Look out boys...

Now that we know we are having a baby girl, Trip is planning ways to haze and possibly terrify her future suitors.  Today he told me that all he wants from a baby shower is for people to donate money so that he can get a gun.  His look got all gleeful as he then started pondering aloud what kind of gun would make the biggest impact.  It sounds like it is currently between a sniper rifle or an assault rifle.


I can already see the horrified and embarrassed look on our daughter's face.

What time did you say you were bringing my baby girl back tonight?

Easter Weekend

This Easter weekend was pretty laid back for us.  On Friday, Trip and I went over to the Clark's apartment for dinner.  I taught the kids how to make Japanese curry with Bree, and we always have a good time when we are with their family.  I think the pictures pretty much speak for themselves.

The finished product

The restaurant signs the kids made in preparation for Trip and Tim's return from work

Calix and Liesel riding their pet dragon

Sunday we played games with dad and ate Easter dinner as a family.  It was nice to just have some down time with each other.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to pull the camera out to document our dinner, but Trip and I enjoyed cooking together for the first time in a long time  :)

The belly conundrum

This pretty much sums up my current situation.

And now what you have all been waiting for...

Now that I have drawn out the suspense and made you wonder if I was ever going to get to the point and share what you really want to know, here it is!  The results of our ultrasound were pretty conclusive and we are having a baby girl!  We are so excited and we can't wait to see her in person.  Trip and I went to lunch to celebrate and spent some time narrowing down our name list.  We have picked our top 3 and we will probably not decide which one fits best until we see our little girl.  Here are the front runners so far:

• Makaila
• Cassidy
• Kathleen

Of course I also took pictures of our lunch to document this exciting day in the Baker family, so here they are!

Our delicious English Afternoon Tea

Our impromptu list of names and spellings that we worked on during lunch

Happy parents

Taxi

Yesterday we had our routine doctor's appointment.  Since our doctor is located at  one of the largest hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, we have never had a problem getting there via taxi.  At least, not before today.  Yesterday, we managed to get the one taxi driver that thought when we said "Prince Court Hospital", we really meant "Prince Hotel".  Not only that, but he also took us through downtown Kuala Lumpur during the lunch rush hour, which was awesome.  It wasn't until he pulled up to the hotel that we realized he had no clue where the hospital actually was.  Once we figured this out, we gave him directions and he finally figured out where he was going.  At this point we had driven in a huge loop.  


The real kicker was when he pulled into the hospital entrance and started going into paid parking before he realized that was not the drop off point.  I think we found the only taxi driver who has not heard of or been to this hospital before.  Our 5 minute ride ended up taking 30 minutes and I wouldn't have minded so much except that this particular visit to the doctor was also when we were finding out the gender of our baby.  Talk about feeling anxious!

Boy or Girl?

We had a doctor's appointment today and found out the gender of Baby Baker...and we are excited!  Before we share our excitement with all of you, we want to know what you think.


So...will it be a "Baby Trip" or a "Baby Kim"?

Puppy love

Kitty Kisses

I love having both a cat and dog for a lot of reasons.  My favorite is when they play together and get all cozy.  It is so cute to see them interact and it never gets old.  Here are a few more sweet moments caught on camera.

The Aquarium

This weekend we went to the aquarium with the Clark family.  Trip and I went when we first got here which you can read about here.  This time I got some better pictures thanks to having a better camera  :)

giant catfish

You aren't supposed to use a flash so the pictures are a little grainy, but at least you can see the fish this time.  Some of them were so creepy huge!  Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we were glad we went again.

The baby bump

19 weeks

 

My first tri-mester

I am an optimistic realist; I plan for the worst, hope for the best, and embrace what I get.  I don't walk into things without doing my research first.  I always "look before I leap", and I always like to explore the possible outcomes before making a decision.  (That's probably why I wasn't nervous on my wedding day...I had already done the hard part and made my decision)  I don't expect things to work out exactly like I anticipate and that is why I like to know the worst case scenarios...so that I am mentally prepared for whatever comes my way.  Spontaneity and last minute decisions can make me uncomfortable because I am a planner.  That doesn't mean I don't enjoy surprises or that every detail has to be planned out...I just prefer to have a general plan and let the details work themselves out.

This is how I approach pretty much all major decisions in my life and this is how I approached the decision to have a baby.  Yes, our pregnancy was planned and I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into.  I have seen babies being born, I have learned how they develop and I knew that pregnancy wasn't a cake walk.  I heard about the swollen ankles, the sleepless nights, the painful labor, the food aversions and cravings, the being so big that you can't get out of your chair...and I knew that it was worth it.  I knew that every woman is different and that my experience wouldn't be exactly like anyone else, but I also thought I had a pretty good idea of what to anticipate.

What I don't remember ever hearing about is the first trimester...and that is a real shame because that would have been extremely helpful.  Nobody bothered to tell me about being so sick that you can't leave your bedroom for days.  Nobody mentioned that it is NOT like in the movies or on TV where you heave once and then you are back to normal...no one thought I should know that you can be heaving so hard that your eyes are watering and your stomach muscles and throat muscles ache for hours afterward.  I never heard anyone say that morning sickness is a misnomer and that you can be sick all hours of the day.  No, I didn't hear any of these stories until AFTER I was already experiencing it.  


I appreciate knowing that I'm not the only one to go through this, but it would have been great to hear about this sooner so I could somewhat prepare.  I am at 17 weeks now and for 12 of those 17, I have been sick.  For 12 weeks I have been too sick to get out of bed for anywhere from 3 - 5 days a week.  I consider it a good day if I don't vomit.  I get stressed out and worn down by being sick all the time.  I feel the same almost everyday, which is terrible.  Even worse, I hate complaining about it so I put on a smile and say things that I don't always mean when people ask how I am doing.

