Back Dorm Boys

Here's the link to Tian's blog with back dorm boys who are really funny. Primero's favorite is the third one from the bottom titled "Radio in my head" (Yellow and white shirt).

Primero

Saturday night, Primero woke me up @ 3 AM saying "Mom, I can't sleep... my tummy hurts.." I laid with her in the bed for a good half hour and now both of us couldn't sleep. I noticed my stomach wasn't feeling so hot either as I laid awake. Long story short we both felt better and went to sleep after we threw up and brushed our teeth. I thought we had food poisoning from my chicken carrot soup but Hubby thought that we got the flu.
On Sunday, Primero started to have fever and felt lethargic and didn't want to eat fearing that she'll throw up again. I showed her the back dorm boys video from Mir's page to cheer her up.
Today she's feeling better and she was trying on old slipper that is too small for her.
Me: "Are you trying to be Cinderella's step sister and force your feet into the slipper that's too small?"
P: "So I can marry the prince?"
Me: "You don't want to marry a prince"
P: "Why?"
Me: "There's no prince in America.."
P: "What about New Jersey?"
Me: "There's no prince there either. ((With an British accent) You may go to England and marry prince William"
She covered my mouth with her hand not wanting to listen to my bad British accent.
I feel bad that we didn't get a tree this year. She asked if we can get a tree on Friday so we'll see what happens.

Xmas shopping

I find that giving gift cards is the best way to do Xmas shopping but others argue that gift cards are bad because I didn't put any thought in to the give and the person is only worth X dollar amount. Coming from the Chinese background where I got money in the forms of Red envelope, I think it's a great idea.
Pros to giving gift cards or cash
1. They don't have to return the gift that they may not like
2. I spend less time wondering around malls guessing what people want

Glad to be home

This is what it looks like after 7-8 inches of snow from the night before. I was told that the snow is powdery, not good enough for building snow ball or snow man. I wanted to make snow angels on the ground but didn't bring the right type of clothing.
Got back from KCI late late Thursday night and by the time I got home the kids were fast asleep.
At the Airport, I met one retired man from OC who went to Missouri pick up his hunting dog from training. He sat by the window hoping to see the dog being uploaded in cargo area. I asked if it would be cold down in the cargo area. He said that Midwest has the best set up for pet and the dog will be comfortable during the flight. He also told me that it cost an extra $75 when the pet travels with a person but it'll cost $400 if the pet was to travel alone.
On the plane I sat next to a computer programmer who travel every other week to Kansas and visit client. Once he knew I was Chinese, he asked me what I know about Qi-gong and Tai-Chi. I found out that he's been practicing Qi-gong and we chated about yoga, kids and differences between airlines during the long ride home. As we landed on the ground, he called his wife right a way and found out about the Southwest incident in Chicago killing a baby girl. We were both glad that we arrived safely and able to go home to our family.

First snow of the year in Kansas

I'm in Kansas right now it snowed today. It's 11 degree F outside now but windchill is -10F and good news to all students: "No schools tomorrow". As I watched the news there were accidents on the highways just like us Californians not knowing how to drive during rainy season. Forecast says 7" of snow tonight. Beautiful, just like what you see in the movies but cold and slippery.
Note to self: Next time bring scarf, gloves, heavy winter coat and boots.

Happy Birthday Bulleye & Dad

Happy birthday Bulleye and Dad. I still remember the day Bulleye was born. I walked home with my friend and when I knocked on the door, no one was there to answer. I stand in front of the door waiting for mom to come home and it started to rain really hard. I couldn't think of anywhere else to go so I just stayed there waited. I don't remember how long I waited but one of my mom's teacher friend came and took me to her apartment on campus. I don't recalled if she explained why no one was home. I remembered that she blowed dry my hair so that I wouldn't get sick.

Secondo 6 month old

This picture of Secondo was taken today. Can't believe we've had her for half a year already. It's still not easy when both kids want your attention simultaneously. It was difficult to get her to smile so this is the best we have. She didn't sleep well last night, her nose was stuffed up so she woke up several times screaming. This morning, she didn't want any milk so we'll see how she does today at the Sitter. I hope she's not getting sick. Hubby was coughing last night so none of us slept well except for Primero.
Found out yesterday that Hubby's grandfather passed away. He had been in the hospital for weeks. At times the consesus were that he's getting better. The funeral is Saturday but not sure on the timing yet. It is strange that after being married for close to 10 years, I've never meet his grandparents so I'm not too heart broken about the situation. I wish that he could have seen the kids before his death.

Crawling combat style

Secondo is really fun to play with at 6 months old. She can sit with out support for 5 seconds and she'll fall forward or backward. One of here favorite toy is the remote control eventhough we don't let her have it. If she sees it, she'll crawl to it using mostly her upper body and her legs follows. She adores her older sister and cracks up with any little silly move Primero makes.
Secondo is doing better at the sitter. She's eating and sleeping well. Her bowel movement is back to 1 to 2 times a day. There's a 3 months old boy who the sitter calls Secondo's boyfriend. Secondo likes to crawl to him too.

Mom & Daughter hanging out

Primero (Elder daughter) and I went to see Chicken Little on Friday. The movie was OK.. I would give it a C. Primero thought it was OK too. She said Incredible was better than Chicken Little. I found the pig really annoying.

Happy Veteran's Day

I'm home with the kids today. I was hoping to sleep in but Secondo woke us up @ 6 AM with a poppy diaper then she went back to sleep until 8 AM. Unfortunately it's gloomy so Primero and will go see a movie.
My elbow started to hurt on Tuesday. I didn't bump into anything but it's all red and swolen. I went to the Dr. Wednesday because it started to send pulsating pain that can't be ignored any longer. When she was how swolen my elbow was, she asked the X-ray technician to take some pictures. She was concerned about how serious the infection was. Good news is that my bones weren't infected yet. She said that it was a good thing that I went in and if the swelling doesn't go down after 2 days, I'll have to go back again.
Secondo starts to say wa..wa..ba..ba..ba..la..la..la..
When she's on her belly she can move in a semicircle fashion if I put toys in a circle.

Amazing !!!

I'm so excited about the new and improved blog. Many thanks to Berklee who I'm sure invested lots of precious potential gaming time on my blog which now looks wonderful and professional. Credit also goes to Mir who hooked us up.
With that said, there are still some minor technical difficulties because none of the links are working yet. Unfortunately, I'm not sophisticated enough to debug the issue.

Screaming kids

Now I know how we loose our hearing as we get older. Secondo loves to scream now when she's happy and her older sister joins in the fun. After 10 minutes of screaming matches, my ears were ringing.
Thanks to Bulleye, I finally figure out how to post short movies.

Hunger Strike

Secondo has been protesting this week by not drinking or drink very little milk when she's at the sitter. Today I fed her 3.4 oz in a bottle at 6AM and as of 12 PM she refuses to take the bottle. 2 days ago, she drank only 3 oz between 3AM to 6PM.

Annoyed by advertisers

I've change my setting so only registered user can leave comment on the blog. I've been getting online companies adverstising their web pages on my comment section.
If any knows other ways to block out spammers, please let me know.

