2013...already?

Blogging has been in the back of my minds. There are many thoughts I want to jot down, but very little motivation to actually write them down. I need a better way to blog/journal. Anyways, six more days til Baby #2's arrival. I have most everything I want done done. Still want to hang up some photo clips, but without zdog's help, it is very unlikely to happen. I finally organized Dan dan's ultrasound photos. Now, I need to tackle and set up a system for Baby #2. The current plan of record is no more pregnancy/babies for me. So, no more maternity leave with peace and quiet to "catch up" and do what I want to do. Talked to zdog's friend Anne the other day. She said she is able to deal with the second one with much more ease. The main revelation for her to get over it, meaning accept reality that there will be no sleep, no rest, no life for the next two years. Wow. I need to get into that mental state as well. I feel nostalgic already about life with just Dan dan as the only kid. I just want to soak up as much as his cuteness as I can so I don't forget. Of course, this feeling only lasts til my patience/energy runs out. Hehehe. Conventional wisdom is that now is the cutest stage. Once elementary school rolls around, say goodbye to my 寶貝. ~tears... No new year resolution like I used to have. In my mind though, the vision/priorities are, to get Baby #2 settle as quickly as possible, get back to work, have a semi balance routine between family and work, start working out/get back in shape after breast feeding stops. That's it for now. Here is hope for the shiny new year.

We are the 99 percent

Came out of the Occupy Wall Street movement. It puts a face to the faceless protestors. Their messages haunts me. I am, in their eyes, one of the lucky ones. And I sympathize with them. I am scared. I imagine myself at 55, down on luck. What would K do? I want my baby to live happily and have a prosperous future. What will the future be like? Might it be completely uprooted from what I know today? I wonder...

Here is an interesting permaculture website.

屬牛人虎年運程

http://www.intalking.com/thread-152753-1-1.html

屬牛人虎年運程
生肖屬牛的人，今年運程大有改善；雖非大吉大利，但倘若懂得避重就輕，以柔制剛，不斷努力奮發向上，在事業及財富方面均將收獲甚豐！

事業方面，屬牛的人今年工作能力特強，處事得心應手，但會有自以為是、獨斷獨行的傾向；需防因而導致眾叛親離，出現獨木難支的困境！此外，因有「吞陷」凶星照命，故此必須提防辛苦經營的成果被人侵吞，徒勞無功！

財運方面，屬牛的人今年財星高照，投資有利可圖，會有多元化的額外收入；但必須小心查核帳目，以免被人瞞騙。

2010年屬牛人逢2010年虎年運程(2010年屬牛人運程)
其年吉多凶少，家中有迎親嫁娶之事。歲末晦澀，謀事多成泡影。利誘名引之機緣進有，宜擇其善者而行之。今年財運一般應加倍努力宜多種經營，薄利多銷。

Happy New Year and One month old!

Time goes by one feeding at a time for me. Yet, Kirdan will be one month old tomorrow. So slow yet so fast. Mommy Lu says, "日子一天一天過, 小孩一天一天長大, 我們大人也一天一天老了." Usually I have a long post for the end of the year review and a New Year resolution. This year, right now, my only thought is, "I hope the next feeding will be smooth sailing...meaning, Kirdan will stay awake and do justice to his meal without crying and fussing. The end."

A few stats on Kirdan.
At two weeks checkup: 7 lb 7oz, 20.75in long.
Pooping: Intead of pooping at every single feeding, the number of pooping has reduced by about half. However, he loves to poop during feeding, which means he squirms and pulls and grunts. My poor boobs.
Eating: He is going through growth spurt, at least, that is what I suspect it is. Instead of every 3 hours feeding interval, we are now at 2.5 hours interval with both sides. My poor boobs. (oh, did I say that already?) He also likes to sample his meal. Sometimes it takes up to 10 minutes to get him to latch on. (Frustration...)
Sleeping: At least he is not fussy at night (between midnight to 4am that is). But, this little guy does not like to sleep during the day. He is awake a good portion of the time. Which means, he wants to be held, or be entertained. Fortunately, Mommy Lu and zDog are fairly resourceful. This allows me time to snooze between feeding.

Gotta be thankful to have my mom here with me. Don't know how I will cope without her.

Here is to 2010. Hoping it'll be a good year for us, our family, and to you.

Thankful

Two recent events that I have been wanting to say a few words about.

