Home Cleanup: Bike

Expecting Ethan means cleaning up the home in different ways. One of the things I did was finally get by bicycle out of the study and amazingly found space for it in our small storeroom, high up on the wall. Here are the DIY brackets with rubber holders to hold the bike frame. The front wheel has to come off to have it fit on the wall with only 10cm to spare! After many years away from my bicycle, I'm trying to get into it again...

Pregnancy Food

Home cooked pregnancy food a few nights ago! Lemon-butter sutchi and pan-fried salmon, with mashed potatoes, asparagus and enoki mushrooms. Ethan will grow up big and strong with so much healthy fish already in him...

The Fruit of Thy Womb

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Today we went for a kind of EKG for unborn babies! The top line shows Ethan's activity with spikes for his movement. The lower line shows muscular activity for Renata's womb. You can see a tiny contraction there which can hardly be felt by Mummy. In labour it will spike all the way up the chart in which case Renata will definitely feel it, and Ivan will feel it digging into his arm (yes, her nails have already been trimmed).

Our 2nd Anniversary

Today is September 25th and 2 years ago we got married! We thought maybe Ethan would come out today, but looks like he doesn't want to share his birthday with Mum & Dad's own special day. God has really blessed us with one another, and we're working hard so that our marriage and home will be a wonderful place for Ethan to grow up in... we'll report back on our 25th anniversary and let you know how we're doing!

Ivan Relaxed

Ahh... Finished preaching and enjoying a good (root) beer. Now more relaxed and waiting for Ethan to come on the scene. Luckily, he didn't come before the sermons were over: "Finding Hope in Distress" - Psalm 4 - on my church website!

Mummy Feeling Better

Mummy is feeling better. Still a bit sniffly but the cough is gone. Here she is after a quick lunch on Saturday. Doesn't she look positively glowing?

Bugged

Cough cough!

I've caught a flu bug! Sigh...was hoping to get through these 9 months without getting sick but I guess it was too good to be true... Coughing is a little bit more of a strain than usual when there is a kid sitting on your diaphram & abdominal area.

Am trying to avoid medication (not keen for Baby to get drugged), so am dousing myself with lemons and lots of rest. I guess looking on the bright side it was good I came down with it now -- would much rather be the one coughing than the baby! And as I get through this bug, I'll be able to pass on some immunity to Ethan when he finally comes out to face the world on his own...

Renata

New Toy

All boys (even big ones) love toys. Here is Daddy with his new SonyEricsson K610i mobile phone which you will see more of as he uploads posts and photos from it. Let's hope he remembers to bring his phone charger into the delivery room with us!

Chinese Name

We decided on Ethan's Chinese name!

Mandarin: Liao Wei Zhong
Cantonese: Liew Wai Zhong
Meaning: Greatly loyal and faithful!

Last Few Checkups

This will be one of the last few times we're going to the hospital. As you can see, Ethan is growing very quickly! Mum is doing very well, not only because she is fit and healthy but also cos she is sleeping incredibly well too!

Dr. Mary Rauff (aka Auntie Mary) says that our little baby's head is moving downward nicely and we should be seeing Ethan probably around our due date on 5 October. This is good news cos Daddy is preaching this Sunday on Psalm 4...

Waiting for Ethan

The cot is ready and waiting for Ethan to arrive! Last night mummy had stomache cramps but after timing them she's sure they're not contractions. 2.5 more weeks to due date! :-) This is our first post from my SonyEricsson K610i mobile phone. So we can use this to give live photo updates during Phase 1 of labour!

Getting Ready at 33 Weeks

Baby is now about 33 weeks and we've been busy preparing to welcome the youngest member of the family! Went for a detailed scan with gynae last week and it's quite amazing to see how much the baby has grown! She took measurements of the head and thigh bone and somehow managed to estimate that he now weighs around 1.9 kg..... and looking at the ultrasound, I think we can be QUITE certain that he has all the equipment for a boy!

The baby's head is now facing downwards and we hope he stays that way till he's ready to come out! So far everything looks normal and we will be going for our next appointment on 5 Sept.

Meanwhile in the last few weeks we have been trying to gather all the remaining baby items and set up our study room...which is slowly morphing into a baby's room. Got some really cute baby clothes from friends and are just discovering the bewildering world of disposable diapers....

Ivan has also been hard at work building some new baby-safe furniture & diaper change table for our home...here's Ivan with our haul from Ikea recently.

Pre-Natal Scans: 22 Weeks

This is an archive of Ethan's pre-natal sonograms at 22 weeks. Each image is 3 megapixels.

Pre-Natal Scans: 16 Weeks

This is an archive of Ethan's pre-natal sonograms at 16 weeks. Each image is 3 megapixels.

Pre-Natal Scans: 11 Weeks

This is an archive of Ethan's pre-natal sonograms at 11 weeks. Each image is 3 megapixels.