Darrien Danilo Elacio...

...and that is the name of my brother's son--due on April 20. Kind of ironic that their son is due on 420. "Instead of cigars, we'll have blunts," according to Eric. Jen is a happy mama, she was hoping for a boy. This means that Miles will have a partner-in-crime to run the house with. :)
We are all excited--especially my dad--whose looking forward to having two little boys in the family. Congratulations Eric & Jen! They will be like me & Tintin, Justin & Brandon!

Today at my appointment, my midwife told me that next week is considered 9 months (35 weeks) and on the week before Christmas--I'll be full-term, meaning I could give birth within 36-42 weeks. Please pray for me! At lunch today, Erica told me that Charmaine went into active labor this morning at 7am which means that Ian is probably already here! Congratulations!! :) I can't wait to meet him...

Week 34 ain't no Joke!

I wake up every afternoon hungry and ready to eat! I think I'm going to make some waffles with turkey bacon today. Thank God Jus bought me some fruits. The other night, I was craving for oranges and popsickles. So he left to Albertson's and came home with pears, grapes, oranges, and a pack of Nestle Toll house cookies. Yummy..those were killed in a second. Yesterday, I craved a burger so we stopped by In & Out after our cardio at Serramonte Mall. I never ate so much beef and swine! I guess Jus is right...this has been our "year of indulgence." After attending a UZN meeting last week, we both decided that we need to check ourselves with our meat intake...but that will start with the beginning of 2006 ;)

Over the weekend, I started Christmas shopping for family. Jus & I ended up walking around downtown Frisco for 3 hours. The sidewalks and streets were chaotic with hundreds, thousands even--of people and shopping bags. De La's song was in my head as bags hit me left to right. H&M was too crazy to even sift through so I bounced. I'll wait until I can wear the clothes again! Right now, some of my maternity clothes don't fit me as they did a month ago. Miles is running out of space and I feel his every movement. I have 5-6 weeks left and I'm still debating whether or not to buy a few more maternity tops...Old Navy has a bunch on sale. It's just a matter of going downtown in that madness.

Anyways, back to shopping. So yesterday at Serramonte, I finished half the list--which was of my side of the family. Jus wants to put doing his side of the family off. This is the first time I actually did some Christmas shopping wayyyyy in advance. Usually I wait til the last minute--a few nights before Christmas. But I just have this hunch to get everything done now--just in case.

I also have to get a mixtape done now or never! Now that we can use Rube's powerbook & protools since our Mac aint workin, i got to take advantage of it. So that is what's on my agenda for today: Mixtape...well, mix cd. The other week, an agent from funkguru.com contacted me and inquired about a presskit & my fees for performing. The exciting thing is that they are based in Singapore. I sent Dee's info as well and told him about my plans for staying home for the first months after January. He agreed that I come out when I am comfortable and ready to. Dee will be flying out and DJing before then which is pretty exciting! This will be our first gig overseas. And according to Dee's convo with Ritchie, looks like Thudrumble got plans next year (towards the summer) of touring parts of the U.S. (including Honolulu), Manila, & Tokyo. . . this means, a passport for myself, Miles, & Justin. Each year, we get busier and busier...give thanks for all the blessings.

Last week highlights

wassup Snupe!
N9na aka Ning-ning loves taking pictures.
Malambing si Homielito!
Jus making that Boom Bap in the V.
It's his crack mission--he gots to have it!

Last Minute Laughs

I've heard that a jolly pregnant woman gives birth to a jolly baby. I hope so! Last night was one of the funniest nights, ever. I got the chance to listen to one of the wittiest comics, Dave Chappelle. He decided to do a last minute gig at the Punchline on Battery St. and it just so happened that Erica heard it just in time on the radio--to call me up--and place ticket orders. Diane was here visiting so she was able to make that quick purchase. Justin was hype about it when I called him at work to tell him the news but as soon as I mentioned the price, $58--he said, "I'd rather spend that on records!" It was a last minute show with Erica, Joy, Diane, Winston, Dan, as well as Lauren & Debbie. Cause we 'bout it--'bout it for 58 bones and a 2 drink minimum. Thank God they served ginger ale cause I needed it!

The $58 was well worth it! Dave ended up talking sh** for over 2 hours. None of his stand up was written out but improvised. He was interacting with the audience, getting into peoples' bizzzness, and just chillin really. All I know is that I had one of those good belly work out laughs and so did Miles. This lil boy was moving in circles and stomping on my bladder. I had to get up to use the bathroom cause I couldn't take it.

By the end of the night, Diane & I ended up meeting Dave and giving him our CD which he made the bartender stop the current CD playing just to hear what we had. He was like, "I'm enjoying it already." But we had to go and when we were saying peace--he was like, "But they're playing your songs--you gotta go already?" Maaan...I got all shy. He's just a funny guy. Funny guys are the best-- just like my husband, Justintin :) Justin picked Dan & I up after and I had a good night sleep with my babies. Thanks Chappelle--that crack head!!

