準備寶寶的來臨 Preparation for the baby's arrival (21 weeks 4 days)

最近開始跟aaron忙者整理家裡 出清一些不常用的東西放到倉庫去 不知不覺竟然整理出超過二十箱的書 兩張大書桌抽掉一張 腳踏車也請出家裡了 家裡竟然還是覺得滿滿的 看來真的要好好掃描過所有資料 不用的 或是用不到的 可以回收或是捐出去了

兩個房間 討論了很多次 跟劃了很多草圖 Ikea跑了幾次看樣式與尺寸 公公婆婆那套大而不實用的實木床具組也整理出來 準備捐出去 不過太重了 我不能搬 aaron搬不動 看看到時候有沒有辦法找人幫忙搬到樓下讓Goodwell載走

可能看到最近肚子大的很快 開始擔心到時候自己的行動力更差 所以開始急者佈置家裡 準備家裡未來有訪客的需求與物色寶寶需要的明細單
看看將來如何一間房間讓爹娘來的時候可以待的舒適
另一間要怎麼擺 才能放下一張書桌 寶寶床 我們的床 跟一些寶寶用品
也開始盤算者未來的生活安排與育嬰預算 看樣子 要養一個寶寶真是不容易

另外 也開始注意我們這個區有沒有價格合理 乾淨的三房公寓或房子出租 也許在寶寶來臨之前 我們應該要準備搬家了

寶寶的用品種類超多 能登記的網站與價格也很多 看東看西 我決定選Amazon 種類多 合作的公司很多 不用另外登記不同的網站 價格合理 加上可以看到很多父母使用過後的經驗交流 對於沒有經驗的我們來說 更可以安心吧

寶寶的東西 因為新生兒長的很快 有的東西舊的就很好了 像是寶寶的衣服之類的 雖然還不太確定怎麼去蒐集 但是希望到時候可以跟親友收集一些二手純棉的 簡單樣式 上面沒有寶寶會咬的鈕扣或是會扯到的緞帶就好了 加上有人建議說 很多人都會選衣服當禮物 所以登記的時候 就不要選衣服了


至於安全性很重要的東西 儘管網路上有很多二手的可以選擇 我想 我還是會買新的吧 像是娃娃床 手推車 娃娃車椅 美國對於這部分都有詳細的法規來確定安全性 像是消費者報告的網站www.consumerreport.org 裡面對於娃娃睡床的高度 柵欄中間的間距 使用的材質以及檢查是否會鬆脫及脫漆部分都有推薦 她們不建議使用製造於2000年的床 因為使用久的二手床 可能有年紀較大的寶寶在上面跳躍之類的 堅固性可能會比較差 最好找上面有JPMA 協會認證標籤的比較保險

手推車的部分 我聽了很多不同的意見 aaron是想說輕一點的就好 大約三到五公斤的那種 方便上下車 但是也有朋友說 要買稍微大一點的 像是travel system's stroller....大概會十公斤左右吧 寶寶比較不會搖晃震動的太利害 最重的有到約二十公斤 真不知道到時候要用什麼力氣把手推車搬上車廂

新生兒專用的手推車倒是不需要了 因為用的機會不常也不久 寶寶大半是抱在懷裡吧 可能需要一個baby carrier 手推車還是選擇嬰兒到幼兒都可以使用的比較好 因為很多新型的都可以把新生兒的車椅直接放在手推車上面 總之 這部分 我還在物色中

至於嬰兒尿布部分 我想 我們應該會選擇布尿布吧 一方面透氣 對寶寶皮膚好 一方面可以減少很多無法分解的垃圾 降低污染 此外 也可以省不少錢 用過的尿布可以留者給第二個寶寶用 或者是拿來洗車 擦車也不錯 現在的布尿布設計很多種 到時候應該可以勝任的來每兩天洗尿布的生活吧......

至於要不要做月子中心送餐 產假要休多久 要找保母還是baby day care 醫院要選哪一家 產前課程要去哪裡上 又是另一回事了 陸陸續續在看囉 有機會再跟你們分享

總之感覺事情好多 要學的也很多 但是也很興奮 產程過了一半 小哈哈還是很健康 也越來越會在媽媽肚子裡開party了 希望接下來的產程也都順順利利

Aaron and I started to clean up the house and hoping to make more space for our coming baby..Before we realized, we put away over 20 boxes of books, Christmas decoration, bicycle, one of two big desks...However, for some reason, our apartment still feels quite full. It looks like we need to be serious about dumping or donate some books.

