Friday, July 25, 2008

Maternity Fashion in Movies 1

When Fashion Meets Movies - 影尚随行: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg《瑟堡的雨伞》

Catherine Deneuve looks fabulously chic in maternity dress in this 60's romance movie despite a bittersweet story. Her tailored maternity dress is cute and sophisticated. The bump is wrapped preciously under dresses and coats:











Wednesday, July 23, 2008

A Naming Joke



A friend in China forwarded me this list of people's names. It is so hilarious that I want to post it here. As we are trying to find the perfect name for our Little XJ&XJ, these are definitely the pitfalls that we will have to avoid. At the same time, I can't help but wonder the humorous effect Chinese can bring: they are subtle to you at the first sight, then you will laugh your teeth off with some thinking and imagination. There is nothing the American dumb jokes can compare. Without further ado, here it is:

据公安部姓名查询系统,全国最爆笑的人名:
刘产
扬伟
赖月京(还是个男的)
范剑
姬从良
范统
夏建仁
朱逸群
秦寿生(亏他父母想的出)
庞光
杜琦燕
魏生津
矫厚根
沈京兵
排名第一的:史珍香

Friday, July 18, 2008

Pandora Music Box

Expecting Little XJ&XJ ... 期待中!: Mozart or Bach?

Being accused of using shortcut to serve our baby's needs in the previous blog entry, XJ showed his dedication by finding another shortcut. This time he opened a Pandora music box for me: www.pandora.com. Great technology, excellent music. The website tracks your likes and dislikes and plays music to your taste intelligently. I am loving it. It is so good to have a techie at home. My life becomes easier and more fun!

Babymoon (1)

There is honeymoon after saying “I do” in church for newly weds and there is babymoon after surviving the first semester for parents-to-be. It seems that moon is associated with romantic settings regardless of geological and cultural boundaries.

Knowing it is just a made-up concept to draw money from our bank accounts by marketing guys in tourist industry, XJ and I can’t resist the temptation to have a babymoon before the Little XJ&XJ is born. Yeah, why not take the last chance to have some fun in our couplehood? My belly just started to show so I am still physically adroit. Spiritually, pregnancy makes me happier than ever. I guess I have reached the best times of the nine months.

To go or not to go? – This is a non-issue for us. For some reason, we didn’t get chance to have a honeymoon. This would be an excellent opportunity for us to relax and have some fun while we are still a childless couple. There are a lot of places in North America that we haven’t been to. We thought about going to Yellow Stone or Grand Canyon, but it is too late as the parks are already booked out for the summer. Puerto Rico since we live on the east coast? Then we learned not only the temperature is too hot for preggies, but also it is the hurricane season over there during summer time. Don’t even mention the Latin food will be a big challenge for my flimsy stomach. Las Vegas? A friend told me it was a disaster to go to Las Vegas when she was pregnant as so many people smoke and the dryness almost made her dehydrated. Where to go? I started to admire some of my friends’ decisions to travel around before getting pregnant. Shoulda Woulda Coulda…

The babymoon destination is still under discussing. I am sure there will be a Baby Moon 2 coming up soon. However, XJ’s company organized an outing up in New Hampshire last weekend and we had a great time. Before we make our decision, let it be the preface of our babymoon for now.




Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Mozart or Bach?


Research indicates fetuses’ abilities to hear are well developed by the end of the second trimester. Knowing it is such a cliché for parents wanting the best for their child-even before the child is born, XJ and I still can’t help but start to think about exposing Little XJ&XJ some music. Human nature of wanting the best for the baby aside, we wishfully think you never know if utero concerto is going to do wonders.

XJ loves classic music. His favorite musician is J.S Bach. While I know little about music, I decided to delegate this task to XJ completely. (It is not easy for a hands-on leader like me to make this decision). In order to provide our baby a uterine environment that’s rich enough in music, XJ thinks we should expose him to different classic music instead of Mozart, or Bach, or Beethoven. In another word, we want to give him all. After the short brainstorm session, XJ promised me he will get work on this immediately. Half an hour later, he came to my computer claiming he'd found a perfect solution. That was fast! I was thinking giving him a week time. He opened a website, clicked on the “Listen Alive” button:

“This is where Boston comes to relax. Boston’s classic music station – 99.5, WCRB”, a voice came from the speakers.

Well, this is a man who knows shortcut! It is the classic music station he has been listening to. However, only results matter in my theory. Several days have been past and I am pretty satisfied with the company of all day long programmed live music, never a dull moment…

I am wondering what Little XJ&XJ thinks about our new endeavor. No matter what you think, baby, we are just trying to entertain you, not really trying to push you closer to an Ivy League degree or that sort of thing, well, which would be even nicer if it is the side effect. :)

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Bye Pink, Hello Blue!

When I first started the blog, unknown the sex of the baby, I picked a neutral color tone lilac for the blog. Now, knowing it is going to be a boy, I changed the color palette to blue.

Like every expecting mommy, I got asked by friends now and then whether I wanted a boy or girl. I always said I wanted a girl because I can dress her. Knowing it is a boy, I have been thinking these days. Do I really want a girl just because I can dress her? I think maybe not. I wanted a girl because I understand girls by once being a girl myself. Honestly, what do I know about boys? How am I going to raise a boy by knowing nothing about his thoughts and needs. It is the unfamiliarity that subconsciously nudged me towards the thought of having a girl would be easier.

I talked to XJ about my concerns. He laughed at me : “Silly, that is why you have me. I was a boy. I know boys. I will deal with it.” Exactly! Look at what I was worry about. I have been trying to deny that pregnant women always have low IQs. It seems that for something, it is what it is, you just can’t deny it.

