Happy Halloween

Baby K dressed up as Minnie Mouse for Halloween this year. My little girl was all ready for the Harvest parade at her daycare:

As we were walking through the courtyard, she pointed to the building where I work and exclaimed, "That's mommy's office!" Then she made reference to the one time I brought her to the cafeteria for lunch, and told me she wanted to go there to eat. That was months ago; I am shocked that she still remembers it! Here's baby K with Mr. Potato Head:

Later that afternoon, I picked baby K up from daycare a bit earlier and brought her to M's office. M was busy, so we didn't stay too long, but she had fun visiting daddy and getting a bag full of sweets. Then in the evening, when M finally got home, we went trick or treating around the block. Baby K loved ringing the doorbells and collecting candy. I wonder how many more years we can go with just allowing her to "play" with the candy and not eat them.

Baby K's Pre-Birthday Bash

For the past few weeks, I've been stressing out about the baby coming early and praying that I wouldn't go into labor until after baby K's birthday party (planned two weeks early for that very reason). God listened, and I didn't have the baby this past weekend. However, God also has a sense of humor, and decided to give us a snow storm instead. We had planned the party at a bouncing place in South Brunswick called jerZjump. As we were on our way there Saturday afternoon, my cell phone rang and I received news that they had just lost electricity, which led to the start of all the frantic phone calls telling everyone the change in plans (and this was after I had called earlier in the day to confirm they were still open). We ended up having all the guests come back to our place for an impromptu celebration.

All this time, I was praying for the baby to wait until November to come out; it never once occurred to me that I would also have to pray for it not to snow in October. Fortunately, we didn't lose power where we were and baby K still got her early birthday party. We will have to postpone the bouncing for another time, but at least she enjoyed the day with some family and friends.

Baby K's Birthday Prep

I've recently started telling baby K about her upcoming birthday party, just so she's not too surprised when it comes (though we probably won't mention it the day of for fear that she will be too excited to take her nap). I also told her to tell the baby not to come out until after her party. Baby K took this to heart and once in a while, would come to me and say, "baby, don't come out until after my party." Then she'd kiss and rub my tummy. So adorable! Only a few more days to go... let's hope baby listens to big sister!

Car Conversations

Baby K was in a particularly good mood today (probably attributed to the Tostitos chips she was eating when I went to pick her up). In any case, she talked practically the entire ride home. We were listening to the radio and Chris Tomlin's "Our God" came on. Baby K started singing along and said to me, "hey, that's my favorite song!"

It's kind of funny the random things that pop into kids' heads. After the song ended:
Baby K: I don't like the dinosaur.
Me: What dinosaur?
Baby K: The dinosaur at BJs.
[I don't recall seeing a dinosaur the last time we were there, but baby K might have been referring to those giant inflatable decorations they have on display for Halloween.]
Me: Remember you picked out your own birthday cake from BJs? Remember the princess? Tinkerbell?
Baby K: Yes.
Me: They're busy making your cake right now. We're going to pick it up when it's ready. Mommy and daddy are throwing you a party for your birthday.
Baby K: Oh! Thank you mommy!

I couldn't help but laugh. My little girl can be so sweet sometimes.

Transition to Pre-School

I got a call from the toddler coordinator at baby K's daycare earlier this week, informing me that they have a spot available for baby K in Peaceful Ponds, one of the preschool classes. A few hours later, AM (baby K's current teacher) calls me and the first thing she said to me was, "I heard the bad news." I was thinking, "uh oh... what now??" but then I realized she was referring to baby K's transition to preschool. She said the toddler coordinator had dropped off some paperwork for her. When she saw baby K's name on top, she immediately said to her, "I don't want it... put it in the shredder." I thought it was sweet of her to call just to let me know how much she'll miss my little girl. Baby K is very attached to AM, so I'm sure we'll be visiting her a lot in Penguin Pals even after the move to preschool.

Most of the Penguin Pal alums had graduated to Peaceful Ponds, so I was very happy to learn of the opening in that particular class. Hopefully that will aid in the transition since a lot of baby K's friends are already there. She's been visiting Peaceful Ponds a few hours a day and seems to be enjoying it so far. I'm just afraid that with the baby coming around the same time of her official transition, there might be too many changes for her all at once. I've been trying to prep her on the baby's arrival, as well as the move to preschool. Can't believe my little girl will be turning three in just a few weeks! How fast time flies!

This Past Weekend

Saturday was a busy day for us. Baby K didn't sleep well the night before and we all ended up waking up late (well, later than usual since it was 8:30am when we got out of bed... which I still consider early). We attended a Sibling Preparation Class at the hospital where I will be giving birth. Baby K got to make a birthday card for the baby, saw a brief video on how to be a good big sister, and even got to tour the maternity ward. We saw a few newborn babies that had just been born and when we were shown into one of the recovery rooms, baby K had fun pushing the buttons on the side of the bed to make it go up and down. Her favorite part was probably getting the snack at the end though. She enjoyed a huge chocolate chip cookie (which I normally would not give her) and some juice.

After that, we headed to Fuji Japanese Sushi & Seafood Buffet Restaurant in North Brunswick to celebrate MS's first birthday. Despite the restaurant being all-you-can-eat, baby K only nibbled on some string beans, then refused to eat anything else (except for the unhealthy stuff, of course). Here's our little girl looking forward to the cake:I love this picture of baby K and her daddy:
After the party, we ran a few errands before heading home. The late afternoon was actually very well spent. We ended up getting a lot accomplished to prepare for the baby's room. The crib, drawers, and shelf are all set up, the diapers and wipes put away, the first load of baby clothes washed... I just have to finish decorating and put up the new curtains.