My exciting weekend

We started Saturday having Dim Sum with my parents. Secondo was cooperative while we were eating but the food wasn't that tasty. It's been months since I had Dim Sum and I thought that I would enjoy it more. After lunch Mom and I went grocery shopping and we bought lots of food since Mom generously volunteerd to cook many many dishes for the coming week. Later on we went over to my in-laws and hung out and had dinner.
Sunday morning, I went to my spin class and had a great workout. I was lucky to have excellent teachers for Saturdays and Sundays. Burned 512 calories and I'm sure others burned even more. The whole room was hot and you can see the steam on mirrors and the glass walls.
After lunch, Primero and I went ballet shoes shopping. We also got costume for Secondo. While we were shopping, Primero was playing with her other loose tooth. She won't let me touch it and not ready for tooth fairy to visit yet.
Sunday night, as I was folding laundry again (it's a never ending task), Primero came up to me and said
P: Mom, let me show you a new trick
Me: I'm ready..
She started to twist her tooth so it does almost a 180.
Me: Very cool, can I touch it?
P: NO.. I can feel the front of my teeth with my tongue

Before bed, Primero brushed her front teeth very carefully because she didn't want to disturb her loose tooth. When it was time to floss, I flossed the loose tooth last and it came out and fell on the floor. Primero was crying as blood and saliva drooled out of her mouth. Once the bleeding stopped she was fine and ready to put her tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

We all went to bed and Secondo started to cry bloody murder around 11 PM. She didn't want to lay down and only semi-happy when I held her upright. We were both stressed out thinking something must be wrong with her. No temperature, didn't want to chew on anything. Finally hubby got a musical toy was able to distract her and give her time to passed some gas and burped. Once the gas is out of her system, she didn't protest being held horizontally. She found her thumb and fell asleep in my arm.
Hubby: Let's hold her for another 5 minutes and make sure she’s in deep sleep.
In my mind: Not going to happen… Another 60 seconds is all my arms, shoulder and back can handle
After a minute or so, she was fine when I put her on the bed.

Prespective

As I was reading my blog from a year ago, I was complaining about gas price soaring up to $2.40/ gallon. Yesterday, I was so happy when I paid $2.67/gallon. Just found out through the grapevine that mother inlaw, sister inlaw, brother inlaw are all coming to our house on Halloween night. It would be nice if they call and let me or hubby know a head of time. It's Monday night for heaven sake... some of us has to go to work.

TGIF

I'm very excited about a childhood friend of mine started her own Lingerie business. The site is very cool and she's offering a 15% discount on all purchase type “Friends” in the Discount Coupon at the bottom of the shopping bag.
Bulleye & Fresno's Hot, please let your wifes know about the site.

I'm so glad it's Friday. It's been a really long and hectic week.
At 2AM this morning, I was asleep and noticed a crying child next to my bed and it was Primero.
Me: "What's wrong, are you OK?"
Primero: " Uh.. here hurt...whoa..."
Hubby: "Hush.. Please don't wake up secondo..."
I took Primero to her room
P: "I want tissue...whoa.."
I got some toilet paper from the bathroom in the dark and gave it to her.
Me: "Where does it hurt, inside or out side of your jaw?"
P: "Outside..."
Me: As I touch her jaw, "Here?"
P: " Whoa..yes...more tissue..."
I got more toilet paper from the bathroom and went back to her room.
P: Blew her nose " I don't want to go to school... I want tissue..."
Hubby got a box of tissue from downstairs
Me:" OK, Let's put some vicks vapor rub on your jaw and we'll go to the doctor tomorrow morning and check it out. Let's lay down and sleep"
P: " NO.!! It hurts when I lay down..."
Hubby got 3 pillows from the other room and she slept sitting up with her green bear. I slept with her for a while until Secondo woke up and was making noise in the other bedroom.
I went and fed secondo and the rest I can't remember.
This morning, Primero was fine and went to school. I don't know why she was in such pain last night.

Independent Movies

Quick post.
As I was folding laundry Sunday afternoon, I was able to catch a really cool sub-title movie. I would recommend "Run Lola run!".
Later on in the evening, IFC was showing "Bend it like Beckham" which was recommended by Mir long time ago.

Secondo 5 months old and Primero lost her 1st tooth

Can't believe my last posting was a month ago. Time flies when I don't have any to spend on me. Secondo is starting to recognize faces. She'll cry when she sees strangers and smile when she sees people that she recognize. She can roll from her back to the left side multiple times but not to the right yet. As far as feeding her, we started rice cereal last months, once a day and we switched from Gerber nuk nipple to Playtex (can't remember) nipple name that her baby sitter recommended. She drools constantly and likes to suck on blankets, shirts and anything she can get her hands on. She doesn't poop multiple times/day anymore. She actually now poop every other day or every 2 days. May be due to the rice cereal in her diet.

Primero lost her first bottom front tooth last Sunday. Her permanent teeth was growing behind the baby teeth so she had 2 rows of teeth for a while. She was really excited to have the tooth fairy visits her and when she got the coin under her pillow the next day she said
"Mom the tooth fairy did visit me.. I thought tooth fairy was just a story and not real.."

Secondo 4 months old

I finally can eat again after 2 weeks of suffering.
Here's is Secondo @ 4 months old. I blurred the background to bring out her face. She can turn to her tummy by accident but not turn back. She weighs 15.5 lb, that puts her in the 90% tile. She got 5 immunization shots but didn't cry as much this time. Her pain tolorance level is high because she accidentally scratches her ear and her face all the time until they bleed and it did't bother her. She sucks both her thumbs depending which side she faces.

Can't eat

I bit the right side of my tougue several days ago and now it so swolen that eating is such a painful task. I tried to rinse my mouth with salt water but it's taking time for it to heal.
Went for a massage this pass Saturday and she said that my body has too much hot chi and one of the sign the body has too much hot chi is formation of cold sore.
I've been eating watermelon to cool my body and it's not working yet. Sigh..

There's no place like home

I had to be in Vegas for a work related convention and I dragged the whole family with me. While I was working, hubby and the kids were in the hotel room most of the time so Firsto/Primero was bored and wished she was home after the 1st night.
I hated the smoky environment inside buildings because all of us were exposed to 2nd hand smoke when ever we were in the common area.
I wasn't impressed with the hotel room in Mandalay Bay. The shower door doesn't have the magnet so It can't be closed. When ever we're done showering, there was a big puddle of water outside the shower door. The toilet was in a small room where there's no exhaust fan to pull out the unpleasant odors. I expected better bathroom design with these new hotels.
We ate at the Noodle Cafe which had pricey authentic Chinese noodles and fried rice.
Everyone was so glad to be home and sleeping in our own bed

Secondo 3 months old

Secondo was 3 months old when this picture was taken. She's wearing her sister's old outfit. It was difficult to get her to smile for the camera. I used a 3.2 mega pixel camera. Bulleye has 8.0 mega pixel and I wonder if you can see a big difference in photo quality.

In this picture Primero was 3 months old. It was taken using Sony Mavica which used floppy for storing picture. I believe the resolution was only 1.2 megapixel and that was the top of the line camera of the year 2000.

Busy weekend

We went to Santa Monica this weekend to see my new nephew (hubby's sister's boy). He
's 11 weeks younger than Secondo but Secondo is twice his weight. He's like a little monkey. I'll post picture at a later time. Now that secondo is 3 months old, she starts to recognize people. She cried when her aunts and uncles tried to hold her. She's used to me and her big sis and my mom since we are her primary care giver. I want her to get use to hubby so hubby can deals with her crying sessions.

The need to cry

Every night around 9:00 PM, Secondo has a crying tantrum. Nothing we do can get her to stop. It's not just your sad cry, it's the type of cry that people think we are torturing her. The type of cry where there's a long silence..5-8 seconds before she take her next breath and her face turns purple. All we can do is wait for the crying session to be over and console her to sleep. Is it because during the day she didn't cry so all her crying needs are bundle up inside and finally she can't hold it in much longer so it becomes a tantrum?
Secondo's big sister, Firsto said "What if she never stops? Big sister love you Secondo, don't cry..."
So anyone out there who has or had a 12 weeks old baby, please share your secret on how to ease her crying.

Foot in mouth

I spoke too soon. Secondo still needs one feeding in the middle of the night so hopefully by 3 months she can sleep through the night.
I went to Target at lunch to buy some stuff and I wanted buy a rattle for secondo. This lady next to me started talking to me
Lady:" This teething ring actually vibrates!!"
Me: " How teething ring advances from year to year"
Lady: " I know..."
Me: " So when are you expecting?"
Lady:" Well, I'm not but I have a 6 month old baby."
Me inside my mind : Woops. I thought I will be able to tell if someone is pregnant or overweight.
Me: "I'm sure she'll like the vibrating teething ring.." and walked away.
Lesson learned never ask the question no matter how sure you are " When are you expecting.."

