Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!!

I was just watching the unveiling of the new wimbledon center court and eating an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie from the batch I had just made, and BAM, I started to feel Lily moving like crazy in there! It was the first time I've really felt her moving! Amazing!! I'm not 100% sure that it was the cookies she liked. She also could have been signaling a strong interest in playing wimbledon one day. Either way it was crazy to feel her moving in there for 10 whole minutes! I'm glad that I have 24 cookies left....maybe I will eat them all at once and then see what she does...no, no I am trying to stay on the wagon here not fall off on my hiney which already has some generous padding these days.

I'm making another recipe tonight from my favorite foodie blog that my mom & I found. If I haven't already told you about it, it's www.fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com. This housewife created the blog and she has some really yummy recipes that both my mom & I make on a weekly basis. I am making her asian chicken tonight which we absolutely love. A few of our other faves are her Kung Pao Chicken, Carne Asada Marinade (for steak tacos), and Slow Roasted Basil, Garlic & Lemon Chicken. She has TONS of great recipes with great pics and easy to follow instructions. Check it out!

Thad played in the club doubles championship this weekend and he made it to the finals. I watched the final match today and unfortunately they lost 6-4 in the third. He played well but his partner was not very good (hopefully he never reads this blog...). I think next year he will crush the competition with a solid partner like me :) He is so tired and at the jacuzzi soaking his tired muscles. I wish I could have gone with him but I didn't want to cook little lily. She doesn't deserve that.

We're headed up North on Saturday for a quick family visit and to attend my good friend Cara's wedding! I'm really looking forward to it. To-do list for this week - find a dress that doesn't accentuate my growing waste line, preferably in a dark color in case I pee my pants again.. Wish me luck!!

LILY MAY is on her WAY!

SO EXCITED!!! We had our gender determination 2D/3D/4D ultrasound today at Picture an Angel in Lake Forest and found out we are having a GIRL!! While it's not truly 100%, the ultrasound showed a very definite "three lines" down there, which means a baby girl! They also call it the "hamburger" method because the three lines resemble a hamburger with the middle line being a little longer than the other two. If it were a boy, especially considering that Thad is hung like a horse, we would have seen a "hot dog" if you will, even this early in the game! There is no hiding that monster.

We've decided on Lily May O'Grady (middle name is also the month we were married in!). The last name was a tough decision. I was pushing for Nadal but we thought that may confuse little Lily down the line..."No, mommy was not sleeping with Rafa, sweetie..." and so on...so anyway, we settled with O'Grady. I'm okay with it I guess :)

The 3D/4D is amazing. She still looks a little skeleton-like with the lack of body fat and oversized head, but we were amazed at how much she has already developed. She was sucking her thumb a lot of the time and it looked like she was talking up a storm in there - moving her mouth constantly. At one point she gave us a tenacious Nadal fist pump..it was awesome! We will be doing at least 2 more 3D/4D ultrasounds down the line. Probably one in 10 weeks when I'm about 25 weeks, and another one towards the very end too. By then we should be able to see full facial features and everything! Yay!!

Here are some pics for you! I think if you click on the pics you can view them larger. One is 2D of the "girl parts", look for the three lines in between the two sets of arrows. The other is a 3D pic showing you our baby Lily! Enjoy!!

The Crazy Bambino!

We had another doctor's appointment today - 11 weeks along! We had another ultrasound and got to see so much more of the little crazy bambino! Yipee! Thad now thinks the baby will take after me since they were moving around like a little spaz - waving his/her hands around like crazy, doing really fast somersaults, and at one point we think doing "jazz hands". lol It was really funny. The heartbeat is 152 bpm, strong & healthy! Getting to hear it again was so special. All of my bloodwork testing came back great and things are looking perfect. YAY!! Oh and my blood pressure is an ideal 120/80 which is literally "optimal" on the BP chart. I knew I measured optimal status in something.. :)

It was so neat to see how far the baby has come since our last visit 4 1/2 weeks ago...went from a little dot to a real baby! We got to see the baby's profile and everything, so sureal that it's grown so much & resembles a real human being now! The machine was acting up so we didn't get any pics to take home this time :( We did however decide to find out the gender after all which can be done now by 3D ultrasound at just 15 weeks! So when we go home in 4 weeks to Danville we have an appointment already set to find out at my good friend Erin's cousin's 3D place. So excited!! Besides finding out the gender, we will get some super detailed 3D pics at that appointment too which I will definitely be posting afterwards for you all to oodle over ;)

There is an old wives tale that if the hearbeat is over 140 at anytime during the pregnancy it's a girl but there isn't much truth to that I guess :) According to the Chinese Gender Chart, which is said to be over 90% accurate, we are also having a girl! Signs are all pointing in that direction hehehe. Look out Thad, a mini Jenny could be coming your way..and when I say "look out", I mean "BRACE YOURSELF FOR A CRAZY NEXT 18 YEARS!" Well maybe more than 18, I am 27 and still driving my parents crazy! Uh oh..

