Bodyworlds and the Grand Lux

Can your day start off any better than with breakfast in bed??


Next we headed north to Los Angeles for the Bodyworlds 3 exhibit. It was SOOO amazing! We saw all parts of the human body. The most amazing we both agreed was the head with only the arteries visible—all the rest was gone and all the arteries were dyed bright red, yet it still gave an unmistakable map of the human head. We also saw babies in all different stages—from 2 weeks all the way to almost full term. It was amazing to see babies close in age to what ours is right now and all the detail that’s already visible. If it comes to your area, it’s definitely worth the money.

We went to the rose garden out back of the museum and enjoyed a cool and delicious popsicle.

Then Kai had a great idea to visit the Grand Lux only about 15 minutes away near Hollywood. For those of you who don’t know, the Grand Lux is one of our all time favorite restaurants in the world. Our favorite place for it is in Chicago overlooking the Magnificent Mile—it’s beautiful and the food is fantastic. But this one in LA was great too. The food was just as good and the inside looked very similar to the one in Chicago. We had cream of asparagus soup and split a Manhattan salad and white chocolate raspberry cheesecake for dessert. It was the perfect ending to a great day.

Angels Game

We just got back from an amazing weekend in the LA area. Friday, we loaded up the car and headed down early to Anaheim and checked into our hotel. We got a great room at the end of the hall with a great view of Disneyland and the area.

A few hours later we made our way to Angels stadium about a mile away. We had great seats behind home plate. Didn’t catch any balls, but we had a great view of the homeplate slides and the 3 bats that were shattered during the game. When the first one broke, I looked at Kai and exclaimed, “That must be a great batter!” By the 3rd time it happened, I realized it wasn’t a good thing since it slowed the ball way down and made it super easy to catch (good thing it was the visiting team all 3 times!). The Angels won and we had a great time!

We also sat next to some great guys that looked a little scary dressed in black, pierced all over, and smelled of heavy alcohol and cigarettes—but they were actually pretty entertaining during the whole game and we had great conversations throughout.


At the end, they had amazing fireworks. They lasted as long as the 4th of July ones we go see. The sky lit up and we felt the booms in our chests. I LOVE fireworks!!! What a great way to start the weekend!

School Begins

School started last Thursday. It’s sad to see another summer come and go so quickly. Especially when it was spent being sick as we prepare for parenthood. By the way—morning sickness in not officially over after the first trimester! I was very disappointed to find out that sad reality. Now at 12 weeks, 6 days, there are still no signs of improvement.

This year I have 17 perfect students. In fact, most days are spent mastering trig and calculus since long division was mastered in first grade. Once we finish that, we have a field trips planned for Fiji and then on to Europe to challenge my students with a broader curriculum. We’ll finish by building churches in Mexico and Chad.

The parents are amazing as well. When they call me at home, it’s only to tell me what a great job I’m doing and ask if I’d rather have white or dark chocolate chips in the cookies they’re baking me.

My school voted to give the teachers a raise—double our original salary and then reassess at Christmas in order to determine if more can be given. When I told them I was pregnant, they begged me to stay next year and offered to pay back all Kai’s dental school loans if I continued to stay and teach for them. Of course, they would give me a full time assistant to help. I was a little hesitant, so they threw in an on site, one on one babysitter and a brand new Lexus to sweeten the deal, so I agreed.

Of course none of this is real, but all in all the school year is off to a great start. I do have great students and parents, but all the rest is just fluff—it’s fun to dream though!

Wicked

We celebrated 8 years of marriage on Wednesday this week. We went out to an amazing Italian restaurant in Riverside called Ciao Bella Ristorante. Neither of us had heard of it before, but it was amazing!! It was started 3 years ago and was beautiful and modern inside. Tablecloths and nice dinnerware, low lights, fresh roses on every table, and amazing chefs that checked to make sure you loved your meal--it was GREAT! We'll definitely go back again!

Then last night (Thursday), we went to Hollywood to see Wicked. LOVED it! We got all dressed up and had some good seats in the orchestra section. Thankfully we hadn't heard much about it, so as we were watching neither of us had any idea what would happen next. The best way to describe it would be, as some friends put it, a prequel to The Wizard of Oz and more specifically the Wicked Witch. We loved the story line and production. For those of you who might be wary of something titled "wicked", don't be fooled. It was fantastic and definitely a must see if you're into Broadways.



We've decided to extend the celebration this year and we have plans for an Angels game next weekend, with a night in Anaheim, and Bodyworlds (the amazing exhibition of human bodies), which happens to be in LA for a short time. Our San Francisco trip earlier this summer was supposed to be our "anniversary trip" this year, but with a baby on the way we've really wanted to do some things we've been putting off for a while. We know life will continue after Baby Steele arrives, but it's such a special time right now, we really wanted to enjoy the moments we have!

MS Update...

