I’m feeling a bit guilty about dropping off the face of the earth when it comes to my “in real life” friends … I haven’t talked to some close friends in months! There’s just been so much going on. I promise things will be better after we move next week!  So, to kind of make up for it, I’m going to do a quick update here.

This past weekend, my cousin Daniel, who’s my age, visited from Taiwan with his girlfriend. They stayed with my mom (more room at her place; plus mine is a disaster zone from packing), but came over on Saturday and Sunday for visits with us and Jack. Jack was very happy to have so much company (and to see the gifts that Daniel brought … namely two more cars, a little Mini Cooper and a Mercedes convertible).

From left, Johnny, Jack (obsessed with one of his new cars), me, Daniel, his girlfriend, June and my mom, on our couch

I can’t believe how quickly Jack is growing. He’s becoming more and more verbal. He said “I love you” back to us for the first time last week. It sounds like “Uh uv ooh,” but it’s so adorable. He knows all of his major body parts, and he’s starting to string two or three words together. I can’t go for a drive without constant commentary — Jack is especially good at recognizing cars driven by other family members. When we see a Highlander, he points and says “Ma-Ma” (his name for my mom, with a fourth tone on that second “Ma,” for you fellow Mandarin speakers); when we see a Mini Cooper, he calls out for June; and when we see a Beetle, he calls out for Johnny (poor Johnny, relegated to driving my old Beetle). When Jack’s in a good mood, he also says hi to the checkout people at the grocery store, then asks them for “juice.” I don’t know why he thinks they have juice for him, but it’s funny. He’s turning into a big boy, for sure. Some days I look at him and marvel at the fact that he once fit into my belly.

Sleeping in his big boy bed, with a nest of pillows around him

Check out my new favorite father-son picture. I took this last night.

My men

Let’s see, what else is going on? I’m now 32.5 weeks pregnant … the weeks are going by fast. We move next Thursday; I am so excited. Speaking of the house, renovations are actually going to be finished a week ahead of schedule. Everything will be done tomorrow! There will be a couple of things for our builder to tie up, like installing the cooktop (Lowe’s won’t have it in until two days before we move), and installing a light fixture in the master bedroom, but those will be taken care of before our move-in date. I stopped by yesterday, which was 11 days after renovations began, and it was 95% done.

The hardwood floors. This is in the den. White molding will go around the base of the wall. The floor supplier ran out of the kind of wood we chose, so we got a free upgrade to Canadian Maple floors … a much higher-quality material than we’d chosen. Score!

The completed second bathroom. Seriously, this is 10000000 better than the original bathroom. The original sink didn’t even come up to my hips. You’ll see when I post the “before” pics. The two sinks will be convenient because so many people (Jack, his little brother, my mom while she’s living with us, and guests) will use this bathroom.

Our new back door.

Freshly painted exterior with new white trim on the windows and along the roof. Our builder also mowed and fertilized our lawn, rescuing it from its yellow-brown weedy state, and trimmed our rose bushes. Once those grow back, it’ll look really nice. The door will be painted white this week, and we’ll also plant little flowers along both sides of the walkway eventually.

I’m not sure whether we or our neighbors are more grateful for these changes. Now the house is no longer the dog of an otherwise adorable series of houses.  Wish us luck with the move!

Oh, you fellow So You Think You Can Dance fans … if I feel up to it, I might start a post-show synopsis here on my blog every Friday. We’ll see! I can’t wait for the premiere this Thursday. And, did you see that they also lined up a fall season?! Woo-hoo!

After only one week of renovations, our house looks pretty darn close to finished on the inside. In fact, our (awesome, awesome) builder is telling us that he thinks he’ll be done in eight days … ahead of schedule! I’m amazed because some issues have come up in the gutting of the house, and he’s managed to fix them, and fix them well, and move on.

Some of you may have seen the pictures on Facebook already, but I’m posting them here for my parents and also those of you who aren’t on FB. Enjoy!

Here’s the outside of the house. I realize that since most of you haven’t seen the “before” pics, this probably looks unexciting (and no, none of those cars are ours). However, you have to believe me when I say that the old windows were UGLY — they were, first of all, decades old, and second of all, had brown wooden criss-cross bars all over them. We’re going to repaint the outside and do more stuff to it in a few years (concentrating on inside for now), but this is a major improvement.

No longer looking like some sort of weird Snow White house with the criss-cross windows

A week into the project, the entry hallway is complete. It used to be this plain, dingy white-gray tile, but it’s now the same peach-y tile that’s in our kitchen and bathrooms (rest of the house will be hardwood floor). The part of the hallway that’s close to the camera is covered up in paper to protect it from the heavy foot traffic of the crew, but you get the idea. There’s a 3×5 patch right next to the door that’s made of granite, in the same color as our kitchen countertop, with a darker granite border around it, because granite is easier to clean and that’s where people will be stepping in and taking off their shoes when they enter. The doorway to the left leads to the den.

You’ll also see that in the center of the entry hallway is a diamond-shaped decoration. It’s made of hand-cut pieces of different-colored granite. The green of the center piece is the same green that we’re using for the accent wall — it’s the wall at the end of the hallway, directly across from the front door. I took this picture from the entryway into the “great room.”

Entry hallway work
 

Close-up of entry hallway work

And now, shots of the brand-new kitchen! It’s changed so much from when there was a huge, useless island taking up more than a third of the great room, and a washer and dryer in the corner. Now it’s totally open and modernized. The first picture is looking at the kitchen from the living area of the great room. One week after work started, the new cabinets, granite countertops and windows are in. We’re just waiting for the appliances now. There’s a pull-out trash can, a cabinet with a glass door, a lazy susan cabinet in the corner, a pantry with pull-out shelves, and even the area under the sink is outfitted with a pull-out tray, so I no longer have to crawl into the space to look for cleaning supplies.

