Mylee Comes Home.......

We were waiting so patiently all day to be released to go home from the hospital, but we needed our pediatrician to see Mylee before we were able to do so. I can't believe that we were so ready to go when it had not even been 24 hours yet. I just missed Makayla and I knew she was sad to not be able to be with us last night. She was a good girl and stayed with Grandma & Grandpa Ly. We also would be so much more comfy in our own house & bed. I'm sure Ry is glad too since I'm sure the fold up couch/bed wasn't that great at all.

Finally Dr. Harrison our pediatrician arrives for his rounds. It was hard I'm sure to get him here since it is a Saturday. He is Makayla's pediatrician also so he knew us pretty well already. Everything with Mylee looks great so off to home we go.....

Our cousins the Bui's made it in just in time before we left today. They were even able to sneak little Alexis in to play with Makayla. They came over to our house afterwards since we were headed out pretty quickly now.

Daddy's girls before we take off. We're outta here!

Daddy and his two M&M's at home sweet home! Too cute!

Big sis & lil sis and Giant Mr. Pooh Bear is from Uncle Alan. I can't believe how big this bear is....Makayla has a bear just as big so I think Uncle is making it fair. It's cute since I take a picture each month of the baby next to her bear just so we can see how she's grown since it's so fast the first year and how they just change so quickly.

We got to see Auntie Janai again today but with Uncle Binh. They came over to our house since we were already headed home. Uncle Binh just flew home from a business trip to Washington DC but came to see his new little niece right away. I'm sure he's beat from the flight and then the drive up from San Diego. Thanks Uncle! Auntie Janai was with us through it all yesterday from before Mylee was even born. So happy to be all settled in at home!

Mylee's Hospital Visitors

Thanks to all the visitors that came to visit us & welcome Baby Mylee while we were in the hospital even though we were not there that long at all. Once I had the baby we were out of there the next day so it was hard for everyone to get there before we left.

Ong Ngoai & Ba Ngoai are proud grandparents once again!

Grandma Jennie holding Baby Mylee for the first time right after she was born.

Happy Grandpa Stan with Mylee too!

Auntie Som & Uncle Alan also came to visit us after work. Thank you so much since I think they broke some previous plans already to come see us! So special and they even had time to bring flowers!

Uncle Phil & Mylee! I think he gave me my very 1st bear!

Auntie Melanie came to visit later on that evening too! It was good to see her since we haven't seen her since her wedding day about 3-weeks ago.

Thanks everyone for coming to visit today since Mom really wants to go home by tomorrow!

Mylee Sienna Arrives!

The big day arrives as Makayla's baby sister wants out! My contractions started first thing this morning at around 7am. Again, it was like the identical feeling when I had Makayla. I wasn't sure but more sure than the first time that it's probably it and that the baby was coming today! I had plans to go scrapbooking with Janai this morning but I had to make the call to her that I'm busy having a baby. Too funny that I was trying to get one last scrap day in before she arrived! Janai was already on her way up here to meet me so she just came right to the hospital instead with her Scrap Queen shirt on and all! Once I arrived at St. Joseph's Hospital they had to get me a wheelchair since my contractions hurt so bad that I couldn't even walk. I was even crying. It wasn't that bad when I went in to have Makayla. They checked me in and couldn't believe that I was 6cm dilated. Yup, no false alarm here at all. The baby is coming today! We made the call to family and close friends........

Here I am all checked in and staying. Waiting so patiently for the Dr. to come give me my epidural. This is something I didn't get to have when I had Makayla since I was even further along with her arriving at 8cm dilated and too far along for an epidural. Once I got that epidural things were feeling soooooo much better. All the pain went away! Whew, since it is not a good feeling what so ever! You men are so lucky that you'll never understand!

After just a few hours of labor at 2:06pm Mylee Sienna arrives! Weighing in at exactly 8lbs. and 20.5 inches long. She is just absolutely amazing and looks just like her Big Sis Makayla who was such a good girl during all this.

I have to thank Dr. Linzey and my wonderful nurse for making this such a wonderful experience. They were both so supportive! It was even more great that they got me to have a VBAC since I had Makayla via C-section and was all ready to have Mylee that way also, so this was great and so much easier!

A family picture with our new little addition! We're just all soooo happy!

