Merry Christmas!!

This Christmas, hubby decorated our big tree and didn't even put out any of his superhero decorations!  I guess that's appropriate since we have a little boy now? 

We did decide that we should look for a small tree that JD can decorate with the superhero ornaments for next year.  Luckily, I saw that Hobby Lobby was having a 66% off sale on Christmas trees so hubby went by on Christmas Eve and got JD this tree below which hubby went ahead and decorated with his superhero ornaments!

We weren't sure if we wanted to get Santa pictures this year since he's so young and has no clue who or what Santa is.  We happen to run across one that didn't seem to require us standing in line for 4 hours, so we said 'why not?'  Santa looks awesome, doesn't he?

Lastly, JD has been wearing every holiday outfit he has for a few days now.  Below is a quite notably cute one.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

New Hobby - Sewing

During my maternity leave, I rediscovered sewing.  When I had time to do this, I have no idea.  I think I really just got my interest back into and spent time (and money) buying lots of fabric.  I don't remember what age I was when my mom taught me how to do basic (very basic) sewing.  I remember sewing a little pair of (green?) shorts for my younger sisters.  They wore it... like once!  I bought my first sewing machine when I was like 23years old when most people my age were blowing $100 on  booze on a Friday night!

Recently, my hubby wanted to do something nice for his partner teacher and the student teacher.  I suggested cute tote bags.  If anyone knows me well, they know I love bags of all kinds.  Now I can try to make my own bags!  So I made my first 2 official tote bags.  There a ton of free patterns out on the internet.  I used this pattern to make mine:
http://www.danamadeit.com/2012/07/tutorial-reversible-lined-color-blocked-tote.html

The only difference was that I did some extra securing of the handles since I wanted my tote bags to be able to carry things like laptops.

Here are pictures of the 2 tote bags I made.  They are reversible, but I didn't take a picture of the inside of it.  =/

I forgot to mention that I have gone back to work since my last post over a month ago!  Needless to say, I have even less time now!

Zaguan Bakery

There's a Latin eatery place in downtown Dallas that I love to go to!  They have great pastries and have a few outside tables so we've brought our dog Ranger down here with us before.  We recently went there for breakfast/brunch for a Saturday morning adventure. 

Hubby got the Latin Crepes which was delicious!  I highly recommend this one.  The only "downfall" if you don't expect it is that it's a very rich dish.

I got the Hallaca which was good to but a heavy dish due to all the corn meal it was wrapped in.

We both shared the cherry pastel which I did not get a picture of.  They heated it up for us which made it all the more delicious. 

The other highlight to this eatery is the location.  There are always very interesting people to people watch in this part of town.  The morning we ate here there was a table full of people dressed up in old medieval outfits.  They look like they just got off of work which didn't make much sense to me since it was like 10am!  Either way, it made for an interesting morning for me!

Zaguan Bakery
2604 Oak Lawn Avenue
Dallas, TX 75219
http://www.zaguanbakery.com/

Birthdey

Not long after JD's bday was my bday.  I have officially turned 33!  I got a few surprises sent to me on my birthday.  See the delicious Edible Arrangements sent from Kim and the beautiful hydrangea plant sent to me from GG!  Both helped make my day all the more better!  Thanks ladies!

JD 1 Month Birthdey

My little man, JD, turned 1 month on 10/13/12.  My parents and sisters came up to help celebrate.  Here's a link to some details on the 1 month celebration:
http://www.babycenter.com.sg/baby/traditions/chinese-full-moon-celebration/

For the most part, we just have food and a small "ceremony" where you essentially in a nutshell wish good luck and prosperity to the infant.

Here is a picture of the food from the event.  There is fresh fruit, mini eggrolls, stir-fry noodles, stir-fry vegetables dish, black bean fish, crab rangoon, and 2 different asian desserts.

I made carrot cake cupcakes as well:







Finally, here are 2 pictures of JD at 1 month; one with a oneies on and one as the lil naked boy!

 

 

Nutella-Filled Banana Muffins

My hubby wanted to do something nice for the cafeteria staff at his school.  This is great b/c it gives me a chance to bake and food!  Since I'm on maternity leave, I don't have my normal go-to staff to give extra baked goodies too.  I'm sure they miss this as well!

I decided to make nutella-filled banana muffins... so healthy but not really! 

Here's a link to the recipe if you're interested in making it too:
http://bakeat350.blogspot.com/2012/04/nutella-filled-banana-muffins.html

Final Progression Pics

I was finally able to update my "belly progression pictures" to include the last picture taken before I had to delivery the little guy (JD).