New kitchen

Close-up of the cabinet with glass door

I also love the decorative round shelves to either side of the window above the sink, and at the end of the cabinets that are closest to the great room.

Here is the fireplace that’s on the wall to the right of the kitchen. Before, it was just the brick part … without any mantel or any stone work in front. It literally looked like someone painted bricks onto the wall! Now we have a nice wood mantelpiece, plus stone work in front. Our builder happened to have the stone that matched our granite countertops in color, so he gave them to us for free and only charged for the labor. Sweet! And, this portion of the great room is painted in a soft, sunny yellow. The other portion is painted in a soft, sage green. I’ll take pics of the whole effect when everything is done. The different colors help to separate the room into its various areas. It was my mom’s suggestion, and it worked out great! (Johnny and I really don’t have an eye for these things.)

Lovely fireplace

I am really excited about the master bedroom, which you’ll see next. The previous owners had these frosted glass windows in the already-narrow frames. They were the kind of windows you use in bathrooms, where they let in a tiny bit of light but are mostly opaque. Now, we have clear windows, and the room is 100 times brighter. We’ve also had the room painted in a seafoam green that’s really refreshing (in case it’s not abundantly clear , yellow and green is the color scheme. Come to think of it, those were also our wedding colors!). The room will look even nicer when the wood floor and white molding are done.

Brightened-up master bedroom

Here is our new wall of closets. My half is the one with shelves, since I have lots more use for shelves than hanging clothes (I fold most of my clothes, not to mention, a girl has bags and shoes, right?). Johnny, with all his dress pants and shirts, could really use the double rods on his half. Really, though, I’m thinking he could live out of the dresser, and I could just take the closet. Just kidding. Kind of. Not really.

The seafoam green color is also in the inside walls of the closet!

Here is Jack’s room, with new windows and a cheery yellow color on the walls.

Jack’s new closet, and the doorway leading into the hall bathroom.

The transformation in the hall bath is also awesome. We have a five-foot counter that will hold two sinks, a new mirror, new cabinets, new medicine cabinet to be installed. And, the new tub and tile work are also done. There is also a closet for towels, toilet paper and other such items in this bathroom. You can see it in the mirror.

New sink counter, cabinets and mirror

New tub (covered in a sheet for protection as they work on the walls). There’s also a space on the wall for bottles.

Here are pictures of the third bedroom, which will be my mom’s for the first year, then belong to Baby Surprise. It has new windows and a color called “celery stick” on the walls.

Third bedroom

Closet in third bedroom. This one’s a little bigger, so it has shelves on the right. The interior is also being painted in “celery stick.”

Speaking of paint, we lucked out … there was a promotion going on where we could get the special kind of paint that allows you to just wipe off smudges with a damp cloth (without damaging the paint) for the same price as regular paint. So, now we don’t have to stress out as much about grubby little hands on our walls!

Anyway, thank you all for looking. Johnny and I are really so excited about seeing our dreams come true. I can’t believe it’s only been a week since they started. Once I post the “before” pictures, it’ll become obvious just how much they’ve done in seven days. Even the electrical panel has been replaced — I have no idea how our builder managed to get the permit from the city and get it replaced in this amount of time, but he did.

Over the weekend, they’re putting down some sort of waterproof material on the bare floors, and then it has to sit until Monday, and when it’s dry, then the wood floors can be put on. Next week, once the floors are in, it will look that much more complete. Today, my mom and I also purchased ceiling light fixtures. Where we can, we’re going to use those CFL bulbs. Johnny and I are stopping by the house again tomorrow morning because we can’t set foot in it over the weekend while the waterproof seal dries — we just can’t stay away for that many days!

After stopping by the house tomorrow morning, we’re going to take Jack on a preschool tour (at the same preschool that June went to in 1989!). It’s a great school, they have openings for fall 2010, and the prices are so reasonable. Here in West LA, I could probably expect to pay at least $1,000 a month for three half-days a week, and have to get on a wait list while I was pregnant. In the ‘burbs, it’s much easier to get in, and the price is right. The school Jack will attend next fall charges something like $350 for three half-days a week. That, we can manage. A thousand bucks a month? Hmm, we’d have to dig into his college fund for that!  And, give me a break, it’s preschool. Anyway, the tour should be fun.

Have a great weekend, everyone! I’m off to make dinner (quesadillas with chicken, mushrooms and green peppers, with a side of yellow rice; blood orange sorbet for dessert) and watch the season finale of Grey’s! Plus The Office and 30 Rock. Yay!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! I hope you all had a wonderful day. I, for one, am so grateful as always for my mom, mother-in-law and godmother. And, although neither of them are with us anymore, I’m also lucky to have had wonderful grandmothers.

This year, because we just bought a house (yay!) and are knee-deep in renovations and move-in details, I told Johnny I wanted a low-key Mother’s Day. I know it’s his nature to go all out, but I really want to save all our resources for the house. I feel like that is present enough for the next, oh, decade! I can’t think of anything I want more than to be with my little family in our lovely home, once it is finished. Mother’s Day was still special, though, and it started with a yummy breakfast of cinnamon rolls, omelettes and bacon. Jack also presented me with a single rose.

All together now: Awwww!

Jack became obsessed with the rose, to the point where I had to cut off the thorns and most of the stem, and just give him the flower to play with. He proceeded to walk around, making all of us smell the rose. He would occasionally stick his nose in it and take deep breaths, then say “mmm!” Future horticulturist? Or just frequent botanical garden goer? Only time will tell.

