thursday was grace’s last day of school! we headed up north to go pick her up and have her for a long weekend.
as we were on our way to leave, i was totally craving a cronut. so much so, i told hubby charming that we needed to go to nyc to get one! um, he said no. boo.
so, i suggested the doughnut vault…we were stressed for time, so i was told no again [insert sad face}. well, the closest doughnut establishment to us and en route was dunkin’ donuts…hey, it’s better than nothing! especially for this pregger lady who wanted to eat doughnuts! so it is. my first doughnut craving. i was a happy gal.
[nellie not so happy she had to take the back seat while we eat donuts]
[yum!]
[i plowed through them and so did hc]
[haha, trying to be a safe driver and pose for me!]
although i’m still on a mission to get my cronuts {trust me, i’ve already checked if they will next day ship…negative}!!!! hehehe. cronut new york, here i come!
we also get a pet for a week! ms. nellie. how cute is she?! i’m excited for some quality time with hc. having some delicious meals together. going on lovely walks together in this warm weather. chilling. snuggling. doing nothing. spending time together. period.
hc is loving our new waffle maker {thanks dave + carrie!}. waffles, hashbrowns, grilled cheese sammies, oh my! we are loving this new device!
well here it goes!!! the pregnancy journey begins…
[the shocking surprise…the omg stick]
[my first cup o decaffeinated joe, way back in march // bongo room // hubby charming came home the same day i found out! yay! we enjoyed a lovely day together in awe!]
i was so apprehensive of the first few months!! i was a bit afraid. i only imagined nausea, sickness, vomiting, tiredness, crazy eating…almost all of it’s true! i thought to myself, how will i hide this from people i know and how will i, especially, hide it from my co-workers?!?! peeps that see me more than anyone else in my life!
well it was tough. any pregnancy symptom i read in my book, yup, i got it. it started with the crazy, i mean acid taking {fact: have never tried acid but i assume that is what it is like when dreaming in pregnancy state}, crazy dreams! i never remember my dreams but, oh boy, now i do!
then {not for the weak here and it might be tmi}, the headaches {um, i don’t get headaches…yes, it’s true} and the spotting that you get when the egg actually implants onto to your uterus. yeaaaahhhh, i remember that. i actually thought it was that time of the month. not the other way around {hello!}.
you eventually transform into the hungry monster. i mean, you seriously need to eat every two hours like it’s going out of style. the hunger pangs and nausea are volatile. that was the hardest part. you. want. everything. all i wanted every morning was a mcdonald’s breakfast sandwich, hash brown, and orange juice. it was my favorite thing to eat for many a mornings {ooooh, not good on the hips}.
the nausea that plagued me night and day. that was absolutely no bueno. it was especially dominant at night. come 5 pm, it was spinny central. barf. it was then compounded by mad hunger, fabulous combo, non?!
ohhhh, the tiredness. oh em gee. it feels like you’ve been hit by a mack truck by 7pm! the night owl in me just vanished! *poof* staying up past 10? uh uh. no way. i needed toothpicks to hold up my eyelids that felt like cement. that was tough. i think the last time i went to bed before 10 was waaayyy back in elementary school.
aannnddd…the smells! ugh, everything was intense. that triggered the nausea {i know i’m selling this pregnancy, huh? my description will make any women without children totally want to get pregnant 😉 perfumes, food, b.o., anything…the nose filtered it like it was a potent, concentrated fume flowing up my nasal passage.
the one and only thing i didn’t get was the vomiting! score one for meeee! yes, thank goodness! i will take everything else but please, please no vomiting!
as i neared the 12 week mark, all the symptoms have slowly dissipated! not gone completely but definitely not as intense as they were before! woo! thank goodness!
honestly, this is an amazing experience despite all of the above. it’s a teeny sacrifice to what is to come, a beautiful little baby. i feel so blessed. we are very thankful. this has been a very exciting and happy time for us! yay!!!
mother’s day has come and gone, and we seriously had the best time ever!
our mother’s day gifts were little onesie! Signifying for them that they were going to soon have a new grandchild addition to the family!
the day before, i went to the t-shirt deli {in bucktown} to have personalized onesies made for each set of grandparents! one set in vietnamese {for my parent’s…duh!} and the one set in english. it truly turned out adorbs!
