mini moon

Gus and I went on a mini babymoon last Friday. With the arrival of his parents in town, we now have babysitters who are willing to stay overnight! We had such a good time, and Little Miss J did well with her grandparents.

After work, we headed to the Lafayette Park Hotel & Spa and checked in. We had dinner reservations at Artisan Bistro. Best part about the meal was the sous vide octopus, which had a sherry relish and marcona almonds. There are so many restaurants we haven't tried, but I would go back here just for that. Entrees were pretty good, but I'd be OK if I didn't eat them again. The second best part of the meal was the dessert, which was a peach tart with lavendar ice cream. The peaches here have been insanely juicy and delicious and I've been eating about a half dozen or so per week for the last several weeks, and I would imagine it is difficult to make lavendar ice cream that is not reminiscent of soap but the pastry chef here managed to do just that. After dinner we relaxed and managed to sleep in until the late late hour of 7 a.m. The curse of being a parent with a toddler that rises with the sun.

Saturday morning, despite wanting room service, I agreed to forego the 20% service charge and eat in the restaurant. I really wanted the eggs benedict with smoked salmon, but since I haven't eaten raw eggs for this entire pregnancy I figured why start now. Instead I had the lemon blueberry pancakes, which were pretty good - although they were not really a substitute for the lemon ricotta cakes at Hell's Kitchen in Minneapolis (which in the back of my mind I was sort of hoping for). Nonetheless, it was a relaxing morning with my favorite husband.

After breakfast, we decided to drive to the summit of Mt. Diablo. It was a windy road up the mountain with no guardrail, so given Gus's fear of heights I'm pretty sure we will never drive up there again - so it's a good thing we got some photos.

a selfie

the actual summit was in the visitor center

On our way home we did a little shopping at the outlet mall before relieving the grandparents from their babysitting duties. Little Miss J was so happy to see us. Her grandparents picked her up from preschool, and she had been sad for about 10 minutes when she realized we weren't home. But I guess Friday night she put herself to sleep and slept from 7:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m., neither of which EVER HAPPENS when we are home. Playing with grandma and grandpa must have worn her out because she passed out on our bed before 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night. Gus managed to get her pull-up on without waking her.

We had a fantastic time on our mini getaway and it seemed like just what we needed to spend some time alone together. We were both, however, very happy to get home and see our little munchkin.

flashback friday

In honor of our first overnight without Little Miss J, here's us getting hitched ... in Vegas ... at a drive-thru chapel ... in a car. Gus will have wanted me to point out that it isn't just any car, but he sprang for the Mercedes. And thus, the Chunglunds were formed.

false alarm

Monday around lunchtime, I started having some contractions. They continued throughout the night preventing a good night's sleep and throughout the morning/early afternoon on Tuesday. Being the veteran pregnant lady that I am, I did not go to the hospital Monday night. I had a regularly scheduled OB appointment on Tuesday at which I figured she'd check me and tell me that I wasn't progressing and therefore, it was probably just Braxton Hicks. With Little Miss J, we were calling the nurse line pretty regularly and were in the hospital to be monitored twice. This time we seem to be much more laid back ... perhaps too laid back. When I arrived at the doctor's office yesterday afternoon, I was still having contractions and basically got yelled at by the doctor for not going to the hospital earlier. Off to the hospital we went for what turned out to be the rest of the day. When I got there my contractions were coming two every 10 minutes, and the nurse said that although I wasn't progressing yet if they couldn't get them to stop something would probably start happening. They ran tests to make sure I wasn't dehydrated, had an infection, or in preterm labor. All tests came back negative, and after 3+ hours of laying in a hospital bed the contractions had stopped. And the diagnosis was ... drum roll please ... wait for it ... my OB said that I must have just had a "grumpy uterus" for the last couple days. W.T.F. Seriously. I mean really. Perhaps we are a little too laid back and my doctor is a little too overly cautious - but in the end I guess we are better safe than sorry. All I have to show for it is a jacked up swollen wrist from the nurse's first attempt at the IV. Oh and some hospital bracelets that Little Miss J thought were pretty neat.

another perfect weekend

As this pregnancy progresses, I'm starting to slow down a bit, but there are still so many things I want to do before the baby arrives. This past weekend was a good low key weekend spending time with family and friends.

