Genetics

This past Saturday, we met up with our friends Henry and Lisa. During our meal, Henry asked how it is possible that while Jude and Eli look different from each other, they both still look like Kwang? I had to laugh, because I hear comments like that almost on a daily basis.

So I went in and took an additional 3-hour blood test this morning to determine if I had gestational diabetes. I had already taken the one hour test but my result came back high so they asked me back. As it turns out, I passed with flying colors and do not have it. Many of you are probably saying "big deal". If that is the case, then many of you don't know that a diagnosis of gestational diabetes is pretty much the KISS OF DEATH FOR LISA. You think I'm being dramatic but you would be very wrong.

Afterward the doctor gave me some potentially bad news because I hadn't received any since, oh, last week. I found out that last week's ultrasound was actually inconclusive about my placenta so I might still need a c-section. Not only that but this baby's kidneys may be enlarged (hydronephrosis). The results are being sent to a specialist to confirm if our baby's plumbing is broken. It's interesting, I have a tendency to "hold it in" when I need to use the restroom because I'm too lazy or busy to go. Kwang scolds me all the time for this terrible habit. So it occurred to me that even though this baby will probably look nothing like me but like an organically grown miniature Kwang, maybe its personality will be more like mine... so lazy in the womb that s/he just holds it in.

 

One, Two, Three Lines

So I had a follow-up ultrasound this morning for a "low lying placenta" found at my five month ultrasound. Yes, in the game of who has the most issues with pregnancy, I win! This is just one of four concerns I am praying over. According to the tech, it looks like this one may have resolved which goes to show everyone out there who says I'm "soooo tiny!" that my uterus has indeed grown and moved my placenta upward. Another indication of my ever-expanding body is that my maternity pants are tighter so even my little non-butt has grown. But unlike Sir Mixalot, I do not like big butts and I cannot lie.

Fortunately, if we didn't have this undesirably placed placenta I wouldn't have had another opportunity to ask if our baby is a boy or a girl. I thought having to tell everyone that I was waiting until he was born to find out if Eli was a boy or a girl was a let down. Turns out, having to tell everyone that I tried to find out for them what Baby #3 was but was unsuccessful is even more of a disappointment for people. Well, the tech said she couldn't see "any boy parts" and instead showed me a hamburger so the door is still open for a baby girl. I still have doubts that Kwang has it in him to produce a girl, so we'll see. Jude still thinks it's a girl, but all the kids in my Sunday School class think it's a boy. We all think what we think but as my grandmother reminded me last week, "God knows and provides what's best for us." Having two boys in a row is more than a handful I can seem to handle with any form of gracefulness, but I have to agree with her when I look at my Eli. I wouldn't want him to be anything other than the yummy little boy that he is:

Even when he looks like this:

What? You thought I'd just end with the angelic picture like a normal parent? I can't help it. My finger, it just keeps clicking.

 

Still Representing

... despite the big loss.

I-L-L ... I-N-I!
 
Jude & Eli wish you all a happy, happy 2008!

 

White Christmas

Kwang (noticing something in Eli's mouth that we didn't give him): "Eli, what are you eating?"
Eli (smiling): "Nobodyyyy...."

Here are my snow bunnies at my sister's home in Chicago. Jude didn't want to come inside despite my fears of frostbite. It was so cold that my camera stopped functioning. Jude LOVED the snow:

.

Eli, not so much. But he's so irresistable to me-- I laugh every time I look at this picture and then I go find him and nibble off one of his cheeks:

 

He preferred to relax inside with cousin Noelle (one year older than him):

Fun with cousins:
 
Meghan & Jude                 Noelle & Eli                 Jude & Zachary

Thanks to his creative and fun eemos (my sisters), Jude had many opportunities to tap into his inner artist. One of these things is not like the others-- can you tell which dinosaurs were painted by Meghan and Zachary and which was done by Jude?