2 months of mothering

I found out I was pregnant at the end of February. We had been trying for nearly a year and a half. I'd had a positive test before that was false so when I got this one, I didn't get emotional like I thought I would nor did I tell my husband in a special way. I think I was just in shock and wanted to be cautious about the whole thing. My pregnancy overall went very well and I loved every minute of it. I loved feeling her move inside of me. Knowing she was growing inside of me was such a surreal feeling. It was truly a miracle. The day I found out we were having a girl, I was so excited. I was meant to have a little girl.

To my dear, sweet Abbie...you were born on October 27th, 2012 at 2:07am...2 weeks early. You were delivered via an unplanned c-section. Your delivery wasn't how I pictured it would be. I felt so intoxicated from all the drugs that the minutes shortly after your birth are a blur. I do remember the doctors pulling you out of me and seeing how tiny you were...6 pounds, 11 ounces to be exact. The first night at the hospital your daddy says I wouldn't take my eyes off of you. I was so scared they'd take you away and I wanted to make sure you were always breathing. They say a mother falls in love with her baby during pregnancy and I am no exception. But the day you were born, I learned a new love I'd never known before. It's a bond that's indescribable. You made my dreams come true Abbie. You made me a mommy. There are days when I still have no idea what I'm doing but I truly feel I was meant to be YOUR mommy. And for that I feel so lucky. You are beautiful, feisty, funny and so cuddable. You are our perfect baby. The first couple weeks after we brought you home seem so long ago. There were nights where you would just cry and cry. I would rock you back and forth and though I may have lost my patience due to sleep deprivation, I cherish those moments with you and look back at them and smile. Your daddy took 5 weeks off of work and I can honestly say that I could not have survived those first weeks without him. He was and still continues to be amazing. He adores you so much and is living up to the vision I had of him as a father. He was so understanding in those early days when I would cry so much...sometimes for no reason at all. He was truly my rock. I think becoming your mommy and daddy has brought us closer together.


You turned 2 months old yesterday. You are cooing so much and you smile so much at your daddy and me. Your favorite spot in this house is your changing table in your room. We joke that everyone that visits you should experience your mood in that spot. It's the best! We took you to your first Gymboree class yesterday. We loved it and signed up! You love nothing more than to eat and you definitely let us know when you're hungry. You make so many noises it makes us laugh so much. We joke that you sound like a little horse. It still startles your dad whenever you have a loud dirty diaper. I love choosing your outfit every day and dressing you . You are loved by so many people. You are one lucky little lady. As much as I try to keep you warm, you don't like your little hands covered up so they're always cold. You also love to stretch. You do it while you nap and immediately after you wake up. It's the cutest thing. The most difficult thing I've gone through since you've been born by far is nursing. The c-section was no problem compared to this. I always knew it would be a possibility that I couldn't breastfeed but when I was actually going through it, it was such a huge crush to my soul. I breastfed you exclusively for a few weeks and endured agonizing pain through it all. But when I wasn't healing after those first few weeks, we started giving you formula part of the time. I was so disappointed in myself and felt like such a huge failure. I missed our bonding time together and I wanted to be the one who provided your nourishment. I think we've finally got a routine down where you still get breast milk and I will continue to endure the pain because it's important to me that you get the best.

Abigail, I hope you feel every day just how much we love you. You brought sunshine into our family when we needed it most. Losing your Tio Henry was so hard. Mita, Bianca and Andrew are hurting so much. They will never be the same. But I am so grateful that you have been able to make them smile. There is no doubt in my mind that your Tio Henry would have adored you. I still can't believe that he's gone and that he never met you. Life is so unfair sometimes sweetie but I know he, your precious cousin Diego and your grandma are watching over you each and every day. That brings me comfort. I look forward to so much with you. I wish I could keep you this small forever.

Motherhood is so hard but it's also so incredibly rewarding. Seeing you thrive every day makes my heart flutter. Thank you Abigail for making your daddy and I so happy. We love you to pieces princess.

                              

It's been WAY TOO LONG!

So much time has gone by. I told myself I would keep up this blog but it's been more difficult than I thought. Life just happens. I won't make a promise but I will say that I will try my hardest to get back into this blog and keep it updated.

