Celebrities at Hester Park Fair

On Saturday we headed into the city for some dim sum at Chatham Square with Phil's family and one of his mom's old classmates and her son. There she is with Phil's dad. We just sat down and we already have 5 plates of food!


After dim sum Phil went to do some grocery shopping without me. I think he was afraid I would pass out or something from all the heat plus the walking and crowds of people. I guess it's better to be safe. So, instead I went with his cousins Kevin and Lucia and stopped by the dessert place called "Desserts" (how appropriate) across from Lucia's apartment. This time the lady had a whole counter of homemade tarts. It didn't really seem like tart weather though, so I settled for a strawberry lemonade instead.

After Phil finished grocery shopping all 4 of us headed to the Hester Street Fair. Someone had setup a ping pong table in the middle of all the tents. It seemed like a good idea when Kevin and Lucia started playing, but as the ping pong ball started flying all over the place they decided to call it quits.

Phil loved the BBQ pulled pork sandwich he had last time so much he had to order it again.

That's when we noticed the tent right next to the BBQ pulled pork - there were tons of happy birthday balloons and tiny cupcakes. And then one of the guys standing by the table said the magic words - they're free!

As you can probably imagine, the boys went to town on the cupcakes...

The guy we talked to ended up being the birthday boy - some guy named Sway. That's when Kevin and Lucia told us Sway is a MTV VJ. So Phil and I grabbed a picture with him...even though we didn't really know who he was...

Phil and Kevin went to town on the cupcakes until we finally pulled them away. But I guess they were both still craving sweeets, (and you know the pregnant lady isn't going to turn down sweets) so we stopped by the tent for "Melt Bakery". They make homemade ice cream sandwiches. I ordered their "Marcy" sandwich, which was mint ice cream between 2 brownies, Kevin got a cookie sandwich with passion fruit ice cream, and I think Lucia got a shortbread cookie with either peach or vanilla ice cream. They were all very yummy. Between these and the La Newyorkina popsicles the Hester Park fair has some of the best summer treats.

Me and baby calvin enjoying our mint ice cream brownie sandwich.

Before we left we took turns cooling off at this nice cool down tent they had that sprayed misty water from the top. Not a bad way to cool off in this summer heat.

Baby Shower

My sister threw a baby shower for me on Sunday at her place. Phil and I ran a little late getting there, so when we arrived all our friends and family were already there. We mostly just ate and chatted. My kind of party!

Mandy had setup a little table where people could decorate onesies and bibs for baby Calvin.

After people decorated the onesies and bibs we hung them up to dry. It looked so cute with all the baby clothes hanging like laundry!

My favorite one was the oneside my mom made. It says "Granma loves you", and it wasn't until someone pointed it out to her that she realized she forgot the "d" in "grandma". She used her usual excuse: "English is not my first language." Even though her English is better than most...

In addition to throwing an awesome baby shower, Mandy also made me 2 diaper cakes. Well the first one was actually a diaper tricycle, which was so adorable!! Can you believe it's all made out of baby stuff? - diapers, receiving blankets, baby bottle, pair of mittens, bib, onesie and of course the stuffed Tigger.

She also made another standard diaper cake, also made entirely of baby stuff - diapers, receiving blankets, and baby socks.

Towards the end we started opening presents. There I am with a huge thing of baby bibs, and my oldest friend Susan behind me.

One of my friends from college, Vanessa, bought Calvin a little CMU hoodie/sweatshirt. Ah, where it all began...as much as Phil likes to bash our alma mater, baby Calvin wouldn't be here if it weren't for CMU.

One of Phil's coworkers, Ghimel, ordered us a diaper toy car, again filled with diapers and other baby stuff.

After we got home we actually took it apart - behold all the goodies that were inside! - diapers, wash cloths, mittens, bib and baby blankie. It's hard to imagine all this used to be a car...


My mom even crocheted me a baby blanket.

My old college roommate brought her 9-month old daughter, Mai. She seemed just as excited by all the presents. Actually I think she was more excited about the boxes than what was actually in them, but still... ^__^

While we were opening presents some of my male cousins came back from taking their kids out to see some trains. This is me with my cousin William.

Of course the guys came back just in time for cake! We had a Häagen-Dazs ice cream cake - mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream. Yum! And Jamie brought some ice cream cupcakes from Coldstone Creamery. Who knew they made ice cream cupcakes?

