Been wanting to post, but feeling humdrum. Lots of interesting tidbits, maybe I'll do it later. Lack of sleep is really wrecking my cheery personality and giving poor Bob a hormone challenge to come home to every day.

boo boo for me.

caller: whatchya doin?
me: you know, laying around (whaddaya think I'm doing?)
me: what're you doin?
caller: you know, working .....

Hence the reason I don't call people much. Not that I don't like to, but most times it doesn't occur to me as I have no new "stories" to tell. I still have fun, it's just a lotta small stuff. BTW that's my rather lame excuse for not calling/writing/emailing you back....

But the nifty thing is right at the point where I think I'm gonna lose it, someone or something comes along and brightens my day. I've gotten just-in-time calls from Renee, Piia, and Pia (and lunch to boot - salamat) this week and that's been suh-weeet.

Here's the 5'vers, somewhat on timers .....

Random Baby Facts
1. In case you missed it, it's a boy! See last week's entry for the ultrasound pics...
2. Double R (Robert Ryan) Armijo weighs almost a whole pound now and is growing toenails
3. My favorite baby in utero word: lanugo - tiny fuzzy hair that babies get all over (like a little ducky), that they eventually shed before birth
4. He kicks like a pro, 'specially in the afternoon around 3 and again right as I'm trying to go to sleep
5. Only 131 days to due date!!

Weirdest things we are selling at our garage sale this weekend:
1. Nick's (Pia's son) baby blanket. Oh wait, no she rescued that from the refuse .....
2. Renee's lost treasures including, but not limited to: mustard colored leather backpack, strangely magenta, fuschia and emerald north face jacket
3. Many pairs of shoes, including blue velvet loafers (I loooooved those) and a pair of still in plastic Ritz Carlton bath slippers
4. A powder blue bikini top with built in everything, NWT, that I bought in the 10th grade. Uhhhh, give it up really
5. A ceramic pelican that my grandmother gave Bob for Christmas.... Cuz he really likes, uh, birds

How to while a way a day on bedrest
1. Watch 2 hours of Dawson's Creek everyday, every episode of Big Bro 4, and when you are really retarded, read up on Paradise Hotel online, but not actually watch it...
2. Crochet at least two rows every time your hands touch yarn, never mind the strangely uneven sides ....
3. Read at least 3 books at a time, so when one falls underneath the bed, you still have two in backup
4. Wonder for the umpteenth time if the apricots are ripe on the tree, but don't go out there and check
5. Flip on the Classical Music station, turn on the airconditioning and rock in the recliner. How very grandma....

The dog and I are psychosomatic because
1. I was feeling all droopy and sad, and now so is she. Okay, why did I wipe away tears, TEARS, from her eyes today??
2. Both of us are dehydrated, but it won't stop me from keeping the air conditioner on for 15 hours a day
3. Her tummy was upset, and now mine it too. Except I think mine has quite a bit to do with our friend dairy...
4. I was rubbing her back this morning and a whole pile of fur came tumbling off her hide. Uh, my hair is fried, and I can't go out and get it cut
5. Both of us lift our heads and move our paws in welcome when Bobby comes home ...

I actually did accomplish some things this week:
1. Put clothes into the nifty set of drawers that Bob assembled last week
2. Found the postage stamps, not that I'm gonna send mail, just nice to know they're there
3. Finished the real estate book/video. Yawn, went the highlighter. Guess I should actually read the book or something
4. Sent 1 of 16 emails I needed to send to friends. You're so lucky Jeffy
5. Finished disc 1 of Season 3 Sex in the City, thanks again Piia, this has provided hours and hours and hours of distraction!

Small wins are wins nonetheless. Ahhhhhh, purpose and direction.

Soooo I had to blog cuz Jee is HOH. (BB4 Head of House) And I should admit I gave up Paradise Hotel the minute Big Brother 4 started. There's no comparision - it's like eating goverment cheese instead of Kraft All-Milk American Slices.

