Bored at Work

Yay, it's the week before July 4th weekend and things seem to have slowed down for a bit.  I hope it stays like this because I have had work-itis for a very long time.  I just came back from a weekend trip to Montreal with my family and my parents for my sister in law's wedding.  Overall, I had a great time.  Things could have been better (dealing with the Naggon) but I won't touch that subject here.

Let's see, what's been happening.  Carey isn't walking yet but I think he's super close to.  He's very steady on his feet (with the assistance of another person) and he likes to wrench out one hand so that he can walk with only hand holding to another person's hand.  He still hasn't gained all the confidence to walk by himself yet but I think that day will be very soon.  I'll be very busy once he does!

And he's made the switch over to whole milk.  I get him organic whole milk from Costco.  And he eats 3 meals a day. He's got a hearty appetite and eats tons! He's learned how to crunch down his Cheerios with his front teeth (there are 8 now, the 8th just popped up a few days ago - 4 on top; 4 on the bottom) and gum down the rest so he eats efficiently and quickly.  My baby's a little boy now! He's not that tiny and helpless baby from one year ago.  I'm ecstatic that he's grown up so well but in a way, I miss that newborn baby in my arms.  We met my newest 1-month old nephew over the weekend and it was nice to hold a little baby again.  I guess it's time to try for the 2nd baby but we won't till after November.  We are going to Cancun in November and I would like to enjoy my trip before a 2nd pregnancy!  All inclusive!!

For his 1 year birthday, his family on his dad's side bought Carey a gift certificate to get some professional pictures taken from here:  Magenta Studios in Montreal.  We had some pictures taken of him in a baseball outfit, a chef outfit, a boxer outfit and a bowl of apples.  We ended the session in his own outfit but by that time, he had enuf of the photo shoot so he wasn't too happy.  But we got really great prints since he was so cooperative.  The pictures won't arrive in Montreal till about 3 weeks and I'm sure it will be sometime before we actually get our hands on it.  I can't wait!

I definitely recommend the studio since they do such a great job. The bad thing is that it costs an arm and a leg. 

I mentioned the last post that I ordered an Ipad.  I love it!  I know it's pretty much like an oversized Itouch but I love it. It's a life saver for road trips for Carey.  We installed some Baby Einstein onto it so I can just bust that out whenever and Carey will be quiet and calm. I pretty much replaced my netbook with the Ipad.  I had trouble with the netbook because the screen was so tiny and it was just really unpleasant to surf the net with it.  It's so much easier with the Ipad and its touch screen. My only regret is that I didn't get a larger size.  I only got the 16G. I should have gotten the 64G! It's also much less bulkier than a laptop or a netbook so it's easier to transport.  I only got the regular Apple case for it and I am ok with it.  I don't love it nor do I hate it. 

I got an A-frame for it from Griffin and I'm really happy with it.

My Ipad was resting on the box before on my night table but it looks so much better on this frame.  It also lies flat, too, if you don't want it to stand up and it easily charges in it.  I also had an invisible shield put on it to protect the screen cuz the screen tends to get really dirty very easily.

Carey was on terrific behavior at the wedding.  He put up with everyone wanting to hold him and he was like a star of the party.  At one point in time, this cute little girl of 14 months toddled up to him and gave him a hug and my son was so traumatized that he started bawling in her face, crumped to the ground and I had to heave him up and calm him down.  *sigh* Uber cute, but hilarious.

We're heading down to Maryland this upcoming weekend for a last minute family shindig. It should be fun! :)

June, Already?

Seems like I post once a month. It's seriously tough to blog every day.  How in the world did I do this before? 
Around this time last year, I was in labor.  I guess this year Memorial Day weekend happened later this year but the Tuesday after Memorial Day in 2009, I was in labor.  Can you believe it's been a year?  I cannot believe time has flown so quickly.  My baby boy is finally 1!  I remember the first few months were really rough and time went by so slowly. I couldn't even fathom his first birthday happening because it seemed such a long time.  Things started to get a little easier when Carey was around 5-6 months old and I guess the remainder of the year just flew by.  It is so fun to see my little boy's personality shine through.  I truly do have a happy baby boy (for most of the time) and it's been a tremendous joy to be a mother to him.  I'm looking forward to our many years to come (through fun times and bad times)!

[Thank you, Macey, for the pictures!  I wouldn't have any time to take any pictures and everything would have gone unrecorded.  :) ]

Carey had his first birthday party over the weekend.  Meanie cooked for most of the party - a traditional Vietnamese celebration meal.  We had brought over some Vietnamese pastries when we went up last at his mother's insistence just for Carey's birthday party.  These pastries are a must-have at big Vietnamese celebrations, like weddings and such.

Steamed buns with pork and egg inside; pork in a flaky crust; spring rolls; cold peanut butter noodles

Meanie also cooked a Viet sticky rice, spring rolls (what NYers know as "summer rolls"), green papaya salad (not so good, lol), my mom made her cold peanut butter noodles, there were grilled chicken wings and steak. 

Here is Carey's first birthday cake:

It was a chocolate cake/chocolate mousse on the inside covered with fondant. I had asked them to make a Baby Einstein cake for Carey and they did a great job on it.  I got this cake at Shop-Rite - it was perfect!!  Now I know I can just get my cakes at the local grocery store and not at an over-expensive custom bakery.  It tasted great, too!

I bought this little hat for Carey but he hated putting it on, so here it rests on the table.  :(

I made Bakerella's Cake Pops on a whim after discovering the supplies at Party City.  They came out really well and I look forward to making more of these so I can perfect the skill.  It's a great job if you have little bakers helping you out, too.

They look easy to make but in reality, a little time-consuming, but its outcome is really rewarding.  Not only did they look good, they tasted good, too!  I want to make more of these now. I don't think I can decorate as nicely as Bakerella does it but at least I can do the basics.  Mine are Devil's Food cake with chocolate frosting with blue Candy Melts, dipped in sprinkles or sand sugar.  It gives a satisfying crunch to the cake balls.  :)

Thanks to everyone coming to help us celebrate Carey's 1st!  It was definitely fun! Too bad he won't remember any of it.  =*(

Haven't updated in a while.  I'm just either too lazy or been too busy.  :)

Carey is turning 1 at the end of May! Scary how time flies so quickly.  He started crawling around Easter time and now he's perfected this skill.  He totally looks like a happy puppy when he crawls.  His face is beaming and he's got this huge smile and he lifts his hands arm in this jaunty way.  So friggin' cute.  I have to catch it on camera one of these days.  He's also trying to walk, with our assistance, of course.  He'll prolly be walking very soon!  I've noticed  that my son's personality is very determined.  He was called the "overachiever" at the hospital and I totally agree!

