My Sweetheart

I know I am biased, but I think my monster baby can be a cutie! Ugh. The internet at my parents' house has been psycho. We have been able to get it only on my mom's computer. I have to share it with my mom and dad in addition to working my computer use around Justin's schedule. It is VERY frustrating. Hopefully it will be "normal" soon. Oh well, I will be leaving for China soon.
I did want to at least post some pictures. I have some video clips at youtube that I will be uploading as well.

Isn't he a cutie? I know I am probably biased. Thevideo and these pictures were all taken on Sunday, February 25th. I had a hard time choosing just a few of them. Be glad that you don't have to look at all of them.





Hope you enjoy.

I found these pictures in a "draft" file on my blogger. Oops. Well, better late than never I guess. Here are some pictures of my sweet boy. They were taken sometime in February.

PETULANT

Justin makes just about the cutest pouty face I've ever seen. The weirdest part of this video is that noodles is egging him on to cry, and also that his cry is totally fake. Most of the way through the video, he actually forgets what he's doing and starts to laugh. Oops. Man, this kid is cute.

Isn't my sweet little Muzz cute? Even with his baby acne and the occasional milk crusties around his mouth.

I NEED PHOTOSHOP!

My Justin is cute enough, but I need to use photoshop to touch up pictures of me if I am going to continue to post them on the web. When I was pregnant and puking that was a great excuse for my appearance. What is my excuse now? With my mom taking J in the mornings so I can get four or so consecutive hours of sleep (in addition to the other times she takes him) I can't say that I am horribly sleep deprived. I don't really have time to photoshop myself to look presentable. I think it would take more time to actually make myself look somewhat presentable.

Today's pictures for your pleasure include Justin ready to go out on a walk with mom, Justin looking cute after being changed, Valentine Justin, and pouty Justin. He is good at that one too. Can it be that he has already learned that looking pathetic gets him attention?

Star of the Show

When I left Idaho around the holidays, little Justin was cute and all, but he wasn't doing a whole lot. He would sometimes cry, sometimes squint a bit, and sleep a lot. Every week, though, I hear updates about all the cute things he's doing. I told Noodles she should post some videos of him, and so that's what I'm doing now. Enjoy his cute smiles and giggles.

I think my sweet baby looks different from day to day. Sometimes even from hour to hour. Here are some recent pictures of him.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday and my sister, the one and only Miss Meredith A Bak, sent me some onesies for my sweet baby. Aren't they adorable? She is the best! I will have to take a picture of the alphabet poster that she made for Christmas. I want to get it framed in China first to keep it protected. For more on Meredith and her wacky style, check out her blog at http://thedailycollision.blogspot.com or watch her animations at www.youtube.com (search for her things under lasalebete).

Here we are, the happy (but tired) family. Justin went to church and was very well behaved. He seems to love to be out and about. He absolutely loves being all bundled up and driving around in the car. He falls asleep right away. Unfortunately he tends to wake up as soon as we get home. :( If only I could sleep while I drive, then I could catch up on sleep while he does. I am hoping that his car sleeping behavior is a prediction of similar behavior on the airplane. If he decides to show his Monster Baby behavior a very long trip could become a VERY very long trip for me and those around us!

CORRECTION:

After reading the previous blog entry, Rob corrected me. While changing Justin's diaper Rob was indeed peed on twice, but only once in the face.

As for my experience..

Last night I was able to successfully keep Justin covered and avoid being peed on. Unfortunately I learned that poop can fly out just as fast and far as urine. :( Sigh. I love my monster baby though. I think he is pretty cute. Of course I am probably biased.

MY SWEET MONSTER BABY

I just love my sweet little monster baby. Sure he keeps me up all night and yes, he did pee on his dad's face (not once, but TWICE during the same diaper change!) but I love him and think he is pretty cute.



I had this great idea when he was first born. I thought it would be neat to take pictures of him in the various clothes that people had bought for him and then send those people a picture of him wearing the outfit they had given him. Well, it should be easy enough. I should be able to get it done in a day or two since he goes through SO many changes each day. It can take me more than a day to get a single thank you note written! It just isn't going to happen.