Speaking of cute Jack behaviors, I’m sharing this video of Jack eating Cheerios and milk together for the first time … with a spoon! He’s gotten dextrous enough to handle scooping up liquids and getting most of it in his mouth. It never occurred to me that I would be so triumphant over my child eating something as simple as milk and cereal, but … well, there you go. Jack looks proud of himself, too.

OK, back to the weekend. Although today was more laid-back, we had a big day yesterday. Our occasional babysitter came in the morning to spend the day with Jack, so that Johnny and I could go on an Ikea expedition. We didn’t get much furniture — we’re planning to use most of what we have until the boys get older (read: less destructive), and by then we’ll hopefully have the budget to get higher-end things. Truth be told, though, I do like a lot of Ikea furniture. It’s fun, and it’s cheap enough that you don’t feel too guilty selling it or donating it when you’re ready for new stuff. Anyway, we figured a trip to Ikea that involved much decision-making would be infinitely easier sans toddler, and we were right. As it was, we took 2.5 hours in there. We got a desk, a TV stand that will hold our huge plasma TV (thank goodness my mom advised us to get that on Black Friday! Otherwise we’d never want to part with the cash for that right now), a cool blue dresser for Jack (Baby Surprise will get his current dresser/changing table), slipcovers for the couch and armchair, a longer ottoman that will double as a coffee table, and a kids table and chairs for Jack. We also got a few odds and ends, like fun animal-shaped cushions for Jack’s new chairs, and cute area rugs for the kids’ rooms.

After our successful trip, we picked up some lawn fertilizer (the lawn on the house is in sorry shape) and headed to the house to see how the renovations were coming along. Of course, I’d been there the day before, but Johnny hadn’t seen the amazing progress yet. He was really awestruck! Even I noticed huge amounts of progress from just 24 hours before. I’m still not going to show before photos until I have afters to show, too, but I can’t resist showing you guys how much was done in just 2.5 days:

A partial view of our den, which will be a guest room/office (and part nursery for the year that my mom lives with us). It’s a huge room, and what we’re doing, besides wood floors, is to add a recessed sliding door for privacy when needed, as well as a closet — double rods on one half, shelves on the other half for office supplies and files. In 2.5 days, the door and closet were already halfway there!

Here’s half of the “great room,” which ends with the kitchen. For maximum impact, you have to see the (idiotic) way the kitchen was configured before, which took up a lot of unnecessary space. Since Thursday, they’ve torn up the old kitchen, made a useless sliding door into a window (you can’t see it, it’s on the right wall), and tiled the entire kitchen area, even into the utility closet.

Here’s the second bathroom, which connects to one of the bedrooms and the hallway. They had torn up everything and were installing the new tub and tiles around the tub. We’re also putting in a counter with double sinks, and a new toilet. A little closet for towels and bathroom sundries will also go in a corner behind the door.

The wall of the master bedroom that contains our closets. Previously, the closets were falling apart, having been unmaintained since 1955. Now, the right half will be mine, with shelves on one end for my multitude of folding clothes (I have more of those than hanging clothes, so 1/3 of my closet will be dedicated to shelves). Johnny’s is on the left, and he’ll have two sets of rods (no dirty jokes, please!) to accommodate all his dress shirts and pants. We’ll also have space up top for bigger items, like bags or suitcases.

The trash container was full of rubbish after only two and a half days! Yikes!

And that’s just a tiny peek — there’s a lot more going on. We had to stop by today, too (yes, all 11 people were working on Mother’s Day!), and saw that the second bathroom was completely refloored and retiled, and the bathtub had been installed. I can’t wait to see what happens this week. The windows and kitchen are to be installed. It just makes my head spin, how much they’re doing, and with such attention to detail, in a short period of time. They also keep finding things wrong with the house that we’re addressing now, instead of running into a huge problem later. Let’s just say the sellers really didn’t have a conscience as to what they disclosed (or didn’t disclose), and our realtor is going to try to get some more money out of them, through arbitration. Might as well try! But, the point is that when it’s all done, we can be confident that there are no issues (or as close as you can get to no issues), and everything will be up to snuff. I can’t wait for that!

Hope you all have great weeks up ahead!

Atari is five years old today! It’s hard to believe that five years ago, he was just a tiny fluff of fur. Now, he’s not even technically a young dog anymore … he’s “just” a dog. For the longest time, I kept waiting for Atari to get a little older, so he would outgrow some of his puppy habits … and now, I can’t believe he’s technically middle-aged.  I suppose it’s probably the same for raising human children — one day, I’ll look back on Jack’s toddler days in disbelief!

Before Atari, I’d never managed to keep a pet alive this long, so this is a major milestone for me, too. Of course, dogs are a lot hardier than, say, goldfish or hamsters. Getting Atari was one of the best things Johnny and I have ever done — he’s brought so much joy to our lives, and he taught us responsibility and patience before Jack arrived on the scene. Even now, whenever we walk him, we get at least a couple of people asking what kind of dog he is and commenting on his beauty. At home, Atari is so well-behaved; we really could not ask for a better canine companion. I would venture to say that on most days, Atari is better behaved than Jack, ha. Since Jack’s arrival, Atari’s been a wee-bit neglected, but he’s still our “first baby.”