That boy loves food! I don't have a picky eater *knocks on wood*.  I made homemade purees for him at home - butternut squash, acorn squash, sweet potato, broccoli, japanese pumpkin & prunes (to make him regular) and I buy the Gerber fruit purees for him.  He can also eat little chunks of food like banana and avocado.  Those 2 are his most favorite, even eaten together. Haha. 

And because he's on the move so much, he eats so much more now compared to before.  He's impatient and loves his Baby Einstein.  It's like the whole world disappears for him when we play it for him. 

We gave up on the crying it out and the ferberizing.  I had him all trained before the holidays and he was going to sleep in his crib regularly until the holidays came.  We had to consolidate rooms and Carey had to sleep with us during then and after that, all the ferberizing and sleep training just totally backfired.  So we co-sleep in our California King sized bed.  There's plenty of room but my baby is a bed hog!

He also must be at my side at all times, either in contact with me or using me as a pillow.  I call him my Barnacle Boy.  I never disagreed with co-sleeping - I think the bond with your children is much closer than if you didn't.  But of course, I plan to have him sleep in his crib soon.  Very soon. :)

I can't believe it's May already.  Next weekend is Mother's day and we are going to Montreal for that weekend.  It'll be Carey's first real road trip and first time he's sleeping over in a new place.  Wish us luck!

I also pre-ordered a 3g/Wifi Ipad and should get it by mid-May.  I can't wait!  This will be also my very last big purchase for a long, long while. 

Hope everyone is doing great!

Post-Pregnancy Feet and other Random Things

So, in addition to my hair falling out and then growing back in - which are just starting to look like short bangs and not sticking up anymore - my feet grew.  A whole freaking size up.  I went from a size 6.5 to a 7.5.  And now I have to get a bunch of new shoes cuz my old shoes don't fit anymore.  What saddens me is that I had just gotten this really cool pair of silvery Cole Haan open toed shoes right before I got preggers and now they don't fit anymore and I've never had the chance to wear them!!  They've become my sister's birthday gift.  *sobs*

My mom was elated that my feet grew so I had to buy new shoes..and give her my old shoes. She says her feet grew too so she can fit a size 6.5 now which was my size - pre-pregnancy.  At first she thought I had diabetes when I said my feet grew so she kept on poking her finger on my foot to see if it was just swollen but it wasn't.  I kept on telling her that after some pregnancies, feet grow but she just chalked up my new foot size to my being fat.  Yay. 

I did some research and it's not just the weight gain from the pregnancy.  It's a hormone called relaxin:

I think my feet have grown. Is this possible? (Source)


Expert Answers


Jane Andersen, podiatrist


Yes. As you're discovering, your belly isn't the only thing that gets bigger during pregnancy! This is partly due to pregnancy weight gain and swelling from the extra fluid your body retains while you're pregnant (called edema). To ease the swelling, soak your feet in cool water and prop them up as often as you can.

But there's another reason that feet seem to grow during pregnancy. The aptly named pregnancy hormone relaxin, which loosens the joints around your pelvis so your baby can make his way down the birth canal, also loosens the ligaments in your feet, causing the foot bones to spread. Your foot bones aren't actually growing — it's just that the ligaments that hold these 26 bones together aren't as tight as they were.

You may notice your shoes getting a little tight as early as the second trimester, and they may continue to increase in size until late in pregnancy. While the foot swelling generally subsides within a month after delivery, any foot spreading caused by looser ligaments is permanent. I estimate that half the moms out there wear shoes a half or a whole size bigger than they wore before having babies.

The bright side, if there is one, is that you get to buy new shoes! Buy a few pairs of comfortable, roomy shoes to wear during your pregnancy, but be aware that you may have to go back for more once the swelling settles down and your shoe size stabilizes about a month after delivery. Whatever you do, don't try to make do with your old shoes! Wearing tight shoes can aggravate bunions and cause a host of painful foot problems, ranging from ingrown toenails to corns and calluses.

Finally, since feet tend to grow with each pregnancy, you may want to hold off on those pricey Jimmy Choos or Manolo Blahniks until you're finished having babies.

Ugh.  I guess I should be happy my fingers weren't affected.  I still fit my wedding and my e-ring!

My colleague recently told me about Skechers Shape-Ups. They're like MBTs but run a little cheaper around $100-110.  I thought the price was a little steep considering what a cheapo I am these days.  A hundred buckaroos for sneakers??  I don't have time to work out or go to the gym anymore now I have a tiny tot that takes up all of my time when I'm not at work.  Especially since he's teething these days.  His fourth tooth (the top right one) is coming in and it's especially painful since he's especially fussy these days.

I bought my first pair of Skechers Shape-ups via Amazon at a whopping $90 at a size 7 but they delivered the wrong color to me and the size didn't fit either so I returned it.  The Slickdeals alerted me to a new deal on Woman Within - if you bought 2 items, the 2nd item (the more expensive item) would be at a 50% discount! Woweee!!  So I got onto that deal and got my new Skechers for only $55, instead of a freaking $100!  I just received them and tried them on yesterday and wore them to work this morning.  It's like walking in moon shoes and you have to get used to the rocking.  But my calves actually felt a little tired today when I got into work!  Just standing in those require you to use your muscles just to stay balanced.  So we'll see if these work in any way.  I'm going to walk around everywhere during my lunch hour especially since it's nice and sunny today.

On baby news, Carey slept his first full night yesterday allowing me to get continuous sleep! I did wake up several times at night just to check on him via the monitor and he was sleeping soundly  We were thinking to give him a little Tylenol last night too because he seemed to be in so much pain but in the end, he passed out soundly.  It's makes a huge difference to get a night of continuous sleep.  I'm still tired but at least I feel somewhat refreshed. 

My baby is so smart these days.  He tells me he's hungry or thirsty by making these lip smacking sounds. It's so freaking adorable.  And he doesn't make that icky face anymore when he eats his puffs - whether it's Happy Bellies Organic Puffs or the Gerber Graduates Puffs.  I got the latter at my sister's recommendation since that's what her kids loved to snack on.  They have much more flavor than the Happy Bellies Organic Puffs.  I'm not sure which one Carey prefers but he's happily munching on all 3 kinds - Happy Bellies, Gerber Graduates or even plain Cheerios!  And I started him on water in his sippy cup.  He has a little problem using some sippy cups but he's working on it.

