Our Little House

This week was such a whirlwind of emotion. It started off really well - some nights I was able to get better sleeps than last week. On the weekend, we were able to go out and explore as well. But then after my scheduled regular 38 weeks appointment it turned out the entire vibe 180 degrees. Starting with the good part of the week first. Since my sister is coming to the US to support me, I was hoping we can take her to visit some places before the confinement and new baby lockdown period starts. On the weekend we went to two different outdoor shopping areas nearby where we lived. Initially we wanted to try dining outside for Ippudo Ramen, but we learned too late that we had to make a reservation ahead of time through yelp (which actually make a lot of sense as they have limited outdoor seating). Thankfully, that area was full of other dining options so we ended up choosing a Thai place which has good Pad Thai and Tom Yum Goong.  After that we wanted to go somewhere else, since going...

As I'm expecting our second baby soon, I would like to share some learnings from my experience specifically on building a registry for baby #2. I will go in depth and share things that work for us based on our experience, preference, and budget while it is not the "ultimate" or "must haves". For me this is also another chance to get some items that truly would make my life with the newborn a little bit easier (again based on my first experience). At the end of the post, I put a summary for the "essentials" of Sprinkle registry. Hopefully this list can also help you in anyway, whether you are a first time mom or experienced moms. First of all, come the question of should we even have a registry for baby #2? The answer is clear YES! Some considerations here: I have some hand me downs from our first kid that we can still reuse. However, one thing to note here is to consider the age gap between the two (last) babies. For us, the age gap between Grace and h...

I saw some people on YouTube vlog their "baby watch" video and I thought it was such a fun idea. So I thought I will start to document these (hopefully) few peaceful weeks before our bundle of joy arrives. This week I am 37 weeks and counting ... physically I don't feel a lot of difference except when baby is hiccuping or moving sometimes it feels very close to my pelvis area like she's about to burst. On my last appointment at 36 weeks, through the internal check as well as ultrasound, the doctor confirmed that baby was already head down locked in position facing to the back. However, everything (I guessed she meant my mucus plug) is still intact. I did feel the baby is dropping - I'm not running out of breath as much as the past few weeks, I feel so much pressure on my pelvis area especially when my stomach is contracting (this happens randomly throughout the day but pretty consistently after dinner everyday) and sometimes when she moves I feel my bladder is...

As I'm getting closer to the last stretch of my third trimester, one necessary task to accomplish in my to-do list is packing a hospital bag. It took me a while this time around to pack everything up. Since it has been 4 years from my last pregnancy, I found that there are numerous new baby items on the market. So before I created my list, I did my research either by reading what other moms bring to the hospital nowadays (especially during COVID situation) and watching youtube videos. I think I spent at least a week just for the research but it was fun! To make it easy, I always think of these three components when packing the hospital bag: What we need for the baby What we need for the mom What we need for the spouse One key difference this time around, I definitely put more emphasis on finding items that mom needs. I remember on my first pregnancy, most of the items I packed were for the baby instead. Can you believe I brought an entire pack of Newborn size diapers just...

I know everyone says every pregnancy is different but I didn't realize how true that saying is until I experienced it myself. Everything about this second pregnancy is different. The conception story itself was pretty surprising, even sort of miraculous. Last year we visited Indonesia and traveled to the surrounding countries for a period of 6 weeks. At the last leg of our trip, as we were preparing for our flight back to the US - our daughter, Grace, fell sick. She started having cold like symptoms and running a fever a day before our supposed return flight date. If you don't know her - Grace is like an energizer bunny. So when she hardly can sit at breakfast on the morning of our scheduled departure and showed zero energy level - we panicked. My husband called the airline to postpone the trip right away, and we tried to give Grace some medication we brought from the US. Long story short - by the afternoon, she started feeling better. Her energy was back and she was eating p...

Finally was able to find and log into this blog again :) Life has been very busy. Grace is now a blooming 4 years old. She's witty, bright, and a joy to be around. Despite her small stature, she's like an energizer bunny. I can't be more grateful to God for this daughter that He bestowed into our care. Talking about that ... I'm in the beginning of second maternity leave! We are currently expecting (at 36 weeks along) another daughter due in August :) Right now I'm trying to enjoy a couple peaceful weeks (hopefully) before the baby arrives. I planned to finish "nesting", prep for postpartum, and just spend more quality time with Grace. That being said, looking forward to document another big life milestone in this blog. I haven't been writing for such a long time but do miss blogging from time to time. Hopeful that I can kick start / revive this blog again - at least for the next couple of weeks before I go to hiatus postpartum :) Grace at 3.5 ...

Giving birth is such as miraculous process. I'm trying to remember every single details of this amazing motherhood journey but seems like my memory of that particular day is fading really fast. So here I'm writing more details about Grace's birth story, hoping that I will have something to help me remember this life milestone in the future ... On Wednesday morning as usual my Mom and I went for a long 3 miles walk around lake Elizabeth before heading to WholeFoods to buy pineapples. One of my friends in Singapore told me that eating pineapple really helps her start her labor (She gave birth at around 40 week-ish). I'm not too convinced at first. Also, I have been avoiding uncooked pineapple almost my entire life because I have ulcers problem. But I've tried everything else ... what would I lose trying out another "weird" suggestion? So that afternoon I ate the entire small box of cut pineapples with sambal rujak. I waited, as if something was supposed ...

