...and then there was four

I'm pregnant (again)! We're expecting baby number two in early April, April 6th to be exact. Yes, it was totally planned; we wanted our kids to be close in age and no, we have no idea what we've gotten ourselves into. :P So, as you can imagine, it has been an extremely tough week for me to avoid getting sick and to care for Trung and Lydia, not to mention throwing up for the first time in both pregnancies on Tuesday. I think it might have been due to the lack of sleep since Lydia has been waking up at least twice every night before waking up for the day.

I had my second doctor's appointment today and apparently, I am extremely underweight for being almost 13 weeks pregnant. I started off ten pounds heavier in my last pregnancy, and I still haven't gained anything this first trimester (I've actually lost weight). So, the doc says for me to eat eat eat...no problem! :) Oh, and to completely stop breastfeeding, which I slowly had been doing and was down to only once a day, but now it's official. I'm just sad that I wasn't able to treasure that last time with Lydia last night. :( Well, at least there will be more of that in the very near future.

Strep throat

Yup, one thing leads to another, but this time, poor Trung's got it. We don't know how he strep throat, but yesterday he started getting the chills along with headaches. After several naps and doses of Tylenol, he started feeling better, though there was a spot in his throat that kept bothering him. Even last night while we were sleeping, my hand somehow found it's way to his forehead (get your mind out of the gutter! :P ) and it was pretty darn hot.

Trung woke up this morning still with a headache, but with an extremely sore throat; it caused excruciating pain every time he swallowed. So, I made an appointment for him to see the doctor this morning (giving an incorrect birth year while I was at it) and he was told he had strep throat. *double sigh* Hopefully I will have better, healthier news to report soon. Please pray for Trung and Lydia as they try to heal and avoid getting each other (and me) sick, and please pray for patience from me as I care for my dears.

Okay, on a lighter note, Dancing with the Stars should be interesting this session. I honestly thought having so many older celebrities would make it less competitive, which it might, but the entertainment factor is totally worth it. Sabrina and Helio did totally awesome, though I do feel bad for Alec Mazo getting the boot with his wimpy partner Josie. Dude has been first to get kicked off since he won in season one! At least he's got lovely Edyta to go home to everyday. Stay tuned...

Gingivostomatitis

What's that you ask? Also known as oral herpes, gingivostomatitis is basically the long name for a condition that results in a very sore mouth. And yup, you've guessed it...Lydia has that too. Trung and I started noticing little canker sores in her mouth over the weekend, one just behind her lower lip and two sores on her tongue. Since I used to get sores a lot when I was younger, we didn't think too much about it. Well, last night, what I thought were her new teeth coming in were actually a bunch of little white sores. After taking another good look, we noticed her entire mouth was filled with these little sores.

My nephew had similar symptoms last month when he got the hand, food, and mouth disease, so that's what we initially thought she had. After yet another doctor's visit (twice in a week! argh!), we were told that she had oral herpes and since it is a viral infection, there was really nothing we could do except give Lydia soft foods, especially yogurt, and continue with her antibiotics from the eye infection and add Motrin. Great. :( Well, that explains why she's been so whiney lately, poor kid's got a mouth full of sores!

So, yeah, Lydia has had a tough week, but she seems to be doing okay. She doesn't eat as much, but she's still drinking plenty of liquids and is still relatively happy. The nurse says that these kinds of things come in waves, so let's hope Lydia's wave subsides. She's a tough cookie though, so hopefully she's be 100% by the time we go on vacation. BTW, we think she got the infection from sharing drinks and food with me since I probably have the virus strand, which people carry all their lives; so the outcome was pretty much inevitable. Now I understand why when growing up, parents were so paranoid about their kids sharing drinks with other kids.

Lydia's eye has gotten much better, and oh, the fact that she was taking her antibiotics might have prevented secondary infection from the herpes. Whew! Her bruise on her forehead cleared up pretty much immediately, though she got another one today when she tripped again. There seems to be a corrolation between doctor's visits and tripping since she was wearing her usual shoes. *sigh* Pobrecita!

I've been tagged...

I've been tagged...
by Summer (whose answers I thought quite profound, so I borrowed a few :) ), so here are my answers to 10 questions:

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
September 1997 ... I had just begun my senior year in high school and was probably filling out college applications. Ten years was a long time ago and I'm pretty boring, so that's probably it. :)

2. What were you doing 5 years ago?
September 2002 ... I started my first post college job at Texas First National Bank working as a loan processor. I joined 24 Hour Fitness so that I could get in shape in case I ever met anyone. I was living at home at the time and wondered how long it would last before my parents got on my nerves.