I am doing well. No major changes in my life. I'm still happily married (at least on most days :) and working for the same company I've been at for the past 7 years. My husband and I celebrated 5 years of marriage in September with a little photo shoot. We were also lucky enough to go on trip to Europe which we've always wanted to do. We were gone for 2 weeks and visited Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome...it was incredible.

I got promoted back on February 28th which was so unexpected. It's been tough and it was a little overwhelming in the beginning getting acclamated to additional responsibilites and balancing work with my personal life but I've managed to keep my head above water until now.

My Dad is doing really well since his surgery....very thankful for that. In fact, my entire family is doing well...including my dear Henry. He was diagnosed with cancer in April of 2007 and I'm incredibly happy to report that he continues to stay strong and happy. We never take that for granted.

His only daughter, my beautiful niece Bianca, graduated from high school on June 15th. Oh what a happy, happy day that was for all of us....and at the same time, so emotional. Emotional because our little Bianca was all grown up and emotional because back in 2007, I don't think any of us imagined that Henry would be with us on that day. But there he was, with tears in his eyes, watching his little girl receive her high school diploma. It was a beautiful moment for all of us.

Although Henry is doing well, he wasn't worked since early last year. My sister also lost her job which made for a very stressful situation. Thankfully, she's been working a temp job for a couple months now and we are grateful for that. She also continues to smile and stay strong despite everything on her plate...she's amazing.

That is what's been going on in a nutshell. It's 4th of July weekend. I look forward to updating next week...but don't hold me to it :)

Happy 4th of July weekend!!!

WHAT I'VE DONE AND THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO

For those of you that are wondering, I'm still alive. :) I've just been really busy with work that unfortunately, I've put this blog on the back burner. Things have been hectic lately and we've also managed to keep busy on the weekends as well. Since my last post, we've gone to a Dodger Game with our friends Alyssa and Rob and went to Disneyland in the evening to celebrate my godson's birthday. It was Adam's 1st time...I think he loved it. :)

We participated in the Relay for Life event in honor of Henry. Thankfully, he continues to do well. :) Gerric and I met up with everyone in the evening, just in time to experience the "Luminaria Walk." It was beautiful. I couldn't help but cry. It was something I'll never forget.

Two weeks ago, my husband took me to the No Doubt concert. It was awesome! Gwen Stefani's abs have never looked SO good! We had a great time!

The next day, I flew out to New York for 3 days and from there, headed to Panama for 7 days for another business trip. I just got back late Friday night/Saturday morning.

I'll be heading to Las Vegas for a friend's bachelorette party in a couple weeks. I'm looking forward to a weekend away with friends to relax and have fun. Then Gerric and I are heading back to Vegas in September. He's been wanting to see the show "Love" since it first came out so we're finally going to go see it. I'm so excited! Then...and this is the trip I'm counting the days for, at the end of October, we're heading to Turks & Caicos in the Caribbean! I CANNOT WAIT!!!!! I need a vacation so bad so this couldn't come any sooner! We're going for a week and staying at Beaches Resort. According to the Travel Channel, it's the 6th best resort in the Caribbean. EEK! So excited!

In the meantime, I have some dreaded meetings at work and some long nights in the office ahead of me. Lord help me. :( But all in all, things are good. We've made some small additions to our humble abode lately. We finally bought new doorknobs! It's the little things that excite me. :) We added a small swingseat to our front porch...we sat on it for a while yesterday and enjoyed the sun. It was perfect.

Next weekend brings more time with friends and hopefully more rest and relaxation. Until the next time...

A YEAR AGO TODAY

It's been a while since I've posted. It seems that I've been caught in a whirlwind...busy at work, busy with life. You all know how it goes. Nonetheless, I've neglected my blog. I can't promise I won't do it again but I do promise to catch you up on anything worth sharing. :)

It was a year ago today. My brother-in-law Henry had been experiencing headaches for a few weeks now. He had gone to the doctor and they put him on medication in hopes that it would relieve the pain throbbing in his head. It didn't...they simply made him drowsy and after waking up, he would still have the same headache he'd been feeling for days on end. After his insurance approved it, he finally went in on April 16th, 2007 to have an MRI done. After he had it done, he was told to go back home and wait for the results. When the hospital called him back, he was told to go back in. However, the doctor advised him to have someone else drive him there. Since my sister was at work, he asked a neighbor to drive him there. My sister met him there as soon as she could. It was on this day, one year ago today, that my dear brother-in-law was told they had found a large mass in his brain. I will never forget the call I received. I didn't know the extent of what they had found but after my husband and I picked up my mom, all three of us were on our way to the hospital.

