Half way.

Today marks 20 weeks for our little guy! I can't believe the pregnancy is half-way over.

Please disregard my happy trail of tummy hair.

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It's a BOY!

Call it mother's intuition, or maternal instinct, or whatever you want, but I just have to brag that I knew he was a boy from the very start. On top of that, doctors messing with my due date have gotten them no where- my last appointment put me back at the very due date I claimed since the beginning (according to my menstrual cycle)- June 17. Wooohoo! A little boy! Although most of you know I admitted to preferring a girl, I am so happy to be having a baby boy first. The prospect of an older brother is so cute to me, and on top of that, our Bancroft name is sure to be carried on. (Ha ha ha- this is an inside joke between Wes and I- Bancrofts only have boys, so we aren't really worried about the family name going extinct). Here's our sweet little Casimir Wesley at 18 weeks:

The next worry for us is the ever-looming possibility of Casimir getting my bad "X" chromosome- Hemophilia type A. I have an amniocentesis scheduled for next week, and I've been getting really anxious. Aside from the idea of sticking a long needle in my abdomen, I can't disregard the potential risks of the procedure. I'm still contemplating whether to get it done or not. It really boils down to whether I want to take a risk now, or take a risk when he's born by not knowing whether he needs clotting factor or not. Blah, and to think it's likely that I have to go through with this for all of my future pregnancies.

So far, everything has been going quite smoothly with my pregnancy. My only main issue is a constant tension (that's under-exaggerating) between my OBGYN and I. Because of my ulcerative colitis, I have been forced into being followed up by a High-risk Perinatologist. I didn't mind at first, until I realized this lady is one big power trip (again, that's under-exaggerating). According to her, I have no authority or choice in my pregnancy or birth procedures. Sucks to be her, because she doesn't realize that I am actually educated in both pregnancy and birth practices as well as my rights regarding informed consent and her breech of fiduciary duty. I also have a great doula to help me defend my choices... when the time comes for her to "require" the most absurd tests and procedures. On top of that, I've discovered that I'm not actually "high risk"- more than 90% of women with ulcerative colitis see improvements during pregnancy, AND, those with their colitis in remission have no greater risk than any other woman during pregnancy. After all of this unnecessary stress, we can almost guarantee that next time we will fork over the $4,000 and have a midwife assisted home birth.

Aside from baby news, I can also complain about school on here but I will refrain from doing so. As well as Kaitlyn being in Italy, but again I will try not to whine. So basically, there's nothing else to catch up on that takes precedence over our little baby.

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Happy Christmas!!!

Here is our little babe at 12 weeks. While we have not discovered the sex yet, we have discovered that (s)he has freakishly long legs!!!

I am approaching 13 weeks now. Nausea is subsiding. Pregnancy is happy, especially because I finished my fall quarter. I'm looking forward to relaxing for a couple weeks before returning to school. This weekend, Wes and I got our first Christmas tree as a married couple. Every year we go to Hagel Tree Farm in Somis with his family. Now for decorating... Little did I know that the only ornaments we own (meaning he owned) were all Star Wars! Now we start the tradition of a Star Wars themed Christmas tree:

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I love our baby.

Isn't (s)he cute? 11 weeks.

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10 weeks.

I will be 10 weeks tomorrow. Amazing, we're already 1/4 of the way through this pregnancy. OK, so lately, I can not rid myself of cold viruses. It's out of control. Combine an auto-immune disease (with immune-suppressant medication) with pregnancy (compromises immune system so as to not reject little baby inside belly) with working at sick little kid's houses (and parents who refuse to admit their kid is sick and cancel therapy) and you get a never-ending cold. Then throw morning sickness on top of it and wallah... a nightmare. But here's our light at the end of the tunnel:

This is an ultrasound picture at 7 weeks (3 weeks ago). We don't have a scanner so I just had to take a picture of it. Ha. It's not too impressive but I like to look at it and decide whether it looks more like a boy or girl. We are continuously taking bets.