We have been discussed and made many blueprints about how we like our home to be in the future. Also check online and visited Ikea...we need to make our two bedrooms functional for my parents' stay, and also a room for our desk, bed, and little-Ha's crib stuff. I think I will give away my parents-in-law's bed set..they are just too big for a small room. We even have a hard time to figure out where to get workers to move those heavy furnitures downstairs..

I am also debating if we need to move to a 3 bedroom condo/house instead of staying in our current 2 bedroom apartment. If I can find something reasonable on the market..maybe we will go for that.

Also, with the growing belly..I am worry I will be too big to function much in setting up the house appropriately..So I start to do more home works about baby items. After compared so many baby registry online, I decided to chose www.Amazon.com for my registry. It seems like they have the most variety, reasonable price, and further more, I can see a lot of reviews from other parents in each product. I think it would be very helpful for us since we are the first time parents who just need to figure out almost about everything related to the baby.


Since baby grow so fast, I think it's okay to get some used items for the baby..such as baby clothe.

But for some items with great safety concern in mind, I think I'd rather buy the new ones..such as the crib, stroller and car seat. For the stroller, Aaron is thinking to go for the light-weighted type..but some friends suggested to go for the bigger type..such as the travel system stroller because they are more stable for the baby..I don't know, I am still searing around and trying to learn more about which type would fit our life better.

As for diaper..Aaron and I both agree that we will go for the clothe diaper..It's comfortable for the baby and cause less trash and pollution to the earth, save more money and can be used for our second baby in the future...it just doesn't seem have any reason we don't use the clothe diaper as our choice...I think I can probably handle the once per two days laundry load as well.

As for..how long I will take my maternity off, which hospital to give birth, where to take the pre-maternity class..should I chose nanny or baby day care..and how to deal with the one month special food for the mom after birth...I am still trying to figure all of them out.

Over all, I am so glad that we are 22 weeks now and our little precious love is growing healthily in me. The little baby starts to kick more and often have big party every now and then. I hope we will able to have a full-term healthy pregnancy with a wonderful mini-Aaron to the world.

Making room for baby

Today we decided that we need to make some room in the apartment; so we sent all of the books we hardly use, the holiday decorations, the winter clothes and non-maternity type, and so our home how has a bit more room for little baby! There is a lot more in there than is shown.

Preparing for the big ultrasound

Here is Andrea, just before the ultrasound. We were so excited at this moment! It has been a month since the last time we saw our little baby. We wonder, what has changed these last 4 weeks, 25% of our baby's entire existence! He/she sure is active; waking us up every morning at precisely 5am, he/she really is an early riser. Andrea can feel him kicking a lot! Hmmmm, are we in trouble after he/she is born? Will this baby always have nonstop energy?

Our May Ultrasound

Today (5/31) we had our 20th week ultrasound. It was a disappointing visit to the doctor. We waited 2 hours for this 2 minute visit; found out nothing. The ultrasound is so unclear! We had better ultrasounds at 4 weeks than we're getting at 20 weeks. Well, June 13th we will have a higher resolution ultrasound; perhaps that will be our chance to see the baby more clearly.

Today (5/31) we had the 20th week ultrasound. We were optimistically hoping to know the gender today, but, still we live in mystery. You can see the spine and the heart here, but not much else is clear. On June 13th we will have a more detailed ultrsound where the doctor will actually measure the baby's size. We waited 2 hours for this 3 minute exam. What you see here is 100% of the time we had with the doctor. The file is 161 MB, so may take a while to open.

First Baby Bump (12 wks)

The pictures are getting a little out of order here (this is 12 weeks along) going back to the end of April here, but I think it is an interesting shot. In most clothes she didn't look pregnant yet, but in the right maternity clothes it was starting to be apparent...we were getting worried if U.S. customs might question us when we return!

Memorial Day Party

We hosted a memorial day picnic BBQ at a local park. We invited all of Andrea's coworkers and ended up with 12 hungry mouths to feed; but everyone contributed a dish so we had a huge variety. It turned out to be very cold (60 degrees) but was still a very pleasant 6 hour meal! The group also sang Happy Birthday to me, here is the cake to prove it.

