Type A

Hello! My apologies for a very late post this week. It's nearing the end of week 37 here and it's been super busy around. I know most women go through a nesting stage, but my nesting is less out of preparation for the baby and more out of fear that I won't want to do anything around the house when I am a sleep deprived zombie. I am REALLY grumpy when I am sleep deprived... REALLY, REALLY GRUMPY.

Aside from exhaustion, discomfort, irritability and being extra emotional (doesn't this make you want to spend a day with me?), I have been nesting and getting everything under the sun done. My type A personality thrives on lists and crossing things off my lists. Then recopying my lists so that they're neat again. Here's my newly updated weekly list on the right and my daily to do list on the left. I know I'm nuts, but now you know too and we can all move on. :)

Operation Christmas Child

Every year, our church has something called Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse. I'm sure many of you have heard of it or even participated in it.  All you do is fill a shoebox full of goodies, toys, gifts and daily necessities. These boxes are sent all over the world to needy children.

I used to make a box every year before I was married. Since Chris and I were married, we began making it a yearly tradition to make two boxes. One for a boy and one for a girl. When we have our baby, we'll probably add a third box to our yearly contribution. It's a lot of fun shopping for goodies to put in this box and praying for and wondering who the recipient will be.

Usually, you never find out because you turn the box into church and it gets shipped off to Samaritan's Purse where they sort and send the boxes off to where they are most needed. But, I found out this Sunday that if you pay for your shipping online, you can follow your box and see where it goes! How exciting is that? No, I probably won't get to see the child's face, but I will know which part of the world our box was shipped to. That's kind of neat!

So, here are our boxes, ready to be shipped off.  I can't wait to see where these end up!

My Love Affair with Target

Many of you probably love Target as much as I do.  However, since I had summer vacation and then pretty much went straight into maternity leave, I've had a lot of time on my hands.  As my pregnancy progressed, it was harder and harder for me to take walks around the neighborhood for fear that I needed to use the restroom or a place to sit and rest so I now take walks in stores - namely Target. It means that I make more trips to Target than I care to admit. Really, Target never gets boring for me.

I love when they release new items such as the Shops, Nate Berkus and even the newly designed Target line, Threshold. I'm looking forward to seeing the new Neiman Marcus collab that is coming soon. I love coasting through the aisles and end caps looking for bright red stickers calling my name with 30, 50, 70 and the even rarer 90% off.  The icing on top are the Target stores with Starbucks (another love affair, but that will have to wait till next time) where I can do all my leisurely shopping while I drink an iced caramel macchiato (currently decaf).

This weekend, I went into Target to see the Nate Berkus collection and to pick up my hammered bowl and came across a new set of goodies to fall in love with. Here's what I'm currently eyeing...

So if you come over to visit in the next month or so, you might see some of these items in their new home. :) Like this guy --

Happy Wednesday! Who knows... it's very likely that I'll run into you at Target this week. :)

Little Surprises

Don't you love little surprises? Today, we got a couple of surprises when my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and nephew came to visit.

Auntie Plum bought these wonderfully soft bamboo Aden + Anais swaddling blankets for us. I was just eyeing these at Nordstrom a few weeks ago and decided I couldn't splurge on another set of blankets. They match our room perfectly too!

Auntie Cherry, Tay Tay and Kylie sent us some world famous Byrd family art canvases. 

They're absolutely perfect and painted with so much love.  Also a perfect match!

Chris and Baby Jack at lunch. Jack was 0.5 of the 1.5 Italian people sitting at our table at Pizzeria Mozza. Have you eaten there? If not, you need to. And you need to get the Mozza Caprese. Our friend Grand introduced us and now I'm hooked. Oh and the Butterscotch Budino...and the Caramel Copetta. Okay, I'm starting to lose focus here.

And just 'cause...I'm a sucker for cute stationery. This one is going in the mail today for all the wonderful little surprises we got!

Happy Weekend! Looking forward to some more rain tomorrow!

The Tundra Endeavor

No, I didn't get to see the Endeavor on it's tour across LA, but my husband had been pretty excited about seeing the Endeavor being pulled by the Endeavor.  On the 405 northbound heading toward Torrance, there's a big billboard the reads "The Tundra Endeavor" so I was anxious to check out the video. I mean...VIDEOS.  I should have known they'd release a series of videos. There are several, but here are two of my favorites. 

  

And just so you know how pregnant I am. When I watched the Mission Accomplished video, I teared up. 5 weeks to go!