He had to have surgery the next day to remove the tumor. After removing it, they would be able to tell us more about the type of tumor it was. I remember getting to the hospital, my heart pounding as we walked down the halls. I turned the corner and saw my sister. She immediately broke down into tears and I remember telling her that he was going to be okay. I truly felt that in my heart. He was getting more MRI's done so it was a while before we got to see him. When we finally did, I will never forget how he looked. You see, Henry has the type of personality that doesn't let anything get him down. I've known him since I was 13 years old....13 years old. He's seen me grow up. He's not only my sister's husband...he's my brother. When I saw him in his room, I remember telling him that he was going to be okay. His reponse..."I know" accompanied with a big grin. That's Henry.

On April 17th, 2007 Henry had surgery to remove the mass in his brain. My sister Erika and I, along with Henry's sisters, were all there to stand by my sister's side. The surgery lasted about 3-4 hours. I remember when the neurosurgeon walked out in his long white coat, my sister jumped up to go speak to him. The surgery had gone very well. They had been able to remove 95% of the tumor. On that day, the doctor told us that my dear brother-in-law Henry had glioblastoma.

It was a long road to recovery. After his time in the ICU, he was sent to a rehabilitation center. He went through 6 weeks of radiation and is still going through his rounds of chemotherapy. But I'm happy to say that he is doing so, so well. He's been through so much and never once has he let this diagnosis bring him down. That's Henry. I still know in my heart that he's going to be fine. I see Henry with us for many, many, many more years to come. I see him growing old with my sister and enjoying their grandchildren together. I never, ever thought my family would be struck with cancer...but I guess no one does. But if anyone can get through this, it's Henry. Because that's just the way he is.

I thank God every day for allowing us to get this far in Henry's journey. But on this day, I especially thank God for Henry's continued health. I pray to God every day that Henry goes into remission and that this journey of his will simply be a memory to us.

I love you my dear Henry. You're amazing and are truly my inspiration.

WEEKEND REWIND: MEETING JESUS

I really did! I'm sorry for the late post on my weekend. Here's the rundown of how it went:


Friday
We spent the evening at my sister-in-law's house and watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Well, I only stayed awake for about an hour and couldn't help but fall asleep. I was tired! Mellow evening but we had a great time.

Saturday
One of my aunts on my father's side of the family sold her house recently. She lost her husband about 7 years ago. They were very happily married so it was such a tragedy when he passed on. She decided to sell the house they shared together for many years and her and her son are moving to Nevada. She officially left yesterday but we all went to say goodbye to her on Saturday morning. It was so surreal being in her house again. I remembered visiting often when I was a little girl. Nothing changed in their house...it just seemed so alone. It was very sad saying goodbye to her but I can only wish her the very best in Nevada. Once she's settled, perhaps we'll go visit her. :)

My niece Bianca is turning 15 in October. Staying true to Hispanic tradition, Henry and my sister want to have a Quinceanera for her on this day to commemorate this special age. It won't be anything too grand since they are trying to stay on a tight budget but it should be something Bianca will remember forever. After visiting my aunt, we went to go look for dresses for her in Downtown L.A. on Saturday. I only had the chance to see her try on one dress as I had a prior commitment in the afternoon. My sister told me she did end up finding her dress that day so thankfully, that part is all done. I'm excited for her big day.

After dress shopping, I met up with the hubby and our agent and went house-hunting again. Unfortunately, we didn't see anything good that day but it was still fun to get out there. That night, we went over to my sister-in-law's house again so I could finish up the rest of the movie. I liked it a lot. There are so many things I'm sure I missed and watching it again would certainly help but maybe I'll do that some other time...those movies are long!

