Week 18 1/2

Here's a picture taken today... belly does look a lot bigger than previous post!!

 

Who's counting?

At our last ultrasound section with the doctor, it appears that Baby Milizia was measuring a bit on the small side. Since we found out that we were pregnant, the doctors calculated our due date as August 22nd - counting from the first day of my last menstrual period.

We both knew this would be off by a week at the most because (1) my monthly cycle is longer than the 28 days, (2) we have been charting my cycles since my ovarian cyst surgery last January and, (3) we both knew when the earliest conception date it could have happened. (Too much info, I know... but so many family and friends have inquired about it - so here it is officially posted!) From that, Peter and I predicted a due date of August 26th, just a day shy of my birthday so that both Mom and Daughter can have their birthdays to themselves :P If not, then it is one big celebration! So for this week, I am actually measuring around 17-18 weeks into the pregnancy.

The doctor wants us to go back in two weeks for an additional ultrasound so that they can measure Baby Milizia again to get a more accurate timeline and to see that all is well. One week in change is not that far off of a difference for a due date.

Baby Milizia is going to be a......

We are going to post ALL (getting carried away here... and we cannot just leave a picture out, you know :P) the ultrasound pictures we received today... and in one of them... it tells of baby's gender... can you spot it???!!

 

 

And now you know....

 it's a baby GIRL !!!

Guess Baby Milizia's gender!

We have some of your guesses....

Is it going to be a...
Girl?? Boy??

Peter and I are both very excited and eager to know what we are having. We will find out soon enough!

 

Whatever it is.... we will find out tomorrow morning - Monday (March 26th).

Doctor's check-up

This month's doctor's check-up... all is good.

My sugar levels are good and my sciatic nerve acts up every now and then but it's been fairly manageable. When we listened to the Doppler - Baby Milizia's heartbeat is averaging at 151-160 beats per minute (BPM). So all is really well!

 

I was reading on the internet, and there is a myth which suggests that one can predict the gender of their baby by using the heart rate of their baby during pregnancy. It says that 140+ BPM is a girl and under 140 BPM is a boy.

We will see how accurate this myth is once we find out Baby Milizia's gender.

Dress the pregnant lady

I 'fished' out some of my summer dresses already since this entire week has been amazingly warm -  Buffalo sort of skipped over Spring into Summer. Here I am in my regular work summer dresses which proved surprisingly comfy to be worn in my second trimester.

Week 17

Spring is here!!

The birds are chirping, the trees are budding, daffodils and early spring bloomers have crept up... goodbye winter!! I had a plan to take a picture of my pregnant self under our 'umbrella' tree...  but I was in sweatpants about to head out for an evening walk.

Next time then :P

Baby bumpin'

Here are the first set of pictures of my belly taken this morning.

 Forgive me for the disheveled look :P

Week 16

Another surprise package

Oh wowie... another surprise package in the mail. This time it is from my dear talented girlfriend Ai Ling of Ling Photography fame. She and her adorable son Ian picked out 3 cute onesies for Baby Milizia. Guess this gives us a jump start to starting Baby Milizia's wardrobe! Thank you so much and great pickings Ian!!

Thank you so much and great pickings Ian!!

 XoXoX

Auntie Sherene

Maternity Wear

When Peter and I first headed out to look at maternity clothes (in my 8th week)... our first stop was interesting enough - Forever 21. Why? I received a gift card to the store some time back and never had the chance to use it. So we thought.. let's see what camisole or types of clothing that I can pull off early in the pregnancy. Lo and behold, Forever actually has a maternity section... it was just two small shelving of it. I found purchased 3 pairs of maternity jeans - 2 skinny legged and one bootcut styled for $5.99 each. Insanely affordable... and 2 maternity belly bands for $4.99 each. We gathered from the super discounted price, they were discontinuing the entire maternity line. We were right and what great timing it was for us!

