Triumphant Noise Here

Melissa and Zoya at 38 weeks. Miraculously Melissa avoided stretch marks.

Yay!!! For all who played. This week everyone did swimmingly! No one thinks that we are going to feed the placenta to the kitties, so we guess that means that Melissa is not that crazy cat lady yet.

Here are the questions and answers to the final quiz:

1. What is your name and email?
Simple question, easy ten points for all who played.

2. How many generations on record of only boy descendants in the Snagovsky family?
After hours and hours of grueling research, we determined that there are 5 generations of only boy Snagovsky's. You can imagine Pavel's surprise when the ultrasound showed we're having a little girl.

3. Where will baby Zoya be born (if everything goes according to plan)?
Baby Zoya will be born in a Group Health hospital with midwives. They have the lowest record of C section in Washington and support mothers who want a natural birth. We considered doing a home birth and if our home was bigger Melissa might have considered it more.

4. Is Pavel willing to cut the cord?
Pavel says no, but we did put in our birthplan for them to ask us when the time came. Perhaps he will change his mind.

5. What is baby Zoya's middle name?
Pavlovna- accent on the first syllable. It is a Russian custom that the children get a variation of the father's first name as their middle name. If we were having a boy the middle name would be Pavlovich.

6. Some believe it's beneficial for mom to eat the placenta. Is Melissa going to eat the placenta?
No. No way. Melissa is all into natural remedies and stuff, but she does draw a line somewhere.

7. Will the kitties be present at the birth?
No. Kitties will be patiently waiting for our return from the hospital with baby Zoya.

8. What will help speed up labor progression?
All of the above. Semen softens the cervix, orgasm and nipple stimulation releases oxytocin- which stimulates contractions. Foot massage can help induce labor and reduce pain during labor. The oregano and basil in eggplant Parmesan are known to induce labor.

9. Melissa is currently 37 weeks pregnant. What is Melissa's fundal measurement this week?
35 cm. The fundal height typically equals the number of weeks the woman is pregnant. So despite how big Melissa' feels, at 37 weeks she actually measured small. Side note: at 38 weeks on Wednesday, Melissa measured 33 cm, she shrank because baby Zoya dropped further into her pelvis.

So without further ado, here's the ranking of how all you fabulous players did.

Dave V 20 pts
Yeah 20pts
Karen A 50pts
Amanda S 50pts
Shay B 60 pts
Tricia B 80 pts
Heather K 80 pts
Lisa H 80 pts
Alan R 90pts
Mariko C 100 pts
Stacey S 100 pts
Barbara Y 100pts
Joel S 120 pts
MK 120 pts

And the winner is: Tanya F 140 pts!!!! Woo Hoo Tawnie!

For all of Tanya's excellent research and enthusiasm
with playing the games she will receive a
"ZOYA ♥ ME" t-shirt.

Thank you to everyone who had fun with us with the virtual baby shower! You all rock!
Big thanks to everyone for sending us love and gifts for our little baby Zoya!
We will keep you updated as to her arrival. Send some labor vibes Melissa's way!

Last Chance Baby!!!

The 3rd and final quiz closes tomorrow so get over to the quiz site and take that quiz if you haven't done so already... Tomorrow we will announce and post the winner and reveal the mystery prize! So get in the game already!!!

Here's the link: Click here to play!

We can't believe she's almost here...just 12 days till her due date!

Today we had an ultrasound and they did a bunch of measurements. They had a hard time doing the head measurement since Zoya is sitting very low--- right there at the gate - which makes Melissa's gait very pregnant to say the least. They estimate her to be about 7lbs 12oz plus or minus 1 pound in either direction...She looked pretty chubby, but we hope that means either A. she's coming out soon, or B. the margin of error errs on the small size rather than the large and she's more like 6 lbs 12 oz. During the last four weeks babies put on approximately 1/2 pound per week.

A few nights ago, Melissa had a few hours of contractions about 20 min apart but they died out and there hasn't been much since. Darn!

Tomorrow we're also finally doing some "maternity" shots we'll try to stay away from the cheese - if we succeed we'll post them for all to see. Stay tuned.

Zoya Quiz #2 Results

So here are the results... sorry they are a little late. I had a little run in with a nerve in my neck last night that basically incapacitated me for a few hours. Pavel was a saint and helped me through it, I would still be moaning in pain if it weren't for his magic hands.

1. What is your name and email address?
Again answers vary, but it's by far the easiest way to get 10 pts. Oddly enough we had one participant who named him/herself as "Yeah" and gave a bogus email address. Not sure the point of that one, but "Yeah" got a few answers correct so we'll give him/her credit for them.

2. When does baby Zoya like dance around?
Baby Zoya has proven herself to be a real night owl. She gets the most active with her break dancing (ow!) in the middle of the night when Melissa is trying to sleep. Unfortunately, this also means that this is her sleeping/waking schedule, and there will be major efforts in acclimating her to normal more humane hours when she starts her life outside of Melissa's body.

3. When is baby Zoya's due date?
Zoya is due on Feb. 11, 16 days from now!!!! Though they say first time momma's are typically late by a week or so. But who knows, she could be early - 95% of all babies are born within 2 weeks plus or minus thier due date.

4. What does Melissa crave?
Unfortunately, the answer is nothing. She wishes she would crave something, because then she would spend a lot less time standing in front of the fridge hungry but unable to find something to eat. Her biggest challenge is getting enough protein.

