Maternity Photos

I wanted to take my maternity shots earlier, but due to my shingles at the time this was delayed i think for 3 weeks. By this time my tummy was getting pretty big and my feet were pretty swelled up especially that day was a warm day :-( let's just say i had better days...

We were very lucky that my co-worker Lisa was able to take some nice photos for us at Lake Merritt and you will see some photos with Lake Merritt Hotel in the background where we had our wedding reception there 2 years ago.

You can view more pictures click here.

I'm 32 weeks here.

Babymoon - San Diego

over Labor Day weekend we went to San Diego, our little babymoon trip before the baby arrives. We were hoping it to be sunny and HOT in the south, but it was overcast. We tried hanging out at the beach, but it was just too cold. I can image if it was sunny it would be a beautiful town. The hotel we stayed at was pretty nice and for some days we just stayed in and watched movies and took naps. One night we thought we would go out and check out the night life in gas lamp dist. ... boy- were we out for an adventure! There were kids (20's) being super loud and crazy on the streets and girls wearing short mini shirt where she has to pull down her skirt every 2 steps with her bended knees because of her super high heels- I say ladies don't wear those heels if you can't do the walk and boys... cut back on the cheap cologne. We then soon turned around and walked back to our hotel room after walking door after door of clubs. I'm not sure if it's because we're too old or if this town is just not 30's friendly. We had a good time relaxing and exploring SD but I don't think we'll miss coming back anytime soon.

To view more pictures click here.

Jon & Cynthia's Wedding

horrrayyyy for Jon and Cynthia to finally tied the knot after many-many years :-) we're so happy to be there and witness the day!!! It was a beautiful day in SF and Cynthia prepared an ice cream cart for their guests and it was perfect and so yummy- i still dream about the pistachio gelato!!!

They also had a photo booth right outside of the reception hall and we all had fun with it! Congratulations again!!!

I'm 29 weeks here.

Bob's Wedding

My college buddy Bob finally found a great lady to marry. We're so happy for both of them and the wedding was beautiful in SF with a nice view of downtown SF.

i bought this "non-maternity" dress almost a month ago and at that time i thought it looked cute with my belly and then today when i tried it on it was a little tight and the design of the print got larger because of my belly...oh dear...

I'm 27 weeks here.

shopping for the baby?

It was our first time browsing for car seat, crib, dresser, etc. stuff... it was so overwhelming. We went in not even knowing what we're looking for, so we were hoping the sale people there would help us out. We first stopped at Lullaby in San Bruno and they gave us a good overall education of what a baby car seat is and the 3 stages that the baby will go through with car seats ($$$). Then we went to IKEA, since we haven't been there in a while and I know that they have kids furniture there. We were hoping to get a dresser there, because everything we've seen so far were not that nice. Did you know that they have baby cribs there...? a little scary I thought, but actually later found out that their cribs and baby mattress were actually better than some of the American brands. Then we came across a dresser we really like and this will also be the baby's changing station ;-) off we go to isle 32 bin 48 and we took it home!!! Then on the way home we went to Babies R Us since it's right next door. They have "expected mothers" parking spots! of course I took advantage of it... after all I did shop for 6 hours.

I'm 25 weeks here.

Baby Dresser

it was a long day walking through IKEA and we haven't been there for at least a year. We decided to browse through the store to look for a TV entertainment center of some sort and check out waht they have for baby furniture.

We didn't plan it... but I love this white dresser for the baby and the counter will be use as his diaper changing station - we bought it and brought it home :-) I'm thinking i just might have to get some cute hardware pulls!

music time in the eve...

4th of July

It's 4th of July weekend and we went for a bike ride to Alameda and checked out the famous street parade. We went around the beach shore and then followed the parade for a little while until my butt got really tired (2 hours later).

I'm 23 weeks in these pictures, but yikes! some images I look huge....!

Long Weekend

Finally we have a 4 day weekend!!! We didn't do much over the weekend- we decided to head out for the day to Pescadero off of HWY 1, Davenport, Santa Cruz, then to my uncle's birthday party in the evening. It was our first nice sunny weekend in the bay area and the drive down HWY 1 in the morning was a bit foggy, but it cleared up by noon. We stopped at Pescadero for lunch and watched the world cup soccer game at Duarte Tavern and they got the best artichoke soup it's soooo good! Then we headed down towards Santa Cruz and want to catch some sun and walk on the beach. We stopped by this beach near Davenport, but I can't remember the name all I remember was the long staircase back up to the parking lot. The beach was very private and quiet and its got lots of seaweed! We then finally arrived at Santa Cruz, but by then it was already late in the afternoon... and started to get cold. We just drove through the town and made one stop for a shot. It was a nice relaxing day until the next long weekend...

**IT'S A BOY**!!!

I knew it!!!!

My mom, Marco, and I went to my last ultrasound on Friday and the baby look normal and healthy. We found out that he's a boy!!! I think all of us were not surprised but very excited that it's a boy.... somehow I just knew it's a boy :-) let the planning begin!!!

We still don't have a name... it's really hard to come up with one, but we'll keep looking out for a good name (pedro.. fabio? j/k- not!).

here's baby Alves at week 20... and yes that's a leg/thigh.

hear the Heartbeat?!

