a woman, mrs. kim, is staying with us for two weeks to help out with cooking, laundry, and caring for the kids. i'm very grateful to her. she's a friend of my stepmom's. mira enlisted her help because she and my dad were very concerned about how i'd manage on my own with a newborn. i'm very grateful to them, too.
mrs. kim told me tonight she came to help me out because she kept thinking about her own daughter and what she'd do if her daughter were in my situation. and that's how she decided to come stay with us.
which leaves me to wonder. and i'm only going to write about this once. how come my own mom doesn't feel this way toward me? she hasn't felt the slightest inclination or want to come after any of our kids were born. i've come to expect it and yet it still hurts the same each time it happens. it's just one of those things i don't think i'll ever understand.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
where.
i am still determined to finish the joy of love series. and by golly, jonah did join us just in time to be part of the fun!
assignment #24: where did you first meet or fall in love?
right here in the delivery room, moments after birth. they laid him on my chest and his little face looked up, his eyes searching until they locked on to mine. and in that moment, i was completely, utterly, and irrevocably in love with this brand new little man. also in that moment, i discovered that it doesn't matter whether it's your first or fourth or fourteenth (not that i'm planning on finding out!) baby: that precious first meeting is one of life's most beautiful moments, and it never gets old or redundant.
assignment #24: where did you first meet or fall in love?
Saturday, March 26, 2011
mini-vacation.
the only thing that keeps it from being a truly great getaway is the terribly uncomfortable pull-out chair bed that phil gets to sleep on. i suggested he bring an air mattress this time around, but he declined. i guess that would have been a little weird to make oneself too comfortable there.
anyhow, here are some pictures from our latest "mini-vacation"!
and so, our new adventure as a family of SIX begins!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
jonah's birth story.
baby jonah's here! wait, did i forget to mention that before? it's been a whirlwind of a week and before i forget too many details (though i did keep an outline while in labor), here is our jonah's birth story.
previously, at my 36-week appointment, the doctor said i was at 1-2 cm and the baby's head was low. he had said then that if i progressed further by the following week, we might just go ahead and induce if i hadn't gone already since i had super fast deliveries with the previous babies. i was comfortable with that plan since one of my bigger fears was going in to labor suddenly and not having enough time to get the kids situated and make it to the hospital. which would also mean not having enough time to get an epidural. which is kinda what happened when mikey was born. not my favorite birth experience. remember my 2-item birth plan?
so phil and i decided to leave the kids at the grandparents' house for a week and hope like crazy the baby would come while the kids were being cared for. phil had also started his vacation/paternity time off and i really didn't want most of it to be spent before the baby was born.
there are kinda more details to be concerned about when a fourth baby is on the way.
sunday night, i started having contractions. the achey, wrap around your back, clenchy feeling of dread kind. not the cute braxton hicks ones. but then again, i'd been having a couple hours of the "real" contractions every night for the past two weeks. they would usually go away by the time i went to bed. so it was hard to tell if these were going to stick around long enough to make any progress.
the guessing game was no fun. especially since i was on the better-sooner-than-later side of the fence this time around.
so phil scurried around getting the last few things packed into our suitcase and we headed to the hospital near midnight since these contractions seemed to be sticking around.
they hooked me up to the monitors and kept us there for four hours to see if i'd make any more progress. the contractions stayed pretty regular, coming every 2-3 minutes, but weren't nearly as painful as the ones at home had been. i had a feeling these weren't doing very much of anything. after all that, i was still stuck at 2 cm. so we were sent back home.
we experienced our first *walk of shame* back down the long hallways of the hospital to head back home. thankfully it was at 4:30 in the morning and not many people were around to witness us sheepishly shuffling out.
but it turned out to be a really nice thing to have a couple of days to ourselves while the kids were away. we immediately adopted a bachelor-type lifestyle, staying up crazy late, sleeping in crazy late, eating whatever we felt like whenever we felt like, going to the movies (battle: los angeles), and pretty much having no set schedule for anything. it felt weird. and wonderful. and phil got some much needed chunks of time to get some work done which i know he was glad to have, too.