Circus Vargas

I went to buy a gift at Babies R' Us at Westminster Mall with Makayla and there was a big tent out in the parking lot. She kept on asking me what it was so I told her it was the Circus. She then said I wanna go like she knew what the Circus was but we've never taken her before. I'm sure she must've picked it up from a story or something. Who knows? I then told her she had to ask Daddy and sure enough she did and the next thing you know we're seeing the Circus. After the Strawberry Festival we ended up at Circus Vargas. Probably too much to do in one day since Makayla ended up falling asleep. Well, I could've to since it was really boring and not that entertaining at all. I guess there's a major difference in Circus Vargas vs. the Ringling Brothers one. Ry & I ended up leaving in the middle of the show when Makayla fell asleep. Oh vell, one of those things I guess we won't do again.

Mommy & Mak!

A glimpse of the show....

Strawberry Festival

Ryan took us all to the Strawberry Festival today in Garden Grove. We always read about it in the paper after it's been here but have never been able to go. Alan & Som joined us too. But too bad it was pretty disappointing. There really wasn't much about Strawberries there at all. Just a booth that sold fresh strawberries & another really crowded booth that sold strawberry shortcake. Other than that it was just a small little carnival. We didn't stay too long at all and I don't think we'll every be returning to it. Not too exciting at all!

Of course Makayla had to ride the carousel. One of her favorite rides! She was so specific to choose the big tiger to sit on.

Makayla playing some games with Daddy & Uncle Alan. She won a prize and picked out a monkey to take home. Pretty cute.

Makayla wanted to ride some some rides but was a little hesitant so good think Auntie Som rode with her on the little choo choo train.

This is the only strawberry thing we got! It was the shortcake and it was pretty good but nothing too special at all.

Alan's 35th Birthday & Memorial Day Weekend

We celebrated Alan's 35th birthday today! His birthday always lands on Memorial Day weekend so we always do a combo and BBQ for the occasion. It was pretty much just the family and Ed & Grace got to join us with their twins! That was a treat since they're usually never around for Memorial Day or Alan's birthday. It lands on their wedding anniversary and they're always away for the weekend to celebrate, but not this year with their new twins. It was real last minute so we didn't have a chance to tell a bunch of people to come over and with our family alone now it gets pretty crowded already.

Alan, Som & Makayla with the Paradise Cake from Kings Hawaiian! Uncle's favorite! Makayla went all the way to Torrance for breakfast to pick up the yummy cake for Uncle! She just loves her Uncle!

Ed & Grace and their twins, Ethan & Haley. Too cute! That Ethan is just so chubby! Can't believe they were both only 4 some lbs. at one time. Don't they look pretty good for not getting too much sleep I'm sure!

Of course Makayla had to get a solo picture with her Uncle! Happy Birthday to you! Her favorite song lately and blowing out candles is just one of her favorite things to do too.

Ryan & Makayla being silly. She was just cracking up at her Daddy pretending to be Rasta Man!

Som's 30th Birthday

Auntie Som got another birthday celebration today! Uncle Al wanted to take her out on her actual birthday with all of us! She was craving Funashin! It's one of our favorite spots and we haven't had it in awhile.

Makayla helping Auntie blow out her candle on the green tea ice cream!

Jennie found a Red Velvet cake recipe so I decided to bake it and try it out for Som's birthday. After dinner at Funashin we all went over to Mom & Dad's house for the real dessert! It was yummy but it could use some improvement. I wanted it to be fluffier and rise more so we'll see how it is next round.

Our family picture, but we're missing all the Grandparents, someone had to take the picture. My parents joined us also to help Som celebrate her 30th! Thanks Uncle Al for dinner & Happy Birthday Som!

Baby #2 Cake

Well, I'm officially on maternity leave now! I actually decided to take a few weeks off before the baby is actually due and that's more than I did when I had Makayla the first round. I'm trying to spend some fun & quality time with Makayla before the new baby arrives. So excited! So for my last day at work they got me a yummy cake! So sweet of everyone! I'm so lucky to have such great people who work for me and actually care about me so much too! What a team we have at R&B. They are truly my family too!

Thanks guys for holding down the fort! Gonna miss you but you know I'll be in touch more than I should as usual!

Tara's Birthday!

