The Senakams | Corgi + 2.5

On Nesting and Resting

Yep, still here... 39 weeks and 2 days (5 days from D-day!), can you believe it? After all the early drama, I'm a bit surprised (but not dismayed) that she still hasn't checked out yet.

But hey, my parents have arrived, most last minute prep is done (she has a place to sleep and diaper drawer is stocked), and I'm getting paid for "resting" when I'm not "nesting", who can complain?

Speaking of nesting, you might have noticed the new, cleaned-up look of the blog, like it?

It's still a working progress, but I'm so sick of the previous clutter that I decided it's time for some cyber-cleaning. And once I started, it's hard to stop- I think I "threw out" half the junk I had there before- it's almost as gratifying as cleaning out my closet! Now it's looking so "clean", I'm tempted to add some color back to it (I think indecisiveness is a side effect of late-stage pregnancy...) What do you think?

And speaking of resting, I'm getting plenty of that these days, as my army of help parents have finally arrived from Hong Kong a few days ago :) As much as I fretted over having my parents around all the time (well, technically not all the time since they're staying at Picasso's in-law unit) before they got here, it's really nice to have some family time together (we've lived in separate states/countries for the past 10+ years), and hear stories about me when I was a baby...

Like the other day, I strolled by a baby store with my mom, while I was oogling over some completely impractical baby stuff (like a $40 baby skirt or something equally offensive), my mom told me that's exactly what they did when I was a baby, running to the store and bought me everything cute and impractical on the shelf as soon as they get their monthly pay check...

And here's my mom when she was pregnant with me 30 some years ago...

And here's her with me when I was a newborn...

Isn't she so cute? And I just looked disappointingly like a wrinkly, grumpy old man... I'm so glad they decided to keep me anyway :P

And if you're wondering about how Bryson our Addison Dog is doing, he's had some up days and down days... I'm sure all the people and all the fuss that's going on with new baby prep isn't helping with his stress. But he seems to have adjusted to my parents' presence (all the bribery my dad's throwing him under the table doesn't hurt), and we're gradually learning how to titrate his steroid dose to cope with the various stressors in his doggie life.

"I can smell changes in the air... hmm..... I wonder what's cooking...." Oh Bryson, you'll find out very soon ;)

Still Here

Everything considered, I can now (almost at the end) say that I've had a pretty happy, uneventful pregnancy (*knock on wood*).

I mean, there were some rough days, especially in my seemingly never-ending first trimester (with nausea lasted till 18 weeks, ugh). But after hurling spectacularly just after walking out the gate at SFO some time around Week 18, I started feeling the baby kick like the very next day... And from there, I was generally happy and content with the way things went, all the way till about 35 weeks when all the aches and pains and anxiety reared its ugly head...

We didn't want to "jinx" things earlier on, but as they say "picture says a thousand words" (or something like that), here's a pictoral chronicle of my journey through pregnancy (or more like mid-pregnancy on):

1. Week 21, 2. Week 22, 3. Week 23, 4. Week 24, 5. Week 25, 6. Week 26, 7. Week 27, 8. Week 28, 9. Week 29, 10. Week 30, 11. Week 31, 12. Week 33, 13. Week 34, 14. Week 35, 15. Week 37, 16. Week 38

Can you tell there are some good days and there are some not-so-hot days (just love those when I'm still in my jammies at 3 p.m...)?

I remember just feeling horribly fat for a long time, then one day during my 6th or 7th month, I looked at the mirror after shower and saw my belly "heave" from one side to the other, and felt like I was hit by an internal earthquake (literally)... that's when it really hit me that our little baby is living inside that dimply, itchy bump. I mean I've long embraced the fact that I'm pregnant (not just fat), and I felt like I've already developed strong emotions towards our unborn child, but that was the day that I've really started to LOVE the way my pregnant belly looks.

I know, it's strange and hard to explain. But I think this is one of those things I'll miss about being pregnant...

Plus the daily bedtime massage by Masseuse Hubby (you won't believe the swelling that starts in the last month)...

Plus having Hubby rub lotion on my feet every day after shower (coz I can't reach) and belly (coz he loves massaging us "both" at the same time)...

