Cath, Ray, and Mia

January Mia Pics

2010-02-14T18:24:00.000-08:00

I have my tiger ears on to celebrate chinese new year.
Mia is just trying on her new sunglasses for spring break Hawaii training trip.
People always comment on how cute Mia is. Strangers even ask to hold her if I am coaching on the pool deck.
This picture could be worth millions if I can sell it somehow.
Another future swim suit Model.
Mia loves her new cell phone so much that she wanted to hold it during her nap.

Mia loves bath time and posing for Playbaby.

Christmas

2010-02-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

Well, again its been to long since our last entry. Girls polo and teaching have taken most of our time, but we still enjoy our little Mia bug. She is a great blessing and we are lucky to have her. She makes us smile everyday and reminds us what is truely important after a full day of teaching. Christmas was so much fun for us and all our family. Mia loved every minute of it. Especially ripping the paper from her gifts. She has grown so much and is quite tall for her age (96%). Mia eats her veggies and loves the fruit. She poops everyday, which isn't my favorite part, but she's regular. Mia loves to spit and puts everything in her mouth. She hasn't started crawling yet, but is rolling on to her stomach more. Mia is a happy baby and we love her.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-12T13:50:00.000-08:00

Keeping up with this blog has been a lot harder than I thought...but I'm home today, enjoying a nice rainy day, while Ray is at a polo tournament (poor guy). And while Mia naps, I thought it would be a great time to get caught up.

The month of November seemed to fly by. Mia got to attend her first Monon Bell game (the annual game between DePauw and Wasbash - the oldest college rivalry in the US). It was great to see Jen and Brian Hurey who will be moving off to Germany in the next week. Brian had just gotten back from service in Iraq and it was great to see both of them - even if DePauw lost.

We were happy to have Ray's dad home for Thanksgiving and Mia enjoyed her first Thanksgiving with a Hall family brunch and a huge Au family dinner. She loved all the attention and was happily passed from aunt to cousin and back.

We were also very lucky to have one of Ray's old water polo players offer to take some family pictures. I was wanting to get a nice one we could use for our Christmas card this year - especially since I didn't get one sent out last year. We bought Mia a cute little Christmas dress from Kohl's and Andreas took some great pictures and we're looking forward to getting our cards sent out.

It's been a challenge getting the house decorated this year with Ray moving right from boys' polo season into girls' and spending every minute playing with Mia. But I've definitely gotten the spirit going in our house and we can't wait to celebrate Mia's first Christmas! We're even planning on taking her on her first trip to Disneyland to see Santa.

Ray and I are definitely counting down the days until Christmas break (1 week to go!) and look forward to getting to spend more time with our Little Bug, friends, and family. She is such a joy and truly is a happy baby. It seems like every day she does something new; we can't wait to see what she'll do next. She definitely loved to sleep - just like her dad.

Happy Holidays!!

Pumpkin Pie for Mia!

2009-11-30T00:06:00.000-08:00

Finally, Boys water polo season is now over. Now I have more time to write and take more pics of Mia and family. Halloween was a lot of fun. Catherine and I couldn't decide what Mia should be for Halloween, but the pumpkin beat out the peapod. For Halloween this year, the Wong and Hall family agreed to come over to my neighborhood due to the multiple kids living in the area and celebrate Halloween with dinner and trick or treating. Colony has been a little dull the last few years, so I though we should change it up. Fortunately, foothill ranch delivered awesomely. We had so many kids walking about and many houses were decorated like haunted houses. This was Catherine's and my first time out trick or treating in our neighborhood too. Last year we just gave out candy. Anyways, it was great and everyone had a good time. All the nieces and nephews look cute in thier costumes and had a blast. Maybe we'll have to do it again next year.

It's Fall!