wednesday morning came around and we headed to the doctor's office for my 37-week appointment. i had a sinking feeling that i hadn't made any more progress again even though i had been having contractions again since 4pm the day before. we had been going on long walks every evening in hopes of kickstarting labor for good, but the contractions kept fading away on me. i kept envisioning the doctor saying, "well, looks like we'll see you next week!"
but, it turned out i had made a little more progress and finally made it to 3cm! and then the doctor said he'd talk to us in his office. which was definitely out of the ordinary. my hopes rose a tiny bit. once in his office, he told us that since i'd been having contractions and was progressing, in addition to my elevated blood pressure, he thought it best for us to go have a nice lunch, then head to the hospital to induce that day.
i couldn't believe my ears. i totally thought i was imagining him saying the very thing i wanted him to say. good thing phil was also there to confirm what he'd just said.
woo hoo! finally time to get this show on the road!
we followed doctor's orders and had a nice [steak] lunch, packed up, and headed to the hospital.
that was the long part of the story. the actual labor and delivery were over and done with in under eight hours.
we checked in at 2pm and i got hooked up to an iv and pitocin at around 2:40. they started the pitocin really low at first and gradually kept increasing the level. but really slowly for some reason. i started having really mild contractions but nothing bad all afternoon.
the doctor came to check on me at 6 pm and i was still stuck at 3 cm. so he broke my water (which felt really weird) and had the pitocin cranked up.
on a sidenote, i had really great nurses in both the labor/delivery and recovery rooms. cecilia, jopye, and ivy were the best nurses i've ever had! which may or may not have had something to do with a phone call one of phil's former attendings put in on our behalf. at any rate, they took really great care of us and made the whole experience that much better.
at 6:45 pm, the contractions were finally feeling like they meant business. not super bad yet, but phil suggested i go ahead and get my epidural before they got really bad and while the anesthesiologist was available. so i did. and it was great.
the nurse checked me again at 8 pm and i had made it to 5 cm. she said maybe i'd jump to 10 after this. it all started to feel surreal as i realized this baby is actually coming and there was no turning back now.
at 9:30 pm, the nurse checked me again and lo and behold, i was at 10 and ready to push. she called the doctor who said he'd be right over. she assumed he was at home but it turned out he'd waited in the hospital knowing it would go fast once it was time to deliver.
he came in and said he'd check me, but took one look, jumped a bit saying, "whoa, the head is right there! don't do anything!" he hurriedly gowned up and before i knew it, he said to push. i pushed. the nurse laughed and said i was smiling while pushing. i didn't feel like i was doing anything.
after a total of two and a half pushes, no tearing and no stitches, baby jonah was born at 9:50 pm, weighing 6 lb 7 oz, 18 inches long. beautiful and healthy. and best of all? he got his mommy's dimples! which i have yet to get a picture of. but here he is!
previously, at my 36-week appointment, the doctor said i was at 1-2 cm and the baby's head was low. he had said then that if i progressed further by the following week, we might just go ahead and induce if i hadn't gone already since i had super fast deliveries with the previous babies. i was comfortable with that plan since one of my bigger fears was going in to labor suddenly and not having enough time to get the kids situated and make it to the hospital. which would also mean not having enough time to get an epidural. which is kinda what happened when mikey was born. not my favorite birth experience. remember my 2-item birth plan?
so phil and i decided to leave the kids at the grandparents' house for a week and hope like crazy the baby would come while the kids were being cared for. phil had also started his vacation/paternity time off and i really didn't want most of it to be spent before the baby was born.
there are kinda more details to be concerned about when a fourth baby is on the way.
sunday night, i started having contractions. the achey, wrap around your back, clenchy feeling of dread kind. not the cute braxton hicks ones. but then again, i'd been having a couple hours of the "real" contractions every night for the past two weeks. they would usually go away by the time i went to bed. so it was hard to tell if these were going to stick around long enough to make any progress.
the guessing game was no fun. especially since i was on the better-sooner-than-later side of the fence this time around.
so phil scurried around getting the last few things packed into our suitcase and we headed to the hospital near midnight since these contractions seemed to be sticking around.
they hooked me up to the monitors and kept us there for four hours to see if i'd make any more progress. the contractions stayed pretty regular, coming every 2-3 minutes, but weren't nearly as painful as the ones at home had been. i had a feeling these weren't doing very much of anything. after all that, i was still stuck at 2 cm. so we were sent back home.
