Another year of weightloss!

It's the same story, different year. Ya know, the one where you try to be healthier, get more sleep, drink less (alkihawl that is), and..dare I say..maybe even lose weight. Yep, I'm succumbing to that torture called dieting and working out like Richard Simmons on speed (as if he doesn't seem it already right). It makes me feel good about myself to be, well, thin. I love to feel like I can do anything. Being healthy and energetic is very important to me, and looking good helps a lot with this. I love to wear my fave old jeans and not think I'm popping out of them.

I was at my ideal weight early college. I was a healthy size 2-4. Then, I gained the freshman 15, and then the sophomore/junior/senior 15! I woke up one day and thought, ENOUGH. So, within four months, I lost 25 lbs by eating right (small portions and I didn't cut out stuff I loved) and working out 3-4 times a week early in the morning to get it out of my way. I felt great - my old clothes fit and I had more energy. But...I was still unhappy. I started plateauing. No matter what I did, I couldn't lose the last few lbs. Ugh.

Needless to say, I gained some of it back (in part due a little someone), but I'm almost back at my goal weight. So, I'm on a mission - to get there! I'm going for a 10 lb weight loss, even if it takes a year.

And this time, there are so many more reasons to do it. I want to prove to myself and others that nothing can stop you. I mean, the winner of the NY marathon won it 10 months having her baby. She won previous years and trained for this one until the day she delivered! I'm not anywhere near there, but I'm tired of hearing people's excuses. Being angry and sad far too much in the past year has caused this spark of hope to light up in me that life goes on. People take too much for granted. I really don't want to be one of those people. So help me God, I can DO IT! Who's there with me?

Btw, to prove determination works - check it!

Before weightloss (2004, size 8/10):



After weightloss (2006, size 2/4):



Now (2008, size 4/6):

Tribute to Toby Le

R.I.P. Toby Le

1995 - January 28, 2008

You were a great one.

We will always love you.

You made us melt.

You brought us joy.

You made us happy.

You made us laugh.

You pulled through thick and thin.

You pushed your way through your pain for as long as you can and you made it this far.

You lived a good long life, filled with treats, long walks, road trips, people who loved and adored you for all you were (feisty, playful, alert and incredibly intelligent). Despite your flaws, we picked you out of a litter. You had a glimmer in your eyes that made you special out of them all.

Then last night, you fell asleep in an odd place, right in the middle of the house, instead of the bedroom, as if to say goodbye to your home. And you slipped away in the middle of the night in peace and quiet.

So, we return your goodbye, but in our hearts, there will never be goodbye.

Bless you, Toby. You will be dearly missed.

'07 Reflection (and '06)

Photos to come! But for now, just this.

2007 was definitely the most unforgettable year of my life. And it will be for the rest of my life. If anything, it was memory overload, because I don't remember much - almost a blur. It was a knick in time, going by way faster than I would have liked. I am continuosly in awe of how much life can put on your plate, yet you always pull through somehow - otherwise, you wouldn't be sitting there reading this.

Since I barely posted the previous year too, I'll say that 2006 was definitely my fun-filled one - with short spurts of travels whenever I could squeeze them in. Previously, I never had the time or resources to do such things. Ideally, I would have travelled more, but funding was cut short due the wedding! Oh well, a short trip to sunny LA a couple months after the wedding and our honeymoon (which we just went on, almost a year later) were the last trips I went on. I look forward to future jet-setting moments - and this time, with an additional little person...yay!

Honestly, I'm very happy just being a home-body. Planning vacations and being on them can be stressful too, so when I travel nowadays, I plan (or want) to relax, instead of squeezing in as much as I can into one trip. I mean, who ever heard of taking a vacation from a vacation? Doing as much as you can in one trip is so hard to avoid though, especially with family and big groups, so I'll have to see how much r&r I can actually have. I have a feeling I'll have to resort to just taking 10 second breathers between events though.

Deep thought of the day:
Bill: So why is it said 'holy mackerel'?
Me: Yeah, like why not 'holy sardine' or something.
Mandy: Or 'holy anchovy'?
Bill: Or 'holy farm-raised salmon'!
So, to add to my productivity at work, look what I found. Holy mackerel.

Thomas and Pei's Wedding

Last night, I went to a wedding while the mister stayed home to take care of some things. Originally, B was going to stay home with the little one, but Auntie missed him a little I guess, so she offered to watch Mr. P. It's so great to live down the street from relatives, especially when they're so helpful! If we move out of town, we'd be very homesick, considering all of P's grandparents live in town too. It might be inevitable in the long run though.