For the days to come, I would wear the belly band trying to disguise my belly while wearing my regular work pants with buttons and zips already all undone as well as summer empire waist dresses. Mind you, this was all taking place still in winter mode.


I thought that my bump would not show till much into my second trimester but I was clearly showing something as early as 9 weeks!!

My girlfriend Michele C. gave me a pair of work maternity slacks when I was in my 10th week and what a lifesaver that was for me to head to work in. Most comfortable pair ever which husband was really nice in washing it daily for me to wear the next day to work. I wear the maternity jeans from Forever 21 on weekends and outings.

Next to my few measly attempt at getting maternity clothes, I have to thank my amazing neighbor and girlfriend Nicole P. for delivering a bucket (literally) of her maternity clothes to me. Next to regular clothes, my pajamas and lounge wear at home was getting tight on me so her timing could not have been better. Nicole and her husband also passed down to us their rocking chair which has allowed me to stay in the family room comfortably. Not enough support for me on the sofa lounger and my sciatic nerve acts up every so frequently.

Another super big thank you also goes out to girlfriend  Michele C. who came to the rescue once again! She bequeathed all her maternity clothes to me. She just had her second boy and was ready to clean house and what a savior she has been to me. Next to clothing, I inherited the Parent magazines, books, guidebooks and lots of great mommy tips and advice.

Thank you to my maternity clothes fairies!!

Energy boost

Now that I have entered into the second trimester of pregnancy, I find that have I regained energy back. And I know Peter would say - "You still stay in bed till noon!" on several weekends... I have the will power back to want to go out and do something. Grocery shopping, going out, doing laundry are some of the activities I dreaded in my first trimester since I was just so darn tired.  I have to thank my wonderful husband for doing most of it.

With my energy back... I am eager to continue evening walks with the ladies on our street, shopping, and just doing more stuff like I used to do. Also, let the baby preparations and shopping begin! We started by just looking at stuff online... Peter and I started an Amazon Wishlist going. And earlier today, we spent over 2 hours in Babies R'Us looking at stuff and then we headed over to Target for another hour or so and did more scouting around. All this walking did not tire me out.. and before heading to the baby/infant aisles.. we walked the Walden Galleria Mall for 2-3 hours. Needless to say, I got my exercise for the weekend! YAY!

To Mom@Nancy and Aunt Barbara P. - your advise of doing squats is heeded. I am doing squats... not as often as you probably are both hoping but I am doing it!! Will add more squats to my daily exercises!

Pregnancy Buddy

Peter and I just learned the news that one of our dear friend M (I am holding off on revealing her identity at this time until she makes it official to the rest of our friends) is expecting. We are so happy for her and her husband. Both dads to be are excited needless to say! They have each other should both mamas-2-be get a little out of hand :P

M and I are about 8 weeks apart. Pregnancy buddies we will be!! We have the same General Practitioner and the same OBGYN (I recommended mine to her) and we are both super excited to be going through 'mama-hood' together. 

Pregnant Buddies

Both our mothers are planning to be here during our birth time - so grandmothers-2-be can rejoice in that! Looks like the fall and end of the year for us two households are going to be filled with all things baby!! Both M+husband together with Peter and I had dinner last evening... and a mini celebration we did with plenty of talk on baby names and more!

Child Care

One of the benefits working in a large university is the perk to having access to the Child Care services on campus. At UB, there are two child care centers - one located in the North Campus and the other in the South Campus. My work is located in the North Campus and Peter's office is literally across the street from the North Campus - our choice was obvious. We put in our application to the UB Child Care Center and hopes for the best!

I know some of you are wondering why put the application in so early? There has always been great demand for a spot in UB's Child Care Center and I have heard from colleagues of being on this elusive waiting list. However, the Child Care Center has expanded a bit and with our early application - we don't think it would be a problem. We also have some backup plans for Child Care and thank you to Amy M. & Michele C. for your recommendations and suggestions on the topic!

Surprise gifts and good reads..

