nesting (finally!)

Happy Wednesday, friends!  I'm rapidly approaching the end of my second trimester and the beginning of the third trimester.  Hooray!  The nesting instinct is finally kicking in, and I am one motivated momma to get Grant's room together.  A couple of weekends ago, Tom and I started cleaning out the room we envisioned as the nursery when we first bought our house.  Unfortunately, in the thick of our IF struggle, it became really painful for me to look at or go in the room, so we used it as storage (read: a place to put all of the junk that we should've thrown away).  Most of the room is clean now, and we have one piece of furniture (the dresser...you'll see below) sitting in there...and an empty canvas awaits for us and my dear friend, A, to paint.  Helen eemo (the Korean word for maternal aunt) is a fabulously talented interior designer and she picked out some paint colors for us.  Can't wait to see it all together.

Once the nursery is done (or in its final stages), I'll post some pics.  But in the meantime, I couldn't help but give all 3 of you a preview.  As my sisters will attest, I'm incredibly indecisive when it comes to picking things out.  So much so that they HATE shopping with me.  So the fact that some decisions have been made is a triumph in and of itself, and I will do a little jig for myself.  But I have been really struggling with what bedding to go with, what bookshelves to buy, etc., so I'm not exactly "there" yet.  Anyway, I digress.  Here are the main pieces of the nursery!

Here's the crib that the nice PBK delivery people will bring us next week....(The pictured baby is not Grant, of course...that is Evan T. Knowles, and he was most definitely NOT born on April 29, 2010. LOL.)

Thank you, Halmoni and Halrabuji (Korean for Grandma and Grandpa) Ro for the beautiful crib!!!

And here is the dresser that Grant's Gomo-halmonis (my paternal aunties) got for him. Tom and I put it together a couple of weekends ago...well, frankly, he did all the work...I "assisted" by organizing and handing him the one bazillion parts as he needed them. :)  It is beautiful and sturdy!  We'll replace the knobs with something more kid-appropriate...once I figure out what bedding/theme we're going with.  Sigh.


It took a measly 3 hours to put that dresser together (gotta love IKEA), and afterwards Tom declared that if Grant has any future siblings, they will have to store their clothes on the floor. When I pointed out that he is a younger sibling, he said, "I know. That's just how life is when you're a younger sibling." I tried, my future babies, I tried...but don't you little ones worry...even though I'm the oldest, I believe in equality.  I'll pull out all the stops for you. :)

We still want a glider/ottoman...but haven't found one yet, and it's not exactly a necessity.  I'm on the hunt for one on Craigslist and if we can find a nice, inexpensive one, we may pick it up.

Yay for nesting!  Nesting is fun!!!

week 25: a whatabaga?

Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

Hello!!!  Just checking in to post that baby Grant is now 25 weeks.  He's still kicking on schedule, and it seems like his kicks are getting stronger and I can actually see my stomach move when he kicks....I think it's just a matter of time before his kicks start hurting!  :)  We've been on vacation, so this post will be short...but I will post more about it later.  Ta-ta for now!

birth order

One of my friends posted this article on facebook today.  I have always thought that birth order had a lot to do with personality, though not necessarily intelligence...but, hey, if they say that firstborns are smarter, who am I to argue?  HAHAHAHA, I kid, I kid!

Actually, I think all of my siblings are smarter than me.  My sister Helen always disagrees with me when I say this, but I am not just trying to be modest.  They are so talented ~ they are just so darn GREAT at what they do and set their minds to, but I think I'm just average, maybe a little above average.  I just don't "get" things the way they do.  I think it takes me a lot of time to think through things, and then I just kind of dump the information from my brain after I'm done with it. 

I do agree with the article, with respect to personality, though.  I think my siblings are way more outgoing than me.  People think I'm an extrovert because I tend to be really involved when it comes to organized settings--as long as there is a structure in place, I'm good to go.  Such is the rigid, in-the-box personality of a firstborn.  I actually think I'm an introvert by nature, who happens to have extroverted tendencies in certain situations.  Those tendencies go against my nature and sometimes can be mentally exhausting for me.  I'm the type of gal who is perfectly content being a homebody because I'm afraid or maybe too shy to call someone up and see if they want to hang out.  My siblings, on the other hand, are so fun and social...they are the life of the party.  I, like their friends, love being around and am so thankful I get to share life with them.