Sunday
After church, we helped my sister-in-law and her husband (gosh, we saw my sister-in-law a lot last weekend! haha!) choose the tile for their home. They are doing some remodeling in their house and they needed to choose tile for their three bathrooms. After that, we met up with out agent again to speak about some things and then went home. That night, we had plans to see Glory of Easter, playing at the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County. Our friend's brother is playing Jesus in the Production and we got to meet him after the show. See, I really did meet Jesus! :) His performance was incredible. I was brought to tears and I was so happy we had the opportunity to see this.

Here we are again...another Wednesday. At least it's the middle of the week. It's also MRI day today for Henry. As always, please pray for good results and think good thoughts all day, but especially at 2:20 when his MRI is being done. Thanks everyone. I will post the results tomorrow.

Have a great day!

CHECKING IN

So much going on. I've been missing in action because 2 weeks ago, my department moved buildings. It's a newly constructed area with all new furniture, new desks, new everything. The downside: NO privacy. I lost an office which means that now, everyone can see what I'm doing! Hate that! But nothing new or exciting is going on right now. It's officially my birthday month. I will be turning the BIG 3-0 on the 29th and I'm learning to embrace it. I'm excited to what the 30's have in store for me. My husband and I have been house-hunting almost every weekend now. We've seen a lot of cute houses but there's always something that I'm unhappy with. We're not a rush but if we find a house that we fall in love with, we're ready to make an offer. Such an exciting (and nerve-wracking) time for us. Other than that, not much going on.

I had dinner with Kay and Alyssa on Thursday night. It was so nice catching up with them. Kay shared some exciting news with us but I'll wait to see if she finds time to update you all. I couldn't be happier for her! Saturday night, my husband and I had dinner with my longtime girlfriend, Gema, and her beau Bill. We had a fabulous time. A lot can change when you meet the man of your dreams. Gema has been single and fabulous but since she's been with Bill, she's turned into a domestic diva. She's ready to settle down with him and have kids! I couldn't be happier for her either. I love when my friends are happy.

Everything else is going well. Henry's next MRI is on the 19th of this month so I ask, as always, for your prayers and good thoughts. This April will be one year since he was diagnosed with glioblastoma. We thank God every day for Henry's continued health and healing.

That's about it. I will leave you with this sweet sleeping angel...

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

ANOTHER FRIDAY...

I've been MIA. I haven't had a week this stressful since I first started this position. I am so stressed at work right now. I think about it constantly. I had a great year last year but this year isn't starting off so good and that means, I'm under radar with my boss and that's not where I want to be. I hate it and it sucks. If you have the time, please say a little prayer that I make my sales number for the year. Thanks y'all.


Secondly, I never posted Henry's MRI results. I'm very happy to report that had another clean MRI. Thanks be to God! I was so relieved! So thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.


Thirdly, I never wished my beautiful nephew a Happy One Month birthday on here. He's growing like a weed and he's a little chunky monkey. I love him!



Have a great weekend everyone!

WEEKEND REVIEW

Friday
My husband had plans to go see Cloverfield on opening day with a friend so I opted to sit this one out and run errands of my own. Since we never hosted a baby shower for my sister during her pregnancy, we are hosting one for her this Saturday. I had a lot of things to do to prepare so I got a lot done for this which was good. I'll be sure to post pictures of the small projects I worked on for this occasion.

** My husband enjoyed the movie, although he admits to getting a little motion sickness from all the shaking in the film....another reason I'm happy I opted to do my own thing :) **

Saturday
More running errands to prepare for the shower...but this time, I ran them with the co-hosts...my eldest sister and my mom. We got a lot done, including ordering the food, finished buying prizes and other things. That night, we had dinner plans to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday at his house. We had a great time celebrating and I especially enjoyed the food. I always love me a plateful of filipino frui salad!

Sunday
After church, we visited my nephew and my mother-in-law at the cemetary, since it had been a couple weeks since we'd been. After that, we had lunch with my sister-in-law and her husband at Souplantation. After that, we spent some time with them and then my husband and I went to the mall to do some shopping.

It was a fun and uneventful weekend. 2 things going on this week...

1) Happy Birthday to my sister Erika today! I'll be heading over to my parents house after dinner to celebrate the occasion.

2 ) Henry has another scheduled MRI on Wednesday. Please pray for good results. It's hard to believe that this coming April, it will be one year since he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. But he continues to stay strong and is doing so well! Thank you for the prayers!

