Thanksgiving Week

I am really bad about going through Thanksgiving week without really thinking about what I am thankful for. I love time with my entire family so I always just enjoy my time with them but leave it at that. I feel like this year has really shown me so many reasons to be thankful though. So the next few days I am going to say what I am thankful for.

Today I am thankful for the family God has blessed me with.

Kevin: My best friend, supporter, love of my life. He has grown so much this past year as he opened his practice and I could not be more proud of him. I watch him go to work everyday with the goal of helping people get well and the excitement of doing what he loves. He puts in long hours but still has time to come home and spend time with Ayda and I. I'm so thankful for all he does for our family and the love we have for each other!

Ayda: I'm not sure I can even put words to describe what I feel for my baby girl. She brings me so much joy everyday. I love watching her grow and learn new things. She has the best personality and loves life. I have learned so much about myself by being her mommy. And I am beyond thankful that I can stay home with her everyday and be part of all that she is learning and doing.

My Parents: My mom and step dad are such great supporters and encouragers of us. Mom is there at a drop of a hat if I need her...even down in FL. She lights up when Ayda is around and I love watching that relationship. Jim is there for whatever we need as well. We are so thankful to have them!

My dad and step mom, though much further away, are always willing to listen to me ramble about how we are doing or run something by them. I don't have to hear my dad say he's proud of me, I see it in his eyes when I am with him. They both adore Ayda and again I love that! When we do see them it doesn't take long for her to pick back up and love being with them.

Kevin's Parents: We are SO thankful for them. We moved into their house a little over a year ago and are still living there now. They have opened their doors lovingly to us and I cannot thank them enough. They have helped us so much as Kevin has opened his office doors. His dad has helped him make business decisions and they have been such a support to us as we made this huge transition. I have loved getting to know my in-laws better and can honestly say "I love my in-laws".

Siblings: Between Kevin and I, we have lots of siblings, nieces and nephews. Unfortunately we don't live near any of them except his brother. But when we are able to spend time with the others it is wonderful. All our nieces and nephews are amazing and have such precious personalities. We are so thankful for all of them. We live with Kevin's brother, George, so I definitely know him quite well. He is a great guy and I love that Ayda has an uncle that adores her and she adores him. I adored my Uncle Andy growing up so much. I loved going to his house or spending any amount of time with him. He made me laugh and feel so special. And I see that with George and Ayda. She sees a Honda CRV on the road and yells out "Gorgi's car!". He heads off to college in January and the house will not be the same at all. We will miss him!!!

As I write this I am again reminded of how important family is. They are with us throughout our days and weeks. I absolutely love the little family I have of Kevin, Ayda, and baby Lin. But I am also so thankful for our extended family. Thank you Lord for the blessing of them!

20 Weeks!

Morning Sickness: None at all! I am officially that woman I have envied since I was pregnant with Ayda. If the baby didn't kick me through out the day I would not know I was pregnant. It is wonderful!

Cravings: I have not had any one particular craving this month. I just like food and I am hungry quite often. I'm having a hard time not gaining too much weight and got fussed at at my last appointment. There is a part of me that knows I need to care and there is a part of me that is just so happy I feel so good and I don't care about the weight.

Movements: Feeling a TON of movements all day. And this baby is all over the place in there. From about 20 weeks on Ayda was pretty much in the same position it seemed. At least her kicks were always in the same place. This one may be kicking really low and then all of a sudden be up high. He/she is making full use of the space in there!

Energy: It is definitely back to pretty much normal. I'm sleeping good at night and can usually make it all day without feeling the need for a nap. Thankful for that as I chase miss Ayda all around!

Clothing: Had a hard realization this month...the clothes I wore while pregnant with Ayda don't really fit this time. I am having to bring all my SIL's clothes back to her because the majority of them don't fit. Fortunately I have two friends down here that have lent me some of their stuff so I am still ok. I have not had to buy too much! Such a blessing!

What I miss: Not too much at this point. I think the only thing that has crossed my mind several times lately is a sub from Publix. One of those just sounds so good! I'll put it on the post baby food list!!

I can't believe we are half way there! And I'm actually a little over 21 weeks as I write this! This pregnancy is going REALLY fast. I can't wait to meet our little one in March!

Pumpkin Carving Party

Our small group got together for a pumpkin carving party. We had a yummy dinner and then headed outside to work on our master pieces. Well in the Lin family...Kevin worked on the master piece. I don't like touching all the goo!

Ayda deciding what design to carve! ha!

Helping daddy scoop. Or pretending actually...she doesn't like the goo either! That's my girl!

The girls enjoyed watching all the adults carve the pumpkin!

Helping Daddy again

The finished products!

All the carvers!!

It was a great night with our small group! We have really been blessed with a great group of people to share life with.

Sea World

The same weekend our husbands were out of town, Taunya and I decided to head to Sea World as well. We both have annual passes and she has a free parking pass so it would be a fun, cheap outing for the kids. And of course Ayda and Easton loved seeing all the fish and animals.

Ayda loves to walk around when we are places but she gets tired very randomly and will just sit down. Sometimes on a curb, sometimes in the middle of the sidewalk. Wherever will suit her just fine to rest her legs.

Ayda and Easton checking out the fish!

