Happy belated New Year, everyone! Jack and I flew back to Los Angeles last night with Victoria and Maddy, who are now settling into their new home. Johnny is helping Chris drive their cars and belongings cross-country; they’re making really good time, despite towing a car behind their SUV. They should be in California by late Sunday or early Monday; yay!

Thanks to everyone for all your support and encouragement on my surprise announcement.  I promised a 12-week belly pic in my last entry, and although it’s almost a week late, here it is:

12 weeks

It definitely sticks out more if I’ve eaten just prior to taking a belly pic, and it’s more obvious when I sit down. I think this is the dreaded “pregnant or large lunch?” stage. In a few more weeks, the pics should get a lot … cuter. I have my next ultrasound this coming Tuesday; I am holding out hope that maybe we’ll get to find out the gender, although the chances are slim!

In non-pregnancy news, Jack picked up several new words during our week in Michigan. It does him good to be around several adults who are all talking, instead of just boring old Mommy. He now says “night-night,” which is so cute. A few days ago, Johnny told Jack, “I love you!” and then turned around to go downstairs (this was while we were still at the cottage). Jack blurted out, “I love you!” Johnny turned around, and I dropped whatever I was doing, and we both went, “What?!” It was clear as day, but of course, Jack hasn’t said it since. He is now also saying “thank you” pretty consistently. It’s evolved from “dadu” to “dan you.” He’s also beginning to say “no,” but strangely enough, he continues to say “um” for yes. We’ll ask him questions, like, “Did you poop?” or “Do you want milk?” and he’ll nod and say, “Um,” but never yes. Weird!

The little monkey himself, on the enclosed porch of the cottage

Lounging: Jack’s favorite new activity

Tomorrow, we pick up June and Charles from the airport, then I head over with Jack to pick up my other baby, Atari. He’s been staying vacationing with Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bill. I’m sure they’ve spoiled him. He’s played all day, each day, with their Cocker Spaniel and Siberian Husky.

That’s all … I hope everyone’s 2009 has gotten off to a wonderful start!

Well, Jack got on the phone this morning to spread the news:

In case you can’t make it out, his shirt says “Big Brother.”

That’s right, folks … I hope you all are ready for round #2, because I’m 12 weeks pregnant today!

SURPRISE!

I know some of you have known about this, but it’s been hard to keep it from the rest of you, when it’s pretty much been what I’ve been thinking about 24/7 for the past eight weeks. As usual, though, I wanted to wait until the 12-week mark, which is today.

Some of you may remember that I’ve always talked about trying for a second baby when Johnny and I got into a house next spring, and that we were aiming for a three-year age difference between our kids. So, yes, this baby was a complete surprise. I found out I was pregnant on November 1. I was shopping with Milena for something to wear to Johnny’s reunion, and I jokingly mentioned that I might be pregnant. The key word was “jokingly.” We were taking precautions (though I guess not as well as we should have! Ha), and for a variety of reasons, I just didn’t think it was possible. I felt a little off — not nauseated or anything, but just bloated. After shopping, I went to the grocery store and picked up a test. The cashier knew me from coming in with Jack on weekday mornings, and when she saw me with the test, she said, “I hope you get the answer you want. By the way, from the way you’re glowing, I bet you’re pregnant.” I retorted with, “You usually see me in PJs with my son. I’m wearing makeup today; that’s the ‘glow.’” Nonetheless, I took the test as soon as I got home, telling Johnny, “I’ll bet my life I’m not pregnant.” Well, the positive result showed up before even five seconds had passed!

Six more test sticks later (no, I’m not kidding), I was officially freaking out, and Johnny was very happy. I was also happy, but you know me — I’m a planner, and an unplanned pregnancy was not in the plan. Jack was planned, and he came right on time (on his due date). Of course I had a plan for #2 as well! Also, very selfishly speaking, I did have a moment where I thought, “I’ve only had eight months of having my better-than-prebaby body back … now I have to sublet it out again!” But, it didn’t take very long at all for me to become thrilled about this news — I love being pregnant, I miss having a baby around, and in the grand scheme of things, this was only about six to eight months ahead of schedule. And, bonus — this definitely means I’ll have popped out both kids by the time I’m 30, which was always something I wanted to do (I’m 85% sure we’ll stop at two. The max would be three). Plus, I do think a two-year age difference is great.

