Walking And More Walking

I don't think I've ever walked more in my life as I have in the past 4 days. Here are some random pics from my walking adventures with my mom and Al. Santa Monica Pier
On Saturday we took my mom to Santee Alley for some entertainment and walking for me. I've never seen more junk and what's worse than that is there were endless crowds of people buying the junk. If you look on the right you can see a MAC sign....for about 5 seconds I was convinced that it was real MAC eyeshadow, but than Al quickly reminded me where we were and I snapped out of it. I saw some interesting new combinations of Spicy Fruit. I think that's even a Spicy Straw.
Santee Alley= Nightmare
Lots of random weird items like this....I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a fake Spanx.
My mom met some lady on the plane that said she was coming to LA to get $15 prom dresses. We were convinced this was the place.
Since I had spicy fruit on Friday I got Spicy Pork Rinds, but these ones looked like Wagon Wheels. I think Baby Alex likes Spicy Food. During month 4 and 5 all I wanted was Mexican Food. After our adventure on Santee Alley we went to the Museum of Natural History. I asked one of the spicy fruit vendors (they are everywhere) if they would take our picture. It's totally crooked and that's why they should stick to selling spicy fruit!
Dinosaurs, Rocks, and Stuffed Animals is really all this museum has. The one in NYC is way better

41X4

It's been 40 Weeks and 4 Days and I'm still pregnant. I feel like I'm a 41X4 whatever that means. I'm beginning to think this is real life and Alex is going to be inside my stomach forever. Since my Doctors appointment last week I've tried every home remedy you can think of to go into labor. I've taken Blue and Black Cohosh everyday. I've mixed it with Raspberry tea which we read on a few websites. I drank 2 Tbsp. of Castor Oil on Sunday and it was awful. The warnings aren't lying when it says laxative (gross I know). I ate a huge bag of spicy fruit on Friday and now I'm going to try these Spicy Cheetos which are sooooo HOT!! Today I walked 4 miles with Al and I thought I was going to die. My hands swelled up so much they looked like the Hamburger Helper Hand. I "borrowed" this exercise ball from our fitness center. I've been bouncing on it while I watch TV and while Al isn't using it as a foot rest. I've read and heard so many random things and don't really believe any of them at this point. Our Doctor said all that really works is sex and walking which I won't get into, but lets just say it hasn't worked.
I've come to conclusion that babies come when they are ready and all this other stuff is a HOAX!!

Still here, still pregnant

Don't worry, I'm still with child. Meaning he is still inside of me instead of in my arms. I was scheduled to get induced today at 5am, but when I went to my Doctors appointment yesterday she informed me that I had degressed since last week and I was dilated to a 1 again and my cervix was thicker? How does that even happen? She told me that she would still induce me, but that my chances for a caesarean would go up 40% because she was worried my body wasn't ready to go into labor. She suggested we reschedule the induction for March 28th to basically buy us 10 days to let my body go into labor naturally or at least progress and dilate more. Than she asked us what we wanted to do? I looked at Al with frusturation and than I looked over at my MOM who we just picked up from the airport so she would be there for his birth today!! Al and I agreed it wouldn't be good to push my body if it wasn't ready soooo we told the Doctor we would wait and hopefully he would come on his own this week. She scraped my membranes (I always wondered how they did that) and don't want to experience it again. She said it was a 4 out of 10 and there is a 1 out of 3 chance that it would start labor. So now I''m sitting here typing away wondering what is going on with my body and when he is going to come. (Don't even think "at least they are easier to take care of while they are inside of you" because at this point it is just not true)
Before my appointment we thought it would be fun to take a picture in front of the hospital.....so here we are waiting and here I sit still waiting. After my appointment we took my mom to Santa Monica and walked everywhere. We read up on ways to make you go into labor so I bought Castor Oil which I'm still nervous to try, and Blue Cohash. Cross your fingers you won't see me in this outfit next week at 41 weeks.
At this point I feel like it's never going to happen. I don't think I've had any real contractions. But it is hard to distinguish fun pregnancy pains from contractions. I am used to the hitting of internal organs by his appendages, back pains, and shooter pains up my leg. but a real contraction? I don't know. I'm sure when they are the real thing I will realize what is happening.
Now the waiting game begins.... I've decided Alex is going to be stubborn which is an Aries quality (my zodiac sign) which begins March 21st -April 20th.
I thought everything was planned so I deep cleaned our house last week, found every piece of dust I could, got my hair done, painted my nails pretty, finalized our hospital bags , and stocked the fridge with all my moms favorite foods. I hope my body goes into labor by itself this week and that I don't end up getting a caesarean. I also hope if my mom leaves she is able to make it back for the birth. Cheers to drinking some Castor Oil tonight.

