Merry Christmas!

When Jenny opens her gift this morning, she will find the much coveted World of Warcraft box in all its orcish glory. This game was so abhorred by Jenny that she went so far as to call it my mistress. There's actually a story behind this box, which will have to be reiterated on another post. When she opens the box, she will find a little card tucked inside the DVD case. On the card will read the URL of this blog. Merry Christmas, Jenny! Starting a blog was something we've wanted to do for a long time. With the addition of Eli to our ranks, we would now have interesting things to write about!

I am going to have to explain this picture. The head- and neck-wear are crocheted by my grandma. At 92(?), she's still going strong. We're planning on bringing Eli to California in February and having him blessed at my grandma's Chinese branch. My pose is one of Jenny's favorites--affectionately dubbed the "Sausage Showcase". But hey: these sausages can play the piano. Behold the proof. Chris Armstrong and I had the privilege of holding a Christmas recital a couple of days ago. After more than six months of practice, we finally pulled it off. Thanks to friends and family for all the support.

Parental Certification

Last night, Jenny and I completed our 'Third Trimester' course in preparation for Eli's arrival. The course consisted of six two-hour sessions where we learned everything from contractions to circumcision. I think the point of the course was really to drill into the guy's mind two things: 1) what a miracle life is and 2) how lucky it is to be a guy. I must admit that I do feel more qualified to be a parent now that I am in possession of a 'Third Trimester Graduation Certificate.' The most informative part was learning how to recognize when baby is in danger. For example, if baby's lips become blue, it is not a good sign and we should immediately call 911. The same is true if baby doesn't have a heart rate. Or if he carves out Newton's laws of motion into his crib.

Our imminent task is to prepare our hospital bags so that we can leave on the fly when Eli decides on a change of scenery. Actually my bag is ready. The hospital has HDTVs so all I need is the Playstation and I am set for weeks.

Jenny and I have been thinking about how to decorate Eli's room. In light of recent events, I will now proceed to tear down the Tiger Woods wallpaper. It's okay, though. Eli will be the first kid ever to have a Bobby Flay wallpaper. Forget cartoons. Food network 4 life.

The baby shower

Jenny didn't get much sleep on the night before her baby shower. She claimed it was because I was up until 3:30AM playing on the computer. Rubbish! I knew it was really because she was afraid her baby shower would not be well attended. I didn't see her until about 3PM the next day when she walked through the door with her arms full of gift bags. She dropped off the bags then hurried back out the door. I figured we were still on a no-talking basis until she walked back in again with another armful of bags. This proceeded for another 38 trips or so. After her final trip, it was clear that one of two things happened: she and her few friends robbed Target in broad daylight OR she had more friends than she thought she had.

I was speechless at the tremendous support we had from our friends and neighbors, people we knew well and people we didn't know at all. I'm pretty sure we received more gifts for Eli than we did at our wedding reception. In Eli's defense, he is much cuter than me.

Oh, and on a final note: I deleted my stupid computer game and vowed to never play it again. You are all witnesses! (But that doesn't mean I can't play a different stupid computer game ^_^) J/k.

Words containing shen/tion/sion

It's really a shame that shenaningan/shenanigans were taken because those were my first choices. So why reflection? I'll be the first to admit that it's cheesy and cliche. But this blog will be entirely about sitting down and reflecting on the current happenings of our family. Jenny is now 37 weeks pregnant and is officially full term, meaning that Eli could pack up and leave the uterus and not be considered a premie. Life as I know it is about to turn upside down. In hindsight, perhaps I should have gone with complicashen or imploshen.

Runners-up: introspecshen, concusshen, asiansensashen (kidding)

So Jenny and I are having a bet what Eli's first words will be. I'm putting a week's supply of Jamba Juice on "PLAYSTATION." We'll see.