Love, Life and Appreciation

Rex has been studying hard these last couple of weeks, for the U.S. Naturalization test.  He'll be an official U.S. citizen if he passes.  His test date is July 31st. I've been quizzing him and he's been doing great answering many questions about U.S. history and civics, correctly. The book that is given out to study from has about 100 facts and the test only consists of up to 10 of those facts. There is also a CD of the facts too. The test taker must also read a sentence and put words that are given into a sentence.

I am confident Rex will pass. He is a very hard worker and is very motivated.

Good luck baby!

Yesterday was the official date for Liberian Independence. Liberia became independent on July 26, 1847. Rex and I wished friends and family as well as Liberians over the world, a happy Independence Day, through our various social media outlets. I'm learning so much about Liberia through Rex and he's learning a couple things about American culture though me. It's really great there's such a mixture of culture in America. There may be clashes at times but many times there is an opportunity to celebrate one's background.

I can't wait until to Liberia. We had to reschedule our plans for this December, do to the arrival of our baby. We'll be there soon one day though and I know Rex can't wait to go back. It was really nice seeing the culture at the event last Saturday. Rex and I were so happy it wasn't cancelled due to the rain.

For Liberians everywhere:

 

Only two more months :-)

I got my July 2012 Bluum box yesterday. This month's theme was curated by Joe Harper, a trainer from the Dr. Oz show. I saw that Bluum was having an offer for box's this month, which priced them at a $1 so I figured, why not? I ordered the box about 2 weeks ago and the price was $1. The box normally goes for $12 for a monthly subscription. Ordering the box however does put me as an active member for the monthly subscription, which will be $12 next month.

So what is the box? The box is shipped to your front door and features 4 to 5 deluxe size samples of products for mom and baby.  I found this service by searching the web on baby products.  I signed up before but had to cancel, due to a technical error. Somehow I managed to sign up for 3 subscription services. I emailed them and told them to cancel 2 of the subscriptions but keep one. They ended up canceling all of them and I didn't think anything else of the service, until I saw an email for the box for a $1. So I put in my information and I was able to successfully acquire the offer. Here's the box:

Yesterday we went to the Liberian Embassy in DC to celebrate Liberian Independence. The actual date is Thursday, July 26th but organizers decided to hold the celebration on Saturday and more talks on Thursday.  The weather yesterday was very rainy and we were both happy the organizers decided to go through with the celebrations and not cancel.

We went in the mid-day, after Rex was done work. Parking wasn't too hard as somebody was leaving when we came by. I brought my big umbrella that I got when I attended Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia. It can fit at least three people underneath it. There were many people there who turned out for the event. There were tents put up for vendors.  The vendors sold food, drinks, artwork, jewelry among other things. We were first greeted by one of Rex's uncles who was chatting with friends. I met more of Rex's friends and family at the event and caught up with family and friends I had met before.  It was a very nice gathering and we came just in time to see the culture dancing. The organizers but up a stage where a band dressed in tradition Liberian clothing played songs. There were dancers dressed in Liberian clothing dancing as well. Here are a couple of pictures:








The rain had pretty much ended by the time dancers came out. It had stopped for the rest of the time we were there too. It was very nice seeing the different attire and hearing the music. It made want to dance! It seemed that everyone was enjoying their time and Rex and I will certainly be back next year to join in the festivities. Here are a few more from the event:

Finally felt the first real kick today. It was about a couple of minutes ago. It was amazing. I teared up. I felt a slight push towards the left side on my stomach and I put my hand there. Then I felt strong pressure at the left side where my hand was. That was the kick. I still can't believe there's life inside me. As my stomach gets bigger, the baby is growing and getting more ready for their debut.

Before this kick, I have been feeling flutters here and there and even after feeling the kick, the pressure is not constant. I'm 19 weeks and 6 days today. I'll be 20 weeks tomorrow, which puts me at the half way point. Still have a few more weeks until we find out the gender of the baby. I'm thinking of a creative way to announce that. I can't stop smiling. I put my hand on my stomach a couple times more and felt a push here and there. I'm laying down on my bed now. I read that when you are still you can feel the baby move around more. It's so exciting! We can't wait to hold you in our arms little one!

We we didn't learn the gender of our baby yesterday or today. Yesterday my doctor got an injury and we unable to come in for that day. I had a different doctor today who told me it was too early to tell the gender. I think you can tell at this time but waiting a few more weeks will really distinguish certain parts. She also said that the heart would be more defined at a later date. The next time I see the doctor won't be until the fist week of August. I looked on Youtube and found a video about other gender reveals. I saw one where a couple thought the baby was a boy but found out 4 weeks later that the baby was really girl. That could have been us, "Hey we're having a boy oh wait never mind we're really having a girl."

