Monthly Archives: April 2012
Babymoon!
Babymoon – April 27-29, 2012
Khoa and I took a babymoon locally and in San Diego to enjoy our time together as a couple before our whole world changed when our little miracle arrives! We started our weekend by eating dinner at A&J’s in Irvine Friday night and then watched 5 Year Engagement at the Spectrum. The movie was very funny and cute, we would recommend it! On Saturday, we had lunch at this place Khoa heard about on the radio that has really yummy open face tacos called Taqueria Tapatio! It’s quite delicious and the watermelon juice and horchata are REALLY refreshing as well! We then started out drive to San Diego. 
I always wanted to visit the stopping view point after you pass San Onofre, and so finally we did, it’s call Camp Pendleton Vista Point! There’s tons of squirrels there that are super friendly and a lot of people had little sunflower seeds and peanuts and bread to feed them. People gave us some sunflower seeds to so the squirrels went right up to me and ate out of my hand! I don’t know how sanitary that was, thank goodness for hand sanitizer, but they were so darn cute I couldn’t resist getting so close to them!
After stopping at Vista Point, we continued out drive and finally made it to Ocean Beach thanks to Alvina’s suggestion! It was nice little beach, pretty crowded, but it’s known for it’s pier. The pier is the longest pier in the west coast, and is in a shape of a T. The pier was not nearly as busy as the beach itself, so we enjoyed a nice spacious stroll to ourselves. After walking on the pier, we went to the side of the beach to explore as well!
For dinner we ate at Phil’s BBQ. It’s only of my favorite BBQ places and boy was I satisfied! I think our baby dragon Lily enjoyed it a lot as well =P The wait there is usually ridiculously long, so we made sure to arrive early around 4:45pm, and the line was already around the corner of the building. We probably waited a total of 25-30 mins., so we got lucky because usually the wait is double that amount! It’s totally worth it though =).
After dinner we went to Sunset Cliffs to watch the sunset. It’s a really nice scenic area with a clear ocean panoramic view! We arrived with about 30 mins to spare before the sunset, so we explored around the cliffs and got some photos. We also got lucky that it was a nice clear day with a few clouds so we got to see the sunset perfectly! Also, there weren’t that many people there either so it was overall a very nice, intimate time that Khoa and I got to share with each other. Some of the people we did walk by on the cliffs complimented me saying I look great and congratulated us on our pregnancy!! Little things like that sure makes we feel warm and fuzzy inside! =)
We went to Little Italy in Downtown San Diego afterwards to eat desserts at Extraordinary Desserts!! I’ve been wanting to eat there for the longest time but never had the chance because we were always so full after dinner! This time we had about a 1.5-2 hr gap between dinner and dessert, so that allowed us to digest and make room for all the fabulously delicious dessert we were about to experience! We ordered the tres leches cake, passion fruit napoleon, raspberry and lychee sorbet! The sorbet was SUPER refreshing and flavorful, the best sorbet I’ve ever had! I also ordered an appetizer of an avocado and artichoke truffle bruschetta and that was the best bruschetta I’ve ever had as well! Khoa ordered a macadamia nut iced coffee I got an American Beauty, which was pretty much a rose sparkling water. Our overall experience there was really great, we’d definitely come back for more!
On Sunday we had lunch at Watson’s Drugs and Soda Fountain. I had a groupon so we decided to check it out, and it’s cute little diner atmosphere 
restaurant, that even had a working jukebox! They are known for the patty melts so I ordered an avocado tomato patty melt and Khoa ordered the chili cheese eggs with home fries. I got a fancy root beer float and Khoa ordered a mimosa! The restaurant had store connected to it that sold all sorts of old fashion candies and sodas and other knicks knacks as well that was fun to browse through. After a really good lunch we took a stroll around the Orange Circle and did some window shopping. We then pampered ourselves and have a 1.5hr couple’s massage! After getting massaged for 1.5 hrs, it’s hard to go back to just the normal 1 hour massage haha! After our pampering, we went to Main Place mall and did some light shopping while sipping on one of my favorite drinks, milk tea! We then went home and started watching a movie on Netflix, The Sitter. It is not a family friendly movie, but there were a lot of funny parts in it! We had to put the movie on pause so we can go to out dinner reservations at Gulliver’s in Irvine!
Gulliver’s is a steakhouse that is based off the theme of Gulliver’s Travel (or so Khoa says). The facade is very cute with pretty flowers and the inside is really intimate and cozy! The staff were super friendly and when Khoa told them we were celebrating out babymoon, they were very enthusiastic in congratulating us and making us feel special! The food portions were humungous!!! Plus no matter what you order, they come and scoop you a huge helping of cream corn as well!! Good thing we had a groupon for that place too because it’s quite expensive, but well worth it! They also have gift certificates on restaurants.com (thanks Jennifer for the info) and so next time we go, we’ll definitely get a gift certificate to save some money! By the end of the meal, I couldn’t finish half of my meal, so we decided not to order dessert. However, they boxed us up a complimentary house special dessert anyways, a raspberry sponge cake, for celebrating our babymoon!! Yay!! After stuffing our faces, we went home and finished the movie. We had such a nice and relaxing babymoon, and I couldn’t have spent it with a more wonderful man! Enjoy our pictures, the full album can be viewed here!
