Parisian Brunch & 21-Week Update

My mom turned the big 50 last month, and I had intended to take her to a tea place for breakfast/brunch on her special day. My plan, however, was foiled by my dad who told me that he had taken the day off to take my mother out. Womp womp...

But a couple of weeks ago, my mom asked me if I wanted to have a girls' day out to celebrate Mother's Day. She suggested we go for high tea. (Great idea, hahaha.) She wanted to go to The Tea House on Los Rios, which was the place I wanted to take her for her birthday. Unfortunately, my phone calls and messages to make a reservation were never answered, so I made plans to go to Paris in a Cup.

This cute little place is located in The Orange Circle and has a little boutique right when you enter.

We were the first ones seated! It pays to make reservations because this place filled up quick.

We started out with the Plat de Provence, which is an assortment of cheeses, fruits, and breads. I had vanilla bean tea, and my mom had Le Papillon Madame ("or something like that", she said).

To be honest, we were getting full by the time our main course arrived, but we managed to eat half our meals.

My mom ordered the "Henri" (Portobello mushroom and other veggies in a ciabatta bread) with a salad.  

I had the "Croque Madame" (croissant with eggs, gruyere cheese, and ham) with baked potato soup.

As I'm documenting all of this, I'm eating my leftovers. Heh.

After we ate as much as we could, my mom and I sadly turned down the dessert menu. We'll definitely come back; and when that time comes, we'll order ALL the desserts.

Bathroom selfie because...why not?

After that, we headed for the mall, where my mom tried her very hardest to buy me a pair of comfy shoes (which would be my Mother's Day gift from her and my dad). I kept telling her that today was my gift to her and joked that she's the mother and I'm the daughter - buying ME a gift is not how Mother's Day works. It was fun watching her pout as I would try on shoes and just say "no" to all of them. (Now, don't get me a wrong...anyone would love to accept a pair of shoes, but my mom does so much for us already that I just couldn't let her gift me with shoes.) At the end, we just got Cinnabon to go and headed home.

Hope you had a great day, Mom! You deserve the whole world. Love you!

And to wrap it all up, here's my 21-week bumpdate.

How far along?: 21 weeks, 2 days

Total weight gain/loss: +5 lbs (probably +10 after today)
Sleep: It's been okay.
Best moment this week: My boys taking me to the Ducks game on Mother's Day.
Movement: Early morning, whenever I eat, and right before I go to bed.
Symptoms: Starting to get tired easily.
Symptoms I DON'T have: Nocturia and nausea.
Food cravings: Anything with cheese and tomatoes.

Food aversions: Nothing.

Gender: Boy!
Labor Signs: None.
Belly Button in or out?: Flat.
What I miss: A nice medium steak, lol.
What I am looking forward to: Going to Disneyland and eating at Goofy's Kitchen on Wednesday!

Until next time!

Mother's Day 2017

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend because I sure did!

For me, it all started Thursday night when I got home from work. I was washing dishes, and Ralph comes up to me and asks, "How about we go to the Ducks game on Sunday? Your Mother's Day gift?" I was actually pretty surprised that he asked me because I was pretty set on having breakfast at Euro Caffe (yes, the place that recently won me over with a Nutella latte). Going to the game never even crossed my mind! I kept saying to him, "What? Are you sure? It's so expensive. Really?"  And then he told me to go on StubHub to pick out our seats. Woo! Honda Center, here we come!

Owen surprising me with "fahwoos" on Mother's Day morning.

Since Ralph gifted me with playoffs tickets, I insisted that we skip breakfast at Euro Caffe and just sleep in (as long as Owen would allow us) and have a relaxing morning in. At 3pm, we headed off to Anaheim.

The Bear Brass Band welcoming fans right outside the Honda Center.

We arrived early enough for warm-ups and took a few photos near the glass, since our seats were up top in the nosebleed section.

Owen wanted to get the towels off these chairs, hahaha.

Once warm-ups ended, Ralph, Owen, and I headed for our seats. We sat all the way up top on the goalie side where the Ducks shoot twice.

Predators fans in front of Owen. Predators fans to my left. They were pretty tame during the game, thank goodness.

Best part about going to a game is eating a bunch of junk...right, Owen?

The game itself was awesome. The Predators took an early 2-goal lead, but the Ducks managed to pull through and win 5-3.