It's amazing to see the progression.  I can tell ya I was getting pretty miserable with the sheer size of this thing towards the end.  No telling how big JD woulda been if he went to a full 40 weeks!

Fall Season

Fall officially arrived last week.

When I think of the Fall, I think pumpkins and ginger and holidays and cooler weather and Pumpkin Spice Lattes!

To honor the arrival of Fall, I made pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon creme cheese frosting!  Some were filled with the frosting as well as just topped with it.  Everything tastes better with cream cheese frosting!

 

Back Again

Hello, it's been almost a month now!

I guess I brought it upon myself b/c last post on 9/10, I said I was bored.  Well, little man showed up and was born on 9/13!  I'm not bored anymore!

So, I've been home for 3 weeks now.  We have a pseudo schedule... I guess as well as you can with a 3 week old.  He's been doing pretty good at night, i.e. just waking up twice.  I guess I'm lucky that I've always functioned in life with what many people would consider minimal amounts of sleep (~6 hrs) so I've been managing with getting up around 1am and again at 4am to feed him.  It is still very tiring to just sleep 2 or so hours and have to get back up again.

All well worth it at the end.  He's so stinking cute!  How do you get mad or stay mad! 

 

I am taking a picture a day of him so if you would like the link to this Picassa picture book, message me so I can send you the link!

Bored

Basically, I have no school, I don't feel like doing work at home, I don't feel like baking anything... it's just like I'm sitting here waiting for the baby to come.  BORING!  I am trying to finish up little crochet projects I have hear and there.  I am also finding cute things to sew that are practical for the baby.  But these activities are pretty minimum.  I have an appointment this week on Wednesday so we'll see what the doc says this time...

Progression

When I was in school, I was all over everything.  It's like you're so busy that you don't have time to mess around so you get things done!  Now, that school is done laziness has ensue.  I don't want to do ANYTHING!  I'm just sitting around, growing bigger, and keeping track of things I should be doing.

I've compiled all my weekly photos of myself into one ppt and will share it below to show you how I am growing.  It's amazing the changes when you see one picture at a time.  I can definitely feel him.  During my last appointment, the doc said "that's all baby right there and he doesn't have any more space!"

Lonesome Dove Bistro - Fort Worth, TX

Hubby and I decided on only one Restaurant Week eatery this year, and we decided on Lonesome Dove since so many friends swore by this place.

We both got the butter lettuce which was good but nothing extraordinary. Hubby got the roasted garlic stuffed beef tenderloin, and I got the rocky mountain elk loin. Both were very yummy dishes.  Hubby got the Mexican donuts for dessert which reminded me of the churro (like the ones from Costco)!  I got the warm ancho chili chocolate cake which was very very good but soo tiny!

Overall, it was very good. It looked like an old historic building. I was somewhat surprised that there were such casually dressed people in there, but then again it is Fort Worth!

This is technically our last big, fancy meal before the 3rd human family member arrives!

http://www.lonesomedovebistro.com/
2406 North Main Street
Fort Worth, TX  76164

Garlic Stuffed Beef Tenderloin

Rocky Mountain Elk Loin

Life in 3D

I had found one of those Groupons for a place that did 3D/4D sonograms.  I figured it was on sale so why not??

Here is probably the best picture of lil man:

Here is one of him picking his nose.  He's such a boy.

La Duni Brunch

One of our favorite food eateries in Dallas is La Duni.  We prefer brunch, and we prefer the downtown location.  Due to the close proximity and laziness, we now go to the Allen/Fairview location instead.  Don't get me wrong; it's a nice location.  But the downtown one just offers better people watching opportunities.

My hubby always gets the huevos rancheros.  There is something about those fried potatoes that come as a side that is so delicious.  I venture out and try different things on the menu.  This time, I got the chile relleno which was very good.  I would definitely get this again. 

 
Downtown location:

4620 McKinney Avenue
Dallas, TX
(214) 520-7300

Allen location:

233 Town Place
Fairview, TX
(972) 549-4069

Finally... A Break

I finished my final at 7:45am yesterday.  It's official; I'm done with school for this semester.  Only 4 more classes to go.  Needless to say, I'm taking a break this fall.  It'll be the first time I haven't had any classes since the Fall of 2009!  I need this break.  I'm ready to do some organizing around the house to get ready for my little man's arrival. 

Count Down

I have 2 more weeks of school people!  It's crunch time to get my lectures, papers, etc done!  Then it's time to sit back and relax.... well not really.  It'll then be time to truly start organizing and cleaning the house for the baby's arrival!  So I apologize in advance right now for the late 'Thank You' notes!!!  Wish me luck!