8 Month Update!
Hello 8 months, I am exactly 32 weeks and one day today! I have less than 8 weeks to go (give or take) till our little miracle is here!! So two weeks ago, our baby dragon Lily had a heart beat of 140bpm, I gained a total of 8 pounds, and my belly measured at 29.5 cm. I was at 30 weeks and 1 day then so my belly size was only half a centimeter behind from where the average belly size should be, so overall I was doing pretty well. I did get some majorly bumming news though that I cannot nurse due to my thyroid medications. I was really sad at first because I did a lot of reading and heard that nursing is really beneficial for you and your baby, and I was really looking forward to the experience as well. Luckily, I have a really wonderful support system and my family cheered me up in no time. Benefits to formula right off the bat is that Khoa can help me feed Lily which means I will get more rest. Later on I won’t have to worry about switching her to a bottle, and I won’t have to deal with all the discomforts of nursing. Also, my generation grew up with formula, and we all came out just fine! =D
Today, Lily’s heartbeat is 139bpm, I gained 1 pound since my last Dr.’s visit, making it a whopping total of 9 pounds since my start weight, and my belly size is 28.1cm. I don’t know how it got smaller, but the average belly size at this point should be around 32cm since I am at the 32 weeks mark. I did a growth ultrasound last Friday, and it’s amazing with technology these days. They were able to measure how big our dragon is, she’s 1,702 grams (3lbs 12.02oz) as of last Friday! The results from the ultrasound shows that she is in the 26th percentile for growth. At 18 weeks of pregnancy, she was at the 40th percentile, now she dropped to 26. What that percentage means is that she’s bigger than 26% babies, and smaller than 74% babies at this stage in the pregnancy. My doctor wants to schedule one last growth ultrasound in three weeks to make sure she’s still growing ok, and as long as she doesn’t fall below the 10%, then it should be fine. The results also show that she has a lot of fluid (that’s what allows her to have her oxygen flow, etc.) so that is a very good sign. If she stops growing at a healthy rate, the the fluid would decrease in size as well, but since it hasn’t, then it’s a good sign. Also from the ultrasound, they were able to point out that she has a lot of hair growing on her hair! Yay! Also, she’s still in the head down position, looks like she’s ready to come to our side of the world!! Hehe. Here are a few pictures from the ultrasound appointment.
Another update is that lately I’ve been having trouble sleeping at night, because everytime I lay down, my throat would start to burn and I would get the urge to throw up, and a few times I actually did throw up. Turns out, my stomach valve opening thing (sorry I don’t know the medical term) doesn’t close all the way at this point in the pregnancy, so it’s easier to get acid reflux. So one of the things I’ve been doing was sleeping while sitting up, and then in the middle of the night I would finish sleeping laying down. Once I slept on the couch because I thought it would be more comfortable than sleeping sitting up in bed, and Khoa is the sweetest husband ever for sleeping next to me on the couch too so that I won’t be alone! =) I’m one lucky gal! My Dr. today told me that I can try taking pepcid AC or any over the counter acid reflux medication and that should hopefully fix that problem, so we’ll see how it goes! On the belly button update, it’s still there but barely! It’s getting quite flat, and I feel like it’ll pop any minute!! Not bad for lasting this long though, we’ll have to wait and see what it decides to do, stay and innie and be flat, or be adventurous and become and outtie! Also, no stretch marks that I know of yet, woohoo!
Overall, I’m loving this pregnancy! I find myself very happy, like a constant state of euphoria, and I feel so grateful for this experience in life. Lily’s kicks get stronger each day and she’s reaching maybe 2-3 inches about my belly button now! She’s starting to nudge around in there more rather than just kicking and punching. Khoa and I can’t wait to hold her in my arms!! That’s all the update I have for now, enjoy my 8 month baby bump photo!
Maternity Photos!
Maternity Photos!
Fun day in the sun with my baby and Hun! We finally took our maternity photos this past weekend on Saturday and Sunday. At first we were worried the rain might postpone our plans, but Lily summoned her lucky energy and brought our the sunshine! We also took advantage of this time to just have a nice outing and enjoy the outdoors and sunlight as well! Saturday (April 14th) Khoa and I grabbed our tripod and camera and when to the William R. Mason Regional Park in Irvine. It was pretty chilly outside, and windy, but we toughed it out and got some nice fun shots! We were going for a Pixar’s Up inspired theme for the photos at the park, and so we had some fun colorful balloons as props, and I wore a bright fun yellow dress for contrast! A reason why we wanted to do an “Up” theme was because we like to go on adventures together, so having a baby is our next BIG ADVENTURE we will face together, so it seems so appropriate! =) After we were done with the balloons, we gave them to a little girl and made her day! =) Khoa did such a great job with the self timer, it’s a good thing he can run fast! =)
After the park, we had had lunch at Le Diplomat and got milk tea at Cha for Tea! We met up with Jennifer and she then helped us with photos at the Corona Del Mar Beach in Newport! We chose the beach because one of our favorite vacation spots is Hawaii, and so we wanted to represent that in our photos in hopes to bring our baby dragon Lily to Hawaii with us one day when she’s older! The beach was super cold and windy, and I was really nervous the wind would not look good, but Jennifer assured me that the windy worked just fine! It was sure cold though, but worth it in the end from the shots we got!! Jennifer sure has a great eye, and we are greatly appreciative of her help!
On Sunday, we went to the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden at Cal State University of Long Beach! I chose that place this is the year of the dragon, and the Japanese Garden has that Asian motif that fits our theme perfectly! Also, I just love the pond and the bridge, etc. Also, I wanted to print some of these photos and hang them in the dragon lair (nursery) for Lily to look at, and the garden had so many vibrant colors that I think Lily will really enjoy! Jennifer also helped us with these photos as well and once again, magnificent job! =) At one point during the pictures, I dropped a block into the pond, and luckily Khoa was able to swoop it out of the water before it went under the bridge! What a great save! Haha! Anyways, enough with reading, time for you to enjoy the photos! =) I plan to make some Cinemagraphs (animated photos) soon, so stay tuned for that!
