Week 16, Day 2:  I hope that Vivian and I will be able to pass a lot of our culture to the baby.  It's easy for the baby to learn about American culture, but we really have to make an effort to expose the baby to Taiwanese culture and the Chinese language.  I have been studying Chinese ever since I met Vivian, but I haven't learned as much as I hoped to learn, and I am starting to forget a lot of it. I need to keep studying so that I can join in when we all speak and not always need everything translated.  I'll start practicing by trying to translate my blogs!

我希望念真跟我可以傳導我们共同的文化給孩子。因为小孩會在美国長大，所以明白美国的文化比较容易，可是卻没有很多机会学台湾文化。我们应该承诺教台湾的文化跟語言。自從我跟念真见面以后，我開始学中文，可是很可惜我没有進步很多。我最近开始忘了中文。可是我应该续学中文，所以將來我们全家都可以用兩種語言讲话。為了練習中文,我要開始努力翻譯我的網誌。

Week 14, Day 6: We had a doctor's appointment today. It was a routine checkup to go over test results. We usually schedule the appointment for late afternoon so that I don't miss too much work. If we are one of the last patients, the doctor is able to sneak us into the ultrasound room and give us a free ultrasound. Here are the pictures we got from today's ultrasound!

The baby grew so much since the last ultrasound. The doctor wasn't able to tell the sex yet, but we hope to find out at our next ultrasound in August. The lips, nose, and eyes are visible in the photo below.

I saw that the crib arrived at our home when we got back from the doctor.

This was the nursery about a week ago before I painted.

Above is the crib and the new paint color.

Cody wants to make sure the room is safe for the baby!

Week 14, Day 2:  My parents got us a crib from Pottery Barn Kids.  Thank you!

 

We took a parenting class at Northside Hospital to help us understand more about some of the life changes we will encounter as parents. I guess all these classes are designed to prepare you for your new daily schedule, which does not include a lot of sleep. The other expecting mother in our class was about nine months pregnant. She wanted a girl so much that every time she was reminded that she was having a boy she started to cry. Vivian made her even more depressed when she pointed out that she couldn't find any cute baby boy clothes at Baby Gap. In my opinion, expecting parents should hope for a healthy baby and stop being disappointed if they didn't get a boy or a girl, just be happy that you are lucky enough to get pregnant and have children.

Week 13, Day 5:  We got a few books to help us prepare for the baby.  'Baby Bargains' gives advice on shopping for the baby.  It rates cribs, strollers, car seats, etc. and explains all the things that you need and all the things that are a waste of money.  We will definitely refer to it as we start to shop. 

We were also thinking about names for the baby.  It seems like we have many ideas for girl's names, but can't think of any names for a boy.  Vivian says it's more difficult for teachers, because of all the names that are associated with troubled children.  We got this book to help us out.

Most baby naming books are pretty boring.  They just explain what each name means.  This book has interesting tools, such as the usage frequency graph.  It also gives the time period where the name was most popular, and gives examples of sisters and brothers names that would sound good together.  

Week 12, Day 5:  Vivian is taking calligraphy class tonight.  She was too tired to attend the past two Wednesday evening classes because of the teaching certificate classes that she took over the past two weeks.   

After coming home from work, I spent the evening moving furniture to the new office, which was the guest room. It's not too heavy to do alone - if you are careful you can slide the furniture across the floor without picking it up. The main obstacle was fitting the furniture through the door. The desk would not fit, so I had to remove the door to open up the space a few extra inches.  Now the old office is ready to become the nursery!