This show is great, Scott blew his ex-haust and started tossing chairs around (love those electric lemon plastic things - very pre-school) and had to go, Amanda got voted off 9 to 0, and Jee became Head of Household. Yeah baby.

First, props for the Asian Reality TV participants (in the same tradition as Ruthie and that short chick (Melissa?) on MTV's Real World). And next for the nice guy finishing HOH. My sis-in-law, Beth, has always hated Jun, and after I got over identifying with her (Jun, not Beth) - simply for the long-hair, hot-tools straightening, contact lens wearing Asian that she is, not her connivey personality - I've been annoyed at her too. This is great. If I was Jee, I'd put her up alongside Robert. That would be swell. This is good TV.

I woke up the sicky dog LOL when I first realized that the HOH competition final four were all the "ex's": Jee, Justin, Michelle and Robert. It's scenarios like that which makes you think that this stuff is sorta fixed. But then again it is live.... Speaking of Live and apparel, uh Amanda's breastesses almost came outta her top and then sitting with Julie's lycra encased boobage in the evicted room was a real treat for someone into that kinda thing.

Here's my favorite commercial for a pseudo-reality cop tv show (reno 911) on Comedy Central ... "Sir, I'm gonna beat you over the head with your own shoe" Ahhhhh, sometimes I am very frightened for the state of television today. Won't make me stop watching it though.

Yikers, it's been a while for the posts .... uhhhhh, what's up?

Le Chein Bellisima (Belle the dog) is in the hospital again. Again! Why is my husband the cutest in the world? Cuz he called Carla, my MIDWIFE, on Monday to get the name of her vet. And at my appt. yesterday, they talked for 10 minutes about Belle, and the Carla called and got us an emergecny appt. at her vets. Bob dashed off to get the dog and come back for me so we could make a 4:30 pm appt. We had to leave Belle at the emergency clinic overnight because she was dehydrated since it had been coming out of both ends since Saturday (as Bob calls it - ass-i-titus). Bob had to chauffer her from the clinic to the vets this morning and then has to pick her up before he's off to Ozma tonight. Needless to say, the man falls exhausted into bed every night.

During my doctor appt. we did manage to talk about the baby in between discussing Belle's condition and Carla's extension collection of Disney watches. She makes me laugh... We're so lucky to have her. I can't begin to imagine someone spending non-essential time talking to me at our last HMO, let alone taking the time to call for an appointment for my sicky chihuahua. Carla said she told her vet is was for my emotional health that they squeeze us in at the last minute, she rocks! I feel pretty hopeful that her vet can patch Belle and her bottom up and soon!

As for Baby Boy 'Mijo, he's doing kickingly .... it's a bit amusing and quite a bit alarming when it happens. I always think he's kicking right into my stitches (ahhghghgh) but my midwife assures me that there's no way he can do that .... Bend it Like Beckham force or not. Ultrasound was good, all goes well...

I've taken up the crochet. Thanks to Bobby's Aunt Rhonda she taught me the basics via your standard potholder and I've embarked on what I thought was going to be a baby blanket but is almost as wide as my queen size bed. Ummmmm, well, now it's gonna be a full on afghan type thing. Oh criminy, the stitches are ok .... except for the fact that the thing is decidely becoming triangular as my stitches get looser ..... hmmmm. I'll post a pic one of these days.

Been laying low for the last coupla days, eating leftovers (yay for airtight glad plastic), hanging with my honey and not much else. Today's big adventure was putting the clothes into the new dresser that Bob picked up with Paulie (and a side visit to the Arroy's that I just heard about where Bobby was tormenting a sleepy Ava) last weekend from Ikea.

Oh yeah, there's a block sale here this weekend and my friend Pia (one eye) is hosting my sale as a fundraiser for her Hawaii Marathon in Dec. Bob has graciously said he will help, but is wondering how he's got the the busy time 8 - 11 am on Saturday.... Told you he was a good guy.

Thump, thump thump from my uterus .... that's hello to you from the kid ...

