Butterfly in the sky

Lydia went trick or treating for the first time tonight with Lily (Jasmine) and Mary (Ariel), and had a great time. She understood the concept of taking the candy, but wanted to give it back and then go into the person's house. You have much to learn, my young padawan.

We got another camera just in time for Halloween...yeah! Happy Halloween!

Speechless

I cannot believe Sabrina got kicked off of Dancing with the Stars tonight. Sheesh, America, give her a break! Jane or Marie definitely should have been the one on the chopping block, but I suppose one bad (not even really that bad) week really does make all the difference. Well, at least now she can concentrate on her Cheetah Girls movie, which I honestly doubt that I will be seeing. I never that I'd say this, but I think Mel B really has a chance of winning the competition now, but I'd rather Helio win. Mel B has improved quite a bit, but she doesn't seem much of a crowd pleaser...to each to his own.

Here's a cute shot that Maggie took of Lydia when Trung was watching her while I was at a shower. Peek-a-boo, I see you!

Belly Wars

Who currently has the biggest belly? I think Lydia has the biggest belly relative to her size, but I'm sure I will exceed her very soon. :)

Weekend events

This weekend was extremely busy, which is rare for us, but we had a great time. Trung's childhood friend Randy arrived in Austin Friday afternoon, stopping by on his way home to New York from Las Vegas. That evening, we went to The Oasis and got there just in time to see the sunset.

Saturday, Trung took Randy to see parts of Austin and brought home Rudy's BBQ for lunch. Then off to my first out of four baby showers in two weeks...tis the season. After the shower, we headed back home where I got Lydia ready for bed as Trung and Randy picked up some hot wings and a couple DVDs.

Sunday, Trung took Randy to the airport while Lydia and I went to church, but not before snapping a shot of the strapping young men.

This was the first Sunday that Lydia didn't cry when I dropped her off in the nursery. We hadn't been consistent about going to church due to sicknesses and vacations, but we've gone three times in a row which seems to have done Lydia quite a bit of good. So long, stranger anxiety! After Trung picked us up from church, we got ready for brunch with our next visitors, my college friend Thomas and his adorable family. We didn't get any good shots of just Lydia and Daniel, but here's one of the future mother-in-laws...hee hee.
I had to cut the visit short to go to my second baby boy shower; my former co-worker Kristen is due next month. The shower was at a lovely house in Westlake, where about a dozen ladies gathered to "ooo" and "ahhh" over all things baby. Lydia can't wait to meet her new boyfriends, Landjuvan Obas and William Ramsey!

My little "big girl" & "Moo" Shoes

Remember how they used to have "my buddy" and "kid sister" when we were growing up? Well, nowadays they have this doll called "my twinn", which you can personalize to look like your child. My niece is getting one for her birthday next month and I'm buying matching girl and doll outfits for her...interesting stuff. I remember thinking how cool the "kid sister" was, but who needs one when you've got your own real life kid? Come to think of it, the doll would have been much easier to handle because Lydia is nuts! My pregnant friend Wendy got to experience first hand yesterday what a little bugger a very mobile 13 month old can be; the kid was walking out of the store with unpaid merchandise in each hand! Hopefully she'll calm down in the next few months as I become less mobile. Did I mention that Trung wants to try and potty train Lydia before the baby is born? Uh-huh...we've got a Sesame Street potty and everything! Good luck, Trung. :)

I purchased another pair of shoes for Lydia yesterday since; they are called Mooshu trainers ---> and are simply adorable! Of course I had to get the ones with the butterfly, but the really cool thing is that the squeak (and you can take out the squeaker too)! So cute for that new walker! Lydia has been walking for awhile now, but these were the only pair that I really liked, so we waited until the Fall to get them for her. As I was putting Lydia into her carseat yesterday, I noticed that one of the shoes she was wearing was missing. These were the pair that I had bought in Destin and just loved; she had worn them only twice! <--- I called Trung to see if I had left them at home...no...I retraced my steps to see if I left them at the store...no...I looked under the car and thankfully, they were there. The shoe was so far in that I literally had to lay flat to reach out and get it; I'm sure the cars driving by found that entertaining. I know, I know, I've got to get out of the chocolate brown and pink color trend, but brown goes with pretty much everything...except some black, so I've a black pair being shipped that I bought on eBay. The kid's going to be styling for the holidays, well, at least her feet will be. :P

Back in business

After a two week hiatus from eBay, I finally posted a few items today and it actually felt good. Since this was the longest time period I've gone without selling anything on eBay since I joined in January, it helped me remember the excitement of seeing bids get higher and higher. I'll only be selling a handful of items since I'll be on vacation for a total of three weeks for the holidays, but hopefully I'll end the year with a bang!

I had my doctor's appointment today and the doc was pleased that I had gained a few pounds. The baby's heartbeat sounded pretty fast, so now I'm wondering if I'm having a girl. I'm finding out the sex of the baby on November 27th, purposely after Thanksgiving holiday. Everyone in Houston will be asking what I'm having, so if I don't know, I won't be so anxious to tell them. That extra week of waiting totally bites, but in the long run, it will help me not slip the verdict to Trung. Okay, so everyone help me out...please don't ask me what we're having until after Christmas Day because that is when I'm telling Trung's and my family. Shucks, maybe it's better for me to find out that day too and have the sonogram person just right it down. Oh the decisions!

