Cherie's Realm

He's here! He's here! He's here!

2007-09-13T23:18:00.000-04:00

We are proud and overjoyed to announce the birth of our beautiful baby boy, Tristan Gabriel Hou. He arrived on September 7th, weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz., and measured 20 in. He is so sweet and calm and only cries when he's getting his diaper changed or if he's hungry. He even slept 6 hours straight last night! Woo hoo! His labor and delivery were fast and awesome and Andrew got to deliver him! It was an amazing experience.

In other news, we sold our house! Praise the Lord! In fact, the house sold on Thursday the 6th and I even mentioned that evening that I could finally go into labor knowing the house was sold. Funny how things happen. God's timing is so perfect! So, our new house will close on September 28th and our current house will close around October 12th. It's been a trying and busy couple of months, but everything is falling into place. :)

Here are some pics of our newest little boy:

Tristan with Mommy:

Not a great pic, but the only decent family pic so far:

Tristan:

Awww, a smile:

With both eyes open... a rarity for now:

Tristan with Big Brother Xander:

Tristan with Big Brother Zachary:

Finally updated!

2007-07-19T14:00:00.000-04:00

I forgot to mention that I FINALLY updated our family website. Actually, I did it before we left for vacation at the end of June, but I was so far behind that it took me a few days to actually do it. I mean, really far behind... the last time I had updated our website, Zachary was only 7 months old and he's now almost 2 years old! Anyway, if you're interested, the address is http://www.thehoufamily.com. It's also listed on the right. Enjoy the pics! :)

8 years ago...

2007-07-13T03:56:00.000-04:00

I married my best friend.

On July 10, 1999, I stood before God and about 250 family and friends and pledged my love and devotion to Andrew. We promised to honor and cherish each other for the rest of our lives. It's hard to believe that it's been 8 years since that wonderful day. God has truly blessed us! In the past 8 years, Andrew has gone through and completed medical school; survived his internship, residency, and fellowship; we've welcomed two beautiful boys to the world (and one on the way); we purchased our first house and are getting ready to move into a new house in a few months; and we've grown older, wiser, closer, and even more in love. Happy anniversary to my sweetheart - the one I laugh with, live for, dream with, love. <3 <3 <3

My Three Sons!!!

2007-05-25T14:34:00.001-04:00

I know you have all (2 of you) been waiting anxiously to find out what we are having. We're having a BOY!!! We're excited and nervous. Can you imagine the chaos associated with THREE boys each two years apart in one house? It's going to be crazy, but fun! I'm currently 25 weeks and feeling pretty good. Now, if only the weather would cool down - wishful thinking, I know. ;)

In other news, we are building a new house. It's not going to be finished until September/October, so we still have a while to go. Andrew will be starting his new job with the orthopedic practice in August, so this coming end of summer/fall will be a super busy time for us.

Sorry this is a quickie entry, but Xander and Zachary are up from their naps and asking me to play with them. Can't resist their adorable little faces. Hopefully next time I'll have some updated pics for you. :) Take care and see you in another three months! :D

Yeah, I know it's been a long time...

2007-03-28T13:34:00.000-04:00

Okay, I fully realize that it's been 3.5 months since I last blogged. I don't think any of you have noticed, though, right? I really haven't had much to blog about. Let's see... I'll do a quickie recap. We had a wonderful Christmas. My parents came from San Francisco to celebrate with us. We usually go home to SF, but Andrew couldn't get time off during the holidays. When I told my parents, they said, "No worries, we'll bring Christmas to you!" How nice!

Xander started preschool in January. He loves it! Zachary is constantly keeping me on my toes. He is a climber, mischievous, and getting into everything. His newest conquest is finally being able to get onto the couch by himself and standing up and giving me mini heart attacks. Not a good thing!

In other news, we are expecting #3! I am almost 17 weeks pregnant and due on September 8th. We're excited, but terrified of being outnumbered. Yikes! I have my mid-pregnancy ultrasound on April 12th where we will hopefully find out the gender of this baby. I am DYING to know!

We're also in the beginning stages of purchasing a new home. More on that later.

Hope things are going well with you and I'll try to post more often. :)

There's no way Christmas is next week, right???

2006-12-16T16:06:00.000-05:00

This year, I feel like Christmas has just snuck up on me. It seems like it was just Thanksgiving. There's no way Christmas is next week, right??? Well, for once, I feel like I'm on top of things. We took our Christmas pics weeks ago, the Christmas cards are in the hands of the U.S. Postal Service, and most of the gifts for our families back home have been wrapped, boxed, and FedEx'd. I already even have Christmas thank you cards just sitting around waiting to be written (and I already have a few I need to write!). I just have this feeling, this tiny little feeling, that there's something I'm forgetting. And by the time I remember or realize what it is, it will be too late. Don't you hate that feeling? :(

Anyway, my parents are coming to visit us next week and we are so excited! I told Xander weeks ago that his grandparents would be coming to visit from San Francisco. Ever since we left San Francisco this past September, Xander has asked us over and over again if we can go back. Poor kid misses the family. Well, every time he hears an airplane now, he says, "Poh Poh and Gong Gong are coming!!!" It's so cute to see him so excited. I feel so bad when I have to say, "Almost, but not yet." He must think my parents are on the longest flight in history!