胎動 (18 wk 5 day)

慢慢開始 覺得肚子裡有一些動靜了
剛開始以為只是腸胃蠕動 但是可以感覺是胃前面的那一圈肉在動~~~像是一條魚在裡面快樂的翻滾 宰相肚理能撐船~~ 想不到我肚子裡可以游泳~~

我想 這就是傳說中的胎動了 照理 應該充滿母愛光輝的享受這一份感受寶寶活動的喜悅 但是
事實上 我腦中卻出現了異型在肚子裡突然活動 變大 然後破肚而出 黏黏醜醜的樣子~~喔!!!!!!我真是個壞媽媽 看樣子 我得努力培養自己的母愛氣質了 不然 會生出跟我一樣充滿怪念頭的怪小孩


很愛睡 也很努力的讓自己多走路 想說 運動可以幫助順產~ 希望自己能像一些運氣超好的孕婦 唉唉叫二十分鐘就如2003年的電影 "big fish"一樣 孩子飛快遛出 以超快速度衝過醫生的手 滑出產房 在大家的驚嘆聲中 笑呵呵的來到這世間

昨晚aaron半夜兩點就起床 準備獨自開車去北加州看他奶奶 結果我們的小寶貝也很興奮的從兩點開始吵到早上四點半 在肚子裡面鬧者"我也要去玩!!!!" 結果我就上半部很想睡 中間部分很清醒的掙扎許久才沉沉入睡 老娘明天還要帶你去賺奶粉錢咧 乖乖的在裡面長大 等出來了再去玩~~

以前天天上班十二小時 還精神奕奕 現在睡了十二小時竟然還睡不飽 八小時的班 下午三點就開始盯者時鐘 希望下班時間早早來到 真不了解為什麼有一些天賦異稟的媽媽可以每天健走兩小時 還可以騎馬 我卻已經開始了食物不小心沾到肚子的爉塌生涯 真是不習慣多出的這一塊~~看樣子 很快就可以練習餐盤放在肚子上的特技了

雖然還不知道性別 其實也還不知道自己希望哪個性別 一邊想者女生很好 很貼心 一方面也想 喔 男生很好動 以後追者跑一定很好玩 一邊很期待 一邊也不知道自己是否有準備好當父母的能力 既沒耐心也沒財力 希望自己不會成為紅眼追者打小孩的壞媽媽(:-P我想aaron絕對沒有這種可能性 我只能寄望他能成功的阻擋我失去理智) 希望自己能像Big Fish裡面的父母一樣 不管日子怎麼過 永遠都能夠讓孩子充滿創意 相信奇蹟 及對這世界充滿信任與好奇


恩 怪念頭想太多了 應該專心多看點書 準備寶寶的到來

Andrea 5.21.08

Rolling Over Before Birth

Our baby was 14 weeks old and we took the ultrasound during our Taiwan trip. He/She was 14 wks, 7.8 cm long and heartbeat 147 per minutes. The doctor told us everything is normal and it's an active baby :-) Yeah...
This is one of the clearest videos we have of our baby, and he/she happens to be moving here. I can just imagine, he/she has an itch, a roll and a scratch and its all better!

Sitting on our egg and preparing our nest

We are putting some effort into building our nest. Here Andrea sits in her nest, directing Aaron to rearrange the furniture in our natural habitat...our apartment. Andrea started to feel a little back pain this week, and so now likes to sit on pillows, or blankets folded into a nest-shape. We are considering how to modify our home to be more comfortable for our baby, and coincidentally making it more nest-like.

Remembering what was

Today I was thinking what Andrea was like in the days before our little baby existed. This picture is from Christmas 2007, and shows how different Andrea looked just a few months ago. She eats less now than back then (especially less vegetables!), but somehow looks like she eats more. Although we've passed the 18 week milestone, she still has an incredible sense of smell, and is quite picky about only eating certain things. It seems our baby is not a big fan of garlic or dark green vegetables. Well, perhaps it is an acquired taste, and maybe we can one day convince him/her to not be so picky!

Little Baby Starts to Make His/Her Presence Known

We are now 18 weeks into the pregnancy, and their is no doubt that our little baby is growing fast. Although we could see big changes starting around 12 weeks, it seems like he/she is doubling in size every 2 weeks or so. At this point, no normal clothes fit, and walking pose has changed to a wider stance, with shorter gait. Andrea can feel the baby rolling around inside, every now and then waking her up at night. This is such an exciting time.