Saturday, May 10, 2003

Well, I didn't get the cd as planned, turned out I couldn't find the darn thing and besides, it seemed more like a gift from me to her than a gift from the baby. I did find a rather good substitute, in addition to a shirt that she's been wanting to have.




It's a Patrick shirt that reads, "Half-baked." Patrick, as you might recall from your channel flipping through the cartoons, is a SpongeBob SquarePants character who's a dim-witted pink starfish. Anyway, it's sorta ironic, being how the baby is 5 months into his preparation into the real world, so in a way, he's like the half-baked bun in my wife's oven.

Ok, if people went to hell for being corny, I've got my trailer lot picked out in hell.

Thursday, May 08, 2003

My wife has already picked out some little boy clothes at Freddy's, so that we could get our double discount tomorrow. I have secretly picked out a mother's day present from the baby for her, a cd for expectant mothers. That's a tenative gift right now, but it would be a good one.

This is all a little surreal, having a baby boy. My wife has gotten really attached to the name "Alex", and it seems that I have as well. I just wanna call the little baby Alex, instead of just something vague like "the baby." It really is amazing, this feeling that we're having. Hmm.

All right, I did spend some more time and doesn't the blog look friendlier? Changed the comment box too, to something darker and bluer. Don't know why, just thought it looked cool.

And I'm back in business. I don't know if you're used to the old template, but I figured might as well have a little change. Don't know about the new template, it's just different, which we could use sometimes, I suppose. Don't know how to make my byline not all caps, that is annoying me a little, but all the comments, counter, and the new picture is back. I suppose this should do for now, don't like to spend too much time on the design only to have it crash on me. But yay! I'm back!

Blogger has been playing around with a new interface, and my template suddenly got really messed up either because of that, or because I was trying to add a new link. I'll get all the goodies back on ASAP. Sorry about the new and scary look. It was this or lose my hair.

Wednesday, May 07, 2003

Added a link to the new and improved Baby Picture!

My wife just told me that Karen, a friend of ours who has a little guy named Brendan, is going to loan/donate some baby stuff to us, like a baby walker, baby clothes, and a playpen. Jessica, another friend from work, is also loan/donating us some stuff as well. Then we have a baby shower July 19th, when we will get more stuff. It's nice to not have a naked baby.

I was by the baby aisle at Freddy's today, and there was that baby smell. Something akin to baby powder and just soft, pure, fluffy feeling. I'm looking forward to holding a baby in my arms, and feeling his warmth. And drool.

My wife is looking over my shoulder, so I will have to save this mushiness for later.

Peace out.

If having a son is anything like having a fat, gray attention-craved cat, then I'm really looking forward to being a father. Of two apparently.

Franklin, the other gray matter in my life, (the first being my brain, which is responsible for phrases like, "Damn it to hell," "C'mon, you stupid monkey," and "Hernia? Yeah, I've done that.", has started to act rather strangely of recently, really craving attention to the point whereby he will charge into me and destroy anything to get to me. I have a feeling that he does misses having me around during the days, when I stay at home plugged into the computer and he would sit there and meow at me. He's a good little guy, just have to watch him from sitting on the baby.

If he likes something, he will sit on it.

Was going to post yesterday, but the lack of sleep for the past two days slammed into me like a freight train. Had a tremendous headache, and I couldn't even sit upright without being in pain. Appetite was out the window as well. So I slept from 8 in the evening till 6 in the morning. And yes, I do feel a lot better. Better not deprive myself of sleep again, lemme tell ya.

Sunday, May 04, 2003

We were at the University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC, as they coined it) last Friday for the Ultrasound/Genetic Counseling, and a couple were walking away when the man said this to his wife:

"After this baby is born, we're going on a diet. Both you and I."

I laughed because I know the truth of it, I've been gaining the pounds alongside my pregnant wife. I would like to say that I'm having sympathy eating habits with my wife, but I'm not really sure if that's the case. It's that with the combined evolution into a father. By that, I mean the thing your parents do when you were younger, whereby if you don't finish your food, they'll come along and eat it so as to not waste it. Well, that's become somewhat my attitude toward food recently, whereby I will actually mourn food that has to be thrown away. Not that I will miss eating it, but rather that I just hate wasting it.

To compound upon that, my wife has been battling a cold lately, so she hasn't got the appetite most of the time. What this equates to is an abundance of leftover food, which I always foolishly attempt to save by eating it all. For example, we had pizza and Jalapeno poppers for dinner tonight, and after her second slice and fourth popper, she was done. I almost finished the whole pizza and the rest of the poppers, and now I'm dealing with indigestion and a uncanny resemblence to my wife's belly, except there is no baby inside my body. Which is probably a good thing.

Though Trenchcoat is itching to get me to exercise, I doubt that would ever come to light being how I work so early in the morning, and when I get off work, getting off my feet would be priority number one. The other solution I can think of is just to cook smaller portions, since my wife isn't eating much and I certainly need to eat less. It's funny, really. I guess in a twisted sort of way, I am eating for two.

The Name Game

Everyone's entitled to an opinion, sure, but some people's opinion's suck because they fester doubt in your head. Yes, I'm talking about the baby's name. My wife and I decided quite a while ago that Alex Andrew would be a good name for a boy, and till now, I still like the name a lot. It's an alpha male name, but nonetheless, it's a name with character built in, and Alex means "Protector of Man", which is pretty awesome, especially if you pair it up with my last name, which means "Thunder" in Chinese.

But my mom, who has been very vocally resistant to the name, said that a lot of people have that name, especially in the family. Her brother's name is Alex, someone's cousin is named Alex, and my grandma's brother is named Alex. All of which is news to me because I just know their Cantonese names, not their Christian names. She thinks the name is popular and not very unique, and even though I do like that name a lot, she's put that lingering doubt in my head. My wife still is very attached to the name, which I don't really blame her, since I feel the same way. Then yesterday, Dansen, being the Good Friend that he is, vocally expressed his displeasure for the name also. His suggestions weren't as well received, because I was not high on crack at the time, and I have no desire to give a namesake that causes remorse to my boy.

So I've been frustrated with people in general, because I feel as if I'm caught in the middle of people being selfish. And by that, I don't mean that people aren't entitled to chime in their thoughts, but because they don't have the courtesy to be polite and talk behind my back. Yeah, just slightly embittered by this feeling of not being able to please everyone. We have thought of a few other names that we don't mind, but it's still not Alex.

Sigh.