CATCHING UP

I realized I haven't updated my blog on the events that took place during my holiday vacation. I'll post on that in a bit.

I wanted to follow up on my last post about Boey. There hasn't been a day that's gone by that I haven't thought about Boey and her family. I still can't believe this precious little girl is gone. I first found her website a couple years ago, shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer. I followed her journey so closely and felt in my heart that she would win her battle. I was so happy for her when they appeared on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and thought it was the start of happy memories and new beginnings for them. I have to keep reminding myself that Boey is now living cancer-free and that her family will continue to fight to see Boey's dreams become a reality. I guess one of the reasons why I took this news very hard was a selfish one. From what I knew, Boey was doing so well. I knew her family hadn't updated her blog in a while but I attributed that to them living happily and enjoying Boey's remission. So I got the news that she had lost her battle, it made me realize that things can change in an instant. Although Henry continues to do well, I'm so scared that his tumor will come back and we'll be back at square one. I stay positive as often as possible but I can't help but let the fear overcome my emotions from time to time. I just pray that Henry continues on his journey to healing and that Boey's family can find the strength to move on. I never did get a chance to meet Boey, but she held a very special place in my heart. I miss you Boey...now and always.

On a brighter note, here are some of the things I did during my holiday vacation:

A holiday party hosted by the fabulous Alyssa and her hubby: here are the girls, along with a picture of Alyssa's domestic diva mishap.

The boys at the soiree:

A Laker game with my hubby:

A fun night with friends playing Rock Band:

Bowling with one of my besties Kay and my husband's friend Jason:

This past Saturday we attended a 1st birthday party for one of our friend's little boys. The food was amazing and we had a great time as always with them. Yesterday I had brunch with a couple of girlfriends and later went to visit my beautiful new nephew since I hadn't seen him since coming back from New York.

Whew! That pretty much catches me up. The hubby went snowboarding today and I have a workout after work that I'm dreading. But looking forward to sweating off some calories. :)

UPDATE ON HENRY

Once again, God has listened to our prayers. Henry's MRI was once again CLEAN! Hooray! My sister shared that the nurse did notice a "grey" area where his tumor was originally resected but she's almost certain it's just scar tissue but she'll be keeping an eye on it. Henry is also gaining some weight back so that's terrific news. Luckily, he only lost about 10 pounds to begin with so he'll back to his normal weight in no time! He starts his new round of chemo tonight so we're all praying those pills continue to do their job.

Thank you a million times for your thoughts and prayers. They are appreciated more than you know.

SNEAKING ON FOR A QUICK PRAYER REQUEST

I know, I know...I'm not supposed to be on the Internet...but this is important! Today is another MRI for Henry...please pray for good results. Your prayers have worked thus far.

Thank you so much everyone!

THANKSGIVING WISH

2007 has been a year full of trials and tribulations. The most difficult months for us were February, when my sister gave birth to my angel nephew and April, when my brother-in-law was diagnosed with a brain tumor. They were both gut-wrenching moments that I think about constantly. I think about the moment when I walked into the hospital room where was sister was closely holding her lifeless baby. I think about holding him for a brief minute. I think about the last time I saw him at the mortuary. I think about seeing Henry lying in his hospital bed with bandages on his head after his brain surgery. I think about the day the doctor told us how long he possibly had. It feels like yesterday. They are moments that defined what this year has been like for us. During those months, I felt such agony and I truly felt that I was never going to feel happiness again. Yes, throughout these hardships, it has made all of us stronger and I’d like to think that it only brought all of us closer together as a family. Yes, we were always thankful that we were all together on Thanksgiving Day but at the same time, I believe we may have taken it for granted. Although it’s been a year full of trials and tribulations, we still have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful that my sister is expecting again. I’m thankful that Henry is doing so well and is back to himself again before this nightmare began. I am thankful that I have both of my parents in my life and they are both healthy. I am thankful that I am surrounded by friends that I love and have shown me how much they love me this year. I am thankful that on this Thanksgiving holiday, I will have my entire family with me around the dinner table with one special angel watching over all of us. I wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by the people you love.

