The way to a woman's heart...

is Lowe's gift cards!!! Yay!!! :-)Thanks to Bobby's mom and step-dad, we are now able to help the economy and shop even more at Lowe's! Thank you, thank you, thank you! My mind just won't stop thinking about what to buy next. I did find out that Olympic paint has a "Premium" brand now - i.e. No VOC paint - which will be good for baby and me. How exciting!
We also want to continue thanking Barbara and Bob for all the other Christmas gifts! Here's Bobby with his new favorite ornament. I bet he is going to show it off to his two older brothers!
And while we're in the picture-taking mood (and all dressed up for Bobby's company Christmas party)... here's me with my baby bump at 4 1/2 months. Slowly but surely I'm accumulating on maternity clothing, which I believe makes the belly look even more pronounced!

It's definitely a boy!

So you're looking at it! Right where the "mouse" is pointing... evidence of a little boy! You're basically looking at the baby from his bottom up. His legs are crossed at his ankles. Those legs sure look awfully long! No wonder he woke me up in my sleep the other night from kicking!
Guess we better start looking for a name versus calling him "Peanut" all the time! :-)
In the meantime, our little peanut continues to receive gifts! These cute bunnies were a gift from Isabelle and Daniel - good friends here in Tulsa. Izzy's mom actually knitted these bunnies or should I say "lapins" in French, since they were handmade in Quebec!
And of course, can't pass up the chance to post more pictures of our celebrity neighborhood hawk. I'm constantly trying to sneak up on him on the deck to get a closer pic, but he would always fly away!

To faux or not to faux...?

Well, I guess based on the picture... the answer is a big NO! I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could use the kitchen color paint - dilute it a little, paint it on and rub it off with a towel - to tone down that bright yellow in the laundry room. (I was not about to pay $7 for a Polo Ralph Lauren sponge!) As you can see, it didn't turn out so well (maybe I should have bought that sponge!).
So anyhow, I ended up mixing a little bit of the "Golden Glow" yellow with some white and painted about 2/3 of the room. It's funny how different parts of the wall looks more yellow than others based on the lighting in the room. I did leave the bright yellow on the wall where the door is and also where the washer and dryer is going to be. I did tone down the color above the cabinets and I think it looks so much better.
Now I just have to figure out what to do with the cabinets - stain or paint???? And what color??!!?














Spotted a woodpecker yesterday in the backyard. It was like an invasion of birds when the sun came out. One minute they were there,... and the next minute, they were all gone! Looked it up on the internet and this one is called the red-bellied woodpecker. I don't see the red belly though!

Thought you had a bad hair day???

I woke up yesterday and was completely shocked when I saw myself in the mirror. And of course, I burst out laughing! I took a pic of me on my cellphone and sent it to Bobby at work and he said that he burst out laughing out loud too... in his meeting!
Well, if anything, you can definitely see how much my hair has grown since the hair buzz/cut almost 6 months ago :-)

And here's my baby bump of 16 1/2 weeks. My belly button is definitely not much of an innie anymore. I'm still quite sad and freaked out about that. Our next ultrasound appointment is on Monday. We will definitely be able to confirm if our lil' peanut is a boy. And we should probably start giving him a "real" name vs. "Peanut". Haha!
And a quick thank you to my sis, Scott, and little Mikey for sending a nice care package of toys!

"You have a silly name!"

True words of 3-year old little Amelia to Bobby on Day 2 of our stay in Memphis! Bobby and I decided to take the 7-hour drive and visit his childhood friend who just moved to Memphis with his family earlier this year. It was great to see BJ and Ellen and their two kids - Jeb (6) and of course, little cutie Amelia. We got our first-hand experience at watching parenting skills in action and bounced plenty of questions to BJ & Ellen in anticipation of our little peanut. Needless to say, it was definitely a trip worthwhile!
We also saw the biggest Magnolia tree ever!!! It was across the street from their house. I just had to take a picture with it!Since it was my first trip to Memphis, BJ took us on a quick trip around Graceland to see Elvis' house. Did you know that it's the 2nd most visited house in the US, apart from the White House? The house is bordered by this brick wall along the side of the street. And if you look clearly in the pic, it is covered with graffiti! Elvis also had both of his planes parked on the other side of the street, walking distance from the Heartbreak Hotel.
We also took a quick drive in downtown Memphis. We drove by the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated (thanks for the spelling correction, honey!) in 1968. The motel looks exactly the same as it did then, based on what I've seen on tv. It was quite an eerie feeling! It is now the home of the National Civil Rights Museum.
On the drive home, we saw a whole flock of birds flying south. It was an amazing sight! Well, at least to me it was. I kept going "Wow!" and Bobby was barely showed any enthusiasm. :-P
Once home, Bobby was excited to start a fire in our fireplace for the very first time. BJ & Ellen had an amazing stone fireplace in their family room and so, needless to say, Bobby couldn't wait to get started when we got home. Problem was, once the fire got started, he just wouldn't quit poking at it! I guess anything to keep him occupied :-)

Boeuf Borguignon - Attempt #1

Inspired by the movie "Julie and Julia" and of course, by Julia Child, I bravely took on the task of cooking Boeuf Borguignon for the very first time. Well,... let's just say it won't be the last! (Or will it be???)
There were numerous versions of the recipe online and I went with one where the instructions were about a page and a half long! Well, to make the story short... here are the results:
As seen in the pic, it was a complete disaster! In the movie, Julie actually burnt her first Boeuf Borguignon as well but that was because she fell asleep on the couch. Mine only took less than 3 hours to burn! The funny thing is, I could smell the dish when I opened up the oven and it actually smelled really good! So I was really surprised when I opened up the casserole pot!
Maybe it's because I completely ignored the part of the recipe that said "Cover and place in the oven, adjusting the heat so the liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours".
Thankfully, I had bought a frozen pizza the day before while grocery shopping. The pizza sure looked a lot better next to the burnt pot!
I guess I shouldn't have laughed at Bobby when he burnt the pancakes last weekend :-P I still think it was a bad recipe. I will have to look for another version of it for Attempt #2 :-)