I think I have started to feel the baby moving in my belly. It's a funny feeling for sure. It feels like little bubbles popping. Peter put his hand on my tummy to see if he can feel it too, but it's still too soon for that I think. My carpel tunnel problem hasn't improved much. I'm just going to have to deal with it.

So I started a journal on my pregnancy. I think I'm going to extend it to motherhood. I was listening to Dr. Laura the other day, and one lady said she has been keeping a journal on each of her kids. Nothing fancy and deep, just small entries on the cute and not so cute things her kids do. She's going to give her kids the journals when they turn 21. I think that's a great idea. Wouldn't it be fun to read about your mom's thoughts when you drew her her first mother's day card or when you were really sick that time? So far I have been writing about the doctor's visits. We just had our third one Friday. I'm always paranoid about how the baby's doing especially when I can't feel the baby's movement yet. Hearing the heart beat was a relief for me. I think I have gained 20 lbs already. We scheduled an ultrasound for our next visit. I can't wait to see if we are having a boy or girl.

Blogging has become a difficult task for me lately. I have developed carpal tunnel syndrome. I guess this happens to a lot of pregnancy women. The numbness and tingling make it hard for me to hold things. Every morning I wake up with such pain in my hands, I even have trouble making fists. I finally got a brace last night, and it seems to help so far. Besides this, I haven been feeling okay. Of course there's the usual fatigue, but not much nausea. We heard the baby's heart beat at our last doctor visit. It was weird.

Happy July 4th everyone! We had an early celebration yesterday at the church bbq then watched the fireworks together. It was funny how some of the little kids were scared of the fireworks and some were super excited. Tonight I worked until 7 and had the rest of the night by myself. I went and got some great sushi takeout. I had so much that I don't think I want to eat any sushi for a while. This pregnancy has been good to me so far. I have only been having some nausea and fatigue. Although I hate that feeling, I know it could be worse. I hope I continue to feel good and healthy through the rest of my pregnancy.

So we really like this guy Ron Paul. He's one of the republican presidential candidates. He's a 10th-term congressman of the 14th congressional distric of Texas. He's also a retired OB doctor. He a lot of great ideas that have made him stand out from the rest of the candidates. You may not have heard a lot of him because the mainstream media tries to hide him from the public. Even the republican party wants to get him out even though he is gaining his popularity rapidly on the internet. They even tried to ban him from the last presidential debate. He is an advocate for the Constitution. They nicknamed him "Dr. No" because he votes against any bill he believes to be violating the Constitution. They tried to get him out of the debates, but again and again, different polls show he came out on top. We were excited to hear that he's coming to Des Moines to speak yesterday at a local event center, just next door to the Republican candidates forum sponsored by the Iowa Christian Alliance and Iowans for Tax Relief. Ron Paul was the only GOP candidates excluded from the event. We were glad that we got to be there. There were about 1,000 audience at the Ron Paul event compared to several hundreds that showed up at the other forum. The room was packed. So we were really confused and angry when the local news reported there was only a hand full of people. They only showed a small group of supporters that were rallying outside. They even went as far as saying that they offered free food in order to attract people to his event. Okay yeah, so all the people from different states, Illnois, California and many others, traveled across the country here just for the free burgers or pretzels. Give me a break! It's so shameful that even local news will do that. So if you want to check out Ron Paul yourself instead of letting the mainstream media tells you who to vote for, go to http://ronpaul2008.com or youtube and type in Ron Paul. You may not agree with him or even think that his ideas are too crazy for today's America, but at least he gives you something different to think about.

I had my first strong case of morning sickness today. I woke up with a terrible headache and nausea. I felt like I wasn't sick enough to call in though, so I went to work as usual. Few hours into my work, my nausea got worse, and at one point I had to rush to the bathroom thinking I was going to throw up. Luckily I didn't, but dry heaving was just as bad. There's no way I could continue to work, so I came home early. I finally told people at work about my pregnancy because I couldn't lie about why I wasn't feeling well. Besides I think it's time to tell everyone. I don't want to have to wear a sign saying "no I'm not getting fat, I'm pregnant!".