Nightmares, Netflix, & Chills

Poor Lydia has been having nightmares these last few days. Well, we think they are nightmares because usually when she wakes up at night she just wimpers and falls right back to sleep, but lately she's been wailing. Early this morning she was standing in her crib just bawling. Reason #2, Lydia doesn't get consoled as easily as before when we would just give her her pacifier and pat her back to sleep; we have to pick her up and rock her for a bit. How strange that this is happening as we're watching the Heroes season 2 episodes where Molly is having nightmares as well. Oh, speaking of Heroes, we're all caught up and are planning to watch tonight's episode (though I'll be sneaking in some Dancing with the Stars during commercials).

You know how they say that you get forgetful and/or clumsy when you're pregnant? I remember being both (yes, even more clumsy than I already am) during my first pregnancy and now I've done my first major forgetful thing this pregnancy...I returned the wrong Netflix movie. No big deal, right? I guess, but it so happens that I mailed in Lydia's favorite DVD Sesame Beginnings: Exploring Together when I was supposed to mail in Heroes Disc 5! I'd like to see the look on the next renter's face when they open the package to discover it...hee hee, though I'm hoping the Netflix people will be able to find the DVD beforehand. *sigh*

Another "inevitable" preggers thing...I've gone 100% maternity clothes now. I've heard that your belly gets bigger faster after the first pregnancy, but it's more than one month earlier than last time! At this rate, I'll be a blimp by the time I deliver...well, at least my Obgyn can't complain. :P I started wearing my maternity pants during the Florida trip because I ate so much, but I was still able to wear my longer short-sleeved tops since I bought several during post-pregnancy. Well, now with the cold front suddenly coming through town, I had to bust out my new fall maternity tops since I wasn't stocked up...no wonder people have kids around the same time of year. It's nice having the cooler weather for a change, though I don't anticipate it sticking around for very long.

I think we're having a boy...
Reason #1 - I don't feel like eating anything, but I'm ALWAYS hungry. With Lydia, I had a pretty good appetite and cravings, but nothing sounds yummy nowadays. So at HEB today, I bought some of my favorite foods, pumpkin pie and cobbler, in hopes of increasing my appetite a bit. Yikes, let's hope I don't get gestational diabetes while I'm at it!
Reason #2 - Acne galore. I've got the whiteheads pretty much tamed now, but if you look really closely, you can see little bumps all over my forehead and some dark spots of the ones I've popped. Don't start staring at my face now! Okay, one at a time though please. :P The old wive's tale is that if you have clear skin than you're having a boy, but the Chinese saying is the opposite. Seeing that I'm Chinese, I'll go with the latter. How convenient that I get to choose...hee hee.

Interesting stuff

1) Funny that I was just mentioning JLo the other day and she's performing on the Dancing with the Stars results show next Tuesday. Keep your eyes peeled for that belly! Oh, and rumor has it that she's expecting twins. Also, I read that she was 12 weeks pregnant on Sept. 17, which would put her due the same week as me. All I can say is that she totally beats Anna Nicole Smith (in sharing a close due date with me).

2) I just read an article about the largest mako shark every caught. Interesting enough, it was caught near Destin, FL on Saturday, the day we left. I would have loved to have seen it!

Save the cheerleader...

Jimmy left discs 3 and 4 of Heroes Season 1 at our house for us to return, so naturally, we had to watch them. We downloaded and watched "discs 1 and 2" on Netflix online yesterday. Today we'll probably get through discs 3 and 4, hopefully disc 5 will arrive in the mail tomorrow, then we'll watch "discs 6 and 7" online. We knew that we wanted to watch Heroes since we heard that it was so good, so now we'll be caught up in a week! Too bad we'll have to watch the weekly shows now since it's only in Season 2 right now. :(

Last night's Dancing with the Stars was quite entertaining. Everyone has improved tremendously that I honestly don't know who will be kicked off tonight. Might I mention how great Samantha Harris looks after having given birth only two weeks ago! Speaking of babies...JLo is preggers and due in the Spring though I'm not sure exactly when. Anna Nicole Smith had her baby within days of my having Lydia, so I'm wondering which actress will have her baby around the time baby #2 arrives.

Back at home

We arrived yesterday in Dallas around 3:30 PM, but ended up leaving Dallas for Austin around 6:30 PM. Why? Well, our car decided not to start in the parking lot, so after having it jumpstarted, we went to NTB to have the battery replaced. In the meantime, we ate at a Mexican restaurant that was within walking distance. Los Lupes ended being one of the best Tex-Mex restaurants that we had ever eaten at. Then after figuring out how to get back on the highway and stopping for some gas, we were finally on our way back home. We arrived home around 9:45 PM, but got to at least chat with Jimmy for a little bit; his family was in town to check out the Thomas the Train expo.

This morning Trung and I went to church after a long absence due to illnesses and the vacation. We then met Jimmy's family for some dim-sum where we ran into our cousins. Jimmy left soon after lunch, and I finally got a chance to upload all our pictures. Here are my favorites, but you can see them all on Picasaweb:

Lydia's first time to set foot on sand...fluffy, squeaky sand at that. Lydia looking into the distance with seagulls in the background. That is a "mongolian spot" on her shoulder, I promise. :)

Daddy throwing Lydia into the air.

Our one and only family picture. Mommy and Lydia.

It's sad that our vacation is over, but we look forward to our next trip to Tampa for a Ly Family Christmas.