happy new year!

Happy holidays and happy new year to all!
I have made a New Years resolution to be more active on my blog. Likely though, it will be less of my adventures and have more stories of my family, my son Noah more specifically.
So I hope that I am able to follow suit rather than be another statistic of falling off the New Years resolution and joining the bandwagon of the 50% crowd that quit before the end of January.
It would appear that I'm off to a good start!

an early Christmas gift

Noah Khoi Dinh

December 09, 2013 @ 21:32

Weight: 5lbs; 17.5 inches long

Emergency C-section

> 6 weeks early

Noah looks great and healthy breathing on his own.

Mommy is recovering well and we are both having intimate kangaroo time with Noah.

Thank you for your love, support, and prayers!

america has voted....

And the verdict is....
Today marks the half way point in the pregnancy process where Desiree is 20 weeks along.  Wednesday is our week count day.
Last Friday evening, we had a gender reveal party at the house.  This appearently is the new thing right now.  We got the results of the sex of our baby the day after we returned from vacation and had the Dr's office seal the results in an envelope.  We then dropped off the envelope with special instructions to Publix for them to make us a cake.  The plan was that when we cut the cake in front of family and friends, the color (pink or blue) would reveal the baby's gender.
Desiree was quite dissapointed when we received a call from Publix informing us that they would not be able to die the cake as they do not make their own cakes in house.  They only decorate them.

Fortunately, one of Desiree's patient's spouse makes cakes and offered to make our special cake for us. 

We decorated the house with craft projects that Desiree got ideal from pintrest.  We were blessed to have my mom in town from Atlanta to help us prepare.  Additionally, we had a board that people signed to place their prediction of the baby's gender.  The majority ~60% guess male.  We also had a wives tale board to see if what a few would reveal.  6 of the 8 that we performed indicated a male.

Finally, the time came for us to cut into our cake.

BLUE!  It's a BOY!
We received back our ultrasound that we provided to the baker and there is no confusing the question of the gender.  It CLEARLY showed a boy!

What a great party that we shared with family and friends.  A special thanks to my mom for helping us out!
Now it's time to come up with some names.
Give us some suggestions.

 

 

who loves pastries?

well there's a muffin in the oven!

 We are 13 weeks yesterday and Desiree is beautiful and doing great!

The timer is expected to go off on January 22, 2014!

Explaining the Tour de France

I have been MIA in my post...more so lazy then actually busy, but I do have a couple of races to recap.

However, this the start of the 3rd week of the tour, I need to help those that don't quite grasp the magnitude of the Epic bicycle race.

This animation should help.
Enjoy!

new member to the family....kitty

about a month and a half ago, a stray cat started coming around our house.  The first couple times we tried to get her to come closer to us, however she was too timid.  I jokingly said to Desiree, "If she plays, she stays."  This was only a forecast as she did end up coming clsoer and closer to us.  Desiree ended up feeding her initial as we found out that she may have been a neighbor's cat.  We knew that she was at one point an indoor cat as she was declawed.  we let her sleep in the garage with garage door slightly cracked for her to be able to go outside as she pleased. 

After contacting neighbors on facebook, we found out that it actually was not a neighbor and that somebody probably abandonded her.  After feeding her for a few days, this cat would leave, even if you tried.  She knew where the food was, and I was started to get attached.  Desiree as well.  I ended up taking her to the vet and got some flea medication and took her inside the house for the first night of her new life.  I showered and washed her which was not a pleasent experience for her.  We were concerned about her first night indoors as there is always uncertainty if a cat will take to a litter box.  Fortunately for us, she took to it immediately.  That's a relief.

Its now nearly 2 months and we love kitty.  She is beautiful, loving, and healthy and takes well to strangers with the few family gatherings we have had at the house.  we're blessed with having such a great addition- especially since I've always been a dog guy

going green...er

Desiree has been wanting a vegetable garden for some time now and a few weeks ago, we finally built ours and it's working out perfectly.
The schematics are pretty common as most wood that you would purchase would be 8ft long.  We chose cedar because of its rot tolerance and also it is untreated to reduce transfer of the chemicals of treated wood.
Preping the area, we tilled the sod, lined with newspaper and then mesh lining on top.  In the encosed area, we used a mixture of organic potting soil, manuer, compost, and peatmoss.  Outside the enclosure, we mulched the box and the end result looks great.

What are we growing:
herbs:
rosemary
oregano
basil
cilatro

fruits & vegetables:
bell peppers
ocra
tomatos
strawberrys

materials:
4x 2"x6"x8ft
1x 4"x4"x8ft
lots of wood deck nails
mesh lining
newspaper

The final demensions of the box is 4ft x 8ft x 12" high with the 4"x4" cut to 2ft long for inner stakes.