2009-10-18T15:35:00.001-07:00

With school having started last month, things have been pretty busy and we haven't had much of a chance to update the blog. Ray, Mia, and I have settled somewhat into a routine. I get up every morning at 4:45 to feed Mia (poor thing would still like to sleep more!) and then hand her off to Ray while I get in the shower. Ray takes her to his mom's house on his way to polo practice, so I get the rest of the morning to get ready for school. Ray's mom is watching Mia Wednesdays through Fridays. My sister and dad are watching her on Mondays and the mom of one of Ray's old water polo players is watching her on Tuesdays. She usally comes with me to Ray's water polo games during the week too. Ray and I really look forward to coming home and getting to spend time with her. She has been sleeping wonderfully - usually until 7 or 8 on the weekends (sometimes she'll even make it to 9!). She is just the happiest baby and has so much personality. We love seeing what she'll do next. She's already reaching and grabbing for things and is getting so close to turning herself over. She loves sitting up and babbles a lot. Earlier this month, we took her on her first trip to Oak Glen. My family has been going there for apples and cider for years and I was so excited to take Mia. We got her her first pumpkin and will hopefully carve it before Halloween. She is also now sleeping in her crib in her nursery downstairs. She's such a big girl (she turned 3 months old on October 7th)! She is an expert at tummytime now and loves to listen to music. We actually tried on a Halloween costume today (a pumpkin), but it was too small. We need to find a bigger size - either in the pumpkin or a peapod. Now that things have settled down a little, we'll hopefully get to update this a little more frequently. Here are some recent pictures...

Mia's First Swim Lesson

2009-09-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

Ray and I took Mia swimming for the first time on Friday at my parents' pool. She was a little fussy at first, but then seemed to enjoy it (or as my mom said, "She didn't hate it"). She actually cried a LOT when we took her out of the pool. It was really special to be able to have my parents (Mia's Oma and Opa) there to witness her first swim lesson. We didn't have a newborn swimsuit for her, so she wore a 12 month one! I forgot that I did have a 6 month suit in the closet. Oh well! We can't wait to get her back in the water soon. Here are some pictures from the historic event.

Mia Moments

2009-09-06T13:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun pics of Mia.

Back to Practice!!!

2009-09-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

(Ray) Cat and I have been getting ready to go back to school. Cat's not at all excited, but I've been coaching already and it's back to normal for me. Mia though has been really active. She smiles and talks to be us all the time. She even tells my polo players not to be pansies during morning practices. Yes, she has been to several morning practices with dad and she loves the sound of the water as they swim. She also doesn't mind my yelling and whistle blowing. I've started her polo training with squats, neck lifts, thumb grips, bubble blowing, kicking, and side breathing. Well the side breathing is usually on my chest as she tries to find a sweet spot to sleep (so cute). She will also be getting her first water lesson today in a pool with mommy and daddy. Can't wait. Here is her first water polo uniform.

6 Weeks

2009-08-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

Mia turned 6 weeks this past Tuesday and had her well-check at the doctor's on Wednesday. She is doing very well and is now up to 9 pounds, 14 ounces (in the 50th percentile). The doctor also gave her a round of vaccines (3 shots and one liquid). Mia did pretty well - better than I did....but it really hit her later in the day. She was not a happy camper at all! Poor thing. We gave her some infants' Tylenol and she slept from 10:30pm until 6:30 the next morning. So nice! We thought it might be the medicine, but last night she slept from 10:30 until 5:30. We're hoping she keeps this trend up! Mom and Dad sure are enjoying the sleep. Wednesday morning was also the day that we discovered a water pipe had burst in the wall next to the nursery and was soaking into the carpet padding. I walked into the nursery with Mia and felt wet spots. Thinking maybe Ray had been in there earlier and spilled some water or something, I went to ask him. He hadn't been in there since the day before. When we both went back down, the water spots were getting worse and we could hear what sounded like spinklers coming from in the wall. We called the insurance and they had a plumber come out who had to cut a hole in the wall abd take off part of the chair-rail. Luckily he got things fixed and didn't have to do much damage to the wall or the wainscotting. People also came out with dehumidifiers to dry out the carpet. It was soaked! An inspector is coming out on Monday to survey the damage and let us know what needs to be fixed. We know we'll have to have the carpet cleaned out, the wall repaired (along with part of the baseboard in the adjacent bathroom), and Ray will have to repaint some of the walls along with fixing the chair rail. So much fun! I guess Mia won't be moving into her crib for a while longer now. Here are some newer pictures along with a video of Mia putting on her dancing shoes to some fun music.

Mia in Action!

2009-08-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

(Ray) We have been getting great smiles from Mia lately. Her personality is starting to come out and we are loving it. It was fun having Mia meet the Au family yesterday at Uncle Jimmy's house. I was glad that we could join the cousins with babies group. It seems that we were the last ones. Oh well, got to save the best for last. Anyways , here are some modeling pictures of Mia and a blast of happiness.

Mia with Personality!

