2-item combo.

my unofficial birth plan has but two items on it:

1. have the baby in the hospital.  as in, not at home, not in the car, not in a taxi, not in an ambulance, not in the parking lot outside the hospital.
2. get a good epidural.  period.

i figure if i keep it short and simple, i'll have a greater chance of having the 'birth of my dreams'.  i told phil it was his job to make this birth plan happen.

will let ya know how it goes.

any day now...

kiss.

the kids are getting more and more excited to meet their new baby brother.  perhaps none more than allie, who is over the moon to have another baby in the house.  she just loves telling everyone she comes across that there's a baby brother on the way.  she tells me all the things she's going to do for him.  and she seems to think my belly button works like a telephone, as she'll often come up to it and yell, "hi baby brother!  how ya doin' in there?"

i have a feeling this little baby is going to be the lucky recipient of LOTS of love and affection from his older siblings.  especially from big sister allie.

assignment #15:  kiss.

a kiss sent through the belly button telephone will have to do for now, until he comes out and she can give him the real thing!

hello.

hello dear little one,

 i'm sorry to have to tell you...

that you are not the first to be born into this family.

and not the second, or the third, either.

no precious one, you will be one of many.

though you're not the first, or the second, or the third...

we still eagerly await your arrival with open arms and thankful hearts. 

for you are a precious gift from the Lord.

and i happen to know a big brother and a couple of big sisters who just can't wait to hug you and squeeze you and love you forever.

see you soon, little guy.

love,
mommy

mario.

we are completely and utterly stumped for a name.  so much so that we've even resorted to asking the kids for their input.  and it went something like this:

me:  allie, what shall we name your new baby brother?
allie [very decisively]:  mario.
me:  ...huh?  what?
allie:  mario.
me:  mario.  interesting.  why do you like the name mario?
allie:  because i like that driving game, so let's name him mario, ok?
me [surprised because we haven't played that game in months]:  well, we'll take your suggestion into consideration, ok?

me:  mikey, what shall we name your new baby brother?
mikey:  how about justin?
me:  why justin?
phil [to me]:  does he have any friends named justin?
me [to mikey]:  do you have a friend named justin?
mikey:  yes, but he's in the other class but he's my friend and we play at recess.  so let's name my baby brother justin!

mikey and allie [in a chant-like chorus]:  mario!  justin!  mario!  justin!  mario!  justin!

and so.  we are still stumped for a name.  but at least we now have an until-we-decide-on-a-real-name-we'll-call-the-kid-this temporary name:  mario.  as in, "i bought a blue baby blanket for mario."  or, "we can save this shirt for mario."  or, "just a hunch, but maybe mario will have troubles with someone named wario somewhere down the line."

so at least that's something.

otherwise, we're still completely stumped.  any suggestions for the suggestion box?  aside from mario and justin.  they've already been submitted.

thanksgiving, 2010.

this year's thanksgiving ended up being a pretty simple affair for us.  we originally thought maybe we'd head up north to visit phil's mom as we haven't seen her in over a year.  but as is usually the case, phil ended up not getting the entire weekend off and so we stayed home and gave thanks with just the five of us.  i think we've stayed home nearly every thanksgiving and so it was nice in a way to continue that tradition.

that's not to say there wasn't a lot of eating involved, though.

it started the week before thanksgiving, with both allie and mikey's school celebrations.

lauren and i made it just in time to sit with allie and her class as they feasted.  the teachers were so nice to have a plate of food and a seat all ready for little sister lauren at the table.  which made life for me so much easier.  lauren just wanted to get back to her food.

it was a nice, mellow kind of celebration with tons and tons of food.

quick picture of me and my girls just before we headed out.

the next day (which also happened to be my big ultrasound day), we made it just in time for mikey's class feast.  unfortunately, we had to miss the kids' performance for the parents which made me sad.  but i prepared mikey for it a few days in advance and let him know we wouldn't be there for the singing part, but would be there for the eating part.  at least daddy got to come this time, though.  and i got to tell him that he's getting a baby brother!  mikey was all smiles after that.

