Boxes finally arrived!

After a 2+ month journey by sea, the boxes from Malaysia finally arrived! Thanks to my aunt who repacked my two (oversize and overweight!) original boxes into 4 more manageable boxes. During our most recent trip home/back to Kota Kinabalu, we decided to pack up my golf trophies (during my Junior golf days) and old photo albums, as well as some local coffee, tea bags, Milo (a chocolate drink) and Nestum (a cereal drink). I'm so glad the boxes were not lost at sea! I've been craving for Milo and Nestum ever since we left Malaysia! The Milo that is sold at Wal-mart is produced in Mexico... and it just doesn't taste the same!
But most of all, I'm glad the photo albums were not damaged either. Check out these pics - this first one is of my mom, sis, and me (to the right) - taken in 1978. I was only 2 years old! And the next photo is of me, posing in my kindergarten uniform. I was probably 6 years old at the time. Haha... priceless!!!

Out of order!!!

What was suppose to be a quick and easy fix turned out to be a lot more complicated that I had expected!!! The toilet was leaking just enough to cause a formation of stained hard water under the piping. So feeling confident that it was going to be easy fix, I finally decided to get to it yesterday. And as you can see... I had to post the "Out of Order" sign so Bobby wouldn't use the toilet when he got home yesterday!
When I thought I was done fixing the leak, the water coming back into the toilet tank would not stop! And then, of course, the leak was a lot worse than what I had started with! So who knows what I've done!!! I definitely see a trip to Lowe's in the near future... yeah... like today!!!!
Meanwhile, the mulching around the back deck is all done! I've planted the sunflower plants into the ground. We'll see what happens! Just reading an article here about giant sunflowers and it says that... "Deer and rabbits will chew on small plants, especially the growing tip. Provide protection against these pests." Grrr...!!! Looks like I'll have to fence it up before it's too late! It has been really windy lately too, so hopefully they won't fall over! Planting rose bushes probably would have been so much easier! :-)

Doctor's visit - 36 weeks (& 4 days)

Doctor's visit went well today. We had an ultrasound and little Graham is getting big! He is currently estimated at 7 lbs 3 oz - in the 80th percentile! His head is measuring at 9.45cm. The doctor is confident that I will still be able to have a vaginal birth. Although, just to be sure, if little Graham is not out within the next couple of weeks, we will schedule another ultrasound to check his stats again.
The ultrasound technician said that little Graham is definitely starting to run out of room in my belly - which I can definitely feel! He is squirming around so much and he loves to prop his foot against my belly! He is already facing down, which is a really good sign for childbirth. We were able to see his hair and caught a couple of glimpses of him moving his mouth and sticking his tongue out!
I still can't figure out what's what in these ultrasound pics, but according to the technician... that's his hair! A lot of it!

Backyard progress

This past weekend, with Bobby's help of heavy lifting (of course), we were able to add some new borders and mulch part of the backyard by the deck. The weeds were driving me crazy! So I finally decided that it was time to do something about it and this time, I decided to use weed fabric. I knew I should have used weed fabric in the front yard when I mulched last year. Oh well... guess I'm paying for it now!
By the way, that's my blueberry plant enclosed in the fence. It's making a comeback after being frozen during our last winter storm that happened on the first day of Spring!

Here's my next project in the backyard...
I should probably get to it before the next rainstorm because it will only get worse!
In the meantime, my mini vegetable garden is taking a really long time to grow. Hopefully things will progress quicker once the weather is consistently warmer. The sunflowers are doing quite well though. I will probably put those in the ground by the deck this week. They are suppose to grow up to 9-12 feet tall!

Pregnancy update - 35 weeks!

It's almost the home stretch! My belly continues to grow as baby Graham continues to squirm in my belly. He's particularly busy at night when I'm trying to sleep - which has lead to some sleepless nights of acid reflux! My feet are noticeably more swollen this week from water retention. Ahh... the joys of pregnancy! But you forget all that when you start feeling his little limbs - moving about and trying to poke out of my belly. I've rub my belly so much that my shirts are starting to get so worn out with fuzz just around the belly area!
The doctor's visit this past Thursday went well. We tested for Group B Strep and also had our first cervical check. Doc said that baby is sitting low which is a good sign for birthing. I hope he is right! We also went to a childbirth class over the weekend. Thankfully Bobby survived sitting through the video session. And I didn't realize that the entire labor process could take so long! The only memorable visual was what they called "the ring of fire". That's when you start to see the baby's head during vaginal birth. OUCH!!!

