Monthly Archives: September 2016

Brunch Baby Shower in Texas

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Six months into my pregnancy, I flew home to Texas to visit family and friends. We first flew to Austin for a friend’s wedding and then drove back to my hometown of Sugar Land to see my family. I’m so glad I did because I got to see people that I love, and they got to see my big belly.

My Kay and I

My Kay and I

Maybe we went to 6th street. Okay, yeah we did!

Maybe we went to 6th street. Okay, yeah we did!

The beautiful Driskill Hotel

The beautiful Driskill Hotel

A little bit of us for a while longer

A bit of only us for a little longer!

A bit of only us for a little longer!

When I was home, my parents and sister threw me a mini baby shower with my aunts and cousins. That was a nice surprise to have a brunch shower. Lots of food including a crepe cake, fruit tart, french toast, croissant casserole, Torchy’s queso, and bacon deviled eggs.

Delicious!

Delicious!

We also played a fun little game, similar to pin the tail on the donkey, but a much more adult version. It’s funny playing a game like this with your cousins, aunts, and dad! If you want to try out some adrenaline-pumping games with your family, sites such as FM카지노 might have something great to offer.

Pin the sperm on the egg!

Pin the sperm on the egg!

Ming-Gih and little MG

Ming-Gih and little MG

These photos totally remind me to count my blessings. I’m fortunate to have the people around me to love and support me through my entire pregnancy.

^^^ My sister and mom ^^^

^^^ My sister and mom ^^^

I love my mama

I love my mama

No love like the one between a mother and daughter!

Did anyone else fly during the end of their second trimester? What did you do? What about third trimester? How was that experience?

Lots of love,
Jay

Baby Shower in the Bay Area

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I am so lucky to have caring and loving friends and family all around me. During my pregnancy, I had, not one, but THREE baby showers; one in the Bay Area, one back in my hometown, and another at work. I can hardly believe it myself.

I was showered with love and support time and time again, and my mini is extremely lucky to have people with such big hearts all around her.

Pink-Balloon

Incase you couldn’t tell from my blog, I’m a planner. I love lists. I love invites. I love precision. BUT I don’t love surprises and bothering people with assignments. I’m learning that doing everything yourself also comes with pressure and over-responsibility.

I had embarked on executing my own baby shower. I had set the date, the invite list, and booked a spot in a park, but then my sweetest and best girlfriends (plus my sister) decided to take over from there. I let them because whoa, being pregnant is tiring if you don’t the take best prenatal vitamins! You’re constantly wanting to sleep. And I’m so glad I gave it up, because they planned the sweetest and most beautiful shower a girl could ask for.

The weather wasn’t the best; it had been raining all week prior, but thankfully the rain let up just for the few hours we were outdoors. It was a chilly day but a very memorable one.

On Our Way

On Our Way

Lemonade, Tea, & Cucumber Water

Lemonade, Tea, & Cucumber Water

Take Home Gifts

Take Home Gifts

Did you know, you can hire people to grill for you at events? That’s what we did! We decided to do this because it would give the hosts a chance to hang out with people and chat. Have you ever thrown a party where you felt like there was no chance to just relax and enjoy? Hiring someone to grill was exactly the answer to that!

The grill master

The grill master

BBQ

BBQ

Candied Bacon and a Bacon bundt cake

Candied Bacon and a Bacon bundt cake

Baby Shower in the Bay Area

All the gifts!

All the gifts!

Isn’t that crazy? Look at all those gifts! I think that amount beat my own wedding! Oh yeah, and we also celebrated Ming-Gih’s birthday! He wasn’t forgotten, I promise!

Mg's birthday present

Mg’s birthday present

Thank you so much to Holly, Jessica, and Katie for this amazing day. I could relive that day and over and over again! One day, I’ll show my mini these pictures so she can see how much she was loved before even entering into this world.

xoxo,
Jay

DIY Gender Reveal Poppers

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Revealing the gender of your baby is such a HUGE ordeal now, and I don’t blame anyone. It is a big moment during a pregnancy.

MG and I didn’t want to be surprised, but we wanted to surprise others. I’m actually not good with surprises anyway, but I enjoy it so much to give other people that satisfaction. We found out the gender around 13 weeks (typically it’s confirmed around 20 weeks), and from there, we were already starting to plan on how we would tell our parents.

After doing some research on where I could purchase items, I decided to make my own because it’s wayyy cheaper, and you can pick out your own fun designs. We picked out some fun wrapper covers (gender neutral of course), and the inside was filled with the gender color (blue for boy or pink for girl).

