Little Cat

that people keep saying to me, "Are you sure there's only one baby in there?!?" I briefly considered the possibility that a second baby has been hiding itself perfectly behind the form of the first baby for each of the 3 ultrasounds (oh, and stopping its heart just long enough to allow only one heartbeat to be picked up by the doppler), but ultimately decided that was ridiculous. Normally it wouldn't take me so long to rid my brain of such a ridiculous idea, but I'm pregnant and therefore prone to lots of irrational worrying and tearful fits.

I'm really enjoying reading this site: Let's Panic About Pregnancy! It helps me keep things in perspective. :-P.

I kicked my poor husband out of bed. His loud snoring and infuriating body heat were driving me insane, so he now has to sleep on the sofa. And I miss him.

I'm trying to sell stuff on craigslist before the move. I forgot how annoying that was because I usually act as the buyer on craigslist, and have had very good experiences.

As of now, we're calling the baby Chi-chan. We haven't completely decided what her full name will be (or even if it will start with "Chi"), as that will depend heavily on the Chinese characters Dog's grandmother and the numerologist choose. Essentially Dog and I can choose the name of "Koyuki" or whatever, and Grandma and numerology team at the family Buddhist church choose which characters will be used for the "ko" and "yuki", as there are many options which should be chosen based on number of strokes and baby's birthdate, and probably a hundred other considerations. I'm very picky about characters because I speak Chinese, and therefore want to have characters that are nicely pronounced in Chinese as well, but it's mostly out of my hands. Anyway, I'm rambling.

I have a bladder infection, had to go to the hospital and was treated by the cutest doctor I've ever seen! Made the trip a little better. :-)

We've started thinking about nursery design, here's a very loose idea board of my thoughts on colour and feel - definitely featuring white walls and colourful accents of purple and yellow:

Nursery Design

We had to walk away from the house - the inspection turned up lots of mold, and a structural problem that we're in no condition to address, and the seller was not willing to concede on the price. Basically, buying that house would mean overpaying, and moving into a deathtrap when I'm 8 months pregnant! So sad, but we had to let it go.

We found another house, a little smaller but just as charming, 20K cheaper with a better yard and fully updated. Our offer's been accepted, and the inspection is tomorrow, so I'll let you know how it goes. Closing date is much better too (in less than a month!) so we'd have time to get stuff done before I become too tired, hot and gigantic to move my butt off the sofa! I love this house too, but I still feel a sense of loss about the other one. Oh, we also fired our realtor, she was definitely not working in our best interest.

Our good friends had a beautiful baby boy, meaning that I am once again the only pregnant person I know! The Micro-Cat's kicking a lot these days (today I'm 6.5 mths along), and I'm starting to feel more and more excited about her arrival in September.

House

Well, what have you guys been up to? Here's what we've been doing:

1. Buying the house above! Still conditional on the inspection, but we REALLY LOVE IT. Hope it goes well. There are six bedrooms! We could never afford anything like this in Toronto even if I sold my kidneys and all of my eggs.
2. Baby = girl
3. Pregnancy = still hard. I projectile vomited on Dog's head last week, out of nowhere. It was like a scene from the Exorcist. He was really sweet about it.
4. Still haven't chosen a name for the baby; I think we'll have to see her first.

First of all, Dog and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. It's scary how quickly the time has passed! I sure love that man. We went on a picnic to a charming nearby town on the lake, which was chilly but delightful. The following day, my baby brother got married at City Hall in the presence of many of our family members, friends, and his new wife's family visiting from Mexico. I was a little nervous about the whole thing since they're so young (23 and 24), but they are deeply in love and seem very committed to each other, so I'm sure they'll make it work. And yes, I do remember that I was younger than either of them when I married Dog. It was a touching ceremony, and my gorgeous sister brought her adorable baby wearing a bow tie! That was truly the cutest thing I've seen in a long time. A beautiful reception in my brother and sister-in-law's honour was hosted by a family friend, and the next evening our new Mexican family contingent came to our house for dinner and a hilarious round of Wii games. It was very fun, but hosting things really wears me out these days.