we experienced our first *walk of shame* back down the long hallways of the hospital to head back home. thankfully it was at 4:30 in the morning and not many people were around to witness us sheepishly shuffling out.
but it turned out to be a really nice thing to have a couple of days to ourselves while the kids were away. we immediately adopted a bachelor-type lifestyle, staying up crazy late, sleeping in crazy late, eating whatever we felt like whenever we felt like, going to the movies (battle: los angeles), and pretty much having no set schedule for anything. it felt weird. and wonderful. and phil got some much needed chunks of time to get some work done which i know he was glad to have, too.
wednesday morning came around and we headed to the doctor's office for my 37-week appointment. i had a sinking feeling that i hadn't made any more progress again even though i had been having contractions again since 4pm the day before. we had been going on long walks every evening in hopes of kickstarting labor for good, but the contractions kept fading away on me. i kept envisioning the doctor saying, "well, looks like we'll see you next week!"
but, it turned out i had made a little more progress and finally made it to 3cm! and then the doctor said he'd talk to us in his office. which was definitely out of the ordinary. my hopes rose a tiny bit. once in his office, he told us that since i'd been having contractions and was progressing, in addition to my elevated blood pressure, he thought it best for us to go have a nice lunch, then head to the hospital to induce that day.
i couldn't believe my ears. i totally thought i was imagining him saying the very thing i wanted him to say. good thing phil was also there to confirm what he'd just said.
woo hoo! finally time to get this show on the road!
we followed doctor's orders and had a nice [steak] lunch, packed up, and headed to the hospital.
that was the long part of the story. the actual labor and delivery were over and done with in under eight hours.
we checked in at 2pm and i got hooked up to an iv and pitocin at around 2:40. they started the pitocin really low at first and gradually kept increasing the level. but really slowly for some reason. i started having really mild contractions but nothing bad all afternoon.
the doctor came to check on me at 6 pm and i was still stuck at 3 cm. so he broke my water (which felt really weird) and had the pitocin cranked up.
on a sidenote, i had really great nurses in both the labor/delivery and recovery rooms. cecilia, jopye, and ivy were the best nurses i've ever had! which may or may not have had something to do with a phone call one of phil's former attendings put in on our behalf. at any rate, they took really great care of us and made the whole experience that much better.
at 6:45 pm, the contractions were finally feeling like they meant business. not super bad yet, but phil suggested i go ahead and get my epidural before they got really bad and while the anesthesiologist was available. so i did. and it was great.
the nurse checked me again at 8 pm and i had made it to 5 cm. she said maybe i'd jump to 10 after this. it all started to feel surreal as i realized this baby is actually coming and there was no turning back now.
at 9:30 pm, the nurse checked me again and lo and behold, i was at 10 and ready to push. she called the doctor who said he'd be right over. she assumed he was at home but it turned out he'd waited in the hospital knowing it would go fast once it was time to deliver.
he came in and said he'd check me, but took one look, jumped a bit saying, "whoa, the head is right there! don't do anything!" he hurriedly gowned up and before i knew it, he said to push. i pushed. the nurse laughed and said i was smiling while pushing. i didn't feel like i was doing anything.
after a total of two and a half pushes, no tearing and no stitches, baby jonah was born at 9:50 pm, weighing 6 lb 7 oz, 18 inches long. beautiful and healthy. and best of all? he got his mommy's dimples! which i have yet to get a picture of. but here he is!
jonah karsten tsai
march 16, 2011
we are SO thankful that God was in each of the details surrounding jonah's birth and how he took care of each member of the family and made everything go so smoothly. and now we have this tiny, precious gift to welcome into our lives. He is good and his love endures forever. :)
Saturday, March 12, 2011
2-item combo.
my unofficial birth plan has but two items on it:
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...
- 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.
- 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...
Friday, March 11, 2011
out.
the directions: Get a sitter and go out on the town!!! Take the point and shoot and take some fun portraits of you together. Tickle each other. Laugh. Have fun!
the key point: Go anywhere but HOME!
the tip: You have to ask someone else to take your photo for this prompt. Just find someone who is approachable and ask him or her to snap a quick photo of you. Don’t be embarrassed!