He started rocking on all 4s and he'll be crawling in no time. Actually he is getting somewhere, kinda, but I can't really call it crawling.  More like stretching and shimmying. Hehehe.  I definitely think that he'll be full-fledged crawling by Easter!

Weekend from Hell

Ugh, what a crappy assed weekend.  I feel like I need a vacation from the crappy assed weekend we just had.  On top of it all, it was Daylight Savings and we lost an hour! Boooooo.

We were planning this past weekend to go up to Boston since we both took off on Friday for Carey's 9-month well appointment.  But plans fell through and we didn't end up going, which might have been a good thing considering the crappy weather we all got.

Carey's 9-Month Well Check-Up

His stats:

Head:  45 cm (my baby has a big head so it's hard to put shirts on and pull shirts off.  Forget turtlenecks!)
Length:  27.25 inches
Weight:  17.8 lbs

Wow! He's grown quite a lot.  Not quite the 25 lbs that Meanie was telling his co-workers that's how much Carey weighs now. Hah.  He's so off.  The doctor said he looks great and is doing very well. 

We asked her to check his head to see if he was ok, after his accident from last week (lunging himself out of the crib). And she said that his case was the 2nd one who had lunged out of the crib that week.  I guess it's a common thing.  So once your baby starts pulling him/herself up a little, lower the crib ASAP.  You don't want to risk anything! And might as well lower it to the max lowest possible. It's a pain in the butt to put him/her in/out of the crib but better safe than sorry.

She also mentioned that the right part of his head (the back) is a little flat.  It's not THAT noticeable and his hair will cover up the flatness but it seems that the doctors like to tell you (and freak you out) when your baby's head is flat in the back.  Now it's inevitable because they tell you to keep your baby on their back when they sleep to prevent SIDS.  But if we want (we don't), we can have Carey put on a helmet 23 hours of a 24 hour/day period to straighten that out.  I think that's pure torture and I heard it smells.  No thank you.

I'm also weaning Carey off of the Similac Neosure formula onto Similac Early Advance formula.  It tends to make him slightly more gassier but the plus side is that he poops easier and more often.  It even says on the can that the formula is made to be more similar to breast milk so the poop should be more similar to a breat-fed's baby poop. Awesome!  Hehehe.  I asked to see if I could get an alternate vitamin for him cuz I thought it constipates my baby (one of its side effects) but she told me to change up his diet.  He eats pureed prunes every day so that's good.  We also need to add more fiber to his diet or we can put a little Benefiber in his food and that should help.  And he can eat meat and table food now.

I got some organic chicken breast over the weekend to make for him but Meanie's mom brought up a good point and she said to start making his baby food with some chicken stock so he can get used to the taste before he graduates to real chcken.  So I made a new batch of butternut squash puree with chcken stock.  It's quite good! I want to eat it all! Hahah.

Also I noticed if you make pureed prunes at home, try throwing in a pear as well (steam all first).  It makes the consistency a little more smoother than with a regular apple. 

Why It was the Weekend from Hell:

We were having crappy assed weather since Friday.  Heavy rains and strong winds.  Could you imagine if it were all snow?  We'd be totally snowed in with no way of getting out. Of course when I was going to enjoy my 3 day weekend with my hubby and son, the weather literally takes a dump on us. 

I could hear the winds howling on Friday night and the garbage cans being blown onto the street and stuff.  Freakiness.

Saturday, it rained the whole freaking day.  I have a running brook right behind my back yard.  When it rains/snows alot, it tends to swell alot and triple in size.  When I woke up on Saturday, it wasn't that frightening yet.  Later in the day, it looked like a river with high waves. Scariness.  We had near power outages all day with the power flickering but then it would come back on.  Meanie was saying soon we'll have a full blown out power outage.  I was hoping he was wrong.

Around 8pm, we heard a succession of big booms.  We peered outside and saw something burning a weird purplish color. It wasn't fire but it definitely wasn't a good thing.  I tried to get it on video but wasn't quick enuf.  And during the explosions, our power was flickering on and off but it kept on.  And then 2 hours, bam, no power.  *sigh* Luckily the baby was sleeping so I didn't have to stumble around with him in my arms.  I was prepping for a power outage so I had my flashlights ready - flashlights that supposedly don't run out of battery!  *crosses fingers*

I don't really care about the power outage with the lack of electronics and the fridge full of food. My main worry is the pump in the basement - that runs on electricity!  We have a pump down there to ensure that the basement doesn't flood and when the power goes off for that long of a period and if it's rainly profusely like it did all weekend, we are guaranteed to have a flooded basement.  There was about 3 inches Saturday night but by Sunday morning, it was about 6 inches.  It was high enuf to dislodge some boxes in the basement.  Our Guitar Hero guitars are totally waterlogged and most likely don't work anymore.

Our power/heat didn't come back till around 11:30am on Sunday morning.  That's like 13 hours of no electricity and no heat.  I didn't know we had hot water during all that time so we didn't shower and we were feeling pretty disgusting by Sunday morning. But I had a dilemma, I couldn't wash my hair anyway because how in the world am I going to dry it in a freezing house?  Ughhhh.

Since it was freezing, all 3 of us slept together. Hehe.  And I had to warm up Carey's bottles the old-fashioned way - by boiling some water and then dunking his bottle into it to warm it up.  Luckily we don't have electric stoves!  If so, we would have been doomed doomed doomed!!  Carey woke up in the middle of the night for his feeding because we didn't wake him up at midnight (his usual feeding) because there was no power. We were hoping by the time he woke in the middle of the night (or hoping he would sleep thru the night), that the power would be back on but nope, it didn't happen.  He had a look of WTF on his face and was like why the heck is there no light?  Would have taken a pic but not enuf light.  Hah.

And then there was the worry that there was an electric current in the stagnant water in the basement.  We had to flip the switch for the pump to get it running so Meanie put on my Sorel rubber boots (more like shoved his feet in it) and put on rubber gloves and went downstairs to switch the strip on, several times.  Ugh.  All Sunday we spent going thru the boxes - mainly my boxes full of mementos - old pictures, and some sentimental stuff which can never be replaced.  But nothing worth crying over.

So we finally finish doing all the yucky basement stuff and the laundry and everything till around 5pm Sunday.  I go to take a much needed shower - only to find that there was NO HOT WATER. *cue frustrated screams*  So after a few hours, Meanie finally gets the water heater working till around 7pm.  Apparently the flame area was wet from the flooding so with the help of some paper towels and a hair dryer, he was able to get it to work, finally.  I was worried I had to go into work feeling all disgusting and smelly. 

The shower I finally took was probably the best ever!