Back to the wedding. This couple has been together for seven years. Congrats to them! I had a grand ol' time, talking up a storm with new and old friends alike. I haven't had that much fun at a wedding in awhile. The last wedding I went to was, um, mine? The weddings I went to before our wedding were mostly for Bill's friends. So this was quite rare for me, considering most of my friends are about my age and not nearing marriage anytime soon. Going stag to this wedding brought me back to my bachelorette days - how I could drop things and do whatever the heck I wanted whenever I wanted. I felt nostalgic a tiny tiny bit. But the bottom line is I'm very content with where I am now - I mean, how can you want your past life when you got a wonderful, loving family waiting to see you every moment you're away from them? My heart flutters just at the thought of it.

OK, so here's some eye candy I promised! Not with the badass camera this time because they don't make ones that fit in a clutch yet - but when they do, holla!

First entry! My grand entrance.

I created this account due to my buddy Mary (n0smoking.blogspot.com). I'd like to dedicate this entry to her because I know she will read it. Unlike xanga, anything that is posted here, I know at least one definite person will read it and care. On xanga, I realize people do read my posts, but don't seem to care! Which makes Mama Lily very sad.

Side note: For the ever unsolved mystery, I use "Lily" because my Vietnamese name is Ly Le (pronounced "Lee Lay") but, of course, not-so cultured folks pulvarize it to be "Lee Lee" or "Lie Lee." Therefore, I adapted Lily as my online handle ever since I discovered you can have something called a screen name. It's funny how chatting now is definitely not the same as when you're a pubescent, emotional, insecure rollercoaster. Moving along.

First off, my writing is nothing extraordinary - but I try my best to sound (somewhat) intelligent (I suppose like anyone else who blogs, right?). I started this blog up is because I was going back to my first entries on xanga (back in '03, but it felt like decades ago!) and realized how different life was back then. I sounded so naive and insecure. I was so selfish as well. It was a big turning point in my life when I heard people thought I was undependable, which was a shot in the foot for me. I made a real big effort to change that - and I hope, dear God, that I've succeeded to some degree. You can't just make a 180, but you can always improve. I realized the best way to make myself not undependable is to limit putting myself in a situation where people have to depend on me. It sounds simple enough, but it's definitely not. Because people depending on you makes you feel human and belonged. My self-confidence was much lower just a few years ago, so to feel more belonged, I put myself on the line so much so that I couldn't keep up with all the people depending on me. So I simply forgot or backed out last minute. Forgive me, but I was overwhelmed and had low self-esteem. I've learned the hard way (through my mistakes and those around me) that, as all those self-help advice out there says, communication is key. I don't mean to be cocky, but I pat myself on the back for my highly upgraded communcation skills. I give credit to marrige for this turning point in my philosophies - I highly recommend it. I find it very ironic how I recommend marriage when I was the epitomy of anti-marriage prior!

Anyway, I still haven't said exactly why I started this blog. Just simply - a fresh start. I'm naive in a different way now. Perhaps when I stumble upon this entry in about 5 years (as I did with my old xanga entries), I'll grin at how different I seemed. Afterall, I'm a new wife/parent, so it's only appropriate I have a fresh start.

Weird/coincidental dream:

I just went on my 4th cruise last week, the first one to the eastern Carribeans. Very nice indeed, but I will discuss that in a later entry. Well, needless to say, I dreamed that I was on a cruise. It was docked at a dark-water lake, which is really odd because cruises only dock at oceans, but when you're dreaming weird stuff, you just accept it and wake up thinking "WTH?" - you get my drift. People were jumping and playing about in the water. I remember the ambiance and positive air around me, so this dream by no means was a nightmare. The oddest thing about the dream were the people. I was on this cruise with people that I haven't seen since high school (not to mention my first high school, that I only attended for one year before moving my sophomore year to another one) and people who I don't even talk to - that I simply met once or twice or just heard of through my social ring.

At one point, I was exchanging phone calls with one of my high school friends, Tracy, because she was about to board the ship and wanted to meet up with my group and me. (In reality, I haven't seen this chick literally since high school, and not to mention she doesn't even live in Houston now.) Another odd thing here, all passengers (minus entertainers) board the ship from the beginning of the cruise. Anyway, this girl is about to board, and I'm saying, "Yeah, call me when you get here!" After hanging up, I waited for a tram (yes, a tram on a ship! maybe in 2156 - or sooner!) that takes you to the other side of the ship, where my group was. Soon after, I woke up.