Japanese Gardens

Yesterday Kristin and I went to the Hannah Carter Japanese Gardens. They are tucked away in a neighborhood in Bel Air. There parking lot only has two parking spaces so you have to make reservations pretty far in advance. They were so beautiful.
I sent Al this picture and he replied with I'm glad I'm not at that frou frou place.

Far from frou frou....it was so peaceful.

This part of the gardens reminded me of Hawaii which were so tropical and green.

I was really into them...hahah
It was such a nice day we had sno cones by UCLA and yes they had ice cream in the middle.
On our way back to "the valley" we stopped at a consignment store in Bel-Air. The entire upstairs is clothing donated from Paris Hilton's Closet.
They had tons of purses, shoes (which were totally hers because they were size 11).
I breezed through the clothing becuase I wasn't about fit into anything that Paris Hiton wore. Although I did find this super cute Juicy outfit, but it's hard to say if it will fit after baby Alex is born. Skinny Kristin ended up buying 2 cute pairs of her jeans.
Our last stop of the day was a farmers market by Kristins house.
I sampled a least 5 strawberries and every other kind of fruit available.
If I wasn't going to be in the hospital all weekend I would have bought a ton of fresh vegetables.
and fruit....next time I'm packing up Baby Alex in the Bjorn!!

Pasta At Palermos

Last week Al found this great new Italian restaurant called Palermos. It's a little gem in Silerlake that apparently was like "the Italian" restaurant. The walls are lined with famous people that have eaten there, but I feel like the most recent photo was taken 20 years ago. What really matters is that the food was amazing. I gained 2lbs last week and I'm convinced it was from all the pasta and bread I ate that night. If you're a big Weezer fan you will be singing the song "I'm Your Daddy." I'll take you out to dinner at Palermo's. We'll split a cheese fondu. On Saturday night my cousin Elisha was in town. She is the Assistant Coach for the Womens Basketball team, The Alaska Seawolves.

I look so gross and pregnant in the next picture, but only 5 more days until I have some of my body back.

They didn't win, but it was a good game. Go Seawolves!!

Al is their biggest new fan!!

1 More To Go

I made it to 39 weeks and it looks like I will be making it to 40 as well. Babies gain up to 1/2 lb a week once you are full term which means my weight keeps going up.

At my last Drs appointment I was dialated to a "loose 1" and she also did an ultrasound. We were informed that his head is in the 95th percentile. (Definately a RANES gene). I said scary and the Dr said why is that scary? I replied because it has to come out of me. I know she was thinking the same thing because shortly after that she suggested that I get induced on the 19th or 20th. She was worried that if I go a week or 2 over my due date that he would be too big or his head for that matter. I would much rather go into labor naturally, but at this point it looks like the better option will be induction.
So it's scheduled for March 19th at 5am...I was hoping it would be at like 8am or 9am so I could at least shower and do my hair. Who wants to look gross when they are in labor? I'm definately getting nervous especially now that I know exactly when I will be at the hospital unless he decides to make some suprise appearance before the 19th. Just pray that everything goes smoothly for us and that the pitocin works like magic. This time next week I will have one of these in my arms....My newborn picture. We can't wait to meet Baby Alex!!

Venice Canals

Since we aren't going to Italy anytime soon we went and walked around the Canals in Venice Beach. The water looks way cleaner than Venice, but it's only like 2 ft deep. I'm not sure if the people that live along the canals take their boats out, but it looks like it could be fun on a sunny day.

I was suprised how many different ways they went.

The people that live in this house have to be huge Lakers fans or just love purple and gold way too much.

We are for sure bringing Baby Alex back in the stroller for a walk around the canals.

I've been trying to walk as much as I can hoping that it at least helps to have him on my due date so we went for a walk on the beach too. How cool is this drawing in the sand? It was huge....I was impressed.
Not much of a sunset, but it was a fun walk.

I swear my shirt is blowing in the wind and that's why I look even bigger than I already am.