Floors Made of Memory Foam?

My little nephew BabyDavey (that's how we say his name, which ends up sounding like 'Beh-beh-dev-eh' when said quickly) is about a year and a half and recently had a fall in the bathtub, resulting in a nasty cut near his eye that required seven stitches to close. Poor kid!

He is pretty active and adventurous, so it's almost expected that he will get into some sort of mischief. More often than not when I see pictures of him, he has an occasional bump or bruise, causing him to look like he boxed a few rounds with Mike Tyson. Yet through it all, he remains smiley and happy, oblivious to the dangers around him.

Chez Delen is a pretty small place, but I'm sure there are still lots of hidden baby dangers lurking - I just don't know where they are, because we don't have a baby trying to be like Evel Knieval and hurl themselves into the glass dining room table at full speed.



As a precautionary measure, I think a good start would be to replace the hardwood floors with memory foam and go from there. The added bonus is that we could fall asleep on the floor in any room, at any time.

The Bump

I recently went out of town on business. When I got back and saw Helen, I noticed that her tummy definitely had a bump to it not previously seen before. And I'm quite sure the roundness of her belly was not from a double cheeseburger and fries (though mine might be.)

It got me thinking about how quickly things have been happening in this process called pregnancy and how before we know it, Norbit will be here. How exciting / scary / insert your own word here. I wonder if I should be taking weekly photos of Helen's belly, to monitor the progress. I wonder if she'd let me.

Boy Oh Boy? An Unscientific Study

Our couple friends who are pregnant (due in November) just discovered the sex of their child - it's going to be a boy. Congrats!

In a few weeks Helen and I will be finding out if Norbit is male or female. As mentioned in a previous post, Helen is hoping for a girl. But recently she's been thinking that our little dude will be just that - a dude. There are a few reasons why she believes this. First, she consulted some website that breaks down certain criteria and predicts the sex of the baby. Then, she spoke to a friend who had a boy, they compared their dietary habits while pregnant, and found that both craved fruits and vegetables. This mom also said when she was pregnant a girl, she wanted burgers, which Helen has been avoiding. Finally, another friend who originally said she thought Helen was having a girl, recently changed her mind and said she now now thinks Helen is having a boy. Hardly scientific evidence, but I think these three things, all happening in a short amount of time, have gotten Helen at least prepared for the possibility Norbit will be a 'he.'

What are some of the funny ways you've heard of people predicting a baby's gender?

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there - mine, Qi Yu, Hao, Grandpa, and all of our paternal friends and family, too. I hope that one day I can be as cool a dad as you all, especially my father, the Asian Clark W. Griswold. Thanks for taking us on all those family trips in the station wagon, Pa!

The Baby Travel Dilemma

Travelers who board planes that have a crying baby on them usually feel one of two ways - sympathetic for the parents (and baby), or annoyed that they have to listen to a screaming kid the entire flight.

As someone who does not have a baby but will soon, I can see both sides. I understand why some might feel a baby should be at left home until they are old enough travel without incident, but also understand that some parents either can't or don't want to leave their kid at home with the grandparents when they go on a trip.

Without any research or evidence other than the anecdotal kind, it is my belief that exposing a baby to travel early will help them become better travelers when they get older. Sort of the 'improving by doing' theory.

Helen and I talk about how we don't want to stop taking fun trips once Norbit arrives, both for our sake and his / hers. We plan to continue traveling to exotic locations so I can keep drinking virgin pina coladas, only with a baby in tow. Of course, that may change if we become 'those parents' and get dirty looks from other passengers for bringing a screaming baby on a long flight.



*This is where my 'Air Baby' idea comes into play - start up an airline, or just have certain flights on existing airlines, that are exclusively for parents and babies. It could be like 'Crybaby Tuesdays' at the movie theatre, where they show films especially for parents and their babies, and everyone who goes understands there may be crying and diaper changes during the film. Brilliant!

Happy Anniversary

In addition to the great news about Norbit, Helen and I also had another reason to celebrate recently - our one year wedding anniversary!

Hard to believe that time has gone by so quickly (a recently recurring theme in my life, based on my last couple of writings.) Talking to friends who attended our wedding, we all agree that it feels like it was just yesterday we were sunburning to a crisp, swearing in front of children and ruining our iphones by leaving them in our pockets when we went into the ocean. Oh wait, that was just Stephen and Michael doing those things...

What I remember vividly from that day was just how perfect everything was. From the weather, to the venue, to having our family and friends there, to the ceremony/food/reception. We really couldn't have asked for a better day. Objectively speaking, it was one of the better weddings I've ever been to.

I wonder if it's because we're pregnant, or because we're getting older that time seems to go by so fast. Whatever it is, today (yesterday, actually) is a day that I hope goes by slowly, so we can reminisce about our happy day one year ago.

Week 14, a.k.a. - I Think I'll Miss You Most of All, Madden

Time sure flies. We are already at week 14 of the pregnancy, and the baby is growing nails on its fingers and toes, growing hair and even sucking its thumb! According to the websites I read, our little peanut is now 4 inches long and weighs 1.5 ounces. In a few more weeks we'll be able to tell the sex of the baby. Very exciting stuff.