[t-shirt deli goods]
on mother’s day morning, we set out to attend the 9:30 mass. it was a beautiful service and a beautiful day!
we headed up north, to argyle, to meet my family at hai yen restaurant for lunch {it was also my lovely mother’s birthday!}. after much comical bickering over the menu, we finally decided on our entrees {phew}!
so, after getting our order in, it was the right time to have my mom open up her gift {really it’s, obviously, for both of them!}. my mom was struggling, more confused by the gift itself. therefore, my dad started helping her but he was fumbling a bit as well, so i intervened and ripped open the package {notice the lack of patience on my part!}. my dad picked up the onesie and knew right away what it was. he finally showed my mom and she freaked out! they were so happy! my dad’s face, who shows little emotion, lit up and turned red from excitement! my mom teared up and both of them gave us hugs. everyone was so excited! another addition to our family!
[hmm, what’s this?]
[i love the looks on their faces!]
[little vietnamese onesie]
[my daddy]
[bun rieu]
[auntie kim]
after lunch, we walked the streets and went shopping. my mom went to town at the local vietnamese market. r really wanted a lucky cat. b begged for a broom. it was cute! we sashayed our way over ba le to pick up some banh mi’s {vietnamese sandwiches…i love them!}. we bought little treats, drinks, delicious macarons…so many yummy tidbits!
[having fun in front of the frozen fish at the market]
[r relaxing on his mini chair and stool]
[the cuties and their momma]
after shopping, we headed to the garden center in andersonville. we perused the gorgeous flowers and plants. shopped the knick knacks inside their little shop and had the kids play around the garden furniture and outdoor fountains.
we finally retired and headed back to our apartment to get some stuff done before we went on our next journey, to missy’s house for a mother’s day dinner with the heintz’s.
at missy’s we rested and relaxed as john prepared our dinner from the grill. it was time to eat {i couldn’t wait until we opened presents!}; burgers, fries, and a yummy salad {prepared by missy}.
[cute packaging]
after our meal, dessert was served {cheesecake – so delish, fruit cobbler, and cookies} and it was time to open presents! i was so excited. missy opened a few of hers, jane gave us each a gift, and it was time for her to open our gift. john was really digging the packaging {it’s a doggie bag…how could you not love it?!}. so, i prepped the gift {explaining what the t-shirt deli is about} and as she opened it, she looked over all the details {inside, i was shouting “open the wrapped package!!”}. she finally got to the package, she opened it up and started screaming! she said, “you are pregnant!”. i was then attacked with hugs! it was so awesome! such a great moment! of course she cried!
[action shots // precious!]
[showing off the onesie]
[happy family]
lots o’ hugs given all around, lots of tears of joy, and lots of very happy people around us. all in all, it was a pretty awesome mother’s day/mom’s birthday! yay!
yes, it is true! we are pregnant {wow!}! i am currently a smidge over 3 months! we are so excited for this growing, little baby inside of me!
baby heintz is arriving in november! just in time for thanksgiving!
i still can’t believe this is happening. it’s planned but unplanned…ya know what i mean?! what a whirlwind it’s been and it will continue to be one! we have been bursting at the seams to tell everyone and finally, the cat is out of the bag!
is it a boy? is it a girl? all we want is a healthy baby…then maybe we can debate the gender {i’m taking tallies!}!
we are so joyous and feel so blessed to be on this wonderful journey. we are very thankful and thankful for the overwhelming love and support from our friends and family!
our one year anniversary photos are featured in utterly engaged magazine {page 82}! how exciting!!!!
it’s a feature called he said/she said! the editor of the magazine asked us to answer the questions separately, honestly, and privately to really have some fun around comparing answers! we did, i promise! no cheating on our replies!
it’s so much fun to read our individual answers. i’m quite succinct and hubby charming was very verbose! it makes me smile to read our responses and feel the connection through our words. of course, jen huang did an amazing job capturing our love through the photos we took in central park this past fall. i’m so happy with how they designed the spread and so ecstatic to share our story with the world!
