Author: Faith

IT’S A…

…GIRL!

And we are thrilled.

Everything looked healthy and it was great to see her wiggle around and stretch. I’m not sure how they measure it but she’s supposedly 1 lb already and her arms, legs, spine, brain, heart, etc… all look great. It was fascinating to see the four chambers of her heart pump away; you could even see the valves opening and closing.

Beforehand I didn’t think that I had a feeling either way but I found myself still being surprised. We are really thrilled though–possibly even as much as my sister Jan. She has three boys (10, 8, and 9 months) and is so excited to have a little niece close by to dote on.

At the ultrasound they did notice that I have marginal placenta previa. The placenta’s lying low and partially covering my cervix so in 8 more weeks I need to have another ultrasound to look at it. My doctor said it might move up and out of way but if it doesn’t then I’ll need to have a c-section for sure. E was a c-section and his went really well so I’m okay with whatever needs to happen happening.

But names, man I’m stumped on names. We had two that we really like if she was a boy but the field for girl names is so wide open. I have a few that I like but I’m quite relieved that we still have four more months to decide.

So how about it, any name suggestions?

Ultrasound today!

My 20-week ultrasound is later today. I’m pretty excited. So excited in fact that when I woke up today at 6 am having to go to the bathroom I couldn’t get back to sleep and spent an hour tossing and turning and listening to N breathe.

I’ve been fairly nonchalant about this pregnancy in large part because after my miscarriage in December I thought I might lose it at any time. But for the last couple of weeks I’ve been feeling the baby move around and it seems much more real. I’m excited to find out if we’re having a girl or boy.

I’d honestly be thrilled with either. It would be great to have another little boy close to E’s age so they’re pals (and I already have all the boy stuff I need) and. Plus we already have our favorite boy names narrowed down to two. I would like to have a little girl at some point but we’re planning on having a few more kids (including adopting) so it’s not like this is our last chance at that. And regarding girls’ names the field is wide open (and might require a few rounds of negotiations).

I don’t have a feeling either way, so it’s going to be a surprise. With E I was sure it was a boy before we went to the ultrasound. I had been wanting a girl but felt kind of wretched about it since we had been wanting a baby for so long. I felt guilty and selfish and didn’t want to bring any negative feelings to the situation when I had so much to feel thankful for. So I spent some time praying, expressing my gratitude and asking for maturity and peace. And a few weeks before my ultrasound with E I suddenly knew it was a boy. I was thinking on things and suddenly in my mind’s eye I saw a little boy (with E’s old mushroom haircut) wearing a striped shirt and jean shorts standing in our backyard. And very matter-of-factly I thought: “Hey, that’s our little boy. And he’s AWESOME.” So the ultrasound wasn’t a surprise and when I saw E’s face for the first time it seemed very familiar and it was simply like: “Oh, hello again.”

Besides hoping this baby is healthy I don’t have any reservations and I’m excited for the surprise. But I’ll always be thankful for a Heavenly Father who cared enough about a silly young me to reassure me that no matter what being a parent would be better than I could imagine.

The Way of Kings

I’ve been reading more than usual lately. I polished off three or four novels when I was up in WA and since I’ve returned I’ve been staying up later than I should churning through best-sellers. I read the first two books of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy* (a bit uneven but gripping) and this weekend I gave in to curiosity about what everyone on Facebook was talking about and read the Hunger Games Trilogy trilogy (fun and engrossing but not amazing).

But the book that I’ve enjoyed the most recently was The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson. (Disclaimer: It’s hard for me to be totally objective since N and I are friends with Brandon and his charming wife Emily BUT the only reason I’m posting about The Way of Kings is because I really liked it and think that you {or a fantasy-novel-reading nerd you love} might like it too.)

The epic novel is set in a world where ultra-violent storms scour the land which has lead plant, animal, and human life to develop in unique ways. It took me about 40 pages to really get engrossed in the world Brandon’s created but once I was there I was there. The setting and the world’s history and culture are essential to the story but don’t feel obtrusive or awkward like they sometimes do in fantasy novels.

The point-of-view rotates through three main characters: a slave, a scholar, and an aristocrat. Brandon does a nice job of controlling the pacing and each individual plot so there are multiple cliff-hangers that keep you turning the pages. At times (mostly when it’s past one in the morning and you’re tired and need to go to sleep) it can be a little frustrating to have the book jump to Character X when you just want to know what happened to Character Y but it makes for a good page-turner.

A note on the physical book itself–it is nice. Full-color maps begin and end the book and full-page illustrations are found every few chapters. I don’t buy a lot of hard-bound books but this edition is really lovely. (And Amazon has it for $15 which is a great deal.)

The Way of Kings is the first book in a planned 10-book series, The Stormlight Archive. I’ve read my share of epic fantasy series (nerd!) and this is one that I’m very excited to follow.

(*FYI, these are Amazon Affiliate links which means that if you click on it and order something I get a tiny cut.)

Fare thee well, Prince Valiant Hair

This week has totally kicked my butt. Labor day was nice but something about having a 4-day week made for some extra craziness. Yesterday was picture day at E’s preschool and it seemed as good of a time as ever to get him a haircut. I thought his long hair was really cute and it was reminiscent of the mushroom haircut I myself had as a toddler but it seemed like it was time for a change. (By the way, my mom recently told me my stylin’ toddler haircut was due to her admiration for the lovely Dorothy Hamill.)

