8 years

8 years ago I married a man I was, and continue to be, madly in love with. Today, as I reflect on our lives together, it is hard to believe it has only been 8 years.

We have experienced more life changing events than most people I know. While some relationships would have been broken when faced with these challenges our relationship strengthened.

For those who don't know us well... here is a little trip down memory lane.

Chris and I met working for Yahoo! at the corporate headquarters in Sunnyvale. We both worked in the Customer Care division - me on the "Frontline Phone" team and him reviewing personal ads. When I started with Yahoo!, I also reviewed personal ads so when I moved to the phone team I was the only one with personals experience. Chris and I both ended up attending a weekly bug meeting. We ended up being "friends" on messenger to discuss, you know, bugs. That turned into innocent flirting. He peaked my interest so one night I invited him to come to a club with me and a group of friends. A few nights later he asked me to come over for dinner.

I drove out to his house that night not completely knowing how I felt about him. He made me grilled chicken, steamed broccoli and pasta. He served a white wine that he said he knew nothing about but got from his moms wine collection earlier that day.

When I was leaving he kissed me for the first time. He later told me that he knew at that moment he would marry me.



The next few months flew by and before we knew it we were spending every free moment together. We quickly moved in together and started discussing wedding plans. We toured several facilities but we were not in a huge rush. We were planning Summer 2004 we would be married.



In September we went to Vegas for Chris' birthday. Neither of us had ever been. Little did we know we would be coming home with a little something extra.

In late October, after peeing on 5 sticks, we found out I was pregnant.

We pushed our wedding date up a little bit and were married February 28, 2004.

June 15, 2004 Zachary was born. We had no idea he had Down syndrome and leaned on each other for support. I will never forget standing in the hallway of the NICU feeling Chris' arms around me as we cried. It was the most raw emotion we'd experienced together.

September 19, 2004 we received a call that my dad had committed suicide.

Spring 2005 Chris was called to a meeting about Yahoo!. We thought they were announcing layoffs and with him being the only bread winner we were pretty stressed. Come to find out the division he worked in was being relocated. Lots to think about and decide.

July 1, 2005 Chris reported to work in Hillsboro, OR.

After a weekend of partying with my girlfriends for the 4th of July I met the movers while they packed up our house into a moving truck. I then made the 672 mile drive to our new house in Beaverton, OR.

Never had I been so far away from everything and everyone I knew. We decided to put Zach in to daycare and I went back to work. Across the office from Chris, working at Yahoo! again.

This is us with Jerry Yang and Chris' old supervisor at the Grand Opening of the Hillsboro Yahoo! office:


Fall 2005 Zach was diagnosed with pneumonia and took his first ride in an ambulance when he had to be transferred to the children's hospital. Luckily his hospital stay was short.

January 2006 Zach spent 5 days at the children's hospital in total isolation with RSV.

June 2006 we packed up and moved back to California. We also bought our first home together.

September, 12 2007 Hannah was born.

July 12, 2010 Chris had a stroke.

I think we have had our share of up's and down's and I wouldn't trade our life for anything. I just really hope the next 8 years aren't quite so eventful!

Working full time and eating healthy lunches

Pretty much every day my lunch consists of a Lean Cuisine and a salad. I generally prep all my salads on Sunday so each morning I just grab one of each and head out.

As you might remember, me and some friends of mine are doing a monthly Supper Club. January we did Chinese New Year from Cooking Light.

Since I ended up buying so many ingredients that I didn't typically have in my kitchen, I wanted to put them to use. So one Sunday afternoon I did up a double batch of the Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe and a batch of brown jasmine rice from Trader Joe's. I packaged them all into individual serving containers (and measured mine out exactly since I am counting calories) and ended up with a weeks worth of lunches for me, 2 lunches for Chris and lunch for the kids for one day (I could have gotten probably a few more meals for me and/or the kids but I did bigger servings for Chris).

So not only do I have a yummy lunch ready to grab on my way out the door, it is cost effective and about 25% of the sodium content of frozen meals!

Cast experience - Take 2

Yesterday I get a call from Zach's teacher.

Me: Is everything ok?!?

Teacher: Yes. But..... Zach took his cast off.

Me: HE WHAT? He took his cast off?

Teacher: Yeah, I don't know how he did it but we were at circle time and he just slipped it right off. We were going to try to put it back on but it wouldn't go on easily and didn't want to injure his wrist more.



Seriously kid? Who takes a cast off??! This child never ceases to amaze me. I call the doctor and back we go to get another cast put on. This time they put it up above his elbow so that he can't get it off.



Any bets on if he will get this one off? Because seriously, I wouldn't put it past him.

Our first cast experience

Monday I got a call at work. Zach's teacher tells me that he fell off the monkey bars at school. He cried a bit and they took him to the nurses office and iced it and he seemed ok. He was moving it fine and he did the hand motion to apply hand sanitizer so it didn't appear broken. They sent him home on the bus but to keep an eye on it. I asked him about it Monday night and he told us he fell and was sorta babying it but seemed ok.

Tuesday I get a text from our daycare provider. Zach fell on the same wrist and he cried a little. They were icing it and he was moving it fine and he was happily watching a cartoon. I called our pediatricians nurse and she said to watch it for a few days and if it didn't improve, to call them and we would have it checked out.

We noticed him not moving it at all Tuesday night (he could move it, but chose not to). He wouldn't pull his pants up or use it to do anything. First thing Wednesday we make appointments and get him in for an x-ray. Chris had taken him to the doctor so they were spending the afternoon together and our doctor called and said it was in fact fractured.