2009-08-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

Mia is now 5 weeks old and has been showing so much personality lately. She smiles a lot and has been enjoying toys and things around her. Ray's mom and my parents have really enjoyed watching her while Ray and I try to get out a little bit. We're so happy she's eating well and sleeping pretty well. It'll be so hard to go back to school and not see her for a big chunk of the day. We're so grateful we have this summer to spend quality time together and watch her grow.

Mis got to meet her great-grandparents (Ray's paternal grandparents) this past weekend. She couldn't stop staring at her Tie(sp?) MaMa!

One Month Birthday!!!

2009-08-04T17:10:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe it, but Mia is already 4 weeks old! The time has gone by pretty fast and she's grown so much already. We got spoiled over the weekend having grandparents babysitting her. On Saturday, Ray's mom and aunt watched her as Ray and I got to go out to Disneyland for a date night. The on Sunday, my parents watched Mia while Ray and I went to a memorial service for Ray's old Saddleback swim coach. Both nights we took her home around 9 or 10, she fell asleep in the car and we just let her sleep in her carseat. She actually slept in her seat until around 4 or 5 in the morning! We certainly enjoyed the sleep. Here are some newer pictures...we sure love catching her cute little smiles and funny faces!

Exploding Diaper!

2009-07-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

Mia had her first squirting back-poop today. I was in the kitchen with her and the next thing I knew, I felt it squirt up her back and onto my arm. So much fun! Too bad Ray missed it...she'll have to save one for him for later. :-)

Check-Up

2009-07-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

We had Mia's 2-week check up at the doctor's today. She did well and we were happy to learn that she's growing well. At her last check-up she had lost just 2 ounces from her birth (6 pounds 8 ounces). Today she was 7 pounds 14 ounces. We're going to try getting her used to a bottle in the next couple of weeks so that I can eventually start working in my classroom in mid-August. We have been loving every minute with Mia! Some things we especially love:

- she makes the funniest faces and Ray and I love trying to copy them
- her hiccups could rival Aunt Sue's
- she can be sooooo stinky!
- sometimes when we change her, she just lays and stares at Ray's Listerine bottle
- she loves watching the Angels with us
- she does a great piranha imitation when she's really hungry and about to start eating

We can't wait to see what else she'll start doing!

Two Weeks Old

2009-07-22T17:10:00.000-07:00

Mia is two weeks old. Her reptile skin is almost off and her face is changing. When her eyes are closed, she looks asian. Then she opens them and she looking white. Pretty cool. Here are some interesting events: She had her first projectile poop during one of her diaper changes. It shot everywhere! Mia hates using a pacifier. She's puking some. She's been to the Nadadore pool and will be attending her first water polo game tonight. Mia loves to make faces and we love every minute with her.

Mia's first swim lesson

2009-07-19T15:01:00.001-07:00

Ray - This week has been fun and entertaining. Mia loves to eat, sleep and poop. She is shedding like a reptile due to her overbaked body too. Overall, its been fun caring for her. I get to put her to sleep every night at 3 am. It's good daddy and daughter time. She's so cute!

The Chosen ONE is finally here!

2009-07-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

Here are more pics Amelia Catherine Xiao Mei Wong. Aka Noober.

Welcome Mia!

2009-07-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

(Ray) Without any biasedness at all, I think my baby is the cutest baby ever. On Tuesday July 7th, at 225pm, Mia was born. She was 6 lbs and 10 oz, 19 inches long. She has a full head of hair and a smile that just knocks you over (thats because she farts everytime she smiles). Mia has a long body with long slender arms and legs. She could be a stud polo player and swimmer. Mia has my eyes and nose, but she has catherine's beauty (again I am biased). Here are some pics and videos that proves my theory.

Waiting...

2009-06-24T12:48:00.000-07:00

Little Noober is due this Saturday, but we were really hoping she'd bless us with her presence today. It would have been my grandfather's (Skipper) 93rd birthday. I guess she still has a little time to make it.

My Skipper

With school done, I've been taking it easy and getting last minute things done. Sue leaves for DC this Saturday, so we've been trying to get a lot of sister time in. I sure will miss her this summer! :-( I've been trying to get some reading in, as well as some cleaning. Ray and I got one last mini-trip to Disneyland in (just to have dinner and see the fireworks). Earlier in the month we got to take a relaxing cruise of Newport Harbor. Two of the math teachers in Ray's department were retiring, so the department celebrated with a really nice champagne brunch. Noober loved her first boat ride and didn't get seasick at all! We were able to get some beautiful pictures of the hospital where she'll be born from the boat (the boat was called the Wild Goose and used to be owned by John Wayne).