Important milestone

Since I discover that I can post picture easily,I went back and posted picture of Secondo sucking her thumb and when she was 4 weeks old. It's so easy.. Fresno Sucks, now there's no excuse for you not posting pictures on your blog.
Last night was an important milestone for both secondo and I. She went to bed @ 10 AM and didn't need any feeding until 4 AM. That's a six hour stretch of continuous sleep for me. She probably could go longer but my boobies were so engorged that I had to wake her up for feeding. She didn't take much so I had to pump afterwards. If she can last 8 hours, by 3 months old, I will be able to get more rest. Good job Secondo !! I'm rooting for you..

Secondo 2 months old

This is really cool. Now I can attached pictures with out using Hello anymore. Here is secondo 2 months old. It's funny how she doesn't have any neck which makes it hard to wash.
Here's S when she was 2 months old. Do they look like each other?

Recovery process & changes

It's been a week since S had her surgery. Overall she's recovering well. Her right eye lid is almost back to normal and her left bottom eye lid still shows redness and swelling. One more week of medication and she'll be able to let her eyelids touch water. Lastnight as I kissed her good night she told me "Mom, I think love only Nicole but not me.." "What made you say that?" I responded "You always take care of her but not me anymore.." "I love both of you the same. I used to feed, burp and change your diaper just like mei-mei (little sister) when you were that small. Now I have 2 kids to take care of so I need your help with taking care of mei-mei" Sometimes she looks sad because she doesn't get all the attention as before so the adjusting period is still going on.

Thumb sucking @ 11 weeks old

Today, secondo is 11 weeks old. As she tries to fall a sleep I give her a pacifier which sometimes falls out of her mouth when she stops sucking. This morning, I noticed that she was sucking her left thumb already. Her motor skill is not that coordinated but she's able to put her thumb in her mouth and sooth herself to sleep.
I asked S if we should let secondo sucks her thumb and S says "No!" "She won't be able to stop sucking her thumb later like me, remember?" This was S happily sucking her thumb @ 7 months old.
Brother inlaw Mike seems to think that my kids have hubby's thumb sucking genes. Note that as a child, hubby sucked his thumb for many years also.
At first I was totally against it but she seems so content and peaceful when she found her thumb so I'm caving in as we speak. Lately she's been having crying spells at night and nothing can really sooth her other exaustion from crying.
Today is her 2nd day at day care so hopefully she'll take the bottle from the sitter.
S's eye lids are healing well. Top lids heal faster than lower lids. She's good at not scratching her eyes eventhough they itch.

Longest hour ever

Yesterday, S went in for surgery for her eyelids to remove stys or chalazions that has been getting larger over the pass month. Sty is fat glands that the body treats as a foreign matter and causes inflamation. She was afraid and kept saying that she didn't want surgery. Before the anasthesiologist gave her the gas, the nurse gave her a medicine that's suppose to make her sleepy. She didn't go to sleep but she was acting really silly. After the procedure, she told us that she saw mommy had 2 sets of glasses and nose etc..
The surgery took 1 hour and that was the longest hour ever. When the Dr. came out and talked to us, he said that he found a total of 7 stys. We asked as of what is the cause of sty and he thinks it's related to a high fat diet. He did 4 chalazion removal that same day. We hope that it doesn't come back but there's no guarantee. When we saw her in the recovery room, she was out and had lots of wires hooked up to her. Her eyes were puffy and bloody. We stayed in the recoery room for about 1 hour and we took her home.
When she saw her face in the mirror she asked "What happened? Why are my eyes so bloody?" She had no recollection of the procedure.
She has to stay indoor for 2 weeks and no swimming for 1 month.

2 months check up

This pass Tuesday, Secondo had her 2 months check up. She weighs 11 lb and 10 oz which puts her in the 90 percentile. I had to take both kids to the Dr's office which is gettin easier everytime. At the office, we met another baby girl who was born 1 day earlier than Secondo but she's alot smaller in size.
She got 4 immunization shots so she was screaming bloody murder. Compared to S, Secondo didn't cry as long. After the shots, I gave her some breast milk and that calmed her down. When we got home she was crying more than usual so I gave her some infant tylanol to relief the pain.

S is quite jelous of her little sister. She feels that I spend too much time with Secondo which is true since I'm constantly feeding, burping and changing her diapers. I try to spend time with S when Secondo is sleeping but S knows that she's not getting the same type of one on one time as before Secondo was born.
By the time she goes back to school, things will be different.

S is taking swimming lessons and she's doing quite well. One of her classmate's mom freaked yesterday when she saw her son go under water. The kid was on the 2nd step of the pool is no deeper than 2 feet. I didn't see what happened since I keep my eyes on S. It was a big dramatic session, the mom cried, the teacher cried but the kid is fine. I think the mom over reacted and her son is in the wrong class. He should be in the 1st level class to learn the basic skills before moving on to the 2nd level. We'll see what happen today.

Exausting Sunday

This pass Sunday was the 1st Sunday that I've been out of the house since Secondo was born. We went to Costco to buy some diapers, wipes and things that we didn't know we need until we got to Costco. S was very attentive to the baby and wanted to push the stroller eventhough she's not tall enough to see where she's going. S was eager to test some free samples but we were there too early that the sample stands were not out yet.

Circle of life

Recently, my friend Patty told me that her mom is really sick to the point where the doctor told Patty that her mom has only 2 weeks to live. What we found was disturbing is that her mom was misdiagnosed for Altzheimer when her liver was the problem. By the time the correct diagnosis was done, it was too late. Patty said that it's going to take a miracle for her mom to get better. Now she's home taking care of her mom the best she can.

Today, I read on the news that Howard Flint II died on June 14, 2005 at the age of 66 when He recently retired in January 2005. He retired for about six month and died. Considering I don't know about his health, it just tells me that life is short and it is best that we live life to the fullest everyday.
This is a difficult task for me to do since I tend to not appriciate the moment. Case in point: When I was pregnant, I so.. look forward to the day for the baby to arrive instead of enjoying the pregnancy process. Keep in mind that it is not an easy task to enjoy pregnancy when you're 30 pounds heavier. Thanks to my mom's hard work on nursing me back to health with her Chinese post pregnancy diet, I have 5 more pounds to get to my pre-pregnancy weight.
Is it because I've been brain wash to plan for the future, work for the future and not take in what is going on right now?
During this month of recovering and caring for a new born, I have more time on my hand to reflect about my life and what I have, and think about the kids and what the challenges will be for the next 2-3 years. One of my goal is to help my parents enjoy their golden years and live a care free life or as much as possible.

Secondo 4 weeks old

I've decided to call younger daughter Secondo from now on on the blog. She's 4 weeks old today. Can't believe that 4 weeks a go she was inside my tummy and now she's out and my tummy is slowly shrinking. Segundo is more fiesty than S, Primero. She loves being held and cuddled. In the middle of the night when it's time to feed, she doesn't cry. She grunts and make funny noises as if she's constipated.
This pass month, my arms were still sore so I had a massage. Besides my arms she also massaged my belly. It wasn't relaxing at all. She worked my belly as if it was dough. As reflex, I tensed up what ever abs muscles I got left to counter her actions. After the session, I was in pain for 2 days.
3 more days and I'll be able to go out and about and be independent.
I look forward to Bulleye's visit in 2 weeks.

My Dad

Today, Dad came and dropped off mom to stay with me for a couple of days. He was helping by cooking chinese medicine for me but we let it cook in the backyard due to the odor. He was in such a hurry that he forgot that the screen door was closed so he ran into the screen door. Mom was glad that the glass door was open so Dad didn't run into to the glass.
It took a while for dad to fix the door but he fixed it.