Justin Thomas Weber: The Name

A couple of people have asked about Justin's name and wondered if he is named after anyone. Justin was going to be Hannah Renee Weber. I like the name Hannah and Renee is my middle name as well as my mother's. When "Hannah" ended up being a boy, we were at quite a loss. I had a list of other girl names that I liked, but hadn't been planning on a boy. Rob was still on his way out to Idaho and couldn't exactly help me to come up with a name right away.

I went through the alphabet in my mind one letter at at time thinking of boy's names that I liked that started with that letter. I came up with a list. I thought Robert or Evan (Rob's middle name) might be good middle name ideas. Left the hospital without a name for Weber, Boy.

My sister helped look for names online and everyone added to the list. Rob and I crossed off names that we didn't like for whatever reason. We didn't want a W or a R name because we thought it could be a mouthful, especially if our little one has trouble with speech. We didn't want a name that everyone would automatically shorten. A lot of names that we liked we didn't like the nickname that is common with it. Rob wasn't too big on using one of his names as a middle name.

One morning when I was catching up on some sleep, Rob and Baby had a talk and thought Justin might fit. They told me the idea. It was a name on the list and a name that I like. I thought about it for the day and decided it worked. We had a hard time with a middle name, but Thomas is a name that I like and it flowed with Justin better than a lot of the other name ideas so Justin Thomas became our Baby's name. The day after Christmas we went to the hospital and gave them the information so it could be processed.

I am pretty much used to referring to my baby as he and not she. When I talk about what he was like in the womb he is still often referred to as a she because as far as I was concerned at that time he was going to be my little girl. I am used to calling him Justin (in addition to about a million other nicknames). The day we named him we had a dr appt and when they call you back they call the child's name. As they called patients back I had to think if they were calling my baby or not. :) How embarassing. At least I didn't go back until they called for Justin.

Speaking of Justin, he is stirring so I need to go. Here are a few pictures of my sweetie.

January 1, 2007

It looks like I might have a few minutes to write. Justin is such a sweet baby, but a gassy one who doesn't like to be put down. As long as he is being held he is pretty mild mannered. He is definitely not the little girl I expected, but we will keep him. :)

Justin is definitely better on the after side of the pregnancy. Even his birth wasn't bad in comparision to pregnancy. Nine long months of puking and feeling uncomfortable vs. less than five hours of pain. I am still a little bitter that I didn't get my epidural or anything for pain. Once he decided to come, Justin came pretty quickly. Friday, December 22nd around 7:00 PM my mom and I arrived at hospital. 9:00 PM they were ready to send me home because my contractions had slowed down and hadn't gotten past 2 cm. I am, at this point, still puking. :( Luckily, my water broke so they kept me. About a quarter to midnight my sweet little Justin was born. I kept puking all through labor, but stopped as soon as he was born. Justin (no name at the time) weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 21 inches long. We didn't have a boy named picked out so he didn't officially get his name until the day after Christmas when we went back to the hospital and finished filling out the paperwork.

Justin is a gassy little baby. He should have been born back in the day when people put their babies to sleep on their stomachs. He does not like his back and I end up holding him all night long while dozing in the recliner. Other people help take turns (Rob, my mom, my sister, even my dad) but Justin seems to like to be with me so he can eat frequently. Sure I get so tired that I burst into tears now and then, but he is worth it. I don't know how people manage if they don't have other people to help out. I know that I am going to have to learn to type faster with one hand or I will hardly ever get anything up on the blog.

HE'S GOT A NAME!

Good news, fair readers. After much deliberation, and let me tell you, it was a lot, Noodles (and rob!) have finally settled on a name for their youngster: Justin Thomas. Cute, huh? Here he is with his pacifier, looking cute as can be. Notice his wrinkled forehead, the patented family "monkey face."

SAY HELLO TO BABY WEBER!

Good news, fair readers. On the evening of December 22, around 11:45, our Noodles delivered the baby, whom we have affectionately been referring to as the muzz. Weighing in at 7 lbs 6 ounces and measuring 21 inches long, the muzz is a perfectly proportioned little darling. Noodles had only gone to the hospital at around 9 pm, so everything happened extremely quickly. So quickly, in fact, that there was no time for any pain medication. Noodles is a hardy one. Thinking of her birthing a baby sans anything for pain envokes Rosie the Riveter - esque images.

But here's the surprise. You know how everyone was expecting the muzz to be a girl? How all these months we'd been amassing pink ruffled things galore? Well, it turns out that the muzz is a boy! HA HA! Luckily there were enough "gender neutral" things on hand to properly outfit the lad.

