Introducing the newest Baker....

Lilly Emma Baker

March 27, 2012

2:45 PM

6 lbs. 7 oz.

19.5"

The delivery was smooth as can be.  I went from 6.5 cm to 10 cm in a matter of minutes.  Then I literally pushed 3 times and Lilly came into our lives.  I still can't believe that I had such a small baby but my body appreciates it.  You can't see in these pictures but Lilly has a whole head of hair (more than Abby did) and it's a dark shade of brown.  Her eyes are also blue/gray like Abby's were in the beginning.  We can't help but to compare and we think Lilly looks a lot like her big sister!  Of course that may change but see for yourself on Abby's post almost 3 years ago.  

Lilly has a quiet cry that sounds so sweet.  She's taken to nursing really well already and she's a bit of a snorter when she sleeps.  :)  It sounds so cute!  Abby was thrilled to meet her mei mei and is already upset that I won't let her feed, hold and change her diaper just yet. I'm just glad Abby is so interested in participating in her sister's life. 

We will post more pictures in the next few days.  Right now it's time to finish recovering and catch up on some sleep.  But before we go, we wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone for your well wishes!  We have the best family and friends!

T minus 5 days

Just had my last doctor appointment before Induction Day on 3/27 and I'm currently dilated 2 cm.  Woohoo!  The anticipation is killing me!  We need to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM and we're first in line in L&D.  My doctor estimated we will get to meet Mei Mei by lunch time.  :)  I'm freakin' huge and seem to have grown exponentially in the last 7-10 days.  Thank goodness I'm still taking my "skinny pills" (aka my thyroid medicine that speeds up my metabolism).  :P

On to other things like what we've been up to for the last week.  Here are a few random pictures.

I just like this picture.  Abby still enjoys eating her "veggie packs" and she actually let me put her hair up in a ponytail this day.  She just woke up from a nap though so it's all lopsided.

Abby attended her first birthday party at a Little Gym (birthday girl in blue outfit) and we were so proud of how well Abby interacted with all the other kids whom she has never even met before.  This was on St. Patrick's Day so she was decked out in green.

Daddy's little sous-chef was prepping the counter as Bryce was making pizza dough in the mixer.  Notice the super cute apronS (yes, plural) she has on - compliments of Ruby and Janice a-yi.  She won't wear one without the other!  :)

Patting down the dough ball.

It's so funny to me because they have the same hands. I think I'm the only one who finds that so darn cute.

Helping Daddy split the dough into 4 equal parts.

Intently watching Daddy knead/roll the dough into perfect little balls

(compliments of all those years at Little Caesar's Pizza).

I love this picture.  I can't believe I got it on camera too.  It's Abby's face longing for approval after presenting her dough ball to Daddy.  That's all kids want - is love and approval.

And she got it, of course.  :)

Sticky dough fingers!!!

And last but not least, last night Amee masi came by for dinner and I actually remembered to take a picture this time.  Miracle.  We enjoyed salad, homemade pizza and mango sorbet for dinner.  Abby was endless entertainment for us all (Ams, thanks for being such a good sport!) and she sure does love her Amee masi! 

Side Note:  Just look at me.  I'm so ready to *POP*!!

Today is class picture day for Abby and she's been all excited about it.  I hope it turns out well.  :)  Tomorrow is my 33rd birthday and I'll be celebrating it with a pedi and watching The Hunger Games with my MIL and then dinner with Bryce.  Our last date before we become parents of 2.  I'm very excited and only wish Ruby were here to share in the fun!  Stay tuned for pictures of Mei Mei and the big name reveal upon her arrival!  :)

My babies

Ugh.  It's that time of the pregnancy.  I'm so ready to have Mei Mei.  I'll be 38 weeks tomorrow.  Ready when you are, Mei Mei!  We're all waiting!  In the mean time, here are a few pictures from this week.  (This week is Spring Break but my poor Abby did not get to do anything exciting because I'm 37 weeks and having regular contractions.  Abby, I promise next Spring Break will be more fun!).

Abby showing the nectarine who's boss!

Probaby only my 3rd official pregnant picture this go around.  Me at 37 weeks and 5 days.

My sweet baby napping on the couch.  I will forever be jealous of her beautiful eye lashes.  Thanks Bryce!  :)

Proud Papa

One of Bryce's favorite things to play with as a kid and adult is LEGOs.  No surprise here.  I played with my fair share of them as a kid too.  I think it's a pre-req for future mechanical engineers.  So of course when Abby decided to potty train herself a few months back, Bryce rewarded himself her with a beginners bucket of LEGOs.  It's one of her favorite things to play with now and Bryce makes lots of intricate things for her (i.e. planes, cars, bridges, people, etc.).  I, however, do not possess such an imagination so my structures tend to be more basic and boring.  Functional, but boring.  Anyhow, now we started getting LEGOs catalogs in the mail and here are a few pictures of Abby patiently flipping through each page.  Bryce had a "proud papa" moment.  :)

Mei Mei Update:

We will get to meet Mei Mei in exactly 2 weeks!  It's starting to really sink in and we're nervous and excited!  :)  My Braxton Hicks contractions really hurt now and I'm suuuupper uncomfortable so hopefully these 2 weeks fly by.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Lunch with Daddy

This is my conversation with Abby every Monday morning when she wakes up:

Abby:  Where's Daddy?
Me:      He's at work.
Abby:  Why?
Me:      Because it's Monday and he goes to work from Monday to Friday.
Abby:  He's not running in puddles?  (She remembers from him training for Tough Mudder on Saturday mornings...).
Me:     No, he's not running in puddles.