before the feasting began, mikey's teacher took a moment to share what she was thankful for this year and then had each of the students share what they were thankful for.

when it came to mikey's turn he said he was thankful for his mommy.  he was the first one to say that which resulted in a round of "awws" from the surrounding parents.

later, he whispered to me that he said he was thankful for me because i was giving him the little brother he always wanted.

we stayed and played a little while after the feasting was done.  and where there's phil...

there are kids gathered around.  happens every time.  same is true of mosquitoes.

probably because he's the biggest kid of them all.  :)

fast forward to thanksgiving day.  a simple celebration for the five of us.  i don't have many pictures though, because as simple as it was, it still took me the better part of the day to get it all ready!  this year, i did make a turkey instead of a chicken or prime rib because now, thanks to what my kids have learned in school, they actually know you're supposed to have turkey at thanksgiving.  if they actually liked the taste of turkey however, is an entirely different matter.

ps- that's allie's thanksgiving turkey centerpiece.

"hey everyone, look at daddy!"  just kidding, they were all supposed to be looking at me.  but it totally looks like i said that, doesn't it?

ps- that's mikey's pilgrim and indian picture on the wall.  and that was all for our meager thanksgiving decorations.  inside our cave-like, faux-wood-paneled dining room.  it's totally my favorite room in the house.  (ok, it's not.  but it IS where we spend a good amount of time each day.  but only for seven more months.  woo hoo!)

and our annual really bad thanksgiving family photo around the dining table just before diving in to the food.  also something of a family tradition for us.  and it totally wouldn't be tradition if it was a good picture, after all.  so thankful for these guys.  even when one of 'em wasn't looking where she's supposed to.  and even when another one of 'em complained of a headache.  and even when the last of 'em complained her tummy hurt.  yup, even then.

thank you Lord, for my family. thank you for the highs and lows, for the joy and the tears.  thank you Lord, for this beautiful life that i don't deserve.

turns out this one really does like turkey, after all.

hope you had a great thanksgiving weekend as well, my friends.  :)

it's a...

so this morning i had my 20-week ultrasound.  and no, i cannot believe i'm already halfway through this pregnancy.  yikes!

without further ado, i'll just go ahead and spill the beans so as not to keep you in suspense any longer.

but... not without a few pictures first!  :)  ok, ok, if you MUST KNOW NOW, go ahead and scroll down to see then come back.  i'll wait.

ready?

i scheduled this ultrasound a month in advance to be on phil's post-call day to make sure he'd be able to come too.  only, it also happened to fall on a day when both girls would be at home (allie goes to school only three days a week).  we weren't sure if they'd be able to come in with us, so phil stayed in the waiting room with them for the first part of the ultrasound.

apparently, they stayed plenty entertained while waiting.  then the nice lab tech went out to bring them in to see the baby and to find out the gender together.

and here i am after the appointment with a few pictures to take home!  :)

oh wait, did i skip something?  ;)

ok, so at first, baby wasn't quite cooperating and kept the legs tightly closed so we couldn't see either way.  but after a little while, we saw...

do you see anything?  don't worry, i couldn't tell at first either.  but apparently, this is the money shot.

and so my friends, tsai baby #4 is...  A BOY!!!

and we couldn't be happier about it.  especially mikey.  :)

cravings.

i'm now 15 weeks along.  my head is spinning with how fast it's all going, but i'm not quite yet ready to think about how fast the next few months are going to go and before we know it, baby #4 will be here.

i am very happy to report that all traces of nausea have finally left (a little over a week ago) and i'm *mostly* sure that i am done with morning sickness FOREVER.  hooray!

 i've had the same long bout with morning sickness with each of the pregnancies and one of the few things that helped was eating a particular food as soon as i was craving it.  on the flip side, the other thing that helped was having whatever food i couldn't tolerate at the time immediately removed from my presence and all related smells quelled as soon as possible.