We are home

BTW, the Bathroom blog is from Bulleye. He's in Taiwan vacationing.
Our 2nd daughter, N was born on 5-17-05. My water broke on the evening of 5-16-05 so hubby and I went in to the hospital right away. When we arrived, the nurses hooked me up with IV, contraction monitors and baby monitors. All night my contractions were irregular and managable and I was only 3 cm dialated. (P.S. It requires 10 cm for the baby to come out naturally. By 6 AM the next morning, I was only 4 cm dialated so they decided that I need oxytocin to speed up the process. This is when the contractions were more intense and less managable so I've asked for an epidural. After the epidural I was able to nap and relax until the epidural started to wear off on my left leg so the Dr. injected some stronger medicine that make the left side completely numb. By 6:00PM I was 10 cm dialated and ready to push the baby out and the Dr. made it just in time.
N was born on 6:06 PM. Weight: 7 pound 15 oz. and 20 inches long.
She has a full head of hair like her sister.
It nice not to have a big belly anymore..

38 Weeks

She finally turned (said the Dr) and her head is down. No wonder I felt more pressure on my bladder the pass few days.
Mom is coming over tonight and we may be having a baby tomorrow.
Stay tune.

37 week visit

Went to the Dr yesterday and had ultrasound done on the baby. The technician showed me her chubby cheek which I'll have to take her word for it since it's hard to see anything with the ultrasound black and white. She's already 7.5 pound and growing. To not have to deliver a 9lb 9oz baby again, Dr is suggesting to induce labor on Friday the 13th. I'm not superstitious or anything but it doesn't sound like a good day to have a baby. We're thinking of may be Saturday the 14th?
She's transverse still so we don't know if her head will move down by then. Dr. is suggesting C section but I asked her if she can try manually moving the baby 90 so her head would be down. We'll see next week. I'm feeling more scared as I get closer and closer to the delivery date. My dream delivery would be a short labor, and natural delivery.

Funny daughter

Last night during dinner, she found these plastic semi circle container and placed it in her cup and pretended that it was some sort of dessert.
S: "Mom would you like some Philippinos?"
I didn't know what to say at first.
Me: "Philippinos is not a kind of dessert. Philippinos are people from the Philippines."
S: "You buy it when we go to the book store"
Me: " I did? "
S: " Yes.. you order Philippinos coffee drinks with whip cream on top"
Me: " Oh...That's called Frappachinos. Sounds close to Philippinos but it's FRAPpachinos."
We both started laughing..

Lack of time

Life has been super busy this pass week. I don't seem to have time to sit and ponder on what I've done.
Last Friday, I found out that my Ob will be on vacation from May 5th thru May 19th. Thanks for letting me know ahead of time lady. Now I got to meet the other doctors in the office who may be delivering my baby if the baby decides to arrive early. Urgh..
It's hard to start bonding with other Drs at the very last minutes. What can I do? It's beyond my control.. I liked the other office better in Valencia where I visit with all the Drs that practice in that office and get to know them before going into labor.
We moved the piano this weekend from my parent's house to our house. I'm looking into piano teacher for S. S said that she doesn't want to take lessons. I tried teaching her to use all her fingers but she refuses to take direction from me so piano teacher it will be. She doesn't take criticism well or she doesn't like me telling her that she's wrong.

On Saturday night right before bed, S asked for some chocolate chip cookies. I told her that we don't have any in the house and proceed to do other things. Later when we got ready to brush out teeth, she burst in to tears and I asked her what was wrong.
S: "I want some chocolate chip cookies..whoa.."
Me: "I can't magically have cookies in the house. We'll go to the store tomorrow and buy some OK?" I gave her a big hug.
S: "OK"
I didn't expect her to be unreasonable at 5 years old.
She drew several mother's day card for me but she won't let me see it. I asked her to draw one for my mom and her response was
S: " Why don't you draw it for your mom and I draw it for my mom."
She's got a point.

Bloody nose

In the 2nd & 3rd trimester of this pregnancy, I've been getting bloody nose more often. During winter, I attributed it to using the heater but now that we don't use the heater anymore, I still get it at least twice/week. 4 more weeks until the due date and hopefully bloody nose will go away once the baby is born.

Hubby and I had been training S to sleep in her own room this pass week. One of us would read her a story and put her to bed. She's doing OK for the most part. 2 nights ago, she woke up around 2:00AM saying her Pikachu clock was too loud so we took it out of the room. One night she complained about strange noises so we're taking baby steps.

New tires

Recently I noticed my back left tire was balding so I told hubby that I need a new tire for my car. Hubby said that usually people get 2 new tires at once to balance the wear so we went to Costco and had the intention of buying 2 tires. We were contempalting which two to take out so we showed the tires to the mechanic, he said that all 3 tires were bald and recommended that we get 4 tires instead since it has to be even number. Hubby thinks that he's just being a salesman so he diagree with the recommendation. Me being conservative and not wanting to deal with changing flat tires on the freeway with a big belly agreed to buy all 4 new tires. Sold!
The bad part was that we had to wait for almost 2 hours for the installation so all 3 of us stroll inside Costco and ate lunch there. Pizza was really greasy but Myles liked their hotdog
Once the new tires were on the car, I noticed the contrast of how worn out the old tires were.

Amazing Race last night

Last night's episode was so stressful just watching it. I'm sad that Lynn and Alex are out but I have new respect for the black couple and they are my favorite and I hope they win. I put myself in Joyce's shoes and I would shave my head for a chance for $1M. She looked beautiful without hair and her husband was very supportive. I was hoping that more teams were going for fastforward but no one but the black couple did.
Apparently Amber and Rob's wedding will be aired on CBS sometime in May.

5 more weeks to go

Visted my Ob today. She didn't make me wait too long. Baby's heart beat is strong and Dr thinks that her head has moved down which is a good thing.
Baby is active and likes to move right under my stomach. I asked S to sing and talk to her down low so that baby would swim down instead of staying up towards my voice. It actually worked.
I tried to recall the time when mom was pregnant with Bulleye, but I don't remember touching my mom's belly at all. On the day Bulleye was born, I was in 1st grade. I walked home by my self in the rain, rang our house door bell but no one answered. I stood there for a long time (for a 6 year old) and finally a stranger came and took me to her apartment. She was my mom's co-worker and I stayed with her until mom and baby came home from the hospital.

I don't like Dr's visit

I have another Dr's Appointment this coming Friday which I dread because they always have me wait in the lobby, and wait in the examination room for the Dr to see me for may be 5-10 min max. My last visit to the OB, she made me wait for 40 minutes in the room. I was ready to walk out the door and the nurse said "You are next.." I felt just like Seinfeld's dad in the episode where he flew all the way from Florida to see a back specialist who made him wait to be seen. While waiting he explored everything possible in the room, and couldn't stand it anymore so he opened the door and said "Hello...you forgot about me.. I've been waiting for over 20 minutes. They are crooks!!"
Why do doctors or dentists treat patients as if our time is less valuable than their time? Is it because they schedule too many patients for the same time slot? Isn't that what appointments are for? If there's a doctor reading this blog, please explain this behavior.
Unfortunately, after 36 weeks, I'll be visiting my ob once a week. Urgh..

Almost forgot
Spin for 46 min.
Ave heart rate: 136 b/min
Cal burned: 345

Confession of a 5 year old

Lastnight, I was laying on the sofa watching TV and S decided to join me and laid next to me. I checked out her finger nail polish and made a comment.
Me: "S, your thumb seems to be flatter than before. Are you sucking thumb again?"
S: "Sometimes I forget..."
Me: "When do you forget?"
S: "At night.."
Me: "Every night?"
S: "Yeah.."
Me: " You know that you are eating nail polish when you suck your thumb."
S: Silence
Me" " I guess I'll call up jo-jo and ask him to stop sending you pokemon figurines"
S: Silence
I share this information with hubby and hubby said that he would pull her thumb out when she unconsciously sucks it at night.
Must think of away to prevent her from sucking at night.

