Half Way There! (also FFXIV accomplishments this week)

So it's been a few weeks since my last post. Let's just say... it's been a rough couple weeks with a lot of different real life things going on (both ups and downs). Between pregnancy symptoms, a death in the family (R.I.P. Abuelo), a family emergency, and a funeral just to name some of the harder things; it's been rough. We did, however, get to see our little girl a few weeks back.We're now half way there! She's started kicking this week. I don't know what I expected to feel, but if you ask me, a baby's kicks (at least in the beginning) feels like a bunch of little muscle spasms. Hubby also felt her kick for the first time and he was SUPER excited! So weird to think that in just a few short months, we'll be meeting our little girl!

This past week our FFXIV raid group (minus a couple members) downed Turn 6. It was my first clear and I was super excited! Drops were High Allagan Earrings of Aiming and High Allagan Boots of Casting. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get a healing drop :) We got a couple attempts on Turn 7 this past week, but it's still early and most of us are just learning the mechanics. It's a lot of little things to remember to do/dodge/kill at once. Hopefully we'll get further this week on it. Wish us luck!

Other notable achievements this week: I finished collecting my last three Atma, got my Omnilex Atma, finished my first book (on my way to Animus... then NOVUS), race-changed back to a Miquo'te from a Lalafel (I went Lalafel for about a week or so... When I switched back to cat I went Keeper of the Moon instead of Sun -- still deciding on if I miss my original Rahhzay-sun-kitty), got my Weathered Daystar Breeches (still hovering at i93 -- but yummy yummy crit!), and got my Dragoon to 46 (thus also getting my Artifact gear). So I'd say... it was a pretty productive week.

Baby's Sex Revealed!

Despite my internet giving me such a hard time on Saturday, we revealed the sex of the baby! Viewers were able to bet shards (a currency used on my twitch channel) on what they thought we were having; with a 50/50 shot, they had a chance of increasing their shard count. Watch the video below to find out the results!

Gender Reveal Stream

Over this past weekend, we had a gender reveal party with my family. We got a cake made, the filling is the color of the gender.

What do you think it is? CAST YOUR VOTE!

Gender Reveal stream on twitch will be on Friday or Saturday. More details to come!

13 Weeks, FFXIV Remote Play, & Baby's Gender

I'm officially 13 weeks into pregnancy as of yesterday. This baby is really testing me... oh my goodness. The weekend was very busy with Easter festivities -- and when I wasn't busy, I was busy feeling sick. I feel like I haven't played games (with the exception of my two streams on Tuesday and Wednesday this week). I just haven't been feeling all that well. Now that I'm in the second trimester, I'm hoping the sickness will subside soon...

Aside from that, I finally set up my PS3 version of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (then promptly upgraded to PS4 version for free). We also have a PSVita. I messed around a little bit with the PS4 and Vita on Sunday; playing a new character to get a feel for the controls. I can definitely see this as an alternative (though I need practice to be able to do things other than gather and send my retainers on ventures on my Main character, Rahhzay Hana) while I lounge around or am on the road. It was fun and not too difficult to get into with a controller, although PC will likely remain my main mode of play. I have a couple trips planned in the near future, and it's a cool thought to think I can remote play while using my phone as a wi-fi hotspot (or more likely, my husband's phone -- since mine hates me lately).

One trip we have coming up, is our trip to Las Vegas to visit family and have our gender reveal party! Side note: Hubby and I gave in and opened up that sealed envelope to reveal the sex of the baby. We're the only two who know and have sworn to not tell a soul until after the reveal.. so you guys are still going to have to wait. :) The main reason we did this was because the paper that was sealed away, also had other lab results for me and our baby (everything is normal!). We didn't want to give the envelope with these results to someone to bake our cake, so we decided we'd make the cake ourselves for the reveal. The current plan is to go out the weekend of Mother's Day for the reveal -- no later! I can't wait until we get to tell everyone! Just a couple more week guys. ;)

What do you think we're having? Leave a comment below!

Have baby name suggestions? Click here. Feel free to suggest as many names as you'd like. If we pick your name, I'll promote you (on twitch) to VIP Gold status on my page. View my twitch page for details on VIP status. Don't have a Twitch ID? Sign up or suggest anonymously.

