Baby Names

People are beginning to ask if we have thought about baby names.  I don’t really think that we have in any serious fashion.  On babycenter (which I am convinced is some forum for unwed teen mothers who believe in the lower case and emoticons) some people have named their kids months and months before they are due.  Is it me or is that weird?  I am a bit more of the mind of culling a short list, seeing what the kid looks like, and choosing from the list.  Sage advice from Matt’s cousin Tracie was to decide a name and then TELL NO ONE.  I am on board with this, as I do not need the peanut gallery (though I love you, peanut gallery) to be blasting my already low confidence in being a mother and choosing an appropriate name.  Speaking of which, I suppose you cannot get any less appropriate than… HO.  I mean seriously.  Who names their child that?  I have tried to explain the whole ‘it means a prostitute’ thing to my parents off and on for years and frankly, they just don’t care.  I get it, my granddad named me and he was HA, but come ON, that would be like naming your daughter ‘Chicken’ in Cantonese.  If growing up with HO as my name in the not hyper-educated South is some sort of rite of passage, I think I have already lived my life ten times over. 

So, back to the names.  I have been looking on the internet for popular baby names and nothing has really stuck.  I looked for some Korean names and none of those stuck either (plus, as yet another aside, none of our friends HAD Korean names except Min and I.  Everyone else Anglicized at some point, to a Julie, or Esther, or Catherine or what not).  Matt is looking for names a less conventional way – through the closing credits of TV shows and movies.  The whole process is interesting to me – I find it far easier to discount names based on the flaky and wenchy people that have gone into and out of my life.  So I have a list of names that I will NOT name Kumquat and also serves as a lifelong history of people who have wronged me since age 6!  Not that I am keeping score, exactly.

Despite all of the convoluted process we have a few names in reserve, but of course we won’t say. 

I really am that short...

...But this NY Times article is expected but depressing about how South Korean parents will go to great 'lengths' to make their kids taller.  Do I worry about Kumquat being short?  Sure I do but I would never resort to these measures.  This is one for raising Kumquat in Wisconsin - man everyone is tall there!

Christmas giveaways

Ordinarily I am quite lazy about giving things away at Christmas.  I do, but generally do not care much for the presentation.  This year I did an experiment and this is what came out of it.

First, a trip to Daiso, fighting off the unbelievable crowds at Vivo City. 

Then, granola was made.  This is from the recipe from Baked.

Finally, labels were printed.  Inspiration struck from, of all places, HP.  The only bummer is that I couldn't figure out a way to change the font to something more decorative.

I just bought an X-Acto knife, a cutting mat, and a steel ruler this weekend.  How did I live so long without these?!

Here is the result - not bad, eh?

The text says "Delicious Homemade Granola From The Drakes"

Yummers...

Update on the sugar journey

So I have determined this is a terrible week to purge the sugar.  The week of Christmas!  Who am I fooling really? 

I wrote about my Monday - excruciating but I made it through.  And my insides thanked me for it the next day.

Since then it has been a downward spiral into the sugar hole.  Tuesday night I had a work dinner (can you say hotel buffet?).  I make it a point not to miss any desserts from a hotel buffet.  Ever.

Since then it has been a festival of sugar.  Chocolates!  Banana bread!  I am the catcher in the baseball game of sweet Christmas and needless to say, I have a pretty well worn glove.

Tonight we are going to Penang for a babymoon.  I will try not to offend in my 2 piece bathing suit but I cannot make any promises. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Funny article

This article could have been written by me.  Last week I declined drinks to go to a sewing class!  It was fun, I made a quilted pillowcase.  Sewing in a straight line was and will be difficult I can tell.  It seems if I do it a while, I am using new arm muscles (or am getting a new generation of carpal tunnel syndrome).

I like it, but it sure is harder than it looks!

I seek your guidance, dear cousin Jeny!

Sugar buster

So today is the first day of trying to curtail my sugar.

And it sucks.

I am trying to limit myself to once a week but I surely chose the wrong week to (a) go to the doctor and (b) try to limit my sugar.

I love sweets. I would take a dessert over a savory entrée any day.

So my strategy is this – no processed sugar during the week. Fruit is ok (fresh or dried).

Once a week is a cheat day – where I will suffer the (ahem) consequences. This week that day falls on Christmas!

I know that I can do this. I have gotten over my caffeine addiction.

It will not be easy. Obtaining new habits is seldom a very linear process for me. Plus whining and complaining is a must in this catharsis.

I was on bbc.com and on the bottom right the website referenced cookies (of the internet kind) and my eyes were drawn to them… cookies!

On a total side note – I have decided not to name the kumquat Brittany. Or Britney.