The baby is doing very well though and is progression nicely. I gained 8 pounds since my last visit and I now way about 134 pounds. I was 14 pounds lighter before I got pregnant. The nurse checked the baby's heartbeat. It was not as easy for her to find it this time. She moved about my stomach with the doppler and found the baby on the other side of my tummy than where she had found the heartbeat before. The heartbeat this time was 145 beats per minute.

The doctor measured my stomach and it measured about 18 inches when she said is normal. She also told me about what I might be experiencing in the next stages of pregnancy. I'm not looking forward to nosebleeds. I haven't had a nosebleed in probably 2 years. I've been sneezing and had a stuffy nose during the pregnancy but thankful no nosebleeds and hopefully I don't get them.

Over the past couple of days I've been feeling a few flutters in my tummy and the doctor said that's the baby. I wasn't sure because the flutters weren't constant but she told me this is normal and that they'll become more constant as the baby gets bigger. The feel like little butterflies in your stomach. The first day I felt them was June 27th. I was 16 weeks and 4 days then. I'm happy that the baby and I are progressing well. I have had a few bouts with round ligament pain but nothing too major. I know some people want to keep the baby's gender a secret but Rex and I want to know. I really don't like calling the baby "it" so even when we reveal the sex, I'll say "We're having a..." rather than "It's a...."  Also he or she is so much shorter to say than "the baby" or "our baby," even though he or she is our baby :-)

Oh Rex and I have started choosing baby names. That will come out more once we know the sex. Believe me, if our baby turns out to be a girl, they will not be named nothing like Blue Ivy.

Tomorrow we'll hopefully find out the gender of our baby!!! I was reading some posts on TheBump.com and some women have said they go in for the ultrasound and the baby won't uncross their legs. Let's hope that the baby will reveal their gender. I'll be 18 weeks and 2 days tomorrow. We are so excited. This has been such an amazing experience and will be even more amazing with the birth of our child.

At first Rex and I both thought we'd be having a boy. Recently I've been thinking we are having a girl.

Just for fun, I found this quiz online that may be able to tell if you are having a boy or a girl.  I'll tally up the score for either boy or girl. It's composed of 10 questions.

1) Highs and Lows- This one states if you're carrying high, then that means girl and if your carrying low that means boy.
Looking at my tummy, I'll say I'm carrying low, so that means boy.

2) Heart rate- According to the website, "140+ beats per minute indicates a girl, and below 140 a boy."
The first ultrasound was at 167 beats per minute, my last checkup 3 weeks ago was at 157 beats per minute, so I'll say girl.

3) Sweet and Sour- Craving sweet means girl, craving salty or sour means boy.
Though I've craved Raisinets recently, which is sweet. I'll have to go more with the salty and sour. I've been eating Frito's corn chips which are salty and Luigi's Real Italian Ice which is sour. I'll say boy.

4)Chinese Birth Chart- The chart can be found here.
Here's my result:

5) Potty Time- Take pee in a cup and pour some drano in it. Green = girl and blue = boy.
 Did not do this one.

6) Even and Old- According the website "Legend has it that the Mayans determined a baby's sex by looking at the mother's age at conception and the year of conception. If both are even or odd, it's a girl. If one's even and one's odd, it's a boy."
 I'm 25 now and the year is 2012. So one is odd and the other is even. This means boy.

7) Unlocking The Mystery- This calls for a pregnant friend to pick up a key. If the friend picks up the key by the narrow part this is for sugar and spice which I take is for a girl. If the friend picks up the key by the flat head this is for snips and snaps which I take is for a boy.
I asked my roommate if she could help me with this. She isn't pregnant, but I placed a key in front of her and she picked it up by the flat head. I'm sure she thinks I'm a bit weirder now. By picking up the key that way I'll say boy.

8) Spot On- If you're expressing breakouts like crazy, this means a girl. If your face is clear this means a boy.
I've struggled with breakouts for most of my life and now I am really breaking out. I'll say girl.

9) Nice Ring To It- Here you place a ring at the end of a string over your belly.  If the string sways back and forth, it's a girl. If the string spins in a circle it's a boy.
I placed my engagement ring at the end of a string and it went back and forth. I'll say girl.

10) Queasy Does It- This states that if you were sick during the first trimester and still, then that means a girl and if you had little to no sickness than that means a boy.
For a good part of the first trimester I was not sick, I was just really tired. I did get nauseous though and I threw up a few times. I'm not sick at all now, so I'll say boy.