Johnny and I are off to Ikea to get some things for our new place — nothing major, just a new desk and some accessories — but when I return, I’ll try to post some pics of the birthday boy! I might also post a couple of pictures of the work-in-progress at the house. It is amazing how much they’ve gotten done in two days. Everything inside is demolished except the walls — I mean, we’re practically gutting the whole thing. They’ve got the skylight up, the new kitchen tile is down, a couple of the windows are done, the nasty cottage cheese ceiling is scraped off, the new smooth ceiling is painted, and the recessed lights have been put in (at least, all except the bulbs themselves). They’re working on putting in the phone jacks, cable lines and new outlets (everything was out-of-date before), and also on the new laundry room (really more like laundry closet, but it won’t be in the kitchen anymore!). Early next week, our kitchen cabinets and appliances get installed. Oh and the new bathtub in the second bathroom is already installed! I am amazed … I think normally this work would get done in multiple weeks. There are 11 people working on the house. Eleven! And we’re lucky enough not to be getting charged for extra manpower or rush fees. I might break my “no pictures until everything is done” rule to show you guys the awesome progress!

After a verrrry long escrow (50 days!), Johnny and I are now …

::drumroll, please::

OFFICIAL HOMEOWNERS!!!!!

We have our first home!! I am so happy. Now I can tell you guys that housing drama was the reason behind my Xanga hiatus — I was really stressed out about securing our loan, in particular. I’ll spare you guys all of the nitty gritty details (believe me, you don’t want them) and just say that lenders are being insanely tough these days to make up for being overly lax a few years ago. Even though Johnny has a great income, and I have an income, and we have top-notch credit scores, and no debt other than reasonable student loan payments for Johnny’s MBA program (we don’t even have car payments!), we still had to provide everything short of DNA swabs. Seriously. They even wanted Jack’s birth certificate (long story). We actually got turned down by one lender, after weeks of reassurances from our (inexperienced) mortgage broker that everything was going swimmingly. Basically the broker didn’t present a complete file, even though I asked him multiple times if he needed this-or-that to explain my new employment status. So when it got to underwriting, the file looked sloppy. Well, we switched to another mortgage broker, who’s much more experienced, and the second time, our file sailed right through because the broker put together a really good-looking package for us. If we had gone with the second mortgage broker the first time around, it would probably have been a lot less stressful. But, because we essentially went through the loan process twice, every day felt like torture: Hurry up and wait! You’ll get an answer today … no, tomorrow … no, the day after that … no, next week! And, even at the last minute, we ended up having to wait. On Monday, our loan was all set to fund, but the lender forgot to hit “send” on the wire in time for us to close on Tuesday, which is why we officially closed today. Whew!

But, all that (and the difficult sellers, but that’s another story) is behind us now! The house is ours, and the major renovations on it start bright and early (as in, 6 a.m.) tomorrow. We are so lucky in that our family friend owns a major construction company. He does really great work in short amounts of time, and of course he’s quoting us really reasonable prices. We’ve already picked out all the materials and appliances. Because he knows I’m anxious to get in (belly ain’t gettin’ any smaller!), he has promised that I can move in on May 28! If it were anyone else, I’d be skeptical, but he said again today, when we went over everything one last time, that I’ll be in there on May 28. So, in three weeks, we’re getting new floors, new windows, new interior painting, a whole new kitchen (new cabinets, floors, new configuration, new appliances), a remodeled second bathroom, recessed lights in the ceiling, new closets in all the bedrooms … basically, the only things remaining are the walls that are standing right now, and the master bathroom (which was, mysteriously, the only room that the sellers updated in the last 10 years). It’s not like we’re seeking supreme luxury, but the house, like many others in Torrance, was built in 1955, and it just has not been maintained over the years. I am so thrilled to move in three weeks into what is essentially a new house on the inside, designed to my specifications. I’ll only be 34 weeks along then, so I’ll have another few weeks to settle in before baby arrives. I’ll post before-and-after pics when everything is done!

This post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning how grateful Johnny and I are to our families. I’m sure all of you know how ridiculously expensive houses are in LA county, even in this market. It took a lot of effort and years for us to save enough to barely scrape up a decent down payment on a modest home. We try not to remind ourselves that if we were living almost anywhere else in the country, we could have bought a mansion about five years ago. (Yes, we’re aware that it was our choice to live here.) Without the help of our very generous parents and my Aunt Kathy (she’s my godmother, too), we might have been able to get the house — despite being in a really nice neighborhood, close to good schools, quiet, and bigger than average, it was in our price range because of its dilapidated interior. But, without familial support, forget about renovations — and believe me, without  renovations, no one would live there. From the beginning, this felt like “our” house. We did see some houses in move-in condition, but the neighborhood or the size or something else wasn’t ideal. Johnny actually spotted this house with our realtor and was the first to identify it as a “diamond in the rough,” which it is. It will be awesome when it’s all done. Anyway, we really could not have done this on our own, for a number of years to come, and we are so grateful to our families for making our housing dreams come true. I’m just really touched by my parents’ response every time I worry about the renovation costs. They always say, “Don’t worry, that’s what family is for” and “We’re honored to be able to help you with your first house.” We’re very lucky! My mom’s also put in tons of effort in helping me with the redesign of the house and in picking out appliances, since she has a lot of experience in remodeling. Of course, when Johnny and I are in a position to help out our family members one day, we’ll leap at the opportunity.

And now, we need to get our act together to move. I’ve already set up cancellations of our utilities here and begun them at the house. The movers are all set up. We need to pack, get a few odds and ends at Ikea (not getting higher-end stuff or replacing our stuff until the boys are older!), among other things. Oh, and I also need to pack my hospital bag and sort through Jack’s infant clothes so Baby Surprise can have them. Did I mention I also managed to get three new projects at work? I’ll have to stay up late to do them, since my days will be filled with packing, taking care of Jack and overseeing some house stuff. But, now that I know I have a house, I can be happy while being crazily busy!

Thanks for reading!

