Moving to Tumblr

Hello.... we're officially moving to Tumblr.  You can find us at:  http://jdiskingofthecastle.tumblr.com/  Thanks for joining us thus far.  Hope you come join us again!

Spring Time!

It's April and more than technically spring.  It's been a strange year for weather as it always is.  It's April but temperatures are still somewhat cool some days.  Nevertheless, I have planted my crops for the year.  This year my variety of container plants include: eggplant, jalapeno, some yellow santa fe pepper, thai basil, sweet basil, okra, red bell pepper, and yellow bell pepper.  And how could I forget: tomatoes.  Let's see how we do this season!

Sunshades

This little boy is ridiculous.  We got a pair of sunglasses from a friend of ours and decided to use it today since it was soooo beautiful out.  We put the shades on JD, and he LOVED it.  So stinking cute.

Sick

You've probably all heard about the flu epidemic.  Well, my house has been sick off and on for probably the last month with the cold or something like that.  Luckily, JD hadn't caught any of it... until now!  It started off with a cough which got a little worse.  I mentioned the cough to the doc at his 4 month appt.  Well, it got worse so we took him in again a week later.  They confirmed it was not the flu nor was it the RSV virus.  It's pretty much a cold that we have to wait out.  Don't tell that to JD...  he's been pretty miserable with a nagging cough and what sounds like a sore throat.  Therefore, he has not been sleeping and thus his parents have not been sleeping neither!  I bet he did this to teach us a lesson about complaining about his 1am feeding!  I guess I won't complain about those anymore!  As of today, he seems to be coughing up the drainage and other crap which I guess is a good sign.  We're just waiting for his voice to return to normal, eating back to normal, and of course sleeping back to normal!  So keep all your kids safe by keeping them away from other sick kids and adults!

2nd Week of School

JD has now completed 2 weeks of daycare.  The daycare he's at has video monitors for us to be able to view him if we want to.  I probably log in once a day if I remember to.  He always seems to be enjoying himself so much.  He gets a daily report card which tells me he doesn't seem to sleep very much at school.  I guess this means he's playing???  Well once he gets home, we play with him and feed him, and he's pretty much tired at 7pm!  Be it good or bad, I don't know!

I definitely see how hectic life becomes when you have 2 people working and trying not to eat out every meal.  This only causes me to have to plan my week and meals out in even more detail than I've ever done before.  And if you know me, I have always planned my meals out!

I think we're going to try some crock pot ribs this week.  I'll let you know how those turn out!

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.