DUCKS WIN!

Owen did very well, and I think we all had a much better time this time around than the last time we took him, and it's not just because we won - having a seat for Owen (which we didn't have last time) made a world of a difference. We were all very comfortable, and Owen had a lot of room to move around. By the 3rd period, he was zoning out, and Ralph and I were sure that he would fall asleep; but Owen watched the whole time and didn't want to leave once the game was over. "No go home!", he kept saying.

Thank you, Ralph, Owen, and Rerun (who was dancing in my belly the ENTIRE game)! I had the best day ever, and I'm so grateful to be able to share it with the 3 of you. Love you!

Mother's Day celebrations continue on Saturday when my mom and I (just the two of us!) go out for brunch and shopping...and for someone who isn't a big girly girl and doesn't like tea, I'm actually looking forward to it. :)

Until next time!

Our Gloomy Eventful Weekend & 19-Week Update

Just when I thought Southern California was getting ready for summer weather, we were hit with a cold and rainy weekend...but that didn't stop us from having our fun!

On Saturday, we celebrated our friends' son Grayson's second birthday. He was born on Star Wars Day (May 4th), so of course his party was Star Wars everything!

Owen just learned who R2-D2 was the other day, so he was pretty ecstatic to see the balloon.

Birthday boy!

Good guys on the blue. Bad guys on the red...though one would argue that Boba Fett isn't reeeaaally a bad guy.

There were pool noodles that were made into lightsabers, and Owen made it his mission to bring as many of them into the bounce house as he could.

At one point, he said, "Mama, you come right here?" I mean...I'm not gonna say no, lol.

You can't see it in this photo, but my hair was made like Rey's in "The Force Awakens".

(Here's a photo I took at home...way easier to do than I thought!)

Go Grayson!

Owen did not want to partake in hitting the piñata...and all he did was put candy in other kids' bags. He has a lot to learn.

THE COOLEST CAKE!!!

Thanks for having us, Grayson! We had a blast!

On Sunday, we got up suuuper early for Ralph's third and final half-marathon to complete the Beach Cities challenge (3 half-marathons within a year - Long Beach, Huntington Beach, and OC). As soon as Owen and I dropped him off, it began to rain and HAIL. My poor husband was soaked for his whole run, but he finished it in 1:43 and some change.

All bundled up.

Good job, Daddy!

Owen passed out on the way home...as if HE was the one who ran 13.1 miles that morning, lol.

Today, I went in for my anatomy scan. "Rerun" is looking great and weighing in at 13oz already. I wonder if he'll break 8 pounds. (Eek!) Children were not allowed at the appointment, so my mom was kind enough to watch Owen this morning; in return, I treated her out to a late breakfast at Euro Caffe. It. Was. DELICIOUS.

Owen was HUNGRY, but my mom and I had no clue just how hungry he was.

Top: French Revolution Crepe (Mom's), Bottom Left: Bacon Crepe (Mine), Bottom Right: Nutella and Strawberry Crepe (Owen's). My mom had the green tea latte, and I had the Nutella latte (SO GOOD).

The bottom one was Owen's...

...and he went to town...

...and ate the WHOLE THING!!

Washing it all down with some milk.

Not a bad start to the week. :)

Thanks for watching the little stinker, Wowa! You do so much for us already!

Now time for a bump-date!

How far along?: 19 weeks, 4 days (Oh yeah! I forgot to mention, my doctor OFFICIALLY changed my due date to September 28th - 5 days earlier than expected!)
Total weight gain/loss: +6 lbs
Sleep: Not so well these last couple of weeks because I've been sick.
Best moment this week: Not baby-related...the Ducks winning games 4 and 5 in OT.
Movement: Every day now!
Symptoms: GERD. I'm in serious trouble because I'm only halfway there, and all the foods I crave are foods that you should avoid if you have GERD. Meh. What baby wants, baby GETS.
Symptoms I DON'T have: Nocturia and nausea.
Food cravings: Cereal, Mexican food, cottage cheese with grape tomatoes and chives.

Food aversions: Nothing stands out at the moment.
Gender: Boy!
Labor Signs: None.
Belly Button in or out?: In.
What I miss: Can't think of anything right now.
What I am looking forward to: Again, not baby-related...Ducks vs Oilers, Game 7. Looking forward to it and NOT looking forward to it at the same time.

Until next time!