Welcoming the 3rd Trimester

Summer is here, and last Thursday marked the start of the third trimester! *Throws confetti!* And BECAUSE it's Summer and BECAUSE I'm approximately the size of a baby whale, I've had no desire to leave the cool and comfort of my own home.

Here's what's been happening since I last blogged...

At the end of June, I had my 26-week check-up, and so far, so good! I passed my Glucose test (Woo!), and my doctor and I talked about delivery options. After going back and forth, Ralph and I decided that it would be best to do a repeat C-section. We already scheduled it for Thursday, September 21st, and we are SO excited!

For 4th of July, we - you guessed it - stayed home, haha; however, I tried my best to make the most of it.

For breakfast, I made star-shaped Nutella-filled French toast topped with blueberry sauce with strawberries and whipped cream on the side *WHEW*.

For lunch, we just had leftovers; and for dinner, we had carne asada tacos and cheese quesadillas (Ralph's request).

And after that, I put together this super easy S'mores recipe that I saw on Instagram just a day or two prior.

S'mores Dip Recipe:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Layer the bottom of an oven-safe dish with Hershey's chocolate bars.
3. Dip some marshmallows in water and cover them in blue sprinkles.
4. Repeat step 3 but with red sprinkles.
5. Cut the dipped and non-dipped marshmallows in half, and arrange them sticky side down on the chocolate to look like the American flag.
6. Cut a non-dipped marshmallow into tiny pieces and scatter them on the blue marshmallows (these will be the "stars").
7. Bake for 8 minutes.
8. Serve with graham crackers!

Needless to say, Owen enjoyed dessert immensely.

While we were having our dessert outside, we let Owen throw Pop-Its on the ground. He was pretty terrible at it at first (throwing them too softly, or throwing them at our feet/legs), but he got the hang of it later on. These were our "fireworks" this year, since Owen has never really had a huge liking for fireworks (not yet anyway). Perhaps next year.

And during all of this, I've been nesting...like, reeeeeeeaaaaaally bad. I think finding out the baby's delivery date has put things in motion. Obviously, since we live in a 2-bedroom townhome apartment, the boys will have a shared room/nursery, and that means we'll need ALL the room we can get. And, naturally, I want to redo Owen's room entirely (much to Ralph's chagrin, HAHA, just kidding...sort of) instead of just tossing a toddler bed in there and calling it a day.

In the beginning, I had all these plans of selling old furniture and buying new ones; but throughout the process, I decided to just move certain things around, which, in the end, will save us a couple hundred dollars and a LOT of work. So far, we've done the following:

• Cleaned out Owen's closet, which consisted mostly of Owen's toys and Ralph's collectibles (most went into storage).
• Moved Owen's dresser/changing table into our bedroom, which is now OUR dresser/current TV stand.
• Moved our old TV stand to the right side of Owen's closet, which will house Rerun's clothes and serve as the new changing table.
• Moved Owen's bookcase to the left side of his closet, which will house Owen's clothes and miscellaneous things (diapers, wipes, etc.). 
• Moved our small shoe cabinet (which we found out was only holding 2 pairs of shoes we didn't know we still had, LOL!) from the downstairs closet to Owen's room. We'll be turning it into a toy storage unit of some sort (I just love IKEA products...so versatile).
• Moved Owen's crib to where his changing table/dresser used to be.
• Organized the crap out of our own closets to simply make more room.
• Went to our storage unit to bring back Owen's old baby things (clothes, rocker, swaddles, etc.).

It's hard to picture all of that right now, but I'll definitely post before and after photos in the future. This weekend, we'll be buying Owen's big boy bed (AHHHH!!) and getting started on THAT transition - his bed will be where his bookcase and crib used to be.

So that's what we've been up to! Just cleaning and re-organizing. Later today, we'll be meeting up with the amazing Christina Cho for our maternity photo shoot. :)

Until next time!

Father's Day Weekend 2017 & 25-Week Update

Since Ralph took me to a Ducks game on Mother's Day, I found it perfectly fitting to take him to Selanne Steak Tavern in Laguna Beach this past weekend. Shout out to my mom and dad for letting us have a rare night out without the stinky little guy, though we talked about Owen almost the entire time.

My handsome date!

Ralph and I are simpletons and rarely go to fancy restaurants, so coming here was quite the experience...and I mean that in the best possible way - the service was great, and the food was SO good.

Complimentary bread with butter and a tomato/caper sauce.