So, Baby Surprise is due on … get this … July 12! That’s Jack’s birthday. Really, we couldn’t have planned it better if we’d tried. According to my dates, the due date is July 11, 2009, but when I went for my first ultrasound at 8 weeks and 3 days, the sonographer said that using that more exact technology, it looked like July 12 to her. Speaking of ultrasounds, here are the images.

Here you can see the baby’s head and tiny curved body 

Here’s an early 3D image of the front view of baby

We also heard the heartbeat (actually heard it!) at that first visit. It was beating strong at 176 bpm, 36 bpm faster than Jack’s at the same age. I’m going to buy into the old wives’ tale that that means it’s a girl. Of course we’ll actually find out, too.

As for me, I’m doing great. I was a bit tired, but now that’s fading. It did suck that I got sick with that terrible cold and couldn’t do much about it, and I was bummed that I couldn’t drink at Michelle’s wedding (that’s right, I was seven weeks pregnant then!), but those are small prices to pay. Once again, I got lucky with the nausea thing — I was a little nauseated in the evenings for about three weeks, but never enough to throw up, and now that’s gone completely. With Jack, I never had any nausea at all. It is also true that you show earlier with your second pregnancy. Although I’ve only gained 1.5 pounds so far with Surprise (now up to 117.5 pounds), as opposed to 10 pounds by 12 weeks with Jack (yikes!), I swear by 9 weeks, my belly had poked out. Here’s a four-week pic (to establish my “normal” belly) and a nine-week pic. You can see a difference. I’ll post the 12-week pic later today, if I can.

4 weeks – baseline

9 weeks – see the rounding in the belly? This was before any weight gain, too!

I can’t wait for the baby belly to come out in full force. You all can look forward to regular belly pics, as with last time. Thanks in advance for indulging me! I’m pleased about the lack of weight gain so far — hopefully I can gain a little less weight than the 35 pounds I put on last time, although that wasn’t too bad, either. This time I’m running around after a toddler; I think that is the difference. Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, yes, I am definitely shooting for an unmedicated VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) for delivery. My new OB is very supportive; I’ll write more about this topic later. And yes, we’ll give breastfeeding another go.

OK, I think I’ve blathered on enough for today. Johnny and I are really excited, and our families are thrilled. Although it’s bittersweet to think that Jack won’t be the only baby anymore, I’m also looking forward to seeing him as an older sibling. I’ll be enjoying these next seven months alone with my boy!

p.s. Oh, yes, I’ve done the all-important thing: I’ve added a new ticker to the ticker box in the right-hand navigation. Those of you who subscribe to me via Xanga and come to my site only via the comment page might need to actually go to my public Xanga page (just click the “bevconeal” link) to see it. As you can tell, I’m rooting for a girl, haha.

Merry Christmas from Michigan! Although the trip was long, Johnny, Jack and I made it in one piece, with no trouble on the 4-hour flight and the ensuing 6.5-hour drive through falling snow. Jack was a trooper, and it was definitely worth the trip for my first White Christmas. First, I’ll share pictures.

Here’s one of Jack the day before we left home, lounging in his chair

Jack, marveling at his first snowfall. He kept saying, “Whoa!” and laughing as he stepped in the snow and felt it on his face

Family shot in the snow

Jack thought snowballs were hilarious!

We also had a chance to meet Dave’s girlfriend, Shirley, at long last! She’s spending Christmas with Dave’s family. She’s also a Californian of Taiwanese descent. We really enjoyed meeting her — she’s super nice and sweet. It was funny, though — Jack kept confusing me and Shirley. Usually he’s reserved with strangers, but a few times during her visit, Jack went up to her and put his head in her lap. Then he would look up at her with confusion, cry and come look for me instead. After a while, he became suspicious of Shirley and stayed far away from her. Haha. I don’t really blame Jack — Shirley and I don’t really look alike in the face, but we’re roughly the same height and size, and we have very similar hair.

Dave and Shirley

A video of Jack throwing his first snowball

And, I know you’ve all been waiting … here’s the adorable Murphy, my in-laws’ new Wheaten Terrier puppy.

Jack loves being up here, being spoiled by his Grandpa and Nana, Uncle Chris and Aunt Victoria, and getting to play with 14-month-old cousin Maddy. There have been plenty of Christmasy activities.

Like eating … a lot!

And playing with toys from Daddy’s childhood

And admiring the pretty Christmas tree

And being carried around by a doting uncle

This morning, we opened the many, many presents under the tree. I won’t bore you with the details, but we all got a great haul!