Pregnancy stuff seems to be taking over my life, and I have been trying to stay calm in the face of the dozens of well-meaning, yuppie pregnancy alarmists who are constantly shoving advice down my throat. A few weeks ago I ordered a Diet Coke in a restaurant, at which point my friend nearly swallowed her tongue shrieking about the carcinogenic nature of Aspartame, even suggesting that the can of soda could kill the baby. It was ONE can of soda. As far as I know, it wasn't Diet Coke-aine or anything, GOSH. Get a freaking grip. My bump is definitely growing, so I expect the tummy-touchers to start approaching me in the street posthaste. On Monday I'll be 18 weeks along, and yet the nausea and morning sickness has yet to subside, and I've got a deep cough that I can't get rid of. It's been difficult and uncomfortable, and Dog has become so accustomed to my puking and coughing that he barely lifts his eyes from the computer screen to ask if I'm okay, which makes flames leap out of my eyes. He knows better than to ignore that. :-P

We've been half-considering buying a house, though it doesn't seem to be a great time. The impetus is that my grandparents are selling their house in a pretty neighbourhood in Hamilton, and it's a little 1950's bungalow which suits me perfectly. It needs work, but it's very livable in its current state and we could fix it up gradually over time. Probably we'll wait until next year, but it's an idea. I've been trying to formulate a plan for the next couple of years, since I have a few more courses left in this degree and probably will not return for awhile, and I would like to give the baby at least one year of my undivided attention without focussing too much on him/her and going insane, if that makes any sense. Entrepreneurship runs deep in my blood as my dad's had his own business for almost as long as I can remember, and Dog and I have been running the photography company since 2004, and I've been thinking that if we were to move to Hamilton, I'd like to start a little made-to-order, organic, allergen-free cake company once the baby is a bit older. I LOVE baking, and I like working from home, so it seems like a good way to contribute a little to my family's income while doing something fun. I don't have much experience in cake decorating, so I'm thinking of asking the small cupcake bakery down the street if I could intern there a few days a week until the baby comes. I'll happily look after the shop in exchange for some pointers.

Anyway, those are the things running through my head at the moment. We have an appointment tomorrow with the OB/GYN, so maybe there will be some news of the baby's gender? I sure hope so. 

for the baby who will not be here for another 6 months. Does that make any sense? Yesterday, Dog and I went to the baby stuff store down the street with the intention of just looking, and happened to find the last one of a stroller I'd been eying for weeks, at a huge discount! Of course, we bought it immediately, and it's now in the living room. I've been practicing folding and unfolding it. I also bought a Baby Bjorn carrier on eBay, which will be used mostly by Dog, as I'm intending to sew my own sling to carry the little one around the house. Immediately after we bought these things, I felt a surge of panic about the health of the baby. I mean, what will we do with the stuff if something happens to the baby? Sweet husband assured me that everything is fine, and we're both really looking forward to our second ultrasound next week, at which time I will be into week 13!

Here's the stroller:

Quinny_buzz__juice

But not dead!!! Yay!

After taking a number of weeks to process the fact that I am PREGNANT and getting my husband back from Japan, things are starting to settle. I was SO nauseous that I was basically immobilized, puking, trapped at home, which led to extreme cabin fever and severe loneliness. So I discovered the wondrous tablets of Tums, started answering my phone again, and we've been meeting our friends. Today the weather was warm enough that we actually walked along the beach! It was perfect timing, since the temperature is supposed to drop to -20 degrees Celsius by Wednesday. I'm trying not to worry too much about it, as our national groundhog, Wiarton Willie, apparently saw his shadow today, thereby commanding the season of winter to disappear by March 15th. I will certainly hold it accountable if it fails to meet that deadline. American neighbours who also celebrate this rather ridiculous holiday, did your groundhog Paw....... something-Pete see it's shadow too? I could google it, but I prefer to ask. :-)

So, I turned 27. I'm cool with 27, it seems no worse than 26. We had our first ultrasound; the Micro-Cat, as nicknamed by Dog, looks like a cute little shrimp. I saw the heartbeat, which was awesome. I will do everything in my power to protect this little creature.

