A Memorable Christmas 2009!

Springroll may not realize it, but s/he is already a Creighton fan!! :)

Our memorable Christmas began on Christmas Eve. We decided that we were going to beat mother nature and still have the company of family for dinner on Christmas Eve. We met for mass at 4pm and then headed back to our house for dinner (yummy prime rib!!) and a few present openings (Tri & Tami's family were not able to make it, so we just let the "kids" open a few presents... including Springroll). Everyone got ready to leave... and wouldn't you know it, Grandma & Grandpa got stuck in a snow drift at the end of our driveway. After a few men & a nice truck helped them get out, everyone was off to face mother nature! Unfortunately (for them), everyone made it home except for Thuy & Brad's family. They couldn't get to their house in Deer Creek :( and so, we had visitors! Thuy, Brad, Benjamin and Tucker (that's an 18 mo old & 3 wk old)! We really enjoyed having them around over Christmas... otherwise we would have all been snowed in... but instead we were snowed in together!!

Needless to say, since Springroll has yet to arrive, we are lacking in the toy department. Especially for Benjamin who is very active! Fortunately, we have a tupperware drawer and this actually entertained him for quite some time. He's a good organizer and I really enjoyed watching him... trying to figure out how his little mind was working. Sometimes he went for colors, other times shapes. I think those stacking cups & legos at home have really helped his tupperware organization skills!

Another thing that we enjoyed doing, was "dancing" to the motion-activated, singing Christmas tree. CAUTION: If you were invited to the party, or just happend to "stop by", you were not allowed to leave until Benjamin was willing to excuse you. The dance was simple... just bend at the knees and bounce. Sometimes we'd pick up our feet... I'd flail my arms, but Benjamin did not add this to his groove. The man's got moves... don't mess with him!!

Thuy & Brad finally got to make it home on the 26th around 2pm. Surprisingly, they were willing to go to dinner that night and come back to our house to finish up our present opening. What troopers!! We definitely had a very memorable Chrismas... and made one really contemplate what the true meaning of Christmas!

We are so fortunate to have such a thoughtful family.

Merry Christmas to all... and a Happy New Year (the year of Springroll :)).

Holidays 2009

The latest and greatest... 30 weeks!! At our last appointment, we learned that I'm measuring a little big (despite my wonderful friends telling me that I look small for 30 weeks.. which I REALLY appreciate :)). Little did I know that maternal birth weight often correlates to baby's weight... Did I mention I was a 9lb 11oz baby. Ouch! We'll get another ultrasound at my next appointment and get an estimate on this little person's weight.
29 Weeks

Have you ever seen a Vietnamese Santa? Well, you're in for a treat! Thuc dresses up as Santa every year to distribute cards at work. I had the opporunity to go with him this year between our OB appointments. I have not laughed so hard in a very long time. A little boy saw him in the periop area at the hospital and told his mom "I saw Santa Clause". Fortunately, a coworker had a teddy bear & so he went and visited the little kid - giving him the bear & asking him what he wanted for Christmas. Fortunately, his beard stayed on (we were a little nervous about this) & so I think the little kids now thinks Santa Clause is Asian. :)

I went out one day and was amazed at how many birds decided our roof was a warm place to rest... they're welcome to stay for the day... and then I hope they leave.

This is after our first big snow storm of the season. Only the reindeers head sticks out of the snow... that's a lot of snow!! Rumor is we're supposed to get another 12ish inches around Christmas. I like a white christmas... but who needs 12 inches when you can have 1??

We hope all our wonderful friends have a warm, relaxing, and blessed Christmas! Here's to a new year!!

26 Weeks and Growing...

Here's sweet baby Avery, not so sure that she wants to open her mouth for her green beans. I don't blame her :).
26 weeks. No need to say more :)

The Nursery & 25 Weeks!

