Helpless JoJomami

Finally, we are counting down to Year 2008. Last six weeks have been extremely busy for JoJomami. She started to recover from her "all-day sickness" and ceased worrying about people finding out that she is pregnant (her belly can no longer be sucked in). She has been working really hard. Yearend budgeting, closing, 2008 strategy, personnel issues, etc. She quite enjoys being kept busy at work and being able to really do work again. When she comes home though, she becomes one helpless little girl.
The hands so swiftly and accurately type emails and handle documents all day long suddenly become paralyzed whenever kitchen knifes, pots and pans become involved. She is one housework disaster. Yesterday she tried to do laundry since she has to pack for the trip going to Hawaii today. She so proudly pushed all the right buttons and poured detergent (instead of faric softener) into the right slot but only to be shocked to see the white clothes turned ever more gray after the wash (she had forgotten to separate whites from colors). She was panicking when it comes to packing despite the fact she is such a well travelled globetrotter who used to travel 5 days a week in her previous life on Wall Street (Her solution previously was never to unpack).
The mind that makes important decisions throughout her working day just cannot help but only focuses on and worries about the fact she hasn't felt fetal movements yet even though she is already in her 19th week of pregnancy. She feels defeated at times (a feeling she rarely experiences at work) because she is not sure if she will ever be fit to be a good mother (after realizing the fact she will never be a good housewife -- well, at least not the traditional kind of housewife one expects). She can only try to improve one thing at a time. The other day, under generous trust and close supervision of her good friend Christy, she was able to overcome her fears of newborns and held Nathan in her arms (she has not done that since she last held her brother 26 years ago). At least that's some progress...

Chamu the Little X-Men

Chamu is now 16 weeks and 4 days. We had another check up last Monday and were extremely excited to find out how big he has become (especially after all these junk food in California). Chamu looks more like a real baby now with a round head and a round belly. He still wiggles around a lot (a hyper-active boy just like his Dadu) so the doctor couldn't quite capture him under 4D. Measurement wise he is totally on track: thigh length is just right, belly is a higher in percentile terms (thanks to his inclination to have junkfood only) and his head is at the 95th percentile (does that mean he will be smarter?). It seems like everything is just going great as expected.
Doctor was still trying to capture his face on 4D but he wouldn't cooperate much. So we gave up and started searching for his fingers and toes... He had his fingers clinched to the embellical core so we couldn't quite count his fingers. We were quite excited when we saw his feet right in front of us and started counting his toes "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.." I got a bit nervous and counted again thinking the image may be distorted from my angle and doctor and Jaime should be able to see better. Doctor paused a bit and said "hmm, it looks like there are too many of these on his feet but everything seems normal." Later on, we caught a glimpse of his little "bird" and she even cracked a joke and said "at least there is only one of this".
Of course, there is nothing we can be certain of until little Chamu is born and we count each of his fingers and toes to make sure but looking at the ultrasound, it seems like Chamu may be ahead in the evolution chain and that he may be born with a little mutation on his feet. Perhaps he is getting prepared for disasters caused by global warming and the eventual survival of the mankind (even though I can't figure out how an extra little toe will help but it's probably because I am not gifted nor the chosen one). His father was a little mutant with an extra thumb at birth (which I *just* found out after 6 years) so I guess that makes Chamu's little X-Men toe explanable. Afterall, without genetic "accidents" or "mutations", human beings would not have become who we are today...
Watch the ultrasound to see if you agree that Chamu has 6 toes:

Chamu's First Trip to LA

Chamu just got back from one wonderful week in LA. It was his 16th week and Mami is certainly feeling better even with the 30-hour total air travel time and the long immigration and security wait. I ate almost non-stop during the trip since it has been a while that I get to eat Mom's homecooking food and food is available always at home. Chamu had his first Inn-n-out burger and he loved it (yum yum). He also loved Taiwanese Mayou Chicken and Minced Pork...
Granny is not quite ready to accept her elevated status (because it makes her feel old) but she was constantly feeding her daughter and made sure that I would not go hungry even for one minute (man, my doctor will lecture me again when she sees my weight gain).
We did a lot of shopping: maternity clothes and baby goods. It is amazing how many products have been invented to scam the parents-to-be. It is like planning for a wedding again where there is no limit when it comes to spending budget (except this time you feel guilty when you opt out something). Everything seems to be an item of necessity, yet most of them were not even available to babies born 15 years ago. Anyways, we filled up two big suitcases but only managed to get not even one quarter of things on the to-buy list.
Chamu also met aunties and uncles from the Cham side for the first time. They so patiently accompanied JoJomami to shop for maternity clothes (so she can regain her self-confidence again). Chamu also met aunties from Berkeley. We have not seen each other for a long long time and it was so great to have 10 of us there along with their significant others. Chamu would certainly love to have more playmates from the Bears circle so pick up your baby-making pace Bears!
JoJomami was constantly hungry (like every two hours) but she was so happy to have regained her energy and have caught up with her friends and family... I still have two more trips planned for the US in the next two months... After February, it will be a long time before Jaime and I can travel again...