On a side note--Chappelle talked about being the "New American" because his mother is half white & black, married to a black man, making him 25% more likeable. Hahaha...He then said his wife is Filipino so together they have Puerto Rican kids! Hahahah....I thought that was pretty funny.

"What is a pregnant lady doin at the bar?!"

Papa Jones, Mamafeelgood, & Uncle Eko

Am I in denial or what?! Sike. We were at the Milk bar for Lauren's 26th birthday during the D2S weekly. It's funny getting those weird looks from the bouncers and patrons. But who says pregnant women shouldn't be at a bar?! I still enjoy myself without the liquor--good music is all I need. And FYI--I was just having a sprite but I sure do miss Anchorsteam off the tap! Oh well...one day I will be able to enjoy a nice, cold beer. But until then, I enjoy sprite or sometimes a mixture of cranberry, oj, & pineapple juice.

The Homestretch

I'm back to feeling more tired and sleepy. I'm starting to feel nauseous again. It's hard to get comfy when I do sleep. I wake up 3-5 times a night to use the bathroom. My feet are swelling up and so are my hands. I'm not even skratching on the tables but it still feels like I've gotten a wrist work out! Pregnancy is so fun at this point! Other than these discomforts, I'm going to do prenatal yoga everyday to help ease all the tension in my body and also to prepare mentally, physically, & spiritually for labor and delivery. LABOR and DELIVERY. Yikes!!!

I opened up my pregnancy-related books again to educate myself on what to look out for when it's time. I still can't believe that these days will be my last days as a child-free woman. I'd just like to continue spending these last weeks, chillin as Justin enjoys his Star Wars Battle Front 2 PS2 game. I'm really fortunate to have had a work-free pregnancy (besides the Def Ed classes and DJ gigs). One of my last gigs will be this Saturday at the Filipino Community Center in the Excelsior. It's a fundraiser Bboy/Bgirl Jam for the FCC. I've just been preoccupied with what is going on internally, externally that I haven't been spending time on the decks. But this is the first time that I've really taken a break from it. But it is a much needed break to prepare in other ways for motherhood. I have been reading more than skratching. My midwife warned me about carpel tunnel during pregnancy. This is one of the reasons why I've taken a skratch break. Speakin of breaks, Justin is on a crack mission to dig up all the breaks in our vicinity. He's even raided my bedroom in Vallejo for more breaks. Friday was a funny afternoon at a Vinyl spot in Richmond. I'll post Justin the crackhead diggin pictures up later...it was a funny site but I enjoy seeing him giddy and lose his sh** when he finds that special 45 for $2-- Soul Makossa by Afrique. One of the perks about this marriage is that his finds are MY FINDS too. :)

On Saturday, Justin and I went to Charmaine's & Jason's baby shower. The funny thang was that there must have been five of us pregnant women there. This one lady said she was due in 2 weeks but the size of her belly looked like mines at 6 months. Anyways, all those pregnant ladies looked really cute. Jason's aunty passed by me and noticed my belly and exclaims, "Ay! buntis nanaman!" And for those that don't understand Tagalog, she said, "Wow! What a beautiful woman!" hahaha...anyways, I'm entertaining myself as I type. Yesterday at Target, this one elderly worker offered assistance in finding blah blah blah as we walked passed her then she says to Justin, "You better not have her out too late or you just might have to take her to the hospital." OK--I was annoyed. People just love to tell us what to do and how to do things. STRANGERS love to do this. It wasn't even late--it was around 6:30 pm. And even if I was at home and I did go into labor--Justin would have to take me to the hospital regardless! But as usual, I just had to brush that dirt off my shoulders.

We spent the weekend with mom, dad, JenEric, BobAwts and the doggies. Our family just keeps growing! We had dinner at Hula Hut in Benicia on Saturday night and dinner at Chevy's last night. My family has never went out to eat so much before. It seems as though my parents are really enjoying our company when we are all together now. My dad even cooked and packed us Tinola to take to the city. Justin is just at home in Vallejo too--I still have my tables, mixer, and the ASR-10 in the bedroom--not too mention my record collection. Homie loves his papa Justin and won't leave him alone. I bought him a Christmas sweater to match his new collar. He hates wearing clothes but I am trying to train him. He is so cute in it! Snupe on the other hand loves clothes. I saw a Santa robe at Target and must go back to buy it. When he was younger, and all black & brown, he use to love his Santa robe, wearing it even in the summer. There are some really fun and stylish dog accessories at Target. Ooh, I think I'm in the Target mood right now.