DINNER WITH KAY AND INTERNET WITHDRAWALS

Since Kay's birthday is coming up at the end of the month, I wanted to take her out to dinner to celebrate the occasion. Luckily, Miss Social Butterfly was free last night so we met up and had dinner in Belmont Shores. Her choice of the evening: Le Creperie.

We had a great time catching up on life and work. Although we had just seen eachother less than a week ago, we had a lot to talk about. I always love hanging out with Kay. Although I love her, I always seem to throw out all diet restrictions out the door when I'm with her. It's like I don't care what I eat since I'm having such a good time with her. We started with the garlic french fries. We licked them clean!

Kay decided to go with pasta and I went with the French Riviera crepe. It was amazing! So, so good. Then we indulged and shared the Martinique crepe for dessert: bananas flambe in rum with butter and brown sugar, topped with vanilla ice cream. YUM!

After dinner, we strolled down 2nd Street for a while before we said our goodbyes for the night. I had a great time. Thank you Kay! :)

In case you're wondering what the 2nd part of my title means, I'm getting to it now. We got a not-so-friendly company-wide voicemail from the owner of our company (who is known to be a tough cookie and honestly, rather crazy) about Internet usage during company hours. The bottom line: we're not allowed to use it at all while at work. He said he's going to be cracking down on whoever is on doing non work-related surfing. Um yeah, that would be ME! You see, I have a daily ritual I go through every.single.day. Let's see...there's checking my personal e-mail first, then there's reading every blog I keep up on (that would be about THIRTY or so) and then I update my own if need be. Then there's just the shopping on-line, the reading up on current events and celebrity gossip. Yes folks, if the CEO of my company truly has a "list" of employees who are on the Internet an excessive amount of time...trust me, I'm on it. But I say, as long as the work gets done, what's the big deal, right? Well, I decided it's not even worth playing with fire so that means no more Internet for me...at all. Zip. Zilch. Nada. That's why it's almost 8pm and I'm just now doing what used to be my morning ritual. So if you notice I'm not updating my blog as often or I'm commenting a lot later than I normally do, now you know why. I have to admit though, I did get a lot of work done today! So there you have it.

Thanks to all of you for sharing in my excitement and gratitude for Henry's driving freedom again. It means a lot.

Okay, I'm off to spend some time with my husband. But before I end this, check out this article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071115/ap_on_fe_st/odd_serendipity_rodents

Um yeah, remember I was just there less than two weeks ago! I swear I wanted to gag when I read this. Unbelievable.

A BIG MILESTONE TODAY!

My sister just called me and shared the news that Henry passed his driving test today and is officially licensed again! I spoke to him briefly and he sounded so happy. I am so, so grateful for how far Henry has come. He went back to work last week after 7 months and is already back into his normal routine. This year has certainly been the toughest for us yet with us hopefully receiving a new addition to our family at the end of the year and with Henry doing as well as he's doing, I have this feeling that the year is going to end on a high note. I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

ANOTHER FRIDAY...AND ANOTHER NY TRIP

*sigh* You'd think I would love my trips to New York but really, I work longer hours and it's absolutely all work and no play. I'm dreading this trip but I know I will get through it.

On a much better note, I'm so happy to report that my dear brother-in-law Henry is going back to work on Monday! He's been so incredibly anxious to return since he stopped working 7 months ago. I'm so happy for him! I know it will bring some normalcy back into their lives as a family. So that's great news part 1.

Part 2 is that everything continues to go well with my sister's pregnancy. After her 3 hour glucose exam, they determined that she did not have gestational diabetes. She is also being monitored by her doctor very closely which I am very happy about. Before you know it, the newest addition to our family will be here. I can't wait!

These two things are the reasons I will be extremely grateful this coming Thanksgiving. It's been a very tough year but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Back to blogging when I'm back from New York in one week! Have a great weekend!

IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN

I hope everyone had a great Halloween night! Gerric and I had a great time at my sister's. I went trick-or-treating with my nephews and saw a lot of cute kiddies in their costumes. They had a lot of kids in their neighborhood so they went through loads of candy. It was all quite fun! We ended the night with some pies from Polly's and then we each went our own way. When we got home, we stayed up to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown . That Charlie Brown theme song always puts a smile on my face. Overall, we had a nice Halloween.