Things are getting better.  I LOVE that I have only thrown up 1 - 2 days for the last two weeks.  Lately, I am not nearly as nauseous, which is awesome.  And now that I am feeling well enough to think about it and talk about it, I have come to the conclusion that I am upset.  Not because of what I'm going through, but because for some reason nobody spoke about this until after I got pregnant.  In my opinion, that's crap!  Don't women owe it to each other to be honest about the experience?  Because when I am in the thick of it, I don't want to hear about how it is all worth it at the end.  What I really want is honesty.

When I went on a mission, I was told that it would be the hardest thing I ever did, but that it would be the best time of my life.  Truer words were never spoken.  Some of the hardest moments of my life were on my mission and yet I wouldn't take any of it back.  Pregnancy feels the same...it is one of the hardest things a woman can do, and it doesn't end after 9 months...no that is just the beginning.  But no mother that I know would take it back or give up a child because it is also the best thing they have ever done.  So why did I have to wait until I was miserable and sick before I started hearing similar stories?  There is no reason why talking about morning sickness, or the other things that parents suffer, should be so taboo.  It is not fair that I had to wait until I was already suffering before I got to hear the truth.

I have also noticed that while some people are trying to encourage me, they are doing it by sugar coating my future experiences.  I have been told that the next pregnancy will be easier; that it won't be this bad.  Maybe, but that's not guaranteed.  Does that scare me? Yes.  Does it make me want to stop at one child?  Definitely not.  I have been told that in 9 months I will hold my baby in my arms and I won't remember how awful I felt during the first trimester.  Now that I believe; not because of the overwhelming love and responsibility that I know I will feel, but because I will be too tired to think about anything other than sleep and feeding and changing the crying baby so it will stop.  I don't like being given false expectations because if I don't match up to it, I will feel guilty or inadequate.  I appreciate the people who tell me the truth and admit that once the baby is born it is not always "easier" or "better", but that it is different in a good way.

I love my little baby.  I am so excited to know if it is a boy or a girl and I am even more excited to see it in person in a few months.  I am so grateful that I am pregnant and that Trip and I get to be parents.  I am truly blessed and humbled to have this experience.  I am not bitter and I do not resent this experience because I have been learning so much.  I just think that it is better to be honest and better to say it the way it is so that others can benefit from my experience.  I still appreciate the people who ask how I am doing and who care enough about me to support and encourage me.  I just hope that from now on, I will get to hear more realistic experiences and not just the idealistic ones.

Cuddles

Since I got pregnant, Tigger has gotten more cuddly.  She especially likes getting cuddles from Trip.  Here are some sweet loves that I got on camera.

The Crazies

Today was like any other day.  I woke up, ate my apple (for whatever reason this settles my stomach), got out of bed, put Tigger's food in her food dish and Jack's food in his food dish and got myself some cereal.  I stood there for a minute wondering why Jack was so uncharacteristically eager to eat this morning when it hit me...I had given Jack the cat food and Tigger the dog food!  Luckily, I realized this in time to switch the bowls back (much to Jack's disappointment).  

This got me noticing other little changes that I am experiencing.  I don't normally forget things, but every now and then my mind will go blank and I have no idea what I was going to do or say.  This happened mid-sentence the other night when I was telling Trip something...I completely forgot what I was talking about!  I also have had a hard time falling asleep.  Even when I am exhausted, it takes me at least 45 minutes to lose consciousness.  Most nights I lay awake for over an hour before sleep finds me.  I sleep well until I wake up to go to the bathroom and then I have to go through the whole exercise again.

I have also been having some super vivid dreams.  They are often random, disjointed, and make absolutely no sense, but they are so vivid I can remember more detail than I used to.  I also seem to dream about food.  Totally random foods too, like Cinnamon Toast Crunch (haven't eaten it in years), McDonald's hashbrowns, and bacon.  Ok, maybe bacon isn't so random because bacon is awesome!

The craziest that I have gotten is at night.  Trip and I will usually be ready for bed, and while I am laying there I will just start crying.  Trip will ask what's wrong and then I have to confess my silly reasons for the tears.  Last night he was rubbing my shoulders and I started crying because I felt like I wasn't interesting to talk to anymore.  He actually laughed at me! (which was good because it got me laughing too)  Luckily, I don't experience this particular brand of crazy very often and when I do, my hubby is always there to snap me out of it and talk some sense into me.


Pregnancy has definitely been a wild ride so far!

Captain Jack's new haircut

From Captain Jack Sparrow in all his scruffy glory to a suave looking Handsome Jack...

Before...

and After!

Weekend fun

Since I have started to feel better, I have been taking advantage of going out and being social.  I overdid it a bit this last weekend, but I still had fun!  We hung out with the Clark family and the Sanders on Friday night and ended up playing domino's, as usual.  I finally got some pictures to document the game that has become a favorite of ours.

We love hanging out with the Sanders and we have recently started hanging out with the Clarks.  We love spending time with them...so much so that Tim and Trip have started matching when they go to work.  Bree and I find this pretty amusing and had to document it as well.

We spent Saturday at the Renner's house with the Clarks again.  We had a great time eating food and enjoying each others company.  Trip, of course, enjoys both the adult and the kid time and missed out playing with the kids this time around.  Next time, I told him he should go play with them when he wants to...it's good practice for the near future  :)

I really like the look of concentration on Bree's face

I look fantastic, I know.  You can kind of see the baby bump in this pic though

Jack trying to charm his way into the house...one paw at a time.

Liesel drew this picture for Trip.  The kids just can't get enough of him!

It was a fun weekend and we look forward to spending more time with everyone, especially Tim and Bree's family.  We haven't known each other long, but we feel like we are bosom buddies already.