Plus the extra special attention you get wherever you go ("sorry but I really can't sit at the counter, how about that booth by the window? Oh, thank you so very much")...

Plus being able to "play" with your baby's foot from across your belly (I know, sounds totally strange, but oh-so-fun; I swear I almost "caught" it the other day)... 

Plus the excitement and anticipation that only meeting your first born could bring...

Plus all the icecream you can eat without feeling horribly guilty...

P.S. I'll save all the things I WON'T miss about being pregnant for another day.

Bryson has a gift for his sister

That's right! Now that Bryson's feeling better, he's prepared (with a little help from me) a little gift for his sister (remember this sneak preview?)...

Ta-dah! It's yet another baby blanket :) And a close-up of the patchwork binding:

This is based loosely on instructions from this "Patchwork-trimmed Baby Blanket" project in Heather Ross' uber-popular book Weekend Sewing:

While the monogram is super cute, Bryson decided that ours needs a bit of a personal touch- one bearing his personal "signature". He picked out this photo dating back to his show-dog days, when he's considerably less saggy in the mid-section (hey, even dogs want to put their best foot forward, ya know?):

Departing from the instructions from the book out of laziness (which instructs you to use single-sided fusible interfacing which needs sewing on), I used this double-sided fusible web, Steam-a-Seam Lite to create a Bryson-shaped iron-on applique.

I don't know if I'm doing it right, but since this stuff looks so light, I didn't even cut out the middle of the webbing and there didn't seem to be any excess stiffness (can someone tell me if I should have followed instructions from the book?) Anyway, I then sewed a decorative zig-zag around it, and voila! Bryson is forever imprinted on his sister's blanket :) Now I just hope that it wouldn't fall apart after washing...

For fabrics, I used this super soft double-sided chenille-like (?) fabric for the main blanket that I imagine would feel oh-so-good against a baby's delicate skin (it's from Stonemountain here in Berkeley). For the trim, I used a mix of cotton fabrics from Joel Dewberry, Tula Pink and Urban Chiks I got online.

I really hope to squeeze one more sewing project in before our little bundle of trouble joy arrives, but based on all those Braxton-Hicks contractions I've been having + my ob's assessment at my 37.5-week visit, we may be meeting her sooner rather than later... While I'm eager to meet her (and be able to breathe/walk/use the bathroom like a normal person again), I feel like there's still so much more to do to get ready for her! Help me keep your fingers crossed that you'll see at least a couple more posts here before D-Day ;)

Our Babymoon!

We're back from our babymoon and 3 busy, busy days of last-minute baby prep!

But before we go into that, I'm sure you want to know how Bryson's doing with his Addison's. Remember last week he had a small set back, throwing up and having diarrhea with severe drippage for 2 straight days (sorry, tmi but you get the picture).

We were worried sick that it was his Addison's acting up, turns out it was just some icky stuff (probably other dog's poop and other miscellaneous crap) he feasted on. Whew! It ran its course and now he's once again his perky usual self :) We're going back to the vet next week for more testing, will keep you all posted on how he does then.

So, back to the babymoon... This is the first week of my maternity leave (just 4 more weeks to D-day, can you believe it?!), and I literally worked till the minute before hubby finally peeled me off my computer and packed me into the car so we can take the hour-long drive to escape reality for a few days.

Our destination is the rustic yet luxurious Carneros Inn, somewhere halfway between Napa and Sonoma. Think sprawling vineyards on rolling hills, dotted with clusters of cottages, cozy restaurants, a world class spa, all interconnected with pretty orchards and gardens and outdoor gathering places. (Sorry you probably couldn't tell that from our sub-par photos, it's hard to shoot when you're carrying around a watermelon. But you can see them here on Flickr if you'd like)

It could easily have been the most relaxing trip I've ever been on, except... well, I'll just say this- ladies who are or ever contemplate to be pregnant- do NOT plan your babymoon in the last month of your pregnancy.

Just imagine this- whenever you're upright, you feel like your bladder's about to explode; you lie down for some relief, and now you feel like you're suffocating with the baby up in your lungs; and when you finally have no choice but to haul yourself up to go pee for the 10,000th time that hour, you flounder around like a beached whale, and you can only hope that your spouse on receiving your distress call would go fetch that small crane and come hoist you up. And these are just the atrocities fun stuff I could mention here on this G-rated blog.