But yeah, that was my wonderful weekend.  I need a vacation from it.  Blegh.

Happy Bellies Organic Banana Puffs

Yesterday, we tried giving Carey some organic puffs, banana flavor ones.  My mom tried giving him Cheerios last week and she said that Carey looked like he was going to throw up while he was eating it.  I guess nothing compares to his milk or mom's milk, huh?  Whenever Carey tries eating something new, he has this peculiar face - like he ate the nastiest thing ever or something along that line.  I remember when I was trying to breast feed him in the hospital, he would have that very same face every time I tried to put him on.  I thought it was the funniest thing and then started thinking, omg, maybe I taste bad (only after not showering for a couple days, lol).  But it turns out that Carey has that face all the time whenever he tries something new.

We went to a baby shower over the weekend and the baby closest to Carey's adjusted age was already drinking from a sippy cup and eating puffs with no problem!  Age is confusing for a preemie.  Even though Carey has been out of the womb for a little over 9 months, his adjusted age is about 7.5 months but Carey was pretty gargantuan in size compared to the other babies.  I'll have to see what's up with his growth on Friday when Carey gets his 9-month well appointment.  Last time during his 6th month appointment, he was only like 10th percentile compared to other babies his age (not adjusted).  He's huge and heavy now!

So yep, I gave him a puff yesterday and accordingly to the Amazon reviews, kids love it!  I think it tastes better than a Cheerio but it's not much different.  It doesn't really melt in my mouth like they said it would but I guess it melts more than an actual Cheerio.  Carey looked like he was going to puke when I gave him a puff.  I couldn't stop laffing!  I don't have any pictures of him cuz I was laffing too much but Meanie took some video.  What's even funnier is that after he's eaten his puff, he'll open his mouth like a hungry baby chick so I can shove more in.  And when I do, he'll make that puke face again as he's trying to eat it.  LOL

I think the main reason why my baby got so big over the last 3 months is because of his formula.  Carey was only 3 lbs and 14 oz when he was born and he was PUNY.  He didn't even fit into preemie clothing cuz he was so tiny.  He was in the NICU for 2 weeks and they put him on Similac Neosure formula, which is what I still use now.  They say you should use this formula till your baby is 9 months old (which is Carey's age) so I'm wondering if I need to switch formulas now that he seems to be all caught up.

Now I have to teach him how to use a sippy cup.  I tried one time and told him to watch me as I sucked prune juice (ew) out of his sippy cup.  He didn't quite get it.  It's also more difficult to teach him because he only likes to drink milk.  He hates water and he hates juice.  Only milk!  He's just like his dad.  Meanie said when he was young, he went through like 3 bags of milk (the milk is sold in bags in Canada!!; not in cartons or gallons) per week.  I have a feeling I'll be going thru a lot of milk when Carey starts drinking cow milk.  Thank goodness for Costco!  = )

Sleep Deprived

I need a sleepcation.  My baby woke up at 5am screaming bloody murder and wouldn't go back to sleep after that.  I think he had a really disturbing nightmare and he just couldn't sleep after that.  I tried comforting him by holding him but nothing helped.  Every time I put him back in the crib, he'd start screaming as if someone was trying to kill him.  =(  So we brought him to the bed with us.  I don't want to make co-sleeping a habit but if it's the only way I'll get sleep, I'll do it.  He slept for maybe half an hour to 45 minutes and after that, he just started making this noise (think something like the horror lady from "The Grudge") and started poking me. Yes, my baby pokes me when I'm sleeping.  Wahhhhh....

Me = one unhappy exhausted momma. 

I can only drink one cup of coffee max per day or else I get really bad shakes and feels like I'm getting a heart attack since my heart palpitations are so rapid on caffeine.  Blegh.

I really hate this post-pregnancy hair issue.  Approximately 3 months after you give birth, all the hair you had while you were pregnant starts to fall out.  I would see softball sized hairballs after I took showers.  It was really disturbing.  Luckily I have a lot of hair to begin with so I didn't end up bald but my hair got really really thin.  And then after that, your hair starts growing back.  Baby hairs galore.  Mine grow back slowly and they stick straight up. So the hair at the front of my head (the bang area) sticks straight up.  You know, like these birds:

Now my baby hairs are half grown out so some are sticking up, some are sticking left, right, down, or just against the way how my hair is growing.  So annoying.  Luckily I found a stick of hair wax in my medicine cabinet and applied it.  My hairs seem to be behaving for now but who knows what'll happen at the end of the work day.

*Sigh*  The stuff mothers have to go thru for their children....*shakes head*  My sister was lucky.  She didn't have this hair problem after both her pregnancies. 

Anyways, here are some more product reviews.

Carey got this for his Christmas present from his Aunt Jenny, Uncle John and the kiddies:

Fisher-Price Rainforest Jumperoo

I think Meanie and I were excited more than he was.  This was the present we were waiting for.  This thing is a God send if you want to save your arms.  At a certain age - like around 6 months or so, your baby is going to want to jump alot.  All..the..freaking..time.  Usually we hold him under the armpits and he starts jumping no matter where he is.  On the bed, on the floor, on the couch, on your gut..etc etc.  But when you want ur hands free, you just plunk him into this and he jumps like crazy.

When I first put Carey in it, his feet didn't even reach the floor so he just kinda hung there.  I don't think he even knew that he could jump in it.  I even bounced him by myself for him to get a clue.  He didn't figure out it gave him the ability to jump until when his dad was trying to take him out.  So Carey was trying to get away from his dad and started jumping to get away.  But once he figured out he can jump in the thing, that's what he exactly did.  I have several videos of him.  It's totally hilarious when he screams at the top of his lungs and starts jumping.  He also likes to jump to music.  That's my son! :-)

There are 2 music settings - one that plays continuous music or the other is that music will play whenever he starts jumping.  There are also toys on the side that will entertain him and a bird and a gecko hanging from up high which Carey likes to stare at while jumping.  The only bad thing is that the seat is a little tight so putting your baby in is slightly difficult and that it takes a lot of room.  But I definitely recommend it!

When my sister had her kids, she didn't have a jumperoo (I'm sure she regretted it because she got Carey one, lol). But she had the Evenflo exersaucer, several of them. LOL One for home, one for maternal grandparents' home and the other for paternal grandparents' home. I have 2 now (hand me downs) but it's a great contraption to put your kid into when he starts holding up his head. Mine are pretty outdated but the ones on Amazon look really cool!

The one I have is similar to this one.

But the other ones look so fun:

OR there's a 3 in one:

Wow!  The EvenFlo ExerSaucer Triple Fun.

