Chamu Escapes Big Snow Storm

Chamu was scheduled to take the last flight out of NYC today at 6:30pm. Two days ago, Mamu saw on the news that a big storm was coming in on Friday and secretly thought perhaps she could try to escape it by getting on the first flight to head back to LA on Friday. Fortunately, she was able to finish her work on Thursday and Dadu so patiently waited for 75 minutes on hold with American Airlines to get us seats on the first flight out of New York on Friday.
On Friday, we woke up to 4 inches of snow at 5pm but nonetheless made our way to the Airport. At the airport, we were told that our flight was still scheduled to fly but the flurry was getting even heavier. We waited and watched news about major delays and cancellations around the Manhattan airports but were glad to see that our flight takeoff time only got push back a little bit. Finally, after one hour of delay, we were able to board and after another hour of de-icing the plane, we took off! Although it was wobbly take-off, we soon cleared the storm and were flying at 30,000 feet.
Six hours and a few drinks (non-alcoholic) later, we landed in LA. Early spring sunshine and breeze were awaiting us. We watched many stranded passengers at the East Coast airports on TV as we exited the airport. We were so glad to have escape such a big snow storm and we are finally on our way home!

Chamu in the Big Apple

Dadu escorted Mamu and Chamu to New York City for the third time just two days before the Valentine's Day. After a week in sunny Southern California, it was a shocking sight when we landed the airport that was fully covered in white. It was cold, icy and snow and sleet kept falling.

Dadu was leaving the day after to Panama so he was terribly worried about how imbalanced Mamu was going to survive in this kind of weather. Mamu had fallen on her butt four weeks ago in SF and caused a perpetual back pain since (and she was 10 lbs lighter). Luckily, snow turned into rain the next day and rain turned into sunshine the day after.

Chamu has been growing nicely. He is now almost 28 weeks big. Mamu has gained more than 30 lbs even though Chamu is probably only slightly over two lbs in weight. With the dry and sunny weather in NYC at least Mamu will have courage and motivation to walk around without Dadu on her side. Dadu left on Wednesday to return to Panama to attend his cousin's wedding so it is a big test for Mamu and Chamu since three of them have not been apart since little Chamu was conceived.

Luckily, Mamu is preoccupied with conference calls and meetings (Chamu's only fetal education thus far) and only has to suffer loneliness at night.

Tonight, Friday night, she is stuck on a tourist cruise dinner around the Hudson River with her colleagues. Even though the music is loud and she is with another 100 tourists, she and Chamu still miss Dadu tremendously... Big Apple is really not that fun when you are missing your other half...

Hotel California

Chamu seems to have checked into Hotel California and now he can never leave... After much premature excitement and celebration about being able to finally return to HK, we changed our schedule again. We got back to Cali on Saturday and now are scheduled to stay for another week, after which the destination is still unknown. The only consolation is that the weather here is always sunny, breezy and kind to us. There was supposed to be a storm over the weekend but it never really came.
We got together with Jorge, Suli, Carmen and James for Super Bowl Sunday: underdog NY Giants against undefeated Patriots. Super Bowl parties are never really about the game itself. We didn't expect much since most people were sure that Giants were going to be slaughtered by Patriots. For us, it is even more evident that we were there for food and family, considering Jaime and I showed up only knowing Tom Brady out of two teams.
I tried to hold myself back from eating since I have already gained 30 lbs since Chamu's inception and there are three more months to go (I broke down in tears uncontrollably when I weighed myself on Saturday). But I just couldn't resist the temptation of yummy Panamanian Paella (made by Carmen) and chicken wings and fresh frozen Yogurt (by Suli). We munched on and on and watched the game (which turned out to be a very exciting one given that NYG won and I betted on exactly the right outcome - NYG won by 3 points!)
Today, Jaime, Chamu and I have to go down South for a little adventure. My I-94 is up today so I need to get another one by crossing the border again. The drive to Tijuana was nice and the cross over to the Mexican side was a breeze. However, coming back was a crazy wait. The lines go around the block several times. We decided to jump on the taxi shuttle which we were hoping could place us ahead of people waiting in line and get back to the other side faster... The guy promised us we would clear in 20 minutes if we paid him 20 bucks but now one hour has passed and I'm still here typing. Hopefully in another 30 minutes, we can set our feet on the soil of the Golden State again (the fifth time in the last 10 weeks. )

Chamu is finally going home!

We are going back to HK at last next Monday. Originally, we thought we would be in the US for another two weeks. Since my I-94 expires on Monday, we had devised this elaborate plan to drive down to Tijuana in order to get my I-94 renewed. But it is no longer necessary since we can just hop on the plane to HK Monday evening...

JoJomami is getting bigger each day and her back is in more pain as more weight is gained... Ever since she accidentally fell on the hilly street of San Francisco, she has become extra careful with her movement, especially here in NYC where you have crazy yellow cabs and aggressive limousines.

Chamu is scheduled for his next check up on Feb 11, five weeks from his last checkup. I think he is also missing home. Sleeping in hotel rooms just does not compare to sleeping at home. All of sudden, the crowded streets of Hong Kong seems just so much more attractive than the glitzy Big Apple and glamorous LA. Yeah!

