For Sally...

My sister reminded me today that I have a blog and that the last thing I posted was that I was pregnant and having a boy. So she wanted to know if I was ever going to post anything about our family recent events, and to let you know did I have that baby? Well Sally here goes...


Being pregnant with the fourth was no easy task. I was hospitalized quite a few times due to pre-term labor and it was not pleasant at all. I got steroids, magnesium all things possible to prevent this baby from coming. I was in the hospital and missed Josh's 32nd birthday. I felt really bad as I do not like to miss birthdays. Yet we all understood and the most important thing was to try and keep the baby inside of me as long as possible. I got huge as you can tell from the picture above. The boys kept asking me about their baby brother. It was nice. Melody didn't quite understand.

I was on bedrest, very strict bedrest for the end of the pregnancy. It wasn't easy. I went out on maternity leave a lot earlier than I had wanted to. Once I hit the 37 week mark the doctor said that the bedrest was lifted and I could have the baby. So I started walking. I found out that there was this free easter egg hunt at the OC Fairgrounds. So we went. I walked so much that morning that I started feeling some more contractions. I had been feeling contractions since I went on bedrest in January. They were a bit painful but I thought if I go to the hospital they will send me back home. So Josh and I started joking around, one lady looked at us weird when he said something about having enough time to make it to the hospital. So I held my belly and said yes. She gave us a look and we started laughing. Later I did decide to go to the hospital. So I called my mom and asked her to come and see the kids. I told her no rush. I didn't think I would be having the baby yet, because I didn't feel like it was time. With the other three I knew. So my mom came and when we were on our way I told Josh that we should get something to eat. I was hungry and every time you go to the hospital they don't feed you. So we stopped and ate. We got to the hospital at around 6:30 p.m. then I got into a room at about 7 p.m. They checked me and said I was 4 cm. dilated. The last time I was hospitalized I left there 3 cm. dilated. So they call my doctor and tell him. Because of the previous hospitalizations my doctor said that if I didn't dilate 1 cm. in 1 hour, they would send me home. So they made me walk for an hour. During my walk, to help further the process ( I was so done with this pregnancy) I was even doing squats. After the hour, they checked me and I was at 5 cm. Then it begun. By ten o'clock I was at 7 cm. I begged them to get the anesthesiologist there quick. I was in pain but unlike the past two times I wanted some relief. They did it and within an hour we were at ten. When it was time to start pushing it started to hurt real bad. The thoughts of why didn't I opt for a C-Section went through my head. Then when it really began I couldn't even breathe. They tried putting an oxygen mask and I couldn't even breathe with that on. So after 20 minutes of pushing at 11:18 p.m. 5 hours after I went in, our darling Edward Jonah Davis was born. He weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz. and was 20.5 inches long.

Here's my last baby!

Alan, Charlie and Melody were fascinated with their new baby brother.

So after I had the baby, Josh was honored for being the top accounting student of the year for IMA. IMA is like the AICPA for accountants and it was a great deal. His teachers nominated him as they have all said that he is meant to do great things in this field. It was such an honor and we are all very proud him. He has one year left to get his Bachelor's and one more year after that for his Master's. He is a straight 4.0 GPA student and we couldn't be more proud of him. How does he do it? Especially with a family, full time job, church calling and more? With the love and support from me, his wife.

A month after Edward turned 1 month old, we took him to Disneyland. That's right he'll be spoiled from the beginning. It will be fun to see him later on, chanting with his siblings that he wants to go to the castle, going on the rides, having loads of fun.

Here's my baby, 1 month old!

During all the festivities my baby girl Melody turned two. She is amazing and loves her siblings. She has got a great heart and a great attitude. She loves sweets and just devoured that cupcake! She was just a baby and now she's growing up and wanting to be independent. Well, she's a beautiful daughter and I can't imagine my life without her.

Last but not least, my sister got ENGAGED!!! We are happy and thrilled for her. I love her so much! She is happy and in love and the wedding will be sometime next year. So maybe now my brother will also get the hint and find the love of his life too!

It's amazing, to be grown up and experience all these things. My entire family is blessed and we are thankful for everyone's love and support.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

So we found out last week that we are having a boy! We are so thrilled and super excited that this baby will be joining our family next year. He weighs about 5 ounces at the moment, which by sources he should be weighing 3 1/2 ounces about now. This will be another big baby boy!

I thought I was having a girl, since it felt the same way while being pregnant with Melody. I was shocked to find out it was a boy. A part of me wanted a girl, as I feel like Melody would've loved a baby sister. A baby brother is fine, which means she will always be the princess of the house. Now the tricky part starts, picking a name for this wonderful little guy! He will be so loved and it will be great! I can't wait to start feeling him move more and connect with him. I have finally started feeling better! Woo-hoo!

