monday

June 1st, 2009 | By Kyoko

I had another sonogram appointment today and immi’s grandmom accompanied me (This office doesn’t even allow kids in the exam room according to their info sheet. And this is unusual because other 2 places I’ve been to welcomes kids since it supposedly facilitates bonding between siblings before they are born…)

Anyway, she seems to have had fun spending time with her grandmom in the waiting area.

I found out from the sonogram the usual. Which is that he is STILL A BOY. And his colon is still dialated. And everything else looks fine. He is now 4lb 5oz. I have another one scheduled 2 weeks from now, and after that, it will be a weekly appointment. It seems a bit extravagant to go through this expensive and time consuming exam just for these little information…

After the appointment, immi’s grandmom treated us to a mani-pedi. Immi enjoyed soaking her toes and having them massaged! I don’t have photos of this fun event since I couldn’t get camera out of the bag due to wet paint:)

And when Todd came home from a long day at work with event in DC and lots of meetings, he needed a bowl phở so here we are getting some. Immi’s new favorite is a spring roll!

stickers and no.2

May 28th, 2009 | By Kyoko

Immi is sitting on the office/studio floor stickering.

…and stickering…

We had a check-up appointment with the OB yesterday. We did go over the sonogram result from the week before and one thing I didn’t catch from that is that the baby’s bowel seems to be working just fine (sounds like a good news to me! ….even if it doesn’t help otherwise with diagnosis). Everything else is great. The doctor even complimented us on how well immi truned out (she has been coming with us to every appointment)! Let me just add here that we totally LOVE our OB! If all the doctors we ever had to see were just like him, I’d be 100% pro-western-medicine:) Apparently, there’s nothing we need to do to prepare for the chance that baby might need some sort of medical intervention (other than getting bi-weekly sonogram). That all gets sorted out when he is born, if he needs it.

Aside from mental preparation, we really haven’t done much for the No.2. We are so relaxed about it that I suddenly remembered yesterday that we were supposed to get a bed for immi before he is born (she has been sleeping on crib mattress which has been move out of the crib on to the floor in her room)! …we really should do that.

When we found out that we were having another baby, I imagined that we would have another girl. And that they’d probably look alike, at least until they are a bit older. And that the no.2 will be wearing at least some of the same clothes as immi (…admittedly many of them were thrown out because they got too shabby to keep!). And that it would be difficult to tell them apart in photos years and years from now. It’s odd to think that it won’t be like that at all. I sorted out immi’s shoes the otherday and I have a bag full of her  shoes that are now too small for her. I haven’t decided what we are going to do with that. We even kept kangaroo outfit from halloween, but he won’t want to be dressed up as a mommy kangaroo (with baby roo in the front pocket…)?

monday

May 18th, 2009 | By Kyoko

Well, we are supposed to be relaxing at the beach as of 2 days ago, but we decided to hang around Reston for extra few days before heading out since we have HUGE amount of things to do and we were supposed to make sonogram appointment with a specialist regarding our little Mr. No.2 this week anyhow.

So…we did see the specialist this morning and now we know (…with better certainty…) that it is the bowel that scans dilated. The doctor said that it’s the lower portion of it, and it’s not a very large portion at that. He told me that he still can’t tell why it’s dilated and basically all we can do is to have it looked at every 2 weeks (to make sure there’s no sudden development) until delivery, at which point the baby will be examined. Apparently, it could be any number of things ranging from a problem that can hopefully be fixed by surgery, to the baby making a poop and that would be that

One fun information I got out the appointment is that the baby No.2 weighs (…approximately anyhow) 3lb 8oz! I’d say that’s quite heavy for me to be carrying around all the time and no wonder my back hurts a bit and my belly feels heavy.

We aren’t at the beach yet, but immi is having a fun Monday. She is enjoying her juice-box while we have coffee…

…and hanging out with her dad.

garden

May 12th, 2009 | By Kyoko

Immi and her dad are working on the little garden. This year we have lots of herbs and tomatoes and peppers. I like mostly edible things (I think that they are pretty, and besides, you can eat it!) but this year we have some very cute little flowering plants in varoius shades of purple.