Well, I did mention that we had family Christmas pics done this year, instead of just of the boys like last year. So, here are a few if you're interested.

The family pic:

Awww, don't they look so grown-up? I can't believe how big they're getting. Time flies too fast. :(

And, of course, the obligatory Santa pic:

A Book Meme

2006-11-09T23:54:00.000-05:00

I snatched this from Dawn's blog.

The rules are:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next four sentences on your blog, along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest!

From The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

That night, when the darkness was weighed down with singing crickets and Rosaleen was snoring right along with them, I had myself a good cry. I couldn't even say why. Just everything, I guess. Because I hated lying to August when she was so good to me.

Okay, I have no idea what it's talking about and I really hope I just didn't ruin the book for myself. I'm only on page 8 so far! Hahaha!

So, what book is on your desk???

Can I share some pics of my cutie pies?

2006-10-22T01:18:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe that Xander is already 3 years old and Zachary is already 1. Where did my babies go??? *sob* Here are their birthday pics we had done at Picture People in September:

Xander in the birthday box:

Xander sitting:

Xander standing:

Zachary in the birthday box:

Zachary sitting:

Zachary "standing":

Xander & Zachary going on a high flying adventure:

My birthday boys:

Getting too comfortable...

2006-10-19T23:05:00.000-04:00

So, the other day, we decided to make some Mandarin Country Style Ribs for dinner. Sounded simple enough. A handful of ingredients thrown into a crockpot and voila, dinner! It smelled so good while it was cooking and when it was finally done, we sat down to eat. It tasted just as good as it smelled... maybe even better. It was delicious! So, we're eating. I'm feeding Zachary and munching away on salad and ribs and rice. And Andrew is eating and helping Xander cut up his meat.

We're practically finished with dinner and I look at Xander and he has a couple of red dots on his face. Great. What could be causing that? (Side note: for those who don't know, Xander has severe food allergies.) We mentally go through the ingredient list for the ribs trying to figure out if the red dots are just coincidences or if Xander is reacting to something he's eating. It couldn't possibly be the ribs. We have been trying to make Xander-friendly meals so that we wouldn't have to cook him a separate meal every night. Let's see... the ingredients: soy sauce, but we substituted with Bragg's Liquid Aminos since Xander can't have soy sauce, ribs, ketchup, orange marmalade... did someone check the label for the marmalade? Sounds dumb, I mean, it's orange marmalade! Surely there couldn't be any dairy, eggs, wheat, or nuts in orange marmalade?!?!? So, I go to check the jar and there it is.

"Produced in a facility that also produces items containing wheat, dairy, and nuts."

Fabulous.

I guess Andrew and I were getting too comfortable. We need to remember to read ALL labels, even for foods that were previously safe. You just never know when a company might decide to "improve" the recipe. I really hope and pray that Xander outgrows all of his food allergies.

11 years ago...

2006-10-13T01:00:00.000-04:00

On October 9th, Andrew and I celebrated our 11th "dating" anniversary. (BTW, I use the term "celebrated" very loosely. "Celebrating" consisted of me saying to Andrew, "Is today the 9th?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Oh, happy anniversary!" This was at 5:00pm. Oops! Haha!) I cannot believe it was 11!!! years ago that Andrew asked me to be his girlfriend. I know, sooo cheesy. Haha! It doesn't seem like it could have been more than a decade ago that we started dating. In the same vein, it's hard to believe that we've been married for 7 years. Where does the time go? I must be getting old...

Ahhhh... heavenly!!!

2006-10-08T19:25:00.000-04:00

I did something today that I haven't done in a looooong time. Well, not that long, but not since I was pregnant with Zach. Today, after church, we came home and ate lunch. Then, I put both boys down in their cribs for naps and Andrew headed out to the gym to work out. What would I do with my time alone? Why, hop into bed for a nap, OF COURSE! It was heavenly! All 45 minutes of it. I woke to the sounds of Zach crying in his crib. I went to get him and brought him to our bed and nursed him. All he wanted to do was crawl around and give me heart attacks by trying to catapult himself off the sides of the bed. Okay, I get it buddy, naptime over. Why don't I have kids that like to lie down with me in my bed? Hmmm...

Soggy Saturday

2006-10-07T16:59:00.000-04:00

So, my family and I were supposed to go to an apple orchard in Charlottesville today. It's the last weekend for this orchard's annual apple festival. And what happens? Rain. It's been raining pretty steadily since last night. So, we decided to stay indoors today (except for my quick run out to Curves to work out). Ho hum... guess no apple cider donuts for me this year. They are to die for! Well, I wouldn't really die for them. Heck, I wouldn't even get scratched for them. But, they are VERY good. Guess it's better for my waistline anyway. It's too bad, though... apple picking in Charlottesville would have made for some great photos. Oh well, there's always next year. :)

Welcome!

2006-10-07T16:36:00.000-04:00

So, I finally decided to join the 21st century by starting my very own blog. I've been reading friends' blogs for a while now, but never started my own. Never had a desire to. I mean, what is there for me to say? My life is pretty normal, hardly any drama, nothing too exciting. And, I didn't want the world to be critiqueing my grammar, misspellings, and way of parenting. Oh well, guess I can bore you all to death with pics of my cutie pies! Anyway, hope you visit often, but not too often. I don't foresee that this will be updated daily, or weekly, or heck even monthly. ;)