On Sunday, we went to service at CCOB, then had dim sum with the H family. They agreed to pick baby K up from daycare in case I go into labor and can't make it there in time. They even have an extra car seat set up in their mini-van already. Thank God for great friends! Then after dim sum, we took a drive to Menlo Park mall, thinking we'd pick up a pair of ballet shoes for baby K at the Disney store to go with her Minnie Mouse costume. Of course, things never go as planned. Baby K was cranky and wouldn't try on any of the shoes, so we ended up walking away empty-handed. Looks like she'll be sporting her New Balance sneakers with the pink and white Minnie dress for Halloween instead. On the bright side, at least it saves us some money.

After the mall, we made a trip to my friend JM's home to borrow some things for the baby since I haven't had a chance to pick up the items from my sister-in-law. Baby K had such a great time playing with AM (or maybe it was because of all their toys) that she refused to leave and threw a big tantrum when we dragged her to the car. In retrospect, I probably should have given her a five-minute warning. I usually do that at other play dates, and she is always responsive to it. I'll have to remember that in the future.

Another Year Older

This year's birthday proved to be quite memorable in more ways than one. I got some great gifts this year...

• M surprised me with a nook color for my birthday a few days ago. I had mentioned wanting to get an iPad so that I can have something to entertain myself with while at the hospital, but after seeing how much it costs, I don't think I would have ever gone through with the purchase. My wonderful hubby decided to get me the nook color instead (and it was quite a surprise, considering I was thinking of getting him the kindle for his birthday next month!). I'm still trying to figure out how to maneuver the device... plus the touch pad takes a bit getting used to.
  
• Sometimes it's the gifts from the heart and nothing really tangible that mean more than anything else. Baby K showered me with tons of "I love you mommy!" and "Happy Birthday mommy!" today. She also continuously sang "Happy Birthday" to me in the car ride home this afternoon. During dinner, I must've gotten at least five voluntary hugs from her. Every few minutes, she'd go "I love you mommy!" and reach out to give me a hug. This girl totally melts my heart!
  
• And what did I get from baby K's little sibling? A day full of Braxton Hicks contractions. What a lovely birthday present from my soon-to-be-born baby. I never experienced it with baby K, so this was new to me. While I knew I wasn't in labor, it was just surprising that the contractions still hadn't gone away by mid-afternoon. I finally called my doctor a little after 3pm... turns out that the office was closed for the day, so the nurse told me to go to the hospital so that they can monitor me. I opted to wait it out. The contractions eventually went away, but not without causing much concern to M.

Over the Weekend

We spent Saturday morning putting together some of the baby's furniture (or rather, M and baby K did). We finally got the shelf and drawers assembled after purchasing them from Ikea weeks ago. Here they are, hard at work:
We went apple-picking at Battleview Orchard afterwards but were a bit disappointed... the apples didn't look too good (probably due to all the rain we had) and weren't as sweet as we expected them to be. Still, we managed to carry away 14 pounds of apples. Baby K stayed in her stroller the entire time we walked through the aisles of apple trees. It wasn't until we got done and she saw the pumpkin patches that she finally agreed to get up for a family picture.

This Pregnancy

It is true when people say that no two pregnancies are alike. It was so much easier with baby K, not only because I didn't have an active toddler to chase after, but it wasn't as physically and mentally draining. With this pregnancy, the three trimesters seem to be very well defined by various degrees of discomfort:

1. First trimester: morning sickness (except it wasn't only in the mornings). Fortunately, this went away fairly early in the pregnancy.
   
2. Second trimester: an unexplainable rash on my legs. I tried hydrocortisone, tiger balm, Sarna anti-itch lotion, Eucerin, Aveeno oatmeal bath... nothing worked to relieve the itchiness. It got so bad that my legs were bleeding from all the scratching. To this day, no one knows the cause of it. My OB/GYN claimed it was unrelated to the pregnancy and a dermatologist claimed it was an allergic reaction to poison ivy; I have my doubts about both their theories. I refused to take the steroid cream the dermatologist (who I don't believe diagnosed me properly) prescribed for fear that it may have an adverse effect on the baby. After sharing about my condition with some fellow sisters in Christ and having them pray for me, the rash miraculously got better by itself. It's amazing how ineffective modern medicine can be sometimes, and how powerful a simple prayer can be.
   
3. Third trimester: major sciatic nerve pain. This probably started months ago, but it wasn't as bad as it is now. The pain tends to come and go, but more recently, it's been coming (and staying) more than it's been going. It's a sharp pain that shoots all the way down my right leg, causing me to buckle if I happen to be walking. I've read online that going to see a chiropractor or physical therapist helps... I am now contemplating if I should go to one myself or just live with the pain for the next month or so.

Fall Birthdays

As much as I enjoy the warm weather (and summer Fridays at work, which unfortunately ended after Labor Day), I am thankful that fall is finally here this year. One and a half more months until baby's due date! Until then, our weekends are jam-packed with birthday parties. Last Saturday, we attended a birthday party at the Build-A-Bear Workshop in Menlo Park mall. It was in the middle of the afternoon, so baby K missed her nap and started acting up (I had to drag her out of the store and threaten to take her home), but we got her to calm down and she had fun making her bear, which she named Teddy Bear (yes, very original). It was nice of the store party planners to get all the kids together at the end for a group picture. Baby K stood next to the birthday girl in the pink tutu:Yesterday, we attended a Thomas-themed birthday party. We weren't as successful getting all the kids together in one picture, but here was our best attempt during the candle-blowing:

We were surprisingly able to take a family picture together with baby K sporting some sunglasses she got as part of the party favor:

There might be a bit of a breather next Saturday from all the festivities, but the following three weekends after that, it's birthday party after birthday party after birthday party. I can just imagine this being the start of our lives for the next few years... and I don't suppose it gets any easier once baby K starts school.