We had monthly check-up (its going to be bi-weekly from now on) for our No.2 yesterday. We discussed about the sonogram result and we are making appointment with specialist for next monday. Otherwise, everything looks good. I passed the glucose tolerance test, and I’m not even anemic this time. I only gained 4lb (as oppsed to 6lb last month!), I’d say this is due to having no microwave (we have electricity but we still need new circuit to run microwave on):D We got the hospital registration packet from the OB, which somehow makes everything more real.

Immi’s notable new word is “giraffe”! And her current favorite food is pickles and oilves. Quite often she wants them for breakfast along with fruits, ceral, and soy milk…

We went baby shopping for the little boy this past weekend. We would have waited a bit longer but we had lots of useful coupons (I don’t regulary clip coupons but I love the ones from babiesrus and those 40% off ones from Michaels!). We really don’t need much because we have stuff from when immi was a baby but we did get crib bedding set (immi’s was pink), baby bath tub (oskar scratched up immi’s so we didn’t save it) and few other little things. …now all I have to do is get motivated at some point and get my Hello Kitty sewing machine out to sew up bunch of burp cloths, bassinet sheets, boppy pillow covers and probably a sling.

No2. update

May 4th, 2009 | By Kyoko

We had a follow-up sonogram appointment today. And there’s good news and not-so-good news. The good news is that cyst in the brain is completely gone (as was expected…) and the not so good news is that ‘something’ in his stomach still scans abnormally. The doctor said that his “upper stomach, probably his bowel” (these are her exact words…not very assuring is it?) is “dilated”. We asked a whole bunch of questions to understand this very ambiguous diagnosis, but we couldn’t get much out of the doctor since she can’t tell for sure exactly where this problem is, or what this ‘dilation’ is or what it’s caused by, or how serious it is. She says that worst case, it can be surgically corrected (I’m not sure why she can be sure if she doesn’t know what the problem is??).

…so she’d like to see us for another follow-up appointment to see how this progresses.

Otherwise, the baby boy seems perfectly happy with a good heart rate. The sonographer added that he is “still a boy”.

Good thing is that we get to see the baby boy get bigger often. We saw his face quite clearly in 3D. Now i’m quite sure that he looks more like Todd than immi does, though he does look like immi quite a bit.

I’ve gotten bigger and my back hurts a bit but nothing much to complain about really. I had contractions for about 5 hours or so two Sundays ago. I had those several months before immi was born as well, so I guess thats just how it goes for me. As uncomfortable as they are, if they are any indication of easy labor and birthing like the first time, I’ll take them gladly:)

shower

April 25th, 2009 | By Kyoko

It’s a really nice day out and here we are with our friends at Greenleaf Park. Immi is determined to play on every play-structure they have here even though it’s a bit hot in the sun (Aurie and I are chatting away while immi plays!)

Kevin, Wendy and Immi. Immi has been dragging around her rabbit, kitty, a sheet of stickers, and a princess wand which Jamie, Peter, and Ian got for her (thank you! She adores it, obviously!).

Here’s Immi and Carey playing in the sun.

We are hanging out in the shade having yummy treats.

Thank you so much all of you guys for celebrating our baby No.2 and making us feel so very special and blessed to have such wonderful friends. …and also for the cutest baby boy clothes and toys. And Aurie, for the coolest Hello Kitty p-leather pillow for immi:)

…not in the photo is Ian who is Peter & Jaimee’s 2 year old boy (we didn’t seem to have taken many pictures at all…too busy catching up!). It’s been more than a year since Immi and Ian has seen each other. Their birthdays are 5 weeks apart and I’ve been enjoying watching him grow remotely through Jaimee’s blog, and it was so good to see him in person!

mess and bath

April 9th, 2009 | By Kyoko

Immi made a big mess in her room!…and still busy playing.

Immi is taking a bath with bubbles and glowsticks!

New recent word immi said are “lipbalm!” and “cocolate” (she meant ‘chocolate’). She started shaking her head vertically for ‘yes’ which is, for some reason, she hadn’t been doing even though she has been shaking her head sideways for ‘no’ for a long long time (like more than a year?).

We had No.2 check-up appointment today. Nothing new to report really. The baby had a very good heart beat. He moves around a lot every day. I gained a lot of weight (6lb!!) in 4 weeks (probably because I don’t move around much due to bad cramping when I do!). I’m not particulary concerned about weight gain though since I have no doubt I’ll loose them quickly chasing after 2 kids once he is born:D

appointment

February 10th, 2009 | By Kyoko

Me&baby-no.2 had a monthly check-up appointment today. Immi fell a sleep in the car and is still sleeping on her dad in the waiting room!