with mikey, i loved all burgers and meat, all the time.  i couldn't stand bell peppers, carrots, or rotisserie chicken.

with allie, i dearly loved all fruits and vegetables but didn't have any strong aversions to anything in particular.  strong smells however, were a different story.

with lauren, fruits and meat took center stage as my favorites.  oh and chocolate.  and lots of it!  again, i didn't have any strong aversions, but there was this skunk who liked to roam around outside the door of the apartment we were living in at the time and would regularly spray his skunky odor every night.  that pretty much did me in.  we couldn't move out of there fast enough.

and now with this one, i have to say i've had very distinct cravings randomly come on, though it hasn't been isolated to any particular food.  except for coffee.  i've fallen hard for coffee.  and chocolate again.  my favorites.  i have been loving extra crisp apples and grapes, as well as a good handful of cheese-its now and then.  oh and golden grahams are awesome.  this time again, i can't stand bell peppers and leftovers of anything aren't well received.

and dear phil, with all his experience of handling an unpredictable pregnant wife, has been rather awesome this time around.  if i so much as mention a whiff of a food craving, he'll invariably show up with it when he gets home from work.  lately, this to me is much better than his coming home with flowers.

and if the food item i crave can't be had at the time (due to the lateness of the hour, or the impracticality of loading up the entire family and heading off in search of the kogi truck- though we have been known to do this a time or two), phil's been great at whipping up his own version with surprisingly winning results.

one morning, i woke up needing a breakfast sandwich in my life.  so phil went ahead and made one for each member of the family.  i think i went ahead and ate his, too.  sorry about that, honey!

one evening, it was a kimchee burrito.  not pictured as it was inhaled (by me) almost instantly.  and then dear phil made me another one when i was craving it again a few hours later...  at eleven pm.

then thoughts of popcorn from popcornoplis (no substitute would do) flooded my brain.  so phil drove twenty miles out of his way after work and presented me with these.  this was before we discovered our local blockbuster carries popcornopolis too.  and because he wasn't sure if i wanted sweet or savory, he went ahead and got me selections of both.  good thing they last for six months!

though i've never tasted triple berry cake before, one afternoon triple berry cake became my next craving.  and you guessed it, phil came home that night with not only one slice, but two!  :)  the first bite in, i declared to phil that it was exactly the taste i was wanting.  even though i hadn't ever tasted it before.  sometimes you just know. 

most recently, the craving has been for spicy kyochon chicken which was also too rapidly inhaled to be pictured here.  mmm, those were good.

and lest you think i'm the only one around here who gets cravings while pregnant, please allow me to show you two final pictures.

the only time a jar of chili bamboo shoots shows up at the house is when i'm pregnant.  and NO, it's not for me.  the only time phil eats this is when i'm pregnant.  but he must eat them straight out of the jar and close the lid in between bites.  because of the smell.  OH THE SMELL.  it would knock you over with a feather.  a hummingbird's feather.  and not in a good way.

this one is a newcomer with this pregnancy as i've never seen it, or phil eating it, before.  it has to be kept hidden from view in the fridge behind other jars because really, would you want to look at this every time you went to get the milk out?

houston, we have a problem.

oh mylanta.

quick answers:

• no, we weren't planning on having a fourth baby any time soon.  we were going to maybe adopt a few years down the line.  but obviously God had other plans for us.
• yes, this came as a complete, total, unexpected surprise.  but still a happy surprise, nonetheless.  as phil said (and has said with each of our babies), "that's cool.  really?  that's cool."
• yes, we do know how babies are made.  but as they say, only abstinence is 100% effective.
• yes, i have already tried all the natural methods to ease the nausea to no avail.  i've already thrown up.  thankfully i have an in-house doctor who's already prescribed relief for me.
• no, we don't feel at all ready to handle this life curve.  but we are trusting in God who is more than ready to handle this for us.
• and i'm just about 8 weeks along.  what a summer this has been.