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.