With that and a couple of freaky moments thinking I'm going into labor (I lost this while in Napa, oops), our trip consists of mostly laying low at the resort...

Reading my new Kindle (my wedding anniversary gift from hubby :>), having alfresco breakfasts in our bathrobes on our tiny little private patio...

    

... getting pampered at the spa, then tanning back in our patio au naturale so baby can get some vitamin D too (sorry, no pictures of that, you wouldn't want to see it anyway)...  

... eating stuff I'm not supposed to at the Oxbow market (oysters with sips of chilled, white wine, shhhh...), and taking long, cool naps under a fully-blasting A/C (except for this one unfortunate incident where hubby got himself into the dog house messing with my temp control and the blatant cover-up attempts that ensues... but we won't go into that now).

 

Above unfortunate incident notwithstanding, we're a couple of happy campers at the end.

 

And now we can go back to freaking out about getting ready for a potentially early arrival *shudder*. Stay tuned!

Bryson and His Sister's Shower

Once again, thanks for your concerns for Bryson! He's much better having received his steroids for about a week now.

He's almost back to himself, if maybe a tad bit more hyper and feisty than his usual self (roid rage?? :D). But today he had a small set back... we tapered his steroid dose yesterday as directed, and today he started throwing up all over the place. Since vomiting could be a sign that his Addison's not adequately treated, the vet advised us to raise his steroid dose back up to his starting dose. He seems to respond well to that, we'll just have to taper his steroid dose more slowly from now on.

I'm sure we'll get a hang of this titrating-up-and-down business- I'm a pharmacist after all-  I'm just worried since we have our babymoon + 5-year wedding anniversary coming up this weekend in Napa, when we're supposed to leave Bryson with Picasso for a few days. I'm sure he'll be in good hands, but you still worry, you know, what if something happens and we're not there and all that guilty baggage that comes with it. I guess this is all good practice for the day when we have to deal with a sick child, and all the worries and fear and guilt that come with it... *sigh*

OK, enough sick puppy talk. As promised, here are some photos of the fantabulous shower our lucky baby's aunties threw for us:

{ More photos on Flickr here }

I love the color-coordinated everything- from the food (pink and orange M&M's) to the beverage (blood orange Italian soda) to the decor (pink peonies, heavenly!) even down to the fuschia feather boa they made me wear (which kinda made me resemble a waddling big bird in drag).

And as I mentioned before, I love love LOVE the book plate idea, and all the beautiful onsies our very creative guests painted for her (there is even a "simulated bikini", ha ha!) Unlike her mother, I can see both brain and beauty in our baby's future ;)

 

Bryson Receives His Diagnosis

First of all, thanks everyone for your concerns, well wishes and helpful tips on Bryson's health.

After agonizing days watching him slowly deteriorate, accompanied with constant visits to the vet, testing, waiting, more testing, and more waiting, we finally got the phone call we half-dreaded from the vet this afternoon...

"Yes, I'm afraid as we suspected, the last test confirmed that Bryson does have Addison's Disease..."

Addison's Disease. Not exactly what we want to hear, since it's incurable and potentially life-threatening, but it's with much relief that we finally learned what's been ailing him, and also that it's something we can manage with close observation and life-long medications.

What it is (as I learned from pharmacy school eons ago) is basically a condition where your adrenal glands which normally secretes all kinds of steroids that keep you alive stop working for some unknown reason. As a result, your electrolytes are all off-kilter (which can cause the tremors we saw in him and even lethal arrhythmia when you're in what's called an "Addisoninan crisis"), and you can't cope with any kind of stress coz you have no cortisol (which can show up as skin sores, infections, general frailness, etc).

It's not terribly common in people (but JFK did have it all his life which he tried desperately to hide- a little bit of trivia for ya), and even rarer in dogs. In fact, I never knew dogs can have it until the vet suggested that might be the culprit a few days ago (kudos to the team of super-diligent vets that took care of him!) 

