Busy baby...

Hey Boy Boy!

Are you very busy? You've been moving around so much! Or are you protesting because of the spicy sambal chilli that Mommy just had? It's good stuff okay... I am sure you will learn to appreciate it in time to come.

Last week, Mommy had to put on the fetal monitor (shaped as a round disc) on my tummy for a while, to make sure that you are doing okay. You gave the poor nurse such a hard time! Wherever she placed the round disc, you kicked it in the exact same spot and she couldn't get a reading. It is not a football okay! After shifting the disc all over Mommy's tummy for ten minutes, she finally found a sweet spot (which was really low... heh maybe it was a blind spot which you can't reach?) and quickly took the readings she needed. Boy Boy, you better be more cooperative next time okay? And that includes staying in until Mommy's exams are over. Pretty please?

***

As for your name... Well, we don't really have a lot of options for your Chinese name, because we have quite a few, erm, guidelines to follow. But it sort of makes things easier for us too -- we only have to think of half a character! As for your English name, we are still deciding if we will give you one (since neither of us has one). It will be convenient to have one when we register your birth over here in the US. But Mommy's quite ambivalent about boy names (girl names are much prettier!) Maybe one day we will all sit down together and run through a list of boy names with you, and if you like it, give us an indication, like a kick or something. That will save us a lot of trouble...

luff,
Mommy

Baby knits and kicks

Hey there Boy Boy!

Last week your Daddy had to go for a conference in Qatar, so it was just you and me at home. Thankfully, we had very nice neighbours! Auntie XJ and Uncle W asked Mommy over for dinner almost every night. Since Auntie XJ also has her little angel inside her, Uncle W had to take care of both pregnant mommies at the same time! (Yup, so all the nice food that you had was cooked by Uncle W...) It was fun talking about baby stuff with them. Saw their little girl's ultrasound photos too, which were really clear! Can see the face, hands and feet... so amazing... The both of you may have really close birthdays, or even on the same day!

This is a little hat that I knitted during the break. At that time, we still didn't know whether Auntie XJ's baby (or you, for that matter) was going to be a boy or a girl. So Mommy used this neutral-coloured yarn to knit a little baby hat for your future potential playmate! Reminds me of a 包, don't you think?


Mommy has lots of ideas on what to knit for you as well, but judging from how the first week of school went, Mommy's beginning to wonder if she is going to have any spare time left at all! The amount of readings for each week is quite substantial -- this week, I had to read almost 300 pages for one class! (Of course I didn't manage to finish it...) Now I wish I had paid attention during those speed-reading classes we were made to take back in secondary school...

Daddy's been really excited about feeling your little kicks as well, but you have been really cheeky! You stop kicking every time Daddy puts his hand on Mommy's tummy! Makes me feel like the boy who cried wolf. I don't know if you have can hear your Daddy's voice yet, but he is the one who keeps telling you to "Kick Mommy! Kick Mommy!" He even went to the extent of pointing a fan remote control at Mommy's tummy and pretended that there is a "kick" button on it to activate your movements! Hahaha...

Also, you seem to be more active at night, which is okay for now, but probably not-so-ideal (for us) once you are born... But then again, whoever has heard of parents who have enough sleep when their baby is born... I guess we will just be grateful to have a happy healthy baby like you!

luff,
Mommy

If you use a bit of imagination....

... you will probably be able to see that this is indeed a baby...


I hope the annotations help! (I think the hands look like doraemon's...)

Hello Boy Boy!

Hello Ah Boy,

Today we finally got to see you again. Did the ultrasound in the morning and everything looks very good, in fact you may even be due a week earlier than expected. However, you were not in a good position(head was too low) and we could not get a good look at your face. In the end, we could not take a nice 4D ultrasound picture of you like last time. At least we could tell that you are a baby boy. Now we just have to decide on a name for you. Mommy's thinking of names of characters from books and such and was throwing names like ****** (Censored) around....... Hopefully, by the time you arrive, we would have decided on a nice name you. So in the mean time, you would just have to make do with Ah Boy.

P.S Dr H hinted that he may do another ultrasound for us just to take a picture of you, if it happens, please be nice and cooperate.

Daddy

Baby crib!

After gathering the valuable advice from many experienced friends and relatives, we decided that we will buy a crib for you, baby! We thought now is a good time to buy, since we had the time to drive around (holidays!), and before Mommy becomes too immobile. Besides, we wouldn't want to lug a crib from car to house in the thick of winter!

We actually tried out co-sleeping one night, by pretending that one of the pillows was you, and trying not to squish the pillow the whole night. It wasn't easy, given that our bed is not too big, and very, very soft, so even any slight movements from us (e.g. turning over) will probably feel like a big earthquake to you.

So for your sake (and of course our sleep's sake as well), we thought a crib will be a better idea.

It was fun shopping for your crib! We finally decided on Gulliver from Ikea. We drove 3h to Boilingbrook to get this. Thankfully it fitted inside the car... phew!

Daddy excitedly opened the package and systematically took out all the parts in the living room.

As we were about to begin the assembly process, Mommy had this nagging feeling that something felt amiss. Turns out that the width of the crib is wider than our bedroom door!

So we moved the pieces into our room, and spent the next few hours clearing up a space for the crib. Daddy spent a lot of time re-wiring everything because the space the crib is taking up was actually Mommy's study table space.

In the evening, we finally re-started the assembly process. Daddy was very quick. The crib was ready in no time!

Daddy feeling tired after a hard day's work!

***

We can't wait to find out if you are a boy or a girl! But many people have wagered their guesses! Some say you are a girl (coz of Mommy's good complexion, and I guess the rounded shape of the belly), while others say you are a boy (heart rate, the line on Mommy's belly, and according to a Chinese website for predicting baby's gender... I didn't even know there are such things!) We will see which of these methods are accurate in a few day! :)

Three more weeks...

... till we meet again baby!

We went to see Dr H on Wed, and he decided that we should do an US in three weeks' time. We actually wanted to push it back a little later, coz we thought we will get a better view of you when you are a bit bigger. But Dr H thought it is better if we stick to three weeks. Well, three weeks it is then.

Mommy is desperately trying to stay away from all things which may be harmful to you... Boy, it has been hard! No coffee, no sunny-side-up eggs, no sashimi... And that day I had to convince myself to keep away from Olive Garden's yummy, Kahlua-laced, caffeine-rich tiramisu... Mmmmm... I am sure you will like it too when you taste it!

But today Mommy actually did something not so good... I went for pottery class to finish up my glazing. I had promised myself that if I couldn't find any rubber gloves in the studio, I will glaze another day (and go buy my own gloves in the meantime). But I went ahead and did it anyway, coz the studio was closing for Christmas and I really didn't want to wait till next year to finish up the glazing. So I got exposed to a little bit of glaze on my hands... (and maybe breathed a little in as well? I am not sure) I hope it is nothing serious... Now I feel kinda bad taking the risk. Sorry, baby! I promise I won't do it again next time...

Anyway, your heartbeat on Wednesday was 170 bpm, which is on the higher end of the normal range. I suppose you were enjoying the lunch which Mommy just had. Baby you have to be cooperative in three weeks' time okay? We really wanna get a good picture of you to tell if you are a boy or a girl!

Cousins and Friends

Hello Baby!

Just realised you will have a lot of potential tiger playmates.

Lets see, in March Mommy's good friend would have her second baby girl. In April, your cousin would arrive. One week before you are due XJ and W would be expecting their precious and finally one week after you would be another of your cousins.

So wow, you would have four other Tigers to play with! Hopefully you all would grow up and be good friends.