Week 33: Last trip to Chi-town

We make a trip to Chicago pretty much every year - my brother, Tim's cousin, and lots of good friends live there. This year, we were able to go right at my travel cutoff date and attended cousin Nicole and Dru's wedding. It was a great weekend - just the right mix of hanging out with family and friends. However, I realized why pregnant women probably shouldn't travel late in pregnancy - even though we tried to take it easy, I was exhausted! Here are some highlights:

Me and Jason waiting outside of Hot Doug's (featured on Food Network) - for over an hour!

The wait was worth it though - look at the yummy gourmet hot dogs and DUCK FAT fries! Doesn't Tim look happy? :)


The happy couple at the wedding. Congrats, Dru and Nicole!


In between the wedding and reception, Mom was on a quest for White Castle, and after an hour of aimless driving and searching on the GPS, she was very happy when she finally found one.


Mah cousin picture at the wedding - the reception was super nice!


Josh, Gina, and Tim doing jazz hands for the baby bump. I obviously didn't get it.


We got to visit Elena and Rodney and Tim finally met little Reuben. What a cutie!


Chinatown. Baby will be born in the year of the bull

We also hung out with Ann and Berto, and Vi and Stan for a chicago trip reunion. They are our good friends and best travel buddies. But we were too busy catching up that we forgot to take a picture! :( Someday, we will finally be able to take that Meditteranean cruise we've been talking about for so long...

Now that we are back, we are in home stretch mode. My doctor kindly reminded me that I am technically full term at 37 weeks, which is a mere 4 weeks away! Yikes! Lots of stuff to do before baby comes! Prayers would be appreciated as we mentally and physically prepare for baby.

Happy 90th, Grandpa!

We celebrated Tim's grandpa's 90th birthday this weekend. 90!! We are blessed to have him nearby, and I think he's pretty excited about baby coming. All the family was in town to celebrate. Here's grandpa with grandsons + 1 great-grandson!

Grandpa you're the best!

We also got to hang out with our favorite nephew. He is quite the big boy and oh so cuddly! He recently discovered his hands and has learned to put them together, with quite the serious expression on his face. It is SO cute. I wish I caught a picture, but this will do...

Ethan saying hello to his cousin in the womb

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!