YouTube video from when we announced we were pregnant to my Twitch.tv viewers. Click here.

Somersaults and a Sealed Envelope

I am 12 weeks pregnant today! Yesterday we had our third ultrasound and it was hilarious to see my baby doing (almost literal) somersaults in the womb. Practicing flip turns? Martial arts? LARPing? (insert other active yet geeky action here). We got several pictures; though, you can barely see the arms and legs in any of the six we received since baby would move them out of sight whenever the doctor hit the button.

We also received our results from some genetic testing we had done. For this test, a lab took my blood 2 weeks ago. This test isolates the fetal DNA in my blood in which they test for chromosomal problems such as Down syndrome, Edwards syndrome and a few syndromes and disorders; it can also tell you the sex of your baby by seeing if there is a "Y" present. My doctor called me Monday telling me the results are in -- which I promptly told him that I wanted him to not reveal the sex of the baby yet as we want to do a "gender reveal" party with my family. Upon arriving at the doctor's office yesterday, I picked up a sealed security envelope with this top secret information inside. My husband began telling me right away to open it and that he couldn't wait. I, of course, refused. :) The doctor told us that all the results were normal and thus far no chromosomal or genetic deficiencies were detected; these are of course only for the ones that the test looks for -- but so far everything is looking good!

The envelope still resides in my purse... for now. I'm itching to know. I even had several dreams last night about the results of the gender being boy or girl (switching with each dream). Within the next week or so, we'll reveal the sex to everyone!

Baby's First "Visit" to Disneyland

Yesterday we went to Disneyland (Rahhzay's happiest place on earth). While I wasn't able to do much, I do very much enjoy that magical ambiance. I spent much of the time with my aunt, cousins and other family while my brother, husband, and a few others went off and rode many of the rides.

Yes, you might be thinking, "but Rahhzay, what did you do. Pregnant women can't ride anything at Disneyland!" Well, of course there's a long list of rides that I couldn't ride: any of the mountains (Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Matterhorn), as well as a few that jostle you around (ie. Star Tours), and of course most everything in Disney's California Adventure. I did however go on Haunted Mansion, Pirate's of the Caribbean (although this one is at your own discretion due to the two drops and the occasional boat pile-up -- which is a lot of bumping as you all caterpillar along to the final lift), as well as It's a Small World (which was my 6 month old baby cousin's first ride EVER! So cute to see her face as she looked around at all the singing and dancing dolls). I really just spent the day walking around with family, eating the yummy food, did a little shopping (got a cool new hat and a sweatshirt), and just plain relaxing. I even had a little fun with a "1st Visit" button -- wearing it on my belly for some of the day. Thinking of writing on it with a sharpie, "11 weeks in the womb."

Saturday my weekend seemed like it was going to be one where I didn't leave the couch. I'm hoping that this sickness is just a sign that things get worse right before they get better. I was lucky to wake up yesterday feeling well enough to go to Disney -- granted, who turns down a day at Disney?

All in all it was a great day and I was happy to have the "morning" sickness subside for the day.

Rahhzay starts a blog!

It's been quite a while since I've kept any sort of journal or blog. Let me start by introducing myself... I'm Elise; many know me as Rahhzay. I'm a 25-year-old gamer, twitch.tv streamer, Disney nerd, and mommy-to-be due in October.

A little over a month ago I announced to my viewers on twitch that my husband and I are pregnant. I'm so grateful to my viewers, regulars, and friends for all the love and support they've been giving me since. I love streaming (and plan to continue doing so throughout my pregnancy) -- it's fun to hear new gamer baby puns some of my viewers come up with. I haven't been as consistent with my streams as I have in the past due to "morning" sickness, etc. Now that I'm 11 weeks along, I'm hoping that in the next week or so I'll be back on a more steady and reliable schedule again.

With being pregnant, I feel like I'm falling behind in so many things! Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (an amazing MMORPG by Square Enix) just released patch 2.2 and (in the two weeks since release) I've failed to cap my Tomes of Soldiery, let alone finish unlocking many things or completing some content that was introduced in 2.1. I have a feeling I'll be playing catch up for a while.

I want to continue to keep this blog to update not only my gaming achievements and game opinions/impressions, but also a little bit of my pregnancy and what else is going on in my life outside of gaming. Stay tuned!