Adding up the score with the exclusion of one we have girl 4 and boy 5. Looks that one I excluded could be a deciding factor. As it looks now the gender is more in favor of a boy. If the Drano test indicated to girl, that would be a 50% chance of having a boy or a girl, which is pretty much how it is from the start. We're happy with whichever gender the baby turns out to be, and that the baby is healthy.  This was fun to do nevertheless.

We left for MD Friday and decided to head to Atlantic City before our trip back. This was Rex's first time in AC. It didn't take long from my home in Moorestown and the weather was nice for the trip. We parked at the Trump hotel, that's were me and my family always park and walked to the boardwalk. We stopped in Bally's casino to try our luck at the slots but ended up contributing to the casino's ever growing fund. We ate along the boardwalk and after a bit of contemplating we went into the Ripley's Believe it our not museum. The museum was very interesting, and we had fun in their room that you can walk into and it spins around. We didn't go on the beach but looked across the Atlantic. I'm still nudging Rex to go parasailing. Here are some pictures Rex took while we were there:

Rex and I celebrated American Independence Day (July 4) in the nation's "birthplace of independence", Philadelphia, PA.  This trip was Rex's second time to Philly. We spent most of the day at my home in Moorestown, NJ. We watched the parade in Philly in the morning.  We left around 7 pm to head to Philly for the fireworks. I figured many people would be in the area for the fireworks and since we drove I wanted to make sure we could find a parking spot.

I took Rex to Penn's Landing, thinking the fireworks would have been displayed there. We saw a sign posted on the outside of the gate that read "No fireworks tonight." This struck me as odd because in previous years I remembered the fireworks being there. Penn's Landing was also not very crowded and this struck me as odd too. We enjoyed the scenery and I explained to Rex what he was viewing. He took a great picture of the Ben Franklin Bridge:

I also got a good picture of him:

I had overheard a few conversations and they confirmed that the fireworks would not be at Penn's Landing this year. By this time it was getting darker and we were faced with a decision: either go to Ben Franklin Parkway and Philadelphia Art Museum, where the fireworks in Philly were being held, go back to NJ and go to a school in Cherry Hill were my family and I would watch the fireworks or go back to the house and watch the fireworks on TV. After some contemplating we decided to go to where the fireworks were in Philly.

By now the traffic was getting more condense and much of the roads to where the event was, were blocked off. We looked for parking further away but decided to head back to NJ when we saw it was getting much darker and saw that we would have had to walk at least 8 or 9 blocks from were we couldn't even find a parking space. So we started to head back to NJ. Not long after a stroke of luck occurred. As we were waiting a a stoplight, I overheard a couple's conversation about which way to the fireworks. A man told them about 10 blocks. Rex and I looked around and say that we were close to a parking lot and that other cars where parked on the other side. Rex and I looked at each other and decided "What the heck, maybe we can still catch them," and I quickly asked the man if there was parking. He told me to do a u-turn and park in the lot, which I did. Rex and I quickly got our things and started walking. I was thinking we might miss the fireworks as we were walking or we'd be there just in time to see the end. Rex assured me everything would be fine.

We finally reached "the party" and saw tons of people and police vehicles. We walked past a fence and walked into were the crowd was. We didn't know it at first but we had walked into the Welcome America concert celebration, the event we were looking for. Somehow in the mist of our travels, we had managed to make it to the event.  The good thing too, was that the fireworks were not scheduled to begin until 10:30 pm.  I checked the clock and it was 9:45 pm. So we sat down and observed the crowd and listened to music from the concert. Rex took it all in. When it got closer to the time we stood up facing the art museum. We didn't know exactly where the fireworks would be showing at but I had a feeling they would be over the art museum. We waited for a good while. The show didn't start until 11 pm. I said to Rex," It's not the 4th of July, it's really New Years. They are waiting for 12 o'clock.  Then we'll be saying Happy 2013!" We found out later that the delay was due to a technical glitch. The technical glitch was not as bad as the one in San Diego, CA.

The fireworks were really nice and an it was great seeing them with my love and our little one in my tummy. Rex got some great pictures of the fireworks and the crowd:



Leaving took a while, but it was nice to be in Philly for our little Independence Day adventure. I was happy Rex enjoyed the fireworks and Penn's Landing. We'll plan another trip to Philly in the near future. The Liberty Bell will surely be seen on that one. Next up is celebrating Liberian Independence Day in DC on July 26.