The Great Wait

Going to the doctor last week for Riza's check, we brought with us the birthing bag that she prepared several weeks ago. We were prepared for any recommendation the doctor might say during her check, either C section or induce labor. There was an atmosphere to joy and nervousness when we went to the doctor. Joy, because we would like to see our baby before Christmas (this will be the greatest gift ever) and nervousness because she might recommend a C section. Then, you might ask what her recommendation? She recommended for us to wait for another week before inducing labor (sigh =I).

One more week to wait for our little bundle of joy to come. But I consider this 1 week the longest wait so far. Knowing the exact date when the baby will be born and waiting for that date is killing me. I'm so excited I can't hardly wait.

Feliz Navidad!

My first Christmas with a husband and a baby on the way. Can't really have our own private noche buena for the first time as a family since we lived together with my hubby's parent's house. Just went along with the flow of their family's Christmas gathering tradition of early dinner and gift giving. I used to celebrate Christmas when I'm here in Manila with all of my noisy but enjoyable relatives til past midnight of eating, fun and merry-making.

I miss going home to Davao for a Christmas vacation.

I miss those fun Christmas celebration with my relatives at Tierra.

I miss those crazy and endless picture taking during Christmas eve with all of my cousins.

I miss feasting on all the food served during noche buena (can't eat much today due to my diabetes).

Though there are some things I miss, I'm still grateful my hubby and baby-inside are together spending Christmas 2005.

Big Baby!

We got the fetal growth monitoring result of our baby during my latest prenatal check-up last Saturday (12/10). She's already 3278 gms (approx 7.2lbs), too big for her gestational age of only 35.4 weeks! The last time we checked on her ultrasonic weight a month ago, she's only 2235 gms (approx 4.9 lbs). If we observe her growth rate, it averages at around 250 gms per week. Come her full term (37 weeks) on December 20, she'll be approximately 3778 gms (8.3 lbs) by then. Whoa! I'm not very certain if I can deliver her out normally the fact that this is my first pregnancy!

We'll be seeing again my OB on Dec 20. By then she can advise us on the best step to do whether to induce my labor or perform CS. She wants to deliver my baby as early as possible so it won't be gaining too much weight. Right now I'm stressing myself with much walking exercise to speed things up normally.

We're wishing our baby comes out before Christmas. It would be such a perfect gift for us =). Notwithstanding the fact that my husband wants to spend more time with her since he ‘s already scheduled for a 3-month business trip January next year.

Fruitcake

My mother-in-law missed the fruitcake-making class of Chef Annie because it was cancelled for some reasons. Since she really need to dispatch her kilos of glazed fruits and not to mention her desire to learn how to bake fruitcake, we gathered the guts to bake one two days ago. She searched for Heny Sison's fruitcake recipe on her clearbook files containing cut-outs from magazines and newspapers. Though she already had this tons of recipe books whether bought or given to her from US, I admire her passion of collecting more recipes on prints and even on product labels!

We gathered the fruits and nuts ingredients on the first day and geez, they almost weigh 2 kilos already! The instructions said that these need to be soaked in dark rum overnight. No wonder that those glazed fruits and nuts in the fruitcake have an alcoholic smell and taste of the rum. (Others used scotch whisky but we religiously followed the instructions coz it's our first time to bake this fruitcake.)

On the actual day we baked the fruitcake, we encountered a lot of blunders. We failed to read the last part of the instruction which we thought are only tips after it has been baked so we almost forgot to place a pan of hot water to avoid the cake from cracking while baking. Due to the various times we opened and closed the oven, the oven thermometer was accidentally dunked into the hot water. What we got was a busted thermometer and an uneven baking temperature! The 90-min baking time was shortened to 60 mins coz when we tried to check it out, it's already done a quarter before its alloted time. Whew! We almost missed placing the glazed fruits & nuts toppings!

But who would've thought these fruitcakes were baked by inexperienced and meager bakers like us? hehehe =) We let this cool off overnight and brushed it with dark rum the following day before storing it. This can last for 8 months or so. And the taste... it's not just an ordinary fruitcake! Really yummy, luscious and I love the smell. We're very happy of the results.

Some people hate fruitcakes. Perhaps its because of the low quality and commercialized fruitcakes they've tasted. For me, I've found this recipe that I learn to like and can fiddle with the variations of fruits, nuts, spices and rum used. Through practice, I can someday be known to make the best fruitcake in the clan. =)

Banana Cake

I used to eat banana cake since I was in elementary but it's only now that I was able to obtain hands-on knowledge on how to bake it. My mother in law had this favorite banana cake recipe of hers given by her home-economics-teacher sister ages ago. It's written in a notebook including all the other recipes her sister kept during her bachelor days. We decided to bake it due to the plenty over-ripe bananas piled on the dining table.

I thought that most cakes are complicated to bake due to so many considerations on temperature, beating time, ingredients/pans used, etc. Count the banana cake off. It's like making a pancake where we just mixed all the ingredients, baked it then viola! A delectable banana cake! Now I know why banana cakes have these streaks of brown hair-like texture. It's the fiber in the banana.


Next time we'll create more variations by adding chocolate chips, walnuts, pineapple and even carrots! Coz baking it is truly a piece of cake. =)

Baby Showers

After a long argument and preparation with my bestfriend Phen on having a baby shower or not before our baby will be born, we decided to celebrate it over dinner with very closed friends only. Yesterday, (12/3/2005), my hubby and I met with 2 very dear friends at Megamall (sad to say one wasn't able to come, they're supposed to be 3). But we proceeded anyway coz I might not be able to attend if it would be rescheduled once more.

We feasted over an eat-all-you-can buffet, chit-chat on the latest happennings and had some good laughs. The night went well. We talked interminably as well as enjoyed taking pictures , we weren't able to keep track of the time. A 3-hour get-together is indeed very short for us coz we barely see each other now. We had a whole day spent merry-making when I lived in Las Pinas before, just within the vicinity where they also lived. Now I'm already in Marikina, can't go out with them that much and I missed the malls down south.

After the simple gift giving and favors, the ceremonial baby shower ended. But it was not more of the "tagged occassion" we're up to but with the bonding and special moments we shared in our friendship.

I somehow felt this superstitious feelings before on baby showers and buying baby stuffs. But I brushed it off by thinking that this little angel I'm carrying and I have already gone through so much sacrifices and trials but we remained strong, still holding on this 34th week. God gave her to us as a gift and blessing to shower happiness in our lives and we believe He won't take her away from us. =)