New beginning

Today Dali and I saw the ugliest house in the world. There was no paint anywhere in the house, just gray walls, with patches of white here and there to cover up holes. There were holes on the doors and everywhere, and the house smelled like animals. The owners had two big pit bulls in the back waiting to get a piece of us. It was very small house, 800 something square feet, and did I mentioned it was the ugliest house in the world? Feels like I was walking into a drug addicted home in a very shady area. But the up side was that it was in a decent area, with a good school district. Price is not cheap (considering how ugly it was), but within our price range for a home. There are a lot of potential in the house, and we are planning to put in an offer tomorrow to see where this will go. I am nervous though. Potential is a good thing, but like myself, I realized that I have never lived up to any potential. It takes a lot of work, vision, and perseverance to follow through a dream. Maybe that's what a new beginning is all about. I was able to find pictures of what this house looked like in 2003, and it was beautiful, clean and neat. Somehow it got beat up really badly along the way, and left in its ruins. But the journey does not end here, I hope not.

13 Months

We took a 4-day family road trip to Los Angeles. This might well be our last trip as a family of 3. Baby brother is coming in about a month. We're excited for that.

Sophie was so good on the road. She napped during her regular times in the car and slept well through the night in the hotel rooms. She carefully observed and took in all the new things she saw during this trip. She also had an open palate to all the new food we introduced to her at different restaurants. We truly had a relaxing and enjoyable time together.

Huntington Beach

Mama 34 weeks pregnant

She was trying to point out the pigeons on the sand

 

Dada giving Sophie's baby snacks away to her little friends

Irvine Spectrum 

 

Fell asleep on the stroller

 

A little afraid to be on the carousel for the first time

Just chillin' on the picnic table

People watching is so much fun

Waving at the people passing by

We stopped by Irvine BBC Tofu House for lunch

"Dada, look at all these people outside."

"See them? There are so many people today."

Back in the hotel, enjoying some yogurt drink on the couch. Life is good!

We visited Emi and Takeshi's home, and Sophie fell asleep on their couch for 2 hours. ^^

Just the girls

Early next morning

Early jam session with bed hair

"Look at me dance Mama!"

"Maybe I haven't gotten enough sleep."

In Morro Bay, near San Luis Obispo enjoying the pleasant ocean view eating fish and chip, shrimp cocktail, some clam chowder and crackers.

One Year Old Today

Sophie is one year old today! I can't wrap my mind around how fast this year has gone by. It seems like yesterday when I first held her in my arms during labor.

She's grown into an active baby. Not yet walking, but crawls everywhere in the house. She laughs a lot and uses "huh? huh?" to get your attention with fingers pointing to wherever she wants you to follow.

She loves music. She would bounce up and down on her bottom and clap to the rhythm when she hears music. She loves to hear me sing, or she likes grandpa showing her Chinese nursery rhymes from YouTube. She would get jealous when I play on my piano. She would pull herself up and press the keys to distract me so that I would pick her up to play along on the piano bench.

She's truly a gift from God. It makes me want to do my best to be a good mom. By the way, she knows how to say "Amen" after we pray together. Her heavenly Father must be loving that. ^_^

She has been growing very well this past year, and I hope she will continue to grow strong in body, mind and spirit in the years to come.

Happy birthday my dearest darling! I love you!