We got home today with a package waiting at our front door and what a surprise it was coming from our dear friends who are in 'transition' right now as they started the moving back process to the east coast from Las Vegas. I started reading the book right away and it's definitely a girlfriends' guide indeed! Enjoying all the girlfriends anecdotes and tips!! Thank you also for the beautiful sonogram frame which we cannot wait to select the best picture we have - we think the best one would be the sonogram when we find out the gender of Baby Milizia in a couple of weeks time.

Thank you to Mindi, Andy, Alyssa and Drew for the wonderful surprise gifts!!

Peter joined in later reading a bit from the book as well - next to also reading the standard pregnancy bible "What to Expect When You're Expecting". We have the book loaded onto our Ipad, Ipod and Kindle to name a few for easy access and at arm's reach.

The other book which we are reading is "The Joy of Pregnancy" - after skimming through a couple of books, we found out they are all pretty much the same. Just opted for the book which we felt was  organized book and easy to read for us.

Instant craving?

Don't think it was a craving... but all I could think of at work this morning was a nice tall passion fruit bubble tea. So what did I do at lunch time? I dragged my colleague Jessica with me to the Tea Leaf Cafe located right by campus and got myself a large passion fruit black tea bubble tea. Needless to say, this mama-2-be was very happy for the rest of her work day!!

A new chapter...

A new year, a new (to-be-frequently-updated) blog and here's to a new chapter for us... 

We have yet to officially share with everyone of our news... but we are keeping it to just family and close friends at this time (so no facebook comments at this time please :P) But feel free to comments on the posts on this blog, the tag comments box on the left side of this blog and/or email us at sherandpete@gmail.com

We are expecting!!

 

We found out right after Christmas... talk about a wonderful Christmas present for the both of us. Over Christmas eve and Christmas day - Sherene was just feeling very tired. We were hanging out with family and the cousins were joking around and as Sherene sat there... she was fighting fatigue and trying to stay awake. Christmas eve - Sherene slept early, Christmas morning, she slept some more, after Christmas luncheon - she went back to bed!

So on boxing day, Sherene took a home pregnancy test and the two lines appeared. Wheee... we kept our little happy secret and tried the test again the next day and still yielded the same results. Sherene called her doctor and immediately scheduled for the next available appointment so we can get some real medical confirmation. 

We told our family come new years and have been super excited since!

On Sherene's week 9-10 of pregnancy, we got our first ultrasound pictures of Baby Milizia - see picture below... baby is upside down and since this ultrasound was taken... we both dubbed Baby Milizia as Baby Sotong (sotong translates to squid from Hokkien/Malay). It looked quite the little sotong to us with little legs wavering in the womb. LOL!

Sherene's been feeling good for the most of her first trimester... morning sickness is very minimal. She needs to learn to eat and chew slower than normal - the Penangite in her is really stubborn when eating since she can slurp down her noodles fast and just finish her plate whenever she is hungry! Her digestive systems runs slower these days and those are the uncomfortable times she experiences which triggers bouts of nausea. 

Week 13-14 of the pregnancy, the day before Valentine's day (what a Valentine gift this was!) - we got out first 3-D ultrasound of Baby Sotong - and sotong it was no more....  see pictures below...

The final ultrasound you can see Baby Milizia actually has one arm up as if to wave hi to the world!!

We are both very happy to share this happy new with you and we will continue to update as we learn more about baby. Baby Milizia is due to arrive at the end of August - right around Sherene's birthday.

As of now... we are taking bets for the baby's gender :P ...  we should be able to find out on our next ultrasound visit at the end of March. Sherene made it a point to let everyone know that as the baby mama who is carrying the baby - she gets 10% of the winning!! LOL!!

Updates!

We know we have been negligent on this blog... fret no more.. it's going to be up and running again. This time around, we have made the blog private and open to only family and close friends. So standby for updates!!

