Saturday, March 31, 2012

Jacob Tai

It's amazing to think about all of the people you love and things you love to do.  But it's not until you have a child of your own that you truly understand the meaning of love.  I knew that I loved Khoa well before we were engaged and am certain that I love him more and more every day that we are together.  However, on March 12th, 2012 at 340pm, our son, Jacob Tai entered into this world and my heart swelled.  It was love at first sight.

Since I have done such a poor job keeping this blog up to date, I am turning it over to Jacob so that he can keep all of you informed about his adventures growing up...

Hi - my name is Jacob Tai Nguyen.  I was born on March 12, 2012 at 340pm at Westmoreland Regional Hospital in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.  I weighed 8 pounds even and was 20 inches long.  I started to stir up trouble around midnight, Sunday night and my mommy went to the hospital at 330am because I gave her a bad tummy ache.   It must have been a really bad tummy ache because she was yelling words that I'm sure I'm not allowed to repeat.  At 7am she got something called an epidural and I never heard another bad word - in fact I think she even fell asleep for part of the day.  At 322pm she was ready to start pushing and only 4 contractions later I was completely evicted from my comfy womb and placed on mommy's chest.  She was so excited to see me that she started to cry and daddy got to cut my umbilical cord.



After I laid on Mommy's chest for an hour and a half and warmed up, a whole bunch of crazy people came running into my room...



This is me and Gammie
This is me and my Grandpa Jay

This is me and Grandma (she's really my great-grandma)

This is me and my Poppie.

And this is me and my Aunt Morgan.
 My Uncle Adam and Aunt Lindsay had to stay in New York because my Aunt Lindsay is still baking my cousin in her womb.  But I can't wait to meet all of them.  And then there's my Daddy's entire family.  I am so excited to meet them too.  Once the Paparazzi calmed down I got to lay on this nice tanning bed for a while as Nurse Jessica cleaned me up and got me dressed.
 Check out my first hair-do.  I was ready for a fight if anyone tried to make fun of me.
I spent the rest of my birthday sleeping and trying to figure out what I was supposed to eat now that I didn't have a continuous food supply.  When I was 1 day old this nice lady came by and took pictures of me.  This one is my mommy's favorite...
The paparazzi took hundreds of pictures of me while I was in the hospital.  
                                   
When I was 36 hours old I took my first test and passed it - my hearing test.  They also weighed me and I was 7lbs 9oz.  When I was 2 days old I got to go home to my mommy and daddy's house.  But before I could leave the hospital, mommy dressed me in a special outfit that Grandma knitted 31 years ago.  I guess my mommy, Uncle Adam and Aunt Morgan all wore this outfit home so Gammie thought it would be special if I wore it home too.  Little did I know they were trying to dress me up as an Amish child...
 Thank goodness Grandma decided to knit me a blanket instead.
Once Mommy said her goodbyes to all of the nice people at the hospital, Daddy drove us home where the Paparazzi were waiting for us.

And for the next 4 days I got to spend time with my mommy and daddy, Aunt Morgan, Gammie, Grandpa, Grandma and Poppie.  I talked to my Uncle Adam and Aunt Lindsay, and all of my family in California on the computer.  I can't wait for them to come and visit me.  I also got to meet my older brother Mochi.  He wasn't too sure what to make of me.  I guess I make a lot of noise at night and he doesn't really like it.  But I'm sure he'll get used to it (otherwise he'll just have to bury his head deeper under his blanket).  In the meantime I think we're warming up to each other and one day we'll be best friends.
I don't have too many hobbies yet, so for right now my favorite thing to do is sleep.  I think I do a pretty good job at it.  I've definitely mastered the technique during the daytime.

 Nighttime however is a different story, but daddy is trying to show me what I'm supposed to do.
 But I know that no matter what I decide to do at night my daddy will love me.
 Now I've already celebrated 2 birthdays - this was my 1 week old birthday.  Looks like I had a bit too much to drink.
Oh yeah - I forgot to tell you about my addiction...I'm addicted to milk.  I spend countless hours at the milk bar, and usually by the time I'm done drinking, I'm completely milk drunk.  Mommy loves to take pictures of me when I'm passed out after a good drinking binge.
On my 2 week old birthday this nice lady, Heidi, came over and took lots of pictures of me.  She came by a few days earlier and took some pictures of me then too (I didn't feel like sleeping much that day so she had to come back).  Here are a few of my poses...




 Well, I've been rambling for a while now.  I have so much more to tell you but it's late and mommy and daddy are tired.  We're going to go to bed very soon but don't worry - I'll be back to write more.
(don't worry - I sleep in my cradle next to Mommy and Daddy's bed - well most of the time I do...)

Sunday, October 9, 2011

A Beautiful Weekend

Wow - what a beautiful weekend!  Saturday we walked/hiked through a park near our new house called Duff Park.  The walk started along a small river and then we took a left turn up some hills through the woods and back down to the river.  It was so nice to be outside for a change.









And since we were right down the road from the house we took a drive there.  We were shocked to see that they had finished all of the brick and siding.  We peeked in through the windows and our kitchen cabinets are installed as well as some of the hardwood (I'll post inside pictures later in the week when we walk through with the painter).





Decisions...Decisions...

Alright, so I can't decide which area rug I want to put in the dining room.  The walls have chair rail moulding about 1/3 of the way up the wall.  I'm thinking of painting a beige color above the chair rail and a very muted blue below.  The furniture is a rustic restored pine wood.  Here are the choices so far.  Let me know what you think...
Amity Rug

Arcadian Area Rug I Beige

Arcadian Area Rug I Brown

Chaparral Area Rug

Dappled Area Rug

Elaine Area Rug

Serenity I Rug

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Making Headway

Sorry that I haven't updated this in quite some time.  The progress on our house is tremendous.  We are expected to close on November 2nd and will hopefully move in on November 12th (after we pick paint for the walls...ugh).
Outside of house 9/23/11
Outside of house 9/23/11
Our cabinets in the garage 9/23/11
It rained in our garage 9/23/11
Foyer 9/23/11
It rained in our study 9/23/11
Main Level Bathroom 9/23/11
Family Room 9/23/11
Fireplace in Family Room 9/23/11
Morning Room off of the kitchen 9/23/11
Dining Room 9/23/11
Living Room 9/23/11 
Spare bedroom 9/23/11
 A week and a half later this was the progress...
Outside of House 10/5/11
Foyer 10/5/11
Foyer 10/5/11 - Hi Khoa!!
Family Room 10/5/11
Kitchen and Morning Room 10/5/11
Dining Room 10/5/11
Standing in the Dining Room looking into the Living Room 10/5/11
Basement 10/5/11
Basement Bathroom 10/5/11
Upstairs Hall Bathroom 10/5/11
Master Bathroom 10/5/11
Master Bathroom 10/5/11