time is ticking along quite swiftly, counting down to baby’s due date. we are setting up the nursery, thanks to a crib from grandmommy L, as well as a number of useful items we’ve inherited from generous friends. the bookshelf is filling up with baby items, gifts from friends and family, as well as toys we’ve dug up from when i was little.

the dining room was recently a sweat shop, covered in pinks and yellows. grandmommy T is a talented seamstress and made a nursing pillow for me and baby, among other projects.

i beautified a simple store-bought quilt with some heart and elephant appliques i made out of fleece and fabric. hope baby likes it!

i had a baby shower already with my friends before leaving chicago, and this weekend i was lucky enough to enjoy a second one! helen organized it with the help of louisa and angie (games-masters). we had beautiful and delicious food:

games:

wacky photos:

cake (caketoppers which i saved from my chicago baby shower!):

thank you everybody for my lovely gifts and a wonderful time!

we went out for a date on joe’s birthday a few days ago and had dinner at ‘burgoo’. warm stewy comfort food.

i liked the colours of this crab bisque.

happy birthday hubbie!

the last few weeks have been busy with catching up with vancouver friends.

first, visiting janet, chris and baby madeleine, along with gina who was in town from california:

hanging out with the wongs and the chens on a sunday afternoon. tayden and matia, all grown up!

spending a morning with louisa and ichiro at queen elizabeth park:

and having lunch with grace and baby natalie at granville island:

we celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary a couple of days ago with a home-cooked meal (courtesy joe), complete with our non-alcoholic drinks and a rose picked from the garden. it’s hard to believe how quickly time has passed. we are thankful for how God leads and protects, and for the big and small blessings we experience daily.

yesterday was moving day. or rather, the movers came and took all of our things… we’ll be flying out later in the week. we are very thankful that my parents are here to help, especially in the cleaning and cooking department. in fact, i think the kitchen will be cleaner than when we moved into the parsonage, thanks to my mom’s skills.

my wonderful friends at HPAC threw me a baby shower last weekend. i felt very blessed to be able to spend time with them, especially during my last week here in chicago. thank you for all the gifts and adorable outfits… this baby is already getting spoiled. thanks especially to the hostesses lisa and shawna!

last week i went to a free She & Him concert at millennium park with debra and sarah… together with thousands of other like-minded 20-30-something year olds. admittedly, i haven’t followed the band’s music in the past, but i like zoe deschanel (‘Elf’, ‘500 Days of Summer’). our plan for finding a nice grassy spot was thwarted, and had to settle for the board walk along the winding sky bridge, which although offered no view of the stage, was at least comfortable.

towards the end, we snaked our way through the crowds and actually got close enough to the front to catch a glimpse of the band. then ended the evening with some hazelnut gelato at cafe baci.

i was helping a friend babysit for a couple of hours on campus this week. it was a such a beautiful day, i couldn’t help taking some pics of the lovely surroundings.

mr. turtle at the goldfish pond.

pretty flowers.

the quandrangle.

We had been meaning to update the appearance of our blog for a while, but since it also required upgrading WordPress, I kept putting it off. Today I finally got around to it–the technical side that is. The creativity part is obviously thanks to Sherwin. Hope you all enjoy the new look!