While I'm obviously excited about our new addition, there is a selfish part of me that is scared of what may get subtracted from my life - namely watching sports and playing video games. Actually, that's not entirely true, I'm not that selfish: this post is just an excuse to make you watch a couple of cool You Tube clips I found. Go Celtics! :)

Dopplegangers - Sort of

DISCLAIMER: As I mentioned before, there will be times this blog has nothing to do with the pregnancy. This is one of those times.

On a recent episode of the TV show 'How I Met Your Mother,' the focus was on 'dopplegangers,' or strangers who looked alot like the main characters of the show. It got me wondering about people who I might look like, or who looked like me. I couldn't think of anyone famous (lack of high profile Asian American men in mainstream society, but that's a blog topic for another time), so I expanded that idea to people who are around my same age and grew up near me or went to my same high school, or whatever. I have thought to myself 'I could've been that person had things turned out a little differently,' even if it's totally not true. Here are my 'coulda been that guy' close calls, and my reasons why:



Ben and Matt: they grew up in a town close to mine; they are approximately the same age as me; I also once won an award, dressed up in a tux and took my mom as my date, like those guys did for the Oscars; they may have attended my high school prom.



NKOTB: Joey lived a mile away from both my parents and sister; some members of the band are approximately same age as me; I also know how to do the 'The Right Stuff' dance.



Conan O'Brien: Went to the same high school; he worked at both SNL and The Simpsons, I like SNL and The Simpsons.

After reading this, it sounds more like a 'Six Degrees of Separation' list than a 'I could've lived their life' list. My reality (and my doppleganger) is probably closer to this:

Are You Ready For the Summer?

Remember this movie? It was on TV all the time when I was growing up. There was a scene where the teen camp counselors in training wanted to try and steal air conditioning for their cabin but ended up blowing a fuse and blacking out the entire camp. Good times. Anyway....

We're a couple of weeks away from the official start of summer, but already Helen and I have been making preps to try and keep her cool as the temps rise and the baby grows.

To that end, we bought a portable a/c for the bedroom. It's one that sits on the ground and has a hose that goes to the window to let out hot air. I think they're pretty popular around here, even though normally there are only a few days out of the year that we'll really need it. Of course, being pregnant changes that and I imagine we'll be using it quite a bit this summer.

Many of our friends have told us it's actually better that Norbit is due in the winter, because once Helen is close to delivering, it'll be cooler. They say they feel bad for moms who give birth during the summer months because it can get pretty uncomfortable. In addition to being a nice holiday gift, Norbit is also helping Helen out.

Musical Youth

We were excited about seeing one of the greatest bands of our generation, U2, perform in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately lead singer Bono had to have back surgery, postponing the tour until next year.

It got me thinking about my first concert, which was either Jeffrey Osborne with opening act Whitney Houston, or Heart (thanks for taking us, mom!)



This also got me thinking about what kind of first concert Helen or I will be taking Norbit to. No matter what it is, we'll be too old to understand the appeal of the performer of the moment. I know this because I now think the music that 'cool' radio stations play is loud, obnoxious or just plain terrible.



These days I find myself listening to 'easy listening' stations on the radio and am surprised when they call songs from the 1980s 'classic rock.' When did I become old?

Say 'Cheese!'

Helen went to the doctor's office today, thinking it would be a routine visit, getting blood drawn, etc. So it was a nice surprise when she was given this photo and saw how much Norbit has grown.

According to what we've read, the baby is now about the size of a lime. Helen says the heartbeat was measured at 159 beats per minute and that our kid was moving around a lot. His / her head is bigger than the rest of the body and Helen says she clearly saw fingers and toes. Quite a difference from the first ultrasound photo, (which you can see in a previous post) where Norbit looked more like a little alien than a human baby.

At this point I've been told most of the development of the fetus is done (fingers, toes, nose, eyes) and that from here on out the baby will just continue to grow bigger. I'm trying to remain even keeled about everything since I know we still have a long way to go, but I have to admit it made us pretty happy to see Norbit's development. As Ice Cube once sang, 'Today was a good day.' :)

A Third of the Way There...

When it comes to the pregnancy, it's easy for me to utter the old saying 'it's a marathon, not a sprint' since I'm not the one who has to deal directly with the pain, nausea and mood swings that come along with getting knocked up.

This is the beginning of Helen's 12th week, meaning that she's almost done with her first trimester. That's good news since we've read that the second tri tends to be a little smoother than the first. So far though, things really haven't been that bad (again, easy for me to say.)

If one is superstitious, three months is about the time when it's ok to tell the rest of the world about the baby. But by now, it feels like quasi-old news to us, so I wonder if / when we tell others who don't know whether we'll have the same sense of excitement as when we first found out, sort of like Russell in the movie 'Up' ("But it's a TALKING DOG!") or if we'll be like, 'meh.'