Seasons of 2007

Christmas is that special time of year. For us this Christmas, and this entire year, is extra special as we have been blessed with our first child. So here we are sharing our year’s highlights and greeting you this Holiday Season with our little bundle of joy!

What Winter blues? Not for us! After a hectic holiday in the Philippines, where we traveled and bonded with family and friends, we got back to DC/Virginia and found out that Mara was expecting! What’s even sweeter is learning about it on her 30^th birthday! To celebrate, and to start packing in as much travel before D-day, Rex surprised Mara with a trip to Chicago to visit relatives and eat those famous deep dish pizzas. Now eating for two, Mara had her way devouring these one-slice meals (even for breakfast!). To further satisfy her cravings, we had weekend trips to New York just to eat at some of our favorite restaurants.

The rest of winter, however, was quite overwhelming with baby planning activities coupled with Mara's relatively difficult first trimester (read: morning-afternoon-evening sickness).

[Top: Visit to the Philippines, Bottom: Trips to Chicago & New York]

Spring brought both of us renewed energy. First, we moved to our new place in Reston which is in the middle of Virginia's tech corridor against a backdrop of scenic terrains. Also, Rex’s role at AOL was redefined from doing business strategy to working on mergers & acquisitions, something he’s been looking forward to doing. He is enjoying this busy, travel-filled but extremely rewarding job because each day he gets to deal with entrepreneurs, investors and the Silicon Valley startup executives that define the internet, media and communications industries. Most importantly, Mara began to feel the so-called pregnancy glow mainly because she started to show -- which meant she could shop for new clothes!

[Left: Babymoon in Aruba, Right: Mara's Baby Shower in NJ]

We kicked off the Summer season with a baby-moon in colorful and dreamy Aruba—our last twosome trip before becoming a threesome! Nothing soothes the senses better than the sun, sand and surf—oh, and the freshest seafood!

Another pregnancy event brought us back to New York/ New Jersey where our aunt and friends threw Mara a baby shower. It was great celebrating and showing off Mara’s growing bump with family and friends. Rex's colleagues also threw us another shower at their office.

A great big “THANK YOU!” to everyone for your generosity in helping us to get everything ready for our baby.

[Left: Marzan family reunion in the US, Center: Rex's parents flew in for a visit in May,
Right: Entertaining out of town friends]

This was definitely a time of welcoming (with many out-of-town visits from family & friends), learning (there's so much baby information out there), and shopping (we were surprised at the amount of baby stuff that new parents apparently 'need').

[Left to Right: Alex in September, October, November]

Although Fall arrived a little late this year, we finally turned over a new leaf in our married life when baby Alex finally made his appearance. Alexander Xavier Sebastian Marzan was born on September 20 at 4:54pm.

[Top Left: Mara's mom was with us for 2 months,
Top Right: Alex's Baptism with Rex's parents and relatives,
Bottom Left: Ateneo Alumni Ball, Bottom Right: Thanksgiving with friends]

Our parents flew in from Manila to share in the joy of welcoming a new member in our family. Mara’s mom and Rex’s parents were an invaluable help during Mara’s cesarean recovery. It was even better to have our family here to celebrate with us during Alex’s baptism in New Jersey.

Another big “THANK YOU!” to all for your gifts, prayers and well wishes.

As we marveled in all of baby Alex’s firsts, we also celebrated Thanksgiving a little differently this year. Instead of traveling to be with relatives, we joined our friends here in the metro DC area for turkey dinner followed by a weekend of chilling, shopping and virtual playing (read: Wii)! It was a fun, fun, fun holiday weekend!

We are closing this year with our annual trip home to Manila to celebrate the holidays with family & friends.

We hope your 2007 was full of wonderful surprises, colors and blessings as well. Have a Joyful Christmas and a Blessed New Year! We wish you and your loved ones peace, good health, great joy and fulfillment throughout 2008.

Keep in touch. Rex, Mara and Alex