Yes, folks, my little sister‘s engaged! Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that June has a longtime boyfriend, Charles. Well, Charles proposed last night at Newport Beach. We (June’s family and close friends) have known about this for a while, because Charles has been planning for a few months, and he went with my mom to our family’s favorite jeweler to have the ring custom made from a design that he drew. (This is the same jeweler from whom Johnny bought my engagement ring and wedding band.) Obviously, since they’ve gone out for so long, June and Charles have talked about getting married, so June knew it was coming, but she didn’t know what Charles had up his sleeve. I don’t think she was completely surprised, because once, in high school, when they were just friends, Charles jokingly said to June that he was going to propose to her on May 2, 2009. It’s funny that this happened to be the year that circumstances worked out where this was the year they wanted to get engaged, and when that became obvious, both of them had that long-ago joke in their heads. But, even if June had a vague idea of when things were going to happen, Charles’ plan was very romantic, and definitely brought a few tears to June’s eyes.

So, yesterday evening, Charles took June to dinner. While they were eating, June and Charles’ friends (including their longtime mutual friend David, whom Charles flew down from UC Davis just for the occasion), following Charles’ instructions (complete with maps!), set up the following display on a secluded area of the beach, surrounded by big rocks and cliffs, using battery-operated Christmas lights:

Isn’t that romantic? Even random passersby stopped to take photos

After the setup was complete, we all sought out hiding places among the rocks. By “we,” I mean the 15 or so people that Charles had invited to celebrate with them right after the proposal. Charles’ two older sisters were there, along with my mom, Johnny and I, our Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bill, and June and Charles’ close friends. Never let it be said that I’m not devoted to June … at 30 weeks pregnant, I risked a treacherous climb to hide in a little cliff.

Charles’ sister, my mom and I in our hiding spots

Charles surreptitiously sent David a text as he and June were leaving the restaurant. I thought we would be able to hear the proposal, but with the waves crashing nearby, we didn’t even hear June’s reaction when she saw the lights. (Of course, she didn’t have the loud “OH MY GOD!” reaction I would have had, haha.) After June said yes, Charles shouted, “You can come out now!” and we all ran out to congratulate the happy couple. June was wiping away some happy tears. Then she kept saying, “I can’t see it” because it was too dark for her to see her gorgeous engagement ring. See, it runs in the family: bling first, men second (just kidding).

The newly engaged couple!

Aww, June sheds a few tears while Charles looks proud and happy

Me, June, Charles and my mom

With Aunt Kathy


June and Charles and their friends

OK, so you all know I can’t not write about the ring! Charles designed a beautiful ring that’s very much in June’s style. He had been saving for June’s ring for a while, and it was worth it for the end result. The center stone is a gorgeous two-carat round diamond. The band has small channel-set diamonds. Each side of the channel-set diamonds curve to the opposite side of the center stone (you’ll see in the pictures below). And, on both sides of the center stone (the sides that aren’t next to the band), there are five flower petals that are filled with tiny surprise diamonds. So, the ring sparkles from all sides, but because the surrounding diamonds are small, the setting doesn’t detract from the center stone. It still looks clean and modern, but has the intricate details that June loves. Plus, as of right now, there’s no other setting like hers in the world … which girl wouldn’t love that?

The center stone and the channel-set diamonds in the band that curve to the opposite sides of the center

See the flower petals filled with surprise diamonds on the setting? The same pattern is repeated on the other side

Too bad June’s fingers are two sizes smaller than mine … I really wanted to try on that ring! (But, for the record, I love the ring Johnny got me and wouldn’t trade it for the world.) And now, I need to tear myself away from bling talk and say that I am so happy for June and Charles. I’m really glad that Johnny and I now live close enough to be participate in small and big celebrations with family at any time. Part of me can’t believe that my little sister’s engaged … then again, I was already married at her age. Since I’m June’s sister, I get to say that Charles is one lucky guy. After all, it’s not every man who snags a beautiful, super-smart girl who’s headed toward a hugely successful career as an optometrist (a doctor!!! And people used to think I was the brains in the family?!), who’s fiercely devoted to her family and friends, and who can beat the best of ‘em at just about any video game. June is a guy’s guy in really pretty packaging … in other words, just about the perfect catch! Oh, and plus, I heard that June has a really awesome older sister and brother-in-law … ha. So, Charles, thank your lucky stars that she said yes! Of course, I’m also happy to be gaining another great brother-in-law. June and Charles have been going out for nearly six years, so I have long thought of him as a little brother, but now he is an official member of our wonderful family.

For those of you who have asked, the wedding won’t be for another couple of years. June’s coming up on her last two years of school, which will be very busy (and without a summer break, there isn’t a long enough time off for a wedding and honeymoon). Plus, Charles is relocating with his company up to San Francisco later this month, so they’ll be long distance like they were in college, until June graduates (or until Charles finds another job opportunity down here). This will give them time to plan and sort out the life logistics.

The engagement was the main event this weekend, but we also did other fun things. For starters, Jack got a much-needed haircut Friday afternoon. Even though this was his fifth haircut, he still cried all the way through it.

Before the cut

Johnny braces himself for the tears

Our handsome, buzzed boy. A balloon makes it all better

I have to say that Jack has been pretty darn delightful lately (or, uh, as delightful as a toddler can be, which is to say only about 30% of the time). He’s saying more and more words, and he’s our little mimic. For example, look at how he just grabbed a magazine one afternoon and made like Daddy, right after Johnny had been in the exact same pose:

Is this Johnny? Or is this Jack?

What I love most is Jack’s penchant for spontaneous “bao-baos.”

He just came and snuck up behind me on the chair to give me hugs!


Here, Jack was saying “baby, baby.”


SO cute, if I say so myself!

While June got engaged and Jack got a haircut, I got … well, bigger. On Saturday, I reached 30 weeks! Here’s a belly pic we took today:

That belly holds a 3-pound baby and a 2-pound placenta, or something like that. Plus a few cups of amniotic fluid. It’s heavy!

