-so-toasty!

Friday, we are meeting up with Ryan’s mom and his Grandma at the Country Club for a Christmas Lunch Buffet. Food! Can’t wait! The club always has good food–who doesn’t LOVE a buffet???!!!–and the decorations are bound to be festive. After lunch, mom and I are heading to Burke Williams for some serious relaxation. We have massage appointments in the afternoon and we plan to take our time using all the facilities the spa has to offer.

Saturday, we are meeting up with my good friend from work (let’s call her Bella) in Burbank for some much needed meatballs from Pomodoro. This restaurant is a chain in northern and southern California and it has the BEST meatballs I have ever had, no lie! Through the company we work for, Bell and I get this corporate discount called ‘Great Work Perks’ and the best perk we have found through using this discount card is 20% off your entire bill at Pomodoro. Because the meatballs were so good and because we had 20% off, we used to frequent this restaurant on our work lunch breaks, but they recently closed the one near our office!

The next closest one is  a bit of a longer drive, but we found out last week that this one was closed as well! Unless we wanted to drive to Manhattan Beach, West Hollywood, Irvine or Newport Beach, the next closest one to any of us is Burbank. But luckily, this city is semi-equidistant between my house and Bella’s so we are going to meet at Pomodoro in Burbank for lunch and then go see the Disney movie, Tangled.

This Pomodoro restaurant and the movie theatre are in close proximity to a shopping mall so the possibilities for that afternoon are limitless! I love a good shopping trip with my momma!

Saturday night there is a UFC fight and Ryan mentioned wanting to see it so we might be purchasing the fight and eating in that night. We’ll see.

Sunday is another day of shopping and soaking up the time with my mom before she gets on a plane Monday morning and heads up north to see my older brother. He recently moved from San Jose to a new loft in Redwood City so she is going to see him, check out his place, and undoubtedly spoil him like she spoils me.

Lately, there have been a few food items that I am replicating on my own because I am craving very specific things. For instance…

• white toast with butter
• white toast with butter and cinnamon-sugar
• white toast with strawberry jam
• fluffer-nutter
• tea with splenda and milk

I’ve been on rotation with these five items for the past few weeks, as well as a cinnamon-raisin bagel with cream cheese thrown in there every few days. No matter how good or bad I am feeling, mood-wise or health-wise, one of these items is bound to cheer me up.

I have recently discovered that this “because mom made it” moto is also true with my Basenji. Although she will willingly eat anything that I hand her, I think she might actually like fluff more than she likes peanut butter (which I have always proclaimed as her favorite food item). Hard to believe, I know, but you should see how wide her eyes got as she was licking off the spoon smeared with the sticky-fluffy goodness.

It has gotten chilly here in the past few weeks and if I was in New Hampshire, the kitchen counter would be cluttered with cakes, brownies, cookies, fudge and any other leftovers from the holidays. I haven’t had the energy to bake anything myself, but I think that sugar cookies are in my immediate future. Though they my not taste as good as the ones my Mom makes, they will have to do!