So today's post is dedicated to my fabulous siblings, Jen, Helen, and Josh, who I adore and of whom I am so proud...and to my parents, for giving me three little people to boss around love.  :)

Christmas 1995 ~ The first Christmas after I went to college.  I bought them all UCLA gear as presents.  Notice how Helen is the only one who isn't wearing her shirt?  Even at the age of 11, she must've known she'd go to that other school and become a Trojan.  Go Bruins!

June 2008 ~  A family vacay (minus Tom!) to the motherland.  Such a fun time, with the usual "fun times" that accompany a 2 week, together-every-single-waking-moment, family vacay.  My how we've grown!!! :)

white tiger

Okay, so this is quite random, but my friend G told me that, according to the Chinese zodiac, this is the Year of the White Tiger.  This is apparently a big deal in Korea, because it is a pretty rare occurrence (but not as rare as the Year of the Golden Pig, as I discussed here).  Out of curiosity, I googled it to find out why it's such a big deal.  As an aside, when I was a wee little one, growing up in Phoenix, I really did not appreciate my parents' culture.  In fact, I didn't want to have anything to do with being Korean...because being Korean in Phoenix meant that you were so very different from everyone else.  But I've come to appreciate and enjoy learning about Korean culture...even things like the zodiac, which I don't really believe in, but find interesting from a historical/cultural perspective.  Interestingly, when I was at the nail salon with Tom in California (his sister got us gift certificates to get us out of the house while they were getting ready for the shower...and yes, Tom LOVED his mani/pedi...but not as much as those nail salon ladies loved Tom!), they were talking about how Grant is a tiger, and how it's good that he's a boy because girl tigers are too aggressive to be feminine.  Haha, Asians can be so silly.

Anyway...here's what I found from a website off of Google.  I kind of want a picture of a white tiger like the one below now.  Rawr!  :)

Year of the White Tiger


According to the Chinese zodiac, the year of the white tiger is especially auspicious as it comes around only once every 60 years.


"Local legend has it that there are four guardian gods in Korea," Kim Sang-hoe, a prominent Korean fortune teller explained. "They are the chungryong (blue dragon), hyunmu (turtle-snake), jujak (phoenix) and baekho (white tiger). Unlike the other three creatures, who are fictional, the baekho is the one and only real animal. For that reason, white tigers have been highly respected. In addition, the chance of a white tiger being seen is one in a million, so people in the past saw white tigers as a good sign."

This year, the lunar new year began on Feb. 14th., and because the new year is said to be a "metal" year (represented by the color white), it is called the year of the "white tiger".


People born in the year of the tiger are said to be brave, competitive, confident, aggressive and emotional.

24 weeks: wild child

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.


Hello!!!  Grant and I had two checkups today - one with our MFM and one with our regular OB.  First, we went to see our MFM and I got to see Grant again.  He was moving around and wouldn't get into position for the ultrasound tech to get us a profile picture...but we got a frontal pic of his face.  It looks kind of freaky because you can only see the eye socket instead of the whole eye, but I really liked that I could see his jawline.  At first, I thought it was my dad's jawline, but then I realized it's similar to my jawline and pointy chin, which I inherited from my mom and grandma.  His head shape above the jawline, though, looks just like his daddy's--at least that is what I think.  But maybe all babies' faces look like this and I am just imagining things!  Haha.  Without further ado, here he is:

I love my little Grant.  He makes me so happy. :)  He's very predictable in his movements...he kicks me when I wake up in the morning, then around 11:30 am, 4:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m., and 11:00 p.m.  It's fun.  He's quite wild, frankly, and a lot of my friends with little boys and girls attest that their boys were wilder than their girls in utero...of course, I think this means he's gonna be a little bundle of energy.  Fun fun!