Maddy is delighted by her stocking

Jack likes his Little People blocks (notice his skull and crossbones PJs? They’re wearing Santa hats!)

Maddy, Chris and Victoria with Maddy’s new music set

Me with my new ultra lightweight, reversible Ju Ju Be diaper bag! (As Jack gets older, I can leave my bulky bag at home)

Jack playing with Maddy

Of course, the best gift of all is the love of friends and family. I hope everyone got to enjoy that gift!

I love the holidays, but wow, this season has been quite the whirlwind of activities, especially in this last week! Besides hosting Lily this week, I also had a short-but-lovely visit on Friday morning with my friend Rena (I finally got to introduce Jack ) while she was in town. Friday afternoon, Johnny, Jack and I went to his department’s holiday party, and right after we returned home from that, our babysitter arrived so that we could go out to dinner with Sarah and her awesome boyfriend, Jonathan. This weekend, we’re staying put, but also getting ready to go to the O’Neal cottage in Michigan on Tuesday. We’ll be there through New Year with my in-laws, and Chris, Victoria and Maddy. Johnny’s parents recently welcomed a Wheaton Terrier puppy, Murphy, into the family, so we’re really excited to meet her! I hope she’s ready for Jack, haha.

Anyway, I didn’t want to neglect my blog through all this hubbub. I might not get to update until we get to Michigan, and maybe not until after Christmas (though I’ll try to squeeze in an update on Christmas Day so I can share pictures of Jack and Maddy opening gifts ), so I wanted to do it now. Mostly I have pictures to share.

I forget why Jack’s laughing in this picture, but it’s so delightful!

I managed to capture this moment that Jack had with my mom at the Grove the other day (yes, the same day as the ill-fated Santa meeting)

Jack enjoys a toddler-appropriate snack of Diet Pepsi and chocolate chip cookie (don’t worry, the Diet Pepsi was Johnny’s, and we only gave him half of a homemade cookie. What’s the holidays without some treats?)

Jack decides to catch up on his reading while riding his horse

We’re going to a very small holiday party at Milena’s tomorrow (it will just be me, Jack, Johnny, Milena, Marcus and Marcus’ dad), so I spent the afternoon baking banana bread-flavored dog biscuits for Milena’s dog Mona (yes, Atari also gets a whole bunch!) and wrapping the gifts for our exchange. I’m really un-talented at wrapping gifts, so I was really proud that I made them look decent (see second pic below).

Here are a fifth of the cookies (one recipe makes a lot!). They smelled really good, and (according to Johnny, who tried one) really did taste like banana bread. I couldn’t bring myself to eat one, even though there aren’t any “doggy” ingredients in them

The gifts! The treat sack contains dog biscuits for Mona, the green basket ($1 at Target!) contains four little shampoo/shower gels for Milena, and the silver box holds an adorable blue ceramic piggy bank with white polka dots on it for Marcus (I saw Milena admiring it at Nordstrom last month, so I went back the next day to get it for Marcus for Christmas )

Thanks for looking! If I don’t get to update before Christmas, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas (or whichever holiday you celebrate). Please be safe, and have fun with your friends and families.

My friend Lily is visiting us from New York this week. Yesterday was a beautiful day, so I decided it would be a good idea to take Lily and Jack to the Grove, so Jack could have his first visit with Santa in Santa’s Cottage. The Grove sets up a gorgeous Santa’s Cottage every year. The problem is, on the weekends, the wait can exceed two hours. Yesterday, though, there were only two people ahead of us in line. My mom came along to witness Jack’s first meeting with Santa, and to take us to lunch. Unfortunately, Jack apparently equates Santa with the Grim Reaper. We’ll start with the happier photos.

Lily, Jack and I in front of the cottage

My mom, Jack and I

So, Jack was pretty happy outside the cottage, looking at all the “gumdrops” and decorations. I had anticipated some tears upon meeting Santa — Jack’s not a huge fan of strange men in costumes (remember the terrible Goofy’s Kitchen brunch at Disneyland?). However, I thought that with help from Mr. Paci, and if I held him in my lap, that Jack would be semi-OK with the experience. Oh, was I wrong.

As soon as we entered the cottage, Jack began howling. I picked him up, and he arched his back and cried. I offered the paci, and he took it, but the tears were rolling fast and furious. When I sat on Santa’s bench, next to Santa, Jack didn’t even want to be near us. He wanted as far away from Santa as possible. My mom managed to get this one picture, which is a huge understatement for how miserable Jack was. Seriously, it sounded as though someone were pulling all of his teeth out one by one, without anesthesia.