Hoag Hospital

Starting on some baby laundry

Onboard the Wild Goose

Ray's summer morning practices have already started for water polo and swimming. It's already tiring him out - he gets home around noon and then naps for a good part of the day. I'm letting him enjoy it now while he can. :-)

We're looking forward to having a lot of family visiting in the next couple of weeks (luckily they're not staying at our place). Rachel, Dan, and the girls will be coming down around the 4th of July. My aunt and uncle will also be stopping by that weekend. Then about a week later, my other aunt and two cousins will be visiting. I'm hoping Noober's here to meet them all! At my last appointment, the doctor said I wasn't dilated at all. They'll go ahead and induce on Monday, July 6th if she hasn't shown up by then. We're keeping our fingers crossed though.

Here are a few more recent pictures.

The memorial to pitcher Nick Adenhart in front of Angel Stadium

Week 39 belly

Ballon from Ray's IHS swim banquet

Strawberries from our backyard - yumm!

Our New Toy

2009-05-31T14:39:00.000-07:00

So....with the baby coming, we thought we'd invest in one of those Flip video recroders. It's small, easy to carry around, and can upload short little videos right onto your computer. With my sister being gone in DC all summer and Ray's dad in Canada for work, we thought it would be great to be able to share videos of Noober with them. Here's our first test video...Ray shares his thoughts on the baby. :-)

36 Days to Go!

2009-05-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

I just saw on my little ticker that there's only 36 more days to go before little Noober arrives! How crazy! I'm using the long holiday weekend to start washing bedding and clothes and getting things cleaned up. Ray and I still have a lot of big things to buy - stroller/car seat, bassinett, diapers! With school ending soon, everything feels a little overwhelming, but I can't wait!
We just finished up with our baby classes at Hoag last weekend. I think they were pretty informative and convinced me that I will definitely be getting an epidural if everything goes well.
Last Saturday was also had our family and friends BaByQ shower! We had a blast getting to hang out with everyone and feel so grateful for all the love that was "showered" on Noober. :-) Thanks to my sister, my mom, and Ray's mom for all the hard work they put into making it so special!
We've pretty much got the nursery all ready to go and it looks amazing! My dad said is looks like something on the HG channel. I'm really happy with how it turned out and can't wait to show it off. Once we get everything else organized and moved back into place, we'll FINALLY be able to take some pics of our house (now that we've lived here for almost a year - it's hard to believe!).
Summer definitely feels like it's arriving - Ray's summer swim team (the Sharks) started last Monday. I'm sad to not be able to coach with him this year though. Open House is now over and we're really into the home stretch of the school-year with only 18 days of school left! We're definitely looking forward to a very different and memorable summer. And we can't wait for Rachel, Dan, and the girls to come visit!
I'll leave you with some pictures of the shower and the nursery. Oh, and I can't forget to say Go Wings and hooray for Kris Allen! Cheers!

Playing for Change

2009-04-14T13:56:00.000-07:00

By the way...If you haven't checked out the Stand by Me music video I've added to the bottom of our blog, you need to! My dad actually saw it on BET one night when he was flipping channels. They've recently had a thing on it on KCET (PBS) and I think the cd/DVD is available now on Amazon. I loved it so much I bought the video on iTunes. Please check it out!

Spring Break

2009-04-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

Ray and I are excited to finally be on Spring Break - although he still has practice. We'd planned to get the nursery done this week. Ray's friend, Cole, is going to come on Thursday and help out with getting the Wainscoting (sp?) put on. Ray's already done the painting, so then we'll be able to put the crib together and start getting things up on the walls. So exciting!

We're also lucky to have this week off because we can be home for the plumber to come. Our master shower has been acting up for some time now. For a while, the water would get cold really fast. Ray and his Uncle Kevin tried fixing a part and thought it was all ready to go. Well, Ray went to try it out on Sunday and found that there's no water coming out of the head now. Augh! So luckily the plumber could come today (sometime between 10 and 2...it's 1:10 now and he hasn't come). It'll be nice to be able to shower in our room again and not have to use the tiny guest shower downstairs. The water is nice and warm, but for me being 7 months pregnant, it's a little tight.

I've finally gotten some belly pictures uploaded to share, along with a picture of the nursery so far. The green is a little brighter than I had thought, but I think it'll look good and we'll get used to it. It's hard to believe we'll have a baby in there in about 2 1/2 months!

