Blog dedication - Mom and Career Center!

Tonight's blog is dedicated both to my mother and The Career Center at Hofstra.  Today is Mom Tula's bday so Happy Birthday Grandma Lana! And today The Career Center Clan got together and had our summer retreat before school starts back up in a few weeks. 


Our day started off with some bonding while we played pictionary on our smartboard.  It was a lot of fun.  Right now I can't remember what some of the drawings were but I can show you one:

Suzanne drew this and it's her version of Siamese twins.  Deanna got this one right away but I thought it was a little girl holding a balloon.  

Then we went out to a yummy lunch at BK Sweeney's, Uptown Grill in swanky Garden City, Long Island.

Danielle, me, Jayne, Chaundra, MaryBeth, and Fred.  We are enjoying our appetizers and I'm enjoying my virgin Bloody Mary. Yummy! 

a non-staged candid photo of course - while I'm holding an oh so healthy cheese fry.

Joe, Suzanne, Danielle, me Jayne, Chaundra, MaryBeth, Fred, and Enza. Deanna is missing since she volunteered to be the photographer. Thanks De!

Then after our very filling lunch, we all went to play some mini golf.  This morning it was raining so we thought we might have to go bowling instead.  To make sure that I could bowl, I called the "Future Mom's program" that my health insurance provides.  It's a great service because there are nurses available to talk 24/7.  It was pretty funny explaining to the nurse why I was calling, "Um, so my office is going on a retreat today and we may go bowling.  Can I bowl with a 6 pound bowl and throw it from a squatting position like a 6 year old?" The nurse couldn't help but chuckle and said this was the first time she was asked this question and there wasn't any material regarding pregnant women and bowling.  She said that she hoped I could bowl but just to make sure, I should call my doctor.  So I did that, and again I stumped the front desk nurses.  They called me back during lunch and left a voicemail saying that the Dr said it was fine to go bowling. Of course I looked online and it said it was fine, but you never can be too safe!

Mini golf was so much fun, but oh so hot! We split up into 2 teams, "Team Beautiful," which was our team, and "Team Down Lowe." At least that's what I remember of the name. If I messed it up, sorry other team.  Here are some photos...

Yes, pregnant women can mini golf!

I think I got the ball in the 2nd shot.  I don't know golf terminology so just bear with me.

There's Team Down Lowe.  Both Danielle, the one in the middle, and Chaundra in front, lost their balls in the golf pond.  tsk tsk tsk! DISQUALIFIED!  

I think this is a celebratory shot of getting it in the 2nd time again!

Deanna! Don't do it!

Suzanne and Danielle striking a pose!

Deanna saving someone's ball! 

Another celebratory shot!

Fred enjoying mini golf with Team Beautiful!

We don't follow rules!

Deanna hates when people tell her what to do! 

Even though our Team Beautiful kicked Team Down Lowe's butt, we still liked each other enough for a group photo.

It was an awesome bonding experience with the Career Center staff and we are now excited to get the semester started!  

Then after a very hot day of mini golf, I went to my parent's house for a bday celebration.  I didn't take many photos, but when I arrived, I saw this:

Jack loves his tools and can name each and every one.  He says that he wears the hat for "safety."

This was when Grandma was opening up her presents.  She got a stand mixer and toaster oven. I like this picture and it's because I'm trying to figure out what Nelson is doing in the background.  Is he about to put something in his mouth? Is he about to sneeze? I just don't know. I know it's mean, but sometimes a feeling fat pregnant woman needs a good laugh :)

Baby Girl Castro Photo Shoot

 

This is from our last sono from 19 1/2 weeks.  This is probably the clearest picture we have.  Since she was a squirmy one, we couldn't really get a good shot.  Hopefully she won't be as squirmy when we try to swaddle her!

In case you haven't seen the videos, feel free to visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXUZmSdAZfM

Beware of looking at maternity stuff from your phone...

bc if you hit the wrong button, it will get posted to facebook! 


As you can imagine from yesterday's post, I'm still a little boob shocked from my maternity bra shopping experience.  Because of that, I looked at the maternity bra section that Zulily.com had up.  Zulily is a great site for parents who like certain brands and can buy them at a discounted rate.  For example, today they have Crocs on sale. The prices are ranging from 12.99 and up and the normal prices for Crocs in stores are around $30 for kids, so you can get some pretty good savings on quality items.  The "boutique" that I was looking at today from my phone was called "HOTmilk" and in particular I was looking at the "Rose Radiance Maternity & Nursing Bra."  I must have hit the "like" button and because of that, a couple of people commented saying Congratulations.  How embarrassing that I posted THIS on facebook:

People who saw it probably thought I lost my mind.  But you know what? who cares! I just deleted it and people can think whatever they want :)

OH btw, my new bra is totally a grandma's type bra AND if it's lying next to my normal bras, it looks like it can completely eat my 38B's for dinner.

Jumping through the alphabet!

During my lunch hour today, I decided to take a quick trip over to Destination Maternity to make an even exchange.  Also, I wanted to pick up the dreaded maternity bra.  I need some more support and why the heck not go and bite the bullet already?

Normally, I'm a size 38B.  The nice lady measured me and said without warning, "you're measuring out to be 36 E." Holy canoli! I repeated her "36 E????"

NO WAY!!!! I was getting away with my 38 B bras until now, so no no, that can't be true.  Well when I put on the 36 E (full coverage) the cup was still cutting into me. So then we went up to 38 E.  That fit great but the question was - Will this last me until Baby C comes?  She then whipped out the 40 E! We put that on and on the tightest strap, it fit great.  There's also room for growth throughout the pregnancy and even post.  I was a bit perplexed to how I was supposed to react, embarrassed or proud? Well all I know is that these babies better produce some good milk because what a waste that would be!