So, note to self: Jack does not like strange men with beards and red velvet suits. Darn!

I hope everyone else had more successful visits to Santa! We’ll be revisiting the cottage in, oh, another 10 years.

Lately, Jack’s been a big fan of pretend play. He’s been “cooking” with a rubber spatula and a mixing bowl and “feeding” the nonexistent food to this Little People, Atari or me. He’ll also “eat” all the illustrations and pictures of food from his board books. And (I think this may be my favorite), he will also occasionally line up all of his Little People in very deliberate groups, then take his schoolbus toy and “drive” it straight into the poor Little People while saying “vroom, vroom!” When they all fall down, Jack will laugh and line them up again.

I’ve been wanting to capture this on video for a while now, but June beat me to it! Last weekend, we went to lunch with my family, and while my dad was ordering food, Jack started pretending to feed me and Johnny, and himself, with a spoon. Click here to watch the YouTube video.

So cute, right?!

Despite his tantrum-throwing, stroller-defying ways, Jack still manages to melt my heart with utter cuteness (he takes after his daddy in that way ). Here are some pictures from an outing Jack and I took to the toddler park this afternoon.

Smiling for the camera

He didn’t know I was taking this one

This is what I see most often every day … Jack running off!

Little climbing monkey

If you think those are cute, wait until you see these, from right before Jack’s bathtime. He thought it was delightful to wear his hooded frog bath towel and lead me on a chase:

Catch me if you can, Mommy! (Notice how his name is embroidered on the back?)

Tee hee, you’re too slow!

Ha, fooled you again!

Finally caught my narcissistic boy giggling at himself in front of the mirror

And, for your viewing pleasure, a video of Jack using one of the Wii nunchucks as a phone. He even says something mildly resembling “hello.” Excuse my babbling in the background. It’s probably a sign that I’m on the phone way too often if Jack now holds any object that could be contrued as a phone up to his ear.

I really loved taking those pictures at the park today, and before bathtime. Lately, I’ve been a tiny bit short on patience as Jack continues to assert his, um, personality. But for every frustrating moment, there are three rewarding ones, where Jack kisses me on the cheek (with a loud “mmmm-a!” sound) or pretends to pour water into Atari’s bowl or curls up on my lap to “read.” Those moments reassure me that Jack will grow up to be a smart, kind, empathetic person, and that whining, tantrums and discipline are the necessary parts of the foundation.  At the same time, it makes me so wistful and a bit sad that the baby who was only learning how to sit independently at this time last year now moves so fast that it’s hard for me to catch up to him sometimes. I know I keep saying this, but where does the time go?

p.s. I also have to add that my home does not normally look like a tornado just blew through it, with toys and laundry everywhere. I’m in the midst of my semiannual wardrobe rotation (right now, putting summer clothes away, getting winter clothes out) and Johnny and I were both ill last week, so please excuse the look!

OK, I think things are fixed now. Enjoy the new look!

Yay! Despite catching my terrible cold, Johnny made me my new header banner. To accommodate all screen widths, I had to make it a bit more centered than I was envisioning, but I really love it. I’ve been tired of my old blog title for a while now (I came up with it in a hurry and before my blog became quite so family-centric), and I like this new one. The little pictures are all in birth order (except for me — I was born after Johnny, but since it’s my blog, my picture gets to go first!), so for once, Atari takes precedence over Jack. Atari says, “But that’s the way it should always be.”

So, I know the layout is simple, but I tend to like it that way, so enjoy! I will be adding to the blogroll, for which I must give a huge thanks to Liz at Goddess in Progress. The custom module asked for HTML code — I couldn’t just type in a list of links, so I viewed the source page on Liz’s blog and totally copied over the HTML code for her blog roll. Couldn’t have done it without that! Thank you!  How sad is it that I took a whole course on HTML programming at Northwestern, but the only thing I remember how to do is to “View Source” when I want to copy over some HTML? Then again, I completed calculus but currently use math only to calculate tips. Oh well!

I couldn’t sleep because of my horribly stuffed up nose, so I decided to mix things up a bit on my page. Mostly I just wanted to add a blogroll (yay, I did!), but then I started messing around with other stuff using Xanga Themes. I’m going without a header until I can sweet talk Johnny into making a photo collage header for me. In the meantime, please pardon my dust!