Dec 17 Doctor visit

So we went to the doctor.  I didn't realize that they were not going to print ultrasound photos so I have no evidence of going.  Kumquat is cute - a larger version of her alien self.  She weighs in at 583g.  Again her kidneys still look like a face and her face looks like Skeletor.  The cutest thing was when we saw her feet - which were parallel, stamped on the ultrasound screen.  So darn cute.
The doc told me to lay off the sweets and that I have been gaining weight too fast (I tried to explain over the last month I celebrated American Thanksgiving, and it only comes once a year, but I don't think he was having any of that).  He is very nice and matter-of-fact in his manner.  I suspect if he has to repeat himself on sage advice I didn't follow the previous month he won't be as nice.  He said I can jog which I will start once it stops raining so hideously in the mornings. 

I think the belly ring is off for the rest of the pregnancy.  It is a no-win situation - I look weird with it and without it.

Congratulations to Baby Bowers!

Here is a shout out to Tracie, Kenny, and their new son Brooks Gordon born on Dec 14.  Brooks weighed in at 7lb 13 oz and everyone is fine I hear. 

Much excitement in the Drake family!  :)

Wendy's

Today a Wendy's opened near my work place.  And I waited 50 minutes to get a baked potato and a Frosty (seriously I would NEVER do that in America).  Aside from the snooty expat kid dressed like Wendy who couldn't manage a line to save her life, it was good.  The Frosty was particularly good - same as America and $1.30 SGD (about a dollar US - yes this is a good deal).  I was slightly irritated at the folks ordering 7 meals at one go but I love the camaraderie a new opening can bring.  I was there the day Krispy Kreme opened on Aug 8, 2006 in Hong Kong (and proceeded to eat 8 donuts that DAY - yikes!).  God I love American food!

Baby showers and am I really that short?

Tracie and I - shortly after this photo was taken my belly exploded.

The proud parents to be.  This is the most Christmas-ey background we will likely experience in 2009.

The future parents and delightful aunties.

A really nice baby shower table.  I am trying to hide my Christmas socks underneath.

Us and Grandma Darke.  She crochets like nobody's business and made Kumquat this awesome blanket.

Video baby monitors.  Yay!

Happy Parents, Aunts, and Grandparents.

Week 22 thoughts

So the pregnancy is swimming along.  My belly is getting bigger.  Yesterday I felt the overdrape of my belly over the top of my nether regions as I was sitting at my desk and I didn’t really care for it.  Aside from some first trimester drama, things have been decidedly boring.  I have not even had morning sickness!  (I know, I know, woe-is-me right?  Yes, but I certainly couldn’t relate to girls who didn’t ‘gain a pound’ in their first trimester due to this).  A few weeks back (at week 17) I felt the baby kick (during a rather boring work meeting – perhaps I was releasing some irritating/irritated hormones then?).  I thought this was the start of the normal kicking cycle, where you can see the profile of a baby foot across your distended belly, while simultaneously being awestruck/ annoyed that your sleeping patterns will never again be the same.  Needless to say, there has been no consistent kicking since.  I am at week 22, and much of the day I forget about being pregnant, except for once in a while where I feel is, for lack of a better description, a light bout of abdominal indigestion.  I am trying to sleep on my side (not very successfully).  I am beginning to ‘show’ but only to those who bother to pay attention.  Now that I own proper maternity clothes (a shout out to Kathy for buying me some – for some reason this clothing aspect of the pregnancy I have difficulty reconciling) I realize that maternity clothes accentuate, rather than obscure, the bumpage. 

Nov 19 Ultrasound pictures

This was one of the most involved ultrasounds done.  I even had to take my belly ring off  (the long term future of this is still up in the air).  The ergonomics were not ideal as I had to stay down and didn't always get to see the screen properly.  Everything still looked a tad alien and I really couldn't discern the hands or the lips/nose very well (though she is very 'Fight the Power' with her left hand - sassy even in the womb!).  Matt seemed to follow along a bit better about which bit was what but I still don't know if he was bluffing.  The kidney photo looks like a face more than the actual face does!

I am disappointed Kumquat does not fit in one frame of the screen anymore.  

This town needs an edema

I am a recent graduate into flat shoes.  These I do not generally like for a variety of reasons, most importantly, a reminder of how short I am.  But flats seem sensible while pregnant, so I have invested in two nearly identical pairs of black flats with decorative cord tie bows that don't highlight my bunions too flagrantly.  Sigh.  My saving grace is that I can wear them with casual clothes while not worrying about the (recently) sad state of my pedicures.

Yesterday morning while in the shower (and suffering perhaps the worst jet lag on earth) I noticed that I was puffy in the ankles.  Blah.  I searched on babycenter.com (stay focused, Ho, focused) and found that this condition is called edema and it generally inflicts its ugly head (or feet!) much later in pregnancy.  So I guess I am an edema overachiever.  This was a start of a day that involved work and some minor begging of my doctor to allow a minor dose of sleeping medication (which he said no).  Thankfully I slept 10 hours last night and feel almost human again.  And my ankles are back to normal.  Yay!