33 weeks

7 more weeks to go and hopefully I'll go into labor naturally this time so no induction is necessary.
Baby is about 4 lbs and I have been feeling some tightening of the belly/contraction pass few days.
I was not able to sleep much last night. I had weird dreams about an exboyfriend and after I woke up, couldn't go back to sleep so I snuggle next to S and watch her sleep. She still looks like the way she was as an infant, sleeping with both arms over her head.
Curious to see how if the two girls will have similar features or totally different.

This pass weekend went by like a flash. Had to go in to work on Saturday and Sunday was mother inlaw's "house warming party" When we arrived at mother inlaw's house, I heard "Surprise!!!" My parents, my friends were there. I saw pink and purple baloons that has "It's a girl" printed on the surface. Apparently, my sister inlaw and hubby had been planning a surprise baby shower for the pass two weeks. Looking back, I realized there were some clues that were there but I didn't put pieces of the puzzle together.
We had lots of good Chinese and Vietnamese food but I didn't have my camera with me to share the moment.
Baby girl got lots of outfits and hubby got an toy race car (Display type).

Week 32

Had Dr. Appt for the 32nd week. Ob measured the baby and said that she isn't too big yet. I told her that this one kicks differently than S so they did an ultrasound which shows that the baby is laying horizontally instead of vertically with the head down. If she (a.k.a. secret) doesn't change position on her own, then the Ob will have to manually move her.
This weekend we are going to visit the hospital where I'll be delivering and S will attend a sibling class.

As far as Amazing race, I didn't watch the whole show but was surprised that Ray and Dena were eliminated even they were in 1st place in South Africa. Based on what I read, I missed lots of excitement with the car accident and stuff. Definitely a much better show than Survivor which is getting really boring. I like the gay couple, they work well as a team.

Immunization & stuff

I had good Friday off and so did daughter so what did we do together? We went to a new pediatrician and had her 5 year old check up. She doesn't like going to the doctors and retaliate if I prep her a head of time. I told her that we were going to the doctor for the baby but when we were in the office, and the nurse called S's name, she said "Why is she calling my name and not you or the baby's?"
She did great during the check up but not so well during the immunization shots. She got 5 shots + TB test. When the nurse gave her the shot she didn't say anything or make any sound. Once the nurse left the room, she was started to cry. The doctor had requested urine and hemoglobin test where they will draw blood. I decided not to do those test on the same day since she had been poked 6 times already. She was fine afterwards. I hid some eggs in the back yard and she went hunting for them. She also likes to hid the eggs and at this age she's able to hid green eggs in green background so it's not so easy to find. I recalled when she was 2 years old. She would hid the eggs in very obvious places and easily found.
My friend P & G came for visit on Saturday and P was sharing with me how G was really good at finding easter eggs.
I asked G
Me: "How old where you when you were really good at finding easter eggs?"
G: " Oh.. I was in my twenties."
Me: "You are kidding me."
P: " No, I thought it was strange that when I joined his family that they expected me to go easter egg hunting with heels and everything"
Me: "Interesting.. No wonder you were so good at finding them"

Cord Blood Banking

With all the reserch on stem cell, I went on the web and looked into cord blood banking. On the website there was no information on how much it actually cost to bank embilical cord blood so I called them.
Me: "Can you give me an estimate cost for cord blood banking?"
Salesman: "We are running this March special where you get $250.00 off if you sign up in March. It cost $95 and 1595 which include the collection kit etc.."
Me: "It's $95 to sign up and $15.85/month for storage?" (In my mind, it's not as expensive as I thought)
Salesmaan: " NO... It's fifteen hundred and ninty five dollars to enrole and Ninety five dollars per year for the next 18 years"
Me: "Oh.. Let me talk to my husband and get back to you."
Apparently, the blood will be stored it Arizona.

Hmm...

Watched the 1st half of Amazing race 7 and was annoyed by Rob and Amber barely making the 1st flight which eventually lead them to the 1st place urgh..
I don't recall hating Rob and Amber as much when they were on Survivor.

After spinning

Spinning is getting harder every week. I left class early since my bladder was being sit on, I was feeling contraction on the right side of my belly and I was hungry. The baby isn't really ripe until 38 weeks so must take it easy for 7 more weeks. For some reason she is very active today when I'm sitting down working. Are you not comfortable in there? Not enough room for you?
It's weird to think that I'm a host for this human being for 7 months already.
Sister inlaw lend us the book "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown. She said it's better than Da Vinci Code.

Week: 31

At this point, I feel like I'm carrying a watermelon with me and waddle everywhere I go. According to the prenancy book I'm reading, the baby weighs about 3.5 pounds. She likes to move and kick when I'm driving or at night when I'm trying to sleep. She won't move when hubby or daughter put their hands on my belly.
I'm still spinning once or twice a week but I've modified the workout so my heart rate doesn't go way high. I still burn ~400 calories/ session. I sleep better on the days that I spin.
Remember I blogged about this older lady name J from the locker room who didn't remember me? Well.. one day, she was telling me how she got a great deal on a bathing suit at Costco. I told her that I'll look into it so that I can swim during this pregnancy. Eversince that day, when I see her in the locker room, J would asked " Hi Sam, did you get the bathing suit yet?
Me: "No.. I didn't get a chance to go shopping yet."
I found out that she has a job as a Senior companion and one of her job is to take seniors with alzheimer disease to the movies. She highly recommend "Diary of a mad black women" but she didn't like "Sideways".

Breaking the habit: Day 30

It's hard to believe it was a month ago when we started the "Stop thumb sucking" program. Thanks to all the grand parents who help reinforce and support the process. It does take a village to raise a child. I don't believe daughter was emotionally ready until a month ago. We tried it when she was 2 years old and it didn't work at all. So far she is doing great and hopefully she will have continue success for another month.
I asked her time to time if it's getting easier everyday for her. She said that during nap time is easier but at night it's harder for her to resist the urge. I do noticed that at night when she's trying to fall asleep she has her thumb in the ready to suck position but she set her arm on the side. Now when she's awake she jumps out of bed where as before she would snuggle with green bear and suck her thumb and falls back to sleep.
We are attending a sibling class to get S emotionally prepared for a new sister. I heard from many people that when the baby arrives and we get visitors for the baby, we should asked the visitors to pay attention to S upon their arrival instead of asking for the baby. This way S will not resent the baby.

I heard through the grapevine that my aunt who lives in Taiwan, who is the same age as Bulleye just had a baby girl on Big Bluff's wedding day. Congrats!

Missing my baby

When I was in Kansas City, Mo for business Monday night, the local vendor we visited took my colleague and I to Jack Stack BBQ. I had the burnt ends, BBQ Pork ribs and hickory pit beans. It was a truly delicious meal. I found out that I can order online so that got me really excited.
During dinner, we were chatting about families and I heard country music in the background. It reminded me of our recent trip to Fresno where S would request for country music and sing along until she falls asleep. One of her latest favorite is Martina McBride’s God’s Will. When I heard that song in Kansas City, I wish she and hubby were there with me. I really missed her. When I got back to the empty hotel room, and called her on the phone.
S: "Where are you mommy?"
Me: "I’m in Kansas City"
S: "Where is Kansas?"
Me: "Farther than Fresno"
S: "When are you coming home?"
Me: "Tomorrow..."
I felt sad for a moment then hubby got on the phone and said that I'll be home in no time. After watching the Contender on MSNBC, I tried to sleep but the baby very active and not letting me rest no matter what position I tried. Eventually I dozed off and was woken up by a morning call.