So, we celebrated Halloween. Though this year Josh and I didn't dress up, we had fun with the kids. Loved the Peter Pan theme this year! Alan was a great Peter Pan, Charlie loved being Captain Hook. Everywhere we went he would play with the hook and go clink, clink. Melody was a beautiful Tinkerbell. Everyone loved the outfit on her. The outfits were great and we had fun celebrating Halloween as a weekend event. We went to Disneyland on Friday night and had a Halloween party at our church. The kids really enjoyed themselves, especially since their cousins were with us. The prior weekend to Halloween we had gone to the Pumpkin patch to start the Fall festivities. Though it felt nothing like Fall! It was hot, but the kids didn't mind. They were playing and having a good time. The only thing that Melody didn't like was the horseback riding. Alan and Charlie loved riding on the horses! Overall they had such a great time and it was really good to spend time with my family. There is no other greater joy in the world than seeing the smile of children who are happy!

Baby #4 update

So today, I had an ultrasound done. The baby is perfect! I heard the heartbeat and saw the baby move a lot as the ultrasound was going on.

The baby looks like a little person already and I am just amazed. I am so glad that no harm was caused by me falling last week. It was scary!

So here is baby #4 at 12 weeks along.

Baby Scare!

Today was a very scary day for me. I fell while trying to sit down. I landed on my bottom and my mom freaked out. I would have caught myself except for the bowl of cereal that I had in my hands. I hit the tile flooring slowly. It was scary because I could have lost this baby. I called the doctor right away and they said if I didn't spot, bleed or have any cramping I would be fine and so would the baby.

So far nothing has happened, just soreness. I guess I have to be more careful. I'm already a high-risk preggers, I can't be adding more to it.

New Updates

We are pregnant with Baby #4!!!! .

We are thrilled and very excited that baby #4 has decided to join us. It was a complete surprise to be pregnant once again. This baby will be our last baby that we are pregnant with as it gets harder for mommy to have babies. Baby is already listed as a high risk pregnancy and there are already many don'ts that we can't do, one of them is traveling. Doctor expects our goal to reach week 34. Mommy will be getting a shot every week for baby to make it to week 34, which is in March 2010. If baby can make it by then, then all is good. We pray that all turns out well with this baby and we can't wait to find out who's with us as we have to pick a name. The due date is April 21, 2010 but knowing mommy, the baby will most likely be born in March.

Alan thinks that there is a baby in his tummy too. Charlie and Melody don't understand it yet. We can't wait to give you more updates as we know, so until then.

Happily Ever After

Getting married was one of the greatest days in my life. I married the man of my dreams and so I thought that the happily ever after was to come. After all, isn't that where the story ends? They lived happily ever after? Well, my journey as a married woman has taken a different direction than what I would've liked, but then where's the fun with that? Right.

Being the pill hater, yes I can take pills but do I do it willingly, no, I opted to get that lovely depo shot as my birth control. They said you will gain weight and lose hair. Well my hair is super thick so if I lost hair, I was sure no one would notice. Also I was weighing 90 lbs. at the time I got married and according to my mother I was grossly skinny, so what if I gained 20 lbs? 110 lbs. would make me look normal and not skinny.

So then I gained 50 lbs. within six months and I swear for every hair I lost I gained three instead. I was devastated. None of my clothes would fit and having to buy larger size clothes was excruciatingly painful. I gained weight like crazy and it wasn't due to overeating or not exercising it was because I chose a birth control method which went against my body in every single way. In 2003 I was weighing between 150-155 lbs. and decided to go on Atkins. I lost 30 lbs. and felt great. I would leave early to go to work, go to the gym and exercise and then go to work. I was working at Sony Pictures at the time and it was super hard to be extremely disciplined and not having any sugar. On Atkins you are supposed to introduce good sugars after two weeks, Josh and I didn't. We wanted to lose the weight and feel better. Josh had gained weight because I gained weight. Josh lost over 40 lbs and I lost 30 lbs.

Did I mention that the shot had caused me to have cysts in my ovaries, made my menstrual cycle wacko and made my chances of getting pregnant very slim? Oh it was horrible. I read that with Atkins it could reverse the cysts in the ovaries and some had gotten pregnant. So there were many reasons for doing Atkins. So, I did it and I got pregnant. Once I found out I was pregnant I quit Atkins. I needed carbs and good sugars. While pregnant I gained the correct amount of weight and lost it all once I had the baby. Slowly the weight came back and a bit more. I nursed and though it is supposed to help you lose weight, I think it kept me from gaining much more weight. After Alan was done nursing I got pregnant with Charlie and the same story happened and I had Melody.