And as people started to leave Mandy had prepared little gifts for everyone to take home - a cute little whisker/egg beater with a chick hatching from an egg as the handle, and a small box of pancake mix. So cute!


Now there's lots of new stuff for baby Calvin to play with, and lots of supplies for me and Phil to clean him with.

Getting Ready for Calvin

After our trip to the hospital last weekend Phil and I started realizing how unprepared we were in case baby Calvin decides to come early. So Phil went with his dad to pick up the baby crib. The nursery is still pretty empty at this point, but at least now baby Calvin has a place to sleep! And check out the new non-obnoxious wall color! Much better than the big bird yellow it was before. ^__^

Hospital "Trial Run"

We had a surprise trip to the hospital on Saturday. I had called my OB about something, but he was away on vacation, so the on-call doctor told me to go into the hospital so they could check me up just in case since he didn't have any of my charts or info. So, Phil and I went into the hospital thinking we would be in and out that day (or at least as "in and out" as you can when dealing with hospitals...). This was my first time ever being admitted into a hospital. Even though I felt fine I guess it's hard not to look sad and helpless when you're lying in a hospital bed.


After being monitored by the doctors and nurses they found out I was having contractions every 5-6 minutes! I didn't even realize I was having contractions until they told me...So, our "quick" trip to the hospital ended up as a 3-day stay in the hospital while they continued to monitor me and make sure I didn't go into labor early. On the plus side they kept me pretty well fed - who knew hospitals had such an extensive menu of food to choose from? It is still just hospital food, so nothing super tasty, but still it's nice that they give you options...Dinner is served!

They even gave me these weird leg things that basically alternate inflating and deflating around your legs. The nurse said it was supposed to help with my blood circulation so I wouldn't swell with all the lying down.

Although it seems like the baby might be trying to break out early, everything seems to be OK for now, thankfully. Hopefully we can convince him to stay in there a bit longer.

Definitely not how we planned on spending our weekend, but I guess we should get used to unexpected changes in plans once the baby comes along...

4th of July BBQ in Queens

On Sunday we headed into NY for a BBQ at Phil's parents' house. When we arrived there were already dozens of Japanese yams and potatoes warming in the oven and a whole stack of chicken wings and shish-kabobs ready for grilling. That's a lot of meat!

Phil's cousin, Lucia, brought some giant clams. There was quite some debate over which ones were still alive.

Phil's mom and one of her friends had also made some Chinese tong sui (which is basically like a dessert soup). The one on the left is made with little tapioca pearls. The one on the right was slightly sour with cooked rice and peanuts mixed in.

Lots of corn and fruit to munch on while people started to arrive and we waited for the grill to be fired up.

It was super hot out, but Phil's dad braved the heat to cook up all the meat.

Some of the cousins stayed in the open garage to keep Phil's dad company (and be closer to the food ^__~).

After most of the meat had been cooked and eaten everyone headed inside. I missed an opportunity of getting another "Phil post-meal nap" picture because he had my camera in his pocket, but Kevin and Lucia did a pretty good reenactment. ^__^

Then it was time for dessert. In addition to more fruit there was German cheesecake. It didn't really taste like a traditional cheesecake, but it was still good. And so pretty!

As people started heading home and we were cleaning up we could hear fireworks going off outside. You could even see some coming up over the street lights and trees.

4th of July BBQ in Bridgewater

4th of July weekend was BBQ-full. First we attended a BBQ at my sister's house in Bridgewater. Phil was working on re-painting the nursery in preparation for baby Calvin, so we arrived a little late. Luckily there was still tons of food left. But I was so busy eating I only got to take a picture of the desserts... I brought a batch of Double Tree cookies and they were a hit! (Thanks to Lydia for the recipe)

Mandy and Tam had just finished re-doing their backyard patio, and since it was so nice out (though a little hot) we spent some time hanging out there and chatting with everyone. Mandy and I took a picture of our 2 pregnant bellies to see whose was bigger. I think mine is definitely bigger, but I am 4 weeks ahead of her.

Picture with soon-to-be grandma! Luckily for her Mandy is having a girl so she gets both a grandson and a granddaughter.

Mandy had a bunch of friends and coworkers over as well, and I noticed one of them brought her an early baby present. I'd heard of and even made a couple diaper cakes before (diapers and baby supplies/toys done up to look like a cake), but I've never seen a diaper wreath before. It was kind of cute.


One BBQ down, one more to go!