I can't believe we're in November now. Where did the year go by? I haven't hidden the fact that I'm actually anxious for this year to be over so to the year 2008, I say...BRING IT ON!

Henry started a new round of chemo last night so I'm praying that everything goes well. I really hate cancer. With all the medical breakthroughs we've made in the recent years and all the technology we have these days, why oh why haven't they found a cure for cancer yet? I don't get it. It's taken way too many lives and it's not fair.

Anyhow, better get back to work now.

ALOHA EVERYONE! I'M BACK!!!

My first day back at work was yesterday but other than catching up on some work, it took me nearly all day to catch up on my favorite blogs so I didn't have the time to update my own! Anyway, I can't tell you how depressing it is to return to work after a vacation. I'm still dragging today and we were back late on Saturday night (close to midnight actually). Well, what can I possibly say about Maui that everyone doesn't already know? It's beautiful and peaceful. I loved it all. But what I loved most was just being away from work, away from traffic, away from everything.

Saturday -

I'll start my day-to-day recap with Saturday when we did the Brain Tumor walk in honor of my brother-in-law Henry. It was a great experience, one that I will never forget. It was very bittersweet being there...I felt honored to be a part of such a great cause but I hated that this terrible disease has invaded our family and specifically someone I love very much. At the end of the 5k walk, they had some speakers...some were family members who had lost loved ones due to a brain tumor and others who were survivors. I felt inspired by them and prayed to God that one day, Henry would be up there telling everyone his survival story.

Our crazy team...we all wore t-shirts with a picture of Henry and our team name, "Fishing 4 a Cure" since Henry loves fishing.

My sister's sign worn on her back


A dedication my sister made for her husband

One of the speakers said something very meaningful that stuck with me. She thanked everyone for being there and said she hoped we wouldn't need to be back next year because we will have found a cure. How I hope that's true.

Later that afternoon, we had a birthday party for Henry. My sister surprised him with some of his co-workers and he was so happy to see them. We all had a great time and this was a very special birthday for us since he has been through so much this year.

Henry with a few of his co-workers

With his 2 kids

Here's so many, many more birthdays for Henry. His next MRI is fast approaching on November 14th so please continue to pray for nothing but the best results. :)

Sunday -

We had a 10:35am flight out to Maui so we woke up, went to the airport and flew 5 hours to get to our destination. I was starving when we arrived so I bought the first thing I saw...

...a hot dog! It was SO good.

Once we got our luggage (which by the way, I totally overpacked!), we proceeded to get our rental car. Our ride was a little black Mazda. Nope, no convertible for us. :(

We then followed the map to our hotel/condo. It was a beautiful drive along the coast. It took us about 45 minutes to get there. When we arrived, I was happy with what I saw since I wasn't sure what to expect. We opted out of staying at a lavish resort, since we are trying to save for a house but we were happy with our decision.

Our view from the balcony...

After settling in, we grabbed dinner at the restaurant located in our resort, the "Beach Club." I told myself I would try to be good since I had lost a total of 5 pounds in two weeks but it was SO hard to resist good food...so let's just say I haven't weighed myself since we've been back. I'm in denial! Our dinner was okay...the food was pretty good at the restaurant, nothing spectacular. After dinner, we walked around our resort and ended the night by watching the sun set. It was perfect. I tried to take it all in.

Monday -

We woke up to some very loud birds outside on the resort grounds...sweet, peaceful, yet annoying all at the same time!

We laid out at the beach for a while and then moved over to the pool to take in the sun's rays. The water was cold but beautifully blue in color.

After we were all sunned out, we showered up and drove out the little city of Lahaina and had dinner at a restaurant called "Cheeseburger in Paradise." And YES IT WAS!

I had the "Cheeseburger Island Style"...it was delish!

After a delicious dinner, Gerric fed his sweet tooth with a scoop of ice cream (He's such a sucker for ice cream). I just watched him eat it. I was so full!

Tuesday -

It became our morning routine to go out and soak up the sun. The weather was perfect. We'd catch some tropical rain once ina while but they lasted a short time and the sun was still out so it was fine. After our morning ritual, we showered up and this time, headed out to "Whalers Village" where we had lunch at Leilani's.