Amazing Race 6

I watched Amazing Race last night and Boston Rob is such an ass. I don't like how he plays the game and I'm glad that he's 5th now. I'm cheering for the gay couple to maintain their lead.

Crazy Week and Weekend

This pass week has been super busy for me. We drove up to Fresno for a wedding and just got back tonight. The groom and the bride had lots of friends and family in town so I can see the stress on their faces. It was a beautiful wedding and S had a great time dancing and playing with the other kids.
Last night, we took S to Mc Donalds after the wedding reception since she didn't eat much at the reception. By the time we went to bed it was at least 10:30PM. When I was fast asleep, I don't know what time it was, I heard bulleye's voice outside my hotel room calling the bride on the cell phone. He put her on the speaker speaking with another Japanese lady so I heard the whole conversation in Japanese which I didn't understand, At the same time, I smelled this strong cigarette smell coming into our room. Was it real or was it a dream?
I'll post some pictures once they are downloaded but posting will be light this week.

Breaking the habit: Day 14 & Shopping

Daughter is doing well after 2 weeks. I was abit worried last Friday when she spent the day with Mother In-Law because MIL tends to give in to what ever the grand kids demand. My conversation with Daughter Thursday night
Me: "Tomorrow, when you go to ba noi's (Paternal grandma in Vietnamese) house, are you going to suck your thumb when you nap?"
S: "Noi tells me it's OK to put the thumb in my mouth.."
Me: "If she tells you that, you say to Noi that you're dentist asked you to stop thumb sucking because it's bad for your teeth and If you decide to suck your thumb tomorrow, we're not getting any Pokemon this Saturday."
Me: " So.. are you going to suck thumb at ba noi's house?"
S: " No."
When hubby and I were alone, I asked hubby to ask MIL to help with this critical mission. According to hubby, she was cooperative and granted our request.

Bulleye had ordered daughter a bunch of Pokemon figurines so that will keep the reward/ positive reinforcement for a while but how should I end this reward program? I can't continue to buy her toys every week. I'm tired of seeing Pokemon everywhere in the house.

On a different note, we went clothes shopping at a Maternity store, Motherhood this weekend. I tried on different outfits and no matter what I try, I can't conceal the fact that I'm huge, big, and pregnant. Hubby was patient enough to give me input as I tried different outfits and the sales clerk chimed in trying to be helpful as I was showing hubby this top that I was trying on.
Me to hub: " What do you think?"
Hub: "It looks good"
Me: "Should I get it?"
Sales Clerk: " It looks great on you. Are you pregnant?"
Me in my mind : "Of course I'm pregnant! Can't you see this basketball I'm carrying? Why would I shop here if I wasn't? She thinks I'm fat and that's why I shop at this store stupid store. Urgh.."
Me to the Clerk: " Yes..." with an annoyed look on my face, I waddled back to the dressing room steamed.
She was telling hubby that she made the mistake assuming that one customer was pregnant when she wasn't and the clerk didn't want to make that again.
I was offended because she didn't think I was pregnant and that she thought I was just a fat person shoping at the maternity store.
After I cool off and think about the situation, I can't deny the fact that I am fat and pregnant and that's why I shopped there. That's also another reason why I'm not looking forward going to Big Bluff's wedding this coming weekend. With all the things he has to worry about that day, he probably won't know that I'm there or not. Hmm...

Dr. Visit & Amazing Race 7

Went to the my ob today and had my 7 month check up. Everything is progressing as it should. I heard the baby's heart beat and it was beating strong and @ 140 beats/min. Dr. said that I should not travel after March 15th incase the baby decides to arrive early. The baby's movement is more obvious and hard to ignore now days.

Last night during dinner hubby told me about Rob and Amber being on Amazing Race 7 and I couldn't believe it. Out of curiosity, I watched part of the show. I'm not sure about the rule but it was not fair that this stranger who recognized them from Survivor escorted them get to playa de Hermosa where as the other contestants did'nt have that option. Doesn't he know that they won $1 Million already. I really don't want to see Rob and Amber win this race.

Breaking the habit: Day 8

Daughter has been doing well with breaking her habit. As reward for staying with the program, on Sunday, we took her to get the Pokemon she had been dreaming about, Minun. Unfortunately, the single Minun that was there last week was gone. She was quite disappointed when she didn't see Minun. She searched all the shelves and wasn't successful.
S: "Some other kid liked Minun just like me and bought it before me?"
Me: "Yes, some other kid bought it."
There were two other pokemon that she could choose from so she picked Treeko.
Now she has a different routine for going to sleep so that helps.
Because of her thumb sucking, she doesn't have a tight bite on her front teeth. She uses her side teeth to tare food. She thinks that when she stop sucking her thumb, the gap between her top and bottom teeth is getting smaller everyday so I go along with it.

Dining out

Bulleye and his wife were in town visiting and we went to a northern region Chinese restaurant in Hacienda Height. I don't remember the name but in Chinese it is Kou Bing. We were there around one and we still had to wait for a while.
Here are some of the dishes we shared. We brought home the left overs and ate it for dinner also.

Figure 1. Steam dumplings stuffed with clear noodles, eggs, veggies and meat.


Figure 2. Fried dumplings (Guo Tie) stuffed with meat. This is bulleye's favorite.


Figure 3. Moo-Shu Pork wrap stuffed with eggs, beansprouts and mushroom. I tried taking picture of the fillings but I was not successfull. I didn't think it was that tasty but others liked it.


Figure 4. Beef Fried Rice. I mainly order this for hubby since he wasn't fond of the northern style of Chinese food.


Figure 5. Spicy Seafood noodle soup. This one is my 2nd favorite.


Figure 6. Green onion pancake. A simple dish, similar to tortilla with green onion but thinner and very tasty. This is my favorite dish but quite greasy.

Eventhough the visit was short but it was nice to reconnect with my brother and sister inlaw.

Playing

Here's S and her cousin E scootering around the neighborhood.

Breaking the habit: Day 2

I checked daughter's finger nails when she got home from school last night and I did see missing polish on the left thumb (The one she sucks). When I checked her other hand, I noticed missing polish on the other fingers so may be nail polish is not an accurate indicator after all. She told us that she didn't suck her thumb during nap time so we praised her and gave her positive reinforcement on how well she's doing.
Sleeping was still challenging but over time she'll get used to the new habit.

There has been lots more activity in my belly now that I'm in my close to 7th month of pregnancy. She's moving more and definitely making her presence known. The only comfortable position for sleeping is sleeping on my side. S thinks it's funny that my belly is getting bigger everyday.

I'm attending a wedding in March and I still don't know what I'm going to wear. Sigh..

Breaking the habit: Day 1

Last night was a struggle for S. She had difficulty falling asleep with out sucking her thumb. We laid in bed for at least half an hour and she was wide awake. She was exhausted, yawning repeatedly and finally I fell asleep before she did. I was exhausted too. When I woke up around 11:30 PM, she was asleep with nothing in her mouth. I gave her an incentive that if she successfully not suck her thumb for 1 week, I'll get her a pokemon stuff animal name Minum.
I have no choice but trust that she will not suck her thumb during nap time at school. If I see missing flakes of nail polish, that will an indication that she didn't stick with the program.
From this experience, thumb sucking will not be an option for child number 2.

On a different note, I found out that my sister inlaw is also expecting. Her due date is August 2005 so our kids will be 3 months apart. She's very excited and she's hoping for a girl.

Trip to the Dentist

Today, we took S to the dentist and had a routine check up. She really likes sweets so I'm expecting some cavities that will pop up this time. Now that she's 5, the office did this 360 X-ray which shows all her teeth, baby and permanent. Those permanent teeth are big and ready when ever her little mouth is ready for them. The good news is that she doesn't have to go back until another 6 month. The bad news is that she does have a cavity between two molars. I'll continue to floss her teeth and the dentist will assess the situation again in 6 months. Her dentist also told S that she has to stop sucking her thumb or her permanent teeth will be crooked and ugly.
S has this thumb sucking habit since she was born so today daughter and I decided we will break the habit for good. I put nail polish on all her fingers and toes. She had a hard time taking a nap but over time she did managed to fall a sleep with out sucking her thumb. I caught her putting her thumb in her mouth and scolded her. We'll have to take it day by day and hopefully after 21 days, she'll be able to break the habit for good.