Rain & Other Thursday-like Tidbits

I was looking forward to Thursday all week because the forecast said it would rain.

I love rain.

Let me repeat that one more time.

I LOVE RAIN.

Wait, I lied.

Let me restate this truthfully.

I love rain EXCEPT when it's a school day.

Parents or parents-to-be, in case you weren't aware of this, when your elementary age children go to school on a rainy day, they act as if they have NEVER SEEN RAIN BEFORE IN THEIR LIVES.  It's as if water falling from the sky were a completely novel phenomenon, miraculous and earth-shattering. It's like the first earthquake I experienced when I was in elementary school. I remember thinking aliens had invaded the Earth (Chris says I have a very vivid imagination). I digress.

Every time it rains, I have to make a big deal about it. I say, "Oh my goodness boys and girls! I had no idea!  I had no clue! I was completely unaware that....none of you have ever seen rain before!" When they begin protesting that yes, they've seen rain plenty of times in their lives and no, it's not completely new to them.  That's when I jump in and say, "Oh, then why are you guys acting like this is the first time it's ever rained in your entire lives?!"  We all get a laugh and then they calm down....well, most of them do.

So, although it is a school day, I am not working right now so I LOVE RAIN.

You can imagine my disappointment when this is all I saw, all day long!

Darn you Orange County and your perfectly mild weather!

Okay, okay, I admit it was a very nice day, even without the rain, but I LOVE RAIN.  We'll just have to try again another day.

So now it's time for other Thursday-like tidbits! Remember when I said Nate Berkus was coming to Target? Well, lo and behold. I was making my nearly daily trip to Target (I know. Really, I think it's an illness) and found a small end cap of Nate Berkus items in store...EARLY! Not to mention the Patch items were on clearance. It was a good, good day. 

After this, I went to the post office to mail off a little package of goodies to one of my October brides.

When the postal worker saw that the sender was "When Love Happens," he said, "When are you going to send one of these to me?" Perplexed, I smiled as he continued and said, "When will love happen for me?" I laughed out loud...maybe a little too loud.  Sorry mister, my packages aren't THAT magical. 

Anyway, happy Thursday! Chris and I have a full weekend. He gets a day off tomorrow to make up for all the traveling he did in September (I saw him for HALF the month). We start our video lamaze (thanks Jackie!), one last piece to complete in the nursery, breastfeeding class and we're watching our two little nephews. We're all baby, all weekend!  Hope you have a happy one!

Clumsy

I'm clumsy. I admit it. I trip. I fall. I run into stationary objects. I drop things. Things fall out of my hands. Last night, as I was getting ice in a cup, I managed to pull the cup away while ice was still coming out. Oops. Once, after dropping something, my husband asked, "How is it that you're so precise and exact when you're scrapbooking or making flowers, but you're so clumsy with other things? It doesn't make sense!" I know, I know. You're thinking, "But Joan, you've got it so together. I don't believe you." (HA!) I am admitting it now -- I am super clumsy.

When Chris and I got married and we decided that the bridesmaids and I would enter from this winding staircase, my first thought was, "Shoot. I'm totally going to eat it down this staircase."  This is a shot of Chris and I during the grand entrance. I'm looking down the whole time hoping I don't fall or trip on my skirt and how embarrassing it would be to tumble down a winding set of stairs in a white dress in front of 220 people.  I was even wearing flats since you couldn't really see them under my dress and...well, I didn't want to fall. My bridesmaids had to do the staircase in heels AND with no one to hold on to.  They're amazing...and they're also not clumsy.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I had just purchased these Lucky Brand wedges. I am a teacher so comfort is key when you literally sit for about an hour out of your entire workday and part of that is the 15 minutes you sit and scarf down your lunch and right after school when your feet feel like they're about to fall off. Lightweight and much more stable than any spindly heel, these shoes pretty much go with everything.

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When I was about 4 months pregnant, I wore these to a Father's Day lunch for Chris and my brother, Frank. They were the first time I really wore them when I was pregnant.  Chris found a parking spot on the same block as the restaurant and in the 300 yards from the car to the restaurant, I managed to trip....three times.  That's one trip for every 100 yards!  I was wearing the most unclumsy type of high heeled shoe, yet I managed to be clumsy in them. My bad ankle from the trampoline accident of 2011 (also another demonstration of clumsiness) only makes matters worse.

All this to say, I really wish I could wear these - 

 {1}  {2}  {3}  {4}

And I can't even wrap my mind around these -

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Happy Tuesday!