In keeping with the Armijo tradition,
the latest addition to the family line
..........................................is A BOY!



Bob, Sr., Bobby, Jr. and introducing ....
Robert Ryan
EDD November 21-23, 2003.



Bob's dad has 3 brothers and each
of their first born children were male.

Very definitely a boy! The ultrasound
pics don't show it his 'thingy' but we saw
it clear as day on the screen.
The tech was like ahhhhh ha! I know what it is.
She was so definite I knew it was gonna be a boy.

As usual, they like to take lots of pics of our
"famous" offspring and required three sets
of ultrasounds. A little scare about the connection of the umbilical cord to the placenta turned out to be a-okay.
But a phone call, and an extra consult later (another scary person) with very serious uh-huhs,
but it was fine, they determined that it was ok.
i'm sleepy now . . . more later . . . .

TUES, 7/8
Woke up feeling "S'wonderful, s'marvelous" for the first time in a looooong time. You know that perfect moment when you wake up just feeling right with the world. Timing was a little off (4:30 am) but hey, let's not quibble about the little things.

Ahhhhhghggh, my honey is the best ever ever. Did I mention the sack full of Swedish treats that he brought back from Ikea for me? Could be why I woke up in such a good mood. Two pieces of "Almondy" (I ate Bobby's) was more sugar than anyone should eat at one sitting. Wait, I have to give you the description on the box:


Sigh. Except for the fact that Carla gave me a little rub about gaining 25 lbs so far .... FYI, you're only supposed to gain 10, 15 at the most ..... life is good.

MON, 7/7
Today's Doc appt. was fabulous! My favorite receptionist, Shamona, was back at PAMF. Wechatted up the cutest little girl in the waiting room and my mama came with me and Bobby to the appt. and met Carla, the ultimate midwife. We laughed and laughed and got around to checking the baby, who is doing splendid.

And to celebrate our 20 week milestone, (and cuz my mama was there) Carla let us go out to dinner!! Woo hoo, we ate Korean BBQ at that place that Rudy knows. Simple and good food. Everything was dee-lish. After two bowls of rice and extra broccoli, Bob and Mom rolled me outta there.

Looking forward to Thursday, that's the big find-out-the-sex-ultrasound day. It's such a momentous day, I may, MAY, just straighten my hair ......

I'm catching up. These are my Friday thru Sunday thoughts, posted on Wed ....

Fourth of July Five
1. Still getting teary over "Proud to be an American" or any of those kitschy but true all American singy songs
2. Being batted on the head by the flag proudly waving over the Armijo, Sr. casa
3. Realizing we are ever so lucky to still have legal fireworks in Union City. Makes the illegal ones so much easier to set off ...
4. Frozen Middle America (Arkansas? Indiana??) Tourists swaddled in boo-boo San Francisco fleece jackets at the Pier to watch fireworks
5. Being happy to be born here, doing what I'm doing, with whom I'm doing it with ...

BBQ Highlights
1. Ava jumping with one foot on the Armijo trampoline, Gabe and Ava ever trying to climb the stairs, and Gabe in his tiny Roots hoodie
2. Not trying to clean our house to make it "guest-worthy", kicking it mad style on the various Armijo, Sr. couches
3. Maria, the neighbor informing us that not only was she having dinner with City Counci members while Boom Man Ramirez (Greg) was setting off illegal firecrackers in the backyard, but that the chief of police was on his way to their house to do a neighborhood walk thru....
4. Chris coming in with Mrs. Dash and being good about what he ate.
5. The boys being boys. Seeing Bob, Chris, Aaron, Greg and Dennis all together. Football, fireworks, and friends. What more can you ask for?