[photos by jen huang]
i hope this happy article helps brighten your day!
this past saturday, we participated in service day at st. clement!
it was an all day event that turned out amazing!
we started out by heading out to st. clement, by 10:30 am. team captains were required to get there early so we could greet all our volunteers. we walked inside and found our sign and assigned pew. we waited, patiently, for all our teammates to arrive. one by one, we greeted everyone. it was great to chat and get to know one another before we started our prayer service.
fr. ken started our short prayer service and reinforced our thoughts for the day. how important it is to pray, serve, and give, st. clement’s mission statement.
after that, we headed on our way over to bishop conway residency. we piled ourselves into two cars, jaimie {who so graciously volunteered} was our second driver. the traffic down fullerton was obnoxious {as to be expected!}.
what felt like forever later, we finally arrived at our destination. we walked in and jaimie, kelly, and jen were already waiting for us. we received a cute little wooden box {painted and decorated} as a gift from the residences, which was so nice!
we headed downstairs and i found aixa, the head cook, and introduced myself to her. we needed to eat lunch, so she showed us a room we could sit down in and eat. after, lunch we headed back into the kitchen to start working! aixa had us clean up. we cleared plates, glasses, food. some of us did the dishes, a few swept and mopped. the boys took out garbage. we set the tables for dinner. we prepped food for later. after all the clean up and prep, we then played games with any of the residences in the game room.
there was uno, dominos, and rummy going on! kelly and i joined a group playing rummy. we watched, we learned, we asked a lot of questions. our group was so funny. especially robert and linda. oh, did they love to bicker! linda felt robert made up his own rules and robert was always eagle eyeing everyone to make sure they weren’t cheating! bernadette seemed to be sleeping the whole time {although she wasn’t and was funny and kind}. charlie was a serious player with a knack of not enunciating any of his words and rosita, who i sat next to as well, was so stinkin’ sweet! she constantly smiled at me and always included me in everything.
after several rounds, robert asked if i wanted to play. i was still confused because it seemed like they made rules up as they went! but i was biddable, so i agreed and here i went with my first game of rummy! it was great, rosita helped me out a lot. time really flew by and before we knew it, we had to leave and head back to st. clement for the 5 pm mass. it was sad to go, we had so much fun!
we then went upstairs and had our time for reflection. i led the prayer and provoked our thoughts. how did we feel? how did we see the lord’s goodness in today’s events? i quivered a bit while reading, it got a little emotional for me! as we left, the officer in the front handed out little handmade thank you cards from the residences! it was so cute!
our trip back was quicker and we got there with plenty of parking left {smallest parking lot for a really big parish!}. we all sat together for mass and the group volunteered me to walk in the procession! ha, no one wanted to, so of course, they said, ‘you’re the team captain, you do it!”. so i went to the vestibule, grabbed our sign {each sign had the location of the place we volunteered at} and waited for the procession into the church to start. all the little kids, who participated in service day, went first {they planted their ‘fans’ into the pots around the alter} and i led the group of sign holders into the procession.
after the wonderful mass, that was led by fr. manny, we heading into the school for dinner {beer, wine, pop, pizza, pasta, bread, salad, + dessert}! it was so great to mingle, see everyone, and really revel in the day’s activities.
[cinco de mayo decor]
[sweeping and mopping! kelly..rich..tammy..jen]
[allison + jaimie doing the dishes]
[allison, eric, + jen playing dominos]
[bridget + jaimie playing uno with perl // she was sassy!]
[kelly watching the rummy game // linda is to the left and bernadette to her right]
[rummy]
[handmade thank you cards from the residences]
[dinner at the school]
[rich + i are dead center, three rows down from the top!]
it was such a wonderful day. it was so fulfilling, fun, happy, joyous, and a very humbling time. the biggest service day to date, 400+ participated this year!
