Big Sister Rainny : )

You guys could probably already guess what it is as you read the title...heehee! Yes, we are EXPECTING our second baby and Rainny is going to be a BIG SISTER! Sorry we haven't told a lot of people about this, especially our friends (Amber, you are probably the only friend who knew because you asked me a couple of times on MSN... :p)

We actually just had our third doctor appointment on Friday and we were pretty lucky to be able to find out the gender of the baby at 18 weeks...

We found out we're going to have a BOY!!!!! We're so excited!!!!!! : )

We're also SO EXCITED for Sammy and Missy (my brother-in-law and his wife), who are expecting their first baby in July! And I guess they're going to find out the gender on March 5th!!! How exciting!!! We can't wait to find out theirs!!!!!! : )

Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner (除夕夜)-Happy 牛 Year! Moo...

On January 18th, just a week before the Chinese New Year, every Taiwanese citizen and foreigner married to a Taiwanese who is legally residing in Taiwan got a Hong Bao (red envelope) from Taiwan government. Each person was given NT$3600 (US$100) dollars worth of voucher (a.k.a. "spending money"). This is part of the stimulus plan that Taiwan government has worked on to help the economy. It isn't a big deal of money, and despite the facts that some people think the vouchers are only gonna help the economy temporarily, but I think everyone is happy to get it...at least Adam, Rainny and I are!!! : )

Very tradtional Chinese New Year's Eve dinner dishes for my fmaily.
Rainny giving Buddy a kiss ^0^.
Lucky Rainny being the only grand child in our family, she was up first to receive Hong Bao from her great grandma.This year, Rainny obviously understands it's MONEY that's inside the red envelope. (last year she had no clue at all...) After her turn and before great grandma had a chance to finish giving away Hong Bao to other people, she went right back to great grandma and kept asking "Money, money!!!"...so, great grandma gave her lots of "empty" red envelopes instead to keep her satisfied...what a greedy little girl...hahaha! ^0^
The grab-your-own-hong-bao(money) has been our family tradtion for over 15 years and has always been the highlight of the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner! We've all loved it since we were little kids, and how wonderful that it's even being passed on to Rainny's generation!

Rainny couldn't really participate last year because she wasn't even one year old, and I did most of the work for her, but this year she's old enough to play and she grabbed all the money by herself! Yay!!!
Only a little bit money left at the bottom when it was Rainny's last turn. Everybody saw how hard she was trying to reach for the money at the bottom and just couldn't stop laughing! : )

Recent Random Pictures

January 10th-

Rainny enjoying the companionship of her "stuffed animal friends" while watching her favorite cartoon show-Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...like always...:p

January 20th- A Visit to Taipei City

We saw a bunch of people shooting a toothpaste commercial as we walked out of the underground parking lot. One guy who was wearing a cow suit just finished shooting his scene and he wanted to take a picture with Rainny. We ended up taking more than just one...I think of taking pictures with a cow as a good luck sign for the brand new year since 2009 is the Year of the Ox in the Chinese culture...very typical Chinese way of wishful thinking...hahahahaha!!!

Was Adam too shy to be in front of the camera!!!???

Nah...

We walked over to Dr. Sun Yat-San Memorial Hall for some "correr correr(Spanish word for "RUN") time" for Rainny. Rainny likes to run in a big open space and that's what she says every time she runs...I guess watching TV isn't that bad after all because that's how Rainny learnes to speak a little bit Spanish from watching Dora the Explorer...hahaha!

Being a Taiwanese, this was actually my first time going inside the building to see the Dr. Sun Yat-San statue and some really cool galleries and exhibitions. Adam has probably been there more than I have and he's more familiar with roads in Taipei City than I am...^0^The Honor Guards performance is the must-see attraction at Dr. Sun Yat-San Memorial Hall. At each o'clock sharp from 9 am to 5 pm, the Honor Guards switch shift and it's really cool to watch! We were lucky to make it to see the 4 o'clock one. I don't know how they do it but the two guards standing on each side of the statue began moving their fingers exactly the same time at exact 4:oopm. They can't move for the entire hour so they certain can't look at their watch to check what time it is, and I don't think they wear a watch,either...so I'm still really curious how they know when to move...

Rainny looks like she wanted to address something...got inspired by Dr. Sun Yat-San maybe!?...haha!

3 little squatters!
Rainny saw these two kids squatting and she went to join them. They really enjoyed starring at the water! Kids are just so cute and funny!!! I love my little baby!!! : )

Rainny got hypnotized!? :pWe ate dinner at Taipei 101 food court and found some giant lollipops at the Jasons Marketplace. We got one for Rainny and she didn't mind swinging it around and hitting people with that...oops!!!