On a less painful/happier note... after weeks (or has it been months?) of procrastination, I did finally finish painting the 1/2 bath downstairs. Yay! Although, I think I still need to work on my sanding techniques. Maybe we'll touch things up after baby Graham is born (famous last words???). I did change out the light fixture and towel holder. I still need to change out the faucet, which I've never done before. So we'll see how that goes!

First trip to Tulsa Drillers' baseball game!

The Tulsa Drillers' recently just had their opening day in their new stadium - the OneOK stadium. Out of the blue, Bobby asked if I wanted to watch a game last night and since it was a really nice evening, I figured - why not. The stadium isn't very big so there are good spots all around. The lawn seats were only $2 on Tuesday nights (and $2 hotdogs too!), but we decided to sit behind the Drillers' dug-out, just in case we weren't paying attention. It won't be very good being knocked out by a foul ball at 35 weeks!
Before leaving, we decided to pick up a few souvenirs from the store - one of them being a little onesie outfit for little Graham. Hopefully we'll get a chance to go out to the ballpark again before the end of the baseball season. Maybe this time, we'll sit on the lawn. No one will care if he (wait... Bobby or little Graham???) is screaming like a mad person! :-)
Little Graham also received more items from family this past week - including a pretty blue blanket from Aunt Helen. Guess that would be Great-aunt Helen to Graham!
Aunt Helen is definitely one step above it all when she has her own label! I wonder if I will ever be that good in knitting!

Flowers from... the baby???

So the door bell rings this afternoon,... and it's a delivery from a flower store! The card was addressed to Pesa Pridgen - "Pesa" being the nickname that Bobby calls me. So right off the bat, I know who the flowers are from. But when I opened the card, this is what it read:
And Wen wen is our baby's chinese name. So needless to say, I was laughing when I read the card. I called Bobby and he said that our baby must have WIFI and ordered the flowers from my belly!
Bobby hardly ever buy me flowers, so it was definitely very special to receive them today. I wonder if he's sending a hint that his cookie jar is almost empty!

Sis' visit to Tulsa

My sister came by to visit me last week. It worked out well as Bobby was out of town again for work. We spent quite a bit of time getting the baby's room ready - fixing up the crib, finding the right mattress, and buying all the other essentials to dress it up. And then, also putting the dresser together - only to find out that one of the parts were labeled incorrectly! I'm still waiting to hear back from the company. Hopefully it's as easy as them sending a part vs. us taking the dresser apart and sending the whole thing back! If that's the case, I'm going to just go to Target and trade our drawer for one of the correct ones in the store!
When Bobby came home on Saturday, we all made dumplings for dinner.
Yup, that's me... belly getting big at 32-weeks!
On Sunday, Bobby and I went to play golf. It was a little chilly starting out, but it turned out to be a really nice day at the end.
And Bobby wants the record to show that he won 1-up by the 18th hole. It was a close match. I'm still trying to shake off those wedge shanks!
As for my indoor garden, things are sprouting along nicely! The weather is suppose to be really nice and sunny this week too, so that will definitely help speed up the process!
Our Chanticleer Ornamental Pear tree (which we previously thought was a Dogwood) is also coming into full bloom. I just love those cream white flowers. So pretty!

First day of Spring... NOT!

Yesterday was the first day of spring... but by the end of the day, it was reported that Tulsa had 6" of snow! We probably got more like 8" by the end of the snowfall this morning. CRAAAZY!!!
Here's what my pretty blue flowers looked like the day before the first day of Spring. And then, the snow started falling...
Thankfully, we remembered to bring in the lavender that morning before the heavy storm and wind!
A few hours later...
If anything, the bad weather made us stay in and that gave Bobby no excuses but to put the glider and the baby's crib together (while I supervised :-) By the way, the glider is super-comfy!
By the end of the night...
And after more snowfall this morning, check out the accumulation on the deck!
I wonder if any of these flowers are going to make it. I sure hope so. And let's not forget my poor blueberry plant that I had just put in the ground last weekend! Argh!!! The good news is it will be back up to the 60s pretty quickly so everything will thaw out soon.

