These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

I thought I would update my list of favorite things during pregnancy.

Smoothies

I heart smoothies, especially ones made by my beloved husband!  For some reason, when I get a hold of that blender it just doesn’t come out right. But Nguyen has a magic touch when I comes to smoothies. So, whenever he offers I accept. I also place special orders from time to time. The blended goodness of fresh fruit, yogurt, maybe some cream… and whatever else Nguyen puts in it is just delightful! Extra delightful on very warm days like today when I have a fan blowing in my face and I am still not cooling off.

Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies

So, not too long ago I was at Nguyen’s office and found in his mini-fridge a secret stash of Girl Scout cookies. I was dismayed that he would keep such a treasure from me! He said he was waiting to tell me about them until after I had my gestational diabetes test. (Sure) So, since I passed my test and my sugar is good, he released a box to me. Ahhh, the goodness of Thin Mints! I have to use every bit of self-control not to down an entire sleeve in one sitting. I usually do a very good job of portioning out one serving and putting the box away. But every once in a while, the self-control wanes and before I know it I’m blaming imaginary creatures for stealing the rest of the box! Thanks husband for helping to limit my temptations! You know me so well!

Vietnamese Chicken Salad

Nguyen made some of the best chicken salad the other day and now I can’t get enough. I usually pass on trying this dish in Asian restaurants because it sometimes contains items that are foreign to me. (Hehe!) Jelly fish and lotus stems are not my favorite.  But he made a really simple salad with just fresh boiled pulled chicken, slivered onions, cilantro and green onions with a lime sauce. Other ingredients typically found in Vietnamese Chicken Salad (Gio Ga) are mung bean sprouts, shredded cabbage, julienned carrots, spearmint, and Vietnamese coriander leaves. It is so good! I think I might have some again tonight.

Hand-me-down Maternity Clothes

My sister had a baby a few months ago and passed along all of her maternity clothes to me. She is a wonderfully generous person. When I first got them and tried them on, I thought to myself “There is no way I will EVER fit into these. They swallow me!” Well, I am eating those words now. I am SO thankful she shared her stash because I definitely fit into them. That’s right, 9 inches (and counting) of extra belly can fill up quite a bit of fabric. Now I know.

Sonograms

I truly cherish the days when we are able to see our little baby’s face! Well, I haven’t seen that much of his face… He’s a little camera shy. But just seeing him in his squished and contorted positions brings a tear to me eye.

Baby Blankets

We have had a couple of baby showers now, and I have realized that I have an obsessive love of baby blankets! I love how soft and cute and small they are. I can just imagine swaddling my little baby in them. We have received quite a few as gifts and I really love them. I’m trying to pick out the one I want him to come home from the hospital in!

Measuring Tape

This might sound strange, but I have a measuring tape specifically for measuring body parts. It has a snap on it so that it will stay in place. Since I have been pregnant I have measured from time to time to see how much my baby belly has grown. Well, now that I am growing so fast, it has become a game we play several times a week. We see how much I have grown. Most recently, 1/2 inch in about 3 days! And we have a month and a half left!

Belly Waves

Similar to the above mentioned game Nguyen and I play, we also love to watch my belly move. Yes, we are now the point where my belly will do the wave! I have even found myself starring at my belly and watching it move while company was over. So, it might not be the greatest party game, but it sure does keep me entertained! I can’t wait til he’s big enough that we can see his footprint stick out!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez

While we celebrated the Streder’s wedding, we also had some time to explore New Orleans. Despite the fact that I have lived my whole life just a few hours from New Orleans, I have not really spent much time in the city. So, this was an exciting trip for me, one of my first New Orleans vacations! I, of course, made a list of the top things I wanted to do while visiting. I failed to take into account 6 months of pregnancy that slowed me down quite a bit. But even with major back pain and total discomfort for part of the trip, we still managed to mark a few things off my list and have an awesome time while doing so!

Number 1 – Cafe Du Monde, Cafe Au Lait And Beignets

Number 2 – Carriage Ride Around The French Quarter

Number 3 – Trolley Ride Down St. Charles Street… but it rained

So we improvised…

New Number 3 – Betsy’s Pancake House!

Yay for fun weekend getaways!!

A Weekend With the Streders

To celebrate Shonnie and Paul’s marriage, the whole gang drove down to New Orleans for a wonderful weekend. It’s been a while since we last saw Shonnie and we got to meet Paul for the first time. It was great spending time with the two of them together. Here are a few pics of our reunion.

106 Days To Go

We wanted to document the growth of the baby belly, so Nguyen played around with the camera a bit. This is me at 6 months pregnant!

Favorite Things

A few of my favorite things…
This is the first post in, hopefully, a series of posts about my favorite things through pregnancy and the first crazy months of being a new mom. So, these are a few of my favorite things in the first 5 months of pregnancy.

1.  Fruit… I can’t get enough

2.  The Pregnancy Journal, A day-to-day guide to a healthy and happy pregnancy – Our daily reading about what the baby did that day is one of the highlights of the evening!

3.  Pregnancy Yoga (as of week 21 when back pain sets in) – I have Prenatal Yoga with Shiva Rea. She says the word “exhale” funny, but overall it has been awesome at helping me not feel so sore and stiff. I would definitely recommend starting something like this at the beginning.

4.  Mini-cups of Blue Bell homemade vanilla – It’s the perfect size for a sweet treat and I don’t feel very guilty after!

5.  Carter’s Child of Mine Memory Book from Walmart – I just got this book and I am in love with it! It is simple, it covers all the basics you would want to remember but it doesn’t go into too much detail. I have already filled out all the mommy and daddy information and that has been a lot of fun! I make not promises to little baby boy or subsequent children that I will complete a memory book for each of them, but I think I have my best shot of doing it with this book!

Last but not least – One of my most favorite things… My Husband! Nguyen has been so awesome throughout this whole experience so far! He has taken over in the kitchen, he makes the bed now (wow!), he compliments my quickly growing belly… and best of all, I love love love seeing how excited he is over his son! It’s awesome! Thanks dear for being so great!

He wasn’t feeling up for a photo shoot… so this was the alternative!!

Announcing Baby Nguyen

We had our first sonogram today! I am 21 weeks pregnant and this afternoon we got our first glimpse of our little baby. It was so exciting Nguyen almost got teary-eyed! Almost. We are happy to announce that come August we will be having a baby boy! Here’s a little peak of our precious child! He was being shy and didn’t want to show his cute little Nguyen Jr. face. I guess we will just have to go back for more pictures later! (No, we are not naming him Nguyen Jr.)

Vacation In The Wilderness

Nguyen and I are spending our weekend in the foothills of Missouri at a resort in the woods called Big Cedar. It’s very beautiful! I am currently sitting in front of a roaring fireplace looking out over the lake and the hills and the smoke rising from all the chimneys in the woods. Because of the arrival of the first Biggs family grandchild, my parents gave us their lodge and thus allowing Nguyen and I to have our first vacation since our honeymoon. This has been a much needed break for the both of us and we our very grateful for Mom and Dad’s generosity! Our days have consisted of sleeping late, taking long walks along the wilderness trails and catching up on some photo taking. Here’s a little peak of what we have been enjoying!