During the last several months, every time I saw those cute little pink dresses hardly can I resist the temptation to own them. They are just so adorable! I always daydreamed a girl looked exactly like me in these lovely pink outfits. How amazing that would be! Now, there is a total different picture in my mind: the little XJ in a polo shirt and a baseball hat, sporty and nerdy, just like his daddy.

Pink, bye for now and hello blue!

(P.S.: Many thanks to Yujing and Xiao for the baby outfit featured in XJ's picture here. )

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Oh, Here is The Third Leg!

Today’s doctor visit was definitely like riding a roller coaster, a big thriller one. I was so worn out that I slept for three hours after getting home.

You know, there are those moments that you are going to discover something huge in your life, such as finding your name on the grade publishing board of college entrance exam, opening the admission envelope from your dream school, your all-dressed-up boyfriend reaching his suit pocket nervously in a fancy restaurant and saying I do in a white gown in church etc, etc, finding the baby’s sex is definitely one of the moments of this magnitude.

Both XJ and I were all excited about today’s ultrasound exam. The moment I lied down on the examining bed, we said:
“Would you please tell us the baby’s sex!” We were expecting an answer like this: “Sure, if we get lucky!!”
Instead, the radiologist calmly replied: “Well, we are not interested about that part. I am going to exam every part of your baby. If I see something, I will let you know.”

Her response, empathetical? not so much; honest? yeah absolutely! She reminded us that we got more important tasks to do today, checking and making sure the fetus is developing well. The radiologist started to take pictures of every part of the baby: heart, abdomen, face, ear, nose, mouth, arms, legs, hands and feet…The baby was moving very actively and that made examining her (we still use “her” as we didn’t know yet) a little bit hard. XJ and I glued our eyes to the monitor bugging the radiologist now and then if she had seen any part of THAT. The baby seemed really wanting to keep that a secret as she closed the two tiny legs so tightly. There was no chance for others to have a peek. I was thinking, good girl, you already know how to behave properly in public!

Everything looks fine until…

When the radiologist was taking the pictures of the baby’s head, I saw the monitor showed two big bubble shades on the baby’s head. I casually asked,
“What’s that? Is that her brain bones?”
“They are not supposed to be there. I need to look into this and you may need another ultrasound.” In a very strong Eastern European accent, the radiologist said.
“Then what is it?” XJ and I started to get nervous.
“They are called Ch…P…Cys. We have seen this in a lot of babies and most of them turned out just fine. I can’t say more than this. But your doctor will talk about it in detail with you today.”

This caught us totally off guard. We had no idea about the terminology even she explained what that part of the brain is for. All we heard was fluid, fluid, fluid. We, especially I started to panic. “Oh, my god,” I looked at XJ desperately, “our baby is not normal!” Even though the radiologist kept confirming that all the other parts look perfectly fine as she went on with the exam, we were so worried and in no mood to find out the baby’s sex any more. I looked at XJ and he started to comfort me and ask me not to worry until we talk to the OB. (I am still not sure how can he be so calm.)

“Well, I think I see something between the legs.” The Radiologist said.
“What is it?” We started to pick up some spirit again.
“I think it is a boy, but I can’t see it clearly”.
“Oh, my god, we are having a boy!?”
I asked the radiologist to prod my tummy a little bit and hopefully we can see more in that department. Several rounds later, a “third leg” kind of thing between the baby’s crossed legs popped up on the monitor and I asked,
“Is that what I was thinking?”
“I am now 100% sure it is a boy. That is his penis.” A sweet voice said.

That is it?! Here is the answer to several months' guessing game?! XJ and I started to acclaim, “Oh, we are really going to have a boy! It is official!!”

The joy of finding out the baby’s sex breezed away some dismal haze about the findings on our baby’s head. The radiologist finished her job and went to ask another senior radiologist to take another look at our baby. I lied on the bed, XJ holding my hand. We started at each other feeling, sweet sorrow. What if...what if…

A senior radiologist came and repeated the whole procedure, examining and taking pictures of every part of the baby. After she finished, she told us that everything looks fine except the brain part. Again she told us there was nothing to worry about and my OB will talk about it with us. Don’t you hate it when people keep telling you this! But what else can they say?

With the report in hand, we finally saw the word of the symptom. It is called “Choroid Plexus Cyst”. In the OB’s waiting room, XJ whipped out iphone and we started to google everything about this CPC. (Today, iphone looked even lovely to us than ever) We started to calm down as we read on the articles about CPC and its causes and consequences. It seems that it is a quite common thing for fetus to develop and it will go away by the 3rd trimester. There is potential risk of chromosomal problems but the risk is quite minimal.

By the time we got into the OB’s room, we already calmed down. We shared the joy of finding the sex of the baby with her. She reviewed the report with us and made sure we understand there was nothing wrong with the baby’s brain. In our case given that all the other parts are totally fine and the very low risk factor of the first trimester screen test, our baby having chromosomal problem is very low (0.1%). We don't need to worry about it and should continue enjoy the pregnancy.

Walking out of the hospital, hand in hand to the car, phew, what a drive! Known to XJ as a worry babe, he made sure I listened to what the OB said and stop thinking it as such a bad thing anymore. In the way home, I started to resonate with what my mommy-friends said: I used to say that I wish our baby get my eyes, XJ’s nose etc, etc. They always told me, “When you are becoming a mommy, you just wish your babies be normal.” I realized today it can’t be more true!

Let's pray...