Focusing on the Positive

If you've talked to me at any point through my pregnancy, you would have noticed that I'm not in love with being pregnant. And at 5 months when I told my friends how uncomfortable I was, they said, "You're uncomfortable NOW? Just wait till the end!" They were right.

This week has been especially tough. It became even more difficult to sleep through the night. I wake up every couple of hours and no matter what position I sleep in, I cannot get comfortable.  I started getting pains in my drums and thighs... I mean legs and thighs (I am getting ready to cook dinner). I have to walk very slowly when I'm out because of all the pressure and because my tummy feels like it's going to bust open.

Did I mention that I still have 6.5 weeks to go? (Insert appropriate emoticon here)

So this morning when I woke up and was still feeling tired because I really didn't get any restful sleep and had pains in my leg, I just went back to bed hoping to wake up feeling better. I woke up and didn't feel any better, but forced myself to go out. As I was driving, I was encouraged to have a better outlook on the day and to find the positive in everything. So, here's my list of awesome, positive things that happened today -

1. The nursery is nearly done. I'm waiting for one last item to come in the mail to hang up, the slip cover for the chair to come back from the dry cleaner and one bookcase to be spray painted. Then it's cleaning, setting up and settling in. Then I'll be able to post some photos! Here's a sneak peak. Excuse the mess...and the newspaper... and the abundance of blue painter's tape. Chris spent his entire Saturday nailing, drilling and leveling.

2. Gas is still expensive, but I still have 3/4 of a tank.
3. It is significantly cooler this week than last! At least the weather won't make my hot flashes WORSE.

4. The baby knows how to do summersaults - or something that feels like summersaults. I'm trying to spin this in a positive way because sometimes when he does these, I feel like he's going to break through my skin. 

5. Did some grocery shopping at Whole Foods and the employees are really nice there. Everyone greeted me with a smile and asked if I needed help in a not-overpushy-kind-of-way. Even the solicitors are nice there. The man collecting donations outside said, "Are you ready to have your baby?"  When I responded with an emphatic YES, he said, "Oh, your baby is going to be so lucky to have you as a mom!"  

6. I have a recipe for dinner tonight that involved olives, Chris' favorite. Let's just cross our fingers it turns out tasty!
7. An elderly man who was wearing a shirt that said NAVY across the front was walking past me at Ralphs and he said, "Hi! How are you today?" With no references to my big, preggo belly.
8. HIMYM is on tonight.
9. I bought an awesome present for Chris' birthday.

Time to make dinner! Stay positive and go watch HIMYM.

33 weeks down, 7 weeks to go!

I'm starting 34 weeks this week and I am carrying a honeydew around with me. Actually at the end of 32 weeks, I had an ultrasound which showed that the baby's belly was on track for 32 weeks. However, he was 2 weeks ahead for height and 3 weeks ahead for head size. He was already a little over 4 lbs. at that point. Oh my goodness. I've gained 6 lbs during my pregnancy. If I haven't gained that much weight, why is the baby so BIG?

We've got tall genes on my side. I've always been tall for a girl (especially an Asian one). All of the girl cousins are around my height and all of the guy cousins, like my brother, all hover around 6 feet. When I told my Mom and Aunt they laughed and said, "all the babies on our side are always over 20" and 8-9 lbs."

Fantastic. I'm trying to focus on the positive, that our baby is healthy and that he'll be a tall Asian boy!

Nerdy Nursery Prints

I'm a little (okay,  a lot) late in posting, but I've been super preoccupied with getting the nursery finished and tending to things that need to be done before the baby arrives.  Okay, and reading.  I read The Mark of Athena in two nights. 

I've been working on the nursery pretty much as soon as we found out we were pregnant. That's just the kind of person I am. I like to get a head start on things. I began looking online for ideas, getting ideas and making Pinterest boards.  But for the past, oh, I'd say... 4 months? I've been looking for artwork to hang up in the nursery.  One day, I came across these and almost made me change the entire direction of our nursery because it was major cuteness. Check out these adorable prints from Mint Parcel.

Just in time for Halloween! These scary guys aren't so scary when they're cute!

I just wish she had a Darth and Luke to add to this collection, but I'm in the process of buying these guys anyway. I would make my brother proud.

Little superheroes!  My favorite here are Batman and Robin. Okay, and the hulk 

because he looks like broccoli!

Chris gets a long weekend so it'll be time to finish putting up shelves and frames in the nursery so we can share it with you here! Happy Thursday!

And special happy vacation shout out to Charissa who is on her way to Japan! Enjoy and eat lots!