But when we look at the list of symptoms: anorexia, weight loss (Bryson lost 5 lbs this past month), tremors, listlessness, depression, weakness in hind quarters... that's exactlywhat he's been having these past few weeks. And come to think of it, all his previous vague episodes of general illness and fear of new people/dogs could probably be related to it (sorry, Bryson, that we always just assumed that you're a prissy, sensitive soul!) 

And yet, because the symptoms are so non-specific, many dogs end up being misdiagnosed and mistreated for months or years before they're finally diagnosed during an Addisonian crisis and on the verge of death...

So, in a way, we may actually have to thank Pixar!

Coz, think about it... if not for the stress that the constant pile-driving caused him, he would not have gone into this current episode, which brought on the "hot spot", which prompted us to bring him into the vet, which warranted him a trial course of steroid, which then eventually led to this seemingly-unrelated and elusive diagnosis.

Can you imagine if we didn't find out now and have him put on the appropriate treatment, only for him to lapse into one of these episodes when we bring our new crying and fussing baby (aka mother-of-all-stressors) home in a few weeks??

Anyway, we began treatment right away this afternoon, starting with an injection of Percorten-V(coincidentally made by the company I work for), which will be given to him monthly for the rest of his life, as well as a dose of oral prednisolone, also to be given lifelong at various doses (depending on his stress levels).

It'll take a few days for us to see any significant improvement, but he did finish his dinner tonight (something he hasn't done for days...). I can say that things are starting to look up :)

So, with that, we hope to be able to say, "Adios, Addisonian Bryson!":

 

And "Hello, Happy Bryson!" in due course :)

 

A Bryson Health Update

Well, it looks like I've jinxed things in the last post when I said Bryson's all better.

He's not better. In fact he looked terrible all weekend...

Not only was his listless and hiding from us again as soon as the steroid wore off, he was trembling from head to toe and nothing we did could console him. Poor baby looked like he was in a lot of pain. We just felt so helpless when he looked at us with those sad puppy eyes pleading for us to do something, and yet we didn't know how to help him.

We checked him everywhere, couldn't find anything, and the "hot spot" that we thought was the culprit has already healed. We tried giving him treats, hugs, toys, old pain medicine... nothing seemed to really help. I googled all night looking for clues. A thousand different possibilities- everything from a simple urinary tract infection to some deadly neurologic disease ran through my head... I totally worried myself sick. It breaks my heart to even lay eyes on his little trembling body, it just makes me cry (the pregnancy hormones aren't helping either). 

We took him to the vet today, and even the vet was stumped (not the most reassuring thing to hear). They ran a bunch of tests, and was told that we'll get the results tomorrow or Wednesday. "Tomorrow or Wednesday" couldn't come soon enough...

I almost felt guilty for going to our baby shower and celebrate when he was in such bad shape. But I'm glad I did, being surrounded by everyone who loved and cared about us so much definitely help me feel more positive. The party planning committee- Auntie Aimee, Auntie Van and Auntie Rita put together such a fabulous party I can't even begin to describe it here... I think I'll just post the pix when I get them and you'll see what lucky girls (me + baby) we are...

Here's just one example of the many brilliant ideas they had (Auntie Aimee designed and gocco'd the book plate, and every guest who brought a baby book gets to write a message to our baby. Isn't that so neat?)

By the way, this is Auntie Van's message in the Dr. Seuss book "It's Not Easy Being a Bunny".

I'll keep you all posted about Bryson when we hear back from the vet. Wish us luck.

A Small Scare

Thanks everyone for your well wishes for Bryson! He's completely recovered now, but the steroid they put him on made him a little kooky for days (think googly-eyed running-into-walls peeing-in-the-hallway weird...).

And as he's getting better, I've had a small scare with the pregnancy over the long weekend...

Long story short, at a routine visit, my ob examined me coz I was complaining of cramps, and was concerned enough to send me to the hospital for a whole bunch of tests to make sure I'm not in premature labor.

What?! Premature labor?? I'm only 32 weeks and haven't even had my shower or babymoon yet, I can't be in labor!!

Well, many hours in the hospital's L&D Unit's triage area, full of women in labor screaming bloody murder (quite unnerving), we were told that I'm fine, baby's fine, I'm not in labor, crisis averted. Whew!