奇怪﹐當身邊的朋友和親戚都紛紛向我們祝賀﹐反而自己的親弟的反應如此冷淡。當我問他媽咪將喜事告訴他沒有﹐他只說了句“有”。真的只可這樣嗎？我知我們的關係並沒有那麼好﹐平時更話都沒兩句﹐但就算是陌生人也會說句恭喜吧﹐更何況他將會是BB的叔叔﹐真的很怪呢！

終於可以向大家宣報我有了BB的消息！今天去見過醫生﹐一切正常﹐還照了第一張超聲波。BB的性別就要等20週時才照得出。右邊是頭﹐左邊是屁股﹐還有上下兩邊的手。我還見到BB在動和心跳﹐那一刻真的快要哭出來了。

I'm happy to finally annouce that Peter and I are expecting our first baby. We just went to our first doctor visit today. Everything is going okay. We even got to see the baby heart beating and moving in my womb through ultra sound today. Not sure if you can see, but the head is on the right, and the butt of course is on the left. You can even see the two little arms next to the baby's head. Seeing the baby for the first time was unreal. There's nothing compared to it. I almost cried. Then I looked at Peter, and I saw the smile on his face. I can't believe we are going to be parents.

爸﹐父親節快樂！

I was taking care of a 90 some year old man yesterday. He was very nice and always appreciative. Even after we moved and turned him, which was really painful for him, he always thanked us and told us how nice we were to him. Today I came to work, and my co-workers told me this gentleman passed away this morning. I was a little shocked. Even given his age, he was doing not great but okay. I guess he has asked for a warm blanket, and an hour after the nurse gave him the blanket, they found him passed away in his sleep. We have seen so many patients that are just waiting to die with much suffering, so it's nice to see him die in peace and with dignity. I remember our last conversation was after waking him up for his bedtime meds, I joked and told him I wouldn't bother him again. Then he took my hand and told me I'm no bother and how nice I am. He said if they ask him about me, he would say all the good things about me. Not sure who "they" are, but I hope he's telling those in heaven nice things about me right now, hee.

I'm counting down the days until I'm retired. What a long way to go. After working a real job for almost 5 years now, I still don't have my retirement account set up. I need to talk to some smart people. I have so many things I need to get done right now. Even though I have so much time, I have so little energy to do anything. I'm too lazy to even go to a movie. I still need to apply for citizenship. I can't believe how much money and time we have spent on this.

Schroeder has finally mellowed down some. He's not as scatty as he used to be. Thank goodness. I hope he will continue to improve, otherwise I will have to fedex him to my starving cousin in China. Just kidding. He still loves to bark at strangers and things, especially our neighbor who wears wifebeater all the time. Last night, he started barking nonstop at nothing. We think he might have seen some fireflies or bunnies. What a wuss.

哎喲！好久未寫部落格了。除了因為自己懶的個性外﹐還有其他原因。其實有時也受不了自己的懶惰﹐現在手頭上實在是太多東西要辦﹐但總是提不起勁做﹐怎辦﹖為了方便日後寫部落格﹐我決定又一次將中英文版合拼﹐希望真的有幫助。

最近小狗終於開始定性﹐沒有以前那種過度活躍﹐真的拜託了﹗因為牠之前的那個無時停的情況﹐害我們差點將牠送去動物協會。不過牠還是很愛吠﹐昨晚更在後院吠個不停﹐我想牠大概是見到野兔或熒火蟲那些小動物﹐膽小狗﹗

It was my first time as a charge nurse tonight. Like always, things got a little crazy in the 1st four hours. We had one situation where we needed to transfer a patient to a critical bed but there wasn't any available. The nurse that was taking care of that patient was so overwhelmed and falling behind. There's nothing I could do about the bed situation, so I helped that nurse taking care of her other patients on top of my own group of patients. I felt so frustrated because I felt like there should be more I could do to help that nurse. But I think in the end, everything turned out okay. We were able to finally send that patient to a critical floor, and everything else were under control. It was a good experience I think. Would I do that again? Only if I have to.

On a different subject, we found Schroeder missing when we came home from work last night. Peter walked around the neighborhood but found nothing. I was devastated. I was worried what could have happened to Schroeder. I thought we had lost him forever. (Peter would love that) This morning I got a call from the animal control people. They found Schroeder. Actually when I answered the phone, the first thing they said to me was "Are you missing something?". We had to pay $50(ransom) to get Schroeder back. I guess Schroder must have gotten our of the fence and was standing at our sidewalk, when someone saw him and took him to the authority. I'm glad Schroeder is finally home.