The baby is a Plum now and is so cute!!!

Yummy Yummy Dave's Tacos in my tummy!

It's a beautiful day today, almost 90 at the beach with a little ocean breeze - Sunday perfection at Casa OG! Earlier this week we went to Dave & Tasha's house in San Clemente for some Tacos, well, so we thought! It ended up being a super yummy mexican feast! Dave cooks the best mexican food I've ever had and this was no exception. He made carne asada tacos, homemade tortilla soup, two different types of fresh homemade salsa, yummy mexican rice and horchata! It was so yummy. We had a great time with them as always, watching the sunset over the ocean & chatting/laughing up a storm until the lame pregnant chick (a.k.a me) had to retire to her bed, at a measly 9:20 PM. :) I actually couldn't believe I made it that late! It was a great night and we love those two little lovebirds. They are engaged & getting married next October in Tasha's homeland, Hawaii!

Dave's food was so good that it inspired me to cook my own mexican meal for tonights dinner. It won't even compare to his but I just had to try & was dying to have it again. I found a great recipe for carne asada marinade and started the process early this morning. I'm making some homemade fresh guacamole, tomatillo salsa, carne asada tacos with all the fixins and beans and rice. Our kitchen has smelled like garlic & lime all day and it's driving me insane! The meat needs to marinade until at least 4:30 so we will be eating shortly after that. Can't wait! Thad was at the gym when I decided to make this scrumptuous meal that we just had, and I thought he may not be too excited since he ate 5 tacos the other night, but when he called me on his way home from the gym some of the first words out of his mouth were "god I just want more mexican food!". I told him he was in luck :) I told my mom about Dave's meal and it inspired her too! She is making a full carne asada feast for sunday family dinner. She is really going the extra mile and making homemade roasted tomato salsa too, I bought mine in a jar. :)

Well I guess that's about all to report for now. We shall call this the food post. We rented "The Reader" and will be watching that later too. Looks good!

The baby is a lime this week - how exciting! Next week - a plum. Geez they grow fast, to think only 7 weeks ago he/she was a poppy seed. I will be posting on Thursday after my doc appointment & ultrasound! Yay!

Adios!

Knocked UP!

Well I think all of you who read my blog already know this news but we found out in early March that we're PREGNANT!! I'm currently in week 9 of my pregnancy and my due date is November 14th. The excitement set in instantly but hearing the baby's heartbeat a couple of weeks ago made it REALLY REAL. This pic above is the first ultrasound pic of Baby OG - from when I was 6 weeks 3 days along. Kinda blurry but you can see the little bambino! The heartbeat was 126 bpm already at just over 6 weeks - very strong the doc said! There is a person inside my belly. Crazy! I have had a pretty easy pregnancy so far until this week, when a lot of morning sickness set in. I had an episode at Baja Fish Tacos on Wednesday that I won't mention details about on here...just know that it was disgusting and extremely embarrassing. :) Only other major symptom (aside from my gargantuous boobs & relocating to the bathroom since I need to pee about every 2 seconds) is that I have been extremely tired since prior to even knowing I was pregnant..oh yeah, back to that, we found out the amazing news in Hawaii at my favorite hotel that I have many childhood memories from. It was so exciting and just perfect timing! We think the baby was conceived on Valentine's Day but we could be a day or two off...we will tell it that anyway...our little love child :) Coincidentally, my due date is the same as my mom's due date was with me however I was exactly 2 weeks late making my birthday 11/28. How crazy is that? So I am actually hoping my baby will be born late, at least 11/23 or later so that it's a Sagitarrius like me, my mom and my grandma. Sags are the best! Sags are awfully crazy though..I was jumping out of my crib at 7 months...so maybe I am setting myself up here for payback.. :) Yes, I am willing to carry around a watermelon for an additional 9 days just to make the baby a Sag!!

Thad (a.k.a "Daddy" as he has started to refer to himself in the third person as) has been super cute about everything. He even has his little daddy book already that he is reading (or supposed to be reading..) and he has been very inquisitive about everything I am going through. For example, at our first ultrasound visit I had to pee in a cup in the bathroom while he waited in the ultrasound room...when I returned, he had this serious look on his face and was like "so what did you do exactly? You pee'd in a cup and then what?" like he was being left out or something. Next time he can come in with me if he wants. haha he cracks me up and has actually gotten so much funnier since we starting dating 8 1/2 years ago...not that he wasn't funny then..but he is just SO funny now. :)