3. What were you going 1 year ago?
September 2006 ... I had just given birth to a beautiful baby girl and was trying to get the hang of motherhood. I went to my first post pregnancy wedding and was glad to have found a dress in my closet that fit without having to buy another one. Thank goodness for Trung during this emotional time when my mother-in-law and I clashed opinions the majority of the time.

4. What did you do yesterday?
I woke up at 6:45 AM when Lydia woke up, got Trung to go get her, then snoozed for about ten more minutes. After getting ready for the day, I made breakfast for me, Trung, and my brother Mike who was visiting for the weekend; we saw Mike off soon after. After some playing and reading, Lydia took her morning nap as Trung and I did some much needed yardwork. We had a simple lunch, played with Lydia some more, and then put her back to sleep again. Trung went to get his hair cut and buy some groceries and by the time he got home, Sing and Maggie had already arrived with freshly baked pizza. We ate dinner with them and watched "Pathfinder", which was okay... lots of gore. I took Lydia out walking towards the end of the movie, so after we bathed and fed her, I watched the rest of the movie. Then, off to sleep!

5. Snacks I enjoy ...
Ramen noodles, any kind of fruit, corndogs, jalapeno chips, Rocky Road ice cream, chai tea latte, barley milk tea, any kind of cobbler, Vietnamese egg rolls

6. Things I would do with $100 million dollars ...
- Build and furnish our dream home
- Buy fabulous vacation homes in Maui and Lake Tahoe
- Travel to New Zealand and visit other fun places around the world
- Go on a shopping spree
- Buy a new SUV
- Hire a housekeeper to come twice a week
- Hire a personal chef to make healthy but delicious meals for us
- Hire a personal trainer to help me stay in shape
- Set up a trust fund for Lydia!
- Share some of the $ with family and friends!

7. Locations I would run to ...
Maui and Lake Tahoe

8. Bad habits I have ...
I worry too much and am super emotional at times. It's hard for me to let certain things/situations go and I speak my mind, which isn't always a good thing. I am a pack rat, though Trung tries to help me out with that.

9. Things I like to do:
- Shoot pictures and videos of Lydia
- Spend time with friends and family
- Travel
- Ski
- Blog
- Shop
- Watch TV and movies
- Sell stuff on eBay and Craigslist for a huge profit

10. Biggest joy of the moment:
Lydia has been driving me nuts lately (there must be a terrible ones!), so it's a joy when she's a doll around other people and they totally compliment her. Or, when she says "momma momma", walks into my arms, and puts her head on my shoulder. *sigh* It makes everything worth it!

All messed up

Lydia got bitten my something (I personally think a mosquito) Wednesday early evening just below the corner of her left eye, but we didn't think much of it. The next day, underneath her eye was a little red, which looked like she got a shiner, but nothing we thought we needed to be worried about. You can see it on the previous post in her dancing video.

Well, come this morning and the entire bottom of her eye was swollen. I called the doctor's office and the nurse said that since it was Friday and Lydia had been bitten in the eye, it was important for the doc to check it out. We still don't know what bit her, but anytime someone is bitten near the eye, there is a higher chance of infection because of the neighboring muscles and what not, which could lead to blindness. Shikes, right!?!? So, Lydia is on some antibiotics, which already seems to be doing in trick. It was hard for me to take her to the doctor's because it was my first time for a non-wellness visit. The doc said I should be proud that I made it over a year without having to come in...*sigh*, I guess so.

Okay, if the shiner wasn't bad enough, tonight Lydia and I were walking down the concrete sidewalk like we always do and she tripped and fell flat on her face. We had put some new shoes on her that were slightly too big and she was going down a slight slope, so the combination of these two factors did the trick. After unburying Lydia's face from my neck, I discovered a half dollar-sized bump on her forehead. I applied ice on the bruise for as long as she would let me and expected the worst, but hoped for the best. At least her bangs would cover most of it if it really got too noticeable. Oh, the joys of parenthood and having an adventurous, outdoorsy kid! :)

P.S. Don't forget to check out the new videos in the previous post; I know, this backdating is getting out of hand.

Dancing with the Lydia

In honor of one of my favorite shows, "Dancing with the Stars", I have entitled this post accordingly. Don't forget to tune in to the show on Monday! Okay, so here's Lydia dancing to her current favorite song, "head and shoulders, knees and toes", sung by Puppy.