Nothing much to report here. All the test results came back normal, I gained exactly the amount of weight I’m suppose to gain (1lb a week!) and the baby’s heart beat sounded good.

It’s a strange thing having the 2nd baby for the first time. Not only are we even more relaxed about this than when we had immi, but the major difference is that we aren’t running around making baby-shopping list. It seems like buying stuff was such a big part of preping for immi’s arrival, and I’m definitely enjoying non-consumerism. Realistically, we’ll probably purchase one or two items, plus some clothes when the time nears. I’ll probably get my sewing machine out in a few months to make the rest (since now I know excatly which store-bought-things I wasn’t satisfied with and I definitely have ideas for improvements!).

comfy

January 27th, 2009 | By Kyoko

We moved this comfy chair into the office and it has become immi’s spot (and oskar’s). Immi definitely knows all about being comfy. I can’t help but to remember that she was like this since before she was born. In fact she hardly ever moved in-utero most part of the day and I remember feeling the impression that she wasn’t moving because she was comfy where she was (if I took what the doctor told me about how often I was suppose to be feeling kicks, I would have had to called to call them several times a day!)

I felt our baby no.2 move several days ago and then a lot more last night (a lot earlier than when I first felt immi move)! I can’t feel him/her kicking for sure, but I can definitely feel it when s/he rolls over if I happen to be laying down (and my stomach area is streched out) after having waffles drizzled with lots of maple syrup (hmmm, sugar!).

no. 2

January 23rd, 2009 | By Kyoko

I’m now 13 weeks along now and today is the first day of 2nd trimester. Immi’s little sibling is now, according to a book, more or less fully formed and can “hear” through vibrations on the skin. Nothing new to report about him/her really. I still want phở often except sometimes I really want potato soup.

Todd got us roses, he says the that red one is for me and the white one is for the baby. They are pretty and smell nice. I hope oskar won’t eat it.

no. 2 update

January 15th, 2009 | By Kyoko

We went to Fair Oaks Hospital for nuchal translucency screening (blood test & ultrasound) this morning. We didn’t do this for immi (we were seeing a different doctor at that time) but our current doctor (whom we like a whole lot) recommended that we do this since it’s non-invasive.

Anyway, we found out that now our little no.2 has just 1 in 10,000 chance of being at risk for Down syndrome. And everything looks good so far. S/he was sleeping during the ultrasound, and the technician had to jab him/her (and me!!) with the ultrasound wand thingie to get him/her to move a little. S/he had head shaped just like immi’s and mine!

…so here s/he is:

…sleeping and wants to be left alone.

Todd still thinks that it’s a girl. I think that it looks like it can be either. What do you think? We’ll find out in about 7 weeks.

guess what!?

January 13th, 2009 | By Kyoko

Immi is going to be a big sister. Her sibling is due on July 27th. We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl for another while. Todd of course wants another girl, and he says he is sure that it’s a girl — we’ll see about that According to Chinese Gendar Chart (not that I know this chart actually works!) it’s suppose to be a girl, and retrospectively, it was right about immi having been a girl.

…so I’m currently 11 weeks and 3 days along. I have retroactively posted about our first check-up here if you want to see the sonogram from when I was 7 weeks along. At the second (monthly) checkup last week, we saw in the sonogram that our No. 2 is moving around happily already and s/he was much bigger and more human shaped (…as opposed looking more like a bean the previous month!).

We are very excited about this, and somehow it makes strange sense to me that immi and her sibling will be 2.5 years apart (and exactly 6 astrological signs apart…a long as the actual birth date is anywhere near the due date!). We are starting to make changes in our life (like moving around our furnitures to allocate an entire room for play room) to accomodate new addition to our family.

How am I doing (…in case you wondered!)? I am very grateful that I am not completely miserably sick like I was when I was pregnant with immi. But I’m still uselessly tired sometimes and for some reason, migraines that I used to have (and haven’t had for several years now) have come back (I hope they go away!). I don’t particularly have craving for french fries this time around. What I want is phở! And the very first sign of pregnancy — just like the last time — was that some how coffee didn’t sound very appetizing (it still doesn’t).