Home update

As the weather progresses to get warmer, I decided to start our little garden indoors. It's my first time using these biodegradable pots and some fancy soil... so we'll see if it works! We have basil, tomato, chives, parsley, cilantro, lemon, sunflowers,... I think that's it. I need to plant a chili plant too - for my dad when he visits :-)
And outdoors, we have a pot of lavender (Yes! I finally found some!). I can't wait for the flowers to bloom. Lavender reminds me so much of New Zealand - when we were driving in the south island, there were lavender farms. The sea of purple was so pretty! I've also planted a blueberry plant - my first ever! There are already flowers on it, as you can see in the pic. Bobby said that if we do end up with blueberries, he will make me blueberry pancakes! I say it's only a matter of time :-) as long as the rabbits and deer to get to them first! I did just put up a fence, although it seems rather low. Hmm....

Another update on the home improvement front: the dining room. The original color of the dining room was rather dark, so we decided it needed to be change to something lighter/brighter. Here are the before pictures:
And now, the after pictures! We changed the chandelier to a smaller one, which hence doesn't make our old kitchen table look so small. We also got a new rug. Love it!

Spring is in the air!

With all the rain that we've been getting, the plants are finally starting to bloom in the backyard. The rose bush was in bad need of pruning and of course, fighting with a thorny plant is never a good idea! Here are a couple of pics taken today.
I don't remember the name of this plant/flower. It's yet to come into full bloom.
And here are the daffodils. So pretty! I wish I could say the same for all the chives that are growing next to these daffodils. Spent about an hour and a half pulling them out and it seems like I've barely made a dent! I'm assuming the previous owners planted them and they seem to grow like weeds! Sort of the same as the mint. Never plant them in the ground!!!!
Spotted the hawk yesterday having its meal on a tree branch in the backyard.
I was trying to get a close up when the hawk picked up its meal. I didn't get a good picture but it almost looks like the bottom half of a frog. YUCK!

New stove!!!

Finally... after a year of moving into this house, we have a new gas stove! Actually, we just missed our home's 1-year anniversary by a week (March 2, 2009). Wow! Where has the time flown!
Anyhow, back to the stove - we were going to wait a little longer but I guess Bobby got just as frustrated as I did when he has had to use it more often recently. Kinda like the "Honey, I need new knives" story :-)
I love LOVE the new gas stove. It has noticeable cut down my cooking and baking time! We also decided to get a stove with a 5th burner. Bobby said that he would make pancakes on it. He is banned from the waffle maker for just a little while longer. It took me over 1/2 hour to clean the waffle maker the last time he used it to make breakfast!
We were going to try and add the stove into the baby registry, but hehe... didn't think that idea would fly so well ;-)
Our old flat-top electric stove went to the guy/contractor that installed our new stove. Jeff mentioned that his mom wanted a new stainless steel stove to match the rest of her new appliances, and he agreed to trade his installation service for the stove! There was a lot more entailed to the installation - putting in a new pipe and gas shut-off valve and changing the voltage from 220V to 110V, which meant messing with the breaker. Phew! I'm glad he knew what he was doing!

Baby update - 29 weeks

Well,... here's me at 29 weeks! I've never felt more pregnant in my life! I'm really starting to feel myself waddle, especially after playing 18 holes. And I am out of breath so easily just by putting my shoes on or bending over to pick something up. I can feel little baby Graham (yes, we finally picked a name!) moving around in my belly, especially at night. Let's hope he's more quiet when he is out in the real world!
And after almost 2 1/2 months, we were finally able to see our baby again during an ultrasound session. Here's a picture of his profile:
I think I've labeled his face correctly! You can never tell what's what in these ultrasound images!
Baby Graham is larger than what he's suppose to be at 29 weeks. Right now, he's in the 85th percentile - meaning that only 15% of other babies are larger than him. The doctor recommended that I should switch from 2% to 1% milk so there is less fat content. Guess we want to be sure he doesn't get TOO big!
In the meantime, we've been receiving some really nice gifts from friends and family. We can't thank everyone enough for their generosity! One gift recently in particular stands out - a blanket from Bobby's aunt Betty. After hearing about the "monkey" in the baby's room, she handmade a baby blanket with monkeys on it! And I have to say, it's pretty close to the monkey that I drew on the wall!
Only 6 more weeks to go! :-) Bobby and I are definitely getting more excited! Although I think I'm rather more anxious about the delivery!