Here's another clip, but this one is of Lydia literally "playing with" a puzzle she got for her birthday from neighbor Annie. It took her a couple days to get the hang of it; first she was able to get the circle in the slot since the shape was easiest, and now she can maneuver most of the other shapes in (with a little pointing and proding from mommy).

Current events

My friends Wendy and Nick just found today that they are having a baby girl. Congratulations! We're going to be seeing a lot of Hello Kitty come January. :)

Today I bought Lydia's first Halloween costume at Babystyle. Last year she was only a month and a half old, so I just put a pumpkin bib on her, but this year she gets a bona fide costume.

Today I also booked our tickets for Destin, FL. Trung had an extra week of vacation, which we were going to "waste" in Houston, but we kinda just decided over the weekend to take a vacation. A couple months ago, we thought about going to California, but decided against it because 1) our "time share" thing that we have didn't have a property in San Jose or San Francisco and 2) we didn't want to bother with traveling with all of Lydia's stuff (stroller, playpen) if we didn't have to. Well, we pretty much changed our minds about #2 and now we're going to the white sandy beaches of the Gulf of Mexico in early October. Hopefully no hurricanes will hit while we're there. :(

Facebook

Since I am in my stalking mode (ma ha ha), I joined Facebook last night and have been going crazy finding all my long lost friends. It's been fun "talking" to some of them though it's pretty interesting to see who really cares to catch up and who doesn't. Oh well, let the good times roll. BTW, for my high school friends, there's nothing there yet about our ten year high school reunion next year, but here's a link for Taylor's Alums... http://www.katytayloralumni.com/

Small world

Okay, so I have this thing where when I want to find someone I used to know way back when, I REALLY want to find them. Today I decided I wanted to find my elementary/junior high and Baylor classmate Adam. After I got home from church and put Lydia down for her nap, I went on a mad search. I managed first to find an e-mail address for his brother, who I e-mailed, but who might not e-mail me back thinking I'm a bit looney. Fair enough. But then I ran into Adam's "family" website that his wife created. And the crazy thing is...I grew up going to church with her! She was even my church camp roommate our first year we were old enough to go! What a small world! Well, I've added their website link to my blog and left them a comment, so I'm hoping to hear back from them soon. Here's hoping!

Lydia's body vs. Whole milk

Lydia's little body doesn't seem to be reacting too well to the whole milk that I started her on yesterday. She likes to drink it, but I guess her stomach isn't used to digesting the lactose. It also doesn't help that she is getting a rash from her shots last week; supposedly, a fever and/or rash can appear 7-12 days later. So, I'm not sure if the upset stomach and diaper rash are from the shots or the milk. I'll probably give the doc a holla tomorrow if both don't clear up soon.

So, Trung and Lydia have a new game. Check it out...

RPI Mini Reunion

Trung's college friend Carlos from Jacksonville (far right) came into town for a conference; he came a day early on Sunday to hang out with some of his old RPI pals. We had a scrumptious Haitian lunch at Juan and Islande's house followed by some wii-ing at Sing and Maggie's house. Here's a pic of the fav five (from left to right)...Juan, Louis, Trung, Henry, and Carlos.
It's always nice meeting Trung's old friends and hearing all the stories from back in the old days.

Hmmm, speaking of which, I do believe my ten year high school reunion is coming up next year. Yikes!

Lydia's stats

We had Lydia's one year doctor's appointment today. She is 25% for her weight of 18 pounds, 6 ounces; 60% for her height of 29 inches; and 55% for her head circumference of 46 inches. She is awfully small, but the doc said since Trung and I are relatively tall and thin, that she should be just fine. After all, she is a human garbage disposal. The nurse wrote that Lydia was 46 inches on her little stat form...hee hee.

Happy Birthday, Dear Lydia

I can't believe my little girl is one! Time sure does fly! Gee, I can't believe I'm crying right now. *deep breath* One year has gone by, but we have the rest of our lives together. My dear Lydia, Mommy and Daddy will always love you! *muah* Sheesh, I'm going to be a wreck on her wedding day. Okay, so here I am sending you off at the end of Lydia's first birthday with a clip of her bopping up and down aka dancing.

OMG, I am seriously bawling over here.

Lydia's First Ever Birthday Party!

Yesterday we had about thirty people come over to our house to celebrate Lydia's birthday. We had tons of food and yummy half white and half chocolate cake from Ann's kitchen, the same place where my friend Laurie got my baby shower cake.
We didn't really do much, just ate, walked around with Lydia, and talked to people, but it was great just getting to see everyone. Thank you all who were able to come and celebrate our little girl's big day! :)
P.S. Hopefully I'll be able to find a better pic of her later.