B-Day = Busy Day

JoJoMAMI needs to vent. Today is her ?th birthday and for the i-don't-remember-how-many-years in a row, she is again traveling for work. She is stuck in tiny little hotel room in NYC with freezing weather outside and cannot-be-regulated heater blowing at her face and drying her up like Santa Ana wind.
The night before she took the redeye to NYC so of course she already had very little sleep. Last night, she couldn't really quite sleep again despite she is tired as a hog (not sure if this is the right metaphor but she is too tired to think of a better one). She tried to sleep around 11pm but kept waking up because of the dryness. She needed to replenish water in her body every 2 hours and yet her throat was constantly parched. She finally gave up around 4 am to catch Men's semi-final at the Australian Open and only found it sad that Federer is no longer ruling the court. She went back to sleep around 5pm but was tossing left and right until maybe 6.30am and her pre-set alarm woke her up at 7 am. She checked her email box and was immediately overwhelmed by more than 100 emails she received overnight (all work related) not to mention the calender reminders that faithfully telling her that she has 3 conference calls in the morning and 2 meetings in the afternoon. She is just so tired of working and wonders if there ever a birthday she can spend just relaxing on lounge chair somewhere and not having to endure sleepless nights and the morning-after headaches. In the meantime, she can only escape and vent (and procrastinate) by blogging... *sigh* Fortunately, she has received all these nice emails, text messages from her loving and caring friends wishing her happy birthday... Thank you guys and gals for remembering!

Sorry this blog is nothing about Chamu since he is too young to understand the inevitable, un-escapable four-letter word in life: "WORK".

Globetrotter Chamu

For those of you who have been reading my blogs, you must have noticed how much little Chamu has been traveling since he settled in my womb. First was in September, Chamu toured charming Italy after attending a lovely wedding, then to cold London to meet with investors, and then to Taiwan for business trip. In October, he made it to Sipadan only to sleep and read for 6 days while waiting for Daddy to return from his dives. JoJoMAMI managed to escape all travel commitments for the next six weeks since she suffered greatly from morning sickness and constant fatigue caused by pregnancy. In late November, Chamu's world journey began again, with a trip to sunny LA. He got back to Hong Kong for 2 weeks and left again for Hawaii for Christmas and the New Year. He was brought back to Hong Kong for 3 days (and Mami managed to squeeze in an ultrasound in between) and boarded the plane to San Francisco again. And the journey continues, he was in SF for 6 days, in LA for 4 days, in Las Vegas for 3 days and then in NYC for 4 days. For the last 3 days, he is back in LA where weather is a lot warmer and less harsh than NYC but in 2 days he will be going to NYC again. Let's put it this way, if he had his own Marco Polo membership, he has already made his gold membership in less than two thirds of his way to full term.
Of course this is nothing to brag about. It is just crazy that JoJoMAMI has to put little Chamu through such a busy life. Hopefully, by the time we make it back to Hong Kong in ten days, we can finally rest and only worry about daily commute to Shenzhen. Luckily, every where we go, there are always lovely aunties and uncles who are eager to meet Chamu.
Chamu (and his mother)are growing rapidly under the great care of his daddy (Daddy travels with Mami like her little guardian angel). Mami dreads weighing herself because every time she steps on that scale, she seems to be a few pounds heavier (and she usually weighs herself quite often). Mami's belly is now looking like she is due next month than mere six months pregnant. Chamu is kicking a lot more since he has less and less room to move about and do his somersaults. Mami often stares at her own belly with amazement because it's hard to believe that her skin is THIS elastic. While she never really had an iron board tummy before but she still had some curves and waist to show off. But now, the tummy sticks out at least 2 inches more than her boobs (and these are the already enlarged boobs) at the rate Pinocchio's nose grows when he lies to his father and it does not seem to have any intention at all of slowing down. Man, and I have another 15 weeks to go...

Shy little one

Today is the day we go check out Chamu for another time. For days I have been worried nonstop about how Chamu is not kicking enough. I was already at 20 weeks and most of books tell you that you can start feeling the fetal movement starting at 18 weeks. I for some reason was quite insensitive and not sure what exactly I was feeling in my tummy. So I couldn't really wait for another ultrasound session to confirm the existence of little Chamu even though my tummy was growing inch by day.
Forgetful me had mistaken the time for doctor appointment and was called after my scheduled appointment was already 15 minute overdue. Luckily, we made it to the doctor's before they close.
Little Chamu is now at 21 weeks. He is big and you can see his face (but he has his hands over his face when we try to see his face using 3D. He is a naughty little boy and puts his two little feet together when we try again to count his way too many toes. Overall, he is growing healthily and kicking nonstop.
Doctor did give me a warning for my weight gaining progress. I have gained 4.5 kg and expanded my tummy by 5 cm in four weeks!! Most of the weight went to my body and not little Chamu so I need to watch out for what I eat. Must've been all the delicious homemade food in Hawaii!