Finally, the last update I have is that this afternoon, Johnny, Jack and I went to the LA Zoo. Jack is still way too young for a pleasurable Disneyland trip (while I adore Disneyland, my definition of a fun trip does not involve meltdowns while waiting in line, bulky strollers, naptime considerations, multiple diaper changes, paying more than $100 for admission, and driving 2.5 to 3 hours total only to spend a couple of hours there, which is Jack’s current tolerance for outing length. So, we’ll be waiting until Jack is at least four or five years old before making that trip), but the zoo is perfect. He loves animals, and the admission is low enough where spending only a couple of hours there seems OK. It was bit crowded and hot today, but we still had a great time.

Jack was delighted by the kangaroos. He kept saying “Num num” at them because they were eating leaves


Jack and I with a peacock

My men

We left as the zoo was closing. Of course, Jack cracked his biggest smile once we were in the car and he was eating his prized Goldfish. Go figure!

Yay, we’re leaving!

Thanks for reading this super-long entry!

I had a midwife appointment this morning, at 29 weeks and 4 days. Everything looked good. I’ve gained 1.2 pounds in the last four weeks, bringing me up to 20 pounds total at almost 30 weeks. I’m really happy with that amount of weight gain. I was looking back at the pregnancy journal I kept with Jack, and at this point in my pregnancy with him, I’d gained 25 pounds already. If I keep to the same pattern as last time, my weight gain will start to taper off at this point, which means I’ll probably hit my 25- to 30-pound weight gain goal. My blood pressure and the baby’s heart rate were also normal.

But, the best news is that the midwife said the baby’s head is down! She even got another midwife to do a palpation and double-check, and they both said they definitely felt his head down, and when they listened for the heartbeat, the doppler picked up the heartbeat in the lower left quadrant of my belly, so that’s another good sign. I like how they’re sensitive to his position because of how Jack was breech. Of course, I’m still a ways from delivery, but the midwife says that they like to see a baby with his head down around 30 weeks for shorter women — more likely that the baby will end up that way at 40 weeks. Now, I sometimes feel a hard, round, roll-y body part at the top of my belly, but I guess that could be feet, knees or even the butt. I think I’ll trust the opinions of two experienced midwives over my own paranoid poking and prodding. I hope they’re right, and I hope the baby stays head down!

OK, now time to do some work while Jack is napping. I hope you’re all having great weeks.

Sorry for falling off the face of the Earth, everyone! I took an unofficial Xanga hiatus, and I guess it was really out of character for me to not post for more than two weeks, because I’ve been getting concerned emails from some of you guys. I’m touched that people would miss my babbling entries! So, here I am, and all is well. The last two weeks have just been simultaneously busy and uneventful, which is why I haven’t posted. I’ve also been slacking on reading subscriptions and non-Xanga blogs, but I promise to get back on it!

Let’s see. The biggest news items actually have to do with Johnny. My talented husband has made it into the final round of an intellectual property contest at Mattel. They challenged their employees to come up with a concept for their next big multi-platform boys line — a concept that could be used for a toy line, a cartoon show, a movie, online game, you name it. This was back in January, and the opportunity was like a dream come true for Johnny. He entered, along with 59 other employees. He’s made it through three rounds, and now he’s one of only three finalists! I am so proud of him. He’s the only marketing guy who’s made it this far — the other people are toy designers or in positions where they have easy access to internal resources who could help them develop their presentations. But, Johnny’s managed to get professional artists to do sketches, he’s done a lot of Photoshop work himself, he’s had people make sample toys and videos for him, he’s mocked up his own packaging, and he’s spent countless hours creating awesome presentations that I didn’t even know where possible to generate in PowerPoint. And, he’s had to do all this outside of work hours. On top of that, he’s still been spending quality time with me and Jack, and making us feel like we’re his priorities. It’s been difficult for him to balance everything, but it’s all paid off. The final round is on May 12, but I feel like it’s an honor just to have made it this far. From 60 people worldwide to three! That shows how talented he is. Also, he found out last week that one of the toys his team did marketing for, D-Rex, won Mattel’s coveted Toy of the Year award. Yay!

As for me, I haven’t won any awards, but, um, I’m gestating. I’m now officially in my third trimester. I hit 28 weeks this past Saturday. Only 12 more weeks to go!

Getting bigger all the time, and yes, I am obsessed with long dresses. I just love that I’ll be able to use them postpartum, too.

I’m still feeling great, physicaly, but it is getting harder to manhandle Jack. Most days, I don’t need to lift him too much, but I’m starting to notice that getting him in and out of his carseat is just a wee bit more of an ordeal than it used to be, and carrying him for a lengthy period of time (say, more than five minutes) strains my ab muscles. I’m a good shape from all of my walking and running after Jack, but my body’s telling me to lay off the heavy lifting as much as possible. Last Friday, Jack was being an absolute terror and had multiple meltdowns in public. I had to lift up his whole squirming self off of the ground (where he was thrashing and crying), restrain him and carry him back to the car on several occasions while we were out and about. I paid that afternoon with some pretty bad abdominal cramps. They weren’t contractions — I had no back pain, my belly didn’t get hard, the baby was still kicking and there were no weird premature labor symptoms — but it was still a bit alarming. I called labor and delivery (it was after hours at the doc’s office), and they told me to just take it easy, lay down and drink lots of water. They diagnosed it as overstrained muscles. It never happened during my pregnancy with Jack, but then again, the heaviest thing I had to carry when I was pregnant with him was my work bag, and I venture to say that even with all my working out before, during and between the pregnancies, my ab muscles are less strong than they were two years ago. Once I took L&D’s advice, I was fine.