Back to reality. Lil P woke up at 7:30am, which made Papa Bear get up too, allowing me to sleep in a bit, since I did night duty. I got up at 8:30am, took over Lil P duty, while Papa went to sleep again. Once P fell asleep for his morning nap, I get on the computer (here I am). My previous stop before starting a blogspot was none other-than Facebook. Once I log in, what do I see? Lo-and-behold it's Tracy's birthday today!

What are the odds of that? I wasn't even close to this person even when I did know her. And I dreamed about her? On her birthday too? Scary. OK, maybe not that scary, but a big coincidence nonetheless!

Alright, this entry is long enough. I'll post some eye-candy next time, promise!

Happy 2009!

In the mist of my going-ons as of late, I didn't think about much of anything else except my going-ons. And you know what has been going on? The arrival of my second!

I've been super busy with stuff like prepping for him, taking my teacher certification online course (which I'm not even sure when I'm gonna teach because I'm so comfortable with my current job - I hate how I'm so fickle!), taking care of the older baby, and spending time w/ my fam as much as I could since B left two weeks prior to my due date (and came back three days before). I also took maternity leave a week earlier than my due date so as not to wear myself out and have that possibility of early labor without B around.

With my first pregnancy, I worked up to a couple days before I gave birth - even past my due date! He just wanted to incubate and incubate until I finally was scheduled to be induced, 8 days after my due date. I ended up getting a C-section because I stopped dilating.

C-sections for reasons such as mine have been controversy amongst pregnant women and doctors alike. Would waiting until I could have possibly dilated more really lead to a natural birth? I'll never know. It also depends on your doctor. Some docs completely believe in natural birth, but I've heard horror stories of infections in baby and/or mother from waiting it out too long to deliver the baby naturally.

Statistics have shown that C-section has increased success rates of healthy births about 50%. That's pretty impressive in my book, so I'm not against C-section. I'm simply tired of hearing people telling me that I should deliver naturally if I'm this young and intend on having more. I do realize the side effects, especially that of adhesion, which is typically unavoidable in any sort of abdominal surgeries. Adhesion can range from unnoticeable to internally severe enough for additional surgery to remove it. I'm risking myself for convenience if you must say. If I did have a natural birth this time (called a V-BAC, vaginal birth after cesarean), I wouldn't be induced due to higher risk of uterine rupture (very rare), so I would have to wait until I go into labor. If I waited, I might have had to schedule a C-section anyway due to going too far past the due date.

Bottomline, there is no right or wrong way to have delivery. Whatever you feel is best for you and baby and what you feel most comfortable with is the way to go! I reiterate this to myself constantly, because it's simply not an option I want to consider when my baby is in danger, which is up to the professional to decide, the doctor, who people just have to trust in this situation.

I ended up having a scheduled C-section again. The doc didn't want to risk my pregnancy going too long if I waited for natural labor/birth since I can't be induced. It went really well. Went into the hospital at 10am, had the epidural at noon, had the C-section at 1pm. And bam! There he was..in this world..it was too surreal! He was just in my belly one second, and then on my chest looking at me through his slitted, swollen eyes. Believe me when I say this moment is not something you want to take for granted or ever will. 8 lbs 13 oz baby! A big boy none the less. That took me aback. I thought I heard 7 lb 13, because P was 7 lb 15 oz, so I was like oh ok. Then B said no EIGHT lb 13. I actually lifted my head from the surgical table in shock, which caused the nurse anesthetist to tell me to relax and lay down while they stitched me up. I didn't cry or get overly excited or anything. I was the same way with my first, too. The thoughts going through my head were more like "Thank God it's over..now can I just sleep?" The first moment of bonding and nursing and all that aren't big in my book, even the first time around. I knew I can get plenty of that later.

And so all was well in the hospital. I went home on day 4. And here I am, eight weeks into maternity leave and four weeks left.

Big brother started school/daycare for toddlers a few weeks ago. Fortunately, he took to it a lot faster than I thought! He's all smiles when I drop him off and doesn't want to leave when I pick him up. His separation anxiety definitely wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. And he's only gotten sick once, so I kept him home for a few days, brought him back right after, and he was fine again.

It's true that with the second baby, you don't get all excited and antsy about milestones and what not. I feel bad for the guy. But of course, I love him nonetheless. It's just tough noticing every detail with a toddler to run after.

Anyway, there was my loongg update. I'll jump on the bandwagon more often hopefully. I really do need to keep the few who do read this entertained. =)