Our Little House

Finally was able to find and log into this blog again :) Life has been very busy. Grace is now a blooming 4 years old. She's witty, bright, and a joy to be around. Despite her small stature, she's like an energizer bunny. I can't be more grateful to God for this daughter that He bestowed into our care. Talking about that ... I'm in the beginning of second maternity leave! We are currently expecting (at 36 weeks along) another daughter due in August :) Right now I'm trying to enjoy a couple peaceful weeks (hopefully) before the baby arrives. I planned to finish "nesting", prep for postpartum, and just spend more quality time with Grace. That being said, looking forward to document another big life milestone in this blog. I haven't been writing for such a long time but do miss blogging from time to time. Hopeful that I can kick start / revive this blog again - at least for the next couple of weeks before I go to hiatus postpartum :) Grace at 3.5 ...

Giving birth is such as miraculous process. I'm trying to remember every single details of this amazing motherhood journey but seems like my memory of that particular day is fading really fast. So here I'm writing more details about Grace's birth story, hoping that I will have something to help me remember this life milestone in the future ... On Wednesday morning as usual my Mom and I went for a long 3 miles walk around lake Elizabeth before heading to WholeFoods to buy pineapples. One of my friends in Singapore told me that eating pineapple really helps her start her labor (She gave birth at around 40 week-ish). I'm not too convinced at first. Also, I have been avoiding uncooked pineapple almost my entire life because I have ulcers problem. But I've tried everything else ... what would I lose trying out another "weird" suggestion? So that afternoon I ate the entire small box of cut pineapples with sambal rujak. I waited, as if something was supposed ...

Not sure if I have mentioned this before in this blog, but I have a very low pain tolerance level. Well, I guess all of you should have kinda know since I wrote the TB test post :) I really hate injection and I know I would have to get a lot of shots and blood checks if I am pregnant. So, I was actually super scared of getting pregnant. To my surprise though, as soon as I found out that I'm pregnant, I was not worrying about the number of shots I would get or the blood checks. Most of the time in my early pregnancy, I worried about my baby's development and really looked forward to pass the 12 weeks milestone. Why? Because that's when the chance of miscarriage decrease significantly. Also, that is when embryo graduate to become a fetus. So to sum up what my first trimester experience felt like, it felt like I was on a race. I was just super focused on getting through the first trimester and didn't have time to worry about the shots/injection/blood tests or the upcomi...

We waited for another 3.5 weeks before we could meet with my OB and truly confirmed the pregnancy. It was the longest 3.5 weeks ever in my life! Have you ever heard about how your mom pregnancy experience might affect yours? Well, actually I heard both ways - some people believe it might, some people don't. In my case, it doesn't - at all. I'm actually super scared of getting pregnant because my mom had very difficult pregnancies for the three of us. She told me how she had severe morning sickness and had to stay in bed up to 6 months when she carried us girls and 4 months when she carried my brother. However, I did notice some physical changes. The most apparent change was with my energy level. I noticed how I got sleepy all the time. My husband and I carpooled together to work everyday. During those weeks, I usually sleep on our way home. Once we're home, I found it so hard to do normal activities, all I wanted was to lie on the sofa and sleep. I did not really ex...

The next day was Saturday. When we woke up, the first thing we did was trying another test pack. I was curious to find out if a different brand of test pack will give me a different result. But nope, it was still a clear positive. So off we go to Kaiser Santa Clara to get the blood work done. We came pretty early in the morning but we found out early morning on the weekend was actually the worst time to go to that lab. It was jam-packed. We took a number, waited for a while before we were called by administration, and waited some more before our number was called by the system to line up in front of the lab. All those time, my brain was busy entertaining all the "what if?" questions. I actually did a bit more research online about the possibility of getting a "false positive" test pack result, and became a little bit worried. As I mentioned in the last post, for the test pack to show positive result, it needs to detect enough hCG hormone (the pregnancy hormone...

Last summer we went on our first Europe trip. We visited three countries - France, Switzerland, and Italy. We have decided to stop any "prevention" during the trip, but thank God I didn't get pregnant there at Europe because I ate so many cold cuts (deli meats) and other foods that are bad for babies. It was a fun trip but also super exhausting. Some random pictures from the trip: Our first dinner at Venice - Bancogiro Selfie with the Iron Lady of Paris :) Beautiful Luzern When we were back, I was so stressed out at work trying to keep myself up to date after traveling for 20 plus days. We also still had some summer projects that have been extended until September. Additionally, a new career path opened up and I had to make a hard decision on where I want to grow more in my career. One night, I started having menstrual-like cramping at night. It was pretty bad actually. The pain literally woke me up from my sleep. This happened for 2-3 days straight. Th...

