Heather & Jaime's Wedding Reception

Technically, it's already the wee-hours of Sunday. Saturday, July 29, 2006 - Heather Sheese & Jaime Rubio's wedding and reception. The wedding was beautiful. Didn't take any pictures at the wedding, as I was taking pictures for Valerie.

But, Heather had asked me a long time ago to take candid shots at the reception for her. I took loads of pictures, probably around 80. Here are the "highlights" or some of my favorites.

manda & johnny taking care of the well-wishing tree.

sarah & tiffany.

troy playing the guitar -
doesn't he look handsome?
i know, i'm partial.

lei.

maritza & nettie and david's son.

nettie and her two daughters.

rita.

the cake.

thought this was a cool shot.
a picture of a picture!

doesn't katia look fantastic?
i want to look that great
4 weeks after delivering my child!
(fat chance of me looking that good!)

valerie, making a contribution to the well-wishing tree.

jeff, katia, heather, and jaime.

jaime, heather, and jung-me.

lei & heather.

heather & me.
lei took this picture.
this isn't necessarily a favorite picture of me,
but, this is a chance for all of you out-of-town folks
to see how much bigger i've grown!

Pregnancy Pictures by Anastasia Pottinger

One of my best friends, Christine Poston, gave me a very nice, generous gift of a photography session with Anastasia Pottinger. After I left Columbia, MO, last August, Christine was without her former pregnancy photographer, me! So, she found someone else to finish documenting her pregnancy. Up until now, I haven't gone to anyone, besides Troy, to take pregnancy photographs of me. So, this was a real treat!

While Troy and I were in Missouri, earlier this month, for me to defend my dissertation, I also made an appointment with Anastasia Pottinger, a.k.a. Stacie. The following is a sample of some of my favorite photographs she took of me.

This photographs were taken on Wed., July 12, 2006. I was 30 weeks and 6 days. Enjoy!

Got to have my honey in some of the pictures!

There's a baby in there!

Anastasia Pottinger Photography

our trip to galveston

the bishop's palace

manda & johnny invited us to galveston; so, on the fly, we joined them this past wednesday and thursday, july 26 & 27. starting at 8 AM on july 26, we arrived in galveston, texas, approximately 6 and a half hours later.we dined witih manda & johnny at a really nice restaurant, willie g's (couldn't tell it's a really nice restaurant by the title, could you?) for dinner. they had fantastically exuberant seafood, where i indulged mightily in some king crab legs. we stayed at the same bed & breakfast where manda & johnny stayed - the victorian inn. in fact, they were our next door neighbors. it's a beautiful mansion that has been restored. in hindsight, i should have taken some pictures of that place.

the next day, while john worked, troy, manda, and i went to see the bishop's palace, where most of the following pictures were taken. the bishop's palace, originally called gresham's castle, was built in 1886, by colonel walter gresham - a wealthy galveston attorney and congressional representative who helped found the gulf, colorado, and santa fe railway.

one of these adorned each side of the entrance
t0 the bishop's palace

this is not the bishop's palace.
this is a catholic church
right next to the bishop's palace.

manda in sitting on the steps
leading up to the bishop's palace

manda took this picture of me.
does my belly match the size of the bishop's palace?

manda always looks like she's having a lot of fun!
isn't she great?

troy & me
thanks for taking the picture manda.

manda & me
picture taken by Troy.

Our last visit with the Westcotts

We miss the Westcotts very much already, but we understand, the show must go on . . . Rhonda, John, and baby Maverick are back home, where the family (especially Rhonda) feels more at home. Best wishes to you and we love you.

The following pictures are pictures I took the last time we saw them, on Mon., July 3, 2006.

Rhonda with baby Maverick.

awww, look at the little darling!

Maverick's smiling for his daddy.

sweet, sweet Maverick.

Children's Place Gifts from Jeannie, et. al.

Animal bodysuit: 0-3 mos.; applique bib; striped booties: 0-6 mos.;
reversible blanket.

Are these little goodies from Children's Place so adorable and cute? My friend Jeannie Hayward (who I know from Columbia, MO), her husband (Rob), and two sweet children (Caroline and Catherine) picked these out for our little munchkin. That's so sweet of them.

Catherine (the one in the stroller) and Caroline

I hope Jeannie doesn't mind me including a picture that she took of them on this blog. They have such a great-looking family, with two very sweet children.

Preggers Woman Goes to a Lingerie Party at a Pool

I went to a lingerie shower for the pastor's daughter, Heather, this evening. The lingerie shower took place at a pool within a subdivision. I bravely sported a two piece swimming suit. Didn't wear a special pregnancy suit of any kind. Bought a two piece swimming suit at Target; got the bikini top in a large, but got the bikini bottom in my regular size, a small. Saw a shadow of my side view on the brick wall and realized my belly has gotten pretty large! The gals at the shower were so sweet; they said how cute I was and that I'm all belly with a little butt and little everything else. Don't know whether they were just trying to be nice, but those complements sure made me feel better about myself!

we're going to galveston to meet up with the huddles next week!

last night, when manda & johnny were over at our place, they extended an invitation for us to join them while they're in galveston next week. johnny and troy looked up the specific place where johnny and manda are staying on the internet, while manda helped me finish cooking chicken thai curry that we served over a bed of jasmine rice.

this morning, i got a call from the place where johnny and manda are staying, and we made a reservation to stay there wednesday night! whoo hoo. manda and johnny are good friends of ours. and, we are super excited about the opportunity to spend some time with them there. we are counting this trip as an early celebration of our wedding anniversary. august 3 will be our fourth wedding anniversary, and it will be the last anniversary without any children. so, we're going to make sure we have a fantastic time just the adults. baby in utero won't mind.

so, stay tuned for pictures and such . . .

oh yes, and i do mean to attach some pictures on to previous postings, so feel free to revisit previous posts to catch any changes.