So, the previous owners of our house had a Winnie the Pooh Nursery. I know this may be disappointing, but I'm not much of a fan. So, we repainted, moved Thuc's office to this room and then painted Thuc's office to become the nursery. Why you may ask? Well, my reasons were two-fold. 1. Thuc would be forced to go through his things and rid our home of some unnecessary stuff and 2. His office is connected to a bathroom and the Winnie the Pooh room is not. I think Thuc also likes the change.. although maybe not the painting ;) We're fortunate to have a great Brother-in-law who was willing to pitch in his time & talents.

Here we are at 25 weeks. Why has it been a couple of weeks since I took a picture of my belly and posted it? Well, because I'm coming to terms with my weight gain. It's ironic to look back at just 5 weeks ago when I was thinking, "I can't wait til I have an obvious baby bump". Now, I'm thinking, "man, I sure hope it doesn't get much bigger than this!". I keep reminding myself: "what comes on, can come off... what comes on, can come off" :). I'm going to invest in Adobe Photoshop for Christmas so I can do some weight editing in my photos!

Here's Springroll's new Nursery. We're going with a brown/green/white color theme. So far it's pretty much brown.. but we'll get there.

We paid NFM and extra $10 to set up our crib. It was well worth it. They were super quick except for one bolt... which they determined was defective. Had Thuc & I put it together, we would have worked on it for several hours before we would have figured that out! NFM came back the next day with a new bolt & now we're in business! Well.. except for a mattress & baby. :)

Washington, DC

One of Thuc's good friends from residency got married in Washtington DC on the 7th. We decided to visit his family and do some sightseeing as well. This a a picture with Thuc's 96 year old Grandma Mai. She only speaks Vietnamese and is the cutest/sweetest woman.

These are the bones of a 24 week old fetus... and my belly... which also holds a 24 week old fetus :)

The hope diamond!

The capitol... think they're talking about healthcare reform in there??

This is a video of Thuc with his Grandma. He had just got done loading the car with our luggage and so his hands are cold. I think she's trying to warm them up! I smile whenver I watch it.

New Orleans

Thuc & I decided to go to New Orleans for the Annual Anesthesia Conference since neither of us have ever been. It is quite an interesting city with a lot of history. Thuc and I explored the French Quarters (several times), Garden District, and Algiers all by foot. Needless to say, this pregnant lady was ready for my foot massage by the end of the day!!

The the pictures about, another bystander said that this is the house where Benjamin Buttons was filmed. It's in the Garden District in New Orleans... and is for sale, if anyone is interested.

Then we learned that Sandra Bullock just purchased this home and is making a lot of renovations inside. Its size looks small from the street, but it is actually very deep.

The above ground grave sites due to the fact that they're below sea level. They offer a lot of Haunted Cemetary tours this time of year, but they advise pregnant women not to go... bummer.

This is at a "rep" dinner. We went with one of Thuc's good friends from residency and his fiance. Probably one of our favorite dinners!

The happy couple :)

Baby T - aka Spring Roll :)

22 Weeks

21 Weeks

20 Weeks

19 weeks

He/she is making an appearance. I can't hide it any longer! I'm somewhere between my regular clothes and maternity clothes. I'm LOVING Bella Bands, long tanktops, and loose pants! My newest hobby is sitting around and holding my belly - waiting to feel movement. It's such an amazing feeling.

We had our 20 week ultrasound last week (at 21 weeks, 6 days) and Dr. Simmons says everything looks great. We've decided to not find out the sex.. so stayed tuned!

18 Weeks!

I think a combination of good Hilton Head food & being 18 weeks along has finally developed a little bit of a "bump". Although, it's hard for me to look past the extra 10 lbs to see the bump, I think I can finally agree that it's starting to form. :)

I have switched to maternity jeans. I was already getting tired of trying to make my clothes work that at the suggestion of my sister, I went to Gap Maternity. I love them! You don't realize how uncomfortable you are until you become comfortable again.

This is true also with my heartburn. I will swear by Prilosec OTC until the day I die :) I almost forgot what it felt like to not have heartburn after every meal!

