It's probably a...

Just got back from having Ying's 18 week ultrasound done. We're pleased to report that everything's fine. We again saw two arms, two legs and five fingers on each hand. The new 3D technique is not recommended by us at this stage because our baby looks like something off the X-Files. Luckily, there's still lots of development to go 'cause I don't think even the mother would love this face as it appeared on the 3D ultrasound. Our baby currently weighs in at 232 g or half a pound. We didn't see the length but the heart rate was 141 bpm and we could see it pumping away. And now for the news most people are interested in. According to what we didn't see on the ultrasound, we think we're having a girl. We'll have to wait another 155 days (±2 weeks or so) to know for sure.

We're open to name suggestions at this point as well. We'll go into the hospital with a baby name book just incase it's a boy. We've only thought of one girl's name so far: Julie. It comes from next year being the Year of the Pig in China. In Chinese, pig is 猪, spelled "zhu" in pinyin and pronounced like "ju" in English. We're probably going to pick another character with the same pronunciation, 珠, which means "pearl" or "treasure." Then we'll use the character 丽, which means "beautiful" and is pronounced like "li." Of course, it's still early so we might change our mind on the name or what characters to use for her Chinese name.

174 days to go

We started late but here's Ying's belly after 15 weeks. She did start out much thinner but her pants are starting to get a little tight now.

We're getting everything in order for our new family. Our condo has sold and we've almost finalized buying a new home. We're pressuring her parents to get their passports and we'll try and have them come to Canada for a little while when the baby is born. It's our first baby so we're welcoming any parenting help.

Ying's at Mark's Work Wearhouse right now and getting tons of hours since they're understaffed going into the holidays. My work is going great and I'm looking forward to two weeks of celebrating Xmas. So far, there are three company parties lined up which is three more than I attended last year. Oh! There's also a little fiesta for our last Spanish class of the year.

We're unable to head to Edmonton for Xmas because Ying will be working so much over the holidays but we'll relax around here. Mom should be happy next Xmas. Her household population might skyrocket from one to seven which would include her two seven month-old grandchildren. Hmm, I wonder if she'll do double-duty on the free baby-sitting so the rest of us could have a night out...