This was at week 18, our second time hearing our baby's heartbeat.... pretty cool! The baby's heartbeat is at 155 hpm.

cousin Allen's wedding

Fatima & Joseph

Friday night Fireworks at the Falls & family outtings at the casino...

Rehersal dinner

The Wedding!

Garden Party Mr. & Mrs. Chen

my cousin Allen is getting married in Niagara Falls in Canada. This will be our first major trip to the east coast. we both have been there a long time ago and i was there back in the 80's. we took 5 days off from work and flew in a red eye flight to Buffalo then drove across the border. Marco's aunt and uncle decided to join us for a day from NJ to Buffalo then we went to the Falls together for one night. It has been a while since the wedding, it was really nice to see them for a short period of time, then off they go to Chicago for vacation.
The wedding was beautiful the town was beautiful and the Canadians were too nice, us Cali's thinks it's a little weird. Our entire family all flew in except for e-ma. we were worried about me getting nauseous from flying, but i think by flying the red eye and wearing the wrist band really helped this non-stop long flight - i was totally fine. i actually felt the baby kick/tap for the first time the night before while we were packing for the trip.
here are some fun pictures we have taken.

I'm 19 weeks here.

2nd Anniversary

It was our 2nd anniversary last weekend and we went to Cavallo Point Lodge in Fort Baker, Sausalito for a day spa. We were lucky that the weather was actually warm and not windy or cold in SF. This was a beautiful place and very peaceful :-) we hung out by the outdoor hot pool in our robes/had lunch by the pool/took a short nap! then it was time to try their private eucalyptus steam room and jacuzzi bath. It was a treat!!! then our way back we to took a nice drive through north beach neighborhood - oh how i love San Fran!!!

it's official! we're having a BABY!!!!

Baby at 10 weeks old... where is it?...it's a peanut! This was our first time seeing the baby and it was very emotional for us - yep it's alive and we're having a baby!


Baby at 13 Weeks old. Amazing you can starting to see it... it's a shrimp!


I'm week 18 now... and starting to show. Baby is about a size of a large orange.
For the longest time we didn't tell anyone, we wanted to wait for the 3 month mark and since I'm over 35 (this year) there were many tests the doctor wanted us to do around 3 months. We've done part 1 of our baby test and everything is good and baby is healthy. Part 2 test was done this week (2nd trimester) and we'll know the results in 2 weeks.

here's a little info about me and the baby so far...

• baby is due on 11/6/2010
• no morning sickness so far
• starting to wear maternity clothing this week
• no special cravings, no pickles or ice cream.... although i finished a whole jar of peanut butter in 4 months (it was my daily stable breakfast for the last 3 months)
• i eat a banana first thing in the morning before i hop on bart to work (if i don't eat i get really low blood sugar and i almost fainted 2x on bart - not good)
• lots of pills to keep the baby and mom healthy :-P
• i realllly miss sashimi and a glass of cape cod
• we still don't know the baby's sex (another 2 weeks...), but we really think it's gonna be a BOY.
• i already bought a baby gift - a wool rug - hahahah and we don't even have a baby room
• love to eat meat - lots of chicken and beef, especially chinese beef noodles
• we have recorded the baby's techno heart beat today it was very cool!

I was craving Beef Noodle soup a few months ago and this came across Bon Appetit magazine and I've never made any Chinese Beef Noodle soup before, so i thought i would give it a try since i was craving for it. it turned our so very yummy!!! the key is to have lots pickled mustard greens in your soup. i bought fresh flour noodles from the korean store and it was the perfect texture.

i also came across this Taiwanese Beef Noodle recipe and i'm dying to try it!

Chinese New Year Cake

so it's chinese New Year this weekend and i told my mom that i would bring a New Year's cake. i'm online and trying to find a steam red bean cake and all the american recipes were baked version, which i've done in a cupcake form, but i think it's a little dry out the outside. then i came across this website (click here) and it's got a really yummy recipe for my red bean cake. the site also got lots of good how-to pictures and the recipes seems really yummy and i will have to try it soon. Finally i'll get to cook the real Taiwanese beef stew noodles!!!

Happy New Year- let's go Tiger!!!

Visa in San Francisco

check out some of my work with Visa located in San Francisco. It's their executive office headquarters in SF. these videos were taken from a millworker company before the construction was 100% complete.

www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/cabinet_by_window
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/elevator
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/elevator_open_doors
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/executive_office
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/kitchen
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/reception
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/reception_by_tv
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/wall_by_cubicle

Save the Dolphins in Japan

23,000 dolphins are killed every year in Japan!! unbelievable!!! i'm not a animal activist but this is crazy you'll you to watch it.
we watched The Cove tonight and i was shocked!!! click here for the trailer.
i was surprised how much mercury are in my favorite tuna every time i eat 1 piece of nirgri. no more tuna for us or any large fish under the sea- we'll stick to our little sardines and salted cod fish. click here to learn more about your mercury level.

21st street

we walked pass this street in the mission the other day and the graffiti on this wall was changed to some cartoony drawings (lame). i was playing with this image to make it more dirty/saucey and i think it looks pretty good.

hearts and bunny