Lucy Poo

She's already fitted

Ang oot!

miles & me, Jus, BobAwts, Tom & Lucy

So I finally got to meet my beautiful niece, Lucia last week! FINALLY! And ain't she just a cutie?! She has the best cheeks ever and Lea was right when she said that Lucy was all cheeks, belly, & booty! :)

Yesterday I had another appointment and afterwards I signed up for all these parenting and lamaze classes. The first class is tomorrow and it's actually focusing on car seat safety for babies. The perk is that we'll receive a gift certificate towards a car seat purchase at Target after the class. Justin and I plan on just spending the weekend again in Vallejo. On Saturday, it's Charmaine's baby shower and Jason's 24th Birthday celebration--all in one. She is due first week in December. Can't wait to see how they are doing.

Today I noticed the battle scars underneath my belly button. I thought the coast was clear goin on the 8 month soon without stretchmarks but I was wrong. My homeboy Kyle told me that his cousin sports her stretchmarks like what. And this is just a small part of being pregnant! I see Miles' lil booty sticking out when he adjusts himself and moves around in circles and side-to-side. He's starting to kick my ribs more often and as soon as I start talking in the morning--he starts movin and groovin. Last week, his Uncle Eko gave him some white Jordans that he probably won't be able to wear until he's 6 years old! But they are cleeeeeean.... ;)

Ok, I'm hungry--time to snack!

Your Amazing Newborn by Nathalie Kelley

When most of us arrived into the world as newborn infants, a newborn baby was thought to be unintelligent and unfeeling with primitive and undeveloped senses. Not until the mid 1960s did research begin to show us the truly amazing complexity and wholeness of the newborn child. Now for the first time in the history of humanity, we have scientific evidence to reinforce our intuition that the newborn infant is thinking, feeling, miraculous being with astounding abilities and even greater mystery.
Six States of Awareness
By closely observing your baby, you will quickly learn to recognize its six states of consciousness. These are: quiet alert, active alert, crying, drowsiness, quiet sleep and active sleep. Each state has its own distinct function and set of behaviors. During your baby's first week, it spends about three hours a day in the quiet alert state gazing and being completely receptive to it's environment. About 16 to 20 hours a day is spent sleeping, alernating every 30 minutes from quiet sleep to active sleep. Your baby spends 50% of its sleep time dreaming, where it integrates new information, an enormous amount compared with our 15%.
What do babies dream about? Although uncertain, every measurable evidence suggests that infants' dreams are similar to ours and begin early in utero, containing material from their life experience thus far.
Movement
Recently with the use of special films, reserachers have discovered that there is a remarkable rhythm every minute and a half to the seemingly meaningless arm and leg, movements your baby makes. Even more exciting is the discovery of synchronous movement of the newborn to adult speech . Visible only with slow motion footage, babies move in response to each syllable we speak as if dancing to the rhythm of our voice.
Sight
While in the womb, your baby has seen only light and dark. Immediatley after birth newborns seem eager to look around and see the world for the first time. Your newborn can focus on objects 8-10 inches away, exactly the distance for your breastfeeding infant to see your face clearly. Nature supports the bonding process in hundreds of miraculous ways. If undrugged at birth, your baby will be in an extended period of quiet alertness for its first hour before falling asleep. This is a magical moment of awe and wonder. Your baby will gaze wide-eyed into your eyes as eagerly as you gaze into his or hers. Faces and contrasting light and dark patterns hold the most visual appeal to your infant.
Hearing
Your newborn has been hearing for several months in utero, and can hear very well at birth. Your baby actually hears small units of sound better than you do! Its hearing extends to as low as 40 decibels. A healthy newborn can determine which direction a sound is coming from and turn toward that direction, demonstrating a complex coordination of movement, sound, and sight.
Infants prefer speech to other sounds, and high-pitched voices in particular. "Womb sounds" have proven to have a powerful effect on the newborn. Studies of groups of newborns who heard a broadcast of a heartbeat in hospital nurseries show that they gained more wight, slept better and cried less than the newborns who did not hear the heart sounds.
Smell
Your newborn infant's sense of smell is much finer than most adults. By three days of age your infant can identify your smell and prefers it over other adults. A newborn can smell its mother in the room even if he can't see or hear her. Like us, the infant prefers sweet smells to sour or bitter odors.
Intelligence
Your child not only hears in utero, but through constantly hearing your voice, it is learning and practicing language. In "Babies Remember Birth", Dr. Chamberlain describes how sound can be broken down into minute parts and "cryprints" are produced. Each infant has its own unique cry which matches the mother's speech patterns. The fetus has been taking language lessons and acquires the mother's accents and intonations. Babies of deaf mothers have an unusual cry or none at all. Babies as young as two day old can learn to manipulate their environment through devices that meter sucking. If, when they suck fast, they get a high-pitched voice, they will suck fast. When this order is reversed, they quickly adapt and suck at the right speed to get the high-pitched voice.
The innate wisdom and intelligence of even the youngest babies cannot be underestimated. The more we learn about newborns, the more intelligent "they" become. And there is still so much we don't know!
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