Early belly

Getting bigger...

And bigger...

And finally, Week 28

The nursery - in progress

Some cute onesies that Ray's water polo girls made

I had a wonderful 31st birthday. The best part of the day was having my niece McKenna call and leave me a message singing Happy Birthday! What a beautiful voice! Ray and I went to Disneyland and this year they are letting people in free for their birthdays. Well, since we already have passes, we got a gift card worth the price of admission instead. We went shopping and bought Noober several cute outfits, along with an adorable stuffed Eeyore. The next day, we went with Sue to Disneyland for her birthday. I was excited to be able to find out that I am able to go on Pirates of the Caribbean! Sue enjoying being there since her pass had expired last July and was excited to find out that since she's a southern California resident, she gets to go back and go to California Adventure for free! I'm excited to go with her! It was a fun, but long day. I was proud of myself (and Ray) for lasting as long as we did. Here are some pictures...

I'll post some more pictures once we're done with the nursery and have the house back to normal.

Moving Right Along

2009-03-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

Well, we're now just about into week 27. It's hard to believe little Noober will be here in about 3 months! We slowly started getting the nursery together...although we've got a long way to go. We did go and register last week - a big thank you to Ray's cousin, Jenna, who went with us and showed us what we need and what we don't. It was so nice to have someone who knew from experience, otherwise I would have been an overwhelmed mess. Noober has been moving a ton and I find it hilarious to sit and watch my stomach as she kicks around. Ray and I are looking forward to our spring break in a couple of weeks - we're not going anywhere, but are planning to get a lot of work done on the house and the nursery.

I'm looking forward to going to Disneyland with my sister for her birthday next Saturday. We haven't gotten to go together for a while now and, even though I can't go on many rides, it'll be fun to get to go. We'll hopefully get some fun pictures.

I know I still need to get some house pictures and belly pictures up. We still need to get more pictures hung up and then I'll try to get some on here.

Mystery

2009-02-26T16:28:00.001-08:00

Ok...it's all back. Whew!

Missing Blog!

2009-02-26T16:27:00.000-08:00

I just went to check my blog and all of my previous blog posts have disappeared...HELP!

It's a Girl!!

2009-02-22T09:46:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't already know...Ray and I went for our 2nd ultrasound back on February 2nd. We were so eager to find out the gender! But surprise, surprise....our little one was too modest and kept his/her legs crossed the entire time. Needless to say, I was pretty bummed. I am a big planner, and I really wanted to know if I should start planning on girl things or boy things - even though we're going with a gender neutral nursery (pale blues, yellows, and greens). After about a week of playing phone tag with my doctor's office to see if another ultrasound could be scheduled, I finally called a place in Costa Mesa that many people at work had told me about. You can go in with family and they do about a 10 minute ultrasound for $25. They don't do any diagnostic stuff - it's mainly to verify/confirm the gender.
So yesterday Ray, my mom, my sister, and I went in for the ultrasound. After checking around for a little while, the lady finally told us that she "didn't see anything hanging down between the legs." Ray wasn't convinced though and told the woman that "maybe he's just very small." Oh Ray! After a little more checking, we were told that we are having a girl!
We celebrated by going and buying some more baby books at Barnes and Noble, buying some maternity jeans at Old Navy, and walking around Babies-r-Us looking at all the fun things we'll be needing to buy. It was a little overwhelming! Then we went and had dinner at the Elephant Bar with friends and walked around The District. I think Ray's still in a bit of a shock that he's having a girl, but I know she'll have him wrapped around her finger in no time.
Now we just need to get going on the nursery, start registering, and start deciding on names. It's hard to believe little Noober will be here soon!

We'll try to post some pictures (especially of our house, Tracie) very soon!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

2009-01-25T16:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Year of the Ox! Our Noober will be an ox and Ray just read that ox are not compatible with horses or dragons. Too bad that's what Ray and I are! Looks like we're in for some fun times with our little ox. :-)

Happy New Year!

2009-01-18T09:34:00.001-08:00

Well, we're well under way into 2009. It was definitely hard to get back to school after the holidays, and I still haven't totally finished putting away the Christmas decorations. There's not much news to share. I'm going into my 17th week of pregnancy and feel really good, although tired. Ray is busy with the girls' polo team and once their season winds down, he'll be jumping right into swim season. No rest for coaches. We're excited to find out if Noober is a boy or a girl in just a couple of weeks. I have to call and schedule the sonogram. We're pretty convinced that it'll be a girl....but we'll see.