Here's a belly update, too. (Excuse my pajamas, I'm sick, remember?):

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My most favorite babies (aside from ours, of course)

This update is a tribute to my most favorite babies. A couple weekends ago we went with the Fikes to St. Andrew's Abbey. We love that monastery. Every time we go, there is something seasonal to appreciate. The first time we went in the midst of cherry blossoms. Then, we went with Adam and Taylor and the place was covered in fresh cotton. This year, we got to eat fresh apples from the orchard. Here's Hero and Mary indulging in sweet apples:

Then on Halloween, Wes and I went with my baby brother Adham and his mom for trick or treating. Adham was a tiger, Wes was a porpoise, and I was a sloth. Unfortunately, there were no other trick or treaters. Even though he only speaks Arabic, he kinda got the hang of it. Afterwards we took him to the Harvest Festival at New Hope, where he was deathly afraid of his idol, Elmo.

This thursday, Wes and I get to see our baby's first ultra sound and hear his/her heartbeat. I am almost 8 weeks along. I thought I was skipping the morning sickness part, but alas, this past week has been nothing but nausea. I also think I might be coming down with the flu, even though I got my H1N1 vaccine last friday. Aye aye.

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Babie(s).

Time to bring back the blog!

Wes and I just found out we are pregnant. I will be 6 weeks tomorrow. Which means, it wasn't quite a honeymoon baby but it was close. I am due June 17, 2010, about 1 week after my last set of finals at UCLA! We should be able to find out the sex of the baby in late January. This is going to be a big deal for us, because, as many of you know, I carry a recessive sex linked X chromosome disorder called hemophilia. As a classic sex-linked disease, the way it works is that our male babies have a 50% of getting full-blown hemophilia, while our female babies have a 50% chance of being carriers like me. Hemophilia affects the blood's ability to clot. While there's no cure, it can be treated with continuous infusions of the clotting factor. See here, the classic example that you learn in 10th grade biology class:

Anyways, while I'm still really early, I've thoroughly been enjoying pregnancy. I'm lucky that I haven't been too sick yet. Hopefully it stays that way. My biggest obstacles right now are school, work, and avoiding the swine flu... I also have to keep my Ulcerative Colitis at bay, which has been easy so far. My white blood count was really low right before I found out I was pregnant, so I had to reduce my immune-modifying medicine by half. This turned out good, since, it's not really recommended for pregnant women to take this medicine, anyway. I've been on a half-dose for about a month and have not got a relapse yet...

Some other exciting news, although not as exciting, is that Wes and I just moved to a cute guest house. It's tiny, but we love it. It has it's own yard (needs some work), and it's in walking distance to Fresh And Easy, Pavillions/ Borders plaza, and the Regal plaza. (We refer to this as the "hubub of town" or "downtown Simi...") Ok, but really, It is also about two blocks away from Wes' work. And, thanks to Kirby, Wes has been working at Clover. Sounds like it's been fun and we have been blessed financially. It's been a struggle getting through summer after Wes' brother, Dustin, passed away. But God is good to us, although he takes, we have to recognize that he also gives.

If I have nothing else to update about, you can at least look forward to baby updates!

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I stand and strain to make ends meet.

Married.



and...

back from Iceland.

We made this video from our travels. Basically, just watch us walk around the most amazing city in the world while Wes eats strange foods and drinks strange beers with our new Icelandic friends. More blogging to come...

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YAY.

Done with school... (temporarily, anyway). Bring on the wedding!

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Gatorade.

Today, I was running late for work and my water bottle wasn't clean. Really thirsty, I grabbed an old Gatorade from back when I had to have all of those colonoscopies. I was obviously desperate, because drinking these things are torture (I associate them with my starvation "clear liquids" diet while violently "cleansing" my colon in preparation for invading procedures). Anyways, they are so damn hard to open.