Friend Fiesta
1. Getting a call from Renee. About anything and everything.
2. Knowing that Lu will show up on my doorstep, with witty reality TV show asides ready, and a story to share
3. Having a brother and a sister who are friends in addition to family. And a cousin (PC)and sister in law (well, Beth, of course) who have the best stories ever, good, sad or crazy ....
4. Reading Mel's blog post about her friend's kid and the county-fair goat, and calling it kilawin..... LOL, talaga!
5. Knowing that I owe you a call or an email and you like me anyway

Reasons I Love Bob
1. Cuz he rocks. And teaches me, when I have the attention span, about all the new bands he's rocking out to.
2. He's a good friend, a great son and an awesome husband. And already a fabulous, talk-to-the-tummy, daddy
3. He finished my entire "so you're off for a whole week" honey do list, without me nagging. Prolly got it finished Faster since I didn't nag
4. Knows me, and not just the nice public face me, and loves me anyway
5. Cuz he buys brown sneakers after I bought him all blue shirts (and not from Ebay!), and because he teaches me that it's ok

Coolest Weekend Visit ever
1. My "work-girlfriends" coming to visit bearing many treats from International Market. Yep, they braved that bastion of Asian spices and various beef organs to bring me much needed fruit, Lactaid, and amazingly enough - the only cartons of yogurt in the entire place with english written on the packaging.
2. For them to feel comfortable enough to cook up a coupla pizzas, pop open a Sierra Nevada or two and for me not to cringe as they stepped on various crumbs in the kitchen or shuffled my dirty dishes - TRUE SIGN OF FRIENDSHIP!
3. Will Ferrell's Butt. 'Nuff said.
4. Knowing that your friends don't forget you when you're not in your cubie.....
5. Laughing about the last time the deed was done. Susan, Julie and Veronica - you totally rock!



Gollie Gee, wish I wasn't so sitting on my butt, as I have coolio pics to put up, but ahhhhh well..... After all that deep thinking last week, well you know jelly brain (and butt) is all tired out...

Okay, I worked thru the ennui a bit and figured out a biggie for me. I haven't been trying to reach out to my "deeper" or "spiritual" side. I've really neglected that part of me and that's why I've been undercover sad.... After a good workout with my Bible in the middle of the night, it gave me some perspective. (Yup, that's 9 me/mine/I's in one paragraph - blogging is sooooo narcissistic)

But it also made me cringe to think that I was gonna put this down for y'all to read. Hence the late blogging. I've had these posts in various states of written/edited/and in my head and didn't wanna post them. But then I didn't feel like I was being real.

Then a couple things have come up, and it was like, how do you deny a part of yourself??? In whatever shape or form it comes in...... I guess being super sensitive to the "new Christian" or born-again aspect of my life has made me not want to share this part of my life. And yet I know it has value. If I can just finish this post .....

The best way that I can summarize is by plagiarizing something I just wrote in an email to my longtime highschool friend Rose (whose baby was born 6/18 at 35 weeks, a month premature - but doing great and almost ready to come home!!) ....

Everyday I am totally awed by how God works. (Soooo weird for me to write that to you.) But really this experience in bedrest and seeing how He works especially with pregnancy and life in general is amazing. I have a friend, Heather, from a bible study who was on modified bedrest with placenta previa who was afraid she wouldn't make it to 40 weeks. She did, but then the baby had a heart problem and had to have surgery at Stanford. Baby Benjamin is home with them now, but throughout the whole thing Heather and her husband had "super faith" you know? I just hope that 1) We don't have anything happen to the baby, but if we do 2) that we can have faith and confidence like you and Dwight and Heather and Michael......

How can you deny the power and presence of God in your life?

Everyday, in so many situations, you find yourself confronted by God's grace, big and small, and to not acknowledge them is like cutting a chunk of your heart out and saying, nah - I don't need that. I've still got the other three-quarters of my heart doing what it's supposed to do. Does it work? Sure.... Do you truly live the life you are meant to live? Hmmmmmm ......... Do you even want to step out there and see if you have heart enough to live that life? Go on, it doesn't hurt, much.

