December 31, 2007
-
[mood |sleepy
]
[music| Jay Chou- Niu Zai Hen Mang]I actually don’t really like the song I listed, but it’s stuck in my head
lol2008
Happy New Years Eve!!!!!! This is the first year ever that I am not going out partying for NYE. I remember last year Jeff and Chie were here from Chicago and Will was down from SF. Good times. I miss all the NYE’s in Ohio too. But this year is def no drinking and no partying. I don’t even think I will go out bc all the traffic, drunk drivers, etc. Everyone have a fun and safe night if you are out partying tonight!
How do you plan on bringing in the new year?
Speaking of the new year, 2008 is going to be a big year for me in terms of changes. It is the year I will be married (8/9/08), the year I will become a mommy (2/12/08 or before) and I have to make some serious decisions about my life. I think the biggest thing I am struggling with is just how to financially handle it all–and I see 2 options, and of course, I am going to share them with you
(seeking advice).Option 1: Cali
Stay in Cali in our apt, both work full time, get day care.
Pros: Independence, good weather, great job (me), free medical dental and vision for all 3 of us w my work.
Cons: Expensive, day care costs, no savings, hard to pay off debts/daily life
Option 2: Ohio
We would have to move home w/ my parents at first. They’d remodel their upstairs to allow for a huge bedroom/bath for me and Charlie and a baby room next to it and hope to move out in one year or more to buy a house.
Pros: Free day care (even after we move to our own house), cheaper, can pay off wedding debt faster, no rent until we buy a house, can have our own house one day.
Cons: If I get a job it may not be full time since Chinese is new there, crappier schools (no computer, no white board, no cool classroom like I have now, no technology, kids are a pain in the ass, etc.), need to pay car insurance (his parents pay for us now), if I don’t have a ft job we have to pay for health ins too.
I am exploring both options to see what works. The scary thing is I have to give notice to my school by April if I am leaving and then Ohio schools may not even hire until summer! It’s a risk. I am also looking into applying for my PhD at OSU and working as a TA/RA and going to grad school. I figure w. the cost of college 17 years from now I better be getting some discount from somewhere for bb!
What do you guys think?
2008 Resolutions
I never write these, but here goes
1. Have an easy, fast, painless labor
2. Have a healthy baby
3. Be a good mom
4. Have my wedding
5. Be a good wife (this includes learning to cook
)6. Spend less $ on stuff I don’t need (quit starbucks?!)
7. Save more
8. Lose all my pregnancy weight and get smaller than my prepregnancy weight
What are your resolutions?
Baby Update
So I am 34 weeks and have gained 18lbs. It’s funny, my mom had me at 34 weeks so I keep thinking about that. If baby is born before Feb 7 (Chinese New Year) he will be a pig, if after a rat. Charlie’s family keeps telling me to have it before and jia you jia you (add oil)My mood is changing. I have been hormonal lately–crying at everything (I was yelling at my mom and crying my eyes out yesterday at Burlington because they didn’t have the maternity sweats I wanted and my fat ass can’t wear the non maternity ones and it was her fault apparently) lol. I can’t watch tv, hear songs, etc. I have also become very needy…
Physically….I have had cramps all day and can feel poor bb is stuffed in there. I feel him trying to stretch out. Poor thing. I hope bb stays in until at least Jan 19! I would like to switch over to my new doc (getting new ins Jan 1 and see new ob jan 2) and attend all my birthing classes first
I went to get 3D4D ultra sounds at 31-32 weeks so I could make my parents a book (from shuttlefly.com) w/ all my u/s pics so far and also a dvd for them to see bb. Here are some pics…
This is my fave. Look at that cranky face! Just like his daddy- seriously, Charlie makes this face a lot
. And do you see his foot there in his face? He was so cranky by the 2nd time we went (he didn’t cooperate the first time) from the lady shaking my tummy to get him to move his hands off his face, that he curled up in half and stuck his foot there. lol
Again you can’t see his face very well….
I looked back at pics from 9 weeks and 18 weeks…he has his hands up there too!
18 weeks
9 weeks
Maybe he’s camera shy?
Jay Chou Concert
was awesome!!!! He’s sooooo good in concert, I wasn’t bored for a minute! Even Charlie liked it. Those of you LA people who didn’t come Xmas eve really missed out!
Comments (2)
ohio!!! ?ha, but that’s just because i’m here. ?
also, you can’t cook well??? ?you need to get with annie on that! ?she’ll learn ya! ?apparently, she’s an amazing cook, from what i hear.happy new year!!!
RYC: the recipe’s posted. Good luck with learning to cook–it’s not too hard. Just follow directions religiously and start with the easy stuff. I had to learn to cook a long time ago because I’m vegetarian (fourteen years) and it goes with the territory. But if you’re just learning, maybe you should subscribe to Cooking Light magazine. I really think it’s the best cooking magazine around; it’s calorie-conscious and practical, and the recipes are good ones that actually work. I used to subscribe, but stopped because it’s not really designed for vegetarians.
I’m amazed by your latest ultrasound pictures of Ethan. I had no idea that they could be that clear, and that you could actually (sort of) see your baby’s face before he’s born. How amazing is that?!?
Whenever I think of pregnancy, I’m reminded of this poem by Sylvia Plath, who’s just about my favorite poet ever.
METAPHORS
I’m a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising.
Money’s new-minted in this fat purse.
I’m a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I’ve eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there’s no getting off.
I taught this to my AP kids, so it really stuck in my mind. I like how
she has such mixed feelings about being pregnant. There’s the sense of being uncomfortable in the first two lines, then the sense that the baby is valuable in the third line. The fifth line starts changing that… the baby is “money,” but she’s the “purse.” She’s just the container, and she feels more like “a means” rather than an end… the baby is subordinating her personhood. She herself is a metaphor. And then there’s the sense of fear: the symbolism of the apples, with their reference to Eden and Eve’s punishment, and the particular choice of green apples, which are so sour… the image of a runaway train, of losing control, of not being able to change her mind. It’s amazing how she crammed all these different feelings into such a short, simple poem.
My AP kids didn’t like the poem initially because they felt she was a “bad mother” who “didn’t like her baby.” Then they got beyond that and began to really think of the implications of pregnancy for a mother… of how it can be so complex, yet only the “joyous” reaction is acceptable in society… of how something’s going to rip forth from her body, and she has a right to be scared… it was one of our most memorable discussions in AP. (And the kind of discussion you can only have in an all-girls’ school!)
I have trouble imagining pregnancy in some ways, but I hope things go well for you, Charlie, and Ethan. So many changes. Trying to determine whether to move. It’s hard. You’ll figure it out, though.