But I was told that I should still "take it easy", which means no more belly dancing. Boo... But well, if that means bambino can stay in Hotel Utero as long as needed to keep her healthy, I'll oblige most willingly.

On a lighter note, I finally finished my first sewing class and completed my project! Here's me in the robe I made in class, using this Vogue pattern (that has a somewhat 80's ring to it and super "man-proportioned", which happens to fit me just fine now, LOL):

Oh, and that's a diaper cake my coworkers gave me last week, so sweet!

And here's the back of the robe, looking pretty good from this distance, but I was having some problems with the neck band... as I found out it's tricky sewing a straight band to a curved neckline, took me many tries (and quite a few more curses)...

But all in all I'm quite happy that it's done and actually wearable! Now that I've tackled this robe, I want to try sewing this baby kimono set (the one on the cover), isn't it sooo darn cute? Hope I can pull it off!

And here's a sneak peak of the components of the next project I started after I've got all these free time since dropping belly dancing class...

Yep, that's Bryson who's going to be making a cameo on this project! Hope it'll turn out as planned, will post pix when it's finished, stay tuned :)

 

Dear Pixar...

Our family loves your cute animated movies, and has generally tolerated you as a neighbor, even though you don't care to share any part of your beautiful campus with us.

But this... this horrible (HARRRIBLE!!!!) construction noise is just about to push me over the edge:

Well, that was 47 seconds of it, multiple that duration by about 500 times (i.e. 8 hours a day) and you know what we've been living with for these past few weeks on a daily basis.

Seriously, Pixar, can you hurry the &*%# up and be done with it soon? What?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!

And then imagine being almost 8-months prengnant, sleep-deprived, and dealing with a sick puppy (as diagrammed below) on top of all of these: 

This is our dog, poor Bryson, who has a "hot spot" in his groin area that makes him super irritated, thus the neck guard to prevent him from reaching and licking it. Vet says it could be stress-related. Pixar, hear it? You're even STRESSING OUT OUR DOG. Not to mention the damage you've probably already done to our unborn child.

Mr. Pixar, this is our desperate cry for help. JUST MAKE IT STOP!!!

Sincerely,

Your disgruntled neighbor

P.S. We were really looking forward to see your movie "Up", but now we only wish that our home will fly away to a quieter place as in your movie... Care to provide us with some balloons?

Happy Mother(-to-be)'s Day!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions on our doggie-baby car situation! I'm sure we'll be trying quite a few of those out :) 

And as if the gods in the heavens heard our plea, just after I posted the last post, I found an article called "Dog and Driver" in the current issue of Bark Magazine that covers almost everything I asked about. Check it out if you're wondering the same!

And by the way, Happy Mother's Day to all the moms (and moms-to-be) out there! Love to hear about what you received (or gave) on this special day.

Hubby surprised me (on behalf of our daughter-to-be) with a bunch of cute little things- a gourmet icecream sandwich from my new fav icecream parlor Ici, a box of kanom krok (a tasty coconut-custardy Thai dessert from the temple), a couple of books, including Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing (super psyched!), and a hand-written card signed by daughter-to-be (awww... soooo sweet!)

I know some of you have already whipped up your versions of a few projects from this book, love to hear which ones you like most! And speaking of sewing, here's a little progress update...

As I was looking for relatively fool-proof, straight-line, simple baby projects to try my hands on, I found several versions of instructions on some very cute cloth diaper burp clothes.

It really is almost fool-proof: you cut out a piece of your favorite cotton fabric, sew it onto a pre-fold cloth diaper (that's super absorbent by design, I found this organic one by Gerber), and voila! You got yourself some fancy-schmancy burp cloths. 

 

And as demo'd by Bryson:

 

And as I'm now on a roll (can you tell?), I sewed a matching blanket to the mermaid burpies (don't you just adore this Heather Ross line?), which also happens to match the new Bumbleride stroller we just got (OK, it's a bit matchy-matchy but I can't help it!)