When plans change, roll with them!

So my last post I said that we were heading up to CT for the weekend, WELL, the plans changed yesterday last minute.  Every summer, we have a family bbq reunion in either Rhode Island or CT.  Because of the bad weather scheduled for today (sunday), they called a rain out and scheduled the bbq for next weekend.  We were bummed, but there's nothing you can do!  Immediately I thought about a bbq that our friend's Shirlene and Oliver were hosting yesterday.  I declined on their invitation a while back knowing our plans for CT.  I called Shirlene to see if it's ok if we stopped by and she was cute, "Oliver, do we have room for them or should we tell them no?!" haha


So the food that I planned to bring to the CT bbq was then put to good use at the NY bbq (Buffalo Chicken Dip and Quinoa Salad)

Vegan International Quinoa Salad with Chipotle Lime Dressing (Recipe found here: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/07/international-quinoa-salad.html)

It was great seeing everybody.  I haven't seen the girls since I last told them I was preggers and that was in mid-June! 

Oliver and Shirlene set up a gourmet seating arrangement outside! Come on guys, you don't want to use paper plates?  Oliver says "That's not how I roll." :)

Oliver and Rob meating it up!

Skirt steak marinated in Korean BBQ sauce = Argentinean Pregnant Lady's Dream! ASADITO RICO!

Nads and Kat! 

Nads with the hostess Shirl, with a bunch of wine glasses and beer bottles.

Frankie Jr riding on the Verzosa b-ball Court.  Oliver put in an actual b-ball court for his son Jagger to practice. It's pretty awesome and we didn't snap a shot of it, but you can see some of the lay out.

Jagger and Nico ready to go for a ride.  Oliver probably asking them what type of burgers they want, always catering to everybody.

COOKIE MONSTER CUPCAKES!

The aftermath of Cookie Monster

It started to rain outside, so we moved the party inside. The girls got the royal treatment while the men served us.  Shouldn't that be EVERYDAY :)

Caught adding BUTTER to the potato!

Jagger completely wiped out from all the party madness.  What a little angel!

We had such a fun time last night.  Shirlene and Oliver went all out with the food and the drinks. Too too much! Thank you for being such gracious hosts.   

Remember that round table that us girls were sitting at for dinner? Well, just imagine all the girls trying to guess our Baby Girl's name.  They went from Zoe to Allison to Macquenzie to Hillary and Nancy.  Every name you can possibly think of they shouted out.   It was very funny to see and hard for me not to break, because I felt like I was in a courtroom getting grilled!  When Nelson would get a beer, "no you can't have a beer, unless you tell us the name." Shirlene wanted to know the first initial of the baby's name and we didn't even give her that. Sorry Shirl! Let's just hope now that when we do announce the baby's name (when she is born) it won't be so anticlimactic. 

Fun night overall!

And now let's check out Nelson's progress with our baby bathroom (bc it's small, not bc it's the baby's bathroom).

This is the toughest part of the job, spackling and dusting.  He did a spectacular job, no seams at all!

Priming

Nelson painted the walls with "Instinct" Benjamin Moore

He installed the lighting fixture today (from Lowe's I think)

He laid down the cement today too for tiling, the next step!

That was our weekend! Let me now get back to being "barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen."  Veggie lasagna for dinner tonight.  Have a great monday! 

From week 9 to 21

over halfway there! Here are a couple of pictures to compare from week 9 to this morning.  Pardon my morning face!

21 weeks, more plumper and my shirt is much shorter than week 9

As you can tell, she's in there and I need to start wearing different shirts.  There's a lot of stretch going on here! I feel more wide that I do "out," if that makes any sense.

We're heading to CT today! Hope you all have a great weekend.

Friday night at the Castro's

So proud of Nelson.  He's made a lot of progress in our bathroom downstairs. He primed the walls and painted the ceiling today.  I told him that we should just keep it as a very small photography studio since it's all white. He agreed so we won't have a new bathroom on the 1st floor. We need to take photos of our newborn anyways! Of course I'm kidding. Nelson said that I can have the honors to use the bathroom first.  Woohoo! I can't wait to not have to walk up the stairs every time.  

As Nelson was working away, I took care of laundry, did a mini workout, and prepped for our family bbq on Sunday.  

Since I weighed myself this morning and wasn't pleased with what I saw, I made it a point to eat a very healthy dinner tonight:

Mixed organic greens, with tomato from my parent's garden, soy chicken-less strips, olives, and 1 pickle spear (weird I know).  

I read in the Dr Oz book that at this point of the pregnancy, the baby swallows the amniotic fluid and what I eat, the baby will taste and it can possibly affect the baby's nutrition later in life.  So do you mean that if I eat spinach every day, Baby Girl Castro will love to eat greens? Hmmm I'm not sure I believe that.  Kids like kids food, but of course I will try my best to eat as healthy as possible.

This week was an off week for me.  I didn't exercise as much as I wanted too (2 days of yoga, a short walk, and 1 swimming) Usually I sweat more so I feel like that contributed to me feeling a little off (on the scale) Also I ate out 3 times this week (once for dinner, and twice for lunch.)  My body is not used to that so as Dr. Oz said in his book, I have to pull on the reigns.  I know I'm pregnant and all but I'm really not eating for 2, it's really 1.1 (again according to Dr. O). 

I also noticed this week that my heartburn kicks in a lot more with greasy and spicy foods.  I love spicy food, so it will be hard for me to avoid all spicy stuff.  I had to make Nelson try the Buffalo wing dip that I made for the bbq this sunday, because when I tried just a tiny bit, the heart burn showed up.  Oh granola! 

Well not a very entertaining Friday night, but very productive.  Great job Nelson!  Have a happy Weekend folks!