Season's Greetings

It has been a busy year for us. The year started a bit bumpy with Sherene heading in for surgery to remove some cysts located on her left ovary. It was a smooth surgery and while recovery time is prompt with most people, Sherene took a longer time. This was her first time under anesthesia so safe to say, we took it slow.

A couple days into recovering, we received news from Mom & Dad Cheah back in Penang that Sherene’s grandmother slipped and suffered a small stroke which caused paralysis to her left side of her body. This was devastating news especially since Sherene was in no condition to travel at that point. We were all very worried about grandmother but somewhat relieved to hear that she was very conscious of her condition and that her condition stabilized. Grandmother was later moved to a nursing ward.

In March, we hosted a wedding dinner reception at our house for our dear friends. We had around 25 people at the reception and the party went on all evening long with lots of drinks, music and more drinks.A couple of weeks later, Sherene traveled to China for work, stopping in Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. At the end of her work trip, she flew back to Penang to see her grandmother before heading back to Buffalo. Sherene’s grandmother was very happy to see her.

When spring time came, we both spent a lot of time outside, working on our house. We trimmed back some of the shrubs and trees and planted our vegetable and flower garden. Peter did most of the heavy lifting but Sherene did help out a lot with mowing the lawn. She is a pro now. Our neighbors have remarked how good she is doing her chores. Peter is very thankful and lucky to have such an amazing and helpful wife :P

The big news to share this year was that Sherene was sworn in as a US citizen. Mom & Dad Milizia were able to share this special occasion with us. After which, we spent a long weekend in NYC this past summer meeting up with our dear friends. We managed to catch a Broadway show. Sherene was elated since she got to see Daniel Radcliff – Mr. Potter himself in the flesh as he played J. Pierrepont Finch in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”. It was also restaurant week and what a treat it was dining on some amazing food.

Come August, we were super excited to host our friends from Penang and Singapore as they went about their Northeast US visit. What a reunion this was for us and to show them around Buffalo and Niagara Falls. During their visit, Sherene’s sister Sharon had also just arrived from Penang. She also had a chance to visit grandmother and family. Unfortunately, a couple of days after Sharon’s arrival, we received news from back home that grandmother had passed away. All three of us managed to get on the next flight home, in time for grandmother’s funeral. It was a whirlwind trip with us travelling from Buffalo to Los Angeles, including an emergency landing in Denver, to catch the only flight home to Penang via Dubai and Kuala Lumpur. We are both very grateful to all our friends, neighbors and colleagues for their help and support in our difficult time.

In October, Mom & Dad Cheah met us in Los Angeles as we visited Peter’s brother, Mathew and spent time in and around Southern California. We then flew into San Francisco and headed to Palo Alto to attend one of our dearest family friend’s wedding. It was a reunion for my parents to meet up with their friends who used to work and live in Penang some time ago. After the wedding, the four of us stopped by Napa Valley, where Peter drank to his heart’s content. We all then returned to Buffalo – it would be the first time ever that Sherene’s parent visited us in our (not so new anymore) home. They love the house! Yay!!

In November, Sherene had a last minute work trip to India. She visited New Delhi, Agra ‐ where she got to see the Taj Mahal, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai. As for Peter, he was jealous he did not get to go on this trip and missing out on all the authentic Indian cookery. Of course, he spent most the time focusing on his Movember moustache (only lasted till Dec 1st). Both of us finally hit 30. Dirty Thirty or Nerdy Thirty ‐ depending on who of Peter’s friend you talk to.

Nothing is different, just another year. We want to wish everyone a Happy Holidays and hope to see each and every one of you very soon. Take care and Happy New Year!

Love,
Sherene & Peter

Happy Birthday @Melia!

Many happy returns of the day!

lots of love,
XoXoX
Sher & Pete

2011 updates!

It was a very busy, social end of the year in 2010 which carried on over to the first quarter of 2011... so much have happened and there's been a bit traveling on my part. I am super behind on blog/picture posts... so please stay tuned!