Thursday December 25 - Christmas Day!

Kayla was so excited to make cookies for Santa. But she was more excited the next morning. She woke up and called, "Mommy! Mommy!" Then she yelled, "Its Christmas!" She was excited to see Santa had eaten her cookies and drank her milk. She had presents under the tree and presents in her stockings. She has learned how to pose with her presents for pictures. We like to call her "Vanna White."

Wednesday December 24 - Eating lunch with the Chan's.

We met with R.C, Wei Yan, Max, Ryan and Auntie Janice for lunch at a local Thai/Sushi restaurant. Kayla is going to be a great big sister. She played well with Max. She was conscious of Max and was very nurturing. It was great to see the two cousins playing together.


Then, we made cookies to put out for Santa. A tradition I hope to continue every year.



The adults finished the most frustrating puzzle. It was like putting together a puzzle and "Where's Waldo" at the same time. But the family did finish it.

Tuesday December 23

The last time we were in North Carolina we tried to have dinner at Maggiano's. Unfortunately the wait was too long, but we found these duck statues that Kayla loved to run around. This time we went back to have dinner at Maggiano's. This time with a reservation. But we wanted to get a picture of Kayla with the ducks again. Boy what a difference two years make.

Monday December 22

We are off to North Carolina. This is our second time out in North Carolina and Kayla's third time on an airplane. The first airplane ride....HORRIBLE. She couldn't pop her ears so she screamed the entire way. The second airplane ride, better but still a lot of work because she was mobile and in diapers. This time. Lovely. She did well on the ride to North Carolina. It was her first time chewing gum. She loved it! Plus she understood that gum was only for the airplane.

Its a Boy!

Friday we had our big ultrasound. We found out the baby is healthy and developing nicely. And its a boy! This completes our set...one boy and one girl. But we have mixed feelings, happy we're having a boy and we get rid of Kayla's old clothes and girly toys. But a little sad because now the name debate must begin. When we were pregnant with Kayla, the name debate had already begun. Luckily for us, we found out we were having a girl, whose name we both had already agreed upon. Now, we're having a boy and Mike and I had different opinions as to the kind of name we wanted for our son.

The tradition in Mike's family is the first boy will have his father's first name as his middle name. Therefore Blank Michael Kanaly. Due to this, I knew we weren't going to get a Japanese name in unless it was a first name. So, I really wanted a first name that was different. Mike on the other hand wanted names like Nicholas, Patrick, Daniel,and Steven. I had to veto these names, I felt they were too boring and typical. Thus, I had to break open the baby name book and find names that I really liked and Mike might like. I came up with this list: Brady, Colby, Jackson, Parker, Riley, and Logan. Mike agreed on these names. So, you can bet the baby's name with be one on this list. Update provided at a later date.

Past the point of sucking it in

Everyone has told me the second time around, you show earlier and you gain more weight. Well, the first is definitely true. Since I started out this pregnancy a little heavier than last time I knew I was bound to be a little bigger. But, I'm already past the point of sucking it in and I've got quite the pooch. I've been feeling a little flutter here and there and I'm excited to find out whether its a boy or a girl. The doctor tried to see during his ultrasound, but the baby was shy and crossing his/her legs. So I guess we'll have to wait until the big ultrasound.

Black Friday

So, I woke up at 4:15am and surprisingly it was easier than I thought. Probably because I was more anxious then I was dreading it. I was determined to get all our xmas shopping done that day. So, I kissed Mike goodbye and drove to the Lakewood mall. I got to the mall by 4:45am and was shocked that the parking lot was already half full. My first stop was Macys but as I entered the mall, I noticed many stores were open including the disney store. It looked like chaos, but I decided "what the heck" I'll check it out. Oh my gosh it was like discounts galore. I was able to get about $150 worth of stuff for $60. I was so excited and the line to check out was only 15 minutes. Not bad.

After Disney I made my way to Macys to buy my mother-in-law some earrings. That line took forever but I finally made it through. By the time I finished at Macys I had about 20 minutes to walk my way to Target. When I got there I noticed a ton of people waiting. 6am hit and the doors were not opening. We noticed people were already in the store so I decided to hit the side door and go out to the other entrance. Bingo it was open! I was able to get a bunch of toys and such. The lines weren't bad at all.

By this time, I was super tired. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink yet so the blood sugar was definitely low. But, I had one more store to go to before I could call it a day. I made a trip to the car to drop off my stuff. I walked outside to find the parking lot completely full and other cars lined up to park. I had to give the "I'm not leaving wave" and headed back into the mall. I walked into Bed Bath and Beyond and bought the last gift for Gary.

It was 7:45am and Mike and Kayla were up and Kayla was asking for me. Good thing I was done. I picked up some Starbucks for breakfast and headed home. We all ate breakfast and then made our second trip out, now that everyone was awake. It felt like 11am but it was only 9am when we made our way to Marukai. After Marukai, Mike wanted to go to Universal City Walk to the Team LA Store and the Dodger Store. So we walked around Universal City Walk, had lunch and headed home.

We got home by 1pm and I was done for the day. But I will say I was able to finish all my xmas shopping (with the exception of Chuck and Danielle). In one day! And I had a great time doing it! I'm definitely doing this again next year. Does anyone want to join me? Maybe some moms can get together for this while their husbands sleep and take care of the kids. Just let me know.