Here is Bryson again as our demo-baby, wrapped in my hand-made baby blanket (and yes, that's Picasso peekaboo'ing in the corner):

 

I know you folks probably aren't dying to hear about how excited we are about all the bells and whistles this stroller offers, but hey, all-terrain air-filled tires? Multi-adjustable back rest suitable for newborns? Universal car seat adaptor? Rear suspension? And a cup holder?? All at 19 lbs and about 1/2 of the cost of a Bugaboo??? That was enough to keep us quivering with joy for days.

And last but not least, as we're celebrating Mother's Day, can't not include some cute cuddly pictures of our first born, taken while we stayed this past week in the city while I attended a convention (Picasso's with us for 2 weeks while his parents are out of town):

 

 

Good nite :)

 

 

Our New Eco-friendly Dog-friendly Baby-friendly (?) Ride

You may remember quite a while back, I blogged about our company giving us new hybrid vehicles as company cars. 

I couldn't tell you then what our choice was, coz it was largely influenced by the fact that we're expecting a new addition to our family (it really tore me up to have to keep secrets from y'all, you know?)

But now the cat's outta the bag, and the loooong-awaited vehicle has finally arrived at our door step! Check out Bryson's (and his soon-to-be-sister's) new ride, the Ford Escape Hybrid:

Bryson immediately jumped in to check out the conditions of his living quarters:

Uh oh, is it too cramped?

Not! Even with that baby car seat adaptor (that we inherited from my boss) strapped to the back of the backseat, there's still seems to be plenty of room for Bryson and friends and his private water bowl. I just hope the bungee cord holds up so Bryson wouldn't get an inadvertent concussion...

Ooh, look, and the glass backgate opens up for a bit of fresh air too, great to air out all that doggie smell...

We've even put the infant car seat in the back to try out the configuration. Seems like it'll work well with enough space for all the baby junk stuff we'll need to start hauling around.

As exciting as this all is, I can't lie to say that I'm not a bit (OK, a lot) unnerved the first time I looked back from the passenger seat, saw this set up, and realized there'll be a newborn infant (probably screaming and kicking) in that seat in a couple of months, plus a dog that is easily spooked by loud noises (eh, like crying babies...) and sudden movements with nowhere to escape to...

Anyone with dogs and babies/kids, any tips on keeping everyone safe and sane in this transportation situation? Do I always let hubby drive and sit in the back to keep an eye on the baby and Bryson? But what if I'm alone, how do I know baby's OK (with her facing backwards) and Bryson not being whacked around by all the baby gear that'll probably end up in his quarters?

I know I'm probably being a worry-wort, but any advice would be much appreciated!

What's in Your Wallet? (A Bryson Credit Card?!)

It's been a super busy Friday (don't you hate love those?), but I'm so psyched about this I have to share with you in this post...

I was informed by the good people at MyCorgi.com that they have partnered with Corgi Rescue in the issuance of a MyCorgi.com Visa Card, where proceeds will help benefit corgi rescue!

Isn't that brilliant? And as if that isn't neat enough, wait till you hear this (drum roll, please...)

They've chosen Bryson as one of the faces of this credit card!

No joke!! Now YOU (and every corgi lover in the world!) can carry a credit card with Bryson's mug on it, isn't that nuts?! Bryson started thrashing around merrily as soon as he heard about his role in supporting this great cause (woof!)

To be fair, you can also order one with a cardi, a fluffy, or another Pembroke; whichever corgi you fancy, they've got one for you:

 

You can get more information and apply through this MyCorgi.com link. And honestly, I feel slightly embarrassed coz Bryson isn't technically a "rescue"- I mean we "adopted" him from his breeder when he retired from showing, and spared him a life of showing in Japan (sayonara...). So he's never lived life as a shelter dog... but anything we can do to contribute to this cause will make up for it, right?

I asked Sam, the owner of MyCorgi.com, how it will benefit corgi rescues, and here is his answer:

"Hi Ivy, we hope to support every rescue out there, it will depend on how many people signed up, the more people signed up, the more funds available to distribute. If you have a great experience with any particular rescue, have them contact us, we would love to establish a long term relationship with them! It is in our plan to travel around the country and surprise the recipients and have them share their story on video :) (Help us to make that happen!)"

Suh-weet!