Giving high five after a fun day at the park!!

Stanley Pond Farm

With it being so hot down here still, I have a hard time getting in the "fall" spirit. This time of year I really miss Georgia! But we headed out to a farm near by with some good friends of ours and that definitely helped! Kevin was out of town and so was my friend, Taunya's, husband. So we loaded up the kids for a fun morning out. There were tons for the kids to do and they had a blast. Ayda and Easton are good buds so they had fun running around the farm together. There was a pumpkin patch, miniature horse, tractor ride, "cow barrel" ride, fish to feed, a kids play area (as if the farm was not enough), and lots of land to run around!

Trying to get two toddlers to sit still, look at the camera, and smile is impossible. I know, Duh! But at least it's still pretty cute.

Ayda picked out her pumpkin all by herself. She loves it! Every time we walk by it on the stairs outside she says "That Ayda pumpkin!!". Yes that is her pumpkin!

Notice the look on Ayda's face...she LOVED the mini horse! She didn't want to leave him at all!

On the tractor ride around the farm. Ayda was talking about something.

The cow barrel ride. I had to ride with her which was quite a bumpy ride. My hips were really sore afterward.

Beach Fun

Kevin's dad took the whole family (all 10 of us) to Hammock Beach Resort for a long weekend. It was SO much fun and I actually came home relaxed. There were so many of us to chase Ayda that I felt like I got a little bit of a break while we were there. And she had an absolute blast playing in the pool, sand, and beach.

Playing with Agong (Grandpa)! They had lots of fun playing in the water!

Kevin's mom and grandparents relaxing on the beach. It was late afternoon so it was getting a little chilly but the rest of us were running around still and keeping warm. The water was actually really warm!

Ayda playing with her Great Aunt.

Kevin and Ayda loved going out in the ocean and splashing in the waves. She loved for them to hit her in the face (she did not get that from me!). She's such a dare devil out there. I wouldn't go by myself so that was their thing!

Weeeee!

About to dig into all the sand! Last year she was terrified to even stand in the sand...what a different a year makes!

The pool had a No Entry section which was great for Ayda. She could play in the shallow water or go deeper if she wanted to. She, George, and Grace played with those funnels for quite a while!

George coming down the water slide at the pool. I went down a few times and then saw the signs saying pregnant women should not ride. Oops! Luckily I didn't let myself go too fast and baby didn't seem phased by it!

We checked out of the hotel on Monday and headed north to spend the day in St. Augustine. We went to the fort first. Ayda loved playing on all the canons. There were no ropes or rails anywhere so Kevin and I were a nervous wreck chasing Ayda around. After the fort we headed to some shops and grabbed some lunch. Then we made our way back home!

It was a fun weekend! Kevin's grandparents are heading back to Taiwan the first of November so this was sort of our last big family thing with them. I think it's safe to say we all had a lot of of.

Thanks again Baba for a great few days!

Anniversary Weekend!

So I'm kind of going backwards a little. I forgot I never posted about our anniversary celebration. Kevin and I celebrated 3 years of marriage on Sept. 29. It was a wednesday so we just had lunch and waited for the weekend to really celebrate. He took me to Animal Kingdom Lodge for a night. I had requested one night for us to get away. I have only been away from Ayda one other night (other than all my night shifts which I don't really count). Of course as soon as we checked into the lodge we immediately were missing her. She would have LOVED the pool, animals, everything. But we had so much fun together too! We went on a safari around the lodges and saw some of the animals really close up. Afterwards we had dinner at a nice restaurant with some very good food. Our hotel room overlook a "savannah" so when we got back to our room we looked outside and there were two zebras hanging out. It was really neat.

On the safari! They had an ostrich egg (hollowed out!) to show how big they are. Pretty cool!

Kevin and a giraffe getting to know each other. This giraffe was super friendly. She was only about 2 years old and super cute!

On Saturday we decided to get Ayda down to the park because we knew she would love seeing all the animals. And we missed her quite a bit by then!!! Kevin's brother, George, works at Disney and can get us in for free. He and his girlfriend brought Ayda down to us and we all enjoyed the day at Animal Kingdom. And, we were right, Ayda had a BLAST!!

George and Grace

On the Park safari. Ayda said hi and bye to most of the animals! She was into the whole thing.

Taking a break from all the walking! We did have her stroller but she enjoyed walking around and seeing the animals herself!

All in all it was a very FUN 24 hours. We were only about 45 minutes from home but it was a great get away. It has been a crazy three years for Kevin and me. We listed off all that has happened...

On our first anniversary I was 7 months pregnant with Ayda

On our Second Anniversary we had just moved to Florida for Kevin to start his practice

And on our third anniversary I was 12 weeks pregnant with baby #2!!

In between the anniversaries we had Ayda, Kevin graduated, I worked night shift (ahhh!), his office was built and his doors opened, we got pregnant with our second little one, and one or both of us have been to dominican republic (k), ATL countless times, Connecticut (me and A), NYC, and all around Florida. It has been busy and fun and I would not change a day of it all! I still know with everything in me that I married the man I was supposed to and I am more in love with him now as I was when we said our vows! We said we wanted to do life together and I'd say we are doing just that!

Happy 3rd Anniversary to an amazing man, husband, and father!