More experimentation

I tried to post pictures from smugmug and didn't have any luck.
Bull eye, I copy the text and point to my gallery and it didn't work.
Must consult you some more.
This painting was done by a childhood friend of mine. Very nice.

Dishes from the Party

Warning !! You might be hungry after reading this blog.
Here are some of the dishes we had this pass weekend celebrating daughter's 5th birthday.

Mom's famous Chow Mien with chicken and shrimp. Eating it will bring long life to the birthday girl.
Figure 1. Birthday Noodles

Mother inlaw's famous eggrolls which has ground pork, clear noodles, shrimp, carrots, and onions. Very yummy. She made over 100 of them so everyone took some home with them after the party.

Figure 2. Vietnamese Eggrolls

This dish is not so popular among the kids but is one of my favorite. The beef goes well with American broccoli or Chinese broccoli.

Figure 3. Beef and broccoli

Happy Ending

It rained all night Friday night and Saturday we got a break from the weather. S's party started @ 11 AM but people didn't show up until about 12. We had a total of 6 kids which was a good number. They had fun jumping in the bouncer, playing playdooh and hitting the pinata. None of the kids were strong enough to break the pinata so the adult broke it for them.
The sun finally came out around 1:30 PM so that a treat.


Castle Jumper

Rain, rain go away

It's been raining constantly all day and the forecast predict more rain tomorrow. Daughter's birthday party is tomorrow and hopefully it won't be so wet that they can't bounce in the jumper.
Planning for S's party has always been a challenge since I can remember.

sigh..

Memory

After a workout, I usually see this older lady, June. We chated frequently but she seems to not remember me at all. Am I that forgetable?
Here's an example of our conversation last Tuesday as I was changing back to my street clothes

J: "Are you pregnant?"
Me: "Yes, I am"
J: "How far along are you?"
Me: "6 months"
J: "Do you know what you are having?"
Me: "I’m having a girl"
J: "Is this your first?"
Me: "No, this is my 2nd"
J: "What gender is your 1st born?"
Me: "A girl"
J: "I have 2 girls and 1 boy"
Me: "That’s great!"
She went in to details about her grand kids etc..etc..

Today, as I was getting ready to jump into the shower, I noticed that June was staring intensely at my belly as if she was seeing it for the 1st time.
When we had eye contact, she started with:
J: "Are you pregnant?"
Me: "Yes I am"
J: "You look like you have 4 more months to go?"
Me: "About 3 more.."
J: "Do you know what you are having?"
Me: "I'm having a girl"
J: "Is this your first?"
Me: "No, this is my 2nd"
J: "What gender is your 1st born?"
Me: "A girl"

Then I head off to the shower and thoughts, if I see her again next Tuesday, are we going to have the same conversation again? May be she suffers from Alzheimer? May be not because she shows up to the gym to exercise every Tuesday and Thursday unless someone picks her up and drops her off based on a set schedule. Hm...

I’m thankful that my parents still have good memory.

Year of the Rooster

Today starts the year of the Rooster. Doesn't feel much like New Year since I didn't get any new year related food or decorations. What's interesting is that in the Vietnamese culture, they do eat chung to celebrate new year. Today, one of my co-worker gave me one and it tasted really good. They put salted green bean and pork as fillings. I'll have to buy some from him so I can let hubby taste it.

Better Days

S was invited to a birthday party this pass weekend but we didn't go because I was still a bit sick and didn't want to spread my sickness around.
Luckily most of the aches and pains went a way for now and I was able to sleep and get some rest. What I've learned is that when I'm experiencing unbearable pain, the only thing that helps me is deep breathing.
S's cousin came over and they had fun playing with each other. They played ponies, cars, cooking and had a blast.
This coming weekend is daughter's birthday party. I've invited some of her friends from school, very last minute so I'm not sure how many will actually show up. S and I made the invitations last night and she was happy. She tailored each invitation to each of her friends personalities and got really excited about passing it out today.
I have 3 more days to pull everything together.

It sucks to be me

Being able to get some decent sleep has been a challenge. Because belly has been growing larger, I've sleeping on my sides. Unfortunately sleeping on my side caused my arms to go numb and ache for days. Now my only option is sleeping while sitting up in an angle.
I went to my reflexologyst and told her about my problem. She massaged my back and arms this time and did not concentrate on my feet. After the session, the pain did not go away completely but I felt better on my right arm.
In addition to my arms being sore 90% of the time,I've been coughing for a week. When the infection got to my eyes, I went to the doctor and got some antibiotics.
I isolated my self from the family so they don't get pink eye. I'm so glad that there is an antibiotic that is safe to take while pregnant.
I've accepted that suffering is part of life but this is the 1st time that I had to deal with on a regular basis.

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mom. I'm not revealing your age on the internet because I know you'll scold me for the rest of my life. We'll have dimsum on Saturday and celebrate her birthday.
Coincidentally, today is also Mir's Dad's Birthday.

Only Child

This weekend, S kept asking me to call my friend Steve so his kids would come over and play with her. Unfortunately, they live in Pasadena so it's not a stone throw away to say "Hey, wanna come over and play with S?" I got the message that she lacks play mate or play date in her life and with the baby on the way, it'll still be a couple of years before she'll have a play mate. Sigh….
Last night, in order to get her out of the bathtub after her bath, I asked if she would like to play playdoe with me. S quickly jumped out of the tub and said "OK, let's play playdoe!"
She was the chef and I was the assistant. We started making pepperoni, green pepper pizza and later realized that pizza was not challenging enough so she decided to make sushi. While she was making the sushi, I can see that she was proud of her creation and she appreciated my company. She made the wasabi, soy sauce and even green tea.
Last night, I realized that S and I have only 4 months of one on one time before her sibling will share all the attention she had all to her self for the pass 4.5 years.
I'm going to throw her a Hello Kitty birthday party this year and I hope Steve's kids will be able to make it.

Pho Review

We went to lunch with a friend of mine at a Vietnamese noodle place name Pho Vu. I was excited because this restaurant is closest to our house. Both hubby and I ordered the large Pho bowl. He offered to share his large pho bowl with S so that I can order a different dish but I decided to try their Pho this time. We also ordered egg rolls as appetizer and we were not impressed. When our Phos arrived, I noticed the soup was not boiling hot and there were not much noodle in the bowl, at least not as much as I would expect in a large order.
Hubby: "Did I get a regular bowl by mistake? I ordered the large bowl."
Me: "No, you got the large bowl. They just didn't give us as much noodle as others would have"
Besides the lack of noodle, the beef that was served in the soup was chewy and the bean spouts were not fresh. With the soup not being boiling hot, it didn't really cook the bean sprout either.
My friend ordered the BBQ pork with vermicelli noodle and she was disappointed with her dish.
Over all I rate Pho Vu below average. Pho 99 in Lake Forest is better than Pho Vu but Thanh in Irvine is the best I've tasted so far.

Size of baby

Since I've been pregnant, friends have been forwarding me baby or pregnancy related articles. This 16.7 pounder baby was a scary reality.
S weighed 9 lb 9 oz when she was born. She was also 13 days overdue.
With this pregnancy, I'm hoping, praying, begging and doing what I can to produce a 6-8 pounder. I'm not eating as much as I did when I was pregnant with S so my weight gain is on track thus far.
My ob/gyn also agreed to induce labor on the due date if the baby/body doesn't initiate labor.
I spinned again yesterday and was surprised by how many extra bikes were available.
Eventhough I think Dr. Phil is a sell out but I believe in his saying "The predictor of future behavior is pass behavior." This has been true for new year resolutioner and they are dropping out just like last year.
In the locker room, I noticed people are starring on my belly. Some fellow spinners were joking on how I'm not exersizing enough since I'm not getting any smaller.