Hello everyone! I finally have time to update this blog. I stopped writing a few years back because something really sad happened, and I found it really hard to continue writing. But anyway ... things are getting better. In fact, very exciting things have been happening to us in the past 3 years. The newest and greatest news from us: WE ARE EXPECTING! So we have been married for a while, but because of so many reasons, we postponed having a child. Summer last year, we finally made up our mind and decided that we were ready ... and all praise to God, He instantly bestowed this great gift and honor to us to become a parent :) I'm on my 36 weeks now - the final stretch. I just started my maternity leave yesterday, and now preparing myself mentally to become a mom. Therefore, expect to hear tidbits about my pregnancy and maternity journey showing up more in this blog :)

What is it with 15? Can you guess? Well, I'm going to visit my parents in 15 more days =) I'm so thrilled and grateful at the same time. It's been almost four years since I got married and moved to the States. I've never been this far apart from my family ... and for such a long time. We are really close to each other, so it is really painful living away from home.  I can hardly wait for the trip. We started planning sometime in May and my Mom has been counting days ever since =) I look forward to spending quality time with them. I am also super excited about all the Indonesian food that I'm gonna eat. I've been craving these food for a while:  Kwetiaw Akiaw Mangga Besar (image from foodspotting.com ) Hokkian Noodle (image from makanmana )     Sate padang (image from AIS MIT website ) and much more! Seriously, Indonesia is a heaven for food lovers. Especially if you love spicy food.  In addition to travelling back to Indonesia, me and ...

Hi everyone! It's been quite a while huh? I was really busy with life. So far, 2013 is quite a tough year for me. I'm struggling with uncertainties and worries. I am also trying hard to figure out God's plan in my life. Recently, I got an encouragement from my favorite radio station, K-Love. So I thought I want to share this here with you. That morning, the radio presenter was talking about keeping a diary or writing journals. I smiled because I like writing journals. She said that sometimes it's good to read back your journals, especially when you are facing a problem or when your life just feel difficult. You can see through various occasions in your past, how God's hands worked. You might felt that you were facing mountains of problems back then, but somehow God opened up a way! This could be a great encouragement... helping us to trust our current problems to God. If He was faithful in the past, He is also faithful today. He will help. He will open up a way ...

Happy new year everyone!! =) I know this is a very late post. I have been really busy since the beginning of 2013. Back from our long holiday, somehow I realized that there were a lot of things that needed to be done. I really wish I have more than 24 hours a day =P Anyway, I would like to post pictures from our winter holiday in this first post of 2013. Let this be a wish that 2013 will be bring more opportunity to travel and spend time with loved ones =) We have a very big plan for 2013... we're crossing our fingers and hoping that everything will go well. Enjoy the pictures!   Our trip started with this amazing tri-tip sandwich. This is the best sandwich I've ever eaten! This is from a restaurant called Firestone Grill located in the heart of San Lois Obispo. It was raining that day, so we didn't have much chance to explore the city. Next, we went to the beautiful San Diego. We stayed there for three days and two nights. We went to old-town San Diego and saw...

Yesterday, we celebrated our third anniversary =)  Time flies. I can still remember the excitement that I had on our wedding day. I was also super nervous. One of my biggest worry that day was to trip over my dress when I walked to the front of the reception room. Thankfully, that worry didn't turn into reality. Fast forward three years, and here we are now. We've been through a lot these past three years. Both of us feel like we have been married for ages!! Not in a bad way though =) We don't have any special plan celebrating our anniversary. We usually just go out and have dinner. This year we did the same thing. However, from year to year, the restaurants change. We choose restaurant mostly based on the food, and not the ambiance. I know ... both of us are somehow not that romantic =P To be honest, this time I was actually thinking of celebrating our anniversary in Texas Road House (which is a very casual steak house if you don't know, with blaring cowboy m...

Ever since Black Friday, I have been monitoring my favorite store intently =P If you do not know, my favorite store is Ann Taylor LOFT. Their collections are very petite friendly. Anyway, on their current holiday / winter collection, they have a few cute sweaters that I adore. After waiting for around 3 weeks, it seems that the lowest price for the particular sweater that I want is $25. And ... I missed that sale because I was waiting for the price to go down lower. Anyway, today I noticed that they have the exact same sale again for that item. I went to LOFT store, but they didn't have the color that I want in my size. So I have to buy it online. Turns out, I was super lucky today. On top of the current sale that they have, I managed to get another coupon that give 25% discount for that particular sweater. I finally got that sweater for $20! I also bought two other items that I have been eyeing this whole time. Petite Kitten Print 3/4 Sleeve Cardigan $16 (after double disc...

It's been a while since my last post. I can hardly believe that we're already in December. This post will be a quick recount of November. So here it is, my November in pictures. Enjoy! My husband and I went with a couple of friends to Santana Row's Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. They had quite a few of live performance like ballet dance, A Capella choir, and this young singer from American Idol - Deandre Brackensick. No wonder Santana Row was very crowded that day. We almost couldn't find parking. Also because of the crowd, we couldn't take any decent picture of the performance. However, my husband did manage to snap this picture of the American Idol singer after his performance. Deandre Brackensick After the ceremony, which only lasted around an hour or so, we went to a nearby Chili's for dinner.  That day I decided to try dry rub ribs. It looked really good on the menu. However, it was a little bit too dry for my taste =P Fortunately, I asked for B...