You may have been wondering how the morning sickness is going...well, I do think my prenatal vitamins were a big part of the problem. I have switched brands and take them in the evening now and it has been a HUGE help. However, I am apparently not exempt from the dreaded sickness. Now it comes in waves. Some days are worse than others, but I'm happy to report that most days I lead a completely normal life. It's hard to know when it will hit--the other day we went out for a friend's birthday to The Old Spaghetti Factory. The food was good, but when we got home, I shared it with the toilet. (It's funny--I used to think all toilets were the same, but I can tell you they are very different after staring into several more frequently lately!) All in all, I know there are millions of women who've had it much worse than I have, so I'm thankful for my mild case:-) Thought I'd share some toilet pictures with you!

Normal
Yuk--do/did people really use these????
Korean toilet--familiar sight
Toilet house--WHY?!

New Bedroom Furniture

So after sleeping on a double bed for the last several years, we decided to upgrade to a queen. We had a queen after we got married, but sold it when we moved to Korea and have been snuggled on a double for several years now. We'd been talking about getting a bigger bed since we were planning on starting a family and new a belly in the bed would push one of us off the edge inevitably, so a few weeks ago we made our decision and purchased this set. We still want to buy a comforter set that fits a queen size bed and change the paint colors in the bedroom, but we'll work in increments as we find the time and resources to complete our project:-) For now, enjoy the pictures and let us know what you think!

P.S. After sleeping on a double, a queen bed feels HUGE!

Kai's dresser

Kristi's dresser and our bed

Ultrasound Pictures

Today we had our first ultrasound where the doctor could see the baby which is officially called a fetus now. We had our first ultrasound at 5 weeks and 6 days, but the baby was too small so we had to reschedule for today.

When we went in the tech put the scanner on my stomach and we could immediately see the baby and the heartbeat. It was amazing! The heart was beating so quickly and our baby was moving like crazy even though I can't feel it yet. We saw arms and legs every once in a while when it was moving. Kai was fascinated as he watched and knew what everything was. He would ask the tech, "Is that the spine/heart/head/legs/etc.?" Every time he was right, which was impressive since I couldn't make much of it until they started pointing things out to me.

Our due date has been moved up one day to March 4, 2009. So today, I'm 9 weeks along--due for another belly picture:-)

Below are the ultrasound pictures we brought home. You'll have to look carefully to see the parts. The baby is laying on its side facing away from the camera, so you'll see it's backside--starting with the head, down the spine/torso, and down to the bottom. Imagine it laying on it's left side away from the camera and you may make sense of it. If not, it's fine--I don't always make sense of other people's ultrasounds either. I think it was much easier when it was in motion.

P.S. The heartbeat was 171 beats per minute. The doctor said at 9 weeks all babies have high heart rates and they start to slow down after 10 weeks, so it's not necessarily a determination of the gender--but we're really excited to find out!

The Culprit???

So...I may have found the culprit for my "morning sickness". Our wonderful little baby you ask? That was my line of thinking as well, but I may have another possibility. For the last few days I have decided to take my prenatal vitamin in the evening instead of in the morning. I have been amazed at how great I feel during the day and then how terrible I feel at night after I take it. So, I will continue to test my theory and if it proves true, I'll ask my doctor for a different brand. Hopefully this is the cure--I'll keep you updated!

Kai the dentist

I saw Kai for a dental appointment on the 9th of July. He was the best dentist I've ever been to! I had a great time sitting in the chair while he worked tirelessly to provide me with the best dental care:-) I was preoccupied watching all the organized chaos going on around me. The best description I can think of would be a very large, active beehive. The clinic is very busy with all the students quickly going from one place to the next trying to meet the needs of their patients. It was so fun to be a part of. Since we knew I was pregnant, I only received a limited evaluation (free of x-rays and perio probing) to limit any risk to our baby.

Dr. Kai Steele :-)

Kai inputting all of my information into the computer while he works on me.

Belly Pictures

Here's the belly progress.... I will continue to add more pictures to this post every week, so if you want to keep seeing the progress, click on this post (Belly Pictures) to see the progression. It will not post as a new blog post since I will just continue to add pictures to this entry. Hope you enjoy! Thanks Jessica for the idea:-)

40 weeks

38 Weeks

36 weeks

34 weeks

32 1/2 weeks

32 1/2 weeks

30 weeks

27 weeks (Definitely something there!)

24 weeks

21 weeks

19 weeks

17 1/2 weeks

16 1/2 weeks

15 weeks

14 weeks

12 weeks, 2 days

11 weeks, 1 day

10 weeks, 1 day

9 weeks, 1 day

8 weeks

7 weeks

8 weeks

Here are some things I have found more tasty during pregnancy than before:

Pickles are super delicious! Never thought I'd like the stereotypical pregnancy food!

Chicken noodle soup is nice and bland while salty.

Also bland, while salty.

Again bland, while salty--do you see a trend here? Not sure why salty things are appealing???

Fruit smoothies are also super delicious!

Water, which has always been my favorite drink, I find I'm drinking even more of--may have to do with the salty foods I'm eating more of lately....

Here are some things that DO NOT look/smell good at any time of the day:

Chocolate: Once a friend--we've parted ways recently since I can't even look at it without feeling sick.

Anything fried smells and looks awful.

I could add more pictures, but it's making me sick:-( So I'll just leave it at this: if it's highly flavorful, I'm probably avoiding it at this point in time.