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1thessalonians 5:18
on this beautiful tax day, many years ago, my lovely hc was born! yay! one of the best days in the history of the earth.
happy day to my hc who is my best friend, my confidant, my ultimate love. he is the most caring, patient, loving, most understanding human being alive. we are like ying and yang. a match made in heaven.
i love him to bits and i am so lucky to have found him…or did he find me? or did technology find us?!
anyhoo, happy birthday to the most loving husband alive. you. are. simply. the. best. muwah!!!!
tonight was his fabulous night to party like he is 4-0! well, almost! his birthday is on monday but we were ready to get festive! i was so excited to have this day finally come into fruition! after months of planning + creating, it was a complete welcome to have it all come together this very night!
it was a very relaxing day to start. hc dropped me off at st. clement for my meeting {as a team captain for our upcoming service day!}, after a short informative meeting on our upcoming duties, hc met up with me, again, and we walked to a favorite after mass brunch restaurant, frances!
we went home and relaxed {time well spent before we parrrrtayyyyyyed!}. i actually got ready for the night and hubby charming and i went on a little errand run! balloons, cake, decorate, oh my! we picked up a few goodies {hubby charming was not allowed to peep at the cake!} and he dropped me off at the party destination to get ready whilst he went home to get all gussied up himself!
there i was, cake in hand, balloons in hand, and ready to decorate. i’m sure the patrons inside the bar were eyeing me all funny…who’s this girl who came in with this party package in hand?! hehehe.
away i went, commencing all the details to add to the festive mood for the night. i was super excited and on track. then, in came our first guests of the night and away we goooo!
[the beginning of the end]
[menu + favors]
[the delicious meal]
[party favors]
[tassels + 4-0 balloons]
[laughter]
[kt + me]
[buttons celebrating hc]
[matt, johann, + travis]
[ken + pete]
[thuy, lan, + kim]
[sistas]
[kt + kar]
[posse // dan, pete, kim, + terry]
[wild things // o, dana, kt, matt, johann, + kar]
[don’t make faces you don’t want me to post! ha! heart you O}
[thuy, lan, leyla, + charlie]
[beautiful people // chaz, courtney, janice, + johnny]
[this was the riot table // ruth, dave, ken, pete, carrie, jody, + lisa]
[pabst beer cake!!!]
[happy birthday hc!]
[everyone loved the fondant beer can!]
[enjoying our beer]
[hc + kt comparing their height! yes, kt is a tall skinny lady!]
[token]
[getting creative]
[what’s left of the big 4-0]
there you have it! although the pictures definitely don’t encompass all the joy, laughter, silliness, deliciousness, happiness, fun, energy, and love that we experienced tonight!!! it was the best time ever with friends + family, and hubby charming was as happy as a kid in a candy store. he was so ecstatic!
thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate hc’s birthday!!!! we are all so very thankful for each and every single one of you!
matt sent out a message to us, many moons ago, about his sister and brother-in-law coming into town {they live in vegas!}. he wanted to gather all of us {a group of us who, obviously, know them} together for dinner. that day finally came the other night!
i rushed home to find myself having no time to get ready {bummer!}. so off we went to one of matt + johann’s favorite restaurants, bread and wine. a super cozy and cutsey place on the inside.
it was great to meet up, again, with liz + josh! they just had a baby girl, stella!!! doesn’t liz look fab?! they are such a gregarious and jovial couple. it’s quite entertaining to hang out with them {throw matt into the mix and it’s just explosive!}.
we were the first to show up {and we thought we were running behind!} and slowly, one by one, everyone trickled in and the party really started! it was nice to have the corner table and area by ourselves, we were able to mingle and catch up with everyone there before we were seated for dinner. we reconnected with old friends and met some new faces! one big bummer of the evening? johann was traveling and couldn’t be there that night {insert sad face}. we missed him!
there were plenty of libations flowing, plenty of colloquial exchanges, and lots of laughter in the air. after many drink demands, we finally ordered our food. hubby charming and i started with the herb fries with a garlic malt aioli dipping sauce and the bay scallop crudo. our main entrees? pour moi…the coriander crusted tofu with eggplant, braised green kimchi, and chili broth. for hubby charming? the corned beef shanked ravioli. yum. the finishing touch? mud pie ~ nutella custard, ‘nilla wafer pudding, & hazelnut nougat!!
it was a very joyous time all together. who can beat fabulous conversations, food, and drinks?! winning combo, non?!