Poppers

DIY Gender Reveal Poppers

Since my parents live in Texas, we mailed the poppers to them. My soon-to-be brother in law helped us ensure there was no peeking, and also initiated Facetime so that MG and I could watch. It was epic (see last post for the video).

Use this DIY tutorial from Oh Happy Day to make the poppers. They also have a great template to wrap around the cylinder.

I did a few things differently:

  • Added another cover layer on top so that I could choose some fun designs
  • Added a circular cover on the top with white cardstock
  • Added a SUPER slim piece of paper tape on the sides to stick the covers onto the tops
Pink Confetti

Pink Confetti ^^^

Are you interested in a gender reveal? If you did one already, how did you unveil the news? I’d love to hear about it!

Proud mama to a baby girl,
Jay

Gender Reveal (Popper Style)

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This is one of those milestone moments during your pregnancy – the gender reveal. It’s really the talk of the town! Do you want to know or wait for a surprise? Will you tell others? Do you want to be surprised by friends? So much around this now!

Gender is confirmed between 18-20 weeks if parents choose to know. I didn’t know this prior to being pregnant, because my first response when I found out people were expecting is, “do you know the gender?” You’re welcome, for that fact!

Can you guess the gender based on this picture? Look at that little booty!

Baby Butt

I wanted the reveal to be for my family, not necessarily for us. We were ecstatic on becoming parents so a party to reveal wasn’t needed. However, this is the first grandchild for both sets of families so I wanted to surprise them. Additionally, my parents live in Texas so I wanted it to be a fun reveal. Hence, I made poppers! I’ll have a DIY tutorial in a future post, coming soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erKWJP1KuZs

Surprisingly our ultrasound technician told us the gender around 13 weeks. Though it wasn’t confirmed, because it was so early, she was pretty sure. I’ll be honest here; I was expecting a boy. My pregnancy symptoms were telling me it was a boy (even though it’s not scientifically proven). MG even had a dream that we had a little boy. And in my head, boys take care of their siblings, which was a very idealistic view. A Date With Baby, a 3D ultrasound clinic, offers high-quality 3D/4D ultrasound services to all expectant mothers in Toronto. With A Date With Baby, you and your loved ones will be able to see the incredible images of your unborn baby with crystal-clear quality and precision.

However, the more I sat on the idea of a girl, the more excited I became. She would be my mini, and we’d dress the same (oh yes, definitely be expecting those mommy and me shots because they will be coming your way!). We get to take a picture of 4 generations of women since my Grandma is still lively and amazing. She’ll be my caretaker (because in reality, do boys even take care of their siblings?). Plus, if I only had girls, I’d actually be okay with that. If I only had boys, I’d always want a girl.

And now that I have her to snuggle with, I wouldn’t change her for the world!

Here’s a video of my parents as they open their poppers. Thank you to Baldwin for Facetime-ing us in and organizing the reveal.

So fun documenting these moments!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgJln6kXE7o&feature=youtu.be

Gender reveals – what do you think about them?

xoxo,
Jay

Maternity Session

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I’m baccckk!

I took some time off cause, if you read my last post, I was expecting a little human. Now 9 months later, I’m back to blogging. And yes, I gave birth to a sweet little girl named Nora Rae. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m rewinding back to when I was pregnant (wow, how did time go by so quickly?!?). We’ll get to the baby in future posts but if you wanted to jump ahead to see pictures (I wouldn’t blame you), check out my Instagram and follow me.

I was looking for someone to help shoot a maternity session, but we were on a tight budget. Prepping for a baby is $$$! Instead, Ming-Gih and I decided to do shoot a session ourselves. We purchased some lighting and a clicker, and we were set. These pictures aren’t professional, but at least it does capture my big ‘ol belly!

Belly

Belly 2

Cat

Baking

In bed

MG and me

Okay, I’m one of “those.” I admit it; I enjoyed being pregnant. The worst symptoms I had were sore boobies and indigestion. Otherwise, everything was smooth and great, never had an episode of morning sickness, just mild nausea, and I would burp it out. But if you were one of those who had to battle through morning sickness, you can try to look for medicines from pharmacies such as the Canadian Pharmacy. The perks were great too – I got seats on public transportation, people opened doors for me and gave me space in crowds. Maternity clothes are also so comfy and very stylish nowadays. Plus, you never have to suck in your stomach after a large meal (wink). After you have a baby, forget it. So expecting mamas, enjoy it while it lasts!

Would you ever do a maternity session? And if you’ve done one, do you have any tips?

Missing those big belly days,
Jay

And just so you know, this blog is going to have a lot of life event posts and baby pictures so it’s headed in the direction of a mama blog. It’s going to be my place to put my family here as a keepsake. You’re welcomed to follow along!