We went to NoKaOi downtown to celebrate Tara's birthday! Happy Birthday Auntie Tara! Thanks for inviting us! We've only had breakfast here so it was good to try the food for dinner too! Yum! Yum! It was nice to see all the girls play with each other as usual. We also got to see new baby Logan again too!

Makayla & Dr. Linzey

Makayla went to my 38-week check up with Dr. Linzey. She's warming up to him each and every time and he just loves her! He's a big man so I think it kinda scares her slightly. At least she took a picture with him. We're getting very excited that it's getting so close to Makayla's little sisters arrival! It'll be here before we know it! Things are still progressing nicely with me and feeling pretty good still. Just super heavy and getting uncomfortable, but what do you expect being this preggies!

MY GYM Pot Luck

I took Makayla to her My Gym potluck today at Central Park. It was a nice day to head out there to play and meet all the different instructors at My Gym. Again, I was a bad Mommy and forgot my camera. I tried taking a few photos from my cell phone but I'm too lazy to import it from there. They had some really cute & fun activities for all the kids and it was nice to meet some of the other families that participate at My Gym too. I also got to meet Brianna who is a swim instructor and Makayla's new teacher on Saturday's because Mr. Gabriel got a promotion. She's super nice and Makayla just loves her. We asked if she had some time to give Makayla some swim lessons this summer and how her program worked. She's super flexible and willing to come to our pool by our house to give her some private lessons for just $20 a session. I know that's still pricey but way better than all the other schools I've looked into. We'll see how it goes when it starts! Super excited since Makayla just loves the pool & water and I just want to make sure she's safe and can get out on her own in case of an emergency. I think I've heard too many horror stories!

Som's b-day & scrap day

We had squeezed in an extra day for scrapping this month because I'm suppose to be having my baby in the next few weeks and not sure when I'll have time to get together with everyone again. We decided to try a new store that we found in Los Alamitos. It's right by Som's house so we were so happy that she was able to join us for about half a day so we could all help her celebrate her birthday! Janai made her cupcakes and we got her flowers & balloons and made her feel extra special! Or we hope we did anyways!

Here's Som getting ready to blow out those candles!

It was a small group of us today since it was really last minute and was just going to be me & Janai anyways. Good times! Happy Birthday Som from your Scrap Queens!

Puff the Magic Dragon

Makayla and her girlfriends, Rachael & Mia went to see a little puppet show at the Main Street library. It was a nice summer day to be watching this show outside on their lawn. The girls had so much fun and all sat together in up front where it was kids only. Us mom's stayed towards the back on our lawn chairs and blankets. We chit chatted and Mia's new little brother Logan just hung out with us. It's great that the library has all these little events for the kids during the summer. Afterwards we went to Wahoos right downtown for a quick dinner. Thanks for a fun evening girls!

Here's the magic dragon....

Makayla walking to towards the front of the stage with her girlfriends. I guess I wasn't into my camera today since I really didn't get any pictures of all the girls. Bad Mommy! I guess I need a break every once in while and really can't catch every moment. Needed some chit chat time with my girlfriends without being distracted by taking constant photos of my girls.

Yummy Ice Cream!

Had to post this picture of her! She just loves these Haagen Dazs chocolate bars lately! What a fun mess every time she eats it!

Makayla's 1st Haircut

After breakfast for Mommy's Day we drove by Seacliff shopping center where they had this cute place for kids to get their haircut called Cool Cuts. We've been going back & forth as to whether we should cut Makayla's hair or not and so we finally did so today. Can't believe we waited this long for her to finally get her very 1st haircut at 2-years, 4-months old. We didn't even go big. We just took off a couple of inches just to get rid of the unevenness on the bottom. It was such a cute place and the lady that cut her hair was so nice and friendly. Makayla started by picking out a movie to watch while she got her haircut. She picked the Backyardigans. Then she got to pick out her seat and she picked the yellow taxi to sit and get her haircut in. She sat so nice and still for her entire haircut.

Makayla on her taxi and hair all wet and combed and ready to be cut!

All done! That's her hairstylist at this young age! Even at just 2-years old their haircuts are expensive! Nice hair Makayla! We got a cool little keepsake photo card from Cool Cuts along with a spot in it for a few strands of hair to keep as a memorabilia since this is yet another milestone for us!

