grandpa's 98th birthday

our family has so much to celebrate. on sunday we gathered for erwin/grandpa's birthday. here's a couple of great photos that captured our spirit... or since these were taken after dinner, maybe they captured us trying not to look so full!

happy birthday grandpa!

tam and the girls were there too... but they missed the photo op. will try to find a cute pic, and stay tuned for more news!

Week 12... your baby is the size of a lime!

two whole inches long and half an ounce in weight. i'm beginning to think i will need another month for it to seem noticeable enough... so it doesn't seem like i'm just eating too much these days. and paul's really getting into the action too!

the week in review, and it's not even over yet!

let me tell you about gary danko. if you don't know about gary danko... (we were treated to an amazing dinner this past tuesday night by n & k - THANK YOU!) you're about to get a play by play.

5:30pm reserve, right on time... this is the kind of place that they pull out your chair, put your napkin on your lap, and give you a table hook for your purse. FANCY! you have the option of a 3, 4 or 5 course meal - we all went with 4 - and the opportunity to take any of the items on the menu and do a "choose your own adventure" dining experience. dessert can be first, appetizers last and anything you want in between. i refrained from my typical MO of taking pictures of every course, but only because i had forgotten my camera at home that day. bummer! (side note: we had a similar type of dining experience at a restaurant in ny last year. i took pics of every course, and the maitre'd came over to ask if i was a spy!). they brought out a lobster bisque and a toasty smoked salmon and caviar "amuse bouche" to start, along with sparkling wine for everyone and a glass of cider for me. all grown up!

here's my menu:

course 1 - lobster risotto: just the right amount of creamy richness, but not overpowering. the risotto was cooked just to the right point... tender but not mushy.

course 2 - i love beets. who knew i loved beets so much? yellow and red, perfect presentation and a small dollop of goat cheese on the side. but... i wasn't sure if that was pasteurized. so i steered clear of that.

course 3 - filet: ok... YUM. i don't know what it is right now, because i am typically not a red meat person. but this was what looked good. i had it cooked through, more than it's "supposed" to be, but it was still tender and juicy. there was the cutest mashed potato snowman on the side, layered with these crispy potato things and some tiny green beens. i was feeling way more than full by this time, but dessert was still to come.

course 4 - trio of creme brulee: (s - i thought of you the whole time); three normal sized portions of the delectable cream in vanilla, earl grey and chocolate. i was fairly basic because i actually preferred vanilla, but they were ALL yum.

and to top off the meal, they brought out a small tray of the tiniest dessert bites, which we wrapped to go because there was no way anything else was fitting in the stomach after all of that. oh, and there's more... they give the girls (it's good to be a woman sometimes, just not always in the first trimester) a breakfast cake for the next day! THANK YOU AGAIN n & k... what a treat!

weds' dinner wasn't quite as glamorous - chicken burritos from our favorite spot. tonight i'm heading to a business dinner at tres agaves, which has some of the best guac! oh, and my week hasn't been just about great food. i've actually been feeling a little more queasy for the past couple of days. but that just means i turn it up a notch on the shock bracelet. it's got 5 settings, and i've worked my way up to 3 so far.

12 weeks tomorrow... pics to come!

what's new?

no big changes still... i think i'll need a few more weeks. or maybe another month.

i helped my mom out at a baby shower this weekend, and there were three other pregnant women there - all of us were in different phases. the mommy-to-be, who we were celebrating, is due in dec. another one of her friends is two weeks behind her, another is 4.5 months along... and then there's me. i'm just counting down to week 12. but the ticker does say i'm under 200 days!!!

it's quite interesting how this mommy-to-be status has me noticing so many different things that i never would have before... stroller types, baby carriers, diaper bags. and i seem to be connecting with women who are mothers - on a whole new level. it's really quite amazing this whole process.

paul continues to be loving, fantastic, and never complains - despite my strange tendencies... like eating rice and beans and broccoli for dinner last night after i had made him pasta with chicken, mushrooms and broccoli (a more normal combination of foods).

i'm really excited about our next dr. appt. on oct. 24th. i hope we get to hear the thunder! and i've been contemplating a post of the sonogram pictures, but... we might have to wait until after the baby is born to post its very first picture of life.

we haven't had the energy for many adventures in the last month or so... so here's a pic of our trip to ny in august. hopefully the second trimester brings a little more excitment. i've heard a few people say that they felt the best they've EVER felt in their lives during the second trimester. i hope i'm like one of them!!!

week 11... feeling great!

so i'm 2 weeks out from the end of my first trimester, and this week was a much better week. i stayed up past 9pm without falling asleep in my dinner, and i even got up to work out before work one day this week. the shock bracelet does it's magic when i need it, and the hunger is starting to normalize. i had to go and get some blood work done today, and the phlebotomist (wanted to use that word) kept pulling down tube after tube for all the tests they need to do. 8 tubes in total - no one told me about that part!

but a few people have told me i'm ahead of the game in the "feeling better department"... but these days, we try not to get too far ahead of ourselves. we're never sure what the next day will bring - it's the miracle of life and a great adventure!

here's week 11... i know it looks a lot like week 10, but it's not. trust me. i even drew my own marker :)

a 94th birthday... and spilling the beans.

my grandmother on my dad's side, ngng, turned 94 on monday. what a fantastic milestone, and an opportunity to share a really cute story...

out of all our family members, my grandmother was the first to find out about our good news. it was september 3, and we had just returned from las vegas from a few days of vacation. the fong parents were in spain and the besmehn parents in carmel... and we were hoping to wait to tell people our good news until after our first doctor's appt. but that just didn't turn out to be the case. so when we arrived, we carefully explained that we were going to have a baby, and she just kept saying "God bless you". we weren't really sure if she "got it", but we were hoping she understood what we were trying to say.

about 5-8 minutes after we arrived, bec and dave came in. they said their hellos, we all exchanged greetings, and then all of a sudden - out of no where - my grandmother proclaims, "did you know that paul and andrea... have baby?". and my sister being a very logical thinker, began to comfort my grandmother saying... "no, no ngng... not yet, not until later". and then she turned toward me and i just couldn't hide it.

my ngng... spilled the beans :).

happy birthday, ngng! we love you!

week 10

so here we are...

it's time to start the "baby besmehn bump watch". see anything yet? i think the size of a kumquat is just too early to detect, but check back every week for a new pic.

amazing flowers!

my boss is pretty excited for me. i told him about our good news last friday, and he can't seem to contain himself :)! everyone who walks into or out of his office gets the news...

"did you know she's going to have a baby?"

then he goes on to say that i will now have three babies... my husband, my boss, and my soon to be baby. it's really quite sweet. he even sent me one of the most beautiful bouquets of flowers i've ever seen. check them out!

no words, all pictures

major word violation yesterday... so today, just pics of some of my favorite people and of a very special day in our lives. congratulations and much love - mr. and mrs. goodson (uncle chester and auntie steph)!


p.s. today was a good day... :)!