Our 20 weeks u/s is scheduled for October 22nd. We'll actually almost be 22 weeks, but that is what worked with our schedules. And in case you're wondering, we've decided not to find out the sex... :)

Hilton Head, SC

Thuc & I were fortunate to be asked to join one of Thuc's best friends from undergrad and his wife in Hilton Head, SC. It was one of our more "active" vacations & a lot of fun. Good thing we're in our 2nd trimester and I was able to find enough energy to keep up!

If you look closely in the above picture, you can see a fisherman on the boat feeding a dolphin. Our Kayak guide told us that it is illegal to feed the fish.. but by nature of the fish boat, they feed them. However, what this fisherman is doing... is "pushing it" :)

On our sunset kayak tour!

The 3 amigas. We left our husbands several times to find our own adventures. These adventures usually had something to do with Thai iced coffee/tea &/or chocolate! :)

The MANY dolphins we saw on our sailboat tour. They were SO CUTE... actually makes me want to swim with them sometime!

You have to look VERY closely, but on our last day there, we went to the ocean & saw TONS of fish. Every wave the came in was FILLED with fish. Almost disgusting. I quickly got out of the water. The fish were jumping EVERYWHERE.. it was so weird, we were trying to figure out what was going on. Not 20 minutes later, the lifeguard called everyone in for sharks! YIKES!

We highly recommend a trip to Hilton Head if you're a biker/golfer/tennis player/beach go-er. We rented bikes for the entire week & I was a little nervous when we saw that they were 1-speeds w/ the brakes being the pedels! Fortunately, it's flat & there are bike paths everywhere. We even road on the beach b/c the sand was so packed. Not the clearest water (I don't suggest wearing a white swim suit.. it will turn brown) but a beautiful beach!

Baby T - 16 weeks

I recently volunteered for a Methodist College Ultrasound student & got to have another sneak peek of Baby T! I told her I'm going to be spoiled because I'll get to see him/her every 4 weeks until 20 weeks. The last half of my pregnancy may go slow w/out any more peeks!

Water Skiing - Take 2

We managed to go to Yankton, SD over Labor Day Weekend and stayed at the Lewis and Clark Lake Resort. Our good friends the Herberts go every year and meet their good friends, the Hawns. Both of whom went to high school with Thuc. My family was able to join us as well, so it made for quite the party.

Thuc was able to get up on the water skis this time! The first day he tried, he did not get up (keep in mind the water was FREEZING & this was his first attempt), but after a good night's rest, he manged to get up every time the second day. Nevermind that we only stayed up for a few seconds!

Lewis & Clark is a lot of fun. The lake is HUGE, they have tons of biking/running trails, and is close to Yankton so civilization is near! Can't wait for next year!

Oceanside California

We took a quick trip to Oceanside, California with my sister-in-law, Thuy, her husband Brad, and their adorable son Benjamin. When we originally booked our trip, we were excited to be able to have some relief from our usual Omaha hot/humid summers. However, we ended up going to the same climate since we had such a mild summer. In fact, we left during a "heat wave" there and made it back to 70/80 degree weather here in Omaha.

Some of our highlights included; seeing my friend Sara Bowman Colvin from nursing school, visiting Universal Studios & Downtown Disney (where me met some neat friends of Brads), and relaxing by the pool/beach. We'd definitely go back again!

Big News

Baby T

Due February 26, 2010!

11 Weeks, 5 Days

Lindsay, THIS is what Maria knows that you don't know :)

10 Year Highschool Reunion

We started the day off (for those of you not from Omaha, the high was supposed to be 100!) by boating with our friends Jaime & Marissa (and their kiddos Ashley & Zach) at Lake Manawa. It was a great way to stay cool in th heat! This was Thuc's first experience tubing.. next time he'll know to wear tighter fighting shorts.. Each time I looked back, I saw a little more cheek. Some boater may have gotten a good show :).

We finished the night off at my 10 year high school reunion! (Nevermind that Thuc's 10 year Med School Reunion is next month :)). We had a night out at the Old Matress Factory on Saturday night & it was fun to see some people... and watch others! How time flies when you're having fun!