Mommy's Day

I had a great Mommy's Day as usual! This is my 2nd Mom's Day with my little girl Makayla. We woke up and she had made me a little pocket album of Mommy & Makayla (I think Daddy helped.) It was cute and the best gift ever! We then went and had breakfast with all the Mom's at NoKaOi in downtown HB. Binh & Janai came up from San Diego along with Janai's parents too so we really had ALL the Mom's today. Her Mom came to town so that we could all scrapbook for since that's what we all wanted to do for Mom's Day weekend. It was so wonderful! Breakfast was delicious and not that crowded since we were able to make reservations and eat towards the back patio. After breakfast everyone went their own way and we just had a relaxing day at home which is what I so wanted and needed for sure!

Mommy & Makayla cheek to cheek at breakfast!

These were the FAMILY albums that we each made the Mom's. Jennie got one with pictures of the Arakaki family, my mom got one with photos of our family and Lucille, Janai's mom got one with photos of their family. They all came out beautiful and we spent so much time making them too, but it was all worth it and filled with great memories! Just for the non-scrapbookers, these books started out just plain brown chip board.

All the Moms get together for a Mom's Day photo! So much fun! Thanks for making our day so special everyone!

Phil & Reshan Engaged!

Congrats to Phil & Reshan! They're engaged! We're super happy for them! Not sure what the plans are but I think they're going to get married sometime in 2010! Happy planning since you guys have plenty of time. Wonder where Uncle Phil is going to live? Here or Florida since that's where Reshan is from. We all really hope he gets to stay here in California with all of us. But whatever makes them both happy! Enjoy each other!

Mel & Gary's Big Wedding Day!

Melanie's Big Day is here! We're all dolled up and ready for the wedding to get started. It's a beautiful day out and the weather is just perfect for an outdoor wedding at Lakewood Country Club! The morning was busy and now it's even busier trying to get Mel all ready and photos done for the bride, bridesmaids & groomsmen! Everything turned out wonderfully and everyone had a great time! I had a little incident since I am 9-months pregnant in her wedding. I think I lacked sleep, water & food and I made it through the whole ceremony fine but once I walked back up the aisle into the reception area my legs started to cramp up. I had to sit down right away and drink club soda. I guess standing up in front for the ceremony in the little heels didn't go well with my body. I took it easy got better and then was able to do a few bridal party photos with everyone. Then I just took it easy at the reception too and sat a lot and enjoyed the time. I'm glad I made it through for Mel and didn't ruin anything. Funny how Mel had two preggie girls in her bridal party. Kelly her friend all the way from Canada was actually 6 months pregnant. Can't believe she got us to do this for her. We must do love her dearly! Anything for Miss. Melanie! Especially today!

My lovely little girl Makayla came to find me while doing the bridesmaids photos. Dad did a pretty good job getting her all dolled up for this without me! Kudos to Daddy.

Makayla and her Daddy. So handsome and so pretty!

Mr. & Mrs. Reeves! Look how happy they both look! Finally all done with! Such a beautiful wedding & couple!

It's cake time! Melanie raved about this fabulous red velvet cake which I've never tried before and for sure it was delicious! Yum, Yum!

Uncle Binh & Mak cracking up at something!

Congrats to Mel & Gary! What a perfect day for the two of you! Thanks for letting us all share this wonderful day with you! Love you & may you live happily ever after!

Hair & Make-up

The morning of Melanie's wedding started very, very early. I think we got to the hair salon at 6am! Good thing Lis was in charge of getting us breakfast and Stace coffee! We needed all of it! I know that sounds like plenty of time but with 5 girls getting hair & make up done it never is enough time! Of course the wedding won't start without the bride but we hate to make all the guests wait. Anyhoo, it was a fun time with all of us getting all dolled up for Melanie's bid day! The hair salon was in Lakewood and was conveniently next door to the make up studio too. Everyone was super nice to work with and they made us all look beautiful! Especially the bride, Melanie! So exciting that her day is finally here! We're all so happy to be a part of this with her!

Here she is almost ready! Just ironing out some last minute details on her cell phone. Looks like we're going to have to cut off her "Bride" shirt since it's not a button off! The things us women do to look and stay beautiful!