There's a Party in My Belly!

So far, the most amazing part of being pregnant is being able to feel the baby move. When the baby first gave me a little nudge, it was just the tiniest little flutter that could have easily been mistaken for gas. Then just in the following couple of weeks, the movements were often enough that I could let Rick feel them by touching his hand on my belly. At first, the idea of having another person inside me is a little strange. Someone with a mind of its own is in me? As time went on, the movements became stronger. Sometimes, the baby is pushing against my belly such that I could feel something round and hard from the outside. That made me wonder, is that your little head? Or your little bottom? Those moments made me feel that I'm already starting to bond with the baby and that I'm going to love it so much. I can't see it yet, but I'm imagining what its doing. Is that poke a kick or a punch? Is the baby awake or just tossing in its sleep? I could just picture that after the baby arrives, I would be watching it all day and all night, doing its thing and thinking to myself, so that's what you were up to when you were inside! At night, when I'm laying on my side getting ready to sleep, the baby really starts kicking up a storm. So I get Rick to talk to the baby. He doesn't really know what to say but it doesn't really matter. The baby will get to know his voice and recognize him when it arrives. Nowadays, the baby movements are so wide and strong that not only you can feel it outside my belly, you can see it. When we listen to the radio and the baby starts kicking, we imagine that it's because it really likes that type of music. When the baby acts up at night, we think to ourselves that it is a night owl just like Daddy. Even though we can't see the baby yet, we already feel like it's got a personality. It just makes us that much more anxious to meet the little one.

Here's a video of the baby moving about in my belly. Can you see the baby poking out to say hello?

Baby Shower Part I

On March 10th, my friends Tina and Catherine threw me a lovely little baby shower in Vancouver. Rick and I, along with his parents and his sister's whole family were all in Vancouver to celebrate a belated Chinese New Year with my parents. Tina hosted the shower at her apartment with a total about 10 guests. It was just the perfect location and perfect party for the occasion. Tina and Catherine put a lot of thought into putting together an elegant, beautiful and personal shower. And they complied with my single request: no poopy diaper game! Instead, they catered the baby shower games to my interests, such as match the celebrity baby names to their parents. I enjoyed all of the food (especially the cooked sushi and cupcakes) and opening all the gifts, but my favourite part was just spending time with my good friends. It felt so good to know that I have such good friends to share this special time in my life with.


My lovely hostesses Tina and Catherine.

Mmmm... Baby likes cupcakes!

Baby Moon

A couple of weekends ago, Rick and I organized a last minute baby moon with a few of our good friends. A baby moon is like a honeymoon except it's a getaway before the baby comes. Since we didn't really plan to go anywhere far, we decided a nice weekend away at our family friend's vacation house would be the perfect last getaway. Mrs. Suyama's family has a nice, big vacation house in the city of Shelton which is about 70 miles south of Seattle. The house is on a beautiful beach property abundant with oysters, clams and mussels. The view is amazing and the setting is so laid back. We spent all Saturday gathering seafood from the beach then the rest of the time cooking and eating and napping. It doesn't really get more relaxing than that!

On the way to Shelton, we decided to play the name game to kill time. Our friends John and Erin helped us come up with some pretty creative and funny names with the last name Locke. Here are some of the ones that made the list. And yes, pun intended.

Lady Locke
Head Locke
Wed Locke
Zip Locke
Boom Shaka Locke
Sher Locke
Dred Locke
Goldie Locke
Digital Anna Locke
Grid Locke


Gathering oysters on the beach.

Starting a fire in the middle of the day?!

Fresh Hood Canal oysters!