Other than that, nothing else is new. Expect to see comments from me on your blogs, stat!

Hurray for me! :-) I want to thank everyone for their kind wishes, and the great info. My vox neighbours are such wise women!

I went to the doctor yesterday, and found out that the due date is currently pegged at Sept. 9, 2009. Wow! She gave me a lot of helpful information, told me to choose a hospital so she can set up my referral to an OB/GYN, and booked an ultrasound appointment for two weeks from now. Thankfully, my Dog husband will be back from Tokyo by then so we can go together. My mom came with me yesterday because I can barely string together a proper sentence in my current super-excited, easily-distracted state. Pregnant Cat can barely function.

I had a great time in Japan. We were able to see a lot of our friends and attend a couple bounenkai (New Year reunion parties), and my Japanese improved a lot! Rather, my Kansai-ben improved a lot. ;-) We traveled from my husband's hometown just outside Kyoto to a bunch of other cities (Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, Osaka) and toured around his prefecture, Shiga. We spent a lot of time with our two nephews, Yusuke and Yosuke, and even went to the Arashiyama Monkey Park with them, which was awesome! (As soon as I can find a stupid card reader, I will post pics. It suddenly seems very ironic that the professional photographer has no card readers at home.) My mother-in-law did a lot of hand sewing with me, which was awesome. We made adorable small stuffed monkeys out of chirimen crepe, but mine didn't get finished because I got sick (Dog and I both got HORRIBLE colds and had to go to the ER), we found out I was pregnant and tried to change my husband's flight so we could come home together which we later found out was impossible, and I had to rush home alone to see my doctor. Before that, I was bitten by the family poodle four times and Grandma was bitten once, badly, and rushed to the hospital with a punctured artery. There aren't enough words to describe how much I detest that horrid beast. I also taught my mother-in-law to make a bundt cake, which turned out DELICIOUS even in the tiny Easy-Bake-like-contraption the Japanese call an oven. :-)

I also ate horse sashimi. The only thing I missed was drinking my beloved grape Chu-Hi, that drink of the gods that is alcoholic and not suitable for cats who gave up drinking a month ago, just in case. Now I'm pretty thankful that I did, and also that I've been taking folic acid every morning for the past four years. 

Tomorrow is my 27th birthday. :-)

It's been awhile since I've last posted, and a lot has happened. Where to start? I just came back from Japan which was very eventful and fun. I spent a lot of quality time with my in-laws and we traveled a lot.  Unfortunately, I've had to come back to Toronto alone as Dog is still shooting a personal project in Tokyo until the 15th.

Five days ago, we found out some life-altering news. I'm pregnant! I am also feeling like hell - puking constantly, extremely emotional and all alone, trying to figure out how we're going to raise a baby in a two-bedroom apartment (where one bedroom is office/space for Dog's massive printer) and anxiously worrying that no nutrients are reaching the baby before I deposit them in the toilet. I'm going to ask my doctor about it at my appointment tomorrow. I've got millions of questions running rampant in my mind, and I can just barely type the words into the Google box before running on to the next one. I've got the attention span of a housefly, which my Mom says is normal. She came over and helped me yesterday, which was wonderful; I never would have been able to get those things done without her. Of course, she's a great comfort, and a huge source of support. Dog and I are both very excited at the prospect of a baby, and both petrified. He's going to be such a wonderful father. I have no idea how far along I am, as my first appointment is tomorrow, but it's certainly early! I miss him so much, and really wish he were here right now.

Nausea beckons, I'll have to post more details later!

is because it´s never a good idea to catch up on the show when one is supposed to be writing an essay, only to discover that one´s favorite meerkats Kinkajou and Mozart have both been killed by a snakebite and a jackal, respectively. Crying like a baby, I rushed to my husband´s office, and instead of laughing at me, he made up and performed the song and dance that Kinkajou and Mozart are dancing in heaven, and simulated a telephone call from Kinkajou to let me know that the snakebite didn´t hurt, and, with a Buddhist touch, added that she was bitten because her karma was so bad from eating Mozart´s babies that time.

Yet another reason I adore this man.