I'm really envious of the babies nowadays.  I didn't have cool toys like that when I was a baby.  And the diapers are so awesome too.  I remember leaky, damp and itchy diapers from way back.  Ugh.

My blog is too long.  I'll do toiletries next like shampoo, baby wash, etc etc. eventually.

Coupon Holder

Wow, who would have thought this was possible?  A non-baby related blog?  Whoa!

I've become my mom.  I've become a coupon clipping suburban mom.  I subscribe to the local newspaper for Thursday and Sunday deliveries.  I don't even read the newspaper.  I get all of my news from the internet.  So why the heck did I get a subscription to the local paper?  I would have totally opted for only Sunday deliveries but it's not available for some reason. Once I receive the Thursday paper, I just chuck it into the recycle bin.  Hopefully my mom reads when she's at my house!  I pay $9/month just so I can get the Sunday newspaper - cuz it's chock full of coupons that I can cut!  Haha.

Before I would totally shove in my coupons in this plain white envelope and it was totally unorganized so it was pretty difficult sorting out coupons in the store.  But now I have a solution.  My mom actually carries around this ugly-as-hell coupon organizer from Shop Rite. It's this nasty yellow and red but it organizes her coupons and it was free.  I wouldn't be caught dead in that coupon organizer.  So on a whim, I did a google search and thank goodness, people sell coupon holders on Etsy.com!  Pretty ones!

I ordered one last week and just received it yesterday and I luv it!  I haven't organized my stuff yet but I can't wait to.  Now I have an idea what to get people as gifts. Hehehe.  So don't be surprised if you get a coupon organizer from me for Xmas (esp if you live in the 'burbs).  Keheheheh.

What's also very cool about it is that you can hang it on your shopping cart so it makes shopping easier! :)

The shop is Grandma's Little Lilly and she sells other items as well.  Shipping is fast and I totally recommend this Etsy!

Refreshed...

I had a wonderful weekend.  Meanie had to work all weekend and honestly, I was quite worried if I could handle taking care of the baby all by myself.  So I had a little taste of what it would be like to be a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom). My mom always said staying home and taking care of a baby is much harder work than having an office job from 9 to 5.  At least at an office job, you can just sit and stare at a computer and have a 1 hour lunch break so it's a total of 7 "working" hours.  My mom arrives at my house at 7:30am and doesn't leave till about 7pm when we get home from work. That's a 12 hour day taking care of the baby.  No wonder she looks so tired. Children suck the life force out of adults!! :)

Honestly, I really enjoyed it.  Yeah, I was tired when he woke up at 7am but that's made up for during his naps!  He naps twice a day, each spanning about 1.5 to 2 hours each, if there are no interruptions like pesky phone callers, etc.  And I got to spend a lot of time with my baby boy and I'm sure he loved getting mommy all to himself, all day (and night) long. And on top of taking care of the baby, I also did 4 loads of laundry and cleaned up some mail.  I wanted to bake some brownies but never got around to doing that. 

I want to do so many things like bake some baked goods (Meanie really misses that), catch up on my DVR (I'm like 90% full on one of the DVRs - YES, I have 2!!), play some videogames (not happening.  Would like to finish Lost Odyssey but not getting any closer), and have tons of "to-do" things on my mental list which I seem to never get to.  At least I have an IPhone to entertain me in spurts.

Rowrrr

Happy Belated Lunar New Year & Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

It's the Year of the Tiger - MY year.  I hope that means a good year.  It seems like everyone I know has had a bad start to their new year - both regular and lunar new year.  Yesterday was a crappy day for Carey and me.  We both had big falls!  My poor baby rolled off the couch and hit the coffee table.  The loud thump had us both running and we found him on the floor next to the coffee table.  Luckily we have a rug underneath so I think it softened it fall but it totally scared him but he seems fine. 

And for me, I was heading downstairs to the playroom and laundry room with Carey in my arms and I slipped and fell down the stairs.  There are only 7 steps are so but I fell down and I remember thinking, protect the baby, protect the baby!!!  I did manage to protect the baby but I'm sore in several places.  But he totally freaked out cuz it was kinda scary and then screamed for a couple minutes till he was ok.

Speaking of tigers, someone has taught my baby how to growl like a rabid dog/tiger and totally sounds like a demon.  He was scaring both his parents cuz he sounded so demonic!  However, my family thought it was hilarious and caught it on videotape.  But I noticed he only seems to growl when his dad is around. He's ok when he's around me.  Haha.

Weekend was fun.  Had some visitors over - family visitors.  Went to eat at several restaurants in the area.  I'm still kinda annoyed at a visitor we had over the weekend.  I think it's only common sense, as a visitor, to respect the hosts of the house.  Not to demean them in any way or disrespect them, you know?  It's only basic common sense.  Yet this one visitor we have (I won't name any names and/or titles) is constantly dissing me and my people (Taiwanese) and it bothers the hell out of me.  Out of respect to my family, I keep my mouth shut so I don't create any drama but sometimes I wish I can just rip her a new one - in her Commie Chinese speck of a brainwashed brain.  =X  Oops, did I go there?  I sure did and that's it. 

Also, when you know the other party is footing the restaurant bill, you don't go and order EVERY SINGLE THING on the friggin menu and then go one to say that the food wasn't good.  "I like the variety and that's it".  Learn some freaking humility and order what you want to eat, not what you want to try.  Ok, that's the end of my rant but poor Meanie is going to have to go thru a whole week of mimicking by me of the bullshit that came out of her mouth.

*grumble*

2 Teef & Solid Feeding

My baby has his 2 bottom teeth coming out.  Carey's age is now 8 months and 2 weeks (34 weeks) but his adjusted age is 27 weeks, which is about 6 months and 3 weeks. It's confusing with preemies because he's got an actual age (when he was born) and his adjusted age cuz he's a preemie.  He's small compared to all other babies that are around 8 months old.  In reality, his real age is about a 6 monther.  But he seems to be doing very well!  I haven't compared him with another baby his age so I have no grounds for comparison.  He's got 2 teeth and I've started him on solids already.  We received a Beaba for Xmas so I've been making some of his baby food.  At first, I buy Gerber Organic or just regular Gerber (the ones in the plastic rectangle container) to see what he likes and then if he does like something, I'll go out to the store and buy organic produce to make his own food.

I totally love the Beaba! I've read reviews that some people think it's a waste of money and that a regular blender would just suffice.  But the good thing about the Beaba is that not only does it puree food, it also steams/cooks the food all in one gadget.  I definitely recommend the Beaba and it seems to puree food to a much better consistency than it would in a regular blender or even in a regular food processor. 