On a completely separate note, if you live in the SF Bay Area and want to spruce up your living environment without breaking your piggy bank (or you can always whip out your Bryson credit card, hee hee!), you have to check this sample sale out:

I have sewing class tomorrow and can't make it, boo... I've heard so much about this much anticipated event, I hope some of you can take advantage of it! But get there early, I heard the mob usually starts gathering before the door opens. Do show me your loot if you make it!

8 Things

So, I was tagged for this "8 Things" meme (thanks Infrared Goggles!) last week, but apparently was too slow to respond, which earned me a kick in the butt by Julo who double-tagged me (thanks! :P)

OK, without further ado, here we go:

8 Things I'm Looking Forward to:

1. A quick, no-tear no-drama no-complications labor enhanced by a perfectly-timed epidural  
2. Holding a beautiful, healthy baby in my arms at the end :)
3. Beginning of my maternity leave (in 8 weeks, can't come soon enough!)
4. Being semi-decent at sewing
5. Teaching Bryson how to burp and change baby especially in the middle of the night (wouldn't that be nice?)
6. Eating more sweet, sweet mangoes this summer (yummm...)
7. My baby shower :)
8. Another potential life-changing event this year... (I'll have more to tell you in about a month)

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Learned how to tell the grain of a fabric in my second sewing class (i.e. snip and tear crosswise from selvage to selvage) and many other neat tricks 
2. Went to the inaugural East Bay corgi meet up at the Berkeley Marina (where Bryson once again played anti-social fugitive...)
3. Ate an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia FroYo (it was an accident, I swear)
4. Regret eating above said item *sigh* (but it was really really good...)
5. Watched the San Jose Sharks narrowly escaping 1st-round playoff elimination
6. Read another few chapters of the fascinating book The Female Brain (do you know your brain actually shrink physically during pregnancy? That explains a lot...)
7. Signed up for another belly dancing class (8 weeks down and another 8 to go!)
8. Finished sewing another baby project (see below):

 
Ta-dah! Another set of baby burpies, bibs and blanket with this super springy Park Slope Fabric 

  
Blankie with a super soft minky-like microfiber backing. A much-dumbed-down version of a hooded towel project found in Amy Butler's Little Stitches (sans hood and belt and different shape)

 
Bibs, bibs and more bibs! Backed with flannel/ chamois (which disappointingly isn't very absorbent. Oh well.)

  
More burpies. Another rookie mistake- backed one with flannel (very absorbent) which is great, but for some reason decided to back the other one with this minky-like fabric, which turns out not to be very absorbent, plus I heard that baby will end up eating fuzz with anything fuzzy near their mouth. Great.

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Swim! (I could sort of float and doggie paddle. But I want to really swim, like a mermaid)
2. Retire early
3. Whistle the proper way (somehow I learned to whistle sucking in instead of blowing out air. I know, super weird)
4. Have super learning abilities so I can pick up new things with a snap of my finger (sort of like Sylar in Heros, but of course I won't do anything evil... Mwah ha ha.....)
5. Sew and do crafty stuff all day
6. Stop worrying about things I can't control (but according to The Female Brain book, that's what women are programmed to do. Guess I'm genetically doomed)
7. Travel the world with my family (including Bryson who can always fly in the cabin with us)
8. Lose all the baby weight quickly (and a few pounds more :>)

8 Shows I Enjoy:

1. Heroes
2. Jon and Kate + 8
3. American Idol
4. America's Next Top Model
5. Deliver Me (TLC)
6. Groomer Has It
7. Project Runway
8. Amazing Race
   (And other trashy reality shows I'm too embarrassed to admit I'm watching...)

8 People I'm tagging:

OK, I'm once again not following the rules, since most of my cyber buddies have been tagged already. If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged! The more the merrier, right? :)

Back on the Saddle Again

First of all, thanks for all your kind comments and oh-so-entertaining guesses on our baby pool! We've been taking these weekly-progress photos of me since about 6 weeks ago, I'll post these later and maybe they'll inspire you to alter your entries ;)

Anyway, I finally got my new sewing machine this week! Yippee!! Which, as you might have guessed, is responsible for my brief absence from the blog this week.