I spent my entire 15 minute car ride trying to open the Gatorade bottle without getting in an accident. (Failed in Gatorade mission, succeeded in avoiding car accident). When I arrived to work, I started my session by trying to multitask between conversing with my twelve year old autistic client and opening my Gatorade. After awhile, I asked him to open it for me and he just stared at me, drooled a little bit, then he told me "Jeans... I wear jeans."

At this point, I decided to venture to the park with my twelve year old, all the while I was banging my Gatorade on the sidewalk, smashing it into poles, and twisting with full fierce. (To the outside observer, I probably looked like the one challenged with autism). I was THIRSTY! The skin between my thumb and pointer finger was chaffed with such determination. I called Kaitlyn to meet me at the park so she could open it for me, but she was still 100 miles north of Los Angeles on her way home from Chico.

So I arrived at the park, where little kids stared in awe as I smashed my Gatorade against the playground equipment. This was no longer a battle against dehydration... (there was actually a drinking fountain at the park, AND, I could have easily brought water from my client's house.) No, this was a battle against Gatorade itself. Finally, after a cumulative hour of struggle, I succeeded! The cap loosened, I twisted it off, and I drank my Gatorade.

So why do they make Gatorade so freaking hard to open?

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Goodbye Ziplock Baggies!

I finally invested in some reusable snackbags from "greenstreetbags" on Etsy.com. The set came with one large sandwich-sized baggie and two smaller ones for snacks like cheerios, sliced apples, carrots, cheese and crackers, you name it! They are made with cotton, close with velcro, and are lined with water proof nylon which makes it easy to pack even wet snacks like strawberries! I LOVE them! If you are anything like me and spend too much time on ziplocks or care at all about the environment, you should definitely consider these beauties.

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Halló, kalla, heilsa

Today is a productive day for me. I bought new "sunnies" (that's Australian for sunglasses), I learned about Alexis de Tocqueville, who is, so far, my favorite social classical theorist, and I found cute hair pins for my wedding hair style! And hey, it's not even noon yet!

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Son of Man! Turn Your Ear!

Easter Season!

& Happy Passover! My mom makes the best matzo ball soup. Usually she makes a huge cauldron, and it's probably the one food I'm willing to eat leftovers of for days because it's that good. Feel free to come part take, we're on day 3 of Passover.

I probably shouldn't include Scandinavian nonsense in my holy Easter post but, hey, I don't blog very often. Next weekend marks the 3rd Scandinavian Festival we will attend at Cal Lutheran University.

Year one: Find and purchase authentic knit had made from old Norwegian man with long beard. (Accomplished).
Year two: Find and purchase "Lil Icelander" onesie for future baby Bjorn. (Failed).
Year three: Meet a troll/ gnome. (In Progress).

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We're the younger generation, we grew up fast.

Finally done with finals! I finished my Unequal Education final today! I turned my Cities of Europe Paper in yesterday! I took my Economy and and Society final last week! And turned in my Special Education Paper last week! HALLELUJAH.

Yesterday was the weirdest day. Jenna and I had to turn in our papers at 8 am sharp (in Los Angeles, mind you). I didn't feel the least bit tired when I woke up at 5:45 to leave by 6:30. By the time we were driving back home around 9, I was ready to crash. I took a nap and had a really bizarre dream. I dreamt I was back at school, waiting for Jenna to finish her final. My phone kept ringing but I couldn't get it out of my pocket for some reason. When I finally checked my messages, I had a call from a lady in Iceland named Inglovar Something-dottir. Then I found Jenna and we went to the car and for some reason my car had three clocks, all with different times. I asked Jenna what time it was but she was really out of breath, like she had asthma, and couldn't tell me. Then she finally said it was almost 1:00 and I was going to be late for work. Hmm, I guess its evident what my daily thoughts and stresses consist of: School, Iceland, Work, running out of time, and maybe asthma, too.

Well after work I went to my dad's house to say goodbye. I thought I had escaped without crying, but of course I forgot the meat and produce from his fridge and had to turn around. When I was leaving for the second time he started crying so naturally I did, too. I won't see them until August. Here's a video of my brother watching Sim Sim World (it's the Arabic Sesame Street) and also I am trying to say "Where's Elmo?" in Arabic in case you are wondering.

