Farewell, Friends

I hate saying goodbye. This week, we had to say goodbye to some dear friends as they left Dallas and began their transition to living overseas. We really enjoyed hanging out with them every week and we'll really really miss them. BUT...since they were trying to pack as little as they could for their move, we were very fortunate recipients of some pretty awesome stuff. Some of the things we inherited:

- an electric mixer
- plastic drawers for organizing the baby room closet
- decorative boxes that perfectly match baby room
- very cool coffee mug
- assorted spices and lots of ice cream
- a lovely picture frame with an even lovelier picture of a happy couple
- all the fixins to make some yummy sticky rice
- an herb garden!

So while we will miss our wednesday dinner/game nights with Avericity, or joking around with the Lees, it's nice that we will have so many reminders of them around our home. Everytime I drink coffee, cook with some fresh herbs, or bake a cake, I will remember our friendship and think of them and their adventures. We wish them luck and will be thinking of them daily!

Mother's Day

My first mother's day was great! Although I don't feel that 'motherly' just yet - I feel more like an incubator right now. But it was still a great day - we spent it celebrating with friends and family. Tim surprised me with some cake balls from The Cake Ball Company - a neighborhood business that I had read about a few months ago. I think it's going to be the next 'Sprinkles'. Since I've been craving sweets a LOT lately, this was the perfect gift!

Tim has a tradition in his family to make mom breakfast on Mother's Day. This year he woke up early and made this fantastic breakfast for me! Baked french toast with blueberries, sausage, and eggs. Our friends Avericity were staying with us and helped us celebrate and eat all the delicious food.



We had lunch with Mama Ong at a local tex-mex restaurant and spent some quality time together afterward gardening (one of my mom's favorite hobbies) at my house.



Tim and his dad cooked a great seafood dinner for Mama Mah, who was also surprised by a visit by Josh from Houston.

Week 30

I keep thinking my belly looks funnier and funnier every day. Today, I felt that it was very bullet-like, so I thought a picture posting was appropriate. At 30 weeks, baby is almost 3 pounds and about 15.5 inches long - about the size of a cabbage or a butternut squash. I think we're gonna have an acrobat on our hands, cause this little guy is definitely doing somersaults and flips in there! I'm definitely starting to feel the extra weight, and have to learn to not try to do as much, since I get tired more easily.


Shout out to Christina, who was here from Houston last weekend. The Lees are just one of few couples at our church that are having babies due within 2-3 weeks of each other. It'll be fun in a few months time to see all the kiddos together!

Happy Birthday Tim!

Tim celebrated his 28th birthday this past weekend with several events - first a Mah family dinner of Uncle Dave's famous grilled steaks. Then a joint birthday celebration with Mama Ong (whose birthday is the day after Tim's) at all-you-can-eat korean bbq restaurant. And last, a fun lunch with friends at Babe's Fried Chicken. Above is the highlight - Tim doing the chicken dance in celebration. Yes, this man will be a father in three months :)

Showers Galore!

This past weekend was craziness - between Julie and I, we had three baby showers in two days! Very exhausting, but totally worth it to see friends and to celebrate the new life that God has given both of our familes.

The first was one thrown by my close girlfriends and included a theme of organic/tree (theme of our baby room), and baby-sized foods! It was a lot of fun to spend time with new and old friends.

Super Yummy and Healthy Food

Sweet Pea plant party favors - So cute with the Organic theme!

The girls all made witty, personalized onesies for baby - here are some 'settlers of catan'-themed ones with Felicity, Shirley, and Bethany

With my sweet friends and hostesses of the party: Ann, Fiona, Jinju, and Julie

Julie and I then sped over to her mom's house for our second shower of the day, hosted by both of our moms. It was a blessing to spend time with ladies that have watched the two of us grow up and to get some good 'mom' advice.

Tea party!

We got some cute clothes...

And awesome diaper cakes (handmade by my mother in law)

On Sunday, a few of Julie's friends and I hosted a shower for Julie - it was fun and great to see all the people come out to support Julie and Wai.

Decor to match Julie's 'shabby chic' theme for her nursery

Wai trying on some baby clothes for size

Perhaps the cutest picture ever - Julie's dad with Brooke's sweet girl, Baby Madelynn

BFFs

BFF Julie is in town on a TX tour to celebrate her dad's birthday and to attend some baby showers. It's been fun being pregnant together, but apparently it's just hilarious to everyone else. Here's the typical conversation (usually with an older chinese auntie or uncle):

them: wow! you are both pregnant! You are so big!
us: yes, we are - thanks (laughing sheepishly)
them: you guys are so funny, you grew up together, got married around the same time, and now you're having babies together! Did you plan this?
us: um...no. just happened this way. (cause wouldn't that be really awkward to plan something like that?!)
them: how funny. Janice is having a boy, and Julie is having a girl. OH! MAYBE...when they grow up....
us: yes, they can get married. we've already thought of this and decided that is what must happen :)

We had that conversation at least a dozen times. Never gets old :D

Here is the babies' first meeting....

We hope it's love at first sight!

I heart running.

Before I got pregnant, running was my choice of exercise. I enjoyed the discipline and solitude in running. I also really liked participating in races with a group of people I got to know through running. In fact, I ran the 8 mile Turkey Trot with some of them when I was (unknowingly) 8 weeks pregnant, and my mother still won't let me live it down.

Not wanting to give my favorite hobby up, I asked my doctor if I could still run during pregnancy. She said it was fine, until things got 'too jiggly'. Well things have definitely gotten to that stage, and I had to stop running about 6 weeks ago.

My dear friend Jinju used to run with me every Saturday, and she has graciously offered to continue to walk with me every week. This past weekend, we both participated in the Butterfly Boogie Race - the competitive 5k walk :) Here we are before the race! The rest of our running group ran the 10k. Due to a freak cold front (it's really not supposed to be in the 30s in March in Texas), it was FREEZING out there! I don't think we won the race, but I still appreciated being a part of a race and getting out there and exercising. I really hope that I'll be able to start running again after Baby comes. We'll see...