So what happened to my old Viking machine that I've been b*tching about, you ask? Well, a couple trips to Joann and some moments of false hope later (boy, the people there really tried), I was told that the machine is dead. RIP. The line's been discontinued for years because the machine's design was faulty to begin with. I was told to take it home, bury it and get a new one. Grrrrr, was I pissed!

Luckily, I soon found that Costco carries this computerized Brother sewing machine, XR7700, that has great reviews for $177.99 (S/H included), and best of all, comes with the iron-clad Costco lifetime return policy! That's cheaper than that dead Viking I got 3 years ago! Needless to say, it was at our doorstep 3 days later, and here it is on my make-shift sewing table:

And what a difference a functional machine makes (no duh...). I can now sew curse-free!

It's so quiet, sews oh-so-smoothly, comes with an automatic threader, and even the "computerized" functions (e.g. auto needle up/down function, various speed, stitch selection, etc), which I thought would be a hassle to learn are totally user-friendly. And it comes with an instructional DVD that makes it almost fool-proof. 

Plus you can't beat that cute puppy picture on the window that comes with it (soon to be replaced by Bryson's mug, of course) ;)

I have a gazillion things I want to sew with my new and fancy fabrics, but I decided to test it out on some of these leftover funky monkey flannel I got, in case I still manage to mess up... And here's what I got so far:

Ta dah! A reversible set of swaddling blanket, burp cloth and baby bib. I'm surprised that they turn out pretty well, although don't look too closely, the rounded parts (especially the bib, which doesn't really have a straight line as I somehow was surprised to learn after cutting out the fabric) are all a bit angly and wonky:

  

 

I know more practice is in order, but if you have any tips on how to sew these rounded parts, well, rounder, please advise! And thanks in advance as usual :)

Letter to Our Unborn Child II: You're a GIRRLLLL!

Hi Baby,

Since I had so much fun writing you this last letter, I decided it's time to pen you another one so you'd know how much trouble fun you are in utero.

This past week when you turned 26 weeks and 2 days in my belly, we took you in for your first intra-belly portrait session.

To be quite honest, we weren't really sure we want to see your face before you're born (some surprises in life are good), but I really can't stand not knowing if you're a girl or a boy(!), thanks to your ultra-modesty keeping your legs crossed the entire time during our last ultrasound.

So, having that in mind, I made sure I filled my belly with all those food that I know will make you break out your funky dance moves- a huge plate of Indian curry, lots (LOTS!) of chocolate, and a large glass of mango juice to top it off.

But no... you stubborn little girl, you obviously have your own mind, or you really are that camera-shy, coz this is what we got for the first 10 minutes on the 3D ultrasound:

"Talk to the hand..."

"And the foot..."

Oh wait... one, two, three, four... is that four toes?! *gasp* But the very sweet ultrasound camerawoman reassured us that you have 5 perfect little toes and even a nice and high arch (whew! So you didn't inherit mommy's horrible flat feet). But regardless, 4-toed, 5-toed (or even 6-), we'll love you all the same, even though it might present some shoe-shopping challenges...

But one thing we're sure at this point- you're a GIRRRLLLLL!!! Yay!!

We're so happy and relieved, well, relieved mostly coz we just swept up a bunch of bargain baby girl stuff at a closing sale last weekend (a bit premature, I admit, but you can't beat a good bargain in the midst of a recession. You'll soon learn, baby).

Anyway, I think the curry and chocolate and all the jostling and turning around I did eventually took effect, you finally showed us your little face:

OK, maybe I'm biased, but I do think you look like me when I was a baby with that super duper prominent nose:

And I think we might have even woke you up... Yawwwwn...

And there, you opened your eyes! You look a bit dazed though... OK, we'll leave you alone then, now go back to sleep. 

Wow, this is all a bit surreal, isn't it? To think that some day you'll see this and know what you looked like before you were born, it is actually quite neat.

Oh, and not to leave our friends and family out of the fun, we have set up a little baby pool for you (click here or the "ExpectNet" box on top in the left column).

Your uncle and aunties and cousins and friends can enter in what they think your birthday, height, weight, etc is, and mommy will award the one with the best guesses a nice little gift from her favorite store, Paper Elixir, hee hee :)

Can't wait to finally see you in another 14 weeks!

Love,

Mommy