5. How many states has baby Zoya visited already?
The answer is 5. California (where she started), Oregon, where she resided for 4 months, Washington where she currently lives, Hawaii, where she basked in the sun on Melissa and Pavel's babymoon, and Missouri, where they visited Melissa's family over the summer.

So those are the answers.

Here's how you all did. The scores are cumlative so if you played week one I added your points to week two.

Dave V 20 pts
Tricia B 20 pts
Heather K 20 pts
Yeah 20pts
Mariko C 30 pts
Alan R 40pts
Lisa H 40 pts
Stacey S 40 pts
Barbara Y 40pts
Amanda S 50pts
Joel S 50 pts
Shay B 60 pts
MK 60 pts
Tanya F 70pts


Wooo, it's a tight race!

There are 9 questions in the last round so don't miss it, it's an opportunity to pick up 90 points and sweep the game!!!

Zoya Quiz #3 Open

Come one, come all, join the fun, hear the call!

So wow, the weeks are flying by and very soon our baby Zoya will be gracing the world with all of her Zoya-ness. Here's the third and last and might we say, the most exciting game for the shower games. Test your Zoya knowledge, or guess your way through it. We don't care, just play because seriously you can't win if you don't play!

Click here to play ZOYA QUIZ 3

Melissa is feeling great for the most part save for a few of the "normal" third trimester/last month physical woes. She went for a 3 mile walk today - with a stop half way through for some yummy hot chocolate. Pavel is getting very excited to meet his little girl. She's getting so big that she's lost all privacy, every move she makes now can be seen on Melissa's belly. So funny, so weird.

If you missed Zoya baby shower game 2, don't distress. Take it now. We will keep it open one more day. Hurry. We will tally the answers and post the results late tomorrow evening (Jan 25th).

Click her to play Zoya Quiz 2.

We don't want to overstimulate you all with emails so if you want to see results for quiz 2 check back on the blog Monday morning. We won't send out an email announcing the results.

Click here on Monday, Jan. 26th to see the results for Zoya Quiz #2.

Thinking of Visiting?

Wowee! Roundtrip airfare from Los Angeles to Seattle is only $98 on UNITED. Even with taxes and fees it's only about $130. Consider this an open invitation to all of our long lost Los Angelino friends to come visit. Seriously.

Scorecard for Baby Zoya Quiz #1

The correct answer to game #1 questions are:

1. What is your name and email address?
Answers vary but they were all correct!

2. What is baby Zoya's last name?

Timme (A long long time ago, Pavel, thought he would never have a female offspring. Melissa knew for sure that she would have a girl one day, so she wagered with Pavel that if they did one day have a girl, the girl could have Melissa's last name, guess we know who won that one.)

3. What does the name "Zoya" mean?

Life. (Zoya is the Russian version of "Zoey")

4. What is Zoya's conception date?

May 21rst. 3 days before we got married. Shhh... don't tell my mom. ;)

5. What position is Zoya in?

Sideways, head on the right. (This is called transverse lie, and it's impossible to deliver the baby naturally from this position. Fortunately between the time I first posted the question and now she showed what a good girl she is and got into head down position. We found out on Thursday with an ultrasound about her position change... We decided that the correct answer to the question was the one that we knew when we posted it... but technically the people who answered head down could have also been right so... we're giving them the 10 points too :)

Without further ado, here's how everyone is doing:

• Allan R 20 pts
• Dave V 20 pts
• Tricia B 20pts
• Amanda S 30 pts
• Shay B 30pts
• Joel S 30 pts
• Tanya F 30 pts
• Mariko C 30 pts
• MK T 40pts

Congratulations to everyone who played. It looks like a close race. Be sure to play the next round!

DING DING DING: Let ROUND 2 BEGIN!

Here's the link for round 2:
Click here to play!

If you didn't get around to playing the first round... don't be shy about joining in the next round. You're not out of the race yet!

As with the last game, this one will be open for 7 days so don't delay and get to winning the wild and wacky mystery prize!

1 day left

What, the questions were too hard? Some of you rock and played the game and are doing great, but we would love everyone to play and get a lot competition going. In order to inspire you to play, just this one time we'll give you a few hints...

Here they are:
#1 This is entirely personal, and it is how we keep track of who's doing what.
#2 Pavel agrees to it.
#3 Can be googled.
#4 It was before our wedding.
#5 Melissa's body is well suited for this position.

So go at it kids. Now you have no excuses and you could win the much anticipated mystery prize...
Here's the link again in case you can't find it.
Click here to play.

If you don't play, you can't win. You have nothing to loose, go for it. This quiz expires Thursday, Jan 15th.

Friday, Jan 16th, we'll send a link to the next fun quiz. Woo hoo!!!!

A baby shower isn't complete without games...

So... since the baby shower is all virtual and there will be no crazy antics of bending over backwards whilst cheesy music wafts through the air, we thought it would be fun to play the best way we can...VIRTUALLY. We've made up a few quizzes you can take from the comfort of your own home to boggle your mind and set the competition rolling.

Introducing:
The ever fun, always amazing, sometimes difficult
ZOYA TRIVIA
Simply
Click Here to Compete.

The small print... rules and regulations... bla bla bla

• For each question you answer correctly, you will get 10 points.
• Each week there will be another opportunity to score more points.
• Each quiz/game will be open for 6 days from the day it was posted.
• On the 7th day we will post the answers to the quiz as well as the scores of all the participants.
• Whoever has the most cumulative points by Jan 31rst will win the Zoya baby shower prize. (TBD)
  
• Valid only for friends and family of ZOYA.

So without further ado, let the games begin!
May the best Zoya lover win.