Saturday, October 29, 2011

On a sad note...

On June 9, 2011, we said goodbye to our sweet baby boy, Nacho. He had been with us for over 16 years, which seems like longer than it feels when you're at the end of it. He was so tired, and I know it was his time, but I miss him every day and can still hear his footsteps in the house from time to time.





I will miss you more than you can ever know. Rest in peace, baby boy.

Wow, um, yeah...

So clearly I did not make it back after our Russia trip. Nor did I ever report back on 2009's Chinese New Year party. Or last year's for that matter. Since it's been, uh, MORE THAN TWO YEARS since I last updated this blog. I probably should just give it up, but that would be admitting defeat. And frankly, I don't even have an excuse other than sheer laziness.

So let's try again, and let me start by getting my three readers (oh hell, I know - at this point even my three readers are long gone) caught up on the last 2+ years of my life.

In May 2009, Che & I spent eight days in Moscow and St. Petersburg and had a great time:



The next month, we went to Texas for our nephew's HS graduation. This is the same nephew who was born when Che & I were in college, and now he's halfway through with his undergrad at our alma mater. Where does the time go?



In July 2009, we spent a long weekend in Oregon enjoying good friends, good food, and glorious summer weather.



Later that month, we got some exciting news!


About a week after we learned the news, I left my hectic, stressful private practice job for a less hectic, less stressful government job - perfect timing what with baby coming and all. In between, we enjoyed another long weekend with great friends, great food, and glorious summer weather, this time in San Francisco:


The rest of the fall, winter, and early spring was busy spent preparing for baby's arrival, which happened at 5:04 a.m. on March 3, 2010. Welcome to the world, Iris Mariana!!


Since then, well, it's been an exhausting, exciting, exhilarating, exhausting (wait, did I say that already?) whirlwind. I didn't realize how fast time can fly until my daughter was born. Sometimes, it feels like it was just yesterday; other times, those sleepless, struggle-filled early days seem like a lifetime ago.

What I do know is that my "baby girl" is now 20 months old (yeah, I became one of those annoying people who counts time in months), and while still exhausting and challenging, most days are a joy. She's the light of my life that I never knew was missing until she came along.