Fun golf weekend

The weather wasn't quite perfect but just warm enough for Bobby and I to go out and play our matches. And yes! I won! Both days!!! Bobby said that he let me win. Uh huh...! He just can't bear the thought that he lost to his wife who is 7 months pregnant! I was putting really well though. Guess all that tv time at home watching the pros play has paid off a little - enough for some bragging rights at home :-)
In the meantime, my hair has grown long enough that I can actually put it in a little ponytail! It's been 9 1/2 months since I had my hair buzzed for charity.

Nice visit from Doug & Myla

This past weekend, Bobby's brother and sis-in-law came by to visit us here in Tulsa. Unfortunately, it rained both days! We were able to catch a basketball game on Saturday - University of Tulsa vs. UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso). Tulsa was not playing very well and the fans were yelling at the referees for some bad calls. Within the last 5 minutes of the game, fans were already starting to trickle out of the stadium. It was a terrible sight to see!
During this trip, Doug & Myla taught us how to play a card game called Euchre. It was tough at first but I think I finally got the gist of it on the second night!
As for the guest bathroom - I only got as far as primer. By the way, seal first - then even out with plaster and sanding, then primer! And I couldn't get behind the toilet so looks like I'll need to take the water tank off to seal and prime that area. I may take a little break first though before getting back to fixing the bathroom!

Third Trimester - 27 weeks!

This is the home stretch! So far, I've gained 20lbs and there's still 3 more months to go!
In the meantime, it's been 8 months since my hair buzz for charity. I can actually tie my hair up in a little baby pony tail now :-)

Guest bathroom update

The guest bathroom is coming together very slooooooowly. I was trying to clean the stains in the shower enclosure but these stains seems to be completely stained into the fiberglass. Then, I was attempting to change the shower control and the sink faucet but that didn't happen either. It seems more complicated than it had originally looked.
So after finally pulling off all the wallpaper (by the way, the trick is to use a steam iron! Obviously too late according to Bobby)... I started to plaster the wall where the brown paper/wall was coming through. Needless to say it was the wrong step. The brown paper was bubbling through the plaster! So after a day of sanding yesterday (what a mess!) the walls do look better. I will be sealing today, which was suppose to be the FIRST step and then priming and hopefully I'll have enough time to paint before Bob's brother and sis-in-law show up this Friday night! Will post pics if and when I'm done! I suppose if I didn't sleep so much, it would be done :-)

Nice weekend - Valentine's & Chinese New Year

My weekend actually started very nicely on Friday - when a package arrived on the front steps. Thanks to a very AWESOME friend, the box said "Graeter's" on it. Yup... Graeter's ice cream - shipped all the way from Cincinnati!!! My first taste of Graeter's ice cream was last year when I was in Cincinnati during the Futures Tour event.
There are a total of 6 pints of ice cream, packed in dry ice - two of which is the popular flavor of Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip. YUM!!! Bobby had never heard of this ice-cream brand but he is obviously now very familiar with it. He's been devouring the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip!
Saturday's weather was warm enough for Bobby and I to go out and play some golf. I was 3-down after 3 holes! I should have known it would have been a tough day when I shanked my first wedge shot during my warm-up on the driving range! By the end of 9 holes, I was 2-down, although I did earn myself a lobster dinner when I got it up-and-down from the bunker on #17 (we started on #10). Yay! Things were not looking any better when we made the turn. I shanked another wedge shot on #3. Bobby and I did have $20 bets in between but finally, on the last hole... with the temperature was dropping, I told Bobby that if I made par on the long Par 4, I would earn myself $40. And sure enough, despite losing my match 4 down, I ended the day with a lobster dinner and $40 richer! :-)
On Sunday/Valentine's Day - Bobby and I both exchanged cards and Bobby surprised me with a gift! I love his originality in wrapping the gift. I later found out that he had forgotten to put the bow on it when I found the bow in the plastic bag today. Anyhow, I love my gift! It's a recipe book holder. I've been wanting one for a while now and I guess bobby got the hint! I've been wanting to get a rug for the dining room and also a gas stove too... hmm... guess I need to work harder on those hints! I am trying to save for the rug and have obviously added $40 to my collection!
This past Sunday was also the first day of Chinese New Year - year of the Tiger. Mom would have been 60 this year. Sis is born in the year of the Tiger too and looks like we're adding another Tiger to the family - with our little boy! No dumplings or long noodles yet to celebrate the new year. Thankfully Chinese New Year goes on for 15 days, so I have 13 more days starting tomorrow to at least make some dumplings!