I've already made a batch of butternut squash and a batch of sweet potato.  He loves both but I think he's starting to get sick of it.  I just made a batch of pureed prunes with apple.  The consistency is a little gooey but once you mix it with another fruit, like banana, it becomes a nice pureed fruit.  It also helps with constipation!

Carey also loves fresh banana (all mashed up) and fresh avocado (also mashed up).  He is born into a family of foodies so it's only likely that he will enjoy his food.  I hope I don't have a picky eater!  I ventured out to the veggie world of Gerber and got him some green beans. I smelled it and thought it was disgusting.  Apparently Carey thinks so too because his facial expression is like BLEGHH.  I've seen him gag when I spoon it into his mouth.  But I read an article that your own facial expression should be positive at all times, esp when feeding him icky foods or changing his poopy diaper so he won't have issues later on.  Having a positive facial expression definitely works because Carey ate all of his green beans (I also mixed with sweet potato to make it a little more palatable)!  I think I won't venture to the veggie world like green beans and peas until Carey is able to gum it down himself.  That pureed stuff is just horrible!

Once you're a mother/parent, you are obsessed with baby poops.  It sounds disgusting but it's all a part of parenting.  You become obsessed to see if the baby pooped and what kind of poop it is.  Hahaha.  Carey always had a problem with poops.  His problem was that he didn't poop!  Maybe like once a week, if we're lucky.  He hates all kinds of juice so prune/apple/pear juice didn't help and that's what the doctor always ordered.  Water was also recommended but he hates the taste of water, probably because it tastes like absolutely nothing.  One time we used a suppository but I didn't want to make that a habit.  The process itself is traumatizing enuf and the clean-up afterwards isn't so fun either. 

Carey's new flouride vitamin causes him to be constipated.  His new diet of solid foods also cause him constipation but at least he's pooping more regularly now.  And the pureed prunes definitely help!  He also prefers oats cereal over rice cereal because it has more flavor.  Rice cereal is just a pile of mush.  I feed him Happy Bellies Organic cereal.  I think I'm going to try to feed him yogurt soon.  I just bought some Stonybrook Organic Yo Baby yogurt but I just realized after I bought it that there's sugar in it.  Does anyone use it and is it bad for babies?

Sorry this blog is so long but it's been a long time since I've blogged and I have so much stuff on my mind to blog about!  :)

I wanted to get Carey this cool Vtech book that one of my friends have for her baby.  It's the Vtech Infant Rhyme and Discover book.  My friend brought it over and Carey loooved it so I was going to purchase it on Amazon until I read one of the reviews that one part had contained lead.  Gahhh!

This website has a list of toys and what toys are safe and what aren't.  It's pretty shocking to see how much chemicals are in children's toys.  They say that you should just buy products that aren't made in China but it seems like everything is made in China these days.  Just on the safe side, I opted not to purchase the Vtech book even though Carey really enjoyed it.

More to come later!

I Miss Blogging..

I've come to realize that I miss blogging.  It feels as if I'm missing something every day since I no longer have access to Xanga at work.  I feel out of touch from the cyberworld.  And I'm always way too busy at home to finally log onto a computer and blog then.  Things are so much more hectic when you have a baby!

I keep on forgetting that I have access to blogger at work.  So here we are!  I am going to try to keep at this.  I wonder if I can protect some entries so that only several people can see them.  Does blogger work like that?

My baby just had his 8-month birthday a few days ago.  I cannot believe that he's 8 months old (really, 6 months adjusted since he was a preemie).  He is doing wonderfully. Growing lots, eating lots and is happy lots.  He is already sprouting 2 bottom teeth in the front!

Meanie and I are truly blessed to have Carey as our son.  He's a wonderfully happy baby boy and he brings such joy to us.  Every day after work, I look forward to going home so I can see my baby.  Motherhood is truly awesome.

I remember I used to ask questions to new mothers and how they liked being a mother and all of them would say they loved it so much.  And I had such trouble understanding how they could be so happy about someone they had to take care of, someone that will totally change your life as it is before you had kids, etc etc. 

But I'm there now.  Now I totally understand.  <3

Latest Baby Bump picture

Here's my latest belly bump picture. This was taken on 3.31.09 and just starting my 26th week:

I'm a mini beluga whale!! :-(

Just had my monthly checkup this morning. Apparently I've gained 9 lbs since the last month. Doh! Here's my 22 weeks picture:

I didn't get yelled at this time since I definitely "popped" over the last month but give me a break, I haven't gained anything at all during my first trimester. I'd say I have gained about 10 lbs total so far in the pregnancy. Everyone seems to think that once you're pregnant, you don't really need to think about weight gain - just gain as much as you can cuz the "baby needs it". But that doesn't really ring true. You're supposed to gain about 1 lb per week per month. So 4 weeks = 1 month = 4 lbs per month. Anything more and you'll get yelled at. Next month if I have such a high weight gain, I'll definitely hear some yelling.

I think it's because during the first trimester, I ate pretty healthily. My only craving was for fruit - any kind of fruit - oranges, grapefruits & pomelos (those I LOOOVED), apples, plums, bananas, etc. But lately I find that bananas cause me acid reflux and citrus foods were too acidic for my stomach so I stopped. Maybe I'll try eating melons now but it's rare that they're sweet these days. It's too early in the season. So I've been eating bad foods (weekly cheeseburgers, anyone) and fries. I crave for french fries and I crave for ice cream. That's a huge jump from craving fruits.

Otherwise, everything looks good so far. I'm on my 26th week and my doctor tells me that my uterus seems about 26 weeks. Baby's heartbeat is good too.

I did the gestational diabetes test today. I had to drink a bottle of orange glucose which wasn't all that bad. I thought it would taste really sickenly sweet but it was just like an orange drink. I didn't feel so great afterwards though. And the lab withdrew some blood to do a test to see if the sugar gets all digested properly. If I don't pass this test, I'll have to monitor my diet more closely or maybe even do finger prickings every time I eat. That doesn't sound fun at all.

My doctor also told me that he wanted to be thorough with another ultrasound. It turns out the last facility I went to - they didn't have a good view of the heart and the 4 chambers, the spine or the face - where all 3 are really really important!! They counted the spine and deemed it ok but my current doctor wants to be really safe in case we need to take precautions. He said what they should have done back then was offer me an amniocentisis (when they stick a long needle in the uterus to test the amnio fluid in the placenta - owch) to check to see if everything was ok but they didn't even do that.

So I have an ultrasound scheduled for next Friday. *sigh* I hope everything's ok. I'll have to take a personal day off too since it's in the middle of the afternoon.

