The Cherry Blossom Tree

Andrew spent most of Saturday painting the tree for the nursery. It is so beautiful and I know that Baby Girl is going to love it (and her Daddy) :)

Yum Yum !!!

Lauren just tagged me for this food game.

So here are the rules: 1. Link to name of person that tagged you. 2. Include state and country you live in. 3. List top 5 favorite local restaurants. 4. Tag 5 other people and let them know they've been tagged.

I lived in L.A. for 26 years and then moved to Raleigh N.C. So I am going to cheat a bit and list a couple of my favorites in N.C and then favorite and current cravings back in the City of Angeles!

Tito's Tacos -L.A.

OK..right now this is my craving! I have been craving Titos since I was still in my first trimester (Im now in my third)! They have the BEST TACOS in the world!! Its a tiny little shop, you have to wait in line (always) and place your order at the window...then good luck finding a seat :)

Gyu-Kaku - L.A. Mmmm...Yummy...this is a great restaurant to go with a couple of friends. They bring you delicious thinly sliced pieces of Kobe beef, veggies and all kind of other goodies. You cook the food yourself. It was Andrew and my favorite restaurant, we are praying one comes to Raleigh soon!

The Peak City Grill- N.C. A great little restaurant! They change their menu monthly so that they only use fresh, in season ingredients. They have the most incredible Sunday morning brunch. My favorite appetizer in the Down South Shrimp Hush Puppies. They are AMAZING!! So if anyone wants to come visit, I'll take you there :)

NoFo at the Pig- N.C. This is a restaurant/ amazing gift shoppe. Its called at the pig because the building used to be a Piggly Wiggly. Now its an amazing cafe. I have only eaten lunch their and I keep getting the same thing (shrimp BLT) but no all the other dishes are wonderful as well.

Sushi-Thai- N.C

Fantastic sushi and tempura!! They have a full menu for Japanese food and then a full menu for Thai. Andrews new favorite is the shrimp tempura roll. Yummy!!

Painting the Nursery

With our little girl on the way, Andrew and I have started to put the nursry together. We had already bought her crib and changing table and the bedding. On Memorial Day weekend we began decorating the room. Andrew installed a ceiling fan and then we painted the room pink!

Pale petal pink to be exact...the room looks fantastic, we still need to put up crown molding and Andrew is going to paint a cherry blossom tree over the crib, but we got a lot accomplished and it is starting to look like a little girls room :) I hope she likes it!!

Prepping

Painting...

Painting continued...

Finished product with crib...

Finshed product with changing table and bookcase!

Belly Update

As requested here are some updated picture of my belly :) Baby Girl is doing great, she is kicking to her little hearts content. Its such a wonderful feeling to know thats she's in there. The first time Andrew could feel her, she kicked him in the jaw :) whoops!

Tummy...

Tummy...

and more tummy... :)

It's a Girl!!!

Andrew and I went to the doctor's this week and found out that our little miracle is a little baby girl!!! We are so thrilled!!! She looked beautiful and healthy!! We saw her suck her thumb and we were able to look at her heart and see all four chambers, we saw both of her kidneys, her little fingers and toes. It was just amazing...we already feel so blessed to have this little girl as a part of our lives. I can't imagine how much more we will love her when we finally meet her face to face :)

This is her side profile...isn't her nose so cute :)

Another side profile.

Now she is sucking her thumb.

Here are the pretty pink flowers my Mom and Dad sent us !

We will keep everyone posted on Baby Girl Bains progress and we will let you know her name as soon as we are certain what it will be :)

Spring Break!!

For our spring break we headed down to Florida to relax in the sun. (Can you tell we barely survived our first "winter"). David and Sue were wonderful hosts and we had such a great time. We drove from Orlando to St. Augustine, stayed in a fantastic hotel and relaxed the days away in true Florida style :)

Andrew enjoying the sand and sun at the beach.

OK...here is an updated picture of my belly...happy now ;)

What is a vacation without a trip to the worlds largest Alligator farm? It was so much fun, they had some HUGE alligators and I think we found where Andrew wants to work when he retires :)

Me...standing in front of a lovely old building...very interesting.

Our gracious hosts, Sue and David :)

And So it Begins....

Yes...I have survived the sickness. I have to say I think it was pretty bad. I have no other pregnancy to compare it too. But none the less, I think it was pretty rough there for a bit. The good news is that I have reached my 13th week, and the sickness has DISAPPEARED!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! Now it seems that I am just hungry...almost all the time :) I have gained more weight than I knew possible in such a short amount of time...most of my pants (OK almost all) don't fit so well any more...Hmmm....But the great news is everything is going perfect, the baby by all accounts is thriving and meeting all it's measurements and we have our next doctors visit in a couple of weeks. Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for my sickness to subside and for all the sweet cards and flowers we have received. It has been wonderful to hear from everyone back home...we miss you! :)

Introducing...Baby Bains :)

That's right...this little miracle is our baby...Right now it's the size of a kidney bean and doing just perfect!! Andrew and I are so thrilled...we could not feel more excited or blessed!!! Our due date is September 14th (the day after my Birthday!) We have had the most horrible time not telling the entire world...but we wanted to make sure both of our families found out first (check) and had our first Dr.'s apt. (check) So now we can shout it from the roof tops... "WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!"

Snow Day!!!

This is the first snow day of my entire life....and like a little child I was out side in my pajama's at 7:00 taking pictures of the snow. I feel it is my job to give the neighborhood something else to laugh about when talking about those crazy Californians :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Luke 2:1-20 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love, Abby and Andrew