I am at the point where Melody is almost done with the nursing and now it is time to regain myself. With the years that I have been married, my husband has been loving and supportive. He has never made weight an issue to come between us and I know that he too wants to lose the weight he has gained. We are starting to eat healthier and are starting on this exercise program P90X. Hopefully by doing this and accomplishing the weight loss, I can feel better about myself and not be so self-conscious. I hate looking in the mirror and I do not own a lot of clothes. I hate buying clothes that are a larger size and I'm tired of this. I do not like taking pictures and hate it when people take a picture of me. It is not me, it's someone else. In my dreams, I look at myself and it's the skinny me. I spent my twenties being overweight I do not want to spend the rest of my life like that. I want to be the hot and young sexy mom. So we'll see how this goes and I plan to stick to it and get the results I want. I don't want to be asked if I am pregnant and make people feel embarrassed by saying that I am not.

This is my time and I will lose a good amount of weight before I hit 30. I have to be disciplined and I want this badly. No more double chin and no more big clothes. It will be the greatest pleasure to get rid of them. No more puffy fingers and no more resizing my wedding rings.

My story can be sad but it can have a happy ending. So happily ever after, here I come.

Birthday Galore!

This month has been very eventful for Alan, not only has he graduated from Pre-School, he is now 5 years old! It's hard to look at him and see him be that old, I mean he was just Melody's size not too long ago. I look at Charlie and think he's next... great! Charlie is still 2 years old but he acts like he's 4! He's very smart, knows how to read letters, upper case and lower case, numbers, colors, shapes and can even write some letters too! Charlie's teachers tell me he's very smart and all I can say, it's because of Alan!

I decided after careful consideration to take Alan out of the Pre-School and put him at the YMCA. A few of the other parents were doing so, and we thought why not. Alan would have a blast this summer before he starts Kindergarten, and have a new, fun adventure. We also decided to put him in swimming lessons, that way he could learn and not be like his mom who self-taught herself, almost drowning in my early teens!

The only thing I did not consider was the impact Alan leaving the school would have on his friends and Charlie. Above and below you see a picture of Alan with his best friend Cori. Cori is a sweet, loving girl, who loves Alan very much. Alan loves Cori and wants to do everything with her. They're very protective of each other and like spending time together! I swear, I thought this would come in ten years, but it's happening now! Alan only talks about Cori and how much he likes her and he wants her to come over and he wants to go over there, and this could keep going. So during graduation, I decided to meet Cori's parents. It so happens that Cori feels the same way about Alan and can't stop talking about him. I told her mother that in the best interest it would be good for the kids to keep in touch so that they would not be so heartbroken when Alan left. She agreed. Last weekend we had our first outing and went to see the movie UP! It was hilarious, and Alan and Cori enjoyed it too! Cori's eyes lit up when Alan got there, and they were so excited to be with each other. There was a playground next to the theatre and we went there after the movie was over. I thought it was funny how Cori's dad tried hugging her when he came over but she kept going after Alan ignoring her dad! Sorry!

After the graduation, we took this picture of Alan and Cori, after some photoshop, this was the end result. The teachers and Cori's parents thought we have their engagement pictures done. I said it was cute. See her smile? It's because she's hugging Alan.

Josh and I were there for Alan's last day of preschool and it was hard to see him and Cori say goodbye. They are not fully aware that they won't see each other that much anymore. I asked the teachers how she was doing this week and they say that she is lonely and keeps looking for Alan! :(

I am so sorry Cori! I know Alan misses her too, and wants to hang out with her. Thing is they live in Long Beach and we live in Cypress, not far but it's not like living on the same street.



Well, on a happier note, we finally got the Disney Annual passes. We celebrated Alan's birthday at Disneyland and he, along with Charlie and Melody, were very happy about it! Alan and Charlie love the beginning of all Disney films, as it shows the Sleeping Beauty castle in 3-D. They were so thrilled and so happy to have seen it. It was the first place we went to when we got there.

We had lunch there and saw Woody and Jesse from Toy Story, as they were a part of the show. It was just a great day, filled with so many fun memories. Alan saw an old friend from church, and met up with one of his Pre-School buddies, Ben and even I saw my Mia Maid teacher there! I mean, it was cute running into people we knew.



Alan rode a few rides and we saw the Fantasmic show in the evening. Alan was so thrilled that we went there for his birthday! We were happy to make the kids happy! I have loved going to Disneyland since I came to this country, it's nice to share the experience with my kids at a much younger age. I just hope I don't spoil them much ! ;)