At the very least, people will read your rambles and feel a ping in their heart before they realize you are sitting at home in bed with a big sign above your head that says "Deep Thoughts" and the theme music to Saturday Night Live playing in the background.

ennui ("än-'wE) noun : a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction

I've had a bit of a block lately (not that you can tell from my useless rambles about TV or eBay) about blogging. This being my platform for self expression, I've started a bunch of posts and not completed them and compose things in my head and then decide it's not worth printing.

So instead of existing in my head and creating all these expectations, thought I'd just finish the posts I have and be done with it.

Something that's been gnawing in the back of my head is that I'm doing things that I don't really care about instead of focusing on the things that I do care about .... then again, I'm quite satisfied doing as little as possible. I think I'm just hanging out right now. The good thing is I don't beat myself up too much about it. Hence the state of ennui. Kinda dis-satisfied, but not enough to do anything about it.......

I think I'm driving Bob insane though. Can't help it, he's home all week on vacation from work, dealing with me, laundry, and the great wilderness known as our backyard. One would think that one would be nice. But he is a convenient target, for my erratical mood swings. And I've now discovered the ability to cry on command. Whoahhhhh! This is a good one.

Why does it make me happy to drive him nuts? Ai ya ...... Hon, if you're reading this, sorry. And uhhh, there's still a load in the dryer (LOL)

Paradise Hotel
Suck'd in - Why did double ii Piia call me and we had to dish during the show, and then I spent a half hour catching Lu up on all the crying and retardation after the show.

I like the fact that three guys fought over the ugliest and oldest chick on the show (sorry Toni lovers, but come on) 2 got rejected. 2 guys fought over Amy (the strangely tomboy-ish professional cheerleader) and then had to pick from the 2 girls who weren't picked at all (who were the "pretty" girls, but guess in PH personality DOES count, go figure)

The rejects picking from the rejects, and then one of them got the boot from the island. Yeah, uhmmm so not worth anyone's time. And yet we watch.....

Potter, Harry Potter
I prepped for Book 5, by re-reading the 734 page Book 4 "Goblet of Fire" courtesy of Na. Took me two days. Hmmmmmm..... Now I don't know if I'm gonna jump into Order of the Phoenix or wait a day or two .... Don't tell me who dies!!

Pardon!
A big belated birthday to Leyla! Missed her B-day last Thursday.... We're all just waiting for Lil Lamb to come down here to celebrate. We've almost got your room cleared out and ready for you. Hope you had a good time girly =)

Persnickity
I've been lagging on the posts as I've been feeling persnickety. A little more nauseaous and achy, but as my midwife isn't worried, neither am I, just a little laggard. Every weekly appt. they press on my tummy and they're like 'Yeah" that's a good size uterus. Yay for me and my bun-baking capacity....

I don't care if everyone uses it in their blog (oh okay, Bobby and Lu) ..... prrrrrrrrr-TOW ..... prrrrrrrrr-TOW .....


MONDAY, 6/30

Preggers week 19
Bedrest week 8

I've been completely validated by my eBay experience. So far I haven't spent more than $40 (sans shipping) and have procured:
* 9 assorted Maybelline/Covergirl eyeshadows (approx. retail $27)
* 1 Stila powder compact ($15)
* 1 Avon set - eyeliner, lip gloss, nail polish and makeup remover ($11)
* 12 preggers magazines ($36 if current)
* 10 preggers books (roughly $80)
* 1 "gently used" maternity denim mini skirt and pair of shortalls (guesstimate $35)
over $200 retail dollars worth of gear for a fraction of the price. Uhhhh, works for me.

I'm okay with "gently used" clothing items, 'specially the preggers stuff (how long can they wear it anyway??) but criminy, people sell USED makeup. They have scary descriptors like 80% left in bottle, alcohol-hygiene sanitized, tested only 6x, AND THEN THEY SELL IT. ON EBAY. And there are multiple bids on this stuff.

The best propaganda for buying new makeup on eBay, was an auction description that said something to the effect of "You only have one face, why take the risk and buy used makeup?" Obviously, my many makeup bargains are NIB (see below).....