But since E’s hair is so fine having it in a shag meant that it would get tangled and limp when he ran around to play and sometimes after his nap it would be kind of matted. It was becoming kind of high maintenance and so as in most instances, my sense of laziness won out over my sense of style. So I got his hair cut and he somehow aged several months in an instant.


I keep vacillating between missing his old hair and liking this new cut. He just seems so much older.

Letter: Month Thirty-Four

Dear E,

This has been a really fun month. You and I flew up to WA to visit family and we stayed at my parents’ house. You took full advantage of the open floor plan and loved running laps through the kitchen. You quickly had Meemaw wrapped around your little finger. They don’t wear shoes inside their house, Korean-style, but she didn’t even blink when you persisted on clomping around on the white carpet in her shoes. The only thing she was worried about was that you might trip. And when your cousins gave you a popsicle and I found you eating it on the couch I expected her to chide at least one of us but she just cleaned up the drips and smiled.

Luckily you were a trooper on the plane. You love flying, particularly taking off. For a week after we came home you pleaded everyday to go to the airport and fly on a plane. I hope that your enthusiasm for flying is still around in a month when we go to Korea. 17+ hours on a plane or at the airport would tax the best of them but I think you’ll be okay. I hope so anyway.

It’s fun to to see your imagination blossom. When we were at my parents’ house you saw the wind rattling the window blinds and you told me to “Listen! It’s a ghost.” And then you proceeded to look all around the room trying to find the ghost. It was so cute.

I had always heard about the “terrible twos” and I think you’ve hit that stage. You’ve started glaring at us if you don’t get your way, sometimes even crossing your arms over your chest and pouting, “Hmph!” In the last week or so you’ve also started exclaiming, “It’s not fair!” when you’re upset which totally blows me away. How does my baby even know those words? I thought I had at least a few more years before you got to talking back.

But you’re also very sweet. You’ve started telling your dad and I that we’re “the best.” Sometimes after I do something for you you’ll say, “Thanks, Mama! You’re the best!” And I then I melt. And you’ve started spontaneously saying “I love you” and giving hugs.

You love playing with your cousins and other big kids. When we took you to a playground in WA you mostly wanted to hang around some big kids. You tried to insert yourself into their conversation by imitating their gestures and words but they blithely ignored you. It made me smile and tugged at my heart at the same time because I know you’ll be a big kid all too soon.

Love,

Mama

Marination

I hope you guys aren’t too sick of my vacation posts yet. Don’t worry, this is the last of them.

One day when I was in WA I took E and we drove up to Seattle to hang out with my sister-in-law Mindy and my brother-in-law Ken, two of my favorite people. They know how much I like Korean food and how I adore street food so we headed downtown to catch the Marination Mobile, a food truck that specializes in Korean/Hawaiian fusion food. It was AWESOME.

I had a kimchi quesadilla, a SPAM slider, AND a kalbi taco. (Hey, I’m pregnant–so not a word!) Ken and Mindy tried the pork sliders which are also in the above picture. The quesadilla was incredibly (and surprisingly) delicious and the slider was super tasty (Yum, SPAM!) but I thought the kalbi taco was a little too salty.

We took our food and walked down to the sculpture park and then down to a little beach where the kids had fun throwing rocks and sticks in the water.

E gets his sunglasses at the same place Bono does.


It was a lot of fun. I had a great time chatting with Mindy and Ken and E had fun with his cousins. One of the worst things about living in Utah is that we only get to see these guys a few times a year. (And that there are no awesome Korean fusion food trucks.)

At the beach, WA-style

My sister and her boys came up to WA to visit while E and I were there. As usual, E got a kick out of following his cousins around. One day we all decided to drive out to the coast but unfortunately we also all neglected to check the weather at the coast. It was 80 degrees+ in Olympia but at the shore the temperature dropped to 50-something degrees with a biting wind.

But after two hours of being stuck in the car the boys were not to be denied so they played in the sand using the van as a wind break.




Even with the uncooperative weather it was still fun.

Portland Japanese Garden

When I was up in WA we drove down to Portland for the day. It was a last-minute trip and we didn’t have a set itinerary planned but it was still really nice. We visited the lovely Japanese Garden which a photographer’s dream and then spent some time wandering around Powell’s books which was both awe-inspiring and mildly disorienting.




My mom and brother were really nice about hanging on to E so I could snap pictures to my heart’s content–thanks, guys!

Home Again

I love visiting my family in WA but home is where N is and it’s really lovely to be home. Never mind that it’s already after noon and I still haven’t showered and I have a pile of laundry to do and a kitchen in sore need of restocking. E and I had a lazy morning but now we’ve got to going.

When I was in Olympia my mom and I took E to a local playground. It’s in a great park and we like to go every time we’re in town. E remembered it from last time and immediately ran to the swings, his favorite. He had a blast.



Well, this weekend will probably be pretty low-key for us which sounds wonderful right now. We’ll be playing a bit of catch-up around the house and enjoying being together as a family again (and watching a bunch of shows saved on our DVR). After a busy week it sounds heavenly.

I hope you have a great weekend!