Prior to coming here, we reviewed the menu carefully and looked up the restaurant's Yelp reviews - we wanted to order the right things (and we definitely didn't want to over-order), especially since we wanted to try their desserts. After much debate, we decided to skip the first course (since there was complimentary bread) and share an entrée and a side dish.

For our main course, we ordered the Lord Stanley Cut, which is a 38oz wagyu steak. It was cooked to perfection and possibly the best steak I have ever had. 

Our side dish was equally amazing - Selanne's Mac and Cheese (topped with parmesan foam). I could not stop eating it, but I had to resist...we had to get dessert(s).

Ralph was shocked when I only ate two small pieces of steak and a few spoonfuls of mac and cheese before I said, "I'm getting full." I'm 25 weeks pregnant...I can't eat too much in one sitting - I don't have the room anymore! And we HAD to get dessert because our family friend Denise is a pastry chef at the restaurant. Our server convinced us to get two, so we did!

Ralph's choice - Honey Peanut Butter Bar (chocolate brownie with peanut butter and bananas with cocoa nib ice cream).

My choice - Coffee & Donuts (beignets and coffee pot de créme).

It's a good thing we ordered two desserts because we ate everything. And Ralph, who is not a coffee drinker and dislikes the taste of coffee, LOVED the pot de créme. HUGE thank you to Denise for treating us to these two desserts and for making sure we were taken care of! You're the best!

Yesterday, the good eating continued as we met up with my dad, mom, and brother at Two Left Forks, which is a new restaurant that opened up near us (thanks to Yelp for the recommendation).

Totally twinning here!

The service and food here did not disappoint either. I had a BLT and a side of truffle mac and cheese. (Can't you tell that I just love mac and cheese? ...I definitely have a problem.)

My dad, bro, and mama.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

After lunch, we went to Target (Sunday ritual), and then Owen and I went down for a nap as soon as we got home (food coma). Ralph enjoyed some quiet time - pretty sure all he did was play Zelda and read comic books...gotta love that nerd.

For dinner, we feasted on our delicious leftovers; and then Owen and I whipped up some chocolate chip cookies, which is the only thing Ralph requested for Father's Day.

Later on, we let Wendy have a treat too. We gave her the tomahawk bone from our steak at Selanne's (our server wrapped it up and packed it with our leftovers...he said other guests always ask for it, lol!), but we only let her have it for a few minutes, and we were watching her VERY carefully.

"YAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSS!!!"

It was a great weekend, and I'm so sad it's over; however, I do know that Father's Day can be difficult for some - I just hope that, whatever the case may be, everyone was able to spend it with the people they love.

I was feeling verrry sentimental yesterday (damn pregnancy hormones), so I asked my brother to send me photos of the other important men in my life - my grandfathers, uncles, and godfathers. All of them live in the Philippines except for my Uncle Ian, who lives in Vegas; and two of them, my Lolo Jun and Godfather Rene, have gone up to heaven.

Lolo Jun - my dad's father, my Angel up in heaven.

Lolo Tong - my mom's father, the kindest man I'll ever know.

My uncle and godfather, Uncle Bot.

My Uncle Ian (left) and Uncle Lee (right).

From left to right: Uncle Andrew (mom's brother), Uncle Homer (mom's brother), Lolo Tong, Uncle Mark (mom's brother), Lola Emma (my mom's mother), and my mom (holding me). Yes, I have a ton of uncles (only one aunt, by blood)!

And last, but not least, my other angel up in heaven - my godfather and dad's best friend, Uncle Rene (on the right).

Happy Father's Day to all of you. I love you so much.

And now, time for the "bumpdate"...

How far along?: 25 weeks, 4 days

Total weight gain/loss: +11 lbs (Thought I'd be +200 with all the food I ate this past weekend!)

Sleep: Pretty good, even though "Rerun" is most active when I go to bed.
Best moment this week: I can't choose just one! The whole weekend was amazing, but if I HAD to choose...sharing chocolate chip cookies with my boys.
Movement: After breakfast and before I go to bed.
Symptoms: Low back pain and...constipation (sorry, TMI, I know).
Symptoms I DON'T have: Nocturia and nausea.
Food cravings: Cheese. Frappucinos (It's getting hot...)

Food aversions: Nothing at the moment.

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: None.
Belly Button in or out?: Flat.
What I miss: Lying on my belly! 
What I am looking forward to: Seeing "Rerun" at my next doctor's appointment next week.


Have a great week, everyone! Until next time!

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!