Thankful

One of the things that Chris and I always pray for is to be thankful for what we have. This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for family and friends, especially those who have supported us during this crazy week with advice, prayers and helping us out at home. Between a newborn, jaundice and Chris out with the flu and then me, it's been a very insane week. Thanks to those of you who have been praying for us or caring for us in our home while all this has been happening.

I'm especially thankful for my two boys.

Let Me Introduce Myself

Hello! I'm today's guest blogger, Baby Justin. I'm new around here so let me tell you a bit about myself. I'm 6. Yes, that's right, 6 days old. It's been a pretty crazy 6 days. The first few days I was at the hospital with my Mom and Dad, but the last 2 nights, Mom and I had roommates and man, was our roommate noisy! He cried all night so Mom and I had a really hard time sleeping. Then we moved into my new house and had lots of visitors. I met a lot of my aunties, uncles, grandmas, cousins and new friends. But on Sunday night, my Dad got food poisoning and it seemed like that was pretty rough on both Mom and Dad. I was okay though. I was still waking up every three hours to do my thing. The next day, I went for my first doctor's appointment and they said I was jaundiced. I'm not sure what that means, but it ended up being kind of cool because I got these new sunglasses and sat in a box with blue lights. I hope to get out of here today though because I am itching for a change of scenery.

Like I said, it's been a crazy 6 days. What can I say? I'm livin' the fast life.

GILT + Baby Gap

 

Okay, seriously, how cute is this?

I'm getting ready for my OB appointment right now and was looking through my e-mails and stumbled across one I thought I'd share with you. GILT released Baby Gap's new winter collection online today and is being sold in advance on GILT. I'm a sale kind of girl so I always wait for SOME type of markdown or discount before I ever buy anything from GAP, but I'm making mental notes of what I will buy when I'm ready!

Just a hat and his birthday suit. Love it.

Thanksgiving Prep

Growing up in an immigrant family, holidays were never a huge deal for my family. We sent Christmas cards, but never had a tree. We had "Thanksgiving" dinner, but there was always a lot of roast duck, soy sauce chicken and char siu in place of turkey.  It's just the way we grew up with Chinese parents navigating themselves in a new culture and family.  However, when Chris and I got married, we decided that we'd be a little more traditional when it came to the holidays.  For our first Thanksgiving, we were invited to my aunt's home for Thanksgiving. Our second year, we were planning on hosting at our home with a full on Thanksgiving dinner, but my nephew was sick in the hospital and we were spending a lot of time helping my brother's family my taking turns at the hospital that we were too exhausted to do anything.

So, this is the year...except that our baby is due and we may have JUST gotten out of the hospital when Thanksgiving rolls around.  We're going to try our best and although it won't be a perfectly homemade Thanksgiving, it'll be the closest thing to it with a newborn. This is the reason why our mantle is also already decorated for Christmas. I do NOT do well when I'm sleep-deprived so I had to start all the holidays early so that we have SOME Thanksgiving and Christmas to celebrate. 

Anyhoo, here are some yummy recipes we've collected over the years for Thanksgiving!

Creamed Spinach

Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

Monkey Bread

Pumpkin Squares

Mmm, I'm getting hungry!

Week 38 - CHECK!

Just saying hello today. 38 weeks down and we're heading into week 39.  I had some false labor the other night, but it just means that my body is getting ready for the big day.  Thank goodness for the Internet and free wifi at Target.  Of course I'd be the one to go into labor at Target right? :) Photo credit to Charissa!

While I was looking up info about contractions, besties Charissa and Mel were trying on super cute Target clothes.  I can't wait to shop again!

The Nursery

The baby's room is done! Just in time too (no pun intended...for those of you who get my little joke! :))!

Here are a few photos of the finished room. I managed to forget to snap a photo of our zig zag rug, but that's going to have to wait because this mama is exhausted and ready for a catnap.

Now, we just need a baby and it'll be complete! :)

Election Day

I'm sitting here watching election results with my husband and eating patriotic jello as the baby wriggles inside me with excitement at what the next four years might bring. Well, it's either that or the sugar.

I've been voting by mail since I reached voting age (I'm just too practical), but am always jealous that I don't get an "I voted" sticker. Can't I get an "I voted by mail" sticker? Just sayin'!

Birthday Boy

This weekend was Chris' birthday and it was a chance for him to eat all the high cholesterol foods I haven't been letting him eat the past couple of months. He's been really disciplined about it so I figured that he could cheat on his birthday.

Instead of oatmeal, we went to Plum's for brunch. We've been meaning to go try it for awhile now, but we never could find a good excuse to get our butts out of bed on a Saturday morning and drive down to Costa Mesa for breakfast.  But a birthday did it! Chris got BACON and EGGS and POTATOES. He was a happy camper. I had the Northwestern waffle which really just a waffle and berries, but the clincher was the homemade whip cream. Nothing beats homemade whip cream. 

For dinner, we went to Chris' favorite restaurant, Lawry's. We actually considered having our wedding reception here because Chris loves the hunky beefiness so much, but I didn't want to get up 4 am to get married since they only offer lunchtime receptions. 

Anyway, here we are. I was able to snap a photo before Chris sunk his teeth into a big piece of BEEF. Another food he hasn't had much of lately. For his birthday, I bought him a shirt from J.Crew that he'd been eyeing and a new work bag from the Tumi Dror collection since his was stolen back in August. 

Happy birthday, love! Hope you enjoyed all the cholesterol. Back to oatmeal and whole grains, your favorite!