Other than that, we've been enjoying the NFL playoffs - even if the Chargers are out of it. :-( I don't know what I'll do after the Super Bowl - no football until August and no baseball until April. Blah! At least we can enjoy our new toy - a DVR. We finally broke down and bought one and already I've become addicted. It'll definitely be nice to have once the baby comes.

It's hard to believe that in only about 6 months, we'll have a new addition to our family. We can't wait!

Here's to a wonderful, exciting, and busy 2009!

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-30T12:51:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas 2008

2008-12-29T13:40:00.000-08:00

Another Christmas has come and gone and Ray and I loved celebrating for the first time in our new home.

Our Christmas Tree

The week began rainy as Ray and I finished up some Christmas shopping. Luckily, Tuesday was beautiful because Ray had promised to take me to Disneyland. There's not much I can go on being pregnant, but we did go on Small World Holiday (one of my favorites) and then waited about an hour to see the Christmas parade. It was kind of sad to not have Sue there, since we've made watching the parade a sister tradition for the last several years. The plan was to stay for the fireworks, but after some dinner and hot chocolate I was just too worn out - I get way too tired way too quickly these days. We'll just have to make another trip specifically for the fireworks. I know I won't mind. :-)

Small World Holiday with Flat Stanley

Christmas Eve started off with the Hall family tradition of getting some hot chocolate from Starbucks. We usually follow that with a nice walk around the neighborhood, but since it was another rainy day, we decided to rent Mamma Mia and had a fun time singing along to the movie...or I guess I should say that I had fun singing along. That night we went over to Ray's Uncle Joseph's house where we enjoyed a HUGE meal with aunts, uncles, cousins, and little ones. It was fun getting to see a lot of Ray's family two times within the week.

Christmas morning we headed over to my parents to begin the Hall Christmas marathon. I don't know how we do it, but our Christmases end up lasting from 10 in the morning until around 5 in the evening. We had a delicious Christmas dinner - even with the turkey being cooked in the oven since it was raining...again! Being heavily hit with food coma, we all sat down to watch Wall-E. What a cute movie! I even cried, but then I seem to cry at everything these days.

Ray and I had our own Christmas the next morning and have been slowly cleaning up and getting things put away. Next year, we'll definitely have more pictures to share. I did take a picture of Noober's stocking. Since we don't know if the baby's going to be a boy or girl, we've been calling him/her Noober for fun.

The Saturday after Christmas we drove to Downey for the wedding reception of an old family friend of Ray's. Ray had fun getting to see the Holloway family and chatting with a friend from his mission.

Ray with Lee Holloway

We're looking forward to spending New Year's Eve with some friends, though I probably won't last until midnight this year. New Year's Day will be a sad one with no Michigan in a bowl game for the first time since before I was born. But I am looking forward to the Blackhawks/Redwings outdoor game at Wrigley Field!

New Beginnings

2008-12-22T10:08:00.000-08:00

Ray and I have always said that once we were pregnant, we would start a blog as a fun and easy way to remember the journey and to share it with friends and family. Well, since we are now officially due in June, let the blogging begin! :-)

So around the beginning of November, I started feeling really crummy. I thought it was probably the flu coming on. I took a day off from school (Election Day) and just slept and lay around. When I returned to school the next day (not feeling much better), my coworker told me I should take a pregnancy test because she thought I had to be pregnant. So the next day I took about five different tests - I wanted to be absolutely sure. And sure enough...they all came back positive! Within the next week, we went to see the doctors and they confirmed it as well.

I'm now at 12 weeks and feeling pretty good. I haven't had much morning sickness luckily. Last Monday we got to go get the first trimester screening done and saw our baby for the first time. It was pretty awesome getting to see and hear the heartbeat and watch him/her moving around. We're very excited to find out if it's a girl or boy in about 6 weeks.

It's hard to believe how much has happened within the last year. We've moved into our first home...Ray luckily kept his math job at Irvine High and continues to coach water polo and recently received the head coaching job for boys' swimming. It's strange how everything seems to be falling into place. We truly feel so blessed to have a wonderful home, great jobs, and now a little one on the way.

So that's where we are right now. We are so excited to be celebrating our first Christmas in our new house and can't believe that next Christmas we'll have a baby to share it with! My New Year's resolution is to keep going with this blog and I know Ray will have fun posting his thoughts. We'll see how long we can last.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!