Muzz is still without a name, but he's handling it pretty well. Both he and Noodles are doing well. Immediately after the muzz was born, Noodles no longer felt the urge to vomit all the time, which she'd experienced through all 9 months of pregnancy. It's truly a Christmas miracle.

Rubella (that's Rob) got into town on the evening of the 23rd, so we're all making merry together. Huzzah!

Testing, testing, one two three!?

It's me, Noodles' sister. I'm just testing out this cyber diary in preparation for the baby's birth, when I'll be taking over the noodles (and rob!) turf for awhile.

WHERE'S MY BABY ALREADY?

Sigh. I am ready for my baby to be born already. At my doctor's appointment yesterday the doctor said that I might be ready, but my body isn't ready yet. I am now up 50 pounds and ready to get rid of some of this weight! I am tired of having my back hurt. I am also tired of vomiting! Doctor said he could give me something to reduce the nausea, but at this point in the pregnancy I might as well hold out and be able to tell Baby that I threw up the entire nine months. Due date isn't that far away!

I realize that my due date is Dec 30th, but I am full term so I consider her due now. If your taxes are due on a certain date they need to be in on or before that date or they are late. Baby would no longer be considered a preemie, therefore she is not early. Being born now would be on time. What is wrong with my body? I am not one who likes to wait for the last minute. Perhaps next week she will be ready.

Of course there are still plenty of things that I could do to be better prepared for her to come, but I don't think that those things are going to happen so she might as well just be born. Today, tomorrow, next week, next month-- whenever she comes I will wish I had done this or that before she came.

Now about a million people want to be called or e-mailed when Baby is born. Nice, but not very realistic. I will try to get the word out, but no promises. Hopefully I can get my mom or Rob or someone to let people know. I will try to get someone to update this blog too with all the information like name, date and time of birth, weight, etc. etc. Check back often. Hopefully she will be born soon!

Back in the USA

I have been back in the States for almost a month. I spent a week at my parents' house before taking off for Portland, OR to visit my brother and his family. He and his wife have three boys under six years old and they are VERY busy boys. The pictures, however, do not show that. The oldest two just LOVE the baby and would talk to her, sing to her, play pat-a-cake with her, and even got their picture taken with her (or at least my belly). The youngest one liked to kick the baby a lot when I would hold him, so he often ended up on the floor. I did get him to sleep once. I guess I made a comfortable pillow.

After a week in Portland I returned to my parents house. I rested up for a week before my brother and his family came out here for Thanksgiving. Busy boys around me once again! They really can wear a person out, especially a pregnant person who is 45 pounds heavier than she used to be.

It has been good to see family and to reintroduce my body to junk food! I have enjoyed Krispy Kreme doughnuts, pop tarts, toaster streudels, pies, chips and dip, Breyer's ice cream, typical Thanksgiving feast food, sour patch kids, and many other WONDERFUL things I didn't have in China. I have been able to eat at such gourmet restaurants as Wendy's, Taco Bell, Carl's Jr, and IHOP.

There is a lot more shopping too. My husband has noticed that I am spending more money here than I did in China. I can't imagine how much I would spend if I felt better! I thought shopping would be more fun, but somehow needing to go to the bathroom every little while takes a lot of the fun out of shopping. I also feel like a big cow moving through the stores and don't want to look at anything that isn't at eye level. Bending over makes me need to puke. (Yes, I am eight months pregnant and STILL puking a couple of times a day.)

I need to get so much stuff for the baby. It seems like an endless list of things that she will need. I thought looking at things would be fun, but it is overwhelming. I went to Babies R Us when I was in Portland. There were WAY too many pregnant women or people with small children trying to shop while perky sales people smiled and easily moved around the store. Too many choices there for me, plus not a convenient location. I left with only a diaper bag and a few ideas.

Now that I am back in the US and could actually spend time in the stores, I find that online is easier. I spend a lot of time looking at Target.com and wishing that they had all the things that they have in the store online. I want some things that are in the store, but don't have energy to go get the little registry zap gun to add the things to my registry that I can't add online. I suppose that is okay as it is mostly for me anyway. I am hoping that I haven't accumulated too much pink stuff for a baby that is most likely a girl. She could still decide to surprise us and come out a he instead. Then the baby and I would spend his first little bit of life making returns/exchanges.