To celebrate Johnny’s work triumphs, and to unwind a bit, Johnny and I went on a date night Friday night (after my ab cramps episode). We went to the Crab Pot in Long Beach. It’s right on the water, and we ordered the Seafeast, where they dump a whole bucket of steamed crab, mussels, clams, andouille sausage, corn on the cob and red-skinned potatoes on the table, and give you a mallet. Oh, it was so delicious. I love seafood. We also got their famous mud pie afterward.

Don’t get between a pregnant woman and her mud pie. By the way, I was wearing something cute, but we were seated outdoors, so I put on a fleece.

On Saturday, we went to Chris and Victoria’s for a barbecue (thanks for hosting again, guys!). Maddy and Jack played nicely together, for the most part.

I love Maddy’s expression in this picture! She looks so grown-up, and a little skeptical.

Afterward, we went to my mom’s and hung out there for the rest of the afternoon and evening. My mom and I decided to give Jack a new hairstyle.

Hee hee, a little ponytail! Jack wasn’t a big fan at first, but then he thought it was hilarious when he saw himself in the mirror.

Sunday, I went to lunch with Donna and Esther after doing some work in the morning, then Johnny and I took Jack to the mall, where he rode the little rides next to the food court.

Driving the ice cream truck

Here, Jack was actually pushing my head away and saying, “No.”

Riding the little carousel.

After the rides, we passed by the Disney Store. Jack ran inside and grabbed a stuffed Mickey Mouse right away. (He’s a huge fan of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Disney Channel.) He kept saying, “Meeee, Meeee” and even sat down to have a “conversation” with Mickey. He wouldn’t let go of him. I’d like to go on the record and say that Johnny’s the big sucker: He said that we had to get it for Jack, and he almost grabbed a Pluto, too, because the stuffed animals were two for $20 (one for $14.50). I put my foot down and said that not only was one stuffed animal bad enough, but two crossed the line into excessive. Yes, it was a good deal, but that’s $5.50 extra we could spend on ice cream instead (you see where my mind is! Ha). However, it was really cute to see Jack’s attachment to Mickey, and (very important) since Jack didn’t put up a tantrum for the Mickey when we took it away in the store, we bought it for him. He clutched it all the way back home, gazing at it adoringly, and showed Mickey around the apartment as soon as we got back.

This picture was not posed … Jack really took Mickey into his chair and began “reading” to him (appropriately enough, from a Disney book).

Now, Mickey is Jack’s constant companion. Forgotten are longtime favorites Moose (sorry, Shelly!) and the little stuffed dog that Mrs. Baker got Jack for Christmas. Mickey watches TV with Jack, eats with Jack (Mickey sits at the table with an empty plate in front of him, while Jack eats in his high chair) and most definitely goes night-night with Jack. We’ll go check on him at night, and see Jack clutching Mickey tightly. Jack also “feeds” Mickey anything he’s eating or drinking.

Speaking of feeding, Jack has developed a habit of lovingly lining up his toy cars and offering them imaginary food.

Here Jack is feeding the black Hot Wheel.

Ah, if only fueling up was as simple and cost-efficient as that.

Oh, and for those of you who were wondering, Jack’s behavior really has improved since we began consistently enforcing rules. At the very least, he’s now back to a good eating routine, knows not to touch the TV (evidence: no little fingerprints all over the screen!), leaves the stroller alone when it’s parked inside the apartment and knows what the “bad corner” is and why he goes there. He also knows that a tantrum won’t get him anywhere. Our biggest issues now are potty training (he’s still not over his sudden fear of the toilet, after our efforts went so well back in January) and difficulty leaving places when we’re out and about. He’s well-behaved on errands, but if we’re at the park and it’s time to leave, Jack throws himself on the ground and has an absolute fit. Of course we still leave, and then he calms down in the car, but the problem is that I have to physically get him to the car, and that’s getting hard. It will still be an issue after the baby comes, because then I have to deal with two kids. I feel like this is a harder one to address, because it’s not as though he’s throwing a tantrum in the middle of an outing (then we would just leave as the consequence) — this is at the end of an outing, when we’re leaving anyway, so going to the car isn’t really a consequence. Do I just have to wait it out and wait for him to connect the dots, that crying at the end of an outing doesn’t get him more time at the park or any other privileges? I welcome input from any been-there-done-that moms.

But, other than that, our little monster is becoming much less wild. Speaking of which, Jack LOVES the book Where the Wild Things Are. His Nana and Grandpa gave it to him for Christmas. We read it at least five times daily, no exaggeration. Jack likes to put his hand in front of his mouth and giggle when he sees Max do it in the book. He also fills in words when we’re reading, like “claws,” “rumpus,” “wild,” “boat” and “hot.” He says “num-num” when he sees Max’s supper at the end of the book. He requests “wah” (that’s “Wild Things”) first thing in the morning, before he even gets his diaper changed, before his nap and again at bedtime, and at least one or two random times during the day. His second favorite is Curious George Gets a Job, which is 42 pages long. Granted, each page only has a couple of sentences on it, but I get exhausted reading that three times a day. However, reading is the thing for which Jack has the most patience, so I try to encourage it. I would love for him to be a voracious reader. Johnny and I both love to read, and as kids, reading was one of the greatest sources of pleasure for us. I remember asking my mom to take me to the library during the summer and coming out with a stack of 10 books each time. They would last me about a week. I can’t say my tastes are intellectual (I’ve always been more of a chick lit and popular fiction gal; back when I was a kid, my leisure reading consisted of Babysitters Club and books by RL Stine, Judy Blume and VC Andrews — I know, that last one is kind of racy for a child!), but I do credit reading for my relatively extensive vocabulary.