Oh, and be sure to put your camera in auto mode so a stranger can figure it out. This prompt isn’t about artsy shots as much as it is about having a photo of the two of you together!
********
thanks to our sweet friends, jami and james, (THANK YOU GUYS!!! not many souls would bravely volunteer to watch three ankle-biters, at the SAME TIME!), we actually got to go out for an evening away from home.
i can't tell you what a refreshing and just plain old FUN time it was. especially for me.
nice to feel like a kid again.
i left the plans up to phil and as always, he didn't disappoint.
we started out at the nearby movie theater and watched "adjustment bureau". not sure that i'd highly recommend watching it, but seeing as how the last movie we watched in a theater was two and a half years ago the day before lauren was born, i think i'd enjoy pretty much any movie.
didn't get to ask anyone to take a picture of us at the movie theater, so we hopped into the photo booth that was there instead. we used to do this all the time when we were dating.
and because phil purposely planned our date really close to home, we also had time to go out for a deeeelicious dinner, too. i really, really love that he thinks of these things. cuz i probably would've driven somewhere further away but then would only have had enough time to do one thing before having to head back home.
anyway, we ended up finding a hidden jewel and feasted on things like foie gras with a mandarin orange gastrique, edamame with truffle butter, yellow tail carpaccio, grilled rib-eye with garlic fried rice, among other things. yes, we ordered a lot. and ate it all! :) and i totally would've taken pictures of all the pretty plates, but chose to respect the request to not take pictures of their food (which was printed on every page of their menu). aw well, they shall live on in my memory.
i asked our very nice server to take our picture before the food came out. here we are in auto mode. :)
thank you again, jami and james! we had a really great night out and it was timed perfectly to be our last hurrah before ankle-biter #4 joins the party. love you guys!
the key point: Go anywhere but HOME!
the tip: You have to ask someone else to take your photo for this prompt. Just find someone who is approachable and ask him or her to snap a quick photo of you. Don’t be embarrassed!
Oh, and be sure to put your camera in auto mode so a stranger can figure it out. This prompt isn’t about artsy shots as much as it is about having a photo of the two of you together!
********
thanks to our sweet friends, jami and james, (THANK YOU GUYS!!! not many souls would bravely volunteer to watch three ankle-biters, at the SAME TIME!), we actually got to go out for an evening away from home.
i can't tell you what a refreshing and just plain old FUN time it was. especially for me.
nice to feel like a kid again.
i left the plans up to phil and as always, he didn't disappoint.
we started out at the nearby movie theater and watched "adjustment bureau". not sure that i'd highly recommend watching it, but seeing as how the last movie we watched in a theater was two and a half years ago the day before lauren was born, i think i'd enjoy pretty much any movie.
and because phil purposely planned our date really close to home, we also had time to go out for a deeeelicious dinner, too. i really, really love that he thinks of these things. cuz i probably would've driven somewhere further away but then would only have had enough time to do one thing before having to head back home.
anyway, we ended up finding a hidden jewel and feasted on things like foie gras with a mandarin orange gastrique, edamame with truffle butter, yellow tail carpaccio, grilled rib-eye with garlic fried rice, among other things. yes, we ordered a lot. and ate it all! :) and i totally would've taken pictures of all the pretty plates, but chose to respect the request to not take pictures of their food (which was printed on every page of their menu). aw well, they shall live on in my memory.
thank you again, jami and james! we had a really great night out and it was timed perfectly to be our last hurrah before ankle-biter #4 joins the party. love you guys!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
home.
it tends to feel like a mini-vacation/party when daddy's home for a whole weekend. the mood is lighter, the fun is more accessible, the food is admittedly junkier, and the mess is completely out of control. but it's safe to say that we'd all vote to have daddy home even with the extra mess and diminished order.
especially when daddy announces it's movie night. or in this particular case, nba slam dunk contest night. cuz that's when the party really gets raging.
assignment #20: when they're home
note: the grapes are there as the healthy element to offset the pizza, pasta, and chips n dip. gotta insert the mom influence somewhere, right?
especially when daddy announces it's movie night. or in this particular case, nba slam dunk contest night. cuz that's when the party really gets raging.
assignment #20: when they're home
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