South St. Burger company

I'm part of this group called bzzagents. Periodically, they will send me samples and coupons to try out and then tell my friends about it. A few months ago, they sent me a $10 voucher and a bunch of buy one get one coupons for the South St Burger Company. Jeremy and I had tried it in the past and we didn't think it was that great so I was a bit hesitant on whether we would try it out again even with the coupons. Anyway, Jeremy went yesterday and he gave me a pretty good review of his burger, poutine made with NY fries, and milk shake. He said that it was better than the jetsun's burger that we had last week and one of the best high-end burgers he ever had. Granted, he had a $10 off coupon so if value = quality/price, he felt it was good value since he only paid $4 for his meal. Would he pay full price for heart-attack food? Time will tell.

We're gonna find out

Everyone always asks if we're going to find out the gender. With my son, there was a lot of pressure for him to be a boy so we had to find out in case he wasn't going to be a boy. Thankfully, he was a boy and the inlaws were happy. This time around, we are going to find out because based on our track record (of one), we are not very good with coming up with names. We were still trying to come up with names the day I went into labour. Finding out the gender will require us to only come up with one set of names.

Naming is complicated to begin with but I think I complexify it even more because I want an English middle name that sounds like the Chinese name. The reason is because I have a hyphenated Chinese middle name but for whatever reason, on official documents, it is sometimes hyphenated, sometimes one word, sometimes two words. On top of that, non-Chinese people can't pronounce my middle name (Yuk-Pui) properly. I don't want my children going through that their whole lives, hence the need for an English middle name.

This forces us to choose a Chinese name first, then figure out an English name that sounds like the Chinese name which also has to go well with the last name. Lastly, choose a first name that goes well with both the middle and last names.

Right now, we don't have any of the three names picked out, we are not even close. My next ultrasound is on May 28 so we're hoping to find out the gender then and have almost 5 months to work this all out.

Something borrowed...

With our son, we had friends who lent us all their baby gear. It worked out great because by the time we were done with the gear, they needed it back for their 2nd child. Here's a list of what we borrowed:
- bucket carseat
- bouncy chair
- exersaucer
- playmat
- bumbo chair
- infant bath tub
- baby bjorn
- hip hammock

other items that were donated to us:
- crib and mattress
- baby swing
- bassinet
- toys
- variety of clothes

thanks to all my friends with baby gear! Looking forward to borrowing all this stuff again!

Burgers

Friends of ours wanted to have burgers for dinner tonight so we went to this new retro-looking burger joint called Jetsun's Juicy Burgers. I had a burger, onion rings, and a diet coke. It was a pretty good burger, kind of like a Lick's burger but afterward, I felt like I just ate a big grease ball. I think we are getting too old to eat food like this. I need to detox now.

Pastor's wives conference

Being a pastor's wife does not define me. People are often surprised when they find out either because I don't fit the stereotype or because it's just so uncommon nowadays to meet a pastor's wife. Nonetheless, I've signed up for a pastor's wives conference for next weekend. I have no idea what to expect other than it's going to be a weekend away from my husband and son. It sounds bad but I'm really looking forward to having the whole weekend to myself, to recharge, without having to take care of someone else, and to be taken care of (no cooking, cleaning, and laundry!) for a change. It's ironic that I have to go to a pastor's wives conference to take a break from being a mom and (pastor's) wife.

Emotions at tonight's dinner table

fatigue
hunger
stress
frustration
anger
sadness
powerlessness
loneliness
exhaustion

You know you are pregnant when...

...You make (and eat) 2 packages of instant noodles for breakfast because your stomach was growling all night from thinking about how good MSG tastes
...you inhale 3/4 of a big bag of Lay's potato chips in 10 minutes
...you ask your husband to buy you pretzels because you crave them but then when he brings them home, you don't want them anymore
...you are blogging at 2am because you were sleeping from 7:30pm to midnight and you are now wide awake

Singing

My son loves to sing. He is really good at learning new songs (although I really have no one else to compare him to). As I'm typing this, he is in his crib for naptime but instead of falling asleep, he has been singing a new song that he must have learned from church today because I don't think my husband or I have ever sang it to him.

"Praise him praise him, all you little children, God is love, God is love!"

Fever

Our son had a fever last night of 103-104F, the highest he's ever had. When we went to bed, there was nothing to indicate that he was going to have a fever. He just had a bit of a runny nose which is normal given that he goes to daycare. Fortunately, my husband decided that he wanted our son to sleep with us which is how I realized, in the middle of the night, that he had developed a fever. I wonder what would have happened if our son slept in his crib last night? Would he have slept through the night with a fever? Would he have started crying, long enough to cause us to check up on him? Sometimes the little decisions we make in life can have such a big impact. Thank God that my husband allowed our son to sleep with us last night.

The first trimester

I had been tracking my periods and I knew it was due Feb 8. I anxiously waited until Feb 10 to test and got a Positive! However, it was an expired test (leftover from 3 years ago when we got pregnant with our first) so there was a chance that it was a false positive. Too cheap to buy a new test, we saw the doctor to confirm on Feb 18. We told our families and Malisa over CNY (Feb 14).

Here's a record of my first trimester:

Have been very tired and fell asleep at 8pm on Feb 22. Feel a bit of nausea but can't and don't want to throw up. Although it will probably make me feel better. Want to enjoy this pregnancy which sounds crazy given all the symptoms I'm getting. Already started having insomnia which is why I'm blogging at 3am on Feb 23.

Made appt with prenatal doctor for first ultrasound on Apr 5th. Doctor is close to home for convenience.

Started wearing maternity pants at 6 weeks. I am not getting big yet, I am just getting fat.

I bought 3 new pairs of maternity pants and 1 new maternity top on Mar 8th because there was a sale at Thyme: Buy 4 and get $50 off. I am totally starting to show.

I finally kind of threw up stomach acid this morning (Mar 9th). It was gross and not fulfilling like a real throw up.

Today is Mar 10th and I'm now 8 weeks pregnant or in my 9th week of pregnancy. I have been having nausea everyday and even though I'm hungry, I don't feel like eating anything. To make matters worse, I have developed a dry cough which makes me even more tired than normal, whatever normal is.

I told my manager today even though i am only in my 9th week.

Ill be 10 weeks pregnant tomorrow. We are anxious to start telling close friends but also dont want to jump the gun before our 12 week ultrasound in case anything goes wrong between now and then.

Unlike my first pregnancy, I have had many food cravings this time around. So far, I have craved for Filet o Fish, gherkins, and Tom yum soup. Because I have been sick with a terrible cough this week, Mar 10, I have also lost 3lbs. I cough so bad that I cause myself to want to throw up. So I am not totally sure if it's the cough or pregnancy that is causing my nausea.

I have been sick for 3 weeks with a bad cough/cold. I had a fever on Mar 25. Went home early and then slept until the next day into the afternoon. The fever was 101-103 so I had to take tylenol to control the temperature. I hope the baby is fine.

I'm 11 weeks now (Saturday Mar 27). My 12 week ultrasound isn't until Monday Apr 5. I now wish I kept the original appointment of Thursday April 1 so that I can officially start telling people next weekend.

Second time 'round

Yup, we are expecting again. We had our 12 week ultrasound on Monday and saw the heart beat and the little blob was squirming around. Everything looked good. I feel really different this time around because I know what to expect compared to last time when I had no clue. I can't decide if knowing what to expect is better or worse than not knowing. One thing for sure though is that I'm a bit sad that I'm going to be using up my second (and most likely last) "get out of jail free card" aka mat leave!