Baby Shower

My friends threw me a baby shower a few weeks ago.  It was pretty low key (how I like things) and consisted of food, friends, and creative oneies decorating!

Cheese tray

Blue punch + safety ducks!

 Spanakopita (spinach pie)

 Veggie tray

 Baked brie and crackers - my fav!

 Diaper cake

 Fruit salad in a beautifully cut watermelon bowl

 Baby boy shower cookies

Below are examples of some extremely creative oneies... 

And here is Ranger patiently waiting for his brother err food to be dropped on the floor!

Thanks everyone for spending this special day with me and the boy!

"Hello... Is it me you're looking for?"

Hello again.  Sorry I have not posted in so long.  I am taking a summer school class and have attended 3 baby showers in 1 month so I am behind on the blog.  Do not worry!  Summer school will be done very soon which gives me time to devote to organizing, nesting, and blogging!  I will try to get some updates in the coming week or two.  Until then, take care!

Baby Ducklings

A friend of mine and I have been walking around a local park for almost 2 years now!  Each lap is 2.5 miles, and we try to do 2 laps.  As our kiddos are growing inside our bellies, these goal of 2 laps is slowly diminishing. To completely not jip ourselves of mileage, we found a small pond inside the park to do a couple laps around.  See the cute little ducklings we found living around the pond.

UFC = Ultimate Fighting Cats

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Oliver got into another fight with (must be) a stray cat inside of our backyard.  The hubby heard feline fighting sounds and got up to check what it was.  Oliver came inside, but boy was he pissed!  He was left alone to cool down over night.  The next morning, Oliver let me brush him so I assume he did not have any severe wounds.  I did find a small (what looked like at the time) scratch on his right ear.  A week and a half went by, and the scab on the ear came off.  Oliver has a hole in his ear!!!!!  We think he used up life #6 that evening.  Now, he has a legitimate fighting wound and can be called the winner of the ultimate fighting cats contest that night!  He's got some serious street creds now!

Jalapenos

Like I said before, my jalapenos are growing like crazy.  Here is a pic of the first crop of jalapenos.  I've picked a second batch since this picture was taken.  Today (6/10/12), I even made some jalapeno cornbread!

Rangers vs Bluejays

We had a work event where we all went to the Texas Rangers vs Toronto Bluejays.  It was a super exciting game with back-to-back-to-back home runs!  The final score was Rangers 8, Bluejays 7 after the 13th inning!

Tomatoes

I went to a free "veggie planting" seminar at the local nursery chain at the beginning of March.  Historically, I have NEVER been able to get tomatoes to grow so I was going to call it quits on it this year.  The seminar said that if you want to plant tomatoes, you have it to do it "now" i.e. March 1st.  That was my problem.  I usually don't start planting anything until April.  So I went ahead and bought 2 tomato plants that I could grow in containers.  I am proud to say that I actually have at least 4 tomatoes, and they are beauties!!! 

Here they are only a week ago.

I can't believe they are turning red now!

The green beans are now a lost cause... still alive but don't look too hot.  The snow peas are a goner, and their containers have been "reused" for flowers already.  The jalapenos are growing like crazy!  Again, I planted them way early this year.  I hope to get a ton of them so I can share them!

Soybean's Revelation

So, not that it was not official before, but it's even more official now.  I'm 19 weeks pregnant and expecting a baby Boy!  We've nicknamed this kid Soybean for the last 12 weeks simply because it was once the size of a bean at the time and the soy just gives it an asian flair.  Now that we know "it" is a boy, I guess it'll be called Soy Nuts???   =)  Nevertheless, I'm glad Ranger and Oliver will have a boy to keep them busy.  The two pictures below are from today's sonogram.  This kid was a MAJOR stinker.  He had his legs crossed and was being shy.  Even the doctor said she hadn't had a stinker like this for at least a month.  She made it her personal goal to win, and she did since we got the revelation!  He was very calm this time (especially compare to the trampoline-like episode of the last appointment).  Perhaps *cross your fingers* this is an indication of how he'll be once born: calm!

Soybean Smiling

Confirmation of the Boy!

Midori

We celebrated Soybean's revelation by going to our fav sushi place in the Metroplex.  Who doesn't like Fried Sushi????  All 3 of us ate until overly full.  Midori:  http://www.yelp.com/biz/midori-sushi-japanese-restaurant-irving

Infamous Sushi Burrito

Caterpillar Roll

Overall pic of rolls: Caterpillar Roll in back, California Roll in front