Another weird dream.
This time, I was at a funeral and I saw the funeral workers rolled the coffin out of the car with the dead man's legs danging out. Dad quickly ran to help so the legs weren't run over by the roller under the coffin. As we were there at open casket funeral service, I saw the same man moved as if he was sleeping and changing his position from sleeping on his back to sleeping on his side. I quickly told everyone that he was not really dead but asleep and hubby woke me up.

Observation

I lucked out yesterday when I was able to get a spin bike with out any reservation;however, spinning just isn't the same when you are pregnant. Yes, I am 5 months pregnant and it feels like I've been pregnant for a year. My belly is in the way as I peddle and the bike seat which is not really comfortable to begin with is REALLY a pain in the butt now that I am prego.
I also modified my speed to keep my heart rate ~140 beat/min which is what my ob had recommended.
The baby starts to kick me now if I had the seat belt too tight or sitting in a position that is uncomfortable for her.

Stuff

Work has been super busy so blog suffers since it's on the bottom of my to do list.
A friend of mine visited from the East Coast with two toddlers, 3 & 20 months old. My friend M said that the kids were asking to go home on their 2nd day in California. The last time I saw her it was at least 4 years ago. I invited 2 other couples who are also friends with M had a little get together. Everyone was 1-2 hours late because there was a big accident on the 5 north of us. The traffic convinced M and her husband that moving to the East coast was the right decision.
We had 6 kids total, and the noise level in the house was extremely loud. S didn't play much with the younger kids but Karl who is 5 years old was filling that role. When he walked in the house he asked me : "Do you have a boy?" I said: "No but I have a girl you can play with." He wasn't impressed with the option given to him so he befriended the 3 year old boy and played with him instead.
It was nice seeing everyone even though we all live far away from each other.

Last night I had a hard time falling asleep. When I did, I had a stressful dream. In my dream, I was living in the Song Dynasty. Dad and I found this treasure and inside there were piles of cash in $5.00 denomination. We decided to hide it from the Emperor and keep it to ourselves but the Emperor seemed to know about our plot and was trying to expose us with his spies pretending to be our housekeepers. Dad and I kept moving the treasure to new hiding places but the housekeepers had morphing power so we continuously had to look out for the spies.

Green Bear

Daughter's favorite stuff animal is a green bear. For some reason, she choose green bear over the over stuff animal before she was able to walk so 4 years later, GB is close to falling apart. Hubby used to throw it in the washer but not it's to fragile to be machine washed. S prefers it being stinky and she proudly asks us to smell GB.
We've tried replacing GB with other bears and those bears just sit in her toy chest.
Last night we were saying that it might be time to retire GB by putting it in a glass case to preserve it. This way the limbs won't fall off like Woody's arm in Toy Stories II. When she heard my suggestion, she was crying as if GB's arm had fallen off. It's hard to believe how much she loves her GB and it's such an important part of her life.
I recalled that my brother had a teddy bear when he was a toddler and he was quite attached to it too.
Seems like GB will have her love from now 'til eternity. I wonder at what age she'll be ready to retire GB?

Kitchen remodeling

My inlaws are in the process of remodeling their kitchen so on Saturday, hubby and his brother decided to go with them to assit in picking out the flooring while I hung out with my mom.
At night, we went to Mother inlaw house for dinner and they brought home some samples of real wood and engineer wood.
Brother inlaw: "Sam, which style of flooring do you like?"
Me: "Which ever one mom likes."
BIL: "Good answer. Unfortunately, we don't even know which one she likes. She doesn't like anything"
BIL has been involve with the remodeling from the beginning and he's exausted by the parents' indecisiveness.
Hubby said that mother inlaw doesn't like the wood grain in the wood floor. If that's the case then they should go with pergo where the grains are uniform since it's mass produced. BIL felt real wood would last longer so he's insisting that they go with the wood floor.
I don't get involve so she can decides faster and get the kitchen finish and move on with her life.

No spin & no rain

Wasn't able to spin today since I didn't get to class on time. I was on the treadmill and the lady to my right was Deb who tried to get a spin bike but didn't make it on time. She said that we'll have to get to class half an hour early if we don't want to pay.
As I fast walked on an incline, I was out of breath when my heart rate was around 130-140 beat/min. When I spin, I don't get out of breath until my heart rate reach about 162 beat/min. Big difference in tolerance level and amount of calories consumed.
It was nice driving in to work without any rain pounding on the windshield constantly.
Daughter is into watching old cartoon on the Boomerang channel. She thinks Tom and Jerry is funny and She also enjoys the Smurfs

New year resolutioners

I really hate going to the gym in January because of it's packed with people with short term new year resolutions. I'm thankful that they are short timer so things can get back to normal hopefully by February.
November, December were such great month for working out in the gym since almost everyone are either shopping or taking time off which result in only 10-15 people/class.
Comes January, it's total opposite. Yesterday, spin class completely filled, all 30 bikes were taken by the regulars and new year resolutioners. I got one of the last two bikes. One of the lady who is a regular, lets call her Sue didn't get a bike and she was not a happy camper. The instructor welcomed the new comers and verbally encourage them to stay with the program. In reality, she worked the class extremely hard and see who would survive and return? I might have to pay again to reserve the bike for January or I may just use the treadmill until things go back to normal.

Reality show gone too far?

Last night, daughter and I were on the computer playing games on pbskids.org and hubby said "You got to watch this show, it's interesting!". He was watching Who's your daddy reality show where the daughter had to guess who is her biological dad out of 8 men. I started watching it with him and got sucked in to it. I had to know who her real dad is. At first I was judging by how emotional those men were towards her comment but hubby reminded me that the others fake dad could be really good actors. I think it was cruel for this woman having find out why she was put up for adoption on national television with 7 men pretending to hold back the tears with her every attempt to justify her decisions. Once the fake dads were weeded out, then they state who they really are and some mentioned what they do for a living.
At the end she did pick the right man to be her father who had remarried and had 3 other daughters and she was also reunited with her birth mom. I was sobbing like mad at the end of the reunion. I know some friend and relatives who are adopted. Some parents told their kids that they are adopted and some parents kept it a secret due to fear that the child would leave them and seek their biological parent. If I were an adopted child, I would seek my biological parent also and get to the bottom of why they had to give me up. Is knowing better than not knowing?

Back to the daily grind

With our 4 days off, hubby and I spent most of it with family and watched DVDs.
Hero was OK. Cinematography was beautiful, the fight scenes were believable but the story line was weak.
Bourne Supremacy was OK also. I liked Bourne identify more than the sequel.
I wanted to rent Napoleon Dynamite but it was all rented out.
We celebrated father inlaw's birthday on Saturday. I got a cake from a Chinese bakery in Irvine and it was light and spongy. I single handedly ate 1/4 of the cake. They put lots of whip cream frosting so 50% of the cake was frosting so in realty I ate 1/8 of the cake since I scraped off all the frosting. Other than the cake, I did not over indulge on other things.
On Sunday, Uncle Sun from Boston visited with us briefly after he had a long flight from Taiwan. He was so exhausted that he fell asleep in the middle of a conversation so they went home early. I have not seen him for at least 20 years and yet he's still get a kick of telling old stories when I was a child. One particular story is that he used to pick me up from daycare and other kids would say "Sam, wake up, your dad is here, your dad is here!" The teacher heard the comment and she was totally confused as of who was my real father. I have no recollection of this incident other than what was told to me.
He also verbally shared with me recipes on how to make Pad thai and Tom Yum Kung soup. I'll have to try it before I forget. I promised I'll visit him in Boston soon