Random acronyms that are now part of my regular vocabulary:
NWT - New with Tags
NWOT - New with out Tags
NIB - New in Box
NWOP - New without Packaging
MIB - Mint in Box
TS/FS - Trial Size/Full Size
and my stumper, took me a couple days to figure it out ...
GWP - Gift With Purchase (size cosmetic)

Why am I into makeup? I have no idea. It's not like laying in a bed all day is conducive to the full palette of face color, but I dunno it's a cheap and fun auction thrill.....

And the killer thing is I currently have 100% approval ratings. I don't even wanna dwell on the pschological ramifications of your self esteem being buoyed by being favorably rated for buying things. Soooo not going there.

The intrepid shopper finds a way to keep on keeping on with her quest for retail bargains.... One would think I would use this time for useful or productive endeavors, well...... whatever....

Friday, 6/27

FRIDAY FIVERS

started on Friday, but well.... not posted on Friday .....


Things I .....Shoulda done:
1. Find out about the neighborhood garage sale thing
2. Send Pia the RE book email/Jeff the passage email
3. Blog, and keep up on the hilarious friend blogs
4. Start the magic photo archive ...
5. Called Aunt Rhonda, and most likely, YOU....

Things I Did instead .....
1. eBay, of course. Latest bargain? 7 preggers magazines for $1.99 (s/h $3.95)
2. Waited around for the mailman to come with my eBay stuff
3. Watched Sex in the City Season 2, courtesy of Piia. Is it possible to SITC-out??
4. Lay around in air-conditioned bliss, listening to my brain slow down
5. Consider if you really can go 4 days in the same pajamas. Ye-uckkkk!

Special Guest Stars
1. Aunt Rhonda and her ever patient teaching of crochet, to the all-thumbs BRPG, Mama Debbie with Subway lunches for all ...
2. Rexie and Gia, bearing funnel cake (yes, Mel, I ate a WHOLE one sans strawberries) and caramel apples from the fair.
3. Lu, and our sneak for pearl drinks and condensced milk toast, partial watching of PH and Euro-photo review
4. Bob, at 6:45 am with my brand new Whirlpool Air Conditioner - had that baby installed before he went to work, told you he was the man ....
5. My parents, gram, Piia and Gabe, and Renee all within 30 minutes of each other. Woo hoo. Party over here, Bed Rest Party .... although that was a bit much traffic for a body.

Misc. Media
1. Next batch of Netflix: Sum of all Fears ( Bob watched it, I read) Punch Drunk Love (sorry Rudy, I accidentally turned Bob off it so neither of us ended up watching it) National Lampoon's Van Wylder. WHY was this movie hella good and funny?? By the end of it, I was in love with Tara Reid too. And I HATE her.....
2. Dawson's Creek - Why did I have to turn the sound off on two or three episodes? The angst, the angst, is more than I can bear. Except I missed the one episode that Rex says he always turns off - the PROM episode. Darn
3. Dara Joy's "Ritual of Proof" This is one of the weirdest books I've read. It's a romance, set in the future, where women colonized some planet and the society is the exact same as Regency England except the chicks are in charge. Add a bunch of sci fi mumbo jumbo creatures and you're all set.....
4. Digital Pics -We've got a ton of cutie patootie pics of Gabe, and baby Ava (who during her brief Fri am visit was won over- finally-by some Trader Joe chocolate chip cookies) and a whole photo shoot of boneless Belle doing glam shots, but we haven't gotten them off the cameras yet ....
5. Pancakes. I know it's not media, but I made pancakes the other day and I just wanted to mention it. Yum.

Things that make me smile:
1. Leaning up on Bobby as we both surf the net, with the dog draped over the small of my back
2. Feeling blessed with my kind, thoughtful and crazy friends and family
3. Realizing, again, that it's not gas. It's the baby!
4. I'm on doctor's orders to eat, and NOT WORK OUT.
5. Made it through another week. Yippee =)