Today we took the day off and took him for his cast. We were pretty concerned about how he would act. He gets very anxious around doctors, nurses, medical facilities, anything that remotely looks like it might be out to get him.

After a bit of stalling on Zach's part we finally distracted him enough to get the cast on. He was excited to pick his favorite color!

When we were walking out of the office Zach said to me with a giggle in his voice "I was a little nervous in there". Melt. My. Heart.



Through this whole ordeal this week he has been so tough. He really didn't complain about it much and went to school almost all week.

We were so proud of him for being so brave that we did what any parent would. Took him to the toy store!



I went in to check on him tonight and he just looks even more grown up than he did last night.



But when I see him laying there all grown up... I still see this

Motivation

A few weeks ago we were in Costco and I had Hannah in the cart. The lady was behind us in line and she was striking up a conversation about how her brother has an extra chromosome too and how handsome she thought Zach was.

Then she looked at me and Hannah and said "WOW! Someone really looks like their mommy!". The look on Hannah's face was priceless. She was beaming. She was proud.

It made me feel all warm and fuzzy but as the day went on it made me think about how much I want to be a mom for her to be truly proud of. I need to be the mom to shed this weight and be a healthier version of myself. For me AND for her.

I am proud to say that in the first 4 weeks, I am down 15 lbs and I am still going strong.

I want to feel like the mom that I see in my daughters eyes when she looks at me.

Dancing Queen

Ever since we took Hannah to see The Nutcracker she has been very interested in ballet and asked to take dance classes. Conveniently, a new dance studio opened close to our house this month! She had her first class on Saturday and while she was the only student this week, she loved it. She learned some steps and started learning the routine for their recital in May!

Supper Club

After the first of the year a dear friend of mine sent out an email to 5 of us. Asking if we wanted to be part of a supper club. I didn't research what it was, I just said "Of course!" because... who would pass up time where we can hang around, chat, eat and the kids are entertained with friends?!

We all got together this past Saturday and had a blast! The food was delicious. The kids were well behaved. And the conversation was perfect.

Mandy started a blog for our Supper Club and reading through it made me so excited for our future gatherings. Check it out here and keep watching for the recipes!!

As heard...

The other day Hannah and I disagreed on something and she got upset and stormed into her room, threw herself on her bed, and sobbed. (seriously... she's only 4?!?!)

I went in and we talked about it and I left her room. She continued to lay there. Chris went in and lay down next to her.

Hannah turned to Chris and said "Daddy. You are the only one who understands me".

Seriously?

As heard...

We joined some of my family at Gilroy Gardens to experience the Holiday Lights that they put up during the season. Walking in we were overwhelmed with the beauty of the light displayed. Hannah had fallen asleep in the car so was quietly in the stroller under a blanket. As we were walking in Hannah says to me

"Mama... My eyes are watering because it is so beautiful, I have tears."

2011 - Year in Review - The Final Installment

If you haven't read the rest of the year. Get caught up here
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

November-
We spent Thanksgiving at my grandmothers. It was great to spend a few days with her and we all loved our time there. We had an awesome dinner and then played ChickenFoot!


The kids with GG




The next day we went to Happy Hollow. Chris and I had both been there many times as kids but hadn't been in at least 2 decades. They have done tons of renovations and added little rides for the kids. It was such a good time.










The puppet show


Hannah was excited to go on this ride. Watch the sequence of events




As the ride started going up Zach got really excited and started laughing... and then...




Right about this point she is screaming "THIS IS NOT FUN!!!!"




After that ordeal, of course we told her she did not have to go on anything. Of course she wanted to try. Every ride after that she had to scope out for a minute and see how it worked




Doing the maze with Daddy


This is the crooked house. When Chris and I were kids you used to be able to play inside of it. You could go upstairs and from there, there was a slide that went out the front door. You can no longer go into the house but the structure is still there and brought back memories!




While Hannah wasn't into the rides... she loved to pet and feed the animals








The goat tried to eat Hannah's shirt. She thought that was pretty funny and she talked about it for days


Zach was loving the rope walk on the playground


December-
Another busy month. I will try and condense as much as possible.
My mom and I took Hannah to her first ballet, The Nutcracker. She was in awe. We had front row seats and it was such a memorable day. First, we went to lunch at the Madonna Inn




Our friends Tara and Arabella were just a couple seats over. The girls looked so grown up


After the ballet the ballerinas went into the lobby for pictures. Hannah was star struck and timidly went up to them and asked to take a picture

This is Hannah with 'Clara'








Christmas Eve. Making cookies for Santa


He liked watching the mixer


Christmas Eve they got to have 1 gift. PJs of course!




Putting carrots out for the reindeer


Not really sure what they are doing here. Singing a Christmas Carol maybe?




The one thing Hannah asked Santa for this year - Baby Ariel


Ready to go to Nana's house for Christmas afternoon and dinner


They love their Uncle Brian




We are so blessed to live in such a gorgeous area. The weather on Christmas was beautiful and we took a walk on the beach before dinner












I took a lot of great pictures this year but I think this is my favorite


The day after Christmas we drove up to Chris' parents house for a couple days. They just moved back to California from Texas so this was the first time we were able to see them around the holidays. Sadly I had a terrible cold so I didn't get too many pictures. We will have to make another visit soon!

Hannah making breakfast with Grandpa


The boys took a trip into town one day (about 45 minutes away). Grandma and Hannah had fun making a gingerbread house


This year in review became much longer than I expected but going back through all these pictures made me smile. Our year was so full of love and memories. After the nightmare that was 2010, it was much needed. I am so excited to see what 2012 is going to hold!