Bryce and I have been meaning to do this for a while so I thought, why don't we just go have lunch with Daddy in his office today?  So we finally did.  We won't be able to do much in a few weeks so why not make an adventure out of it today.  Now Abby knows where Daddy is during the day instead of asking me all the time.  :)  She had so much fun and really wanted Daddy to come home with us when we left. 

Having lunch in Daddy's office.

Helping Daddy with his expense report.  :)

Update on Mei Mei:

We are scheduled to be induced on Tuesday, March 27 which means we have 22 more days to go!  Bryce and I are both getting really excited about meeting our new baby.  We are both very curious what her personality will be like most of all.  Abby continues to be so sweet with her mei mei already.  She gives her constant hugs and kisses and says stuff like "Mommy, I want mei mei out so she can sit right here {pointing to couch between her and me} with us."  So sweet!  We still have a few items on the to-do-list before mei mei comes but other than that, we're ready to go!  We ordered some NB diapers the other day and I forgot how small they were!!  I'm used to being uncomfortable now and I love that by some miracle of miracles, I'm NOT as swollen as I was last time.  I can actually stand (aka not on bed rest), for one thing, I'm not on a NO SALT diet, I don't resemble the Marshallow Man, my skin isn't in pain from the swelling and I don't have carpel tunnel in both wrists!  It's awesome.  Now I know how everyone else feels and it makes this pregnancy a walk in the park.  Let's hope the delivery goes as easy as the 1st time too.

More Daddy Daughter Time

Happy Leap Day!  I wanted to try to post today since it's such a rare day.  :)

On Sunday I had a wonderful lunch with Kim and Janice at Tiny Boxwood (again, I had my camera but forgot to take a picture).  It was so much fun to catch up with my girls and have an adult outting.  It had been a while.  :)  While I was enjoying my migas and cinnamon roll with mint lemonade, Bryce and Abby were out buying mulch and plants for our 2012 garden.  By the time I got home, they were almost done and the garden looked great!!  We had 2 pepper plants that survived the summer heat last year and of course, our trusty ol' avocado tree that's miraculously still alive too.  Last year as I was de-weeding the garden, I accidentally ripped out all the sage (it looked like a weed to me!!).  Oopsie daisy - I'll have to be more careful next time.  :)

Different kinds of tomatoes, peppers, cucmber, etc.

View of whole garden.

Abby loves to help out her dad in any way possible; whether it's in the kitchen or outside.  It's so cute and reminds me of myself as a kid.  I was always getting up early to help my dad work on a car or clean the heater out or help build/assemble things or change the oil in a car or just run errands.  I don't really recall ever helping my mom out in the kitchen - go figure - that explains a lot about my lack of culinary skills now I suppose.  :P  But I love to watch the two of them spend quality time together since I feel like Abby and I get PLENTY of that during the week.  Other than having my face, Abby is a mini-me of her Daddy, especially when it comes to their personality and I love to watch them interact.  It's the battle of goofy wit vs. goofy wit.  :)

Every mother loves the sound of their baby laughing.  :)

As for Baby Baker #2, I'm currently 35 weeks and 4 days.  I have less than 4 weeks to go and the anticipation is killing me!  I cannot wait to meet our little girl and see what she looks like and learn what her personality will be like.  And I can't wait to see Abby and her mei mei interact as well.  I'm sure there will be a few obstacles to overcome in the beginning but I hope they grow to love each other's company like I do with my siblings.  As for me, I'm starting to get really uncomfortable.  Sleep is already evading me and it's just hard to get around or just walk/move.  Same song, different baby.  I'm just glad I'm not breaking out like a teenager like I did with Abby at this stage.  :P

And a quick note on Abby before I part - it's been a while and I need to be fair!  She's almost 38.5" tall (vs. 38" in early Dec 2011).  She seems to have skipped size 3T altogether and is in 4T already (and she's only 2 years and 10 months old!).  She's still in size 9 shoes and I still haven't cut her hair (besides the bangs early on).  She loves to sing all day, just like I always did as a kid.  She knows about 10-12 songs and even sings one in Chinese (lian zhe lou hu - two tigers).  It's so cute!!!  She still really enjoys school which I'm so thankful for.  She goes twice a week now but next year she'll be going 3 days a week and I know she's already excited about that.  :)  Bryce and I are THOROUGHLY enjoying the fact that she's potty trained.  Not only does it save money but it's just so much more convenient for us all.  She still wears a nighttime diaper but she has yet to pee in it at night.  She will actually wake us up and tell us she needs to potty in the middle of the night!  Pretty cool, if you ask me. 

I haven't been good about taking pictures this past week (too much effort to stand and get the camera, I suppose) but hopefully I get better about it.  I was told to cherish my alone time with Abby before #2 comes along and I fully intend to do that as I know our dynamic will change soon enough.  Until next time!

Congratulations Kirk and Lucy!

This morning, my brother Kirk and Lucy were married in court and I couldn't be happier to have Lucy officially part of the family now!  Their wedding reception will be held later this year.  My dad is an only son and Kirk is also an only son so we finally have another Chen!  And he's also the first to marry another Chinese person because me, my sister and my cousins all married white guys - haha!  I ended up taking pictures with Lucy's camera so I don't have many on mine but here are a few from this morning.  :)

Kirk and Lucy Chen

    We missed you Ruby!