This is a very late post - but as you can guess, the baby is finally here! She was born at exactly 41 weeks gestational age, which is June 16th for her. So we're late by a week. I was pretty stressed up waiting for her to be born. I did everything that I could - long walk everyday, going up and down the stairs exercise everyday, doing house chores, lifting boxes, nothing could trigger my water bag to break. What really helped me was eating a bunch of Pineapples! Anyways ... daddy posted an announcement on his Facebook which I will also share here: " We are overjoyed by the grace of God to welcome baby Grace Louisa Kurniawan at 2:24 AM on June 16, 2016. She is 19.5 inches and weighing at 6 pounds 13 ounces. The baby and the mommy are healthy. She is gorgeous! We are thankful to have friends who are always there for us. Thank you so much for your support and prayers!" And here she is... our "Grace"

Dear Baby, Today we had our 39 weeks and 6 days check-up. Doctor said everything looks good. The swelling on mommy's feet is very minimal. Mommy's blood pressure is good too. But ... the cervix hasn't dilate yet :( Your head is definitely lower than a week ago, but we need you to make more effort. Tomorrow was supposed to be your due date, but looking at the state of the cervix this afternoon, slim chance we are going to make it. It's ok if you don't make it exactly on the due date - only 5% of babies do. But please don't take too long even though mommy's belly is very comfy. Doctor asked mommy and daddy to settle for a plan - since we can't let you stay longer than 42 weeks. As of now, we are scheduled to meet with the doctor again a week from now. If there is some small improvement but we are still going too slow, she will perform a membrane sweep to help kick start the labor. If that doesn't help, we are scheduled for an induction on June 19...

Just want to share with you a few of my favorite purchases so far as we are waiting for our baby girl. Hopefully if you are also preparing for your newborn baby, this list could help you decide on brands or product that you might end up buying :) Aden+Anais organic swaddle in collaboration with the honest company. Quite a few of my coworker are actually expecting around the same time with me. My senior manager gave birth earlier this year and she has been a source of information for me as well as the other new moms in our office. She shared how swaddling really help soothe a fuzzy baby and highly recommended this muslin swaddles. Additionally, I've read and heard so many good review about Aden+Anais muslin swaddle online. I first saw this pack of organic swaddles on Zulily during a promotion back at March but I passed because I still wasn't sure if I want the organic kind. I soon regret that decision because it was super hard to find a good discount for this product anywher...

Sharing a lighter pregnancy post today :) Back in April, our friends throw us a "half" surprise baby shower. Why half surprise? I kinda knew they were planning a baby shower because one friend asked for my input especially regarding who to invite. She also asked me about the settings of the baby shower - whether I want it to be a formal sitting lunch / dinner with the girls or a casual one with couples. But that's the extend of my knowledge about the shower, she is very quiet about the rest of the detail. So a few weeks passed and there were nothing =P A day before the baby shower, turned out somebody accidentally asked my husband whether husbands are welcome to join the event. So he knew when exactly is the baby shower! But he kept the secret from me. The next day was Sunday. As I was getting dressed to go to the Church, hubby asked me if I want to wear a dress instead. I told him no, because according to the weather forecast, it was going to be pretty windy that d...

Not sure if I have mentioned this before in this blog, but I have a very low pain tolerance level. Well, I guess all of you should have kinda know since I wrote the TB test post :) I really hate injection and I know I would have to get a lot of shots and blood checks if I am pregnant. So, I was actually super scared of getting pregnant. To my surprise though, as soon as I found out that I'm pregnant, I was not worrying about the number of shots I would get or the blood checks. Most of the time in my early pregnancy, I worried about my baby's development and really looked forward to pass the 12 weeks milestone. Why? Because that's when the chance of miscarriage decrease significantly. Also, that is when embryo graduate to become a fetus. So to sum up what my first trimester experience felt like, it felt like I was on a race. I was just super focused on getting through the first trimester and didn't have time to worry about the shots/injection/blood tests or the upcomi...

We waited for another 3.5 weeks before we could meet with my OB and truly confirmed the pregnancy. It was the longest 3.5 weeks ever in my life! Have you ever heard about how your mom pregnancy experience might affect yours? Well, actually I heard both ways - some people believe it might, some people don't. In my case, it doesn't - at all. I'm actually super scared of getting pregnant because my mom had very difficult pregnancies for the three of us. She told me how she had severe morning sickness and had to stay in bed up to 6 months when she carried us girls and 4 months when she carried my brother. However, I did notice some physical changes. The most apparent change was with my energy level. I noticed how I got sleepy all the time. My husband and I carpooled together to work everyday. During those weeks, I usually sleep on our way home. Once we're home, I found it so hard to do normal activities, all I wanted was to lie on the sofa and sleep. I did not really ex...