if only more parents were like this dad

This is a great example of good parenting on the Not Martha blog. Yesterday Neil and I went to file our Taiwan taxes. The room was packed and we had to wait awhile for our turn - there were two young boys running around and shrieking. Their mom would occasionally shout crossly at them to pipe down. Come on - filing taxes if tiresome for adults, what else do you expect from young kids? This is the kind of situation which warrants hiring a baby sitter and leaving the kids at home.

Cool stuff with Google Earth

Map the Fallen - honor the more than 5,700 American and Coalition servicemen and women that have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. A map for Google Earth that connects their stories.

I Love Mountains - End Mountaintop Removal Action & Resource Center. Enter your zip code and see your (power company's) connection to mountain top removal, a radical form of coal mining in which entire mountains are literally blown up. There is a Google Earth map that shows some of the connections between coal-fired power plants and the mountaintop removal mines that supply them with coal.

Proud mama

While I am perfectly cognizant that the latest photo of my baby could very well be taken a Rorschach test, nebula in outer space, deep sea current, etc., I am a proud mama and to me he's just the cutest thing. I keep looking at the photo and thinking thoughts like, "look at his cute thighs!" and "look at his button nose!" I'm a very proud mama.

20 weeks: he kicks!

This week, I finally felt our son kick. Late Tuesday night, I was reading in bed (a book on pregnancy and childbirth, no less) when I unconsciously rolled onto my tummy. All of a sudden I felt a sharp pulse in my lower right abdomen. Was that the baby? Was I squishing him? Excited, I rolled onto my side but didn't feel anything more. The next day at work, I felt him again - he's alive!

Then he discovered my pelvic floor - "no, you didn't just kick me there." He tends to be really active in the afternoons and evenings, about 30 minute after I eat.

Today, Neil finally felt him kick while we were at the Apple Store. So exciting! I swear, he's a regular Fred Astaire in the womb. He loves playing DDR with my pelvic floor.

And yes, he's a boy. At our 12 week checkup, our doctor was sure she saw a boy, but the sonogram makes sense only to a highly trained medical professional. This week, at our 2nd trimester anatomy, his 'boy part' was clear as day in between his two thighs. Even *I* could tell.

Because I'm a nerd...

...I love this headline:
Horray! The Second Derivative of the Unemployment Rate Improved!

19 weeks: nesting

Did a lot - Saturday: picked up 2 huge bags of maternity and baby stuff (thanks Andrea!), checked out a baby store in Taipei, had lunch with Jen, went to a MIT Alumni event, and then attended the TAS Benefit with the hubs and met some of his old classmates. Sunday stayed home all day and cleaned along with our housekeeper and her friend. Sparkling! Went to Costco and bought a HUGE watermelon - it took me over an hour to cut it all up. Our fridge is full of watermelon. I love watermelon. Feeling pretty good. All first trimester symptoms have faded away; even the swelling has gone down. I wake up in the morning and forgetting I'm pregnant, sit down and bump into my belly and think, "woah! what happened?" Then I remember.

18 weeks: Bangkok weekend

We had a 3-day weekend due to the May 1 Labor Day holiday, and so made a last-minute decision to go to Bangkok. Despite some disappointments (my favorite French bakery was closed for renovations, I couldn't enjoy Thai massage due to the pregnancy), we had a relaxing time, had several good meals, and I was able to have two Ayurvedic massages.



Baby was pretty good - I did feel more swelling than usual during the flights, but otherwise was fine. No fatigue, no tummy trouble (just to take no chances, I didn't get fruit from street vendors this time), no gas, etc. I guess I'm easing into those second trimester good times I've been reading about.