Catching Up #3: Cynthia's 15th Birthday

 My baby sister is FIFTEEN! The last time we celebrated her birthday together was back in November 2007 (her 10th birthday). I can't believe how long it's been and how beautiful she is becoming. Cynthia is currently in the 10th grade and taking so many AP courses that it makes my brain hurt. My IB days are soooo behind me. She is extremely hardworking and so independent. Love you 姍姍! So proud to be your sister. Here's some cute pictures of her from December 2008 just for kicks. Look how little she was!

This year, she wanted to eat out at Kanpai, a teppanyaki restaurant, for her birthday. SO GOOD. 

I want to go back...

Annie乾媽 and the birthday girl

(wow, talk about weight gain...)

Best chocolate cake I've ever had from awfully chocolate. Moist, dense, chocolatey, but not too sweet.

Happy Birthday! Hope all your wishes come true.

Catching Up #2: More Food!

Taiwanese food for lunch...

Vietnamese food for dinner!   
     

Catching Up #1: First Day Home

Me at 21 weeks. To the right is Taffy jealously watching me eat. Just look at that cute puppy face!

 I've sure missed my Grandma's cooking.

Lately

Some happenings since the last time I posted:

• An uplifting ward temple trip.
• Started feeling Baby move!
• Finally (after almost 9 months) became an official American permanent resident. I can work AND go through the permanent resident line at customs!
• Experienced my first tsunami warning complete with sirens and millions of people filling up their cars in case worse comes to worst and they need to drive off the island...
• Hung out with Rachel for a day!
• Fun Cousins' Day hosted by Nancy&Thad.
• Mini golf and Sizzler's with Jordan&Shanelia.
• Finally started feeling better. Meaning only gagging or throwing up once a day instead of every couple of hours.
• Early Christmas shopping for my family.
• Jumped on a plane to come to Taiwan!

So here I am in Taiwan. This vacation is also the reason for my blogging hiatus. Everyday has been either so eventful or so relaxing that blogging has been the last thing on my mind. I've only been here for three weeks and I've already eaten my weight in food--which means my doctor is going to be very unhappy with me when I go to see him next. I've also been so spoiled by my family that going back home to "real life" is going to be like waking up from a dream.

Oh--and I totally surprised Cynthia when I came home! She knew I was coming, but had absolutely no idea when. I got her good because she started crying right after I took these pictures. I've sure missed my family!

What's better than snail mail?

Snail mail with candy of course!

Thanks to my sweet&thoughtful friend Marsa for sending me these fun treats and the cute letter when I needed it most (: 

Miss that girl!

BIG NEWS

...or teeny tiny baby news?

Yes, you heard right. We're having a baby! Can't believe it huh? Well, neither could we. If all goes according to plan (which it rarely does), this little one will be making his or her debut on March 20th of next year just in time for Robby's dad's birthday or 4 days before Robby's birthday.

This next part is all for my own record-keeping, so feel free to skip!

We found out I was pregnant back in July when I started feeling really awful. At first, Robby kept telling me to drink more water because I have a tendency of becoming dehydrated from not drinking any water all day. I really don't know why I do it! Thirst is just not something I feel until I start feeling sick. Anyway, dehydration wasn't the problem. I started feeling nauseous all the time even after drinking cups and cups of water. I seriously thought I had a bad case of the stomach flu. After almost 10 days of feeling icky, Robby finally said it. Maybe you're pregnant. I didn't want to believe him since I was on the pill. He went out and bought a couple pregnancy tests anyway. The first one came back positive. I was still in denial. The test was probably wrong. He told me later that he already knew it wasn't wrong, but decided to let me be for a while. A week later, I took the other pregnancy test and it came back positive again. This time, I cried. I was scared, frustrated, disappointed, shocked, confused, and most of all afraid of how Robby would react. We had talked about when we both wanted to have kids and had decided that a few years after he started med school would be the ideal time. What was happening no doubt changed our plans big time. I'm not sure why I had expected him to react poorly, but he didn't. He was perfect. He held me while I cried for hours and reassured me that this was Heavenly Father's plan and not ours. What made everything so much better was when he told me that he was so excited to be having a baby with me. Then I was mostly just scared. I have no idea what I'm doing! Robby has been such a rock for me these past few months. Despite his busy work and study schedule, he still managed to schedule all my doctor's appointments, cook, clean, and find time to spend with me.

Looking back, those crazy emotional episodes must've been those darn hormones kicking in. We are so, so happy and excited now to have this little stinker join our family! We couldn't be more blessed.

We're currently 18 weeks along, but here's baby at 12 weeks, alive and kickin'!

Tour Is A Four Letter Word!

Robby and I both share a love for Jason Mraz (his music of course!), so on my birthday, Robby surprised me with tickets to Mraz' 2012 concert at the Waikiki Shell! Win-win situation for him; he gets to make me happy and he gets to come with to the concert. Smart guy. So exactly two months after my birthday, on July 1st, we celebrated the other half of my birthday. Amazing concert, great seats, and perfect Hawaii weather! Thanks babes, it was so much fun!