Joyce gave me the perfect onesie for Baby Champuru yesterday.

I can’t wait to see her in it! 24 more days and counting! Any guesses for her actual arrival date? (Her due date is September 24.)

Off the Wall, Restaurant, Bar, Catering
Pearl Kai Shopping Center

Tomoaki is in town for the Okinawan festival, which gave us a good reason to bring the original Team i-O (internet-okinawa.com) together for dinner. I had been meaning to try Off the Wall, a new restaurant in the Pearl Kai Shopping Center which features a fusion of traditional and modern styles of Okinawan cuisine.

As always, it was a wonderful time with old friends. Good food and good friends. What more can you ask for?

Here’s what we ordered tonight:

OTW Ahi Shoyu Poke

Garlic and Parmesan Cheese Fries

Okinawan Champuru (stir fry) with goya and tofu

Okinawan Shoyu Pork Pasta

Duet of Okinawan Shoyu Pork (Rafute)

Kobe Asian Hamburger Steak

Chocolate Gelato

Off the Wall, Restaurant, Bar, Catering
Ph. 808.486.9255
Pearl Kai Shopping Center
98-199 Kamehameha Hwy, B-10
Aiea, HI 96701

Hours of Operation
Take out lunch:
Sunday - closed
Monday - 11 am - 2 pm
Tuesday - closed
Wednesday - Saturday - 11 am - 2 pm

Dinner and Drinks:
Tuesday - closed
Wednesday - Monday - 5 pm - 9:30 pm

Catering available daily.

I am 35 weeks and 5 days along and here are the latest stats from today’s OB visit.

08/25/08 Stats:
Blood Pressure: 82/44
Weight gain so far: 12 pounds (I lost 1 lb. since my last visit on 08/08/08)
Cervix Dilation: None

I asked her about the blood pressure, since it is unusually low — even for me. She said that pregnancy causes a woman’s circulatory system to expand rapidly, which in turn causes blood pressure to be lower than normal. She said that it’s not uncommon to see blood pressure dipping to 70’s/30’s in young, healthy pregnant women. In fact, it’s not a matter for concern at all unless I wasn’t feeling well, experiencing symptoms such as dizziness. (Which I am not.) And, the remedy for that is to lie down on your left side to promote better blood flow to your heart.

She was also pleased to see that I am keeping my weight in check, even with my gestational diabetes. I thought that she might be concerned about my weight loss (lost 4 pounds in 3 weeks), since according to the books I’ve been reading I’m supposed to be gaining a pound a week in my last trimester as the baby experiences growth up to 1/2 pound per week.

Thankfully, though, the baby is growing and noticeably so. My stomach has really popped in the last few weeks and I’ve been feeling her moving a lot more in recent days — and for longer stretches of time. I always thank God when I feel her moving. It’s reassurance that she’s doing well.

In addition to the usual stuff: weight, blood pressure, listening to the fetal heartbeat on the Doppler monitor, fundal height measurement, and urine test, the doctor has started performing pelvic exams to check for dilation of the cervix. Not the most pleasant thing, but a good indication of how soon baby may be making an appearance. According to the doc, my cervix is completely closed and the baby is still sitting high and hasn’t dropped yet. It’s probably just that baby is getting bigger, so I’m carrying a little differently than a few weeks ago — so people (including myself) thought I had dropped a little. Good news that she’s hanging in there and isn’t trying to stage an early entrance. We’re so not ready yet!

I asked the OB about whether she had any guesses about how big Baby Champuru would be. She happened a guess at 6 - 6.5 lbs. Let’s see how accurate she is! Anyone else care to try and guess?

I have a bunch of photos posted on Flickr, but this gift was one that deserves a video to do it justice.

More photos from the shower will be forthcoming. I’ll have to hit up the folks who were busily snapping photos at the party! The shower was so much fun and the generosity of friends really touched me. I nearly burst into tears when I was giving my thank-you’s at the end of the party.

Thank you, friends, for your hard work and mind-blowing generosity!

Baby Bump - Week 35 and 3 days

It’s been about a month since my last baby bump photo, so I thought I would post an update.

My sister-in-law remarked last week that it looks like my stomach dropped. I didn’t notice it at the time, but in the past few days I realized that it does appear that I’m wearing my baby bump a little lower than before. What do you think? Has it dropped? Or should I expect it to drop even further before the big day?

Photo by Lisa Hoang, Windwardskies Photography

Tonight, Hubby and I finally got around to sitting down together to select the photos to order from last month’s maternity photo shoot with Lisa Hoang of Windwardskies Photography. It was a difficult task, as all of them turned out fabulous, so it was tough to narrow them down. I’m not photogenic, so trust me, it takes a huge amount of talent to make me look “fabulous.”

We ordered a photo book of twelve 5×7 photos, an 8×10 enlargement, as well as a series of three 16×20 shots that we plan to frame and display in our bedroom. It will be cherished reminder of this special time, on the cusp of a new chapter in our lives.

In other news, tomorrow I have my second baby shower to attend — this one is being hosted by my wonderfully generous co-workers at one of my favorite restaurants, 3660 on the Rise. Favors are being provided by the makers of the best mochi in Hawaii, Happy Hearts Mochi. It’s going to be a blast!

We grew up together, having met in the sixth grade. I remember that Bari was the first fellow Okinawan (she’s half) that I met in grade school and the niece of a very prominent Okinawan dance instructor in Hawaii. We’ve been friends ever since, although I have to admit that I’m terrible at keeping in touch. But, through the power of the Internet, I keep up with her via her MySpace blog — and now she’s starting to become a prolific vlogger on YouTube, specializing in beauty reviews.

To be honest, I wear very little makeup but I am fascinated by it. My routine includes a bit of tinted moisturizer with sunscreen, pressed powder, a bit of blush, eyebrow powder, and lipstick. I rarely do anything with my eyes, mostly because I don’t know what the heck to do with them. (I was not blessed with my mom’s double eyelids, but instead inherited my father’s monolids.) I’ve always admired Bari’s makeup skills, as she always looks phenomenal. Maybe she’ll do a tutorial on how to apply makeup to single eyelids someday?

So, check her out and subscribe! While you’re at YouTube, be sure to stop by my channel too, although you won’t find any beauty reviews there. I am highly unqualified to speak on that subject and that’s for sure.