Finally, two fun bathtime pictures.

I love the water pattern in this picture.


Shampoo horns!

That’s all! I’m off to catch up with all of you

This weekend, I went to Donna’s baby shower. Her little boy is due only eight days before Baby Surprise. It was such a cute shower! Donna’s mom hosted it at Donna’s place, and everything was color coordinated — the theme was blue and brown. Even Donna’s stroller and car seat, and her dress, matched the color scheme. I think the stroller/car seat and dress coordination were just coincidences.

The adorable (and yummy) food setup. The cake was delicious. Each block was a different flavor of cake: chocolate and vanilla marble, lemon cream and red velvet.

The two preggos!

This will make all of you who have been pregnant sick. We played that classic “how much string do you need to go around the expectant mom’s belly?” game, and it turns out that, even at 27 weeks pregnant, the widest part of Donna’s belly is as small around as a normal (even slender) girl’s hips. And, it was only slightly bigger than one of the other guests’ head circumference.  Oh, to be naturally tall and skinny! Anyway, it was a really fun time.

OK, so that was the April shower. Now about the ducks …

Yesterday, Johnny, Jack and I were returning from an outing at the park. Just as we were about to cross the busy intersection, we noticed three mallard ducks walking around. This is really random, since there are no lakes nearby, and while we see plenty of pigeons and seagulls, certainly mallard ducks are never seen. Suddenly, the ducks walked into the traffic, and thank goodness, all of the cars stopped. Everyone was watching the ducks, who seemed to have no idea what to do. Johnny leapt into action and said to me, “Hold Jack’s stroller. I’m going to herd the ducks!” Before I could say, “WHAT?”, Johnny had run into the intersection, and was running along after the ducks, clapping his hands and quacking, herding them onto the sidewalk and safely into the grassy fields of the park. The drivers all clapped or gave the thumbs-up sign, and continued driving. Johnny returned, and a driver who was making a left turn past us rolled down his window and yelled, “Good job, Nature Lover!” I cracked up. It sounded so sarcastic, but the guy was smiling, and his young children and wife were also in the car and clapping, so I think it was a genuine compliment. I wish I had a video camera on me! So, now, I shall forever refer to Johnny as “Nature Lover.” The hilarious thing is that Johnny used to be known as “Nature Boy” for a little bit when he was younger, for his (long abandoned) dream of being a park ranger.

Finally, I have some other pictures to share with you, just for fun.

Here is Jack, engaging in his favorite activity: parking cars on the windowsill.

Looky my cars!

My belly at 26 weeks

Jack wanted to kiss the baby!

And here’s a really cute picture I took with my mom, dad and June at a park on Saturday afternoon:

Finally, I wanted to show you all how Jack is using the pillows on his big boy bed.

Really, he pulled those up on him himself!

Have a great week, everyone!

Yes, folks, I’m down to 99 days in my pregnancy countdown. This little one will be here in 99 days or less! I suppose I could go overdue, but since I went into labor on my due date with Jack, I really doubt I’ll be overdue. If anything, I think I’ll go a few days before my due date. I’ve been way more active during this pregnancy, thanks to Jack (chasing him is more strenuous than my religious exercising during my first pregnancy!), for one thing, and for another, there were only 15 months of rest for my oft-used uterus between these two kiddos. Although this pregnancy has been as physically easy (though more tiring) than the one with Jack, I feel like my body will be happy to finish baking the baby a few days earlier than last time.

So … 99 days in which to get ready. And I’ve done nothing. Thankfully, we have 99% of all the baby gear and clothes we need for Jack’s little brother. I’ve got his new bedding. We “only” need to close escrow (that is another story altogether that I won’t get into right now), do renovations on the house, move in, and do logistical things like get baby’s newborn clothes washed (just to name one task out of many, for fear that naming more will send me into a panic attack). I should also pack a hospital bag at some point in the next 10 weeks, so it’s ready by 36 weeks. Oh, and I’d like to throw Jack a birthday party a few weeks early, before the baby comes.

Yeah, not sure whether to laugh or cry about the fact that I’m in double digits! This is definitely not the calm, relaxing scene I had envisioned for my final pregnancy (yup, I think the baby factory is closing after this one). On the other hand, it sure does make the time fly by. I remember it felt like forever to reach this point with Jack.

Here’s to a productive 99 days! And to Baby Surprise: Please, Mommy implores you to stay in there for at least 92 more days, OK? If you end up head-down and you stay in there until 92 days or later, I promise that your first pureed food can be something delicious and sweet, not green beans like your older brother had.

On another note, I had my 25.5-week appointment with the midwife this past Wednesday. I also had my glucose tolerance test. I hope it comes back negative. They haven’t called me, so I’m taking that as a good sign, but I’ll call to check on Monday. Everything is measuring perfectly — uterus is measuring 26 cm, baby’s heartbeat was strong (and he was kicking the heck out of the doppler) — and my weight gain is on track (five pounds during the last month, 14 or 15 pounds total since the beginning of the pregnancy). I’m continuing to walk at least 1.5 to 2 miles each day with Jack, and I’m cutting out the nightly Haagen-Dazs (which I attribute to homebuying stress), so that should mean that the weight gain will taper off for the next visit. Speaking of which, that one is at the end of April, and after that (gulp) it’s time for the biweekly visits to start. Again, how did that come so quickly? I only have a few biweekly appointments before the weekly visits start. All you moms know that when the weekly visits start, it means the end of the pregnancy is near.

I’ve decided that I’m going to just curl up in bed and wait to be awoken when it’s time to deliver. And then all the things on my to-do list will have magically taken care of themselves! A girl can dream, right?

Have a great weekend, everyone! I’m off to breathe into a brown paper bag (just kidding).