Baby showers - I had three. First one in socal, with my college friends. These girls are friends for life. Second one at work, have to thank the office manager for being so thoughtful. The third and final is Kirdan's House Warming, aka Informal Baby Shower For Kirdan, held here at the kitty pad. As all the girlfriends told me, enjoy the last moments of "all about me." Because once the baby arrives, it will be "all about baby."
So enjoy I did. I spent all my time chatting and basking in friendship and ended up with no photos. zDog only took a couple before and after so memories is all I have for posterity. Some highlights. D made the cutest fruit bowl and the yummiest cup cake.

There was at one point seven children under the age of 7 in this tiny pad. Insane noise ensued. Chorizo made his mark by swallowing a balled up cup cake wrapping from my hand. I felt so thankful and lucky to have such great friends, for all the love and support from them. If I recall, last time zDog and I hosted any event was like 3 or 4 years ago. Thanksgiving I believe.

Talking about Thanksgiving, my brother and his wife were here this year. The main reason is to bring mom up here to help me with post pregnancy. The other is to spend some time enjoying San Francisco, which they weren't able to do last time they were in town (4 years ago for my wedding).

Thank you little brother!

Shooting Star Sighting

On the way home tonight, around 7:45pm-ish. zDog was driving west bound on Yerba Buena on our way home. The road was quiet without any cars. All of a sudden, I saw a very small but bright light moving incredibly fast towards the horizon. Then, swish! It faded away. While I was still trying to wrap my head around what I saw, zdog commented excitedly, "Shooting star!"

How exciting was that?! The first shooting star I have ever seen with my naked eyes. Both zdog and I simultaneously wished for a good baby with good health. Can you tell we are parents-to-be?


That moment was truly magical. It felt like it was just zDog and I, with baby Kirdan still in my belly. Just the three of us. I felt content.

Small Shake

3.7 magnitude is fairly small. But when you are right near it, it sure feels bigger.

Yesterday and Today

After much mulling, over whether I have the time and spare money for online scrapbooking classes, I took the plunge. Here is to Yesterday and Today by Ali Edwards, one of my favorite scrapbooker and blogger.

Today is the beginning to what I hope is a full learning experience, and I am loving this quote from the class note,

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill...

We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes.

Charles Swindoll

The case with NUMMI

I have been fascinated with the demise of NUMMI the past few weeks. There is much angst locally. Of courswe, I wonder the impact this will have for the City of Fremont, my home for the past 10 years. I loathe to point fingers at Toyota, or GM, or even UAW. This article best articulated my thoughts. Something is seriously wrong with California's infrastructure. As the world's 7th largest economy, and being an expensive place by all standards, where did all the tax money go??

Depressing...

So both friends and family are telling me, in almost a gleeful manner, that I will no longer have me time. Priority changes. Child comes first. Okay, I can understand that. But why no more self? I am having a hard time with this. No more myself, the one who likes to tinker with paper craft and anything DIY. Why? Why can't husband share child care so wife can have alone time once in awhile? My girl friends tell me that while it is a great concept, it simply does not work because kids will stick to mom naturally. Since I am mom, I will have to be the one taking on the bulk of child caring. Dads simply can't fill the shoe. But why? Why? Why can't husband and wife share baby duties equally? Am I not the one having to carry the burden for 9 months already? Why do I have to continue to carry on the burden for the next 18 years?

I guess it is conversation time with zdog.

Time flies

Wow. I have been meaning to post about the pregnancy, but laziness gets in the way. And all of a sudden I am facing the end of my 24th week. Crazy or what.

Anyways, I want to share this amazing work by Gabe Askew

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

How cool is that? Creating beautiful things, not for money, but just because he loves what he does. What a concept.

The pyramid

Have to give it to Jon Stewart, "the invisible government funded scaffolding of the free market".

Pyramid Economy

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

RIP Michael Jackson

What a shock when I heard the news. May he finally find peace. All time MJ favorite, Beat it. Fav MTV of all time, Billie Jean. Lots of other favorites mainly from the album Thriller and Bad. Despite the bizarre happenings in his later part of life, as a child of the 80s, I will always remember Michale Jackson as a great musician.

and more changes coming...

Boy, this really is turning out the year of results as I hoped for at the beginning of the year.