Adham loves Elmo so much that he tried to steal a little boy's Elmo shoes at the mall.

Well now that I am on spring break, I don't exactly get to relax yet. Aside from having work every single day, I have a million wedding- related stuff to accomplish. I am trying to tell myself that it is fun. I did have fun a couple weekends ago, though. I went to D-land with Wes, Steph, Shani, Jenna, Daniel, and Scott. We are going back again, to Ca-adventure anyways, because we got a "2fer" deal that will expire within 30 days!

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"Baby Loves Banjo"

^ This is great... trust me.

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Two Icelandic videos for you:

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Cafe Balcony and friends.

Cafe Balcony never disappoints me... Well, except when they run out of banana flavor for our banana hot chocolate.

PS. Happy birthday Kadalyn! & Steph a couple days ago! & Hero the day before that! & Wes' mom! & everyone who was ever born at one point in time!

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Stupid car.

Last week while driving home from school (tired, hungry, cold, and late for work), Jenna and I got rear-ended. Everything seemed fine and dandy until leaving school today (hot, sick, and tired), I decided to throw my backpack into the trunk to find that the trunk wouldn't close. So we had to empty out my entire overflowing trunk and tie it down with the shoelaces from my ice skates. (Thank goodness we went ice skating last weekend!) Here is a picture from Jenna's blackberry's passenger seat view:

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Put the Lights on the Tree.

Okay. Update time.

I am feeling better. I am on steroids again so you better not make me angry! I'm a monster. ;D I can't stop eating but I am also doing a good job of eating healthy. When I am in remission, I pack in the fiber of green leafy vegetables. I have made myself a spinach or baby green salad every day. I also add a fruit or vegetable to practically every meal. (For instance, I put tomato on my bagel, a banana in my cereal or in my ice cream, and I pack my turkey sandwiches with avocado, tomatoes, and baby greens.) For some reason I have been getting way too many frappaccinos from Starbucks, though. And no, I don't add anything healthy to them. Forget the wasted calories- what about the wasted money? Aye.

This upcoming week will conclude my fall semester at school. I finished my final project for one class. Now I have a regular exam and 2 finals to study for. I am pretty sure I will be getting an A, B, and C in my 3 classes. Worst grades I have ever gotten. I am not stressed about this because my goal is to get my degree- not to have a high GPA. I never see myself going to graduate school. It's one thing to be working and living in Simi and attending school in LA, but balancing a disease on top of it all and then adding the whole wedding planning thing sure hasn't helped. For some reason I am quite content right now though. Beats me.

Everything for our wedding seems to be falling into place. We've been getting a lot more done than I thought could be possible. We have also been saving a lot of money. We are in the process of accumulating a "hope chest" that already has quite a few items we will be using when we move into our new apartment. Our plan is to only register at Target- and acquire everything that we don't want from Target by ourselves. We bought a couple of bigger things already, too. YAYYY IKEA! Here is a picture of our new sofa and our new kitchen table:

I went to look at wedding dresses last week with my mom at Pebbles Bridal- but with no luck. They have some nice stuff, and at huge discounts, but the problem is that they are all really high end dresses- so getting a $5,000 for $2,000 doesn't do much for me. I am eyeing designers like Jessica McClintock, and I'm searching for a particular dress that is only $300. I would post it on here but I have to keep it a secret from Wes. So tomorrow I am going with my mom and Wes' mom and hopefully Ashley, too (Dustin's fiance) to Camarillo Bridal. I hope something works out.

Jenna just posted this on my facebook. It is a video about the Icelandic Puffin. Thanks Jenna.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/12/081205-puffins-video-wc.html?source=rss

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Ugh.

Very sick. Having a cold on top of ulcerative colitis is very gruesome. Long day today. Thankfully I came home to a newly cleaned and organized room and bathroom, thanks to my baby. Speaking of my baby, he just made a virb blog for purpose of music. Here.

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