We have already started thinking about names and have narrowed it down to a few for each gender. Oh yeah, we are NOT finding out the gender ahead of time. I know this has been shocking to everyone but we just think that there are not enough suprises in life and for some reason I have always had this picture in my head of Thad running out to the waiting room in his scrubs announcing to the whole group of family & friends what the gender is...oh yes, and a tear streams down his face too...hahah This is definitely my imagination but since I won't actually be out there to witness this I will just continue to imagine that is how it happened afterwards..:)

Well I guess that is all I to report right now...I have pee'd twice since beginning this blog. It is really annoying! I am off to get a bagel for breakfast and Thad is playing old man doubles at 8:30 at the tennis club. He loves those old guys...I think they make him feel like he's still a young buck...if that were the case he wouldn't be loading up on Advil right now to prepare haha :)

I will keep you posted on the bambino (currently the size of an olive, soon to be the size of a plum!)...next doctor's appointment is 4/23. YAY!!!

Flipping it at the G-dub!

Well, I promised I would blog about our uber fun vacation but it took me a bit longer than expected...so sorry for the delay! We had an amazing time in Hawaii. It was super relaxing and memorable, and the wedding was a huge success! I know you're dying to know, did she flip it on the rope swing or not? Do you even need to ask? OF COURSE I flipped that s&%t!! It was the highlight of the trip. Thad went on the rope swing twice and sorry to say, he is not as graceful as me...I do have many years of practice though. He belly flopped it and it hurt so bad he refused to try again...He spent the rest of our pool time going down the waterslide like a freakin tornado. I swear he got air at the end almost every time. It was insane!!

The sushi was not quite as good as we imagined so needless to say we were stoked to come home and we went to Gen Kai our first night back. :) The Hawaiians just don't roll that sush like the Gen Kai boys. It didn't even compare!

We went on a great hike that we hadn't done before and we also did the road to hana this time which we had never done on any previous trips. We enjoyed ourselves but will not be doing that again...a very long day and very tiring. 15 mph speed limit - took us 3 hours to go 59 miles! So on the way back I drove, and boy did I drive. We made it back in an hour and a half going 40. I was like a nascar racer - it was awesome. Thad almsot peed himself. haha. That happens quite often - he should have known this before marrying me - life with me is "exciting" and sometimes VERY SCARY :)

Our flight back was SO short, not even 4 1/2 hours. Love the flight back! We have had enough Hawaii for awhile though, don't think I'll be booking many more wedding there in the next couple of years. But we had a great time and have wonderful memories from our trip and lots of pics which I will be adding soon!!

Aloha!

Night out on the town in Newps!

Well last night was lots of fun!!! We met some friends, Mike & Lisa, in Newport at a wine bar for a "couple" drinks and ended up staying 4 hours...and I thought it was going to be a mellow night! Before meeting up with them, we tried a new sushi joint over there called BlueFin in Crystal Cove. It is very well known for being one of the best sushi spots in OC and the owner (Takashi Abe) is the head sushi chef and worked with the famous Nobu for awhile before starting BlueFin. We read online that it's almost impossible to get him as your sushi chef and we didn't care enough to try. When we got there, they only had 2 seats left at the sushi bar at the very end so we took them. Before we knew it, Abe himself was explaining the menu to us and became our sushi chef! We didn't even realize it was him for 10 minutes and then we noticed he was only rolling for us and no one else! It was definitely an experience but the sushi still didn't even come close to our hole in the wall Gen Kai here in Dana Point. That place is just incomparable. Wait, I just realized this is not Yelp. You are all probably thinking "enough details about your freaking dinner already!". I will stop.

Back to drinks, it was really nice to get out and socialize. We've been doing more of that lately as opposed to cooking dinner and renting a movie or watching one of our favorite TV shows...We thought those times would never get old. Well, after almost 4 years of marriage, they did. :) Socializing is definitely more expensive than being loner lovebirds at home but everything is okay in moderation, right?? :) Mike & Lisa are really nice and fun people. And the wine bar was a great find. Decent priced wine and a great location on PCH near Corona del Mar. Food looked good too but we didn't have any. We will be going back soon for sure!!

This morning I was feeling the aftermath of last night's 4 hour wine session. I was dead set on foregoing the gym to sulk in my bed like a lazy girl but Thad got me motivated to "sweat that shit out" as he put it...so I did and I am very happy that I did!! I feel much better now. I did some Cardio followed by a very intense yoga class. At one point, the 50 something people in the class were balancing on one hand with nothing else touching the ground...I pretended to try so as not to seem like a weakling - but didn't come close. Baby steps, baby steps. I can finally touch my toes so that's a start!

I am currently trying to convince Thad that it would be SO MUCH FUN to go see Confessions of a Shopaholic later today... I reminded him of all the bending over backwards I've been doing for him lately (regarding movies people - such dirty minds!) but I still don't think it's going to happen. Wish me luck!! Thad , if you're reading this, I hope you will remember how awesome I am and how many "Thad movies" I've seen lately...and that a happy wife is a happy you!