Well, Baby is hiccuping yet AGAIN. My stomach is jumping around all over the place. Sigh. I hate when she gets the hiccups. It quickly went from cute to most annoying. I am hoping that she is born a little early, preferably BEFORE Christmas!

Last China Post for awhile...

I leave tomorrow for Beijing, spend the night, and continue on through Japan and Portland before arriving in Spokane. I HOPE that nothing happens between here and Beijing that is in anyway blog worthy.

Anyway, yesterday I went for a walk and said good-bye to my friends Sewing Machine Lady and her mom. Since I was with a few other people we decided to venture into Sewing Machine Lady's "housing development". Though in my neighborhood and visible from my bedroom window, it is quite different from where I live. There has been a lot of recent development in the area where I live and I am hoping that when I come back from the US that Sewing Machine Lady and her mother have not had to move. It won't be too long before someone will want to tear down that building and all the squatters will be forced to relocate.

I wish that I had a super good digital camera because I could get some very interesting shots from my bedroom window. These homes have no heat and only whatever electricity they can find from nearby and pirate. Looking down you can get a view of the whole setup and not cause any attention. Having a foreigner (probably even a Chinese person who doesn't "belong" there) going down the narrow corridor that leads to this interior courtyard of housing is something that is immediately noticed. Very hard to blend.

Leek and sour cabbage season is approaching, and people have it outside EVERYWHERE to dry. It hangs out of windows, rests on sidewalks and streets, and is constantly underfoot. There was even some out on the bank steps. If I had to eat like the locals, I would lose quite a bit of weight. I would have to be really hungry to want some of the stuff they eat.

The other night I did go out with some consulate people to a Uighur restaurant. (Look up Uighur in a search engine if you don't know about this Chinese minority). I ate bread and fatty lamb kababs until I was ready to burst. SO good! Right now just thinking about it I want to walk over and grab a few for lunch. At 12 cents a kabob it is hard to go wrong! It is a local restaurant, but Uighur food and not typical of Northeast China so I don't know that it counts as eating like a local.

Here are some pictures of me from October 29th. My last pregnant pictures in China. I leave October 31st!

Thirty pounds heavier already and two months to go. :(

October 22, 2006

Still pregnant, and even bigger! Even my three year old nephew, Ian, has to admit that I look like I have a baby ready to pop out of me. Is it December yet?

Here are some new pics of me. The one in the black dress is from yesterday (10/8) and the one with ultraman is from today. I was told that in the black dress unless looking at me from the side that I didn't look pregnant, just fat. Great.

My Conversation with a Cab Driver

Sure, I have been taking Chinese lessons since January. I started out with two hours, twice a week. I went to Bangkok in February and took 2 weeks off. I went to Australia in March and took 3 weeks off. I got pregnant and felt miserable for the first trimester and took 3 months off. In July I started again, but this time two hours one time a week. In September my teacher cut me back to one hour a week because I shouldn't sit still for so long. So when you look at it, I really haven't had as much time learning Chinese as you would think. When I don't feel like I am progressing much, Rob reminds me that I rarely study or even go over any of the materials except when my teacher is here. I guess that means I must be doing alright. This is how a conversation with a cab driver goes when I am forced to speak in Chinese.

Me: Hello.
Cab Driver: Hello. Where are you going?
Me: American Consulate
Cab Driver: Okay.
Cab Driver: (asks me a question)
Me: I don't understand. I don't speak Chinese.
Cab Driver: You are going to the American Consulate. Are you American?
Me: Yes, I am.
Cab Driver: (asks me a question)
Me: I don't understand.
Cab Driver: What's your name?
Me: I'm Wei Lin.
Cab Driver: (asks me a question)
Me: I don't understand.
Cab Driver: Do you want me to go straight or turn left here?
Me: It doesn't matter.
Cab driver turns left and then right and we are at the end of the block where he will let me off. I give him about $1.
Me: Thank you.
Cab Driver: Good bye
Me: Good bye.

I have decided that "I don't understand" is probably the most important phrase I know. I use it all the time. The other key phrases are "American Consulate" and "Intercontinental Hotel" so I can get places. Maybe Baby is hearing enough Chinese that she will be better with the tones. :)