Friday after work we took Little Miss J to the pool, which was a special treat since usually Friday nights are spent at home. The only thing that could get her out of the pool was the promise of some crab for dinner and thus, we became those people at the Chinese buffet that I typically judge - you know the ones who only go for the crab legs and have shells piled obscenely high in the middle of their table? Yeah, that was us. Little Miss J can shovel the crabmeat in her little mouth faster than Gus can crack the shells.

Saturday after her regularly scheduled gymnastics class, Little Miss J went to Kaden's 4th birthday party, where there was a fire truck for the little ones to climb on. Little Miss J was partial to sitting in the driver's seat and was not too interested in letting anyone else drive. At one point, she even buckled herself in I'm guessing because she thought it would be harder to oust her if she was strapped to the driver's seat.

Saturday evening, Gus's parents arrived and we got them as settled into their house as one can get with no furniture. Little Miss J has quickly become very attached to the fact that Halmoni and Harabogee are to stay. On Sunday, she went grocery shopping with them. Then while Gus took them to Costco, Little Miss J and I went to visit Auntie Rachael and Uncle Randy to do a little swimming. After nearly falling asleep in her Chex mix, it was time for us to head home where she sacked out on the couch for an hour and a half only to wake up and demand to see Halmoni and Harabogee.

Since they live less than three miles away, we called them up and they were happy to have us come over. Gus helped them with some bills and Little Miss J danced, jumped, and ran around the empty house. I think we are all looking forward to having family so close by!

we must be doing something right

One of my greatest wishes for Little Miss J is for her to always know how much we love her. Even during times of discipline, I always try to work in the fact that Umma and Appah love her before I  talk about why she is being punished. My mom's love for my brother and me and the myriad of ways she showed us that love are my strongest memories of her, and sharing that love with my own daughter is my way of honoring the person who I think was the best mom in the world. Our usual nighttime routine is reading a story, laying down and talking about our day, and then usually me ignoring Little Miss J (or pretending to sleep) while she rolls around, kicks the wall, kicks my back, etc. until she finally drifts off to sleep. Last night I did the usual lay on my side with my back to her, and she reaches over to pat my arm and says, "Umma I just love you. I [am] going [to] take care of you. Good night." The reciprocating words of my almost three year old's love for me left me feeling like we must be doing something right raising our little girl.

getting there

We are slowly checking off things from our list:

1. Nursery

2. Halloween costumes for both kids

3. Little Miss J's birthday outfit

4. Newborn outfit for Baby Wang II

5. Hospital tour scheduled

6. Treat bags for Little Miss J's birthday party

7. Menu planned for Little Miss J's birthday party

8. Middle name(s) picked for Baby Wang II

9. Bottles

10. Drying rack

11. Dishwasher rack for bottles

12. Newborn diapers

13. Pack hospital bag

14. Finish patio furniture (Gus)

15. Birthday presents for Little Miss J's friends

16. Enjoy every single second with my first child before sleep deprivation sets in (ongoing)

17. Obssess incessantly about how hard it will be to have two kids (every. single. day.)

We're getting there. Almost ready for this baby to arrive!

wordless wednesday

 

 

raising the stakes

I am most definitely not a laid back person. I accept this. I worry about things. Lots of things. Having kid(s) has definitely raised the stakes and probably made me more high strung. What got me thinking about this is the damn CNN news updates I get on my phone. Before having Little Miss J, I didn't worry about plane accidents, brain eating amoebas, kidnapping, bullying, etc. After having a kid, my focus has been so completely on her and her happiness and safety that I see all the bad things being reported in the news and I freak out. The chances of her getting a brain eating amoeba? Probably slim. But the thought of it actually gives me a panic attack. The odds of her getting her feelings hurt at school or by her friends at some point in her life? Probably pretty high, but just thinking of her feeling badly because she was left out of something or is made fun of for not being the "cool kid" literally brings tears to my eyes. I worried about Gus flying alone because of the chance his plane would crash and we'd be left husband/father-less. These are all things that I didn't give a second thought to in my pre-baby life.

Parents just want their kids to be safe and happy. I used to think my mom was borderline crazy with her pages upon pages of rules for the babysitter and all the other things she used to worry about. It wasn't until I became a mom that I understood that parenthood seems to come hand in hand with some level of neuroses. So mom, wherever you are, I no longer think you are a nut job. I understand why you used to stay up until I arrived home from a night out and why you left such explicit babysitting instructions that made me laugh when I read them as a teenager. In fact, you may have actually been less crazy than I am. I don't think I could ever put into words how important this little girl is to me, and keeping her safe and happy does make me act little bit crazy sometimes.