It's really exciting imagining what Grant is going to look like based on the ultrasounds, even if I might be totally wrong.  When I was looking at his chin, I thought a lot about my grandma.  I got to visit her in her nursing hospital when I was visiting California.  She came to our wedding back in Feb. 2006 (which I am SO grateful for) and shortly after had to be admitted to the hospital because of a stroke.  Frankly, it is really difficult to see her in that condition because I remember her as a vivacious, fun-loving woman.  She was the friendliest and most joyful person I have ever met in my entire life.  Just like my Grandma Mun, she just exuded the joy of the Lord even though she had a really hard life.  She was an awesome cook, and loved feeding people until they were bursting at the seams.  I am really glad I got to see her.  It was nice because my parents, Tom and I all went together...and it was amazing to be able to tell/show her I am pregnant.  As soon as my mom told her I am pregnant, Grant started kicking (and he's kicking now!!!).  I don't know...maybe it was coincidence, but I'd like to think that Grant knew he was in the presence of a very special, wonderful woman.  I hope that someday Grant can actually meet my sweet grandma.  I know she would love to see her great-grandbaby...and if she could, she would laugh and sing to him.  

Gosh, it may be partly because of the pregnancy hormones, but I am just full of love for my family.  It's not a perfect family...but warts and all...I think come from a pretty special bunch of people.  I hope Grant will feel the same way someday.

it's all greek to me

The other day, I was walking down the hallway at work, and I realized that I love being pregnant.  Maybe it's because we had to wait so long to get here, but even with the fatigue and the stretch marks (yes...), I LOVE being pregnant.  I love feeling little Grant kick me...even when it seems like he's kicking my bladder.  Just now, I was perusing some UCLA baby gear online and he must've been excited because he was kicking up a storm.  (Incidentally, as soon as I left that site, he stopped kicking--I think we have a future Bruin cooking up in here, folks!)

Anyway, although I love being pregnant, I have to say that I am very sad today.  Why?  Well...because I never take off my wedding/engagement rings for fear of losing them, and I realized a couple of days ago that they are now officially stuck on my fat pregnant finger!  I've googled and the best method seems to be a combination of elevation, ice, Preparation H, dental floss, and Windex.  Yes...Windex.  As in, My Big Fat Greek Wedding Greek father spraying Windex on anything and everything that ails you.  People swear by it.  Well...I've tried some of these, though not all together, and nothing's worked so far--although Windex did get the ring up to my knuckle, I just didn't have the strength or the pain tolerance to see it through.  I'm going to give it the old college try again tonight, and if it doesn't work, it looks like it's off to the jeweler's I go to get them cut off. :(  There are several reasons I don't want to do this, not the least being the sentimental value attached to my rings and the sad idea of having to cut them.  But, they, unlike an amputated finger, are reparable...I just have to fork out a pretty penny to get them fixed.  Le sigh.

Oh well.  It'll be a good story to tell Grant when he's older.  And maybe it'll motivate Tom to get me a pretty push gift. :)

23 weeks: dance with me, make me sway

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.

This week's update makes me think of the song, "Sway With Me"--When marimba rhythms start to play, Dance with me, make me sway, Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore, Hold me close, sway me more.  So far, so good.  Grant's kicking is getting more and more prominent, and last night Tom felt a few swift and hard kicks.  Fun times! :)

We just returned yesterday from our babymoon to Las Vegas, where we ate good food, played some blackjack, and watched "The Lion King."  I had been wanting to watch that show for about 10 years now, and it was amazing!  Loved it!  Then we headed over to Southern California and spent some time with our families and friends.  It was soooooo fun.  We ate SO much good food (sorry, East Coast--you have NOTHING on California food) and the weather was AMAZING!  It made us wonder why we weren't living there.

Our sisters and two of my dear friends threw a co-ed baby shower barbeque for us while we were in California.  It was so nice to see friends and family and eat some great food.  Unfortunately, I was so busy catching up with everyone that I completely forgot to take pictures!!!  Maybe I'll try to post some more pics if my sister sends me some.  In any case, we are so thankful for our party-throwers and for everyone who came~it was a perfect and most special day to celebrate little Grant.  I know I've said this before, but Grant is a super lucky kid to have so many awesome people in his life. :)

Although we had a great time in California, we are glad to be home and reunited with Scoutie Scout.  She was at Piper's house for half the time, and then at our dogsitter's house the rest.  It warmed my heart when Tom brought her home (I was sleeping because we had just arrived from California on a redeye) and I called out her name...she bolted up the stairs and gave me a greeting that only your puppy can give you.  I know she wanted to play, but she knew I was tired, so she plopped down on her bed right next to mine, and snoozed a few hours with me.  I thought she would forget me because she was having so much fun with her friends, but she smothered me with love in a way that only a dog can.  No wonder they are considered "man's best friend!!!"  I.LOVE.HER.

Hope all is well with you, my friends!