We went to see the NY Rangers vs Montreal Canadiens (Habs) game yesterday at MSG. It was fun but I started winding down during the 3rd period. I always end up sitting next to the scary typical Ranger fan but yesterday's guy was pretty nice. He kept on trying to convert Meanie out of his Habs jersey into a Rangers jersey. The Rangers KILLED the Habs (3-1) and then poor Meanie had to deal with all the mean NYer heckling and suck. NYers are mean bastards! I find hockey fans are really scary out of all the sports out there. They're rude and they curse alot. Last time I went to a Rangers fan, the old geezers were screaming at the kids in front to sit the F down. Nice. Talk about childhood trauma right there.

My baby's namesake - Carey Price - performed pretty horribly. Terrible. =*(

Migration

I've migrated to my old Live Journal account. I don't like BlogSpot too much!!

http://babydot.livejournal.com/

Stupid Me

It's really quite interesting to see how much dumber you get while you're pregnant. I don't know what the reason is but I'm super dumb these days! The things that come out of my mouth are just purely amazing. I feel like a total dumb cheerleader. :-)

I'm on my 26th week of pregnancy - which is NOT my 7th month. Haha...I'm only 6.5 months pregnant. Deerrrr.... Now I feel stupid for telling people that I'm in my last trimester and am starting my 7th month. That's not for another 2 weeks!

I definitely show now. I'm waddling like a duck and I have a protruding belly. My belly button hasn't become an outtie yet. I've always had a really deep belly button so I'm counting on that to not be an outtie but I think that time is coming soon... One of these days I'll have to upload my weekly belly pics. It's come a long way! And I'm only going to get bigger!

I have trouble fitting into my pre pregnancy clothes. I can fit into some of them but they're feeling tight. I've definitely gained some weight this month but I hope not too much. And I'm starting to feel the negative aspects of pregnancy - like swelling of hands and feet (pig feet!), leg cramps, tingling in my limbs, dizziness, feeling off kilter, shortness of breath, getting tired really easily and other "fun" things. :(

We went to Babies R Us this past weekend to look at stuff like changing tables. Even though I'm getting really nervous and scared about labor and being a good mother, I couldn't help but be excited for my baby's arrival. Just imagining changing a diaper on a changing table excited me which is really odd! Who gets excited about changing a dirty diaper? But I guess in a way, I'm really excited at the prospect of being a mom. So weird!

I've been getting beat up from the insides (baby kicking and shifting and doing gymnastics) at times but it's good to know that he's doing ok. Whenever Meanie "talks" to him from my belly, Mignon starts moving around alot. I have to start playing classical music for him. I hear that it's good for the baby. I think Mignon will be a total foodie. It seems like I'm constantly craving for ice cream and/or something like that.

I have my gestational diabetes test this Wednesday. I have to drink some sort of orangey looking thick liquid and an hour after that, they'll draw blood from my arm to see if the sugar is being digested properly. I hope I pass it..I really don't want to be pricking myself after I eat. *shudder* My sister didn't have it for her first pregnancy but she was borderline during her 2nd pregnancy and she had to monitor what she was eating alot. Suckiness!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let me starting blogging about non-baby stuff. :-)

I saw Twilight on Blu Ray over the weekend. I totally loved the book series and fell in love with the characters. I've been wanting to re-read the series all over again but I feel like a child with ADD and can't focus my attention on just one thing. I saw the movie the first time on a bootleg copy with horrible clarity and it was obvious that someone was video taping the movie from a handheld camera in a small theater. But I totally hated the movie. I hated what the director did to the story and trying to make it artsy-fartsy when you really didn't need to.

I bought it anyway on Blu Ray when it came out and finally saw it over the weekend. I thought it was better than the first time. I don't know why -- maybe because it was clearer and I could see everything? I'm not really sure. I viewed all the special features - the deleted scenes and the extended scenes and I cannot figure out why the director would choose to delete these scenes. To me, those scenes were key for the non-reader to understand what was going on in the story! I really do hope the next director does a better job with the next installment.

I saw some eye candy in the newstands while I was walking to the subway in Port Authority:

[Gosh, I hate the formatting for blogspot. I wish I could access Xanga!! Arrghhh]

Carey...

We settled on a name for Mignon. We're going to call him Carey. We didn't want a name that everyone else seems to have and we wanted a name that would stand out. All other male names are common - like Matthew (can you believe there are 5 Matthew's on my floor?), David, John, etc etc. There's nothing wrong with those names but we just want something more original. Plus "Carey" paired up with Meanie's last name sounds very nice too and it's very yellable from a parents' view.

Which is kinda funny because I had dreamt over the weekend that Carey was a little toddler and he had done something pretty naughty (I forgot what) and I was screaming out his full name. LOL.

We came across the name "Carey" because we couldn't agree on anything else. All the names I liked, Meanie hated and vice versa. Meanie's also a die hard hockey fan and he follows the Montreal Habs. Their goalie's name is Carey Price and he was doing really good (in the beginning of the season - not so hot now though) and we really liked the name. So you could say that my Carey is kinda named after a hockey player but that's definitely how we came by his name.

I'm getting tired of people asking me why am I giving my baby boy a girl's name? It's not a girl's name! Think of Cary Grant, Carey Price, isn't Pink's bf named Carey? It's not pronounced like Carrie but instead it's pronounced as "Care-ey". I think it's a very beautiful name. :-)

I googled it and came across this link:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090218045420AALKyeI

Resolved Question
Show me another »
Carey as a boys name. From previously asked questions.?
Just curious to know did anybody call their baby boy Carey ? Is anybody called Carey?
1 month ago

Additional Details
Just curious to know. I saw a few people ask . My son is named Carey and he is well into his 20's . I haven't heard of anybody else
1 month ago

It is pronounced Carey as in Care and not Carrie as in Carry.I even think Cary Grant is not pronounced Carrie . Carey is another version of Cary. A welsh version I think.
1 month ago

I've heard people say Cary as "Care" yAnd it even says so in books of boys names. It's just what you prefer

******
I find it entertaining that this question exists on Yahoo Questions but it sure does explain the name to people who just don't "get it".

I Need Sleep...

Ugh, I'm running on very little sleep these days. I don't know what's wrong with me...and I don't think it's a pregnancy issue. Even before I was pregnant, I never slept well on Sunday nights. I think it's because I'm so anxious (not) to get back into work on Mondays. This past Sunday, both Meanie and I had trouble sleeping due to digestion issues and insomnia. Or...more like I had both of those issues and I kept on disturbing Meanie's beauty rest. He left for the guest bed at around 430am and I finally fell asleep kinda but it's a bit tough to survive at work on a 2.5 hour night of sleep. We still have no idea what caused our distress on Sunday night but we think it's our home cooked meal. Haha...

