Dave and I are contemplating hiring a house cleaner twice a month to do our deep cleaning for us so that we don’t have to spend extra time away from Lily to do it on the weekends. We both hate cleaning the bathrooms and deep cleaning the kitchen. Oh, and dusting, vacuuming, and mopping. Those are about the only things we really care to hand off to someone else. The daily/weekly stuff we can manage, like the laundry and watering the plants and the dishes and stuff like that. We even have robo-vacuums and a robo-mop to do that type of dirty work for us every other day. So now, I’m looking up local maid services to hire. Woohoo! I’m so excited, I can hardly contain myself.

It will be good to have everything in its own place. We have random things scattered all over the house. Most of the time, we would use something and then put it in a random place, out of reach of Lily. And then, it’d get stuck there and never make it to its original home. For example, when we had a package delivered to us a while ago, we took out our box cutter to open it up. Then we placed the box cutter on the top shelf in the living room, and it’s been there ever since. Yup. Now the shelf is its new home. Sad, huh?

Dave and I are in constant limbo of cleaning the house. There’s always one of us watching Lily, and the other one is running around trying to get something in the house in order. Before we know it, laundry needs to be done again, and the dishes need to be washed again. So yes, I’m excited we will have a cleaning lady (or two) come and help us!

The darling husband and I just made a big purchase — two matching laptops. Laptops, these days, are much more reasonable than they were even two years ago. I bought his as his big father’s day present for his first one this year. And I bought mine as a matching one just because I can. I’ve been saving up for it, too, so it’s a good time to spend. Over the last few months, we were debating whether or not to spend our extra savings on a playstation 3 or a new laptop for each of us. I’m glad we decided on the laptops because we don’t really have the time or energy to sit around and play games anymore. We gave away our old playstation to Nephew Nick, and all we have left is the Xbox. I’m happy with that.

We are renovating our home a bit at a time. We got both bathrooms done up (though the en suite one still needs a mirror, but we don’t use it that often so we’ve been neglecting it), and now we’re halfway done with the kitchen. New counters and new floors have been installed, so now we just have to tear down the wallpaper borders and do a fresh paint job and sand the cabinets and paint them white. A lot of work, and I’m totally not looking forward to it. House projects are not my style. I know lots of people love working on their homes, but I would much rather move into an already-updated, prettified home than have to do it myself. Sure, I’ll do some painting and I loooove the decorating part, but the actual foundation fixing up can totally be skipped, thank you very much. Heh.

It has been a bit hectic around here. Gran has moved out from downstairs, so we’ve been cleaning out her place and getting rid of old furniture and whatnot. We got her old grandfather clock (I’ve always wanted one and I am mad with pride that we got one that belongs in the family!), and an awesome wall-sized bookcase. Our home is filling up with STUFF, so I’m slowly going through them and donating things we haven’t used or don’t need so that we can de-clutter. I like de-cluttering.

(Need info on mesothelioma?)

Welp, this is awesome. We’re planning our first family trip ever since Lily was born. A big one, too. Dave, I, and Lily are going to DISNEYLAND in July! For her 1st birthday. Not only that, but both sides of the extended family will also all be there. Literally. All her cousins from Dave’s brothers and sisters, as well as her auntie and uncle from my side of the family (my sis and bro), AND both sets of grandparents. Not to mention some family friends as well. Lily is going to have such a biiiiggg family celebration for her birthday. It is so sweet and so comforting to see just how loved and welcomed she is in this world. She has so much support, so many people who love her. We’re so excited for this. What better way to celebrate a first birthday than to go to Disneyland, right?! Granted, she won’t remember her first birthday much, but I think the fond memories and the extended support and love will stay in her body chemistry, even if not in her brain’s memories. We could go to Disneyland or on one of those Caribbean cruises for all that matter. What matters really is that she is so well loved by so many people. She’s the apple of so many people’s eyes. It just warms my heart how much my daughter is loved by the world.

What a great foundation to start life with.

It seems like such a short time ago when my husband and I were looking at engagement rings. Wow, how time flies. Today, as I was driving to work, I passed one of our old hang-outs, when we were still dating. Not yet living together, not yet engaged, not yet married, not yet parents together. It was so weird, knowing that just about 10 years ago, we first met. And now we’re a family. A whole family. I love that man so much, I can hardly stand it sometimes.

I am enjoying seeing the bond that is quickly growing between Dave and Lily Bean. Because they are spending so much time together, one-on-one, while I’m at work four days a week, they get all this time to bond without me being a distraction. It is so sweet to see her face light up when he enters the room. The other day, she greeted him with such a huge, wide, excited smile when she saw him come to her room when she first woke up. It really warmed both of our hearts, and it even got his eyes all teary. He’s the best protector she can have. I couldn’t have chosen a better father for my little girl.

We are nowhere near ready, but recently, Dave and I have been toying with the idea of buying a new home. We recently got a local real estate magazine in the mail (is someone watching us out there? how did they know we were *thinking* about it?), and we couldn’t help but peruse through all the pretty local homes for sale right now. They all ranged from 4-million dollar homes with home theater seating rooms to really affordable nice homes in the neighborhood. I wish we were all ready to get going with that, as I would love to move into a new home right now. But aahh, finances aren’t ready, and we’re not ready, and the family isn’t ready. So wait we must.

Dave and I are planning our first family vacation getaway. We’re thinking of doing it right after Lily’s first birthday (July 12!), and in time for our two-year wedding anniversary. At first, we were thinking possibly Hawaii, but we didn’t feel like taking Lily to Hawaii at about a year old. So next summer, we’ll be planning Hawaii. We’ve also always wanted to go on a cruise, possibly from British Columbia up to Alaska. We always heard that was a lovely cruise to take. Maybe one day, but not any time soon. We just never got around to it, so now we have other things on my mind! Eventually, we’ll also be going to Vietnam, so that Lily can meet the land where her mother was born. That would be nice, to connect all those pieces together for her.

This summer, we’ll be going back to Harrison Hot Springs, where Dave and I went for our pre-honeymoon after we got married in 2007. It seemed so long ago. Pre-Lily, and all. I can’t believe we didn’t always have her in our lives. Of course, this time around, she’ll be coming with us and it will be a family trip. We’re excited!