Baby shower

We're coming upon the finish line.  The doctor says Xander is measuring large, which we had suspected for awhile.  He is measuring so large, in fact, that the ultrasound shows him two weeks ahead of schedule.    He's welcome to come a little early.  This is not a comfortable trimester, though I'm doing very well compared to other hugely pregnant ladies I know.

In other news, I signed a renewal agreement this week..  I promised to stay for another 24 months, though that's not really the plan.  We'll see.  We are now running around base trying to renew our housing, visas, drivers licenses, ID cards, ration cards, car registration, and whatever else I discover will expire on November 11.

I had a baby shower on Saturday, which was fun.  The nice women who threw the party had clearly done some baby showers before.  Just check out the decorations in the picture.

The Hilltop club is not conducive to pictures.  This is the best one I got of the guests.

Me cutting the cake.  Yes, I made Bobby come.  His coworkers made up about half of the guests, it was only fair.

Cool cake, huh?

Me with a big bathtub full of presents

Baby clothes hanging from the ceiling

Me from the side after the party is over.  Ridiculous, right?

23 weeks

The weather here has been, well, a little like home. It's really hot and humid during the day, then at night there are thunderstorms. I don't tolerate the heat well with my extra baggage, and I spend a lot of my time in front of our air conditioner or sweating profusely. This Saturday, I got on the subway to travel downtown. The subway is somewhat air conditioned, but it's still hot. I'm uncomfortable enough to toss out my cultural sensitivity, which tells me that pregnant women don't wear shorts and tank tops in public around here. I got on the subway, and the car was full. I scowled at some 12 year old boys, but no one got up to offer me a seat. Honestly, I think subway etiquette is almost nonexistent anywhere in the world, but I became increasingly irked at the Daegu population as the seated people refused to meet my gaze. At one stop, I saw a handicapped boy approach the door. His knees were bent and pointed in towards each other, and clearly standing on the subway would have been an extreme effort for him. No one offered him their seat. Unfazed, the handicapped boy sat on one of the 12 year olds' laps. Why didn't I think of that? I couldn't suppress a smile as the 12 year old boy got up.

We went out and bought a crib and changing table yesterday. We had selected a beautiful cherry combination from the PX a few months ago, and I wondered if they were still available. Of course, they weren't, and we couldn't even order them. I guess the model was discontinued when the new crib standards came out. Having learned our lesson, we bought a nice chocolate colored set. When buying furniture from our tiny PX, it's a good idea to go ahead and get something while it's in stock. Chocolate goes better with our house, anyways.  

Me at 23 weeks (taken last Sunday).  It's not the best shot since you can't see my face, but that's not really what you were looking for anyways,  right?