We both called out sick on Monday to catch up on much-needed rest and I slept like a baby. I was still tired when I woke up in the afternoon. I think these days Mignon beats me up from the inside when he wants something, like food. My insides were getting a beat down when I finally got up to walk around but I was still very tired.

I was exhausted by the time I went to bed on Monday night around 11pm but yet, I couldn't sleep! I couldn't get comfortable and I just couldn't get to Sleepyland. Great, another sleepless night and I can't call out sick another day. I finally fell asleep around 430am. Hmm...Seems like a pattern but it's frustrating. Ugh!

I'm so very exhausted and would like to catch up on sleep but I fear that if I nap or anything, my schedule will be thrown off all over again. Blah!

This week, the 25th week, is the start to my 7th month of being pregnant. Yikes!! Where did the first 6 months go? I used to think that 9 months was a really really long time but now it's like I can't put a stop to time. Soon, Mignon will be out and I'll be even more tired being a mom! I would like to catch up on sleep, like people suggest I do, but it's kinda tough when you can't fall asleep. :(

Today is also the first day I cannot button up my pants all the way. =/ Thank goodness for Belly Bands. Those things are a God-send or else I'd be super broke paying for maternity clothes that don't really fit. The affordable ones (Old Navy) are either too small or too large. And the other ones are just uber pricy.

Speaking of poor, we did our taxes over the weekend and I owe about $1800 in taxes. Yikes!! It's just bad news right after another. Ugh. I hope this week gets better. At least the weather seems to be warming up!

Mignon seems to be thumping here and there. I think it's kicks because sometimes it's harder here and there and shifts all over the place. I think he likes to hang out on the right side of my uterus but now he's hanging out in the middle. I still can't discern what's a kick, what's a hiccup and what's Braxton Hicks contractions. I just know that there's sort of movements going on in my belly and it's all my active little boy.

My wish for tonight: Get some sound rest. Is it really all too much to ask for?

I'm glad I'm pregnant so I won't be suckered into buying all that stuff that's on the Rue La La Final Sale. Hee hee. Lotsa cute clothing on sale but there's no way I'm fitting into that stuff anytime in the near future.

There's also a Woot Off happening but no goodies yet.

I slept a little better yesterday despite all the acid reflux action that's recently happening. All the baby sites say that it's normal to get acid reflux during this time because the uterus basically grows in size to accommodate the baby's growing size so all your body organs get pushed up and gets all cramped up into your upper body cavity. Doesn't sound wonderful? The first time I read that my uterus would grow in size (to above your belly button) totally grossed me out. LOL but hey, as long as I don't have to view it, I guess I'm ok. :-)

So yeah, I slept slightly upright and on my left side. Leg cramps are starting to come by too. Ugh.. My doctor was so right when I saw him earlier this month. I was in a happy and cheery mood and he had told me that when I come for the April's monthly appointment, I won't be so happy anymore. He's so correct. I'm starting to feel the discomforts of the third trimester.

I cannot believe after next week, I'll be starting my 3rd trimester. Pregnancy goes by pretty fast, especially when you have a relatively "easy" pregnancy compared to others. Soon, Mignon will pop out. I'm excited and I'm really nervous. I guess that's all normal. I just hope labor won't be all too bad.

We have baby classes in April at the hospital. That should be interesting... Hee hee.

Wow...4 years.

Damn! It's been 4 years since I've touched this blog. Honestly, I forgot I had it. Maybe it was a good thing I created so many blogs back when I was bored so I could have some kind of outlet later on. Work has finally cut off the support staff from social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Weirdly enuf, Xanga is considered as a social networking site so I've stopped blogging on there because I can't during work. After work, I'm just too tired to sit in front of a computer to blog about stuff so I just let blogging slide.

But I've noticed I have access to Blogspot so now I can blog again!

I also got an Iphone so I can bypass the firewall at work to log onto the sites that I'm blocked from. I'm also blocked from any website that has to do with "gaming", even videogames. I can't even look up on faq's for games that I'm currently playing or go shopping for games. It's so ridiculously stupid. So I just do a lot of food blog reading at work or stuff on TV shows. Or news. But it all gets boring after a while.

So yeah, 4 years since I got married...Things have happened -- good, bad, ok, overall good.

I'm 24 weeks pregnant with a baby boy. My due date is mid-July.

I've been keeping a log of the pregnancy but I haven't posted it anywhere. I guess I can post it here now.

We found out at 17 weeks that we're having a baby boy. That was the first time Meanie came with me to the doctor's so he saw the ultrasound and heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time. I think he was so moved and amazed at the technology that he was almost reduced to tears. I do admit that it's quite an experience to see it all like that. It's amazing what technology has come to.

At 18 weeks, we went to meet my new doctor near our house. He was referred to us by my sister and he is really great. The office is about 15 minutes away from the house so it's nice to be nearby.

At 19 weeks, I started to feel fluttery motions in my stomach. It was similar to a rodent running around in my insides, like a gerbil. Some people say it feels like butterflies in the stomach or popcorn popping in your stomach but it definitely felt weird. I remember I was scared to feel this movement starting from the beginning but I've come to enjoy my baby's kicks and movements (it doesn't hurt yet) and know that he's doing alright in there. I definitely freaked out the first time I felt it though! :)

Not much has happened during the last few weeks except for the onset of heartburn and acid reflux. It really depends on the food I eat. I'm still trying to figure out what causes it and what doesn't but it seems to change all the time. I keep a storage of Tums on me at all times because sometimes it gets really really bad.

I'm at 24 weeks this week. A few weeks past the middle mark. I can't believe it's halfway already! Time goes by during this pregnancy and it goes by too fast, I think. I'm sure I think that because it hasn't been too awful for me, as it has been for others. I'm still wearing my pre-pregnancy clothes but now I have some help from a generic Belly Band. I'm definitely sporting a baby bump now. You can definitely see that I'm preggers. And baby has been kicking me every day! I think he's starting to respond to our voices too which is an entertaining thing.

So yeah, this is what's been going on. I'll remember to update this blog as long as I'm able to. If i don't, it's because I've been cut off from this site. Blah! Damn firewalls!

Blogs Galore

I have too many blogs! I have multiple blogs and can you believe I have different material on all of them? Maybe I have a multiple personality. Hee hee... I'm still trying to figure out this one.