My plan for today was going to garage sales and started my crafty projects. I have never been a crafty person, but I am creative. But my plans failed because I was too sleepy to go to garage sales, and I ended up having to work in the afternoon. I'm hoping tomorrow I can get some of that done.

I hate keeping secret. I'm keeping a huge one right now, it's killing me.

I'm more exhausted from work today than usual. I had a good assignment actually, but something has been bothering me lately that makes work more dreadful. I have been thinking about switching to a different shift for quite some time now. I have not weighed out all the pros and cons yet, but it seems to be 50/50. I also have to consider how this is going to work out with us sharing one car. I don't know what to do anymore.

Happy Mother's Day!

Just got home from KC tonight. It was nice to see the family and celebrated mother's day together. The only bad part was grandma's basement was flooded last week, and there's mold all over. Not only was it a health hazard down there, we couldn't turn on the AC because we had to keep the windows opened to air out the basement. It was 70 some degree there, and there were at least 25 of us in that house. The heat also made me really sleepy. Even though we were only gone for one night, I was so glad to be home. I guess I didn't realize how much I love being at home. We don't have a fancy house, just an old brick house that is still a work in progress, espeically the basement. We try to keep our house clean, but there are still small amount of messiness here and there that are just reflections of our personalities. After a long of work or a trip away, the familiar smell and feeling I get when I walk into the door makes me feel at ease. I am content here.

I did some changes to the site while at work. Apprently I was hardly working. I discovered Flickr toys . I love their profile widget. It's simply stylish. I recently developed a great interest in making sock animals. I always have a weakness for cute things. Ever since I saw the sock doggie episode on That's Clever! I can't stop thinking about it. I found some instructions online on how to make sock dog, monkey, and even elephant. I can't wait to get started. First I need to get myself a sewing machine. I hope I can have some pictures to show soon. I added links to some crafty sites. They are my inspiration. I want to become a crafter.

My feet hurt so bad. I worked until 3am yesterday, and I'm still recovering from it. I stayed late to help. I felt like I didn't help much because there was so much to do. Those night nurses are always running their butt off, and yet they are the least recognized. I know because I worked night for couple years. Lately, I have been feeling burnout from my job. Sometime I just want to quit my job and do something completely different. But then , I look my patients and am reminded why I do what I do. This is my calling, and I can't let my frustration get to my head. I was proud of myself tonight. There's a situation at work that upset a lot of us, and somehow I got the courage to call one of our managers and expressed my frustration. I'm so sick of people trying to be lazy when others are trying to keep their heads above water. Now I know why I'm starting to get gray hair.

The other day, I was helping one of the nurses with her new admission. It was an older gentleman patient who had been on our floor before. He's so cute. Anyway, we got to talking about my background. He asked me about my nationality. I told him I'm Chinese. Right away he asked, "Hey, what do you guys call those fat wrestlers in your country?" "Sumo wrestlers," I told him, " and they are in Japan." Then he started to talk about what those guys wear and started singing "itsy bitsy teenie weenis yellow polka dot bikini" Haha...

One of the bad things about working only 3 days a week is I have a tendancy to become really lazy. I think if I have a busier schedule, I can keep myself occupied and be more productive. I'm not self motivated when it comes to hard working. I always give my 100% once I'm at work, the problem is I hate being at work. Maybe the 12 hours shift is starting to get to me. I guess you can't have everything.

So I heard a lot of bad reviews on Spider-Man3 from other poeple too. The only people seem to enjoy it are little kids. I want to know what happened to the writer who surprisingly wrote all three Spider-Man. Did they cut his salary or piss him off? Maybe he has been watching too much Lifetime tv? Seriously, the lines in this one can't be cheesier. Now that I have written two entries about how bad Spider-Man3 sucks, don't say I didn't warn you. I only wish someone warned me before.

I'm glad I don't have to work monday because I get to watch Dancing With The Stars. I don't know why people are giving Len Goodman a hard time. He's my favorite judge. Such a classy man. I wish the judges will dance on the show. I would love to see their moves.