This is an IUI pregnancy. Early last year, I found out I had anovulatory cycles even though they were fairly regular. My OBGYN suggested three months of Clomid. I reacted very well to the treatment with no side effects. However, it didn't result in pregnancy. So, in Decmeber, I was referred to the infertility clinic. After consultation, Zdog and I decided to go through 3 treatments of IUI. In preparation, I had plenty of blood drawn and went through hysterosalpingogram. That was probably the most painful part of this whole exercise. I remembered my knees shaking afterward because of the cramp. Zdog only went through one needle for blood test and had the nerve to whine about it. On March 16, I took the hcg injection to induce ovulation. Zdog administered the shot and that was probably the most traumatic part of this exercise for him. Hey buddy, I took the shot! Men...(chuckle)... March 19th was the day of insemination. Zdog started off with 40mil sleepy little guys (50% mobility). Only 10mil survived the washing (80% mibility). And you can guess the end. We are very lucky since IUI success rate is only 10-15%. I suspect this will be a boy since y-sperms are fast sprinters whereas x-sperms are marathon runners. I wouldn't mind being wrong though. I'd be so proud of my Amazon girl, winning against all the little boys. That'll make the feminist side of me happy. Muhahahaha.

New Job

Yesterday, I said goodbye to Redback. Feeling weird. On one hand, I can't believe I am really leaving. On the other, I am relieved. It is no longer the tight knit group from 9 years ago. My contribution doesn't feel relevant and that is a sad feeling.

But, today. Today, I will be starting new. Start-up with less than 15 people. All new faces. Different industry. Learning new things I hope. Here is to prosperity (for the new beginning) and good health (not planning 15 hour days unless the sky is falling). May I have the courage and all the luck I need to see this through.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I am attributing this restlessness to midlife crisis.

A desire to make significant changes in core aspects of day to day life or situation, such as in career, marriage, or romantic relationships.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On the otherhand, this year is my 本命年 (běn mìng nián). 2009 is the year of ox, my birth year zodiac sign.

"According to Chinese Zodiac, if the zodiac sign of birth year is same to the zodiac sign of yearly cycle, then that's an unlucky year to the person".

Oh, joy for me. Well, Barack Obama was also born in the year of Ox. Everyone knows what a challenging year 2009 is for him!

So, change? Yeah, it is coming for me. The latest is a potential job move that had found itself to me. It is scaring the heck out of me, but I think I'll do it. Unfortunately, according to my fortune, there is no luck for me. Ack!

Happy New Year!

2009. Wow.

Happy Anniversary to us

Ten years together, three years as married couple, and here is to many more years to come. Love.

Isn't he darling?

Photo taken at the farm with some post processing.

I think he'll always be a country boy at heart. Thanks for humoring me!

Farmer's market

I love farmer's market. I love the idea that I am buying more direct from the farmers, the freshness of the produce, and the community feel of it all. But more importantly, I think it reminds of me childhood. This was Taipei in the 70s, when there was no grocery store. I remember going to the market with my mom with a wire basket. The market was huge, full of everything--live chicken, live fish freshly caught, food stalls of all sort (yum), and of course there are the fruits/veggies/meats etc. Stall after stall, full of people picking up grocery for the day. 'Course, the market back then (living necessity) is nothing like the farmer's market right now. I think its popularity is growing from the movement of "sustainably grown farming, buy local, be green" all rolled into one. The fancy San Francisco fare is the poster child in my opinion. I love love love going to the SF farmer's market. The colors, the aroma, the people, everything. But, it is yuppiesh and everything is crazy expensive. I never could buy anything there.

Anyhoo, I went to Fremont Centerville Farmers' Market yesterday.

Can you find zdog?

This is one of the smallest market I have been too. The nice thing about it, is that it is nearby me, the price is very reasonable and it is never too crowded. I picked up greens and fruits, and one very seasonal item: zucchini flowers. It can be fried or stuffed, but I like it best simply pan fried with a bit of olive oil and nothing else. Very delicate flavor with a bit of crunch at the tip of the stem. Here they are, in their golden glory after wash and de-stem, before heading to the frying pan...

One word: Y U M M Y

Lastly, here is the little patch of farm next to where I live,

This is becoming a rarity in the immediate vicinity of San Francisco bay area. According to the city of Fremont, it is zoned for high density housing. Sigh. Anyways, I digress. I'll focus on enjoying what it is today. Every summer, the Ramirez will till the land and plant white corn with a small section for misc lettuce, sun flowers etc. They'll open up the little stand by the corner of the road and sell various fruits and vegetables from this plot and the neighboring farms. Totally waiting for fresh white corn, should be available sometimes in July...