$100 Giftcard to Toys 'R Us Baby

One of Tenny and my childhood friends sent Troy and me a card along with a $100 Toys 'R Us Baby giftcard, which we received today. Tenny's better at keeping in touch with Lynn (the childhood friend) and Marc. Perhaps the fact that Tenny (and Tim) and Lynn (and Marc) live in California help. Anyways, I thought it was super generous of them to send us that giftcard. Will probably wait until after the church baby shower to spend some of the giftcard money.

Overall, we have been so blessed with baby gifts from family and friends. Didn't expect so many blessings to flow in our direction. People, in general, have been very gracious, kind, loving, and generous.

Pack 'n Play and Baby Bjorn

Yesterday, Troy and I went to Toys 'R Us. I was eager to make use of their baby sale in some way or another. Some friends/former co-workers/managers from Talbots (where I worked for five years) got us a giftcard at Toys 'R Us, and I was also eager to use it. So, off we went, to Toys 'R Us. They had the Graco Pack 'n Play, Oxford Blues, for which we had registered, in stock; and, it was $10 off. So, we used that Toys 'R Us gift card to pay for part of the Pack 'n Play. We went ahead and got one set of Pack 'n Play sheets in the light blue color. I also indulged by getting pacifiers made by two different companies. Yay!

Today, Katia and Jeff Brown were sweet and gave us a giftcard to Target. That will definitely come in handy. Haven't decided how we're going to spend that, yet.

Manda and I went on a fun Target run, after lunch. I bought a bathing suit! Haven't purchased one in YEARS, at least eight years. Got a two piece swimming suit for the pregnant person (that's me!). Manda assured me it looked good on me (I'm a rather poor judge of what looks good on me these days).



Manda and Johnny gave us a baby present today, too - the coveted Baby Bjorn, which I want really badly, given the rave reviews other mommies have been giving it. And, they gave us a giftcard. I must say, I'm quite floored by how generous our dear friends our. Granted, they're our closest friends here and vice versa, I still feel very undeserving. Well, thank you very, very much. We will think of you every time we carry our little one in the Baby Bjorn. Look forward to using it!

The Changleys are Back in South Texas

Manda came up with a combination last name for Troy and me that I find endearing - The Changleys. We got back yesterday, some time between eleven o'clock and noon. I am a bit tired.

Despite the weariness, somehow I found the energy to unpack all the contents in my suitcase, package three Ebay items to send off to buyers, open all our mail, go see the midwife nurse at my ob-gyn office, drop by the bank, mail the Ebay packages, attend a discussion group with other Christian faculty members, and go to dinner with various departmental members. Troy and I didn't get to bed until 12:30 AM, and right when I was laying comfortably in our bed, I heard Niao Mi hacking, and I had to clean that up before settling in for the night. Well, somebody must have been tired, because, Troy and I slept until 11 o'clock this morning!

My plan today was to drop off a gift to Junko (for looking after Niao Mi so faithfully - she not only fed him and gave him water everyday, but she brought books to read, to keep him company for awhile), buy groceries, and do laundry. Two of those three things are accomplished and done. I'm thankful that Junko ended up going to Tokyo Market and HEB with me, otherwise the shopping would have seemed even more taxing. Still need to do laundry; we'll see if I have the energy to do that before going to bed tonight.

For now, I'm going to grab a bite to eat and then Troy and I are going to Toys R Us to see if we can take advantage of a sale that is supposedly ending tomorrow. I'm interested in seeing how much the price of the Pack 'n Play or the Baby Bjorn has gone down. The managers at Talbots got us a nice giftcard for Toys R Us Baby, and I'm eager to use it on a larger ticket item!

When something semi-interesting or exciting happens, I'll try and post some pictures on this blog again. Til later, ciao!

the dissertation defense is done!

i defended my dissertation orally, this afternoon, at 1 o'clock. after an hour and ten minutes of nervousness and worrying, as i attempted to answer some hard questions, i am done. i passed my dissertation defense. whaa hooooooooo!!!!!!!!

my dissertation advisor asked all her questions first. then my second reader asked me his questions. then the two other faculty members from my department that are on the committee member asked me their questions. to be quite honest, on some of the questions, i was frankly stumped. one committee member actually asked me to identify a greek term; yikes! thankfully i remembered or guessed correctly.

dr. lily chang . . . strange. is that me?

i think the reality that i've defended my dissertation and completed all the requirements for my phd is slowly hitting me. for a few hours after the defense, i wasn't sure how to respond; my body and brain were still in a state of shock. now, i think i'm starting to thaw out. a couple of hours after the defense, i realized i was STARVING! baby's hungry, hungry, hungry. and now, as i write this, i am utter exhausted. tired, tired, tired.

when i go back to texas, i've got to check my dissertation for typos and things like that. and i've got to finish turning some paperwork in to the graduate school, and i'm done. no more tuition, for research hours, is to be paid to the university of missouri. that's all folks.

one of the goldfish, joon, has kicked the bucket

I'm sad to report that the smaller goldfish, Joon, has kicked the bucket. She was having trouble most of the day yesterday. Spent most of the day floating at the top of the water. Since her mouth and gils were still moving, I knew she wasn't quite dead, yet. Well, when I woke up today and took a look, she was dead.

Bye, bye Joon.

Did Benny a favor and cleaned the fish tank. Now he has a clean home in which to swim, eat, and sleep.