That evening, we had dinner reservations at David Paul's. That was one of our most expensive meals but everything was delicious! They even gave us a complimentary dessert to share in honor of our two year wedding anniversary!

We spent the rest of the evening strolling the streets of Lahaina and called it a night since we had an early morning ahead of us.

Wednesday -

Let me preface this by saying that I don't know how to swim so I am pretty much deathly afraid of the ocean. I imagine myself either drowning or getting eaten by a shark (yet I love vacationing in tropical places!). Well, my dear husband wanted to experience snorkeling in the ocean waters of Maui so I agreed, as long as I could stay in the boat. We woke up super early to get our adventure started. It was a pretty large group and thankfully, I wasn't the only one that stayed in the boat! The tour took us to two different locations...Molokini Crater and to an area off the shores of Wailea to snorkel with green sea turtles. The entire trip was about 5 hours long. I usually don't tend to get seasick but the waters going to Molokini were very choppy which made for a rocky trip. My husband didn't do so well either. We were so miserable at one point that we couldn't wait to get on dry land. In fact, he promised me that he would never make me go out on a boat again! Yes, we both got really seasick (poor fishies in the ocean don't know what hit them!) but at least we can say we went snorkeling in Maui...okay, okay, my husband went snorkeling.

This is Molokini Crater...

This was our 2nd destination of the day...

I guess sea turtles do live here!

My own little sea turtle...heehee, I was cracking up at how he looked!

After our trip was over and we kissed the ground we were walking on (well, not literally but we wanted to!), we had lunch at Maui Tacos. It was really good. Nothing like mom's cooking but it did the job. :) Later that night, we headed back to Whaler's Village and had dinner at Hula Grill. Since my tummy was still very unsettled from the seasickness, all I had a frui plate but it was delicious! The fruit there was unbelievable...sweet and perfect!

We strolled Whalers Village some more and then headed back to call it a night.

Thursday -

Thursday morning we woke up to a beautiful sight...a rainbow!

We got ready to hit the beach again. It was extremely windy that day at the beach so we were being pelted with sand grains and a sunny tropical rain! We decided to let the winds and rain subside and grabbed some breakfast. After that, we hit the beach again and the weather was much better.

After a few hours in the sun, we grabbed some ice cream at the nearby shop and got ready for our evening. That night, we had dinner at Kimo's. Everything was delicious! I had the ribs and chicken, accompanied with a Blue Hawaii drink...YUM!

I was a "little" sunburned" that night. :)

Our nights always ended pretty early - we definitely did a lot of relaxing. :)

Friday -

Friday was our last full day in Maui. It was so sad that the week was over. We started with breakfast at Compadres restaurant and strolled around the island of Maui for one last time. We got home early enough to take a nap since we had tickets for a Luau that evening. We had originally planned on going to the Old Lahaina Luau which had come highly recommended to us. However, when we arrived on Sunday and wanted to buy our tickets, we were told it was sold a month out. Wow! So another Luau was recommended to us which was smaller in that instead of about 600 people, there was only 150 and at this one, we would have our own table and our own waiter. We were sold! So that night, we experienced a Luau at the "Feast at Lele."

The show was awesome. I enjoyed every minute of it. We were so happy yet so sad to be leaving the next day.

We had a 5-course dinner, which consisted of food from different islands: Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti and Samoa. I even had some of the Mahi Mahi with mango salsa! It was a perfect way to end our Hawaii vacation.

Saturday -

The next morning, we got ready, checked out and left for the airport. We got one last bite at the airport and we were on our way. So depressing. Jolene was very sad...

Overall, we had a wonderful time and would definitely go back. When there's so many other beautiful places to visit in this world, I don't think we'll return anytime soon but I'm so happy to be able to say we've actually been to Maui. We loved it.

We landed in Los Angeles close to midnight and since I was wide awake, I unpacked that night and went to bed at 2am. On Sunday we just did laundry all day long and grabbed some dinner. It was SO hard coming back to work yesterday. Now I'm getting ready for another trip to New York for work this coming Sunday. Lord help me. It's going to be a LONG week next week.

I better get some work done today. I didn't realize how long it took me to do this update. Thanks for reading everyone!